# K2



## Ataraxia (May 27, 2007)

This is my second grow attempt, my first one went well until I left my plant for a weekend and the reservoir got low and the plant dried up and died.  This time I have Nirvana's K2 seeds and a 250 watt HPS.  I have one plant growing in soil right now and I leave it outside on a balcony during the daylight hours, and bring it in under the HPS for night time.  Hopefully this will make it grow fast, and save me a bit of money on electricity, afterall, the sun is free.  I'm hoping to get a female from the soil plant, and then start it's clones in hydro.  I've also have a seed germing in rockwool right now that will be put into a DWC hydro system once it's a seedling.  

The pics are taken about three days after the seed popped up from the ground.

One thing that surprised me is the leaves already look like they have tiny little hairs on them.  I highly doubt whether any thc is present when the plant is so little but the leaves look like they have a very fine layer of frost on them.


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## bombbudpuffa (May 27, 2007)

Awww...it's a baby. Beautiful, good luck!


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## Runbyhemp (May 28, 2007)

You're gonna love the K2 Ataraxia. Hope you get a girl.


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## Ataraxia (May 29, 2007)

I checked my seed that had been in rockwool for a few days and it finally popped up.  It doesn't look too healthy, but hopefully in a day or two it will reach upwards and perk up.  My other plant, to be named Alexa, is doing fine, I wish it would grow faster though.  I have a couple of pics of her too.  To mee it looks like she's stretching, not real bad, but maybe it's due to the HPS light.  

Pic1 Birds eye view
Pic2 A bit stretchy?
Pic3 Those cotyledons look sickly
Pic4 Hope it lives


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## Ataraxia (Jun 3, 2007)

I decided since my germed seed I put into rockwool died, that I should start another seed in soil.  Currently I have 2 seedlings.  The older one, I'll call Alexa, popped above ground May 26, making her about  1 week old in these pictures, her new sister, Sylvia, is only 2 days old in the pictures and looks to be doing well.  Hopefully in a few weeks I"ll have a pair of girls for sure.

Pic1: One week old top view
Pic2: Side shot, she's about 2" tall now
Pic3: 2 days old
Pic4:Sideview of the newborn
Pic5: I decided to start some LST on the week old seedling


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## Bubby (Jun 3, 2007)

What did you soak your rockwool with before you put the seeds in?
What's your soil mix?

I'll be following along, k+


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## Ataraxia (Jun 3, 2007)

Thanks for lookin in Bubby

I soaked the rockwool for about 24 hours with some distilled water, pH of 7.  
I'm using a mix of perlite, MiracleGro Organic choice potting mix (without any time released ferts in it) and some peat moss.  The Alexa looks kinda yellow, but I guess maybe that's just her color as I haven't added any nutes and the soil is pretty nuetral.


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## bombbudpuffa (Jun 5, 2007)

Get a soil ph test of some sort. The MG Organic is usually low in ph. Add a lil lime to your soil and your yellowing of the leaves will clear up I bet.


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## Ataraxia (Jun 5, 2007)

I went to home depot and picked up a 30"widex20.5"deepx72"tall cabinet.  It's already white on the inside so I might just leave it.  Or I might spring for some mylar, I haven't decided yet.  I had to take the first one I bought back because a board in the box was broken, and some hardware was missing on the second on I bought. Anyways, I got it put together and mounted my light in it.  I'm growing in my rather large walk in closet.  There's an attic door in the ceiling.  I think I might replace it with a piece of plywood with a 4" hole in it and blow my exhaust air up through that with flexible ducting.  This would get rid of a lot of heat and allow me to keep the door closed.  The only thing I worry about is smell, soon I'll have to invest in a carbon scrubber to be safe as I'm blowing the exhaust above my neighbor's apartments.  Alexa is still mellow yellow, but not real bad, just starting.  I don't have any lime, can that be picked up at any gardening store?  Here are some updated pics, enjoy...

pic1: Alexa, now 9 days old, taking well to her new LST, the tips look a bit burnt, not sure why, possibly nute burn, I found out the MG soil DOES have nutes in it UGH!
Pic2: The cab, my 250HPS, Alexa and Sylvia, and some sunflower plants too in the front left corner
Pic3: My proposed vent area, I want to run dryer ducting up to a cutout in that board, good idea or bad?
Pic4:Closeup of Alexa, lookin a lil yellow, tips slightly burned, and of course my plants are 100% George Washington approved!
Pic5:Side view to see the LST I've got started
Pic6:Sylvia, shining bright and green after 3 days above ground
Pic7retty reddish-purple stem, already fatter than her older sisters

What's the best exhaust fans to use?
I've looked into inline fans, squirrel cage fans and computer fans.  Someone with experience venting a cab or closet, what's the advantages/disadvantages of each type?

Also, should I be worried about the yellow tinge on Alexa?



and as a final note, my plants are 100% urine free


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## Ataraxia (Jun 8, 2007)

I stopped in at the local Organic/Hydroponic shop, and let me tell you, I was like a kid in a candy store.  There were so many things I wanted to try/buy/look at.  I settled for a lengthy discussion with the very knowledgeable store owner.  The first thing he told me was, "Don't screw around with Hydro, go organic!"  I told him that was my intention and he steered me over to the all organic nute section and started talking about every product.  Since I already have Botanicare Pure Blend Pro Grow Organic liquid fertilizer, I told him I didn't need anything until bloom nutes.  I ended up purchasing some Sunleaves Soil Sweetner (dolomite lime) as BombBudPuffa suggested, and a large bag of Fox Farm Ocean Forest potting soil.  When I got home I decided that two seedlings was taking too much of a chance given that they could both be males,, but more likely (or wishfully thinking) females !  I put two more seeds into a cup of distilled water and covered them up so no light got in.  Less than 24 hours later, I had a nice little quarter inch taproot on each seed and I placed them into my new soil mix.  I mixed about 70%FOF  20% Perlite and  about 10%  Professional Seed Starter Mix (which doesn't say the ingredients, but is light and fluffy and looks like peat moss)  I have a digital pH meter coming in the mail along with a roll of 2 mil mylar to coat my grow cab with.  I now have four future ladies in soil!  The two seedlings are doing well, with not much change since my last post.  Alexa is still a little yellow, but I sprinkled some lime on top of the soil and watered it down a little bit, hopefuly that will help.  I also moved my light up so it's now about 20" from the tops of the seedlings.  It was at about 14" which I think was too close, as the tips of Alexa's yellowish leaves look burned.  I think this may help the problems also.  I'm still putting them outside during the day and bringing them in under the HPS when I get home from work.  

Shopping List:
4" Inline fan (200CFM?)
4" Flexible Ducting
Carbon Scrubber

Can anyone suggest a brand/store/website to get a fan from?

My grow space is 25.6 Cubic Feet, How big of a fan will be enough?

My grow area is 4.27 square feet giving me 6674 Lumens/sq.ft.


pic1: Perlite, Seed Starter Mix, Alaska Fish Fertilizer, BotanicareProGrow, Dolomite Lime, TerraCycle worm fertilizer, 0-3000PPM  TDS  meter, Superthrive, Ph test strips, FoxFarm Ocean Forest

Pic2: My Homemade light fixture I might use for cloning/mother plant, or if I don't clone for supplemental light in the cab.  It has 9 sockets with 4 26W 6500K cool white CFL's and five 5Watt LED's, 4 Red/Blue mix, and 1 Blue Spectrum.

Pic3: The light in action.  The LED bulb that's only half lit has some wiring issues, it works if I jiggle the connection, I'll have to rewire it later.  This array puts out 6800 Lumens via CFL plus whateve the LED's put out.  I think it might make a nice light for cloning or for a permanent veg mother plant.

Pic4: My now fuller grow cab.  2 established seedlings, Alexa is 12 days old, and Sylvia is 5 days old.  The other two seeds were germed and planted on 6/7/07.  They should be above ground in a day or three.

questions? comments? feedback?  All is appreciated


-happy growing


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## bombbudpuffa (Jun 8, 2007)

Inline fans are expensive when you can buy a comp fan that has the same cfm rating for around 15 bucks. 25.6 i'd say the 200cfm would be sufficient. I like the cfl/led grow light, thats cool! You look to be on a good start! Good luck.


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## Ataraxia (Jun 11, 2007)

My 54"x25' roll of mylar came today.  It shipped in three days!  I was impressed.  The 2 mil stuff is pretty easy to work with, it didn't tear at all and looks to have great reflectivity.  I covered the walls, doors, ceiling and floor of my grow cab with it.  I have one new baby girl, just sprouted up yesterday.  The other seed I had germed is just starting to break up from the ground and will probably be standing upright in 24 hours or so.  Still shopping around for fans.  BBP, I looked into computer fans, and it looks like I can get roughly the same CFM for cheaper, but can I use a comp fan to blow through ducting?  That's the main need for the fan, not just to exhaust the cab, but to blow the hot exhaust air up into the attic above my closet.  Does anybody reading this know about fans?  Inline/Axial/Computer?Squirrel cage?

New Pics!

Pic1:Looking into my newly mylar-coated cab.  I keep the doors open and fan on with the closet door open as I haven't added exhaust fans yet
Pic2:Top view of my oldest plant, Alexa, now 15 days old, stunted a little bit due to some burn, not sure what kind of burn but it looks like she's over it
Pic3:Side view of Sylvia, now 8 days old and healthy as ever
Pic4: The newest member of the family, 1 day old Lilah
Pic5: Side view of Alexa showing some LST
Pic6: Top view of my plants in the cab with the 250HPS beaming overhead
Pic7: Top view of Sylvia, only 8 days old!

Still need advice on exhaust options.........


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## bombbudpuffa (Jun 11, 2007)

> That's the main need for the fan, not just to exhaust the cab, but to blow the hot exhaust air up into the attic above my closet.


You can connect any fan to your duct for this purpose. I have comp fans and cfms and they both work fine. Good luck.


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## Runbyhemp (Jun 11, 2007)

Nice setup and very well documented :aok:


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## Ataraxia (Jun 18, 2007)

I returned to my apartment from a weekend home to a most pleasant sight.  My jaw dropped as I saw how much my plants have grown.  When I left I had one struggling 2 week old plant, Alexa, one week and a half old plant, about two inches tall, two sets of leaves (Sylvia), one newly established seedling just showing it's first true leaves, Lilah, and one germed seed in the ground.  I recently repotted Sylvia into foxfarm ocean forest after seeing her older sisters problems with the MG soil.  I couldn't believe how well they responded to the FF soil! :lama: I came back to three healthy plants, and one stunted, sickly looking plant screaming for me to get it out of the MG soil.  Here's the pics, they speak for themselves.  I was gone for 3 days, and they changed sooooo much.

pic1: A little blurry (sorry) pic of Sylvia, the start of the bunch, now 16 day old
pic2: Sylvia's four pointed leaf (Weird?) the opposite side has five points
pic3: Top view of lilah, my how she's grown! Only 8 days old beleive it or not
pic4: Side view of lilah
pic5:Repotted last night, Alexa, mellow yellow, lower leaves dying, hopefully all the foxfarm goodness can save her from that wretched MG Organic soil
pic6: Newest member of the family, Luna, 3 days above ground.
pic7: Can you spot the plants grown in FoxFarm organic soil?  (I'll give you a hint, they're big, green, happy and healthy)

I started BombBudPuffas supercropping method on the biggest plant, Sylvia.  I only pinched one node so far, and now I'm letting it heal.  When I pinched it there was a wonderful aroma wafting up from it's new injury.


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## Ataraxia (Jun 20, 2007)

Like I said, I began supercropping my biggest plant.  Two days later here are the results.

Pic1: nodes 1,2,3 showing impressive growth
Pic2: 2 additional sets of leaves coming off node 1
pic3: the pinched area, clearly injured
pic4: :shocked: There's a hole in my stem!

I just noticed today that when I turned the plant sideways, I could see right through it's stem.  I didn't notice breaking the outside of the stem when I pinched it two days ago.  Maybe that's just how it heals.  It doesn't appear to be negatively effecting it so far.  It has slowed the growth above the pinch, and accelerated the growth below as expected.  I'll have to wait and see over the next few days if this break heals.  Anybody ever seen this happen before?  Should I be concerned?


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## Kupunakane (Jun 20, 2007)

Yo Ataraxia,
  Love following along with you and thanks for sharing all the pics. I am just finishing up my growbox and got a good warning from Stoney about reflectivity and the floor, seems the two don't mix very well. I guess from what stoney and others are now explaining to me is that reflected light coming up from underneath will have the effect of causeing your grow to reach up and stretch up real bad, seems that it sees the light as an opportunity for other plants to outgrow it in a negative way. Check it out bro
smoke in peace
KingKahuuna


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## bombbudpuffa (Jun 20, 2007)

The hole will heal as the plant ages. The same thing happened to my hashberry. It stayed that way for a few weeks until the hole was replaced with a HUGE knot on the stem. Don't worry, be happy.


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## Ataraxia (Jun 22, 2007)

I'm very impressed with Sylvia's response to the pinching and twisting.  I've decided to do this to two plants, and grow the other two normally to see if it makes any difference in yeild.  I gave Sylvia, now 20 days old a very light dose of ferts tonight water pH 6.4 (my new digital meter finally came).  The other plants got straight water, pH 6.75.  Alexa, the plant that was stunted is greening up nicely and looks to be almost fully recovered from that nasty MG soil.  Maybe others have good results with it, but MG soil is not for me.  I'll stick with fox farm.  I moved my light higher and now it's about 20" above the tallest plant.  Is that too close?  I noticed a slight discoloration on the edges of some of the leaves.  Probably 95% of the leaves are lush green, but some higher leaves have rusty colored tips.  The leaves are not curled up at all, and otherwise look healthy, besides rusty tips.  I thought maybe this was a heat stress issue, so I moved the light up.  Anybody that could offer insight into this problem would be helpful.  My water will be pH checked from now on so I can soon rule that out as a possible cause.  I took some new pics and I'm delighted to have 7 point leaves on my star of the bunch, 12 day old Lilah.

Pic1: Sylvia, 20 days old, 4" tall, 5 nodes, getting bushy
Pic2: Sylvia, The results of supercropping, exploding undergrowth! (thanks BBP)
Pic3: "Rusty" leaf tip on Sylvia, this is on maybe two or three leaves, mainly near the top
Pic4: More problematic leaft tips, this one on Lilah, the color is a bit off in the picture, it's more of a sandy yellow color and is brittle to the touch
Pic5: Lilah, 12 days old, 3" tall, 4 nodes, 7 pointers on top.  I love that lime green new growth color.
Pic6: Lilah with my hand for size comparison, looks very health besides a few leaf spots
Pic7: Alexa resurrected, she recovered nicely once transplanted into FoxFarm soil and given som SuperThrive.  New growth has started and she's greened up a lot.  New leaves are even coming in where lower ones died.
Pic8: Luna, now 7 days old and off to a bit of a slow start, but I'm sure she'll catch up to her sisters
Pic9: Side view of Luna

I'm a little uneasy about the leaf tips.  Does anybody know what's causing this?  My plants all look healthy otherwise.  I don't want to overanalyze problems, but seeing as this is now on two of my plants I thought I'd ask.


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## bombbudpuffa (Jun 22, 2007)

I'm glad to see you like supercropping as much as I do. I've been doing it to all of my plants with good results. Yeah, the MG soil is tricky. It's a hot mix with the peat and chicken manure(especially this) so a ph buffer is a must with that soil. I've heard great things about fox farm soil and i'm glad to see you're liking it. I would say your leaf tips are ph related or overwatering. They are beautiful and I hope they're girls.


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## Ataraxia (Jun 26, 2007)

A few things have changed, and plants have shown some new growth, so I thought I'd update.  First I'll update the age of all four plants as of today.  Alexa, the oldest, but smallest, as she was started in crap soil, is 1 month old.  She is fully recovered, green, healthy, and growing rapidly.  Sylvia is 24 days old and doing well, despite the discoloration on her leaves. It has shown no sign of stunting growth, but simply looks ugly.  She is 5 inches tall and on her 7th node.  Sylvia responded very well to supercropping and is bushing out quite nicely.  Next in line is Lilah, now amazingly only 16 days old and the largest plant in my cab.  She's about 5.5" tall and has 6 nodes.  She's slightly taller because up until a few days ago, she wasn't being supercropped.  After 2 weeks of side by side I was already convinced that supercropping is the way to go.  I'm now doing it to all my plants.  Someone else will have to do that side by side grow.  I've already decided that supercropping is awesome!  Luna, is coming along nicely, now 11 days old.

I gave some nutes to the three oldest plants.  After responding well to 5mL/gal nutes, I gave sylvia 10mL/gal nutes with my 3-1.5-4 Botanicare Pure Blend Pro Grow.  I used lime disolved in water to correct the pH.  When I added the nutes, my distilled water had a pH of 4.4 :shocked: I poured some of the solution into a cup and mixed in some lime.  I slowly added this back to the gallon jug until I settled in at a pH of 6.35.  Is it okay to use lime as a natural pH adjuster like this?  Lilah got a taste of nutes for the first time with the 5/mL/gal solution, pH of 6.5.  Alexa also got some nutes from the 5mL batch.  Luna got straight water.  I really hope I don't burn any of the plants.  I think I started light enough on the ferts, so lets hope so.

The brown/orange/crispy leaf edges are still present but don't appear to be spreading.  I reduced my watering schedule to every 4 days, and now water with pH of 6.35-6.5.  I watered a few hours ago and the plants looked like they really wanted it.  I stuck my finger all the way into the soil and it was dry all the way down.  I think 4 days might be just perfect.  I changed my fan from the oscilating setting to stationary, blowing into one corner of the cab.  This brought temps from 89* down to 82*.  This will hopefully create an environment to foster rapid growth.

Next week my parents are coming to visit me.  This presents multiple problems, mainly I have to hide my grow cab.  I could risk the fact that they may not look into my walk in closet and notice the large white cabinet with orange light glowing out of it, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.  I'm setting up a new cab which I will later use for cloning/mother plant.  I'll be housing this outside in a small storage space on my balcony.  It's enclosed, lockable, and is where most people keep their washer/dryer.  I'm planning on exhausting air out the dryer vent.  My plants don't really smell at all yet, so this shouldn't be a problem.  I bought a Black&Decker plastic wall & base cabinet. It measures 26.8"x14.8"x36.5" WxLxH.  It's about half as tall as my grow cab now, but if I mount my light to the ceiling it should still give me about 20" from light to plant.  I plan on exhausting the cab with my newly acquired 115CFM 120mm computer fans.  The DC adapter is shipping and should be here soon.  My only worry is that the  storage unit, being outside will get too hot.  I plan on  leaving my temp gauge in there and checking the max and min temps for a few days and see how viable this option is.  If anyone else has suggestions on how to hide plants from nosey mothers, lemme know.  I think this solution will work, and will provide me with a future cloning/mother plant cab.

Alright, now for the fun part, pics!  All of these were taken a few hours after watering, so the plants may look a lil droopy. 

pic1: Sylvia under the HPS glow
pic2: Sylvia on my bathroom floor for better lighting
pic3: Side view of Sylvia, notice the brown tips, and great undergrowth
pic4: Sylvia top view
pic5: Top view close up, I love the look/shape of marijuana leaves
pic6: Lilah closeup top view
pic7: Lilah side view, increase in undergrowth since the start of supercropping
pic8: Top view of Lilah, healthy as all get out
pic9: Top view of Alexa, recovered and coming along nicely
pic10: Alexa side view, after first round of pinching, showing accelerated undergrowth.

Any and all comments/suggestions/feedback are appreciated


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## Ataraxia (Jun 26, 2007)

One post couldn't contain all the photographic goodnes I had to offer.  Here are some more pics and a question about sex, yeah sex.  I asked earlier in another thread if what I saw on my plant were preflowers.  I was told they weren't and that they may show up a little later.  I have pics of what I think look like preflowers, or pistils, but I'll let a pro be the judge.  If these aren't preflowers, what are they?  Does every plant have these?

The first picture is the structure in question.  The other pictures are an extension of the update above

pic1: Preflowers? Sex? Nothing more an a vistigial structure?
pic2: Luna 11 days old
pic3: Luna side view, pretty reddish/purple stems.  I can only hope the bud is as colorful
pic4: My happy little indoor garden, I smile every time I look at it.
pic5: Lilah front and center with her leaves all bent and tucked so the undergrowth gets more light, Alexa in back there


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## bombbudpuffa (Jun 26, 2007)

I'm so envious!!!


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## Draston (Jun 26, 2007)

number 1 is just normal vegitative growth... no signs of sex yet.


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## Runbyhemp (Jun 26, 2007)

Hi Ataraxia, all plants have that growth regardless of sex. Can't say for sure what it's fuction is though. Perhaps somebody more knowledgeable could step in ...


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## Ataraxia (Jun 26, 2007)

Runbyhemp said:
			
		

> Hi Ataraxia, all plants have that growth regardless of sex. Can't say for sure what it's fuction is though.......



It's function: to trick noobs like me into thinking it's a girl.

Thanks for stoppin by Draston, and RBH.  BBP, _you're _envious of _me_?  Well I think it goes both ways then.  I've taken a lot of advice/techniques from you directly and from following your grows.  You've been a big help, thanks!

And one more question, how soon could I take a clipping from each plant to root and then sex?  I want to seperate the boys from the girls asap.   Can I take a cutting now, or should  I wait a  week or two?   Sylvia has side branches like crazy and I'm really tempted to snip one, root it and find out if she's a she.

Today I noticed that Luna, the youngest went from 3 fingered leaves straight to 7 fingered leaves on her third node!  I'm excited.  Beyond that, the plants seem to love the new nutes so far, no sign of burn    ....yet


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## Ataraxia (Jul 2, 2007)

As I mentioned above, my parents are coming to visit and staying for five days.  I needed to hide my grow as I know they would not approve of it and I couldn't risk them stumbling into my closet as they would easily notice my large cabinet.  Here's some pics of my project.

pic1: the front of the cabinet, light on, door closed.
pic2: my 4 plants, happily sitting inside
pic3: my ghetto rigged cooler for my 250w HPS
pic4: 1 of 2 110CFM computer fans, one cools the bulb, the other exhaust air from the top of the cab
pic5: The 2 exhaust ducts come to a Y in the back of the cab
pic6: my passive intake
pic7: The storage area my cab is in now.  Can you spot where the marijuana is being grown?  I hope not.
pic8: There it is!
pic9: A pic with the doors open, and my safely hidden babies

Due to security reasons, I had to move this grow outside my apartment.  This is out of direct sunlight, but I think it still gets to about 90* inside that storage area, without the added heat of the HPS.  I hope that it doesn't get too hot inside the cab and that the exhaust fans will do enough.  This is the best I can do and really my only option so I hope it works.


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## Ataraxia (Jul 11, 2007)

So my parents came and visited and had a nice time.  My grow cab was placed in a storage closet on my balcony.  I battled with high temps and resorted to having the light only run on an 18/6 light cycle to have it off during the hottest times of the day.  I fed them only water during that week, which was two waterings.  I had to sneak out onto my balcony without my parents suspecting anything to water them.  I felt like I was in fifth grade again or something.  

For added security, I installed a new locking doorknob on the storage closet.  My teenage brother was also along for the visit and informed me that he "credit carded" my storage shed door, because he "wanted to see what was inside."  I was shocked and asked him, "Well, what's in there?"  And he said, oh nothing, just a bunch of boxes and pots, soil and gardening stuff.  Whew, that was a close one.  Good thing I camoflauged the grow cab in so well.  Come friday, after my parents left, I was reunited with my girls (still wishful thinking) and thought they looked much improved since receiving only water.  

I stupidly gave them a light dose, (5mL/gal) of my botanicare nutes.  A day or two later they flared their mellow yellow at me again.  Is it normal for veg plants to need/want so little nutes?  All of these plants are over a month old, and I've fed them about three times, and each time they get mad at me.  I'm using below the recommended dosage for seedlings on five and six week old plants and they still don't like it.  Is there enough natural goodness in the fox farm soil to last them through vegging? :confused2:

I'm getting anxious to start flowering.  My 3 gal poly grow bags finally came in the mail from ebay.  I want to know their sex first though, so I don't waste 3 gallons of soil on a plant and then have it turn out to be male.  I took a single cutting for clones from each plant on 7/7/07.  I made a bubble cloner in the DIY fashion very similar to the one on this site.  I used Rootech cloning gel, even though most of it washed off within a few hours of being in the bubble cloner.  It's been 3 days now and still no sign of roots, but they are still alive and no longer droopy.  Can I start giving them 12/12 or 10/14 light schedule before I even see rooting, or would it be better to have them on 18/6?  

I started some LST in addition to supercropping with three of the plants and so far they seem to be responding pretty well.  It looks like torture, but they don't seem to mind being all binded down.  Maybe my plants are into S&M or something. I finally installed my 110 CFM computer fans in my large grow cab and it's up and running back in my bedroom closet.  

Wow, I had a lot to say.  Hopefully whoever reads this can sift through all the rambling and answer a few of my questions.

And here come the pics......

Pic1: A pic taken yesterday.  Plants were temporarily just open in the closet with HPS hanging from the shelf above.  Beer bottle for size reference.  Obvious nute burn. :doh:

Pic2: Plants nestled safely in their new home.  Some more LST shown.  I have also topped two of the plants, not sure if I mentioned that.

Pic3: Bubble cloner with humidity dome, cost me about 5 bucks as I already had airstones and a dual outlet pump

Pic4: Grow clones, grow! (red and blue are from the LEDs above)


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## 420check420 (Jul 11, 2007)

man those are lookin good  i like your setup too... theyre lookin spot on so far.. keep it up!


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## Birdman Burke (Jul 11, 2007)

i like the garden ya got growing there
very nice job dude i will be interesting
to see how the look when they bud K2 is
a very cool strain.

take care

peace.


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## Ataraxia (Jul 15, 2007)

Some good news for a change, I'm pretty sure two of my plants have shown sex.  I could only get decent pictures from one of the plants, but the other plant looks exactly the same.  At the node there is a little sorta pear shaped thing with two small white hairs coming out of it.  From what I've seen pics of and read I'm pretty sure these are "preflowers."  Have a look at my pics and see if you can confirm my suspicion.


All pics are of the same plant, same node, but from different angles.  The preflowers are quite small and easier to see in person than in a picture.  If you look closely you can spot them in the picture.  The last picture shows where I topped the plant.  I have purplish/reddish stems on most of my plants.  I've read that this is a trait of K2, but I've also read that it can mean a calcium deffeciency.  Anyone else that's grown K2 also see the reddish/purple stems?


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## Jemini22 (Jul 18, 2007)

You've come a long, long way from the Monster soda can, I am proud!!


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## bombbudpuffa (Jul 18, 2007)

> Is it normal for veg plants to need/want so little nutes?


Plants are like people. They are all different. All of my plants like different strengths of nutes. One of the down sides of doing multi strain grows. I usually just feed water until they look like they need something. If you have good soil it should have enough nutes for at least a few weeks. Looking good.


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## Ataraxia (Jul 26, 2007)

About a week ago I made the executive decision to throw my runt of the litter plant which coincidentally was the oldest (had a rough start with the MG soil) into the cab I'm flowering clones in.  It was just starting to show signs of sex and I was excited to see the changes.  At first I thought what I saw was small bunches of hairs on the main nodes, but tonight when the lights came on I looked and I'm pretty sure it's a male :hairpull:.  Here's some pics, lemme know for sure,but I think its a male.  If it is a male it's not that bad I guess, as it was the smallest plant, and I didn't plan on transplanting it to a larger pot anyways. 

pic1: The spot where I topped it.  The stub of the old main stalk is in the middle and on each side are what I thought may be female flowers. 

pic2: Left main top (showing male sex?)

pic3: Right main top (also showing male sex?)

hopefully some experienced growers can let me know for sure if my suspicions are correct.


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## Ataraxia (Jul 26, 2007)

I've kept the three better looking plants in veg.  I've recently transplated them into 3 gal grow bags.  I used a mix of FoxFarm Ocean Forest, FoxFarm Happy Frog, about 25% Perlite and the two biggest plants got some jamacian bat guanno at a dose of 2Tbs/6gal mixed in with the soil.  The package suggested 1Tbs/gal, but I figured I'd go on the light side.  Since the transplant, they seem to be doing well, although I don't think they've had enough time for their roots to explore to show me that boost of growth I'm looking for after the transplant.  There was minimal transplant shock, they didn't droop at all.  Before I transplanted them, they were having a rough time.  The lower leaves were turning yellow, then brown from the tips on in and eventually dying.  It was diagnosed as an overnute issue and I flushed, and fed straight water for a week with a slight improvement.  Yesterday I noticed that overall the plants looked kinda pale yellow, so I gave a very mild nute dose to them of 2.5mL/gal of my Botanicare and a half a capful of superthrive.  24 hours later, they look greener and improved.  I only watered the two bigger plants (Sylvia and Lilah) with the nutes.  Luna is still problematic.  All the leaves are starting to brown and dry up.  I'm not sure if this is still nute burn or what the heck the deal is.  I'll post some pics and see if anyone can give me some input.

pic1: A lil blurry pic of my star of the bunch, Sylvia, now about 7 weeks old
pic2: Side shot of sylvia, showing some of her yellowing/browning leaves
pic3: Another side shot, pretty heavily lst'd, I'd guess she'd be over a foot tall at least if she wasn't tied down.

pic4:Lilah (left) Sylvia (right) in their 3gal bags, still showing some yellowing/browning, hopefully it's getting better since the nutes yesterday
pic5: Get low!  Both plants are lst'd keepin em low, I'm not really cramped for space, but I want even growth of side shoots and the main stem.  Plus I want it to grow in a creative shape.

pic6: The problem child, Luna, now about 5 weeks old and lookin worse than ever.  I haven't given her nutes in about two weeks and what I thought was nute burn hasnt gone away.  Any ideas what's wrong?
pic7: Same plant more yellow/brown/crispy leaves.  It was topped a few days ago, thats why there are just two big fan leaves at the top.

pic8: on a happier note, a recent purchase at the local headshop   Can't wait to smoke some of my home-grown k2 out of it!


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

*Whats up mang. Yes the pics above do look like a male.   I would let him go for a few more days just to be sure though.   As far as your plant goes the one with nute burn have you tried flushing her with plain water? If not you should or she will continue to burn. *


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## Ataraxia (Jul 31, 2007)

Thanks for chiming in TBG, I flushed that little lady once already, but I flushed it again because the first flush didn't seem sufficient.  I ran over a gallon of water through it, and after a few days not much improvement.  When you suggested I flush, I did it for the second time, and it appears to have stopped the burning and the rest of the leaves are starting to look a bit more green than yellow.  

My two other plants, Sylvia and Lilah, have been taking off, the transplant seems to have given them vigor in all the new soil to explore.  In four days they've gotten a lot greener and lost the pale green/yellowish color from before. (Compare the pics from 7/26 to todays)  I did give them a feeding of 2.5mL/gallon of Botanicare (1/3 of the seedling dose) and a few drops of superthrive.  Lilah and Luna have had their main cola topped, both now have two new colas, of uneven length.  I hope to counter this growing patern with lst to more evenly spread light, but one side is like two to three times larger than the other out of the top.  

The bushiest plant, Sylvia hasn't been topped, but lst'd to the max, and supercropped a bit.  Her stem is wrapping around the edge of the bag.  I've been topping the tallest sideshoots in an effort to keep the canopy even.  The sidebranches heal quickly and within a few days they fork out and increase overall bushiness.  

I want my plants to finish around four feet, but with all this lst, I feel like I'm gonna have to let em go another month before switching to flower.  My tallest plant is only 7.5" tall.  Sylvia has probably at least a foot of main stem length, but with lst, is only 5.6" tall.  How much longer do you think I should go before flower? I was thinking at least another two weeks.  I'm in no rush and want to get the most out of the 250hps

I discreetly sent Alexa off to "a farm out in the country where male plants are free to release their seed."  I have a clone of each Lilah, Luna and Sylvia in my small cfl-powered sexing cab.  They've been in there for maybe like a week and a half and still no signs of sex.  They rooted very well in the bubble cloner, (with the help of RooTech, which I was very satisfied with) and I put them into soil in none other than those red 16 oz party cups.  I cut their light back to 10/14 in hopes that they may sex quicker. (Go figure a man wanting to speed up sex)

New idea I've been bouncing around:  Once I know sex, take clones of my best plant, (Sylvia if it's a girl) and root them in rockwool, and grow them in the cfl cab on an ebb and flo system for 8 weeks while their mother is flowering.  I was thinking then I could flower a SOG with right after cropping the first batch.  A pretty bold taking on, I'll have to do some more reading up.

Anyways...here's to the pictures

Pic1: My big bushy plant, Sylvia, untopped, lst'd, supercropped
Pic2: Lowrider aint got ish on me!  5.5" tall

pic3: Lilah, all tied up and bent this way and that. 
pic4: Top view of Lilah, just repositioned and retied everything

pic5: Luna, the problem child.  Recovering from her second flush, looking better, old leaves still burnt though.
pic6: Luna's two new top colas, one massively bigger than the other

pic7: My "secret garden"
pic8: angled view of all three plants

pic9:My three clones, the  nute burn was from the Olivia's cloning solution I  put in the bubble cloner, they've gotten better, but still yellow.  Now in dirt, hopefully will show sex soon.
pic10: My cfl-a-nator in action.  All 26w cool blue 6500K, about 15750 lumens total.  Plannin on using this to grow clones in the future.

Happy growing and thanks for responses


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## bombbudpuffa (Jul 31, 2007)

Very, very nice grow you've got here. Can't wait to see some buds. Beautiful plants. Is K2 from KC Brains? Can't remember.


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## Ataraxia (Jul 31, 2007)

Thanks for stoppin by BBP, and thanks for the compliments.  You've been a great influence.  I got my K2 from Nirvana, not sure if they originally came up with the strain or not.  From what I know it's a "White" strain which carries with it a pleasant, spiced, fruit-like taste and a tangy aroma.                      K2 gives a very zoneable high that affects the smoker quick.  It's related to white widow, so I wouldn't expect any less.  It's a sativa/indica hybrid, 70%Indica/30%Sativa, grows short and stocky and loves sea of green.  BBP, you're not the only one who wants to see buds NOW!  How much longer should I wait to flower?


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## bombbudpuffa (Jul 31, 2007)

Hey man, they're yours, whenever you'd like. Bigger plants=more buds though.


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## Ataraxia (Aug 5, 2007)

I sadly found out that one of my clones started sexing.  My biggest, most robust, healthiest plant, Sylvia, is a male.  Pics to confirm included below.  It's a sad day, I'm down to two plants and they aren't the best of the bunch.  Let's hope 2 for 2 females for the last two.


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## kindbudcocky (Aug 13, 2007)

Sucks bud
It has happend to me so I feel ya


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## Ataraxia (Aug 25, 2007)

about a week or two in, not sure exact date.  They smell like lifesavers candy.


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## Ataraxia (Sep 5, 2007)

I kinda lost track of the day I put it in flower, or when sex appeared.  This is actually what I thought was a male, but it turns out I mislabled my clones or something, long story.  So now I have one female, and one very small female clone flowering.  My best guess is that the momma is about 2-3 weeks into flower and the clone about 5.  All pics are bud shots of the 2-3 week girl.  It's like unwrapping a new present each day when I go look at them.  I can't wait till the lights turn on to see what's new.


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## bombbudpuffa (Sep 5, 2007)

Those are some very pretty flowers you have there.


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## Ataraxia (Oct 15, 2007)

sorry I've been awol from my journal.  I've been kinda busy and forgot to update it.  I've succesfully grown one female plant to maturity and harvested it.  I lost (misplaced) my digital camera for the better part of a month so I don't have a lot of pictures, but I have some.  I harvested Sylvia at 8 1/2 weeks, almost all the trichs were cloudy with a very few amber ones.  Nirvana claims that this strain is 8/9 weeks flowering.  At 8 1/2 the calyxes were swollen and although I could have probably waited for more ambers, I was sick of waiting.  My yeild was modest, but not bad for a first grow. The hand held 60-100x hand held micro from radio shack works great with a little practice.  It can be difficult to focus at first and has a very small field of view.  Once you get the habg of it, examining those trichs can be quite fun.

When I took a clone of each of my four plants to determine sex, I got 3 males and 1 female.  I assumed that this meant that only one of the four plants was a female.  Well, turns out that wasn't the case.  I don't know how it happened, but I got two females.  Sylvia, the plant I recently harvested, I thought was a male.  I put her into flower "just to make sure" and lo and behold she started growing pistils like mad.  Boy was I pleasantly surprised.  In an attempt to sustain the genetics, I took quite a few clippings from her so that I could veg a crop of all females while she was flowering.  Another lesson learned, cloning plants already in flowering is significantly more dificult than plants that are in veg.  All my clones died, and all the areas I clipped off would no longer have buds growing there.  

The second female I was blessed with was Lilah.  I had trouble dialing in the nutes on her late in veg and she lost quite a few leaves.  I also experimented with topping with her.  I topped every side branch and topped the main shoot twice.  I also tied her down.  This made all the growth even and gave it a quite funny shape.  As a result of all the topping, I now have 40 some budsites developing on her.  She's been in flower for 3 1/2 weeks as of today.  I think she's a little underdeveloped but looks promising with so many budsites.  I will let her flower to 9 weeks or until I get maybe 50/50 amber cloudy trichs.

Now for some pics.  The first pic is of a bud on Sylvia, 4 weeks into flowering.  You can already see the trichomes, even on the fan leaves.  The second pic is a lil "tester" bud at 6 weeks, trichs to the tip of the fan leaves yummy!  The third pic is a weird green tint for some reason.  Some setting on my camera, this is the main cola at 6 1/2 weeks. Fourth is the same pic but in normal color.  Fifth is Lilah.  This pic was taken about 3 weeks into flowering, there are over 40 buds on it. Sixth are Sylvias top four buds, most of the mass of the plant.  These are also at 6 1/2 weeks.  The last pic is from Sylvia as well, some smaller double buds from a topped side branch also 6 1/2 weeks.  I must have lost my camera or forgot to take pictures after 6 1/2 weeks.  Weeks 7-8.5 the buds really fattened up, they didn't grow much vertically but swelled and excreted more delicious trichomes.  

Sorry for my incomplete photo-documenting of the process.  I've now got got one female flowering at about 4-4.5 weeks.  

I've only smoked a few quick-dried buds from Sylvia, so I haven't been able to see the benefits the a cure yet.  From preliminary data collection, I am quite happy with the stone from the bud that I GREW!  It's the most satisfying smoke I've had simply because I know that I helped guide a beautiful plant through the process of making it.  I've heard that bud dried quickly tastes harsh but I didn't experience this at all.  It is smooth, sweet and tasty.  I'd say its better tasting than most any bud I've ever bought off the street, maybe only using organics had something to do with that.  The buds smell citrusy sweet with a very slight hint of skunk.  The stone is definitely an indica body buzz which is to be expected with a 70/30 indica/sativa hybrid.  It's strong but not overpowering.  Overall I'm very happy with the strain.  With more practice I hope to increase my yield.


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## clever_intuition (Oct 15, 2007)

Nice growing. With practice does come yield and quality 

Nice job for this one my friend and good luck with your future grows.


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