Cannabis as houseplant

[MDR]

Hi Everyone

I'm still new to this message board and already appreciate the help and advice given. As per my other thread I'm currently growing some White Widow plants from feminized seeds. I don't really consume cannabis because I've never really enjoyed the high (although I'm told CBD strains might be a good alternative). Having said that I love growing plants and cannabis has quickly become another cultivating interest since it's legalization in Canada.

For starters I am not experienced at this, and I know most of the growers in here focus on maximizing their yields. However, my primary intention is to grow a plant or two as a house plant with future clippings to be used as clones outside or for friends, I guess like a mother plant. My setup is open concept and not optimal conditions for maximizing yields, but I'm okay with it.

Having said that I took a lot of the advice previously shared...

1. I added a second light . It's probably still not the full amount you guys recommended but, My partner and I have to agree on things before we make it happen, and she's already making a number of concession letting me pursue this hobby.
2. I replaced the soil with coo coo coir and perlite 3:1 ratio.
3. Switched to Dyna Gro for nutrients and have Dyna Bloom in stock.
4. It's on a 19 hour light cycle.
5. I clipped two of the plants down a couple nodes. It appeared to put it in slight shock for a week, as the growth has been slow compared to the two plants I didn't clip.
6. At least one of the plants has started to show pistols.

Questions

• Ph level - I bought a Ph kit and tester. It ranges from 7 to 6.5 from top of the pot to bottom (respectively). I feel like this is slightly too high, but don't want to play around with the Ph levels if it's not necessary.
• I'm training my plants with soft copper wire. It's a technique I learned with bonsai plants and figured it could work the same here. I know it's not one of the standard training methods, but I'm comfortable with it, unless others see a problem. I've trained the larger plants to open up light to the lower new growth. I did this a couple days ago, so I'm hoping to see some positive growth.
• You might notice some of my bottom leaves developed a magnesium problem. After I transitioned to coo coo coir and added nutrients, I went of a travel vacation and the person watering the plants only used water. Since my return I've only watered with nutrient added water, and things seem to have bounced back. Should I clip those pale leaves off?
• I put one of the plants under our sunroof to get about 10-12 hours of natural light. It appear to be growing slower than the others. It's been there for about 3 weeks now, and there's no signs of flowering. I believe this is largely because it's not getting 12 hours of complete darkness despite the natural light cycle. I'm okay with that, because my goal is to eventually keep one as mother houseplant.
• Leaves curling up - you'll notice some of the leaves on the smaller plants are curling up. I believe this is because the house temperature lowered to about 14-16 degrees while we were on vacation. Temperatures are back to 20F and the curling appears to have stopped.

 

[Tersky]

Ok to address your fist point, get a different ph testing kit or ph pen. For coco the ph needs to be between 5.5 and 6.5 but i always water my plants at 6.0

Second point, copper wire is not recommended but can work. The problem with bonsai training is the way they do it. Bonsai grow REALLY slowly usually. The stems of cannabis plants can thicken quickly and you run the risk of strangling branches if the wire is not being constantly loosened. Also copper is a little rough and young cannabis stems can break easily. That said, if your careful and mindful of the stems i dont see why this would not work. Not sure if the copper would effect the plant that is for someone else who know more about that.

Third: You can clip those leave if you want but i dont think it will hurt to leave them either. You may want to consider adding a calcium-magnesium supplement to you feeding as coco is completely inert and growing in it can have cal-mag issues. I use it every feed in my coco. Oh and i wouldnt use vermiculite as it retains water. Use perlite instead. Coco it's self will retain a lot of water and not having good drainage and stagnate water can cause root rot.

Your last two are more statements than questions it seems unless i read it wrong.

I found an article on how to do a cannabis bonsai on this site actually recently. May find some useful ideas in it. https://www.growweedeasy.com/how-to-keep-a-bonsai-mother-for-unlimited-clones

 

[Tersky]

Oh and you said you see trichomes on a plant? Are you sure you dont mean pistols? Trichomes are resin glands and pistols are like white hairs. You get pistols first then bud then trichomes in flower, though plants not in flower can also start developing pistols if old enough.

 

[MDR]

sorry I meant pistols

 

[Tersky]

np i was confused for a sec cause i thought you said they were still in veg...but i just sampled some of my recently harvested blue og so not all cylinders are firing lol

 

[MDR]

I also plan on removing the copper wire after a week and the stems have hardened to that position. I'm extremely careful with the method, and much better with it. The last two bullets weren't really questions, you're right. I guess I meant for them to be descriptions, in case others notice something off. I'll keep an eye on the magnesium. I made a mistake on the vermiculite comment. I am indeed using perlite.

Thank you for the bonsai link

 

[Tersky]

I figured you were keeping a close eye on the copper wire as i dont think you are an inexperienced gardener by the way you talk, just new to cannabis it seems. But i wanted to be thorough and mention it. Looks like you got a handle on it! I'll be interested to see your progress! I might try the bonsai thing i linked you tbh! First post you did i didnt even know that link existed so sorry for not giving you that link in the beginning.

 

[MDR]

I read through most of the article. This is exactly what I would like to do and would probably be greatly appreciated by my partner, so thank you. She's not too keen on having a huge mother plant in the house. Sounds like one of my smaller plants would be an ideal candidate. However the tutorial seems to talk about soil and not coo coo coir. I wonder if I need to switch my medium again?

 

[Tersky]

i plan on doing it in coco so i dont think you have to switch. You will have to provide nutrients is really the only difference imo. I have a plant that i trained like the link in a solo cup with coco and its working right now. The roots have gotten so big that i have to water/feed daily almost tho so if you had compost and soil you wouldnt have to do that. I use synthetic nutes so i just make a gallon of nute water and water a little each day. Been working so far.

 

[MDR]

I'm getting a bit nervous. The larger leaves near the bottom are turning more yellow. I think it might be a lack of nutes. I've been using Dyna Gro for two weeks now, watering every 3-4 days. The guide said start with half the dosage, so I've been using 1/8 tsp per gallon of water

 

[Tersky]

Typically, yellowing of the leaves is a nitrogen deficiency. I dont know anything about those nutes so cant help you there. One thing that stands out from your last post was the PH testing. if your ph is not right then it will prevent the plant form taking up nutrients. That said, nitrogen is able to be absorbed in most ph levels. I would try upping the nute strength a little and see if that helps.

 

[Farmall]

I admire you regarding the concerns of your partner. I like that copper wire thing but as Tersky mentioned, the stems rule and once they start thickening, they can break easily on some plants. I’ve always had 1 do that each time and I’m very careful about it

 

[s62]

Yep. I just broke one last night. Just a small tear around the top from being pulled down to abruptly; I propped it up with some green wire stuff from underneath. I can’t get tape on it, due to its structure, but I’m hoping having some pressure propping it up will allow it to heal.

 

[s62]

I think this is a really cool idea. I really enjoy growing this plant, and I think that would be true even if I didn’t use the flowers.
Cheers! Keep us updated with pics

 

[Farmall]

When I tried to bring some of the growth pulled down horizontally, it all goes well and without any notice, the branch splits the center.

 

[Mr.furley]

MDR
​​​​​​​How old are your plants?

 

[MDR]

seeds were germinated mid September

 

[MDR]

Tersky , I think you're right. I need to hone my Ph game a bit better.

I have two Ph testers that aren't giving me the same reads; Generic Garden Soil PH Meter Moisture Tester and the General Hydroponics pH Control Kit promoted on this website. The former always gives me generally higher reads, compared to the latter.

Here's what i did for my last watering.

• I started with a gallon of water
• Next I tested with General Hydroponics pH control kit
• The original color was a light green, so I added some pH down to bring it to a bright yellow
• The Generic Garden Soil pH tester still read it at 7.3 but I decided to trust the General Hydroponics kit more
• I then added half the recommended dose of Dyna Gro Grow nutrients to the water.
• I watered the plants with about a 10-20% runoff in each pot.
• The Generic Garden Soil pH tester still gives me reads of 7.0 went testing in the soil. Today it's reading 8.0

Why would the tester be giving higher readings now, when I lowered the pH before watering?

 

[Mr.furley]

First off get get rid of that soil tester. Second is you need to adjust your pH after you add nutrients. Third is you need your pH to be at 6.0 going in.

it's time to flush for your plants, do you have a flushing agent like sledgehammer?

 

[MDR]

no I don't have a bottle of sledgehammer. I'm assuming i need to get one