Will Be Gone For 10 Days - Need Advice Managing Grow

[medmanmike]

I’ve run into a scheduling issue and need help coming up with a plan and would appreciate any and all advice, suggestions, etc.  Due to my lack of experience - this is my first grow, (or ignorance) I will be gone for 10 days in late June just about the time my four girls will be finishing up.  The plan was to have everything harvested before I left, but I’m not sure there will be time to do this properly.  Here’s the background.

 

Environment:   High Brix/Doc’s kit. 1200 W CFLs.  Temp and RH controlled.  50-60% rh and mid/upper 60s (night) to mid/upper 70s with lights on. Fans, filters, etc.  

 

1 Jillybean, from seed, about 20 days, six sets of leaves, will need to be sexed

1 Jillybean, from seed, about 15 days, 7th set poked out this morning, will need to be sexed

1 Cannatonic clone - I’ve had it for about a week, approx. 6” tall, numerous sets of leaves, numerous internodes leafing out

1 Girl Scout Cookie clone - had it for about a week, approx. 10” tall, numerous sets of leaves, numerous internodes leafing out

 

All were recently transplanted into 1 gal pots. all were (nearly) root bound in their previous (dixie cup) containers.  All seem to be flourishing in their new environment.

 

Options I’m considering:

 

1.  Give them another couple of weeks, transplant to 7 gal pots, given them a week to settle and flip to 12/12.  This would give me 8 weeks to finish them. 

 

2.  Keep them in veg for a longer period of time and transplant to 7 gal pots, flip them and water the hell out of them just before I leave, and deal with it when I get back.  I could get a friend to look in on them while I’m gone, but he has no experience with mj.

 

Any advice or suggestions will be greatly appreciated!  Thanks in advance!

 

[trichcycler]

in soil, they will die in 10 days without an automated watering system(buddy). Keep them in veg, transplant them into larger pots, and watering frequency will be lessened. nothing good ever happened  when I left my girls for more than 2 days, except the growth is noticed more.

[Restorium2]

I invented a watering system that's easy to build. Looks like you have 4 plants. Decide how much water you want to give them each day. Make a container that holds that much water(for all 4). Suspend that container over a large reservoir. Use a pump that is on a timer to pump the water in to measured container. Set it up so the container will overflow into the reservoir when it's full. Set the timer so the pump is on a little longer than it takes to fill the container. Put a small pump on a timer in the measured container. From that pump, connect some hose and fittings so that each plant has a small hose running to it. Set the timer so that small pump runs long enough to empty the container. This will give all 4 of the plants the same amount of water each day. I tried using just a pump on a timer with a fixed orifice and I found that the amount of water supplied to each plant varied too much so I went with the two pumps and a measured container. I use this set up for over two weeks at a time and it always works perfectly. I have my hydro automated too. Sometimes it seems like they grow better if I just leave. lol

[medmanmike]

Thanks to everyone for the advice.  It seems obvious now that the best thing to do is to keep them in veg, flipping around May 1, etc.  Thanks again!.

[pic book]

this is where reality bites.  get that good buddy--the honest one you could leave in your house with cash on the floor and your daughters naked--who has grown for 10 years and pay him for 10 days to be the farmer in your stead.  $300 bux is a cost of doing biz.