Strain: ILGM Gold Leaf
Type: Indoor grow
Room: Gorilla Grow Tent 4’ x 4’ x 6’11"
Medium: Coco Coir, feed/water pH’ed to 5.8, 3 Gallon Smart Pots
Nutes: Vegged on BioBizz, switched to Advanced Nutrients for flowering
Lighting: Vegged under Blackdog Phytomax2 200, switched to Optic6 for flowering
Ventilation: 200 CFM inline duct fan with carbon filter
Age: 15 days into flower
This is my first grow in a long time and my first using LEDs. I think I screwed up by vegging with the light too close to the plants, they ended up with plenty of very tight nodes. As a result the plants are very short, the tallest one is only 12" tall, the other two are 8-9"
I was planning to SCROG these plants and so they were topped twice and LST’ed to spread the plant out. After 2 weeks of flower they really aren’t big enough to use the SCROG net. I guess I will have to call it a SOG instead
I have removed some of the leaves at the bottom of the canopy, sort of lollipop-ing but with a really, really short stick. I did this to improve airflow under the plants and to make watering easier. The foliage is incredibly dense, I need to try and tuck some fan leaves to improve the light all the bud sites get.
All that said they seem to be healthy and have plenty of bud sites forming. I do wonder about the yield though …
Maybe 6 weeks, I had some pH and nute burn problems that really held them up. Got those under control and the last couple of weeks of veg went ok. They were a lot smaller when I fipped to 12/12, the first 2 weeks of flower have seen explosive growth (wish I had some pictures)
I just wanted to share some pictures, now I appear to have a grow journal! Oh well, let’s get journalling …
When I was last growing it was the perceived wisdom that cloning from a flowering plant was a bad idea. Today I read about Monster Cropping:
While I was attending to the girls tonight, watering and checking the undergrowth to remove useless leaves and/or branches, I found 3-4 potential Monster Clones and thought “why not?”. I wasn’t planning to make any clones and so I don’t have any CloneX but what the hell, if they die I have lost nothing. I was going to pop some ILGM Amnesia Haze next but free is free, right? And then there’s “Monster cropping can produce a lot of marijuana.” and who doesn’t want “a lot of marijuana”?
Three wannabe clones poked into Root Riot cubes, the stem is cut at 45 degrees just below a node and the bigger fan leaves removed. They don’t need leaves until/unless they root. Note the tiny buddlet at the growing tip was left in place (that seems to be important for Monster Cropping). The fourth cube is there to pack out the space and stop the others falling over. I could have done four but my state limits me to six plants and I’m being super careful
Light is courtesy of an Optic1 5000K veg light, probably this is way too much but it’s all I have on hand (I wasn’t planning to make any clones). It’s in the top right corner of the veg tent and the clones are in the bottom left, hopefully this will attenuate the light enough and they will be OK. The light is on 24/7 since I don’t have another timer handy
When I checked the wannabes tonight they are standing up straight and looking alert. I decided to buy them some Clonex and a heated clone pad. Dunno if they will need the Clonex but the heated pad has got to help
The Mommies are growing away furiously, more pics when they get to the end of week 3
The wannabes are still looking good, no sign of droopiness. The heat mat arrives Thursday, I should have ordered an extra carbon filter and exhaust fan, they are a little smelly
Last time I watered the run off had crept up and I have now increased the water to 3 1/3 liters each to get the needed 20% runoff. Hopefully next time I water the EC of the runoff won’t be so high
The plants continue to thrive, it’s not easy to arrange them on a 3x3 tray so that they don’t overlap. The flowers are just starting to overlap as they grow up the stems. The plant in the rear right corner has stretched far more than the other two.
I finally broke down and did some defoliation of the two shorter plants. I have been thinking about defoliation for a while now and finally decided to take action tonight.
Some growers argue that the extra light penetration increases bud production, I am a little skeptical - the fan leaves are the plant’s solar panels, how can less mean more bud? Yet, some growers swear by defoliation at days 21 and 42
However, my motivation for it is airflow. I am quite sure I would be having mold problems in the coming weeks if I had not done something about the problem. I am 100% sure mildew and mold means less bud.
There were 3-4 layers of fan leaves all stacked up on each other and only the top layer was getting any real light. The bud sites lower down the main stems never saw any light and some of the lower fan leaves were clearly suffering - going yellow and failing to develop properly.
So I got rid of a bunch of fan leaves, basically anything with a stalk, now the 6" fans can actually stir the air in the canopy and most, if not all, bud sites can receive light. Time will tell if this was a good idea or not
The jury is still out as to whether stretchy-mcstrech-face will need the same treatment. I think I will leave it until day 42 and make a decision then.