Beccabuds Photon Follies: An Ongoing Adventure In Tiny Closet Gardening

[Phytoplankton]

How unfortunate! Hopefully there is minimal contamination and you can keep pulling those pesky nanners.

 

[BeccaBuds]

Yea, and I just fertilized yesterday, @Phytoplankton. If I can't keep up with them, Una is going to get chopped down. It's a vigorous, fast growing plant, though, and already slipped a couple male flowers past me, so we'll see. I've got plenty of stash so that's not a problem. It's a real drag after all the work, materials and electricity... that's what I get for planting bag seed, lol!

 

[Phytoplankton]

Yea, and I just fertilized yesterday, @Phytoplankton. If I can't keep up with them, Una is going to get chopped down. It's a vigorous, fast growing plant, though, and already slipped a couple male flowers past me, so we'll see. I've got plenty of stash so that's not a problem. It's a real drag after all the work, materials and electricity... that's what I get for planting bag seed, lol!

There’s always bubble hash, it don’t care about seeds!

 

[BeccaBuds]

Either that or cannabutter. Man, I was just trying to recall the last time I had to roll seeds out of a bag of weed. Seems like it's been well over 20 years.
I think I have a variety here that is prone to hermying. I remember the guy I got the weed from (it was his first grow ever) saying he thought he got all the males and I told him "Maybe they went hermy"...

 

[BeccaBuds]

I found 2 more nanners on Una a couple of days ago and removed them. Yesterday I did some judicious pruning of feeder leaves to get more light into the canopy and thoroughly checked for more male flowers but found none. Maybe Una knows I am actively discouraging her from continuing said behavior, lol... The buds are looking really good, though, and when I pinch a bottom bud and smell it, it has the sweetest candy scent- I'm sure it will be some tasty smoke.
Tomorrow is the beginning of week 5 of flowering and the Purpinator is in the house so I'm going to switch it up and Una will get her first taste it with some more Massive, another CalMag+ boost, and, of course, check for nanners again.

 

[BeccaBuds]

Week 12 overall, week 5 of flowering. Mixed a gallon of nutrient solution using the newly arrived Purpinator and updated the record. Lights almost to max height. I always run into this problem in this closet... may have to hang them direct from the C clamps to get a few more inches. Here is today's feeding schedule and a photo of Una this morning with close-ups of the 2 tall buds in the back.

 

[BeccaBuds]

Week 13 overall, week 6 of flowering. Una got a cup of Geoflora Bloom and another gallon of nutrient solution per the spreadsheet. Lights at max height running at dial position 5 (75W each, 150W total). Poked two more stakes into the soil in the back of the pot to provide some more support for the big branches as they add weight. Here is today's feeding schedule and a photos of Una this evening with close-ups the biggest buds. They're looking frosty!

 

[BeccaBuds]

Week 14 overall, week 7 of flowering. I decided not to drought this time around to get as much Purpinator into the soil as possible, so I prepared and fed Una a gallon of solution per the schedule. She has continued to hermie and pollinated not only herself, but my whole closet as well. After she is done I'm going to take down the old mylar reflector panels and replace them with new specular aluminized poly sheet after vacuuming everywhere with my HEPA canister vac, washing out the neoprene tray, washing the carbon filter cloth pre-filter and vacuuming everything on the upper shelf. On a happier note, Una is starting to develop some nice colors along the fringes of the top leaves. I'm guessing this is from the Purpinator since I didn't see this other times I've grown these seeds.

Merry Christmas everyone! ​

 

[Melville Hobbes]

Merry Christmas!

 

[BeccaBuds]

Week 15 overall, week 8 of flowering. Today is the last application of Geoflora Bloom. I debated holding off the GF B as the plant is near done but I think the buds can still be pumped up some more so I carried on per the schedule. Looks like the Purpinator is having some effect- I've never seem this much color from these mystery seeds. Trichs are pretty much all milky but I don't see any amber yet.

 

[BeccaBuds]

Una's soil was getting dry and Una got a little droopy so I gave her a mid-week gallon of distilled aqua containing 30mL of Purpinator and 3mL of pH Up (see LNWS below). She is soooo close to finishing now, this watering may be her last. Her colors are just lovely and I have no doubt it's a result of using the Purpinator. Can't wait to see the results of using it for an entire crop cycle.

 

[Peat Phreak]

The cactus for scale makes the buds look 4 feet tall and THICK !!

 

[BeccaBuds]

@Peat Phreak I hadn't been checking so I just did; the tallest cacti are 24 inches and the tallest buds are 35 inches and bulking up nicely. Just under 3 feet. Looks like something more than a 1/4 pound at final tally.

 

[BeccaBuds]

Trichome check!

A lot of milky trichs, very little amber yet.​

 

[BeccaBuds]

Dos Si Dos PLANTING DAY! ​

It's January 5th, and the Farmers Almanac advises this is a good planting day so I'm going to see if they are right! I'm again going to try running some autos; I have 4 DoSiDos seeds left so I'm going to plant all 4. The one I planted last October was a dud. All I need is 2 good plants to fill the closet. The seeds are germinating in a paper towel sterilized with hydrogen peroxide and placed in a ziplock bag. Sprouts will be moved to a tray of Root Riot Starter Cubes in a gallon size ziplock bag and then into 4" pots of sterile potting soil. The strongest 2 plants will go straight into 10 gallon cloth pots of Fox Farms Ocean-Forest potting soil.
Also made myself a small "seed scratcher" box lined with 180 grit sandpaper to prep seeds before putting them in paper towels.
Una will be done shortly and the Cacti are going out on the patio to make room for two 10 Gallon cloth pots in the closet. Before I can do that though, I have to take down all the old space blanket, vacuum the heck out of the closet with a HEPA canister vac and wash out the neoprene floor liner to get rid of pollen that Una dropped. I should probably take the cover off the carbon exhaust filter and wash it in the washer, too. All that work for a few tiny little specs of dust sized pollen. Dam hermies!

​

 

[BeccaBuds]

First DoSiDos sprout cracked and developed an 1/8" root by this morning, roughly 30-32 hours after being put in the wet paper towels. I moved it to a starter cube a few minutes ago. One other seed has cracked open but no root visible yet. The two that haven't opened yet are the smallest. I only need 2 but I'd like to pick and choose the best 2.

I got a surprise windfall from the California Tax Board so I bought that new Hanna Instruments Groline HI9814 meter to replace my aging HI9813-6. It'd been a great meter except the old probe had a very slow settling time in pH mode. I could just replace the probe, but the new meter increases range & resolution in both pH and ec so that is a big plus. Thank you, California!

Update: A second seed has shown some root so I moved it to a starter cube around noon.

 

[BeccaBuds]

60+ hours and only 2 sprouts. I put the last two seeds into the starter cubes but I doubt they will come up. The two sprouts look healthy. The first has already shed its shell and the second won't be far behind...

 

[BeccaBuds]

Just checked Una's trichomes again and she has a ways to go, so I gave her a gallon of water prepared per the schedule below. Going to skip the Geoflora now, it takes time to work into the soil and I don't think she's got long enough to take advantage of it. The colas are just going to keep packing on the bulk anyway with 10 gallons of soil to wiggle her roots in.

​

 

[BeccaBuds]

#2 Do Si Dos tap root already reached the bottom of it's starter cube, so I sprinkled both cubes with mycorrhizae and put them in 4" pots , each wetted with 100mL of water and covered with squares of plastic to slow evaporation of the water in the soil while the sprouts are young. For now they are in the cacti tent and will be getting 16 hours of light per day. As soon as Una finishes and the closet is ready with a couple 10 gallon cloth pots of FFOF, they'll get 20 hours a day. Just looked at the two remaining seeds in their starter cubes and I can see another one is sprouting.

 

[BeccaBuds]

#3 Do Si Dos sprang up overnight and was 3/4" tall when I awoke (its tap root was already through the cube, too), so I prepped another 4" pot with myco and dropped in the starter cube. #4 hasn't popped yet but I went ahead and put it's cube into a 4" pot as well, just in case it sprouts as well. Crossing my fingers for her but I've got my two plants regardless.