Oh boy, here we go.....my 1st grow in nearly 30 years

[Harpua88]

Your circumstances are definitely “custom” to say the least. I would personally be losing my mind being that far out, but in all reality, it’s smart. I also understand it’s necessary, but still smart none the less.

I get nervous when we have to go to Hannaford...... ;)

 

[Captspaulding]

I get nervous when we have to go to Hannaford...... ;)

I can only imagine brother. I’d be having heart palpitations and shit.

 

[Captspaulding]

Jeed? JEED?! TYPOS!

HA!

100% jeed included with purchase, restrictions apply.

 

[Harpua88]

Oooh......

 

[Harpua88]

Flower/flip day 23:


Ok, another 2hr night. Where does the time go? "I'm just gonna go check on things when the lights go on, maybe spin some pots around, dump the dehumidifier water, and I'll be right up.."

Next thing you know it's midnight, sunglasses on, scissors in one hand, notebook in the other, you're taking light measurements......

So the first thing I did tonight is what I call a "Triple Heavy Defol".....no of course not! But, I chose my breeder females. I now have my males and females, tomorrow I'll start collecting pollen, on sheets of parchment/ wax paper, make my labels......I'll give the rundown tomorrow on which plants/varieties and why I chose them.

I half watered, with a small amount of elemental SULFUR!! I keep saying phosphorous, it's sulfur! /Ph down. Less than half what the bag says for potted plants so I know it was a small amount. Tomorrow I'm going to make a banana and orange peel tea (mostly banana).....thank you to the Captain for the instructions.....

I half watered because this time the soil dried out nicely, they're getting thirsty, and I want to divide the watering into 2, half tonight, half tomorrow morning. I want to really give it time to soak through, and not drip out. This time I did a little mixing/stirring of the top soil first. Tomorrow morning I'll add a little epsom salts.

A balmy, sultry 72 degrees.....man that is hot! 53% RH. I rotated all the pots again, every time I rotate, half move from under one light to the other so they take turns under the redder RSpec.

Yeah I did a little pruning. A LITTLE. Re-tied down a few, added some more training clips here and there, and tucked more fan leaves.

I'm going to have to have surgery for this friggin' hernia. It's not terrible, luckily it's rather small.....and low, so it's not some emergency. Plus, I got 10 Phish shows coming up in a few weeks, so it will definitely be after that. So I realized that timing-wise, I'll probably end up having the surgery right around harvest time. I will deliberately book it for right after I harvest and clean up, that could be like, August 14th. So August 14th could really be a great day. It's already going to be a wonderful day, August 14th. But if I harvest on August 14th, then have my surgery, I'll be recovering while drying and curing. I'll be able to spend a few weeks recovering, trimming, drying, jarring, curing......watching great television......nobody wants to recover from surgery, but if I'm going to, then being home in air conditioning, curing a harvest.......August 14th would definitely be the best day to start.

 

[Harpua88]

Still fine-tuning the crosses list. I'll post that tomorrow. Finished a good watering this morning, a little epsom salts. I ate a banana.

Flower/flip day 24:

I think we've entered the flower production stage. It's hard to see changes day to day, like watching your kids grow. At this point I of course want to give them whatever they need for the most amount of flower production possible over the next 50 days or so, And of course sometime soon, resin production.

When you take close-,ups they look bigger than they are....

 

[Harpua88]

That one with its leaves pointed up like it's being mugged..... ;)

 

[Captspaulding]

That one with its leaves pointed up like it's being mugged..... ;)

Gimme all of the loot lady! Man, they are some good looking plants.

 

[Harpua88]

Wait! It's not getting mugged! It's getting ready to give anothet plant the JUDO CHOP!!

And it's very important that when you give someone the judo chop you yell "Hi-YAH!!!!"

 

[Captspaulding]

Wait! It's not getting mugged! It's getting ready to give anothet plant the JUDO CHOP!!

And it's very important that when you give someone the judo chop you yell "Hi-YAH!!!!"

007 is a true pro, I’m glad the plants are implementing such a long dormant skill of judo chop. It makes sense. All of it.

 

[Harpua88]

I just turned the only the SD light up to 60% for a half hour before lights out to start getting them acclimated. I can feel the heat coming down and what I guess is some level of energy/radiation on my skin......on my head through my hat.......eesh.

 

[Captspaulding]

I just turned the only the SD light up to 60% for a half hour before lights out to start getting them acclimated. I can feel the heat coming down and what I guess is some level of energy/radiation on my skin......on my head through my hat.......eesh.

I got a light sunburn the other week being dumb and working in my room with no shirt. Those leds really friggin crank. Especially the arrays you have. Wild when you can feel it through the hat though. Is it getting really hot there? I know you are subterranean, what’s you ambient temp these days?

 

[Harpua88]

I got a light sunburn the other week being dumb and working in my room with no shirt. Those leds really friggin crank. Especially the arrays you have. Wild when you can feel it through the hat though. Is it getting really hot there? I know you are subterranean, what’s you ambient temp these days?

Subterranean?......you mean the closet is in the basement? First of all it's been a pretty cool June up here. And here we are 6/24 and the basement temp is up to 63. Normally it would be 63 in the entire basement which is half finished entertainment room, the other half is the boiler room, with the closet. Now that the lights are in there, it's 66 in the boiler room. It's staying warmer than the other half. So lights off in the closet is around 68, lights on is now hitting 73. This is why as cool as it is, I'm still doing lights on at night. I want things as even as can be and as I put both lights at full 60% soon, and as July becomes August, I want to keep things as mild as possible. From now on I won't even be growing indoors from June 15th to Oct 1st. This was an unusual first year and I've had no choice but to go this late.

I should say that I'm probably going to start seedlings in September to transplant and be ready to go Oct 1st. I hope first indoor harvest every year is in early January. I hope to get 3 indoor grows in every year. That's 3 generations per year too.

I don't think lights on will hit 80 degrees even near the end. A peak of 78 will be just fine with me.

 

[Eclipted]

I used paper towels way back in the 70’s, it works but the roots are so fragile. Soaking has the same moisturizing effect on the seed when it sinks, just doesn’t sprout til its planted. Here’s a guide for seed orientation, point up. The soil will pull the shell off

View attachment 1320828

Yeah I also just used a damp paper towel stuck my seed inside it and folded it, then inside a ziplock bag put into a drawer. After 2/3 days I’d have some inch long taproots and they all took extremely well, even one of the light weak looking seeds

 

[Harpua88]

Flower/flip day 26:

All of the 6 chosen males' pollen has been collected. I'll be pollinating all of the chosen lower branches over the next week. The biggest mistake here would be accidental cross-pollination. So far the success has been that it appears as if no flowers have been pollinated. I'll wait another couple of days to make sure. When flowers are pollinated the pistils turn and shrink back fairly quickly. You can tell pretty quickly when it happens.

Ok I've got my breeding decisions down. That doesn't mean I have to keep the final seeds if any of the plants don't end up being as good in terms of final product. From seed to final cure, through the end only the best will make it to the next round. Since I'm only pollinating a few, probably lower branches, I don't care if a few seeded branches simply don't make it. If those branches get smoked but the seeds go in the garbage.....so be it. 90% of each plant will be seedless anyway.

It's not really true that seeded buds aren't very good. Unseeded calyxes swell and get covered with resin as the buds pump out more resin through maturity. But pollinated calyxes aren't exactly abandoned. Now the plant has something at stake, something to protect.......maturing seeds. As seeded buds mature, they too will pump out resin.......to protect the seeds. Will they be AS potent? No. But close. All you have to do is dry those buds a little extra, and use a scissor to break them up, letting all the seeds plunk out. The cleaned cut up buds will be very nice. Seeded buds should be harvested when the seeds are bursting out of their calyxes and dark. The seeds need to be mature.

This is early stage breeding. This isn't Imperium X x Frostette or Hawaiian Blue Cherry Pie Slushie. Nor is it Northern Lights #5 x Panama Red x Columbian Gold x Thai x Pakistani......that's coming. Right now I'm blowing through all of the large, mostly overseas, questionable genetics, old school names to hunt for possible gems that will become part of joining those landraces and heirlooms. Maybe 1 or 2 Skunks. Blueberrys, Mazars, Big Buds.......will end up in future crosses to make some unique varieties. If these "Skunk #1"s, Blueberrys. etc are nothing like what they should be.......then they better be just surprisingly good. Big buds, resin......worthy. Or their seeds don't move on. I know, I'm a stone cold bastard.. ;)

This rounds crosses: (Male listed first)

A. MSNL SK#1 x Vault Dutch Passion SK#1******

B. MSNL SK#1 x Choice Sensi Seeds SK#1

C. MSNL Mazar x Herbie's Dutch Passion Mazar

D, E: MSNL Mazar x. DP Blueberry*** MSNL Blueberry*****

F: Herbie's DP SK#1 x Vault DP SK#1

G. Herbie's DP SK#1 x Choice Sensi Skunk#1

H. MSNL Big Bud x Choice Big Bud

I. MSNL Big Bud x Nirvana Northern Lights*******

J. Nirvana Mango Skunk* x Herbie's Gor Glue

K. Road Kill Skunk** x Divine Banana

L. Road Kill Skunk x Herbie's DP Mazar****

M. MSNL Mazar x Road Kill Skunk

N. Herbie's DP Mazar x Road Kill Skunk

*According to the description, for some reason I can't figure out. Nirvana's "Mango Skunk" is: Mango x ("Skunk Special" x "Jack Horror"). And "Jack Horror" is "Mexican Haxe" x Northern Lights x Skunk#1. I mean, there's a mix. Does this make it a genetic gem? Or a mess? Ha! I don't know, maybe I'll add a couple of other crosses with this one.

**Road Kill Skunk is from "I_GROW_SKUNK" from here in the Farm. We had had a great conversation around Skunk#1, it's origins/history, he's been working with serious Skunk genetics for many years. It is a very interesting variety to say the least. I planted 5, only 2 survived, which was totally my fault. It was a late sprouter, and because of that, I had gone away for a few days, the paper towels dried out a little, I didn't plant them as quickly as I could, I lost 1 to stem rot.......I'm lucky I got 2, lucky it's 1 male/1 female, and I still have 5 seeds in the fridge. Both are very thick, tight, compact, bushy, Indica heavy plants. And, they're late with everything. Last to pop, last to catch up, last to reveal, last to flower. And it doesn't bother me one bit. That's just the way this variety is. I don't care if it takes an extra 20 days to ripen. All I care about is the quality, and I'm pretty confident it will be very good. The female has big, thick leaves and has been fairly trainable with bendy clips

***The Herbie's DP Blueberry is a large, healthy, big brancher.

****Herbies DP Mazar is a thick, lush, tight Indica dominant.

*****MSNL's Blueberry is a Sativa dominant, big brancher, with nice tight buds along the branches.

******The Vault's Dutch Passion Skunk #1 is a good looking plant and an early resin producer

*******Nirvana's Northern Lights is whorled, a big brancher, flowered early, and nice size buds already.

I really wanted to cross the Divine Banana with a Blueberry, but there was no worthy Blueberry male :(. Maybe I'll cross it with the mango skunk....

________________

At some point I'll match descriptions with pictures of each individual. Eventually descriptions will include bud size, smell, how they mature, and eventually, final sampling.

 

[Harpua88]

Yeah I also just used a damp paper towel stuck my seed inside it and folded it, then inside a ziplock bag put into a drawer. After 2/3 days I’d have some inch long taproots and they all took extremely well, even one of the light weak looking seeds

I may never use paper towels again. Seeds do just fine planted in light, moist, fluffy soil. I do like the idea of planting the seed "right side up". But between all the work and effort with the paper towels (I did over 80 seeds), the fact that you have a small window when the root just comes out, they all come out at different times, rates.....then, wait 12 hrs too long and the root drills right through the paper towels! I had to take a scissor and cut around each root......ridiculous. From now on, right into cups with soil. Maybe if I had just a few seeds of some rare variety.......but that's it.

 

[Novaracer69]

I may never use paper towels again. Seeds do just fine planted in light, moist, fluffy soil. I do like the idea of planting the seed "right side up". But between all the work and effort with the paper towels (I did over 80 seeds), the fact that you have a small window when the root just comes out, they all come out at different times, rates.....then, wait 12 hrs too long and the root drills right through the paper towels! I had to take a scissor and cut around each root......ridiculous. From now on, right into cups with soil. Maybe if I had just a few seeds of some rare variety.......but that's it.

I couldn't agree more. I have been using miracle grow seedling potting soil. That works great and it's easy to get. I have used those root riot plugs and dome method. That's great for cannabis but not for other large seed vegetables. I have had the same problem with the paper towel method and killed some really expensive seedlings I checked them before work nothing. It had been 24hrs at that point. I come home and I swear 13hrs later the tap roots are 2" long into the paper towel. I broke the roots trying to free them. This is another part of why I started making my own interesting crosses.

 

[Harpua88]

I couldn't agree more. I have been using miracle grow seedling potting soil. That works great and it's easy to get. I have used those root riot plugs and dome method. That's great for cannabis but not for other large seed vegetables. I have had the same problem with the paper towel method and killed some really expensive seedlings I checked them before work nothing. It had been 24hrs at that point. I come home and I swear 13hrs later the tap roots are 2" long into the paper towel. I broke the roots trying to free them. This is another part of why I started making my own interesting crosses.

Yeah and Miracle-Gro isn't the only one that has a "seedling soil". It's just fine for the 1st stage. And you got it right. If you're not checking the paper towels every few hours, prepared to plant them as soon as they're ready...... and that could be at 4am before you have to get ready for work because by 6pm that night it's too late........yeah, soil in cups from now on.

Plus, twice the amount of labeling, tracking.....forget it.

For anyone growing small plants from seeds, flowering early......if you're using 3gallon pots, plant directly into the pots. Once and done. You just have to be on point with the watering for the first week+

 

[Stokes]

Looking forward to those crosses

 

[Harpua88]

Looking forward to those crosses

.......ah, I'm just gonna take a picture of a bunch of bag seeds..... ;)

The most interesting part of it, besides the possibility of a few gems, will be crossing different companies' versions of "Skunk #1". While I'm pretty confident none of them will be close to the genetic origins of what it used to be. But, if there are remnants of Skunk #1 anywhere in the genetics, crossing all of these different versions between each other might... ..might be interesting. If I can get 200 SK x SK seeds and then start pheno hunting from there....