Colorado High - Soil - CFL - Super Skunk - 2013

[Calyx Hunter]

Your plants are looking so much better ColoradoHigh. They've had an amazing recovery. It's an inspiration to see. "Never give up, never surrender."

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks KaBloom! I definitely feel a lot better about leaving them alone now that I've seen how they handle the mini drought!

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks CH! I have to admit during the worst of it, I was beginning to wonder if it was worth continuing the grow with such sickly plants to get one female, possibly none at all. When they both turned out to be female, I redoubled my efforts to try and figure out WTF was going on with these ladies and I'm so glad I did as otherwise I would've never known the root cause and possible impacted future grows as well.

 

[TheWizard]

Looking awesome! What nutes are you feeding with?

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks TheWizard! I am using Doggett & Simpson Growology System. I'm now using their flowering formula - Step 3.

 

[Teldren]

Great come back. You can only learn by fixing what is broken.

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks Teldren!

 

[PeeJay]

Hope things are good with you, CH. I miss the updates!

 

[David Bowman]

Day 51 of flowering and the ladies have really matured since the last update 18 days ago. As hoped for, they survived the 9+ days between feeding/watering without any significant issues. It appears that the ladies started to sacrifice some of the lower newer leaf growth but all of the main productive fan leaves are in good shape. The pre-buds are now full-on buds fattening up day by day. Approximately 25% of the pistils on the side shoot buds have matured but more pistils are sprouting out of the buds each day. The pistils are less mature on the top colas which are already at least 6" in height and I expect they will lengthen as they fill-out. The photos below are as I found them after 9+ days of being left alone to their own devices and before I fed/watered each lady with one-half gallon of D&S Step 3 and Molasses, both at 1 Tbsp/gallon.

Group shot of the ladies on day 50 of flowering -

Single shot of the left lady on day 50 of flowering -

Close-up shot of the top cola of the left lady on day 50 of flowering -

Close-up shot of a side-shoot bud on the left lady on day 50 of flowering -

Single shot of the right lady on day 50 of flowering -

Close-up shot of the top cola of the right lady on day 50 of flowering -

Close-up shot of a side-shoot bud on the right lady on day 50 of flowering -

For the remainder of flowering, until about 2 weeks prior to harvest, I will feed/water the ladies as needed since there is no longer any need to force upon them a strict schedule and I want them to have as much food/water as they can consume during the last stages of flowering. I will still feed them every watering with D&S Step 3/Molasses at 1 Tbsp/gallon. Based on my observations, it looks like I might be able to harvest later this month but given the sativa-like nature of these ladies it might be well into May before they are ripe enough to harvest.

 

[b.real]

very nice! eager to see how they fill out.

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks b.real!

 

[stealthgrow]

The plants are looking great Colorado, bulking up nicely since the last update for sure.

 

[PeeJay]

Wow, they didn't miss a beat while you were away! Aren't ten gallon pots nice?

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks stealthgrow!

 

[David Bowman]

Thanks PeeJay! Actually, those are 5 gallon pots, but yes I don't think I could go for that long without watering with smaller pots.

 

[David Bowman]

Day 55 of flowering and I'm beginning to think that I'm looking at a significantly longer flowering stage with this strain than with my first. At this stage of my last grow I began flushing the ladies for 2 weeks prior to harvest. No way are these ladies even close to that. They have fattened up a bit since my last update 4 days ago, but otherwise appear the same. I have removed the last of the 5000K lighting and replaced it with 104 watts of 10% UVB CFL bulbs. The left plant is experiencing some droopiness which I attribute to the root damage caused earlier during vegging. She's struggling to keep up with the right lady and she's already beginning to show the typical late-flowering deficiencies while the right lady is still going strong. In case it might be related to the temperatures, I've adjusted the temp range down to around 75°-85° F. The exhaust fan is running pretty much constantly now so the humidity stays around 20% even with the humidifier running and it peaks at around 70% during lights off. I've turned up the humidifier fan to the max setting to see if that helps any, but I'm doubtful. They are beginning to really stink and some of the odors are not what I would expect. For instance, yesterday morning right after lights on, I checked on the ladies and when I opened the grow box a strong ammonia-like aroma was most definitely present. This morning it wasn't nearly as strong but it was still noticeable. That's all for now, look for a full photo update sometime next week. Until then, keep this thought in mind "Cannabis Can Cure".

EDIT: The increase of fan speed raised the RH by only 2% but consumed water at twice the rate of the slower speed, so back to the original fan speed of low.

 

[b.real]

they will start ripening quickly around day 63

 

[David Bowman]

 

[stealthgrow]

 

[CareStaker]

Great looking ladies CH!