# a few questions from a first time central mississippi grower



## voxito (May 15, 2009)

Thanks in advance to all who will read and answer any of my questions.

Before I ask away, I want to start with some plant info. I have 12 right now; 4 sativas, 4 indicas, and 4 mostly indica hybrids. They are all bagseed, but I feel confident in my guesses on the plants types judging by the leaf shapes, I think it's pretty easy for me to tell already what they should turn out to be. If possible and/or even applicable (especially question #1), if there are different answers for the different genetics I would greatly appreciate that.

Now for the questions.

1. My plants are located on the southeast edge of a cutover so they can get good sun all day long all year long. I've hunted this area for 20 years now and even though I'm fairly sure nobody will find them, I know its always a possibility. I put a 5 foot fence up around the plot to keep the deer and rabbits away but I'm worried someone could possibly see the fence once fall comes and the foliage starts to die off. So the question is when do your plants grown at or around this latitude usually finish? Since this is my first grow, its outdoors, and I won't be cloning anything I just used bag seed. I have no guess as to when harvest time will be, so anyone sharing my latitiude I'd love to hear about the date when you harvested yours last year and when you expect to this year.

2. The edge of the cutover is super thick with the growth that typically occupies cutovers. Briars mostly, but plenty of new trees since this cutover is a few years old. The place is crawling with insects of all sorts, anything you can think of. My problem bugs are crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, ants, spiders, and 4 different flies that really enjoy living and munching on my plants. I don't think the spiders do, I just really don't want anything on them. I've put out ant poison and that fixed the ant problem. This was safe for vegetable gardens so I guess if it's ok to eat its ok to smoke. I sprayed some orkin home defense stuff that said 6 weeks but I think its more like 3 with the kind of rains we've been gettin here. All of my bug repellants and poisons have been applied to the fence and not on the plants, so that may have something to do with the effectiveness. Question number 2 is what are the best bud-safe insecticides to use and what are the best ways of applying them?

3. After having my first taste of some killer homegrown a few months back I made the easy decision to grow strictly organic. The qualities I'm hoping for in terms of harvested bud is high, taste, smell, appearance, and yield, in that order. What do you recommend besides molasses, manure, guano, and russian comfey for fertilizers that would help my ganja out to meet my criteria?

4. The last question. I've been pinching the stems on all of my plants. I've topped 2 sativas and one indica, tied down 1 sativa and one indica, and fimmed the hybrids and the 3 I had already topped after reading about it here. My question is when growing outdoors, is topping even beneficial? I know this is all opinion but I'm sure somebody here has reliable data they can give me. Like I said, I'm not really worried about someone seeing them so height isn't an issue and after some deep pondering and reading I'm wondering if my yield would be better to not cut anything off. Is that really just for controlling height or will it actually help out on the yields? I get the impression topping and fimming and lst is really directed more towards indoor where you have a limit imposed by the ceiling and outdoors they may be better left alone. Maybe it would help to top so I could grow bushes that won't fall over, but I really would enjoy some cold hard facts from someone who has tested this with all other variables kept the same in an outdoor grow so I can know for sure their effects on yields.

Thanks again for any answers to these questions. Also, thanks to all the knowledgable folks on this site who have helped me so far with info I've gathered over the past few years of reading about growing. I feel confident I can get these plants to harvest after reading everything I can on this site. And, another thanks to all who make this site so much more professional than the countless others I've read over the years. It's nice not to have to wade through the bull to find what I'm looking for.

Thanks yet again for anybody who read this whole post and anyone who gives me any useful info.


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## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2009)

Dude I live in the southeast too and I think that the fence will make it easy for your plants to be spotted from the air. Use a pepper sprayfor the bugs get some cayanne or jalapeno peppers  about  a dozen to a gallon of water. cut the up add them to the water let it soak for 24 hours strain out the peppers and add 2 teaspoons of diswashing liquid (dawn)  to the mix. spray this on your plants. I use this mix in my vegtable garden.  I woud not put any commercial bug sprays on my plants!


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## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2009)

Dude I live in the southeast too and I think that the fence will make it easy for your plants to be spotted from the air. Use a pepper sprayfor the bugs get some cayanne or jalapeno peppers  about  a dozen to a gallon of water. cut the up add them to the water let it soak for 24 hours strain out the peppers and add 2 teaspoons of diswashing liquid (dawn)  to the mix. spray this on your plants. I use this mix in my vegtable garden.  I woud not put any commercial bug sprays on my plants!  A 5 foot fence will not keep out deer I use an 8 foot fence.


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## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2009)

:hubba: Sorry about the double post .


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## voxito (May 16, 2009)

thanks, I'll definitely be giving the pepper water a try next time I go.  

All the growth now is right up to the fence so I'm sure it's practically impossible for it to be seen from the air.  Also, since it is on the edge of the cutover there is a tree directly above the plot.  I cut and pushed back all the trees and bushes when I put the fence up.  Also, it's made of really thin wire and I have no posts, it's just wrapped on the outside of some saplings that are about 4 feet tall.  I know a 5' fence won't keep a deer that wants in out, but the plot is only a 10' circle around the plants so I my experience the deer should be dettered by my fence when there is so much else for them to eat.  Even I snack on the black berries when I'm tending to the plants...

keep the suggestions coming please


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## zipflip (May 16, 2009)

last year on my outdoor grow i had problem wit rabbits chewin at my stems of plants so i put up them stake in th ground rabbit deer reppellant things by each plant and after that i never saw a rabbit near the whole area. an i use to see em all over as i'd get closer to the garden before this.


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## voxito (May 16, 2009)

what is this deer rabbit repellant stake?


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## zipflip (May 16, 2009)

you could get some liquid fence. tho a bit spendy depending on size of ya grow or # or plants you cirlcle wit it..?
*hxxp://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2048417*

the things i used would still be visible, yet only visible really if you were walkin right by it in first place. but even then on infrared deal flyovers look thru anythin plastic or metal or anythin other than vegetation is gonna have its own heat signature thus showin up a distinct object appearing odd or out of place . so really i'd go wit the liquid fence or even pee in bottles an save up to when you go to ya grow and dump bottles of ya urine round teh grow. i also done this as well..
  cant find them deals i used anywhere to show a pic. i got em at hardware store was all. just a container wit vent holes wit some stuff that stunk an supposedly repelled animals i guess was the idea of it and ya staked it in the ground was all.


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## voxito (May 16, 2009)

thanks I'll look into those next time I'm there.  I need more soil so I can start more plants anyway.  Keep em coming


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## LassChance (May 16, 2009)

voxito said:
			
		

> thanks I'll look into those next time I'm there.  I need more soil so I can start more plants anyway.  Keep em coming



Im in the SE too and although my "real" grow is inside, I am planning on sneaking one and possibly two BC BigBuds in the yard by the privacy fence, trained horizontally.  Ive already been neglecting to mow inside the fence, figuring the more and taller the weeds, the better for cammoflage.

Anyway, you might enjoy seeing a great outside grow and possibly learn something-go to youtube and SEARCH "A Grower's Lot".
Evidently it's not uncommon to get half a pound up to a pound from one outside plant...so Im guessing your yield will be HUGE. Let's hope half or more of you plants are fem!

Folks say this and folks say that about whether topping, FIMing and so on improve yield. Beats me.
Taking a stab at when you will harvest...Although flowering time varies from strain to strain, a good guestimate is eight to ten weeks after Summer Solstice, June 21. After then the days start getting shorter and the plants will go into flower mode. Say all of July and all of August to flower and most likely harvest around Sept.1 or thereabouts. At the very outside, the middle of Sept, so it will still be hot in Dixie, with plenty of greenery still around.

Im looking foreward to "watching" your grow progress--I hope we'll see some pics as time goes by.

Ive got a bamboo grove on my property that seems to BEG for a plant or two in it...but there's been this damn green, unmarked helicopter that flies by very slowly the past couple Augusts...and I dont know what he's looking at or FOR, but he seems to really check out the bamboo. So, LOL, I figure while he's SO busy looking at the bamboo, he wont notice one horizontal "weed" among the other weeds in my unmowed back yard.

Last summer I had four plants in pots on my deck rail, surrounded by MANY other potted, flowering plants.  I went to Walmart and bought some plastic flowers, tiny white ones, and wired them onto my MJ plants...so, from the air Im sure they looked like just another flowering plant on a nice old lady's deck...teehee!  If they ONLY KNEW!  As in Poe's "Purloined Letter", there's something to be said for  "hiding in plain sight".  I had people on my deck who KNOW what MJ looks like...who simpluy never noticed it amidst all the other "flowers"  One thing I like about Big Bud is, it has virtually NO smell...but still packs quite a punch.

Anyway, I got a huge kick out of "A Grower's Lot" on you tube and I hope you'll take a look.

Happy growing

Lass


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## voxito (May 16, 2009)

yeah I actually got a tip from a knowledgable grower that growing in bamboo was a good idea.  I check out every thicket I come across, because it sure would be easy to hide a lanky sativa in there and nobody except who was looking would notice.  I wouldn't take the whole thing, just a bowl's worth nug to try out if it was close to being done, I'd hope to catch the person so we could match too:hubba: 

He said the reason for growing in bamboo was because they give off a similar heat sig to infrared from above.  He said they monitor the changes in the signature and weed gives off more heat while growing and that's how they find big plots.  Bamboo closely matches weed's heat changes thus making it harder for them to find.  A good suggestion, but no bamboo thickets I have access to get enough sun for my liking, so I'm stuck in the cutover... 

I'm like you, I have mixed feelings about the topping.  I went to check on them today and fimming only worked on 4 out of the seven.  For those wondering, it does make four where ther would have been only two, but the ones I didn't fim got the benefit of growing the two leaves they had much larger, whereas the 4 where fimming worked have 4 tiny leaves.  This check was 2 days after I fimmed.  The three that fimming didn't work on(I guess I cut these wrong?) started regrowing their leaves so no big deal.

Thanks for hoping half are female.  I myself am a little more hopeful but hey who isn't?  I've read it's more likely for a seed from a hermi to go hermi, so that's my real concern.  it's gonna kill me to take them out when I could've got some smoke off of them, but I want my females to be sensi, so it's a sacrifice I'll willingly make.  I had hundreds of seeds I've collected over the years, some were killer ganja, some just reggie, I hope the dank plants are growing now.

That's a great idea on tying them down and growing them by the fence.  As soon as I know I can grow I'll be ordering every seed that looks good, I just didn't want to this season since all I know about growing is what I read here.  I'd enjoy some smoke reports if you think those BC Bigbuds are worth growing.  Well I know it's all worth growing, but I want the best of the best, ya know?

I'll definitely check out a growers lot, and I'll gladly sit through any informative video yall suggest.

Thanks for some definitive dates on the estimated harvest.  It takes some worry out of my head thinking I'll harvest before hunting season starts and people start going into the woods.

Keep the info coming please and good luck to your grows


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## voxito (May 26, 2009)

Finally got to my plot after not seeing them for almost 2 weeks. Here they are. 2 aren't dead yet but they look so bad I didn't even take pics. One's stem turned red and the leaves are yellow, why is this? The other was my experiment with lst and it is all droopy, still alive, but not for long I'm sure. I had 2 more in another plot but I couldn't go see them today. Number 4 I fimmed and number 8 I topped, in my experiment to compare yields. 

thought I'd post some pics since I took em. All plants a month old with no ferts except molasses. I'm going to start them now that they are all a month old. I got some root stimulator and mixed it a quarter strength to see what that does.

you'll see the new grass, I threw out some grass seed last time I was there to help hide them and give the animals something else to eat.  You'll see on many where I've been feeding the bugs with my leaves...


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## Hick (May 27, 2009)

vox'... a few things 'jumped' out at me...
  Did you do anything, to improve/ammend the native soil?.. ("threw grass seed out to hide...") ...the absents of native fauna concerns me. If it was a natural 'bare spot', the soil could be ..."not so good". 
An over abundance of rain, in combination w/ poor drainage(from lack of amendments, tilling) could be contributing to your problems. (yellowing/dieing)
  Have you checked either the soil or your water for proper PH range?.. (could also contribute) 
Molasses is NOT a fertilizer.....
"IMO".. purchase some 'quality' nutrients/fertilizers. Good organic ferts aren't expensive when you consider the advantages, _especially_ for a novice with little experience mixing/making their own. Avoid blood or bone meals, they attract vermin. 
The liquid fence(or other 'commercial' deterrants, "Deer Away", "Scoot", ect), deoderant soap, human or dog hair, pet feces,(if there's a local zoo, look into getting your hands on BIG cat feces ) moth balls, all work to 'some' extent, but are no garauntee.
While Lass's time line for summer solstice is right on, I fear the flowering timeline is a "tad" off. June 21 is the longest day of the year, but plants do not immeasiatly begin flowering. It takes "several" weeks of the deminishing hours before the flourigen level reaches the crucial point, to induce flowering. 
I'm north a few lat's, (theoretically, "I" should see flowering and harvest slightly sooner than you) I see males start to show by late July, fem's "usually" can all be determined by the second or third week of August. 
Harvest "some" indicas around the las week of Sept. Sats can run well into October, in some instances. 
  Topping, training, fimming, has little effect on yeild. It is used primarily to control heighth, conceal or camouflage. By removing the "christmas tree" profile commonly associated with MJ.  Yield is determined/affected more by over all plant size/root mass.


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## voxito (May 27, 2009)

yes I did till up the ground where the plants are, but probably not as much as I should have.  About a foot around and a foot deep for each plant.  I started them in cups and let them grow in there for a week, then when I transplanted I dug the holes and filled them with potting soil.  I know it doesn't look like it though.  I covered them back up with the dirt I dug up so it wouldn't be as noticable if somebody saw them, and I thought the natural thicker dirt would hold moisture in the potting soil better if there was about an inch of regular dirt covering it up.  

That spot was far from bare.  I had a first I took a machete to make it where I could walk through the plot.  Then pruning shears to get all the plants(mainly briars and small trees) down to the ground level.  Then I used a hatchet to get any roots I couldn't rip up with my hands.  Then I raked everything I chopped.  Then I had a pick to break up the top layer of the plot, and then I used a shovel to dig my holes.  Everytime I go down there I weed everything except the grass which is why it is so bare.  I also liked it bare because when I started my plants they were only 2" tall and anything besides plain dirt on the ground and I could've misplaced them or stepped on them, which I have done to a couple. 

I have a fence around the plot, I guess I didn't get it in the pics.  

Thanks for the harvest time info.  I got plenty of time to build a perfect drying box. 

I've been reading a lot about nutes, any in particular you suggest?  There's no fox farm around here, I've checked.

thanks for all the help man


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## docfishwrinkle (May 27, 2009)

local nuseries & improvement stores sometimes carry a line of blended organics made by terracycle. i found these work well. i just brewed a tea had bat guano, chicken ****, vermicompost, seabird guano, bone & blood meals. all pelletized in a gallon jug. lil bit goes a long way. npk 5-3-4


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## voxito (May 27, 2009)

great man I'll go get some of that, sounds good.  Anything else?  I'll go get whatever yall think will help me

I was thinking about trying some root feeding, if I'm calling it right.  I just take a tube and stick it deep in the ground for watering the nutrients direct to the roots?  Would that help aeriate the roots?  Is it even a good idea?  

Do I have to make a tea or will the pellets dissolve themselves in water?  Will making a tea stink up the house?

a lot of questions but yall know I'm new to this I definitely need some help.

thanks for any responses fellas


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## docfishwrinkle (May 27, 2009)

if u have a well prepared soil then u dont need 2 "root feed". no u dont need 2 make a tea id just top dress w/ pellets. teas are quicker, but heavier. oh yeah dont forget chicks grow 2! ;-}


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## voxito (May 27, 2009)

yeah I know girls grow too.  I'm actually trying to emulate thehempgoddess' dwc and scog so I can grow indoors too.  Looks like she designed it perfectly and I think it will be the best way for me to start indoors.  I use fellas as a genderless term, and "fellas" used here means "fellow growers" 


the terracycle has all those ingredients you listed or do I need to get them seperate and add them?  

By top dress do you mean throw the pellets on the ground or let them dissolve in a jug and pour that around the stems?


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## docfishwrinkle (May 27, 2009)

just joking w/ the chicks dig. yeah terracycle has all those ingredients in the "granular all porpose plant food". they have a full line. terracycle.net

just mix into top soil or brew a tea. tea i brew is in my basement & you cant smell it until ur on top of it.


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## voxito (May 27, 2009)

thanks man.  How shallow do you think my plants' roots are?  I was thinking I could re-till the top few inches to mix in this fertilizer if I wouldn't damage the root system.  Is that possible?  I repacked all of the dirt in my plot because I was real worried about it drying out but I think it would benefit from a little drying.


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## FlyingNatural (May 29, 2009)

HI guys,I thought I would throw my two cents in.I grow on a mountain filled with deer.I have had great success with fishing line around the perimeter at 4 feet high and just pissing when I stop in.It works very well for me.I use neem oil (dilute concentrate) on my plants as well as the surrounding flora.I feed the native ants jelly on my stems,this breaks their symbiotic relations with the aphids,thus sending them on a seek and destroy mission killing all who threaten the jelly source.Usually this summons the daddy long legs  Stay cool,Stay Safe


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## voxito (May 29, 2009)

great idea on the jelly, but I really don't want ant beds on mt stems I don't think.  I'm not sure if ants are the same where you live, but here if you get close you get swarmed.  Being slightly allergic I itch and swell, and it sucks big time.  I'm doing my hardest to keep the ants out, so far no problems with the aphids.  

great suggestions though I don't think I really want to go that route, attracting anything is bad in my opinion, except maybe some predator bugs.  Anybody now how to get them on the plants besides relocating them there?


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## voxito (May 30, 2009)

couple more pics, but these I got with my cell phone in a hurry on the way to work this morning. I got 4 that are on their 7th leaf set. When can I clone and take them to a little flowering box I made to make them show sex? 

That one I topped is a little 6" monster bush. Got leaves everywhere now, I hope its a girl, would be a lot of little nuggets I bet, and 2 of em are now almost a foot tall. Also it looks to me like many are outgrowing their indica traits. I did want some diversity but that's what I get for dumping out 200 collected seeds and picking a dozen I thought would sprout, which all did.

Been thinking about white satin for my indoor grow this fall and winter. Any other seeds yall suggest for a low-smell, fairly fast flowerer that will do well with clones taken to directly to 12/12 for sog? Plannin on continuous harvest until next summer and my outdoors get ready.

Any and all help greatly appreciated

thanks


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## FlyingNatural (May 30, 2009)

No,the ants by me are not the biting kind  they don't destroy the plants,or make homes in my grow area.I am familiar with the ants you speak of though,I had the misfortune of stepping on a fire ant hill in Fl. 
Good Luck


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## voxito (May 30, 2009)

I think fire ants know where you don't want them to be and they build their hills there.  I had a huge ant problem as soon as I made the clearing but I put out poison and that seems to keep them outside my fence.

Any other good tips like the jelly?  Every now and then I get a few beetles in my plot, what about them?

thanks for the help


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## FlyingNatural (May 31, 2009)

Beetles are a pain.They sell traps for them in the garden stores,the traps remain away from the plot a few feet and use pheremones the lure them to their death.The basic cure all that I use is neem oil.I buy it in concentrate form and spray it under the leaves and on the stems.Neem works well to control pests as well as some types of mildew/mold.there are also different types of pyrethrin sprays that are stronger then neem,but just as organic.Garlic and hot pepper puree works pretty good for some pest problems.It is much different and more difficult controlling pests in the south east then in the mountains of the northeast I presume.In high altitude you rarely have major infestations of garden pests due to the lack of succulant plant species. STAY COOL


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## voxito (May 31, 2009)

yeah tell me about it.  Bugs are plant killers no doubt.  I had one tied down and it got eaten.  It was only an inch off the ground and it was a buffet for 3 huge black beetles, but it was their last meal...

I don't know if it's because they're getting taller, they're sturdier now and the rain doesn't knock em down, or if it's all the poison I've been using but knock on wood my bug problem isn't a problem anymore.  I've also been leaving all the spiders in the plot.  I don't see a problem with them until there's bud and I don't want webs on it but I think they're helping kill the bugs I don't want.

I'll definitely go get some neem oil.  I just read a growing guide that mentioned it and that convinced me and you just backed it up.

I haven't got any answers about the cloning though.  I've read a ton of how-tos but I can't find any whens.  All I've ever seen is wait for them to be 2 months old but it's over 20 days till that happens and I want to go ahead and get the males out.  Main reason for me being so impatient is so when the summer droughts hit I won't have to be mixing and carrying so much water in to support all 10 plants.  I went and checked this morning and 5 of the plants are on their 7th leaflets.  When can I clone and put them in my flowering box?

Oh and that one with the red stems and yellow leaves is doing fine now after I fertilized it.  It's all greened up and had 2 new shoots coming out of the top.  I guess karma balanced out me losing one to feeding the beetles with the other...

thanks for the help man and keep any suggestions coming.  I've got a lot left to learn about growing well


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## FlyingNatural (May 31, 2009)

you'll want to clone when your plants are sexually mature and have alternating nodes.This is also when you'll be able to determine the sex of your plants.You will be cloning from the branches that grow off the main stem,when they have at least four sets of true leaves on them.Be sure not to clone males If you know the sex of your plants already,and have branches on the fems with at least four sets of true leaves,go ahead and start cloning,but if not DONT RUSH IT.Check out my thread "green cloud" I have a rain water drip irrigation system set up to keep from carrying in a million gallons of water a week.I was climbing the mountain side with a staggering amount of water the past few years,this year I should have a more bountiful year due to my collection system which collected about 15 gallons for me in a short couple of nice rains.I have a 36 gallon system will an extra 15 gallons of run-off.as of right now,since I have hooked it up,we have had no substantial rain.but like I said,a couple of short showers got me 15 gallons,which is pretty good IMO. Stay Cool


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## voxito (Jun 1, 2009)

Your rain catching system is quite ingenious my friend.  At the moment I have 2 35 gallon garbage cans in my driveway catching water for me.  They work very well, but I can see the advantages of having the container at the site.  I'm gonna try to rig something similar to that around my plot.  

I already know one change I'll have to do to it though. Around here mosquitoes will lay their eggs in any stagnant water and this is perfect for them.  Any water that sits will have larvae swimming around everywhere.  I'll just have to put a screen over my top bucket, the black one in yours.   

Thanks for the idea.

I guess it's kinda pointless for me to clone then huh?  Being mostly sativa if I took some clones indoors and put em on 12/12 it would probably take at least 2 months till I could harvest anything right?  I guess I can just wait, unless yall tell me something different.

thanks for the help and please please keep it coming.


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## voxito (Jun 4, 2009)

got some new pictures today.  It finally rained after almost 2 weeks too so I'm sure they're just loving it.  The grass I planted is really taking over too, I'm gonna have to start cutting it.

They smell great, just like a skunk, I really enjoy watering them and high stress training.  Plant #4 is really liking the hst, it's stem is now .25" and it's not even a foot tall.  All 10 are doing well now.

I've started fertilizing, every ten days and I've only done it twice and I'm still at half-strength.   I just hope they make it to harvest and most are girls, I don't even care how big they get.

Bugs aren't a problem anymore, I guess the poison is working.  

Please tell me anything I need to do.


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## FlyingNatural (Jun 5, 2009)

cool,glad to hear bugs are keeping their distance.Just make sure you keep an eye out especially after the rain,as it will was away pesticides.I was up on green cloud today and found a hermie in my patch.No biggie ,I have many plants to watch after.I do have a screen on my water tank,it's a draw string black net bag that goes around the whole black bucket.It is definitely great having the water available.We had a nice bit of rain yesterday which gave me approx 10 gallons.More to come tomorrow.Stay Cool


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## GorillaGrower72 (Jun 5, 2009)

piss around your plants? deer know human sent and piss would be the ultimate.


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## voxito (Jun 5, 2009)

well I'm really not at all worried about the deer because I already put up a 5' fence.  I'm only worried about the things fences can't keep out, like bugs and diseases.  Thanks for the tip though man, with all these sativas and me on the 32 parallel I just might have to be taking my fence down this fall if they don't mature faster than all the leaves fall off.  

I'm still working on my water container Flyingnatural.  I'm thinking about doing a constant drip system like you had, but I'm wondering, how you fertilize with that system?  Do you have the nutes in the soil, in the reservoir, or does the water flow through something to absorb the fertilizer that way?  Or do you go up the mountain to fertilize by hand? This is my holdup for the reservoir plan, and I'm greatly intrigued on how you pull it off. 

As always, any ideas are greatly appreciated.


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## FlyingNatural (Jun 6, 2009)

Hey,I fertilize with a separate reservoir which is solely used for nutes.I add my fox farms liquid nutes and let her drip.I also have some goodies in in the soil: bone meal,bat ****,worm castings,manure as well as a little fox farm 'marine cuisine'.These are all additives to a soiless mix,added at specific measurements as to not over do it.With this I only feed liquids every two weeks until flowering.Then I flush and start with my secret tea and fox farm as well.I was "up top" the other day and found a hermie.Which I think is a good sign IMO,since alot of these seed dealers are trying certain pollinating techniques to increase female production.I have experimented with certain things and have found high fem ratios with one or two herms,which I move and grow to maturity and make make canna-cooking oil with them.Stay cool


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## voxito (Jun 6, 2009)

So you're saying your ferts are on a constant drip too?  I'm liking this idea and I need to build mine.  It's been gettin really dry for over 2 weeks and then pouring all day long.  Do you think two reservoirs are necessary or since I can get to my plot at least once a week could I add my nutes when I go down there to whatever water is already in the reservoir?  

Also what rate of flow do you suggest?  I realize I'd have to fine tune the flow to my environmental variables but what do yall think would be a good starting point since I won't be going everyday to check up on em?

thanks for the help and please keep it comin.  And I wouldn't mind a hermie either.  This being my first grow and all I'd be plum giddy if all I got a j's worth of something I grew myself.


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## FlyingNatural (Jun 7, 2009)

two tanks are not necessary.The initial reason for my two tank design was to catch overflow from the first tank.I then came to a conclusion: I needed to fertilize but did not want to contaminate a separate tank with ferts,nor did I wish to do it by hand.I have the drip system set to about 4GPH.Originally I was just going to have a 1/2 inch hose coming from the water tanks  with a shut off to fill a watering container,but I got ahead of myself  Make sure your tanks are elevated pretty well or else your pressure will be null.If you cannot elevate them then just set up a catchment system and use a hand held pitcher to water them.Having the water there for you,no matter how you apply it, is alot better then dragging it in  I'll have pics to post on my thread probably tomorrow. Stay cool


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## voxito (Jun 8, 2009)

Oh i see.  The way i've been doing it is I fill up a gallon jug, the one in the pic.  I water every 3-5 days, depending on the weather, and I fertilize every ten days, which is usually every other or every other other time I see em.  I went today and they were looking real nice.  They got a gallon of the nearby creek's water with ferts mixed in.  Full strength now, do yall think I'm fertilizing too much?  Is the limit when you start to see yellowing or should I stop before then? 

They were starting some new growth in between the branches and the main stem.  Maybe that's preflowers or new branches, I really have no idea.  The one big plant for some reason really wants to be the biggest.  It keeps the pace of growing a little faster than the rest, I hope it's not a male...  It is the best position in the plot though for the most sun so maybe and hopefully that's why it's doing so much better.   I sure do really hope they start showing sex soon.  It would be awesome to know how many girls I have. 

Are there any brands of drip systems I want to stay away from?  This is something I don't want to mess up on me.  It needs to work flawlessly.  

thanks for any and all help, it's greatly appreciated.  Soon I'll know enough to not have to ask questions, but I thank you in particular flyingnatural for your help, and everyone else who has given me tips along the way.   But like I said, please bear with me, I still need help for another 4 or 5 months...


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## voxito (Jun 9, 2009)

Got some more pics. They are starting to show themselves to be different strains and I have at least 3 now. 4 of them smell really skunky, 4 are more of sweet smell, and 2 don't really have a noticable smell. The one I topped, pics #3 and 9 has some pink stems as well, who knows.  The sun is really too bright to see it in the pics though, maybe next time I take the camera it won't be so bright so we can all see it.

They're all doing well except the one that died...hahahahaha. It was that sick one, the red and yellow one, it greened up but died sometime in the last 3 days. It's okay though, it was never going to amount to much anyway, being as sick and scrawny as it was. I actually think it was just too small to compete with the grass growing around it and it got blocked out and shriveled up. Oh well...

The two big ones are as high as my knee now. All the plants will be 8 weeks old this saturday, so hopefully they'll show soon. The hst is surely paying off too. 4 of the plants' stems are over a quarter of an inch now.

Today they got plain water, and they're really begging me to set up my drip system. It's literally hot as hell down here, getting in the 90s today, perfect for my plants to turn male or hermi huh? The soil is drying out super fast now, and they need more water than normal, and it's only gonna get worse.

I thought I was gonna be able to post without any questions but here's one. If anyone has done it, how hard would it be for my to syphon water through a hose from a creek 20 yards away with only my mouth? I have done this to swimming pools but never from this far away. I have really no idea when it's gonna rain again but if I could do this to fill my reservoir I wouldn't have to worry about it. 

Any help greatly appreciated.


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## voxito (Jun 28, 2009)

gettin some yellowing. Finally got some pics. Is it over/under ferts(N i'm guessing), too much water, or too much heat? Its been over 95 for the last two weeks, hasnt rained in 5 weeks and the heat index was 108 the other day. You can see what the heat did to my rye grass

The ph is between 6.5 and 6.8 for all of them

Please help me


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## voxito (Jul 15, 2009)

Went to check today after over a week.  They are recovering from the nute burn and/or magnesium deficiency.  I mixed up some epsom salt water at a tablespoon per gallon to give em once the soil dries out from all this rain.  Its been raining a good bit this last week and the soil is still very moist.

Bad news first.  One of them that was over 2.5' is a definite male.  Had balls over the top two inches of growth. And a few of the side branches had some little clusters.

Now for the good news... Three of them are definite female!!!   The tallest one, which is now 3.5 feet had a few pistils on her and then 2 plants that are a touch over 2 feet had a lot of pistils on the top 3 or so inches.  Not at every node but close.  The best thing thats happened in this grow so far...  They are really starting to branch out too, even the ones I didnt top.  One that I topped twice already has branches growin out of the 4 new tops.  

I'm just so happy I actually had some females turn out after all the abuse they've endured.  The nute burns, cramped roots, months of over 100 temps... I'm amazed I have any girls at all But hey, I still got 5 plants that havent showed sex yet... maybe even more females


I just had to come brag about my good luck :ignore:


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## dirk2420 (Jul 28, 2009)

Hey, I guess i'm gettn in a little late here, but I just wanted to say hello to a fellow mississippian. I also live in central Mississippi! Congratulations on your success so far.


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