Jonny Blazes Perpetual Organic Adventure

Hello and Welcome to my new grow journal!!
 
I have just recently wrapped up getting my perpetual operation set up after 20 years off from growing. I am 40 yo, a cancer patient in remission, and a proud citizen of the USA
 
I have a spare bedroom dedicated to the cause with 2 tents, one 4'x4' (veg and auto-flower area) and a 2'x4' (photoperiod flowering area). I am always working on upgrading / adding equipment but here is what I have so far...
 
4'x4'
(2) 125W 6400K CFL
(1) 125W 2700K CFL
Honeywell fan for circulation
 
I am only using half of this tent right now and with no exhaust leave the flaps partially open at all times. Future plans include adding more light and at least a 6" exhaust w/ CF. I currently have the following plants going in there...
 
Critical Hog and OG Kush re-vegging... these were both harvested in the past month and are starting to grow back so I can take clones.
 
Strawberry Cough and Kushage clones that are vegging... I will use these to take future cuttings clones.
 
3 autoflowering varieties, 1 Dark Devil and 2 Bubblegum, the Dark Devil just started flowering and stretching and the Bubblegums are 5 days old today.
 
2'x4'
(1) 125W 2700K CFL
(1) 96W x 3 Reflector II from TopLEDGrowlight.com (Love you Sara!!)
Honeywell fan for circulation
4" Ventech 196 cfm exhaust fan w/ 4x12 CF
 
In there I have a Blueberry Kush / Strawberry Cough ScrOG (about 40 days into 12/12) and a Kushage LST (about 21 days into 12/12). They are all doing very nicely.
 
I am an organic, water and ACT only, grower who practices LITFA like it is my job. Keep your hands off and let the microbes do the work is my best advice for all you organic growers. I honestly haven't seen anything an ACT, FPE, or nutrient tea made from kelp or alfalfa meal can't fix in a few days. I never flush or take pH measurements... I use just a few amendments...
 
kelp meal
alfalfa meal
oyster shell flour
granite dust
Espoma Plant Tone
molasses water to feed the microbes
 
I recycle my soil by adding these to my used soil and allowing it to cycle for 4-6 weeks. I am also experimenting with some no till but it's in 3gal containers so not sure how effective it will be.
 
I run my ScrOG in a Rubbermaid tub set up with (2) 3 gal tubs nested in a 10 gal tub. Each ScrOG tub is 2.33 sq. ft of screen, and so far i am getting about 3 oz. each time i harvest a tub. This works out to just under a gram per watt... not bad as a starting point after 20 years off 
 
I run my autos in 1 gal smart pots, and will soon experiment with a couple photos in 3 gal smart pots.
 
I also have 4 seeds i just planted yesterday. I soak my seeds til they sink and then I plant them in a self watering tray on a heat mat. Once they pop the surface I place them under my seedling light set up... (4) 22" T5 HO fluorescent w/ a small fan for air movement. This can be placed anywhere but most often it is in my bedroom or in the grow room on one of the work tables. The new strains are...
 
TH Seeds Sage n Sour
HSO Lemon Kush Headband & Ewe-2
Barney's Farm Pineapple Chunk
 
I am still looking for that super dank strain that you want to run forever but I may have found it in this Blueberry Kush. I also have high hopes for this next round of seeds
 
Time to go check on the girls and take some pics... will post them when I return!

 

Just started an ACT brewing... I use a simple brew...
 
1 T molasses
2 T Espoma Plant Tone
1 cup EWC
2 gallons de-chlorinated water
my DIY brewer
 
I will let it brew for close to 48 hours and water all plants with it on Friday evening. I normally plan ahead and start adjusting the water levels so that all the plants will take a nice soaking when the tea is ready... it is amazing what these teas will do to jumpstart your growth!

 

 
I gave you a shout out in my original post did you see?
 
See my last pic... I need 2 Mars II 400s so I can fill my tent with light and grow more plants faster. I just passed my insurance exam today so I can make some good money quickly selling insurance and hopefully buy them for myself for Christmas.

 

 
I used to grow in my teens but then I took 20 years off... I started back up in May and have been using the same batch of soil since then. So far so good... I would like to get some neem cake to add to it for pest prevention but haven't had any issues with bugs yet.

 

Yeah I have harvested 4 plants so far... getting just under 1 g/W

 

My tea finished brewing this evening so all the plants other than the new sprouts from today got a watering with the compost tea. All of them were ready for a drink so they got a nice portion so results should be seen on all of them.
 
All 4 of the seeds i planted on Tuesday sprouted today... I had to help the shell off of the Ewe-2 but was able to get that off with no stress and they are all looking great. The second set of leaves is starting to form on my week old Bubblegum Autos, they look real nice so far... some of the fastest, nicest growing seedlings I have grown. I will post pics tomorrow... the plants in flower are looking great, the Kushage is supposed to be an 10-11 week strain but so far it looks like it will be worth it. 4 weeks in and it already has sugar leaves covered in trichomes from base to tip.

 

Here is a little pic update a couple days after giving them their compost tea. Buds are starting to pack on nicely. I took some cuttings from the Critical Hog and the Strawberry Cough. If the Critical Hogs cuttings take I will throw the original plant back into flower and finish her off for good, using one of the cuttings for future cuttings. My 3 day old seedlings are doing awesome... so are my Bubblegum Autos that are about 8-9 days old now (already forming their 3rd set of true leaves!) The Dark Devil midget appears to be done stretching at a whopping 6" tall LMAO... nothing I did wrong, she never showed any signs of shock or stress, just like some people are shorter than others the same is true for cannabis plants I will just let her go until she dies and see how big she gets LOL.
 
The bud shots in order should be Kushage (about 4 weeks in), Blueberry Kush (about 45 days), and Strawberry Cough (about 45 days). These bitches are stinking up the joint too! I was able to get some Amnesia Haze imported from CO. so I am not super anxious for them to finish LOL. That Blue Kush is off the chain sticky smelly like unreal smell... I think she is going to be something super special. The other 2 gals don't look too shabby either
 
LEDs grow the densest nuggets I have ever seen... at least the ones from TopLEDGrowlight do... just passed my state insurance license exam today and I am going to start working with my Dad next week. The commissions are so good all I got to do is sell one average policy and I can get my 2 Mars IIs I want to finish out my lighting

 

Thanks to all of you who have joined me on my quest for the best medicine possible!! Unfortunately not many from my previous journal have come over here but I got some great new faces and I am sure if I have nice enough plants they will eventually find me again LOL.
 
Everything is going great... I have the 4 seedlings chugging along... they are 6 days old now. I have 8 cuttings in the aero cloner that are about 3 days in now. I used Clonex gel this time so I am hoping for faster roots development than past attempts. The 2 auto Bubblegums are still growing like crazy... they are the biggest autos I have seen so far. The little midget runt auto freebie is still in early stages of flowering and is not very impressive. The CH and OGK reveg is going well but I am moving forward with replacing them with cuttings once they root and then flowering them out for good. I really need to make sure the OGK is healthy before that though since it has a tendency to throw out male flower when stressed. Just one or 2 here and there but that can ruin a room. The Kushage and Strawberry Cough clones are doing really well too.
 
I have been opening up the canopy on the scrog a little with some selective leaf removal. Nothing drastic but the Blueberry Kush was too thick with foliage impeding proper airflow. It is going through its second swell. Like most of the bud has older pistils but tight clusters of new pistils all mangled together are popping up all over. I think it will be done next week and right on time based on breeders info. Them buds are so fucking stinky and smelly, my hand smell like Dr Pepper after working with her. Very nice terpene profile right now. Right now I have 3 fucking AAA strains going... I consider myself lucky to have found such dank phenos so quickly. The Strawberry Cough is so beautiful and smells like amazing, very sticky sour berry smell. The Kushage is pungent skunky cat piss smell and extremely resinous at only 5 weeks into flower. Experimenting with some defoliation on the Kushage. I will say I am very if not extremely skeptical of defoliation techniques but I am going to try it in flower this once because I cant really advise against it if I have never tried it.
 
Nug pics in order are Kushage, SC, then BK (2 pics)

 

Pretty stoked today... I was shopping for dehumidifiers and I found an 8000 BTU portable AC / fan / dehumidifier for $89.96 on clearance at Target. the original price tag was $399.96... Hell yeah!! Even if it doesn't work for drying it will be nice to have... I mean hell it would actually fit in a tent or room 4' x 4' with no problems.

 

So after a few days I have noticed one major negative to my defoliation experiment... When you remove a fan leaf it stimulates major growth in the amount of bud leaves there are. I am used to having very minimal sugar leaves and with huge calyx to leaf ratios. So if that is going to be the case i will stick to growing bud instead of sugar leaves and leave my fans in place until they fall off on their own.

 

Everything is smooth sailing in the spare bedroom
 
The 2 Bubblegum Autos showed sex in the past couple days... both female! They are so beautiful, almost perfect LOL. They are about 6" tall right now with 4 nodes and undergrowth has started to grow rapidly developing branches. At 17 days they are also the earliest showing auto I have grown so far.
 
The little midget auto is still doing its thing. It actually went through another stretch and is now just over 6" LOL. I have 6 clones that have been in the aero cloner for 8-9 days and still no roots. I think I will try doing clones in soil since my aeroponic success hasn't been as successful as I had hoped.
 
The Blueberry Kush and Strawberry Cough are really nice looking buds. The SC is a beautiful plant with bright orange pistils, lime green calyx, and the strongest sour strawberry smell ever. I have already gotten a clone to root of her and she is in the veg tent with 3 more cuttings in the cloner trying to root. Blueberry Kush may be the best smelling bud I have ever smelled but the buds are small. What bud is there is dense and resinous as fuck but lucky if each top is going to be 2g each. The SC is much larger with some really nice colas forming in the Scrog. My defoliation experiment continues with unimpressive results. I am not removing any more leaves but the ones I did remove triggered an explosion in sugar leaf growth so now it looks like my buds are covered in leaves.
 
The seedlings have been moved to 6" coco pots and the lights were raised to encourage vertical growth. All are still beautiful and healthy.
 
The Kushage is also very nice but much different on the terpene profile. Whole different category of smell, more on the earthy skunky sour side. Very sticky buds, that hopefully will not end up with as shitty a calyx/leaf ratio as it has now but even if it does it will be one hell of a plant for making hash and oil. I also have a cutting of her that rooted so we can start taking cuts off of that once it grows she grows a bit.
 
Critical Hog and OG Kush are making good progress towards filling in enough to reflower. Once the SC/BK scrog is done i will move the Critical Hog into the 12/12 tent.
 
High as fuck on Blueberry Kush popcorn buds that were growing under the screen

 

Here are some pics of the defoliation experiment. As you can see the new growth appears to be mostly sugar leaves. This really makes sense if you think about it. I just robbed the plant of all of its valuable stored up energy and nutrients and now it is exploding with foliage to make up for the loss.