New Grower: Hopeful Perpetual Growth

[jb1095]

Warning: This post will be long...

So I started out with a couple clones from a buddy of mine. 1 strain of Buddha Tahoe and the other of Bubble Gum.

Once it became legal to grow in MA., I decided why not grow my own so my fiance does not have to buy it anymore. I don't even smoke(yet)...

The INITIAL equipmentAH=Apollo Horticulture)

AH 4x2x5 Veg tent with an AH 400 Watt LED full spectrum grow light.
AH 4x4x6 Flower Tent with 2x 300 Watt AH LED full spectrum grow lights

After vegging these babies for just over 2 months(with the veg setup above), I placed them into flower and purchased a Mars Hydro 600 Watt LED full spectrum light to go in the flower tent.

Currently, In my flower tent, I have the AH 400 and the Mars Hydro 600 lights. In the veg, I have the 2 300 watt AH lights.

I started my clones a couple weeks before going into flower mode and currently have 6 rooted clones in their growing medium.

My preferred medium is Coco Coir and Perlite mixture.

The buddha Tahoe sits about 5 feet tall currently and are still stretching as they have now been in Flower mode for 10 days.

The Bubble Gum is sitting at about 4 feet tall and is also still stretching.

I was doing pruning, topping, LST while in Veg, but have not done anything to them in flower mode yet. They are nice and green and very healthy looking except for the leaves that are dying on the bottoms of each plant in flower.

I have been told to prune the heck out of both of them as they are bushy all the way from the bottom to the top. So much so, that you can not even see the stem. I am attaching a picture for your review:

I have also been reading that I should NOT prune at all while in flower, so I have some more research to do obviously.

I will also post more pics(older) on their progress up to this point, but the pic above was taken last night just after putting the new light in.

 

[Gardenseed]

Welcome to perpetual growing JB,
Ill be watching the show.

 

[jb1095]

These are the same 2 plants and this pic was taken on February first, the morning after I repotted them into their 5.5 gallon pots.

 

[jb1095]

Thanks Gardenseed. I have a few buddies that have seen other grow setups and they say my plants are monsters, and I think that is a good thing...but I am nervous that by pruning them while in flower, even the bottoms, that I will shock them too much. It also appears that the bottom leaves are dying anyway and eventually just fall off.

As this is my very first experience doing this, I would like to get your opinions on whether or not I need to prune at all. This includes taking off some of the bigger leaves on the top that are blocking light, or trimming the bottom so that I actually see a ling thick stem in pics like the first one I posted.

Is it against the rules to ask for advice on this journal thread?

 

[FlowerNose]

Hi, JB! Questions are encouraged! I'm gonna tag along if you don't mind.

 

[jb1095]

Hi, JB! Questions are encouraged! I'm gonna tag along if your don't mind.

absolutely. I am at work right now, but as I just potted a bunch of plants last night, and they are now in veg, I will post pics of that when I get home. So this journal will follow the big plants in flower, as well as the clones I just potted last night.

As far as cloning, I didn't label all of them, so I am HOPING that I have at least 1 strain of the bubble gum in veg right now. I will know as it starts growing soon enough.

One thing with me, I bought a clone dome from Lowes, cut the cuttings at a 45 on the root, dipped it in clonex, and used rockwool. They took just over 3 weeks to finally show roots.

I was nervous they were not going to take, and bought a heating pad, but when I got home from work yesterday, the heating pad was delivered....BUT I HAD ROOTS, so I didn't have to use it. I have some time, so I can field any questions anyone has right now. I have only feed them nutrients once a week(on Fridays).

As I am using 5.5 gallon pots for my final grow medium, I generally water a full gallon of Phd water every other day.

Initially, with the big ones, they only had the AH 400 watt light in veg, the veg tent now has 2x300w AH LEDS.

 

[jb1095]

I also let a buddy of mine put 2 auto flowering plants(Thin Mint Girl Scout) in my veg tent. You may see them in pics, but I won't journal them.

Additionally, I read somewhere that Oxygenating the water supply can be very helpful when using coco to grow. So I always have a bucket of PHd water that an air pump and a rock filter provide oxygen to.

I usually just place an empty 1 gallon water jug into my bucket of water and fill it.

From there, I add my nutrients by syringe.

Although I say I feed on Fridays, its generally every 3rd watering. So sometimes, they get fed nutrients once a week, other times its twice a week.

 

[peggypitbull]

looking good.

Sent from my SM-G935F using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[jb1095]

looking good.

Sent from my SM-G935F using 420 Magazine Mobile App

Thanks. I just read the tutorial and rules regarding pictures and edited my posts to reflect the posting guidelines and pic hosting. I love the layout here.

 

[jb1095]

Update: 4/3/2017

Although I did not take any pics of my two big girls currently in flower mode, I will be sure to take a pic tonight and upload it tomorrow.

I DID do some work over the weekend. I transplanted a few of my clones into bigger pots and only have 2 left to transplant over the next couple weeks. I also have 2 perfectly rooted clones that I am going to be tossing in the trash as I do not need them.

The 4th pic is a Buddha Tahoe clone that I transplanted into a 5.5 gallon pot. It looks like crap right now as the first watering made it sink much lower than I like, but she should recover just fine and will eventually look strong. Its funny that as I look at these young babies, they remind me of their moms, who are currently massive, but were about the same size as their babies when I first transplanted them.

I ordered and received a trellis that can fit both my tents perfectly. I was originally going to put it into my veg tent, but am now considering putting it in my flower tent with the big girls to hopefully expose them to more light throughout the plant. I am not sure what I am going to do yet, but I will keep you posted.

 

[jb1095]

Update 4/5/2017

So I have been lazy and have not set up my trellis yet. In fact, I am still not sure which tent I should put it in and would really appreciate some feedback from the more experienced folks in this community. Anyway, here are some pics of my babes(All of them). I did a full nutrient watering on Monday, and will probably just do a PHd watering today after work. Feel free to share your thoughts and feedback as I am quite literally flying blind here:

 

[jb1095]

No watering done yesterday. I like to ensure my babies are dry before watering. I will be feeding them, along with nutrients after work tonight. Does anyone have any input for me on whether or not I should be trimming/pruning the bottoms of the 2 big ones that are not getting any light?

 

[jb1095]

I will be posting a full update with pics today. I have not updated it as I have not got any feedback, and was hoping for feedback(thus the OP), but a buddy of mine has been following the thread silently, so update will be incoming shortly.

 

[jb1095]

Update 4-24-2017

This will only contain the babies in flower mode as I do not want to derail the thread. Hopefully It gets some comments. So these have been in flower since March 20th, so they are now on week or so. Both are looking very nice.

I decided to prune off the bottom crap that was not getting any light and I also put in some stakes to hold up the COLAS that were getting heavy from the buds. These pics are of both plants, but the one on the left is the Buddha Tahoe(Bigger one) and the one on the right is the bubble gum. The Buddha Tahoe is running just about 6 feet tall and the bubblegum is about 4.5 to 5 feet tall. The sugar leafs look great, and as you can see, the bubble gum is filling out nicely. The buddha tahoe is as well, but its a tad slower than the BG as it will be in flower mode for a couple weeks longer than the BG.

 

[jb1095]

As you can see, these are big and taking up a ton of room in my 4x4 tent. I have started rotating them daily to get even light distribution. My humidity is sitting around 40 and the temp is always 77.

On a side note,

I don't have any more room in my veg tent as I have 5 new babies in there for about 2-3 weeks now(since my last update), so I had 2 clones that were totally root bound as they were still in clone pots...

So rather than toss them in the trash, I just moved them outside. I live in New England, so the weather sucks, but if they do something, great...if not...oh well.

I have also run into an issue with my girl. She is a pothead, but is not interested in the plants at all(not yet anyway) and has been bitching about the space the tents are taking up in the basement and has told me that either the indoor garden goes, or she does.

So does anyone have any space available in their houses? She is small, only 5'2 and doesn't eat much.

 

[Miasma]

ditch the girl

good luck with this crowd, they'll either make you famous as a first time grower in a week and give you 10,000 views in the process, or they'll glance right over it.

 

[jb1095]

ditch the girl

good luck with this crowd, they'll either make you famous as a first time grower in a week and give you 10,000 views in the process, or they'll glance right over it.

Thanks Miasma,

I am noticing that with the folks here. I thought maybe I was not posting good pics, or not posting good information or something, but realized some threads just get more response than others.

I realize that my big plants are not being scrogged, do you folks think it is too late to put a scrog net up and try to spread them out a bit? They are about 1/2 way thru flower mode. Or should I just leave them as they are and continue rotating them every day?

 

[Eeko]

Nice garden....and great pictures! Keep on posting, many of us read and forgot to comment or like/thank.....darn stoners on stoner forums.

Is your basement climate controlled? Either way, sort of interested in want your basement temp and RH is compared to inside your tents. In reference to your girlfriend, harvest your crop and spend the money on hookers, lots of hookers, no need to waste valuable grow time with a negative nelly.

 

[FlowerNose]

good luck with this crowd, they'll either make you famous as a first time grower in a week and give you 10,000 views in the process, or they'll glance right over it.

I am noticing that with the folks here. I thought maybe I was not posting good pics, or not posting good information or something, but realized some threads just get more response than others.

I just found you again. Nice pics! Very nice! . .

I think some of it might have to do with how journals are labeled. I notice myself skimming through posts, looking at titles that jump out at me. I look for strain names and grow method information. That's just me. But it might be something to consider. .

 

[jb1095]

My basement is climate controlled(HVAC) and it usually sits around 65-70 degrees with roughly 40% humidity. I chose down there because there is a nice size sliding window in between my veg tent, and my grow tent. I chose to run a 220 cfm fan in my veg, vented into my flower tent, as well as a 442 cfm fan in my flower tent vented outside.

This literally eliminated all smell, and the best part is that even outside with my nose to the vent, I smell nothing. Got to love carbon filters!