First time grower with red stems/yellow/spotting leaves

[The Silver Bullet Special]

I guess I should have elaborated a little more on the FFOF... it will feed for 3 weeks but if your strain is a light feeder is could add a few weeks to that... I would have waited until you see it starting to lack in nutes somewhere since they were already over fed from a small seedling. I've only read on here the growers dont normally add cal mag until they start flowering.

Most hydro store owners dont actually grow regardless of what he told you. This site is way better to get a ,sort of unbiased, multiple opinions without all the teenage drama of other forums. My hydro store lady told me that my super soil list wasnt going to work for anything though I've seen results on this site (I just couldnt tell her that and it was developed with the guy that made it and a professor at WSU I believe), and I should go with her canna brand nutes which she also said will out preform GH 3 part nutes.

Canna brand is the main brand she sells and is her most expensive.. so of course she will say its the best. Be careful about who you hint to about growing if you arent an a MJ friendly state; my hydro store I found out is under police surveillance across the street.

 

[growgreen420]

I guess the Bloom Sea Minerals (From the line up of the "Yellow Bottles") is a new whole product line that came out and it's hard to find much info on it. But like I stated before; as I read around online, it contains trace elements that are there to "fill-in" where the plants need it and will eliminate deficiencies...?

 

[growgreen420]

Dang okay. That is sketchy. I will have to keep a lower profile for now on. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Whether you want to go organic or not is up to you. The GH Flora series is really easy to use and is readily available. All lines of nutes formulated for mj should supply the micro nutrients the plant needs.

IMO, organics takes a bit more work, but there are advantages to that also in not having to pH everything, which reduces the work. While meters may come precalibrated, I have never seen a pH meter that does not require periodic calibration. I never trust them right out of the box and the first thing I do with a new meter is check the calibration. When I was running hydro, I calibrated at least twice a month.

Like The Silver Bullet Special, I urge caution when visiting your local hydro store. It is quite important to not talk about your growing to anyone, regardless of how much they insinuate that they grow.

 

[growgreen420]

Yep. I will be taking much more caution now.

Here is a pic of the garden. Never seen the plants this healthy before:

 

[growgreen420]

Female?

 

[Hushpuppy]

Oh yeah they are looking nice and healthy. I do believe that is a female preflower. You can see the 2 hairs coming up out of the top for sure. Those are the actual "pistels" that carry the chromosomes in the pollen down to the ovum to produce the seed.

Now if you want to see some serious bushy growth on them before putting them into flower, you can do a couple things. You can simply pinch the very top bulb of growth out(topping) which will cause the 2 side branches to come up and form a twin cola. Or you can do what some here like to do which is "Fimming" which is similar to "topping". It will cause the upward growth to "pause" for a week or so and force all of the lower branches to shoot up and form a multi-top cola.

To do that you would gently spread the top leaf growth open to get into where the center bulb of growth is, then with fine tipped scissors or using forefinger and thumb nails, snip about 2/3-3/4 of that little bulb out, leaving the lower 1/4-1/3 in place. That will cause the plant to respond within a few days and you will see shocking growth. But be ready for them to bush out a lot, and they will want to eat and drink more as they are accelerating their growth to catch up all of the lower branches with the "damaged" top.

If you have the area to spread them out some, that is a great way to keep them shorter and cause them to build a nice, bushy bud canopy

 

[growgreen420]

Thanks for the advice. It is something to think about for sure it's just that my grow room isn't really all that big. Next grow I want to grow less plants but much more healthier and lusher growth. I was told to top the plants but still seem a little worried about it being my first time and all. They have been growing for 1 month now. What would u recommend... how much longer should they veg before I put them into flowering?

 

[The Silver Bullet Special]

You can flower the plants that have those preflowers showing. I'm waiting till my plants get bigger so I can take clones off this thai I'm growing out... shes a stinky one in veg lol cant wait to flower it.

 

[Hushpuppy]

It depends on your space. When you flip them, they will stretch some. Anywhere from half the height again to 3x the height that they are when you flip them. You don't have to top them if you don't want too, they will still produce. You can flip them now or wait and allow them to get a little bigger if you know you have the verticle space. Just make sure you are ready with the extra lumens, good ventilation, and extra bloom nutrients so that they can do their thing without interruption.

 

[growgreen420]

Yep I would say all is doing well. I can tell there are quite a bit of different strains. Some plants are growing at different speeds and some have way different leaves... some are long and skinny and some are short and wide. However; the plant that is showing female signs is the biggest, most healthiest, plant. Looks like I know which one to clone. When should I clone? I guess when the time comes I will have a few questions about this. I know the basics and the root gel and stuff like that but I will have questions... like everything else.

Also, as far as the sea minerals go.... should I continue to use them? They are organic so it won't hurt any beneficials?

Also, the CALiMAGic... should I use that or wait until flowering or wait until I see deficiencies?

Thanks again!!!!

 

[Hushpuppy]

The best time to clone is when you are within a week of moving the girls to flower, that way you know all the girls are indeed girls, and they have had a chance to extend some nice cutting length branches at the bottom of the plants(which is the best place to take cuttings from the plant). Don't worry, cloning is much easier than you think.

You can give the sea minerals as I suspect(without having read up on it) that is is a micronutrient suppliment. I would use it very lightly, as in what ever the directions say for using it, cut it to half the amount for half the time, then increase later if you see the need too.

Others may disagree on this but I have seen just about everyone suppliment soils including FFoF with sweet lime which is the organic version of the calimagic, so I would use the calimag(unless you also added lime to your soil). Again with the cal/mag, you want to use it sparringly unless you start to see some deficiency developing. Just cut the recommended dosage to 1/3 and go from there.

The next thing for you to consider is do you want to stay on the "more organic" path or switch to chem nutes. If I recall, the containers that the girls are in are fairly small so the soil nutes won't last long before you will have to start earnestly feeding. You can stay "more organic" without going the DIY route. You just have to buy the organic suppliments from FF. I have also read that the "earth Juice" brand of organic ferts is very high quality.

If you don't have the time to really delve into the organic trail and just want to go the easiest route then switching over to chem nutes like GH3part, AN3part "jungle juice" which I use is also very simple and easy to work with and these will work well with the calimagic.

 

[growgreen420]

There is so much stuff to think about lol. I like the organic because of the organic part but I have read that chem nutes are a bit easier to use. For a first time grower what would u think would be best for me?

Both FF and GH3part is available to me at my local hydro store. And I will be transplanting into bigger pots here in a week or so. These will be the biggest pots the plants will see for this grow period.

 

[The Silver Bullet Special]

With me not having a whole lot of time to watch my plants but just an hour or so a day now I decided to make an organic super soil mix (NV's super soil) and that will hopefully let me just only add water to the plants the length of the grow (veg and flower) but the trick to that is adding the right amount of super soil to the bottom of the pot, not enough and I'll have to add nutes, too much (the soil is incredibly strong) and it will fry up the plants. But also you gotta add enough to last you the length of the grow and figure out a good veg period once you know the average flower time.

Those different "strains" could be the same strain but different phenotypes. I'm not sure if you are growing from a bagseed or if you have known genetics.

 

[sMACkaddict]

You can flower the plants that have those preflowers showing. I'm waiting till my plants get bigger so I can take clones off this thai I'm growing out... shes a stinky one in veg lol cant wait to flower it.

You can put plants into 12/12 from seed and it won't have any affect on when they start flowering. You can continue to let the plants veg by delaying the switch to 12/12, by however long you want, after the plants have displayed sexual maturity(alternating nodes are a better indicator than pre flowers).

sMACk

 

[growgreen420]

Super soil? That sounds like a little too much for me right now lol. But it is definitely interesting that is for sure.

Yeah I want to wait until I see alternating nodes before I start flowering. I was think a good solid 2 month veg period? So another 3-4 weeks I was thinking? I would like to see the plants get at least 2 feet tall before flowering.

I am just stuck at the part (I know I will need nutes, soon) but should i go organic or chem? If organic I would like to go with FF and for chem I would like to go with GH3 part. Any suggestions? What should I do as a first time grower? I have read that chem nutes are a little easier to deal with? What should I do? Thanks!

 

[sMACkaddict]

I think its a personal preference. Both have different learning curves and if you want to switch from one to the other at some point you will still have to learn the same amount even after trying the other. So it depends on how important organic is to you and your final product.

sMACk

 

[growgreen420]

Organic or Chem... does one produce a "better" final product?

 

[sMACkaddict]

you will not get a satisfying answer to your question. It is subjective. If an organic final product is what you want, then go organic. That is the long and short of it.

sMACk

 

[The Silver Bullet Special]

Both types will produce good buds its all about growing style each person has their own way... I've got alternating nodes on two of my plants but no preflowers yet.. kinda wondering when they'll show sex.