Closet grow journal - KC Brains Northern Lights Special, CFL

Sorry for all the bumps but today's development is worth noting. I'm pretty sure my plant is a polyploid ("self-topped")



It's weird how the stem splits underneath the first set of leaves instead of just at the top. I can't find a single picture of polyploid plants growing quite that way. It makes for a really asymmetrical plant, I'm wondering if I will have to eventually train the more developed stem down to stop it from dominating the smaller one.

Okay, I'd really like some help with this one:

So I already realized pH was a problem and all the water I'm using now is 6.0. However, the plant is starting to look really unhappy. Here is is from about noon today:


And here it is now, just 7 hours later:


Today was the first day I gave it water with a pH that wasn't insanely high. Can my plant still pull through at this point if I just keep giving it the water that I've used pH down drops to get to a 6.0?

AvocadoRadio said:

Looks like I have some 3-point leaves growing out of the same node that the original leaves grew out of

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this is a preflowering sign, it looks quite early to me :S I am not sure about from this pic. but it should be taller than this, I suppose

AvocadoRadio said:

Okay, I'd really like some help with this one:
Today was the first day I gave it water with a pH that wasn't insanely high. Can my plant still pull through at this point if I just keep giving it the water that I've used pH down drops to get to a 6.0?

Click to expand...

Man, I think this pot is way too small for this baby, put it in a bigger one. It looks totally stress out. There should be enough room for roots.
I see some people grow in a small pots, but come on. You can even hold it with your finger.

By the way, what was the ph?

You did te biggest mistake all new grower do too much love I'm also noticing some heat damage on the leaves so see if the bulbs above your plant is not too close a burning your plant you can check this by holding your hand at the crown and if it bun your hand I also notice some bark in your medium check the ph of your runoff as bark can lower ph (acidic)

lepis22 said:

this is a preflowering sign, it looks quite early to me :S I am not sure about from this pic. but it should be taller than this, I suppose

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I think I didn't describe it well, I don't think it's preflowering. How would that happen under 24 hours of light?

lepis22 said:

Man, I think this pot is way too small for this baby, put it in a bigger one. It looks totally stress out. There should be enough room for roots.
I see some people grow in a small pots, but come on. You can even hold it with your finger.

By the way, what was the ph?

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It's in a solo cup for now. Should it really have been transplanted already? I asked around and people told me not to transplant yet, that some people wait until there are fully formed sets of 5 pointed leaves before moving out of a plastic cup.

My pH meter went from 6.0 to 7.6, and the water was off the charts, more than 7.6.

TheSpiderMite said:

You did te biggest mistake all new grower do too much love I'm also noticing some heat damage on the leaves so see if the bulbs above your plant is not too close a burning your plant you can check this by holding your hand at the crown and if it bun your hand I also notice some bark in your medium check the ph of your runoff as bark can lower ph (acidic)

Click to expand...

I thought it was heat stress because of how dry the leaves are, but I'm really thinking pH was the problem, because I put my hand up there regularly to test it and it was never more than a little warm. However, I switched my 105W bulb for an 85W bulb and backed it up another inch from the plant. There isn't any bark in there, it's pure FFOF. My best guess it my problem isn't too much love, it was not bothering to test pH this whole time I was growing it.

So does anyone else think I should transplant to a bigger pot? I don't want to shock it more.

AvocadoRadio said:

I think I didn't describe it well, I don't think it's preflowering. How would that happen under 24 hours of light?


It's in a solo cup for now. Should it really have been transplanted already? I asked around and people told me not to transplant yet, that some people wait until there are fully formed sets of 5 pointed leaves before moving out of a plastic cup.

My pH meter went from 6.0 to 7.6, and the water was off the charts, more than 7.6.



I thought it was heat stress because of how dry the leaves are, but I'm really thinking pH was the problem, because I put my hand up there regularly to test it and it was never more than a little warm. However, I switched my 105W bulb for an 85W bulb and backed it up another inch from the plant. There isn't any bark in there, it's pure FFOF. My best guess it my problem isn't too much love, it was not bothering to test pH this whole time I was growing it.

Click to expand...

preflowering means, your baby is not a baby anymore male plants do not need 12/12 period for flowering. For females, they prepare theirselves and as long as you keep them in 18/6 - 24/0 cylcle, they would be in vegatative growth. Preflowering mainly means, your plant is mature enough for flowering. Asymmetrical branching is just a sign for preflowering period.

I also dont think that small pot is the reason of this. Small pot means, you need to water and feed it more frequently. Also, you should prepare for sudden changes in small pots. a small change can have a great effect.
Changing soil, partly, is another option.

lepis22 said:

preflowering means, your baby is not a baby anymore male plants do not need 12/12 period for flowering. For females, they prepare theirselves and as long as you keep them in 18/6 - 24/0 cylcle, they would be in vegatative growth. Preflowering mainly means, your plant is mature enough for flowering. Asymmetrical branching is just a sign for preflowering period.

I also dont think that small pot is the reason of this. Small pot means, you need to water and feed it more frequently. Also, you should prepare for sudden changes in small pots. a small change can have a great effect.
Changing soil, partly, is another option.

Click to expand...

It's only been about 13 days since she (feminized) sprouted. Can it happen that early? Is it an effect of a sudden decrease in health?

I did go ahead and repot. When I transplanted, I could see roots all around the outside of the soil. It didn't have nearly as many as this pic but it was that kind of look:



So now it's in a 1 gallon pot, freshly watered with water with a pH of around 6.0, it's back under just two 23W bulbs, I ditched the 105W for now. I also added an oscillating fan:



The newer leaves that grew on the weird branch are still looking pretty healthy. I figure if I ruined the pH of the soil by watering with 7.6+ water, it at least has some neutral soil to grow into now. If it was heat, it shouldn't be a problem with the 105W bulb gone and the fan. If it was rootbound or it just couldn't get enough water in that container, it's got loads of space now. Should I clip off those fucked up leaves on top? I can't think of anything else to give it so I guess at this point if it dies, it dies.

AvocadoRadio said:

It's only been about 13 days since she (feminized) sprouted. Can it happen that early? Is it an effect of a sudden decrease in health?

I did go ahead and repot. When I transplanted, I could see roots all around the outside of the soil. It didn't have nearly as many as this pic but it was that kind of look:


So now it's in a 1 gallon pot, freshly watered with water with a pH of around 6.0, it's back under just two 23W bulbs, I ditched the 105W for now. I also added an oscillating fan:


The newer leaves that grew on the weird branch are still looking pretty healthy. I figure if I ruined the pH of the soil by watering with 7.6+ water, it at least has some neutral soil to grow into now. If it was heat, it shouldn't be a problem with the 105W bulb gone and the fan. If it was rootbound or it just couldn't get enough water in that container, it's got loads of space now. Should I clip off those fucked up leaves on top? I can't think of anything else to give it so I guess at this point if it dies, it dies.

Click to expand...

Generally, it takes 3-4 weeks for preflowering :S

Trust me, it isnt happened because of the water ph. all waters are about 7-8, except rain water (it is somewhat acidic). The important thing, if soil is acidic or not.
though, I am not sure what is the exact reason. If youve never feed her, think about buying a fertilizer. Pls, do not over do it, it will burn the roots.

roots are looking healthy, hope she will recover.

Week 2 Update


And what a crazy week it's been. After that scare of leaves drying up, it looks like there is a lot of healthy new growth coming out of that weird stem that started growing awhile ago, including some 5-pointed leaves. As you can see here, that stem is way thicker than the two older ones. So I don't know if the leaves getting fucked up was due to pH, heat, or maybe the plant just decided to put all its energy into that part when it started getting so thick. We've also had something of a heat wave the last few days, and this week is supposed to be much more mild, so I'm hopeful.

Week 3 Update



Didn't even really think I would get this far, I'm really happy. Something interesting happened to my girl: I used to have an 85W bulb on top and two 23W bulbs on the side. I thought the 85W would be brighter, but I think the 23W bulbs are so much more efficient that they actually put out more light. Since I had stronger light on one side, my plant grew at an angle and basically LSTed itself (see the side view). I really like this technique, I'll call it SFT: Stress-free training

Now I have 4 23W bulbs on top, with the 85W on the side.

One small problem now is that the 1 gallon pot I put her in doesn't have the best drainage. There's just one small hole in the bottom, and the soil on the bottom seems to be getting crustier as time goes by and it takes longer and longer between waterings. She's only been in that pot for a week, but would it be safe to transplant her to a 5 gallon pot with better drainage? Or do I need to wait until the roots have grown more so the soil doesn't fall apart when I transplant? I've also noticed she's slowed growth just a little in the last few days so I'm hoping giving her more room would get her going again.

Week 4 Update

Yesterday I transplanted to a 5 gallon pot and she seems to be really happy in there. I count 4 tops making their way out of this crazy slanted stem. Did I just get really lucky with a plant that naturally grows 4 tops?

Plant tonight:


Glamour shot:



Also I think I have preflowers? Either way I think I am going to switch to 12/12 a week from now.


Sorry for the blurriness, it's hard to get a good picture of those little guys.

yes the pics are quite blurry. I think you should cut some lower leaves, the yellowish ones. So, she will give all of her energy to the buds

it...its.....ITS A FUCKING MUTANT! haha

lepis22 said:

yes the pics are quite blurry. I think you should cut some lower leaves, the yellowish ones. So, she will give all of her energy to the buds

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Nice, I guess I will do that when I change the light cycle on Monday. I've been tempted, she will certainly be way prettier without those sickly little leaves. Some people have said that the plant can still suck nutrients out of dying leaves though, and that when the plant is ready to let them go they should come off easily with a gentle pull. However, with such small, early leaves, I think there would probably be more benefit in just removing them.

Jaza said:

it...its.....ITS A FUCKING MUTANT! haha

Click to expand...

I can't figure out if it was the side lighting or the fact that the plant died a little when it was very young, so it might have pretty much topped itself. I'm leaning toward the former now, since I can see a 4th top coming in and it's been perfectly healthy.

EDIT: Just checked her again and she is growing a 5th top, this time it's finally heading out perpendicular to the direction most of the plant has grown. I don't know if I'm just lucky but I think everyone growing with CFLs should think about getting some light on the side as well.

Even though my plant grew slanted and multi-limbed, I decided to augment that with some light LST. I used alpaca wool yarn, it's really soft (and eco-friendly*).








I'm putting her in 12/12 on Monday. This is getting really fun.


*Tangent: Unlike many other livestock animals, alpacas eat weeds as well as grass, consume less food, and produce much higher quality manure than cows or sheep. They come in many natural colors, but even if you dye the wool it requires less dye with chemicals that are less harsh on the environment. Sorry I just really like alpacas and someday I dream of owning an alpaca/marijuana farm.

Week 5 Update/Day 2 of 12/12



It's taking 4-5 days for the plant to drink all the water in that pot, hopefully she'll get bigger and use up the water a little faster so her roots don't get all soggy. Other than that things are going great.

Looking good bro...was worried about all that yellow ing but it looks like she is not showing signs of spreading....keep it up...bud porn coming soon I hope!!!

Thanks, man. Yeah that happened when the pH in the water was really high and seemed to do fine when that was corrected. Yeah hopefully in a couple more months I'll have some nice pics for you, and I hope it's not too optimistic to think I might have some hash porn for you as well.

this thread is really exciting! and nice to see your plant recovered! (im subed!)