My Overly Ambitious Second Grow!

[SiliconValley1]

Sorry to jump in but just registered and very first plant attempt is mearing harvest but about 1/8 of the cola tops are drying out crispy, yet the pistils are mostly still white. Adding more water (outdoor pot in California). But concerned i will blow it so soon to harvest…
pic of plant (some yellowing leafs too), and a healthy(?) flower

 

[BatmanPetersenc]

Chemdog outdoor yielded about 296 grams, not including larfy lowers. It flowered early for sure, so maybe lost a bit there. The other ended up dying a tragic death — aphids I think at this point, and maybe some root/stem rot. Didn't think it worth continuing so ended up sacrificing it. It'll be mulch for some outdoor native plants.

Next round underway! (3x feminized Original Sour Diesel X Pablo's revenge, Clearwater genetics BOGO)

Currently on week two or three, about three/four nodes tall so far. I sense a topping coming. Just bumped the light up from ~100 to ~250.

 

[BatmanPetersenc]

Correction to above post, I was about four weeks in. Currently around week 5. Topped two plants from 5th to 3rd node, fimmed the third (right in the group pic). Lights got turned up a few days ago from ~250 to ~400PPFD. Gonna try and keep it higher than last grow, shooting for ~800 in flower I think.

Critique my FIM! ^^^^

 

[BatmanPetersenc]

I guess we are around week 7ish. The plants have been topped once, I may top once more in a few days and then flip in about a week or two. I also may not top again, I've got enough Chemdog right now and ready for another strain. Just upped the ppfd from ~400 to ~500. Mostly water going into the soil, but today gave them a few gallons of worm casting tea, black strap molasses and Azos microbes.

One symptom that just popped up is the yellowing tips on new growth. I'll check the diag. charts, but input is always welcome!

 

[BatmanPetersenc]

Well, things move along. Yellowing tips turned twisty and continued to yellow. I'm guessing light burn and/or P/K deficit. Raised light, lowered intensity, watered with some tea woth black strap molasses, Azos microbes, a cup or so of Royal Gold Bloom, some Nori seaweed. Bubbled for 24hrs in tap water left out for water to dechlorinate.

Pics from oldest to newest I think.

Monster cropped(?) the tall one to keep it off the light.

Also flipped to flower about 23 days ago. The grow continuws.

 

[BatmanPetersenc]

Ok so here we are in week 9 I believe. Much has happened, and again not much at all. Just bulked up after stretch nicely. Three different plants. Two topped twice, one topped once. The singly topped plant looks to be the pick of the litter. Less bulky so far but sparkly!

(Pics, as usual, don't do it justice.)

The other two are bulkier but a little less sparkly:

And trichome pics of all three, order uncertain:

Overall pretty happy with this round! Some nitrogen excess in the soil I think and a late flower P/K or mag issue. But it pulled through with just some tea every 3/4 waterings (2.5 gal w/ 2-5tsp black strap molasses, ~1-2tbsp castings, about 2-4 sheets of nori, and about 1/2 cup of Royal Gold Bloom, dechlorinated, them bubbled for 24 hrs), and 1/4 waterings with 2-4 tsp Epsom salts in 2.5 gal water). (Edit: every 4 days or so in 2'x4' living soil with worms. And springtails. Like fuckloads of those.)

I'm thinking two more weeks.

 

[BatmanPetersenc]

Well. I'm thinking that we are on harvest eve tonight. Looks to me like about 5% amber. Opinions welcome though!!

I'm loving the senescence. I think the taco'd leaves are a result of being hit with the fan. I need an even smaller fan it seems for this 2x4 tent. Suggestions?

 

[Gtglicky3]

Vary nice job looks amazing! I love the colors and like your set up

 

[BatmanPetersenc]

Vary nice job looks amazing! I love the colors and like your set up

Thank you very much. Colors got real purple this time. It's been a fun process to learn!

Still haven't harvested, but any night now.

 

[BatmanPetersenc]

Hot damn, it's done. The hemming and hawing and making myself wait just another few days is over: I've harvested.

That's (3x) OSD x Pablos revenge, harvested at day 71 of flower. Very happy with this round. No gnats, no funky leaves and chasing nutrient issues. Living soil is hopefully hitting its stride?

Tried cloning one of the plants which turned out just super frosty. (The scraggly one? Yes!)

Cut a short stem, hacked off some of the flower, scraped the stem, dipped in clonex, and pushed into some soil blocks. Domed, in the tent with light at 25%.

She only got topped once and grew a little slower so she got out paced for light by her friends.

And the other plants produced well but less frosty:

 

[BatmanPetersenc]

Well, we are on day 13 or 14 of drying, keeping it around 60*/60%RH. First few days of drying were rough, with -30* temps bringing low humidity, plus forcing the central heat to run frequently, which my humidifier could only keep at about 50%RH.

So I plopped a humidifier wick into a 5gal bucket with a fan pointed into/over it. Added 5-10%RH, so helpful in a pinch.

The plants are sitting at 16-20% on the wood moisture meter. So a slow dry after all, even considering the tricky environmental situation.

 

[BatmanPetersenc]

Ok, so the dry is over. They are trimmed and jarred, burping twice a day, moving to once a day shortly.

434g total, so about 1/2 pound which I pretty great I think. The frostiest plant produced the least at 60 grams. Very happy with the Pablo's revenge X OSD.

 

[BatmanPetersenc]

Ok, so the dry is over. They are trimmed and jarred, burping twice a day, moving to once a day shortly.

434g total, so about 1/2 pound which I pretty great I think. The frostiest plant produced the least at 60 grams. Very happy with the Pablo's revenge X OSD.

Ok so I suck at math. That looks to have been close to a pound? Thats wild. At 240 watts, that's, like, 1.8 grams/watt. It's much denser and takes up less jar space than previous harvests, I feel. The smoke (desktop dry herb vape) after about a month of curing is very nice, good effect, excellent skunky smell.

Overall best harvest so far! Which is nice after the lame autos I tried, and a seeded indoor run.



Next up:

3x Ethos - (white truffle X blueberry bubba, heretofore known as blueberry truffle in my heart and in this grow journal). These I will grow indoors.

2x Ethos - Skunk Hero. These will go outdoors.

3x Twenty20 Mendocino - Trainwreck (arcata cut). Also going outdoors.

Here they are all soil blocked and watered in with their tomato and pepper brethren, sitting in a heat mat. There will be more plants started and cycled through this seed starter zone, as well as another 8ft seed starter zone in a cooler part of the house for native seeds and flowers.

I'm hoping, since I'm starting seeds fairly early, to be able to top and train all of these pretty aggressively until they are ready to harden off. Looking to end up in 25 gal pots, and cut the bottoms off when they are put outside; watered on a timer with hose water, supplemented with teas and top dressing (Royal Gold: Grow, and Bloom, respectively).

Outdoor 2024, coming up!!! (Though I'd take more snowboard season in the meantime.)

 

[BatmanPetersenc]

So, 7/8 are sprouted!

But this little guy below is not quite 100% there, he is trying to sprout his seed leaves in the ground. I'm thinking he will power through. Time and nature shall tell.

 

[BatmanPetersenc]

Gave the guy that was sprouted upside down a small hand, and all 8 are above ground! Looking leggy, but they are small. I may need another light or two in the sprouting table.

 

[BatmanPetersenc]

Still a little scraggly. One failed entirely, two look rough. None look happy, at least not nearly as happy as the tomatoes on the right, which admittedly have a weeks head start.

Just look at that white fuzziness. Omg so jealous.

 

[BatmanPetersenc]

Ok so the sprouts were not looking so great, so I transplanted three of them (the runts) into the 2x4 no-till, and they perked up nicely over the weekend. (Well, 2/3 perked up anyway.)

I was hoping the remaining 4 might recover, but they persisted in their decline. So I transplanted them into nursery pots, to see if more root space would be helpful. Eventually into 30gal, moved outdoors and slicing off the bottoms. Oh yea, I also forgot to label my strains during transplant so it will be a dank mystery this fall.

The difference between my cannabis plants (below, left) and the tomatoes, tomatillos and peppers is disheartening. I mean, yay we will have lots of tomatoes, but I also want lots of cannabis. :/

The tray that my cannabis plants shared (below, second from right) also has tomatoes, tomatillos and peppers that are not looking great. I believe it is a question of soil composition, as I let my wife do the soil blocking and I think they are a bit dense, lacking aeration. That or over/under watering.

I additionally soil blocked three more seeds today, two cookies and cream and one other rando, all NASC freebies (below). Just putting a few eggs into different baskets so that I make sure that I get an outdoor harvest. (Domed, with heat mat.)

And finally, everything in my grow space (my wife has a few trays of ranonculus and other flowers in another, less controlled grow space):

I had to order another HLG rspec 100 (to supplement the current spiderfarmer 100w) in order to finish out vegetative time in my lung room for all the vegetables and cannabis. Transplants take up space!

 

[BatmanPetersenc]

Oh thank goodness, the seedlings are bouncing back after transplant. Still stunted and lost some time, but back on track i hope:

So it Iooks like i'll have a bigger garden than I had planned, as the three seeds I started have also sprouted, albeit goofily:

The plants in the bed continue to grow, and are catching up with the cover crop, which had a head start:

And the mutilated runt:

To top it all off, the vegetable garden is looking bountiful this year. Peppers, tomatillos, tomatoes:

Chives, flowers:

The 2x4 no-till has some serious springtails. I have heard and read that nematodes and hypoapsis miles can do the trick, but also that they are not necessarily terrible for cannabis.

I'd like to control them without throwing off the balance of life in the soil. Adding organisms, even if beneficial, seems like a slippery slope in some ways.

My specific question is should I deploy H. miles, nematodes, something else, or let it ride? [ETA: The last grow has been the best so far, the soil really feels like it has hit it's stride. Or luck I gues, but either way don't fuck with a aight thing, as they say.]

 

[BatmanPetersenc]

I think I need to do something about what I assume are springtails. Springy little ficlers in the soil, especially after a watering, right? But what is this on my leaves? Thrips?!

I mean, this guy above is surrounded by poops (black dots) if my understanding is correct.

So, calmly and not at all in a worried tone, how does one deal with thrips in an organic no till situation? I'll be planning to introduce predator mites, hoping they can control thrips? Should I be spraying? And what? I've read pyrethrin, spinosad, garden soap(?), neem? I'm inclined to try dr. bronners peppermint at maybe half a teaspoon per gallon or so.

Anyway, tips on thrips management in a living soil bed? :/

Thanks!

 

[BatmanPetersenc]

Well the little beasties are being targeted now by hypoapsis miles and rove beetles. Will water in some nematodes as well, tonight or tomorrow. I went with the buildasoil three pack. I really hope i'm not vastly upsetting the soil life balance. It feels like a slippery slope, but fuck a bunch a thrips, so here we go!

I hope the thrips don't escape the tent and get into the tomato's, tomatillos anda peppers, not to mention the outdoor cannabis, which is all growing in my lung room. :/