Cottage 420's Organic Perpetual Indoor Garden

[bobrown14]

re: Cottage 420's 2015 Organic Grow With LOS & Kristalica - Sleestack x Skunk1

^^ That's a lotta buds right there ^^

All the ladies are a hangin in the closet under AC and in the dark with a light breeze blowing on them. When I take them out to trim and cure I will weigh each plant separately to see which has the most weight. I think its going to be the Pheno C - the other 2 plants looked bigger bulkier but I don't think they have the density of the Type C. I mean that main cola is a good 18" or more long and big around as my arm!!


Next round is already going ... Blue Thai x 3 coming down the back stretch along with Kali x AK and clones of the Krystalica I think I've got 6 going at different stages. I just planted a small clone into one of the no-til 12gal pots right next to the stalk of the previous plant that I chopped yesterday. I have a few more clones going that are larger so its going to be more difficult to plant them in my existing no-til pots.. but I've got backup plans and soil ready to make a few more no-til containers.

I'll get some pics up this weekend after we re-arrange the flower room. All the stars are gone but the Blue Thai is coming right along and will be ready pretty soon, 2 of them are just starting senescence (yellowing fan leaves). I've never grown Blue Thai before so I have no idea what to expect and how long I can take them. They do seem to be finishing pretty fast which is OK but I prefer a slower finish and bulk up weight.

O yeah almost forgot about the Dark Evil auto - she's crazy looking almost more like a house plant all pretty purple black and gold!! She's almost done as well. I'll get some pics up here in a day or so....

 

[SweetSue]

re: Cottage 420's 2015 Organic Grow With LOS & Kristalica - Sleestack x Skunk1

Congratulations on a successful chop BB. Stunning as always. I wish my Devil got all that color yours did, but that's ok. There'll be another somewhere along the line and I'll be a more experienced grower by then.

Sticky fingers. Mmmmm. Love that part.

 

[Radogast]

re: Cottage 420's 2015 Organic Grow With LOS & Kristalica - Sleestack x Skunk1

^^ That's a lotta buds right there ^^

All the ladies are a hangin in the closet under AC and in the dark with a light breeze blowing on them. When I take them out to trim and cure I will weigh each plant separately to see which has the most weight. I think its going to be the Pheno C - the other 2 plants looked bigger bulkier but I don't think they have the density of the Type C. I mean that main cola is a good 18" or more long and big around as my arm!!


Next round is already going ... Blue Thai x 3 coming down the back stretch along with Kali x AK and clones of the Krystalica I think I've got 6 going at different stages. I just planted a small clone into one of the no-til 12gal pots right next to the stalk of the previous plant that I chopped yesterday. I have a few more clones going that are larger so its going to be more difficult to plant them in my existing no-til pots.. but I've got backup plans and soil ready to make a few more no-til containers.

I'll get some pics up this weekend after we re-arrange the flower room. All the stars are gone but the Blue Thai is coming right along and will be ready pretty soon, 2 of them are just starting senescence (yellowing fan leaves). I've never grown Blue Thai before so I have no idea what to expect and how long I can take them. They do seem to be finishing pretty fast which is OK but I prefer a slower finish and bulk up weight.

O yeah almost forgot about the Dark Evil auto - she's crazy looking almost more like a house plant all pretty purple black and gold!! She's almost done as well. I'll get some pics up here in a day or so....

+reps on a Superb harvest! You grow with style and confidence !

 

[bobrown14]

re: Cottage 420's 2015 Organic Grow With LOS & Kristalica - Sleestack x Skunk1

Ok been researching topping/super cropping or whatever else we may want to do to our plants to "help" them produce more yield.

Here's a longish article I'm quoting from BiologyReference.com

Long story short = cut off the top = cutting of the plants Meristem cells - the plant has more in other areas but it will take some time to develope the 2 new Meristems the plant needs to survive. We are making the plant work WAY WAY too hard and she will never catch back up to where she was before cutting off the top.


Read more: Meristems - Biology Encyclopedia - cells, plant, body, function, process, system, different, organs, life


Quoted

"Meristems

Plants have the impressive abilities to reproduce asexually and regenerate damaged parts. The secret to these abilities lies within a tissue type called meristem.

Meristematic cells are fully developed and functional at maturity, but unlike other cells in the plant, they remain totipotent. This means that when induced, they can develop into any specific plant tissue at any point during the life of the plant. Other cells in the plant are fully differentiated (meaning that they are specialized in both form and function) and do not divide. Cells in the meristem, however, divide and produce all of the new cells in a plant.

While meristem tissue is the source of the regenerative potential of a plant, meristems also play a pivotal role in normal plant growth. Plants have the unique ability to continue to grow and develop new organs while functioning as a mature, reproducing organism. Plants grow larger via cell division and cell elongation. Simple plant growth is facilitated by meristem tissue because it is the primary site of cell division (mitosis) in the plant. Plants develop new organs (stems, leaves, flowers, roots) via cell division and cell differentiation. Because the source of all new cells in a plant is the meristem, this tissue plays an important role in organ development as well. While some of the cells of the apical meristem divide to generate new meristematic cells, most of the offspring cells differentiate into specialized cell types that stop dividing and function as a part of the organ in which they were generated.

Meristems and Simple Plant Growth

Plants have meristematic tissue in several locations. Both roots and shoots have meristematic tissue at their tips called apical meristems that are responsible for the lengthening of roots and shoots. The shoot apical meristem is formed during embryonic development, but after germination gives rise to the stem, leaves, and flowers. The root apical meristem is also formed during development, but during germination gives rise to the root system. Cell division and cell elongation in the apical meristem is called primary growth and results in an increase in plant height and root length. Increasing root length enables the plant to tap into the water and mineral resources of a new region or layer of soil. Increasing shoot length makes the plant taller, thus allowing it better access to sunlight for photosynthesis.

Many types of plants also increase the diameter of their roots and stems throughout their lifetime. This type of growth is called secondary growth and is the product of lateral meristem. Lateral meristem is called the vascular cambium in many of the plants in which it is found. Secondary growth gives a plant added stability that allows for the plant to grow taller. Lastly, some plants have intercalary meristem. These are areas of plants that help in the regeneration of parts of the plant that have been damaged by predators or the environment. Intercalary meristems produce growth at the base of grass blades, for instance.

Meristem tissue is not autonomous. Throughout the life of the plant, the rate of cell division and cell elongation in the meristems is regulated by plant hormones . For example, giberellins stimulate cell division in shoot apical meristem, causing the plant to grow taller. These hormones also cause cell elongation in intercalary meristem of grasses. Cytokinin and auxin are also important growth regulators. Auxin stimulates growth by inducing cell elongation, while cytokinins are thought to stimulate both cell division and cell elongation.

Apical Meristems and Pattern Formation

As the source for all new cells of the growing plant, the meristem plays an important role in the formation of new organs and in the correct placement of those organs within the plant body. The process by which this organization happens is called pattern formation and, in plants, is directed by the meristem. To accomplish this task, meristematic cells must be able to interpret their position in the plant and establish a certain fate.

For example, during the development of a new leaf, the dividing cells of the meristem must differentiate into several different functional types of epidermal cells and parenchyma cells. However, they do not need to differentiate into reproductive cells like those found in a flower. How is it that meristematic cells "know" what to become? The actively dividing cells of the apical meristem use positional cues such as hormones and cell-cell interactions as guides during differentiation. Moreover, these positional cues result in the activation of certain genes and the inactivation of other genes in a set of cells, thus initiating their specific differentiation pattern based on their spatial location in the plant. The specific genes that are initially activated in meristem cells during this process are called homeotic genes. These genes encode a family of transcription factors that, once activated, will determine the fate of a cell by activating and inactivating a whole host of other genes.

One mechanism of differential gene expression (the activation and inactivation of genes during differentiation and organ development) is binding of plant hormones to the developing cell's surface. Hormones such as cytokinins have been shown to affect ribonucleic acid (RNA) transcription and translation . It is thought that the presence of both cytokinins and another class of hormones, called auxins, are important for proper root and shoot development. In the laboratory, if a set of undifferentiated meristem cells are grown in culture, they will not develop into a plant embryo unless they are stimulated with auxin and cytokinin. A high cytokinin/auxin ratio will stimulate the meristematic cells to develop stems, leaves, and flower buds. On the other hand, a high auxin/cytokinin ratio will stimulate the meristematic cells to develop roots.

Bibliography

Fletcher J. C., and Elliott M. Meyerowitz. "Cell Signaling Within the Shoot Meristem." Current Opinions in Plant Biology 3 (2000): 23—30.

Meyerowitz, Elliott M. "The Genetics of Flower Development." Scientific American (November 1994): 56—65.

Moore, Randy, W. Dennis Clark, and Kingley R. Stern. Botany. Boston: William C. Brown Publishers, 1995.

Salisbury, Frank B., and Cleon Ross. Plant Physiology, 4th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Inc., 1992.

Van Overbeek, J. "The Control of Plant Growth." Scientific American 219 (1968): 75—81.

 

[Radogast]

re: Cottage 420's 2015 Organic Grow With LOS & Kristalica - Sleestack x Skunk1

it's a good quote. When you conclude that topping reduces yield due to recovery issues, are you distinguishing between topping 3 or 4 nodes, and topping or FIMing less than 1/2" ?

 

[HeavyChevy59]

re: Cottage 420's 2015 Organic Grow With LOS & Kristalica - Sleestack x Skunk1

Hey BB I'm finally cought up, congratulations on the harvest the plants were beautiful. Thanks for all the great info, I've been learning a lot and we're only 11pages in.

 

[bobrown14]

re: Cottage 420's 2015 Organic Grow With LOS & Kristalica - Sleestack x Skunk1

it's a good quote. When you conclude that topping reduces yield due to recovery issues, are you distinguishing between topping 3 or 4 nodes, and topping or FIMing less than 1/2" ?

Hey there Rad - topping doesn't matter where you cut it as far as how many nodes or whatever - it's still removing the Apical Meristem (the brains) so the plant has to grow another from the next lower down nodes. My topped plant finished about a week earlier and was at least 25% lighter in yield everything else being equal. Not worth it. At least my experiment proved out the science on topping.

Fimming my real world result is still in progress as is my research. From the "looks" of it so far, there may be some merit but I'm not at a point where I can make any conclusive judgements either with facts/science or real world result. So more to come on that.

Our next run featuring Blue Thai, I've got 2 plants coming down the back stretch. One is natural nothing done at all but let it grow. The other I waited to go into flower 2 weeks (no room in flower tent) behind the first one (both same age) and she was reaching for the sky so I fimmed her which was successful as far as me doing it properly and that plant now has 4 flowers at the top (apical meristem) and is getting a nice fat main cola but again to early to tell if it's worth it (yield weight). My "guess" would be that I should have bent her over and tied her up instead of fimming but time will tell. So more to come .... she sure is purdy tho with 4 nice flowers clustered together at the top and getting a nice big fat main cola.

I'll get some more pics up here shortly as my flower room is now back to 100% capacity. Out with the old in with the new.

 

[bobrown14]

re: Cottage 420's 2015 Organic Grow With LOS & Kristalica - Sleestack x Skunk1

Here's some pics from lights out today. i watered all the ladies with an SST (sprouted seed tea) made from Alfalfa sprouts. I've got organic non-gmo corn sprouts going as well. Our out door gardens are in full swing so what I'm doing with the SST teas are mixing in about 4 cups of tea to a gallon of water and watering all the ladies. I'll do that for 2 days in a row, then the balance of that tea will go outside on the veggies and flowers. next watering after that will be straight water then followed by corn SST.

Alfalfa is known to be high in Triacontanol which is a proven growth hormone for plants and animals! Some may ask why would I want a growth hormone late in flower, right? Well my experience with this alfalfa tea in flower is that the plants produce more and larger flowers. As soon as I water with it on a plant that is just about to finish is that the buds will push out some fresh white pistols and that = bud building. I use this tea all the way thru to the end. It works ...

Anywho.. on to the good stuff - bud pics!! woohoo

Front row here are Krystalica clones and Blue Thai clones lined up - 1 month behind the back row

This is the Blue Thai that I had to fimm - notice she's all spindly - I'm guessing a pheno type not worthy.

Next 2 pics are the Kali x AK - notice the fat colas this lady is looking pretty good, if she can handle another month she will be a monster!

kali x AK

Another Blue Thai from the back row - she was put into the flower room a little later but same age as the others

Here's the Blue Thai finishing up - this lady is worthy she's a little shorty fatty girl just the way me likes em. juicy sticky and fatty... mmmm I can almost taste it she's soo close.

Another pic of the Blue Thai that I fimmed up close nug view - if this big top wasn't there she'd be gone. Murphy law - she will probably turn into the snizzle at smoke test.

anothe Shnizzle shot

Group photo - front row 1 month behind the back row

There we go... organically grown, no bottles no salts no chemicals! The taste even fresh dried is nice after a good 4 month cure these buds are top shelf meds. My dog gives me the paws up and is waiting for me to be off to take another puff or 10.

Next up is corn SST

 

[Major PITA]

re: Cottage 420's 2015 Organic Grow With LOS & Kristalica - Sleestack x Skunk1

Awesome update!
Awesome girls!

 

[SweetSue]

re: Cottage 420's 2015 Organic Grow With LOS & Kristalica - Sleestack x Skunk1

Here's the Blue Thai finishing up - this lady is worthy she's a little shorty fatty girl just the way me likes em. juicy sticky and fatty... mmmm I can almost taste it she's soo close.

This plant is absolutely stunning BB. They all share that distinction, but this Blue Thai is particularly exciting.

 

[bobrown14]

re: Cottage 420's 2015 Organic Grow With LOS & Kristalica - Sleestack x Skunk1

I had a grower friend stop over this past weekend to help me trim my last haul. Last night I weighed it all in. Got a total of 14oz with 2.5 oz of the dark devil. All my friends wanted the dark devil big time, I'm like I just chopped it down 5 days ago it's not even totally dry yet let alone cured sheesh... but trimmed it looks crazy and it's VERY dense, I thought I only had like an oz but it weighed 2.5.

Anywho... still pretty early for a smoke report but I'm practicing that one for a bit!!

 

[bobrown14]

re: Cottage 420's 2015 Organic Grow With LOS & Kristalica - Sleestack x Skunk1

OK guess I'm going to continue Krystalica - I took some clones and have a mother or 2 in veg. So right now I've got a row of plants in VEG - various strains. 2 Krystalica mothers, 2 Auto Black JH & 1 Cream of the Crop Cash Crop Auto(out of 3 f'ing mouse got the other 2), and 1 more Dark Devil. I'm going to get some more of that one, Dark Devil grows fast and full takes up little space and from the preliminary smoke she's a total knock out. I could grow 12-14 of them in my flower room, that would be close to 2#s - pretty substantial AND in 60 days that's over the top and it would be premo top shelf buds. Maybe I will do that this fall run and see if I can make that work.

So back to the perpetual
Veg room:
1 -Dark Devil
2 - Auto Dark JH (Jack Herrer) - Jack Herer (sativa bomb) x Black Domina (indica) x Rudiralus (auto traits)
2 - Krystalica mothers
Flower room:
4 - Krystalica clones (Front row 2 weeks 12x12)
3 - Blue Thai - 2 coming down the back stretch (back row - 55-70 days)
1 - Kali x AK (~60 days)

Pics:

New Dark Devil - she's 25 days from sprouting - already getting black!!

Flower room - front row (on the left) are the Krystalica clones already getting frosty
Back row is 2 Blue Thai closest in pic, 1 Kali x AK, Blue Thai in the back

Kali X AK - packing it on....

2nd Blue Thai in the back corner

Blue Thai I practiced FIM on - that didn't work as well as I thought

Blue Thai

Blue Thai

Last but not least - Blue Thai getting close to harvest - she's about done - all fan leaves have fallen off time to look at the trichomes.

 

[SweetSue]

re: Cottage 420's 2015 Organic Grow With LOS & Kristalica - Sleestack x Skunk1

That Blue Thai looks just like the Thai stick we used to get back in the late 70s. What beautiful plants BB. The color you get in your Dark. Devils is amazing. Do you have any idea what causes the color change? Length of "day"? Massive light? Varying temps? Teas? Or was it s imply luck of the seed draw? I think it's because your so damned good at growing.

Your garden is always such a joy to visit.

 

[bobrown14]

re: Cottage 420's 2015 Organic Grow With LOS & Kristalica - Sleestack x Skunk1

That Blue Thai looks just like the Thai stick we used to get back in the late 70s. What beautiful plants BB. The color you get in your Dark. Devils is amazing. Do you have any idea what causes the color change? Length of "day"? Massive light? Varying temps? Teas? Or was it s imply luck of the seed draw? I think it's because your so damned good at growing.

Your garden is always such a joy to visit.

Haha I remember those Thai sticks too! Wish I had kept seeds from them that's where Coot got his "the one"; half of the genetics came from the Thai Stick Coots friends were importing...


I was at work and had to cut my post short cause I actually had to do some work there!

Yeah so I was reading about Coot and all his brothers and sisters back in my day (late 60s-early 70s), I'm from the end of the boomers, anywho his buds pretty much paved the way for canna in the USA going main stream. They brought in the Thai sticks (and the other crap too). I bet everyone that smoked from that era remembers those sticks. That weed was sooo potent we thought they dipped the sticks in some form of opium (maybe they did)?? Never looked at Acapulco Gold the same after that eh? Which is a kinda crazy to think about. Problem was Nixon <spit> .... that person doesn't deserve a place in my journal so we will leave it at that.

 

[SweetSue]

re: Cottage 420's 2015 Organic Grow With LOS & Kristalica - Sleestack x Skunk1

I do remember the speculation that the Thai stick was dipped in some mysterious concoction. I'd forgotten that.

The history lesson is fascinating. I checked out the link you'd dropped at BlueJay's I think it was. A transformative time.

 

[bobrown14]

re: Cottage 420's 2015 Organic Grow With LOS & Kristalica - Sleestack x Skunk1

I do remember the speculation that the Thai stick was dipped in some mysterious concoction. I'd forgotten that.

The history lesson is fascinating. I checked out the link you'd dropped at BlueJay's I think it was. A transformative time.

Good to know the REAL history, helps with the current & the future.

Now I have some very bad news. My Dark Devil that I had harvested didn't really dry properly (my fault). I had her hanging in my bedroom with a fan on but the humidity here was pretty high at the time of harvest and I was concerned. I was also concerned that the buds were still pretty damp after 6-7 days dry time but I decided to trim all the fan leaves off to help with drying. Long story short - Powdery Mildew when I opened up my curing container. I had a Boveda 62 pack in there as was burping daily, didn't matter. Last night I smoked my first joint of the dried bud I had for testing.. most potent psychedelic canna I've ever smoked, go figure. Went downstairs to check the curing container and saw the PM. I thought I was seeing things/tripping but my wife was there and confirmed. Probably going into the compost bin now... I was totally bummed and now and being super vigilant with fans/ventilation. I've been running AC in the flower room to keep the humidity down under 50% RH at lights out. The rest of my crop should be fine.

What I did was immediately spray the buds drenching them in a mixture of RO water with H2o2 (peroxide) - that kills the mold on contact so I washed them good which worked but some folks can be allergic to the mold/spores so it's probably not a good idea to smoke it. I'm drying what I have now laid out on paper with a fan running .... we will see. I'm doing my research on the PM to see if there's anything that can be done ... I'm not the only one with this issue.

Prime example of lesser quality Canna strain is my opinion, nothing wrong with the Krystalica - its drying/curing perfectly.

What did I learn - "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" is no bullshit. Time to clean EVERYTHING. So tomorrow will be cleaning the veg & flower rooms top to btm. I knew growing this time of year with all this humidity was going to be challenging. Now I know I need to figure out a way to dry my buds better. They simply will not dry properly hanging in a closet with a fan, I need something that can regulate humidity.

 

[Major PITA]

re: Cottage 420's 2015 Organic Grow With LOS & Kristalica - Sleestack x Skunk1

Well ... POOP!

 

[HeavyChevy59]

re: Cottage 420's 2015 Organic Grow With LOS & Kristalica - Sleestack x Skunk1

What's up BB sorry to hear about the pm issue. I was at Wal-Mart yesterday and I came across some coconut water it's not the same brand as yours but it looked like it would be ok, I gave one of my girls 2 shots of coconut water which measured out to 12ml.

Afterwards I tried the coconut water for myself and it was nasty, the expiration date was still good but I noticed that where the spout and the carton connect there was air bubbles coming out when I squeezed the carton.

I'm assuming that the coconut water needs to be refrigerated after being open, so it probably just spoiled while on the shelf. The one plant I used it on looked fine before the light went off but it doesn't come back on till 7:30pm, so I was wondering would spoiled coconut water harm my plant or the soil microbes.

You can see where the plastic spout and carton wasn't properly sealed

 

[bobrown14]

re: Cottage 420's 2015 Organic Grow With LOS & Kristalica - Sleestack x Skunk1

You are OK - spoiled stuff for plants is a lot different that spoiled stuff for humans. Try and find the coconut water that is pure water no additive and no preservatives. The best is to find coconut water powder and mix your own with RO water - that's the best for $$ - buying it like you and me in small containers is pricy. That said, my wife actually like the taste which I find something that needs to be acquired for sure, kinda like single malt scotch (I'm part Scottish - that's the cheap bastid part in me!). Anyways you should be good and I get over night result EVERY time I use the coconut water. When you get down to the end of the run, use the coconut water to extend the chop time. It will promote buds getting bigger and you will see new pistols shooting out over night, again EVERY time doesn't matter where you are in flower.. That's nothing to sneeze at.

 

[SweetSue]

re: Cottage 420's 2015 Organic Grow With LOS & Kristalica - Sleestack x Skunk1

Yeah, I missed applying coconut water this week, but I took down my Dark Devil too, so it doesn't much matter.

I am so sorry to hear about yours BB. I have to agree with you, even raw it's the best high I've ever had and it really DOES last into the next day. I can still feel the effects almost 24 hours later. Buy more seeds BB. I'm ordering more today.

Now, let me go and check mine. Pictures think I'll spread her open with some bonsai wire.