First Time Grower, First Time Shower

[ItsHighNoon]

Hey everyone! I'm new to growing and would love some feedback on my progress so far. I just finished week 4 of flowering.

Here's what I'm using:
- Apollo 600W MH/HPS Lights / Ballast / Reflector / 48”x48”x80” Tent
- 2x General Hydro Waterfarm
- General Hydro FloraSeries (I also use FloraBlend, Floralicious Plus, and CaliMagic at half the amount the bottle recommends)
- 1x "Pineapple Express #2", 1x "Northern Lights"

- Reservoir gets topped up every day when lights go on with normal, pH'd water at 5.5-6.0

So far I've had zero issues, everything has gone extremely smoothly and I've given them a lot of attention to make sure issues don't pop up by being preemptive whenever I foresee a potential problem and that seems to be working well, but I'd love some feedback on what you guys think of my progress at this stage, and if anyone has any advice or tips for a total newbie.

[D.A.A.S.69]

Hey Highnoon Welcome looks like you have been doing a great job . Pretty plants. Keep staying on top of everything like you have been doing and you will get rewarded with some great bud. Nice job Highnoon

[Aloner]

No no no no no... you're doing it ALL WRONG!!

I kid! Oh my god if my first grow ends up 1/4 as good as that I'll be over the moon!!! What do you figure, another month or so 'til harvest?

[ItsHighNoon]

Thanks for the response, both of you! And I'm going to say 3 weeks for the one on the right and 4 weeks for the one on the left based on what I'm seeing so far. Aloner.

I have a magnifier to check the trichomes when they're closer to harvest which seems to be the most fool-proof method.

[berrypilot]

🌱 The buds look great so far! They're still all white pistils, which in my experience means they're still getting bigger every day. They're already chunky and I bet you'll see a significant increase in size! Good show 🌱

[D.A.A.S.69]

From now on you get to watch em get fatter and fatter. Really a nice job , which plant is farther along Highnoon

[ItsHighNoon]

Thanks DAAS, I can't wait to see them fatten up!
Pineapple Express is further along. Northern lights was stronger in veg, but after switching to flowering, Pineapple Express took off like a rocket.

It has an amazing, sweet smell. It actually does smell exactly like pineapples!

[Joker]

Beautiful plants!

[GanjaGed]

Awesome job!

[alltatup]

Welcome to the forum, High!! Fantastic job!!!

[ItsHighNoon]

Thanks for the compliments everyone! I may start updating this thread every couple days if that sounds like something you guys would be interested in?

[GanjaGed]

I would!

[alltatup]

I'm waiting!!!

[ItsHighNoon]

Week 6 starts tomorrow, here's a few updates with a couple close-ups of Northern Lights included this time (it's a bit behind Pineapple Express right now, it's looking like it'll definitely need an extra week of flowering.)

[Aloner]

I'm showing these pics to my plants for inspiration!

[alltatup]

Lovely, perfect buds, High, er, Noon... ;-}

[ItsHighNoon]

Week 7 tomorrow!

Ran into some major issues when I moved them out of the tent to clean the reservoir; 90% of the stems fell over and were bending themselves off the edge of the reservoir due to the weight of the buds combined with the stress of being moved. Took me 3 hours and over 10 plant yo-yo's to get all of the buds properly supported and upright again. (luckily I had yo-yo's and plant ties ready in case something like this happened!)

So instead of taking them out and cleaning the reservoir again tomorrow, I'm going to simply top them up with 1/2 or 3/4 strength nutrient solution for week 7 and hope I'm close enough to harvest to not have any major issues from not cleaning out the reservoir these next few changes.

Any feedback on this issue would be great though, I'm definitely stumped as to the best way to move forward when it comes to nutrient changes since I can't move them at all anymore.

[alltatup]

Do you have any way to prop open your res. lid with a pole of the appropriate height? That's what I do. I have a pole that lets me life the lid about 15", I can get in there and wipe down the res.

[D.A.A.S.69]

Hey High Noon , Yeah like Alltatup said prop it up , Your plants are really coming along nicely, looks like they are swelling up to me. Good Job.

[ItsHighNoon]

Half way into week 8, another update!

Leaves started shriveling and drying up at the top, I'm guessing due to being too close to the lights for too long (I've got the lights raised as high as they'll go), I turned the lights down to 50% and that seems to be helping. A few leaves in random places have fallen off also (mostly places not getting any light), but they both still have plenty of healthy leaves left.

I'm guessing they have less than a week to go at this point. Checking trichomes and pistils every day. Not going to harvest until I see most of the pistils retreat or until I'm seeing at least 25% amber trichomes.

[alltatup]

Sounds like everything is perfect as you near the end of flower. Really great job!

[Agentbuckwold3]

Man those plants look awesome, I hope my grow turns out half as good as this. Great work!