ScienceGrow's - Organic - MH/LED - Snowstorm - Afghani - Holy Grail - Grow

[ScienceGrow]

This will be my fourth grow. It will be a mixed grow, with three photoperiod plants and two autoflowering plants. This is my first time going mostly organic with an emphasis on living soil. It's also my first grow under an HID lamp.

Here's my Vegetative cabinet and the seedlings.

Specs:
Strains - 2 x Afghani #1 (Regular), 1 x Holy Grail 69 (Feminized), 2 x Snowstorm #2 (Autoflowering)

Container Size - Snowstorm #2 begin in final 3 Gallon fabric pot. All others will graduate to and finish in 3 Gallon fabric pots.

Medium - 1 Afhani, 1 Snowstorm, and the rest of the seeds will be getting Roots Organic Original Potting Soil. The other Afghani and Snowstorm will get Fox Farm Happy Frog.

Nutrients - 1 Afhani, 1 Snowstorm, and the rest of the seeds will be getting Roots Organic Master Pack. The other Afghani and Snowstorm will get Fox Farm Trio, Microbe Life Yield Enhancer, Vitamin/Amino Acid supplement, Thrive Alive Red

Lighting - 100W Metal Halide / 700W Mars II LED Veg/Flower


Both Afghans and the Holy Grail were sown directly into soil on 11/13. Both Snowstorms were sown directly into their final containers on 11/18. One sprouted a day before the other.

I'm doing a side by side on soil and nutrients. Roots mostly organic vs. FF mostly synthetic nutrients.

I'll be training all with LST and topping. The Snowstorms will go into the Flower tent once it's empty, which should be about the time they start flowering, about 3-4 weeks. If there's room, I'll be planting the Girl Scout Cookies at that time, and they'll take their spot in the Veg cabinet. That will depend on how the Afghanis sex out.

Here's a closer shot of the Snowstorm plants.

Hopefully I'll have a little surprise for you all in a couple weeks, but it's gonna be a secret until then.

 

[ScienceGrow]

All is well, they're growing, no issues.

Moved the Afghanis and Holy Grail to 2 Gallon fabric pots, watered in with a 1/3 dose of Big Bloom for Afghani #1-1, 1/3 SEED schedule of Roots Organic Master 5ml for Afghani #1-2 and Holy Grail.

The Roots Organic Soil is some airy stuff. Had to water the RO Snowstorm, did so with 1/4 dose SEED schedule.

Looks like I'll be watering at different times for these, but that'll give me something to do with them until I can start training.

For training, I'm actually considering putting the three photoperiod plants in a manifold. I'm very interested in the technique, it's so clean and orderly, and space saving. And if my experiment works out, it'll be even better. But I have another week at least until I can try that out.

To make this easier I'm giving the plants names. Here they are:
Afghani #1-1 is Pat
Afghani #1-2 is Mel
Holy Grail 69 is Suzi
Snowstorm #2-1 is Foxy
Snowstorm #2-2 is Nadia

 

[Grouchy]

Great setup and awesome strain choice man!

By manifold, do you mean mainlining? I have a journal going on right now and it's my first time mainlining. I am really enjoying the process and will be doing it again for my next grow

 

[ScienceGrow]

Thanks!

Yep, manifold is mainline. Seems like a great way to maximize the space I have, which is rather small. I'll have to check yours out and see if I can learn anything.

 

[Mello136]

Subbed Mainlining?

 

[ScienceGrow]

Mainlining is the name nugbuckets, the grower who made the technique popular, gave to building a manifold with selective topping. It creates evenly spaced limbs that get generally even treatment as far as light access, nutrients, water. Buds come out looking similar.

I'd Google it, another grow site hosts very detailed info on the technique.

My experiment, coming soon, is intended to negate the delayed growth caused by the cuttings.

 

[Mello136]

Well i'm subbed and here to watch the action. Thanks i'll be taking a looksy around the googmeister to see what this is all about.

 

[Grouchy]

My favorite part about mainlining is that it's a front loaded process meaning all the work is done in the first couple weeks then you just sit back and water. I can't wait to see if you do it!

 

[ScienceGrow]

Alright updates. Day 16 for the Regular seeds and day 11 for the Autos. Everything looks alright except Nadia, the Snowstorm in Root Organic. She's growing really slow, in my opinion. Maybe the Fox Farm is just that hot in comparison, but my Afghanis are growing about the same and are in the same setup.

The Holy Grail really took off, having started a bit slower than the rest. It's got some really crazy leaves, with some sharp serrations. A very distinct leaf pattern.

The Afghanis are showing some obvious differences in the leaf structure, which I found surprising. One has softer serrations and fatter leaflets than the other.

The Snowstorms are going, but again, the one in the Roots Organic soil is really taking her time.

Smooth so far, not doing much right now. Waiting on the 5th node to start topping and training the regulars, same for training the autos and starting up nutes.

 

[ScienceGrow]

Now that I look again, I'm not so sure Pat(FoxFarm Snowstorm) is growing faster than Mel(RootsOrganic Snowstorm.) Pat popped a day earlier, and Mel is starting to catch up, so yhat may be all it is. Plus Suzi and Nadia(RO) are doing better than Foxy(FF.)

The beginning of the grow still worries me the most, especially when overpotting. But I have an idea for a tool to make overpotting much simpler and safer, which I'll be trying out on my next grow.

Well, will update in a few.

 

[ScienceGrow]

Here they are today. They all dried out at about the same time so I was able to water them together. All received a quarter dose of their nutrient schedule, as I started seeing a little yellowing in a few, and it's about time. I may be a little early with the autos but I think they'll be fine.

The smaller Snowstorm is picking up speed. May have been a water issue, the Roots soil drains pretty fast.

The Afghani in FF is growing strangely. It shot up a bit, but without gaining any new nodes. It's at node three, I see the fourth popping out, while the other one is on Node four with the fifth starting to pop out. I'll probably be trying my light pruning experiment on the smaller Afghani, so will be waiting another week or so.

The Holy Grail is easily doing the best, and the RO Afghani and FF Snowstorm look great too. Since it's really been only the soil up to this point feeding them, I'd say the soils are tied, with one plant possibly stunted by underwatering. I didn't expect much difference, they're both good soils.

 

[ScienceGrow]

Kicked off my experiment last night, already see the lateral buds growing. Didn't take a before picture, but I'm going to do the same thing to the Holy Grail, and will be certain to fully document and photograph it this time.

So, here's the experiment, and my results so far.

Hypothesis: Subjecting the Shoot Apical Meristem(SAM) to Darkness while lighting the rest of the plant will result in a loss of apical dominance, allowing early axillary bud break. This method of "Topping" will retain the benefits of the traditional surgical method, but will require little to no recovery time.

By "capping" the SAM, I predict auxin concentration will decline and potentially cease at the site. With auxin concentrations no longer inhibiting the axillary buds, auxin will concentrate in the new set of meristems.

Often, leaves without access to good light, as on the bottom of a plant, will naturally senesce and abscise. This appears to have no appreciable impact on plant health or vigor. I predict a similar senescence will occur within two weeks, resulting in the abscision of the budsite.

If this is possible, topping autos may be a viable option, not to mention the benefits to other techniques like manifolding.

Last night when I capped the apical bud, I checked the axillary buds right below, and found the tiniest little nub. It looked like a single little nub, and was just barely visible. This afternoon, the axillary buds had doubled in size.

So, I'll update with full results in probably about a week. That's about when I expect the apical bud to fall off, which is when I should know if there are any real drawbacks or complications with this technique.

Cool.

 

[ScienceGrow]

Oops, got stoned and topped the other Afghan and the Holy Grail the traditional way last night.

So, will have to document the procedure on one of the axillary buds instead.

 

[ScienceGrow]

Well, failed experiment. The capped SAM simply continued to grow up. The bud break below may have still worked, but the effect was nowhere near as fast as traditional topping. The leaf inside the cap was quite yellow and shriveled, but showed no real signs of death or damage.

I imagine it is that this just doesn't work for whatever reason, but I wonder if it's possible I didn't block out as much light as possible. I used electrical tape taped to aluminum foil. I wrapped it with the tape facing in, and ensured no light leaks were possible, at least not through holes or cracks. But it's possible the materials are still letting light through.

I'm uncertain, because I was under the impression that light should be directing growth by influencing auxin concentrations. I blocked the SAM, where auxin accumulates and where all growth comes from. So, I find it hard to believe that's possible without light.

Anyway, I just cut the top off that plant and lower growth exploded within a few hours. There appears to be no benefit to my method, unless I just didn't block enough light.

All the other plants are doing great. I'm running out of good space in the veg cabinet, about two weeks until I can move the autos over to the flower cabinet. The clones are just doing too well to interrupt them.

 

[ScienceGrow]

Hahahaha! I'm a moron.

My inspiration for that experiment was Darwin and Sons experiments in phototropism. I read that the capped SAMs growth didn't change. I read this as "Did not grow." When it just meant it didn't grow toward the light.

So, all i did was make it grow more straight. Eeediot!


Okay then, plants.

I pulled one of the Afghanis, it was growing terribly slow, has been from the start really. Limited on space and expecting to lose at least one anyway, so no real loss. So, down to Snowstorms, one afghani, and the Holy Grail. Snowstorms are hitting that stretch stride, taking over the cabinet. Will be moving them as soon as my clones dry in the flower cabinet. Hopefully 7-10 days.

Everyone is doing great. Actually, I woke up yesterday to an explosion of growth. I'm gonna guess it was the increased nutrient dose, half dose, last feeding. They have another feeding tonight probably.

So far, the Fox Farm is outperforming the Roots Organic. Totally expected that.

And, damn man, Holy Grail is a cool plant to grow. Very vigorous, very neat leaves. Just a cool little badass. I half hope my other afghani is male so I can flower Holy Grail out by herself.

If it go3s male I'll be keeping the Afghani in the veg cabinet with my double revegged clone. I'll be revegging and then reflowering the clone, and applying colloidal silver. I'm hoping to get some feminized seed and keep these amazing mystery genetics alive, and also will try crossing with the Afghani. It will be an all seed grow. I haven't seen a journal for that yet.

Anyway

#staminatelivesmatter

 

[ScienceGrow]

Not a lot to say this week. I harvested my clones and moved the snowstorms over. They've done quite a bit in the last week, and I think I've definitely found the reason for the disparity in size.

While it could be the fertilizer, I highly doubt it. The Holy Grail and Afghani are running Roots Organic and Fox Farm, respectively, and are pretty much even. It could be a variety thing, but I'm thinking it's probably two phenotypes.

While that kills my side by side, I'm hoping it turns out to be the Tangerine phenotype, which is supposed to grow more squat and bushy. They measure 9.5" and 19", left to right.

The Holy Grail and Afghani are doing great. They've received 2 of 3 snips for the manifold, and are being trained nice and straight and low. Afghani on the left, Holy Grail on the right.

 

[BpoBrad]

I'm gonna sub I have some of these that I've been considering on popping, looking solid so far

 

[ScienceGrow]

Cool, welcome. Which ones do you have?

Feeding tonight, will get some pics up. Quick status update: Snowstorms are starting to flower. I'm nearly at my height limit on the one, hopefully stretch is about over. The short one is bushy as hell.

The Holy Grail and Afghan have been taking their cutting and training great. Maybe ready for cut #3 tonight.

Snowstorms projected done mid Feb. Holy Grail and Afghani, a bit after that. Won't be flowering them until the Snowstorms are done.

 

[BpoBrad]

I have both they were freebies, I wanna pop them but I don't want to go perpetual just yet. I'll see how yours do first haha I was thinking about using the Afghani for breeding though.

 

[ScienceGrow]

Alright, there's not a whole lot going on right now, aside from the Snowstorms starting flowering. They are having a good time in the flowering cabinet, and I've been having to move the light up every day. I'm trying to keep it at 18", but I'm running out of vertical space.

The taller one is at 29" right now.

The short one at 11".

The Afghani and Holy Grail aren't ready for the third cut yet, I'm giving them a few more days.

All of the plants were very thirsty, and I fed them shortly before taking the photos, including the scheduled foliar feed. They're all very healthy so far, no issues with lights or fertilizer this time around. I am concerned about the larger Snowstorm getting too close to the light, I may need to bend it down a bit, but I can probably do another 4 inches if I rig it right.


Yeah, mine were freebies too. If my Afghani ends up male I'll definitely be collecting pollen, and may just try to get some seeds from the Holy Grail. I don't think I'll have time to pollinate and get good seeds from the Snowstorms, but I'll be giving it a shot.