Radogast 2016 - The Neverending Growing

[Radogast]

Welcome to the 2016 look at my perpetual grow

This is my third journal, ninth month of perpetual grow, and twenty-third month of growing cannabis.

I have an 8x8' basement 'Garden Room' with two 4' long 4 bulb T5 HO flourescent lights where the girls do their vegging.
The lights are on 16 hours per day (16/8 schedule.)

I have a 4x8' basement 'Flowering Room' across the hall with two 600W HPS lights on an 11/13 schedule where the girls do their flowering.

Strain names:
AK47, Borderliner, Caramelicious, Girl Scout Cookies, Northern Lights, Snowcap, Tangerine Dream, White Widow, and unlabelled free seeds.

Is it in Veg or Flower stage?
I always have clones in the cloner, smaller plants in Early Veg, larger plants in Late Veg, and flowering girls in the Flowering Room. I sometimes have seeds and seedlings, as I can fit them in.

If in Veg... For how long?
I don't pay much attention to how long they veg. I try to notice how they are growing and how long they have before they move to the next area in the perpetual grow.

If in Flower stage... For how long?
This depends on the strain. I generally wait until they are 50 days in the flowering room, then start looking at the trichomes. (Since I veg slowly to about 24" tall, most girls go from pre-flower to flowering in 1-3 days, so time in the flowering room is very close to time in Flower stage.) After 50 days, when I spot the change from clear to cloudy in sativa heavy girls, I harvest within 3 days. I let the Indica heavy girls' trichomes go cloudy for daytime meds and 30% amber for nighttime meds. If at anytime the trichomes start wrinkling or losing their tops, I harvest ASAP. I'm not good at remembering sativa/indica ratios, but since we name all the girls and harvest each one multiple times, we get to know the character of the girls, especially the daytime peppy girls vs. the nighttime couchlock girls.

Soil or Hydro?
I run 100 gallons of Build-a-Soil's Clackamos Coot mix perpetual soil in 11 7-gallon and 1-gallon GeoPot fabric pots.
This limits me to 11 different girls flowering in fabric pots, plus up to 4 more girls as clones or seedlings in small pots.
I started in 6 5-gallon buckets, so if a clone lands on my doorstep or I end up with a small pot that needs transplanting, I will use a 5-gal bucket filled with perlite, peat moss, and lobster compost.

Size of light?
Early Veg: One 4' T5 ho CFL (216W 4-tube) above a coffee table with a drip tray for my short plants.
Late Veg: One 4' T5 ho CFL (216w 4-tube) above a perlite filled tray (SWICK) for my taller plants in veg. Also the 8 station daisy cloner.
Flowering: Two 600W HPS hood connected with 6 inch air ducts for forced fan cooling.

Temp of Room/cab?
Veg: 69-76 RH 60-80%
Flower: 68-80 RH 30-50%

PH of media or res?
6.4 PH adjusted tap water, stored 20+ hours before use in 5-gal buckets

Any Pests ?
Thrips on the 3 older girls in the Flowering room.

How often are you watering?
Early Veg: as needed (small 4" pots are soaked, large GeoPots from the top)
Late Veg: about once a month (perlite SWICK)
Flowering:daily (perlite SWICK)


Type and strength of ferts used?
1-2 qts of worm castings from the worm bin when the pot is replanted (twice a year.)

Marijuana plants recieve:
light,
water,
re-used soil,
worm castings when transplanting,

+ rooting hormone when cloning,
+ Glomus intraradices fungus when transplanting,
+ Neem Oil dabbed on leaves for thrips,
+ Neem Oil and Water sprayed on leaves and buds to fight spider mites.

- Recently, that's all I do.

 

[Kushtie]

Nice intro. What strains do you plan to grow this year? .....will there be Kush?

 

[Radogast]

Nice intro. What strains do you plan to grow this year? .....will there be Kush?

Plan is such a definite term, my growing style is more about 'happening' than planning.

There are definitely Haze-y plants. According to seedfinder, Barney's Farm Tangerine Dream is supposedly (G13 x (G13 x Nevilles Haze {(Haze x Haze) X NL #5) x {Haze x Haze}) - that sounds pretty Haze-y. When the clones wandered in there was an incomplete description about Mango Haze - so who knows hat that plant really is ? Snowcap is Humbolt Snow x Unknown Haze

The problem with adding a new girl is I have to stop growing one of the old girls to make room. I'm still trying to figure out how many I can grow at a time

 

[Radogast]

Yesterday was a harvest of Snowcap Tracy. Snowcap Snow Queen was good at 59 days, so we will see how Snowcap Tracy does at 58 days. Tracy had more yield, so if the smoke is as good, Tracy gets to be the perpetual Snowcap girl.

Today,
AK47 Bonnie seedling moved from her 4" pot to Tracy's old 10 gallon pot.
AK47 Bonnie - measuring the hole to dig

I scooped up 2-qt of worm castings for top-dressing.

Bonnie is yellow and slow. I hope she likes the new digs better.

Tangerine Dream Ghita C1 went from cloner to 4" pot today

4" pot with a dash of mycorrhizzal type fungus

Ghita soaking in a sawn-off milk jug

Ghita in center of Early Veg

Also in Early Veg,

Snocap Stacy C1 - trying a low, circular training.

Breeder free Seed Giselle C2 ? - also trying a low, circular training.

 

[brightlight]

Happy New Year bro Rad.

 

[Radogast]

Happy New Year bro Rad.

Thank you Brightlight. In many ways, including the 420 way, this year is off to a good start

Today's experience by my wife

Today's message from nature. Cleansing and watching out for each other.

I was sitting in the living room when I heard a crow caw nearby. I looked out the window and saw one of the crows sitting in the tree just outside my living room. It was looking in at me. It then bobbed up and down and was acting silly. It saw me watching, bobbed some more, then turned around. I let my eyes follow to where the crow was facing and I saw two more crows splashing, bathing, and playing together in the stream. Then I looked up to a tree near the stream and saw two more crows sitting in the branches nuzzling and preening each other. This went on for about 10 minutes before they finished and moved on. I felt so privileged to have been invited to view their family activities. Happy New Years from the crows.

 

[Radogast]

I somehow failed to hit enter on a previouspost. I beieve being stoned was a big part of the problem, but it was the cut and paste over my saved copy of the post while sober that truly lost it. - Doh


When AK47 seed Bonnie was transplanted into a 10-gal Geopot it created a an overbooked occupany rate in Early Veg, so

Borderliner seed Iman in Early Veg - being on a coffee table it is easy to get close while seated in a chair.

Borderliner seed Iman in Late Veg. I don't like SmartPots as much as GeoPots, SmartPots are too floppy and spread out.

Late Veg has had 6 or 7 pots for months. It's so odd to see only 3 tall and one short girl. My 7 plant 'Baby Boom' is now being harvested.

 

[CCOiler]

Damn Radogast, these guys have you on speed dial

Subscribed Radogast, Happy New Year

 

[Lady Cannafan]

Just letting you know I found you. I'll be riding along again this year for sure! Will catch up tomorrow.
I'm so happy to see you are continuing the journal adventure!



And what a perfect intro picture! That is so nice how you designed that!

 

[Radogast]

Just letting you know I found you. I'll be riding along again this year for sure! Will catch up tomorrow.
I'm so happy to see you are continuing the journal adventure!

The new year was a perfect excuse to start the year right with a fresh new grow journal. I'm glad you are still with me

And what a perfect intro picture! That is so nice how you designed that!

Thanks. These were a quick combo of today's pictures in a free Android App named 'PhotoCollage'. It has dozens of preshaped spaces to drop pictures. The Flowering Room photo collage took about 5 seconds. The Garden Room photo collage took about 60 seconds because I had to go back and switch and slide two of the 5 photos. I had fun

I've been looking for a little app to 'stamp' pictures over other pictures. This is one of the Android Apps I found along the way. I am amazed at all the photo cut and paste apps that don't have an obvious way to combine multiple photos.

I went to a little extra effort to design the first picture. I end up seeing glimses of the first post in a thread many, many times through the course of the journal.

I swapped for GSC and Snowcap clones - which brought in the spider mites, but also the fast, strong, daytime energy of Snowcap. While not as giggly and talky as the Hawaiian Skunk, Snowcap packs a lot more punch (assumed higher in THC) and is the perfect smoke before snow shoveling, general yardwork, and sweeping and cleaning housework. The job gets done fast and with a smile on Snowcap. If I had a job in a restaurant, Snowcap woud be my "go to" strain for making a long, tiring day shorter and happier.

The Girl Scout Cookies will be harvested late January and late February, at which point his status as co-grower expires. I'm pretty sure he wants to do another plant together The other young relation had more ideas about nutes and training, but wasn't reliably around to care for and train the girls, probably because Mary Janes aren't as entertaining as his little cheerleader girlfriend.

I also got Tangerine Dream clone Ghita, a gift with no strings attached. When I found out Tangerine Dream Yasmine was male, he became worm food. Tangerine Dream Ghita will head into the flower room in 2-6 weeks, then her sex will out.




Strain names:
AK47 XTRM*, Borderliner XTRM*, Caramelicious*, Girl Scout Cookies, Hawaiian Skunk*, Northern Lights XTRM*, Snowcap, Tangerine Dream, White Widow*, and unlabelled** free seeds from Buy marijuana seeds / cannabis seeds from Amsterdam Marijuana Seeds .

*Seeds from 420 mag vendor Amsterdam Marijuana Seeds<dot>com Buy marijuana seeds / cannabis seeds from Amsterdam Marijuana Seeds
**Amsterdam Marijuana Seeds<dot>com now offers named strains and labelled free seeds like everyone else. When my wife ordered in 2013 and 2014, AMS included an unlabelled, mixed bag of mystery seeds with each order.

 

[FeralA9X]

Subbed in on this one Rad, great start to 2016

 

[Lady Cannafan]

Thanks my friend. Loving that Snowcap information. I will need that thought when it's time get shoveling here.
And I noticed your little metal tags for the plants. Great idea! I have some of those around here somewhere, I'll have to dig them out and put them to use, or cut up some thin aluminum...
dang...more projects.

That Ghita grew out some nice healthy roots!

 

[Dzordz]

You have so much going on in there Subbed. GL in 2016!

 

[Radogast]

I was sick with a one day flu on New Years Eve, too sick to harvest Snowcap Stacy. The young relation volunteered to harvest and trim, then smoked me up with the scissor hash - two days later, I realise the bud washing never happened. So in 10 days or so I will be faced with a batch of unwashed homegrown. I am a worried and a bit curious to taste the difference after over a year of bud washing.

My wife, the medical grow patient, will sometimes take a sample toke of bud from outside the house. Later in private, she will comment that she can taste the chemicals. Since I do a very simple organics grow, I'm curious about 'unwashed taste.

I used Neem Oil spray during most of the Snowcap flowering period, but Quiffa was growing alongside Snowcap Stacy and neither my wife or I can taste the neem in Quiffa.


Snowcap Stacy - 1 of 5 top colas

The trichomes on Snowcap Stacy look like they have dried and shrivelled, so I think it is too late to bud wash.

 

[Radogast]

Thanks my friend. Loving that Snowcap information. I will need that thought when it's time get shoveling here.

From the strains I have grown, Snowcap is my top candidate for Concentrated Cannabis Oil :icon_cool
If she tastes bad unwashed, I may finally have an unclaimed ounce for making oil

:icon_cool - Love that cco smiley you made

And I noticed your little metal tags for the plants. Great idea! I have some of those around here somewhere, I'll have to dig them out and put them to use, or cut up some thin aluminum...dang...more projects.

I picked them up as part of a seed order for about $10.
I would argue against creating sharp tag edges with tin scissors. The store bought tags come with folded edges.

I took this picture to show off the sticks I tossed in with the drying buds - so that I can snap them to measure when dry. I would have hung the branches rather than dried buds in the hamper.

It's a bit frustrating to have someone else harvest and trim when those of us who were sick do things a different way. - I'll get over my need to control, I just have to control when to do it

That Ghita grew out some nice healthy roots!

Ghita is my largest clone to run through the splashy daisy cloner about 6" tall and 6" in diameter - taken from an 8" top. The biggest problem was her overshadowing the smaller clones in a confined space.

The Daisy cloner is a better space than a 4" pot for me to 'slow down' a clone to time her for the next available large pot. I have kept clones with white roots up to a month, they grow 4-5" roots. In that photo, Ghita's roots were only 3 days old and about 1" long. I have two big pots coming up for harvest on the 20 something of this month. I am guessing 3 weeks as about the right amount of time for Ghita to live in a 4" pot.

 

[ShiggityFlip]

Subbed in for a continuation of a fantastic perpetual!

 

[ClosedCircuit]

Subbed up for 2016

 

[Radogast]

Thanks for following along.

It seems to me like I'm always repeating the same thing, until I look back a year. The garden is A LOT better off now than a year ago.


A year ago. - much better looking now.

 

[Kriaze]

All the best for 2016 Radogast, I'm subbed to watch your grow

 

[Radogast]

All the best for 2016 Radogast, I'm subbed to watch your grow

Thanks Kriaze. I'm a fairly lazy grower. I'm sure I'll be asking for more help as the year progresses. If we are lucky I will do something interesting, stupid, or both


A disclaimer -

This grow is a state legal Medical Marijuana grow under current state law (Yes I have read the text several times. I even emailed the assigned state senator with my comments on the draft rules interpretations, which (through probably no influence by me) were adjusted to rules which suit me much better.) ,

If the recreation marijuana vote in November goes as expected, it will remain a state legal medical marijuana grow not subject the the recreational marijuana plant counts. If the medical dispensary rollout goes as expected, I will not be forced to register for a medical hardship grow to avoid spending more money than possible to purchase medical marijuana instead of growing. I have had my fingers crossed on the timing of marijuana regulations for two years now. So far, so good.