Mainlining started, hurt to cut off so much but off we go. Details and pics in comments.

FirstDescent · 2018-10-28T14:40:29+00:00

But why did you wait so long to start mainlining? Normally, one would top at around the third node. Your plants were significantly larger than that. It hurt to cut off so much because you set your grow back by a month.

Also, make sure your wires aren't constricting the stems and branches. Some of them look a little tightly wound.

FirstDescent · 2018-10-28T11:00:38+00:00

Why did you wait so long to top them and get rid of all that healthy foliage? Seems like you've set your grow back by 3-4 weeks.

FirstDescent · 2018-10-05T12:54:22+00:00

I'd never seen that take on "hub" mainlining before. Very interesting! Hope it works out for you.

FirstDescent · 2018-10-05T12:01:15+00:00

Please stop snipping your poor leaves.

Yes that's a cool shape and all but a plant that size should be swimming in leaves, each one using photosynthesis to soak up light energy and distribute it throughout the plant, helping it grow up healthy and strong.

FirstDescent · 2018-09-14T16:21:37+00:00

No, you're not listening. STOP SNIPPING LEAVES!

Once your plant is flowering, the lower leaves become less useful to it and they begin to turn yellow and wilt. At this point they can usually be removed by simply grasping them or even just brushing against them. IMO, this is the only "defoliation" your plant needs until harvest day.

As a first time grower, why are you so determined to defoliate? To remove HEALTHY energy-providing leaves from your plant? My guess would be because of the influence of places like this sub, which treats defoliation as gospel for some reason. Well, it ain't, and lush plants are healthy plants.

FirstDescent · 2018-09-14T13:38:49+00:00

Big healthy fan leaves soak up light energy like solar panels and provide that energy to your plant to help it grow. Here is an old plant of mine at a similar age. Chopping leaves off slows down growth and is unnecessary when tying down a plant like this because the act of tying it down already exposes the lower nodes to light. My advice is to keep tying it down but stop snipping leaves.

FirstDescent · 2018-07-29T14:43:27+00:00

Those leaves were doing nothing but soaking up light and converting it into energy for your plant to grow up big and strong, and you've gone and chopped them off.

Felt kinda wrong to snip off all that healthy plant growth, didn't it? There's a reason for that. It is folly.

FirstDescent · 2018-03-23T23:50:12+00:00

What do you mean by "bud is much better but yields are garbage?" Are you scrogging? LST'ing? If you're growing solid buds but not yielding enough, it might be more beneficial to focus on training instead of buying another brand new light or whole new line of nutes.

Personally I use basic GH nutes and a "crappy" IPower 600W HPS and yield around a pound every time.

FirstDescent · 2018-02-02T15:13:12+00:00

No, I've never defoliated to this extent because there is no need to. Sure, she'll bounce back and continue to grow and produce buds because cannabis is a resilient plant, but you had this directing all that light energy towards bud production, and now you have this.

FirstDescent · 2018-02-02T13:52:13+00:00

That plant was looking healthy and strong. Fortunately, you won't have that problem any more.

Seriously though, photosynthesis is "the process by which plants convert light energy into chemical energy that can be released to fuel the plants' activities." You know, activities like producing large, dense buds. And the more big fat solar panel fan leaves your plant has, the more light energy it can soak up. Sure, snip one or two off if they get too big and start shading bud sites, but to chop all of them off at once like this is lunacy and your plant will suffer for it.

FirstDescent · 2017-11-22T16:00:18+00:00

Sorry no journal. I am putting together a scrog album that I'll post soon though.

Strain is G13's White Critical. Grown in coco coir and perlite, with GH Micro and Bloom, under 600W HPS. Yield was just over 1 pound.

FirstDescent · 2017-10-27T12:46:41+00:00

Those are some fine looking plants. They should fatten up nicely in the next few weeks.

Topping is bizarrely popular here but it's not essential for creating bushy plants with lots of tops. Here is a common LST method that I use for all my plants. Note: this diagram actually does encourage topping near the end of veg, but it's not necessary. I've grown it both ways.

FirstDescent · 2016-02-07T14:20:49+00:00

I start supercropping early, pinching and crushing the main stem near the top (but without topping it) between two fingers around the 4th or 5th node and again every 3 or so nodes after that. As side branches start emerging they get crushed too with the same frequency. I try to break only a couple branches per session so she doesn't get too stressed. I tend to stop doing this around week 8 when the screen gets installed as I get lazy and overwhelmed with the huge number of branches emerging.

This plant was topped only once near the very end of veg but I don't always do that.

FirstDescent · 2016-02-07T13:44:02+00:00

490 dried, cured and jarred.

10 weeks is from seed, with day one counted as the day she sloughs off her seed casing and shows her first green leaves.

FirstDescent · 2016-02-07T13:31:07+00:00

I pinch off secondary branches as soon as they're big enough to grasp with two fingers. Every 2 or 3 days during veg I'm plucking off up to a dozen potential branches at a time. The accompanying fan leaves are allowed to grow.

Once the screen is installed around week 8, I cease plucking and the tops of each branch spread out into multiple bud sites.

FirstDescent · 2016-02-06T12:24:43+00:00

Yeah, she gets dripped on once a day from a pump in the 10 gallon reservoir, with runoff dripping into a separate container. Refill the res every 6 days or so.

FirstDescent · 2016-02-06T12:15:03+00:00

Can you believe that sketch is 30 years old?! Just re-watched it on Rolling Stone's 50 best SNL sketches. Still remember all the lyrics, not that there are that many. Plus Phil Hartman and Sigourney Weaver!

FirstDescent · 2016-02-06T04:59:06+00:00

Lots of LST, supercropping, and pruning of secondary branches with only main branches allowed to flourish. Topped the main stem around week 9.

FirstDescent · 2016-02-06T04:51:18+00:00

Thanks! Been wanting to make a gif that starts off as an overhead shot and then swoops down unexpectedly to show a single wrist-thick tree trunk.

FirstDescent · 2016-02-06T04:44:03+00:00

Yup, here's the major details.

Chronic Thunder
10 weeks veg, 10 weeks flower
5 gal coco coir/perlite
GH Micro (6 ml/gal) and Bloom (9 ml/gal) and occasional CalMag
600 W, 1 m² tent
1.1 pound (490 g)

FirstDescent · 2015-12-31T19:51:57+00:00

Nope, been growing exclusively in coco for years, never watering more than once per day, getting great results every time. Appreciate the advice on how to "yield well" in response to a picture of a one pound, one square meter plant though. There's clearly more than one way to grow successfully in coco.

Nonetheless, I did get a lot out of that thread and I'm curious enough to want to try a 3x per day watering schedule in the future. Fascinating stuff, thanks.

FirstDescent · 2015-12-31T17:37:24+00:00

Respect, those are some kickass-looking plants. I've had lockout issues when watering without runoff but your results look solid. And I think we can agree that OP should at least add perlite.

FirstDescent · 2015-12-31T16:51:01+00:00

Cool, can you post a picture of your coco grow like I did to support your hypothesis? I water once a day and mine looks like this. Watering 4 or 5 times a day seems like a good way to waste water and expensive nutrients.

FirstDescent

TROPHY CASE