Some Pre-flowering questions =)

[GigaGrew]

To be clear about my questions, was pretty foggy when i wrote this up so just keept on rambling haha.

#1 If the plants have stopped growing in the current pots (root bound?) will they still stretch alot when turned to flower?

#2 how much could i increase the yeild if i lollipop them some? i got like 6-12 main colas on the 4 big ones.

#3 If a plant are rootbound before going to flower, will it affect the bud size?

Please feel free to give all the tips u have, everything is welcome here

/Cheesus

Yes...i was like, is there a question in that lot...prolly why it took so long to get a response
#1 yes. blue light during the first 2 weeks of flip really help to reduce stretch
#2 lollipop is a crying shame on those kind of plants..dont bother
#3 yes. root bind sucks ass, its not just about outgrowing the pot, the roots fight for space and when they thicken up they strangle themselves causing reduced everything in a plant. Smart pots and Air pots are the way to go =)

Just got my Cloning station so i will do a bigger grow when this is done, around 15 or so plants, and i will not grow them this big that time

I have seen some guys are removing most of the fan leafs when in flower, is this just to get the plant to focus more on growing bud or ?

And when can i start to remove some to get more light in the middle, and how much is safe to take away at one time ?

im one of said defoliators and a guy called bassman59 has written a great guide on the subject based on someone elses work that might be worth checking out.

i would remove almost ALL of the leaves about a week before you flip to 12/12. this gives the plant a week or 3 to handle the shock before really starting to flower. you have to do it in a single sitting, taking a few leaves here and there only serves to keep the plant in constant shock. the purpose of defoliation is to expose bud sites to 100% light. when used in blend with LST and supercrop (Im not a fan of super when LST will work fine) you can maximise your bud per sq ft and lower the lights to as even a canopy as you can make it.

if you remove all the leaves and bend all the stems so that your mangled plant is all squashed down to 2 ft of stem and bud sites...you will get maximum light penetration and yield per plant for your conditions.

 

[Cheesus]

Thanks Giga!

That's some helpful info right there! i guess i got my day cut-out for me today

It feels way wrong to cut away all the leafs haha, think i will save about 20-30%, or atleast all the fan leafs wich are on the outside of the plant and not blocking any light in the middle of the plant.

I had a look in your current grow, and i might be wrong, but it looks like atleast one of those plant have ben re-vegged?

 

[Cheesus]

First white hair is showing

yester day, 1.5day in to flowering and i saw the first white hairs showing

Will go with Gigast tips and removing most of the leafs today.

Perhaps tomorrows update will bring a pic or two =)

Pz
Cheesus

 

[GigaGrew]

nah none of mine can be revegged.

my 2 big tubs are all autos. i got a few singles reg/fems in there tho. a critical mass im babysitting for a friend with no lights, a BB2 baby that i topped recently and a dela haze clone thats just a little stub.

the delahaze clone may be the one your thinking of.
im amazed its still alive to be honest or at the very least a serious mutant. that think was cut wrong from day 1 but it took root, has been in chemically fed soil, then bonsai'd in a mini air pot, then into DWC, then got repotted into organic soil for my protganics experiment and now into a normal soil pot, its also experienced 24-0, 18-16, 12-5.5-1-5.5 and now back to 24-0 and its still bloody going!

im just waiting for a paycheck to arrive and my new air pots and it will be repotted for 1 final time and then it will grow to full maturity and give me some backdated rent for keeping it so long


if it looked a little prettier, i would nominate it for plant of the month as the most indestructable sativa strain ive ever seen.
i have been nominated for member of the month this time round, but im certainly looking forward to the day i can enter all 3 competitions at once =D

 

[Cheesus]

Yeah thats the plant i was thinking about!

f-ing amazing that she have survived all that differend grow styles and repotting! perhaps she will give you some killer buds

I gave you my vote on this member of the month =)


Btw, do u think it would be better to wait another 15-20 days before i trim of my leafs, or to do it now, right after i've flipped the lights.

I dont really care if they get stunned and push my end date a week or so ( would only serve me well)

 

[GigaGrew]

thanks for the vote bro =)

its a bit different for me as im an auto grower and the rules for defoliating them are truly harsh compared to normal indica/sativa strains.

its my understanding that the first two weeks of flower are just a transition phase, which is why a lot of people only use blue light during this 2 weeks to minimise stretch as it isnt really in flower even tho you flipped the lights.....after this 2 week period is when i consider real flowering to be happening and thats when your pour on the lights and push to the plants limits....its at the begining of this period you leaves need to be gone already...

if i was forced to be descisive (im still experimenting myself) i would say it goes something like this.

veg-flip lights to 12-12 (still blue)- 1 week later, defoliate - 1 week later swap blue lights for red lights, and as soon as you see signs that shock is over and development is happening, increase red light to its maximum ability (on full, moved closer heat management inceased e.t.c)

as to the LST part i would start that right away. sculpters claim that they can already see the statue in the block of stone and all they do is chip away the surplus...LST is a bit like that, you have to know near the start what you want its shape to be and then just apply a little pressure here and there till it becomes the vision

 

[Cheesus]

Really helpful m8 =)

Well i only got my hps bulb so i cant switch lights, and the led.. well it is what it is =) got some 6500k cfl spotlight bulbs laying around that i can plugin for these first two weeks =)

Going to chop away the leafs tomorrow then =)

the ones that are under the hps dont really have that much foliage to cut away, but will cut it away to really give them all the light they can get =)

as for the LEDs they are a mess!! frigging jungle, so they will get a real haircut

Have u had any experience with SCROG ? shall i give my scrog a good cut aswell ? have removed all the fan leafs that are under the screen, but still alot of them are blocking the light about the screen.

Thanks again

 

[GigaGrew]

yes the blue light/red light thing is optional. people do fine on just HPS if they dont care about stretch...those spotlights would have come in handy from the start =p

i been thinking about LEDs, but at this moment in time induction lighting is superior, especially financially....but the finance should swap in some years to come as LEDs are solid state and that goes hand in glove with mass production.

it appears that induction bulbs only go down to around 3000k which is not as low as i would like, but i also want to play with CMH lights too and i have a feeling that induction and CMH combined will blow every other lighting schedule out of the water, but i need some $$ to get to those tests

sorry bro, no experience with scrog...talk to fishcake he knows stuff and what he doesnt know, he can point you in exactly the right direction, i just cant remember off the top of my head which pro is doing what grow, lol.

 

[Cheesus]

i resently found these spotlights the reseller only had 2 left so i bought them and man do they spot that light out. They are CFL photo shoot spotlight, only 23w but with relfector and everything.

This grow im doing now is like a test run, to se what feels right for me. i have manage to built everyting so i only have to check up on them every 10-14days (the res is my limit right now), but i still check out on them every 4days or so =).

Im thinking about mixxin all the leds for a run next time, add one more LED, and switch the 400w hps for two 250w hps, and throw some 125w cfl in that mix and see how that works out =) but still just a thought. getting new thought everyday makes it really hard to plan the next grow, soil vs bubble vs ebb n grow. and when i scrolled trough your journal on the combined soil/hydro prodject you got going.

it got me thinking again!! haha. love the idea tho =).

Was thinking about using airpots, filled half with high grade soil, and put it in some kind of dwc system

 

[GigaGrew]

stay tuned bro, thats almost exactly what im doing soon, just waiting for supplies...how dare businesses go on holiday, im a paying customer

lol seriously tho. in nature, the water doesnt really contain any nutes. underground rivers may be mineralised and rain my contain some elements from the sky, but in general all the food is in the soil, so why mess with that

i still have a long way to go for my true plan. i need to find natural bug repellants/killers that will live among the plants perminantly and not need any attention themselves. whether that be a creature, a companion plant or something i feed the plants from the soil that makes them immune (like highbrix is suppose to)

eventually tho i just want a room with a big pool covered by a big mud pit lit from above with who knows what lighting, i just go in and litterally just throw a load of seeds on the soil and let nature take it course....i do plan to get a sprinkler system to emulate rain tho, but thats only if i feel a need to foliar feed in some way, trying to avoid such things.

 

[Cultivator]

wait til atleast day 21 before u start defoliating or u'll fuck ur plants. u want them to focus on starting flower not recovering from stress of a defoliation. when u do defoliate dont go completely mental and strip bare as u dont know how ur strain will react to it and if u havent been doing it in veg ur plant wont be conditioned to it. i defoliate too but i do it through out the grow. i hit them about day 21 and take 25% of fan leaves off and again around day 45. taking more than 25% can really shock plant and slow growth. it definately works, u just need to do it correctly.

 

[GigaGrew]

unless we are talking about multiple dates, these things have been vegging for nearly 3 months

 

[Cheesus]

They have vegged for exactly 101days =) all from seed, tok about 35-40days somthing for them to mature dont remember.

i have stripped the lower parts to get some air circulating down there.

its really hard to know what to do.

one thing is for sure, i really need to defoliate to get light in to the middle, can keep all the outside foliage to start with, and then after three weeks take of the rest.

 

[Cheesus]

god damn!!! once again i forgot my camera!

Any how!, I took away all the fan leavs that was connected to a well developed node, will wait about 3 weeks or so before i take away some more, now the light flows nicley down the middle, and i can finaly see thru my plants looking real nice! will get you guys some pics tomorrow to judge my defoliage skills =) keep in mind it was my first time doing it haha

next grow i will start early with this method, if it provs good for my strain, this took me and a friend 3hours of cutting leafs of =)

 

[Cheesus]

Hello again!

As promised, here are some pics of the haircut i gave my girls yesterday, should i have removed more leafs?
they havent showed any signs of being sad or so.. guess they like their new hairstyle =)

First my small randoms i gave them a cut aswell

This is the ones under the LED light

This is under the HPS

Some evidence of how resilient these girls really are

i accidently broke this branch of a while back, had to play surgeon with some plastic toothpicks and duct tape worked like a charm

 

[GigaGrew]

looking very good there =)

 

[Cheesus]

Thanks Giga =)

Wtf? my plant thinking shes a boat and need a sail or what ?

there are two of these on the same branch near the top, and i've never seen anything like it before, looks like a leaf that grow sideways and with out stem haha. perhaps shes gone mental cos i dident allow her to flower until 60days after signs of maturity