I am confused, please help.

[NorthernHoney]

I am getting ready to trasplant my babies into their final containers tomorrow. They are 6-8 inches tall and they have little leaves popping out all over the place, I am so confused over the sexing and when to put them into 12/12. Are they too small yet? I keep looking for anything that will tell me their sex. There is something tiny and green happening between the little leaves but I can't see in there, need to get a good magnifying glass. The 3rd picture is the ww it seems to be the smallest of the plants so I was wondering if I need to wait until it catches up. Also I want to get a good ph meter so if anyone can give me advice on that I would appreciate it.
And Happy Thanksgiving to you...

 

[ozzydiodude]

Transplanting will not hurt them. Those plant are not sexual mature yet. When the internodes start to alternate you will start seeing sign of sex(male or Female) IMO dont switch a plant til they are sexual mature. When you transplant you will not see signs of new growth for a few days as the plant is growing more roots. It takes most plants 6 to 8 weeks to show sex when started from seeds.

 

[Locked]

Here is a link to a good ph pen for not a lot of coinage>>>>hxxp://www.eseasongear.com/ph600.html

change the xx to tt

 

[IRISH]

can we see another pic of plant number one above? if you look close at that top V, i can almost see some sex action.(its to the left.)...

cant blow it up. almost looks like male. not sure til better pic. see what i'm talking about?...

 

[NorthernHoney]

O.K. here is another close up and I think I see what you are talking about it is just so hard to tell. I have one of those lighted magnifiers but it is not enough power for my eyes. I am going to go ahead and transplant and wait and hope and wait some more. BTW thanks HL that was the meter I ended up getting now I just have to figure it out. I'll keep you posted.

 

[Alistair]

I see what you're talking about, but those look like new leaf sets to me, not male pollen sacs. It's too early to determine sex.

It is best to wait until the plants show sex before putting them into flowering, but a lot of us don't wait that long. I'd let those get bigger before putting them into 12/12. A lot of us wait until they are about 12' tall before making the change. We do that in an effort to keep the plants short and bushy. Short plants get better light penetration than taller ones. Then again, how much light penetration depends also depends upon the wattage and lumens of your bulb.

 

[NorthernHoney]

I am using a 400 watt MH and some flo's on the table to light up from the bottom, I have just put the flo's down tonight and I'll see if it helps any. I thought they could use some light on their new little leaves coming in and the flo's are already here so I thought I would experiment a bit. I was just concerned about the sexing because I don't want to let them go too long and have an accident, although I look at them all the time I am new and don't know exactly what I am looking for yet. I was hoping the 2 new pics would have turned out better but they didn't. My photography skills also need some work. Thanks.

 

[legalize_freedom]

Northern honey don't be too hard on yourself, pre-flowers can be hard to see with the naked eye at first, when your not used to what your looking for. Unfortunately the computer screen doesn't let us hold your plant up to the light and turn it around etc. You have plenty of time between showing male, and the pollen actually releasing...don't sweat it! If your anything like me on my first couple grows your in there all the time anyway...you will catch it. What am I talkin about? I'm still in there all the time, it's my favorite place in the house!

 

[ozzydiodude]

About the "some flo's on the table to light up from the bottom" Light hitting the bottoms of the leaves hurt the plant more than it helps. The photocells(turn sunlight in to energy the plant uses to grow) are on top of the leaf this is the side of the leaf the light needs to hit.

 

[DonJones]

Yes, get the floros above the bottom leaves and use them to shine into the plant from the side, not up from the bottom.

I think WWs tend to be a little shorter. A slow plant will NEVER catch up because while it is growing so are the faster ones. However, some plants tend to grow in spurts rather than consistently. My Diesels will do that. The sit there seemingly wasting time, then all of a sudden they start growing, some time continually after the first spurt and some o them grow in spurts all of their life.

Personally I veg until they are 2' tall from the floor to the top, including pot, and then switch them. Usually this gives me around 4' tall plants with lots of business. Of course, I top the heck out of them in veg so that changes things too.

Good smoking

 

[NorthernHoney]

Went down and turned the flo's off, I was trying to get my husband to understand what I wanted for side lighting but he had that idea. It's a work in progress. I think I am going to check a hobby store for a magnifier today. I guess I still have some growing to do I can totally understand what you mean about spending the time with them, my husband will say " Do you need a moment alone with them?"
Good advice as always, Thanks.

 

[ozzydiodude]

Radio Shack has the Magnifier(60x-100x) you want for $12. It takes a little getting use to, But you will love it in the end

 

[NorthernHoney]

Thanks OZ I was heading out tomorrow to find something. I saw one online that I liked but it was 50 bucks + tax and shipping so I am looking at 90ish. But I am hoping to have a hobby place or hydro place order one if the search is fruitless. I am still a little nervous about ordering a bunch of stuff online, but there is a book or two from Amazon.com I want sooo bad but my husband makes me paranoid. There are no books or any reference material in this area, I have scoured every bookstore in the area. Small towns Eh?

 

[swampbud]

got one of those scopes ozzydiodude mentioned he's right on with that. cant go wrong for $12.

 

[legalize_freedom]

you will need a scope for trics, but a good magnifying glass will work fine for pre-flowers. I don't use anything except my eyes, but I know what I'm looking for to. For your first time, you may want to leave all of them in your grow until the female pre-flowers show the 2 little hairs, because the males and females can look a lot alike at first to the untrained eye. The male pre-flowers usually show before the female, so watch for those nubs and maybe scoot them to one side...then in another week or 2 look at them again, and see if they have 2 pistils sticking out of the nub its a girl. The female pre-flower starts as a nub, a miniature calyx...so it is easy to mistake for the male, but within a few days of showing it will produce 2 very small hairs.

Borders Books carries a full line of MJ books in the gardening section. Some of the smaller Borders may not have them on the shelves but they can get them.

 

[BBFan]

Hi Northern Honey-

Hope you had a happy T-Day. The flouros beneath the plant is a bad idea- it actually causes competitive stretch as the plant senses light coming from below it "thinks" that another plant is growing next to it and stretches to keep above the competition. If you can get hubby to mount them on the side of your space you'll get more benefit from them.

You really won't need a magnifier for preflowers- when they show, you'll see them. no problem.

How long do you plan to veg and how big a pot you going to put them in?

IMHO you can probably keep them in the pots there in for a little longer.

Good luck with the grow!

 

[NorthernHoney]

Hi BBFan, I did have a good Thanksgiving, hope you all did too. Thank you. I have only transplanted 5 into 2gal pots so far because I ran out of RO water. They had roots coming out the bottom and a pretty good root system happening so I was worried about that hurting the plant. The rest could wait a bit longer.
As far as how long to veg I am just waiting until they get bushier and taller I don't really have anything set in stone. I thought I would let them/you when to flower. I just am paranoid (as I hit my bong) that the males will get passed me and ruin my fem ww's. Which is the reason in the beginning I only did 2 of the feminized ww's, being my first grow and all. I paid dear for those seeds.
And it's a good thing I don't need the magnifying glass for the pre flowers because I have looked and called all kinds of hobby/craft stores and no one has them in stock. Makes me think our eye sight is getting bad at the same time.
Thanks & I'll keep you posted