# offgrid's first grow attempt



## offgrid (Feb 2, 2007)

it's more of my second attempt. first one was an utter disaster, having proceeded from ignorance rather than a base of research.  i have the added complication of being in japan, which makes obtaining many of the optimal materials and resources very difficult, if not impossible.  however, with a gram going for 60 bucks, i feel it's time to grow for myself and join the realm of self-sufficiency.

because i'm leaving the country in 6 months, i didn't want to spend a lot of money on new materials; instead, i improvised with what was available.  i'm attempting to grow three plants from feminized seeds from the dutch passion seed company.  i believe it's a sativa 75% / indica 25% hybrid.  the main light is a circular overhead cfl with two bulbs:  32 and 40 watts respectively.  i have no idea about the lumens.  in addition, i added a second 100 watt cfl in the center between the three pots.  i'm growing from potting soil purchased at seiyu (the japanese equivalent of wal-mart) in a pot 10 inches wide at the top and 8 inches deep.  the tempature of my apartment averages 51 degrees because there is no central heating in japan; however, in the closet, under the lights, i can keep the tempature at about 71 degrees. i will try to keep the lights as close as possible to the plants once they get out, but my main lamp won't reach much further down.  i'll be looking in the second hand shops for additional lamps.

i have some hyponix fertalizer with a picture of a tomato on the front, and it says to use a capful for every 10 liters of water. i'll add just a few drops to the water, which begins a week or two from when they sprout, correct?  
i'm a little apprehensive about the possibilities of success, given my abysmal growing conditions and lack of experience.  but, this can be viewed as an experiment in any case.


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## DLtoker (Feb 3, 2007)

Well, looks as if you are off to a good start all things considered.  You know though there are different ferts for different times of growth right?  When you start feeding in another week or so, you want to use a fert which is high in nitrogen... You say things are tough in Japan, but if this is really going for 60 a gram I would recommend investing a little more into ferts to get your best results.  I'm sure Seiyu will have a few different types of ferts all reasonably priced.

I haven't ever grown with soil, but i think you should get some bigger catch pots for the water below... like some sheet rock buckets... especially when you flush.  Or I suppose you could just flush outside or in a tub.

With lights, you may also want to get a few more bulbs... but you don't have to rush to do that.  If your plants are stretching really bad then definitely go for more... plus you will get denser heavier buds that way.

Anyways best of luck with it and have fun.:farm:


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## offgrid (Feb 4, 2007)

noooo! my n00bness has already struck a telling blow!  i initially started with three seeds.  right away, one of the seeds germinated a nice big taproot.  i planted her right away.  the other two seeds had a tiny bit of taproot too, so in my haste i threw them into their own pot as well.  however, i didn't bury them well enough methinks.  

plant #1 is doing well i suppose...she seems to be growing rather slowly.  i planted her tuesday afternoon 1/30 when her taproot came out.  the others soon followed. she's out, but she doesn't seem to be doing much growing.  the other two, however...well, i kinda screwed up.  they washed up to the surface after i buried them when i watered the soil...and i saw them.  the baby taproot looked like it was darkening under the lights.  i buried both of them much deeper this time, but i don't know if they're going to make it.  

at the moment, i'm concentrating on the one that sprouted.  i got lights on a clip and another 100watt (but it's really 22 watt) FLC in the reddish color, so now there's a cool white and a reddish one shining about an inch or two away from the one girl who has sprouted.  if the other two make it, then i'll have to think of some other ghetto way to get them light.  but for now, i'll focus on the one who's alive and here.

i literally went to three different towns looking for fertalizers...they're really hard to find.  i only managed to find two:  one with 6-10-5, and the other with 10-5-8.  on tuesday (one week) i'll start with a little bit of the 10-5-8 one...i don't know if i should do it sooner, because she really hasn't grown hardly at all since she sprouted her two little pre-leaves and the first jagged leaves (sorry, i don't know the jargon yet for leaf-type).  

so i wonder...will the other two seeds who had a bad start make it?  how long does it take for a plant, once it sprouts, to really start growing?  i think i have enough light now, and the tempature doesn't go down too far until night time when the lights turn off (i'm on 18/6)..then it's probably down to 11C (51F)...should i keep the lights on 24/7 to keep them warm? there's only about one month left of hard-core winter before it starts warming up. ah geez...i hope the other two seeds are ok, even if they're going to be retarded...(i feel like i'm in high school carrying around my baby egg).

peace
offgrid


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## DLtoker (Feb 4, 2007)

Well, the seeds should always be buried 1/4 inch below the surface...The beans might have popped up to the surface because the soil was too loose around it... Like I said I'm a hydro guy though... 

If you only started a week few days ago or so you're fine... the plants don't gow much at all the first 3 weeks or so becuase they are focusing their energy on making a proper root system...

Don't use ferts yet!  They say you need to be at least two weeks in before using them... I think you may want to wait a little bit longer.  I'm just finishing up my first grow and the #1 thing I learned was TO LAY OFF THE EDITED FOR LANGUAGE NUTES.  I almost killed one plant becuase of over fert and the buds on it right now are not even smokable.  Now, I wait untill I see a deficiency and then I treat it by bumbing the nutes.

With your nutes, you should be fine I suppose now... If you wanna do one more thing maybe you could ebay some potash tohelp the buds out durng flowering.

What else....  Your lights... Since the temp drops so much at night, you may want to leave the light on 24/7... My lights are on 24/7 for veg but it is all opinion.  Then when you flower it won't be winter there anymore and you will have a wamer environment for them.

The other two seeds are a toss up... just be patient, and what happens happens.


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## offgrid (Feb 7, 2007)

ok something seems not-to-be right here.  so it's been maybe a week since my one and only lady sprouted, and she hasn't grown all that much.  at first i tried applying more lights, but then the tempature got out of control.  then i tried more distance, but felt like she wasn't getting *enough* light (damn you HPS light people....making us poor flouros people feel inadequate).  then i thought i wasn't watering-enough (which is usually a mistake, but that's what my nihonjin hydroponic friend said). 

so yeah, it's been a week and she really hasn't grown all that much.  in fact, i noticed that the edges of her little leaves were turning like a bluish-purplish black or something.  even the edges of the jagged leaves have a little of this.  i checked the symptoms page, but found nothing.  is this some kind of mold? did i water too much? should i use ferts now?  aaarrggh! 

i'd like to have a shining example of a plant, but i don't know what i'm doing wrong! any suggestions?  i have two seeds left and still have 6 months, so if i need to get different soil with more drainage, i can just scrap this process and try again i suppose. what do y'all think?

peace
offgrid


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## Elephant Man (Feb 7, 2007)

Please, do not feed her yet.  See those first 2 little round leaves?  They are called cotyldons and store all the plants needed nutrients for first few weeks of life, let the plant tell you when it is hungry.  Your pots are a little bigger than I usually start seedlings in, but that is ok.  Your little seedling right now only has a tap root 2-4" long and can probably survive in that large pot for over a week without water, depending on soil moisture retention and relative humidity.  Give her some time to absorb some moisture and dry cycle and then just give her a 1/4 cup or so of water from the surface.  Your pot will not have to be drenched until she has more root system.


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## Zarnon (Feb 8, 2007)

em said:
			
		

> They are called cotyldons and store all the plants needed nutrients for first few weeks of life, let the plant tell you when it is hungry.



EM,  one clarification.  This is applicable to soil but not hydro. I made that mistake the first time I grew and have great documentation of nitrogen deficiency almost to death, then recovery LOL.

But for soil seems right.  I am using that advice with my 'test' clone.


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## Elephant Man (Feb 8, 2007)

Zarnon said:
			
		

> EM, one clarification. Just so someone (like I did!) confuse soil with hydro. I made that mistake the first time I grew and have great documentation of nitrogen deficiency almost to death, then recovery LOL.
> 
> But for soil seems right. I am using that advice with my 'test' clone.


 
Agreed...hydro is not my area, but in soil I find the dropping of the cotyldons a great indicator for starting weak feedings.  I have to admit, when I germ seeds I use spring water for the traces.


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## DLtoker (Feb 8, 2007)

Are you still running 18/6 lighting?  The discoloration could be from the temps dropping so much when the lights are off... as well as slowing growth.


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## Zarnon (Feb 8, 2007)

Yeah EM,  I kinda think of this as mj myth number a-2047b ('the plant has everything it needs for two weeks').  

If you take a truly nute deficient medium (like hydro or soilless) the plant might make it two weeks,  but it will be about this big and this yellow at the end.  LOL...

This applies to any medium that has no starting nutes.


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## theyorker (Feb 8, 2007)

Offgrid, I have plants I germinated 17 days ago and believe me, it is slow.  I tried giving them nutes at 1/3 strenth after 9 days and they didn't like it all.  I have an excellent hydroponics shop and the guy told me the same thing that EM is saying about the seed leaves.  All of the growth for that plant is happening below the surface and they are getting enough nutrients from the leaves and soil until you transplant at 14-17 days.  Then if you use good soil you still won't need nutes for another 2 - 3 weeks.  The hardest part about growing is letting them grow.  Until you transplant them just give them lots of light and water every 2-3 days and let the roots grow.  Good luck.


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## offgrid (Feb 9, 2007)

woohoo everyone thanks for the great advice.  so i haven't watered in about three days, and suddenly she's growing like mad.  the cotyledons are starting to turn yellow, but the two main leaves are getting bigger, and already i can see the start of the next two leaves forming.  this is great, because i'd like the plant to be as short as possible since i don't have many lights.  depending on how moist the soil still is tomorrow night, i might wait a few more days before watering (i'll see if the plant looks like it needs water).

as far as the two dead seeds from earlier, one actually made it! it's bursting through the soil right now...still hasn't totally cleared it yet, and ALREADY there are two real leaves forming between the cotyledons.  it's fantastic! i was a little worried that i'd only have my one little plant from which to learn and make all my mistakes.  now that this second girl is popping up, i know roughly how long she'll need before going on the crazy growth-rampage that my first lady is experiencing.  

the slight problem is that she's not quite in the center of the pot...more off to one side.  i did this because 1) i didn't think she'd make it and 2) i only had that one big light, and i wanted her to be as close to it as possible once she sprung up.  now i'm wondering if it will be detrimental to her health to be unable to spread her roots in one direction. my question is:  should i transplant her to a more central location in about a week?  

the lights have been on 24/7 in an attempt to mitigate the temperature change between night and day.  i don't know where the discoloration came from; i think it was because the lights were too close to the sproutling.

it's going to be a bit strange because the two plants are growing at different rates, but we'll see what happens. i didn't put any special nutrients in the soil when i got it, so i dunno...i'll do the whole wait-and-see approach. 

again, thanks for the advice!


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## offgrid (Feb 18, 2007)

it has been two and a half weeks since homegirl 1 popped her taproot, and slightly less than that for homegirl 2.  there were problems with homegirl 2, so she's waaaaaay behind development, as you can see in the pictures.

so far so good.  for some reason, the first two real leaves (not the cotyledons) have started wilting on the ends.  i don't know why...it could be a lack of humidity.  she's growing fairly quickly; i don't know exactly because i've never really done this before.  the nodes look like they're right on top of each other, which is good i suppose.  i'm a little worried that they're not really MJ seeds, because i got them at a tiny hidden shop that also sold a variety of sex toys. they were also reeeaaally tiny, not like the seeds i'd find in a bag of schwag back in the states.

i've been trying to figure out the optimal way of getting lights to the plants.  i backed off having the fluoros so close for a few days, but it seemed to slow growth.  i've since put the fluoros back after making sure they weren't too hot.  i'm keeping them about an inch away.  above them about 6 to 8 inches is the big circle fluoros, but they're far enough away that the light weakens significantly.  see pics again for the difference in brightness from the compact ones to the circle ones.

the little one is sooOOooo little.  she's the one who almost didn't make it...and i'm wondering if she'll still make it, becasue her first two real leaves aren't very big at all. even if she pulls through, she'll be really far behind.

in the perfect scenario i have in my head, the little one will go outside on the balcony when it warms up to veg more and hopefully grow.  homegirl 1 i will try to FIM or do some LST to keep her canopy exactly the size of the light reflector on the big circle light, so she'll be in a bubble of light.  by the time she's flowered and harvested (jah-willing), the runt will have grown enough to put into flowering, and i'll move her in from outdoors.  

if anyone has any insight as to why the lowest leaves are drying on the ends of homegirl 1, it would be appreciated.  this is a pretty god-awful setup, but it's the best i can do for the moment, especially considering this is a one-time shot before moving on. 

thanks for your feedback! i swear this forum is like ganja-porn...

peace
offgrid


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## THE BROTHER'S GRUNT (Feb 18, 2007)

*Look at it this way OG. You can do all your learning from this grow and improve as you go along. We have been doing it since we started. Were always trying to make things better for the ladies. Anyway everything is looking good man keep it up.  GREEN MOJO for the babies.  *


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## offgrid (Feb 26, 2007)

oh man it's slooooow going.  so it's been roughly 26 days since i first planted ms. #1, and maybe 23 days since she popped out of the soil.  at first i wasn't sure what was going on because it was moving SOOOO SLOOOOWLY.  as you can see by the pictures, i've been tweaking the lighting system, trying to find the best way to get lights to my plants. today i bought ANOTHER CFL, so i think she's getting about 4-5k of lumens. all i know is i work in my grow closet, and when i come back out i can't see very well for a few minutes.

i had to let the runt go. she was severely stunted because i think her roots were damaged. so i put her outside to get the late winter/early spring sun...but alas, the night took her from us...

so now i focus all my energy and light on the one that remains.  brother grunt, that green mojo you gave me must have done some crazy magic, because all of a sudden she's growing like mad.  granted, she's a little twisty because i'm constantly adjusting the lights so they are as close as possible without burning (which is what i think did in the runt...a light fell on her  ). however, she's starting to really grow now.

the first leaves i pinched off because they were wilting very badly. now the next set of leaves up from the bottom are yellowing and drying out badly too. i think it was because i dared to put a few drops of nutrients into the water...won't be doing that again for awhile.  but yeah, she's got 5 nodes and is working on the 6th, but she's still only two inches tall. in the node-pits, other little leaves have sprouted there too, but i don't see how they can get much light...the CFLs don't penetrate very well.  

march 8th will be exactly one month...when do i move into flowering?  i'm a little concerned about how long it will take to harvest, because i have to move out by late july. do i wait for her to get up to 6 or 8 inches before inducing flowering? i'm a little limited by the lights and a bit impatient.

this whole hair-brained idea started one night when i was complimenting another grower on his fine crop and lamenting the lack of green in my life.  he asked me why i didn't grow myself, and i offered a litany of excuses why it couldn't happen.  oh, i'm leaving soon, i don't have time, it takes too long, i don't know how, i don't have the special grow lights, etc etc.  he said, "are you a woman? hell, i could get this done by tomorrow if i wanted." ouch, that stung. so yeah, i went out the next day and got everything and started...THE VERY NEXT DAY...IN JAPAN.  hence, this harvest (jah willing) will be my first, and it will be very very sweet.

ok, thanks for the grow-love everyone! i can't wait to settle in someplace and do this stuff for real like y'all...

peace
offgrid


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## THE BROTHER'S GRUNT (Feb 26, 2007)

*Sup OG. You want to wait until your plant shows pre flowers or alternating nodes which is a sign that your plant is mature and ready for flower. This can take anywhere from 6 to 8 weeks from germination. Lay off them nutes as they can kill babies real easy.  *


			
				offgrid said:
			
		

> oh man it's slooooow going. so it's been roughly 26 days since i first planted ms. #1, and maybe 23 days since she popped out of the soil. at first i wasn't sure what was going on because it was moving SOOOO SLOOOOWLY. as you can see by the pictures, i've been tweaking the lighting system, trying to find the best way to get lights to my plants. today i bought ANOTHER CFL, so i think she's getting about 4-5k of lumens. all i know is i work in my grow closet, and when i come back out i can't see very well for a few minutes.
> 
> i had to let the runt go. she was severely stunted because i think her roots were damaged. so i put her outside to get the late winter/early spring sun...but alas, the night took her from us...
> 
> ...


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## theyorker (Feb 26, 2007)

Hey Offgrid.  I'm around 10 days ahead of you and I know exactly how you feel about it being slow.  Your plant looks good.  How often do you water them?  What kind of nutes did you use?


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## LaserKittensGoPewPew (Feb 26, 2007)

Damn...60 bucks a G. That's awesome. My grandparents live in Okinawa and own tons of acres of farmland. I've been dreaming of what it would be like to grow in their gardens/green houses with that tropical climate. I think I might give it a try next time I visit for the summer for 3 months. Keep those things going dude. Good luck!


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## offgrid (Feb 27, 2007)

theyorker, thanks for the plant compliment  so yeah, it took me awhile to find the sweet spot. first there weren't enough lights, and it was too cold, then it was too hot and overwatering, THEN i had problems whenever i tried to add any nutes, and despite 24/7 light period, she wasn't grown. but now, i've got 3 CFLs and a fan blowing constantly, and the light is at 18/6...with all those things together, she's starting to respond.  i might even pick up ONE MORE light today so i have 2 blue CFLs and 2 red ones.  the problem is mounting them all...but there's nothing that can't be done with a little wire coat hanger 

laserkittensgopewpew:
haha nice name ^_^ if you're only going to be there for three months, you won't have enough time.  the stuff grows totally wild in the mountains of japan (on honshu, at least), and there's an ancient history of the japanese using hemp and its flower.  The wandering Zen poet Issa Kobayashi once wrote:

_The cannabis around my hut
also has suffered
From summer thinness.
Just when I hear
The sundown bell,
The flower of this weed._

and Basho the Haiku Master wrote:
_
The cannabis- How wonderful it is!
The summer drawing room.
Trees and stones, just as they are.
Ah, how glorious!
The young leaves, the green leaves,
Glittering in the sunshine!_

myself, i just want enough to smoke at home...maybe i can better appreciate japan.  trust me, i've been looking at the possibility of buying a house here and dedicating a room to my emerging hobby, especially with the foolish threats of war that the US has been giving IRAN (all war sucks, only poor people suffer while the rich invest in halliburton).

ETA:  nutes have generally been bad news for me. the bottom leaves start wilting and drying out. even if i only use a little, it still sucks for the plant.  i've done it twice, and each time the bottom leaves start suffering. i only water when the topsoil looks dry, and when i put my finger deeper into the soil it still feels dry.  seems to work so far...


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## offgrid (Mar 5, 2007)

alrightie then, i threw down a fourth CFL and have been backing off the water.  i found out my soil doesn't drain very well...the soil at the bottom is still wet even when the top parts of the soil are dry.  i didn't water for three or four days, waiting for it to dry out.  

because i have so many CFL's set up around the pot like some crazy ghetto stage, watering is difficult.  i got around it by using a turkey baster. that way i can water all the way around the plant without the water going all the way to the bottom and staying there.  she's been growing quite a bit and is up to maybe four inches and working on her 7th node.  i think by the 8th node i need to put her into flower because i don't really have the time here to wait until she's fully ready.  there are no pre-flowers, and no alternating nodes yet, but i'm afraid she'll start stretching when i get to flowering and it's going to make the light situation difficult. she's growing a little quicker now. next week it'll be a month since she broke ground, so i think that's enough time to set her into flower.

i've noticed on the branches there's a reddish tint to it...am i missing something? she seems to be growing fine.  i  refrain from giving her nutes because it just makes her sick, but i don't know what's up with the red in the branches.


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## theyorker (Mar 5, 2007)

The red/purple tint is normal in the branches.  Consider waiting to flower until you see alternating nodes.  You are only about 10 days away and everything I have read and been told says the finished product is strongly diminished if you don't let the plant mature enough before flowering.   Also, she should be ready for nutes.  Give her 1/3 label strength first time and then gradually up it to full label strength.  Use a fertilizer where the first and third numbers are higher then the second number.  I water every 3 - 5 days and give nutes every other watering.  Later.


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## jackband1t (Mar 5, 2007)

whats up offgrid, i'm liking the makeshift set-up and your lady (?) is coming along nicely..i'm in the same position as you, only i started about three weeks to a month later, so this is very helpful for me seeing as this is my first grow as well...anyway, good luck!


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## offgrid (Mar 7, 2007)

hey yorker,

my plant looks nothing like everyone else's...i don't have uber HPS lights or mylar or superbloom or anything...just my ghetto setup from what i could scrape together in japan.  she (and she better be a she since i paid for feminized seeds and i haven't stressed her) is getting pretty tall and bushy and i'm afraid she'll outgrow my light system.  this is why i want to put her into flower, because i hear she's supposed to double(!!) in size during this time.  

...ok, i just checked her out again. honestly, she's only about 5 inches to the top of her newest leaves...i'm freaking out over nothing.  it's just that when she was small, the cfl's looked SOO BIG and powerful...now she's growing up, and now i have 4 CFLs and it seems like i'm still not bathing her in enough light.  

i'm thinking that no matter what, i should start her flower period on the ides of march. that means june 1st will be 8 weeks, dry and cure by mid june, and i'll have 1 month to smoke as much as i possibly can before i leave the country. 

i really should have started doing this my very first year.  sigh. live and learn...


i gave her some nutes, but it was too much...fried the edges of some leaves. it was good though, because the new leaves had that sickly yellow tint to them of nitrogen deficiency. it's gone now, but some of the older leaves have fried edges.  grrr....i'll figure it out eventually.

jackband1t,

yeah holmes, my setup is ghetto fabulous.  no mylar, aluminum foil made too much noise with the fan going and didn't really help the light situation, i'm using a bunch of CFLs on freakin' wire coat hangers...i'm using a turkey baster to water her. it's SOOO ghetto...but it started as more of a challange than anything else.  i prefer ganja over alcohol, but in japan ganja's about impossible to get, and the law is incredibly dangerous (funny how a law is far more harmful than the plant itself).  this ends up being the safest and pretty much the only way to get it without making the right friends (which isn't so safe or cost-effective).  

it's good to be self-sufficient.


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## Elephant Man (Mar 7, 2007)

offgrid said:
			
		

> hey yorker,
> 
> my plant looks nothing like everyone else's...i don't have uber HPS lights or mylar or superbloom or anything...just my ghetto setup from what i could scrape together in japan. she (and she better be a she since i paid for feminized seeds and i haven't stressed her) is getting pretty tall and bushy and i'm afraid she'll outgrow my light system. this is why i want to put her into flower, because i hear she's supposed to double(!!) in size during this time.
> 
> ...


 
Ok, listen bro, I wouldn't normally recommend this except for special circumstances such as space restrictions or breeding, but it is not a 'rule' that MJ must be vegged at all...and no, nothing bad will happen if flowering straight from germination...only small plants. MJ will veg until it is sexually mature and then begin flowering...even under 12 hours or less from birth. Simple nature if you think about it. Some strains will begin flowering very early (2-3 weeks) and will not get very big or yeild much...some strains will thrive and do nearly as well without vegging at all. (gram x watt x time) But they all will do fine and potency will not be diminished.

In any case, in your situation, I would agree...any free bud is better than nothing, and whatever you get from growing yourself, I assure you, will be more satisfying than anything you risk buying.

Not really any reason why everyone can't grow weeds that I can think of....there is a guy on this board in Alaska with no electricity...another peep I know is blind.

Eman:ccc:


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## DLtoker (Mar 7, 2007)

Things are coming along quite nicely for you eh?  Hopefully we can get some pics of some bud pretty soon after you start 12/12


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## offgrid (Mar 8, 2007)

came home from work today and checked on my lady...

...only i don't know if she's a lady 

i haven't put her on 12/12 yet, but i believe these are the beginnings of pre-flowers...only, they look like balls. i don't know for sure, maybe you fellas with more experience can let me know if i'm jumping the gun, but they look like pollen sacks forming.  i'm going to put her/him/it on 12/12 tonight and see what happens tomorrow.  if it's a hermie, you best bet imma be in there with a ginsu knife with more gumption than an all-boys catholic choir director.  

this shouldn't be happening...i got FEMINIZED seeds, damnit. well, since i've never actually SEEN  a plant flower before, it could just be my ignorance.  time will tell...


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## TURKEYNECK (Mar 8, 2007)

That tear drop shape looks like a female to me mang. Congrats.


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## THE BROTHER'S GRUNT (Mar 8, 2007)

*Whats up OG. I would give it a few more days and you will really be able to tell.  *


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## KADE (Mar 8, 2007)

TURKEYNECK said:
			
		

> That tear drop shape looks like a female to me mang. Congrats.


 
I'd say the same.


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## Kindbud (Mar 8, 2007)

looking good offgrid cant wait to see the final product 
good luck and keep on growing


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## offgrid (Mar 12, 2007)

i started the 12/12 regimen on wednesday, but not much has happened other than a bit of stretching.  the little microscopic bud site has gotten slightly bigger, but only by millimeters  as you can see, my setup is constantly evolving.  i have most of the light focused on the top leaves...ought i tweak the lighting a bit so i have more light near the bottom leaves?  the lowest ones are wilting away anyways...i think i accidentally squirt them with water and they start shrivelling up.  i have no idea about ph levels or anything.  i'm a little jealous that cyberquest's plants are doing so well under cfl's compared to mine, but i have far fewer bulbs going, and a pretty crap set-up in comparison.  

hopefully in two months i'll have something to show for all this time and money invested  thanks for the goodwill and the advice!

peace
offgrid


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## THE BROTHER'S GRUNT (Mar 12, 2007)

*Whats up OG. Your lady friend is looking great mang. I would stay with the light at the top of your plant and not worry about the bottom. The very bottom leaves are always the first ones to die off. *


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## offgrid (Mar 19, 2007)

ok, i'm 1 week and 5 days into flowering. she's doing all-right, but i ran into problems.  she was becoming so tall that the jury-rigged lights routinely fell-into her, or her leaves would come into prolongued contact with their bulbs leaving them brown and crispy.  drastic measures were needed...i attempted a really poor job of fimming her. i think i failed; moreover, i'm afraid i might have destroyed the cola and totally screwed myself. also, i might have overdid the nutes as the top leaves are reeeaaally green and kind of stiff, and a lower sun leaf is looking like it's shriveling up.

i rearranged the individual bulbs to go around her perimeter so as to avoid the contact problem at the top.  this allowed me to lower the overhead light much closer.  there were some problems with the sun leaves blocking the emerging...uhm..secondary growth?  the secondary growth grew right up INTO the sun leaves and couldn't' get any light. i know i ought not to cut off the sun leaves as they provide sugar and store energy...instead, i just moved them to the side so the secondary growth could get light.

there are tiny little pistils forming here and there. i'm not expecting much in terms of yield...a half ounce would be fantastic as it will be the first harvest EVER on my own.


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## Runbyhemp (Mar 19, 2007)

> Not really any reason why everyone can't grow weeds that I can think of....there is a guy on this board in Alaska with no electricity...another peep I know is blind.


 
You gotta take your hat off to these people. Imagine growing weed blind !
They must have a heightened sense of touch and smell.

Could know by smell when its ready to flower, or when its sick maybe ?
I'm intrigued now E Man. Please tell more   ;-)

*EDIT* Sorry for hijacking the thread offgrid  :48:  she'll have a growth spurt I reckon, you could be lucky


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## THE BROTHER'S GRUNT (Mar 19, 2007)

*Damn OG sorry about the young lady getting burned and stuff. MJ is a very strong plant and i'm sure she will make a full recovery.   Also be careful with those damn nutes because they can be the death of your plant if not used right.  *


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## offgrid (Mar 26, 2007)

maybe it was the passing of the spring equinox which suddenly pivoted the weather and made it sunny and beautiful...maybe it's because my girl is growing up to be far more than i would have thought possible...or maybe it's because the flowers have started coming out 

despite my misguided attempt at "fimming" (when i was actually cutting the future cola site :huh: ->  ->  -> ) my girl is looking very nice.  she's grown from a measly 6 or 8 inches when i first put her into flowering up to 14", and i'm 18 days into flowering.  there are little flower sites popping up and i'm totally stoked! 


it appears my stupid attempt at fimming 10 days into flower didn't do all that much damage. there's still a bunch of flowers forming up there, and i'm starting to see pistils in lots of places.  there's no massive resin forming, but if this has taught me anything, it's that i need PATIENCE.  

been feeding her 8-10-5 ever other watering...water maybe twice or three times a week. lately she seems to be drinking quite a bit, so i guess that's a good thing.

if anything, i hope this journal shows other would-be first-timers that even with a ghetto grow room, it can happen!  just look at the pictures from start to (i hope) finish...

offgrid


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## Elephant Man (Mar 26, 2007)

Wow Offgrid...she looks REALLY good.  Sorry I haven't stopped by in a while, been really busy.  I saw what looked like a little calcium deficiency a few posts back, but she looks really good now.:aok:

Week 3 will be fun, she is gonna start fattening up.  Week 4 sometimes seems like a lull, not much happening...but after that, she should be done stretching and will fatten up even more.

Hmmm....can you get a descent bloom booster?  Your current fert is a tad heavy on the N for after 4th week.  No harm in using it, just start weakening it slowly after week 4.

Or, see if you can find a bloom fert with no N...something like 0-10-10.  We could also mix up a little topdressing if you want, some High P guano would be great.  Another idea is to start adding a tsp of molasses to every other feeding....that will bump your K a little.  Let me know if you got a few more bucks to put into her....but no worries if you don't.

Runbyhemp:  Yeah, I like to talk about the blind grower, just goes to show that there is alot more to diagnosing than appearance...leaf texture is just as important.


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## offgrid (Mar 26, 2007)

woohoo thanks for the compliment ^_^ i was pretty down on myself and the whole thing...it seemed totally impossible and there were so many complications.  but now i'm looking at her, and she's BEAUTIFUL!  sure, there are singed leaves and my ugly hacking at her cola (it's funny...she only has one leaf instead of the symmetrical two at the top)...but she's looking respectable.  

yeah i hope she's done stretching, because it's kinda crazy how much she's grown.  

from the pictures, it looks like the uhm..secondary growth...is stretching a lot up to about the middle where i have the CFLs placed strategically around her perimeter...then there's a looooong stretch of nothing till she gets near the top light, then suddenly there's a bunch of leaves sucking in that light.  if she stretches much more, she's going to out-grow the lights i have. by this point i'm willing to plop down another fifty bucks to get more 27 watt cfls and sockets for her, but i'd rather not. kind of low on money this month.


so i biked down to the big do-it-yourself store nearby. on the way there, as i was cycling through the little side alleys, i passed by a japanese police officer. it was weird, because normally there isn't anybody there...but there he was, and he motioned for me to stop. so i stopped and hopped off my bicycle. he approaches me and saying stuff in japanese that i couldn't understand. he starts looking around at my bike and says something about numbers...probably the serial numbers. i bought the bicycle at a shop, but i didn't feel like waiting for this guy to stop me for no reason to see if the bicycle i was riding was stolen. i tried my lame japanese to see what was up...and he starts asking me my name, my address, for some identification...FOR NO REASON! i know what he wants, but i play the stupid foreigner role and start going-off in english. "why did you stop me? i wasn't doing anything wrong, i'm not giving you my information" etc. he figured out i was an english teacher, figured out what school i was working at, and then let me go.  utterly pointless...but if that happened in the states, it probably would have went down much worse.

so at the store, i finally got a hold of 0-6-4...that's the best i could do.  i even got the sales staff to help me look for something like 0-50-??. the japanese word for nitrogen is chi-so, for phosphorus it's rinsen, and potassium is kari.  y'know...just in case you're ever in japan and decide you want to start growing...

as far as the bat guano and molasses go, forget it...i'll save that for when i'm state-side.  it's amazing enough that i was able to get as far as i have. nothing's weirder than buying "SU-PA SU-KUN-KU JYU-ICHI NO seeds" from a japanese lesbian in a kinky sex (and apparently seed) shop. oh my goodness, i have stories to tell....

ok, next watering i'll throw in this bloom stuff i have.  sweet, thanks for the advice!


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## offgrid (Apr 2, 2007)

ah yes, the cherry blossoms are blooming in japan.  i have a little blooming of my own though unfortunately i have to keep it hidden.

so this is day 25 of the flowering cycle.  she has lots of happy little bud sites all over here tiny frame.  there are trichomes visible, but i need to get a microscope from somewhere in order to see their color.  i'm still about a month away from harvest, but she looks good so far. all the stretching happened in the first week or two of flower...now she's settled in a bit.

unfortunately i don't think it's going to be a spectacular yield.  she doesn't seem very big...maybe i'll get maybe 5 grams dry...maybe. i dunno.  

been giving her 0-6-4 every other watering. i can't control the tempatures at all..and it's getting warm in there (27 degrees C).  also, with the onset of summer, humidity is going to go up.  it's like i'm doing this whole thing backwards.  

ohwell...enjoy the pictures ^_^

offgrid

ps: how do i make a signature thing that posts automatically?


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## offgrid (Apr 2, 2007)

nevermind about the signature...got it figured out ^^


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## 3patas (Apr 2, 2007)

very nice my friend and people say you cant do much with cfl ha


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## offgrid (Apr 2, 2007)

man, cfl's are a pain in the butt.  had-i a proper set-up, maybe it would be easier.  it's certainly easier in a stealth grow with some time and labor. but for my ghetto single-shot grow, they ****.  i have to constantly adjust the lights on wobbly coat-hangers. i've fried way too many leaves by accidentally letting them touch the lights.  i can't get optimal light coverage because the wobbly coat-coat hangers are very finnicky.  so yeah, she looks good. not so big...but maybe something magical happens around day 50 that will suddenly show she'll yield more than 5 grams.  

i saw this one guy's grow room.  it was maybe 1 meter x 750cm x 2 meters...really long, not very high.  he strapped 4 long-tube fluros on the celing, wrapped the whole room in emergency blankets he got at the 100 yen shop, a few more 22 watt cfls...and that's it.  he grew his plants out of rock wool sitting in a little rubbermaid tray barely bigger than the rock wool. he had to constantly water and give his plants nutrients, so there were no vacations for him. they couldn't get very tall, but if he wanted, he could fill that room with 50 plants. anyway, i smoked some of his bud and it was faaaantastic.  his plants don't look like much, but that's not the point...the point is to get good bud.  so yeah, given the proper set-up, fluros and cfls can certainly be used as a force for good. in my situation, however, i'm sick of them and can't wait to get a proper 600 watt hps/mh grow tent and reeeaaally get to work.  

cool, thanks for checking out my grow and for the props ^^


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## offgrid (Apr 9, 2007)

It's day 32 of flowering under barely-adequate conditions.  She has pretty much stopped growing, which allows me to position the CFLs as close as I possibly can.  Been watering every other day, giving 0-6-4 nutes every other watering.  Not much change, other than some more resin production; however, I'm afraid I'll not see much actual bud from this plant.  In my stupidity when I tried to fim/top, I cut off an entire bud site at the top.  So instead of 4 flowers of happiness at the top, there are only 3.  I'm hoping this merely encourages her to put her energies into making the remaining bud sites more productive.  

Because I'll be lucky if I can get 5 grams out of this, I've been looking into using as much as the plant as possible.  Exactly WHAT parts are smokable?  Just the buds?  The leaves have nothing?  I noticed the bud leaves have trichs on them, so after snipping them I'll save them and make ghetto hash or something...but man, I was hoping to be the ganja guy for my last two months here in Japan, but it looks like I'll be the stingy man yet again as I try to stretch my limited supply as long as I can.

Oh yeah, check out Mr. Nihonjin's improvised CO2 enhancer.  600 ml of water, boiling.  600grams of sugar. 35 grams of jello mix.  mix them together while the water's boiling (add the jello slowly else it'll glob up on you and be a pain).  Pour the concoction into a 2 liter PET bottle and let it sit overnight in the fridge until it becomes jello.  

The next day, combine 200 ml of boiling water with 200 grams of sugar.  Seperately, combine a little bit of water with about a half-tablespoon of yeast.  When the boiling 200ml of water is cool enough not to kill the yeast, shake the yeast up inside the little bottle, then pour it into the sugar water, then pour it ALL into the PET bottle with the jello.  then leave that sitting in the grow room.

I don't know if it works, but it smells funky enough, and the mix is bubbling with what could only be sweet sweet CO2.  

Yeah, so does anyone know if my plant is going to significantly change, or if this is generally what I can expect in terms of yield?  I'm only 32 days into flowering, and she's only about 17" tall...

thanks for reading
PEACE


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## DLtoker (Apr 9, 2007)

Things are looking AWESOME man.  Good for you!  Things have come a long way haven't they.  Those buds should double in size before harvest.


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## offgrid (Apr 16, 2007)

nice plants 3patas...do you have a grow journal?

so here i am in day 39 of flowering.  no new pics because there's really nothing new to show.  the buds have gotten a bit fatter, which makes me a lot happier.  the lowest fan leaves are yellowing and dying off, which i think is normal during flowering.  i'll give her the silly 0-6-4 stuff i have for another week before doing a flush and buckling down for the home stretch.

haven't been able to find a microscope here in japan...i'll look one more time in osaka, but i'm not too confident i'll find what i need.  damn this language barrier!  in any case, it's looking like i'll do the ol' red-pistil method of finding out the date.  the seed package said 7-11 weeks, but she hasn't been changing much in the past two weeks so i don't know what else to wait for. it's difficult watching those sugar-coated nugs after ALL THIS TIME W/O A SMOKE and knowing that there's nothing i can do until the time is right. sigh.

been trying to smoke the dead and yellowing leaves near the bottom. it's a terrible smoke and does very little to the head...but hey, it's better than absolutely nothing


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## DLtoker (Apr 16, 2007)

Who's thread is this???  Can you make a grow journal?


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## crintonator (Apr 16, 2007)

its offgrids journal but your pics are up on it with your updates, you seem to do it a lot on other journals.


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## offgrid (Apr 18, 2007)

As you know, it's 4/20 this friday.  My girl isn't ready yet..i'm only at day 41 of flowering, so this sort of bums me out.  I was wondering if it would be OK to take one of the lower flowers?  I know it won't be the best smoke, but otherwise it's another dry year for me.  

Also, I've noticed that the majority of her fan leaves are starting to turn yellow.  One or two, ok I can understand...but most of them?!  Should I give her a shot of nitrogen ferts?  I was looking to harvest in the first or second week of May, but since I've never done this before, I don't know what's supposed to happen or anything.

Cool, thanks for looking into my journal!


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## BCBUDZ420 (Apr 18, 2007)

Good job on the grow man, it gives me hope for my cfl grow.


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## 3patas (Apr 18, 2007)

nice lookin you have there they are turning to monsters now and I meant that in the good way but for real nice looking ladys


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## kindphriend (Apr 18, 2007)

offgrid said:
			
		

> As you know, it's 4/20 this friday. My girl isn't ready yet..i'm only at day 41 of flowering, so this sort of bums me out. I was wondering if it would be OK to take one of the lower flowers? I know it won't be the best smoke, but otherwise it's another dry year for me.
> 
> Also, I've noticed that the majority of her fan leaves are starting to turn yellow. One or two, ok I can understand...but most of them?! Should I give her a shot of nitrogen ferts? I was looking to harvest in the first or second week of May, but since I've never done this before, I don't know what's supposed to happen or anything.
> 
> Cool, thanks for looking into my journal!


 
Hey offgrid! 

Yeah, you can take a lower bud. I suggest if you take one, take one now and put it in a dry place. That way it might be dry enough to smoke for Friday, otherwise you will have to nuke it or put it in the oven.....which will not be as good. 

As fas as the yellowing leaves go, it depends how much time is left for harvest. If you are looking to harvest in the second week of May and your buds are still growing then yeah you can give them a little shot of nitrogen with your ferts. Keep in mind it is normal for the leaves to turn yellowish at the end of the flowering cycle on some strains. I would check the trichromes or look at the red hairs if you got a lot of foggy trichromes or a lot of red hairs everywhere, don´t worry about the N. If there is a majority of clear trichromes and white hairs, then give her a shot of N. Just my opinion. I´m no expert.


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## DLtoker (Apr 18, 2007)

I can't believe how far you have come with this grow!  Looking amazing!  To get a bud dry for Friday, I would put the bud behind the fan.  This is so the air is moving over the bud slowly, but not hitting it full force as if it were in front of the fan.


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## offgrid (Apr 23, 2007)

hey everyone,

ok, i'm into day 46 of flowering...6 and a half weeks.  a lot of the leaves were yellowing and dying off, and finally the pistils started wilting as well.  the package said she'd be done in 7 to 11 weeks...so i'm considering harvesting about halfway through week 7.  just did a massive flush and i'm not going to water her until the end.  because it's starting to heat up here (the grow closet gets up to 30 degrees now) i've turned the fan up to the second setting...i think she dug it, because there was a lot more resin development.  i think someone's mimicking storms indoors...gotta check out that journal. 

now i'm a bit lame when it comes to trichome colors and what-not...i couldn't get a hold of a microscope here in japan, so i tried to make due with the macro function on my camera.  the pictures show various spots on my plant where i could get a clear view of the trichomes. it appears to me their either cloudy or clear...so maybe one more week ought to do it. ooh, i'm excited, but i don't want to wait too long and get a plant full of couch-lock  

yeah, this has been a great experience for me.  could any of you give me some pointers on the absolute best time to harvest? my research says in the middle of the dark period is best, let her dry out some after the flush, and when the trichome development is around 80% cloudy / 20% amber, for a good long lasting head and a mellow body. 

i've already got my glass airtight containers in anticipation of the cure 

peace!


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## DLtoker (Apr 23, 2007)

Great looking plants man.  Good work!  I would say you are probably still 2 weeks away to getting that 80% cloudy, 20% amber.  But, you are in the home stretch.  IME, flushing doesn't do a damn thing for taste.  Let that lady have nutes to the end because she is just getting ready to put on some serious weight for you.  If she has readily available food, her growth will be that much more explosive.


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## offgrid (Apr 30, 2007)

Day 53 of flowering.

So I took DLtoker's advice and kept giving her nutes.  She has indeed grown a bit in the buds, but they're rather thin and wispy.  This waiting is *killing* me...I can't beleive how long it's taking!  Going utterly insane right now starting at the plant and checking her trichomes every 30 minutes.  Got a 4x magnifying glass so I can sort-of see the state of the trichomes.  

I had some bad luck regarding my camera.  Took it out with me to the beach and got sand stuck inside the retractable lens...the whole thing's stuck now, so I'm out a camera.  That's the third camera I've gone through in as many years.  Canon may make good stuff, but it's awfully fragile.  In the meantime, I'm using an OOOOOLLLD Sony camera I bought about 6 years ago.  The thing's a brick, but it's still working after all this time.

I have no choice but to sadly agree with DLtoker that she'll most likely need another week, if not longer, for her buds to fully mature.  I was wondering, however...the Japanese summers are very hot and humid.  For drying, I was just going to leave the buds in the closet with a fan running (damn the heat!) but for curing, could I leave the buds in a sealed glass jar in the crisper of the refridgerator?  It's not as cold there as the rest of the fridge, MUCH better than the hot humid air outside, and the buds will be sealed anyway.  

Finally, when I have returned to the states and get all set-up again, I was trying to figure out a good set-up.  Was looking at a 600w air cooled light and a grow tent, probably an inline fan and a carbon filter.  Would an ozone generator be better?  Could I leave it inside the grow tent, or would I have to use it outside?  

I found this set-up pictured down there...a hydroponic system.  I've never grown hydroponic before, so would this be a good deal?  What else would I need?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180099391335&ih=008&category=43555&ssPageName=STOREROMOBOX:SHOWCASE


Thanks for the input and guidance.  I really am going crazy with waiting.  My old Japanese mountain hippie friend gave me some Japanese seeds...can't wait to grow them back in the states!  I can tell everyone how you can't BUY these seeds from a shop...you have to get them from old crazy japanese mountain hippies 

And the one picture is for Laserkittensgopewpew...I saw it and thought of you


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## 3patas (Apr 30, 2007)

good looking it looks like some killer weed  i am in flowering stage and its taking for ever how long it tooks yours to start changing colors (the bud)


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## BluntFullOfKush (Apr 30, 2007)

ya lady is looking good. great work with the cfl's. i hope mines get as chuncky as yours. i jus started flowering 2plants and 5clones. it's only been 1full week. pics comeing soon. Keep u the good work dawg.


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## BluntFullOfKush (Apr 30, 2007)

hey 3patas, on my last grow alot of the white hairs started changing at like week 6 or 7 i think, and i waz done byt week 10. I waited till half of the trichomes waz an amber color and they started changeing a little bit after the hairs. i hope that helped you, but some bud is different may be shorter and may be longer.  oh yea i dont think they'll change color unless that strain do so, im no expert or jus misunderstood your "q" jus take care of the ladies and they will let you know


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## offgrid (Apr 30, 2007)

3patas said:
			
		

> good looking it looks like some killer weed  i am in flowering stage and its taking for ever how long it tooks yours to start changing colors (the bud)



the pistils started changing colors about two weeks ago.  that's when i thought i would have to harvest soon...but when i looked at the trichomes, they were still totally clear.  since i've been waiting, the trichomes still haven't changed color, and the pistils have stopped wilting.  the plant is in a state of suspended animation it seems...maybe there's a little more growth, but it's hard for me to tell.


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## DLtoker (Apr 30, 2007)

She's getting ready to explode...


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## offgrid (May 1, 2007)

man i hope so...i haven't had any smoke in daaaays.  been snipping off the little tiny lower buds just to hold me over...but it's totally unfulfilling.  let me tell ya, it hurts...i haven't read anywhere about explosive growth right before harveest...are you sure this is what's up dltoker? you're not just teasing me?

and anybody got any answers for my other questions?

thanks for looking at my journal...


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## DLtoker (May 1, 2007)

Haha.  No teasing.  Every strain I have grown has a stall phase.  You can see in my grow journal that I just commented on that a few days ago actually.


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