Am I Doing Weed Right?

[SirCatflap]

After being inspired by this hempy grow here on the forums, I decided to try my own. I'm now exactly one month into my first proper grow and I think the girls are looking good so far!

I have some questions though:

Roughly when should I be flipping to flower?
Is it okay to let the plants overlap a bit?
They're very short and stocky, could my light be too close?
Anything else I should be wary of with these strains?

Setup:

- SoG w/Blue Dream (left) & Master Kush (right) from fem seed (30 days)
- Perlite/vermiculite mix (5-1) in hempy tubs
- Small tent (1.7m x 1.2 x 0.7)
- 600W HID in cool tube
- Daily feeding with Green House powder (half strength)
- pH 5.5

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[visajoe1]

Roughly when should I be flipping to flower? within the next 10 days based on planter and tent size
Is it okay to let the plants overlap a bit? yes, but you will need to defoliate. look into that
They're very short and stocky, could my light be too close? how far is the light? not sure on HID distance, but you can find that easily on here
Anything else I should be wary of with these strains? they look good, keep it up

 

[SirCatflap]

Thanks for the help visajoe1 :)

They recently reached the reservoir and have since shot up, so I'm flipping them tonight. I haven't heard much about defoliation but I'm going to research further!

 

[SirCatflap]

The girls are five weeks into flowering and are looking good! I have some questions though:

1. I defoliated most of the leaves and smaller branches below the canopy. A number of small branches have little popcorn buds forming. Is it worthwhile to let these grow or should I remove them to encourage the main cola to grow?

2. A few of the Blue Dream girls shot up right next to my light. They're about two inches away but seem to be doing fine. Should I leave them alone or should I tie them down a bit?

3. One of the colas from the biggest of the Blue Dreams has suddenly developed a weird yellowing pattern. It doesn't seem to have affected the rest of the plant yet. What's going on here?

Thanks in advance for any advice :)

 

[SirCatflap]

No one?

 

[SatansTaint]

It may be too close to the light

 

[Dunge]

Crush the stem with your fingers and gently bend the flower away from the lamp.
The way I think about it is that when a plant gets too close to the light it not only receives more light than it can metabolize, but it shades a large portion of the lamp light due to the geometry.
Popcorn buds get removed in my garden.
Looks like you are well on your way to a good harvest. congrats.
Cure it low and slow.

 

[SirCatflap]

Thanks dude. I've stripped a lot of the popcorn and bent the tall stems away. With three weeks left until harvest, should I be switching my light from HPS back to MH soon?

And low and slow? This is my first grow/cure, so I'm guessing you mean don't rush it?

 

[Dunge]

Most would flower under HPS.
There is a great old thread on "curing your meds" that I found works for me in that I simply hang plants in the veg space out of the way of direct light.
Stems are snap dry in 7-10 days then into paper shopping bags until I get a chance to finish the process.
Works for me.