So it has been a while. The orchard needed care, the raised bed garden is getting a major overhaul, I've been out riding my bike while I still can, and this cancer stuff is taking way too much time, energy, and money. At least I am alive and feeling OK, for now.
I can still sit down and commune with my plants. This is from a couple of weeks ago. The GG #4 on the left has yet to show that it hates the nutes I give the Blue Dream (plant on the right). This photo is from a couple of weeks ago.
This is where the Blue Dream is now. I have 18 colas in progress. She likes her nitrogen hot and her lights bright. She is a greedy little pig. I flipped her 10 days ago. She's been growing an inch a day and downing 3 liters of soup while she's at it. She had been sick, but once I boosted the nitrogen she took off pretty good.
I'm have the canopy at 10"-12" below the VS 450 right now. I had her there last week with no sign of burn. I've learned I can get as close as 8" with most plants, a few as close as 6" with these lights. I'm keeping her away from the lights right now because she is growing so fast.
She's about 24" tall now. You can see how I've pruned her. This is something I started doing after talking with some local orchardists about managing the apical meristem. Long story short, if one branch gets too tall then I pull it down with twist ties and anchor it to either the pot, or the bamboo stakes I've inserted across the top of the pot. Whichever I leave as the highest, takes over. I pull tall branches down and give the shorter branches some slack. It might take more work than other methods, but I enjoy playing with the stuff.
Next up in my continuous micro-grow is my GG #4 and clones from the Blue Dream (both from Seedsman).
The GG#4 on the left started out life happy, but did not like the high nitro soup the Blue Dream loved. I had some issues there until a flush and a milder nitro solution. Now she is happy again.
If you count, you'll see I have 10 laterals in cultivation. That's what happens when I get high and prune cannabis. Oh well.
This time I do not have the bamboo sticks fastened to the pot as tie downs. With 10 laterals to manage, that meant a lot of bamboo crossing in the middle. So I made these little stakes to manage my apical meristem merriment. These are a lot of fun to make and play with when I'm high. It's whack-a-mole with plant hormones. (Note the out-of-focus GG#4 leaves behind the stakes in the photo below and see how yellow the leaves got with Blue Dream nutes before the flush and nute correction.)
These sickly little babies are Blue Dream clones of the mature mother, which I planted about 10 days ago. They are suffering from "nute confusion" on my part. The GG#4 requires a lot less nitrogen than the Blue Dream. These are at least 8 weeks out from flipping. I won't have room for them until I harvest the current Blue Dream mother. They'll have time to get better. I'm planning on 4 colas from each plant in these. That runt at the back left of the cabinet had a hard time making roots. It may be replaced by another I have in the clone soup.
This is the nursery cabinet.
Up top, I have two rooted GG#4 clones that were started the same time as the Blue Dream babies, but they have done well. The two are scheduled for seed breeding. I've been playing "Dueling Banjos" for them to set a romantic, inbreeding tone for the the upcoming nuptials. They will get flipped sometime this week.
The plant in the middle is a Do-Si-Dos seed from Pyramid Seeds. She was planted ten days ago and is doing well. She is feminized, and if I don't see any hermie signs she should follow the Blue Dream clones. I got a buy-five-get-three-free deal on these. I should drop another as insurance, I suppose. It's not like I'm going to outlast my seed inventory.
Down below I have a couple more Blue Dream Clones. I'd souped them up for breeding, but I think one of them might replace the sick girl I have in early veg. By the looks of the roots, they should be ready for planting in a couple of days.
With everything going and growing well and good, it is time to go. I think there is a bowl waiting for me. Have a great day!
BR