The End of the Tunnel

A pale reflection of the more dedicated growers here, my method is more wishful thinking than action;   even on autopilot, with my humble approach things are looking pretty good.  The back up dancers show a variety of silhouettes already with some staying short and bushy despite several toppings while others on the same schedule are much ganglier.   All are as large now or larger than the ones  in flower were when I flipped them so I should have my hands full when these get promoted. 
 

 

 
The girls in the Big Room  are slowly hitting their stride (not quite a month from flipping) but two with Sativa dominant characteristics look as though they'll take forever to fill out
 

 

Still about a week shy of a month on short hours.
 

 
 
 
 

 

Appreciate the insight;  actually a 400 watt HID combined with a 90 watt UFO LED in the center of the room with four 42 watt @2700k CFLs to cover the weak spots.   I have two Skeksis in there that may take til the end of November to fatten up but the other ten should be ready much sooner.
 

 

Shamelessly shared from the Serious Faces Forum (like I mentioned, I'm more at home here but have opted to create a persona to find gems like this) this thread concerning Sativas might prove enlightening to some. RUST / for those like myself who prefer the vibe here or anyone who might blanch at the cross promotion of another site, I apologize for not researching and finding an equivalent here before posting this.

 

Seems as though several of these come from the opposite end of the gene pool from the aforementioned Skeksis;  that's the delicious mystery of collective seed gathering and Bagseed in general, never know what will show up for the dance.  Not the best batch for one month from seed but far from the worst;  the bedraggled four at the end were transplanted too early but I'm sure they'll come around.
 
 


 


 
My next wave started soaking last night;  with the hope of revisiting a very odd Ruderalis throwback from my first effort several years ago, I chose these beans from the original batch that spawned the creature of my fantasy .  Curiosity might bite me on the ass with this one;  the original never got more than five inches tall but had dark green that I've never encountered before or since.

 

Only made it page 100 of nearly 600 in the RUST thread after almost a week;  deliciously decadent pics and tales of breeding (getting hints that this thread might show the birth of the Golden Tiger that I tried a couple of years ago).  My beans showed three different silhouettes out of five that I ran, which only strengthened my feeling that "named strains" were more a marketing hype considering the anonymity of the internet as a source and the completely unregulated way in which the cannabis culture floats along the edges of society.  Lacking the ability to buy cuttings  from the mother in a controlled environment where I could see what I'm getting I'll continue with my indefensible championing of Bagseed. 

 

With a new batch in the ground, I won't be so preoccupied with the glacial pace of the wave I started last month;  even if there's a bottleneck created by these girls in flower taking overlong, I still have the shelves that I can easily put in to action to begin short hours for any overflow from the Vegetarium. 
 
 

 

What I've always maintained is that there is no reason for "me" to believe that the anonymous source from the internet will provide the actual strain ordered and more importantly that "strains" are purely marketing hype by cash hungry seed companies and this bait has been swallowed by a great majority of prideful growers.  Status symbol, bragging rights, call it what you will;  it still doesn't guarantee what you will be able to produce from an endless variety of environments and techniques.   And the logic of assuming that Bagseed is more prone to hermie and is  any more of a crap shoot than $10 beans escapes me;  recount after recount here and elsewhere of people working the prized genetics only to be disappointed with their result (not to mention the ones that don't germinate).  As you say my aim is to provide for my needs with the best smoke I can manage, but I don't feel that store bought seeds have any more potential than what I find in my sock drawer.
 
P.S. Welcome back, yourself.

 

Would be interesting to see what matching clones do indoors and outdoors (I suspect the coloration is harder to achieve indoors). 
Even though I rushed them into the soil once again, I'm please with this early showing from a batch that as I mentioned has to be at least 10 to 15 years old;  their fairly uniform appearance at least indicates that I managed to properly segregate the seeds.
 

 


 
The earlier wave has all been transplanted to their intermediate 2 gal buckets for extended veg;  they'll have the luxury of another six to ten weeks before being called up to the big leagues.  (missed one for the class photo, but I'm too lazy the redo it)
 


 
 

 

Waiting in the wings, ready for their turn in the Big Room and more robust than anything yet.

 
If it weren't for the close up pics you might not recognize Quasimodine on the left.
 

 

Click!
 

 

Transplants went pretty well for the four dainty ladies who now tower over their elders and will soon blot out my electric Sun.
 
 
 

 

I'm admittedly a narcissistic and opinionated blowhard so I am well qualified to recognize that quality in others;  strange that it lessens my feelings of camaraderie when I see it displayed rather than sparking a greater kinship.  Rather than bruise egos, I'm rambling in the abstract to try to sort out my own thoughts and perhaps soften the rougher edges of my personality.  Speaking in forums like these is a cry for attention whether the poster admits it to themselves or not;  with four threads kept active more for my own amusement than any commitment to community, I feel again I'm an expert on the topic. 
I've made no secret of my unsophisticated history of dealing with nameless schwag for the more than 40 years I've enjoyed the leaf of life and in doing so, cast aspersions and disdain upon more dedicated and serious growers and users;  more to my shame.  While I remain convinced of the inherent potential of all weed to rise above, it's foolish and ignorant for me to continually deny the gains made by their efforts.  The mistrust of others that produces the doubt about authenticity of online purchases is just my glass half empty mentality;  the flip side is that perhaps there is more potential in that anonymous seed than in what I've got squirreled away from days gone by. 
(re-reading this before sending, I can't help but feel satisfied that I've turned the diatribe inward rather than lashing out).    I've had my share of folks wander in for short periods and then drift away but there are some who enjoy listening to the mockingbird. 

 

Sadly, I couldn't contain the Muse and let fly with this bit of cryptic criticism that I'm sure will ruffle some feathers but I unsubscribed so any retorts will be voiced to empty air unless the feeling of umbrage motivates their commentary in one of my threads.
 
There was a grumpy bastard drinking coffee close to dawn
mad at everything and everyone for messing up his lawn
instead of signs and fences that would keep the world at bay
he attacked the ones who trespassed in a most disgusting way
with an unexpected anger he would catch them by surprise
like a cobra spitting venom in their unprotected eyes
and exposing in the process to those sitting on the side
a little bit of darkness that excuses cannot hide