Relatively clueless noob's first indoor grow

[helppleze]

Hey everyone
This venture was started towards the end of May and it was kind of unplanned to a certain extent. The seeds were old bag seeds (2018) and had been laying around in pretty poor conditions.The bag was marked “God’s Vagina”, but I suspect that was so someone could charge top whack on the weed.
Didn’t expect them to germinate after three of them floated in a glass of water, but within a day or two, they’d all popped.
They were started off in rockwool plugs and perlite, and transplanted into coco and perlite at about two inches height
Had a real problem initially with getting the watering amounts right and ended up repotting repeatedly as I was concerned about rotting the roots Fortunately this has improved somewhat and was only an issue around the last transplanting ( I overwatered due to pot size/plant size difference, and the roots were a little bound so probably needed a while to re-establish. (they’re probably not going to be transplanted again and have since perked up, so this shouldn’t be an issue).
Probably started off a little on the high end ph-wise too, higher 6’s, but has since come down, so it may have actually been beneficial for the range. I’m at around 6-6.5 now.
The light I’ve been using is pretty shit… it’s a weak-ass, five bulb, ikea grow light, (deep red at 666), but it has seen them through to this point. Could have been done quicker and better though.I got full spectrum cob leds for flowering, says it’s 2000w but is actually 450watt from the wall (I bought it knowing this and think it will be suitable for my needs).
Turned it on in the bedroom on a sunny day and it lit up the room like an atom bomb had gone off… it was very quickly turned off… and then my partner tested the boost which again lit it up purple…I’m sure nobody noticed anything. His enthusiasm is adorable. He tells me to keep my volume down and turn the computers away from the window, but then screams “we got leaves” at the top of his voice.
Oh ok … this has posted … that wasn’t meant to happen … I’m not done.

This wasn’t really started as a proper journal… Not at the beginning, like normal people might. I was going to post it all afterwards, but it got to that bit of the process, and there’s no one I can tell. So I figured I’d post here and you can all share my surprise that this has all worked so far.

Any advice is welcome.

[PurpNGold74]

Hahahaha. This journal is gonna be fun… im here and watching. Finish the story. And we love photos. Welcome to ILGM

[Reticence]

Funny about the light! 450 wall watts is pretty respectable.
QB lights from HLG are popular here with a lot of folks, but I have read about every light one can find being used by people on the forum. I have a couple of 200watt Chinese blurples I use in a 2x4. A couple of 320watt HLG QBs for two 2.5 x 3.5 areas.

Good luck with the grow!

[helppleze]

Hey people, thanks for the warm welcome
Have covered timeline from May to where they are right now… basically because I had to tell someone.
Am going to have to swap the tent I bought for something a little more reasonable… When put up, with other furniture in, the tent pretty much entirely filled the room (with a 20cm gap for walking around it, which isn’t really sufficient).
I went 120cm x 120cm x 200cm (4’ x4’ x6’) on the tent which didn’t really allow for all the other crap in the room… will probably halve the width to something more wardrobe-like (less “we’re camping in the house”). And that’s the thing I need to sort out next. I’ve been a step behind, at most points, as I’ve not expected success.

I was planning to tie to a screen in a scrog, so had been holding out until I knew which ones were female to get them tied in. Now I’m not sure that they’re going to be bendy enough … I’d been wiggling them about, but they’re now kinda woody in places, so I’m not sure, think I might have left it too long.

To be honest, I’d have been surprised to be left with two female plants after popping pre-flowers… so I’m actually stunned that, so far, 100% of them are showing female… especially when I stood a pretty good chance of causing them to be male through stress.

I’d be curious to know how frequently this happens. It was bag seed so I have no idea of the sex, but given that so far, I’m five for five, I’m thinking seed must have been feminized… is that right? … would all seeds from a feminized plant put out a definitely female plant? or can those still turn male through stress? (I thought they could still turn male).

Regardless, I feel pretty fortunate. It’s been an awesome distraction and I feel like I’m learning a lot. Once I’ve got the tent, I’m on to the scary bit… I’m sure I’ll be on here every day, concerned about something.

Prior to showing calyxes, my plants developed weird growths (only on the two taller plants). I was sure I was going to pop a bollock. According to suggestions, they’re feed swellings? (said it was like the protection swellings on deliberately injured plants, and that it meant they were getting lots of nutrients)… Think I got a picture

The fact that they looked grape-like was a bit of worry. I couldn’t find any pictures online of any plants that resembled mine. And “grape-like” was something I kept reading about in relation to males. I am satisfied for now that they are female. (for the time being).

Regarding the light, I’d read a post that was reviewing it for what it actually was, rather than what it claimed to be. The spectrum has pretty good coverage. They’re cree cob leds, the bang for buck was pretty good and it has a two year guarantee on it. I figured it would do to begin with.
I guess I’ll update again when I’m properly set up/have something else to report. I’m expecting it to be a bit of a stinker as you can currently smell them from rooms away and they’re only in veg. Will keep you informed.

Can’t add people into reply at this point, but this is to all… thanks for the welcome.

[Mote]

Yes Welcome to the forum! your girls look really nice, and healthy too… good job!

[ThatoneAKguy]

If you really hammer them they end up looking like this with the swelling lol

[PurpNGold74]

Thats just ‘looser node spacing’ no big worry. I prefer my ladies flexible before flower and easily trainable.

Are the cree’s dimmable? If so, id turn then down low, and cut em on before flower kicks off. Theyll enjoy it.

Im about to tag you over in the sweet scrog thread. My new goto for future scroggers

Female plants dont turn male. They ‘hermie’ out n form both parts if too stressed. If you got all females, you’re correct, either lucky as heck or fem’d seeds (used colloidal silver substance) either way keep a close eye for nanners (male parts)

Do NOT get rid of the big tent. You will ALWAYS need a bigger tent. And this is the place to talk.

Rule #1 about weed club, you dont talk about weed club

[helppleze]

@Mote Thanks. It feels like it’s taken ages to get to this point, but I think time’s probably about to start moving differently now that they’re showing hairs.

@ThatoneAKguy …I’m imagining you asking them if they want to play a game.

@PurpNGold74. Unfortunately the crees are not dimmable… Just “on” or “off” with, or without, additional diodes.
The product spiel advises using diodes for vegging and turning the crees on for bloom, but the reviewer said that they’d advise using crees for veg, with supplementary diodes in addition for bloom. (I could link you to the info about it if it helps make sense of what I mean… though there are sales links on it, so I’m not sure if that’s allowed)
Your input on which should be used as the base light, would be appreciated… if you can make any sense of this.

Thanks for the scrog thread info, plants are currently at 24" or so, I take it it won’t be a problem to start chopping at them now?.. they do seem pretty hardy.
And thanks for the correction regarding the herming. I was under the impression that they could entirely switch. I’ll be keeping an eye on them for nanners.

Any idea how far down the line feminized seeds stay feminized?.. would a plant from a feminized seed also produce feminized seed?

(Am going by the “no smell/tell/sell” policy, haven’t even told my smoker friends… this place is a gift.)

[PurpNGold74]

Im lighting/electric illiterate… or at least challenged. Know something about something. But id rather poke the Dr on this one (@dbrn32 we need ya again) if you could find both lights on amazon and link them here it’d be greatly appreciated.

Fem’d seeds are made a few diff ways… 2 main ways are herm’n your girls. If a female (with male parts) pollinates a female, you get female seeds. This is done either through accidentally stressing the tar outta them (seeds maybe prone to herm-ism therefore not really… safe for a home grower who wants seed free buds. Or through the use of products like colloidal silver. Its is used early in flower to force the female plant to grow male parts. Ive never used it but a couple of good growers around here do.

And by chopping at them are you talking topping, pruning, fimming, etc?

[Familyman]

What kinda nutes are you using?? Also, the pots still look to small to me.

[PurpNGold74]

Didnt catch that. Those pots are tiny

[helppleze]

@Familyman @PurpNGold74

At the moment just Canna Coco A+B… there seems to be a tiny bit of claw on several plants. Let me get a shot of how they’re doing now.

That’s about as accurate as I can get the colouring with the camera.
As you can see, the tops of one of them is looking slightly magnesium deficient. It’s only the mutant born with three colas that seems to be doing this… the others all seem ok-ish, any striping quickly darkens.

The pots have been resized since the shot you are referencing, still probably not big enough, but definitely bigger. See this photo for pot size comparison.

I was worried about going too big given the watering issues I’d had, so only went about 4 times the size.

The plants are still due to be topped, so that’ll reduce them a bit height-wise.! I figure I could always resize when necessary.
The watering was real issue, they seemed pissed no matter what I did.
Also, for the record, I’m not expecting the tent in the picture to be lightproof, nor do I intend to use it for bloom… It’s just a “for now” measure.

Would epsom deal with the mg problem? … It doesn’t seem like it’s really affecting the other plants right now.
Thanks for your help.

[Familyman]

Three gallon minimum is a good rule of thumb. Also, try to get some fabric pots.

[dbrn32]

Plants in pic look underlit anyways. Are we looking for new light?

One thing I hear repeatedly about canna nutes, nutrient calculator usually recommends a little more than needed. If coco is the medium ph of high 6’s is too high as well.

[Familyman]

5.8-6.2. I run mine at 6.0 all grow.

[PurpNGold74]

Doesnt mag def (and cal) normally start from the bottom?

[Familyman]

If you’re in coco 6-6.5 is still to high. You will need to get a good grasp on pH in order to be successful. It’s the gatekeeper for nute absorption. Do you have a decent pH meter??

[Familyman]

I always see it in old growth and usually between the veins of the leaves.

[dbrn32]

I think calcium usually shows on newer growth. I don’t have a lot of hands on experience dealing with magnesium deficiency, so not really sure there.

[Familyman]

I’ve seen it on both. If I see it on the new growth I know it’s not fixed yet.