Christmas Grow - 2 tents = 1 shorter/faster and other taller/longer strains

[Bootsy]

Next Grow are now sprouted and soon into larger pots within the next week. My signature has the particulars of this grow of 7 feminized plants. I am in process of cancer treatment so have lot of spare time over next 3 months and looking at some cool strains that take a long time to flower for a change. Hopefully at the end we are all looking good. I am really excited about Dr Grinspoon and Shogun sativas in particular, but the others should be nice too. soil has been made for a month, and is slightly alkaline. This base soil has a lot of composted seaweed (mainly Kelp) and horse manure, both of which were my grandfathers go to for his gardens. Cheers till next check in wityh photos.

[SoOrbudgal]

Good luck to you Bootsy those sound like they'll keep you busy for several months. Keep us updated, stay well hydrated

[Bootsy]

Just doing some research on Dr Grinspoon. I didnt realize it was a tough grow, stretching a ton and taking up to 149 days. I had planned to manifold it big time to keep within my height, but now wondering what the hell ? should be cooler than i thought. seeds from Barney's Farm through TNSB (my go to for year). see photos of the 4 short tent plants together and the Dr Grinspoon on her own. Her tent mates ( amnesia haze and Shogun). In one day they have responded big time. i on;y left 1.5 to 2 inches of regular potting soil between theroots and the super soil, so was somewhat worried about burning them at start, but - lucked out again!

[Bootsy]

so the sativa tent will be the challenge in trying to equalize the canopy with three different strains, and starting with the stectchiest (Dr Grinspoon) a couple weeks ahead. I thought i'd let her go longer before firt top, and maybe top the little ones just after 4 nodes.? if anybody cares to comment, I always like to hear opinions.
Oh yeah - I have a lot of kelp and will be using extract on a regular basis, as well as for mulch indoors this time. hope it works as well for these as it does for the vegetables and outdoor plants. my compost is also pretty rich in it. More later.
Ohyeah - I feel obliged to tell why i was two seeds short. one i mistakenly used dirt from the hot bucket - duhh!. the other, i was taking the seed from paper to the pot and it fell, bounced somewhere never to be found. had to order two more as I had no sativa spares - again Duhh! Cheers.

[SoOrbudgal]

Well look at you go. Took on a long tall sativa with that Dr.Greenspoon eh? More power to you for that. You sure got your work cut out for you......i try to keep my plants equal hight but it does not work out well most the time hense i gotta pulled them colas to the nearest pole LOL

[Bootsy]

A simple update. Everything looking good so far. Got the training started on all but the two that were started 2ish weeks late. She is looking so robust that my thought is to maybe start Dr Grinspooon flowering earlier, so am trying to figure a place to stick her in dark for a couple hours per day for awhile. I will be around a lot for awhile so can manually do it. a strange oneThe white widow in the 4 plant tent is so short and tight that I just did a quad topping on her. so lush but so short - and she is the sativa in that tent. Waiting for the basement to get cool enouugh to run the HID light instead of the two 600W best VA LEDs - thinking the HPS will have more penetration .

[Bootsy]

updated photos. I have the two younger sativas (Shogun and Amnesia Haze) in the 3 by 3 tent with the indicas with intent to have them veg the same. when time to switch the sativas to flowering, I will put in the 2 by 4 tent with Dr G who has been on 12 12 for 6 days. I now realize the 2 by 4 tent will be in flower for many months, with fun training. I am not experienced in growing true sativas, but will figure it out. The two at the fron of 3 by 3 tent are the shogun abd amnesia haze, which are approximately 3 weeks younger than all the rest. so far, so good, except for the incredibly dense and tiny White Widow. I trimmed her big time, but expect this will just be a tiny producer. Phenominal difference in strains and i have my boxes ready to raise the different ones to same elevations for lighting. Dr G is definitely a grower and will be fun to control. I Just got a great deal on a Mars Hydro sf3000, which I think is the perfect light for my 3 by 3 and should be installed in a few days. The 2 by 4 tent has had my 600W HPS going at 75% since Monday alopng with a 600W Best VA and not showing any negatives yet. It keeps the tent and basement warm during the day which is nice. Hoping for better penetration with HPS for the sativas as well as not need heating during day. 8 grows and I still like to experiment, but I always end up with some good product, if not maximum. It's a hobby and i got lotsa time for next couple of months off work. 3 sativas are in 10 gal and rest are in 5 gallon pots. Be well.

[SoOrbudgal]

Sounds like a good plan Bootsy. I'm in for the grow, congrats on choosing a good long sativa for winter grow. I dig your style of growing, no fuss about how you take control of enviornment an training. Good luck with the grow

[Bootsy]

It's been awhile since last post. All girls are now in their final tents and are on 12 12 lighting. to keep things straight, here is a synopsis to now. Dr Grinspoon (started 12 Oct, flowering 23 Nov), Amnesia Haze (started 28 Oct, flower 11 Dec) and Shogun (started 28 Oct, flower 15 Dec) in the 2 by 4 tent are doing well it seems. Decent buds forming on Dr G and just seeing some signs on the AH. The short tent were all started 12 Oct and flowering 15 Dec. White Widow (raised 6 inches in photo) is a true runt with internode spacing incredibly tight, but seems very healthy. In the short tent, Strawberry Banana and Grape Ape are showing yellowing leaves and some brown edges, which is surely the result of the high PH. I am watering with water down at 5.8 for awhile hoping to compensate. I will be adding an inch or so of soil to each pot and have mostly worm castings which should help droip soil pH somewhat as well. other than that, things are progressing. I cant yet tell, but it looks like Dr Grinspoon will be the big wispy bud phenotype as opposed to the popcorn buds, but will know for sure soon as she grows. I would normally have waited another couple weeks for the indicas, but jut lost my resolve and put them on 12 12, hoping for more stretch than will likely happen. i expect very different harvest dates due to all my screwing around. All but the Cherry Pie have had their pre flower defoliation, and Dr G had a second to open things up. Regarding training, all were manifolded except White Widow and Dr G, which were both topped once for a quad topping. The tents are already crowded so this will be a fun one. Cheers for now.

[Bootsy]

Please forgive my photography issues. My GAFI (give a fuck indiex) is pretty low right now.
See photos, indica tent of 4 are not as robust as I would hope, but I am still hoping to fix the high PH. Still have some nutrient isues with light green happeneing to a couple. when i did a runoff check using PH 6.5 water, runoff was at 7.3. OOPS - I thought i had it under control. For next while i will be watering with 5.2 to see if it equalizes. My big interest this time is in the sativas, since really the first time I have grown them - maily due to height limitations. The sativas all look pretty good, but I wonder if I flowered them too soon out of caution after reading a lot. Dr Grinspoon is in the middle and is 3 weeks older than the Amnesia Haze and Shogun. She is still growing but seems to have slowed down. I am keeping the lights a little higher to induce a little more stretch at this time - which I might regret later - but i love challenges. I hoped for the DR G to be of the popcorn Phenotype but didnt happen.
Thanks for reading. Comments anytime.

[Bootsy]

hey - Thanks SoOrbudgal - I now undertand the "keep hydrated"comment - it has been more of a challenge than I expected. almost through the rad and chemo, so hopefully more energy soon.
Another thing i now see is that if changing my consumption to edibles, I will need a lot more pot! Got enough variety for awhile, and next grow i will try to maximize - which for me means doing a coco/hydro grow. Learning as I go, and by the time I die, I will know a lot.

[Going2fast]

Looking good bootsy. I've been wanting to grow the Dr. For a while. Radiation blows but the moment your done you start to bounce back quickly.

[Bootsy]

thanks, I really hope so. been a slog of a couple months.

[SoOrbudgal]

I hear ya about the amounts for edibles. It's gonna get better for ya, you keep the good attitude up stay busy with that weed garden. You got this Bootsy best wishes

[Bootsy]

F...K! i think i have spotted spider mites. really just getting well enough to spend some time with the girls and found these. i posted the quetion as well in another ?thread? if that what it called. Help?

[SoOrbudgal]

Yes damnit you got spider mites. Whatever you decide to use against them do so when lights stay off so no light burn. I've used dish soap and water to knock them down outdoors. I've not had a issue with indoor spider mites in my tents but i know plenty have an concured them. Someone will come along better to answer your call about these shits.

[Bootsy]

thanks. hoping for something. my commercial grower friend suggests giving up. spraying with iso seems to be something a few sites suggest.

[Bootsy]

HI folks. I am not feeling up for a constant battle on a grow that still has a couple months left. killing and sanitizing is now the way ahead. thanks for reading. on the side, I think i may choose coco for next grow for productivity and ease. it seems like mainly edibles will be my way ahead, so taste isnt really the goal as much. Be well.

[Cali]

Best bet would be if you can? Put the plant inside a bag, carry it outside and shake the isshshh out of it and that will knock most if not all off your plant. If you have an air compressor I would sure blow them with it. It’s what I did. I had a case of whiteflies, think I brought them indoors from an outdoor plant? Anyways I had multiple plants so I would like I said wrap the plant ina bag take it outside and blow the entire plant with a blower. It helped but I had some plants in Scrog so I couldn’t do them all. If you only have one or a few but you can do that it would help and don’t worry about hurting the plants. Then once your tents are empty clean them out before bringing the plants back in. Hope that helps you and gives some hope. Also I use beneficial insects to keep pest under control. For example the side with Scrog net. And for next time use a preventive spray, I use lavender or rosemary high in camphor. Blows up eggs destroying the next cycle.

[Bootsy]

Hi. regarding the lavender or rosemary spray, I dont see any that seems suitable. do you have a suggested source? or is that something i mix up myself?

[Bootsy]

Thanks muchly. I hadnt heard of the lavender or roemary as a preventive, and that hould be one I will do. I already am in process of terminating the whole grow so anything to save em is past. These buggers are scary, to the point where my commercial/medical growing friend wants me personally sterilized before visiting him. He had these guys around a year n a hlf ago and my losing 7 little plants is a micro-situation in comparison.

[Cali]

Bootsy you can make it yourself but here is a link to a website where you can find any essential oil. Then go to lavender or rosemary. They have a list of a few click on all of them and compare the levels of camphor by clicking on the C of A tab you will see what I’m talking about. I believe the Rosemary has the highest levels. https://www.libertynatural.com/bulk/ESSENTIA.HTM