should I start bushy asap?

cbdfan

New member
My very 1st grow I under fed and only fed N nutes.3 different strains,widow,mazar,and a sativa.Plants were just stalks with leaves.I had very little if any secondary branching.

When I added flower booster,1st I got suckers tiny leaves,they turned into branching, and plants become very bushy.I didn't add flower booster or any p,k until week 6.
They eventually filled out but I feel like I lost 3-4 weeks of grow time.The sativa was a super fast auto,harvest in 60 days from seed. Others took 5 months and I was early.

My following grows I add small amounts of p and k with n and instead of just a stalk with leaves they filled out as they grew and at 2 weeks they looked like my 1st grow after I used flower booster.By 3rd week I was sexing and by by late week 4 nice round flowers on all strains.Same strains finished a month earlier.

I look at other grows.It seems some growers keep plants from bushing out,but instead go for branching by topping or by what they feed.

Critical skunk is next,but should I start out bushy or try to keep plant from bushing out and form a frame of branches before I induce bushyness????
 
How and where are you going to grow them? If you have little experience with nutrients I recommend not to mess too much with the plants.

If you give me the specs of your grow room and the nutrients you want to use I can make you a feeding chart that will work guaranteed.
 
My veg room is 3.5 by 3 feet and my bloom room is 3.5 by 3.5.Ceiling is 7 feet but I might raise it.
I'm using a premix organic soil,0.5-0-0.I have some cocoa coir and perlite I may mix in at a 50 to 25% ratio.
I plan on using bubbled teas at least for veg.Worm casing,bat guano and potash for K.

I have a ppm meter so if I add anything measurable I can get a reading on my wash and feedinds.My water has a ppm of 100-200,it varies on amount of rain.
 
I used a flower booster with a N,P,K ratio of 5,16,12 but I start out with a 20% strength.I go up slowly to full strength and feed every 5-6 days and I keep my ppm wash and feedings to 600-700.If my wash gets high I lower my nute ppm.
I added the above and that's when my 1st grow indica's started branching.On my following grows I added p and k during veg and my indica's branched right away.
 
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To me it sounds like you are overcomplicating things.

What you have/need for maximum yield:
3.5 by 3.5 ft room
600W light
16 plants in 10" pots
80/20% coco/perlite

Do you grow from seeds or clones? You don't need a veg room unless you keep mother plants of course. Most genetics need a few days veg only.

Please tell me the brand and type of nutrients you want to use so I can make you a feeding chart.

For the following grow I only used a basic one component nutrient and additional P/K
http://www.mrnice.nl/forum/critical-skunk/10316-critical-skunk-grow-journal-5.html
 
I've got gen hydroponics coco coir and perlite.

I grow from seeds.

I'd chose one of the three,general hydroponics,Canna coca,or Advanced Jungle juice 2 part.

Which one of the 3 above would you suggest?I'd rather use powders but if liquids work better, then liquids.
I have no nutes at all yet,just things for making organic teas in soil,so buying nutes will have to happen anyway for coco grows.
 
What do I need for Canna?There's a A,B mix and some suggest pk 14 with it also?
Directions don't mention cal-mag or does canna for coir already have it?
 
I've got gen hydroponics coco coir and perlite.

I grow from seeds.

I'd chose one of the three,general hydroponics,Canna coca,or Advanced Jungle juice 2 part.

Which one of the 3 above would you suggest?I'd rather use powders but if liquids work better, then liquids.
I have no nutes at all yet,just things for making organic teas in soil,so buying nutes will have to happen anyway for coco grows.

Sorry I'm using Botanic are cocogro blocks,not general hydroponics.
 
Here's my recipe:

I tried all the fertilizers you mentioned and the result is the same in coco. Advanced Nutrients Sensi Grow/Bloom, Grow/Micro/Bloom and Connoisseur all give the same results; the difference is in the price.

If the water you are using is sufficiently clean and you want to keep things simple use AN Sensi Grow/Bloom and a booster like Big Bud. The advantage of AN nutrients is that you don't need acid to lower the pH, but only if you have a good water source. You don't need calcium or magnesium if you are using tap water. If you only use reverse osmosis water you can use AN sensi-cal grow/bloom in a small dosis like 0.5ml/liter.

3.5 by 3.5 ft room;
600W light fixed 4.5 ft from edge pot to center bulb;
16 plants in 10" 2.3 gal pots, 20 seeds
80/20% coco/perlite mix

Assuming the coco doesn't contain nutes:

Prepare water with 1.5ml/liter Sensi Grow to water in the coco blocks and once saturated mix the perlite in, fill the 16 pots to the edge and tamp them twice on the floor w/ little force so the surface of the coco mix is about 2cm, 3/4" from the edge of the pot.

Place the pots in the growing area and keep the temperature at 25 degrees Celsius, 78 Fahrenheit.

Clean a small cup w/ rubbing alcohol and fill w/ distilled water w/ a temperature of 25 degrees Celsius, put the seeds in. Don't touch them, especially when you smoke tobacco. Place in the growing area for 24 to 48 hours up to the point you see a little root poking out.

Pinch holes in the coco mix, 2cm/3/4" deep, wash your hands, put the sprouted seeds in, root down, and fill the holes loosely w/ coco. Water lightly w/ pH 5.8.

Keep the light off and verify twice/day that the surface of the coco mix is moist, water if necessary.

Then after a few days when you see little plants turn on the light for 18 hours/day. If the humidity is very low in your growing room you can put transparent plastic cups loosely on top of the little plants for the first few days. Verify twice/day that the surface of the coco mix doesn't dry out, water if necessary. W/o plastic cups keep the temperature at 25 degrees, w/ plastic cups around 20 degrees.

It takes about 2 weeks for the plants to mature. Keep the temperature at night at around 20-22 degrees, at day 25-27 degrees. Only give them pH'd water pH 5.8, keep the coco mix very moist but no swimming pool on the floor (yet).

After 2 weeks change your light to 12 hours/day to induce flowering.

Use attached feeding chart. Up until the second week of flowering use Sensi Grow, then Sensi Bloom. Use Big Bud from week 2 to week 4, 3 weeks total. Up until the 3rd week of flowering feed every 2 days w/ a little pool on the floor, about 1-2cm. The idea is that the plants drink the water on the floor in 24 hours, then 24 hours to pull air into the coco mix. After 3 weeks flowering feed them every 3 days, again w/ a little pool on the floor. Never, never, never let them dry out, especially once you are several weeks into flowering!!!

Once about all pistils turned brown in color and the big leaves ugly, stop feeding them, 3 times pH'd water, then 2-3 times plain water. Harvest them when you see the first trichomes (w/ a 30x or better magnifying glass) turn amber.
 

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Thanks!!!
My perlite has nutes in it,didn't realize when I got it.I have another bag on the way and I need nutes also.

16 in a 3.5 square that's a lot of plants.
Do you just go for main and secondary colas when you use so many plants by going to flower so quickly?
 
A few questions about pH?When I used organic premix I kept my soil pH at 6.5 and my waterings and feedings were kept at 7.0.Even with watering at a pH of 7 the soil stayed at 6.5.


Is there a reason for watering or feeding at a pH of 5.8 when using coco coir and perlite
instead of higher as in soil?


Also,at what pH do you keep the coco coir\perlite medium?
 
A few questions about pH?When I used organic premix I kept my soil pH at 6.5 and my waterings and feedings were kept at 7.0.Even with watering at a pH of 7 the soil stayed at 6.5.


Is there a reason for watering or feeding at a pH of 5.8 when using coco coir and perlite
instead of higher as in soil?


Also,at what pH do you keep the coco coir\perlite medium?

pH 7 is too high for soil, it will lock out nutes. You want the pH in soil to be between 6 and 6.3 and therefore you water w/ pH 6. On hydro substrates like coco you want the pH to be at max 6 so you water between 5.5 and 5.8.

AN nutes stabilize themselves at 5.8. If you only water w/o nutes also 5.8 and if you flush the coco go as low as 5.5 because this will solve the salts better.

And about 16 plants per square meter:

You want to grow for max yield or not? For max yield you want to have plants of max 80 cm in height so light can penetrate well to the lower branches. I grow from clones and give them at most a few days of 18 hrs light/day.
 
the whole "this many plants ideal for these dimensions" is highly variable with the plant selection. mstam has some good insights but is trying to get you to follow his methods to a t, you'll have a different experience as everyone does.

1 plant in scrog can equal 8 plants in sog ;)

Your peg will likely not fit exactly the hole he describes.
 
the whole "this many plants ideal for these dimensions" is highly variable with the plant selection. mstam has some good insights but is trying to get you to follow his methods to a t, you'll have a different experience as everyone does.

1 plant in scrog can equal 8 plants in sog ;)

Your peg will likely not fit exactly the hole he describes.

16 plants per square meter is not a sog yet, you can go as far as 80, and 1 plant in scrog requires much more extra time in growing and trimming. You'll be growing likely for 2 months.

For the average plant 16/m2 is good practice, even if it's a Haze but then you need to trim it down several times the first 3 weeks of flowering. Better spend a little more on seeds but be able to harvest ASAP w/ a big enough yield then go through the misery of a scrog, because this requires a lot of extra time and knowledge for a few percent extra yield.

He is obviously a starting grower and to keep things simple simply throw 16 plants in and start flowering them as soon they develop their first adult leaves, usually in 2 weeks. Guaranteed success w/o too much trouble.
 
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my point is to each his own (way). No harm, no foul. I'd tell the newbs to grow one or two WELL, then focus on numbers. More plants (unless they are clones) means more variables, more possible issues, more likely to miss something like a stray male flower. Good luck cbdf :)

seems like you're throwing him in the deep end to me.
 
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seems like you're throwing him in the deep end to me.

Can't be simpler than I describe :) With one plant under a 600W lamp he won't do more than 100 grams unless he does a scrog, and that complicates things and adds a huge amount of time, and the lower buds are of a very poor quality!! With 16 plants he can easily do 400-500 grams w/o any time lost in growing and trimming.

We are here to help him in case he gets stuck somewhere in the process. With good quality seeds I never had one turn into male so that's not an issue here.
 
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lol it IS much simpler than you describe ;) It's very nice of you to lay it all out in advance, but in my experience flexibility (paying attention to how the plants are doing) is of at least as much value as charts or tables. Every grow environment is different so being slavish to a plan may not give you optimal results.


peace out
 
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You're promoting someone buy feminized white widow seeds from royal queen in Shanti's forums. That's cold blooded man. You should do about 1 minute of research about it.

From their site:

"Over the years, literally thousands of marijuana strains have been discovered, bred and smoked. No strain is quite possibly more famous, more legendary, than White Widow. The origin of this strain remains a controversy to this day, though we can guarantee the original White Widow is a Dutch classic, grown for the first time right here in the Netherlands."




Can't be simpler than I describe :) With one plant under a 600W lamp he won't do more than 100 grams unless he does a scrog, and that complicates things and adds a huge amount of time, and the lower buds are of a very poor quality!! With 16 plants he can easily do 400-500 grams w/o any time lost in growing and trimming.

We are here to help him in case he gets stuck somewhere in the process. With good quality seeds I never had one turn into male so that's not an issue here.

Royal Queen Seeds are usually from a good quality:

White Widow

White Widow for example. With 16/m2 it grows to max 80cm in height and he will yield 500 grams of potent quality bud.

Simply pick a plant to your liking of an average height:

Feminized marijuana seeds

I've grown these in a friend's 60x60 tent. 4 plants in 11 liter pots under 400W and they didn't get any higher than 60cm with huge potent main buds. 250 grams dry due to the small size of the tent where you lose a lot of efficiency.

Skunk XL
 
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