Seed to harvest- 1st grow from seed in years

If I do not post this journal soon it may not happen so here goes:

This is my 1st journal so comments and criticisims are welcome.

INTRODUCTION: I am now in the middle of the 4th week of flowering from 10 seeds that germinated in mid-November. They were from a strain of feminized Super Lemon Haze. 8 of them established as plants and I now have 5 of them budding.

Day 1- Seeds were placed in a drinking glass of tap water for about 48hrs. This was done in 2 batches of 5 seeds each spaced 1 week apart. They were placed in the dark. They were placed in a seedling tray on top of a germination heat mat to control the temperature at about 75 degrees F. When the seed cover split and I could see the white "tail" I then placed them tail down in either choir pellets or small clay pots of roots organics potting soil........... under no more than 1/4 inch of top cover............

Day 14- (2 weeks)- seeds have sprouted under 2 CFL bulbs

Day 43- (6 weeks)- seedlings establish under a 400 watt Metal Halide bulb.

Day 56- (8 weeks)- plants are in the middle of the vegetative stage under a 600 watt Metal Halide Bulb. they have been repotted twice into larger clay pots and once into 3 gallon cloth bags by the time they went under the 600 watt bulb.............. When the 4 plants outgrew the 1st 4x2x5ft. grow box: Two of them were then placed under 300 watts of LED Quantum Board LEDs in another 4x2x5ft. grow box.... There was then enough room for a 3rd plant in the LED grow box.

Day 68- (10 weeks)- The veg stage is ended with 36 hours of dark followed by a cycle of 12 & 12 hrs of light and dark to induce flowering.

Day 77- (11 weeks)- This is the 2nd week of flowering as shown in the photos below.
At this stage I then switched from a metal halide to a HPS bulb in the HID bulb grow box. I also cut off the Alaska fish emulsion (5-1-1).

Day 93- (13 weeks)- I am now in the 4th week of flowering.........

My fertilizer has been General Hydroponics Lucas formula with flora micro and flora bloom at 2.5 mls of micro and 5.0 mls of bloom in every gallon I water with from early veg to late veg when they go under heavier light. Then I add Fish emulsion to keep the nitrogen up both in foliar and soil........ at the rate of 2 tsp. per gallon of water ........... not every watering but every 3 or 4 days from late veg until they stop growing about 2.5 weeks into flowering.

If I do not add the fish to compensate for the increased plant size and rate of growth they get very yellow...........
The yellow plant in the 1st pic shows this lack of nitro...............

Thanks to this forum for this opportunity for me to keep a record. I believe it will help me in future grows and I will update this thread into and following harvest.

I have learned a lot here this last few months.

I should mention that I used Diamond Black at 1/2 the label rate for 2 waterings in the late veg and early flowering stage.

@Jay Unity ........

Looking good

Now to be patient and wait .........



I topped all the plants above the 5th or 6th nodes in mid-veg. Then cut many of the basal stems that did not reach above half way up the plant by late veg stage.
They are starting to smell some. I like that

Day 100- 5th week of flowering. Buds are getting larger and more fragrant. A few stigmas (white hairs) are turning brown but they are rare so far.

The 1st two photos are from under HPS and the last two are from under the LEDs. Two of the plants (1 Hps and 1 LED) are more yellow. The buds dont look as big on the yellow plants but they are still looking like they will work well....

6 weeks- buds are swelling and more fragrant although it is not a strong smell. these flowers are typical and I estimate 2 weeks to harvest but I really have no clue yet on this strain

7th week of flowering (mid-week). I did a crude soil test on all 5 plants. All were void of nitrogen. Levels of Phosphorus and Potassium were mid-range. One plant (under HPS) has hardly any green leaves left. Any nitro needed now comes from the leaves that are left.

Buds are getting heavier and swelling. They have been getting plain tapwater for about 1 week now.

Trichomes are 80 to 90 percent milky. Hardly any amber or brown types (less than 2 percent).
I cut a couple buds 3 days ago and just smoked one. It worked great! But I wont chop until I start seeing more dark trichome heads............. I hope not more than another week but I really got no clue as to how much longer. It is already good by my standards.

8th week (mid-week)- Buds continue to swell and become more fragrant. Not a powerful smell but a subtle sweet, sativa smell with a little lemon.

I continue to feed them just plain tap water and all plants show yellowing leaves now. Trichomes are over 90 percent milky. More like 95. I have to hunt to find clear ones and still the ambers are less than 1 percent.

I will wait for more ambers. I smoked a bud from 3 days ago and it is outstanding. They are now in a harvest window but I will wait for more trichomes and heavier buds..............I could taste the lemon. It has a nice, smooth smoke to it already.

Also, I switched the HID bulb from HPS to MH yesterday

9th week (mid-week)- Buds dont seem to be swelling much more. Stigmas have turned about 90% brown. Trichomes are well over 95 percent cloudy. Ambers are hard to find, mabe 2 percent or less.

I will chop them in 2 days so it looks like harvest will be at the end of 9 weeks from flip. Early for many growers but I think the trichomes are right and it fits the timing predicted by the seed seller. They seem "stalled". Like no change in trichomes for the last 3 or 4 days................

I have had them in the dark for about 30 hours now and just went in with a green light and clipped a bud. I wish I could show photos of the trichomes but it seems to show more ambers and clears both now. So its like something happened. Maybe (ha). Looks good so I will harvest tonite and get them hanging....

When I look at the pics (before and after the dark period) they look about the same - but the ratios of clear to cloudy to amber seem to have changed. Maybe

the photos dont show it though- so I think I am "splitting hairs"- or looking more closely now and more often

Looks like about 8 quart jars full of buds. Tops are more potent so I separated them from the others. I did not weigh them. I will start a new journal of the next grow which has already started from clones of these plants.
This next run is from the tops of these plants................

Discussion:

Seeds may yield more than clones. these sure did. HIDs yield less than LEDs , in this case. I got less yield from 2 plants under HID than from 3 smaller plants under my LEDs. HID was a 600 watt setup....... LEDs were a 100 watt spider farmer and a 230 watt maxsisun.

This is my 2nd grow from the same seed plants...................



I just flipped to the 12 & 12 flower cycle about a week ago. I have 6 plants under 4 quantum board leds- drawing 630 watts covering a 4 x 8 x 5ft tall area. 2 plants are from the same seeds as the 1st grow. The other 4 plants are from clones from those original seeds.

The trick has been how to monitor and know when to add additional nitrogen to the nute regimen in late veg and early flower stage (like now) when they are growing fast under increased light intensity. Plants basically turn yellow. It is subtle at first but if I dont increase the nitro in time the whole plant will quickly yellow in the space of 3 or 4 days. I think I now have a handle on it but I will know for sure after this growth spurt in early flower. Transplanting (repotting to larger pots) also hurt the vigor.......... but they have come out of it now and still a couple plants are low on nitro.

These 6 plants were root bound under a 400 watt metal halide bulb in early to mid-veg.......... so they were never repotted in time............... They are now in the 3 gal. cloth bags

to be continued........

The 3 gallon bags were actually 5 gallon bags- as labeled on the bag. I am in the middle of the 5th week of flower for 5 bags and 1 large clay pot.
I will post some pics tonight............

Four of the plants are from the seed plant clones above - each may have a different mother. The other 2 are seed plants from the original seeds and are now about 5 months old. They all look pretty much the same and I cant tell the diff in clones vs the seed plants.

Here they are in the middle of week 5- looking about the same to me as the last grow at this stage

I am now in the middle of week 7 (of flower). I just smoked some from a top bud from about 4 days ago. It is in the harvest window but I see no ambers (hardly) yet so I will wait until I see more. Most trichome heads are milky. Not more than 15% are clear.
This ratio has not changed much for about a week now. This pic is from 6 days ago. Buds continue to swell............