Mr GreenJeans First Cab Grow!

[Babbabud]

Heya MrG hows it going . I would leave the perlite in . It will let the soil dry out much quicker . Unless the soil can dry out every few days it doesnt give you much control . If the mix that you have now is staying too wet then I would not hesitate to transplant into something that will dry out quicker. i prefer to have mine dry out quick enough that I can water twice a week. This gives me an oppertunity to feed or ammend pretty much at will. I believe that if the medium you are using takes too long to dry out then it ties your hands and pretty much sidelines you into just watching. I prefer not too feed through foilage as I try to keep my lights as close as possible and dont want to take the chance of burning leaves. Just thought I would throw my .02 in the mix

 

[Mr GreenJeans]

Babba

Thanks a lot for your advice . It makes a lot of sense to me. I'll go ahead and transplant them, maybe I should up the perlite to 50% to dry the mix out quicker, or should I keep the perlite at 25% and add some other amendment in addition to the perlite to help this out?

 

[Babbabud]

Its so hard to tell from here without really being able to see or touch the soil. I can tell you that I add prolly 25 percent large chunky perlite to promix which already has some in it . So im sure that altogether I must have 35 to 40 percent perlite. I have to pay attention to the moisture in the pots because its not all that unusual to see a plant wilt if I start day dreaming. Picking the pots up to feel weight is the best way for me to check for moisture although I do use my finger in the pot also. I like it when my plant lets me know its thirsty ....makes me feel needed

 

[zor]

WOW!

 

[gift of gab]

50% perlite is overdoing it a little IMO, Ive done 50/50 soil/perlite and towards the end of 12/12 I always end up having to water daily.

 

[packn2puff]

I'm drained

I'm drained

What up MGJ...Wasn't Mr Green Jeans the hemp cultivator on Capt Kangaroo... I remember CK when it wasn't reruns.....
Anyway just stopped by to check out the progress. Early on in those big pots of mine (3gal) it was taking about 5 days if it was fully wetted. Now I have to water every other day. When I pulled up that male the whole plant came up all the soil even the inch of perlite I put in the bottom. I couldn't believe the roots grew that fast and vast. Seams like if you want total control of the nutes, high drain like organic hydro. If you trust your soil mix to provide most of the plants needs including less watering, than a little less drainage But watering has to be done keeping in mind where the roots are and where you want them to grow so the soil doesnt become real wet out at the edges and bottom where there is no roots yet, espescially nute water, I think it will start getting nute hot spots. Deep then outgrowth roots, rather than outgrowth then deep. Just speculating.
I think I like the faster draining more nutefree mixes like Promix, well buffered with like peat and dolomite lime, worm castings, blood and bonemeal, bird/bat doo maybe. What ever mix you wanted to do, I like the faster draining idea. More watering, but more air to the roots, less chance of root rot.
So I guess it comes down to how much you want to fus with'em. A Hydro set-up is only an extreme drainage, neutral medium, to where you are watering 3-4 times a day, like hydroton. You have total control of all nute needs. Whereas soil/soilless mixes allow you to buffer and pre-provide some or all nute needs and decide how much drainage is healthier for the plant vs less hassle/watering for you. My 2C.

What was the question...oh yeah I would add some more perlite.

 

[Mr GreenJeans]

Babba - thanks for clarifying - more below :smile:

gog - thanks for your input, I'm very puzzled that with 25% perlite in the mix the waterings are lasting 2 weeks, so I'm going to take a chance upping the perlite on 3 of them - expecting that I might have to water daily later - at least it's not a long flowering period for these TW :wink:

Well I learned a physical limitation today - until I get a known good soil mix dialed in, I better stick with 3 gal pots . I transplanted the 3 girls in 3 gal pots, but having some elbow problems I was able to barely manage holding the plant upside down - when I took the pot off there were healthy white roots all the way to the bottom, not root bound by any means, but a good amount of roots. Long story short I probably lost 20% of these new roots during the transplant. I would have destroyed the larger plants in the 5 gal pots. Well maybe that's a bit extreme - but I would've definitely mangled them.

I added another 20-25% perlite to the soil mix for the 3 gal pots. We'll see what that does to soil moisture over the next couple of weeks. I'm leaving the girls in the 5 gal pots as they are and add hygrozyme with their watering / feedings.

I guess a tincture of time will tell the story now... Thanks for your help folks! :friends:

 

[gift of gab]

Oh man sorry to hear about the little transplant mishap, it happens to us all from time to time. May the weed gods be kinds to you

 

[Mr GreenJeans]

packn!

Yup - choosing my name, thought of Capt Kangaroo's farmer friend... didn't know there was someone famous with a similar name

Yup - drainage is important and I'm very surprised with this soil mix. It looks so light and fluffy coming out of the bag even before adding perlite! No promix around here that I've found - I was looking for it. They have Foxfarm Ocean at the local hydro store, maybe next time I'll try a sack of that. I'm not ready for hydro yet - I feel more secure with the buffering capacity of soil. I'm sure the 5 gal girls will suck the soil dry faster in a coupla weeks when they're well into flowering, but then again Imanewb I figure the way I stacked the odds now I should be good with at least 3 plants - the transplanted ones, and if the 5 gal girls also do well, dats gravy!

gog - thanks for your support and good wishes. I'm sure they'll do ok - still plenty of roots left - the ganga gods are very forgiving :smile:

Took a peek at the girls this morning, distance from the light is 17", and the 3 gal girls are doing fine. Figure a couple of days to deal with transplant shock and they'll be rockin again.

 

[gift of gab]

the ganga gods are indeed very forgiving. Im sure theyll be fine too.

 

[packn2puff]

As soon as they're feelin better and your elbows too, you'll have to post some pix.
Foxfarm soil mixes is one of the few soil mixes my hydro shop has as well.

 

[Mr GreenJeans]

Hiya packn

I'll put up some new pictures by Sat. Elbows will get better - I have chronic tennis ( haha - I don't play tennis! ) elbows, and for some reason they decided to party - the party usually doesn't last very long...

The transplants have no problem with the 600W 15" away, so looks like I left enough roots , figure they should start regrowin now...

BTW - you're growin some amazons!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Guest]

Hey Mr GreenJeans!

Heard all the commotion and hadda pop into yer place to see what all the ruckus was about!

Your babies look very happy indeed. I know you're going to love sampling that bud. Very nice job on the cab - if I didn't get a 2-for-1 deal on the 400s I was bidding on a 600! As tall as my girlz get I think I may have to get one like yours anyway!

Welllll - off to chat. Talk to ya later - all is going great and sure is lookin mighty fine.

 

[Mr GreenJeans]

Hiya 1toke

Welcome to the garden - brews and buds on the back table, help yourself... :friends: Thanks for the compliments!

Hey - 2 400s are nothing to sneeze at - much better light footprint if you're growing tall gals! I can see already if my plants get within 10-11" of my light the edges of the grow will be in twilight

New pics soon - the stretch is starting :smile:

 

[Guest]

Mr Gj
whats up.. everything looks good on the homefront now.. After the trans shock.. How do you like LST? I think its a great method and am currently using it on 2 plants..And will continue to use it through out all my grows.. It rocks.. Just like scrogging without the screen in your way.. Again your plants look great..
Here is a link to my grow please visit.. peace..

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=11794

sack :friends:

 

[Mr GreenJeans]

TW Day 6 Flower

TW Day 6 Flower

Hiya sackoweed

Thanks for stoppin by and the compliments!:friends: I'm lovin LST!!! up!!! The pics below speak for themselves - check out the runt of the litter, plant #6 she's got a full head of hair - I mean tops Before finding icmag I never wudda guessed a sativa could grow like this, with very little trouble.

Ok, here they are TW1-3 in 5 gal and 4-6 in 3 gal. I thought it might be eye candy to combine top and side shots in animated gifs. If you make your browser window wide enough, looks pretty neat in 2 rows of 3...




Not even 1 week flower and they're starting to stretch already. Next coupla weeks should be interesting. I now have the 600 HPS an average of 16" away from the tops, could probably drop it another few inches. I have noticed though that the light footprint 6" away from the light is not very wide, so hopefully they'll stay under 5 feet in height - I think they will by how they look now, but like Dennis Miller I could be wrong

Thanks for lookin folks!

 

[packn2puff]

OOOooh AAAaaah

OOOooh AAAaaah

What a showoff with that animator....nice touch....they're gonna be some bushy bitches. You'll have a fine SLOG.

 

[Mr GreenJeans]

Thanks packn! , it beats having to upload 12 pictures

Yes, they're starting to bush nicely - despite my fears pinching the shit out of 'em sure helps bush em out, and the stems are starting to turn into trunks on a couple. SLOG - u know I love that!!! :friends:

 

[Guest]

Mr GJ
Have you read Pistillwhipped's thread on prunning?
Its a good read.. Im not sure if he calls it prunning or fimming or what?
But its a pretty good method.. peace..

click here to see my 1st outdoor grow
http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=11794

sack :friends:

 

[Mr GreenJeans]

sackoweed - yes Pistillwhipped has a great piece on plant training. I'm not topping or fimming these girls yet, just snapping their necks I may have to though if they get too large... will have to see.

Thanks again for stopping by :friends: