SkunkSativa

So today I went into the grow room for the normal daily check up and didn't notice the cat slip by me. Went back out to grab some water and was out of the room for about a minute total. Came back in and the cat was gnawing on the damn fan leaves of one of my 3 week old plants! After about an hour of it being back under the light it seemed to perk back up a little bit, but I want expert perspective.



Is there anything I should do to help get her back and kickin strong? Also, like I said this is a 3 week old plant. Should they be bigger than 3-4 inches by now? If so, what do I need to do to get them growing more? A friend of mine suggested drilling holes in the 20oz containers to keep the water from getting stuck at the bottom. Any help is appreciated!!

mattH82003

I've had this happen just recently in my current grow.
It should recover fine.
Check out the link to my journal, and post number 146 on this page...http://www.gardenscure.com/420/soil-...ladies-15.html
I compared a pic just after it happened to a few weeks into flowering.
Hope this helps.

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incognito weedo

yes! u need holes in the bottom of the container for drainage. it should recover from the cat but it should be bigger @ 3wks but i think that is due to lack of drainage.

check out the growguide

-iDub

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From Seed-o to Weedo

IslandSwTSativa

I agree with incognito, you do need holes, and maybe a bigger container if you're planning on havin' a decent yield. the plants are a little small for 3 weeks, but some strains just grow small in some cases (I've noticed). you pH'n your water? if so what to? what size space? what lights are you using, temps, humidity? plant looks like it'll recover alright if given adequate care. she looks a bit healthy, just smaller than average. keep us posted.

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cancer_patient1

well first off, I hope you didnt punish/hit the cat because of it.. The cat dosnt know its doing anything wrong.. Cats eat vegetation alll the time.. Even for medicinal purposes. Yard grass is actually beneficial to cats because by eating it , it triggers the natural process of regurgitation of indigestible foods including its own fur balls which would otherwise obstruct the digestive system. So your cat was just doing what comes natural... In fact, maybe it would be good if you let him eat some yard grass as he may need it..If your cat is a house cat, he has no access to the normal vegatation it would normally have outside.

And secondly, I suggest yopu find a MJ GROWFAQ and read it through.. There is alot info that needs to be obtained before even starting to grow MJ.. Drainage holes in your planter is prolly one of the first 2 or 3 things on the top of the list before even planting a seed. If you dont read up ( I cant seem to find a growfaq at the moment, but I will find one and post a link in this thread ) and attemtp to gain at least a cursory knowledge of growing MJ, things will go downhill from here pretty fast..

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Wife Destroyed My Grow - Click For Full Story

SkunkSativa

Dont worry, just because the thread title I was angry didnt mean I hurt a creature that was doing something only in its nature. Rest assured no negative energy was put towards the cat. I know that would be pointless and I love that furry little thing.

This is my 3rd grow, and my 1st serious attempt. I obtained 10 White Rhino seeds and germinated 5 for this grow. I got 100% germination from the 5 and they were planted in Fox Farm Original 3 weeks ago tomorrow. My past grows were very basic and completely wrong, but I yielded some great buds from the bag seeds. This time around I want to take it much more serious since I know how potent this strain is and I want to get the most out of it I can. I actually focused so much research on ventilation and air flow for this grow that I neglected to really look into everything, which is why Im posting a lot this time around. The last 2 grows I just threw the germinated seeds in 3 gallon pots filled with Fox Farm Original Mix and let them go. This time I want to do things right so that's why I started my seedlings off in 20oz cups. I actually read that in Cultivation Bible on this site that 20oz containers for 3-4 weeks is standard. I just didnt think to drill holes in the 20oz containers for some reason. My 5 gal. buckets are already prepped with drain holes ironically.

As far as pH'ing my water, I cant say that I am. I did a lot of research into the whole pH thing but kinda got confused and figured that I used tap water last 2 times, it will be okay this time too. The room dimensions I cant be sure of. Basically I took my spare rooms closet, hung the 400W Metal Halide with chains on the coat rack bar. Then I took the closet doors and angled them to reflect the light. I didnt spend money on Mylar this time, but I might down the line. What I did after that is divide the room around the closet with white sheets so that the light isnt being wasted. The average temp is around 76-80F. The moisture level is pretty low I will admit. But not much I can do about that but mist the plants now and then.

My next question is about getting holes in the current 20oz containers. I dont want to drill into the containers with the plant in it, but I also am afraid that there isnt a wide enough root system to try and tip the container upside down and pat them out. I actually did this earlier with one as a test. I watered the plant pretty good, let it sit for 10 minutes or so. Then I went to turn the container upside down in hopes that the small root ball at the bottom would come out. No such luck, the soil came crumbling out and the plant almost went with it. I quickly refilled the container with soil and put the plant back under the light. Luckily 4 hours later, its doing just fine. SO the question is A. how do I get the plant out of the container properly at this point? and B. If I do get it out, should I just plant them in the 5 gallon buckets and avoid further complication with the 20oz containers? I know that its way too soon for that size of containers, but Im freakin out here

Im stressing pretty good over this right now, so ANY advice is so GREATLY appreciated I cant even express it.

THANKS

ILLEGAL-SEED

if you have anything with a sharp tip, poke holes along the bottom side. have the pot sitting on a flat surface, and poke as low as possible. do it around the entire bottom. it will be plenty of drainage then.

cancer_patient1

I wouldnt bother putting holes in those containers. I would transplant.. But,If you ever need to put holes in a plastic container, just get a big nail or even a phillips head screwdriver will work, and heat the tip as much as possible with a lighter or some other flame source till it gets really hot and it will poke through the container really easily. Do not pause between removing the nail/driver or w/e from the heat source and putting the holes as it will cool down rapidly .. Go right from the heat to the container.

Transplanting your plants..
The reason you has probs is because you tried to transplant with wet soil in the old container that is holding the rootmass.. I ALWAYS transplant when the soil is VERY DRY.. This is really important IMHO as it helps keep the rootmass intact when you try to move it / pull it our etc..

If the container is smooth sided where you can pull the rootmass straight out, I would let it dry out completely and jsut try to get it out then.. you can water it then press the soil down and compact it and let it dry.. Then loosen it by taking a knife and "cutting" around the sides like your cutting a grapefruit ( hard to eplain lol ) to detatch the rootball from the sides of the old container and it should come out w/out damaging it

I cant really see the container that well, but im assuming it is a soda bottle or something similiar with an odd shape? If so,heres what I would do..
If the container is odd shaped plastic ( where you cant slide the rootball out ) ...
Get a razor knife/exacto etc if at al possible, and cut the containers bottom off at the widest point.. If the soil is too loose, leave the bottom attached of need be by a small piece, but have it cut enough that you can fold the bottom upwards out of the way later..Then cut from top to bottom along the side, making a single vertical cut the whole length of the container.. This will allow you to "peal" the container away later.. Next, get your new container ready with soil.. displace the soil in the middle and stick the cut container ( with bottom cut off now ) in the middle to use as a template for the new hole.. When you get the new hole the right size, place the old ( cut ) container in the hole and remove A LITTLE soil away from ONE side ( line up the cut in the old container so its facing the side you pulled some soil away from ) and gently remove the cut container from around the root mass.. Make sure to keep the soil in the new pot around the old container/root mass as much as possible during the transfer. It is kiind of tricky, but its not very hard.This is the only real way to do it if you cant slide the rootball out of the old container safely..I found it mush easier to wait till the old containers soil is really dry before transplanting as it helps keep the root mass in tact much better than if it were wet.

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Wife Destroyed My Grow - Click For Full Story

alleycat

I have one cat that has always liked eating my vegging plants too.

This one is currently flowering out and recovered fine, but not taken down anything like matt's there, nice recovery on that one.

Happy Growing with cats

Alleycat

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FreedomRider

My cat hasn't bben around while cervicing my buds, but she used to bite off part of the leaves all the time. I even let her. She usually went to sleep after.

If you have some nice sized nails you can always poke hole along the side of the container near the bottom if you're worried about danaging the plant by poking holes in the bottom.