Please take a look at my first offspring

[SubmarineGirl]

I would ph up your tap water to 6.5. You have to check your PH after adding the PH up to your water bucket prior to adding it to you plants to make sure your PH is around 6.5. This should bring your PH runoff up. If it’s still low, you may add PH 7.0 to your water bucket to help adjust it back up

im assuming you have a means of checking the PH?
PH pen or PH test kit?

 

[ActivatedAlmonds52]

im assuming you have a means of checking the PH?
PH pen or PH test kit?

I have a Terra Aquatica kit (liquid + vial).

Yesterday I had to move the plants out of the box for a few minutes to make some adjustments and I noticed that the one right below the bulb is significantly lighter than the other one. I guess that's what causing the clawing. The other plant is pretty heavy. So today I'll skip watering the heavy one and up the dose for the drier one (700mL -> 1000mL).

From now on I'm going to check the weight by lifting the pots an inch.

 

[ActivatedAlmonds52]

7th week.

They're both about 26" now. Air humidity inside the box is a bit low - only about 35%. Any ideas?

 

[SubmarineGirl]

7th week.

They're both about 26" now. Air humidity inside the box is a bit low - only about 35%. Any ideas?

Maybe want to remove a few of those beautiful fan leaves that are blocking any bud sites.

 

[RosterMan]

Look fine, It is going to get crowed in there

 

[ActivatedAlmonds52]

Look fine, It is going to get crowed in there

Yeah, I know. I figured it would be better to have too many than too few.

I have two questions:

- is it OK to water the plant until there's runoff (in one sitting)? I just used 1,5L to water one and waited a few minutes to get a pH reading, but not a single drop came out. I don't want to flood the roots...

- how many leaves can I cut off at once? I just read a bit about pruning and I'm not sure if I can remove, say, 5 small leaves of each plant without shocking it.

 

[SubmarineGirl]

Yeah, I know. I figured it would be better to have too many than too few.

I have two questions:

- is it OK to water the plant until there's runoff (in one sitting)? I just used 1,5L to water one and waited a few minutes to get a pH reading, but not a single drop came out. I don't want to flood the roots...

- how many leaves can I cut off at once? I just read a bit about pruning and I'm not sure if I can remove, say, 5 small leaves of each plant without shocking it.

I only water till runoff when I’m concerned about PH and need a reading. You can alway suck the water out of the trays after you get your reading.
as far as fan leaves go. It’s the part I hate the most removing all the large beautiful leaves blocking light from the bud sites, any lower older leaves and anything from the bottom of the plants that don’t see light. I think big told me once that you can remove up to 30% of your leaves without hurting your plant. Your plants will look a bit naked for a couple of days but you will need to pull more leaves off again as they will fill in really nice after doing so

this is only my opinion. I usually crowd my tent out so I have to defoliate more than others but this has always worked for me.
also have you topped your plants? This will help the inner growth immensely. Good luck to you and let us know how things are going

 

[ActivatedAlmonds52]

I only water till runoff when I’m concerned about PH and need a reading. You can alway suck the water out of the trays after you get your reading.
as far as fan leaves go. It’s the part I hate the most removing all the large beautiful leaves blocking light from the bud sites, any lower older leaves and anything from the bottom of the plants that don’t see light. I think big told me once that you can remove up to 30% of your leaves without hurting your plant. Your plants will look a bit naked for a couple of days but you will need to pull more leaves off again as they will fill in really nice after doing so

this is only my opinion. I usually crowd my tent out so I have to defoliate more than others but this has always worked for me.
also have you topped your plants? This will help the inner growth immensely. Good luck to you and let us know how things are going

Today I cut off just a few small leaves at the very bottom of the stem because I'm afraid of ruining the plants. I'm still learning!

Had I known what I know now, I would've planted just one plant and done all the tricks to get the most out of it. Topping at an early stage, pruning, bending, the works. Now I understand that a plant spends more energy on growing buds when it's not needed in all those useless leaves (the lower ones especially). However, I read at growweedeasy.com that those big fan leaves are actually needed. So I don't know about those.

What's also worth mentioning is that I forgot that they grow quite a bit in the flowering stage, so I have to take that into consideration. This is their 7th week and my box isn't THAT tall.

 

[Flower]

It’s all just a learning process, and most of it is governed by what you learn from your mistakes.
Like anything else, it will get easier the longer you do it. Took me a year to dial everything in, and I am still tweaking a thing or two.
Your plants look great, just keep on tweaking things here and there as you learn. It will all come together.

 

[CrashMagnet]

Looking at the first pic (1.jpg) I suspect when you flip to flower you will need to bend the main stalks to keep them out of the light.

 

[SubmarineGirl]

It’s not too late to top them to keep down your height. When you do the inner budsites will take over. Yes your plant does need fan leaves but not all of them. Especially the ones blocking other budsites.

 

[ActivatedAlmonds52]

So I just read this:

https://weedkb.com/gorilla-glue-4-grow-journal-week-by-week/

the most important factor is the height of the plant at harvest which is limited by your available vertical space. Please note that Gorilla Glue #4 is a rather leggy plant and stretches A LOT in flower. In this instance, she went from 16 to 68 inches (41 to 173 cm), more than quadrupling in size.

Holy shit! I think I should switch to flowering ASAP because those bad boys just won't fit inside the box. I REALLY should've read more about this particular strain.

 

[SubmarineGirl]

So I just read this:

https://weedkb.com/gorilla-glue-4-grow-journal-week-by-week/


Holy shit! I think I should switch to flowering ASAP because those bad boys just won't fit inside the box. I REALLY should've read more about this particular strain.

Topping them and putting a net over them will still help. They will grow in height another foot and a half at least and you don’t have room for that climb. You can keep some of that height grow down by letting them grow under the net horizontally

 

[oldfogey8]

Topping them and putting a net over them will still help. They will grow in height another foot and a half at least and you don’t have room for that climb. You can keep some of that height grow down by letting them grow under the net horizontally

You might want to look into eventually supercropping in preparation for the stretch too. It looks barbaric but it is a good solution for tops that climb too high and the plants are fine with a little abuse…

 

[SubmarineGirl]

You might want to look into eventually supercropping in preparation for the stretch too. It looks barbaric but it is a good solution for tops that climb too high and the plants are fine with a little abuse…

Yes supercropping is exactly what you will be doing to those plants even if you top them and throw a net over them. You have no height room so you need to plan on that now. Supercropping looks barbaric like Fogey said but I have done it several times with no issues.

 

[ActivatedAlmonds52]

The plants are currently 27" (soil level to tip). The highest I can raise the lights is 50" (again, counting from soil up and NOT INCLUDING headroom). Damn.

I'll switch to 12/12 and the bulb from MH to HPS tomorrow. I don't know about topping RIGHT BEFORE initiating the flowering stage, though. This article advises against it, for instance:

https://www.zamnesia.com/blog-switch-from-vegetative-to-flowering-n2280

the majority of growers will tell you to wait 1–2 weeks between the end of topping and the beginning of flowering. A decent amount of growers, however, believe a plant can handle the transition with only 5–7 days of recovery. Each plant should make it to harvest in good health, but the plant that got less than a week may offer a less impressive yield.

I'll try super cropping and using a net anyway

 

[user 60570]

The plants are currently 27" (soil level to tip). The highest I can raise the lights is 50" (again, counting from soil up and NOT INCLUDING headroom). Damn.

I'll switch to 12/12 and the bulb from MH to HPS tomorrow. I don't know about topping RIGHT BEFORE initiating the flowering stage, though. This article advises against it, for instance:

https://www.zamnesia.com/blog-switch-from-vegetative-to-flowering-n2280


I'll try super cropping and using a net anyway

i am with the wait one to two weeks after topping group

this is gonna be fun

 

[SubmarineGirl]

i am with the wait one to two weeks after topping group

this is gonna be fun

I’m with that group too. Topping first will really help.

 

[ActivatedAlmonds52]

I’m with that group too. Topping first will really help.

All right, then. I'll top and wait a week before switching to flower. Funny how this is now a race of sorts I'm looking for a net at the moment.

 

[SubmarineGirl]

All right, then. I'll top and wait a week before switching to flower. Funny how this is now a race of sorts I'm looking for a net at the moment.

Good. Get a net too so you can start bending the stems down before they get too stiff. Once you top them, they will bush out sideways really good I think