400w aircooled digi - Dynamite + NL?

[Guest]

FLOWERING DAY 6

FLOWERING DAY 6

at this point it's clear there's at least two phenotypes:

a) more sativa type (2 of these) that are taller and stretchier for sure. they're budding more slowly. these will probably take a week or two longer but should prove to be very interesting

b) pure(r) indica phenotype that are several inches shorter and are budding faster. here's a couple shots of the top of the biggest of these:

 

[Guest]

FLOWERING DAY 8

FLOWERING DAY 8

i took some more pics today when i watered the plants so here's another update

the ladies are looking good - they seem like they're off to a great start in flowering.

here's a shot of all of them from above:



another shot of the top of the most indica plant:






(a little bit out of focus but i like it anyway)

a side shot of a top:


buds emerging lower on the main stalk:






today i gave them a little bit stronger feeding: 4tsp of bloom and 1tsp of grow. they seem to have a really well developed root mass so i think they can stand it. it's just an experiment for now to see how they respond.

the tallest one is 25" at this point. they're stretching a little bit but they're still very manageable plants. a couple of them might get to 3 feet but that's probably the max.

that's it for now. thanks everyone for checking in.

peace

 

[Guest]

FLOWERING DAY 10

FLOWERING DAY 10

The main news for today is that I had to remove some intersex flowers from all plants. All five were/are slightly hermaphroditic. i sort of expected this given the story behind where the seeds came from (in some bud that came from someone that rarely ever gets seeded bud) would suggest that this strain tends toward hermaphroditism, because the bud I had was seeded - the eighth i had was three buds, one of which had no seeds, one of which had a handful of seeds, and one of which had almost 20 seeds. it seemed like out of all the bud there wasn't much that was seeded but most of what was was being pushed on down the line and ending up in the smaller bags. anyway, point being, i think the hermaphroditism is genetic and not due to stress. temps are occasionally higher than optimal but the plants show no other signs of heat stress (or any other stress for that matter) so i don't think it couldn't have been avoided.

the other possibility i considered was that the seeds were from plants grown from feminized seeds, which i understand can somethimes demonstrate partial hermaphroditism. is this possible at all? if so, it would expand the range of possible strains that these plants could be.

because my camera batteries are dead i didn't take any pics of the male flowers. when i noticed them i was in a hurry to get them removed. i think some of them had been on the plants for a few days perhaps. i don't think any were more than five or six days old. i have been paying pretty close attention every day but after all plants showed preflowers (day 3 or so) i stopped examining them in painstaking detail. the shortest plant had the most male or mixed flowers - probably about 15. the tallest plant had the fewest - only three or four. they were in various stages of development - the first one i saw was large and swollen but hadn't opened yet. most of them were either slightly open but very small and immature or just one or two stamens mixed in with calyxes. i'm not sure whether any had released pollen or not yet. my questions are:

a) is there any way to tell by looking at a male flower if it has released pollen?
b)does an open male flower always signal pollen release?
c)in general what is the window between the appearance of male flowers and the first release of pollen? for some reason i had in my head ten days - if this was the case no pollen should have been release yet. but i couldn't find that number anywhere when i looked again in my books so if anyone could fill me in or point me somewhere that would be great.
d)will male flowers continue to appear?
e)how soon will i be able if seeds are appearing?

i'm hoping that no pollen was dropped but operating on the assumption that at least a couple of the flowers had done so. only time will tell i guess. i think i caught it early enough that there should be only a few stray seeds. this would probably not be a good strain for first timers for obvious reasons.

which begs the question: what freakin strain is it? does northern lights have a tendency to be intersex at all? the only strain i usually associate with that is blueberry but i hadn't thought of blueberry as a candidate. it's definitely in the same spot on the indica-sativa spectrum, but the bud didn't have a notable blue taste or flavor.

apparently i'm having trouble with my connection so no pics for now

thanks everyone

 

[Guest]

FLOWERING DAY 13

FLOWERING DAY 13

i went over the plants branch by branch to look for intersex flowers. i found a couple more, but they were small and immature and i think had just missed them before (i.e., they weren't newly appearing ones). after thinking about it more i don't really think any of these flowers had dropped any pollen yet. they were all very small and immature, and waxy - none that i rubbed in my fingers seemed to have any pollen at all. i am planning to continue with these plants, at least for a little while. at this point there's no reason not to because i only have one other plant besides these mystery indicas. i don't know what to expect with the intersex shit...

they're filling out nicely, so i have high hopes for them if they can finish up without much problem. only two weeks into flowering, most of the small bud leaves are starting to get a dusting of small crystals. i think these plants will be resinous for sure. again at this point i don't think any pollination has occured, so it still has the potential for a great harvest. the plants have an amazing smell, like nothing i've ever smelled before. a powerfully sweet, intoxicating scent - the bud will be good for sure.

here is a pic of the back four:




they seem to be coming along well for only two weeks of flowering. as you can see, one plant (on the right in the front in that pic) is much squatter than the others. it's clearly flowering more quickly. the top bud on this one is already rather sizeable, so it should be a beautiful cola when the plant is finished flowering.

here's a similar shot which shows the other two plants as well:




you can see a layer of buds on the white widow

i raised the light today to accomodate them. the tallest is just under 30", the shortest is about 23".

it's just wait-and-see for a while now i guess. i'm hoping that they won't show any more intersex flowers. even if they do, it seems like they don't mature fast enough to drop pollen if they are noticed early enough, so maybe even if other stray intersex flowers do appear, pollination can be prevented.

thanks for checking in, peace

 

[Guest]

FLOWERING DAY 16 (or 17)

FLOWERING DAY 16 (or 17)

time flies - the girls are 2.5 weeks into flowering at this point and still looking good

they have a little bit of leaf tip curling that is probably from overfeeding a few days back. they are back to a lighter fert schedule (i only gave them a heavier feeding for two days) so all should be good.

i have noticed some darkening of the pistils on some of the canopy buds on the smallest plant. They look like they've died back a little, almost like what they would if the plant was approaching harvest. What can cause this, other than ripeness? I thought about heat, but buds higher up on the plant (and other plants) don't show any of the same signs so that can't be it.

the magic is really starting to happen now. the pace of budding is picking up. most small leaves have a dusting of crystals (small and undeveloped at this point). they will be very resinous when they're finished

here are some shots of the top of the most indica plant:








i'm still on the watch for intersex flowers. a handful more have turned up, mostly on the newest growth low on the plants. i caught one today i must have missed before - it was on a short branch high on the plant, on the main stalk side so it was difficult to see. it looked like it was close to mature, but it didn't seem like it had opened. i took it off with an x-acto and when i rubbed it in my fingers it definitely had pollen in it. but as i said, i think i pulled it off before it was really able to drop any.
they don't seem like they're really continuing to produce intersex flowers. i think a few more will appear in the newest growth where no flowers have appeared until a day or two ago, but it seems like they're not continuing to grow in parts of the plant where they've already been removed. it's a pain in the ass but these plants are on a track to be phat when they're finished so hopefully some diligence in trimming off new intersex flowers will be rewarded.

 

[Guest]

FLOWERING DAY 21

FLOWERING DAY 21

everything is looking good. the plants are developing a real sugar coating.

i pruned the two lowest pairs of branches off two of the plants that had the least bud development down there. i might do the same with more of the plants but i plan to leave at least one unpruned to see what the final result is.

here is the juicy top from the shortest but furthest along plant:







you can see in the picture that the leaves have a dusting of crystals already, which i think is pretty good since it's only three weeks into flowering. they have at least 25 days to four weeks left so they should fill out a good bit in that time. they should have some amazing trichome expression when they are finished.

i have a 5 gal set of bubblebags so i plan to make hash when this grow is harvested. i'm planning to make hash out of at least the popcorn buds depending on how much i get in the end. also, both plants (the X indica and the white widow) have glands all over the leaves so there should be a good bit of leaf trim to run through as well.

i'm thinking about adding molasses to the feeding schedule in the last few weeks of flowering, but i've read that it's a natural mild fungicide so i don't know whether it will counteract microrhyzal fungi i've been using...???

i've been keeping the light about a foot above the canopy but i raised it today about four inches because i was worried the canopy might be too warm. the plants don''t really show any signs of burning but it's definitely several degrees hotter right under the bulb so i'd rather be on the safe side.

here is the biggest plant:

 

[Don Juan]

I've got very similar dimensions to work with on an upcoming grow. Thanks much for the great thread. Consider me to be "on-board"

 

[Guest]

quick post

quick post

don juan - thanks for coming along.

it's not a lot of space but it should be plenty to supply myself. if you do it right you can grow a lot of weed under a 400watt light. some hydro people could probably get a pound and a half. in soil that would be pushing it but a point or a little less might not be out of reach. my amount of space (7 or 8 sq. ft.) which is about .7 sq. meters; so if you say a good yeilding strain is 350g/sq. m (a moderately high but common sea of green listed yield) that works out to 250 grams or a little over half a pound. if i could achieve this i would definitely be satisfied. but who knows - i'm not growing sea of green anyway, so perhaps those numbers don't mean much. another way to think about it is grams / watt. one gram/watt seems possible with good soil methods from what i can tell from reading a lot of forum posts and talking to a number of people, so that would mean 400g, or about 14oz. that would be fucking badass - picture the scene from half-baked where chapelle receives the first pound of medical marijuana from the pharmacy clerk and he just can't believe it, starts sharking and having a seizure. that would be my reaction =).

like i said the bloombox is the inspiration here in a way. perhaps not so much the inspiration as the validation of the idea that not much space is required. there's a certain zen to being presented with just enough space and being forced to make it work - you learn a lot in the process and become aware of not wasting energy and effort.

i consider cannabis to be an intelligence of its own. it is very fulfilling to be able to spend time in the presence of a goddess and connect with natural beauty. the process of watching a plant mature from a seedling or clone into maturity is just awe-inspiring.

take care and thanks all for joining in

 

[Don Juan]

Amen to that!

You know, when the breeder states 'xxxg./m2', they're usually talking about 600+ watts. HOWEVER, you're certainly meeting the 50w psf rule. I think you'll do very well.

I've got to laugh about this whole thing, because our growing spaces are so similar. Mine is more of a standard closet space, though, meaning that the four foot span is across the closet's doors (rather than going deep, like yours). I've banked on that fact by getting a 600w HPS, hoping that I can manage the heat okay. My first thought was to get a 400 like you.

 

[Don Juan]

By the way, gdon: I'm going to be in the same boat as far as the wiring goes. I'm awaiting the arrival of my digital ballast in the mail, but it's already obvious that the damned ballast wire will need to be cut to wire onto my new KoolTube. It freaks me out because it'll of course make the ballast unreturnable if something goes wrong.