Arjan's Haze #3 + a n00b grower's vain attempt not to make every mistake in the book

[Lebenszeichen]

Greetings strain connoisseurs, let me make my introductory post with my humble bio grow of AH#3. I embarked on this little project in a very casual way, not having much idea of what I was getting into and overconfident about my previous general gardening experience. Here's a brief (or not so brief) rundown of the things I've done wrong (or not so wrong) thus far:

• Not knowing that there needs to be a vegetation period PRIOR to flowering I started germination August 29 with the intention to make it an outdoor grow with a harvest sometime in November (summer here lasts well into October and there are enough sunshine hours in the days up untill December)
  
• After having botched the first germination batch by losing 1 of 3 seeds during planting, I ended up overwatering the 2 seedlings I got. On top of that, poor quality soil, bad drainage of the containers, a failure to spot and remedy those problems early on and my still clueless muddling through with lighting types and photoperiod schedules, lead to the inevitable withering of both youngsters by September 15, whereupon I started the process anew.
  
• By now I realise the folly of my plans and I decide to switch the project to indoors AND THIS TIME DO IT RIGHT . This meant no more 12w CFL bulbs! So I started looking for more powerful solutions and having gone through the mandatory n00b purchases of 70w incadescents (of the spotlight type to boot) I settled with a mix of a 40w@6400K and a 20w@2800K CFL, with a total output of ~3200Lumens.
  
• Being overly cautious not to repeat the same overwatering blunder, I was very frugal with water rationing the new seedlings during the first week. However, roaming the web for growing technical knowledge and stumbling upon some sizeable AH#3 plants made me succumb to my impatienc,e at what I perceived to be a slow growth rate. So I overwatered my plants, AGAIN! Thankfully, my better choice of a growing medium, improvements to the design of my DIY containers and my elevated alertness for signs of trouble allowed me to not immediately lose the plants and put them in intensive care: emergency manual draining of water clogged pots every hour, introduction of 24h fan service to dry out the soaking soil, support the bent to the ground seedlings, addition of a new 50w@6400K CFL for warmer conditions...the works! For the first few days my plants are clinging on to dear life as their roots struggling with air deprivation. One of them, which was of a more robust phenotype (stouter stem - broader leaves) recovered faster, while the other one, which I came to name "The Runt" (sprouted later - slower rate of growth), was still struggling to keep straight unsupported due to its much more slender build. After 2 weeks of drying I was relieved to see them both surviving the ordeal, although I still couldn't leave the Runt unsupported against the breeze of the fan.
  
• Day 19 of the grow and as I woke up and opened the door of the closet to inspect the seedlings...DAMNATION! ...one of my makeshift light fixtures had become...UN-fixed overnight and dropped right on top of the stronger seedling, completely desiccating it. Lessons learned here: electric tape turns soft due to the increased heat from the extra ligh bulb - need to install an exhaust fan immediately and do a light fixture upgrade. Also at this point I dither between risking another disastrous loss of a young plant due to my inexperience and epic bad luck, and starting a 3rd batch of seedlings which is going to be tricky because any new plant will soon be at a different grow stage with the survivng plant and I can't afford two separate grow spaces in order to manage their cultivation optimally. The Runt's frailty didn't inspire me much confidence on its long-term survivability so I immediately planted a seed in the newly vacant pot figuring if I'm going to go into the trouble I may as well do an extreme test of germinating abilities of the Green House Seeds. Five days later and another sprouted seed emerging from the ground (a total of 6 out 6 success rate so far) means at least I'm getting my money's worth from the Amsterdam team.
  
• Nearing day 30 I have done enough research on the basics of growing to dare to use the GHS's official grow video for the strain as a benchmark for my own. GHS' organic plant was a clone rooting for 28 days and reaching a height of 22cm. My Runt on day 28 was 23cm but with less developed folliage and branching. On day 30 it was 28cm tall and still a bit lacking in branching, but considering the stresses it has been through, the low power lighting and the still haphazard photoperiod scheduling (still trying to adjust the schedule so that the new seedling will spend 12 of the 18 hours of its schedule sharing the room with the big plant), I'm not too jealous.
  
• Day 31 I transplanted to a large container with a mix of 40lt potting soil and 20lt humus. I intend to see how this basic nutrient arrangement is going to work in the end, so I'm giving nothing more than water unless a dire defficiency develops and even then only something bio like guano is to be used. NATURALLY I OVERWATERED AGAIN, so I had to implement the whole intensive drying regiment once more...LOL...good thing the Runt had become much stronger by now and the new abundance of food together with better lighting (150w@2700K+50w@6400K CFL+reflector+reflective wall lining) and better climate control helped turn what could have been another stressful situation into vigorous growth (3-4cm per day!). Of course I let the soil thoroughly dry out for 12 days before watering again...
  
• I am currently on day 51 (day 21 of flowering) and the plant is 82cm tall. GHS's benchmark grow plant growing under a 600w HPS bulb was 67cm and a stark difference with a much bushier branching structure and greater flower progress. Do I need to trim the top in mine and, if so, by how much?
  

The time to switch the seedling to flowering is approaching and I still don't know what to do to bring it up to speed with the older plant. I'm thinking of prolonging its vegetative time to maybe 60 days but it still would need to find its permanent place next to the other one...*shakes head*...LOL, what did I get myself into?

[Dust]

thanks for introducing yourself with ajournal man, those girls look on the good way for a first time

Don't worry everyone as been through there and if you need any help don't hesitate to ask the members they will be pleased to help you with your girls

About cutting the top (we call that toping most of the time) depends on how high you want your girl to be. if you got & 2m room you can let her be, in worst case you can still bend her

Have a good grow man keep us updated

[Bam-Bhole]

The Arjan haze#3 is great !

Just reaped mine..lol

Sown in april, put outside in june Vegged outside till september - no signs of flowering-then indoors for another good 9 week and voila - nice strong buds and so far the strain that produced the most hash from the trim.

All of that comes from just one fill of my shake'n joy hash maker - Nearly 2 grams from less than 20 grams of leaves -- every time I shake plenty comes out - the high is strong and well balanced - Lots of ativa introspective but enough body to elax and sleep well.. will de. grow more of Arjan's Haze..Harvested in 2 steps - picture shows the remaining half (topped her at 6 wees so she grew two crowns)

How was the outcome of your AH#3 ?

[Bam-Bhole]

see below - double post..

[Bam-Bhole]

First I put the Kif into the palm of my hand and pre model it into a ball or something like that. Depends on how much gum is in the powder this will be used like that. I got a very nice oval chunk of hash first and wrapped it in cellophan and walked around with it in my shoes. Looked solid, but after a while it started to fall apart..

For these occasions I got a mini hash press from mtal. I just put the stuff inside and two blocks of metal do the actual pressing. Shook it up one mo time tonight and got the rest that was missing to get 2 grams of hash.. The second batch of Haze produced 33 grams of dry buds - nice strain ! Looks best when rolled up in bubbles..The dry material from these were not even enough to fill up the Shake'n Baje one time. Around 2/3rd of the shaker is filled with xtremely dry and very fine grated trim. That is one reason why the outcome is soo good, but that alone is not the only reason. Must be the strain, that is so full of resin.. strong stuff. Wonder if i can get even more from it.

If you look closely see the lighter grren, that is from tonights shake..- the pressing device is also on the pictures

On top, the leftovers will produce a nice drop of oil as well..

My personal stash...3 gram bubble of Haze plus 2 gras of Haze Hash is waiting to be smoked..

[Bam-Bhole]

@ Lebenszeichen.

The Grow video shows clones not plants grown from seed - so the stages of development are different. The big girl looks okay BUT in order to get a good poduct invest in a HPS 400 watt or at least 250 for one or two girls. It is costly I know but worth every cent. If you want to grow outdoors chooose Indicas or hybrids not Sativas, even in Greece .. the climate is very diferent from the tropical jungles of say Laos, Thailand, Hawaii or the Carribbean etc.

Best of luck -Did you see any pre flowers already ?

[lamsbread]

Welcome lebenszeichen to strain hunters forum

Making mistakes is how we all learn and it seems you learned a lot.

Great introduction and a good read showing how you have gained knowledge throught your trial and errors.

Thanks for the nice quality pictures, we like to see the ladies

Looking forward to reading more of your posts and following your progress.

There is alwys help at hand should you require it and some great posts and threads, if you look around the forum.

Much fun and happy growing.

Peace

Lams

[Lebenszeichen]

The big girl looks okay BUT in order to get a good poduct invest in a HPS 400 watt or at least 250 for one or two girls. It is costly I know but worth every cent. If you want to grow outdoors chooose Indicas or hybrids not Sativas, even in Greece .. the climate is very diferent from the tropical jungles of say Laos, Thailand, Hawaii or the Carribbean etc.

Best of luck -Did you see any pre flowers already ?

I really can't go much beyond the current lighting. Once I replant the seedling and move it permanently beside the big one for flowering I might add some more CFL but I'm operating already at my limits right now and a 400w HPS bulb would mean spending more on electricity, then I need a balast, a stronger exhaust system etc, while right now I would like to keep things on a tighter budget (it's this fucking crisis too, you see). About the outdoors, I think it's perfectly achievable, just not at the unrealistic timetable premise I set out on initially in my n00bness, LOL.

The quality isn't good but If you look closely you can see the Runt's flowering on the macro photo above (first pistils had emerged around day 45. Below are a couple of photos I just shot:

(Day 54 - 91cm - running out of head space here!)

[Bam-Bhole]

I see and understand - one plant won't bring enough weed to make an investment in electricity and gear worthwhile. It was hard for me with the first grow, been broke every month end, too! Slowly but surely the first weed was ready + cash came in little by little in return and the old Freak Brother motto remains true to this day Dope gets you throu hard times better than cash , unless of course you smoke it all by yourself or got no one who is interested in buying your products for a fair price or you cannot trust anyone....

You are right Greece should be okay for outdoor growing but i was shocked to see no sign of pre flowering on the AH#3 after a whole summer outdoors in northern central europe. Planted in april outside from 6 weeks old - 3 months outside and nothing ! I'd expected to continue the flowering inside but ALL of the flowering on a 7 month old plant ? Never. Still the harvest was really good..lol

If you want to grow outdoors use different strains unless you can water them plenty some Silver Haze might do, just not this cambodian strain ! I may be wrong, anyone grown AH#3 in southern europe - spain or Greece ?

Good luck with the Haze - expect another 8 weeks or so till ready, keep the pix coming and we'll see when she is ready !

Peace + Grow

[URBANNINJA]

Welcome Lebenszeichen and wahoooo nice Arjans Haze #3.....fell in love with this strain it was my first ever Grow and defo gonne do her again in the near Future...... Gd Luck with the Ladys

[King's Kush]

I'm not very experienced with growing yet but I know of two things that might help with the over watering.

the first one is something i got for 7$ at my local hydro shop its a soil dryness meter. you just stick it in the soil as deep and slow as you can to try and avoid root damage and it tells you on a scale of 1-10 how dry it is. I think i put i pic of it in my intro thread. I don't know if they have em in your area but it may be worth looking into takes the guess work right out of it.

the second thing are the smart pots. i haven't used them yet but i have 7 all set for my next grow. its pretty much just a fabric pot that lets lots of air get to the roots and since its fabric all the water will drain out and all that will remain is what the soil can hold.

just thought i might share that with you but you clearly have nice plants going. I can't wait to see the bud shots i love how the hazes look as the get deeper into flowering ^^

[Lebenszeichen]

Day 62 (32 into flowering):

The Runt continued to gain height fast, having reached 100cm by day 57. Shortly afterwards, it eventually run out of head room so, as much as I hated spoiling its perfect shape, I was forced to cut some of the top (3cm). A couple of days later I had to cut 5cm more just to prevent it from touching the lamp! Currently standing at 107cm and I hope it stabilises at that. I haven't applied any extra fertiliser yet, despite this the plant is doing well. Full of little buds and perfect foliage due to the humus' gradual way of releasing nutrients. Since this is my first grow I am interested in carefully observing the potential of the current light/fertiliser setup, in order to establish a basic benchmark grow which I will use to measure the effects of any adjustments/additions in future cultivations. I won't lie though, what started as a very casual venture has grown on me to the point of fascination, so, here I am now, ALREADY TEMPTED to push my newbish "limits" and thinking "hmm...I COULD try giving it some guano...see if I can give those lil nugs a bit of a 'body'". It's as if I'm more interested about the grow itself, than the crop!

These snapshots just in:

[Bam-Bhole]

Awesome .. te plant exploded with productivity - I get your point - ame with me I am more of an occasional moderate smoker recently BUt the plant got me totally hooked. Esp. once you grew a couple different excellent weeds . You will see that harvesting, drying trimming and curing adds another fascinating aspect. Plus having a good amount of weed means living large..lol

No need to cut off tops ! Bend the top down - she'll take it and changes the grow direction. I am at a loss too. Planted 2 Nev. Haze saidto stay small between 80 cm and 1 meter and now at the 2nd week of flowering she is already longer than 1 meter ! Drives me crazy, but if she fills up the free space between the internodes I forgive her..lol

Good luck, the Sativa don't need much nutes just add a bit honey or molasses, some Guano maybe or a decent mineral fertilizer - like GHE ONE Total Flower - 8 euro or so and got all the feedings a flowering plant needs or leave her pure organic.

Nice plant !

[Lebenszeichen]

Day 67 (37 of flowering): I introduced the younger plant to the 12/12 schedule, bringing along the CFL I used to veg it with, so now there's a total of 240w inside the grow room (there's also a tiny 20w 27000K laying around I wll be adding tomorrow). I used a MagicPot container which facilitates respiration of the soil; this combined with the very humid weather during the last month has made it impossible to regulate relative humidity and values of 66-89% are causing me some concern. Temps are great for the current stage however (20-26°C). I fed the Runt some Guanokalong powder, but the dosage instructions of the product were vague so I'm not sure if I did things right by sprinkling just 40ml of the stuff on the medium's surface. It's not normally supposed to cause burns but the plant DID look a little wilted the next day. Perhaps someone could look at it and tell me how much more I should add for the ~50lt pot I got, otherwise I will be adding 60ml superficially as well next week.

other notes:

-The little plant looks to be of a similar phenotype with the one I lost in the light fixture mishap - much shorter and with shorter and broader leaves. It will be interesting to see how the better container and soil mix I used for it will offset the poorer lighting due to the distance from the main bulb

-I know the Runt is nothing compared to most people's grows around this place but, all things considered, she's not half bad. Ever since I topped her she has stopped giving off that exquisite fruity aroma of hers. I don't know how that will affect the final quality but at least for the time being I don't have to buy that oddor filter system I can hardly afford.

today's photo report:

[Bam-Bhole]

Good advice from Tokage. The Haze flowers look brilliant. This will be a fantastic smoke in due time. 4 weeks maximum, Before christmas comes you can smoke the first buds and enjoy the stash. I am happy for ya !

Real good Job !

[Dust]

Beautiful shape on the AH man love the look

Have a good grow man and keep us updated

[Lebenszeichen]

Update:

Continuing with my run of blunders I managed to cause some minor chemical burn to the top leaves. Tokage, I tried to follow your advice but the guanokalong powder I used only came with a volumetric dosage cup and so it was impossible to get the ratios right. Five days after I sprinkled the 40ml, I gave it another 60ml in 3lt of water. In the same solution I added 40ml of carob syrup which I'm going to experiment with from now on. This stuff is the Mediterranean region's equivalent of molasses, a type of super food rich in sugars and minerals, which has a long tradition of combating malnutrition during famines. Its consistency is a lot less viscous than blackstrap molasses' making it easier to dilute, and, if I may, it tastes a whole lot better too.

In today's photo report:

Day 77 (47 flowering) and I am starting to get back some smell from this plant, only it's not of the known, fruity variety...it is more reminiscent of bat dung, hehe. Oh well, I hope that'll clear up in the coming weeks and I'll be able to indulge in my rhinophytophilia habit once again before harvest. Other than that, I'm begining to see some encouraging signs of bud thickening. Especially the top cola, which has the benefit of making the most of the biggest CFL lamp, is begining to look very tasty. Only problem is it's still growing up a little (current height of 117cm) and at this point I don't know if it's better to top it for a third time or explore the possibility of a huge main cola forming.

PS: Thanks for everyone's contribution to my little project, either through encouraging words or growing tips...still discovering new techniques as I peruse these forums each day.

[Dust]

nice formation on that last girls i like how the top spreads

Looking good so far man, no matter if you get burns or whatever, the most important thing is that you noticed it fast and know where it comes from Love is the key hihi

Keep the girls growing and the pics coming

Have a good grow

[*LocoN]

Great work dude!

Cheers

[Bam-Bhole]

Very very nice bud structure ! As far as topping I'd say bend her down in a 60 degree angle. That stopped the rapid growth of my Nev. Haze Kept her bound down like that for a few days, afterI released her there was a nook in the stem and from that point on no more stretching only fattening of buds !

So best try that - they're ready soon. Imo it was too late to add Bat dung; but with proper flushing 10 days before harvest you should keep that under control, otherwise the taste will be affected and that is the last thing you want i bet !

[Lebenszeichen]

Day 88 (58 of flowering): The Runt has started to bend under the weight all those nugs are putting on her so I proped her up by a steel wire coat hanger I unwound for the purpose: (finally getting a chance to use all this junk I have hoarded specifically for DIY ventures is a big part of the fun for me in this project). As for the vertical grow, I topped her just a 2-3 cm more and I am confident this will be the last time I have to do it. Bam-Bhole, somehow I *know* I would have broken something if I tried to bend her with my clumsy hands, LOL, and this plant has already seen enough bending in its life from its seedling days. Besides, I kinda enjoy looking at her tree-like poise. LST and similar techniques make a cannabis plant look a little grotesque to my eyes, for this reason I have decided to avoid them.

Finally winter cold has arrived and this coupled with the fact that we have no oil for central heating in our home (praise the Banks!) caused my temperatures to fall to 15-24°C. Humidity has gone absolutely out of control (60-93% - yikes!) and the smart pot the young sativa sits in has been covered with mold. Luckily this hasn't spread to the plants themselves but my verdict of this product is negative so far. It doesn't even give better drying relatively to the other, solid plastic pot.

The burning on the leaves has become more pronounced but I it seems that's more of an aesthetic problem localised on the upper floors. I 'm definitely not using anymore of this bat manure stuff for the current grow and I will make sure to use the remaining quantity only in preparing the soil mix in the next one . I'm not ever buying this product again because the instructions and info that come with it are too ambiguous for comfort.

The younger plant is catching up (in its day 58 - 23 in flowering) and, man, what a big foliage on this baby! At first I thought this phenotype's leaves are going to be wider yet shorter than the other's, but now at an advanced stage of development I see they are just as lenghty too. The branching is almost identical in the two genetics, with the younger plant showing some minor deviations from the completely straight stem pattern of the older one. It will be interesting to see this one's affinity for gaining height as it progresses.

Today's photo report (last 3 are of the younger plant, where I'm also trying to show the difference in leaf size between the two phenotypes side-by-side):

[Dust]

Very pretty bud shape man, looks very feminine, long and thin just like a tru lady! When they will have had all their flowering weeks they will be very pretty buds

Thanks for the news keep them coming

Have a good grow!

[flowers to the people]

She needs more light. The buds are under developed and when dry will be tiny. The haze 3 has an excellent yield; more CFL at different heights so the plant is getting light from many directions, would increase your final yield by 100 fold. The buds will not only be more plentiful but more developed and dense.

take care,

john

[Lebenszeichen]

Day 100 (70 of flowering): HARVEST TIME! I know for some of you people this is a tiny yield (not THAT tiny, "flowers to the people" LOL with your 100-fold hyperbole) but it has fully met my expectations and considering the many setbacks of this grow I think I should be thankful the Runt's made it to harvest point at all. Unfortunately the flower aroma was marred by the guano but at least a last week flush gotten rid most of the bad scent, so I will cure them slowly now and let time do the rest. I was going to post this update last night but, of all times, the batteries in my camera run out just as I was going to take the last shot with the trimmed product. In today's shot the buds have already withered substancially but still this is a 40cm pan and in it there's several months worth of smoking stuff for me. Preliminary consumption has confirmed the kind of effect I was aiming at; very heady and good for getting into the mental state of discovering new aspects of my intelectual pursuits. Other effects I've noticed is that, provided you have a positive attitude in life, it can be anxiolytic too (a VERY EARLY taste DID give me a mini panic attack, probably due to different cannabinoid profile, nothing a regiment of alcohol from a beer didn't fix), good for laughs without getting TOO giggly. There's one last thing I've noticed it cuts hunger! To me this has been usefull because I needed to shed some fat but I understand there are people who would need some appetite-stimulating strain. So with this in mind plus the fact I did it all within a reasonable cost AND I gained very usefull knowledge about cannabis cultivation along the process I can say I'm a rather satisfied newbie grower.

[Dust]

congratulation man, most important is that you are happy about it I wouldn't say small yeild it's a good looking plant, i would have probably let her sit a little more longer if it was mine, but it isn't ^^

I hope the curing will make you even more happy and giv you some nice times

Thanks for the grow journal!

Have a good smoke and curing