A New Chapter, 45 watt LED light, Feminized seeds, CFLs

[good2bkind]

You can't tell from these crappy pics (need to get new camera asap) but one of these plants is def. showing crystals on the leaves near the buds.

The last time I grew, I don't remember any crystals except a faint amount right near harvest. This looks much stickier.

As you can see, the plants are fairly skeletal, but continue to appear healthy though a lower leaf is starting to necrose, indicating the journey is nearing an end, but also worries me because these plants need all the leaf they can get!

Watered today with 7 oz each, put in half a dropper to 3/4 gallon of water (sitting) 10-15-10, stirred, poured in a 7 oz cup, etc.

Still have not received my red LED flowering lights. Should have them by Friday (today's Wednesday).

Considering how little bush this plant has, I think for the next grow I am going to buy two blue LED veg lights, so they get bushy quicker and I can flower on the same time scale I did with these, but have more bush.

It seems that a single overhead LED makes the plant stretch a bit and is pushing it to get it to be really bushy.

And I know the cold temps didn't help at all.

I also think I saved it some by warming it in the sun on weekends-- yes, this is cheating, not totally LED, but I figure the plant needs it because the room gets so cold at night.

Maybe with more lights and warmer temps (next grow will be in spring, warm here), I won't need to put it outside since this is a risk both in terms of stealth and possible bug infestation (especially in the spring-- I need to remember that).

Oh, also, those fluoros in pic 2 are not used on these plants or used at all. I'm not sure how, but I did not by 100-watt equivelents (which I think run around 43 watts and are much fatter than these), I bought something that runs around 18 watts-- and I realized this when I looked at the lights in the See More Buds book, and his fluoros were way fatter than mine.

 

[good2bkind]

They're shaped like a spotlight, and seem to act like one. The website on Amazon said keep them at least 4" from the plants, and mine are around 4-5" from them.

They create a soft red spot on the wall, only about 5" in diameter, when about 1-1.5 feet from the wall.

This I used to deduce that aiming it at the plants from 4" should give quite concentrated light.

Consequently, the lights do not "bathe" the plants in red-- therefore I was only able to aim it at some potential buds below the main, which were not getting as much light as they could.

I have done this on both plants, as you can see (note the cheap mock-up "light stands" in the picture below.

Later I hope to photograph the plants in sunlight so we can see them crystals!

 

[good2bkind]

They're shaped like a spotlight, and seem to act like one. The website on Amazon said keep them at least 4" from the plants, and mine are around 4-5" from them.

They create a soft red spot on the wall, only about 5" in diameter, when about 1-1.5 feet from the wall.

This I used to deduce that aiming it at the plants from 4" should give quite concentrated light.

Consequently, the lights do not "bathe" the plants in red-- therefore I was only able to aim it at some potential buds below the main, which were not getting as much light as they could.

I have done this on both plants, as you can see (note the cheap mock-up "light stands" in the picture below.

Later I hope to photograph the plants in sunlight so we can see them crystals!

Looks like the pics didn't upload. Here are two photos I took after I re-aimed them for the secondary buds.

 

[good2bkind]

I thought I would be able to take these from a distance and then crop so you could see the crystals.

But my camera simply cannot make a good shot. Also, my hands shake. And brightness is over-saturated, there's a lack of focus.

Anyway, here's the pics:

 

[good2bkind]

Now of course, there's no way to tell if there's more crystals because of the LEDs or if they would have been there anyway, under the normal light. And I cannot get close enough with this camera to show them.

But suffice it to say that the secondary buds that previously were starved for light now have crystals on them. Actually, all the buds on the plant have crystals but it's rather pronounced on these and on top.

The last bud I grew didn't get any crystals. I wonder how dense these buds will be-- my last were very airy, little better than schwag.

 

[good2bkind]

A couple pics of the buds, but my camera won't really show what's going on. After reading a lot of RUI I am reminded how small these buds are. Oh well better than nothin. Today I watered them with 7 oz each. I added to about 1/2 gallon of water one cupful of hydrogen peroxide, and one tablespoon of molasses. No nutes today. The H202 is to oxygenate things, as this soil is rather dense. Molasses to feed helpful microbes/bacteria, etc, give sugar to the plants. We shall see.

 

[KenWood]

One thing I have seen with LED is you have to get the heat upclose to 80 degrees. When they are in flower mode you want to act like outside. Daytime temp close to 80 nighttime temp close to 68 degrees. And I am sorry but when you buy the cheaper LED you do not get the plants that you are looking for. If you can try and get another LED so you will have 2 hitting the plants. I spent some money and added 2 T5 fixtures to my LED, and I put 2 3500k bulbs in them seems to be helping. If this lets me see my picture. Just dont scrap this, add some cfl's or like I said add T5 fixture. Home Depot sells T5 4' 1 bulb fixture for around $25. GOOD LUCK

 

[good2bkind]

Yesterday I watered with 7 oz each, some molasses (a tablespoon) and a capful of 3% hydrogen peroxide, mixed in almost 1/2 gallon of water.

The idea was that the hydrogen peroxide (H202) would aerate and add oxygen to the soil-- but H202 kills bacteria, including helpful bac's, so add molasses to get it all steam-rollin agin.

No nutes this time.

Let sit overnight, and checked today after 12 hours of lights, and looking fine.

I don't care that the buds are small; a lot of mistakes were made on this path.

I'm just amazed that I cut off a lil bud the other night, put it in aluminum foil in the oven at 200 degrees for about 5-7 minutes, smoked it, and got higher than I got with the last batch I made.

Okay, so the high was totally waste-down and couch-lock. But I could def. tell I was high. And that was a fresh bud before harvest, not even in it's prime.

So I noticed after adding the red lights (aimed very carefully), more crystals, and buds sprouted way low down where there shouldn't even be any. (cheat-smoke, anyone?)

This plant has been through hard times. I am happy for the buds I have.

 

[good2bkind]

This morning I watered the weaker plant with 7 oz of tap (set for days, now) and added two drops of 10-15-10. It seemed droopy and today seems better and I see no ill effects of the watering.

For some reason one plant is budding noticeably better than the other. The weaker plant is one that I took two buds from (I only remember smoking one, can't find the other but I prolly smoked it drunk and forgot), and while I wouldn't expect that to make it weaker (it always was the weaker one), I have two less bud sites to treat with the red light.

Another thing I'm noticing is little buds popping up in the lower leaves. I understand these will take away "power" from the bigger buds? Should I clip them?

I wish I had two more red lights to shine on those areas...

The pictures attempt to show the buds, though not very effectively. The black and white may show better.

I ordered a new camera today and it should be here inside of two weeks, probably around harvest but I'll have it for the next grow (along with some blue grow LEDs).

Right now with all lights on it's running at 85 watts total-- about the same as a 52" ceiling fan at high speed.

The water cup in the lower right is a reminder to me to consider tomorrow if the other plant needs water.

 

[good2bkind]

Here are three pics of one of the plants-- one is bigger than the other a little, but they're almost interchangeable.

This post will have 3 pics and the next post will have better picks of the crystals and stuff.

I wanted to show how emaciated the plant is (it's been through a lot-- notice the burnt leaves from when I tried to "heat" it to kill the mold in the soil (problem solved btw) yet it is making buds I think as good as a plant with this little veg could under these circumstances.

 

[good2bkind]

For me, anyway. I think my last plant didn't even have crystals.

 

[good2bkind]

The buds are small but they appear to be dank

 

[good2bkind]

I started flower, or 12/12 on November 22, exactly 3 weeks after I planted the seeds.

Now, on January 25 we're over 10 weeks of flower, 13+ weeks growing time total. For a plant that is rated at 8-9 weeks to harvest. So this is entirely a month, 4 weeks longer, and I prolly can't harvest for another 2 weeks.

Not that I mind. I'm just pointing out how slow these are maturing.

I'm sure part of it is the LEDs, which I've been told "grow slow" but it appears that's balanced by their intensity; these buds are real crystally.

The other thing is the cold nights, which I remedy now every morning and evening by opening the door and turning on the heater in my outer room for an hour so it goes in there and warms things up. So at the start of a day or the end of a night, they're getting all the warmth I can give them.

Also on Saturdays I would put them out in the sun, mostly to try to dry the soil which does not appear to be a problem, any more.

So the pics show two far shots of the pair of plants, so you can see their structure. Not a whole lot there. But I included some bud closeups so you can see I've got some pretty mad crystals here. Mad for me, anyway.

The plants have started new leave growth down bottom, and I chop and smoke only the very smallest buds to give more energy to the rest of the plant.

I dry the tiny buds and leaves (and I mean tiny-- much smaller than the small ones you see at the bottom in the long shots on these) in a piece of aluminum foil in front of the heater and smoke it before I go to bed. The buds I cut are so small they have no crystals, and balled-up all together they're about 1/4-1/3 inch in diameter. The first couple times I did this I cut off the whole stem then realized I was wasting leaves. So this last weekend I just very carefully cut the buds with a couple very small leaves. Now the other leaves are still there to collect light.

It gets me stoned, but these are quite couch-locky. Also I smoke them just before I go to bed, and usually fall asleep pretty soon after that. That's after a bunch of beer and vodka; but in that 1/2 hour or so, I can tell I'm stoned, though it's like schwag, of course.

But that those little things can even give me a stone gives me hope for the cured product. Which I am sort of dreading. My last cure I did wrong, they dried out way too quick, and they were light and airy, anyway, so it may not have mattered much.

I want to be very careful with these and give them all the time they need.

Okay, on to pics.

Two long shots, two buds, one from each plant.

 

[good2bkind]

Just pics of ma buds. With and without flash. I tried to use the macro feature of my camera on the first two pics and they're blurry but still tell a story.

I gotta water them tomorrow. Not sure if I should add nutes, thinking it's the last water.

But then I remember: this is LEDs: What I assume can be harvested in the next 5 days will probably be the next two weeks.

So I'm adding nutes on next water: rain water, woot! Haven't used it yet, been waiting;

And that reminds me-- isn't it wrong to store water for a living being in something made from petrol (plastic), something dead already?

Anyone have ideas or feedback on this? Lookin to the green team.

I know, the obvious response is, let it grow outside, naturally.

Can't do it.

So: is a stainless steel container better than a plastic container, for watering my plants?

And are there paper/recyclable containers? And if so, what would they add to the mix?

Anyways, pics:

 

[good2bkind]

Nov 1 Planted 2 fem seeds, Barney's LSD
Nov 3 Seeds sprouted
Nov 22 (three weeks) Started 12/12 for flower
Dec 27 Buds have started
Feb 7 Harvest?
Feb 14 or... Harvest?

So if I harvest this Sunday, Feb 7, that's a total of 14 weeks from planting, or 15 weeks if I wait till the 14th.

So from planting the seed, this plant is taking at least 14 weeks to harvest, when it's schedule is 9-10?

Anyways, it's probably all the crap I put this plant through, she had to decide if she was gonna put out.

I've been cheating, since I don't have access to bud, and clipped off a few lower buds. I can tell you this high is bizarre, but in a good way. Feels like my imagination is full of all sorts of incredible things, I get all these ideas and have written some stories. Very inspiring, but since I'm cutting early, not curing properly, and smoking some actually wet, I'm getting some couch lock, but I'm also smoking after drinking some beers (I'm afraid to smoke this stuff on it's own without a sitter-- but I have always been a pot lightweight-- schwag can get me high as I need to be-- this stuff-- this is overkill, for me (but I like it))

 

[good2bkind]

Gonna harvest just the top bud of the most "done" plant-- the rest need at least a week.

 

[good2bkind]

Small, but dense and sticky. Fragrance is pine and (I kid you not) mango.

 

[good2bkind]

It's been 14 weeks since I planted these, 11 weeks in flower though it didn't really start to bud until 2 weeks after 12/12 so I suppose this is a 9-week grow.

Even that top bud was probably not totally ready, but I want to practice curing, and that bud was more 'done' than the others.

I tried to photograph the back of it-- the undersides of the leaves near the bud are coated in crystals.

 

[good2bkind]

This shows my two remaining plants.

The little one is a plant that I cut the buds on, and am supposedly "harvesting"-- I don't think I'm doing it right.

But anyways, that plant still had these little buds down there, so I thought, what the heck, give it some mild nutes and see how long you can keep the plant growing those two little buds. They're already more than twice the size they were on Saturday (3 days ago) and are even getting crystally.

The other plant you see is the one with buds which I think are maturing properly (not like the buds I may have chopped too soon). Unable to check trichomes, so just going by overall look at this time. Should be ready this weekend for curing, I hope.

Oh, and the big plant no longer smells 'fruity'. It just has a mild skunk smell and a rather strong green/vegetable smell. I say the skunk smell is mild but I grew up around skunks, so it may not be so mild after all.

 

[good2bkind]

This is the first big bud that I cut off, but it looks small. It looked bigger on the plant. Anyways, you can tell it looks kinda puffy. Not sure what's up with that, prolly cured it totally wrong (well I certainly didn't use glass jars, if that's what you mean).

So it's smokeable, and will get you high.

Only I haven't tried it, yet, I have it in a baggy in a dark drawer.

I'm talking about the little buds I harvested earlier, where I kept the little leaves which had sparkles on 'em, along with the lil sparkly buds. Let that dry and smokin that. Ain't too bad, but the high is weird. Don't taste that good, either.

But that's just my growing and "curing," not a fault of this particular strain.