Frankie the Marijuana Plant

[LookWhatIFound]

So yeah, as i said in my introduction I found a plant growing wild on a residential london street in a crack between the kerb and the road and decided to give it a home.

Gonna give this Journal thing a go. My operation is rather low-tech as you will see, but any tips would be appreciated. Good for a laugh to all you pros out there I'm sure.

 

[DLtoker]

Haha... Nice man! I can't believe how big that thing is and how it went unnoticed for so long to become that large!:aok:

 

[LookWhatIFound]

So that was my set-up on the 4th of October. Now it's the 10th apparently, but I'm still in the whole '9th' mindset and that's when the pics are from. I did a bit of reading on this site before i signed up, and had some knowledge beforehand, and changed things a bit. Here's some shots of how things are at the moment.

I went out and got myself another light, and found a DIY reflector guide on the forum (that's the Stella can). The new light's a 20w low energy bulb that is apparently equivalent to a 100w. the standard bulb on a stand is 40w, and I've got no idea what my desk light is.

I had a good amount of growth in the 5 days it's been in my cupboard, so I'm giessing that the roots took to the new soil OK. On the subject of soil, I'm not sure of the pH, but i'll get my hands on a tester kit and let you guys know.

The temperature was around 32 celsius in there before i opened the doors to put my new light in, it fell to 27 and is climbing back up again.

The cups and tissue and stuff is there to up the humidity a bit. I spray the leaves every now and again with water that I've boiled and put in a sprayer thing.

And there's a fan. And a fire alarm, because I'm safe like that. Cupboard is in my room. Mum is downstairs. Should be a good laugh keeping it hidden. I wake up in the mornings with a nice herbal smell in my nose, and i smile.

So yeah, that's where we are now Oh, and anyone got any idea what strain Frankie is?

 

[THCPezDispenser]

I see you still have the incandescent bulb, you should get rid of it. It is only generating heat and very little in the way of usable spectrum of light. Go get yourself another CFL for the lamp stand, and your reading lamp if you can find one to fit. 32 degrees (90 degrees for our American friends) is too high, and is the fault of the incandescents. Not to mention that incandescents have very little light that the plant can use.

Don't confuse fast growth with stretching (which your plant is). If there is little light and too much heat (lamp + desk light = not great) the plant will grow very tall and not bushy at all, to the point there may be a danger it will flop over. It doesn't look like you have much vertical space for it to grow, so compact and bushy is what you should be aiming for.

Don't worry about the humidity, the plant will actually be more potent if it is a bit on the dry side.

You have tinfoil up, and this is generally considered a no no. And worse, it looks like you have the shiny side out. If you do have to use tinfoil, dull side should be out. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but the dull side does a better job of reflecting the right spectrum of light. Best option is to go get some flat white paint, it's much better than tinfoil and just a little less reflective than mylar.

Good luck man! It's a healthy looking plant, try to do what I said and it will give it a good chance. Here's wishing you have a girl!

 

[LookWhatIFound]

I'll get out any buy myself another CFL today in that case. Also, I've got an off-white wall behind that tin foil. Do we think that would be better than the dull side?

I was considering nailing in some horizontal MDF and training my plant to grow along it. I've read that this can be done, and it would alleviate the problem of my small grow cupboard to an extent. I was thinking of perhaps growing it left along the wall, then snaking it around and growing it back the other way higher up the wall. But that's a long way in the future.

What do we rekon? I'll take those suggestions into account and put some pictures up later. Cheers Pez

 

[Melissa]

hi there
i started like you except i was givin a cutting ,shoved it on top of my fridge in a cupboard in normal compost 8 wks ago and is now a flowering female,only used tomatoe feed and 1 flourecent light from the local diy shop cheap £5 with adapter fitting dont know what strain it is but looking just like yours,dont know if i was just lucky with my first grow but now i have started i dont want to stop .good luck :woohoo:

 

[choking_victim]

your soil should be around a ph of 6.5. I would get a few (2) more CFL's just for better lighting.
more lighting = bigger buds.
It's not a must but get organic soil, it makes the buds taste much better, and is great for the plant.
an easy way to keep your ph down is by using a little vinegar.
as long as you keep an eye on it, you'll be fine, if you notce anything dieing or wilting then post a picture on here, and we'll get to the source.
good luck with the grow.

-CV-

p.s. make sure it's getting good air circulation also. that's a must.

 

[LookWhatIFound]

Ok.

So i went out, bought another CFL, and ripped down the shiny tin-foil. Then I installed the CFL, stuck some white paper on the MDF-coloured wall, and took some photos.

While taking these photos, i noticed something that could well be mould growing on the soil in my pot. Also, a few bumps on the base of the stem. Hoping someone can reassure me, or tell me how to fix that.

Also, it appears as though I'm getting some decent bushy growth lower down. Could be since i dropped the temp and got a CFL. Thanks for the advice.

Do we think that my desk lamp would be beneficial? It might help to keep the temperature up (because it's v cold in my room), and i heard that it's good to have some light from across the spectrum. Or at least, it might have some from the right end of the spectrum?

Oh, and the brown bits on my plant are leftovers from its time in the outdoors I think.

Advice is still appreciated. Cheers

 

[octobong007]

how much vinegar per gallon is recommended?

frankie's lookin good so far, keep up the posts.

 

[LookWhatIFound]

October 21st (day 17): Ok, so I'm still here. I'm leaving the country for 5 days on holiday. I started leaning frankie over, tied her down a few times with string, with a bit of some old tights attached so as not to cut into the stem.

Been leaning since my last post and seems to be doing OK. Had to trim some of the lower leaves as they were in the shade, and because i ran out of bud. Surprisingly strong for leaves, but I havnt smoked in a while. Rather baked.

The brown mark on the stem in the last pic is where i got a bit knife-happy while cutting off a piece of string. Anywho, enjoy the pics

 

[octobong007]

loooooking goooooood

 

[LookWhatIFound]

Right. My baby's getting big. She was just starting to yellow on a few of the leaves and the roots were poking out of the surface, so i took her (smoothly) out of her old pot, and whacked her in a bucket, with holes in the bottome, in a tray. More soil of course, figured she could use the nutrients. Watered her in again, got a new light (got 3 now) gonna give it say 2 weeks and then start her on 12/12 i think. Wise to phase it down through 18/6 or not?

I'll post pics when i find my camera. Room's a tip right now, but I'll get it sorted. Cheers all x

 

[DLtoker]

It's great knowing this plant's origin. Looking great and good luck through finish man!!!

 

[LookWhatIFound]

Sorry I've been neglecting my journal. Just been lazy in all honesty, but here's an update:

Accidentally broke the top of the stem tying it down, but that's fine, it was getting a little big for the cupboard and I don't really care. Smoked good.

Just started that baby off on 12/12. I would have taken some photos but it's all sealed up for the night. I'll get that sorted tomorrow.

so yeah, details and photos tomorrow. x

 

[LookWhatIFound]

Here are a few pics. Someone told me off for having rubbish pixels/file size but i can't sort that out right now. The zoomed out one shows the whole plant as it is, the close-up should hopefully show a few white hairs that I'm hoping means it's female.

It's dropped a fair few leaves, but that seems to have stopped for the moment. So yeah, enjoy x

 

[THCPezDispenser]

I think you forgot the pics dude.
Edit: Nevermind, they were there by the time I posted this

P.S. I love the high resolution photos for close investigation!

 

[LookWhatIFound]

Here's another close-up of a potential bud growth. Any help on confirming that?

 

[LookWhatIFound]

Alrite, here we go. We have buds! (i hope - please will someone confirm that they aren't male balls?) Also, i think I have a mite problem. Tips?

 

[King Bud]

Frankie sure looks like a DUDE to me

 

[LookWhatIFound]

So it is. Just did my research. PROFANITIES!!! Where do I go from here, is there any point letting it grow?