First time grower, have some questions

[elusiveshame]

So, looking at the specs for my light, the lowest setting is 40%, then 50, 60, 80, 100.

I did dial it back to 60%, but the temp dropped to 72F and humidity spiked to 75%, so I put it back to 80% and the temp went up to 76F and humidity down to 56%

Maybe I’m being a bit paranoid about the humidity, but I don’t want to create an environment for mold. Quite the balancing act.

Once the humidity stops climbing, I’ll lower the lights again, but idk if I should keep changing them back and forth. Would a small increment be bad for the plants if the intensity keeps changing?

I did top the 2 plants yesterday. Well, “fimmed” so I could get some additional growth out the top. One is starting to show as a male, and the other looks like it’s showing to be female now (the pre flower went from looking like a ball to pear shape, so fingers crossed).

I decided I wanted to top because there were a handful of bud sites not getting enough light exposure, and I want to get as much growth while keeping the plants at a manageable height. I also started LST’ing to help with that as well.

I’ll also be setting up a net once they reach a few more inches.

Can you point to the light damage you’re seeing? I’m really not seeing it when comparing to other pictures I’ve looked up online in regards to it.

 

[GNick55]

beyond your plant issues you have to find something else to do, your stressing them out everyday, touchy feely.. this/that..

 

[RootsRuler]

beyond your plant issues you have to find something else to do, your stressing them out everyday, touchy feely.. this/that..

True. GNick has a point. I get you're trying to optimize your grow but make your adjustment and sit back and let them do their thing. Don't agonize over every detail. Just chronicle it for your next grow so that you can be pro active in your set up and minimize any issues that may pop up the next time.

 

[elusiveshame]

True. GNick has a point. I get you're trying to optimize your grow but make your adjustment and sit back and let them do their thing. Don't agonize over every detail. Just chronicle it for your next grow so that you can be pro active in your set up and minimize any issues that may pop up the next time.

I'm not agonizing or anything lol. I'm just asking questions to get clarification on things some people are saying. If you're referring to my "patience is killing me" comment, but I was being funny.

"Your lights are too bright"... okay, why? What are you seeing? I've looked up pics to see examples of light damage, and I'm not seeing that on my plants. If I'm missing something, help me out, that's all I'm asking.

I reduced the lights by recommendation, then the humidity crept up pretty high and the temperature dropped, so I put it back to where it was before. Using a light meter shows the range that's suggested in those charts. As for accuracy of the meter, I'm not sure.

The topping is something I was debating on doing or not since I did it to the other 2 early on. I also wanted to see if there were any major differences in the timing of doing that, which I learned there is, especially when it comes to starting to LST.

I've been making whatever adjustments I need and then leave them alone. I pop in the tent a few times to take some pics, but other than that, the last 2 mornings I've done some LST (on like, maybe 5 branches in total between 3 plants each day). I'm not going in there and petting them, whispering "soon" or anything. Any close up pics I've take is from viewable angles that don't have me reaching in there/moving things around.

 

[Moshmen]

The light to humidity ratio is perplexing to me I don’t understand how just a little more light can lower the humidity like thst?

 

[PipeCarver]

I'm not agonizing or anything lol. I'm just asking questions to get clarification on things some people are saying. If you're referring to my "patience is killing me" comment, but I was being funny.

"Your lights are too bright"... okay, why? What are you seeing? I've looked up pics to see examples of light damage, and I'm not seeing that on my plants. If I'm missing something, help me out, that's all I'm asking.

I reduced the lights by recommendation, then the humidity crept up pretty high and the temperature dropped, so I put it back to where it was before. Using a light meter shows the range that's suggested in those charts. As for accuracy of the meter, I'm not sure.

The topping is something I was debating on doing or not since I did it to the other 2 early on. I also wanted to see if there were any major differences in the timing of doing that, which I learned there is, especially when it comes to starting to LST.

I've been making whatever adjustments I need and then leave them alone. I pop in the tent a few times to take some pics, but other than that, the last 2 mornings I've done some LST (on like, maybe 5 branches in total between 3 plants each day). I'm not going in there and petting them, whispering "soon" or anything. Any close up pics I've take is from viewable angles that don't have me reaching in there/moving things around.

" I'm not going in there and petting them, whispering "soon"....there lays the problem......If you don't talk to them nicely and tell them they're pretty girls daily they'll give you headaches when they get in their teens.......just saying treat them like kids, give them good food in a healthy environment with plenty of exercise and encouragement and they'll reward you with your dedication to them with beautiful flowers at graduation......lol........ My girls like soft music to sleep by, I'm thinking of giving them a Himalayan salt lamp with accompaning woo woo music

 

[elusiveshame]

The light to humidity ratio is perplexing to me I don’t understand how just a little more light can lower the humidity like thst?

My best guess is the additional few degrees helps evaporate the water in the air evaporate quicker rather than it lingering in the air longer? It dropped to 56% during the night, it's now currently sitting at 62%.

I have 3 hygrometers in there and 2 thermometers. One of the hygrometers I disregard as it's sitting right on top of the pots, and I just use that for the temperature. One is for the humidifier outlet + an alarm if it gets too high or too low (high alarm is set to 70F and low alarm is set to 42%), and this is positioned about halfway up the tent. The third is also a thermometer, and that's fed in through the top of the tent and hanging down a few inches below the light.

Humidity at the top is always less than at the bottom, and the heat is always greater at the top than the bottom. Currently the top is reading 80F w/ 58% humidity. The bottom temp is 76F, and the humidity outlet is reading between 62-63%. The very bottom hygrometer reads 68%, but again, it's sitting within an inch or 2 of moist soil, so that's going to throw the number off a bit.

 

[elusiveshame]

" I'm not going in there and petting them, whispering "soon"....there lays the problem......If you don't talk to them nicely and tell them they're pretty girls daily they'll give you headaches when they get in their teens.......just saying treat them like kids, give them good food in a healthy environment with plenty of exercise and encouragement and they'll reward you with your dedication to them with beautiful flowers at graduation......lol........ My girls like soft music to sleep by, I'm thinking of giving them a Himalayan salt lamp with accompaning woo woo music

Well dang, guess I better get my whispers on then xD

They probably don't like my menacing metal music, which is probably giving them root aches :P

 

[FuriousStyles]

Yea that is a contradictory statement. There is a balance for everything in life.

@FuriousStyles You don't think it could possibly just be genetics causing that look of the leaves?

Could be yeah, I was looking at the whole. The leaves look to be shrinking back from the light instead of growing towards the light.
Had the same issue myself starting out, I was like Im gonna run my lights full blast wahoooo. My plants told me...uh...no.

 

[DeepRootsGrowTrees]

Hey everyone!

So my dealer gave me a handful of seeds and I planted them in the first week of September in a "community" pot (8" diameter). There were 9 seeds and I got 5 good plants growing out of them (2 of them were incredibly tiny, and 1 of them just didn't want to survive), which is still more than I have room for in my tent. I don't know the strains (likely bag seeds my dealer acquired), but they seem to have indica leaves. Once they developed their first true leaves, I put them into their own small clay pots, and now that they've grown larger than those pots, I moved them into 5 gallon fabric pots as their final spot.

Since I have a handful of plants to experiment with, I wanted to top 2 plants, possibly LST one of them, LST a non-topped plant, and then let 1 grow naturally (I don't have room for all 5 in my tent, so one of them is being given to a friend).

Earlier this week, I decided to top 2 of the plants. Both were roughly the same size, each having their first true leaves, a set of 3 leaves, a set of 5 leaves, and a set of 7 leaves. The first plant I topped, and I know I missed. I cut too low. The second plant seems to have been done properly as it's growing 2 new stalks from the cut.

The first plant is bushing out fine, but the too low of a cut has a single growth of a new main stem coming out, and it's already being shaded by the growth by the cut. The plant looks healthy, but I suspect a very low yield from it now. No biggie - you can't always with learn without making mistakes.

The second plant is doing very well.

I was debating on doing some LST today, but I think I'm going to avoid it this grow. I have a trellis net that I'm going to use, so there's at least something to help spread the canopy. If it's highly recommended I do LST, please let me know.

So, my babies are now a month old from planting, and I'm trying to be prepared for the next stage of the grow. This brings me to my questions:

1.) When should I start trimming the plants? Now? Should only the bottom fan leaves be removed? The 4 nodes are just coming in now, so I'm not sure if it's too soon to start trimming, or if I should wait another week or 2.

2.) When should I be able to tell the gender? The true leaves popped out about 3 weeks ago. I'm assuming fairly soon, yeah?

3.) How to flip into flower mode? Right now I'm running 18/6 with the lights and I know I have to change to a 12/12 cycle. Do I just do this when I think the plants are at a proper height (I know to expect 2x the height growth during flower), or will the plants tell me when?

4.) Can you pollinate a single flower on a plant?

4a.) Can you pollinate an auto flower?

In regards to question 4 - I'd like to eventually be 100% self sufficient in harvesting not only flower, but seeds as well. I know with my current plants, it's likely that I'm not going to get some top quality stuff, but I figure it's a learning process, so why not start with what I have? Can I harvest the pollen sacks from a male plant, then pollinate a single bud to get seeds? I don't want to pollinate an entire plant, so I'm looking for best options. I don't have the room, or setup for clones (kids in the house, so I have very limited space on where I can grow, and we're heading into the super cold season now, so outside grow isn't happening for a few months). Would it be better to just get some of the weed spray off amazon (marketed for weed, but it's just a mix of colloidal silver in a spray bottle) and spray a branch of a feminized plant instead of mucking around with an unknown strain male?

5.) I've ready auto's should be on a 18/6 or 20/4 or 24/0 light schedule. Is this from veg state onward, or can the germination/sapling stage use 12/12 just fine? I ask because I'd like to ideally start cycling plants in and out of the tent as one group is finishing up, and I have photoperiods in there now, but when I get ready to harvest them (likely mid January I think), I'd like to have some auto's already hitting the veg phase ready to go.

Thanks!

This just my opinion I would wait to trim fan leaves, you want to remove leaves that are growing in towards the main stem. If you feel the fan leave is blocking new growth then remove only the part of the fan leave that's blocking new growth not the whole leaf. Yes by week 4 or 5 at the latest male plants make them self know by the little balls that sprout and turn to flowers. Female will have 2 little hair looking things that show up where the fan leaves connect to the main stem. Most growers go about 3 to 4 months in veg. state before flipping to flower. However depending on your tent size and how big your plants are you may have to switch to flower sooner. Pollinating is tricky keep the MALE plant OUT of your TENT or it will pollinate all you flower. If you plan to pollinate a single bud you must collect the pollen in a baggie of possible then you'll need a little brush to pollinate the single bud. I would pollinate the bud then use a spray bottle to spray the rest of the plant with water as that kills the pollen and will keep it from spreading to the rest of the bud in your tent. Pollinating is tricky in a tent but you seem to eager to learn so give it a try. I would recommend you try to get seeds you know the genetic from before pollinating just so you know what your growing and can ask or look up wha others have done just for some reference. Autos stay 18/6 for the whole grow that's what I use it gives you the rest grams per watt ratio so your waiting money on electricity. If you want to try and grow autos with photosynthetic plants you have to start them together the auto will be done around the time the photosynthetic plants are ready to flip to 12/12 so you can harvest you autos then 3 to 4 later you'll have photosynthetic plants ready to harvest. Here's the problem with limited space is the light intensity differs from seeding to veg to flower so its hard to start a new grow with plants in the flower stage. If you pollinate a auto or needs to be another auto. Photosynthetic male x female auto still will be a photosynthetic plant.
Start plants together harvest you auto then you photosynthetic then repeat. I hope this helps you out and it's my experience that I'm speaking from. Good luck with your grows!!!

 

[RootsRuler]

Could be yeah, I was looking at the whole. The leaves look to be shrinking back from the light instead of growing towards the light.
Had the same issue myself starting out, I was like Im gonna run my lights full blast wahoooo. My plants told me...uh...no.

Now ya see....I've run my tent with my lights at full blast from out of seedling into veg until now and have had zero issues with too much light. I say genetics will tell you how much light they like.

I guess "agonize" was the wrong word! More just helicoptering over your plants. That's something a lot of newbs tend to do in the beginning. They'll be in and out of the tent 100 times during lights on looking for issues! Just let them do their thing and they'll tell you if they need anything. Of course, it doesn't hurt to be pro active but, again, just let them do their thing!

I try and be as inobtrusive as I can. I only open the tent to get a peek to see how they are doing and if there's anything obvious I need to attend to. After that they only get distrubed at feeding time and that's if I'm hand watering. Since I've set up my auto irrigate I don't even need to get in there other than to check for disease or pest infestation. Next run I'm going to set up a camera so that I can check on them without disturbing the environment.

 

[elusiveshame]

Alright, so I was sitting here, doing some programming when I felt like it was a bit more stuffy in my basement than usual (it's finished). The humidity was lingering around 65%, and normal range, especially this time of year when I have my pellet stove going, is between 40-50%. Turns out my dehumidifier hose got crimped and ended up turning off with the message "empty bucket" lit up.

So, that being said, I was paying attention to the tent, and the humidity was dropping back down into the 50's on the 2 main hygrometers (58% and 56%), and the bottom one is now at 62%. I also removed the lettuce out of there as well, and since the humidity has dropped, I dialed the lights back 2 notches, which is 50% power instead of 80% power. I'll check everything out tomorrow, and if all looks good, I'll leave the lights there until flowering.

I can't take any pics tonight (my phone died and is currently charging, and by the time I go back upstairs, the lights in the tent will be off), but I'll post the morning pics shortly.

Also, one of the plants that I suspected is male, I'm 99% sure it's male now (little sack on a stem is more pronounced). I do want to collect the pollen/pollen sacks from it, but I don't want to do that while in the tent and get any females in there (present or future) to get pollinated. When should I remove any males from the tent?

 

[elusiveshame]

Here's yesterdays update pic:

Nothing much to really say, so we'll see how they're doing tomorrow :)

 

[sportyridr]

Here's yesterdays update pic:
View attachment 1292634

Nothing much to really say, so we'll see how they're doing tomorrow :)

I always get a giggle every time I see a temp/hygro parked right on the wet medium. Wondering just what useful info that provides? Can you elaborate on the reasoning for that? Get a quality temp/hygro ready at canopy height and base your decisions on that, not trying to decipher all the other sensors etc. are reading and try to make heads or tails of it.

Don't know about running any lights full blast unless you know your lights but I'll just leave that one alone....a phone app meter puts me nice n close to where I want to be as well as the visual cues.

Your plants look fine, you really need to get this grow under your belt so you know how your system is going to work for you and dial in accordingly over time, key words "over time" Ma Nature changes everyday, you will learn what those effects are and how they affect your plant and grow. That's my best advice.

 

[elusiveshame]

I always get a giggle every time I see a temp/hygro parked right on the wet medium. Wondering just what useful info that provides? Can you elaborate on the reasoning for that? Get a quality temp/hygro ready at canopy height and base your decisions on that, not trying to decipher all the other sensors etc. are reading and try to make heads or tails of it.

Don't know about running any lights full blast unless you know your lights but I'll just leave that one alone....a phone app meter puts me nice n close to where I want to be as well as the visual cues.

Your plants look fine, you really need to get this grow under your belt so you know how your system is going to work for you and dial in accordingly over time, key words "over time" Ma Nature changes everyday, you will learn what those effects are and how they affect your plant and grow. That's my best advice.

I have a thermometer on the soil strictly for temperature purposes. The hygrometer part of it just happens to be a feature on a fairly cheap ($9) device, and I know it won’t be accurate as it’s sitting on a moist surface. I like to see the temp gradient is all, nothing more. Normally it’s not on the soil, but the edge of the pots. I just forgot to move it back before I took that picture.

I have a hygrometer and temp sensor near the top, and another a little more than halfway down the tent that I use to monitor the humidity.

As for the lights - they weren’t on full blast :p (just 80% haha). When I set up the tent, the lights didn’t come with any manual so I just kind of guessed. It seemed to work. A few folks here mentioned light issues, and someone did PM me some info on what to look for and idk how I missed some tips yellowing (only on one plant so far), which is why I started looking at the environment outside of the tent last night.

Also got a good tip on a dehumidifier for the tent. I’m not convinced I need one just yet (though I do have a small unit I can toss in there if I need to), since the humidity in my basement shouldn’t ever be more than 50% between my pellet stove and big dehumidifier that runs year round (well, more or less). As long as it’s actually running

The other thing that threw me off with the lights is there’s 5 light settings, but vivosun says 4. After some googling, I found the values for the 5 setting version of the light (vs2000 led w/ Samsung diodes). So the lights lowest setting is 40% power, then 50, 60, 80, then 100%.

Currently, as of last night, it was set to 50%. Everything is looks good this morning when I checked, so I’m not too concerned with the humidity as I was the other night. I did snag a phone all for luminosity strength, and 80% on the lights read low, but if they’re going to thrive on less light, and lower my bill in the process, then who am I to argue?

And while it might sound a little silly about the humidity, I really don’t want to risk any environment getting contaminated with mold as I have a young child with asthma (who’s been admitted to the hospital 3 times this year due to it) and a pet with asthma, so I need to make sure I’m not creating an additional health risk for my family. My basement is wide open with floor registers and I get a very nice breeze through the house this time of year with the pellet stove fan, floor fans, and ceiling fan to circulate and heat my house comfortably, so any airborne spores could be spread easily through the house. Again, it might be a little over the top, but I’d rather minimize any risk when possible.

 

[sportyridr]

I have a thermometer on the soil strictly for temperature purposes. The hygrometer part of it just happens to be a feature on a fairly cheap ($9) device, and I know it won’t be accurate as it’s sitting on a moist surface. I like to see the temp gradient is all, nothing more. Normally it’s not on the soil, but the edge of the pots. I just forgot to move it back before I took that picture.

I have a hygrometer and temp sensor near the top, and another a little more than halfway down the tent that I use to monitor the humidity.

As for the lights - they weren’t on full blast :p (just 80% haha). When I set up the tent, the lights didn’t come with any manual so I just kind of guessed. It seemed to work. A few folks here mentioned light issues, and someone did PM me some info on what to look for and idk how I missed some tips yellowing (only on one plant so far), which is why I started looking at the environment outside of the tent last night.

Also got a good tip on a dehumidifier for the tent. I’m not convinced I need one just yet (though I do have a small unit I can toss in there if I need to), since the humidity in my basement shouldn’t ever be more than 50% between my pellet stove and big dehumidifier that runs year round (well, more or less). As long as it’s actually running

The other thing that threw me off with the lights is there’s 5 light settings, but vivosun says 4. After some googling, I found the values for the 5 setting version of the light (vs2000 led w/ Samsung diodes). So the lights lowest setting is 40% power, then 50, 60, 80, then 100%.

Currently, as of last night, it was set to 50%. Everything is looks good this morning when I checked, so I’m not too concerned with the humidity as I was the other night. I did snag a phone all for luminosity strength, and 80% on the lights read low, but if they’re going to thrive on less light, and lower my bill in the process, then who am I to argue?

And while it might sound a little silly about the humidity, I really don’t want to risk any environment getting contaminated with mold as I have a young child with asthma (who’s been admitted to the hospital 3 times this year due to it) and a pet with asthma, so I need to make sure I’m not creating an additional health risk for my family. My basement is wide open with floor registers and I get a very nice breeze through the house this time of year with the pellet stove fan, floor fans, and ceiling fan to circulate and heat my house comfortably, so any airborne spores could be spread easily through the house. Again, it might be a little over the top, but I’d rather minimize any risk when possible.

So like I said your learning your grow and how to react to the changes. This is excellent.

Try and keep it as simple as you can is mostly what we pointed out. We see a photo and see 2 or 3 temp/hygros we wonder? Now we know why your monitoring but we see it as you using it monitor your grow and trying to make sense of all those numbers etc. Wish nothing but the best of health for everyone of course.

Good luck with your grow, it looks fine so far

 

[elusiveshame]

Thanks!

Here’s a pic from a little bit ago:

All I did today was tighten some of the wires on the right 2 plants, and turned the bottom left plant, and did some fan leaf tucking here and there.

 

[elusiveshame]

So I think the plants are starting to show their genders now. Here’s some pics - let me know if I’m wrong :)

Male plant

Female

Female I think

Also female I think.

What do you all think?

 

[RonnieB2nd]

Well, since nobody seems to want to answer my questions, I guess I'll just use this thread as a grow journal and if folks want to chime in, feel free :P

This is my setup: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B093BL79VG?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details (with the addition of fans and a humidifier + hygrometer triggered outlet)

I initially had the light setting set to the first setting (20% power), but ended up upping to 60-80% currently.

I planted a handful of seeds back on September 10th. First pic:
View attachment 1291219

Photo taken on 9/17/2022. The seeds are in the top grey pots. 5 seeds planted in each (one of them was a dud from the start as I'm 99% sure it was popped/flattened, but said "screw it"). Soil is whatever potting soil my local shop had (I forget the name, but it seems similar to fox farm/miracle grow/etc from what I can tell). Bottom cloth pot has radishes, other cloth pot has carrots, and the 2 in bowls are apple trees.

On the 19th, I transplanted the 5 best seedlings to their own individual smaller pots (photo taken on 9/24/2022):
View attachment 1291220

I noticed some stretching, so I placed an art stool in the tent to lift up some of the plants.

They started growing fairly quick at this point, so I transplanted the best 3 into 5 gallon cloth bags and kept 2 in the clay planters. I did this late on the 29th of September. Here's a picture from the 30th:
View attachment 1291221

I probably should've waited to transplant them, but hey, first timer here. Also, I noticed some lights leaking out of the windows, hence the mess of duct tape (it's since been removed and I've taped out the outside of the tent, as well as have curtains to drape over it when the time comes to flip to flower). Radishes are 4 days from harvest here, which will give me another cloth pot to use. I also repurposed one of the grey potters for lettuce, because why not?

Picture from October 1st (just 1 day later):
View attachment 1291223

Nothing changed here. Just keeping on keeping on.

Progress pic from 10/4:
View attachment 1291224

I topped the 2 right plants. The top right plant I topped too low (first time grower, thus first time topping). As soon as I made the snip, I knew I went too low. It's started to recover, but I'll touch on that a little later. The bottom right plant I snipped at a good spot. The others have been left alone. Nothing else was done, though I did harvest the radishes later on in the day (and boy were they delicious). I did notice the yellowing on the fan leaf of the top right plant. This leaf kind of confused me - it was showing 6 fingers. Turns out, the 7th finger was just incredibly tiny and also yellow. I was a little concerned about this, so I started keeping a close eye on it.

Progress Pic on 10/5:
View attachment 1291225
Some growth, nothing crazy. 4th plant moved to a cloth pot and watered. The yellow leaf has grown, but still yellowing. Otherwise nothing else was done.

Progress pics from 10/6:
View attachment 1291226

That pesky yellow finger is still yellowing, but still growing. The really tiny yellow finger starts to make an obvious appearance. We'll call this plant "Nemo" from now on. I started using nutrients today: Fox Farm Big Bloom and Grow Big, at 1/3rd recommended dosage. I'm not sure what the nutrient contents are in the soil at this point, so I don't want to overload it with things. I'm already insecure about my watering schedule (feels like I watered too much in the beginning, but now I'm going every 3-4 days, depending on weight of the pot + finger knuckle deep test). This picture was taken right after watering. I probably could've watered them more since cloth pots seem to run off quicker, especially if you water one side more than the other, but I'm afraid of over-watering still.

The top left plant didn't get any nutrients as I had just transplanted it and watered it the day before.

I was also kind of skeptical with using nutrients. I understood that soil would need to replenish nutrients, but I figured that would be done with compost and fertilizers rather than these liquid solutions. I also removed the 5th plant from the tent and is now resting on my kitchen table. A friend is supposed to take it off my hands, so I'm hoping that it survives long enough.

Here's 3 more pictures from 10/6:
View attachment 1291227
View attachment 1291228View attachment 1291229
I saw a noticeable difference throughout the day (unsure if the pictures really capture that).

The 2 topped plants:
- The one I topped too low (top right) started regrowing a single stem, but very small and very slow.
- The one I topped at a good spot (bottom right) has now sprouted 2 new stems

Progress pic from 10/9 (2 of them):
View attachment 1291230
View attachment 1291231

I had to move the bottom left plant away from the fan as one of the fan leaves was starting to go into the fan. Since the lettuce is a slow grower / doing "okay", I swapped positions with it. Unfortunately, due to the negative pressure the air system creates, the fan leaves get bent by the tent walls.

Plants are doing well. I watered (without nutrients) as the pots felt very light and very dry to the touch.

Progress pics from 10/10/2022 (3 of them, morning, noon, and night):
View attachment 1291232
View attachment 1291233
View attachment 1291234

Lots of growth over the last few days, and the plants appear to be looking healthy.

The topped plants:
- The top right (topped too short) has a tiny stem growing from the cut. It's completely shadowed by the leaves growing from the node there. This one has really bushed out. The yellowing still has only affected only those 2 bottom fingers, so I'm not too worried about it at the moment.

- The bottom right (topped in a good spot) has 2 solid stems growing from the cut now, and looks great.

Next watering is going to either be Wednesday or Thursday, depending on the soil dryness. This feeding will also be with nutrients. I'm debating between using the same amount as last time (1/3rd of the dose), or upping it to 2/3rds. The top left plant will be getting nutrients for the first time this week.

I'm also going to start doing some pruning before watering. There's a handful of leaves that are going toward the main stalks that I want to cut away, plus I'm going to start trimming off the bottom single and 3 finger leaves.

I also ordered some garden wire and folder clips to start doing low stress training. I figure the topped plants have had enough time to recover by now, so LST won't stress them out too much, and I've come to the realization that if I want to keep the growth in check, I'll have to LST, even with the plan of going screen of green.

Currently the plants are ranging between 7.75" in height to 8.25" in height. When they hit another 4-5 inches, I'll set up the net and start fishing the bud sites through it, and when they hit a height of 16-18", I'm going to flip to flowering. My intention is to flip by November 1st, but we'll see what the plants dictate around that time.

Other potential concerns:
Since it's nearing winter time here, the humidity is going to drop + I use a pellet stove, so my humidity can drop to 20% in the basement (where my tent is), and even though I have a humidifier going into the tent - I hope that's enough to help. I have another small humidifier down here as well (my office is actually down here, which is why I have so many pictures), but it's 1000+sq wide open space, so it's tough to raise the humidity of the whole basement.

I'm also considering taking the lettuce out, but I'll give it a few more weeks, or until it's shadowed by the weed.

No genders have shown yet - I'm hoping this week, maybe next week for that answer. I think I see some signs of a female or 2, but I'm not 100% sure.

Since these are bag seeds, do I get to name the strains? :P

Anyway, let me know what ya'll think, and if you have any tips/suggestions/notice things that I should be doing, please feel free to tell me!

In my humble opinion you are losing a lot of grow space by not filling your pots, it looks like 2 or 3 inches from the top, thats valuable real-estate for roots to grow...Try filling about half full then bounce the container on the floor a few times to settle it, then fill it about 1 inch from the top, bounce again, then fill it back to 1 inch from the rim...

 

[PipeCarver]

In my humble opinion you are losing a lot of grow space by not filling your pots, it looks like 2 or 3 inches from the top, thats valuable real-estate for roots to grow...Try filling about half full then bounce the container on the floor a few times to settle it, then fill it about 1 inch from the top, bounce again, then fill it back to 1 inch from the rim...

Good tip, I tend to water or feed after a transplant to help seat the girls in their new home. When I do that my pre dampened soil shrinks back into the pot so I top it off with more soil water/ feed it some more until the plant and the pot are full and watered/fed. I'll keep adding more soil if I see holes on the top from watering/feeding until I have a nice flat surface about 1" from the lip of the pots.