What is your biggest question about growing cannabis?

[NebulaHaze]

Hello everyone!

I was just curious... What questions do you all have about growing?

Is there something you've always wanted to know, but could never get a straight answer?

Ask your questions here!

[Guest]

What's a good nutrient schedule?

[tyler_ hobbyist]

If u use fox farm or blue sky organics I can give u an awesome baseline

[JerryMawuana]

I heard from an old hippy whose been growing since the 70s to give them nutrients every time you water instead of once a week. If you water them 3 times a week give them 1/3rd of the nutrients each time instead. But one thing I'm starting to learn about growing is there's no 1 right way to do anything. What works for me might not work for you, it's almost all personal preference.

[tdelo56]

When is a good time to prune your plant?

[DW2]

What is the function of the stipules at the nodules or growth sites?

[Chefbjy]

It protects the preflowers supposedly.

[Insight]

When do you start removing those large Fan leaves during veg? I see some aggressive defoliators (AD's) start very early...but are they doing anything else different....feeding nutes amount, how often?

[Retodd]

I remove them in stages not to cause too much stress. As a matter o fact I just took them off today on my widows. They are in week 2-1/2 of veg. I lollipoped and monster defoliated the ones outside. They aren't autos and in week 12 and just started to bud. This will allow them to put all the nutes toward the buds

[Flockshot]

Growing our plants has some things in common with flying an airplane. I can go over every fine detail of how to fly the plane. I can tell you exactly what to do when this happens and that happens. I can educate you on every detail of becoming a pilot. That does not mean that you can now fly the plane without crashing. You need experience before you will have a smooth flight form takeoff to landing.

That being said, what does a first time grower need, in order to have the best chance for a seed to harvest successful grow?

[403grower]

Time, dedication, research.

[RagWeedDWC]

Follow the basic plans and use the "Trim tabs", its just like a boat for me, you can teach someone the basics but to know how and when to use the trim tabs is all about experience. Same with growing. The how to grow MJ on this site is a awesome start!

[LIGrow]

Great analogy...I am a new grower and have been humbled, repeatedly.

[Vapo69]

What is the best safe extract method? By best I mean highest quality/quantity😀😀😀

[bobsakamoto]

when people say their lighting schedule is 24/7 do they mean 24/0 or do they mean 24on/7off on an ongoing cycle?

also, the conventional wisdom on a plant being "safely" female has always confused me. since a plant can herm at any time, isn't it the case that a plant is never safely female? i don't mean to be nitpicky but it's something i feel like i've been not understanding from jump.

[Daskahn]

24/7 means 24/0 7days a week
And safely female means it comes from feminized seeds.. and the only way a plant will germ is if you drastically damaged a plant or put certain chemicals on it

[Bear]

I haven't seen any timers that time more that 24 hours so I would imagine they mean 24/0 also.

[VaF]

people are there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week ! Yes ! Personally I have been growing for almost 30 years and only regulars. Rarely feminized and NEVER auto.
I even prefer to do my seeds But my wife's brother has also been growing for 17 years... he knows how to be 100% involved in automatics. It cultivates 24h under 24h with 1200w HPS (I am trying to convert it to LEDs...) Its electric bill is very salty Many plants (chemically tampered with or not) are indoors in a particular area where we create the conditions for OURSELVES. Several parameters play from stress to over-fattening or poor management. Not to mention the origin of the Seeds. Because some Breeders don't mind the chemical side and profitability by selling poor seeds. Some are not even Breeders but just seed dealers buy wholesale... Even if a female can seal it doesn't matter
When you play sorcerer's apprentice you have to have a little unforeseen!!!

[NebulaHaze]

What's a good nutrient schedule?

Unfortunately it's hard to make a "master" schedule since each plant and environment is different, but as long as you get nutrients made for a plant like cannabis you can basically follow the instructions from the manufacturer!

However, growers often get the best results by giving nutrients at half the recommended dose. This is because nutrient companies give good ratios but overall too high levels for cannabis.

So it's good to use the nutrient company recommendations as a base ratio, and then raise or lower the strength as the plant tells you.

Biggest considerations about nutrient schedules:

• A suitable cannabis nutrient system has a different schedule for the vegetative and flowering stage. Vegetative nutrients are high in Nitrogen (N) and Flowering nutrients are low in Nitrogen.
• Your nutrients system should match your growing medium. For example if you're growing in soil you should use soil nutrients, and if you're growing in hydroponics you should use hydroponic nutrients, etc.
• If you're growing in coco coir, you should use a Cal-Mag supplement, because for some reason plants tend to need more calcium in a coco environment
• You should also use a Cal-Mag supplement if you're growing with distilled or reverse osmosis water, to make up the calcium and magnesium that would normally be found in tap or spring water
• If you're growing in hydroponics with your roots in a reservoir, you should be using a good-bacteria root supplement like Hydroguard to protect your roots from root rot
• If the plant is getting pale all over and especially yellow at the bottom, it means it wants higher levels of nutrients. If the leaf tips are getting brown/burnt or the leaves are turning dark green, it means the plant is getting too high levels of nutrients.

Other than that, I think it's mostly a matter of preference from nutrient company to nutrient company. I've found that as long as you're using suitable cannabis nutrients and keeping your plants green and healthy, your environment during the flowering stage and drying process have a much larger effect on your final bud quality than the specific nutrient company or supplements used! The difference in results between nutrient companies is a lot smaller than the difference between environments!

[Vitreous]

My advice to any that need to develop a feeding schedule is to use a nutrient brand that provides a fruiting cycle starting block. Add all the listed nutrients at 50%, after that your plant will tell you if it wants more or less. Quite frankly I have never used full strength, the leaves act as storage facility and draw out nutrients when needed!
I follow the same master schedule I designed from day one. If I need extra veg time I do week 3 twice, and half way through flower if she needs more time I do week 7 twice. Let your schedule be your guiding light, and don't stray from it to far.

[Drekthar]

Nebula, I have been using tap water to grow in DWC. I do use GH trio but am also using Cali and hydroguard. Generally mix nutes 50/60%. I do get a fair bit of brown spotting on the leaves from time to time. In your opinion do i need to use the calimag if i'm using tap water? ty

[RagWeedDWC]

Drekthar Although I currently use RO water, I used my tap water for dwc a couple of grows (All last year and part of this year). My tap water tested at 115PPM, I constantly had what I thought was PH problems which is the reason I switched to RO water. In the end, the problem was I was using very little cal-mag when using tap and 1/3 or half (Matching the ratio of ferts I'm currently using based on feeding charts). Still had the same problem.
I separated the plants, continued feeding as normal on one and increased the CAL MAG to full strength (2ml per litre) and the plants exploded. My point is that I should of been using a higher ratio of CAL MAG when using tap, and the full load when using RO regardless of what you are doing with the nutrients.
Whew....

[NebulaHaze]

What is the function of the stipules at the nodules or growth sites?

I had no idea the answer to this so I actually spent some time researching this today! What I found is that stipules can take many forms on different types of plants, but we don't fully understand them all.

Unfortunately, I couldn't really find a solid answer. The best guess from what I've read is that it may act as protection for the bud site until pre-flowers form.

I found a place on a cannabis plant where there's a pre-flower right next to a spot that doesn't have a pre-flower yet, so you can compare. I guess it's up to interpretation, but I suppose it's possible the stipule is protecting the bud site. The future bud site is definitely less exposed than it would be without the stipule, but I'm not 100% sure I buy that.


It's interesting that stipules tend to cross at several nodes when it's a female plant, but rarely (if ever) cross when it's a male plant. I wonder what that means?

I did learn that in certain species of plants, the "vines" of climbing vines are actually modified stipules, which I thought was kind of neat! But that doesn't really answer the question at all.

I'd love to hear from anyone who can add to that! I plan to continue investigating this new mystery When I was researching on Google Scholar it really almost seemed like no one's been investigating this for decades. All the papers I found about the purpose of stipules were from long ago!

[furrysparkle]

I call them an evolutionary quirk!

[Daskahn]

A stipule is a modified leaf appendage located just below or sometimes attached to the leaf petiole. They are uncommon in monocots and usually occur in pairs in dicots. Stipules function to protect the emerging leaf or bud. They can be short-lived abscising soon after the leaves mature.

[Jacci]

Do you remember where you found the photo " pre-flower right next to a spot that doesn't have a pre-flower yet, so you can compare."?

[Green75]

I think it's just vestigial....

@DW2

NebulaHaze

[DW2]

Do You mean as a leftover or un necessary appendage acquired (or made un necessary) during or by the evolution of the plant?

[Green75]

Yes.......

[RagWeedDWC]

Any thoughts on what the original purpose would of been?

[kingfish]

Tell me the secret of growing rock hard nuggets.

[LuckyAcres]

Would it be more correct to start counting the beginning of the flowering cycle when the first preflowers appear instead of when we flip the light schedule to 12/12?
When growing outdoors how do people know when flowering starts? Preflowers right?

[LuckyAcres]

I get that part, change of light schedule initiates flowering, but how does an outdoor grower know when that flip happens and how long the wait might be until harvest? Change of light outdoors is a gradual thing unlike indoors.

[9fingerleafs]

Ohh yea I see. It has to do with seasons and the changes are called equinoxes and solstices. The change in hours happens within a week. So you plan ahead to have two or three (depending on your summer) months of vegg starting around the first solstice (longest day of the year) and then when the season changes you start counting weeks from the equinox ( equal hours of day and night). By this day flowering signs start to appear. What it would be week 2 after an abrupt switch. But officially it's the equinox

[NebulaHaze]

Like 9fingerleafs said, it depends a lot on the location. Flowering time estimates in weeks aren't as helpful outdoors. That's why when you're researching a strain that's specifically designed for outdoors, they'll almost always give you an estimated harvest month in addition to an estimated flowering time. For example if you read the description of Power Africa x MK Ultra FAST, it says it has a 6-7 week flowering stage, but it also tells you that if growing outdoors to expect it to be ready to harvest in September. However, that's still just an estimate. The further away you are from the equator, the sooner your days get short and the sooner your plants tend to be ready to harvest. Plants growing closer to the equator tend to take longer than the estimates because the days are longer.

[PaganRich]

I`m going to be cheeky here as I have 2......1) how to further lower the percentage lost due to moisture evaporation, conversion during drying/ curing....I use the system recommended on this site in one of the tutorials and reckon I `ve got it down to the low 73% ish mark but it does irk to lose 3/4`s of your weight and 2) Is it advantageous to alternate between bacterial and fungal teas when watering organically in soil instead of just one or other depending on where you are in the grow? Thank you

[NebulaHaze]

When do you start removing those large Fan leaves during veg? I see some aggressive defoliators (AD's) start very early...but are they doing anything else different....feeding nutes amount, how often?

Everyone has their own ideas about defoliation! If you ask 10 different growers, you'll get 10 different answers! And you'll probably find at least one person who claims it doesn't work at all!

But I'll share my own personal technique.

I don't remove leaves in veg to the same extent I do in flower. I may manifold my plants, which does involve some defoliating as you build the manifold. Other than that, I focus on getting the shape of the plant correct, and making sure there's multiple main stems under the grow light. Any defoliating I do in the vegetative stage is just to thin out the plant if it starts getting really bushy. One of the main reasons for me is to prevent White Powdery Mold which is common when you have leaves laying on top of each other. I want to make sure there's always airflow through the middle and under the bottom of the plant. In my opinion, if you can't see through the plant at all, and there's no light getting through to the bottom, it's too bushy for proper airflow.

I don't give special nutrients for training. If anything, I'm reacting to the plant. If it's not getting bushy from the nutrients, then you don't need to defoliate. If you're giving good nutrients and a good growing environment, with most strains you'll end up with some bushiness that needs to be removed for optimal growth indoors.

For me, I don't really aggressively defoliate until I'm in the flowering stage. Right before the switch to the flowering stage, I'll usually remove all the leaves and tiny growth tips on the bottom parts of the plant that aren't getting light anymore, if that's necessary (lollipop the plant). I believe this is important to do right before the switch to flowering so the plant is putting all it's effort into the top bud sites instead of the lower bud sites that will never grow into big buds no matter what you do..




I will also strip off most of the biggest fan leaves right before the switch to 12/12, leaving just the top few nodes of each cola untouched, so the plant is almost "all bones". I leaves some few extra leaves at the top of each cola because I believe it helps power the growth of the colas during the flowering stretch so they get as long as possible

Immediately before switch to 12/12 - Before & After





Week 3 after the flip to 12/12 is my last major defoliation. This is what that plant looks like 3 Weeks Later (of not doing anything or taking leaves in that time)



Usually by around week 3 the budlets have formed. At this point I again remove ALL the major fan leaves. After that, I'm done with the majority of defoliation that I do. I only remove leaves after that if they're covering a bud site (and I can't tuck it away) or if the plant starts getting too bushy through the middle and bottom.



7 Weeks later I harvested this



So basically, my (personal) defoliation could be summed up like this:

Vegetative Stage

• Some defoliation while manifolding (If I choose to manifold, I've been experimenting with Sea of Green setups lately, which involves almost no early training!)
• Defoliation of middle of plant if you can't see light coming through it (if the middle is completely dark it means the plant is too bushy)

Right Before Switch to 12/12

• Lollipop the plant (remove leaves in the lower part of the plant that will never get light)
• Thin out the middle if it's bushy
• Remove ALL major fan leaves

Week 3 after switch to 12/12

• Do another major stripping of just about all fan leaves.

After that, I remove any huge fan leaves that can't be tucked, but otherwise just wait until harvest

[Jeg]

I love the way she explains things. Makes me want to go back and do mine different. Although I did follow one of her write ups. Which basically said if you are new and worried just let it grow. I did it worked. I'd like to manifold next time

[Nsky]

Um...NebulaHaze, total pot goddess. Thank you for just everything. Priceless info. So grateful. GOALS. This is transforming my life rn. Seriously.

[Vitreous]

This is clearly experienced art! I am getting closer to this technique, but my god still really tough to accomplish. I am seriously impressed. I did always wonder why you didn't screen this, you were well on your way!! Maybe that's my fault, I have been a using screen with good results, but I never have the perfect even flow canopy!

[BuddMarsh]

This is what puzzles me most, is all the nutrient companies have a "basic" nutrient line and then they have all the "extra" stuff they want you to give the plant to make big better buds. You can read in forums that growers think the extra stuff rocks and other say that it sucks. The companies all claim theirs is the best. I have not see a study that say bigger buds are more potent or even healthier. I wonder if it is like when you compare an organic grown apple to a non-organic apple. The Non-organic one is bigger and shiner but the taste and texture (the important things) do not compare to the organic one. Are all the "extra" really better or would the plant be happier without them?

[Smoke-a-lot]

This is only my 2 grow and I have been using Fox Farm Ocean Blend and have had good luck with it without adding much extra

[oldjarhead100]

Buddmarsh I do both my nutrient brand is ageoldorganics.com .I buy by the gallon about $40 for my inside grow. outside I use a mix of compost,promix,petmoss,vermiculite/perlite,organic plant tone. then about once a month I will feed them nutes . how I decided on old age is I went to a grow show and got all the free samples I could then tried each on different plants age old out performed everything else. but it was a real pain mixing nute for 1 plant at a time lol

[Rocmonkey]

Budmarsh- if you’re still here,
I am new at this growing thing. My first harvest was from seeds of unknown origin given to me by family who said, “It’s good weed”.It wasn’t- unless that’s what passes for ‘good’ to them. Anyway, my plants grew like, well, a weed but were worthless potent wise.
My second harvest was from seeds that somehow slipped in at the dispensary and
we’re from ‘Trinidad-Blue Dream’. The best plant grew to about 7 feet tall and looked like someone had literally sprinkled sugar all over it- everything was covered in Trichomes. It very good smoke and I’m very (very) new to growing.
I said all that to say this, all I used was a simple 50/50 of potting soil and peat moss. I also added Miracle Grow fertilizer every 4-6 weeks until about 10 days from harvest. It may seem too simplistic to be true but that was as good of pot as we and others around
us have ever smoked- some in 40 years of toking. Im very inexperienced but why change something simple that works extremely well.
I did the same thing this year and they look amazing at 5-6 weeks. I’m even gonna try manifolding with one or two plants this year (2021).