Randar Grows Some Dank

[Randar]

Overall, plants are doing well. All have now been topped (the stunted Swiss Skunk was topped and up-potted today). Things are getting bushy and stinky in the tent. I’m currently planning on flipping in about 2 weeks, but will be playing it by ear on how the plants are looking.

Aside from topping, I’m only doing some leaf tucking on the plants each morning to ensure they’re getting as much light as possible during the veg period. I’m contemplating doing some LST later this week when I have some time.

Group shot:

TNT Trichome, day 21:

Swiss Skunk, day 18:

Gorilla Bomb, day 21:

Any idea what’s causing this discoloration on my Gorilla Bomb leaves??

Swiss Skunk, day 21 (stunted):

[Randar]

All four plants were watered today and rotated. All are looking good and probably in need of some LST. Upped the nutrients to about 4 g / 3 qts of water which is a good amount for this point in veg.

[Randar]

Since this is my first time growing photos, I have a question for those with some experience here.

I’m coming up on the time to flip the plants to flower (right now looking at 9/14 for this). Up to now, I’ve just topped and tucked/tied back. No other defoliation. I’ve read that I should heavily defoliate right before flipping. Is this pretty much a consensus? What do you do with defoliation and flip timing?

[Randar]

Well, as it should be, the plants dictated the flip to flower. Upon checking the tent yesterday, the plants had grown/bushed out enough where, due to height limitations in the tent, I needed to flip to flower to allow for some stretch. So, yesterday they switched to 12/12, and this morning I gave them all a nice drink with 4 grams MegaCrop and 1 gram Bud Explosion. They each were heavily defoliated as well to open up the plants to air movement and light.

This flip was about a week earlier than I planned, but oh well. Also, I now have a firmer window on my pollination schedule. Looking at hitting them with pollen somewhere between 9/27 and 10/5. The plan is to pollinate one branch each of the Gorilla Bomb and TnT Trichome, and pollinate the whole of the second Swiss Skunk. As stated earlier, all pollen is the BOG Sour Bubble BX3 from @DougDawson.

Pics coming soon.

[Randar]

From left to right: Swiss Skunk #2 (the stunted one), Swiss Skunk, Gorilla Bomb, TnT Trichome. All defoliated and starting their flowering phase!

[Randar]

Almost a full week into flowering and the plants are doing well. Sitting at 72F and ~60-63% humidity. A little on the high side for humidity, but it will keep dropping as we get into fall, and I have plenty of air circulation in the tent, so no concerns there.

(from L to R: TnT Trichome, Swiss Skunk #2, Swiss Skunk, Gorilla Bomb)

[Foreigner]

Defoliate whenever you like, they don’t care.

I will take a few here and there at any time but for a big one I like to wait until post stretch so I can be more certain which ones I don’t like

[Randar]

Good to hear. Did a medium defoliation this morning. Mostly to let light keep penetrating into the plant. Once the stretch is done, I’ll remove all the bottom foliage. Also seeing signs of pistils on at least two of the plants. Not surprising since they are all fem seeds, but still it’s good to see confirmation.

[Randar]

All four ladies were watered yesterday with Mega Crop (4 grams) and Bud Explosion (1 gram). All are looking happy and healthy with lots of flower sites starting to show.

Still on track for a pollination hit in about 1-2 weeks.

[Randar]

All the ladies were watered today. Keeping the MC the same (~4 grams per watering), but slightly increased the Bud Explosion to around 1.5 grams. So far, they’ve all been taking the nutes like champs.

Below is a group shot of the ladies in the tent. From left to right: “Stunted” Swiss Skunk, Swiss Skunk, Gorilla Bomb, TnT Trichome.

[Randar]

Overall, this is day 42 for the plants. Day 13 since the flip to 12/12. My rough estimate has me pollinating a branch on each of them sometime between 9/27 and 10/5, though that will be adjusted based on flower progression.

[Randar]

So a question for the few people that are following this:

My canopy is pretty even, lots of bud sites, but on each plant there are maybe 3-5 branches that reach up over the top. Is this a big deal, or should I be looking at super cropping these few outliers so that the canopy is totally even?

[GCBudz]

I think most guys looking for that full level canopy would top those taller sites… add a few more bud sites while getting the desired result.

That’s how I understand it anyway, I rarely follow my own advice and say screw it.

[Randar]

I get you. It’s too late at this point (3 weeks into flower) to top those taller sites, but I am open to bending them down. I just don’t really know if it’s worth it. There are tons of bud sites, so at this point, I may just let them do their thing.

[Randar]

Watered all the ladies this morning. Gave them 4 grams of MC and 2 grams of Bud Explosion. They’ve been taking these nutes like champs.

With the state of the bud sites, it’s looking like I’ll be pollinating branches around this time next week.

[Foreigner]

I would probably tie them down. Or if I had adequate headroom I might not care.

Dealers choice really.

I’ve topped early flower before and it was fine but I probably lost .02% yield. Depending on what you’re growing 3 weeks might be too late.

[Randar]

Thanks for the input. At this point, I’ve decided to let them be. The yield will still be good. My goal this round was to take my first shot at photos and also take my first shot at pollinating branches.

With four plants in the tent, I’ll end up with more than enough, and can strive for an engineer-worthy even canopy next grow.

(Though in reality, I’ll probably change my mind next week and supercrop the outliers so that the canopy is even)

[Foreigner]

Cheers man anytime.

Something else I do sometimes is to put small boxes underneath the shorter plants to level them off from the bottom.

But looking at your above pictures I’d say your canopy is pretty even and I wouldn’t even worry about it.

[Randar]

The ladies were watered today with the normal 4 grams of MC and 2 grams of Bud Explosion. Lots of flowering sites and pistils showing!

Right now, I’m planning on pollinating a lower branch on each plant later this week with the BOG Sour Bubble BX3 pollen. So, today I took the pollen out of the freezer and placed it into the fridge to allow it to slowly warm up. An hour or so before I plan to pollinate, I’ll remove it from the fridge and allow it to come to room temp.

[Randar]

Group shot! Day 48 (Day 19 since flip).

(From L to R: Swiss Skunk, TnT Trichome, Swiss Skunk, Gorilla Bomb)