Practice run. Wish me luck!

Well, thanks for the feedback, baby. It's been very helpful. I will continue to post updates. I'm in my 5th week of flowering now and I'm guessing I have maybe another 2 weeks or so on the taller plant, longer with the smaller one.

hearmenow, when did you begin to see bud formation on your plants and when did the speed begin to pick up greatly?

Within about 10 days of 12/12 the bud sites were identifiable. When I first applied the Foxfarm products, I saw overnight growth that was impressive. That was about 2 weeks ago. I gave them that twice and then backed off. Since then, they continue to swell and elongate. The bud on the main cola of the taller plant is probably about 4" long and about the 2" in diameter. All along the lower leaves of this cola, I'm seeing new buds breaking out. I'm guessing by the time I'm ready to harvest, the whole stem will be covered in bud. That's my hope anyways. I see small buds all along the stem of the plant.

To answer your questions, I'd say within 2 weeks of 12/12, you should definitely see buds coming out. Don't sweat it if you don't though, each strain is different and could just have a longer flowering cycle.

right now im about 9 days in or so and all i see are the bud sites with hairs coming out. they are about a centimeter long and some are red. There are about two or three coming from each site is this a good place to be at this point in your eyes?

Sounds about right. I don't know what lighting you are using. If your plants aren't getting enough, you could end up with whispy "popcorn" buds with no substance to them. You won't get much to smoke if that happens. You want those buds thick and fat (more resin=more THC). I'm sure you are already using molasses and I would recommend a fert/neut that helps in bud formation, like Foxfarm's Big Bloom and Tiger Bloom. Good luck.

It's been 36 days of flowering and finally I'm starting to see those crystals forming around the buds. I was examining them closely and they are starting to glisten. Here are some pics. I'll probably post some more next Monday. Any feeback welcomed.

How long did you veg before flowering? The plants look small to me, but I'm a noob.

I vegged for a little under 5 weeks. When I put them into flower, one was about 18" (it's now about 36") and the other was a shade under 12" (it's now about 20"). This was about the height I wanted for stealth reasons.

A quick update - I watered the girls yesterday with a cocktail of plain water, 1 tbs of Big Bloom and 1/2 tsp of Grow Big. The good news is, the trichs are really starting to show - I can see lots of crystals forming now. I examined the trichs of the taller plant and they were about 50% cloudy. I am guessing I have another week or 2 for this one, which would make it 6-7 weeks of 12/12. The smaller plant's trichs were still all clear.

I was looking closely at the buds on the taller one and the calixes have really started swelling - they look so plump now. The smaller plant still looks like it's lagging, in terms of the size of the buds but I'm being patient, it's probably just the strain. More pics on Monday.

Lookin good, hear.

I'd say you have a good 2-3 weeks reamining if you want to let her finish completely. (3 weeks would put you at 57 days) I'd wager she'll put on some weight in that time period and if you take her early you will miss that burst of growth.

Can you let her suck up the sunshine for the remainder of the time///moving her in/out ("a little of the old in and out love" as the Droogs would say) and letting her get some SERIOUS light at the end of her life?

again...great job. My eyes are getting red just thinking about it!

bt dt

Thanks, bt. It's always good to get some positive feedback. For the last 4 weeks, they've been out in the yard getting natural light. I take them inside during the night to ensure total darkness.

That 2-3 week remaining window you refer to...I'm a patient guy and have no problem waiting that long. I just don't know if the taller plant can hold out that long. It's lost all of it's fan leaves and some of the smaller leaves I noticed are starting to turn yellow too. That's why I added a little of the Grow Big, to provide them a little more Nitrogen. The leaves around the buds are still a very healthy green and I am noticed new growth all along the stem. This new growth immediately starts flowering too - tiny little buds. As long as the leaves around the buds look healthy, I'll let her continue on. BTW, the pistils on the bigger plant is probably about 50% reddish brown.

Cool! That natural light should help make a bit bigger buds *soon*. At 36 days your plant is *just now* fully programming herself to flower out and will certainly pack on more weight.

And hey...she'll hang for 3 weeks EASY...believe me. I let a 60 day AK-47 go 100+ days once and she kept on chuggin. She didn't give a better high or taste in the end and the extra time spent wasn't something I'll do again...but it shows that once this plant goes into flower she is very hard to kill and will go for a long time past the "scheduled" times given for flower....especially if you keep pumping her full of nutes along the way or are growing in rich soil. (where it is often hard to wind the plant down)

In fact, I only use the 8-9 week, etc. figure given by the breeder as a general guide as far as when to harvest. I personally just watch MY PLANT. When she's done...(50% amber trichs or more for my tastes) she comes down.

I see wayyyyyyy too many peeps here talking about harvesting 6 week bud..and that is sad to see someone wait THAT long and then jump the gun so very badly when the BEST part of the plant production is still ahead of em! Problem is..if they haven't seen that plant truly FINISH and always take their plants EARLY...they really have no idea how badly they've screwed up or what they are missing in size. weight, taste, and high.

Pistls...well... you can make em turn with TOO MUCH FERTILIZER...so those are no good to watch AT ALL and mean very little...especially at 6 weeks...when it comes to the plant being finished. In fact...they will go red/brown with a good whap of fert...but more white growth will show later if you let them keep going. Many folks see this *red* as a sign that they are done...which is false. If you look at their pics....along with the red hairs are usually accompanied by CURLED UNDER (clawed) leaves... showing that ...yes...they are indeed overfertilizing their plants.

In short, it isn't "done"...it's just tired of being overfed and over-tended! (and they will have smaller buds in the end due to both of those habits)

Anyway...*you* are doing great. Stick with it....and I do believe you will see more growth in those 3 weeks that will make the wait worth your while.

good luck

bt dt

Thanks for the great advice, bt. I will take it to heart.

Update time if anyone is still following. Things are progressing very nicely. I have determined that both plants will ultimately lose all of their lower fan leaves. When they first started turning yellow and shrivelling up, I was very worried and thought I had done something wrong. But the taller one has lost all of it's fan leaves but is generally very healthy. All along the main stem and offshoots I am seeing buds with their supporting leaves. The buds are really starting to crystalize and I'm seeing trichs everywhere, including the surrounding leaves.

We had friends over for the weekend, so my girls spent about 1/2 their time in the natural sun and 1/2 under the lights both Sat and Sun. Yesterday (Mon), the weather was bad so the spent the entire day under the lights. Today they are back outside in the sun.

Sunday I gave them a "light" cocktail of water, molasses (2tbs/gallon), 1/4 tsp of Superthrive, 2 tbs of TB and 1 tsp of BB. Both plants looked great this morning, except for the yellowing of the fan leaves on the smaller plant. I did some pruning of both plants on Sunday to allow the light to penetrate deep to reach the smaller buds.

Any feedback welcomed.

Looking real good, hearmenow. A little stretching going on with the tall on but other than that it looks pretty damn good. For your next grow I would suggest you top your plants and allow those other colas to reach their full potential. Hope you get some killer bud from your girls.

man I cant wait to see what you end up with. I am about to start my 1st grow. and just wanted to let you know that reading your post have helped with a lot of things. Where do you think you are going to get your good seeds?

The grow big is a nitrogen fert. I would probably stay away from it and only use the big bloom and tiger bloom. That grow big is more for the veg stage.

I posted too soon. Yellowing is ok, since by the end of it's life cycle it should be turning yellow.

Thanks guys, appreciate the feedback and advice.

Ganzy, sometimes you can't predict how plants will react. From early on, the taller one displayed some sativa traits by it's taller, narrower appearance. The leaves were also more "finger-like" than the other plants. I took all the precautions to prevent stretching (i.e. lights within 2", etc.) but it stretched anyway during flowering. I am chalking that up to genetics.

The main cola on the taller plant is really swelling up. It's about 4" diameter and about 4" in length. As you can see in pic #1 above, the weight of that cola is forcing the stem to lean a little. Guesstimating, if I let it flower another 2-3 weeks, on the taller plant alone, I think I will harvest between 2- 2.5 oz wet. Not a lot but given how rough they've had it and it's bag seed, I'll be fine with 1 oz cured. If the middle and lower buds continue to swell the way they have, I'd say it'll be closer to 2.5 oz wet. The main cola alone looks like it's about 1/4 oz wet right now. The other 2 colas on the offshoots look to be around an 1/8 oz. Then there are the other buds all along the main stem that are just starting to fill out. If I harvested the entire plant right now, it'll be about 1.5 oz wet. Hopefully over the next week or so I'll be reporting back that I underestimated the potential and it's closer to 2.5 oz. That'll be sweet.

I haven't estimated yet on the smaller plants because I think that one is still earlier in it's flowering cycle. I am estimating that one probably needs another 3-4 weeks to reach it's full potential. I will say that the main stem on that plant is covered with buds. There is no visible stem at all, just buds.

I examined the trichs again this morning from the taller one and they appeared clear to me, another indicator that I have a ways to go.

43, I already have an order into Nirvana for Early Misty and Master Kush. I chose both for their potency (approx 19% if grown right) and ease of grow. EM is the strongest outdoor indica-dominant strain Nirvana carries and MK is a sativa dominant strain, which is what I want.

Smoker, I used GB early on in flowering but haven't since. I'll post an update again Friday or Monday.

hearmenow said:

EM is the strongest outdoor indica-dominant strain Nirvana carries and MK is a sativa dominant strain, which is what I want.

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Remember you'll lose at least 75% of weight in the drying process.

Master Kush is very much an Indica dominant plant not Sativa dominant, not sure if you've got the two round the wrong way, but all the Kush strains are Indica.