First Time 100% Perlite Hydro Grow.

[MagicMike66]

Your plants are looking great, you’ve definitely got them dialled in nicely. They would benefit from you removing all the little bits that you’ve left at the bottom of the stems. These won’t be worthwhile or get enough light so the plant is just wasting energy on these when it can be used on the tops

[BaccaRacca]

Thank you MagicMike66. I'm taking the trim conservatively. Those fan leaves will go in due time. Even faster on poor Brunhilde, as she turns out to be Brun-HERMIE!

[BaccaRacca]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Nuts.



One of my big girls just came out of the closet. Brunehilde is actually Brune-HERMIE. It was a horrible end for her. She's now keeping the world's happiest worms even happier out in the compost pile.

This has meant a bit of moving around.

First off, Seed Queen, which had been under 12/12 in my 2x2 veg cabinet, has been moved into the 4x2 flower cabinet. She'll sit in there until the Seed King grows boy flowers and gives me girl pollen. At which time I send Seed King to the great compost pile in the sky, and move Seed Queen in to the Seed and Breed box.



With Seed Queen out of the Veg box, I've moved my Do-Si-Dos from the seedling box into the Veg box. This will help her grow more. By the time Seed King gives me pollen, and I move Seed Queen to the Seed & Breed box, I should be ready to move the Do-Si-Dos into the Flower box.

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And as the Do-Si-Dos moves out, I drop an Amnesia Trance feminized seed from Amsterdam Marijuana Seeds, into a pressed paper seedling cup filled with vermiculite, damp her down with diluted nutes, and put a chloche over her.



That's life in the continuous grow. Hermies happen. Schedules are updated. Next plant up takes their place.

Thank you for following!

BR

[Bluey]

I suspect the first day or two your water uptake may even increase after a decent prune. Water pours out of the wounds and as she dries up the wounds slowly close up and seal.

[BaccaRacca]

Interesting.

[BaccaRacca]

Week 2.5 After Flip

Finished up the trim on Gertrude, the White Widow.

I did leave some fan leaves very low on the plant. Because I prune to a cylinder shape they do get light. The orchardist in me says the plant spent energy to build those leaves, they are still processing energy for the plant and they are shading no buds. As the buds develop I expect the plant to draw energy from these leaves, they'll lose color, or will get shaded by fattening buds and then I will take them out. No change in nutes this week. EC running around 1050. Lights averaging 12" above the 7 main colas. She is now 35" tall. Still stretching as she flowers.

The Seed Queen also got a serious trim.

She had been dwarfed intentionally for her role in breeding seeds. She is a temporary visitor in the main 4x2 box and will be moved to the breed box as soon as the Seed King delivers her pollen. She did get a 3-gallon flush this week as I reloaded the nutes in her 5-gallon bucket. No change in nutes this week. EC running around 1050. Lights averaging 12" above the 7 main colas.

The Seed King is developing her male flowers.

It won't be long before I collect pollen for Seed Queen!




Topped the Do-Si-Dos

Feminized seed, 4-week old plant that has been held back a bit until the Seed Queen cleared out the vegetation cabinet. I spent a couple of days adapting her to the stronger light as she was moved from the seedling cabinet to the veg cabinet. Currently 18" below the Vipar-Spectra XS-1000 running at full strength. Nutes 1-1/2" teaspons of Miracle-Gro Vegetable & Herb (not the yellow and green box stuff!). EC meter shows 850 PPM.

We'll let her grow some more before I spread her and lash her down.



So far, so good!

BR

[Ckbrew]

Nice looking trim job. They are going to pop when the flowers really get going. Did you convert that entire plant? Gonna have enough pollen for the entire forest. I did that last year and wound up cutting off most of the balls because of how much pollen was cooking up, and I still has more than enough.

[BaccaRacca]

Ckbrew, Thank you! I sure hope the flowers load up. As for Seed King, yes I've sprayed all the bud tips. I'll get the first few buds for pollen and then the plant goes to the compost pile. I'd rather have too much than not have enough. Last time I only got a flower or two and only got 50 seeds -- still more than I'll ever use, I suppose. But, better than ordering seeds in the mail.

[Bluey]

Cannabis seeds bought via "seed retailers" are typically a rip off. Unless buying from the breeder I'd say 90% is not as claimed...huge scam.

This is the best way to do it IMHO.

[BaccaRacca]

Week 3.0 After Flip

Gertie, the White Widow is now standing at a fine 36"

She had started her stretch at 14", which I think is some stretch. That seems like a trait of this strain I picked up. Glad I got her flipped early enough. I really want to see how well these lights penetrate, and what better way to test them out than on these stretched out stems? We'll see what kind of colas I get.

I did a flush on her this week. Runoff was running 1850 PPM on the EC meter. I cooled her down to 350 PPM before mixing up a new batch of bloom mix at 1050 PPM. Ph. at 6.0.

Water uptake is still around 80 ounces a day, fed at 10 ounces 8 times a day.

Buds are appearing nicely, and the trichomes are starting to show up. Plenty of trichomes on White Widow. I'm looking forward to taking more pictures.




That's Gertie on the Left, Seed Queen on the Right:



Seed Queen was Dwarfed and Did not Stretch Much

As noted above, Seed Queen was denied a full diet of nutes for a week and given only 25% of the light from the Vipar-Spectra XS 1000 lights for 3 days. I learned through this process that there is a big difference between keeping the roots moist and the roots fed. The difference is pretty striking in these photos.

As a smaller plant, she is not taking up nearly as much nute solution as her sister. I'm estimating somewhere around 34-56 ounces a day. I'll know more one I run a whole bucket through.

Seed Queen will move into the blurple breed box as soon as the Seed King bursts with pollen.

Seed King is Getting Ready to Burst:



She has been moved into protective custody in another room until I get the pollen from her. It should not be long.

Dosi-Si-Dos Topped & Spread

In the mean time, the Do-Si-Dos seed I dropped five weeks ago is coming into its own. Topped above the fourth node. The branches on the bottom three nodes are spread out on my "pot extenders" with the top node turned down to promote apical meristem dominance to the stems beneath. Later one of the two turned-down stems will constitute the center cola of this "seven sisters" manifold design: six on the perimeter and one in the center.

She has just moved from the seedling station where she was held back a bit, and is not taking up the level of nutes that I'd like to see. I'm hoping over the week as the plant grows, so will the root system.



So far things are looking pretty good.

Thank you for following!

BR

[BaccaRacca]

Week 4.0 After Flip

Gertie, the White Widow. is now starting to fill out.

There was a week there I thought I was going to be stuck with the larfiest grow ever. it just seemed like she was doing nothing. But for the last three days things have started to change. She has been filling out better and taking on more nutes. Still her buds are not as thick as her sister's.

Today, I measured cola size potential on each, with Gertie measuring a good 14" and Seed Queen at a much thicker 9".

I did a flush on Gertie on Wednesday. Runoff was running 3100 PPM on the EC meter. Yeow! Almost double the previous week. I wonder with the smaller pot and growing root ball if my concentration of salts is building up in the pot faster and faster as time goes on. I cooled her down to 350 PPM with a flush of 3 gallons of ph-adjusted tap water before mixing up a new batch of bloom mix at 850 PPM. Ph. at 6.0. The cut down was achieved by reducing the MGV&H to 1/2 tbsp. per 5 gallons and keeping the MGBBS at 1/2 tbsp. per five gallons, reducing my nitrogen.

Water uptake went up to 96 ounces a day, fed at 12 ounces 8 times a day. This increase happened as the buds began to grow.

That's Gertie on the Left, Seed Queen on the Right:

One advantage of the smaller pots is that they are light weight, so I can move them easily into my workroom, and put the plants against a black background.

Gertie is ready for her close up:



I mean Extreme Close Up. Shot with Nikon Z30 and Tokina 100mm macro lens:



Mmmmm ... trichomes!

Seed Queen is Getting Ready for Her Wedding Day!



I will note that as her buds began to thicken she was not taking up as many nutes. She must be fat and happy waiting for her wedding night!

Seed Queen with fat buds developing:



Here is Seed King looking very elegant.



However it looks like we have some PME going on with her pollen:



She is currently housed in an undisclosed location, far away from her bride. I'm hoping this week I will have enough pollen to get Seed Queen plenty pollinated.

And finally, the Do-Si-Dos got a violent trimming.

We're at about five weeks with her, and before today she was fat and happy. However, I think I made a mistake trying to make one of the branches of the fifth node my seventh "sister" i.e. cola branch. I wasn't getting the 4th node branches to grow enough as the 5th node branches were still carrying a lot of apical meristem power. Oh well, what works in the orchard did not work here.

Anyway the 2nd and 3rd node branches were trimmed back quite a bit so the 4th node branches could catch up.

Also went back to using the most robust of the 4th node sub-branches as my middle, "seventh sister" in my Seven Sister Manifold. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But most times you get to smoke your mistakes!

As for nutes, she seems to be taking up around 1/2 gallon a day,

Do-Si-Dos after Severe Trimming:



She'll recover nicely. I'm looking forward to some big things from her. Like some clones, and then seeing what she can do in the Flower Box.

That's it for this week. Thank you for following!

BR

[BaccaRacca]

It has been just over a week. since my last post, and we have had some developments!

I've had issues with ph. slide and runoff ppm that I believe resulted in a case of crispy tips. So pissed at myself for not paying closer attention. All is not ruined though.

Buds have gotten thicker, and started to develop the white crystals for which the strain is so well known.

Seed Queen, 22" tall with colas developing up to 9 inches long.:



Gravel Gertie 36-inches tall with sparse colas up to 16-inches long:



Some crispy tips:




But the buds and trichomes are developing nicely.

.

The Do-Si-Dos, now named "Mildred" in her box. 5-inches tall and filling out. She is starting to take up more nutes. We are at about 7 weeks for her. She had been delayed in the seedling nursery for a week until the traffic jam in the larger boxes cleared out.



I attach this photo of Mildred because it more clearly shows the "Seven Sisters" manifold. I'm clutivating seven main buds; six around the edge and one in the middle. An extra side branch is peaking through, too -- clone bait. Learning from the previous grow I have cut veg nutes to 750ppm.



I did put down a new Amnesia Trance seed this week. Don't know what I was thinking dropping it in pure vermiculite. Never had success with that technique. Just being lazy I guess. One seed already did not germinate the other germinated and died from damping off fungus. I'm back to a tried and true method.

I take a pressed paper pot, not peat (too acid), place a spot of landscape fabric in the bottom, fill the pot with perlite then moisten with a sprayer filled with a weak nute solution.




Once dampened I form a finger hole in the perlite and fill it with vermiculite. I dampen the vermiculite and use the end of an art brush to punch another hole in the vermiculite. I then place the seed 3/8" deep in the hole, and cover. The pot is then placed in a nursery tray on a heating mat and covered by a 1-quart rubbermaid container used as a cloche. This works to keep everything moist while the perlite helps fight damping off mold. I get about 95% successful germination with this method. After losing two seeds I could use that success rate.



That is it for Week 5 of the White Widow flip, Week 7 (think) since the Dos-Si-Dos germinated and today since I planted a new Amnesia Trance Seed.

BR