Not much has been going on, hence the lack of posts. The heavy defoliation and topping I did to start the mainlining process really slowed the chicks’ march to puberty, but they’re getting all happy now and I’m sure will get clumsy and acne ridden soon. They only have to endure one more topping.
I’ve been changing res water once a week with a little more nutes every time, but they’re starting to guzzle water. I reckon it’s pert near time to set up the spare reservoirs to keep them topped off.
Been lst'ing as needed to build a manifold, but the plants are staying really squat so I’m guessing the manifold itself is going to be pretty short. My hypothesis is that the heavy blue in the SF lights is keeping them from reaching up and out. I suppose I could reduce the intensity, but I would think that would stunt growth as well. So I just ain’t gonna do it unless it appears really necessary. They’re at 525 ppfds now.
Also grooving in the tent is the little auto sprout I plopped in a cup a week ago. It seems to be heading in the right direction. Her bodyguards are in there too-7 velvet queen sunflowers that I’ll plant in a circle to hide the weed so nobody can blame me for the savory scent of sunning terpenes wafting through the neighborhood. Since everyone here on the farm made perfect sense, I suppose I’ll do the recommended smart thing and plant it in a smart pot that I can move around. This Northern Lights auto from RQS is supposed to get 4-5 foot tall outside, so I hope I can move it around or in the garage as needed.
And a happy Mother’s Day to all the other chicks here who popped one out!
A couple days into week five already and the plants aren’t looking anything like Nebula’s photos in her manifolding tutorial. Mine are really short and stocky whereas hers are nicely stretched out and behaving the way she explains.
One of mine is an almost pure indica that is only supposed to get 3-4 feet tall indoors and the other is 75% indica so maybe they just aren’t well suited to mainlining. Nebula even mentions that the technique is best suited for taller strains, but do I ever listen? Apparently only to what I want to hear. Also, the leds I’m using are said to keep plants short and bushy so I guess I doomed myself from day one.
Regardless, the plants seem pretty healthy, so if I can wrangle them through veg and the stretch, maybe I’ll get some quality buds. I’m not going for quantity this time. I’ll do some defoliating this evening to clean them up and make room for some growth. Maybe my lack of defoliation has made them squat? But in my backwoods way of thinking I figure the more energy produced by the more chloroplasts would make them grow out more? Or perhaps since they’re getting all the photons they need, they just aren’t in any rush to spread out? Last grow my lack of defoliation was my downfall. It just seems wrong to remove a perfectly healthy appendage, but I seriously need to get over that mindset.
Also, I woke up one morning to find a stem had snapped—one of the outer arms with two growth tips on it, so I lost those, but when life closes a door just make some lemonade or some such nonsense and, lo and behold, two of the growth tips on the first nodes of the main branch I trimmed off a few weeks ago have re-sprouted and are growing pretty heartily now, so I’m back up to eight arms for colas, which is just uber cool, even if a little unconventional. And when I say the stem snapped, I mean it was plumb off and laying on top of the reservoir. There was no taping it back up. I guess the low stress training I did wasn’t low stress enough.
In other news from around the world, the little auto I plopped in a cup seems to be doing okay and will go outside as soon as she grows enough root to transplant and this cold front passes through next week. She just got a well deserved drink in the pic below.
If anyone notices anything awry or just has some free advice, please chime in. Otherwise I’ll just trudge along as I’ve been doing.
Thanks! I’m just a little intrigued by the slow growth though. Four and a half weeks in hydro at 1.2 VPD and they seem like they should be a little farther along. Although I did whack the shit out of them with the mainlining regimen.
Long overdue update, but just not much interesting has been happening. They're still short and bushy and I kept snapping branches trying to lst them, (I am using silica) so I've kind of been just letting them grow. I prune a little every day and try to keep close eyes on them for any spots of moisture building up on the leaves. I have two fans on them, one above and one below turned up pretty high and the exhaust going strong, but I feel I ought to do a little more chopping. A couple of questions if anyone is still riding along:
Is removing a few leaves a day better or worse than defoliating heavily say once a week or two?
And, since leaves are the food production system, should I let the leaves grow on shoots that I want to grow faster? Or does the "food" travel around the plants at a pretty good pace so that it doesn't matter which leaf is taken?
Contrary to the mainlining tutorials, I've left the giant fan leaves on the bottom outsides of the plants grow. My logic is not only that more food will be made and perhaps less stress, but also if shit hits the fan, then maybe those fan leaves will buffer whatever the problem is long enough for me to correct it. I don't think they're causing any harm down there.
I chopped the hell out of these plants early on in the manifolding technique and it really stunted their growth. On my previous grow I didn't defoliate nearly enough and wound up with a lot of weird buds growing without light, so I know I need to find a middle ground.
They have really started perking up in the last week, so I flipped them to 12/12 a couple nights ago. I'll keep a close eye on the stretch, prune any shoots that just aren't going to get up into the light, and keep the canopy thin enough for air to move freely around, but I'm kind of just going to watch and learn the rest of this grow. I'll do something to ensure the colas are far enough apart to prevent any sort of problems. I think I have enough room for that and if any are too in the way, I'll give 'em a chop. I'm going for quality this time, not mere quantity.
I'm sure my logic is faulty on several aspects, so I am wide open to any advice, observations, or suggestions.
And as a bonus track to this thread, I transplanted my little auto on Sunday into a ten-gallon fabric pot with Ocean Forest and perlite. I think I may have been starving her a little because once I got her in the sun she seemed a little droopy and anemic. The soil in the solo cup was bone dry, so I know I was also starving her, but she seems much happier now. It's been cold and rainy this week, and since the soil was already plenty damp, I put the pot in my glass porch, which I thought might cause some slowing, but in the last day she's really shot up. This is the last day of week three and I'm not sure how big she should be at best, but given she should start flowering in about a week, I think she may end up being a runt since she's only this big now. I should have been feeding her in the solo cup and probably should have gotten her out of it sooner. The weather just wasn't cooperating.
Sunday:
Today--finally back out in the open air. It's in the fire pit to protect it from my dig happy dog. I've lost many a happy plant to her in the past.
I enjoy watching an autoflower grow.....still remember when they first came onto the scene. Used to grow a few in the backyard......not many made past 14" tho LOL
It's finally a beautiful day here in the dale and I'd love to put my little Elsa out to bask in the sun, but I don't think I've prepared her for the 40 mph wind gusts today. Perfect weather tomorrow and rest of the week, so hopefully she can catch up in the technically last week of her veg.
A week and a day past 12/12 and they seem to be a few inches taller every morning. I still have about two feet of room above the lights, so that's not too big of a concern now. My main concern at this point is how bushy they are. My last grow I failed to defoliate nearly enough and ended up with a lot of larfy popcorn, so I promised myself I wouldn't repeat the mistake again, but here we are. I did keep the bottom clear and was defoliating a little as they grew, but apparently not enough. There is something intrinsic in me that actively prohibits me from taking leaves off. So going by Grow Weed Easy's defoliation tutorial, I will wait one more week and then do a big chop. My problem at this point is that I just can't fully comprehend where the buds will be, so I'm not sure what to chop yet. I am just starting to see some white pistils, so I think in a week the buds should be plenty visible and I'll know what to cut so that they'll get plenty of light and air while also focusing the plants on fattening those yummies up.
If anyone has a pass-along-able technique for defoliation at this stage, I am all ears (er, eyes). I'll take all the instruction I can get at this stage, but I think I may actually need to speak to a licensed professional about my inability to chop leaves.
Today I'm following Nebula Haze's tutorial for defoliation in week three of flowering. Last grow my lack of removing leaves cost a lot of quality bud, so this time it's chop chop. I think I can discern where the buds will be now.
Wish me luck. Any encouragement or advice would be most appreciated.
Thanks! This time I just let them grow unhindered through the stretch whereas last time I kept training and ended up with a lot of buds under the canopy. There may be some supercropping in store after the defoliation.
I kept thinking through the stretch last time while I was tucking all the stalks under my netting, “Where the hell are these colas that are supposed to be popping up?” What a noob!
Defoliation complete.
I am 100% certain I have done one of the followingr:
1) killed both my plants
2) caused them to reveg
3) stunted them so much I’ll be lucky to get an ounce between them
4) stressed them to the point they’ll forget they’re cannabis plants and will start growing tomatoes (which I’m allergic to)
If they survive a week I’ll post a series of photos. If not, I’ll tuck tail and run.