Photoperiod JD#1 (completed), page 5 Painkiller XL, CBD Purplematic, Critical

[Iriee Vibez]

Looking good, man. Found your thread and will watch the flower show... my favorite part!

 

[fauxnacho]

Looking good, man. Found your thread and will watch the flower show... my favorite part!

Thanks friend, welcome!

 

[fauxnacho]

What's going on dudes time for an update on Jorge's Diamonds #1! Been on 12/12 flowering light cycle for two weeks now, pistils starting to sprout all across the canopy

So far she's run painfully slow but completely healthy so I'm expecting more of the same. She's happy so I'm happy! Continuing to drink 1L every 2-3 days, continuing with LST, not so much supercropping at this stage as the stretch has been manageable.

Quite a heavy defoliation this week as well, I think maybe too heavy. I don't know, I've heard a hundred different approaches. My way was to pull lower leaves not getting much light, and to clear the main bud sites where I want tips to meet and make large colas. I think those "donkey dick" colas I see are achieved this way, when multiple bud sites are able to meet. JD#1 probably won't make those anyway as her stems are horizontal at the moment. I'll let her go upwards from now, as I said the stretch has been very manageable so far.

All the three main stems achieved through topping look like this, with a main cola at the top and a bunch a little lower down. Ideally they would all meet to form one chunky mofo on each stem. We'll see how it goes. This is the most heavily defoliated of the three main stems.

One really cool thing this week is that I put up a second micro-grow space in my apartment! I've germinated and planted a CBD Charlotte's Angel autoflower from Dutch Passion, will update on her progress once she's up. I smoke a buckload of CBD-only dope so it will be so awesome to grow my own, I am pumped !!!

Pretty testing time while so many of us are unable to live and act freely... keep your head up, smoke happy and be generous to your loved ones, lend them your strength when they need it and lean on them when you need to. Til next time

 

[Iriee Vibez]

Thanks Faux! Same to you and you family during these very very unusual times! We are in lockdown in CA, so I am thankful for my little garden.

As far as defoliation goes, I have tried the whole spectrum over the years! They used to call my Iriee Scissorhands on here for a while. I think I have settled in the middle similar to you. My technique though is to not really defoliate during veg, but use leaf tucking if possible. Sometimes, based on the plant, you just have to clip some off in veg. Especially on those short stocky bushy plants.

By the beginning of the first week of flower, I will clip any fans that are blocking a bud site from direct light. I find this yo be the biggest factor in bud growth and density. In the second week, I remove the lower branches that clearly won’t reach the light, as the best they will be able to do are little fluffy buds and LARF. After that I just clip fans as they grow and cover a bud. During the last week of flower, I clip all fans with a stem, leaving just those integrated with buds. This is mostly for an easier trim, but if the buds get a little boost, then cool.

Anyway, that’s what seems to work best for me for autos in my small organic pots, where veg time is limited, and I can’t afford any stunting during the short lifecycle.

She is looking good, man! Keep it up. You may want to give her a boost of PK in the soil, or nutes if you aren’t growing organically. That also helps with bud development.

 

[fauxnacho]

Thanks Faux!

Hi bud! I hear you, we're not on lockdown in Netherlands but everything is closed anyway, a lot of fear in the air. We're passing the time with card games, fresh herb and one solitary over-managed plant :smoking:

Thanks a lot for the pointers on defoliation brother! There was no need to take anything off her during veg besides the very lowest fan leaves - LST and a little supercropping was enough. Next grow is an auto, similar quite small pot and organic medium. I'll be desperate to top her once early on, for my grow space it just makes sense to shape the plant that way. I know it will stunt growth, do you think more than it's worth?

Here she has indeed been all organic so far, she'd benefit so much from a boost of PK but all I have is some off-brand organic fertiliser, I think it's 9-3-4. Not exactly conducive to monster yields! Since quantity will be guaranteed low, I'm letting her take all the time she wants to produce quality best thing for the nxt couple of weeks is to let her recover and start fuzzing up those bud sites!! Thanks for stopping by dude take it easy over there

 

[Iriee Vibez]

I topped everything I grew as a rule, I didn't even think twice about it. But when I switched to organics, I realized that my plants were flowering by day 30 like clockwork, and I was struggling with small plants a low yield. The ANQ that is flowering now is the first plant I haven't topped, but by the looks of her and the GSC that is starting flowering, I don't think I will top for a while. Definitely bigger plants at flower than the ones I topped. I think it is all based on what you are seeing and getting with your environment. I am big on watching results and adjusting each grow. Just trying to get a little better each time.

 

[fauxnacho]

I topped everything I grew as a rule, I didn't even think twice about it. But when I switched to organics, I realized that my plants were flowering by day 30 like clockwork, and I was struggling with small plants a low yield. The ANQ that is flowering now is the first plant I haven't topped, but by the looks of her and the GSC that is starting flowering, I don't think I will top for a while. Definitely bigger plants at flower than the ones I topped. I think it is all based on what you are seeing and getting with your environment. I am big on watching results and adjusting each grow. Just trying to get a little better each time.

Thank you buddy then I may well hold off topping the CBD auto planted last week like I planned to. To be honest my setup (organics, weak light, small space) isn't at all suited to autos, the poor plants get such a sluggish start to life so the last thing I want is to hold them up further. I'll grow out the autos I have left and then stick with photos this is my first photo grow (ever, actually) and it's been a delight to shape and mold the plant precisely as I want to, with no time pressure!

The auto seeds I have are all top end DP seeds by the way, it's a shame to give them such a basic space. Blackberry Kush, Think Different and a CBD Charlotte's Angel dropped last week. In better hands they'd flourish!

 

[fauxnacho]

Welcome dudes :smoking: it's the weekend (apparently) so it must be time for an update on JD#1

Looking fine and dandy over here after three weeks on 12/12. There was almost no stretch to speak of, I took a bunch of measures to control the height and actually ended up capping off the growth a bit smaller than my space would allow. But the canopy is flat besides the main three peaks, and her shape is real nice!

Her bud sites have fuzzed up some in the past week, now let's hope she can put some good weight on them over the next hmm 6-8 weeks. I'll just let her go as long as she wants, she seems to take things s l o w l y so 8 weeks in flower probably won't be long enough.

The lady

A lot happier with the profile of the plant now vs. last week, she looked a little sad after defoliation

Love those three peaks, it would be four but I took one for cloning (unsuccessful)

The seedling of CBD Charlotte's Angel auto is still just a seedling, nothing to report! She'll be all organic too but I'm considering moving away from that for the next grow, to see if there's a significant impact on size and maybe try to get her off the mark and into proper veg a little faster.

Take it easy dudes

 

[fauxnacho]

Hello dudes let's take a look at JD#1, now been on 12/12 for four weeks and things are getting interesting!!

The bud sites have kicked into action but I was concerned that they weren't really flying. The stems around the main colas are bare in places. She had been all organic but now I'm trying out some inorganic nutes. With limited space and 200W lights I can't really produce a decent yield if I also stick with organics. I picked up a bottle of fertiliser with NPK 7-10-5 and gave her a dose, hopefully it will give her buds a boost!

The pics are from just before adding the new fertiliser, so one week from now we'll see what difference it made. I'm hoping to bulk up the bud sites at the ends of the three main stems to form a chunky cola each. She's got another 5-7 weeks to run so hopefully we'll get there!

On my CBD Charlotte's Angel auto, well it's early days but she is very disappointing so far. She popped out fine and grew normally for her first week or so but now appears to have stopped dead in her tracks. 16 days since breaking the surface she's still only a few cm tall (less than 2 inches) and has just one set of true leaves. Reading other helpful threads I've seen that other growers found this strain to be an absolute non-starter, or sickly, or so small that it's not worth the effort. Well she better pick it up in the next week or she's outta here, I only have space for two plants!!

Take it easy guys :smoking:

 

[Iriee Vibez]

Looking good, Faux! This is my favorite part of the grow! Enjoy the flower show, man!