dRtJmPr's t5 LST grow

I'm thinking 3 oz's. However, now that I'm thinking 3, I'm hoping 4. Kinda' doubt 4. We'll see in a month what the final count comes to.

 

I've LST'd with the wires going off a plant water tray and found it was a lot more difficult to keep it super flat. Some buds were airy some were dense. I got 2 oz.'s off that Durban. This time around I decided, training board. I've aggressively fed her as well with organic nutes and tried to balance the soil chemistry with the tea waterings that I've provided. Plus I've added fulvic acid to the water once. I think it could very well double the previous yield... it's certainly bigger than my last indoor and much more dense... AND I have a month to go

 

@Bob - The training table is simply panda film glued down with silicone glue onto a thin birch wood plank that I had. After that, I put screws down the sides measured at every inch. I have a plastic panda film skirt around the smartpot first and then the training board on top of that. The wire that I used to support the board is wrapped up over the top of my light and twisted to hold it. When I untie it, the plant fully supports the board because the weight is spread out across the plant that is tied down and supported by some of the soil it rests on.

Anyway, I never had any mold problems other than some organic compounds breaking down in the soil. I'd say its been beneficial if anything because I've been giving her waterings every now and then with Mycorrhizae. This helps to provide the perfect environment for the microbes to flourish. My plant has not once shown signs of stress. The plant drinks plenty and the smart pots aerates plenty. The soil never has long enough to stay soaked to create root rot.

@patriofarmer - I've not been concerned once. With the light being within 6 inches from most of the lowest branches, it penetrates fairly well. I have two fans going on in there and it creates a wind tunnel. The plant is always wanting to dance but she's pretty well strapped down. Durban is fairly mold resistant as well and did well outdoors in the humid South when some of my other strains got budrot galore and powdery mildew.

Plus, I remove dead leaves found on the bottom as soon as I see them. Also, my box works on negative pressure with an exhaust fan pulling old air out and colder new air gets sucked in from a lower point. Some fun ductwork I set up to make it work as well as door seals. She's a happy girl all around. A tent would probably cost less but I didn't want to go the "Obvious" route.

 

New photo update and update: I switched up my lights in the veg chamber last week and switched it over to 13/11. This sexed the two plants down there and one of them was male. I'm experimenting with the male and I'm going to put it for two weeks in total darkness (candlelight in) for watering (gonna spray it with coconut milk (highest natural concentration of cytokinins found in the endosperm that I know of)). Enough coconut milk may help reverse it's male gene expression (doubtful but what the hell).... All in all I will be collecting a little pollen from this and then making butter out of it regardless of the outcome.

I fed the flowering female heavily with phosphorous from bat guano and earthworm tea / kelp meal. She perked up nicely as she was starting to yellow on me. She's getting dense and sugary (please observe the leaf tips.... I'm thinking I might have a potassium deficiency... I need to get some greensand in there, next watering) That's the nice part about photos, you can pick them apart away from the grow: (Yes, there is dog hair on my buds - that happens when they visit while I work... daags!)

 

Thanks Bob! Phish should be a fun show. Saw them last in Vegas just prior to their break-up. One of the most memorable shows for sure. They do such a bad ass light show, particularly when my buddy and I went up to the top of the stadium to watch the show from there and dance away.

Have a happy new year!

 

Seems I gave too much potassium so I flushed the ish out of her today. She's doing really well. I'm just going to give her water from here on out. That way she'll use up any leftover organics that are still slowly breaking down. She's 3 weeks from the guestimated finish time.

 

Oh yeah, the male plant in total darkness still is developing as male. I'm going to flower it and take some pollen. I like how it grew and the smell... plus it's the one that I played around with with colchicine.... although I think it stressed it into being male either way.

 

New pics coming tomorrow. I looked at the trichs under the microscope today and they're all creamy and some are amber. I'm pulling it tomorrow and trimming after I get some skiing in. Pictures to follow. It's been getting ONLY water as well and there are a handful of leaves just getting drained of nutes and drying up that I cleaned up today. So surprisingly it's finishing a bit earlier than I anticipated.

 

Buds are still curing. Great sweet smell overall, will probably be completely cured in another 3 days. The downside is I only yielded 49 grams... a bit under 2 ounces. I thought they were super dense, it's amazing how much water weight they have. I was overly excited and after I trimmed them down, I noticed I wasn't going to hit my mark. Maybe with all the trim... but that's going into baked goods. I took pictures but the city won't load them right now, so I'll try later.

Smoke report - Still curing for a few days but it's sweet and coats the tongue with a fruity flavor, slight grassy aftertaste because the curing is not complete. It is a very cerebral / frontal lobe effect that is talkative and very functional, providing a sensation of extra energy. I slept well a few hours after conversing with friends. All in all, extremely good organic herb and to date, my best indoor grow IMO.

I have an indica in the flowering chamber now, been flowering for about 3 weeks. Much bigger plant and I allowed more stretch to allow better spacing for better light penetration and bud development room. I'm hoping that this strain will provide a heavier yield. Durban isn't the heaviest and my buddy that does hydro with chem nutes and under HPS / MH setup has yielded only 6 oz's as his heaviest and that was a giant mother that they flowered when the laws were changing out here as there was a chance that the MJ policies were going to be overturned....

I have new seabird and bat guano nutrients for feedings as well. I took clones off the flowering mother durban and they look like they're gonna do just fine. I popped some random beans as well. I'll be weeding out the males in a few weeks. The clones have awhile to develop.

 

I'm a little uncertain how this other flowering plant is going to turn out. It's hitting 4 weeks and there is more budding flowers that are larger. It seems like it might be airy. I probably should change my bulbs but I'll let it go since they've only done one grow so far with these new ones. Either way, I hope it fills out... it's still a bit early to tell. It's sweet smelling though with a tint of diesel. I'm not sure what strain this was because it was in my seed collection... it could have been a strain I obtained during a trimming session. The hell if I know for sure.

 

Thanks Slimjiffy. I used blue t5's with 1 red t5 during veg and swapped it out to 3 red and 1 blue for flowering. Make sure you have a decent fan or two to blow air through the T5 tunnel that the training board with the panda film flaps will create. It works well overall. I def. would go with the 2 foot 8 tube lights because you can have a wider spectrum of bulbs to work with, such as actinic blue t5's and such (used for coral and specialized aquarium growth). But yeah, I've so far just used the 4 bulb, 4 foot setup and it's done pretty well.

My buddies are really enjoying the organic Durban. They say they get really motivated on it and I do as well. I like working out or cleaning house, gone skiing a few times too. It's a good cerebral feeling that brews conversation.

Thank you as well Carlomaxx. I agree, they're decent buds for a t5 and have some density behind them. I would like to try LED's but they're still pricey... even if you built your own. Something to look into though, even if it were for JUST flowering. I think the t5's are great in the veg stage. They're trickier to flower with to have good compact dense nugs, hence the training board.