offgrid's first grow attempt

[theyorker]

The red/purple tint is normal in the branches. Consider waiting to flower until you see alternating nodes. You are only about 10 days away and everything I have read and been told says the finished product is strongly diminished if you don't let the plant mature enough before flowering. Also, she should be ready for nutes. Give her 1/3 label strength first time and then gradually up it to full label strength. Use a fertilizer where the first and third numbers are higher then the second number. I water every 3 - 5 days and give nutes every other watering. Later.

 

[jackband1t]

whats up offgrid, i'm liking the makeshift set-up and your lady (?) is coming along nicely..i'm in the same position as you, only i started about three weeks to a month later, so this is very helpful for me seeing as this is my first grow as well...anyway, good luck!

 

[offgrid]

hey yorker,

my plant looks nothing like everyone else's...i don't have uber HPS lights or mylar or superbloom or anything...just my ghetto setup from what i could scrape together in japan. she (and she better be a she since i paid for feminized seeds and i haven't stressed her) is getting pretty tall and bushy and i'm afraid she'll outgrow my light system. this is why i want to put her into flower, because i hear she's supposed to double(!!) in size during this time.

...ok, i just checked her out again. honestly, she's only about 5 inches to the top of her newest leaves...i'm freaking out over nothing. it's just that when she was small, the cfl's looked SOO BIG and powerful...now she's growing up, and now i have 4 CFLs and it seems like i'm still not bathing her in enough light.

i'm thinking that no matter what, i should start her flower period on the ides of march. that means june 1st will be 8 weeks, dry and cure by mid june, and i'll have 1 month to smoke as much as i possibly can before i leave the country.

i really should have started doing this my very first year. sigh. live and learn...


i gave her some nutes, but it was too much...fried the edges of some leaves. it was good though, because the new leaves had that sickly yellow tint to them of nitrogen deficiency. it's gone now, but some of the older leaves have fried edges. grrr....i'll figure it out eventually.

jackband1t,

yeah holmes, my setup is ghetto fabulous. no mylar, aluminum foil made too much noise with the fan going and didn't really help the light situation, i'm using a bunch of CFLs on freakin' wire coat hangers...i'm using a turkey baster to water her. it's SOOO ghetto...but it started as more of a challange than anything else. i prefer ganja over alcohol, but in japan ganja's about impossible to get, and the law is incredibly dangerous (funny how a law is far more harmful than the plant itself). this ends up being the safest and pretty much the only way to get it without making the right friends (which isn't so safe or cost-effective).

it's good to be self-sufficient.

 

[Elephant Man]

hey yorker,

my plant looks nothing like everyone else's...i don't have uber HPS lights or mylar or superbloom or anything...just my ghetto setup from what i could scrape together in japan. she (and she better be a she since i paid for feminized seeds and i haven't stressed her) is getting pretty tall and bushy and i'm afraid she'll outgrow my light system. this is why i want to put her into flower, because i hear she's supposed to double(!!) in size during this time.

...ok, i just checked her out again. honestly, she's only about 5 inches to the top of her newest leaves...i'm freaking out over nothing. it's just that when she was small, the cfl's looked SOO BIG and powerful...now she's growing up, and now i have 4 CFLs and it seems like i'm still not bathing her in enough light.

i'm thinking that no matter what, i should start her flower period on the ides of march. that means june 1st will be 8 weeks, dry and cure by mid june, and i'll have 1 month to smoke as much as i possibly can before i leave the country.

i really should have started doing this my very first year. sigh. live and learn...


i gave her some nutes, but it was too much...fried the edges of some leaves. it was good though, because the new leaves had that sickly yellow tint to them of nitrogen deficiency. it's gone now, but some of the older leaves have fried edges. grrr....i'll figure it out eventually.

jackband1t,

yeah holmes, my setup is ghetto fabulous. no mylar, aluminum foil made too much noise with the fan going and didn't really help the light situation, i'm using a bunch of CFLs on freakin' wire coat hangers...i'm using a turkey baster to water her. it's SOOO ghetto...but it started as more of a challange than anything else. i prefer ganja over alcohol, but in japan ganja's about impossible to get, and the law is incredibly dangerous (funny how a law is far more harmful than the plant itself). this ends up being the safest and pretty much the only way to get it without making the right friends (which isn't so safe or cost-effective).

it's good to be self-sufficient.

Ok, listen bro, I wouldn't normally recommend this except for special circumstances such as space restrictions or breeding, but it is not a 'rule' that MJ must be vegged at all...and no, nothing bad will happen if flowering straight from germination...only small plants. MJ will veg until it is sexually mature and then begin flowering...even under 12 hours or less from birth. Simple nature if you think about it. Some strains will begin flowering very early (2-3 weeks) and will not get very big or yeild much...some strains will thrive and do nearly as well without vegging at all. (gram x watt x time) But they all will do fine and potency will not be diminished.

In any case, in your situation, I would agree...any free bud is better than nothing, and whatever you get from growing yourself, I assure you, will be more satisfying than anything you risk buying.

Not really any reason why everyone can't grow weeds that I can think of....there is a guy on this board in Alaska with no electricity...another peep I know is blind.

Eman:ccc:

 

[DLtoker]

Things are coming along quite nicely for you eh? Hopefully we can get some pics of some bud pretty soon after you start 12/12

 

[offgrid]

came home from work today and checked on my lady...

...only i don't know if she's a lady

i haven't put her on 12/12 yet, but i believe these are the beginnings of pre-flowers...only, they look like balls. i don't know for sure, maybe you fellas with more experience can let me know if i'm jumping the gun, but they look like pollen sacks forming. i'm going to put her/him/it on 12/12 tonight and see what happens tomorrow. if it's a hermie, you best bet imma be in there with a ginsu knife with more gumption than an all-boys catholic choir director.

this shouldn't be happening...i got FEMINIZED seeds, damnit. well, since i've never actually SEEN a plant flower before, it could just be my ignorance. time will tell...

 

[TURKEYNECK]

That tear drop shape looks like a female to me mang. Congrats.

 

[THE BROTHER'S GRUNT]

Whats up OG. I would give it a few more days and you will really be able to tell.

 

[KADE]

That tear drop shape looks like a female to me mang. Congrats.

I'd say the same.

 

[Kindbud]

looking good offgrid cant wait to see the final product
good luck and keep on growing

 

[offgrid]

i started the 12/12 regimen on wednesday, but not much has happened other than a bit of stretching. the little microscopic bud site has gotten slightly bigger, but only by millimeters as you can see, my setup is constantly evolving. i have most of the light focused on the top leaves...ought i tweak the lighting a bit so i have more light near the bottom leaves? the lowest ones are wilting away anyways...i think i accidentally squirt them with water and they start shrivelling up. i have no idea about ph levels or anything. i'm a little jealous that cyberquest's plants are doing so well under cfl's compared to mine, but i have far fewer bulbs going, and a pretty crap set-up in comparison.

hopefully in two months i'll have something to show for all this time and money invested thanks for the goodwill and the advice!

peace
offgrid

 

[THE BROTHER'S GRUNT]

Whats up OG. Your lady friend is looking great mang. I would stay with the light at the top of your plant and not worry about the bottom. The very bottom leaves are always the first ones to die off.

 

[offgrid]

ok, i'm 1 week and 5 days into flowering. she's doing all-right, but i ran into problems. she was becoming so tall that the jury-rigged lights routinely fell-into her, or her leaves would come into prolongued contact with their bulbs leaving them brown and crispy. drastic measures were needed...i attempted a really poor job of fimming her. i think i failed; moreover, i'm afraid i might have destroyed the cola and totally screwed myself. also, i might have overdid the nutes as the top leaves are reeeaaally green and kind of stiff, and a lower sun leaf is looking like it's shriveling up.

i rearranged the individual bulbs to go around her perimeter so as to avoid the contact problem at the top. this allowed me to lower the overhead light much closer. there were some problems with the sun leaves blocking the emerging...uhm..secondary growth? the secondary growth grew right up INTO the sun leaves and couldn't' get any light. i know i ought not to cut off the sun leaves as they provide sugar and store energy...instead, i just moved them to the side so the secondary growth could get light.

there are tiny little pistils forming here and there. i'm not expecting much in terms of yield...a half ounce would be fantastic as it will be the first harvest EVER on my own.

 

[Runbyhemp]

Not really any reason why everyone can't grow weeds that I can think of....there is a guy on this board in Alaska with no electricity...another peep I know is blind.

You gotta take your hat off to these people. Imagine growing weed blind !
They must have a heightened sense of touch and smell.

Could know by smell when its ready to flower, or when its sick maybe ?
I'm intrigued now E Man. Please tell more ;-)

EDIT Sorry for hijacking the thread offgrid :48: she'll have a growth spurt I reckon, you could be lucky

 

[THE BROTHER'S GRUNT]

Damn OG sorry about the young lady getting burned and stuff. MJ is a very strong plant and i'm sure she will make a full recovery. Also be careful with those damn nutes because they can be the death of your plant if not used right.

 

[offgrid]

maybe it was the passing of the spring equinox which suddenly pivoted the weather and made it sunny and beautiful...maybe it's because my girl is growing up to be far more than i would have thought possible...or maybe it's because the flowers have started coming out

despite my misguided attempt at "fimming" (when i was actually cutting the future cola site :huh: -> -> -> ) my girl is looking very nice. she's grown from a measly 6 or 8 inches when i first put her into flowering up to 14", and i'm 18 days into flowering. there are little flower sites popping up and i'm totally stoked!


it appears my stupid attempt at fimming 10 days into flower didn't do all that much damage. there's still a bunch of flowers forming up there, and i'm starting to see pistils in lots of places. there's no massive resin forming, but if this has taught me anything, it's that i need PATIENCE.

been feeding her 8-10-5 ever other watering...water maybe twice or three times a week. lately she seems to be drinking quite a bit, so i guess that's a good thing.

if anything, i hope this journal shows other would-be first-timers that even with a ghetto grow room, it can happen! just look at the pictures from start to (i hope) finish...

offgrid

 

[Elephant Man]

Wow Offgrid...she looks REALLY good. Sorry I haven't stopped by in a while, been really busy. I saw what looked like a little calcium deficiency a few posts back, but she looks really good now.:aok:

Week 3 will be fun, she is gonna start fattening up. Week 4 sometimes seems like a lull, not much happening...but after that, she should be done stretching and will fatten up even more.

Hmmm....can you get a descent bloom booster? Your current fert is a tad heavy on the N for after 4th week. No harm in using it, just start weakening it slowly after week 4.

Or, see if you can find a bloom fert with no N...something like 0-10-10. We could also mix up a little topdressing if you want, some High P guano would be great. Another idea is to start adding a tsp of molasses to every other feeding....that will bump your K a little. Let me know if you got a few more bucks to put into her....but no worries if you don't.

Runbyhemp: Yeah, I like to talk about the blind grower, just goes to show that there is alot more to diagnosing than appearance...leaf texture is just as important.

 

[offgrid]

woohoo thanks for the compliment ^_^ i was pretty down on myself and the whole thing...it seemed totally impossible and there were so many complications. but now i'm looking at her, and she's BEAUTIFUL! sure, there are singed leaves and my ugly hacking at her cola (it's funny...she only has one leaf instead of the symmetrical two at the top)...but she's looking respectable.

yeah i hope she's done stretching, because it's kinda crazy how much she's grown.

from the pictures, it looks like the uhm..secondary growth...is stretching a lot up to about the middle where i have the CFLs placed strategically around her perimeter...then there's a looooong stretch of nothing till she gets near the top light, then suddenly there's a bunch of leaves sucking in that light. if she stretches much more, she's going to out-grow the lights i have. by this point i'm willing to plop down another fifty bucks to get more 27 watt cfls and sockets for her, but i'd rather not. kind of low on money this month.


so i biked down to the big do-it-yourself store nearby. on the way there, as i was cycling through the little side alleys, i passed by a japanese police officer. it was weird, because normally there isn't anybody there...but there he was, and he motioned for me to stop. so i stopped and hopped off my bicycle. he approaches me and saying stuff in japanese that i couldn't understand. he starts looking around at my bike and says something about numbers...probably the serial numbers. i bought the bicycle at a shop, but i didn't feel like waiting for this guy to stop me for no reason to see if the bicycle i was riding was stolen. i tried my lame japanese to see what was up...and he starts asking me my name, my address, for some identification...FOR NO REASON! i know what he wants, but i play the stupid foreigner role and start going-off in english. "why did you stop me? i wasn't doing anything wrong, i'm not giving you my information" etc. he figured out i was an english teacher, figured out what school i was working at, and then let me go. utterly pointless...but if that happened in the states, it probably would have went down much worse.

so at the store, i finally got a hold of 0-6-4...that's the best i could do. i even got the sales staff to help me look for something like 0-50-??. the japanese word for nitrogen is chi-so, for phosphorus it's rinsen, and potassium is kari. y'know...just in case you're ever in japan and decide you want to start growing...

as far as the bat guano and molasses go, forget it...i'll save that for when i'm state-side. it's amazing enough that i was able to get as far as i have. nothing's weirder than buying "SU-PA SU-KUN-KU JYU-ICHI NO seeds" from a japanese lesbian in a kinky sex (and apparently seed) shop. oh my goodness, i have stories to tell....

ok, next watering i'll throw in this bloom stuff i have. sweet, thanks for the advice!

 

[offgrid]

ah yes, the cherry blossoms are blooming in japan. i have a little blooming of my own though unfortunately i have to keep it hidden.

so this is day 25 of the flowering cycle. she has lots of happy little bud sites all over here tiny frame. there are trichomes visible, but i need to get a microscope from somewhere in order to see their color. i'm still about a month away from harvest, but she looks good so far. all the stretching happened in the first week or two of flower...now she's settled in a bit.

unfortunately i don't think it's going to be a spectacular yield. she doesn't seem very big...maybe i'll get maybe 5 grams dry...maybe. i dunno.

been giving her 0-6-4 every other watering. i can't control the tempatures at all..and it's getting warm in there (27 degrees C). also, with the onset of summer, humidity is going to go up. it's like i'm doing this whole thing backwards.

ohwell...enjoy the pictures ^_^

offgrid

ps: how do i make a signature thing that posts automatically?

 

[offgrid]

nevermind about the signature...got it figured out ^^