purple/brown stems, yellow leaves, photos

[Naycha]

It's ok to veg outside and flower inside.

 

Main problem I can think of is you may bring in bugs with the plants. These bugs might not be diong too much damage outside, but may have optimum conditions to thrive inside.

 

Nice way to cut the power bills.

 

Where I live you can veg inside during summer and flower outside cause the daylight hours are still fairly short (compared to 18/6). That's with a short flowering indica, not sure how a long flowering sativa would go?

[The Hash Nibbler]

Hey paddy, the plant I just hung was an outdoor job that was bought in for 4 weeks, worked out well. It didn't mind at all, but Naycha is right, the bugs come with it and they are hard to get rid of where there are no predators for them.

I think it's not such a bad idea if you can keep them on a concrete area away from a lot of soil and stuff but still i had mites, lil suckers and stuff. Cupboard is shut down now, so they will all die if they're still around and i will have a big clean before the new ones go in just in case. Sativa will take a lil longer to finish once it is inside I think mine was a sativa dominant strain.

 

Try it dude, it won't be any worse than it being outside for Sure.

 

 

 

 

This poor girl went Hermi after being raided and had the top half missing but still popped out enough to keep me going.

Outside grow+bit of budding to inside bud under lights. Sorry it's a bit crap. My stupid rescue attempt.

[paddy1]

That's good to know actually. One thing I have found year after year, being a purchaser, is that January - March/April are the driest periods and often run completely dry for a week here and there, which drives me nuts.

 

I know some people who grew outside the whole way, but obviously they don't start flowering outdoors until we head into autumn, so by the time they're ready to harvest, its April or May anyway and everyone is back on board.!!!

 

But next year, I was wanting to plant in late october and then look to start flowering indoors for four weeks in Jan ensuring I'm stocked for feb and beyond.

 

Not only do i think it would be a good way to save money - I somehow got the impression that MH lights were better for growth and HPS better for flower. From my experience, the HPS probably didn't grow them as intensely and quickly as I was expecting, but it looks like these plants are flowering nicely. As a result I was thinking I might get really good veg with good outdoor light specrum (sun) and then bring in the HPS to flower them off. We'll see.

 

Cheers for your help everyone. Let you know how i get along.

[The Hash Nibbler]

No worries Paddy, have fun with it man. GH72

Heres a very lil cupboard set up you might like to see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Small but well set up and easy to use, it's all in the planning dude. Goodnight. GH72

Edited May 6, 2010 by Grasshopper72

[The Hash Nibbler]

Ok, one more. The inner workings and my ballast shelf and clone/seedling area with sealed mat and isolated electrics. Small storage/ drying area And 250mm input fan with another up top for air out. This system is a Run to Waste coco system. Simple and Effective.

 

 

 

[paddy1]

hey grasshopper - I like you're style. Certainly seems that the better quality the setup, the better the output.

 

Question for you actually.

 

I am curious about harvesting. From reading around the net and various forums, here is what I have decided would be my plan of attack, but if you could offer any corrections or additional input, i would be much obliged

 

1) Do not harvest until around 60% + of the hairs are brown.

 

2) About one week before harvesting, feed nothing but straight water to remove the foul taste that nutes can leave behind.

 

3) When ready to harvest, cut the plant at the base.

 

4) attach a good strong pin/clip through the base so i can hang upside down from a clothes hanger in a cupboard.

 

5) hang upside down in closet or equivalent in complete darkness for about 4-5 days and ensure the area is reasonably ventilated and free from moisture.

 

6) After that check whether the stems snap cleanly. If they do, its sufficently dry and i can put in an air tight large jar, but avoid overpacking, heat and sunlight during storage.

 

How does that sound? Or is there a better way and/or is there any point above that I should do differently?

 

Thanks again for assistance

[The Hash Nibbler]

Hey paddy, no worries mate. There is a check you can do on the trichomes, under a microscope(handheld ones are best), I just got a cheap $30 one at a toy store. Grab a sample bud and stick it under at 100x magnification, these trichomes look like little clear mushrooms, as it gets ready to harvest they go milky and as they mature they become amber( as they start to amber, start your flushing). Pull your plant when they are half milky/ half amber ( different people like different stages but this is a good happy medium).

I usually cut off main branches from the main stem and do a nice prune of all excess leaf material so they are just clean looking buds on a long stem. (use the bud leaf and put through a grinder with a sieve after it dries a bit and make a bit of hash with the resin and crystals to smoke while you get everything else sorted =) )

If you use pruners, you can cut in sections and the bit of the main stem you cut down the middle and use as a hook(make sense?) Then hang these up in the dark for about a week until, Yes, the stems give a nice snap on bending them. Then I usually cut the buds from the stems and put them in a jar or container and open it every 12 hours for 30 minutes to let the condensation out(it's called burping). Do this for 2-3-4 weeks but burp less as you go, down to once every 48hrs and you will have some sweet nuggets for sure.

So Paddy, your obviously doing your homework you had it just about right, pretty spot on for the most. Remember dude, what I say is just a guideline, the best judge of when it's ready is a good nose and a keen eye. I trust my nose mostly I'm a friggin THC bloodhound. =) GH72

 

My little burpers =)

 

 

 

Edited May 7, 2010 by Grasshopper72

[paddy1]

Hi Guys

 

This topic did get a bit sidetracked with some extra questions, but i thought i would post the latest photos and get some feedback.

 

Several days ago, I flooded and flushed the soil and coconut fibre.

 

Most of the plants seem to look ok. There is a bit of a yellowing down the bottom, but the top looks ok and some healthy buds are developing.

 

 

However, there is one that I can't really make a call about. This one is grown in soil (premium potting mix) and while I did feed it nutes in the later stages, I have not fed any nutes for 1 week. Some of the yellow leaves curled up, browned and either fell of or simply slipped off the plant when i grabbed it to have a closer look.

 

 

 

Despite looking a bit ordinary, the buds on it seem to be thickening. I was thinking that maybe the leaves that have come off are the end of its 'sick' period and it will scrub up fairly green and lush over the next week. I was thinking of feeding it nothing but water, but perhaps nute on 1 out of every 4 feeds (though I think I probably have only a couple of weeks to go now!).

 

Feedback and help welcome

[The Hash Nibbler]

Hey Paddy1, the ones in the first pic are tall but got no volume, If you decide to harvest them cut off the tops, drop your light and let them go again, those bottoms can then get some light and give ya another load of buds. just cut it off on the main stem as it thins out, wet a bit of toilet paper and clump it over the cut to protect it and then dry and cure your tops while you bud the rest. The little one is looking like it's about done, unless it has some kind of deficency or over nutes, but just has that "plant feeding from shadies look " you get at the end of a grow.

Maybe someone else has a better idea about the small one. check out my new grow diary dude and best of luck with your girls =0. GH72

[paddy1]

Hey Grasshopper,

 

thanks again - i feel like i owe you a few beers. My appreciation for your fast and great help cannot be expressed.

 

However, I have to say, unfortunately, that I have loads of questions for your little reply and a few little comments that i just want your feedback on. I'm going to dot point them so easy to respond to

 

1) Let's start with your comments:

 

"Hey Paddy1, the ones in the first pic are tall but got no volume, If you decide to harvest them cut off the tops, drop your light and let them go again, those bottoms can then get some light and give ya another load of buds."

 

They are fairly tall and the light is not really getting to the bottom sections.

 

However, I was under the impression that if I cut them stem at any point, I would really destroy the plant. But seems like you have an alternative and I would really like to get some more yield given the effort (and the electricity bill that's probably in the mail).

 

So - let me just break up your advice so i've clear:

 

"...cut it down, just cut it off on the main stem"

a) Perhaps 1/3 of the way down ok?

 

"as it thins out, wet a bit of toilet paper and clump it over the cut to protect it"

how long would it take to "thin out" before I put the wet toiler paper on top? Does this mean the top open cut will be exposed to direct light for (eg) a couple of days? When I put the wet toilet paper on, do i need to re-wet it every day or so to keep it moist, as it will obviously dry out after being under the hot light for a while.... ?

 

"and then dry and cure your tops while you bud the rest."

c) Just hang them up in the dark as per usual?

 

2) The little one is looking like it's about done, unless it has some kind of deficency or over nutes, but just has that "plant feeding from shadies look " you get at the end of a grow.

- What do you mean by "plant feeding from shadies look" ? In any case, the hairs are starting to brown up a bit so they're nearly done and i plan to harvest them in 5 days. Strange thing is that the small one is my oldest plant! I grew outside for 2 weeks, then bought the light and went indoors. They're in potting mix soil (not coconut fibre) and veged for 10 weeks, but after about 5-6 weeks veg, they suddenly stopped growing. Not sure what happened there, maybe over nute or something.?

 

The tall ones are in coconut fibre. They stretched a lot when i switched the lighting. As a side note, the also stretched a bit bit veg period because i moved house and had to leave them outside for two days (very annoying!).

 

One final thing is that i probably mucked up the budding period. I left the plants near a window and the street light outside may have mucked them up a bit when i didn't shut the blinds over night. Since I have started doing this, i've noticed that the bulkiness of the buds are improving

 

Seems like during veg, light is the important factor. Can't get enough of it. 17, 18, 19, 20.... ahhh what the hell, some people are doing 23/1 during veg. Light light light... But during the bloom stage, darkness is the important factor. Totally dark, not a slight bit of light leaking in, dark dark dark... interesting how it works!

Edited May 9, 2010 by paddy1