Any help appreciated..

[MeEasy]

I strip everything left on the bottom that doesn't see the light my opinion is it just sucks energy from what could be great up top..... and keeping the bottom little stuff to reveg I believe is what you mean I have zero experience with that I did read about it probably a year ago but unless you want me to start telling fish stories I can't help with that.

 

[newbutoldgrower75]

MeEasy thanks for that. That's exactly what I had in my head that I was going to do, I guess I just needed to hear it from someone else before I went ahead and started doing it, newbie nerves. The reveg/monster cropping is just something I want to experiment with. I have clones coming from a friend, still waiting for seeds from overseas, so it won't affect my next grow or anything. Thank you for your continual help and advice.

 

[newbutoldgrower75]

Hey guys and girls. Here is an update on my journey into the unknown(for me)..the world of defoliation during the flowering period. So over the last couple of days I have started doing my 3rd week into 12/12. Here is a few pics of what I have done so far, going to tidy the girls up and do some more defoliation through the bottom over the next couple of days. The plant on the right has been my test plant for topping and training, and has only been under a 400w light until today.18 days on 12/12 light cycle. All advice, help and criticism more than welcome. Cheers

 

[MeEasy]

I like that better you have airflow between each cola, which is important to avoid mold and bud rot. Now you probably won't have to cut to much more, as time goes on just watch your buds and if you see one not growing because it's not getting enough light try to tie it to a stick or something like that or cut off the leaves if you have to. Keep in mind that you are close to the point that no new leaves will grow, the little ones will get bigger but no new ones
Good luck keep posting updates........ one more thing if any of your girls are shorter than the others put something under it to make the tops even for light distance is what I mean

 

[newbutoldgrower75]

MeEasy sorry for the late reply, I have been quite sick with a virus that caused problems with my kidney's. Ended up in hospital for a couple of nights. But feeling a lot better now.
Once I had cleaned out the underneath and bottom out a bit, I have only been tucking the leaves and taking the odd leaf if it's in the way. I have seen a massive difference in the bud sites filling out, will post some pictures and updates shortly.
I jumped on once during the last time I spoke to you and had a quick look at your comment. I released all the branches that I had tied down just after reading your comment, a lot of the bottom/lower branches have caught up or are catching up. Would it be a good idea to start using bamboo sticks now to start leaning the taller ones in the middle towards the sides a bit? And also any of the side branches that are getting too close together? I'm sort of stressing a bit about mold and not getting enough light into the lower parts of the buds. It's a bit hard to work out when you have 25 to 40 tops on a plant haha. Next time I don't think I will be topping them so much. And will get rid of more lower branches next time which don't seem to be doing much except for making the plant more dense. Have learnt a few things that I will definitely be doing different next time.
I have nearly got the plants to the same height now since replacing the last 400w for the 600w. Can see a difference in the size of the buds though. But unfortunately finances at the time could only allow me to biy two lights first. But thank you for that bit of advice, will raise the smaller one as soon as I'm finished on here.
I really do and have appreciated your help and advice, with yours and a couple of others help, I'm really quite happy with the way my first grow is going, thank you.

 

[newbutoldgrower75]

Hey guys and girls. Just a bit of an update on the girls. They seem to be filling out nicely so far, now 4 weeks 4 days into 12/12 lighting cycle. I have had a problem or two, first with nutrient burn. Went over everything I had been doing, realised I hadn't flushed my medium since I started. Because I had been reading on the net(before I got to this site) that some people didn't flush Coco, and I didn't see it when I was first reading my nutrient chart, I went with that. But on rereading the chart and booklet I got with the nutrients, guess what I found, flush every two weeks:dead:. So have been working on rectifying that, and they seem to be doing good now.
The second problem ended up being a good thing. I thought I found seed pods growing in my buds, so started stressing a bit. Then a couple of days I started seeing more pistils coming out of them🙂.
Anyway, here are some more updated average quality pics. As you can see I am struggling a little with the training, too many tops, so could be a future post. I have tried to put a lighter in the pics for size comparison, but hasn't really worked, shit camera on my shit phone. They are around two and half to three feet tall and wide. The average bud size on the biggest plant is 17cm's long and 5cm's wide, some smaller some bigger. Will have a couple of bud one's following as well..cheers.

 

[newbutoldgrower75]

Couple of more pics..

 

[lalaland]

They look great!!

 

[MeEasy]

Sorry to hear about virus I've gone through alot of shit myself in the last few years. I think they are definitely lookin good. You will have to use something to support em 4sure bamboo should be just fine. The muti top problem is what has driven everyone to start using nets over the top in order to have support and a way to separate the colas. I keep saying that I'm gonna buy me some nets on my next grow for three grows now and still haven't. This time I'm trying manifold training which is were you create a symmetrical branch system with a selected number of tops mine are 8. I tried it on 4 of my 8 the others I'm growing standard LST like yours. I lost 1 it was just sick from the beginning and I have one that refuses to grow up it's probably 6 or 8 inches tall but 14 - 16 wide and almost half of it's leaves are 11 fingers. I'm babbling on sorry. It's good to see you back and it looks like you have the girls in good shape. Almost forgot the burn on them is common to happen once you switch to flower they just really stop wanting nitrogen I did the same to my last grow it's just some strains are more picky than others, sounds like you got it under control right away 👍 just keep your fans running 24/7 and if you spray them with anything don't soak the buds and your on your way to the finish.... good luck

 

[newbutoldgrower75]

Sorry to hear that you havent been well for a few years buddy, I sort fo know how it feels. I have sevre allergies similar to bubble boy off Seinfeld, best way I can describe it haha. But I dont have to live in a bubble, just take medication everyday to keep down the symptons, otherwise I end up looking like the elephant man.
Thank you MeEasy they look very nice in person. And the smell is quite strong, but so nice lol. I have purchased a few bamboo stakes to star supporting them. But I am starting to have a problem with the gaps between the buds, they are filling out very quickly. Very worried about mold and budrot at the moment due to humidity sitting higher than what I would like just below the canopy. Should I bend the taller ones away from the centre when I support them to the bamboo stakes? I was even thinking of doing the same to some of the side ones as well. That should help with air circulation and even more light to the centre of the buds? I dont want to stress the plant or ruin anything haha, thats why Im asking, newbie nerves.

 

[MeEasy]

They're not as delicate as you think I've been experimenting with supercropping and I thought that I went way to far with a couple of them but a week later you couldn't tell except for the stems looking like an s now but it works to slow down the taller branches and let the others catch up. As long as you have 2-4 inches of space between your buds you are good. Or are you talking about the ones on the same cola? Those will grow practically into a single bud sometimes. The key is airflow keep any and all fans on 24/7. If you you do see anything resembling mold get a sprayer of water with a couple tbsp of hydrogen peroxide and spray it down just shake off excess moisture the best you can avoid completely soaking the buds themselves. If it's on a bud you can cut it off and stick it into the same mix of peroxide for a few take it out and hang dry it as you would normally to dry.

 

[newbutoldgrower75]

I have been thinking of using nets for my next grow, they look a lot easier to control the plant than LST. Im looking at setting up a new veg tent and a seperate flowering tent as well for the next grow. A friend gave me 3 x old school 400 watt HPS magnetic ballats to start me off with veg, so will be updating my veg lights I think haha.
Have been running fans 24/7 for 2 weeks now, and just added a floor fan in the last couple of days to get a bit of air flow through the bottom of plants.
I had a sick one at the start, it was also the runt of the 3 clones I recieved. Didnt think it was going to survive, but kept doing what I could for it. Its now the biggest by a fair bit. But I think I could have got more height/growth using a MH lamp instead of a HPS lamp for veg, and not making so many newbie mistakes.
How long have you been growing your plant that is only 6-8 inches tall?

 

[newbutoldgrower75]

Ok..I have a lot of work to do then. Some of my buds are starting to touch. Everything is so stcky its starting to stick together, even the leaves. So if I use bamboo stakes to support and space the buds properly, and try and keep the canopy more even, will that affect the growth of the bigger taller buds?

 

[newbutoldgrower75]

I accidently supercropped a branch a couple of weeks ago, the buds actually filled out nicely lol. Not sure that I have the confidence to try it on purpose yet.

 

[MeEasy]

I started all of them on 7/21 as seeds with tails (sprouts). I switch to flower 9/9 they're all about 2 feet tall from the soil except for the one I'm calling mini. I pulled out 1 Jack frost that's why it says RIP next to it, it was sickly from day one got tired of babying it... I came up with a trick to help keep the buds apart take a string and a straw cut in half or whole suck the string through the straw loosely tie each end of the string to two colas the straw won't allow them to touch, it's like a pipe on the chain when towing a car. You can use the string to pull a piece of soft plant tie through the straw if you are afraid the string will cut em but I use the string loosely tied.
pic 1 is 4 plants top right is mini left is Freddy Krueger
pic 2 is mini with all the 11 finger leaves
pic 3 is an OG I just topped once, letting it grow alone under a blurple and I just found some 11 finger leaves on it yesterday

 

[newbutoldgrower75]

Wow..your girls are so beautiful and healthy looking, they look really good. Mini might be small but she is looking damn fine buddy, will be looking forward to seeing the buds she produces for you.
I hope you dont mind but I think I might have to steal your great idea with the straw MeEasy, what a fanatastic way to keep the buds seperated. Struggled a bit yesterday trying to work out how Im going to seperate all the buds.
Just got a quick question about supporting buds with bamboo stakes. Do you tie the bottom of the bud, steamy part, to the stake to support the bud? Just want to make sure Im doing it right and not going to harm the bud. Thanks.

 

[MeEasy]

I tie em however I have to in order to keep em from breaking I'm not sure if you can just do it one way because every branch is different and you can't put a stick on each branch so they always end up looking like a giant spider lives in there. That's why I keep saying I'm gonna switch to a net. Yet here I go again without one lol at least this time I did a manifold with only 8 tops on 4 of them the other three are probably going to be spider webs again. I really only have enough light for 6 plants, I started 8 figured I would lose 2 or 3 because I use regular seeds. So far I see only female signs but they're not in full bloom to be sure. 🤞 this is only my 5th indoor grow so I'm not settled in on a method, I only moved inside because of health. Before that I grew where I call the great outdoors lol because I was using other people's land mostly government land. So I was only able to visit them once a month if I was lucky. If I got there and a branch was bent I had to cut a stick of a near by bush or something so things were a whole world of difference in growing styles. I can't hike up the mountains anymore or I would still be outside