Acapulco Gold, CFL + HPS. Small/Novice grow

I decided to make this journal because this is my second grow, and I have very little experience/knowledge in growing cannabis. I'm hoping that as I post pictures of the growth, I can get some constructive feedback to improve my buds. Also, hoping to help out anyone in a similar position as me.

Just for some background, here are some pics of my first plant, grew it from seed with a 100W HPS. Turned out to be male though.




Here are some pics of my growbox:


The box is 40" x 22", and from the bottom, to the bottom of the CFLs, 30" (height). There are 4 computer fans, 2 are blowing air in, and the bottom two are blowing air out. They are on both sides of the box. In total so far, I have 6 CFLs, the 4 in the pictures are 23W (100W equivalent), 5000K. I also have 2 more 2700K 23W CFLs. As the plants grow bigger, I will add more CFLs. The larger bulb there is a 100W HPS, which again, will be turned on later in growth. The only unfortunate part is that I can't move my lights, so I have to move my plants, which will probably annoy me. Ohh, and yes those are textbooks, 3rd year civil engineering, some more proof smoking pot doesn't make you dumb!

I ordered 10 Acapulco Gold seeds from Attitude, they arrived within a week (Canada). They also arrived with 9 other femmed seeds to my surprise . Decided to germinate 4 of the Acapulcos, as well as a Warlock, and Sensi Star. After 24 hours, the warlock, sensi star and 1 acapulco gold were showing a good tap root and I planted them. After another 24 hours the other 3 acapulco's were planted. Of the first 3 seeds I planted, 2 of them have sprouted after about 36 hours. Here are some pics so far.


The smaller sprout is an acapulco gold, and the larger one is the warlock. That is also a picture of the soil I used. I mixed it with about 30% perlite. I planted 6 because I'm a noob, so I'm preparing to screw up a couple plants/hermie them. My plan is to have 3, and LST/SCroG grow. I do not have any nutes yet, except for some 'All purpose' 20/20/20 fertilizer, though I don't think I'll use it again. I think it burned my first plant and it can be seen in a couple pictures where it looks all wilted. I'm still not sure what type of nutrient to buy, as I am on a very limited budget. Anyways, that is about it, I hope as I post more updates I can get some feedback as I'm always looking to better myself.

cheers!

Unfortunately my sensi star seed didn't sprout. I think I planted it too early, I should have let it germinate for longer. Lesson learned lol. But I now have 5 seedlings.

I turned on the 100W HPS, and have been keeping the fans on. The stems seem strong, but they just keep growing on an angle, not sure why. Hopefully the fan will fatten em up. The sprout in the back left seems healthy and looks like it is growing another leaf set, but for some reason its like half the size of the other plants. The warlock is growing the fastest for sure.

Also, I haven't fed any nutrients yet, I'm not sure when I should start. And if anyone reads this, could you suggest a good nute for vegging.

cheers

Nice, can't wait to see the end result of those Acapulco Golds, good luck with your grow

bajafox said:

Nice, can't wait to see the end result of those Acapulco Golds, good luck with your grow

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Thanks, I don't plan on vegging for too long, given my lighting. I plan on doing some research also to try and make my acapulco gold bud, actually gold. But this AG strain is ind/sat hybrid, even though real acapulco is 100% sativa apparently. So I'm not sure exactly what it is, but could be interesting

The warlock seems to be doing the best still. I added a very dilute mix of nutrients to the water (20 20 20), at about 1/10th the stength given on the tub. I see signs of nute burn (faint yellowing on a couple serrations of the leaves) but it doesn't seem severe. Since I've turned the fans on the plants also seem to have thickened their stems. Besides the slight nute burn, the leaves seem droopy. I mean they look healthy and strong, but just aren't totally perked up. Just wondering if this is normal? You can see it in the pics.

cheers

I'm on my first grow too, I have a G13 clone and 2 little Jack Herer seedlings, one barely popped it's head this morning. If I had to take a guess, don't forget I'm very new, I would say those plants look fine. If you do think they seem droppy from what I've read it could be over watering. Good luck, can't wait to see the result of the Acapulco Gold

Subed. Intersted in how AG goes for you. I have some started (freebe seed from another purchase)-- but flowering room won't open up until Sept. When do you expect to start flowering?

I am surpised at how indica the strain seems to be-- very broad leaves.

I`m not exactly sure yet when I will start flowering. Any recomendations given the lights I listen in the OP? I was thinking to do a little LST, and flower at about 8-9" (bushy).

I think it depends on how tall you want them to be, I've read that the basic rule of thumb is a gallon per foot. I'm hoping to get mine to about 2.5 - 3 feet before I flower them.

KingJim said:

I`m not exactly sure yet when I will start flowering. Any recomendations given the lights I listen in the OP? I was thinking to do a little LST, and flower at about 8-9" (bushy).

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I'm biased in favor of SCROG, since that's what I run. However, I would say that for low lumens, it's the best way to go, because the plant is spread out to absorb the maximum light. A SCROG would go best with clones, since they can be flowered small. To keep the ladies short, you'll probably want to LST and maybe top them. I say maybe because I don't know how well the strain will react.

Ahh, well I will be transplanting into 2.5 gallon pots next, so ill probablly let them get a foot before I flower. Just wondering what a good nutrient would be for this stage of veg, as in n-p-k ratio? Something I can buy at Walmart, Canadian tire, lowes etc...

Your nutrient needs depend on the medium you are using. A well mixed soil can last you the grow without additional nutrients.

BTW, if you want to read up on SCROG, here is a great thread at RIU on the topic:

Good Scrog Bible

Thanks, the SCroG sounds perfect. I bought some chicken wire, and have it ready.

Unfortunately I feel like a noob again after clearly burning my plants. I hate seeing yellow spots, and the leaves on the warlock look all curled, not nice and flat (you can see it in the pics). Hate to see it. I don't think I'm gonna feed em again until flower, since I didn't realize there is nutes in the soil. Two of the Acapulco Golds seem to be doing very well, and basically at the same stage of growth. The little AG is growing extremely slowly, don't know her problem. The last AG is growing, but has the most yellow'd leaves I think I stunted the growth. the warlock is growing the fastest still, but its leaves look bad, yellow spots and very curled up, like a V shape. Don't like it hopefully it goes away with the new leaf sets. Do these plants look okay? I don't want them to hermie from stress.

Unfortunately Im going away for about 9 days, and will not be here to water. I will have someone else water and look after em, hopefullly they do a good job.

Okay, well I gave two plants to a friend. I just switched to 12/12, so tonight will be the first time they see darkness. Hopefully I start to see signs of sex soon. The pictures are of the warlock and two acapulco golds. Unforuntaly I'm too broke to afford more soil ATM, so the AG in the small container will probablly be awful for a bit . There is also a picture of the plant I have outside, its getting monsterous.



I was very surprised to see how branchy all of my plants are too, without any kind of training.

I just ordered a feminized Acapulco Gold from Attitude a few days ago, after I saw your thread I had to grow it, lol

Good luck, hope you get that new soil soon

Good luck with it. The two plants I gave away were even more branchy, it was like the branches were growing as fast as the main stem. I've basically taken this grow as a learning curve, I still have 6 AG seeds, so I will definately do it again after this round is done, except next round will be much better no doubt.

I'm still subbed and plan to see how they turn out

^^ Me too!

Okay, so its official, both plants are female

The pistols are still very small, but they are definately there. You can sort of see them in the pics, but keep in mind I am only using my cellphone. I hope to start to see buds forming soon

The nute burn is still visible on the old leaves, but all the new ones coming in look nice. Every morning the plant seems to grow another inch or so. Here are some pics.




Here are the pics of the very small pistols:

So since last update more and more pistils were coming up everyday. Then I made it into a SCroG, and some of the pistils went away. There still are some, but no as many. Unfortunately, no buds starting either. I hope to see a change within the week, because they are starting to get too big. The smell is nice though

I'm also wondering if I should trim some fan leaves away so the branches get more light, because it is packed with foliage.