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kgg634
Well-Known Member
The past two week have been a bit busy even though things are slowing down a bit. It's going to be a really busy harvest season. The weather is changing a bit. nights are in the 40's. The greenhouse has been running at 80 to 90 degrees daytime and humidity at 40% to 50% on average. flowering is taking off as the stretch has stopped - almost. No worries about the plants touching the film anymore, I may need to bend a few colas down a few inches but nothing drastic that could break any stems.
I also have noticed differences in the way the different strains grew. For example Haze Berry was a bit stubborn in getting it to branch out with good dominant leaders it always seemed to favor one more than the others causing the plant to grow sort of lopsided. It also made her a bit more open. She's not a disappointment by any means though. She didn't stretch as much as the others. She started to bloom fairly early too as a plus for a sativa. Haze Berry started to bloom 3rd out of the six, just after Bubba Kush and Blue Dream #2. I'd say a good 7 to 10 days behind B.K. I'm happy as shit though. Because of where she is in the gh I didn't have to take out many lower branches so I'm getting to see how the thinner branches do. Here's where because of my having never grown a sativa outside here in Maine's short summers or in the ground where they have the run, I get to see what she wants to do. I've only grown sativa indoors so this is new to me and I really like what I see. Aside from being an early bloomer she's also a really nice bloomer. Where she didn't stretch as much she still manages to really rack up the buds, even on the thinner side branches. I've mentioned before that her leaves were more indica than sativa during veg but now she's now putting out more sativa type leaves. Not really important but a trait for her. Haze Berry doesn't have that many smaller leaves through out the buds either. Again a really nice strain so far.
The other strain that was stubborn was Holy Grail Kush. Another lopsided vegger. It never wanted more than one leader. Then two thirds way through the veg she took off then came the stretch!
She didn't start to bloom till last, with Blue Dream #1 and Critical Kush was dead last by a week.
Blue Dream #1 and #2 are showing some cool differences. Both were free seeds. No great expectations on my part, more like lottery tickets. Well #2 is one tough plant. Stems made of steel. She also differs in the way the leaders grew. Pinching cause nice multiple leaders and because I stopped pinching a bit too soon on this one too she's now a wide 'v' shaped bush, nice branches ending in wide colas , Blue Dream #1 is just as nice but stems are a bit pliable still. These two are about a week apart in bloom with #1 blooming later. Bud structure and leaf ratios are about the same for both, really good, #2 is just beefier. Hybrid vigor or plain old DNA, its all in the dice here but I like what I see.
Critical Kush is a toss up here. I've grown this before indoors and loved it. Just they were Barney's seeds and these are Royal Queen. Had good luck with RQ before so I figured why not. Everything looks good but she's dead last in flower. But in no way too late. She has awesome tops that are well branched and huge.
The nice thing is these three plants (Critical Blue Dream #1 and Holy Grail Kush) all benefit most from the expanded wall I put in. Before I blew out the wall a bit I couldn't get in behind these three without causing damage so they didn't get limbed up like the greenhouse aisle was. This has made for some nice branches after I thinned out the weak and spindly growth. They are able to grow close to the ground here.
I got a spider mite outbreak I had to deal with. I was doing my routine walk through removing large leaves above and all leaves below light penetration level. I noticed leaves with the tell tale yellowing on either side of the midrib of a leaf blade. I found four leaves and looked at them under a scope. Yup, sure enough. Reddish brown mites. I did 2 sprays 7 days apart with neem. After the first week I saw a few hatched eggs and mites letting me know the eggs that survived the first spray were hatching. So I did a second spray. I've looked them over as well as I can and I see no other infected leaves. Did I get lucky and find the outbreak and nip it in the bud? Yeah right no such luck! Well I'll give them a fight. I look over them daily, Its relaxing now that the heat has backed off a bit. I had a low of 39 in the greenhouse Saturday night. I can expect a frost by the 15th on average and a killing frost by the first of October. This means I need to hook up the heater now. Humidity has been lower than expected, low 30's on average. Still to keep the greenhouse on the dry side I've been watering less with the sprayer and did a few deep soakings, about 10 gal each. The last watering on Saturday I gave them their last boost. I used fish/kelp liquid again. I will not give them anything besides water (sparingly) for the rest of the grow now. As far as the watering goes, because I laid back on spraying the ground and doing deep waterings, Its my hopes that it driving the feeder roots a bit deeper and I wont have to water so much, allowing me to keep the humidity down. If I can keep humidity in the 30's I'm ok I believe? The girls have never wilted from lack of water or heat surprising considering how hot this summer was. I'm pretty sure they don't need me to water them much if we have a normal fall. Usually falls are a bit wet especially in October so if we do there should be enough rain water seeping around the perimeter. Its a plan but who knows what's coming.
The best thing so far is the enjoyment I get. Nothings riding on this grow. I'm not a heavy smoker. 4 lids a year for me. I give away lots. I gave away a bit too much this past year cause I'm down to the stuff from when I'm all trimmed out of my mind at the end of the harvest and my standards get quite extreme . Any reason to not manicure it and chuck it in the rainy day box becomes a relief. Well I'm glad I did. Every day! Relaxing into the grow has allowed me to play with the plants a bit. I'm trying a few things. On Blue dream #2 I really went to town on half of the plant, taking out all inner bud sites and all fan leaves to allow even light up and down the tops. Lots of playing around on these and the other half is left to its own. All I've done is training and keeping them supported. Hoping to see if there are any differences, positive or negative.
At the start of flower on all the plants I marked the top most leaf by ripping the tips off the three center blades. I used this deformed leaf as an easy way to measure growth from start of bloom. Some added on a lot of growth a foot or more and others grew 3 -4 inches.
Bubba has a few experiments going on with her too. Aside from my leaving a portion of het alone I trained the rest like BD #2 but way more severely. I even pinched a few tops to see the results. And I'm even taking advantage of the shady side of Bubba by letting a few branches fill the space. I did some creative things to see how the plant would produce in less than desirable conditions. I'm just having a lot of fun while respecting the plant.
Here are some current pics
These two pics are of Bubba Kush taken from both sides. Man did she stretch
Here's what they look like on the side where I extended the wall a bit.
This is Blue Dream #1 in the foreground and Critical Kush behind the PVC
Looking down the side
Holy Grail Kush
Blue Dream #2 on the end
This is Haze Berry in her cage. Shes a bit lopsided and open but looks so nice. This one has me looking forward to the finish line most.
Here's a shot from a step ladder, notice how lopsided she is. she always favored one leader and didn't stretch much.
Here are three shots of Haze Berry's buds
Blue Dream #1 She's a bit later than the rest and is a bit leafier than #2
This is Bubba Kush You can see how I took out the small bud sites and fan leaves
Blue Dream #2
This is looking back to front from a step ladder
Holy Grail Kush top.
Well sorry to be so winded but its really nice to have a working keyboard. Hope all is going well for everyone and I'll be around the garden.
I also have noticed differences in the way the different strains grew. For example Haze Berry was a bit stubborn in getting it to branch out with good dominant leaders it always seemed to favor one more than the others causing the plant to grow sort of lopsided. It also made her a bit more open. She's not a disappointment by any means though. She didn't stretch as much as the others. She started to bloom fairly early too as a plus for a sativa. Haze Berry started to bloom 3rd out of the six, just after Bubba Kush and Blue Dream #2. I'd say a good 7 to 10 days behind B.K. I'm happy as shit though. Because of where she is in the gh I didn't have to take out many lower branches so I'm getting to see how the thinner branches do. Here's where because of my having never grown a sativa outside here in Maine's short summers or in the ground where they have the run, I get to see what she wants to do. I've only grown sativa indoors so this is new to me and I really like what I see. Aside from being an early bloomer she's also a really nice bloomer. Where she didn't stretch as much she still manages to really rack up the buds, even on the thinner side branches. I've mentioned before that her leaves were more indica than sativa during veg but now she's now putting out more sativa type leaves. Not really important but a trait for her. Haze Berry doesn't have that many smaller leaves through out the buds either. Again a really nice strain so far.
The other strain that was stubborn was Holy Grail Kush. Another lopsided vegger. It never wanted more than one leader. Then two thirds way through the veg she took off then came the stretch!
She didn't start to bloom till last, with Blue Dream #1 and Critical Kush was dead last by a week.
Blue Dream #1 and #2 are showing some cool differences. Both were free seeds. No great expectations on my part, more like lottery tickets. Well #2 is one tough plant. Stems made of steel. She also differs in the way the leaders grew. Pinching cause nice multiple leaders and because I stopped pinching a bit too soon on this one too she's now a wide 'v' shaped bush, nice branches ending in wide colas , Blue Dream #1 is just as nice but stems are a bit pliable still. These two are about a week apart in bloom with #1 blooming later. Bud structure and leaf ratios are about the same for both, really good, #2 is just beefier. Hybrid vigor or plain old DNA, its all in the dice here but I like what I see.
Critical Kush is a toss up here. I've grown this before indoors and loved it. Just they were Barney's seeds and these are Royal Queen. Had good luck with RQ before so I figured why not. Everything looks good but she's dead last in flower. But in no way too late. She has awesome tops that are well branched and huge.
The nice thing is these three plants (Critical Blue Dream #1 and Holy Grail Kush) all benefit most from the expanded wall I put in. Before I blew out the wall a bit I couldn't get in behind these three without causing damage so they didn't get limbed up like the greenhouse aisle was. This has made for some nice branches after I thinned out the weak and spindly growth. They are able to grow close to the ground here.
I got a spider mite outbreak I had to deal with. I was doing my routine walk through removing large leaves above and all leaves below light penetration level. I noticed leaves with the tell tale yellowing on either side of the midrib of a leaf blade. I found four leaves and looked at them under a scope. Yup, sure enough. Reddish brown mites. I did 2 sprays 7 days apart with neem. After the first week I saw a few hatched eggs and mites letting me know the eggs that survived the first spray were hatching. So I did a second spray. I've looked them over as well as I can and I see no other infected leaves. Did I get lucky and find the outbreak and nip it in the bud? Yeah right no such luck! Well I'll give them a fight. I look over them daily, Its relaxing now that the heat has backed off a bit. I had a low of 39 in the greenhouse Saturday night. I can expect a frost by the 15th on average and a killing frost by the first of October. This means I need to hook up the heater now. Humidity has been lower than expected, low 30's on average. Still to keep the greenhouse on the dry side I've been watering less with the sprayer and did a few deep soakings, about 10 gal each. The last watering on Saturday I gave them their last boost. I used fish/kelp liquid again. I will not give them anything besides water (sparingly) for the rest of the grow now. As far as the watering goes, because I laid back on spraying the ground and doing deep waterings, Its my hopes that it driving the feeder roots a bit deeper and I wont have to water so much, allowing me to keep the humidity down. If I can keep humidity in the 30's I'm ok I believe? The girls have never wilted from lack of water or heat surprising considering how hot this summer was. I'm pretty sure they don't need me to water them much if we have a normal fall. Usually falls are a bit wet especially in October so if we do there should be enough rain water seeping around the perimeter. Its a plan but who knows what's coming.
The best thing so far is the enjoyment I get. Nothings riding on this grow. I'm not a heavy smoker. 4 lids a year for me. I give away lots. I gave away a bit too much this past year cause I'm down to the stuff from when I'm all trimmed out of my mind at the end of the harvest and my standards get quite extreme . Any reason to not manicure it and chuck it in the rainy day box becomes a relief. Well I'm glad I did. Every day! Relaxing into the grow has allowed me to play with the plants a bit. I'm trying a few things. On Blue dream #2 I really went to town on half of the plant, taking out all inner bud sites and all fan leaves to allow even light up and down the tops. Lots of playing around on these and the other half is left to its own. All I've done is training and keeping them supported. Hoping to see if there are any differences, positive or negative.
At the start of flower on all the plants I marked the top most leaf by ripping the tips off the three center blades. I used this deformed leaf as an easy way to measure growth from start of bloom. Some added on a lot of growth a foot or more and others grew 3 -4 inches.
Bubba has a few experiments going on with her too. Aside from my leaving a portion of het alone I trained the rest like BD #2 but way more severely. I even pinched a few tops to see the results. And I'm even taking advantage of the shady side of Bubba by letting a few branches fill the space. I did some creative things to see how the plant would produce in less than desirable conditions. I'm just having a lot of fun while respecting the plant.
Here are some current pics
These two pics are of Bubba Kush taken from both sides. Man did she stretch
This is Blue Dream #1 in the foreground and Critical Kush behind the PVC
Well sorry to be so winded but its really nice to have a working keyboard. Hope all is going well for everyone and I'll be around the garden.
No line is really without some variation. Although Critical Kush is only about 10% sativa, there's still a chance of getting a sativa-like pheno & the leaf structure on yours certainly looks sativa like.
