Multi-Strain Perpetual Flower

Discussion in 'Hydroponic Grow Journals' started by Brady Kincaid, Feb 18, 2013.

  1. Hello everyone!

    I've been gone for a bit, been really busy trying to get things up and running again. This is going to be my perpetual flower journal. I'm using a custom five-site ebb & grow system, though it's not quite finished (I still need to rig up a flush res). In any case, my nutrient system is working great.

    I know there is a lot of debate about running multiple strains off one res, with each strain having it's own specific requirements. I'm going to do my best to find a happy medium where all of them will at least do well. The reason for doing it this way is that I will be keeping several mother strains, and I want to be able to space my harvests to every few weeks.

    Basically, the largest of my four mothers will have a couple cuts taken, then be put into the first open spot in the flower room. The best clone will replace her in the veg room.

    Since this setup is still in it's infancy, the only plant flowering in it so far is my Critical+ Auto. She's about eight days along, very stretchy. Long narrow leaves, and pretty spaced out nodes. The pictures below are of her.

    On deck is a Critical Sensi Star clone. She's vegging now and turning into a monster. Hopefully she'll be making the flip in the next couple weeks.
     

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  2. Well, my CSS clone is getting enormous, so I plan on getting her in 12/12 by Monday. I will start posting pictures of her here once she starts flowering. Hopefully the canopy stays nice and even like I've got it now. She has a lot of really solid bud sites, I may need to thin some leaves though as I've got condensation forming on some of them I'll try adding a little more of a breeze and see if that helps.

    All of the pictures today are of the Critical + Autoflower at day 21 of flower. Lights are currently on for 14 hrs/day. There are four plants vegging with her, including the one about to be flipped. Two of the plants are having cupping issues, which is luckily having no effect on this little lady. She's really stretchy, so I've been tying down branches as they shoot up. I'm attempting to keep everything as level as possible, we'll see if it stays that way.

    First pic is top down with lights on. Second is the main bud, lights still on. Finally turned the lights off for a clearer third pic. The side branches really aren't doing much yet, hopefully I'll be able to showcase some of those in the next couple weeks.
     

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  3. Removed all three vegging plants from the flower room, the lights will be cut to 12/12 tonight. Should see the CSS starting to show pistols in the next couple weeks, and a little over a month to go on the auto. The CSS has a couple straggler branches coming up in the middle. I have nowhere to tie them down if they get tall, so they'll be removed as clones before she gets too far into flower.
     
  4. Pics later or tomorrow.

    Critical+ Auto is starting to put on a little more weight as the stretch slows down. She's very spindly, but this was to be expected based on other grows I checked out. Would have hit the projected 2-3' mark had I not LST'd her, so I'm assuming everything is on track.

    Critical Sensi Star continues to amaze. Still waiting on the couple free branches in the center to put on some girth before I cut them for clones. They are now higher than all the other tops, so I'm hoping enough of the plants energy gets diverted to them that they thicken quickly. The latest I'll cut them will be at the first sign of flower.
     
  5. Doing updates for both plants in flower and I have too many pictures, so this will be divided into two posts. :cool:

    Part 1:

    Critical+ Auto

    I've got five pics below of my first auto at 4 weeks in flower, tomorrow starts week 5. Stretch is slowing down, which is nice cause she's pretty lanky as it is.

    First and second pics are of the entire plant, no defoliation was done as none was needed. Bud sites and leaves are so far apart I have very little concern about mold.

    Last three pics are of three separate bud sites. The largest is the main top, the next is a medium top (two or three of these), and the last is a small top (two or three of these). There's also some little tops that will be good for popcorn or hash. :D
     

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  6. Part 2:

    Critical Sensi Star #2

    This is the clone I got from a spindly 3 inch long branch. I was topping the seedling, and figured I might as well see if it would root. I did not expect it to explode the way it did!

    She's been in 12/12 for about six days, and I'm hoping to get some clones off her yet. I was expecting pistols to show up next week sometime, but they started showing today already. I'm going to give my two branches a few more days before I snip them

    First two pics are of her in all her glory; until today she has had no pruning done, just extensive LST work. If you look closely though you can see condensation on some of her leaves, even with a fan going and RH at 55%.

    Next two pics are after her trim. I went a little nuts with it, but I know from past experience that this will barely slow her down. Also, being that I'm using t5's, I need to do the defoliation to get decent light penetration to all the many budsites. This should also increase airflow and decrease my chances of bud rot. I removed most of the large fan leaves from all the branches, and also pulled out a handful of the smallest tops. I'm going to leave most of them, since I can use them for hash if they're too small to save as bud.

    The last two shots are of a couple of the tops. The fifth picture is of what will become the main cola. Super tight nodes and heavy branching, hoping for a whopper here. The last picture is of the first signs of flower; pistols! :hello:

    I'm extremely excited at this plants progress, and can't wait till my other CSS are large enough to bring into the flower room. :smoke:
     

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  7. Auto is starting to fatten up a bit, though it doesn't look like much weight on her yet. The CSS has got pistols on all her tops and has started stretching. I pulled two clones from her this morning, and I also removed a handful of suckers. I left quite a few smaller lower branches, we'll see if it was worth it in a couple weeks.

    I've also ordered my second flood and drain controller kit, I will be picking up the second res and control bucket tomorrow sometime. Once this is installed, a turn of couple valves is all I'll need to switch any combination of flower sites from the "nute res" to the "flush res." This is what allows me to stagger my flower times from one site to the next, despite all plants being on one system. :cool:

    The auto should need to start flush in a couple weeks, so I'm on a bit of a deadline to get this done...
     
  8. Picked up the flush res today, but no control bucket yet, I'll get to that next weekend. I'm going to have to move my clone tent again, it's sitting right where I need my new res to go. :rolleyes:

    Come Friday I need to put in an order for my pvc fittings to get everything set up and hopefully running within the first week of April for the Critical+ Auto.

    Speaking of which, I've got five pics of her, now at 37 days in. I haven't had to move the lights at all the last week, so I'm assuming stretch is finished. Incredibly dark leaf coloration despite a relatively mild nute solution, though that may be attributed to the cool temps down there.

    First two pics are of the entire plant, and the rest are bud shots. First bud pic is again the main cola, and the last is one of the smallest buds. They've got about four weeks to go yet, hopefully plenty of time to fatten up. I've been leery about the harvest I'd get off an auto under these lights, since the plant doesn't have time to make a lot of tops.
     

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  9. A separate post for the Critical Sensi Star. For those of you who haven't been around through the entirety of this project, I've been working on CSS for a LONG time. Despite the effort, this is the first of them who's made it into flower. The first seed didn't make it. The first plant almost made it to flower, but died about a year ago. Now I'm going through my last three seeds, though two of the mothers from these three are doing very poorly (possible rust :(). The third is still in "seedling" phase, and is doing fine. Luckily I pulled a couple clones off of this one a few days ago, once they root I'll likely trash the mothers in favor of these clones.

    On to pictures... The first is from the top down, you can see a bit of an empty space in the upper right where I pulled the clones. They were both about two inches above the rest of the canopy. Second shot from the side to show how well the zip ties worked to keep them all even. The tops average a between 9 and 10 inches from the surface of the hydroton.

    Last three shots are of seperate tops. The first is the main cola, second is a larger side branch, and the third is a tertiary branch in the center.

    Should I defoliate any more yet, or hold off for a while yet? I have a fan going, but still occasionally see moisture on some large lower leaves.
     

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  10. it looks like you have it all sorted Brady, well done.

    middy
     
  11. It stough to see brandy..
    is there tops that are being hid by leafs?
    If so you def want to get them out of the way, even pulling just one blade off the leaf if that gets the lights on them, right now its most important that they all get light. this way the grow evenly and will produce better buds for you..;)... try to stick to the oldest leafs also..
    sometimes you cant but you want to try anyways...

    make sense dude..
    YODA
     

  12. Thanks for stopping by Middy, welcome to the new journal. Things aren't completely sorted yet, but we're getting closer. Hopefully this summer I'll get the room divided for a flower and veg side instead of using tents for veg. :rolleyes:

    Next big project though has to be an A/C, it's going to get warm soon. Trying to keep the A/C stealth is going to be a trick...


    I do have a few smaller tops being covered by leaves yet, I've been trying to tuck them but that's usually when I get moisture. I think I may be able to get away with removing a few select blades though, as you suggested. I hadn't considered that option. I'll try to get a little defoliating done tomorrow and some better pics afterwards to show what I'm dealing with. Thanks for the advice man. :wave:
     
  13. Trimmed a bunch more leaves off the CSS, and several blades off the remaining leaves. Looks like all tops are now exposed to the light. Hopefully the lower buds have time to catch up with the others yet. :smoke:

    The Auto is starting to get really chunky, and man does it wreak. Hard to put my finger on it, but it is kinda foul. Removed just a couple leaves from this plant, and it's the first time it's been done in her short life. Just making sure the buds are all getting light. Anyone run a Critical + Auto? How does she finish?
     
  14. Day 43 for the Critical+ Auto, should be around three weeks left. I'll start checking trichs when we get a little closer to the finish. She really is starting to fatten up. The buds are really fat, but very spaced out thanks to the stretch. Getting really frosty, and the smell has thankfully improved since the last time I was down there. Still can't quite put my finger on it...

    First shot is the canopy, you can see how spread out she is. I did remove a few leaves the other day, so all the buds are getting light. Going to be a lot of chunky popcorn and a few fat buds.

    Next two shots are of the main cola, really looking nice. Pretty impressed at how frosty she's gotten. She's got such strange looking leaves.

    Fourth pic is a middle sized bud and the last pic is of one of the smaller buds.
     

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  15. Day 15 for the Critical Sensi Star #2 clone. Actually counted the tops, and the results are in: there are sixteen large tops, and another nineteen small ones. Hopefully I can hit two or three ounces. I've removed quite a few more leaves to make sure that all the lower tops are getting light. Height difference from the shortest to the tallest buds is about four inches. If I'm lucky the shorter ones will catch up a bit yet during the stretch. Average height for the larger tops is ten to eleven inches and growing. Keeping the light as close as possible to keep the nodes as tight as possible, reference the first picture.

    The next three pictures are canopy shots, top down, diagonal and side. Internodes are staying pretty tight so far, should be some fat buds in a few weeks. Hopefully I can avoid mold issues, humidity is around 53%.

    The next two pics are to show some of the defoliating I had to do to expose the lower tops. In some cases I just removed a few blades. The height difference is still significant, but the buds have grown and fattened up substantially since they've gotten the extra light. Thanks Yoda!

    Last two pictures are of a couple buds, the main cola and one of the tertiary buds.
     

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  16. Critical+ Auto at Day 51

    Leaves are starting to yellow and curl a bit, really need my flush res put together. This weekend was really busy, and I haven't gotten around to placing the order for my fittings for the flush res. I may just pick them up at the store sometime this week.

    Buds aren't getting much fatter, but they look and smell pretty good. I'll try to get some scope shots next week for everyone, today will just be the usual. First two are the entire plant, you can see some of the yellowing on the larger fan leaves. The last three pics are the main top, medium and small buds, respectively. Hoping for around an ounce off her, but I guess only time will tell. We've got 10-20 days yet before chop, all depends on the trichromes. :cool:
     

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  17. Critical Sensi Star at Day 23

    Just over three weeks of flower and things are looking pretty good. She's already getting super frosty, and has a deliciously sweet fruity smell. Did some very minor defoliation, around half a dozen leaves in total were removed. She's starting to get quite sticky already.

    First four pictures are of the entire plant from a few different angles. I've tried to let her keep as many of her leaves as possible, but the defoliation has helped keep condensation down

    The last four pictures are a selection of her buds, the first of these being the main cola. Everything is looking pretty good, though I do need to get a water change done soon.

    This strain is supposed to finish in 6-7 weeks, so we're actually about half finished already according to the breeder info. Ultimately (as with all the others), trich development will decide when the chop actually happens.


    For any of you who watched my Norther Lights x Big Bud grow, her clone is almost large enough to flip. I'll be getting some clones from her before I move her to the flower room, but she'll be joining the first two ladies in a week or two. :D
     

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  18. Critical + Auto at Day 60

    This one is just about ready to come down, but I haven't flushed yet. I'm still waiting on some parts, which I guess should arrive on Monday. In anticipation of their arrival, I've got the new res and control bucket in their respective places. Once everything arrives, I'll just have to cut/glue pipe in place, hook up pumps, wire the controller and fill the res. All in all it should only take a couple hours, though I'll have to let the PVC cement have time to thoroughly dry.

    She's gotten very dark, despite her leaves continuing to yellow and curl. If you look closely at the pictures you can see some buds have got very small splashes of purple in them. The first shot is top down, the second is a pair of buds. Internodal spacing and the chunky nature of the nugs is going to make this an easy one to trim.

    Third pic is another bud shot, and the fourth is the main cola. She's gotten pretty frosty and very sticky but my nose is stuffed so I can't smell her. :(
     

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  19. Critical Sensi Star at Day 32

    This one is developing very quickly, should be around half way to the finish point. Buds are starting to swell and this one is SUPER frosty. I'm completely done doing any defoliation, since I am going to end up sacrificing some lower buds anyway to reveg this plant. Neither of her clones have done well. I trashed one, and the other is starting to throw roots but I don't think she'll survive. I really don't want to lose these genetics.

    First shots are top down, from the side, and a close up of some of the lower buds. The lower ones are all exposed thanks to the earlier pruning, development on these is coming along well compared to my lower buds in the past.

    Next up is the main cola followed by a shot of one of the side buds. The main cola is a little thicker, but not by much.

    Lastly are a couple random bud shots. I'm going to get some great hash off these for sure! :smoking:
     

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  20. Damn looking good and frosty wish I had your camera :hello:

    Also pulling up a chair
     

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