SOIL A Slightly Seedy Summer Sativa Grow

[UndergroundFarmer]

It's about time for a new grow post! It's been weeks since I chopped the last one in the 4x4s. I've been feeding the soil (and the worms) with more organic amendments, worm compost, bokashi and sprouted grain and of course keeping the soil from drying out. I'm using the mulch covers over the pickers this time around instead of cover crop. In living soil, you can just cut the plant down, hang it to dry and not worry about getting rid of the root ball. Two weeks after chop, all that remained was the stem bit at the top. Seedlings for the next round are slow in coming, so I've taken advantage of the down time to rearrange cords and equipment as well as change the orientation of the cross bars in one of the tents so the lights have more support. I will start four seedlings ahead of the rest because of the unevenness of their sprouting or even not hatching at all. I'm starting to think I'm never going to get Train Wreck to grow for me from seed. My Malawi sprout is looking a bit weak too. I went slightly mad and pulled four regs out from my accidental crosses - I might have sprouts by tomorrow. Here's what I'm going to try to grow in this heat and humidity. Train Wreck (I'm 0-4 so far), Super Lemon Haze (1-0), Malawi (0-3), Liberty Haze, Lavender (1-0), Acapulco Gold (1-0), Sweet Amnesia Haze and Durban Poison. I'd planned for all sativa dominant feminized varieties but now there are four alternates: two Tangie x Blueberry, Laughing Buddha x Ghost Train Haze and Purple Haze x GTH. I've got fingers crossed for no males in my pickers.

My 3x3 will have four Mother's Finest regs grown out for seed, but I won't cry if there are no males. They'll be in five-gallon pots and a bit more portable than a picker, so I can put a female aside for sinse if I'm vigilant. I'll probably use the nursery tent for a few of those homebrew crosses.

[alltatup]

Sounds slick, savvy, sedulous, seedy and satisfying in a sativa-esque style. I grew Malawi once: she took over the planet.

[SoOrbudgal]

LOL yep that one did use all the space up alltatup tangled gal sativas. Wish i had a answer for you Farmer, the old Trainwreck we had abundance of growing outdoors in the area i live at one time. That's mostly the strain they grew up river. Not anymore, i hear nothing about it now.

[UndergroundFarmer]

Malawi is hanging in there but needs to spread its first leaves out. And yes, yours took over the way Bruce Banner did for me.
I bought a 3 pack of Green House TW a few years back. None would pop. I noticed the expiration date for a scratch and win contest was in 2013. I bought a fresh 5 pack of Green House last year and just can't get any to go. The Acapulco Gold I popped was about three years old and not always kept away from heat. Maybe Barney's Farm putting each seed in its own bubble makes them keep way better.

[UndergroundFarmer]

The two Tangie x Blueberry seeds are now seedlings and the other two are about to emerge! No sign of life from TW. I might just start over with some fresh starter mix, who knows? It is a delight to see homemade beans do what they are supposed to do and that's a nice milestone for this grower.

[UndergroundFarmer]

Here's a look at the nursery this afternoon with an emphasis on the three(so far) homemade seedlings.


Up front are Laughing Buddha x Ghost Train Haze and two Blueberry x Tangies. Waiting on Purple Haze x GTH.


A wider view.


Acapulco Gold, Malawi and Lavender


Liberty Haze, Durban Poison, Sweet Amnesia Haze and Super Lemon Haze

There sure are a lot of hazes involved in this grow so far.

Train Wreck will probably not grow without me trying a new seed. PHxGTH is about to sprout - I gently exposed the seed to look and it is cracking open. Malawi is making slow progress but is still alive. Three of these guys are ready to transplant into a picker. It won't be long now!

[alltatup]

I like those plants with 3 finger leaves: clover!!!

[UndergroundFarmer]

Oh yes. They are sitting on the four 5-gallon pots, cover crop and all, from the harvested plants from the 3x3 tent so I don't have to bend over to work. I'm keeping the soil moist until I'm ready to move four Mother's Finest seedlings into them.

[UndergroundFarmer]

UPDATE: Purple Haze x GTH cracked open and rotted. Train Wreck could still possibly germinate, but I'm not counting on it. Malawi and the three accidental crosses are doing OK. I should be able to transplant the four biggest seedlings to pickers this Sunday.

[UndergroundFarmer]

Sunday I transplanted Acapulco Gold, Sweet Amnesia Haze, Lavender and Liberty Haze to the 4x4 tent dubbed "Coconut Grove" (after its original purpose - early coco grows).

Before and after:


They will probably have doubled in size since the transplant by next weekend!

The seedlings in the nursery tent are struggling a bit. Some even resemble Australian Bastard Cannabis! I think I need to change up the starter mix a bit, perhaps with some worm castings and more rice hulls. No Train Wreck will happen this time. The Bruce Banner seed was a dud too. It looks like I might just transplant the best-looking seedlings sooner than later and hope they like their new home much better. Maybe I just need to start in living soil? Super Lemon Haze looks ready to transplant immediately. Durban Poison looks pale but is growing. Malawi and Laughing Buddha x Ghost Train Haze are looking like ABC. Both Tangie x Blueberry seedlings look good but are still small. One fine day, all I will be growing from seed will be regs. When that happens, I can just start a dozen and use only the strongest four because I've got hundreds more seeds in reserve.

[UndergroundFarmer]

One week of veg for one tent is in the books! Here's a shot of how the first batch I transplanted. They've about doubled in size since the move.



Above is: Liberty Haze Lavender
Acapulco Gold Sweet Amnesia Haze

I'll be topping by midweek at this rate!


I made the decision to take the sickly seedlings from the nursery and move them into the other 4x4. I reasoned that there was nothing to lose because they were not going to make it longer than another week. I was right - I could smell the soured coco when I took them from their cups! I made a mistake with the starting mix and used way too little of the rice hulls because they were getting low. I took the remaining mix and added all the rice hulls and then merged that all with about an equal part of living soil mix. Then I got a mad idea. One of the people I grow for told me that Tangie I grew last year helps more than anything else. I pulled four Tangie seeds from a jar of seeded flower from last year and started them in that new mix for a trial run and then for more Tangie. My seed project may not have room this time if I keep popping more seeds! If all four pop and thrive, that'll be those four plus the two Tangie x Blueberry seedlings standing by to replace any of the sick seedlings. I only have room for eight more plants and that's after I harvest the clones in the 3x3. Speaking of them, the MAC-1s may come down next Sunday but LLOG will need at least two more weeks. I'll gain more space if I have to pull a male or two but that'll be several more weeks from now.

Here's the sickly summer sativa seedlings as of yesterday:


Durban Poison greened up and is growing again. Malawi looks much better but has a way to go to reach normality.


Laughing Buddha x Ghost Train Haze Super Lemon Haze wasn't too bad off and is going to get way ahead of the rest.

LBXGTH is one of my rarest homemade seeds and I couldn't bear to see it die. I've got only about a dozen of these.

For comparison with the other 4x4, here's these seedling in their new home:


I don't think I've ever put seedlings this small in their permanent home before. It's so funny - every plant I move from the nursery to a 4x4 reacts to the lights immediately. They notice every time.

[alltatup]

Happy Sativa family!

[UndergroundFarmer]

Update: three of four of those Tangie seeds are now seedlings.

[Going2fast]

Good luck to you. Have had good luck with any haze cross with high humidity but the rabbits got me this year. Really want to try Durban poison.

[UndergroundFarmer]

Thanks. I've wanted to try so many of these sativas for a while now myself!

[UndergroundFarmer]

The new starter mix is completely successful! I now have four Crockett's Tangie seedlings!


The one at top left is tough to see but it has lost its shell and only needs to spread out and grow. Dome vents are now half-open to avoid any of them damping off. These four were only pulled from their buds about two weeks ago after languishing in a jar for about a year. They never got any refrigeration and only one was the ideal dark brown; the others were the tan ones that are considered borderline viable. Now I only have about a thousand left to grow.

[UndergroundFarmer]

Three of the girls in Coconut Grove got started on their manifolding this weekend. Progress! All four of the Tangie seedling from homemade seed are doing well. I transplanted the TXBB seedlings to half-gallon pots because they were not happy in their solo cups.


Only Acapulco Gold was too small for a haircut. I left them to grow outward north and south for easier training.



I'm giving the runts a week to sort it out or not. Those Tangie x Blueberry seedling are about ready to go if not.



If only my female-to-male ratio for the Tangie seeds matches the germination rate, that would be nice. Those TXBB seedlings are in back.

[UndergroundFarmer]

Big moves happened this weekend. I was forced to replace the Malawi and LBxGTH cross with the two Tangie x Blueberry crosses for failure to thrive. (sniff) During the transplant process, I found out that the weekly shot glass of gnarly barley around the base of the plants tends to attract lots of healthy worms to the roots! So yes, I'm getting to the place where I'm practically growing in worm bins. Really the only drawback to this soil mix is that it is a bit spongy and won't support top-heavy plants by itself. Boy do they get top-heavy. Even in the five gallon pots, MAC-1 and Larry's Lemon OG make super heavy bud when grown in living soil. Speaking of them, MAC-1s are going into darkness around Friday and the LLOG isn't far behind. That's good because I need the space for the Mother's Finest seed grow! I can't even start seeds until I know I can clear the 3x3 out within a week. I've only got three untopped plants left in the pickers, all others have gotten haircuts.


Clockwise from top left above are: Liberty Haze, Lavender, Acapulco Gold and Sweet Amnesia Haze.


Clockwise from top left are: Super Lemon Haze, Durban Poison and two TXBB crosses.


The homemade Tangie seedlings in their "forever" homes. It's a bit of a shame that all of my seedlings didn't have it so good. I borrowed a few worms from the pickers for each of these pots to help make this grow rock 'n roll. Worm poop is simply the best cheat code for growing anything. I didn't maintain the worm populations so well last grow. Apparently, the biggest reason to keep adding gnarly barley (dried sprouted grains) besides all the growth enzymes is that worms thrive on it.

[UndergroundFarmer]

I wish the photo uploader wasn't being difficult today. I might reduce the size of the pics and try it again later. I've begun to tie down branches in Cocoanut Grove and will soon be topping the three seedlings in the flower tent (that needs its own name). The MAC-1 clones are in the dark until tomorrow morning then they get chopped. The LLOG clone needs another week so I'll be moving it in and out of the 3x3 tent and the nursery for a while. That one should be ready to chop in another week and I hope the shorter days I'm giving it urge it along. Once the 3x3 is empty, I can move the Tangies in and start the Mother's Finest in the nursery.

[UndergroundFarmer]

Cocoanut Grove :


Flower Tent:


3x3:


Nursery:


Those Tangies are all at six nodes high already!

I had to reduce my pics from my phone 35% to get them to upload.

[UndergroundFarmer]

iCloud on this PC is being unreasonable right now in addition to the photo issue. Pictures later, looks like.

I took down the last member of this winter's grow last week. The Larry's Lemon OG started to mold in a humidity wave. I caught it just in time and only lost half a cola. She went into the dark with the drying MAC-1 and I chopped three days later. Now maybe when this stuff all goes in jars I can get the seed project moving. Along with criminally high humidity, the hemp russet mites came back. I'd hit them with Lost Coast mixed too weakly for a few weeks before. I noticed the tender stuff getting chewed and blasted with neem oil three days apart. I think the stuff was a bit strong - it made holes in some of the leaves! There's no sign of the mites anymore, either. One of the nice things about the pickers is that you know when they are drinking and when they ain't. It was a relief to see them need regular topoffs again. Sunday was more topping and defoliating and tying down branches to get their manifolds grown out. Even the Tangies were trimmed to four main branches. They grow up so fast...