hey afn, can I ask a question about defoliation. I am about to chop a good 4-6 leaves off to promote light in bud sites - she is even more bushy than the pics above now. How close to the stem should I chop the branch? Right up to it or leave an inch or so of the leaf stem attached? I have razor sharp herb snippers so getting a good clean cut at any point is fine. thanks in anticipation.
New Grower Cheap organic grow journal - starter kit
- Thread starter mjdregba
- Start date
Since I got no replies I decided to leave an inch or so on the stem.. I figured if I found out that was wrong it is simple to lob it off. So please find the pics of before and after defoliation (first one is after)... I didn't go too mad, just took off the leaves that were covering bud sites - hopefully you can see that I have uncovered a good 8-10 sites. However I did chop off more like 12 leaves than the projected 4-6 
She also smells amazingly skunky - anybody else grown a super critical know what she is like smell/taste wise?
She also smells amazingly skunky - anybody else grown a super critical know what she is like smell/taste wise?Attachments
Last edited:
She has reacted excellently well to the defoliation - all the bud sites now are in the light, and she has thickened up again. I was planning on LST at some point, normally I wait for them to stretch a little then bend over the main stem to even out the canopy height. Unfortunately she seems to not be growing very tall anyway, and the main stem is like a tree trunk - solid and fat; this means I am really nervous of bending her as I think the trunk will snap.. fingers crossed she stretches a little. The temperatures are dropping rapidly in the UK, I am getting lows of about 16c in the grow box and highs of 22c. Therefore I had added two 30w CFL's at the side to try and raise the temp; this will also help to offset the lack of LST. I have space to add two more 30w CFL's when it gets even colder. I also installed a new fan above the light, in an attempt to blow the hot air down - not sure if this is working yet, after leaving it for 20 minutes it was a full degree cooler over all - takes nothing to switch if off though
Attachments
Latest update - she is just over a 5 1/2 weeks old. As you can see she is starting to flower nicely now, great big bud in the middle and a fair few side buds -hopefully my sidelights will do those nicely. I have now swapped to the red cfl's and actually the 250w CFL is putting out more heat than the blue - so thats also a bonus. I have a total of 310w of CFL in the grow room with a further 60w to add when it gets colder. Next year I will probably add a foot or 2 in height to the room so as to use 250w HPS bulbs instead to bring down the electric cost slightly. Only downside is that I have noticed a few red branches with slightly limp looking leaves on them... Also watered today 1ml/l grow, 1ml/l bloom, 5ml/l molasses and .75ml/l epsom salts.
Attachments
I was not happy with the plants size and watering was starting to become a pain in the size pot she was in, so I decided to re-pot her into a 10l air pot. In the end it was fairly easy, I mixed 5l of new soil, then just cut off the felt pot and dropped her into the air pot. She hasn't stopped growing, and in fact looks better than ever. I am still slightly concerned over the red stems as the number of them have increased. Watered again today 4 liters, 1ml/l grow, 1ml/l bloom 3ml/l molasses and 1ml/l epsom salts. Tried checking run off - but because it was the first water in the air pot, I messed it up and lots of water ran out of the sides which meant the measurement wasnt true. Apologies the pics were took in low light.
Attachments
Ran a liter of water through her this morning with a PH of 6.8 and the run off was 5.8 - so I guess my red stems are phosphorus lock out. To counter I ran another liter through her with 2ml/l of Bio Heaven and PH'd to 7.4; I will do further checks during the next watering.
Decided to add some garden lime, poked a few holes in the soil and sprinked in around 10-15ml. Watered with 1ml/l Grow, 2ml/l Bloom and 3ml/l molasses and PH'd 7.3
The runoff was around 6.1, I also checked the soil with a soil probe, and the top/middle of the soil was 6.5-6.7 and lower was hovering just over 6.2
Posted some pics of her as she was before I did this; she is still budding up and you can see an increase in buds from 4 days ago. However the very top bud has started to show deficiency now, and I also took pics of some red stems.
Fingers crossed that it was a PH imbalence.
The runoff was around 6.1, I also checked the soil with a soil probe, and the top/middle of the soil was 6.5-6.7 and lower was hovering just over 6.2
Posted some pics of her as she was before I did this; she is still budding up and you can see an increase in buds from 4 days ago. However the very top bud has started to show deficiency now, and I also took pics of some red stems.
Fingers crossed that it was a PH imbalence.
Attachments
Last edited:
that looks like the beginning of an iron lockout.
You definitely have a low ph so the lime was well timed hopefully she should pick back up once the lime raises the ph of your soil.
Keep an eye on the soil ph over the next week and see where it stabilises, we got to get this one back on track asap.
You definitely have a low ph so the lime was well timed hopefully she should pick back up once the lime raises the ph of your soil.
Keep an eye on the soil ph over the next week and see where it stabilises, we got to get this one back on track asap.
thanks seraphim19
Checked her again today, and to me she looks healthier... just little things like the leaves are pointing out straight rather than down, the red stems seems more firm than they were. Will keep checking though.
Also noticed a few leaves down at the bottom were drained and yellowing - will add some more Bio Grow in the next feed - just checked your grow schedule and I am supposed to be giving 2ml/l grow and bloom - but have been just giving 1m/l grow.
Since she was picking up I decided also to do a little bit of LST; not much but enough to spread out and open up all of the bud sites around the main cola.
Checked her again today, and to me she looks healthier... just little things like the leaves are pointing out straight rather than down, the red stems seems more firm than they were. Will keep checking though.
Also noticed a few leaves down at the bottom were drained and yellowing - will add some more Bio Grow in the next feed - just checked your grow schedule and I am supposed to be giving 2ml/l grow and bloom - but have been just giving 1m/l grow.
Since she was picking up I decided also to do a little bit of LST; not much but enough to spread out and open up all of the bud sites around the main cola.
Attachments
Similar threads
