16 days, droopy

[richkel]

Thanks B4D. I've been watching your awesome grow log. Wow!

OK, I'm really happy with my critical-kush plant. She's about 5 weeks old, had a slow start, but with help from y'all she seems good to me. So I'm trying to decide when to change to flowering. After all, the goal is getting something to smoke. I have some lemon-kush seeds sprouted and more seeds to follow, BUT I don't want to be impatient and pass up the chance to greatly increase the yield on this plant.

Options; Go to flowering cycle now, worry about yields on future plants
Let her fill out another week, then flower
Do another round of pruning, topping, maybe squeeze and bend a couple branches, let it recover, then flower

Opinions welcome

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[Blaze4daze]

Hey Rich

Wow, she looks fantastic. Good Job. Looks like she has a couple tops from what you have already done. Never grown any of the Critical strains before, so watching this plant in bloom would be interesting to see how she grows.

You could top her again which would make her bush out more. I usually allow my plants to veg from 60-70 days before they go to Bloom, but that's just the way I grow them. Might as well let them get bigger so they can produce more bud, if I'm going to grow them at all, is my thinking.

Some growers flower their plants after 3-4 weeks of veg growth. They must be desperate for the buds to flower them so soon.

And by topping her again and allowing time for her to recover, she will grow out more, instead of up. This is also good if you have a height restriction in your grow area.

Whatever you decide and feel comfortable doing will work. You have a good start going with this plant. She looks great, and should grow into an awesome plant. I would top her again, allow her to recover and veg. another 3 weeks, then put her to Bloom.

I don't think I wound bend her any, those branches will grow out and you will have to stake them to keep them up from all the weight she will be putting on them, from bud growth, later on in her bloom cycle.

[Schmokin]

She looks great. Positively thriving. I've been watching a lot of youtube videos lately on topping and supercropping. Some of those boys are getting monster yields from a bit of bending and squeezing. Would be interested to see how this all turns out.
This would make a great thread for the grow diary section if you want to start one there....

[Blaze4daze]

Yes, Rich! I agree with Schmokin. We should have your grow, in the diary section, where we all can see how this awesome plant turns out.

I also have seen some of those bending, pinching techniques that more experienced or super confident growers are using for higher yield. Rich, here is doing fantastic with what just went down with the nute issue and then the transplant, but could feel that confidence, enough to give it a go. The plant does look like she recovered nicely and might adapt to some higher yield, techniques.

[richkel]

ruh roh

Thanks for the compliments guys. I was going to start a grow log thread to show her off a bit, but I'm back in the clinic. I looked at it about a hundred times today, but when I checked it one last time before bedtime it looked like someone let the air out. The soil seems moist and the pot feels heavy enough (was much lighter before the last watering yesterday morning), but it went all limp. The lights will be off in an hour so I'll see what it's like in the morning.

dang!

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[richkel]

what the ****

So at 4:00 AM I check and she's pretty much back "up". Maybe a little yellow on the top? What's going on here?

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[Blaze4daze]

So at 4:00 AM I check and she's pretty much back "up". Maybe a little yellow on the top? What's going on here?

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Rich

Well, your nutrient strength, might be affecting her a little, from what I can gather. Are you still feeding her the diluted 20-20-20, and diluting it the same each time? Are you ph'ing her water, the same for each feeding? And does she get nutrients every feeding or water only every other feeding?

[richkel]

Hi B4D I switched to General Hydroponics nutrients early on. I've been following the 1/2 strength feeding schedule I downloaded from growweedeasy.com/sites/growweedeasy.com/files/grow-weed-General-Hydroponics-nutrient-schedule.pdf . I alternate nutes with just water and I have been checking and adjusting (very little)pH. Usually I lower it just a tad to around 6.0. I'm using vinegar, and the tiniest drop in a gallon makes a big difference. That means my water has low alkalinity...right? Last time I checked soil pH I got around 6.5. (using drops and color scale) I ordered a TDS meter so I can monitor that too. Right now my two lemon-kush seedlings are struggling with yellow leaf tips and curling down. This should be easier...but I'll get there.

[Blaze4daze]

Rich

Ok, for my water, right after I feed/water I refill My 5er and let it sit for 3 days, bubbling it the last 24 hours and heating it with a heating rod to 88*f 2 hours before I feed/water, again. I must be one of the lucky ones, not having to ph my water. Where I live here in the mountains, my tap water is pretty decent.

My soil mixture has dolomite lime (for ph adjustment) and using fox farms nutrients also adjusts the ph in the water. I would thing you would just need to stay consistent with your nutrients, maybe give her a tad less and don't over water.

If you have good drain off and are giving her at least a gallon to a gallon and a half of water/nutrient per feeding, you should only need to water her every 3 days, more often if the temp. in the grow room is higher than 85*f. A higher temp. in the grow room might require her to be watered/fed more often.

[richkel]

Am I nuts?

Thanks for the info Blazed. I haven't really been able to put my finger on why she went limp last night, but one thing I noticed in your last reply was the quantity of water you use. I have a smaller pot so I use much less, but I decided to investigate that. I used a 3 gallon bucket which I cut the top rim off of to take up less space. I didn't fill it to the top, and with settling my medium only came up to the 7 quart line. Now that I'm thinking of growing this plant bigger, I figured she would need more room. I took another bucket, drilled holes, filled with Pro-mix, watered with nutes, then cut the bottom out of the grow bucket and stacked them. There were some roots in a circle at the bottom (hope I didn't damage too many), so I think she'll like the extra depth....we'll see if she survives that procedure.

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[Blaze4daze]

Rich

I see those 5ers in the back ground of your photo. If one of them is clean inside, (if not, you could clean it out real good) then you could get your drill back out and drill 7, 1/2 inch holes into the bottom outside (not underneath) but on the outside, at the very bottom of that 5er, spaced evenly all around the bucket. Making sure the bottom of the holes are at the very bottom of the container and transplant the plant into the 5er. You could sprinkle a hand full of Mykos around under the transplant if you have some, also. This will strengthen the roots as they grow out and down thru the Mykos.

What you have going there could be a problem with roots, later on and looks real unstable and just does not seem right at all.

This way you will have proper drain~off and will be able to give the plant a gallon or more of water/nutrients per watering/feeding and she will drain a whole lot better.

[Blaze4daze]

Rich

With the holes on the outside bottom of the container, you will be able to check her for wetness also. The roots that try to grow out the holes, you just poke back in with your finger. 1/2 inch holes will allow you to feel the moisture in the container.

The drain tray you use underneath the bucket will cause damage to the roots that grow out the bucket if you put the holes underneath, they'll get squashed between the drain tray and the bucket and you will be constantly having to deal with them hanging out and being damaged when you lift your container to clean out your drain tray.

[Blaze4daze]

Rich

Check out the holes in the buckets here.DSCN1904 W.jpg

[Blaze4daze]

Rich

And here.DSCN1897.JPG W.jpg

[richkel]

Like this?

I've seen the stacking technique a couple places. I think it's a less traumatic way to "transplant". But who am I to argue. The 5 gal buckets were already scrubbed and drilled, waiting for larger plants. The holes are in the bottom, but I support the buckets on aluminum angles above the drip pans, so they shouldn't disturb the roots much. I don't have Mykos, but there is supposed to be some of that in the Pro-Mix HP. I hope my girl isn't too mad about all the transplanting.

Rich