Attempting the First Grow

Hi Folks,

I haven't grown weed since the good old days of gorilla farming back in the 70's and 80's.

One day, recently, I thought now that weed is legal in my state including growing for personal use why not give it a shot. Besides now being very retired weed was just getting to expensive. It was a grow or quit moment. That is it took a moment to say "quitting is not an option." I've been smokig weed since the 60's.

I got one of these newfangled 3 x 3 grow tent kits with most of the stuff I needed. I've been pretty much winging my way through. I've made my fair share of mistakes the biggest was not having full control of the Ph value for a couple of weeks. I had a bad testing device and it considerably incorrect, it was to high. Once I corrected the issue both my plants took off growing at an inch or more per day which I thought was amazing. I was told you can grow three plants in a 3 x 3 tent but I disagree two is fine three would be far to crowded.

I'm 5 weeks in to the grow with and entering the flowering stage despite my errors and oversights. I'm growing Sour diesel Auto flower. Very forgiving plants I must say. I found myself rather enjoying the time spent on my new hobby. While I didn't do a whole lot of training I intend to do on the next Grow in September. I will never try to grow in the summer again. Controlling the environment in the tent is down right challenging in the spring/summer. I'm worried about temperatures during the drying process some time in August one of the hottest months of the year in my neck of the woods. Ahh well to late to think about that now. Live and learn.

Sure is nice to walk in to the other room and take care of things rather then in the past running all over 42 acres to gorilla farm and dread to drone of helicopters, yeah they used them back then to try and catch us. No more worring that male plant slipped by you and no more starting your plants in March to get them in the ground by June. No grow lights back then I was living off grid. Biggest plus of all was is not humping water around 42 wooded acers to keep them alive.

I'm always open to suggestions and advice. Plant training is something I really could use a education on. I was to timid on my first grow.

Hello, I enjoyed reading your post. I too have jumped back into growing as well after almost 20yrs. Originally I'm from down in Meigs Co Ohio but now in Cleveland. I understand your gorilla past..lol.
I've had a few runs indoors and pulling in some nice bud now. Made a lot of errors but I've got a method down now I stick with.
I'm a big fan of training plants. I have a thread going in the grow journals. Some examples of training in there. Lately I'm running a single flowering clone under a screen. She's getting big..lol

Post some pics of what ya got going. I'd like to see. I'm new here as well.

Welcome!
There are a lot of knowledgeable people here....your in the right spot for any help you may need.

I'll be following along. I'm very curious about plant training as well, good luck buddy

Fatjoe said:

Hello, I enjoyed reading your post. I too have jumped back into growing as well after almost 20yrs. Originally I'm from down in Meigs Co Ohio but now in Cleveland. I understand your gorilla past..lol.
I've had a few runs indoors and pulling in some nice bud now. Made a lot of errors but I've got a method down now I stick with.
I'm a big fan of training plants. I have a thread going in the grow journals. Some examples of training in there. Lately I'm running a single flowering clone under a screen. She's getting big..lol
View attachment 5405733View attachment 5405734
Post some pics of what ya got going. I'd like to see. I'm new here as well.

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Hey Joe thanks for the reply. They are quite the plants you have there. The one under the screen must be nearing 3 feet wide. I'm afraid I've made another mistake as you will see in the attached photos. Photos Duh, why didn't I think of that. I need some opinions on if my assumptions are correct. In the first photo notice the difference in height. Both of the same age however the one on the right was first to pop out and the left was a day later. I believe the height difference and over all growth rate is related to the early on pH issues I had. My tap water pH is 8.4. The first pH meter I had reported it as 7.2. I went by the first meter for almost two weeks when setting the pH for watering at 5.8 per the instructions from the seed provider. I have no real idea what the true pH was for those 2 weeks but it seemed to stunt the height growth. Once I changed meters and corrected the pH things took off like a wild fire providing an inch to a inch and a half growth every day.

The latest issue is that I gave my tallest plant a sun burn, I think, trying to accommodate the 5 inch difference in height between the plants. Bad idea! I was also concerned that it may be nutrient burn. However, I read that if the tops of the stems are red and not on the bottom and there are burnt tips then it's the light, if the stems are red all the way around and burnt tips it's a nutrient burn. In either event I think I have things back under control having elevated the light to 19" above the tallest plant. Shorty will just have to do the best it can. I also reduced the nutrients to be of the safe side. I will start to elevate them on the next mix, slowly.

I appreciate opinions and advice, thanks

FmSwayze said:

I'll be following along. I'm very curious about plant training as well, good luck buddy

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Thank you for your well wishes.

driver77 said:

Welcome!
There are a lot of knowledgeable people here....your in the right spot for any help you may need.

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Thanks for the welcome. Knowledgeable is just what I need.

Honestly, your plants dont look bad. Your staying on top of things. Keep up the good work. If you have any specific questions, let us know.

Farmer's Hat said:

Honestly, your plants dont look bad. Your staying on top of things. Keep up the good work. If you have any specific questions, let us know.

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Thanks, That's good to hear.

Overall they don't look that bad. What medium are you using? These look well fed. Full belly for sure. What flowering mix are you feeding them?

Fatjoe said:

Overall they don't look that bad. What medium are you using? These look well fed. Full belly for sure. What flowering mix are you feeding them?

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They looked better before the light issue, but I'm glad you don't see any impending disasters.

I'm using Happy Frog Potting soil from FoxFarm, The Nutrients are Vivoson "A" 4-0-1 and "B" 1-4-2. I have backed off a bit on the Nutrients. The directions are that in the first week flowering stage it should be 9 to 14ml/gal. I went to 12 and have backed down to 10ml/gal equal parts A & B. In weeks 7 & 8 it should be 7 to 10ml/gal in equal parts, I'll go with 8.5 ml/gal later this week for week 7. At first I worried I had burnt them with the nutrients but I still think it was a light burn. But what do I know. I never had to worry about such things in the past the sun did it's thing, besides I had bigger problems, deer and snowshoe rabbits, both undercover agents of the DEA, lol

Please let me know what you think. Is my light burn theory correct? Do you have different recommendations for nutrients for my next grow in September? Although I have enough of the A&B for plenty more grows I'd switch if you think it's worth while.

Thanks

Not really seeing any burn really. You do seem to be riding high on N. Deep dark green leaf..may even see some shades of black in there. Leaf tip will burn and at times can form a hook with the edges turned in.

Tips a little burnt usually just lets ya know your maxed out on N. My grows typically have that.

What your feeding should be okay. I'm not familiar with that product but it seems to be doing a good job.

I use peat, tap water, and jacks nutrients with two other things. I feed the same every time from seedling to harvest. I meter nothing. Ph is buffered via promix HP and jacks. Super simple easy way to grow and I find it much cheaper than liquid formulas.

Fatjoe said:

Not really seeing any burn really. You do seem to be riding high on N. Deep dark green leaf..may even see some shades of black in there. Leaf tip will burn and at times can form a hook with the edges turned in.

Tips a little burnt usually just lets ya know your maxed out on N. My grows typically have that.

What your feeding should be okay. I'm not familiar with that product but it seems to be doing a good job.

I use peat, tap water, and jacks nutrients with two other things. I feed the same every time from seedling to harvest. I meter nothing. Ph is buffered via promix HP and jacks. Super simple easy way to grow and I find it much cheaper than liquid formulas.

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Thanks for the reply and information. I will look into Jacks nutrients and promix HP but with my tap water having a pH of 8.4 I still may have to do something else to lower it but that's September. I guess I'm just being a nervous Nellie about the whole thing. I appreciate your comments.

Old Gorilla Farmer said:

Thanks for the reply and information. I will look into Jacks nutrients and promix HP but with my tap water having a pH of 8.4 I still may have to do something else to lower it but that's September. I guess I'm just being a nervous Nellie about the whole thing. I appreciate your comments.

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When I first started to read into jacks for cannabis I came across an old grower that I eventually copied. He had a tap water of 8.4. Mixed all his stuff with no metering. The jacks n promix buffered it all the way. I was floored by the simple method that got results. I had to do it.

I receive scorn from many growers but I get it. What I do is outside the norm but ya can't deny results. Last run I pulled in 3.5lbs of solid frosty bud out of 9 different strains. Normally one has issues growing multiple strains but the jacks took care of them all. And they all got the same amount every time..1/4tsp veg or bloom, 1/8-/1/4tsp Calcium Nitrate, 1/4tsp Epsom salt. If it needs water it gets Jack's. Seedling to harvest.
Man, I never even lost a leaf till late flower. Jack's keeps them very healthy as long as you have the proper environment. I'm sold on the stuff. It's cheap and stupid simple.

Did

Fatjoe said:

When I first started to read into jacks for cannabis I came across an old grower that I eventually copied. He had a tap water of 8.4. Mixed all his stuff with no metering. The jacks n promix buffered it all the way. I was floored by the simple method that got results. I had to do it.

I receive scorn from many growers but I get it. What I do is outside the norm but ya can't deny results. Last run I pulled in 3.5lbs of solid frosty bud out of 9 different strains. Normally one has issues growing multiple strains but the jacks took care of them all. And they all got the same amount every time..1/4tsp veg or bloom, 1/8-/1/4tsp Calcium Nitrate, 1/4tsp Epsom salt. If it needs water it gets Jack's. Seedling to harvest.
Man, I never even lost a leaf till late flower. Jack's keeps them very healthy as long as you have the proper environment. I'm sold on the stuff. It's cheap and stupid simple.

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Did you grow outside or in big containers?
What does a tsp mean with no water.did you use 1L or 10L for that....

TSP is teaspoon. 1 TSP = 4.93 Millilitre.

Old Gorilla Farmer said:

Hey Joe thanks for the reply. They are quite the plants you have there. The one under the screen must be nearing 3 feet wide. I'm afraid I've made another mistake as you will see in the attached photos. Photos Duh, why didn't I think of that. I need some opinions on if my assumptions are correct. In the first photo notice the difference in height. Both of the same age however the one on the right was first to pop out and the left was a day later. I believe the height difference and over all growth rate is related to the early on pH issues I had. My tap water pH is 8.4. The first pH meter I had reported it as 7.2. I went by the first meter for almost two weeks when setting the pH for watering at 5.8 per the instructions from the seed provider. I have no real idea what the true pH was for those 2 weeks but it seemed to stunt the height growth. Once I changed meters and corrected the pH things took off like a wild fire providing an inch to a inch and a half growth every day.

The latest issue is that I gave my tallest plant a sun burn, I think, trying to accommodate the 5 inch difference in height between the plants. Bad idea! I was also concerned that it may be nutrient burn. However, I read that if the tops of the stems are red and not on the bottom and there are burnt tips then it's the light, if the stems are red all the way around and burnt tips it's a nutrient burn. In either event I think I have things back under control having elevated the light to 19" above the tallest plant. Shorty will just have to do the best it can. I also reduced the nutrients to be of the safe side. I will start to elevate them on the next mix, slowly.

I appreciate opinions and advice, thanks

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For an outdoor grower coming to leds: environment (temp/rh) is very important to get the plants to drink and transpire properly. Generally for full flower you want somewhere around 79F minimum. Since leds dont throw heat on the cannopy the plants dont transpire as well as normal which can lead to deficiencies that are hard to chase by upping nutes, you easily get into lock out territory, when the correct way is tweaking the environment to get the plant to drink more in total.

Not sure of the conditions around your photos, and plants do look well, but plant posture is of a plant that isnt drinking very well.
Read up on vapour pressure deficit/vpd in order to get your plant to drink properly.
Vpdchart.com is a nice resource.

Rocket Soul said:

For an outdoor grower coming to leds: environment (temp/rh) is very important to get the plants to drink and transpire properly. Generally for full flower you want somewhere around 79F minimum. Since leds dont throw heat on the cannopy the plants dont transpire as well as normal which can lead to deficiencies that are hard to chase by upping nutes, you easily get into lock out territory, when the correct way is tweaking the environment to get the plant to drink more in total.

Not sure of the conditions around your photos, and plants do look well, but plant posture is of a plant that isnt drinking very well.
Read up on vapour pressure deficit/vpd in order to get your plant to drink properly.
Vpdchart.com is a nice resource.

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I can tell you that as a outside grower I had no clue about this stuff back in the 70's. It was more like put it in the ground, water, feed and pray. You are spot on about the VPD. The tips of my plant did burn, no curling yet just hooks. My VPD was around 1.5 kPa and as high as 1.7 kPa. I have made adjustments to bring the VPD down to no higher then 1.4 kPa and will keep it there as well as I can by adjusting the humidity. It is the easiest thing for me to control as I have an automatic humidifier in the tent that I can adjust with a phone app. Temperature is more difficult. I have a 200 watt grow light that does tend to raise the temperature in the tent by 2 to 5 degrees. I'm going to leave the nutes where they are for now and concentrate on the getting VPD correct. I am just startig week 7 of a 10 week grow cycle. I sure don't want to lose them now.


Thank you very much for your reply and advice. It is appreciated.

I'm on week 7 starting today. I thought I'd post a few Photos on my progress. I have my VPD under better control after a 3 day crash course in all things VPD kPa Amazing as it is. Thanks again Rocket Soul for telling me about this. I had a feeling something was wrong but no idea what it was.

I can only wonder what plants would look like if I had not made the mistakes I have made. As always opinions and suggestion are more then welcome.

Old Gorilla Farmer said:

I'm on week 7 starting today. I thought I'd post a few Photos on my progress. I have my VPD under better control after a 3 day crash course in all things VPD kPa Amazing as it is. Thanks again Rocket Soul for telling me about this. I had a feeling something was wrong but no idea what it was.

I can only wonder what plants would look like if I had not made the mistakes I have made. As always opinions and suggestion are more then welcome.

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See how the plant stretches out its leaves, drinking happily. This what to look for when dialing in the environment. The only other thing id rec is adapting your nute strength to your transpiration: if you were dialed in on nutes before and now increase drinking youd need to dial down the nutes a touch to avoid that tip burn.