Let me start out by saying although I consider this is my first official grow, I've spent many years infatuated with the growing of cannabis, I have researched the process over and over and continue to do so today and I had many failures experimenting in the past before reaching the knowledge and small set up that I have now. I will keep this as brief of a summary as I can in this series of My First Blue Dream grow. I used a combo of high stress and low stress training to create a flat canopy for even light distribution, to promote a heavier harvest. I will continue to add more in depth information in future posts if it goes well and people are interested in my process.
In the beginning I was lucky enough to be given a Blue Dream plant that had already been started from seed and grown in a 1 gallon pot of coco coir. The plant was already about a foot and a half tall when I received it so it was ready for transplant. After a few days of allowing it to adjust to its new home I carefully transplanted the one gallon pot of coco coir into a 3 gallon pot of a soil blend, creating a coco coir center root ball surrounded by soil. This is an abnormal method to grow as you would normally stick to one medium but I like to grow in soil for a better taste and flavor in the end and since I was given a plant already started in coco I went for an odd combo but it ended up working out. I sprinkled mychorizae in the hole prior to transplant and once the plant was set I gave a good watering ph'd between 6-7 ph. About a week after transplant I removed the top of the plant to split the top, disrupting its tendancy to put all the energy to the center top nug and create an even canopy. To speed up this process I began pinching and bending the top branches down to allow the bottom branches to catchup and those at the very bottom I removed in order to allow more nutrient flow to to the top. Now I honestly wasn't sure if id be able to keep this plant alive as I know it can be difficult to get started and so I didn't take many pictures at first in order to avoid the embarrassment to be had if the plant just died after a week in my possession.
However, to my surprise after a couple weeks in 18/6 veg light cycle the plant was doing really well! With my careful pinching and bending I was beginning to create a bush nearly unrecognizable from the plant I originally received but we'll have to start the series from this point, as that is when I began taking photos.
The plant is around 5-6 weeks total veg here and had been in my possession for about 3 weeks now.
Now I only have a 400 watt ballast set up so I aimed to get the best bulbs I could find, In the veg stage I was using a 400 watt Eye Hortilux Blue Daylight MH bulb that is heavy in the blue spectrum for increased foliage but this particular bulb claims to have a very wide spectrum of light which aims to more closely simulate natural sunlight.
At this point I started high stress training by pinching and bending over the branches that got higher than the rest and also doing low stress on branches that needed less motivation. I was able to use a combo of hemp rope and twisty ties to help pull the less stubborn branches away from the center and allow more light to the lower foliage. Also to compensate for my nutrient defficient soil since it only was 2/3rds soil and 1/3rd coco coir I made up for it with a boost of nutrients heavy in nitrogen to keep the plant happy during the mid to late veg stage.
It didn't take long before I was close to reaching a nice spread out canopy I was happy with. At this point (about 6-7 weeks total veg) I switched out my MH bulb for my 400W HPS Digilux bulb which is heavy in orange and red light to promote flowering. Now is when I reduced to a 12/12 light cycle.
I continued to pinch/bend branches and adjust my ties accordingly to get even light to newly forming tops.
At this point I began adjusting my nutrients for the early flowering schedule, I was using liquid ferts that I don't necessarily agree with but would be sure to get the job done and since the grower that gave me the plant uses strictly coco coir when received his blessed plantnI had to adopt a bit of his coco methods and combine them with my soil knowledge.
Another Grow I just started a couple weeks ago features northern lights and purple trainwreck plants and will be all organically grown in soil from seed. Perhaps ill blog along their progress as they go.
Below is 2 week into flowering, at this stage I removed the humidifier I had in the space as I would no longer want an environment above 60% humidity going into flower.
I'm Continuing to adjust the ties and bend down branches every few days or at times of waterings as she grows.
After 3 weeks of flowering This Sativa dominant strain was surely showing its genetics as the foliage was rapidly multiplying everyday!
In order to get better light penetration thus fatter buds, I decided now was good time in early flowering to do a good trim. Here is the aftermath of that trim, when trimming into flower phase remember not to remove too much since at this stage (around 3-4 weeks into flowering) the plants vegetive growth will slow down and nearly halt all together as it shifts its energy toward flowering.
This is around Week 3-4, I was preparing to set up a make shift trellis net so I decided to take the plant out of its chamber for a photo shoot before doing so in order to get a glimpse under more natural light while I had the chance.
Heres the canopy I had formed viewed from straight above,
A little close up with some flash on those early triche's
Now back under the orange light for a few days to give me time to get a series of trellis nets prepared I made out of hemp string.
I lined up a 2 series trellis, the bottom was just a rough square to just basically support the outer branches as they are beginning to fatten up nicely here and the top was a 6"by 6" square pattern to help keep the buds even and supported for their final run.
In most cases I would have implemented a trellis sooner perhaps even in the veg stage but since I was only dealing with one plant I was ok with the extra time for using twisty ties and hemp rope for individual branches and at this point my main reason for creating the trellis now is because I was actually more worried about the buds becoming to heavy for the branches to support them as I noticed all of of my twisty ties had recently lost tension due to the weight of the buds sagging the branches down and only 5 weeks into flowering, I knew I was only about halfway there.
Heres is where I finally invested in a good pair of grow glasses by method 7 which allows you to better see the true color of the buds even under the Hps bulb, the results even worked when holding the lense over my camera which is how I took this photo around 5 1/2 weeks.
Week 6 and a half I took this beautiful photo with a combination of a high power led flashlight and my camera flash which gives a good view of the trichome production and acted as the photo i used as the showcase of this series
This is where I stand approaching week 8 the buds are getting fatter than I ever expected them too and using a handheld microscope I can see that only a few of the triches are beginning to get cloudy so I still have another week or so before ill begin a 2 week flush to whipe out the nutrients I used to compensate for the 1/3rd coco coir growing medium I was stuck with to ensure a smooth smoke.!
I will upload a harvest post when i take her down so please upvote this, share and resteem if you know people that would be interested. If people show interest I will begin posting for an all organic grow of Northern Lights and Purple Trainwreck I've just started in a separate room!
Thanks for reading! Feel free to ask any questions you may have below.
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