FLX420 Summer 2022

My Home Grow for Beginners, Part 2

The Vegetative & Flowering Stages

by Levi LeGrow, photos by Missy Kelly

Last time (FLX420, the Premier Issue, see it at FLX420.com), my home-grow diary covered the initial four weeks of my very first home grow: seed germination to seedlings. Although I made mistakes along the way, I’m very pleased with the way my plants have progressed, thanks to help from my mentor Jon Callahan of Honest Pharm Co. I’m grateful to Jon and hope that the information I share – including his advice – will help other first-time home growers be successful with their experience.

In this issue, my journey continues with updates on the plants’ vegetative and flowering stages. One of the biggest challenges, especially this summer, has been maintaining a consistent temperature and level of humidity. When the plants were 4 weeks old, I added a small ventilation system, reduced the intensity of the light, and started keeping the room’s door open during the day. All that was based on Jon’s recommendation to “dial in” my environment and reduce the temperature of my grow room.

That’s where this entry begins. Let’s grow, people …

Cannabis Vegetative Stage

(will last for a period of 3 to 16 weeks)

Benchmarks:

Temperature: 70-85˚F (Temperatures will fluctuate during light on/off periods)

Humidity: 40-60% Light: 18 hours of light/6 hours of darkness while increasing the light intensity (blue spectrum preferred)

Height of Light: I hand test for heat, about 12”-16” above the plants

Nutrients: I use nutrients and a feeding schedule from General Organics, per Jon’s advice. Apparently, the program is very forgiving for first time growers.

Water: Every 2-4 days depending on need – but I avoid overwatering. I water near the stem and also around the outer edge of the plant pot to help the roots stretch for the water. See H20, below.

pH level of water: 6.0-6.3 using tap water with a de-chlorinator solution.

Trimming the fan leaves

During the vegetative stage, plants will grow very quickly in height and size. Adding air movement from oscillating fans will help strengthen plant stems. It was a good time to begin topping and trimming the plants. Topping helps the canopy expand horizontally. Trimming the fan leaves at the base of the plants creates good airflow underneath.

Topping

Seal the wound by pinching it with your fingers

After I finished topping, Jon suggested that I also scrog the plants to spread out the canopy. I got a late start, so my canopy isn’t as broad as we would have liked. See Scrogging on page 21. Scrogging also helps support branches with heavy buds.

I was in a hurry to push my plants to flower for the sake of this article, but giving plants more vegetative time results in bigger plants that are more likely to produce higher yields.

By week 6, the plants began to show pre-flowers which eventually turned to buds. Note: Only female plants will produce buds. I was working with feminized seeds so I didn’t have to worry about male plants. If you purchase regular seeds, there’s a chance you’ll have both male and female plants in the mix. This would be the time to remove the male plants from the female plants to avoid pollination. Once a female plant is pollinated, it will produce seeds inside of the buds.

H20 - How, When and How Much?

I discovered that overwatering is a common mistake made by first-time growers. A cycle of wet and dry is healthy and necessary for the roots to grow out and reach deeper into the soil. Roots pull in oxygen as soil dries. If the soil is too wet, the plant cannot pull in oxygen. Here are two ways to determine if your plant needs water.

1) Stick a finger 1-2” into the soil. If it’s wet, hold off on your watering. If it’s dry, it’s time to add water.

2) Pick up the pot and feel its weight. Get a feel for what you’re looking for by lifting the pot after a good watering. You’ll quickly learn the difference between a pot that has water and one that needs it.

Watering process: Dampen the soil of your plants first, wait a few minutes and then add more water (approximately 1/4 gallon each time). Repeat this process until water starts to drain from bottom of plant. My plants usually took up to 1 gallon with each feeding.

Other watering tips:

• An under-watered plant looks weak with yellow or brown leaves that curl up.

• An over-watered plant looks droopy, but with dark green leaves with tips that curl downward.

• As your plant gets bigger, increase your watering radius to help guide roots to the edges of the pot as they seek nutrients in the soil.

• Make sure you remove the chlorine when using tap water. Use a dechlorination solution.

• Water pH should be 6.0-6.3 which helps the plants absorb all of the necessary nutrients from the soil.

• Water temperature should be between 65-75 degrees F.

• I tested for the total amount of salts/nutrients in my tap water using a TDS/ TEMP meter. The Parts Per Million (ppm) should range anywhere from 50 to 300 ppm. Any higher and you can dilute with distilled water if necessary.

• I mixed my nutrients and water in a 5-gallon bucket using a small submersible pump for about 15 minutes.

Cannabis Flowering Stage

Flowering Initiation

Mid-Flowering

Late Flowering/Ripening

Cannabis Trichomes in Late Flowering

Benchmarks

Temperature: 65-80˚ F (Temperatures will fluctuate during light on/off periods)

Humidity: 40-50%

Light: I changed the light schedule to start the flowering process. 12 hours of light/12 hours of darkness. I also increased the light intensity and, since complete darkness is essential, I did not disrupt or otherwise look in on my plants during their 12 hours of darkness.

Height of Light: I hand test for heat, about 12”-16” above the plants

Nutrients: I continue to follow the feeding schedule from General Organics.

Water: Every 2-4 days depending on need, but I avoid overwatering.

pH level of Water: 6.0-6.3 using tap water with a dechlorinator solution.

The flowering stage lasts a total of 8 to 12 weeks, depending on the strain. Indica strains will take approximately 8 weeks to fully develop, Sativa strains 10 to 12 weeks, and hybrid strains 6 to 10 weeks. The flowering process has 3 separate stages: 1) Flower Initiation, 2) Mid-Flowering, and 3) Late Flowering.

Flower Initiation (3-week process) During this stage the plants stretched and grew in both size and height. Some doubled in size. The female plants started blooming with pre-flowers. Their pistils looked like white hairs. By the end of the third week, the plant started forming its bud sites in the plant nodes.

Mid-Flowering (2 week process) The plants stopped growing, the buds started to get fat, and the pistils got darker. By maintaining a good feeding schedule during this period, the size of my buds increased and the plants formed strong aromatic components. I stopped pruning to avoid upsetting the plants’ hormones.

Late Flowering/Ripening (2 to 5 week process) The buds gain the most weight in the last few weeks, and become sticky. The aroma is very strong. The pistils show white, cream or brown colors and get covered in trichomes. Jon advised me to pay close attention to the trichomes – a magnifying glass came in handy. When trichomes are around 50%, the THC level is at its peak in most strains. The trichomes started to turn from clear to a milky or amber color. Both of these are good indicators that it’s time to harvest!

Scrogging net placed as flowering begins

What is Scrogging?

Scrogging works best when combined with plant topping. Topping your plants will help branches grow horizontally, increasing the surface area of your canopy so the light will hit as many bud sites as possible.

Height: Set the screen about 1 ft. above the base of the plants.

Size: It’s helpful to keep the same strains together as they will have a similar size and shape. If you have multiple strains, group them by height.

Spacing: Be sure to space your plants properly. The branches of one plant should slightly interlock with the branches of the plants next to it. Generally speaking, this means about 1-2 ft. between pots. A better way to gauge spacing is to stretch out the longest branch of a plant toward the plant next to it. If it reaches the middle of the next plant, it’s too close; it should overlap with the longest branch of the adjacent plant by 6” or so.

What I learned during this part of my grow

Keep a daily journal.

I still find that controlling the temperature and humidity is the most challenging aspect of growing cannabis indoors. For reference, my interior room is only 8’ by 9’ and I’m using a 5’ x 5’ grow tent.

If I had more time, I would have let the plants grow a week or two longer during the vegetative stage to increase their size before flowering.

Scrogging. I need to do a better job of stretching out canopies in the future to increase my overall yield.

In an ideal situation, your grow light should run at 100% intensity. In my case, in a small indoor room with no air conditioning, I was only able to run the light at 55% which seemed to be the sweet spot for maintaining consistent temperatures.

I’ve had the opportunity to chat with other home growers and have come to realize that everyone has their own techniques and very strong opinions on what works best for a successful cannabis grow. Fascinating!

The most rewarding part of my first home grow was the actual look on Jon’s face when he viewed the plants during the ripening stage. He said, “Dude, you’re killing it!” Hearing that from my mentor is all the encouragement I need to keep growing. Look for the next issue of FLX420 where I’ll talk about preparing for harvest, flushing the plants, trimming, drying and storage. Until next time, let’s grow together!

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