My 1st Grow...Help Please! Gettin my Hands Dirty...

[bongcritter]

Hellooooo everyone, is there anybody out there????

Went back out this morning for a watering. I'm leaving town until Sunday, so I'm hoping they are going to be ok without me.

I tried to get a better pic of the preflowers...Put a magnifying glass in front of the camera (my camera's macro mode is shit...) and it worked decently.

Let me know if you can tell at all what sex this is.

The little black thing is what I think is a pistil...

general shots:

Thanks for stopping by...would love to have anyone post on the thread! haha. Enjoy your day!

 

[Muttz]

Looking Okay so far but..
Advice from a fellow 1st time grower... Keep your guard up when growing outdoors (especially guerrilla style) because shit really happens i.e. checked on my late and final plot today and all mines were in terrible shape due to bugs, nutes, and scarce watering (all meaning all 40 seeds bought). If you can be sure not to neglect them because sometimes mother nature and shit of the sort is very tough!
Keep it up!

 

[s13sr20det]

about the camera... was it just strapped to the tree? its just a wildlife camera so hunters can see where animals go (deer, turkey, wild boar).
this is a pic of preflowers. i dont think your plant is showing any (from what i see)

I love bagseed grows. keep it up man, im pullin for you

subscribed!

 

[bongcritter]

Hi Muttz and s13sr20det, thanks for stopping by!

Muttz - you are absolutely right about the more attention the better...There are so many predators in the outdoor world that I'm not used to (animals, bugs, critters). I am used to loss, by now, also. Started out with like 30 seeds...Had 16 or so really healthy sprouts...then I put them in a not very optimal place and the tray of seedlings blew over while I was away from home...This left me with only 4 decent seedlings left...After eventually transplanting those 4 outside, 2 got ENTIRELY eaten by bugs while I was away (coulda been a critter also)...1 got pretty much half eaten and I believe there isn't much hope for it...and I have 1 healthy plant remaining. If I can just get ANYTHING from my 1 remaining healthy girl, that would be amazing...Still not even positive it's female!

s13sr20det - hey man! There is something mystical about the bagseed huh....you could win the lottery practically if you manage to stumble upon one good enough!

The camera was strapped to a tree, yes...I don't know much about wildlife cameras, but it seemed like that's what it would be. Knowing my area and how very very little foot traffic there is in it, it wasnt set up to find growers, but I'm just worried it may have done just that. Oh well though, the plot is in a good spot away from this location.

Thanks for the preflower pic...I'm just anxious to find out what it is so I've been taking the magnifying glass to it almost every day...I think there may be a little pistil growing, but it's pretty early to tell. Hopefully when I check on it again in a few days I have a better idea.

I know it's not very big, and my chances aren't high...but if I could manage to harvest anything out of this little lady, I would be ecstatic.

Thanks again for stoppin by!

 

[bongcritter]

Hello all!

Well, I seem to be having some bug problems...I came back to find my plant has grown a bit taller, but the lower leaves are getting eaten up like no ones business! Pretty sure its slugs too..had to pick one slug off myself...pissed me off!!!

Any suggestions? Gonna try to put some more copper out when I get a chance, and possibly consider baiting...

I laid more D-Earth but it didnt seem to do much against the slugs! I'll hit it up with more Neem Oil spray tomorrow....

So yeah. That's the story. She seems to be getting tall, but somewhat spindly and the leaves are kinda scrawny...getting worried! I hope I just get SOMETHING out of this...but really not expecting to at all...

Oh well, heres the pics...not very good this time but I'll get some better pics tomorrow

Thanks for stopping by....and once again...all comments are appreciated!

 

[bongcritter]

Hello...if anyone is there!

Just checking in...Plant seems to be doing well..I really hope its a female...

any ideas?

close ups

thanks for stoppin by feel free to leave any comments!

 

[UnknownProphet]

Mind you what I say here is in the thought of trying to help you out if you want the advice take it if not do what ever you would like...That being said...First on your next out door grow you need to start the seeds inside and keep them inside under artificial lights for at least a month or so keeping them at a constant warm temp with a relatively high humidity. Then you slowly introduce them to them outdoors when they are structured, in a process called "hardening off". I normally harden off for two weeks or so by the end they are ready for the elements, which helps them from stressing and flowering, or becoming stunted and slow growing. I also, this is just me personally, don't use any nutrients until veg stage normally between one to two months. Also another thing that helps is to treat the soil outside before you even plant this makes the beneficial bacteria and enzymes start before you even introduce your plant. What else oh as far as sexing a plant I rarely come across plant that show sex before the seventh (give or take) node, and that's after a transplant where I chop the first few nodes and transplant under the soil line. Meaning it's actually at the plants tenth or so node. Sativa plants can literally veg for 6 months without showing sex, I've seen it and that was a male which shows sex before. That's an extreme, but just letting you know nature will make it happen when she wants to. Side note (Also something I do but you definitely don't have to) I ALWAYS refer to my plants as ladies, they reflect the love you give them. I feel you have a love loss for the outdoors, but believe me she's worth it. Don't be discouraged, read up and you always have more knowledge and next year! I hope you appreciate the advice, because it's taken me literally years to learn this. But you seem hungry and you have the drive so I wish you the best.

And last but not least calm down with the pesticides!!! That Dea(r)th stuff or whatever sounds horrible and you apply it very very heavily. Also when spraying the plants you should be careful with fresh growth on things other than neem it can easily burn and also the careful with the neem concentration you can clog the stomata.

Like I said take the advice or not, it up to you, but stay safe, read up, and good luck.

 

[bongcritter]

Hi UnknownProphet!!! Thanks a bunch for stopping by!!!

Your advice is MUCH appreciated!!! I would have loved to start my seedlings inside and gradually harden them off (after reading here I understand this process better) but starting indoors was not an option for me at this point, so I did what I can....however next time I would definately do it that way!! Very good way to go.

As far as the nutrients go...I'm still getting used to the whole fertilization process! I've only grown hydroponically, so that's all I know...doesn't translate totally 100% perfect in the outdoor world though! But it doesn't seem like I have been burning them too much, however the excess nutrients could be causing some problems that I just don't understand at this point in my growing career...Hopefully it has helped though, I'm using all organic hydroponic fertilizers (Pure Blend Pro) and my experience with PBP in the past has been excellent.

As far as treating the soil - I have heard of this but I'm not exactly sure what you mean. I did dig holes and fill them with my own mix (Fox Farm Ocean forest with some Peat Moss) and let that sit for about a week before finally planting into them - is this what you mean? Or are you referring to adding some time-released fertilizers, water crystals and that kind of stuff? Also, in hindsight I should have used dolomite lime. I figured the dolomite that was in the Fox Farm Ocean Forest would be enough, but I seemed to forget that Peat Moss tends to have a very low or very high pH (I forget which it is, d'oh!)

Thank you SO much for the info on sexing...seventh node...I will try to remember that. I am just SO anxious to find out the sex that I am checking daily, haha, a bit obsessive but whatever. I'm also not the best at determining sex (in the early stages), so I am trying to be extra careful in this department.

As far as me having a love loss for the outdoors - what do you mean exactly? haha. I do love being out there, I just feel like all the predators make it a bit of a pain in the ass, but I do appreciate the outdoors!

I am trying to get in the habit as referring to her as a lady...Need to do a better job of this! haha.

I'm trying to not be discouraged, but with only one lady left...it's hard! I started with like 30 seeds after all! Had a little incident in the seedling stage, though, which was my major setback.

I will try to calm down on the pesticides...but as far as I know, Diamateous Earth is actually not harmful for the lady...from what I have read about it, you can't overapply and its a great way to control insects without using REAL chemicals.

I hadn't heard that about the Neem though, I will keep it in mind. I always figured we got so much rain here it cleaned out the stomata nicely, I also try to spray them with water after every third or so neem application.

Thank you so much for the quality, thoughtful post UknownProphet. Hope you are doing well and your grow shows are doing even better!

Smoke on!!

 

[nomaad]

you can use neem and d-earth as much as you like during veg... no worries. Neem will get into your taste profile if you spray it on flowers... easpecially if your plants get washed off by rain, you should keep applying the neem. You may want to go a little more advanced and spray some azatrol (derived from neem) or aza karanj (neem/mohoghany) as bugs grow immune to the same countermeasures all the time.

d earth is crushed up fossilized sea creatures as I understand it. To insects its basically like crawling thru a field of broken glass... for slugs it must be the ultimate detterrent so long as it does not get washed away or diluted with softer detritus. IO have even used d-earth as flea powder on my dogs in a pinch... worked great on the albino yellow lab, not so much on the choco-bitch... she just looked dull and grey and old from it. You are right, though... don't breathe it in... you don't want tiny razor sharp particles of anything in your bronchi.

what you want to avoid is a bunch of d-earth on your leaves blocking out the sun and hindering photosynthesis.

 

[bongcritter]

Hi nomaad!! Thanks for stoppin by!!

Thanks for the advice...I'm just hoping I make it to flowering so I have those things to worry about, haha...Also, I'm trying to keep the leaves decently clean, the rain tends to come quite often here lately so it hopefully does a good job of naturally washing them down for me

Well, here's some pics.

oh, and I found a mushroom today...really tiny. Not a cubensis, but it looked kind of cool so I took a picture and it turned out decent

 

[bongcritter]

Hi everyone!!

Just checking back in. I haven't done much to her besides check on her daily and spray a little liquid fence around...Tomorrow or the next day I'll hit her up with a full dose of more veg nutrients, and probably some neem oil spray. I'm out of D-Earth for now...May re-up on that soon too!!

Seems like I still have a little bit of insect damage...Not exactly sure what it is, but I suspect slugs. Whatever it is, it seems to be leaving droppings? I think? Little brown/black circular piles of waste being left on the leaves...Well whatever it is, it takes a few bites and then leaves because there doesnt seem to be TOO much significant damage...

Onto the pics! Tried to get some closeups to show the possible preflowers, but it's hard!

General shots:

Let me know what you guys think!! Thanks!

 

[growshower]

bongcritter, couple things
do and do not worry about that camera
do not because it is only there for a hunter, it is a wildlife trail cam, i have a couple of them because i am a deer hunter as well, sorry if that offends anyone, i am from the south so keep your peta opinions to yourself
and do worry because hunters are normally very protective of their land and do not want people disturbing the wildlife that they hunt. if you walked by it that means you planted on someone elses land, or it would seem this way,
just looking out.........

 

[bongcritter]

Hi growshower, thanks for stoppin by!!!

Thanks for the words about the camera...after seeing it I DEFINATELY moved my spot off of this person's land....even took the dirt I already put in the holes... (it was a kinda pricey mix!)...So it should be ok unless they go trespassing into someone else's property...

 

[cellardweller]

bongcritter, as the season slowly turns to flower, so should your nutes..start backing off the veg nutes a little and start feeding light doses of PK/bloom nutes..
lookin good kid!
~dubs

 

[bongcritter]

Hi cellardweller!!!

Thanks for stopping by man and thanks for the advice!!!

By "backing off the veg nutes and start feeding light doses of PK/bloom nutes" do you mean MIX the two fertilizers??? Or just slowly decrease the veg and then slowly start the flower???

I'm guessing it's a mix, but you never know. I actually don't even own any flowering nutes yet, I figured I wouldn't make it this far honestly haha. I also kind of wanted to make sure that she's a female for sure before spending more bucks on this project, but if it helps then it helps and I'll be like Nike and just do it!

 

[bongcritter]

Hello!!!

Hope everyone is doing alright...just showing some pics...fed her some more nutrients...need to pick up some flowering nutrients soon...will do that as soon as I can!!!

She seems to be getting kinda eaten up by bugs...I need more D-Earth...grabbing more asap also...

pics!

thanks for looking!

 

[bongcritter]

Hi!

Just droppin by for some pics. It's been raining all damn day, so I haven't been able to do anything else!

Still gettin eaten up by bugs

Gonna do what I can...peace

 

[neongreen]

Hi Bong,

You have the right idea more or less, but I think you will have to look at this grow as a trial run.

UnknownProphet and Nomad gave you some great advice I think.

My way of doing it would be to dig up a big area for each plant... now would be a good time to start actually. Give each plant some room (not like mine) - at least 6 feet, preferably 12+ if you want monsters.

Start by breaking up the soil when its dry (if there hasn't been rain for a week or two). Take out most of the roots and other junk you find in the hole, large rocks etc, and replace with compost and other amendments like rock dust, kelp meal and powdered dolomite lime.

Water your plot with EWC tea and let the microbes take over... they will feed your plants, so learn all you can about the little guys as well as what makes a good soil. They will also start the process of returning nutrients that are available to plants back to the soil.

Leave the plot for a few weeks, and then come back and plant a green manure crop like clover (make sure it's inoculated with the correct microbes, if possible collected locally). Leave the plot alone after the manure is established. Return in spring to turn over the soil, and then plant out in late spring.

Feed with properly aerated teas made with EWC, guano, kelp and molasses. Feed weak doses often rather than strong doses all in one go. Foliar feed when it's wet, and watch your soil doesn't totally dry out when its hot.

Use nature to your advantage, unlike the vast majority that use "plant food from a bottle" and end up with poor/dead soil that leaves plants reliant on someone feeding them nutes in doses which burn the roots as well as deplete the biodiversity in the rizosphere. It's pretty simple really, although there are a lot of big words. The stickies in the organics forum are a great place to start. You have a ton of reading to do :wink:

 

[bongcritter]

Thanks for stoppin by neongreen!

You must spread some reputation around before giving it to neongreen again.



Indeed, I do have a ton of reading to do....I appreciate your help though! No better time to start preparing for next season than...this season!

I hope my feeding of Pure Blend Pro hasn't screwed with the soil I put in there too much, I just figured it would help.

I guess its time to hit the books! (or boards...)

 

[nomaad]

Can't go wrong with botanicare, bro. I would feed a plant like yours at about 1/2 the dosage that they recommend on the bottle.

Have you sprayed it with anything for the bugs?