Grow#3 - Black Jack by BigBlonde

[BigBlonde]

Pictures:

The double-stem Black Jack:

The other Black Jack:

The two Amnesia Haze:

 

[BigBlonde]

Also... I am adding a new tent. It's a replacement for a smaller tent (24x24x36) I decided I didn't like. There just wasn't enough room in it.

The new tent is 28x28x63. When I get it ready, I'll move the vegetables to it so I can adjust the light better in the tent with the Black Jack and Amnesia Haze. I'm watching the weather and hoping I'll be able to move the vegetables outside. When I do that, I'll move some of the cannabis plants to it.

 

[BigBlonde]

Because these plants have been growing so slowly, I've decided to forget about the number of days. They finally have decided to grow, though, and the first pistils have appeared, so they're entering the preflower stage. Curiously, the two Black Jack plants are very different. I've decided the one on the left in the picture below may be a mutant. The two small ones in the middle are Amnesia Haze and are the beginning of my next crop.

Here's why I think the left plant is a mutant. There are two large branches growing from the node with the fan leaves removed, but there are two more sets of fan leaves and branches growing from each side of the same node. I haven't seen anything like that before. I've decided to let the plant grow just to see what it does. Other than being small, bushy and growing slowly, it seems healthy.

 

[BigBlonde]

In other news, I made a second attempt at adding a second tent. This one, at 28x28x63, is significantly larger than the first one I tried. (It was 24x24x36.)

I'm using Ink Bird controllers for temperature and humidity. There's also a SensorPush sensor that reports temperature, humidity and VPD. The controllers are on the left side of the tent.

The light is a ViparSpectra XS2000 and I have a power meter at its plug. I'm trying to figure out a better way to hang the light that doesn't require so much room at the top of the tent. I can't think of any reason to have 18 inches of unusable space at the top. I have no idea why the light manufacturer provided such long cables. I like the new wire hangers on the newer lights.

There's an exhaust fan at the top that is controlled by the Ink Bird temperature controller.

I found an old cabinet from a kitchen remodel and put casters on the bottom. I currently have vegetables in it. I'll move the Amnesia Haze into it when the vegetables move outside, which hopefully will be soon.

The dehumidifier for the room is at the lower left of the picture. The 2x4 tent is in the same room.

 

[elusiveshame]

Looking good!

 

[Habosabin]

Is that a little radiant heater? That's pretty cool I want one.

 

[freezeland2]

Is that a little radiant heater? That's pretty cool I want one.

I was going to ask the Op where it was purchased. I’d like to find one that size.

 

[Habosabin]

I was going to ask the Op where it was purchased. I’d like to find one that size.

I am not having luck finding a mini one like that.

 

[GNick55]

I am not having luck finding a mini one like that.

 

[BigBlonde]

I found the heater on Amazon for $75. It's an oil-filled type. I have it controlled by an Ink Bird controller. I have the same type in my other tent. They seem to work very well.

 

[BigBlonde]

This is day number 100 of vegetation for these two. I had trouble getting them to grow till recently. I didn't want to give up on them. Now, they're looking good and growing well. During this grow, I began my transition to using Gaia Green and @Shaded_One's method. It's clear the plants like it.

I want to flip them within a few weeks, so my focus is preparing them for the flip. I plan to add Epsom Salts and a 1:3 mix of All Purpose and Power Bloom to their diet. The plant on the right has only 19 inches of headroom. The plant on the left has been weird since it sprouted, but looks like it could flower well.

 

[BigBlonde]

Today I top dressed both plants with a 1:1 ratio of Gaia Green All Purpose and Power Bloom to get them ready for flipping in a week or two. I used a lower dose than @Shaded_One's method because I didn't start these plants using the method.

I also watered them with 1 tbsp/gal Epsom Salts. The pots took nearly two gallons of water.

My main goal is to have them better prepared for flowering than I did with my previous Acapulco Gold grow.

 

[Mikedin]

Pictures:

The double-stem Black Jack:
View attachment 1956820

The other Black Jack:
View attachment 1956821

The two Amnesia Haze:
View attachment 1956822

Double stem is awesome

 

[BigBlonde]

Today I top dressed both plants with a 1:1 ratio of Gaia Green All Purpose and Power Bloom to get them ready for flipping in a week or two. I used a lower dose than @Shaded_One's method because I didn't start these plants using the method.

I also watered them with 1 tbsp/gal Epsom Salts. The pots took nearly two gallons of water.

The larger of the two plants wilted significantly with downward-curling leaf tips resembling N toxicity. It recovered after a few hours and looked good this morning. (I love how these plants look shortly after the light comes on!) There is still some downward curling, but it doesn't look like a problem. Otherwise, it looks like it will be ready to flip soon—probably next week. It's two inches closer to the light now, leaving only 17 inches. It may have super cropping in its future.

The smaller of the two plants looks healthy, too. It never wanted to grow tall, but that's okay. It will have ample room to stretch. Defoliating this one has been a challenge from the start.

 

[Mothman]

You’ve been a trooper dragging these two toward flower!

So if I may ask, where did you procure the Black Jack seeds? I suspect dubious breeding or some such.

 

[N1ghtL1ght]

@BigBlonde, while looking over the pics in this thread I noticed some minor deficiencies but I'm not accustomed with your type of nute brand so cannot hand out a recommendation just saying that this is likely the reason why you observe slow growth (there's a limiting factor present). But the plants are actually looking happy (=turgid) so maybe in time you will get this sorted out? If I were you would try to give some chelates (humics, fulvics, even aminos) for some +Fe, +micros and then go from there. Sometimes the stuff the plants want is already in soil and you just gotta help her a bit accessing these things.

 

[BigBlonde]

You’ve been a trooper dragging these two toward flower!

So if I may ask, where did you procure the Black Jack seeds? I suspect dubious breeding or some such.

I suspect you're right. I don't remember where we got the seeds. I do remember that they were sold as autos, but obviously they're not autos. They also came in little zip-lock plastic bags, unlike seeds we've bought since that come in foil-like pouches. It was our first indoor grow, so we didn't know what we were doing. We've bought our seeds from Seed Supreme lately and are happy with them.

I didn't expect these to take so long. I only grew them out of curiosity. We didn't harvest our first Black Jack grow due to spider mites. So, we wanted to see what these plants were like. We also wanted to practice growing. It looks like we'll get a crop this time. We don't have any more of these seeds.

I'm thinking now that the initial problem was the soil. The Amnesia Haze I started after these was also slow, even though they were in different soil. It was probably another poor choice on my part. One of the next learning tasks on my agenda is to explore the qualities of good starting soil. I've been thinking about starting a thread on the subject. Then again, I could hardly do worse than I've been doing.

 

[BigBlonde]

@BigBlonde, while looking over the pics in this thread I noticed some minor deficiencies but I'm not accustomed with your type of nute brand so cannot hand out a recommendation just saying that this is likely the reason why you observe slow growth (there's a limiting factor present). But the plants are actually looking happy (=turgid) so maybe in time you will get this sorted out? If I were you would try to give some chelates (humics, fulvics, even aminos) for some +Fe, +micros and then go from there. Sometimes the stuff the plants want is already in soil and you just gotta help her a bit accessing these things.

That's a bit beyond my current level of expertise. My focus at this point is to get from start to finish successfully. I've only harvested an indoor grow once so far, and that wasn't without drama. So, some of the nuances will take time. I'll be thinking about what you suggest, though.

 

[Mothman]

I suspect you're right. I don't remember where we got the seeds. I do remember that they were sold as autos, but obviously they're not autos. They also came in little zip-lock plastic bags, unlike seeds we've bought since that come in foil-like pouches. It was our first indoor grow, so we didn't know what we were doing. We've bought our seeds from Seed Supreme lately and are happy with them.

I didn't expect these to take so long. I only grew them out of curiosity. We didn't harvest our first Black Jack grow due to spider mites. So, we wanted to see what these plants were like. We also wanted to practice growing. It looks like we'll get a crop this time. We don't have any more of these seeds.

I'm thinking now that the initial problem was the soil. The Amnesia Haze I started after these was also slow, even though they were in different soil. It was probably another poor choice on my part. One of the next learning tasks on my agenda is to explore the qualities of good starting soil. I've been thinking about starting a thread on the subject. Then again, I could hardly do worse than I've been doing.

Seeds in little ziplock bags isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I got a couple as a freebie and it turned out to be as represented—good Kush (supposedly Holy Grail Kush, but who knows?).

 

[BigBlonde]

Seeds in little ziplock bags isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I got a couple as a freebie and it turned out to be as represented—good Kush (supposedly Holy Grail Kush, but who knows?).

I suppose so and I wouldn't want to criticize a startup company unfairly. Then again, these foil & plastic seed pouches from Seed Supreme (where we've bought seeds recently) are much sturdier and seal much better than a small, transparent plastic baggie.