Question First time grower

[Uncle Canuck]

How long does it take to get approved? Still waiting on a reply in my email.

 

[Uncle Canuck]

I seen it said a few times about keeping the centre’s clean. Is that referring to excessive fan leaves and foliage up the stock of your plant?

 

[Jason]

She is pretty! You just want to make sure you have good airflow and light penetration. You can also thin out some of the lower and smaller limbs & leaves to promote more energy to the main top Cola(s). I try to keep my defoliation at 10% or less per week and do it slowly to not cause to much stress. Remember, the leaves are plants "solar panels", so don't go too hog wild too soon and leave them it you can. Since it looks like the sky is the limit, I would love to hear back how tall she gets and total dried bud weight when all said and done. Of course, pics along the way would be great too. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Uncle Canuck]

Thanks for the pointers I will definitely focus on that slowly as to not stress her too much. I measured her just before the post and she’s 6.5’ that’s six whole inches from a week and a half ago roughly. Blows my mind how quick they can grow.

 

[Uncle Canuck]

I’m sure once she starts getting some substantial buds on her the branches will open up a little more. Someone at work said during flowering outdoor plants can sky rocket up is that true?

 

[Jason]

I’m sure once she starts getting some substantial bud on her the branches will open up a little more. Someone at work said during flowering outdoor plants can sky rocket up is that true?

Absolutely, the "Stretch phase" comes first in early flower then they slow down vertical growth and start to fatten up the buds. Some strains, (mostly Sativas), will grow much bigger and taller than others.

 

[Smoke]

I seen it said a few times about keeping the centre’s clean. Is that referring to excessive fan leaves and foliage up the stock of your plant?

I never cut a leave on any of my plants
even if the leave is dry in the steam of the leaves
some good sugar for the plant
the plant will use the leaves if something is missing
like nuts or water
if you cut leaves don't miss a feeding or nuts
by case you will lose more leaves

I don't see any problem with your plant in flower
don't cut any leaves

 

[Uncle Canuck]

I’ll let her do her thing and post weekly progress pics.

 

[Uncle Canuck]

Got some more pics but they are my father-in-law’s not mine.

 

[Uncle Canuck]

Got some aerials of mine this morning. Not recommended before your second cup of coffee.

 

[Uncle Canuck]

Is there a way to find out the strain of a plant? I’d really like to know what my plant is. I’m positive it’s female, I’m guessing photo, it’s big, very smelly and a mystery seed. Not much too go by but is they’re a way to determine strain by visually identifying. Like I’m hoping it’s a indica and really good for helping the wife’s sleep.

 

[Uncle Canuck]

Window shopping at the local dispensary today while picking up my wife’s order. They only had two seed strains Pineapple Express and Error 404. 404 was $45 for four seeds and Pineapple was $48 for 5 seeds. Needless to say I got my wife order and left without seeds. Frigging outrageous how much they charge. The guy even told me they don’t sell many beans anymore……of course not cause with prices like that everyone making their own.

 

[Uncle Canuck]

On the bright side my daughter came for the ride and seen that I was bothered by the seed pricing. She let me in on a little intel that her best friends older sister decided to grow weed on a whim. They apparently have no idea what they are doing and the plants are getting to big for them. So I’m going over today to sex them. If there is a male in the mix and he’s already pollenated any females I’ll tell them to let them just grow and they will get seeds and bud. Hopefully all goes well cause they agreed to give me a bunch of seeds for helping them out. Perfect! Daughter is trying to get hold of them now to find out the strains.

 

[Jason]

I wish you were in the states, I'd send ya some seeds. Oh heck bud, If you want to PM me I will send you some Regular Thai x Sour Diesel seeds. My first creation, but should be good. I'm looking to have some grown out in different environments and get pics and feedback on how they turn out. No pressure but if your interested, hit me up.

 

[Uncle Canuck]

I sent you a PM just message me back and let me know if that’s cool.

 

[Uncle Canuck]

Work has been crazy lately. I wanted to get some pics of my mystery plant. The buds are really starting to fill in the last couple days. The days getting shorter are definitely helping the flowering along.

 

[Uncle Canuck]

If I’m home before dark I’ll get some good ones and post them. If not they will be on there this weekend. Getting excited for first harvest!

 

[PirateJoe]

She is pretty! You just want to make sure you have good airflow and light penetration. You can also thin out some of the lower and smaller limbs & leaves to promote more energy to the main top Cola(s). I try to keep my defoliation at 10% or less per week and do it slowly to not cause to much stress. Remember, the leaves are plants "solar panels", so don't go too hog wild too soon and leave them it you can. Since it looks like the sky is the limit, I would love to hear back how tall she gets and total dried bud weight when all said and done. Of course, pics along the way would be great too. Thanks for sharing.

I do low stress training to keep them discreet and to grow bigger colas. Helps prevent the popcorn buds. I want the plant to focus it’s energy to bud production. This method will extend your growing season. I trim the heck out mine.

 

[PirateJoe]

I do low stress training to keep them discreet and to grow bigger colas. Helps prevent the popcorn buds. I want the plant to focus it’s energy to bud production. This method will extend your growing season. I trim the heck out mine.

Glad I took that picture of the bud with the buckets in it. Far right leaf of the bud has a new set of army worm eggs on it set by moths. Insects are really bad this year. I already removed the eggs and killed the moth hidden in the buds. I made up my mind to harvest first thing tomorrow morning. Trichomes are converting, would like to give her a few more days, maybe two to three more, but I don’t want a whole season to go to insects or upcoming storms.

 

[Alphatoy]

If I’m home before dark I’ll get some good ones and post them. If not they will be on there this weekend. Getting excited for first harvest!

if you have no buds yet i hope you dont have just Hemp Seeds also when it does flower it will still be 50 to 70 days before harvest time good luck also i have put this up a few times before but dont know if you saw it so here it is
A few days ago, I asked a friend why did he remove leaves on his indoor medical cannabis plants. The tops of the plants were becoming crowded with big healthy leaves; and he was concerned about light penetrating to the lower branches. I was surprised by how many wrong and contradictory answers he had received from other fairly experienced growers. Hopefully I can clarify a few points and help dispel some of the misinformation floating about.
Try to think of leaves like solar panels. They are the plant’s only source of energy. The healthier the leaves, the more energy the plant has to grow and produce huge, resinous buds.
As the leaves on the plant begin to age, they eventually reach a point where photosynthesis peaks and begins to slow. At this point, the leaves are less efficient, and glucose productions declines. New leaves grow in to replace them as the primary solar panels, allowing more efficient photosynthesis to continue. The older, less efficient, leaves begin to work much like the root system, distributing their stored nutrients and plant sugars to wherever it is needed. When they have no more nutrients left to redistribute, these leaves will begin to yellow, and eventually fall from the plant.
This is particularly important to remember if you are experiencing root problems. Older leaves may be sacrificed to allow light to shine on fresh growth–but only if you have a healthy, robust root system. If your roots are not well established or are damaged, you may do more harm than good by removing the older leaves.
I should point out that most of the older leaves will be lower on the plant and therefor unlikely to shade much of the fresh growth. Any fresh growth lower on the plant is probably on shoots and in the shade of fresh foliage that is closer to the light. The principal of light and the inverse square law tell us that artificial light intensity quickly diminishes the further you get from the light source. So, you certainly do not want to sacrifice fresh leaves closer to the light for fresh leaves further away.
You can tell that leaves are beginning to give up their nutrients when they start to lose their dark green color. If these fading older leaves are blocking the light from new growth, feel free to remove them. By the time the leaves become pale green, or begin to yellow, they should be removed–even if they are not blocking younger foliage. Be sure not to remove leaves that have not yet reached their full size, unless they have been damaged by pests. Healthy leaves exposed to the light are facilitating photosynthesis. So your plants require them.
Outside, the Sun’s position in the sky changes through the day, providing light from a wide range of angles. Plants will follow the Sun and lower their leaves in the morning and evening to expose as much surface area as possible to the light. In grow rooms with stationary grow lights, the plants will only receive light from one static angle. This means that lower leaves are often shaded completely once new leaves grow in.
With stationary lighting, the only wavelengths that can penetrate dense leaves is from the far red end of the spectrum. This far red light does not assist photosynthesis, but triggers internal plant hormones called gibberellins. These gibberellins then cause the plants to stretch and create longer inter-nodal spacing. The lower, shaded shoots usually do not amount to much, but may draw a tremendous amount of the plant’s energy stretching towards the light. For indoor gardens, use selective pruning to maximize yield and redirect plant energy to more productive zones.
Removing leaves is not the only method of decreasing shading and increasing light penetration. Using light movers, you can supply light at a variety of angles. This can reduce stretch, and light otherwise shaded leaves. Oscillating fans can be aimed to flutter leaves, allowing light to penetrate deeper into the canopy. Reflective material on the walls will also help to redirect wasted light at angles advantageous to lower leaves. For smaller grow rooms, plants can be set at different levels like stadium seating. In theory, this works great; but it is difficult to implement in larger grow rooms, and virtually impossible with many hydroponic systems.
The best answer for improving light penetration is simply to grow shorter marijuana plants. With taller plants, the majority of the bottom branches end up in shade. Even if light did penetrate the upper leaves, the lumen s reaching the lower branches are so diminished that they yield poorly anyway.
What have you learned?
Do not remove leaves indiscriminately.
Do not remove young leaves unless heavily damaged by bugs or molds.
Do not sacrifice healthy leaves near the light for the sake of lower leaves.
Remove leaves that are beginning to yellow.
Do not remove mature leaves if you have a weak root system.
Use light movers, oscillating fans, and reflective material to improve light penetration
Grow your plants short to keep all the branches as close to the lights source as possible
Use selective pruning to remove sucker shoots that use up valuable plant energy This is what I learned growing Flowers over many years and most all plants and Canopy's even the Great AMAZON FOREST grows with a heavy canopy there is still plenty of growth on the ground because there is no one picking their leaves o well enough of this book. Later