Citrus Sap, A Garden Whose Time Has Come, Plus Mystery Seeds

[BeccaBuds]

The 2021 Farmers Almanac reports that April 17 through 19 are most favorable times for planting above ground crops. My astronomical resources show the waxing moon is in Cancer during this period. A most auspicious time indeed!

So even as my current grow, One Plant Wonder Garden (OPWG), winds down, it is time to begin a new venture! This season my little closet will be home to 5 plants of Citrus Sap, a variety reputed to be very high in THC and CBD, and having a citrus taste profile. I only have 5 seeds of it though, and I have room for 6 plants, so I am going to grow another of the mystery seeds of the OPWG variety. I'm actually going to start 3 of the OPWG seeds in case any of the Citrus Sap fail to germinate. That way I guarantee 6 plants for the closet.

My 8 Qt bag of Worm Gold Plus worm castings arrived today, and I have Alfalfa Meal, Feather Meal, Bone Meal, Granular Humic Acids & Mycorrhizae to fortify my tub of potting mix (see OPWG) this evening. Tomorrow I'll prepare 8 3.5" square pots and germinate the seeds in plastic zip-lock bags between damp paper towels. Ok, I'm off to mix some soil!

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[BeccaBuds]

It was a lot of work but got a 30 gallon tub of soil amended, filled 4" pots with soil and planted seeds.
I reevaluated and decided it is a good idea to start more seeds in case of poor germination rate and a seedling flat holds 15 of the 4" pots so 15 seeds it is. They are under a DIY 6.5k/3k Corn LED Batwing fixture and the seedling tray is on a warming mat in my pvc & space blanket tent where I usually have some cacti growing. If I get more than 6 females I can grow a couple out in rose pots under this tent, and the best 6 in 4 gallon pots in the closet.

5 Citrus Saps, 5 Big Goose Eggs, 5 Small Dark Goose Eggs

Seeds are in the ground!
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[BeccaBuds]

Got a 100% germination rate but a couple needed some help. One sprouted with it's root growing up into the air so I made a hole and gently moved it into root down, then moved soil around it and misted it and the soil to settle it in. Another one needed assistance getting it's seed shell off but it's greening up nicely.
One of the mini seeds is a polyploid and has three leaf sets instead of two. I haven't seen one in years and they sometimes become real gems so I'll be watching it closely.

All germinated by April 22.

The polyploid close up.
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I've got the new Bestva Pro 2000W installed and it is light years ahead of the old blurple, though I'm not fond of the cables they provide to hang it. They don't allow for height adjustment at all so I've ordered some #14 Jack Chain and small carabiner clips to use instead. I've got the dimmer set to a little above half way and it is drawing 65 watts and plenty bright for seedlings. The garden was 79 degrees F when I got home today with this setting. At full power I measured 195 watts with my Kill-A-Watt meter, and the lamp is very efficient with a power factor reading of 97%. So far, so good- the plants seem to like it!

 

[BeccaBuds]

Week 1 Update

All plants doing well, though one Goose Egg is lagging badly and barely breaking ground. One of the Minis is taking it's sweet time unfolding too. The polyploid looks awesome and I marked it's tag with an "X" (of course!) so I know what that mutant is doing at all times, lol. All the healthiest plants are working on their second set of leaves. Last night I gave each plant 50mL of purified water. Next time they will get the first of two soil inoculations with a nefarious blend of AN Piranha, Tarantula & VooDoo Juice to liven up the soil.

About a week after planting & germination.

The mutant "X" is thriving.​

I'm doing some temperature measurements on the new lighting. It runs very cool so far, so that won't be a concern once I get the new ventilation installed. Two more features I'd like to see on the fixture: vent slots in the ballast case to keep it cooler (heat sink fins on the case would help too), and a handle square in the middle to make the lamp easier to move and install.

 

[BeccaBuds]

The #14 jack chain & carabiner clips arrived and I promptly installed them on the Bestva Pro 2000W; (4) 10" lengths of chain to replace the cables, (2) carabiners and (2) 5ft. lengths to hang it. I had to get twists out of a couple 10" sections, which was a bit challenging with it hung, so I should have checked closer before I hoisted it in. The lamp is hanging nice and level about 15" above the plants and now easily raised as they grow. At 75W the plants are getting plenty of light and the fixture is running cool under 37C.

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On an unrelated note for those who are curious, my babies are sharing their home temporarily with Cereus Repandus on the left and Trichocereus Pachanoi (San Pedro) on the right.

 

[BeccaBuds]

The plants are 2 weeks old today and got their first feeding. To 2 liters of purified water, I added 3/8 tsp (2.15g) GH MaxiGro, 4mL AN Sensi CalMag Xtra, 4mL AN VooDoo Juice, 4mL AN Piranha, 4mL AN Tarantula & 2mL pH Up. pH came out high at 7.9 so I added less than an 1/8th tsp of ammonium nitrate. pH only dropped to 7.3 so I added a half mL of pH Down. It dropped like a rock to pH 5.8. Low but in plant range so I left it as is. TDS measured 1245. Each plant has gotten 50mL and will get 50mL more a little later. Here's some photos taken today:

Their all doing very well under the new light, & the closet is running 6 degrees cooler.

The polyploid up close.

Another of the minis.

A thriving Citrus Sap.

This goose egg is going to need transplanting soon.
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[BeccaBuds]

Three weeks old. All 5 Citrus Sap and the Polyploid have been transplanted into 4 Gal pots. Some of the remaining 9 plants will be put in rose pots. I only have 6 rose pots, though, so I'll discard the 3 scrawniest plants. The rose pots will go under some CFLs in my cactus tent.

One last group photo at 3 weeks old...

First round of transplanting is complete. Sprinkled a little mycorrhizae in each hole
before planting and gave each pot 500mL of purified water after.
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Next: get the remaining 6 planted in rose pots.

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[BeccaBuds]

Week 6 Update

Yesterday I gave each plant 1 liter of what will likely be the last vegetative feeding. I mixed 2 gallons of nutrient solution, each with 1 teaspoon of General Hydroponics MaxiGro and 7.5mL Advanced Nutrients Sensi Cal Mag Xtra. Watered each pot 500mL at a time and waited 15 minutes to give another 500mL. I also installed plant stakes in the 4 corner pots and will be hanging trellis net across them for support. Here is a photo from yesterday morning:

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The polyploid is the middle rear plant and the tallest of the bunch. It is still making 3 leaves and branches at every main node but on the branches the leaf nodes are only producing 2 leaves & branches like a normal plant.
Citrus Sap seems to be a very short, bushy variety. The right front plant has the biggest ,broadest leaves I've ever seen and the plant at left front is the bushiest. Worth making some clones from both of them.
In the middle front is a Citrus Sap that was getting very tall so I decided to try my first foray into low stress training, and so far I am very impressed with the results.
I learned that the motor on my light mover was going bad and had to make a decision- buy a $200 replacement motor or for another $50 get a second Bestva Pro 2000W. With one light and the mover I save electricity and the lamp is plenty powerful for my small grow, but with two lamps I get virtually 100% coverage of the whole canopy and can run each lamp at 50 watts. I said to heck with it, I can produce better bud with 2 lamps so that's what I did. The plants are loving it! I got another small fan to hang over the second lamp and will be operating them both with a small SC-3M variable output transformer from All Electronics so I can adjust the speed and have them run quiet and long. With the fans (NMB 3110PS-12W-B30-A00 from Digi-Key) I can run the lamp at full 200 watt output and the driver/heat sink barely gets warm. These lamps may well last longer than their rated 100k hours running so cool.

 

[BeccaBuds]

Wow! Plants went nuts since checking them yesterday. Polyploid (middle rear) will reach the trellis net first, probably tomorrow or Friday. There are some small female flowers forming on the Citrus Sap. I'm thinking 2 more weeks or less to flip to flower mode.

 

[Pat Puffer]

@beccabuds

Your grow looks awesome! In my experience, these "mutant" strains are different than the non mutant ones. Not only in looks, but production and terpene profile as well.

They are always a plus to keep going. Most of mine always reverted back to normal, but still maintained that difference.

 

[BeccaBuds]

@Pat Puffer The polyploid is kind of a roll of dice- it may turn out to be male. If female it has the potential for 50% more bud than the other plants because of all it's extra branches. I haven't seen one with this triple leaf structure in a long, long time. The Citrus Sap is feminised seed so the little flowers aren't unexpected. Can't wait to see the buds- CS is supposed to be very high in THC and CBD. It is supposed to be mostly sativa too, but the one with the broad leaves looks more like a beautiful little afghan indica bush.

 

[BeccaBuds]

Phabulous Phriday Pharming Photo Phun

The family photo...

The plump little indica looking Citrus Sap

Citrus Sap after mild LST

This short, bushy CS has had no training or pruning.

This awesome little bush is as tall as the polyploid now.

The other tall CS bush.

The poly has reached the net.

The rest of the mystery seeds having a bonzai day under some CFLs.
They will be going away to make room for some CS clones.
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I thought the plants would need water today, and hence, nutrients, but the soil is still moist so I took a bunch of pictures instead. I did come up with a good idea for testing how damp the deep soil is; stick a bamboo chopstick in the pot for a few minutes and then pull it out and see how damp it is. Gonna need a couple more chopsticks so I can check each pot though. Let 'em dry and their ready for another round of tests. It worked like a charm and was a way better indication than the cheap electronic soil meter I have that isn't sensitive enough.

 

[BeccaBuds]

Week 7 and end of Veg mode. Week 1, day 1 of flowering. All six plants, including Poly, are starting to show female flowers. Switched light back to 12/12. Mixed a gallon of nutrients with a level 3/8tsp General Hydroponics (GH) MaxiGro, a level 3/8tsp GH MaxiBloom, a heaping 1/8tsp Ammonium Nitrate, 7.5mL Advanced Nutrients (AN) Sensi Cal Mag Xtra, 4mL GH pH Up. After mixing and adjusting pH, added 7.5mL each AN Tarantula, Piranha, Voodoo Juice & Bud Candy. Solution measured pH 6.3 TDS 1411 before addition of biologicals and pH 6.3 TDS 1511 after. Gave each plant 500mL via the garden sprayer.

June 6, 2021​

Flowering time is 60 to 70 days according to the seed bank, so harvest is slated around August 5 to August 15.

 

[BeccaBuds]

My closet has turned into a forest!

June 8, 2021​

 

[BeccaBuds]

Saturday morning progress report. Plants haven't needed anything since last Sunday even though I only gave each plant 500mL. I'm inclined to wait for a little droop to avoid overwatering. These buckets are very deep and muddy bottoms would make my babies very unhappy. Here they are this morning, photographed under just the LEDS and image processed with some added blue to improve the color balance (imho). It won't be long before they are all through the net.

June 12, 2021
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Speaking of which, I need to find a better way to tension the net. This setup is pretty lame. I'm thinking a rectangle of 1/2" pvc pipe and 90 degree elbows would be a good frame to stretch it over, and by drilling vertical holes through the elbows I can use 4 plant stakes as legs, setting the height with a cable tie around each stake at the desired height.

 

[BeccaBuds]

I've been really busy, but here's the journal entry from last Sunday:
6/13/21 Week 2, day 8 of flowering. Mixed a gallon of nutrients with a level 3/8 tsp General Hydroponics (GH) MaxiGro, a level 3/8 tsp GH MaxiBloom, 7.5mL Advanced Nutrients (AN) Sensi Cal Mag Xtra, 4mL GH pH Up. After mixing and adjusting pH, added 7.5mL each AN Tarantula, Piranha, Voodoo Juice & Bud Candy. Solution measured pH 6.3 TDS 1103 before addition of biologicals and pH 6.3 TDS 1211 after. Gave each plant 500mL via the garden sprayer.

Here's today's plan of action and a photo:
6/20/21 Week 3, day 15 of flowering. Mixed 2 gallons of nutrients, each with 3/4 tsp GH MaxiBloom, 1/4 tsp AN Big Bud, 6mL GH pH Up, 7.5mL each AN Sensi Cal Mag Xtra, Bud Candy & Nirvana. Solution measured pH 6.3 & TDS 1537. Gave each plant 1L in (2) 500mL doses via the garden sprayer. Had a lot left over so each plant got an additional 300mL from a watering can.

June 20, 2021. Buds everywhere! ​

Not much sign of frost yet but prodigious flowering is occuring everywhere. Poly (middle rear) looks like she is going to need a little longer to mature than her Citrus Sap neighbors. Lights are now set to 75W each, 12 hour days. Plant tops are 8" to 12" from the LEDS.

 

[BeccaBuds]

This is 2 1/2 weeks since I switched to 12 hour days. The new lights are just phenomenal!

 

[BeccaBuds]

6/27/2021 Week 4, day 22 of flowering. Added 15 minutes light per day, now at 12:15 on, 11:45 off. Over the next few weeks I'll be increasing the light cycle 15 minutes at a time to 13 hour days. Mixed 2 gallons of nutrients, each with 1/2 tsp GH MaxiBloom, 1/4 tsp AN Big Bud, 5.5mL GH pH Up, 7.5mL each AN Sensi Cal Mag Xtra, Bud Candy & Nirvana. Solution measured pH 6.3 & TDS 1243. Gave each plant 1L in (2) 500mL doses via the garden sprayer + 260mL each from watering can. Poly was really beginning to stretch so I tied her growing tip over and may have to do that to the other 2 in back as well. Also began trimming the larf under the trellis net.

June 27, 2021

The left front CS up close last night before "sunset".
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My plants water is purified first by adding 25mg Ascorbic Acid to neutralize Chlorine and Chloramines, then recirculating filtration through granular catalytic carbon and Resintech nuclear grade mixed bed deionization resin. After filtration TDS typically measures 1 or 2 ppm. pH becomes very low but a drop or two of pH Up fixes it and I balance pH anyway when mixing nutrient solutions.

 

[BeccaBuds]

Trichomes are appearing in profusion on all the Citrus Sap buds as tonights picture above shows. Poly has lots of white hairs but trichs just beginning to show. WooHoo!

 

[BeccaBuds]

Happy 4th of July everyone!​

7/4/2021 Week 5, day 29 of flowering. Added another 15 minutes light per day, now at 12:30 on, 11:30 off. Mixed 2 gallons of nutrients, each with 1/2 tsp (2.64g) GH MaxiBloom, 1.9g AN Big Bud, 5.0mL GH pH Up, 7.5mL each AN Sensi Cal Mag Xtra, Bud Candy & Nirvana. Bumped Bud Candy by 2mL/gal and tossed in a 1/2 tsp of Mycorrhizae for the soil. Solution measured pH 6.3 & TDS 1593. Gave each plant 1.26L in (2) 630mL doses via the garden sprayer. In other words, pretty much same routine as last week except I've decided to go back to using the scale for powders instead of the less accurate measuring spoons. Trichomes are developing nicely as this photo taken with a flash reveals.

July 4, 2021​