OmniscientOnus' Grow Journal #2 v1.0

[OmniscientOnus]

OK. For whatever reason I was drawn back into my grow room to more closely inspect my plants. I was mysteriously drawn to check out the sides that are typically very difficult for me to see/reach given the size/shape of the room. I'm very glad that I did because I can now say, with 99% confidence that Natalie is a FEMALE!

I tried getting pics up to get a complete confirmation, but unfortunately I do not have access to a micro (or is it macro?) lens for my camera, and the one I have just wouldn't get close enough to see anything. But, very near the top of the plant, on one of the nodes, are two distinctly white little hairs, very close to one another. I've probably seen just about every picture on the internet on how to differentiate between males and females (I was overly nervous about not being able to tell soon enough on my first grow) and as far as I can tell, it's classic female all the way.

Dylan, on the other hand, is still up in the air. I think, and I put extreme emphasis on "think", that she is also a female. If I had to take a guess, I'd say I'm 40% sure she's a girl. I see what appears to be the same white hairs in pairs (lol) that I see on Natalie, but it's just too small to get a good look at them. I would normally just bust out the microscope and take a closer look, but given their location, it would just be too much muss and fuss to get around to that side. Maybe next time I won't attach the lights to the pots themselves so I can move the plants around easier. The way I have it set up now, every time I turn a pot, or slide it around, I mess up the location of my lights and have to re-set them in order to get the maximum light-to-surface-area exposure.

Oh well, if their starting to show signs now, I'm sure it will be clearer in the near future.

This just in: I secured a micro (macro?) lens and should be getting it tomorrow. My friend graciously allowed me the use of his, although he has no idea why I want it. Thankfully, he's a friend of few questions.

 

[OmniscientOnus]

New post coming soon with PROOF POSITIVE pics that confirm that BOTH of my plants are females! I couldn't be more excited!

One quick question before I get around to posting my next update (probably later tonight), how soon and at what rate should I expect my lower leaves to start dying and falling off? I'm seeing probably 1-2 a day dying. I only remove them if when I gently touch them, they fall off. Should I be pruning these off early? Or should I be concerned that they are dying off too fast? For the most part, the plants appear healthy, and I'm assuming that they are just naturally falling off. They seem to be growing leaves faster than losing them, and everything is dying from the bottom up, which I heard is normal, so I'm not concerned, but then again, I'm not sure if I should be or not.

Other than that, everything is going according to plan (finally).

 

[OmniscientOnus]

OK, I finally got some time to take the pictures. Now, this is the first time I've ever encountered a plant at a mature enough age to be able to sex, so feel free to correct me if needed, but I'm pretty damn sure what I got here are two beautiful looking girls!

 

[OmniscientOnus]

Day 58 "It's a Girl!":
-Dylan and Natalie determined to be female
-Watered approximately 12oz each

Notes for Day 58:
So, as many of you have already read, both of my plants are girls! While I don't know anything about what strain they are, I am guessing that one of them is a form of Indica, and the other, Sativa. One just seems short, squat and bushy while the other is tall, thin and gangly (yet still healthy looking). I don't much know which is which, or if they even are different strains. I just grabbed a few seeds from the old bagseed stockpile and started growing. I feel very blessed to have had both plants that lived turn to out to be female.

The girls have been flowering for 10 days now, and I have to say I'm impressed with the results. Of course I was nervous at first, with the leaves dying off at the bottom, and then there is always fear of a light leak, but it looks like everything is going just fine. For a completely organic grow, I wasn't expecting the kind of growth I got, especially with the hardships I put them through when they were young.

I know I have a while to go yet, but I'm going to start really researching how to properly cure the bud. I know the intent of this grow wasn't to get a lot, or great quality, but that doesn't mean I don't intend on smoking it, so I might as well figure out the best way to do this now.

Now my brain is turing to the next step, which is of course my next grow. I think I'm going to start up a new thread on what I should grow next. There are still a lot of questions though, like what to grow, where to get the seeds, how many, feminized, auto-flower, huge yield, short grow time, best bud, soil, hydro, aero, etc...

Lessons Learned for Day 58:
-None

 

[OmniscientOnus]

Day 64 "Concerns":
-Dylan and Natalie appear to be dying too rapidly

Notes for Day 64:
I have been noticing that my lower leaves seem to be dying rather rapidly at this point. I notice more and more yellowing everyday, and every other day or so, another one falls off. At first I thought this was fairly normal for plants in flowering, but now I'm not so sure. I fear that they may be dying faster than they are growing, and I've even more concerned now that I see signs of flowering right above where my leaves are starting to fall off.

I did a little thinking about what I may have done wrong, and the only thing I can think of is that maybe I should have transplanted them a third time before I put them into flowering. They have been in this soil for almost a solid month now, and have been in flowering for almost two weeks. I think the extra energy the girls are putting behind trying to make flowers is causing them to use what's left of the nutrients in the soil very quickly.

The problem is, how do I fix this? I would imagine that trying to transplant them at this stage would cause too much stress and they would either hermy or die, or at very least it would put the entire grow weeks behind where it should be. As it is, I feel that I'm already a little behind because of the issue I had with drainage early on. I really don't want to lose these plants as they are so close to being done. If I can just get them to hold on for another 5-6 weeks I think I'll be alright. Of course, I have no idea how to do that. Do I start using some sort of fertilizer at this point to help give my plants the extra nutrients they need at this time, or is there some way of revitalizing the soil by swapping some of it out and replacing it with new? And if that would work, how do I do it without risking damaging the root system.

I wish I would have had the common sense to transplant them again before going into flowering. Or, maybe I'm just worrying too much.

Lessons Learned for Day 64:
-A grow journal is a great way to learn from past mistakes
-A written out plan/schedule is a great way to help keep from making those mistakes in the first place

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Looking really nice and healthy Keep up the good work!

 

[OmniscientOnus]

Looking really nice and healthy Keep up the good work!

So, I shouldn't be concerned about the leaves yellowing/dying off? All of the leaves you see yellowing/dying in my last post have fallen off now. I'm afraid of what might happen if this continues at this rate...

 

[Hydro-Soil]

So, I shouldn't be concerned about the leaves yellowing/dying off? All of the leaves you see yellowing/dying in my last post have fallen off now. I'm afraid of what might happen if this continues at this rate...

Your plants are eating themselves to stay alive. Definitely give them some nutes, bloom nutes.

 

[OmniscientOnus]

Your plants are eating themselves to stay alive. Definitely give them some nutes, bloom nutes.

I've gone this far with just organic soil, no nutes at all. Just the soil and watering, and I'd like to keep it that way, especially now that's it's getting closer to harvest.

Is there another alternative?

 

[OmniscientOnus]

Day 69 "Just Checking In":
-Watered approximately 8-12 oz each

Notes for Day 69:
There's not a whole lot to post about at the moment. Things seem to be going alright. I noticed some brown spots on the pistils. Is this just the normal discoloring that happens as the plant matures, or is this a bad sign at this point? I haven't found much that says one way or the other, although I haven't looked that hard yet as I've only noticed it today.

Lessons Learned for Day 69:
-None

 

[bengie187]

Nice precise thoght i was reading a scientists notes.......

 

[OmniscientOnus]

Nice precise thoght i was reading a scientists notes.......

Thank you very much! I'm trying my best to be as accurate and complete as possible so I can look back on these journals during future grows and be reminded of the lessons I learned.

It will also hopefully allow me to see my progress as a grower. As it is, I can already see a big difference between my first grow and this one. My first grow never made it this far, so obviously I've gotten better.

It's going to be really cool taking a look at these journals years down the road also, to kind of get a glimpse into what I was into when I was younger.

Then there's also the slim chance that someone else may be able to learn something from my journal before they make the same mistakes I'm making. And who knows, maybe one day if I get to be better grower someone may use this information (not this journal obviously, but future ones) as a grow guide or comparison.

If nothing else, it's been a fun way to kill some time.

 

[OmniscientOnus]

Day 74 "The End is Nigh":
-Watered approximately 16 oz each

Notes for Day 74:
Well, it seems the leaves yellowing and dying has slowed down, but hasn't stopped. I guess that's a good thing. Other than that, everything seems to be fairly normal. Not much to mention really.

Anyone have any comments?

Lessons Learned for Day 74:
-None

 

[OmniscientOnus]

So I went back into the closet today to try and check the trichromes again and was fairly surprised at what I saw. All of the pistils on the top colas have turned brown. Yesterday they were nice and white with very little brown. None of the other bud sites are like this. Is this normal, or did I fuck something up when I was checking the trichs under the microscope yesterday? I wasn't exactly overly gentle with them, but I didn't think I did anything to damage them. If it is normal, is this any indication of when to harvest?

What's going on?

In other news, I was able to get a somewhat decent view of the trichs today. The problem is I can't seem to get anything focused properly. When I do, it's always just a pistil or something, and it moves out of sight too fast. I can't seem to stay still and hold the microscope at the same time. When I did see trichromes, it was too hard to tell if they had any amber color to them. I didn't notice any major coloring, but like I said, it was typically too fuzzy to really see clearly.

Does anyone have any suggestions or tips on how to use the microscope better. Is there an easier way than trying to hold it against the bud while kneeling/bending over and focusing all at the same time? Can you take like a super small cutting of the "sugar leaves" or something? I don't know why I have such a problem with this...

I don't want to let my plants flower for too long after all I've been through. The worst thing that could happen to me at this point (outside of random death) would be to ruin the bud by not harvesting it soon enough. I mean, I'll still smoke some couch-lock shit, but I'd rather not have to.


Any tips, advice, tricks, etc? Please help me!

 

[KermitTheHermit]

I think from early on they've needed more nutrients than they've been getting from your organic mix. It sounds like you didn't fertilize them after planting? At this late stage, I'm not sure how much they'd be helped by fertilizing; it's sounds like they've decided they're done.

With your scope, just snip off a small leaf or tip with plenty of trichs on it. Set it down on a table; I prefer a dark background to a light one. Set the scope on top of the leaf as it sits on the table; it should be steady enough to zoom right in and out, if you have a decent scope.

 

[OmniscientOnus]

I think from early on they've needed more nutrients than they've been getting from your organic mix. It sounds like you didn't fertilize them after planting? At this late stage, I'm not sure how much they'd be helped by fertilizing; it's sounds like they've decided they're done.

With your scope, just snip off a small leaf or tip with plenty of trichs on it. Set it down on a table; I prefer a dark background to a light one. Set the scope on top of the leaf as it sits on the table; it should be steady enough to zoom right in and out, if you have a decent scope.

I'm not surprised that they aren't receiving a proper amount of nutrients as I have relied solely on the soil itself to provide that, and I've only transplanted once. I water with pH balanced water only, nothing added. I wasn't looking for amazing bud, or a high yield, I just wanted to know that I could bring a plant from seed to harvest without killing it. So, I decided to let "nature" run her course to keep this grow at a minimal cost.

I'm definitely going to try that method for checking trichromes. I don't know if my microscope can be considered decent or not. I bought it awhile back for my first grow and never had an opportunity to use it. I later found out that it's a pretty standard scope for checking trichs. Even most of the online reviews mention trich checking as their primary use for it. It's a little hand-held $12 one from RadioShack. Personally I would deem it pretty crappy, but the reviews were good and it seems like a lot of people on this forum use it and are happy with it, so who am I to judge?

Anyways, thanks for the help! You were very informative, right to the point and easy to understand. I like it. +rep