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I understand not being a regular smoker you get a little buzz from this underdeveloped plant material.. But fact of the matter is, out of how potent your plant could be, what you are smoking is probably 1-3% of that. If you could just be a little more patient, you're not gonna be kicking yourself in the ass on the real harvest day when you dry it and only have a blunt worth of weed.
I'm not tryin' to bust your balls, man.. Just tryin' to help you see the big picture before you buy a ticket, drink, and popcorn and then miss the whole movie..
-------------------- If you ain't smokin' dro, you're smokin' reggie.
But you're right and so is Harry, I should not early harvest my pre-budz, but I'm going to anyways....just a little. Just for Doug Benson and April 20. Thats it. The top canopy, or anything 6 inches down from the top canopy of the plant is totally off limits. I will only harvest *some* of the middle part, and the bottom budz. That's it.
I really don't smoke that much herb anyway...its more of a just-for special-times kind of thing, and not an everyday thing. Mostly because of money, but another reason is functionability: I love almost all my short-term memory when I smoke a lot, and that is unacceptable. I hate not having S.T. memory, its too useful to me.....anyway, I would be happy with a couple grams to tell you the truth. It was fun enough growing her and learning how to cultivate indoors: the budz are just a plus!
But thanks for your concern. I want other users to NOT follow my impatiency by reading your advice. This is more of a personal "timing" choice, not a practical one at all.
-> Feeding Schedule <- Also, a couple days I started using the Tiger Bloom(r) at 2 teaspoons per gallon. Today, I ran out of the last mixture, and increased the concentration to 3 teaspoons ("Regular Feeding") per gallon. Each watering takes a lot of water, so water-feeding has been kinda expensive with the constant gallon jugs I need to water her. But still manageable.
Well, its been a week since my last journal entry, and I think its about time I did another one.
OK, here's my beautiful girl as of this night.....
*** Plants Status: She's HUGE! ***
Today's Date: April 12, 2010. Monday. Seed was planted on: Febuary 5 Start Date of Flowering: March 20 Day 68 (Day 23 of Flowering) ^Photo 1: Those pre-budz are really maturing fast! Looks so hairy now! I can even see some Herb Crystals on some of the small bud leaves. Pretty stoked! Photo 2: She has been doing A LOT of growing over the past week. I almost have to adjust the string every day! I measured the height: Shes about 28 inches (2 ft. 4 inches) tall now. I will try to measure her every time, because the growth I've seen recently is mind-bogging! Photo 3: The bottom canopy looks miniature, and is a great example of what NOT having enough light pentration (i.e. CFL bulbs). Looks like I will be harvesting it a little because it likely won't get anywhere with the little light.
Also, because of all the adjusting, unhooking the string, and retieing the knots. Too much work. And, just on Sunday, I adjusted it, and accidentally dropped the light wagon too far, and it kinda smashed the top of the beautiful pre-bud. I was SO Pissed! I was tired of the string, so I decided to upgrade from a photo from 13ettlejuice's main post from his 'accidental' GrowLog, pictured below ^If you look in the top-right corner, there are white zip-ties. A genius idea: one-way zip-ties to tighten as the plant grows larger...
So I took a trip to Homey D and picked up a pack of 10 thick zip-ties for $5, and then installed them on my Light Wagon.... ^So much better! Never have to take off the string again! Its always supported, even during adujsting! Feels so good!
>>> Lighting Upgrade <<<
I also upgraded a little on the lighting: I added a 23 watt 2,700K CFL bulb with a metal screen cover (standard now) to the back of the mylar sheeting, since it was dark in the back. Total flowering lighting now is 229 watts.
Oh, and I increased the height of my Osi fan with old textbooks. The plant grows so fast, I can't keep up with the height adjustment, but I get by....
Other than that, haven't changed much. Looking forward to April 20....looks like it will be pretty tasty by then, and I can celebrate the holiday with some home-growns! They will be underage, but it should still be pretty intoxicating.
Aw man, as much as I hate to see you keep trimming buds off of that plant before they're actually ripe, I'm thrilled by your enthusiasm. It sounds like you're having a great time enjoying the closet farm!
The plant looks nice; maybe just a bit thirsty.
It's funny that you posted a picture of that lighting setup of mine because I tore it all out last night. I gutted everything. As soon as I send this post I'm gonna get started building the new cabinet/closet. It's gonna be 3.5'L x 3'W x 7.5'H. It's shaping up to be one hell of an accident.
I know, clipping pre-budz is always kinda stressful (to me and the plant), but I really wanted to use them. I figured, I'll have lots from the top, so much I won't be able to smoke it all before I move, so I thought "I'll just take a couple of the small ones". One more small clipping on 4-20 (Its part of my Dream Goal, which I missed by a month), and that's it!
And yes, I love my mini closest farm....some times I just peek into that room just to say "hi" to my gorgeous girl....she's so intricate now! Its great seeing her grow up into a beautiful young women....
So you changed you're entire light set-up? Did you win the lottery or something? Well, in honor of your genius Idea, I am still going to use the zip-ties! Man, I love them! So easy to adjust! I wish I thought of using them sooner! At least I found you're journal to inspire me...thanks 13eetle....
I've been using the zip ties to train my plants as well. I tie a bread tie around the stem and then attach that to the plastic zip tie (so that the rigid plastic zip tie doesn't damage them.) I then adjust every few days or as needed.
I see, that would be a good application too. Adjust as needed, zip-ties rule. But gotta remember, no backies....
I'm actually doing a little training too right now, but I'm using craft-style pipe cleaners....I will be making a photo journal entry tonight to show you guys what I've been up to.
*** Plant Status: Gorgeous and getting Tall Real Fast! And some funky leaves.... ***
Today's Date:April 17, 2010 Seed was planted on: Febuary 5 Start Date of Flowering: March 20 Day 73 (Day 28 of Flowering) ^Photo 1: Wide-view. I added another lamp on the bottom with a 23 watt flower bulb, for a total of 263 watts for all bulbs. I added this bulb because I will be harvesting some lower budz for April 20 in honor of the holiday, and those lower budz barely get any light (should of trained her ). I know for next time.
^Photo 2: Total height is about 35" or about 3 feet tall. This is about a 6 inch increase from last journal. This troubles me, because I am running out of vertical height in my closet. Should I add a 5,000K to prevent this stretching? I still have like 20 days left of flowering...at this rate of vertical growth, I'm going to run out of room. Not good.
^Photo 3: Main Cola (is that the name) is looking lovely. Lots of white hairs everywhere. Fan leaves are looking healthy too. Only bad thing is the top got kinda burnt because of the super-fast vertical growth. But it was minor damage.
^Photo 4: One of the mid-height budz. Only young bud with these dark tips. All the rest are white. Not sure why.
^Photo 5: Finally seeing some obvious trichome "crystal" formation. I hope it gets real frosty later: Looks tasty already...
^Photo 6: I've also been doing some minor Low-Stress Training to just the lower budz (for 4-20 holiday), using some colorful pipe cleaners. They were going outside the lamp range, so I adjusted them closer to the lights. Its pretty fun, I have to say. I might add some more later....
I also found some sick/odd-looking leaves, one which I cut off.
^Leaf Photo 1: This was the worst of the leaves. Looks diseased. I cut it off at the radial area where the leaves branch off.
^Leaf Photo 2: Found these tiny red spots on one end of one leaf. Only one spot, which was strange. Is it a sign of something?
^Leaf Photo 3: I also found this one leaf with these "burned" edges on the serrated parts. Not sure what it means, health wise. Food overdose?
>>> Another Lighting Addition <<< I also added this 23 watt flower bulb with a custom home-made reflector on it, hanging from the back side of the light wagon. It was dark in the back, so I wanted to help out those back budz.
Also, I read in a Buddy's Thread on Foliar Feeding to water your leaves specifically with your flowering solution, in very low concentrations. It even says on FoxFarms bottle about foliar feeding (bottom of middle-chart, has longest instructions on list).... ^Should I foliar feed? When do you it, near the end or from the beginning of flowering? Does every grow do foliar feeding?
Other than that, I'm looking forward to 4-20. Finally, I'll have some good, fresh budz that I grew myself! Looks like I'm achieving my dream goal after all. They won't be super-powerful, but after my smoking of that one little bud for Doug Benson (April 7), I think these ones will be a little more powerful.....
I bet that's about as tall as she's gonna get too.... Probably the only height you'll see from here on out will just be the top buds multiplying, like an inch or two more.
Photo 4 of the reddening dry pistils is probably heat stress, or too close to a bulb.
Leaf photo 1 kinda looks like a magnesium issue to me. How have you been feeding her? Sorry if you mentioned it already. I'd suggest a flush to make sure it's not phosphorous toxicity, and just as general good maintenance at a good time in the plants life. I'd also try to incorporate a little grow big into your next feeding to ensure you don't have to add N too late in the game, and for the micronutrients... Notably week 4 type things...
Oh yeah, and make sure you adjust the PH when using the tiger bloom...
I'm excited man... You've really got a respectable amount of light on her now... If you keep it up and quit pickin' at her I'm thinkin you'll have some pretty legit buds in your future...
I hope that as tall as she's going to get, because I had to adjust it again this morning, so its getting really close to the closet railing....
So for Photo 4, that makes sense with the heat stress and the pistils. I will adjust the lights and the fan then so its cooler.
So Leaf Photo 1: a magnesium deficiency huh....I have been feeding her the Tiger Bloom at the maximum amount for "Normal feeding", which is 3 teaspoons per gallon. Maybe that's not enough? Should I step up to "Heavy feeding" with 4 teaspoons per gallon?
And you suggest "flushing". Is that just using lots of pure water during the feedings? How many "flushes" do I need to do during the whole flowering cycle? I guess I need to do some research on this flowering thing. And "Grow Big". I guess I have to get it now huh? I thought I could be without it, but I guess I have to spend a small fortune for it. It will be better for the plant anyway.
Haven't check the pH ever, so I'm going to have to do that soon, and buy a pH adjuster kit.
I'm excited too for her. I got a lot more light on her now than I really wanted, but the extra cost in the energy bill will be worth it in the tasty budz that might come forth. Some fine-tuning and careful love should make out to some danky budz (I hope!).
Okay, so 3 tsp per gallon is already a pretty heavy feeding... It makes me suspect salt buildup and nutrient lockout even more.
Flushing is running 3 times the total volume of your container's worth of a low dosage complete nutrient water or plain ph adjusted water... Personally, I usually run the first 2/3 plain water, and then run the last 1/3 with a light nutrient water... So if you have a 1 gallon pot, you want to have at least 3 gallons of water run through it...
The reasons to flush are endless... Think of it as giving the roots a bath, or brushing it's teeth or something. It's suggested to flush a soil plant about once a month preferably. In your case, I have to recommend it for many reasons. Your plant is about 2 months old and never had a flush (TBH I can't remember that for sure), you've been feeding heavily with an extremely acidic nute, so your PH is probably getting pretty far off and building up salts.
I honestly can't imagine not adjusting the PH on that stuff... Note it says on the bottle "FOR BEST RESULTS: Raise the ph..." I usually use like 1 tsp / gallon of the Tiger Bloom and it sends my PH through the floor... like at least 5.0 or lower. At the very least I would have to suggest you find some way to steal someone else's formula or something for using baking soda @ X amount per gallon per point, and try to get it in the ballpark. You should really just look into a small tester + ph up and down kit though.
Also when i said Grow Big I actually meant your Shultzs veg nutes... For the N. It's suggested around the week 4 feedings to incorporate some N so she can go the distance without yellowing too early and without having to add N too late which can inhibit flowering.
So, it sounds like alot, but really I'm just suggesting you make up like 4-8 gallons of water (based on your pot size and patience) with 1/4 strength shultz and 1/4 strength Tiger Bloom ph adjusted and make her drink all of it...
damn, that sounds pretty complicated. Might have to do that when I'm sober again....
Speaking of not being sober, like my Dream Goal states on the OP, I wanted to have some budz for 4-20. Well, I got what I wanted, sorta....
I won't pain ya with the details (because I bet there's one guy or gal out there crying when they heard "I harvesting my pre-budz"), so I will just give the smoke report.... Smoke Report from 31 day old Immature-Budz:
Smell: Sweet, with a peppery hint. Smells like a wild spice. Scent is subtle yet powerful, up close.
High: After many wet bowls, I finally got pretty dtoned. I did the wake-n'-bake this morning, something I've never done before. Right after waking up, I toked on some fresh budiez before breakfest. It took awhile to burn the wet budz, it usually burned (but not 100%, like 95%, with some green left).
Uplifting, Head-high. Not really psychedelic, more just "Weee!" type of high. Some body load. Major munchies! Real bad. Each smoke session lasts about 2 to 2.5 hours. Quite enjoyable..... EDIT: Just hit another bowl....one thing I noticed is that its really smooth smoke.....I mean, moist air smooth. Very Nice. The potency may be low, but damn its smooth in da Tube.
Can't wait till they mature in ~3 weeks, to see their full-power and full smell signature.....
Looks like I'm going to buy one more thing, those Jeweler monocons things, to like at the Crystals, I mean the trichomes.......
I stared to flush the roots today, but I'm not sure if I'm doing right...
I bought 3.5 gallons of bottled water, and I just put about 2 16 oz. bottles of that water on the roots today. I did one in the morning, and one this evening. Should I just add it all at once? I didn't do that because I figured it would flood the roots and cause rotting. Should I add fresh water a little at a time?
And what about the Shultz(r) liquid fert, should I add some of that too? Little confused by the "Flushing" thing. ~ TrueHerbCrystal ~
You want to flush with three (3) times the volume of the container. So, if you're using a 1 gallon container you will flush with 3 gallons of water or thereabouts. This is done over the course of a day; it's pretty much an all day job for me, getting 3 gallons through my plants.
If you just give them a little here and a little there, that's not flushing. That's merely watering. The point of flushing is to wash metabolic wastes, salts, and other impurities from the soil. You want to run lots of water through the growing medium so that it takes all the plant's wastes with it. In nature, this happens when it rains. Get it?
As for nutrients, I've seen it recommended that the first two-thirds of your flush (the first 2 gallons in the example above) should be with pH adjusted water only and the last third of the flush (1 gal. in the above example) should contain a mild dose of nutrients.
As for your root rot concerns: you've got it all backwards the way you're thinking about this... "NEVER WATER YOUR PLANTS EVERY DAY!" Recite that. That phrase is your friend. It means, don't keep your roots wet. You WANT your roots to dry out from time to time. If they don't have time to dry out over the course of days or weeks, thats when you'll get the rot.
You can NOT over water a marijuana plant in just one day. You can flush it with 100 times the volume of your container in pH balanced water and all you'll have done is washed away any wastes and/or nutrients from your growing medium, altogether giving yourself a "clean slate" to start from which, by the way, is often beneficial for solving some hard to diagnose problems. So don't be afraid to give those roots a good bath.
Do NOT keep them constantly wet by watering them day and night however. Imagine what would happen to your feet if they were constantly submerged in moist soil. They'd wrinkle the fuck up and rot off! But you can submerge them in a bathtub without harm when they need the wastes washed off of them. It's a loose analogy but, I think you get my point.
I always flush in my bathtub. You could use a rubbermaid or something if the tub isn't gonna work your you. It usually takes an hour + especially if I get distracted or something. Believe it or not often the 'hard' part is having all that water ready to rock. Having it on hand, ph balanced, nutes added, left out to evaporate for long enough etc... Since you bought yours, You can just add nutes, balance and go.
And i hate to be a nag man, but if you don't keep your PH in check all the little weird stuff going on in your leaves is just going to get worse and spread... This flush should mostly be your opportunity to start over in the PH department. But yeah, use light doses of the Shultz and TB together as a 'complete' fertilizer.
** Plant Status: Growing some serious sugar frosty goodness with sweet/sour smells, Root Flushing today, and dangerous top-heavy cola! **
Today's Date:April 25, 2010: Sunday Seed was planted on: Febuary 5 Start Date of Flowering: March 20 Day 81 (Day 36 of Flower) ^What I've noticed with the frosting-effect on the budz is that its directly proportional to the amount of local light there is. So, the top budz are the dankinest now, and the bottom ones are barely showing any frost....
The scent: I've noticed up-close I can smell her really easily. It has a peppery, sweet and sour smell. Nothing like the guava smell I inhaled back in the vegging days...
My 1st Root Washing.Still in Progress....
Taking the advice of 13ettleJuice, DudeTron, and DieselB I carefully dragged my plant into the bathroom. Thats when I realized it was top-heavy. What should I do about the top-heaviness? Maybe I should just use string or something. Its making me nervous, it feels like its going to break! Not good.
Anyway, I finally got the pot into the tub, and put a strainer under it to keep it off the dirty tub. I started to pour distilled bottled water into the pot via a measuring cup.... ^Used about 1 gallon for this first flush. I will be using about 3 gallons total tonight.
Current Schedule....
>>> Flushing Times <<<
Time #1: 7:45pm Amount: About 1 gallon of distilled water. Time #2: About 12:30pm (or ~5 hours later) Amount: Another 1 gallon of fresh water
Time #3: About 3am (3 hours later) Amount: Last 1 gallon of fresh water...
I hope I don't have to do this again, its kinda of a lot of trouble...
Can't wait until it gets REALLY frosty....and I wanna fix that top-heavy coda soon, before the budz get too big and snap the branch!!
She's looking sexy already! (I wish she was real!) ~ TrueHerbCrystal ~
Time: About 12:45am (5 hours after 1st one) Amount: 1 gallon pure.
Flush #3:
Time: About 3:00am (~2 hours after 2nd flush) Amount: 1 gallon pure, then about 1/4 gallon of a 2 dropper-per-gallon Shultz 10-15-10 N-P-K liquid fertilizer mixture, as recommended by 13ettleJuice and DudeTron (I think)
Now I gotta do the deed: move the plant out of the tub and back into its area, without the top-heavy cola falling over and hurting itself. Its gunna be tricky... ~ TrueHerbCrystal ~
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I love that movie metaphor....nice one!
). I know for next time.
**
