bagseed from the dispensary...and it's a girl!

[thirst4knwledge]

so this is my first grow. I've been checking out threads around ic for about a year and a half now, trying to soak in the knowledge. Been studying for about the same amount of time by way of print, hoping to get an indoor grow going when the time is right and trying to be as prepared as possible. This was grown from a seed that I found in a top shelf 1/8 that I got from a clinic here in beautiful northern california. Don't remember the strain, but I believe it was some type of kush or kush hybrid. From the leaves I'm guessing sativa dominant hybrid. I'm thinking the seed was most likely the result of a hermaphroditic plant, and it was the only one in the bag. Germinated by soaking overnight in a cup of water, then put on a tilted plate in the closet between two moist paper towels. Started in a cup, transplanted to a three gallon smart pot at 3 weeks, transplanted to a 5 gallon smart pot about six weeks after that. It was pretty stretchy initially due to low light and high heat when it was first started, so I cut some holes in the cup and stabilized it with some hearty stem wire and just kept adjusting it until the stem was forced to get thick because of the amount of leaves that required transporting of water and nutrients. Now at about two and a half months from germination, she's very healthy and a dark luscious green. The plant showed female preflowers about four weeks ago, and now there are roughly 12 preflowers, all female (even after the first ones showed up, I was still worried that it might be a hermaphrodite, unstable genetics). I attempted to fim the plant, but I'm not sure that I did it right though it was quite effective in promoting lateral growth. There's also been a praying mantis on the plant for a couple weeks now, so I haven't sprayed since he showed up hoping that he'll hold down the fort as far as pest control. All I know is I've seen at least ten predatory spiders come and go since he showed up, but I'm hoping he'll do more work than all of them put together. He's become my pet, I even named him Sylvester. I feed every day to every other day depending on what she needs, feeding with dyna-gro and superthrive, besides the nutrients that were already the fox farm ocean forest soil that I've been using throughout. I'm planning on transplanting into the ground in the next couple weeks here, would like to transplant into an organic mix for flowering and would really appreciate it if anyone has a good organic soil mixture that they'd like to share? Or maybe point me in the direction of a good thread? I'm not positive that it will work, but I'd like to transplant into an organic mix that is high in flowering nutes pretty much like I'd be switching to flowering nutes if I kept watering by hand like I am now. But I've also read that organics like bat guano take some time to become readily available to the plant, so will this work the way I want it to? Thanks for any help....or maybe tips or anything you notice from the pictures...or just a good old fashioned hello.

-t4k

 

[thirst4knwledge]

more pictures

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[thirst4knwledge]

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[Vesuvius]

nice looking plant.
love the piks of the spider and cricket.

 

[FoCo(No.Co)]

Great lookin' plant man. If you are going to put it in the ground, I'd do it real soon though.

If I was you, I'd just prepare a nice big hole full of FFOF(Roots Organic is even better, IMO), then it wont need much more nutrient aside from perhaps a shot of Guano tea.

Oh and dont forget to take a few cuttings if you can... nothing worse than neglecting to save the genetic and then finding out its something spectacular.

 

[thirst4knwledge]

nice looking plant.
love the piks of the spider and cricket.

I appreciate the kind words. Yeah that spider was chilling under the web and I thought it was a dead bug so I went to scrape it off and he comes out from the web and nuts up like bitch this is my leaf! So I let him stay. And I thought it was a grasshopper at first when it showed up and it was tiny, but soon realized that it's a praying mantis. He's my tool of destruction for biological pest control. Thanks for checking it out!

 

[thirst4knwledge]

Great lookin' plant man. If you are going to put it in the ground, I'd do it real soon though.

If I was you, I'd just prepare a nice big hole full of FFOF(Roots Organic is even better, IMO), then it wont need much more nutrient aside from perhaps a shot of Guano tea.

Oh and dont forget to take a few cuttings if you can... nothing worse than neglecting to save the genetic and then finding out its something spectacular.

Thanks for the positive reinforcement man, glad you like it. I can get ahold of some roots organic at my local garden store if that's a better choice. I wasn't sure if I should mix in any other organic amendments, but if that will do the job then that's great. Will a shot of guano tea be more readily available, as opposed to mixing guano into the soil? How would I go about trying to get the tea, would I have to buy the supplies to make it? And thanks for the tip on cutting a clone, wouldn't mind giving up a couple branches to be able to save the genetics.

 

[FoCo(No.Co)]

Thanks for the positive reinforcement man, glad you like it. I can get ahold of some roots organic at my local garden store if that's a better choice. I wasn't sure if I should mix in any other organic amendments, but if that will do the job then that's great. Will a shot of guano tea be more readily available, as opposed to mixing guano into the soil? How would I go about trying to get the tea, would I have to buy the supplies to make it? And thanks for the tip on cutting a clone, wouldn't mind giving up a couple branches to be able to save the genetics.

I prefer the Roots because it has less N+Mg and thus makes tastier flowers(amongst other reasons). And since you are putting your plant in the ground, a complete flush will be out of the question.

There is already guano in both of those soils, the benefit of the tea is that you can use it if needed and avoid it if not. One of the most common mistakes that new growers make is to over fertilize their plants. Over fertilized weed(even with a good flush) is disgusting to me, so I like to use as little fertilizer as possible. As long as your plants are not showing symptoms of a deficiency prior to week 5-8 of flower, you dont need to add any additional fertilizers. Watch the color of the leaf-stems, them turning red/purple is the first sign that your plant needs more NPK.

Your plant looks perfect at this point... You clearly did your homework and I dont think you need much advice, dude. Nice work!

 

[thirst4knwledge]

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I prefer the Roots because it has less N+Mg and thus makes tastier flowers(amongst other reasons). And since you are putting your plant in the ground, a complete flush will be out of the question.

There is already guano in both of those soils, the benefit of the tea is that you can use it if needed and avoid it if not. One of the most common mistakes that new growers make is to over fertilize their plants. Over fertilized weed(even with a good flush) is disgusting to me, so I like to use as little fertilizer as possible. As long as your plants are not showing symptoms of a deficiency prior to week 5-8 of flower, you dont need to add any additional fertilizers. Watch the color of the leaf-stems, them turning red/purple is the first sign that your plant needs more NPK.

Your plant looks perfect at this point... You clearly did your homework and I dont think you need much advice, dude. Nice work!

good shit dude. I did as much homework as I possibly could, but if soil wasn't so forgiving and weed wasn't such a hearty plant, I think there are a couple points where I still would've made one of those beginner mistakes. That's the one thing I think I've done right throughout though is just to let the plant tell me what it wants. I feed really light, and unless I see any purpling in the stems (which usually goes along with the yellowing and dying off of older fan leaves with this one for some reason), I keep the nutes pretty low and stable. I'm not sure if it's better to do like I have been and feed a diluted solution with every watering or do a weekly more concentrated one and then straight water the rest of the week? Maybe it doesn't matter. It won't matter soon I guess because it's going in the ground. It's gonna be at a place that I can't make it out to feed really but my buddy will water with really clean tap every day. So with what you said that's perfect because I don't even have to worry about feeding. I can make it over weekly to check it. What you said about the roots organic is great, knowing it has less veg nutes and more flowering makes it an easy decision. From what you see and the time of year and all that, do you think it will gain a descent amount of height still with stretch and all that? I am kind of worried about over fertilizing during flower and having harsh nasty bud so I'll make sure to take it easy and stick with the soil at first. So basically, transplant with roots org, and then wait to see if it maybe needs a shot of guano tea? And also try to do it as early as possible so it's mostly gone by late flower? Thanks again man, massive help, much appreciated.

 

[FoCo(No.Co)]

Yea, thats what I'm sayin'... Another reason I like the Roots is because it has coco in it and the coco releases K as it ages, which is obviously beneficial to flowering plants.

If you want to avoid the pain of digging a hole, you could plant directly into a big bag of soil. That would also make it easier for your guy to tell when the plant needs water.

Since the plant is starting to flower now, you need to transplant immediately for it to be able to take advantage of the new space... I'd guess it would at least double in height with a good transplant, but that depends on the strain. I think you are looking at a half pound harvest, or more.

How do the stems smell when you rub them? Funky stems means funky buds.

 

[thirst4knwledge]

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The stems smell great. As soon as I read that I went out and rubbed the stems and it's this really dank, sweet spicy smell with a skunky hint to it. Fantastic. If the buds smell like that I'll be pleased. I know it will be even more complex too, especially with the organics. Ya I know I need to transplant soon, I've been putting it off because I love being around my plant all the time. I'm sure it would love the advantage of that root space during stretch, which is coming pretty soon I think. I was just hoping for it to grow 50%, which I was thinking might get me a 1/2 p. But your guess is more realistic, hopefully it'll double in size and give me a 1/2. I think it has the potential, it's been growing so damn hearty. I don't mind digging a hole too much, I'm still in that excited beginner stage where everything is new and fun. But that does sound like a good idea. would I just open the bag at the top and set it on the ground? and take some soil out to pack in around the root ball after I set it in? Not sure how big the roots bags are but that'll be like 15 gallons of soil with what I have now which makes me happy. I didn't know that about coco releasing potassium as it ages, yet another benefit of Roots. I'm way too excited, can't wait till she starts frosting up and packing on calyxes! Checked out your albums, some nice looking plants in there. That moon shadow looks scary!

-t4k

 

[FoCo(No.Co)]

I don't mind digging a hole too much, I'm still in that excited beginner stage where everything is new and fun.

Haha... yea it'll fade. Eventually it'll feel like work.

But that does sound like a good idea. would I just open the bag at the top and set it on the ground? and take some soil out to pack in around the root ball after I set it in?

That company designs some of its soil bags to double as grow bags. You just cut a hole in the top and poke a bunch of holes in the bottom. If you decide to go that route, just treat it like a transplant to another pot and put it where ever you want.

Organic soil in a big bag like that is a good option because it will feed your plant for the rest of its life, then the plant will begin to naturally yellow out and flush itself when its done flowering. As long as you dont feed any salts(as in only chlorine-free-nutrient-free-fresh water for the entire flower period), organic plants will just know to stop eating when its their time to go(I think this its called senesence in the biology world). Plus your meds will be as tasty as they get.

Good luck dude. Feel free to PM me if you need help and arent getting it.

BTW- You might want to look into some pre-emptive pest control methods: since you are outdoors pests are pretty much guaranteed. A couple good spray downs with a light solution of Azamax and perhaps some nematoades in your water should keep everything in check.