Looking for advice on newbie grow

[BlazedonBlades]

Hi! So my husband and I are brand new to growing marijuana. I'd say we are doing pretty well, we've done a good amount of research online and our 2 plants are looking pretty good, but that is my newbie opinion.

What do you guys think of these plants? One is a bit further along, I'm at the point where I am looking at the trichomes on the older one and they appear slightly milky...I think? When do I harvest this beauty? The buds seem a bit small? They were planted from seed on February 9th, so 107 days ago. We are in central Arizona and growing them outdoors in 5 gallon buckets currently. How much of the fan leaves am I supposed to trim off when they are growing? And advice on how to get big buds and how to trim them as they are growing would be appreciated!

I don't know why strain of seed, I've just held onto ones I come across

Next will be taking on the harvesting and curing stages which will be a whole new world for me but I'm looking forward to seeing what I've created!

 

[Fairytalez]

Plants look good. Congratulations! :) As for the color of the trichomes. They are premature if ALL are just sorta milky. Soon they will start turning amber color. Harvest when 25% of your trichromes on the plants have turned amber. ALSO! Make sure to do a flush your last 2 weeks of growing.

 

[7munkee]

The days are getting longer...make sure it doesn't reveg before its too late.

 

[Heywood]

 

[mysticepipedon]

See all the white stigmas in your last pic? Don't bother looking at trichs until they're all red and shriveled. Also, don't bother looking at trichs on leaves — only look at trichs on flowers (bracts, essentially).

You've got 4 or more weeks to go.

 

[GNick55]

good job..
feed until the end, just lower the nutrients as the end nears..

 

[BlazedonBlades]

The days are getting longer...make sure it doesn't reveg before its too late.

How do I make sure that doesn't happen...?

 

[BlazedonBlades]

See all the white stigmas in your last pic? Don't bother looking at trichs until they're all red and shriveled. Also, don't bother looking at trichs on leaves — only look at trichs on flowers (bracts, essentially).

You've got 4 or more weeks to go.

Yes the last 3 photos are the 2nd plant which isn't as far along as the first and definitely doesn't have the same amount of trichs as the other.

 

[BlazedonBlades]

Plants look good. Congratulations! :) As for the color of the trichomes. They are premature if ALL are just sorta milky. Soon they will start turning amber color. Harvest when 25% of your trichromes on the plants have turned amber. ALSO! Make sure to do a flush your last 2 weeks of growing.

Thanks! Okay so we are total noobs....we were pretty much just like "Lets put these seeds in some dirt and water them and see what happens!" Yay! haha So...we used Miracle Gro (I'm sure that's not a great choice!) then we got some organic miracle gro for our next ones but these guys are in miracle gro soil....so we have never fed them or done anything except trim some leaves, water them, and clean any odd bugs stuck to the leaves or wipe the white fungus that's shown up a couple times with alcohol. Sooooo...will we still need to flush them? Do you wash your buds before drying? I saw that recently, makes sense I think.

 

[GNick55]

Thanks! Okay so we are total noobs....we were pretty much just like "Lets put these seeds in some dirt and water them and see what happens!" Yay! haha So...we used Miracle Gro (I'm sure that's not a great choice!) then we got some organic miracle gro for our next ones but these guys are in miracle gro soil....so we have never fed them or done anything except trim some leaves, water them, and clean any odd bugs stuck to the leaves or wipe the white fungus that's shown up a couple times with alcohol. Sooooo...will we still need to flush them? Do you wash your buds before drying? I saw that recently, makes sense I think.

you mean washing your buds/branches in a mix of h2o2 and water, yes i do it with all outdoor grows than turn that into hashish and oil..
flushing is giving the plant only water for the last 2 weeks which is basically just bullshit and will only affect the plant negatively..
just feed less as you near the end as shown earlier..

 

[BlazedonBlades]

you mean washing your buds/branches in a mix of h2o2 and water, yes i do it with all outdoor grows than turn that into hashish and oil..
flushing is giving the plant only water for the last 2 weeks which is basically just bullshit and will only affect the plant negatively..
just feed less as you near the end as shown earlier..

So should I add any nutrients at this point? Will the buds get bigger? There are things added to miracle gro that are like a slow release nutrient but over time it wears out of the soil. I tried planting some seeds but they're already flowering so I don't think I can plant from seed at this time of year outside in AZ.

 

[Oldchucky]

I’m amazed they look as good as they do considering you were growing in winter sunlight in buckets with no visible drainage. There is some drainage, isn’t there? With the hours of sunlight increasing I wouldn’t count on the buds getting any bigger but you never know. There’s nothing wrong with miracle grow for veg, but the problem arises in flower a lot of times. Wind up with larfy buds. I don’t think it’s as big a problem outdoors as it is indoors. But revege is a definite possibility. You might be able to keep that from happening by moving them into the dark thereby reducing the hours of sunlight they get. Never done it myself. Or let them grow and take what you can get. Hell yeah! It’s all a learning Experience and I’ll bet you are now hooked!

 

[BlazedonBlades]

I’m amazed they look as good as they do considering you were growing in winter sunlight in buckets with no visible drainage. There is some drainage, isn’t there? With the hours of sunlight increasing I wouldn’t count on the buds getting any bigger but you never know. There’s nothing wrong with miracle grow for veg, but the problem arises in flower a lot of times. Wind up with larfy buds. I don’t think it’s as big a problem outdoors as it is indoors. But revege is a definite possibility. You might be able to keep that from happening by moving them into the dark thereby reducing the hours of sunlight they get. Never done it myself. Or let them grow and take what you can get. Hell yeah! It’s all a learning Experience and I’ll bet you are now hooked!

So it's bad to go back into reveg.? We figured since it's always sunny here we could grow anytime, all year. What are normal growing periods outdoors? Haha yes there is drainage, drilled holes in the bottom. So at this point I'm just waiting for more amber trichs to develop before hacking it down?

 

[7munkee]

So it's bad to go back into reveg.? We figured since it's always sunny here we could grow anytime, all year. What are normal growing periods outdoors? Haha yes there is drainage, drilled holes in the bottom. So at this point I'm just waiting for more amber trichs to develop before hacking it down?

When it goes into veg, it will stop producing bud and try to grow more branches.

 

[BlazedonBlades]

When it goes into veg, it will stop producing bud and try to grow more branches.

Got it. I have it in direct sunlight in the mornings for about 6 hours I'd say then the shade covers them.

 

[Oldchucky]

A photoperiod plants life cycle is determined by the hours of sunlight it receives. This is a very simplistic explanation. We will use 14 hours as the dividing line. You put your seedling out at 14 hours and the sun is signaling it to veg its ass off and grow as much as possible. Up and over the summer solstice then the light starts declining. Somewhere around 14 hours in late August or early September, the sun is saying, hey I am going to be gone pretty soon. So the plant figures, if I want to have children I need to flower and get knocked up before it’s too late. So then it flowers, gets pollinated, and drops next years seeds. Right now your plant is flowering but receiving a veg signal from the sun so it can get confused and strange things can happen. What I can’t figure out is why are your seedlings didn’t start flowering in February. Unless they are auto flowers which operate under their own set of rules regardless of the sun pretty much. I hope this confuses you as much as it confuses Me. Good luck, happy growing, and read, read, read!

 

[Fairytalez]

you mean washing your buds/branches in a mix of h2o2 and water, yes i do it with all outdoor grows than turn that into hashish and oil..
flushing is giving the plant only water for the last 2 weeks which is basically just bullshit and will only affect the plant negatively..
just feed less as you near the end as shown earlier..

I mean no disrespect but I have to strongly disagree with you on the flushing. Flushing is ABSOLUTELY needed the last 2 weeks. To have a grow without it.. you.. WILL.. have a much harsher smoke. The kinda smoke that chokes, scratches the throat, gets you coughing even when you have barely taken in any smoke at all. I have seen the research done on it with them saying it makes no difference. But they.. from what it seemed.. only do chemical tests. I've never seen a study with like.. 200 or more people on a blind study, testing a control (such as a thc inhaler or something along those lines), an unflushed bud, and a properly flushed bud. But as far as me and MANY other people who have tried both.. it is scratchy, chokey, and just all around HARSH as all hell when you smoke bud that wasn't flushed. Just my two cents.

 

[Heywood]

I mean no disrespect but I have to strongly disagree with you on the flushing. Flushing is ABSOLUTELY needed the last 2 weeks.

I don't think that is the case in all circumstances. If you're indoors with soil and organic nutrients... Nah.

 

[Fairytalez]

I don't think that is the case in all circumstances. If you're indoors with soil and organic nutrients... Nah.

THAT.. seems to be the defining line actually. And I don't think we (precisely) know yet why that happens. But you are right that in a completelyyy organic grow.. flushing isn't needed. But as far as the OP goes.. they are far far from an organic grow. The used regular miracle grow at first, and then went to miracle grow organic afterwards. But there is still regular miracle grow on those roots.

 

[BlazedonBlades]

A photoperiod plants life cycle is determined by the hours of sunlight it receives. This is a very simplistic explanation. We will use 14 hours as the dividing line. You put your seedling out at 14 hours and the sun is signaling it to veg its ass off and grow as much as possible. Up and over the summer solstice then the light starts declining. Somewhere around 14 hours in late August or early September, the sun is saying, hey I am going to be gone pretty soon. So the plant figures, if I want to have children I need to flower and get knocked up before it’s too late. So then it flowers, gets pollinated, and drops next years seeds. Right now your plant is flowering but receiving a veg signal from the sun so it can get confused and strange things can happen. What I can’t figure out is why are your seedlings didn’t start flowering in February. Unless they are auto flowers which operate under their own set of rules regardless of the sun pretty much. I hope this confuses you

A photoperiod plants life cycle is determined by the hours of sunlight it receives. This is a very simplistic explanation. We will use 14 hours as the dividing line. You put your seedling out at 14 hours and the sun is signaling it to veg its ass off and grow as much as possible. Up and over the summer solstice then the light starts declining. Somewhere around 14 hours in late August or early September, the sun is saying, hey I am going to be gone pretty soon. So the plant figures, if I want to have children I need to flower and get knocked up before it’s too late. So then it flowers, gets pollinated, and drops next years seeds. Right now your plant is flowering but receiving a veg signal from the sun so it can get confused and strange things can happen. What I can’t figure out is why are your seedlings didn’t start flowering in February. Unless they are auto flowers which operate under their own set of rules regardless of the sun pretty much. I hope this confuses you as much as it confuses Me. Good luck, happy growing, and read, read, read!

Hahaha yes it sure does confuse me too. They must be auto flowers then...I have no idea, I just learned that photo and auto was a thing yesterday. When we started growing them they were in sunlight all day, its sunny here in Phoenix pretty much 100% of the time. We put them in half shaded area say 3 weeks ago because the leaves were looking heat damaged and they have been doing well from what I can tell so far.

THAT.. seems to be the defining line actually. And I don't think we (precisely) know yet why that happens. But you are right that in a completelyyy organic grow.. flushing isn't needed. But as far as the OP goes.. they are far far from an organic grow. The used regular miracle grow at first, and then went to miracle grow organic afterwards. But there is still regular miracle grow on those roots.

I've been flushing it for the last 3 months lol all I do is water it...so do I need to do something different? Water more often? Because that miracle gro is still in the roots...?