My first grow

[kolah]

My experimental G-13 strains. the one is going to be one bigass cola if I can keep it warm. It just started flowering about a week or two ago. The lower picture is another G-13 strain that I planted "native-style" but it was spotted so I tore it up by the roots (not gently) and then planted it in a 5 gallon pail. I nursed it back and she's looking nice. Shes my step-child plant...an underdog.

 

[kolah]

Da House. (and my DJ Blueberry...which may be a BB cross with Kali Mist)

 

[Seamaiden]

Another 42 degree night. Plants are all fine but I am sure it is slowing down their flowering cycle. As soon as I get my ProCom propane heater I will be using it. It has a thermostat on it so it should be pretty frugal on propane usage.

Big question: I read here where clones should be taken in the veg state. Being a rookie I didn't take any clones. A few of these plants I really like.

Can I take clones now? Most are a few weeks (or more) into the flowering stage. What would be the pros and cons?

Abso-fucking-LUTELY! If it didn't work then I'd have been SOL years ago. Lowers are the best for me, others say, feel and experience differently. In fact, I like to leave some really spindly lower pieces specifically for the purpose of using them for cuttings.

My plants are fine and it was 29 deg the other morning..... I think it needs to be below freezing for more than a few hours to kill plants.

I wouldn't waste the effort taking clones at this point, they've probably actually been "in flower" for at least a month, so you have re-veg and genetic drift to deal with and it doesn't sound like you are growing anything that you couldn't get again.

That question "Can I take clones from a flowering plant?" is a divisive one, so expect to see someone come on the thread after me and tell you "of course you can...." I'm saying, I WOULDN'T!

It needs to be well below freezing for a very extended period of time.

Kolah, I may not be at 9,000', but temps are temps. I honestly don't think you need to be heating that GH until/unless your temps are hitting the 20s. The plants have a nice, large root mass, and if you simply draped black or clear plastic over the pots themselves you'll ensure the root mass remains warm longer, and warms up more quickly. It's not the temps at the above-ground level that make such a huge difference, it's soil temps.

 

[kolah]

the ladies like a little reefer now and then. :)

 

[Seamaiden]

I'm having surgery tomorrow. Send me your women. They will have chores designated to them on an individual basis. I need a kitchen witch and someone to tend the gardens, harvest tomatoes, peppers, beanbeans, and squash.

Think you can have 'em out here by tomorrow AM?

 

[kolah]

From the pictures of the recent EB and Skunk 1, any guesses on finishing time? I am thinking (hoping) about another 3-4 weeks. (I will be buying a small lighted scope to check trichome color)

 

[mendel]

28 degrees for 3 hrs will kill your plants. I have lost branches before that were sticking out from under my frost blankets at that temp.

 

[kolah]

I'm having surgery tomorrow. Send me your women. They will have chores designated to them on an individual basis. I need a kitchen witch and someone to tend the gardens, harvest tomatoes, peppers, beanbeans, and squash.

Think you can have 'em out here by tomorrow AM?

LOL! I have OTHER ideas and "work" for them.

 

[kolah]

28 degrees for 3 hrs will kill your plants. I have lost branches before that were sticking out from under my frost blankets at that temp.

My thoughts are that plants are mostly water and could freeze quite easily, much like veggie crops and other plants. OTOH I think Seamaiden is quite knowledgable and seasoned in growing reefer (as are other farmers here on the forum). In saying so, I think I will play it cautiously and fire up the propane heater (once I get it) and keep it 65-70 degrees at night.
I think the extra warmth and the CO2 will also speed up the finishing time as well. As this is my first grow I don't want to lose them(or slow down their growth..or possibly develop some Hermies) since I came this far.

 

[mendel]

The byproducts of burning propane are co2 and water. Be sure to air out (drop the humidity) your greenhouse during the day.

I dunno what goes on in the sierra foothills, but this aint the foothills. any comparison to the rockies is just ludicris. 2500' elev.....LOL

 

[Seamaiden]

Perhaps you haven't been out here, perhaps you don't know much about the Sierra Nevada. But we happen to have within our range the highest peak in the contiguous 48, Mt. Whitney. We also have a rather respectable number of high peaks relative to range in the country as well.

Can you explain how 28F in the Rockies is truly different than 28F in the Sierra, because the last time I checked temperatures are temperatures are temperatures. How would my snow be all that different from your snow? In other words, why would my plants withstand, while sitting in 1gal pots, weeks of freezing to below freezing temperatures, down into the teens if it were simply cold temperatures that kill them?

:)

Here's a photo from April 2010 of a group of clones that I didn't want to feed or tend anymore, so I stuck them outside. Did that the previous December. And there they are in April, having lived through what are the worst winter months for us in the Sierra, January through March. We got temps down to 15F or so several times that winter. These girls didn't get fed (it shows), watered (it shows) or tended in any way (it shows). They're not dead, though.

I called them whoors for their persistence. I took the photo because I couldn't believe they were still alive.

 

[kolah]

I would tend to think that certan strains would do better than others in cold temps..ie Alaskan TF for one..as compared to an equatorial south american strain. I dunno, I'm just a newb. Hopefully everyone can contribute to this thread and still be civil about it. Peace! :)

 

[mendel]

The last thing I want to do is argue over low temp threshholds. It may very well be that you grow superpot, but the wimpy plants grown here in Co recieve frost damage at 28 degrees for 3 hrs.

 

[kolah]

After a 70 degree temp in the GH yesterday, it was 37 in there at 6 am. I have all the plants nestled high in hay and put water buckets in there. Too close for my comfort zone. Yikes. Plants look Ok, so far. As I wait for the heater I think I will tack on a layer of my 6ml greenhouse plastic on the inside walls. (note: I also have a plant outside in a 50 gallon garbage can. She will be my experimental girl and I shall see how she fares up here with the temps and elevation)

Question: I just looked back at my older pictures and it looks like my Skunk 1 started flowering July 7. It has been in flower for 10 weeks now (70 days). I read where Skunk 1 flowering time is 45-50 days. I am way over that time period.

How is the "actual" flowering cycle identified? When you first see signs of being a female? or later?

I think all is fine but I am picking up a loupe today. I still think my Skunk and Elephant Bud need more time to fully develop. I also think the cold nights are slowing them down . Thoughts?

 

[mendel]

Hi there Kolah, i call aug 1 the start of flower outdoors. this is the time of yr when the more light sensitive (non auto) cultivars will begin to elongate (stretch) in response to the diminished length of day.

I think that most of the flower times listed are indoor times from 12/12 flip, which is much more abrupt and 'in your face' than the gradual reduction of lite we see from mo nache........

Ive run cheese (a select pheno of sk #1) outdoors here in co, and can say with a certain amount of certainy that oct 15 is a good time to pic. Let em go as long as possible man, youve got some nice plants (good work) and the longer they go the more satisfied youll be with your effort.

 

[kolah]

Thanks Mendal for the sound advice. A harvest at Oct 15th?? Holy shirt!..if all goes well these buds are going to be enormous. OK, I'm pumped, lol.

Last night I checked the GH at 3am and it was 36 degrees. I panicked and dug out a small cylindrical bottle of propane and torch (the type to sweat- solder copper piping) and lit that sucker up and stood it up in the middle of the GH. At 6am it was 43 degrees and the plants looked fine and the torch was still burning, lol. I have an old rickety propane heater that needs repair. I ain't fucking around waiting for my new one to arrive. I am gonna fix it and have it running tonight. I even thought of pulling my truck next to the GH and letting it run all night.

My only concerns with running the propane heater is that the light emitted might effect the flowering cycle.

I bought a 30x-100x loupe (with a small light) yesterday from Radioshack for 12 smackers, I am headed out to see what I can see. :)

 

[mendel]

I dont think youll have issues with the lite emitted by your propane heater. To make yourself feel better, you can always turn the lit side of your heater to the door away from your plants. I think youll find it doesnt take a very big heater to keep your space above 31 or so. Ive found a 'little buddy' (its red and says little buddy, and im a stoner so dont rem the manufactuer name) heater to be more than adequate to hold a 12 x 24 cold frame above freezing down to around 23 degrees for several hrs.

Your job now is to reduce the humidity created by burning propane as soon as possible in the morning after the ambient reaches 33 or so. Open that gh up and let the breeze blow thru. I understand your off the grid, so youll have to be creative (no power for big fans). If you dont reduce your humidity your just asking for budrot. Luckily the wide window of humidity fluctuation in short duration is hell on allowing any humidity specific organism to establish itself.

Get a card and score yo bitches for 'finishedness' as you trich gaze them. For the past few yrs ive had crops small enough to trim myself with occasional (subpar) help, but in the past this little list helped me save $$ and streamline the op when trimming crews were involved.

 

[kolah]

I bought this little burner from Wallyworld for 20 bucks. I do not fire it up until around 3AM as the GH is staying a bit wamer with water barrells inside. I run it until 6 AM and all is fine. I put it in a corner and blocked the small amount of light it emits. Heck, the moon has been superbright up here as of late. Skunk and EB are getting full and nice and sticky. That G-13 cross is crazygood. It's just one bigass cone with only a few small outbranches at the bottom. Dj's BB is coming along but a bit behind my Skunk and EB. She has smaller buds and they are a further spaced out. I did a bit more reading on this strain (and compared pics). I am pretty sure it is a pure DJ's BB and not a cross with Kali Mist.

 

[kolah]

Man, some of my plants have stopped growing. My clones started in April are flowering and doing good but a few of my plants (2 of them) that I popped from seed started to flower about 2 weeks ago yet I have not seen any changes in the last week. It's like they stalled out, no new growth, no new buds or hairs, etc. I do not see any signs of nute deficiency either. I wonder if the cold nights are effecting them and we've had some super bright moonlight as of late. Shiite.

 

[Seamaiden]

The moonlight, in my experience, has no such effect. If you're talking youngsters then cold root zones absolutely will have that effect.

This group of seed starts is currently growing, but they're almost half the size I would have expected (had hoped) for them to be at this point. Exactly as Blaze said. I'm going to start pushing carbs into them today.