Greetings everyone Thank you for stopping by! I've been wanting to do a journal for a very long time but never felt comfortable enough. I finally feel like it's time. Hopefully, someone besides myself will get something out of this! A little about me... My journey to organics has been pretty long. Growing up my mom was a gardener, unfortunately, she was a bottle feeder and I learned from a very young age all you needed to do to make something grow was put extra some stuff in the water and it will grow. I was literally raised with miracle grow in my hands, so when I transitioned to cannabis and bottled nutrients everything just felt "right" Needless to say when I found this forum my mind was blown. So soil structure and the soil food web are very new to me. I've been reading and studying hard to get to this point. I'm learning but am definitely have a lot of catch up to do! Thanks to so many of the truly amazing posters, I've started to gain a little grasp on things. This journal will be about my exploits while I try to find a winner of my Super Silver Haze ladies (Green House Seeds) It's the strain that does more for me medicinally then I can even begin to describe...I started 10 seeds on 3-19-17. Here's the ladies now... In a former life I was a wanna be farmer using bottled nutes, I've seen this strain grown in a production set-up, so I have a good idea what traits I want/am looking for. My plan is to take cuts in the next week, flower the original mother and then make the corresponding clone my mom. These ladies are going to outgrow there environment fast! These are 3 of the 5 candidates as I'm looking for the 9 claw, and also the 7 claw thinner leaves. The 9 claw are more towards the skunk/indica side and the thinner leaves are more toward the haze/sativa side. I sprayed yesterday at lights out and mixed up soil right after that! Only thing I need to get done before the ladies move in is get SIP's set up. Here we go!!
Was too excited and forgot a few things... My soil mix...Really just a copy of the Easy Organic Soil Mix for Beginners with a few adjustments. I used a 5 gallon bucket as my part so I doubled everything in the recipe... Equal parts of: (I did add 1 1/2 extra buckets of perlite making it roughly 40% aeration) Peat moss EWC (Did a large mix so also had some bu's blend compost) Pumice 2 cups lime 4 cups basalt 2 cups glacial rock dust 1/2 cup gypsum My amendment mix is (I am allergic to shellfish and took out the crustacean meal and added karanja) 2 cups kelp meal, 1 cup each of neem meal, alfalfa meal, tomato tone, karanja meal. I mixed that all together and then added that at 3 cups per sq ft. My veg room is 5 x 6 x 8, with a 4ft 16 tube T8, and a 2ft 4 tube T8 for seedlings and clones. My flower room is 6 x 14 x 8 (plans on expanding to 10" x 14" x 8" this summer as it's just too cramped in there) with 2 Galaxy adjustable grow amps with HPS bulbs. I hang my lights vertically with no hoods, I prefer this method compared to hoods, because I believe it allows more light to the plant. This is strictly from my experience, as I'm almost postive everything you read tells you to use a hood...I do have plant restrictions so my process is in effort to grow less but bigger plants. I am a medical Cannabis patient for irratractable pain since 2010. Like so many of us I suffered the perscription pill game for 2 years before finally finding cannabis, and a truly better way. One thing I would really like to start doing is to have my grow become sustainable. To really need to order or supply, kelp, alfalfa, and neem meal, and neem oil. To help with all of that I have started a few things to help. I have a pretty large worm bin 4' x 8' that I maintain with dairy cow manure. I let it sit for about a year and a half before I took any castings. Things are starting to really look good in there! I also have 2 comfrey plants that I plan to mulch my ladies with and planning on expanding that this summer also. I am blessed to have moved into a property where the couple before my wife and I were extrodinary gardeners. I have many things set up already that I don't need to worry about. (Root cellar, multiple established garden areas, fruit trees, etc.) As much as I don't really want to post this it really woudn't be real if I didn't...Went out to the flower room last and saw something I was fearing. Hermies. I have a few in flower that were some old seeds I didn't store properly. So I haven't seen any of them grow and wasn't planning on keeping any of them...Just wanted a trial run in the room after getting everything in order. It's all about having things dialed in come SSH time! It was at day 42 so I just chopped it and trimmed it up. I'm planning on just making edibles with it... It cleaned up alright...This is one of the lower branches, forgot to snap a pick of the head nug as it was late and I just wanted to get done and to bed. We'll see how things look when I go out tonight!
Went to the last two nights and the flowering ladies are looking good...well goodish. No signs of any hermies. I'm wondering if a branch being broken would cause it to hermie? I know it's usually an enviornment issue (large temp fluctuations, light leaks, genetics, etc)...but the day before I accidentally broke a branch off when I was watering. Wondering if that was too much stress too late into flower. It's sister plant next door definetely looks happier. I'll have two plants that I harvest in the next 2 weeks and then 2 that go another 5 weeks I wish all the sativas of the world out there weren't so medicinal for me! Lol, I have to wait too long! Starting to get excited about the veg room! I know it's 4++ months before I see any meds from these ladies, it's a 10 week flower, but I know it will be worth the wait when I can get it right!! I made a alfalfa/kelp tea for SSH 1,8, 9 & 10 (although after further inspection 1 & 8 got chopped) They weren't looking happy. Only one has traits I'm looking for so I'm planning on putting them on the sips I build today...I have 8 SSH ladies and I'll put 3 in flower today or tomorrow and 5 will stay in veg as potential mothers. I do however think I'm going to abonden teas and just go with top dressing...sounds like teas just don't work with sips, so my plan is to give them teas in veg if needed and then I can top dress in the flower room when they're on sips... It's going to be a busy night! Hopefully my back allows me to get it all done! Going to set up my sips in flower for the 3 SSH ladies I'm moving over and see how those work out. I need to find a fix to my watering issues! Then I'm taking clones of SSH # 3, 5, and 7 (Just need to move my veggies!) Will try and take pics tonight of it, but sometimes when I get working I can't stop and just get in Let's Finish! Mindset and don't take any. Need to get better at that! These are the three I'm planning on cloning. I think I see 11 claws on the far right pic...
hey man very nice looking veg plants. breaking a branch would be unlikely to cause the plant to herm. for instance, I wouldn't expect to see a plant herm from getting cloned. I've even had a squirrel knock one of the main branches off of an outdoor plant in late flowering with no issues. In my experience, herms are often a genetic result of using femenized seeds, which of course come from a self cross of a stress herm female. seeds made with this process yield more phenos with herm traits that express due to minor stress, and more phenos that express herm traits late in flower no matter what. I've had 4 or 5 fem seeds in outdoor grows pop copious bananas at that point in flowering. I'd guess that whatever the trigger was, whether minor stress or simply reaching that point in flowering, this plant was likely a genetic herm.
Thank you zephyr! You're exactly right. That's my experience also at least. these are all fem seeds. Just didn't know for sure if the branch maybe triggered something. But that's why I was so worried about hermies, day 40-50 is when they generally show the instability... The SSH are all feminized too. So That's why I'm hoping one out of 5 will be stable!
definitely, if you can find a stable pheno that clones well that will be ideal. hazes tend to make sturdy clones, so I bet you'll get an ssh pheno that fits the bill. I'm growing some fem seeds indoor right now with the same goal. I'm growing some self crosses of a clone only strain called black cherry soda. I might get some phenos that won't be worth growing again, but with the potential of phenos with an approximately ~50 day flowering time on the black cherry soda, it will be well worth it if I can get one stable pheno to grow routinely from clone. even if I get some instabilities it should be a nice quick flower cycle, and a nice boost for my med supplies. have a good one brodman
Lots of this going on lately. At some point I'm hoping a light goes on and things just get easier...still waiting. So I moved 3 SSH over to flower... as the girls are just getting too big and I needed more room in the veg area. It made me realize...I sure can grow a veg plant. I'm really hoping it's the fact that these are 5 gallon pots and there's just not enough soil volume by the time they get to flower, but in reality I don't think that's it. I think I have something wrong. No idea what it is, could be my mix, my water, my watering schedule. I did however find some 15 gallon smart pots I had and washed them (came out like new!) so at least I can test this theory very shortly. I cloned SSH #6...not really looking all that great either. I guess you never know but I think it looks like only 3 or 4 might make it... I need to get something figured out so I don't have to go water everyday, and unfortunately blumats aren't in the budget. I've just spending too much time watering and haven't been able to really do anything else. My attempt at SIP's failed miserably, and I really don't like perlite I've decided. I've also realized SIP's just won't work for me. Now I just have a kiddie pool full of perlite and water sitting outside my room. I'm sure the neighbors won't find that strange when I dump it out . I ended up getting some kind heavy duty black plastic containers. I thought it might be perfect but they didn't fit multiple pots. It's possible they fit a 15g smartie perfect but I realized since I can't upgrade to a bigger fan if needed, the humidity increase just isn't worth it. Probably going to clone one or two more soon since it looks like I'm going to need a few extra. Then I'll hopefully just need to water and watch them grow.
After a few unproductive, and frustrating, gardening days I decided to reset, just water, and make a plan tonight... I transplanted SSH #6 about 2 1/2 hours before lights out. I'm really pleased with tranplanting right before lights out. I like how the dark cycle gives them time to recoup... Went out and opened the veg room door and she looks like she's made the transmission! Going to take another round of clones tomorrow. I'm planning on cloning two plants tomorrow for sure, potentially all of them. The main two I've had my eye on...The short stocky one in the middle of the photo and the lady right behind the 15g pot... I have a few ladies I'll be harvesting next week on my days off. I will say the entire plant doesn't look all that happy, but the flowers and new growth has me excited and looking forward to taste tests! After harvest I'll be able to get everything out of the flower room, besides the 3 SSH already in there of course. I'll then be abe to move SSH #6 over on Tuesday and start to flower her out, to see if she's a potential keeper. The soil I mixed up should be good to use around June 1. So it should be good timing with clones and soil. I'm planning on running both 10 and 15 gallon fabric pots to see if there's any difference in my environment. Just for space I'd really like to be abe to use the 10's, but from a big plant perspective 15's are probably the best...The side by side will have to be the judge! I still trying to figure out the watering thing. I'm contemplating putting #6 on a SIP but don't want to have to abonden it if it makes my humidity jump. I do need to make a watering plan soon though because lifting 15g smart pots to see if it needs water just isn't realistic for me. It's one thing with a 5g but 15g is just a whole different story! Here's to the process! As frustrating as it may be!
So I cloned # 3, 6, 7, and 8 yesterday. I have a stipulation in the laws that it isn't considered a plant until there are roots, so while I took a lot more than 4, I'm only going to be keeping the best looking of each. I was planning on chopping two plants tonight, but I've really wanted to watch the trichomes mature. They're starting to change, but I haven't seen any amber trichs yet. Time is up though as I need to move some ladies over tomorrow. I know I keep saying it, but they're getting big! It's time to start looking for a winner, and being a 10 week strain I'm really going to have to start looking into the future for keeping up a med stock. The 3 SSH ladies I moved over are starting to stretch. Still looking good and happy so far! Supposed to be a nice day tomorrow, and I have the day off. Planning on spending the day outside in the garden and yard, should hopefully get a few good pictures!
It's been a very busy week! Moved all my soil into containers. It filled up nine 10 gallon and one 15 gallon fabric pot, so I think my soil issue for now is taken care of! Took down 3 ladies from flower. One looked pretty good and the other two were ok...this is one of the ok looking ones... I will say the flower room looks pretty good now! The three SSH are starting to show signs and SSH #6 is looking heathy! The one survivor from my first run has 2 weeks left still. It's a ten week strain that I really wish I would've kept. I transplanted #3 into a 15 gallon pot. I have to move her in to flower tonight as she is just huge. She's going to be 6 ft by the end of flower if she makes it the full 10 weeks. Now that I took the ladies in flower and my clones are being narrowed down to the 4 I'm keeping, I realized I'm way below my plant count. I have 3 packs of White Widow or Purple Afghan Kush I think I'm going to pop and flower out for some night time meds. I'd really like to keep the PAK and attempt to find a winner so I'm thinking I'll go with the WW.... Hope everyone has a great weekend!
After having to work all weekend I have some time now to get back to things! The flower room is really starting to get full. I'm going to need to tie #3 down tonight. She is just absolutely huge. Planning on caging # 3, and 6 up next week as they're definitely going to have support issues. I might have to take my lone survivor from my first round early to make way. She's on day 61 of 70, but if I need the room she'll have to go. Going to rearrange things tonight in hopes of being abe to make a little more space and keep her in the full 70+... The veg room is basically empty, I kept one plant in veg in case the clones have issues. They're looking good, but checked yesterday and didn't see any roots sneaking through yet, going to check that tonight also. Hopefully I'll be able to what I grew somewhat soon!
I gave all the ladies in the 5 gallon pots, an alfalfa/kelp tea two nights ago. They've been in flower for <2 weeks and they were starting to look thirsty! I used 1/4 cup of alfalfa and 1/8 cup of kelp. Let that sit in water for 24 hours, and strained it..I deluted it to about 1/2 strength, and added Aloe Vera powder and ful-power to the finished product. They all showed positive results last night when I went out. Planning a EWC slurry around the halfway point of flower (week 5-6) depending on how everything looks. I was able to rearrange everything in the flower room. I'm thinking I should be able to keep my one first round plant in there until she's ready! Going to check her trichs tonight and see where she's at! I Will definitely take a few pics tonight as the room really looks pretty good. Of course the 3 ladies I moved in early because of space issues and didn't clone are really look good...Now I'm kicking myself for not taking clones. Now there's even more pressure on these ladies to produce. I thought I just learned this lesson from my first round! Ok, ok I get it...Clone everything! Planning on using fence to tie up around the pots and use that for support for my branches. These ladies are big and only going to get bigger! Really hoping they all work out and are stable and I have my winner!
Happy Highs @BrodMan Organics . You're looking the good there mate! I didn't read through the 695+ pages of the Easy Soil Mix thread but just scanning the first page and looking at your amendment list I suggest you consider adding steamed bone meal to your grow kit bag. I think you'll see some positive results and you can add it before you transplant or, if you grind it similar to a mortar and pestel you can top dress and water it in. Not as effective this way but it will move with the water. Anyway...just a thought I like your unshielded bulb approach. I thought of doing a similar thing but instead currently use LED's. Nice grow man! Good luck with it. I'm subbed up
Thank you @Possuum!! Very much appreciated coming from you! Wondering about the bone meal... Would I be using the bone meal for calcium? I see the majority of the uses is for "flowers" when I google it. I'm trying to be a little sustainable so I'm wondering if I could use the eggs I grind up from my chickens instead? Probably not, but just and wondering. The way I hung my lights came about when I worked in a 20k watt production set up. It's how they hung there lights, to get a "wall of light" effect where all parts of the plant get hit with light. It really made sense to me and watching how those plants grew definetely made converted me from using hoods. I'm still tweaking it, to get the lower branches, as I only have 2k watts. I'm planning on hopefully doing an addidition and going to 5k this summer...I looked into LED's and was originally going to go that route when I set up my room but couldn't really afford it for my entire area. Thank you so much for stopping by!
Brodman, the steamed bone meal is an excellent source of P and P being a very ornery element to provide sufficient quantity of, SBM ground up very fine will certainly fill the bill. Plus it does supply a little bit of N. Give it a try and i think you will see more lush and vigorous growth. Cheers!
Sorry Possuum, I guess there is such a thing as a stupid question. I forgot to edit that after I wrote it. I went and read the thread wetdog just had in March about bone meal in mixes and realized it was a P source.
Went out into the room last night and got freaked out, this should give everyone an idea about my paranoia of pests... I have to walk outside for about 10 feet to my room. It's a covered path, but I go from the shower, walk outside, and to my room. Not the best, but I have some extra IPM in place to help this... (special shoes in room, socks in pocket, lint brush myself and socks before going into room) When I opened the door to my room I saw something fly in I thought. Which isn't random as sometimes I have particles from my floor that get stuck in the fan air...so no big deal I think. About halfway into watering I see something on a leave. So I FREAK out and go into kill mode. Luckily I was abe to kill it. I'm really not sure what it was. The only thing it resembled to me was a leaf hopper but it was all white. So...I plan on spraying the next day as an extra IPM. Only issue is I have a very special lady on day 62 of 70. I can't spray with her in the room and can't really take her out, spray and then put her back a few hours later... so she got chopped as I was trimming her I was sooooo sad she didn't get to go full term, but it's all about making things ideal for the SSH so I just couldn't risk it. In my mind I had to spray today so that's all there was to it. I learned in my very first run with organics you have to act immediately. I lost my very first round because I was lazy and didn't fix something. Everything hermied and I had no meds..Lesson learned!! I fixed all of my issues and vowed to always act immediately. The room is really starting to fill in. I had to tie down my two largest ladies, they will definitely touch the ceiling before its all done if I don't. Took a few pics before the second light came on, so not the best... Things are starting to fill in. I noticed that the 10 week mark would be the first day of vacation I have planned in July...Here's to hoping everything works out and I have TOO much to trim and process!