My first grow! Skunk #1 and Sour Cream in soil under CFL. Come on in!

[DumpsterKeeper]

Decided to restart this thread in a more appropriate part of the forum, so here we go!

Right now I'm growing Sensi's "Special Edition" (whatever that means) Skunk #1 and a freebie Sour Cream (Sour Diesel x G13 Haze) seed under CFL (as the title implies). They're both feminized, so no need to worry about chopping down any boys.

They're about 5 weeks in. I know they're dinky, but they're gone through a fair amount of trauma. All's well now, and I've learned a valuable lesson about buying cheap dirt, not using perlite, and overwatering. Thankfully, they've made a full recovery and are growing much faster now.

First up is the Skunk plant (AKA Meryl). She poked her head out on 6/30 (No true leaves at that point) and now she is fucking BUSHY. I can't leave her alone for a few hours without coming back and finding TONS of new foliage all crammed into a little area. I'm wondering if there's such a thing as too bushy, but I'm hoping this just makes for some DENSE nugs.

Here she is at her "Help me, I'm dying!" stage



And here she is a couple nights ago (fresh after topping)



She's been moved into a five gallon bucket since this picture was taken and things are looking good. I've got her under 5 24w CFLs (1x 2700k, 2x 5000k and 2x 6500k) for a decent spectrum with mostly blue light for veg. She's getting distilled water and FoxFarm Grow Big for nutes right now.

The Sour Cream plant (AKA Naomi) got hit a lot harder than Meryl but she's doing good now. Not nearly as big, but it took her longer to recover.

Here she is when I had almost given up on her



And here she is two nights ago



She's not growing as bushy as Meryl, but she's much more sativa dominant, so I'm not really worried about popcorn nugs at this point. Her node spacing is still nice and tight for a sativa plant. Like Meryl she's getting distilled water and GB for now.

I have a feeling Meryl will be ready for flower at the end of the month (she started this growth spurt around 7/31) so keep your fingers crossed. Naomi may take longer since she seems to have taken more damage than Meryl, but I planned on taking more time on her since her flowering period is apparently almost twice as long as Meryl's. If worse comes to worse, Meryl will be cured and ready when Naomi is about to be chopped down.

I've also started up another S#1 plant (hereafter referred to as Dixie) about 10 days ago, but she's not much to look at right now. Working on her third set of true leaves and doin' just fine.

Feel free to post any compliments/tips/childish name-calling at any time

Cheers

 

[mcbain78]

Looking good man. I have a Sour Cream seed from Attitude that I'm anxious to plant myself. Good looking ladies though, I look forward to seeing your progress.

 

[DumpsterKeeper]

Ok, so Meryl is getting SUPER bushy now.

This picture was taken 5 days ago



And this picture was taken yesterday



The leaves seem to be fighting for the light. I've added a ton more and the top nodes still won't reach up past the nodes on the side.

Honestly, I'm at a loss here. Is there such a thing as "too bushy"? And if so, is my plant too bushy and how do I fix it?

I'm thinking about LST, but I wouldn't even know where to start with Meryl. I've got crazy light on her, but it doesn't seem to be penetrating this heavy-ass canopy



As for Naomi and Dixie, they're doing fine, but they're in a separate room with much less light (though that's about to change. Just bought some more lamps and bulbs). So, it seems I can't win here.

What should I do here? +rep for suggestions on how to LST this beast so I can get the light spread out more evenly. I want more penetration so the buds will be denser when I send her into flower.

 

[passthatsh!t23]

looking like a great set of plants. the first couple weeks are rough then you get more plant to work with.
Nothing is ever to bushy.
But a side picture would help me map out on how i can suggest going about LST them or her.

 

[DumpsterKeeper]

I'll try and get one up tomorrow, but it's a real mess down there. I can't even see the main stem anymore o.o

 

[passthatsh!t23]

well the best thing is to let her stretch a little to get some plant to work with you know.
but tmmr i will check them out and see whats good bro.
Let the toppd plant grow out more then tye down the 2 main stalks into a even canopy.

 

[DumpsterKeeper]

Hehe, the problem is, those big-ass side nodes are hogging up all the light, so the tops can't even get any I'm gonna try and tie them down tonight and see if that will give the two main colas some help. So it's off to wally world to buy screws and string, as well as a new timer since the mechanical one I have doesn't work for shit.

Free tip: Just buy a digital timer. They never fail

 

[T@ll T33]

best of luck

 

[wyteberrywidow]

meryl is looking good and bushy.But im worried about naomi.

 

[mcbain78]

Hey man, first thing you need to do is stretch her out a bit. Those CFL's are kicking ass and causing lots of growth but I'd pull them back a bit and see if you can get her to stretch. Once she stretches out a bit you'll know exactly how to shape her.

Seriously, I've tried LST on a couple plants and it's good but dangerous, causes some great side growth. If you're not totally careful and try to do it too fast you'll snap her just like I did. Unfortunately if you're bending the stem you will still have a main cola w/ a bunch of secondary ones which is nice but I would rather have 15 or 20 main colas. If you bend it all the way to the ground you'll have all the main colas you could want but it'll take some time to safely bend it in to the shape you want.

Instead, what I found works even better is supercropping or monster cropping, pardon me if I don't know the exact way to describe it but here's what I did: I first started with the stem above the 3rd node and pinched. Once she popped between my thumb and first finger I bent her down and held it in place with a conveniently bent paper clip. After about 4 days when she started to grow up again I pinched and bent again. You can do this over and over again and literally bend her all they way around your pot. What you want to do is wrap her around the inside of the pot in to almost a circle or at least in to a half moon shape. You'll see all those leaves growing off the stem start to grow up and form their own nodes and budding sites.

Here's a shot of one of my AK's that I did this to:



You can see the bends in the branches and you can also see the new one I started the day I took that pic. She's shaped like a plus sign and growing an ass-load of shoots now. All of which will bud and make a nice yield.

She was slightly different because she was a clone and had a very nice Y shape to start. I pulled the two down and I was amazed at how many branches grew. Once they start flowering they'll all be like main cola's and will bud accordingly.

This was only a month to 6 weeks tops from when I got her. I know for a fact that if I switched to 12/12 now she'd flower nicely but I want her a little bigger before that happens. The nice thing about this is that you can do it every couple of days and shape your plant exactly how you want her.

That's just my 2 cents. I hope it was helpful. Good luck with your plants, whatever you choose to do. I'm subscribed and look forward to watching your ladies grow.

 

[DumpsterKeeper]

Update

I tied down the overgrowth on Meryl, but I haven't moved the lights up yet just in case the top nodes decide to come out on their own. She's still getting bushy as hell, though, so I ain't bitchin. One of her leaves looks rotten, but the rest are fine, so I think it may just be because it wasn't getting any light. I just plucked it off since it's not doing anything anyway.

I just added some more lights to Naomi and Dixie's closet and they're responding well.

Naomi is starting to grow nice and quickly now. Plenty of new leaves forming and a decent amount of node spacing to go with it. Here are some top and side shots.



As you can see, she's doing just fine now.

Dixie is coming along nicely, too. Considering she hasn't been traumatized like my other girls, I'm not really that surprised.



More shots of Meryl to come once I've got her tied down the way I want. If the tops still aren't responding I'll just LST the nodes on the side and make them the new main colas.

 

[DumpsterKeeper]

Well, I tied Meryl down last night and she's responding well. The middle of the canopy is getting some much-needed light and growing nice and quick now. Considering how much she's grown in just 11 days I'm certain I'll be able to flower her starting in september.

Here is a side view of Meryl as promised, but as you can see it's kid of a mess down there. Top view just to give you an idea of how stunted the tops are at this time.



As you can see she has PLENTY of vegetation right now, but I'm starting to see the poor leaves on the bottom are wilting from a lack of light. Any solution for this or is it just bound to happen?

 

[wyteberrywidow]

If you can get some cfls by the bottom for the lower branches.

 

[passthatsh!t23]

If you can get some cfls by the bottom for the lower branches.

agreed.
plus those bottom leaves are gonna not stay there the whole grow, so its ok.
but yah get more light in the bottom on branches.

 

[DumpsterKeeper]

If anyone's counting it is now

Day 48

Meryl is getting much bigger with every new day. I've tied down her 4 side branches and they look like they're gonna make some fine colas. The tops in the middle are still having a hard time growing, but they ARE making progress. I've set the date for sending her into 12/12 as September 1st.



Naomi is starting to grow a lot faster, more new nodes and leaves forming. She seems like she'll be much more manageable due to her node spacing. I start an LST on her last night and she's responding well. Right now the plan is to keep LST her properly and start flowering her a couple weeks after sending Meryl into 12/12. With any small amount of luck, I should be able to snip a some clones from her.



As for Dixie, not much to report on yet. Her fourth true set of leaves is forming, but most of the light is going to Naomi until I purchase some more fixtures and bulbs in the coming weeks.

Anyway, am I doing the LST right? It seems to be working, but Meryl is so bushy it's kind of hard to spread out the canopy evenly. Naomi seems like a much better candidate for LST, but what do you think?

 

[donni101]

I think you can start flower sooner you dont want them bush to be a mega bush. The bushier the more difficult for the cfls to penetrate you should add more lights for flower. If youll continue using cfls get atleast 2-4 more cfls of equal or more watts. looking good for meryl. the other one looks like she needs some more light probably and maybe no nutes for naomi.

 

[DumpsterKeeper]

I think you can start flower sooner you dont want them bush to be a mega bush. The bushier the more difficult for the cfls to penetrate you should add more lights for flower. If youll continue using cfls get atleast 2-4 more cfls of equal or more watts. looking good for meryl. the other one looks like she needs some more light probably and maybe no nutes for naomi.

Point taken. She'll still continue to grow a bit into flower, but will I be ok using so many daylight bulbs for the first week or two? I can't afford to buy any more 2700k lights until the end of the month

 

[DumpsterKeeper]

It's decided: Meryl goes into flower tonight. I've switched a couple of the 6500k's out for some 2700k's. She'll be shutting off early to start her new 12/12 schedule, so stay tuned. This is where the cool stuff happens.

As for Naomi and Dixie, they've received a little more light and Naomi is responding well to the LST. More updates to come

 

[DumpsterKeeper]

I'll start off with the little ones

Naomi is starting to grow at the same rate Meryl did a few weeks ago. The LST is also doing a really good job at promoting side growth, so let's hope she keeps responding well. Tied another node down this afternoon

View attachment 1108314

Dixie is definitely doing better than the others at this point. Bottom leaves are a bit yellow, but overall she's doing great. Just started up some LST on her today and I've got a good feeling about this kid.



And now on to

Meryl - Day 2 - Flowering

I just cut her lights off early for the first time light night and from here on out she'll be on a 12/12 schedule. She'll still vegging nicely, in fact the tops I was worried about are finally starting to get some light of their own. I'm keeping the lights a good distance above them to encourage certical growth. I'll be lighting up the sides as well, but at one point everything was so tightly spaced together I didn't think anything besides the very top would get any light.

I'll keep posting pics of her, and you'll be in for a lot of them when her pistils start forming.

View attachment 1108328


Comments welcome!

 

[wyteberrywidow]

looking good.+rep