So, I got my card which gives me the right to grow 4 plants. After stumbling a few times, I got a Zkittles and a Gorilla Glue (both Auto’s) in the dirt on Sep 13 which makes them about 49 days old.
Set up:
I started with Burple lamps, but traded them in for Quantum boards after 1 month. I now have a bunch of 150 Watt panels and a couple 100 Watt panels. The Zkittles went straight into the stretch when I swapped lights, so they are in week 3 of flower now. The Gorilla Glue has continued to Veg, and just now seems to be starting to stretch - she is much fuller than the Zkittles was when she stretched, so I’m thinking GG will end up pretty big.
Soil: I started my plants in 2 gallon containers using organic composted garden soil with no additives. It honestly seemed a little crappy with a lot of wood chunks in it mixed with vermiculite. I realized that the 2 gallon containers wouldn’t be sufficient, and swapped them out for 5 gallon fabric pots just about when I swapped the lamps. I’m also now using a new formula, 3 parts organic composted garden soil (a new brand, this one is darker and has more dirt and less chunks) 3 parts composted cow manure, 2 parts peat moss, 2 parts perlite, 1 part vermiculite - with garden tone organic fertilizer added (is this ok?, my neighbor who was a gardener when I was a kid swore by that product, said it was weak and natural and good for all plants).
I’m using chemical fertilizer - 20-20-20 for veg and 15-30-15 for flower, both at half strength, I started adding 1 teaspoon of epsom salt for magnesium a couple days ago after reading about it on here. I’m open to a marijuana specific fertilizer, I picked up the stuff I have from Menards after reading one of Robert Bergman’s articles.
So, please help get my Zkittlez across the finish line, I’m a little concerned because I had my lights too close to the plants, I moved them and yesterday noticed that a clump of buds and a couple leaves on the main cola looked dead. Sure enough a small tug and it fell off. Many of the other leaves on the main cola are extremely dry on one side, I’m not sure if they are dead or alive, but the buds are still growing. I will chop off the main cola if necessary if the rest of the buds will do better with it gone. Similarly, I have circled some shoots that look like they are drastically underperforming. I cut off about 15 shoots from the underside and inside that were way behind and not getting much light. I’ve got a ton of bud sites on this plant, so again if eliminating any of these larger stragglers that are getting good light is ok with me if it means the rest of the buds will end up better. But I’ll leave them if it would harm the plant to remove large shoots at this stage.
Both plants today:
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Sorry hit the start topic button accidentally too soon.
Here are pics of the Zkittlez bud sites:
OK, here is Gorilla Glue, just starting to stretch. I would like recommendations as to what to do to maximize this harvest, I think I still can have a good finish with this one if I avoid my mistakes with Zkittlez. I had a bad experience years ago with too little light, and I have probably gone overboard. Fortunately unlike the Zkittles, Gorilla Glue just got a little light burn on fan leaves, not shoots. Gorrilla Glue is about half the height coming in at 19 inches this morning.
And here is the next batch of 2 auto’s right at the start. They have been in dirt about 10 days. Another Zkittlez and a White Widow. Was thinking of topping and LST whenever you guys think they are ready.
If I can finish my harvest strong and get these 2 off to a good start, I’m going to move on to photo’s.
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Slightly on topic - I’m growing White widow and Zkittlez in hydro I’m at nine weeks.
I think you’ve got weeks to go…
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Your plants look great, and more than 2 weeks ahead of mine. I guess I just finished week 7.
@neofirebird I was thinking a thanksgiving harvest for the Zkittlez, but you’re right it may be more than that.
I’ve got time, just want a little help so I don’t mess them up any further.
For instance should the Gorilla glue be getting veg or bloom fertilizer right now?
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Transition from veg to bloom is where your at now. GH feeding schedule calls for pulling back on grow while increasing the bloom or P&K. You’d want to start cutting back the nitrogen now if your even adding any? Time to plan defoliation to enhance your flowering sites and light blocking foliage.
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Thanks man, appreciate it!
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So, my fan leaves on my Zkittlez are yellow, if you zoom in below the main cola, all of the fan leaves in there are yellow. The cola is pretty massive for week 3, and I think many of the lower buds are coming along well. The plant is somewhere around 42 inches tall, and that main cola is 14 inches down to there the 4 buds are sticking out. Just below those are the yellow leaves. I think at this stage many people have already removed fans like that so I’m not sure if it’s something I should be concerned about or not. The leaves on the buds aren’t yellow. I still think this might be light damage from before.
And Finally, the Gorilla Glue is definitely budding after close to 60 days. I think it will be a beast, but I’m wondering if I should trim off the lower shoots to focus the plant on the upper ones. Zoom in, there are dozens of shoots. Color on this one looks pretty great, and I am treating them the same, so not sure why one is yellowing and the other looks good. Same age, same fertilizer, same soil…
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Hang in there looks like you’re six weeks away from full grown here’s my White Widow main cola at eleven weeks in
Holy cow that looks nice! 6 weeks, ugh!!!
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My zkittlez at almost 12 weeks
@neofirebird I tried my hand at growing in the late 90’s and my results were pretty disappointing. We got weed, and some of it was decent, I grew some purple buds that I thought turned purple because I left them on too long, and I had a 7 foot tree that I’m pretty sure we cut down way to early. No one knew anything about trichromes or anything back then (at least none of the people I knew).
I swore this time around that not enough light wasn’t going to ruin my harvest like 20 years ago, and I’ve gone overboard with the lighting as a result. But at this point based on what I’m seeing in my grow room, and what I’m reading on here, harvesting too early was probably just as much of a problem as not enough light.
Someone on here told me 9 weeks from start to finish for an auto, and I couldn’t believe it. And here I am starting week 9 right now, and you think I have 6 more weeks. I had a feeling the 9 weeks was the flower cycle and not the full plant cycle for an auto. Seems like this is confirming that. My Gorilla Glue is also starting week 9 and just started to stretch a few days ago.
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You’re growing photos or autos? Mine are autos.
@neofirebird This batch and next are auto’s. I bought some photo’s that I will probably start after that if I think I’m on the right track.
In the 90’s I was growing out of whatever seeds we could find in good bags of weed, lol. I assume photos were all there were back then, and I did the 18/6 followed by 12/12
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I just do autos but in hydro - once roots grow, boom gal takes off. Same with photos once they hit flower look out!
but then I look back how long and much care to get here going for fully matured fat buds.
