My 600w Purple Kush -growlab 120

[fear.loathingSF]

For a little intro, I am a MMJ patient in San Francisco and I am sick of buying my medicine from the dispensary. I decided that I want to try my hand at growing so I can supply myself with more affordable medicine.

I am starting this thread to track the progress of my first grow and to get advice and help along the way.

I got 4 purple kush and 2 sour diesel clones, but they got mixed up in veg and I still cannot tell them apart. They look so similar that I am starting to think they might have accidentaly given me 6 kush.

I started with 2 175 W MH's that I had lying around and started vegging aroudn 4/20. I did not realize the importance of training until recently so these are untopped and untrained. I am going to try LST and FIM next time.

I did one week of 12/12 with the halides and quickly realized that my setup was insufficient. I did a major equipment upgrade and am now running:
Growlab120 (3'11"x3'11"x6'7")
Hydrofarm radiant 6
600 W HPS eye hortilux w/ NextGen digital ballast.
1 190cfm inline fan for light cooling and exhaust
1 6" clip on circulation fan
FF Ocean Forest soil
FF grow big, tiger bloom, big bloom, and molasses

My ladies are just past 3 weeks of flowering and I think they are looking good

I took some pictures in normal light for more accurate color

I see plants turn a variety of crazy colors during flowering and I dont know if this is normal or some nutrient imbalance. There are the same markings starting on the upper leaves on most plants

 

[fear.loathingSF]

Right now I am battling night humidity. Last week I was not using fans at night and noticed my humidity climb to 99%. I have been making adjustments everyday and have it down to a max of 67%. I think another dedicated exhaust fan would help, but I can't afford one at the moment, hopefully I can get one soon. Daytime temp hovers at 75-80 and night temp drops to a min of ~65F.

 

[fear.loathingSF]

Some of my plants seem to be bending over a little bit because they are top heavy. I got some bamboo stakes and plant ties to secure them and I am wondering if I could still train the plants in some way. I have searched but can't really find info on training when already significantly into the flowering period. If anyone has ideas I would love to hear them.

 

[keke.nz]

nice looking grow dude, your plants are looking healthy.
about the training at this stage of flowering, it is possible for sure just dont try to pull the branches down to much so they break or anything. it wont be as effective as if you had done it in the veg stage. but training now will just allow more light to get to the inner buds which should increase your final yeild. hope that helped.
keep it up

peace keke

 

[fear.loathingSF]

Thats pretty much what I was thinking about the training, I can pull branches around to make sure they get more light, but the whole auxin redistribution thing isn't going to be nearly as effective since there is not too much vegetative growth. Thanks for the advice!

 

[fear.loathingSF]

I secured the main stem of each plant and tied down some of the larger branches so they stick out more and get more light.

Some of my fan leaves are yellowing and I am planning on giving them some more N. At what point in flowering can I start letting the fan leaves totally yellow out? I am guessing that I should dose N as needed until the flush in the last week or two

 

[fear.loathingSF]

The previously mentioned fan leaves continued to yellow out so I think there is some sort of pH problem or salt buildup so I flushed them all. Some of the yellow leaves are getting interveinal browning and Im not sure if I should be worried.

I was not adjusting the pH of my water after adding TB (stupid I know but I'm still learning as this is my first grow). Hopefully the flush and pH adjusted feedings will help the ladies shape up a little. Buds are still growing well.

Here are some updated pics.

In that last pic especially you can notice the yellowing/browning on a few leaves in the background.

Your input is appreciated guys, Im not scared of a little criticism!

 

[resinryder]

Plants are looking good. I've never used the FF nute line so I can't help you with what's oing on with your leaves as I don't know what it is or isn't lacking.
When you went into bloom, did you start with straight bloom nutes or did you keep them on veg nutes for the first couple of weeks? Reason I'm asking is, if you are giving them bloom nutes from the very beginning of bloom, a lot of foods don't have enough nitrogen to supply the plant throughout bloom and the plant will begin to pull from its leaves earlier than when veg nutes are used for the first couple of weeks. If this is the only problem you've had with your first grow, you've done a fine job.

 

[fear.loathingSF]

When I started 12/12 I stopped using veg ferts for the most part and fed bloom ferts. When I noticed the yellowing I gave them one feeding of veg ferts and then flushed after it didn't seem to help. I will give them some more veg stuff next feeding to see if it helps with the yellowing.

 

[w.wonka]

like the strains you have rocking... looking forward to seeing how they finish up under that 600....

 

[Minion]

I'm movin to CA.

 

[fear.loathingSF]

Time for a new update:

The plants look like they are doing really well, except for the ph/nutrient lockout issue a few weeks ago that leaves never really recovered from. The plants just crossed the 6 week mark and scheduled harvest is between 8-10 weeks. Many pistils are turning brown/orange and I think I can see an amber trich here and there; the rest seems to be a mix of white and cloudy.

I am not sure when to start the final flush. As of now I am planning on starting next thursday (7 week mark) and then depending on when I harvest flush will be between 1-3 weeks. For flushing I don't need to do a huge flush like when you are correcting nutrient overdose right? I just water normally but cut out nutrients totally?

And finally, some pics of one of the ladies.

 

[growMEDS]

Those last couple shots are very nice bro! :smile:

 

[Calimed]

Great job! I got the same tent and a 600w as well.

 

[fear.loathingSF]

I am noticing some new necrosis everyday, hopefully a TDS pen will help me avoid the same nute mistakes next round. I have been trimming leaves if they have a lot of necrosis and I am thinking about starting the flush now and harvesting when it looks good. I am not in danger of having my plant die this close to harvest right? And even if it did die I can just harvest I am assuming. It makes me so nervous to see necrosis (I think thats what it is, turning brown and crispy)

My internet is acting up and I cant open a new window to ICMAG to post pics of the necrosis. Ill post this and have pics up in a minute

 

[fear.loathingSF]

What do you guys think? Is this a serious problem or just something to try to avoid for next time.

 

[BrotherGanja]

First you don't want to give plants that are in flower N. They don't need N during the flowering cycle. This problem is not gonna take your harvest or anything but it should try to be avoided in the future. Overall it is a great grow man I love it, keep it up. You are learning great. Keep us posted on future grows.

 

[Hovz]

I encountered the same problem last grow, my buds turned out leafy, i was going by the formula on the back of the GH 3 part nute bottles. I now know to use the lucas formula the whole grow which is 8ml micro and 16ml of bloom per gallon of water and i feed them nutrients everyother watering and they are loving it. Congrats on growing your own dope, its the only way to go. Keep on keeping on!

 

[fear.loathingSF]

Here are some new pictures from this morning. The ladies are getting old and purple; their time is near! I am hoping to harvest next weekend. The top halves of the plants are progressing much faster than the bottom buds; so I think there will be a decent amount of popcorn for making hash. I am hoping next round LST will help even out the canopy so there is less immature bud. Hopefully next time I will have set up some sort of drying chamber so I don't have to chop them all at once. I just don't have any room right now so the tent will be my drying chamber.

 

[kushkommander]

looking excellent! those buds look very tasty...if you need a tester im only 30 minutes from SF ;D