Growing on a whim, 2005.

[Max]

Hi.

I'm attempting to grow a single plant using only what I have lying around the house. Mine is by no means the ideal setup, but I thought I'd do the best I can with what I've got and see what happens.

Scenario:

1. Sprouted a single bagseed on a whim around early July 2005.

2. Transplanted from a yogurt cup to a 5 gal pot with Black Gold organic soil.

3. Now at about 1.5 months of vegetative growth with 8-10 hours of indirect sunlight until two weeks ago when I started supplementing with an additional 14 hours of flourescent; five lights equalling 80W.

4. Temperature under flos is around 78 degrees Fahrenheit.

5. Strain unknown, but it looks very much like an indica of some kind.

6. Using VF-11 as vegetative nutes for the time being.

Here are some photos of it. I'll post more as she progresses. Or, at least I hope to God it's a she. I kind of have all my eggs in one basket, but don't have the resources to do it right. Still, I wanna give it a try.

NOTE: I currently have no ventilation during the supplemental flo hours and no CO2 added either. My hope is that adequate ventilation and CO2 is received during daylight hours.

What do you think, given my bargain-basement setup? Thanks.

 

[Diseased Strain]

Nice plant man. Short and bushy with tight nodes. Verry nice. I hope it will turn out female for you. She should give you some nice buds.

 

[Max]

Thanks, DS. But, I kind of feel like a hack compared to you guys who are doing it the right way! Oh well. All in good fun.

 

[Max]

Boy, it looks as if this little plant is beginning to flower, but I'm not certain. Based on these pics, would you say that flowering is in progress? If budding is really starting, this has got to be one of the smallest plants I have ever seen bud. Perhaps this is the famed lowryder?

Thanks.

 

[bizzy323]

Max how much light you give to that plant? If the plant is in dark more then 12 hours it will be flowering while growing. Also are does little balls in the second pic (topper part)?

 

[Max]

Hey Bizzy. Heh. Lowryder my ass... I'm probably just in denial about not giving it enough quality light. But it does get at least 20 hours of uninterrupted light. About 10 hours of indirect sunlight and around 11 hours of 80W flourescent.

Also are does little balls in the second pic (topper part)?

Dunno. I'm not yet skilled enough to say for certain at this stage. Hope not. Thanks.

 

[bizzy323]

then the plant shouldn't flower unless its a lowryder i guess, 80watt flo is really nothin for a marijuana plant. I had one plant under 125watt flo for 1.5month and it was little bigger than your plant is now but in hydro drip system, so try to get aleast a 150watt hps if you want it to grow faster or just do what your doing now, but make sure it sees some direct sun light outside. when your ready to flower just leave it outside and it should flower when it starts seeing day and night.

 

[Max]

In fact, I'm only using 80W distributed. 32W on the top, 25W on either side. I've made the decision to upgrade to ~400 HPS, but won't be able to get one until late September. That will probably be too late to squeeze in much more veg, but at least I'll have an excuse to try again the right way and with a known strain. Also trying to figure out if I can get an HPS system to run double duty as an MH for vegging.

Yeah, I'm learning the hard way just how limiting flourescents are. It sounds like you were able to raise a pretty decent plant with your 125 watt flo, though. Thanks again.
I may put the plant outside, but first I have to think carefully about how I would pull that off.

 

[bizzy323]

the plants you saw was done under 400watt not the 125watt flo.

 

[Hick]

8-10 hours of indirect sunlight until two weeks ago when I started supplementing

I would say, there lies your budding answer. If you only began supplementing two weeks ago, it is probably still trying to reveg from the month of 10 hour days.

There does appear ro be a male flower there too, as bizzy pointed out. Can't be positive in the picture, though.But with the "unconventional" start in life, the likelyhood of it being herm are increased.

 

[Max]

Thanks, Hick. Yeah, more and more, it appears to be responding to the shortening day regardless of the supplemental light. Poor plant -- I feel guilty for bringing the stunted, hermaphroditic thing into the world. I vow to grow right next time. Still, there may be a chance.

 

[GanjaGuru]

Next time, wear a condom

 

[Max]

Thanks, GG. Ribbed, for her pleasure? A condom would probably work better than that ** about giving the plant a birth control pill, or whatever the idea floating around was.

 

[Max]

Detected spider-mites on the plant today. Nestled in nodes on main stem, mainly. Drinking lots of sap. Removed as may as I could with a pin. Looking into a good insectiside.

I'm running into almost every problem possible with this plant. Glad of it, 'cause now I'll be going into my next, more proper grow with more experience.

 

[Max]

Okay, so I'm really making a fool of myself with this plant. You can see some burned leaves left over from early nute and light burn all along the bottom.

Have reason to believe that the plant may have started flowering 3 weeks ago. After 20/4 under 80w flos since then, the plant now seems to be in vegg for sure.
Growth, overall, is slow. On the plus side it is bushy and nodes are fairly tight. Also managed to get rid of spider mites.

And finally, I will be using a couple of fans for cooling/ventilation starting tonight. Last night, I bought a 400W HPS and it will replace the pitiful flos this weekend. Here are some pics.

Could you take a close look at the last pic? Ay idea what it is?

 

[Hick]

sho' nuff look like pistils MAX! (do the nursery in pink )

 

[Max]

Hey, hey, hey! Thanks, Hick.

 

[Max]

Okay, so here she is at around three weeks later. Going into 12/12 today.

 

[Max]

Now at 6 weeks of flowering. Perhaps another 3-4 more weeks?

 

[Insane]

Looking very nice Max. I like to wait until about 50-70% of the white hairs turn brown, and you'll know because your fan leaves will start to die and fall off from the bottom up. Dont get worried when the fan leaves start dieing this is part of the flowering process.

Because you aren't sure of the strain this means you could possibly have another 4 weeks to go, but keep an eye on the color of the hairs and how many fan leaves your losing, thats the key.

Another 2-4 weeks Id say.