Dark Devil Auto: A Community Grow Record

[TorturedSoul]

Is it possible the environment available in the Octopot caused it?

Sure (IMHO), especially if that thing doesn't have any kind of air pump or other active aeration device in its reservoir. But it could be something else entirely, there's lots of random stress everyday - and some of it is in regards to plants .

It may simply be a phenotype expression we haven’t yet witnessed.

Entirely possible, I suppose. But was this a "store-bought" DDA seed, or one of the many selfed seeds that all came from the same production run using only one parent? If the latter, I wouldn't necessarily expect to see much in the way of variety in the... ah... variety. Minor differences, yeah, like this one grew to 64" and that one grew to 67" under the same conditions. But for something that's probably (if it even is a genetic trait in the first place) going to have to be the result of getting a pair of recessive genes in order to produce the trait, you'd sort of want to have a more normal mommy and daddy type activity, lol, instead of one parent having to donate all the genetic material. Unless that parent had a pair of the recessive genes in question instead of just one (if it didn't have any, it wouldn't be possible regardless of whether the seed production was via sexual or asexual means) - in which case I'd expect to see the trait in every child plant.

A random mutation is always a possibility, but the odds are pretty low compared to a symptom of some kind of stress. Could even be something that the gardener wasn't aware of, especially if the stress was relatively mild but chronic in nature as opposed to something "harsher" that was a single event instead of repeating or occurring over a longer period of time. And, yes, especially if the plant is, otherwise, a healthy and productive one.

Remember, though, just because I'm smart enough not to chug my plant nutrients doesn't mean I'm a qualified phytologist.

 

[Amy Gardner]

like to think I had a little something to do with that.

I am sure you did.

Absolutely so

 

[dynamo1]

Sue your enthusiasm is what prompted me to grow it. First seed purchase if I remember correctly.

 

[dynamo1]

TS. Plant phytologist psychologist, come whisper to my plants,

 

[Grandpa Tokin]

I cleaned out a special place for these two. 24 hours in water and they cracked. Summer fun.

DDA Beans.jpeg

• Grandpa Tokin
• May 10, 2019

Greenhouse Prep.jpeg

• Grandpa Tokin
• May 10, 2019

 

[SweetSue]

I cleaned out a special place for these two. 24 hours in water and they cracked. Summer fun.

DDA Beans.jpeg

• Grandpa Tokin
• May 10, 2019

Greenhouse Prep.jpeg

• Grandpa Tokin
• May 10, 2019

 

[SweetSue]

TS asked me to post for his friend R, who’s growing a DDA that doesn’t want to develop a terpene profile.

It's in a five-gallon fabric GeoPot.

25% perlite, 37.5% Happy Frog, 37.5% Ocean Forest.

Approximately half the recommended amount of Osmocote Plus mixed in.

Drinking about 3/4-gallon water per day.

TS and I have never heard of one with no scent, and the thought is it might be lacking something.

R’s Dark Devil Auto (believed to be in her 14th week)

• SweetSue
• May 14, 2019

R’s Dark Devil Auto (believed to be in her 14th week)

• SweetSue
• May 14, 2019

R’s Dark Devil Auto (believed to be in her 14th week)

• SweetSue
• May 14, 2019

It sits under that Mars II 900 (364 watts) that I won and had shipped off to R. Unless there’s a problem with that particular panel light is the last thing I’d be wondering about.

I have grown some that didn’t give off noticeable perfume until right before harvest time, unless I bumped it while gardening, but never one that “smells like air.”

Anyone else have this anomaly occur?

 

[TorturedSoul]

That middle photo is the most recent (today). I guess it does have a very slight scent, just less than I would have expected. As far as I know, this is his first cannabis plant in years (but he knows not to love it to death "newbie it," lol).

Yes, it's in a five-gallon fabric GeoPot, one of the ones that someone won in a monthly contest here, gave to me, and that I included in a care package to him to get him started. The giant plastic tote is just to catch the runoff and allow for reabsorption so he doesn't have to worry about pouring the water in slowly.

We think it sprouted around February 8. Any guesses on the eventual harvest date and/or the dry weight of buds he'll get?

 

[Grandpa Tokin]

Weird. Genetic freak. I’ve had other weirdness from stress, etc. Stress, can cause certain freakish behavior too, but a lack of terps has got to be a genetic thing IMO. Maybe she’ll “wake up” late in flower.

 

[SweetSue]

I had him squeeze a bud, and she does have a smell, just a subdued one, which doesn’t happen often with DDA.

I recall letting one or two grow out close to 100 days, so she’s got to be close. Her fans certainly look like she’s eating them up, just as expected.

If I had to venture a guess, I’d say stop using Osmo + and let’s see what we can do about getting him switched to Urban Farms nutrients. They’re inexpensive and incredibly effective.

 

[dynamo1]

My DDA's have a problem-----------see

DDA

• dynamo1
• May 17, 2019

DDA

• dynamo1
• May 17, 2019

I want more DDA, guess I'd better plant a dozen more budsicles.

 

[SweetSue]

What stunted their development dynamo?

 

[Grandpa Tokin]

“budsicles!” Love it!

Mine have not popped out of the soil yet. It appears I may have f’d something up. How hard can it be? It’s a weed, for crying out loud!

Starting 2 more today. with “old-man mumblings” thrown in for good measure...

 

[dynamo1]

What stunted their development dynamo?

I think it may be part of the genetics my seeds picked up when I reversed, maybe they got extra ruderalis genes , or they are stunted from gnats ( I don't think so). I don't really know-- I am planning on reversing the bottom branches of my last original DDA seed eventually. I'm still going to grow more of these out, I do like them immensely.

 

[Amy Gardner]

I’ve grown some of those seeds of dynamo’s and had similar structure, although outside I had some that got fairly long centre buds and 2 longer bottom branches, so not quite budsicles.

In fact my photo in last months comp is of a sugar leaf from one of these.

The Devil’s Oil.jpeg

• Amy Gardner
• Apr 4, 2019
• 1

DDa sugarleaf

The plants themselves may be rather tiny but they’re the most delicious cannabis I’ve ever had

 

[dynamo1]

Thank you Amy

 

[TorturedSoul]

“budsicles!” Love it!

They would look awesome growing out of 114 red Solo cups. Seem kind of wasteful in those containers, though.

I think it may be part of the genetics my seeds picked up when I reversed, maybe they got extra ruderalis genes , or they are stunted from gnats ( I don't think so). I don't really know-- I am planning on reversing the bottom branches of my last original DDA seed eventually. I'm still going to grow more of these out, I do like them immensely.

Are they the result of a selfing... of a selfing? I've wondered if that could cause issues, but was thinking more along the lines of "...if the progeny was then used as a breeding partner." In truth, I would have guessed that such a plant/line would be good for several generations. Clones obviously are good for many.

I'm wondering if plants have genes that are switched off (or simply not used), and if the asexual reproduction might have caused some of those to get turned on / used due to some kind of mechanism that attempts to express diversity in the offspring in the abscence of a proper second parent.

Nature's machines are both far simpler and far more complex than I ever imagined as a child. Caenorhabditis elegans is a tiny nematode about 1mm in length that lives in temperate soil environments. I heard about it the other day on some science-themed podcast or other. The species is mostly hermaphroditic females (they can self-fertilize) with a relatively small percentage of males. But that's not the interesting thing about C. elegans. What is interesting (to me, at least) is that the males of this species have precisely 1,031 cells and the hermaphrodites have precisely 959 cells. Also, upon examining the neural systems (not much of a "brain" in these things, lol) of *many* examples of the species, we've learned that each one of them has precisely 302 neurons.

Talk about natures machines, lol, those things could have been stamped out on an assembly line. So I'm wondering... Is this the result of evolution? Are these numbers the best possible configuration for this particular species and, if so, were they arrived at through the usual process of random genetic mutations, some ending up being good for the species and getting passed down, while other mutations, not so good for the species, made the individuals carrying them less able to breed/compete and, therefore, led to evolutionary dead ends?

Or is this simply what happens when the majority of the individuals of a species are hermaphroditic and able to reproduce alone?

This is a useful organism for study. It's common, pretty simplistic (as living machines go, anyway), and there's not much likelihood that the local branch of PETA will storm the facility in a fit of mob rage if they learn that you've just dissected 100 nematodes. They're just not very cuddly .

Due to the low number of cells present in the organism, it has been possible to study, well, all of them as opposed to just parts of the whole. For example, we've learned that during embryogenesis, 113 cells (111 in males) undergo programmed cell death and the remainder either differentiate terminally or become postembryonic blast cells. Why only 113 (/111), and not one more or one less? Again... natures machines.

The little critters are interesting in other ways, too. Numerous gut granules are present in their intestines. We still don't fully understand their purpose (along with the many aspects of these nematodes, despite our years of study). But it turns out that, when hit with UV light, they emit an intense blue fluorescence (and this is useful for something that's found in a nematode's gut... how, exactly, lol?). That's just one of those weird science facts at this point, I suppose. But those granules also emit a dramatic burst of blue fluorescence when the nematode dies (young or old, it makes no difference). And they do so in a "wave" - like crowd activities at sporting events.

Weird science?

If I was all lit up right now, I might find myself thinking about the people who go absolutely mad over the concept of nanomachines, talking about how they could be used to build the machines that would build the machines that would build the machines (rinse/lather/repeat)... that would do something useful. And, in so doing, I might start wondering if a bunch of other scientists had the same kind of thought - a few billion years ago. If you're such a long-lived organism that you routinely think on a truly "galactic" timescale - or if you can actually think in terms of the ultimate betterment of the species as opposed to what can I (or, at best, my offspring or my offspring's offspring) do for myself - then you might decide, rather than spending countless trillions of whatever currency unit you use and staggering amounts of resources on terraforming planets... that you'd just design a few biological machines (which reproduce), seed the galaxy with them, and see what befalls the planets they land on after a few billion years.

Or maybe not. Good thing I'm not lit, huh?

 

[dynamo1]

TS. not a selfing Per se, a female changed through colloidal silver and then pollinated another female.

 

[TorturedSoul]

Okay, thanks; that wouldn't be it, then.

 

[TorturedSoul]

@dynamo1 , I'd be interested in reading about the conditions of the plant's roots after harvest.