My thoughts are as follows:…That node set will never amount to anything…its not even worth wile to leave just the leaves, its a sucker and consumes energy that is best spent on growing the 4 mains. That set will always be shaded by the bigger fans higher up. If after you have finished your horizontal growth “flux” and you let the plant go vertical…that’s when you leave the skirt…I have documented on my thread…I believe to start training as soon as you can safely do so, with the knowledge/capabilities you poses. This is a time consuming technique, so the sooner, the better…Note:…this is my 2 cent…
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Ah!! We pulled it out of ya after all!!
Those are precisely the two cents I was looking for my good man. Just needed a confidence boost. I’ve had two harvests, but have not trained successfully at all.
Thank you!! 
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Glad you found that helpful…
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It should be noted that @Arrow’s two cents is a lot more valuable than a one eyed hippies two cents. It all comes down to your growing style and how you want to grow. Looking good so far!
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So the Durbans experienced my new scissors today.
Gerty should be an eight cola plant if I have my thinking right. I topped each side of the top node so that should split it from 2 to 4 colas. Then two out on each side from the other node off the main stem.
Trudy got a little less trimmed and I’m going to train out another node in her. So she’ll have 8 up top plus four more shooting wide.
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Got the bokashi going. It’s all apple left over from making a few gallons of cider. I mixed in some bamboo to get some silica out of it (just the leafy tips, no thick shoots.
(Wine bottle filled with water was the best solution I found for a weight to keep it compact)
I’ll keep filler it bit by bit until it’s full. Should be ready to put in my next round of auto pots in 5-6 weeks…
Just an overview shot of the tent:
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i just read thru your whole journal trying to figure out what light that is showing in the above picture. at around 100 you mention “Mars hydro”. is that what that light is in the pic? didn’t look like the Mars i was looking at a year and a half ago. it seems to be doing fine for what you got going, but i agree that you don’t really see the benefit of the QB’s and other “high power” lights until you get going in the flowering stage. but in the pics of the buds around 109 it appears that your buds are doing well so far.
btw, i can’t wait to see the comparison of the QB 550 and the 630 LEC in my grow
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I appreciate the feedback, especially taking the time to look at a few posts again @monkman.
Yes that is a MardHydro TSW2000, Amt it’s a quantum board.
I was more worried about the distance, which was about 2.5 feet from the flowering girls. But it was that high because I wanted to give plenty of space to the seedlings. But I dropped it about 1.5 feet now as the Durban’s are in veg now.
I’m general it’s been a great light. But I would love to get 500+ watts in there. I was thinking about adding an rspec bar of some sort to balance the blue from the Mars, but reading some advice from @dbrn32 that sounds like maybe it’s behind the comma.
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@beardless, thanks for sharing. I will ask here: do the pvc sizes naturally adjust or did you lube it up somehow?
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Straight to the detail. Thank you!!
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Vacation day!!
Went for a hike and found a friend.
Watered the full group. The Zkittlez got alga bloom and molasses. The Durban’s got water.
Before/after on the tall Zkittlez plant:
And finally some more brownies on the end of the trim from last harvest.
Stay high everybody!!
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sylents-
If I found friends like that when went hiking, I’d be doing more and more hiking with an eye out (pun intended) for “friends.”
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Going away for six days, so I watered everybody a little closer than I normally would have.
Gerty
5 day germ
24 day seedling
11 days veg today
Trudy
4 day germ
25 day seedling
3 days veg
For both zkittlez
4 day germ for both plants
21 day seedling for both as well
15 day veg
27 days flower as of today
Made a technology upgrade to keep the Zkittlez from drying out while I’m away…
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Your manifolds have taken nicely 
and the rest of your garden is looking real good…
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scylents-
Did you have to periodically have to add any amendments along the way? Just trying to get an idea of how things will go. I am only at day 4, as she is a little girl right now. Plants look good!!
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Hey man, well I’m just starting out too so I will say that the Zkittlez has been growing with only molasses and organic fertilizers, plus one PK boost compost tea you see above. So no amendments for those ladies, just a mix of coco, promix, perlite, and castings.
The durbans in the big pot are in a similar mix, but I no specific intentions of amending. I will probably top dress some fresh worm castings when the worm casting bin has some available, and I’ll add some fungus (tea or too dress, not sure, when I flip to flower).
In between the grows in that big pot I’ll add bokashi compost and some amendments for sure.
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Thank you sylents-
I appreciate your response. We are at day 6 and everything seems OK. Not a lot of growth top side, just the first two leaves and the cotyledons. But O am not concerned, she is green and healthy. I will be sure to let you know if I do anything and the plant either likes it or not. Take care, be safe, and catch that buzz…
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Hey @patchman and @GreenJewels , this article summarized what I’m after in a pretty good way.
I left about an inch.5 worth of ‘fillable’ pot space to amend between grows.
The key takeaway for me in this is that you’re (a) trying to avoid compaction of your medium and (b) not going to destroy the soil structure completely by digging and putting extra stuff into your soil.
My approach will be mostly compost…
Keep me posted on what’s working and not working for you!!
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scylents-
Thank you for that article. Very interesting. I guess for me its about the way nature has done it for years, and we the people have done so much damage to the environment. I am trying to change that on my part. Sure, you can argue that by adding amendments to the soil its not completely natural. But there will be no chemicals used. Measuring all that stuff and all can get me confused. I just water and go. If I see she isn’t happy, I will give her what she needs. I guess thats a little of why I want to grow organic. I will keep you posted on whats happening with my little girl. Thanks, peace…
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