My first grow is in cocoloco

[AZreefer]

I am on here enough reading all yours helpful info and would love help from all you knowledgable peeps. I will post weeklies and welcome feedback from the farm to help my first grow be a sucess.

Enviroment is a 5x5x7 tent with 4 clip on fans and a 6in intake and 8in exhaust, all aci and a controller. 750w led.

Strain is Grand Daddy Purple
from Seed Connect (local branch)

Medium on all the pots is foxfarms cocoloco potting mix.

3x 15gal pots with 3lbs natures living mixed with the cocoloco on the bottom 1/3 topped with cocoloco.

3x 5gal pots with 6lbs hotsoil under the cocoloco.

1x 5gal pot with just cocoloco.

I germinated all the 5 gallon pots sucessfully but the 3 big ass pots dried out because i was adding the same amount of water to all the pots. So i germinated a few more in small cups and put the sprouts in the big pot. Calling it week 3 for the 5 gallons and week 2 for 15's.

Light is currently 40ish inches above the little ladies.

The cocoloco potting mix seems to be more similar to soil in a sense of watering demands but i have no experience with soil or realistic comparison basis. But i have been watering every other day so far for 3 weeks and seeing plenty of growth so im going to keep up with the every other day cycle unless someone has a better suggestion for this perticular medium. I have some bastard little girls but i love them. Not soil but not coir.

Im giving the 5 gallon pots about 3 cups of water with 1.5 near the stem and the rest around the medium.

The 15s i have been putting in 6 cups with 1.5 going around the stem and the rest going around the medium.

I skipped the seedling pics and stuff and just started with the most recent to show the lights distance and a good view of the girls currently.

Tomorrow is a watering day. Water ph is 6 and is RO tap water.

I keep the rh at 60 and the temp at 80.

Im feeling semi confident at this point because the plants are growing vigoursly and looking, how they look. They look good, yeah? I have been coming to the farm and reading through all the "help me" post a couple months now and trying to incorporate all the tips into what i have done so far.

2 nights ago there was an awful power outtage that left the girls in raw heat, talking 100+, for like 3 hours. Hopefully that doesnt happen again!

So far im having a ton of fun watching these girls grow. It is happening so fast that every time i peek in the tent it looks different.

I will add pics weekly and incorporate any usable suggestions or feedback.

Thanks growmies!

Ohhhh yeah. I have organic roots terp tea grow to feed the girl in the cocoloco with no organics and supplement the organics in the bigger pots should i need. I plan on getting the matching bloom to feed everything in flower.

Peace

 

[AZreefer]

Water day. I also raised my light to above my head and i increased intensity to make up for it. i did this yestetday and watered today. The lady in the middle was drooping a bunch so i increased the water. Im probably at 1.5 liters. Came up with a much better way to water even and clean.

i want to make sure my changing the light is not going to fuck with the plants so im going to wait a week and the top all 7 plants to the 3rd node if i have good growth after raising the light and increased intensity.

 

[AZreefer]

New growth continued and a day after tge last water all the girls were looking good. So since this grow is a huge learning curve and already full of things i wanted to try different i topped them at different ages but to the 3rd node on all but 1. I left her because she was just above the 3rd node. 4 of them were at node 6 but i think they stretched. My node spacing is huge. I topped to 3 and left all the under growth for 48 hour because im scared. I just want to make sure they can absorbe some light before i remove most the growth for the mainline. This pic is this morning.

Ive been increasing the amount of water i give each watering. Im up to 1.5 liters in the 5gal and 3 liters in the large pot. I put like 3 cups on the roots and the rest around the potting mix to pervent it from drying. I will keep with this volume for now as it seems to be doing the trick. (Always open to suggestion)

Pic 1 is a good shot of the crazy node spacing.

In pic 3 the only plant left not topped is the far left back plant.

Tomorrow is water day and the start of week 4 veg.

 

[AZreefer]

School has begun in the tent. Started training the stretched girls today. I believe i have a better situation with lights based on new node spacing being much tighter. You can see it in the last pic. So fingers crossed i dont fuck up anything. Im so nervous as i touch these little stems. I accidently ripped off fan leaf so fast as i was standing up. Scares me. I have not done any training to the back 3.

So far im feeling pretty good. Very excited and i really enjoy seeing the changes. It happens so fast. Im learning and having fun. I really like the subtle weed smell in the tent. I didnt expect that until it started flowering so when i could smell that classic aroma as i was watering the other day i got so excited i made the wife come check it out!

In keeping with the grow theme of trying different shit where possible i am training the plants with clips and ties both to see which is better or easier for my fat fingers.

 

[Galgrows]

Great looking grow so far

 

[AZreefer]

Im seeing these girls through dad eyes. The pics are always amazing to me. Lol! Im smitten...I love the way they smell in the morning and they way are perked up for me when i get home from work. Ive gotten the wife into looking at things going on daily. Just so exciting.

Im not sure what direction the pics will load but the smaller trunks are the girls in the 15gallon pots. The ladies in the 5 gallon pots have all been topped twice Ive decided to try to set up a few plants to try 12 colas and some for 8. The ones large enough have the training clips.

Ive been watering every other day until this point, like just before week 4 but today the pots were still wet after the first water of 2l. Im going to water 2l every 3 days the next few waterings.

So beginners luck helped me i think. The plants in the big pots are taking off at tge same height + - an inch or two. I have a shot of the tops as best i could.

 

[AZreefer]

Everyone is looking very healthy. I had a super plan with watering and i was giving them a set amount on set intervuls and the plants all sort of stopped listening. I still give them set amounts of water but now they all drink at different rates. So now im checking each pot on a daily with the finger probe method. Im still giving the 5gal pots 2l of water at a time. Some it lasts 3 days some, 2days, some 4 days. Im giving the 15gal pots 4l that seems to last 2-3 days.

I really fucked up one plant with my fat fingers. Lol. I knew it was just a matter of time. This poor girl seems to absorbe my mistakes. Bent her and snapp a top clean off. I guess ive seen the difference between a branch i should be trying to bend and one i should not. Live and learn. She still has 6 colas so thats not too shabby. I dont know if i should cut the branch lower now. That matter?

At gnicks suggestion on another thread ive started shifting my lights by 1 hour a week to gradually move into flower. I was on an 18/6 and dropped to 17/7 last week and yesterday again to 16/8. I figure 4 more weeks of veg will allow me to get the back 3 topped the final time (tomorrow morning) and then recovery and growth before the preflower defoliation.

My canopy is surprisingly even currently

I dislike these LST clips i strongly suggest they not be used. Ive seen scars in my stems. They come to a sharp edge where they rest on the stem. Too bad because i have like 60 of them now. Im just going to be cautious about leaving them on as the stem thickens up.

Im still feeling good about this grow. Im on the farm daily reading posts and journals to incorporate anything i can that is benificial.

I need more coffe and to twist one.

 

[AZreefer]

lots of new growth. I topped the back 3 girls today for the final time at node 3. Now everything is cut. I did not remove any nodes on the mainline on these plants so they currently have 12 cola to grow. I am hoping to spread the pots out better as the stretch happens so i can better spread the tops out. Hell i dunno. I am thankful my biggest problem so far is the size of my fingers when dealing with the seedlings and a training accident.

Im currently watering 2l in the 5 gallon pots and 4l in the large pots. Typically every 3 days. Its turned into a watering as needed.

 

[AZreefer]

My big fingers strike again. I have snapped like 3 branches off different plants. Err. Ive learned i need to train sooner than i had been. I believe my high silica content in my tap water helps strengthen the stems very rapidly. Some of the growers i watch are able to brnd the shit outta some stems. I have to be careful and train earlier. Next run i will aim for better shape of the mainline. I aquired a bunch of 12ga copper wire at work i plan on using next. I have a few plants that seem to look very similar to the videos and pics im following. A couple not so much.

Im transistioning to flower sooner that i thought because the canopy is almost up to flip point if i am to maintain control of the flower stretch. I now have the lights on 14/10. Next week im moving it to 12/12. I wanted to be more gradual like gnick suggested but room is a factor.

 

[brazilianfarmer]

That's some amazing looking grow you have here ! :D

Amazing work on this LST.

I love the way you describe the smell in the tent and how you feel about your girls, that describe so accurately how I feel myself during this first grow haha.

Congratulations, keep it up !

Can't wait to see the harvest

 

[AZreefer]

That's some amazing looking grow you have here ! :D

Amazing work on this LST.

I love the way you describe the smell in the tent and how you feel about your girls, that describe so accurately how I feel myself during this first grow haha.

Congratulations, keep it up !

Can't wait to see the harvest

Thank you. The LST is low for the plants but high stress for my big fingers. Im not very good at the subtle. Ive broken a few branches that i didnt want to break. I think it might be my least favorite part so far.

My next grow is going to be another organic grow but im going to do some of the royal queen seed F1 autos. Will be following what i saw on your grow with the bending of some and going to maybe try topping a couple and then just letting a couple grow natural with some defoliation.

 

[AZreefer]

The girls are at 14/10 lights since sunday so im hoping the rapid spur of growth is the beginning of the flower stretch. The are just under 30" (76cm) to the canopy from the floor . I can handle that if they top out around 60" from the floor without removing the exhaust fan to the outside of the tent.

All this space under these ladies skirts makes watering a breeze now. This morning watering the thirsty ones was an absolute pleasure. I was using my little watering can and humming. No stress over moving fragile limbs. Im noticing that bending the tops of the branches is way easier than when shaping the mainline was. The tops are so soft and can be twisted and rolled pretty easily without fear of damaging. I can do this part!

All in all the further i get into this grow the more....yeah i dont know how but im getting more and even more excited about watching the change as these plants grow. It is soooo pleasing to the senses to be in the room with them. Tranquil and smells so lovely.

In keeping with my theme of trying several different approaches to the shaping of tge plqnts i have defoliated some more heavily and still 2 i have not. The far back right plant in the full pic was pretty pissed when i broke her in half. Clean broke off half of one of her mainlines. She now hosts 6 good branches.

 

[brazilianfarmer]

looking good in that grow tent !

Quick question : at which distance do you put your light from the apex of your plants ?

Peace

 

[AZreefer]

I put the light up high enough to be able to get ito tue tent without hitting my head. The light is close to 60" above floor

 

[AZreefer]

Had to rearrange the pots and place the shorty in the middle. She was broke in half at a pivitol week when everyone else was making such rapid growth that she has been left behind. She is a solid 4in shorter than the others. I want to elevate her pot but i need to make something. I am slammed currently and am 7 consecutive days into 10 hour days at work. I only get to see the girls in the morning for a short time before im off. Momma closes the room for the night before im back from work. :(

Were offically in flower. 12-12 light cycle!

8 - 10 more weeks for my first harvest. Fingers crossed!

Im giving the same 2l to the 5gal pots each watering and 4l to the 15gal pots. Watering schedule now depends on pot weight and finger jab. The leaves sort of curl under a bit after a watering then bounce up and out a few hours later.

Ohhhhjj yeah i accidently supercropped a limb real good this morning.

On my next grow im going to see about not training or topping and just defoliate on an auto to see about making a large bud on plant. Maybe im meant to do more of SoG set up with a bunch of autos so i dont have to train and bend tiny branches with my massive fingers. Im certain that is my very least favorite part of the endevour so far.

 

[Galgrows]

They are looking great fella really doing well

 

[AZreefer]

The lollypop seems to be almost mandatory with a mainlined plant, yeah? Well i dont know from experience....yet! But Ive been taking the first week of flower to very slowly defoliate and lollipop.

I have lollipopped a few of the ladies. One of them i took to an extreme to see what happenes. 3 of them i did not pop just defoliated.

I cleaned up all the smallest growth. Clipped the mini colas that were not over the half way point. I think if i had done better cleaning and spacing of the colas on the mainline i wouldnt have had the trex arm colas. But i did this on only a few of the plants because i did clean off all growth but a few cola.

I am really loving having all the same strain because its like jamming 8 grows into 4 months.

The angry girl in the middle is making verticle progress again finally. I thought she might get light choked and i cant really help her enough because of my awful summer schedule and my now very very limited time i have to be with the plants on a daily. The girls wake up at 4 am and i rush in to greet them with my eagerness. I see them until about 5 when i leave for work and they are sleeping by the time i return. It sucks!

The pics are close ups of all 7 (i started with 8 but fucked up a seedling, grow and learn). Also i feel my defoliate technique is sloppy but im not comfortable pinching my giant fingers any closer to the stem so there are pokies. Will that be a problem?

For this las round of defoliation i actually took to breaking down the fan leaf and pushing it out of the way but leaving it sort of supercropped leaf. Lol. Is this a bad idea?

 

[AZreefer]

It has begun!
(Start Mortal Kombat theme)
Woke up to the pleasant sight of newly forming buds! Honestly I expected more stretch first. So from this point I'm officially growing bud! So exciting.

I had root bound issues on one of the girls. Put out a few questions and did some digging, literally, into the pot of the root bound girl and clawed out the majority of the solid clumps around the roots and below it. This was a result of bad watering and poor prep. I was so excited as i was slapping all the pots together and went too fast. Didn't soak the media well enough. My organics dried out and turned into a puck. I found it and smashed it and am reconditioning the soil. Well I did, yesterday. It's all done now and she looks good today. After the digging she was a bit upset so I expected to see her a bit limp today. Her color has improved and she looks lovely.

 

[AZreefer]

Testing out the new phones camera. That looks pretty good.

I'm so excited. Only 2 plants have developed the hairs and it seems like this one plant popped out in the last 4 days.

 

[brazilianfarmer]

Wow, this picture is amazing !

How's the smell now that the hairs appeared ? :)