17 Days into Flower

[Ejay]

1st time grower, this is 17 Days into flower (Wedding Cake). How's it looking. I know I coulda done more in the training, but didn't read up on manifolds until after the fact. Be brutal if need be, I need to learn!

[Eliot Pryor]

Looking good !!

[Ejay]

I am already planning my next grow (tryin to put the horse before the cart this time), I have Bruce Banner Auto and GG#4 Auto seeds. I know these are fast growers, so I am wondering:
Is there time to manifold or will that set them back too much?
Should I just top and do LST?

[dphipps1020]

Looks good. I'd suggest maybe a little more veg time the next round for a bigger yield but otherwise it looks like you got it going pretty good. It looks like it will be fairly small at the end but don't let it discourage you, use it as a learning experience. Your next ones will get better and even better after that. No brutality intended here, looks better than my first grows. Enjoy watching the flowers, that's one of my favorite parts

[Ejay]

I am loving the Flower process. The pic may not show it, but the plant is about 36" tall now. I was getting worried about the "stretch" getting too tall for my tent/lights. Next grow I want to create a manifold.
I just brought some seeds back from Jamaica that I want to try. But that'll be after the auto's I am going with next.

[Daskahn]

Just my two cents but you should look into quadlining before you try manifolding, it’s easier on the plant and reduces veg time and as far as I can tell works better then manifolding I’ve quadlined autos and have seen growers do really good using the technique

[Canuck147]

With autoflowers by the time you get it set for a manifold - they will already be shooting up pistils wanting to set for flowering.

Most autoflowers start flowering between 20 - 30 days.

[FunkyButtLovin]

Mine usually start flowering before I feel like they are ready for topping even.

[Canuck147]

Yeah what FBL said - also if you top and train your plant will take that much longer to finish. If you want to see how to do it - go to some past grow diaries - specifically any by Green75 - who doesn't post here anymore anyways. He grows autos with hardly any leaves left on.

[Ejay]

I watched Green75's GGC auto grow, and wow! He makes it look so easy lol. I may try 1 with little LST and 1 with manifold next grow.
Can't wait for my new house to be built, I have a concealed 8 x 12 room being built that will be plumbed for grow room. I will be able to do a lot more than I can in my 4x4x80 tent.

[Canuck147]

I'm glad you took me up on that offer - few years back he was someone to watch on this forum, Fast Buds recruited him.

[Ejay]

Day 20 of flower. Damn, this is exciting!

[Jordann]

Might want to move, what I think is a humidifier, bottom right of second pic. Might rot some buds, I've done that before, once you do it once you know and hate yourself for it, I know I did.

[ZigZag]

Looks like she's on schedule, more or less depending on strain. I haven't grown that one before so I'm not sure of the timeline. If that's an auto as others have mentioned, i wouldn't manifold it. With an auto that will put her behind and may restrict the size of your colas at harvest. When I was growing autos I used LST and I FIM'd a few too. The LST didn't seem to hold them back but the FIM added about another week to harvest time. I also made the FIM just a few days after the 4th node grew enough to cut half of it off cleanly.
When I manifold I only use regular photoperiod strains and plan on about 6 weeks of veg time. An 8-12 cola manifold requires at least 3 cuts and that will likely put you behind 2 weeks at best. Next time you might also try pruning (lollypoping) some more of the lower branches so more growth is directed to the main colas. Might help you get bigger more dense buds! Cheers & happy growing!

[Ejay]

Thank you, these seeds I got from a buddy, told the bags they were in were GG4 and the other Wedding Cake (course I take those names with a grain of salt). Next grow will be Bruce Banner Auto, and GG4 Auto, from True North Seed Bank. Do you happen to know if Canuk seeds have good genetics?
This grow I put the cart before the horse. I am trying to put in the research before my next grow, to maximize my yield. I do believe I will need some new lighting though.
I went cheap with the lights (not researching first), and am using 2 KingLED 1200's in my 4x4x80 tent (235 actual watts each).
I'm thinking of adding a Mars Hydro sp250 in addition, or just going with ts3000.

[ZigZag]

GG4 and Wedding Cake have been around for quite some time and should have pretty stable genetics as long as they came from the same source.But yeah, if they were just in a bag then you never really know what you have. A few years ago I grew some feminized White Widow and Original Skunk from Canuk and both were awesome. About 8 of 10 seeds germinated within 48 hrs so they were likely pretty fresh stock.
There are a lot of good grow lights out there now, it can be hard to make a choice for sure. If you're working in a grow tent or room that is 4x4 or larger then my suggestion is to get a light setup that will cover your entire canopy as evenly as possible. This gives you even coverage and penetration from the center out to each side. If you train your canopy to be as even as possible having even light coverage will help keep your colas the same size as well. I prefer the arrangements that are composed of a series of light bars on a frame that can be spread out evenly over a 4x4 space. I also like the setups that have dimmers so you can adjust the output to find the best combination of strength and penetration for specific growth stages.
Four a 4x4 or 4x6 grow space I'd probably go with a light that has a 4x4 footprint directly beneath the light, for a 4x8' area I'd use two lights with a 4x4 footprint.
How many watts a light has isn't really a good way to measure how much light it puts out at any specific distance above the canopy. Of course the more watts means it uses more electric power so its likely going to put out more light than one that draws less watts, but not necessarily. The best way to tell how a light is going to perform is to get a PPFD map from the manufacturer. This will show you how even the coverage is over a specific sized canopy and It should also tell you how much light reaches the canopy at any given height.
For instance the lights I use now (SPYDRxPlus) have a 4x4 footprint of evenly distributed light intensity. At full power they produce 911 PPFD at 6". 745 PPFD at 12", 594 PPFD at 18".
Young cannabis plants grow well at about 400 PPFD, vegetative plants between 400-800 PPFD and flowering plants between 800-1400 PPFD.
All plants can use only so much light. With cannabis anything over 1400 PPFD is unlikely to aide growth and your plants will likely need CO2 supplementation if they are going to make use of more than 1000-1200 PPFD.
PPFD is measured in umol/m2/sec. All reliable manufactures will gladly provide this information_ if they won't then I'd be suspicious. A PPFD map will show how much light intensity drops off as light spreads out from the center. Of course the higher the light is above the canopy the more even it will be over a larger area but the weaker it will be.
The best choice will be whatever light or combination of lights will produce 400-800 (or more) PPFD over your entire canopy, not just the central area beneath the light.
Hope that helps.
I can send you more information about PPFD if you wish, just let me know.
Cheers!

[Ejay]

I like the look of the SPYDRxPlus. I don't like the sticker price, lol. Wife would kill me if I spent that kind of money on a light. Looking at PPFD charts, I see what you are saying. I am going to keep looking into different lights. I am happy with the growth under these 2 cheap lights, but I am sure that is because I have known no better lol.
As I get into more light research, I am sure I'll learn how wrong it was/is to have gone cheap.

[ZigZag]

Yeah, you got that right_ the price on the SPYDRx Plus is up there, I probably wouldn't have gone with one if I hadn't gotten it second hand from a commercial grower for about 60% of the original price. There are some similar lights set up in basically the same configurations that won't empty your bank account. One thing I've learned after about a dozen grows is that with a little ingenuity and perseverance you can design a setup that will work for you with what you have as resources. You're obviously motivated and open to examining your options so you'll do well. With what I learned here on GWE I've grown nice crops with about 4 different setups. All produced great product, I just changed things up as I went on to find what works best for me with the resources I can afford to put into it. Happy growing!

[Ejay]

41 Days of 12/12. I know the yield won't be the greatest, but for 1st grow I am very happy. Changed lights 3 days ago from 2 KINGLED 1200's to a single MarsHydro TS3000.
Very happy with quality so far (from looks and smell). I am thinking 2-3 more weeks for harvest.

[SoOrbudgal]

I think you will be surprise by the amount you get. Last 2-3 they start bulking fat resin provided. They may even spit out new hairs from top colas are they starting to get red and curled inward? Great looking Ejay now just let her fly

[Ejay]

Yes a lot of red curlin inward. Buds not huge but very firm. Trichome's are not quite cloudy (for the most part), have an amber here and there, but not much. 2-3 weeks may be a pipe dream, but am thinking of starting to flush in 2 weeks. I will keep checking the scenery and let the plant tell me for sure tho.
I do have to say, this new light is beautiful compared to my other 2 cheapies. Love the white light, compared to the blurple.
While the cheapies did the trick, I have to think this ts3000 is going to outperform them. Good news on the old lights tho, now I have separate veg room!

[SoOrbudgal]

Huge difference with the new light for sure. That's what I did with a bloom burn out switch. Kept the LED cause the veg light still works its in a separate veg tent also And mine are just about the same age as yours in flower. I'm thinking not to fed bloom anymore, I've noticed and have you noticed they don't drink as much? or they hold onto more don't drain quickly? I'm seeing this on one of mine slowing way down so may just next water start the flush with unsulfurated molasses. Good going Ejay

[FunkyButtLovin]

I have a Bestva blurple that I thought was faulty, the bloom switch doesn't work unless you switch it on first. If the Veg switch is already on the bloom won't turn on, if you turn on bloom switch first then veg, both come on.

[Ejay]

I am noticing the plants drying out quicker, but I am attributing that to the new light, much more intense. It started the day I switched lights. I am still giving them 1/2 gal a day each and they are not drooping at all. I did get a little Nute Burn, but I wasn't feeding them twice a week as the trio tells me to, I was doing every other day. I'll back that off to every 3rd day now.