Wanna Ask The Old Farts A Question?

[Gold123]

I went to repot and the suckers have a very tiny root ball like not much bigger than when I originally transplanted from the little starter pots and the roots are not pretty either. Spindly short little things that are off white/brown. I assume I am suffering from root burn since I everything I read on root rot talks about the funk that comes with it and I don't have a strong smell. At least I am pretty sure that I figured out the problem now and all the advice given over the last few weeks will make me a better grower. Time to start over! While I'm here... what's the recommended veg time after you transplant into a larger pot before you move to flowering? Recommended wait before feeding? Do I just wait until the plant shows signs of needing feeding then feed right away in normal/half dose. I am guessing that I fried the tiny roots right away and they stopped growing? So much to learn...

Start out with 1/4 strenght fert until they are established, just plain ph adjusted h20 for now, after they start growing increase to 1/2 strength then full after they take off.

 

[piosh]

hello again hempkat.
Writing to you because I think I dont understand something.
First the photo:

As you can see (I think so) the plant is mature but its only in 44th day of visible flowering (its Ice) , breeder gives it 8 weeks.

Once I cutted plant in this stadium and it wasnt what I expected...
I dont understand it - seems to be mature but high wasnt strong enough for me and I know I was smokeing "lighter" strains from the same seedcompany and they were much more powerfull.

So.. Are the pistils only one sign of maturity?
When hight is the strongest?

Are there any ways to reach "totally full maturity" like stopping boosters/nutes/shortening
day hours?

Does dry weed (after for ex. 10 days of natural drying) needs any extra curring to reach full power - and here I dont ask about taste or aroma?

Can You put some light on that problem?

 

[tennesseetoker]

they look good sorry the smoke blew I'm growing ww and no offense but i hope they turn out better. How much did you yield?

 

[piosh]

I havent cutted the Ice on the picture before , I think Ill try keep it around 55 - 60 days.
The one I wasent happy about ,looked like that:

And it yielded around 55 grams of dry bud.

 

[tennesseetoker]

Did you have any problems or smooth sailing. sorry just curious

 

[tennesseetoker]

Hempkat i got a problem.... one of my ladies has a ball on one of the lower nodes I've established that it can pollenate itself now or the others my qustion is what do i do cut off the ball or what. thanks

 

[HempKat]

I went to repot and the suckers have a very tiny root ball like not much bigger than when I originally transplanted from the little starter pots and the roots are not pretty either. Spindly short little things that are off white/brown. I assume I am suffering from root burn since I everything I read on root rot talks about the funk that comes with it and I don't have a strong smell. At least I am pretty sure that I figured out the problem now and all the advice given over the last few weeks will make me a better grower. Time to start over! While I'm here... what's the recommended veg time after you transplant into a larger pot before you move to flowering? Recommended wait before feeding? Do I just wait until the plant shows signs of needing feeding then feed right away in normal/half dose. I am guessing that I fried the tiny roots right away and they stopped growing? So much to learn...

Okay, yeah, like I was saying, after you get 3 weeks into flower root developement drops to almost nothing. If you are going to start over this is an example of how I would do things. You may not want to use the same size pots though so just sort of scale things down or up as needed.


From Clone

With clones, I start them out in either peat pellets or these things called rapid rooters, both are a reliable temporary form of medium to start in. Once they show roots I transplant them into a one gallon pot. I let them go in veg in that pot until they start to show they are getting rootbound (needing to be watered every other day). This generally takes about one month. The soil I use is enriched (has nutrients added) so I just give it water and maybe some liquid karma until I see it showing signs of nitrogen deficiency which usually ends up being about 3-4 weeks. The first time I feed them I feed at half strength. The next watering if half strength seemed to burn them I reduce to quarter strength. If half strength seemed fine then I go to full strength on the second feeding and continue full strength the rest of the grow, using a feeding pattern of water/nutrients, water /nutrients, just water and then I repeat. In other words every third watering is just water which is like a mini flush to keep from having salt build ups develope. Keep in mind in this mini flush you just use the normal amount of water per plant until you get run off and not lage amounts of water. If I had to go to quarter strength I then go to half strength the next feeding and then full strength the next feeding after that but again with every third watering being just water.

After the one month point when it seems to be getting root bound I then transplant to a 2 or a 3 gallon pot. I then give it about 2 weeks and then switch to 12/12. This usually gets it to the point of needing to be watered every 2-3 days throughout flower.

Now I can go just 6 weeks like that on clones because if they came from mature plants they're already mature as soon as the establish roots, even if by size they look like seedlings. All vegging them for is to get them to a decent size before switching to flower. In some styles you wouldn't even need to transplant to a second pot because you switch to flower within a few days or week of putting them in their first pot.

From Seed

Starting from seed is a bit different in that you're not only vegging to develope size but also to get the plant mature before flower and to identify it's sex before flower, this typically takes a minimum of 6 weeks and usually more like 8 weeks maybe longer, from the point the seedling first breaks soil.

First you germinate the seed. Once the seed has germinated then you plant it in the soil in a one gallon pot about half an inch deep. If the seed is good a seedling should break the soil in 1-2 days but sometimes it can take longer. If it hasn't broken the surface after 5 days it's probably not going to make it in most cases. After it's broken soil I water as needed and don't feed until I see signs of deficiency. Actually once the seedling has broken soil everything else as far as watering, feeding and transplant go about the same as with a clone. The difference is I'll be going longer in veg with the seedling and so the plant typically gets bigger, so when I transplant at around one month I go to a 3 gallon pot. Also since I'll likely be going eight weeks or longer I'll usually need to transplant again at 2 months at which point I transplant into a 5 gallon pot. I usually then give them a week or two to spread out their roots in that pot and then switch to 12/12.

 

[HempKat]

hello again hempkat.
Writing to you because I think I dont understand something.
First the photo:

As you can see (I think so) the plant is mature but its only in 44th day of visible flowering (its Ice) , breeder gives it 8 weeks.

Once I cutted plant in this stadium and it wasnt what I expected...
I dont understand it - seems to be mature but high wasnt strong enough for me and I know I was smokeing "lighter" strains from the same seedcompany and they were much more powerfull.

So.. Are the pistils only one sign of maturity?
When hight is the strongest?

Are there any ways to reach "totally full maturity" like stopping boosters/nutes/shortening
day hours?

Does dry weed (after for ex. 10 days of natural drying) needs any extra curring to reach full power - and here I dont ask about taste or aroma?

Can You put some light on that problem?

Actually pistils are a poor sign of when the buds have matured. Pistils only seem to stay white for about two weeks and then die off and change color, at least in my experience. As the buds grow though they keep putting out new pistils. What people do is they say when there is no new growth and about 80% or more of the pistils have changed color, that's when the buds are fully mature. That's inaccurate though, close but inaccurate. If you want to be sure you need to look at the trichomes. Trichomes are very small though so you need to look at them thru a 30X or stronger magnification device. When you do that you can distinguish details about individual trichomes and you'll notice that the round heads on the top of them are either clear, cloudy or amber. When all or most of the trichome heads are clear then the budd is immature and the high will feel kind of speedy and wear off quickly, also the taste and smell will be pretty weak. When the trichomes turn cloudy is when the THC inside the trichome heads is strongest. When trichomes turn amber the THC is degrading and in the process it turns into other types of cannabinoids (THC is also a cannabinoid).
One of the main two cannabinoids it degrades into has a very narcotic like effect. Lots of people think getting high means getting so wasted you can't get off the couch or do much of anything. This is a condition stoners call "being couchlocked". Some people like this kind of high and so for them they might want to let 50% or more of the trichomes turn amber before they harvest. Pure THC though is more of an up, trippy kind of high that makes you want to solve mysteries or have deep discussions. It also generally makes you feel like you have energy and you want to get up and do something. People liking this kind of high tend to try to harvest when the trichomes are almost all cloudy with very few clear and/or amber trichomes. Really though it's all a matter of preference usually people wait until it's something like:

5-10% clear trichomes
70-80% cloudy trichomes
10-20% amber trichomes

As for speeding things up there's really not much you can do. Plants have a certain length of time they flower programed into them genetically. If you have a plant that's gone it's full length of time in flower but the buds seem to want to keep growing you can speed that up a bit though by making the dark period longer. For a plant that's not finished though, you can't really speed them up you just have to let them run their course. Even more so outside, since mother nature decides when it's 12/12 not you and there's no way to change when the sun rises or the sun sets.

Generally the breeders recommended time for flower is not that far off. From everything you're describing it sounds like you sampled it too soon. I agree that at first glance it looks done but everything you describe, lack of potency, not much taste or smell is all consistent with a bud being immature. I bet if you looked at the trichomes when you cut that sample from the plant they would have been mostly clear.

 

[HempKat]

Hempkat i got a problem.... one of my ladies has a ball on one of the lower nodes I've established that it can pollenate itself now or the others my qustion is what do i do cut off the ball or what. thanks

Well if you have both male and female parts on a plant then that is a hermie which can pollinate itself or any other pot plant in the vicinity. Seeds developed from a hermie plant will carry the hermie trait and because of that and the potential that creates to ruin a crop by loading the buds up with seeds, people usually don't try to keep them.

Usually though they aren't hermies when the different parts are on different nodes. Usually it's really just a male and the female part was just new growth that when small looked like a female pre-flower but wasn't. If it really is a hermie, in theory you could keep pinching off the male parts and be okay. I reality though, as the buds get bigger and swell hermie flowers will form within the bud and not be visible on the surface and get missed. Me personally I wouldn't try to keep a hermie from pollinating itself but rather I'd just pull it. I'd much rather not have the added stress of trying to locate and destroy all male flowers until harvest.

 

[tennesseetoker]

The weird thing is is that there is only one ball on the almost bottom node on one side the other has female flowers its odd. I'm going to cut it off and hope none come up in my buds. Wait since its pretty much on one side of a bottom node wouldn't it only make the one branch from that side hermie.

 

[goneforasmoke]

how do i start my own thread can't figure it out

 

[Gold123]

If I remember you got to site menu at tpo tool bar drop down then pick a forum then pick new thread. Plug in a title and start a paragraph........ something like that
Let us know what you start if this works for you.

 

[goneforasmoke]

cheers GOLD123 ill get back to you on that one

 

[HempKat]

Does dry weed (after for ex. 10 days of natural drying) needs any extra curring to reach full power - and here I dont ask about taste or aroma?

I was thinking back over your questions and realized I forgot to answer this one.

For the most part just a good, slow dried bud that's mature enough to harvest is almost as strong as cured bud. I think you're asking this because your wondering if that bud would have been much better if you cured it. To which I say it would be a little better but not enough to go from saying it's weak to saying it's potent. The trichomes do mature some as the moisture works it's way out in the curing process but eventually the moisture is gone and there is no further ripenning. I'd say at most, curing could make maybe a 10% difference in how potent the high feels. Most of the benefits of curing are in the areas of smokability (how well bud burns and/or how harsh it is), aroma and flavor.

As a rule of thumb 2 months curing should be the maximum you need. People cure longer but I'd say based on my experiences that after 2 months the bud's characteristics are pretty much set. One thing to keep in mind during the curing process or just storing weed, you want to keep it in a cool dark place because light and heat or prolonged exposure to air will cause the thc to degrade and actually lose potency. Ideally it should be kept in a refrigerated space at around 45 to 50 degrees F.

 

[HempKat]

The weird thing is is that there is only one ball on the almost bottom node on one side the other has female flowers its odd. I'm going to cut it off and hope none come up in my buds. Wait since its pretty much on one side of a bottom node wouldn't it only make the one branch from that side hermie.

I don't suppose you could take a pic? With your added description it sounds more like a swollen pre-flower. I'm not sure if this is a rule that applies to all strains but often times when a plant starts flower the buds will form just a bit above where the preflowers are and then the pre-flowers will swell up and can sort of look like a single ball at the base of the bud. Actually it looks more like the pre-flower is swollen with a seed in it to me when I see them. A male plant might start with a single ball but long before it drops pollen that one ball will become a cluster of at least 3 balls usually more.

I guess you could still go ahead and cut it. If it is just a single swollen female flower then cutting it off won't do much harm and I don't think it'll grow back although I'm not sure as I've never rally cut them off. I did however accidentally remove some a while back and I don't remember them growing back. If it is a hermie with male parts good luck keeping up with it. I have seen postings of many folks who have tried to stop the spread of hermie male flowers in a plant or crop and I don't recall any of them being completely successful.

 

[tennesseetoker]

ok so i woke up this morning and found two more ball on the same nodes branch but also on that branch there's female flowers too. Is there anyway it only confines to that one branch or is it just up to odds(whether or not it pollinate the other buds and they get seeds)

 

[HempKat]

The weird thing is is that there is only one ball on the almost bottom node on one side the other has female flowers its odd. I'm going to cut it off and hope none come up in my buds. Wait since its pretty much on one side of a bottom node wouldn't it only make the one branch from that side hermie.

No it doesn't work that way. It might be that only one branched was stressed enough to start showing the hermie growth but the genetic trait is there in the entire plant. Hermies are set off by stress and it varies from strain to strain and plant to plant how much stress a plant can handle before it hermies. Some plants can handle more stress then others within a strain and then some strains can handle more. An interesting aspect of hermies is the seeds it's pollen produces is feminized meaning it will definately produce a female plant. The drawback though is that the female plant the seed produces will have then same tendency to hermie as the hermie that produced it. It's my understanding that breeders who make feminized seeds pick plants that are very stress resistent and to make it less likely the offspring will hermie unless someone stresses the hell out of them.

I may be wrong in using this analogy but think of it like this. Say you cut your finger and it gets infect and you get blood poisoning. At first the blood poisoning is isolated around the cut and at that point it would be inaccurate to say all the blood in the body is poisoned. All the blood does have the ability to become poisoned though and if you don't treat the blood poisoning where it starts at it'll eventually spread throughout the body. Now if you could remove the poisoning at the site you might stop it just like if you remove the hermie growth you might stop the spread of that. If however, the thing that stressed that one branch is still happenning to the plant (light stress, heat stress, moisture stress, etc.) then it would be like you continuously being cut and each cut getting infected and developing blood poisoning. Under those conditions it would be unlikely you would stop the progression.

 

[HempKat]

ok so i woke up this morning and found two more ball on the same nodes branch but also on that branch there's female flowers too. Is there anyway it only confines to that one branch or is it just up to odds(whether or not it pollinate the other buds and they get seeds)

Pollen falls and is then airborn. It only takes a microscopic speck of pollen to pollinate a bud. You can't guarentee it will only effect buds on that branch. Therefore the only guarentee is if you can remove all male growth before it develops pollen. Problem usually being that when you get further into flower you may not see all of it to be able to remove it in time.

 

[tennesseetoker]

So i couldn't like cut the branch at the base of the stem and cut it clean off and that wouldn't stop it from turning hermie damn? cuttin the entire branch that was hermie.

 

[geekusa]

I'm sure this has probably already been asked before in this massive thread but I figured I'd ask anyway.

I'm just curious, what do you know now, that you wished you knew when you first started gardening?