Grow Journal - Blue Mystic (Nirvana)

[Eigholte]

Quick update: The plants in veg bounced back after watering... but at that point, I noticed how tall they were - again. They'd grown up into the lights. So, I gave them another haircut to bring them back down to size.

I guess the repeated topping IS making them bushier at least.

[Eigholte]

That is sounding like a really good idea for when I finally flip A and B over to flower. Given that they'll be at least 9-10 weeks in veg at that point, I'm kinda expecting they'll stretch like heck - so training that growth into a SCROG might be the way to go.

[HappyDaze]

Can I ask...why the long veg? They're already overgrowing your space and they'll double in size when you flip.

[Eigholte]

I'm mostly just trying to nail down the timing for creating feminized seed from the first two. The original idea was that out of 3 regular seeds there should be at least one male that I could flower early enough that this wouldn't have been an issue. But that didn't work out, so now I'm trying to refine my Colloidal Silver/GA3 game to produce female pollen and time it so I can use that pollen on the other plants. Each setback keeps making this increasingly frustrating.

[Scarletwhitewidow]

Bloody hell your enthusiastic. Well done eigholte

[Eigholte]

Heh... thanks! I feel like these plants are doing their best to keep me running. Since day one, they've been growing and reaching milestones faster than I've been ready to deal with it!

But I've just managed keeping up with the weekly updates/photos, etc. and documenting the whole thing as I go.

[Eigholte]

End of Week 10 Veg (A&B), End of Week 5 Flower (C)


So, mostly kept up this week. A and B didn't get too thirsty, but A was in solid need of a drink this morning, as you can see.



But I think I need to just flip everything to flower. It's been 10 weeks. I should have been finished with the seed-making process on C by now, but I'm finding the male flowers I'm picking are not particularly potent - lots of green 'nanners, not a lot of happy yellow pollen. I might have successfully pollinated a branch with a few seeds on that first try, but the second one didn't seem to do much. I made a third go of it today... and perhaps I should give up, and just get my flowering and harvesting on. I think I am getting lower and lower potency from the males anyhow...

That said, with 10 weeks in veg for A and B... it might be one heck of a harvest. That would be nice, I think I'll like this one based on the smell.

C is trucking along in Flower. This week, the buds started thickening up a bit.



It's starting to form an honest-to-goodness continuous cola up there. That's really exciting. This is the worst-trained plant I've ever grown, so I have high hopes for what might happen with better training and more light on this strain.




Game Plan? Cut back aggressively, to try and leave enough space for the stretch, let it recover for a week, then flip plants A and B to 12-12.
Also: Give up on seeds, and see what that branch on C gives me.

Worst case is I make another not-quite-legal seed order from Nirvana to stock up again. Not ideal, but also not a crisis.

[HappyDaze]

I'm looking forward to seeing how your seeds grow out. We'll be able to see how stable Nirvana's genetics are. Maybe all you'll get is the Blueberry gramma and the ruderalis grampa.

[Eigholte]

Fingers crossed that I get at least a few! I am curious to know as well just how much variation is in the strain. I'm also wondering tri-whorl trait I was seeing in 2/3 seeds remains stable, gets more pronounced, disappears, or what.

[Eigholte]

End of Week 11 Veg (A&B), End of Week 6 Flower (C)


Status updates:

I am pretty sure I have at least a few areas on C pollinated. I may have produced some selfed feminized seeds out of my Blue Mystic plants B and C. I will keep trying to self A, because I like that plant, but I'm not going to wait any longer.

Plants A and B are obviously very well established, as they seem to be able to suddenly grow 10 inches in a week. The time to go to flower is now, I think! In preparation for that, I cut them back heavily and removed all the little stems at the base of the plant. Since light is my limiting factor, I rarely get any buds worth having there. I also plan to try and build a bit of a DIY scrog net above them in the next day or so, to train the new growth into. I plan to officially flip to 12/12 later tonight.

C looks like it might take longer to mature than plants I've grown in the past (Maybe some sativa in there?) The pistils are all still very, very white where I haven't chucked pollen.

Also, I snapped a stem on Plant C, the poor thing, and had to tape it up. Wish me luck.


Plants A and B before the trim:


Plants A and B after the trim:


Plant C:


And the current state of the buds on C, at 6 weeks into flower:

[SoOrbudgal]

This is kinda like a Frankenstein grow. That's so huge bummer it's taken so long for possible seed formation. I'm gonna keep watchin.

[Eigholte]

Oh! Thanks for the reminder. This Frankenstein grow may actually be a bit crazier still - I have a clone of A that is planted outdoors now. Going to see how that turns out. I'm far enough north that frost may come before my harvest does, but it'll be neat to see how that timing works up here and the extra clone cost basically nothing to produce so I'm not out anything if the plant dies off in a frost. So maybe I should start posting updates on that plant, too!

[Eigholte]

End of Week 1 Flower (A&B), End of Week 7 Flower (C)


Alrighty! Well, it took a few days after my last update to get everything set up and adjust my timer, but we've finished week one of 12/12 for Plants A and B, plus or minus two days or so!



I handwove myself a little SCROG net in that tent and I am training my two plants through it now. I am hopeful that I should be able to restrain some of that vigorous stretching, and who knows, may be it'll even yield well! I did clip off any of the lower branches that weren't likely to make the net by the end of the stretch (anything that would have had to grow more than 200%), in an attempt to get the plants to focus on filling the net.



Plant C is still going. That massive break I caused seems to be healing with the duct tape on it. (Phew!)


At this point, pistils are now browning all over - I think we're starting to close in on harvest time! I was worried with all that endless white pistil growth that I would be dealing with a longer path to maturity, but I might be finished by around 10 weeks like expected, actually. Maybe 11-12 at worst.


Unfortunately C is just too dang tall, my light is at it's maximum position, and I'm stuck. So the top cola is totally getting light burned. My options are to cut it off, or just let it burn. It's not near ready yet, so I think I am willing to let this one burn. Maybe it was a good thing I flipped C earlier - I learned enough about this strain's habits to know the A and B need a SCROG net at least! And I'm sure there will be some salvageable buds - I mean, I do love me some extracts, so very little of my plants actually goes to waste.

Right now, thankfully, it's mostly the leaves/sugar leaves taking the hit. Hopefully this matures reasonably quickly, and I can cut it down before it gets too bad!


And then! Plant A Junior - is planted outside and appears to be slowly recovering from transplanting. Has one or two new leaves. Is all of 4 inches tall.
Looking forward to seeing how that plant behaves at this latitude!

[Eigholte]

End of Week 2 Flower (A&B), End of Week 8 Flower (C)

So... Plant C is getting the thickest buds I have ever grown. Also the most light burnt. Unfortunately, but that is the way of the learning curve. C is looking a little rough, but I think I might have about ~2 weeks left to harvest, so I am hoping to just tough it out and see what happens instead of making drastic changes.

So here is C, in all her fat, crispy glory.

The worst of her buds:


And the best:


A and B are training well into the SCROG net, and appear to have been more than ready. We have protobuds forming already.
I have a lot of hope for these two, I think I should be able to avoid pretty much all of the problems I found with C, and if I can optimize the light, I think I can get a really good harvest out of these two in SCROG.



Go, Little Proto-buds!

[SoOrbudgal]

WOW what and endeavor this has been. Could you not pull that tall one away from the light with twine attach to tent pole? How's seed production looking?

[Eigholte]

Oh, hey, SoOrbudgal. I might have missed your message last week. I started shifting the light to the right, a little away from the tall plant. I'm a little afraid to tie that plant - it's a little top heavy.

On the topic of seed production, I'm am hopeful! No calyxes have split open yet, so I can't see any seeds. But the buds I attempted to pollinate are not thickening and producing more calyxes so I think at least a few of them took. The pollinated areas are thickening like mad, even on the base of the plant, so I think its' likely to be related to that area producing seeds rather than buds.

[Eigholte]

End of Week 3 Flower (A&B), End of Week 9 Flower (C)

I am closing in on harvest time for plant C, and I can hardly wait. The plant doesn't have much of a smell, really, but when I get the resin on my hands, it's a sensory delight. I have a hard time describing the scent/flavor, but I know that I like it. Also, these are the thickest buds I have ever grown. I can't quite tell if that's due to the strain's genetics, or if it has to do with the switch in nutrients I made this grow (Moved from the Basic AN Grow-Bloom-Micro trio with no supplements to the MegaCrop with the Sweet Candy and Bud Explosion add-ons. So the add-ons may be helping with getting more bud weight. Would need more science-ing to know for sure).

The most notable change is the weather this week did a full 90 degree, and suddenly it's hot here. (as opposed to unnaturally cool and rainy over the last few weeks) This has shot my humidity and temperature values in my tent through the roof. I think I have a risk of mold for the first time. So I bumped my fan up to high (I am glad I got a fan with about 2-3x the CFU rating I needed), and I'll keep an eye on this. I think I should consider doing a clean/air out of the tent as well, because I saw a hint of something fungus-y on a smart pot.

Looking at C, I think I might be about 2 weeks away from harvest - I see a good proportion of cloudy trichromes when I look, but no amber on the buds yet.

Here's C's Photos

And the bud close up


A and B have formed a lush green carpet of SCROG, and I couldn't be more pleased. I think this will be a more successful grow than C, but I owe plant C a debt of gratitude for teaching me the hard lessons I needed to learn before setting A and B to flower.


And I think at this point, I can call these legitimate little buds, rather than proto-buds.

[SoOrbudgal]

Yes they are buds and doing fine from the looks of them.

[Eigholte]

End of Week 4 Flower (A&B), End of Week 10 Flower (C)

Things are coming along nicely! Lets start with Plant C: This week, a lot of the pistils flipped over to brown, and the first hints of amber appeared on the calyxes themselves. I believe I have hit the start of the harvest window! I will give the plant at least one more week, maybe two if I'm not completely sold next weekend that the buds are ready. Despite the light burn, I am still really pleased with these buds - such nice thick colas!



And the flowers are taking on that "late-fall" look. Some of that is the light damage, but some of it seems to be just the progression towards ripeness.



The SCROG is coming along nicely. I cleaned up the undercarriage today and removed a few little branches that didn't make it up into the net.



If all of these buds turn out like the top colas in C, then I may just be swimming in bud. Not a bad thing - I realized this week that one of the friends who I know also vapes regularly wasn't around when I was giving tours - poor guy probably doesn't know that all he has to do to get free weed is ask. We're having a get together at my place this week, so maybe I'll mention that fact. I can probably even send him home with some caramels (Made from Nebula's recipe on GWE, with 10g fresh bud, 12g ABV, and ~20g post-extract weed to a cup of butter/one batch of caramels. They're a little potent).

The SCROG buds are getting a really good start on their trichrome production - nice and sparkly!


So far, so good!

Looking forward to sampling the bud from C. Can't wait to find out if I enjoy the effects of Blue Mystic. But I know I really enjoy the scent/flavor from handling the plants/getting resin on my hands... so odds are good!

[Eigholte]

End of Week 5 Flower (A&B), End of Week 11 Flower (C)


This week, we have some good progress! Plants A and B are settling into the SCROG nicely, and I am seeing good bud development. I may not get the three monstrous colas that I did off of plant C, just due to the fact that there are way more bud sites on these two for the plants to spread their resources between, but still, looking promising for some nice sized colas when all is said and done!



And the bud development on those looks like this:

So far, I seem to have a good 4" section that looks to be developing as a nice cola. Fingertips for scale.

Barring a catastrophe, I will harvest C next weekend at week 12. I could harvest now, I think I'm seeing around 10-20% amber, but I feel like one more week might be appropriate. I did, however, sneak a small sample bud that I am air-drying at present, just to see what that ~10% amber early harvest is like, and try to suss out what the effect/flavor might be. Still really hopeful that I'll like this one just based on the scents I get when handling the plants/resin.


And my attempts at trichrome photos have been complicated by low battery on my hand-microscope. Lighting is poor, but hopefully you can get a feel for what I mean when I talk about this being fairly barely 10-20% ambers. You can see a few golden blurs on the top photo, but I'll be honest, these photos are not really representative. They're just where I could get my camera and the lense to agree to photograph in low light. Ah well, will order new batteries for next week.

[Eigholte]

End of Week 6 Flower (A&B), End of Week 12 Flower (C) - HARVESTED C!

So, this week I took down plant C. It was bittersweet - good to get it harvested, but probably could have gone longer EXCEPT - there was legit mold in the bigger colas. Shame.

I cut those sections away aggressively, so I have probably lost a lot of weight. Shame - they were such big colas! But on the bright side, I think I learned something: The mold hit the sections that were light-burning, only. Turns out when leaves die, they make great mold-food. So one issue (lightburn) begets another (mold). My first two grows had neither issue, this one got both.

I think it's probably a pretty good argument for keeping a good eye on ones' grow. To quote a local legend, "Like boots, or hearts, when it starts it really falls apart". I think the same can be said of grows.

Here's what we got in the end, after harvest, from Plant C. Strangely, still some of the nicer, denser buds I've ever produced despite the missing colas. Weight TBD, posters for flavor:



Plants A and B are still SCROGing along at week six.



The buds are forming. No monsters just yet - but maybe that's for the best! Easier to keep mold out of it, and easier to keep the lights further away!

[HappyDaze]

Sorry about your mold problems, it so #%@^ing dry here, that's not an issue I've had to deal with.

Still looks like some tasty buds are hanging there! Congrats.

[Eigholte]

What's funny is that it's usually incredibly #%!^ing dry here - but we're having a freakishly hot and wet summer this year. It's been great for mushroom hunting though, and given that one of the local hallucinogenic species decided to just pop up in my compost bin, I suppose I can't complain!

But I might switch to doing just one spring and one fall grow, because I would have to invest in an AC unit if I wanted to grow in these conditions again.

[SoOrbudgal]

Looking good there Eigholte I hate it when there's mold. Those are looking frosty

[Eigholte]

Thanks, SoOrbudgal. A and B are looking great for trichome development compared to C. And C is no slouch - a quick dried sample suggests I have a smoothly flavored (minimal chlorophyll!), reasonably potent bud on my hands, with effects that include a pretty good sativa-like head high, paired with just relaxation for the body effect. A nice balance, I think!

[Eigholte]

End of Week 7 Flower (A&B), -1 week post harvest for (C)!

So, here are the present details for C!
Final dry buds: 33g
Water-cured trim, after cure and dry: 13g

Not terrible! Would have been better without losing my largest colas to mold. But I still have a very large amount off this one plant, with two more plants yet to harvest.

And based on preliminary samples, I think I am going to like this one! I have my White Kush supplies from my first grow down to a low level at this point (8 months after harvest), so it will be nice to be able to top up the "High THC" stash jar.

Plants A and B are still SCROGing along, and appear to be okay. I have a little bit of yellowing happening, but at 7 weeks into flower, again, I wonder if it's a problem vs just aging. I do think I need to up the watering frequency on those two plants, however.







Such bud, much frost!