I've been lurking and asking questions for a while and decided I should go ahead and do a journal. I'm a Colorado caregiver and I've been growing for 3-4 years now. It was a long learning process that involved multiple mite infestations, 2 serious battles with PM, a couple run ins with thrips and fungus gnats, several terrible strains, ph battles, a couple nutrient deficiency misdiagnosis and a constant battle with weather I wanted to grow hydro or soil. I have grown both hydro and soil but settled with soil in the end. After growing about 20 strains I settled on Super Lemon Haze, Grape Kush, Power Skunk and Sour Diesel (I am keeping Hashberry, Bruce Banner and Mr Nice Purple Pheno in reserve). When MMJ blew up in 2009 every strain imaginable (both real and fake...healthy and diseased) was passed around. It took me a long time to find these. I am still looking for a couple but IDK what I would get rid of if I found it AND I don't trust anyone after what happened in 2009 (my trust is returning) My Flower Room 4 - 1000 watt 4 - 4 x 4 trays 9 Plants in 2 gallon smart pots per tray but 12-16 plants in the 4th tray (the runts) 50 and 20 gallon reservoir CO2 540 cfm fan on lights 540 cfm exhaust fan 350 cfm intake fan 5 Ventilation fans Gutters and Sumps to catch all waste and pump to the outside My veg room 4 - 4' 2 bulb shop lights 1 - 250 watt HPS 2 - 24" aquarium lights 20 gallon res 1 ventilation fan 165 cfm exhaust fan (exhausts to flower room) Gutters and Sumps to catch all waste and pump to the outside Nutrients (in order of use veg, trans, flower) Fish Emulsions Earth Juice Veg Cal Mag + GH organics diamond nectar & kelp plus GH Flora Nova (trans) GH orgnaics Bloom Earth Juice Bloom Soil Blood Meal, Peace of Mind fruit, FFOF + Roots + Wiggle Worm + Coco (1 bag each) Compost tea I have gone back and forth between perpetual grows and harvesting the room all at once because of battling bugs. Currently I am going all at once. This means my plants are vegging for 6-8 weeks and get TONS of under striping, some get topped and most get some LST as well. I find this works for me because it gives me tons of time to recover if I loose a batch of clones (I'm a clone killing master) and the plants are ready to explode when they flower. They get trimmed, transplanted and scrog'd just days before flowering (I reuse all my smart pots so I transplant after harvest and veg 2-3 under the 1000 watts days before flipping to 12/12). I am at 20 days on this round, pictures are from day 10 ish. First tray is Grape, Second is SLH, third is mostly Hashberry (thats a K deficient Bruce Banner in the back...IDK that its BB but thats what I was told and one of my testers said she thinks its the best in Colorado-after insisting she would not take my product because it "could not possibly be as good as the OG at the clinic" so I'm running it again but its a little stretchy for my liking). The final tray are all from clone and a mix up (I am trying to find the diesel cutting that I lost when I labeled my plants without using a sharpie).
Flower development is starting to kick into overdrive at day 26. The photos are of the Room, The Grape, the Lemon and the Sour D. (from right to left) The Sour started showing crystals first and is clearly the stinkiest at this stage. It has a nice sour orange odor. Not a lot of fuel on this cut/version. The SLH has just a faint haze odor that you would not notice unless you knew what to look for. I failed to capture it completely last time and I suspect it was overfeed....and so is this one....but I'll get here dialed. The Grape always smells like pot, in fact even thou its great, its really generic. Most of my strains are kept for a unique trait but this one is perfect typical pot. I noticed the Bruce has a nice melon smell and crystals covering its petioles. I'm growing 2 of these to see if I like it (second run and was on the chopping block until I noticed this). I'll run it one more time before I decide...it needs some serious scrog work and I got lazy this round. (but in reality I don't see anything dethroning the 5 I already have and I only want 4...IT SUCKS GETTING RID OF GREAT PLANTS!) The veg plants are on a rampage. I always veg too long so this is not great news but I'd rather chop a healthy plant than wait on a runt. I think its from the Earth Juice Veg I started running. I just replaced all my moms after a heat wave and mite attack. I've grown all of these strains before (some many times) but not in a while for some so this run looks like its gonna be a little shaky. I also had labeling issues so I've got mixed strain trays and don't know what everything is yet. This has led to an immediate deficiency in my hashberry (I thought these were power skunk and now they are way underfeed....on that note, DO NOT FOLLOW MANDALA NUTRIENT SUGGESTIONS, they have good strains but feed them as usual...maybe a little less) My nutrients are up to 850 ppm (one feeding a day) and 2 extra waterings with just cal mag each day. I also planted some Holy Smokes African Seeds yesterday. These are gonna pollinate everything I have so I can gift the seeds to some Rastafari in Central America. 35 days since I saw a mite...I think I FINALLY got them
Now its starting to get fun. This is my favorite part, when the buds begin to stink and swell. I've cut the nutes on the haze for a while (last batch was a little low odor/flavor and I suspect its an overfeed haze thing) Everyone else is about to into overdrive. I'm about to drop the guano and bump my ppm up. I am amazed at the size of the grape I flowered from clone...their as big as the ones that flowered 8 weeks (nearly).
The older half of the veg plants has had its first defoliating, topped and striped of their lower growth (three separate massacres not all at once) so that 4-8 growth points could recover . The younger half have been striped of their lower growth and "ugly leaves". All are getting cal mag, humic acid, kelp, earth juice veg and a dash of flora nova bloom (total ppm 400) and the big ones have had a boost at 1000ppm (500 cal mag, 20o fish, 200 ej veg, 100 from tap) I tossed in a shot of the under canopy to show the scrog work...this is the cleanest understory I've managed yet. I have some yellowing in my hashberry (Mandala's) early (like always). IDK if this is because they need tons of N (contrary to what the breeder says) or if they have suffered some root damage (maybe dried out) or what. I do know that this strain out yielded everything in the room the first time I ran it and its never been the same.
Well IDK! I usually get about a pound a tray (4x4). I hear about 2 lb per 1000 watts all the time but don't get close. I figure a 1000 watts could do 5x5 and thats a full square meter of extra space I'm not using and some of my strains are not really high yield strains. Between those two, I figure I'm doing well. BUT I have had plants yield over 2 ounces in a 16 plant per 4 x 4 before and that would be 2 pounds if all the plants were as vigorous. They were NOT. I bitched about Hashberry earlier because this is one of the strains that I hit those yields with but can't do it again (I over feed the shit out of them to get that yield and have not gone quite as high since that round...they were huge but got something that looked like multinutrient look out in week 6 and were harsh and got bud mold so I've cut way back.) I wish I could nail it but I'm happy to be so lucky. I remember seeing photos of rooms like this in High Times when I was a kid (no internet, imagine that) and never imagined I would have one. I dreamed but never imagined! I certainly never thought I would be shopping at a store, let alone buying from a cannabis cup winning grower...LEGALLY
Looks really good. So from your experience, does it seem like different strains have different responses to nutrients?
Definitely! My SLH gets real dark real easy if feed to much, The Grape will eat anything you give it, the Hashberry always seems to yellow week three no matter what (I've been able to stay ahead of it a couple time with lots of fish emulsions) and the Skunk does not want to grow no matter what (I got it from a close friend who demanded I hold for him while he left the country...HE killed it with this strain in Coco with GH but I get small runty plants that taste like a skunks ass...in a good way). I also noticed more odor in the haze immediately after I cut back the nutes this round.
Day 48. 2 trays have had the nutrients cut off. 2 are still getting EJ Bloom and GH Organic Bloom at a total ppm of 400. The veg room is way overgrown but thats how I like it. All the plants have been topped (most twice) most have been defoliated at least once. The majority have had all their underside growth points removed too. The idea is when I flower them, they will be 3-8 (prefer 4-6) growth points each and virtually all of the plant size will come from stretch during transition. This ensures all of the plant is above the screen in the scrog. (1st photo) The grape is getting huge and starting to collapse, but still has a ways to go. This is my slowest strain but its also the biggest yielder and its classic bag appeal. (3rd and 4th photo) The Lemon is starting to "pop". For the last 10 days or so it will throw out foxtails everywhere. I think they call this a dready sativa (photo 2). This strain could be harvested by 40 days if bag appeal is all you wanted. By then all the pistils have wilted and the nugs are dense but the trich's are still clear and I suspect 25% of the yield comes from this late explosion. I'm testing the effects of nitrogen starvation on flavor. You can see some extreme yellowing in picture 5 if you look close I think its helping. I love this strain's smell...its not lemon its more of a creamy vanilla "green tea" with just enough sour acidic smell to convince me it may be an actual SLH pheno but I suspect its just a plant that got renamed (I also doubt Greenhouse SLH is anywhere near this fast to mature). The final photo is of the room. I've noticed a couple anomalies. I've got 3 grape grown from clone that are identical in all ways accept 2 have yellowed, I can't explain it. The same thing happened to a couple hashberries. IDK