Penguin's Micro Grow II- Aurora Indica

Penguin59 · Oct 21, 2012

Pruning Question

Pruning Question

Hi friends,

Just a quick post as I have a question for the more experienced growers out there.

I don't generally prune during flowering but the foliage gets out of hand quickly in this new tent I'm growing in. I may have gone scissor-happy on the girls yesterday but they seem to be recovering ok so far.

Could someone please have a look at the photos below and tell me if I went too far with the pruning or not?

Girl on the left

Girl on the right

Main cola

Sorry for flash but you get the idea haha

Came across a few of these 11 leaf-ers yesterday. Love these ones!

Penguin

Green Sky · Oct 21, 2012

YES!!!

Nice grow there with your available space. I love that you are givving them 100+ watts per plant like they need.

Hell Yes prune them heavy. They will love you for it, and you will see it in your bud development. There's a lengthy link on "defoliating" you could spend days reading.
The way I see it is, do you want 40 fan leaves getting 20% of the light, or 15 fan leaves getting 85%? ( my %'s are debatable, but I don't care. Pruning works for me)
Imho, AI is a prune- worthy plant. Maybe not so much later into flowering, but you should be safe now. Your "popcorn" buds will thank you.

Penguin59 · Oct 21, 2012

Hi there Green Sky!

Yes mate it sure has been a challenge growing in this small space so far. Has definitely tested every one of my growing abilities. Outdoor growers ought to take up the micro challenge more often I reckon. Thanks for the kind words and great advice too!

Awesome that you mentioned I've been doing the right thing so far. After the large prune, every growing tip on each plant has full access to the light now. I thought being that they're both indica dom plants they will come back bushier in a week or two anyways. I also figured that pruning them at the end of week 4 would be ok as they still have 3-4 weeks to go. Should be enough time for them to grow a few more fan leaves before it's time for the plants to yellow them up at the finish.

Penguin

Penguin59 · Oct 21, 2012

Hi ginga ninja! Welcome to ICMAG friend :thank you:

Thanks for the kind words of support brother, really makes my day seeing people appreciate the grow and knowing that someone else is out there sharing the experience with me.

When you get your new gear set up and if you happen to get a thread of your own going sometime I'd be keen to check it out so hit me up with a link if you do.

Penguin

Happy Cannabis · Oct 21, 2012

I'm in

Penguin59 · Oct 22, 2012

Welcome Happy Cannabis! I hope I can put on a half decent show. Glad you're along for the ride buddy :wave:

Penguin

b00m · Oct 22, 2012

Wow bruz look at those girls fatten up :good:

In regards to taking leaves, I personally wouldn't bother too much taking many more leaves unless they are blocking a bud site from getting light, just my two cents

pheen · Oct 23, 2012

i grew AI a few times, she loves nutes, trimming, and lots of light...

AI averaged 1.75 oz per plant under 250 hps and was easy to clone for me.

The girls are looking great btw!
Her smoke is a nice hashy sweet taste if grown right and cured well

5th · Oct 23, 2012

Better late then never I reckon. :tiphat:

I didn't read anywhere about you taking a clone of either pheno. So yeah...unless it's blocking a budsite ma' man...leave it alone.

Be different if you had a mom of the pheno to experiment with(heavy/medium/light defol)...but ya don't. Air the side of caution my friend.

I'll be watching the next few weeks intently. :biggrin:

Penguin59 · Oct 23, 2012

Hi there b00m! Glad you had a chance to check back in on the grow mate, much respect. They are indeed getting fatter :jump:

Have heeded your advice too about the defoliation. I went a bit scissor-happy on the weekend but I figure if I don't touch the girls again until the chop they should be good. They seem to have bounced back ok for now.

Hi pheen and 5th! Welcome to the grow fellas, glad you're both onboard and thanks for the kind words :wave:

pheen too right on your point about AI liking the nutes and trimming. It seems like whatever I dish at the girls they just come back stronger. Can drench them with water every day if I want and they don't care. Only thing the girls don't seem to like too much is high temps but I sorted that problem early on. I hope I can get results half as good as yours man.

Hi 5th, mate if only I had the luxury of space to run a defoliating comparison experiment! Would be great to see. Right now due to space I'm just forced to grow for bud and enjoyment but have taken your advice on board too. Glad you'll be watching along

Penguin

Penguin59 · Oct 23, 2012

To everyone watching, I must say I'm really enjoying growing out these easy-going ladies in this new tent setup here. It's looking like I will have to use this particular tent setup for a good couple of years yet (deal I worked out with Mrs. Penguin) so this first run has already given me plenty of ideas on how to really dial this setup in for next time.

For the next run, I'm already thinking about switching from pots to plant beds in order to maximise the tent's small height. I keep thinking about how much vertical space I've lost just by using these 3 gal (11L) pots. Something to think about for next time at least anyway.

Ah well, enough of my ramblings. Keep watching friends, looks like some good things to come!

Penguin

El Bandito · Oct 23, 2012

Lol I have a similar deal worked out with Mrs. Bandito and I'm already worried about maximizing the space. I have more height than you but the space is a bit narrow. Thinking about trying for the wall of weed vert grow thingy. I'm just the sort of freak that wouldn't mind the hours of training and pruning. I will be watching to see what you decide on.

Penguin59 · Oct 23, 2012

Thanks for checking back in El Bandito! I'll be interested to hear of all the gear you'll be using in your new indoor setup when you get going. I just had a look at your new veg area and I don't think you need to be worried about space ma' man!

Just do what Marlo did with the walls of weed and you'll be sweet. Would definitely be worth all the time and effort that goes into it and you sound like a gardener who's up for the challenge.

Hope you can stick around here too to watch the next couple of weeks with me buddy!

Penguin

OZZ_ · Oct 23, 2012

Subbed ! Been curious about nirvanas gear these days !

good job!

Penguin59 · Oct 24, 2012

Hi OZZ_, thanks for the kind words. Glad you're along for the ride buddy!

Penguin

Penguin59 · Oct 26, 2012

End of Flowering Week 5

End of Flowering Week 5

Hi folks,

Feels good to be five weeks down already with probably only three or so weeks to go before the chop!

The heavy prune I gave the girls last weekend appears not to have affected them too much. Fan leaf growth started to come back about halfway through the week which was a relief.

The main growth I have noticed this week from the girls is each bud site swelling significantly in size. They've also been adding layer upon layer of pistils to each bud site which is helping them fill out nicely. I can tell that being five weeks into 12/12, their hormones are really starting to push things into the later stages of flowering now. As such, they haven't really put any energy into growing in height at all this week.

I think if I came away with an ounce or two from this grow I would be pretty stoked!

Here are some pics:

Aurora Indica 1 on the left gaining a bit more weight

Aurora Indica 2 is about a week behind in trichome coverage compared to AI1 but she's still gaining weight all the same
Distance between bare stem and next bud site is diminishing slowly but surely

Lower bud site LST'd away from the main stem in order to catch more light

Weird but cool flash effect. Getting frosty in there!

Internal stem shot.
Long process of training all growing tips to grow towards the centre of the tent away from each wall.
Otherwise I would be having to rotate the pots every couple of days in order to get an even distribution of light over the plants

Penguin

El Bandito · Oct 26, 2012

Home stretch and it's all looking good! You have definitely earned your advanced degree in LST. Now you get to sit back and watch the buds swell. Nice work!

Penguin59 · Oct 27, 2012

Hi EB, you're definitely right mate, on the downhill slope now for sure! Thanks for the encouragement.

For the first four weeks of flowering, I had to tie down each bud site further every day just to keep everything in check during the stretch. Now I get to sit back and reap the rewards as they just fatten themselves up :woohoo:

Forgot to add a couple of shots:

Group shot

There are about 10 of these mini heads forming on each plant aside from their main colas
Hoping I'll get a couple of grams from each of these mini heads at the end

AI1 basically filled in. Very little bare stem left

Top of AI1

Penguin

Penguin59 · Oct 27, 2012

PS. Thanks to the kind soul who voted this thread five stars. Only just noticed.

Penguin

wildgrow · Oct 29, 2012

Hey Penguin. That tent of yours is really blowing it out. Cheers to your coming harvest.

Penguin's Micro Grow II- Aurora Indica

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