DV8 Reg Photo Grow For Science

[DV8]

Howdy all. Got a little nudge to start a journal thread, my first. For anyone following on here are the details, as sketchy as they are.

Grow Type: Outdoors (Late start Mid Summer. Day 0 was Dec 1, but Dec 8/9 for seed leaves.)

Grow Media: Searles seed raising mix, before transplant into Perlite (30%), Castings (15%) Searles Seed Raising mix (30%), Amended garden Soil (25%).

Seed Genetics: Unknown. There was some confusion around what exactly these were. For sure the are photos and Regs as marked, but no further labelling was present. There was some speculation which I could go into later but it truly is a mystery. Sourced from a friend.

All of these things are within my wheelhouse save for being a bit rusty. Although once sexed and potted up they will have a permanent home outdoors they are being babied for now with some experimentation in the seedling/veg stage.

Throughout this grow Im sure there will be surprises, not least because the genetics are unknown, and because theories need to be tested and results observed. Once they are recorded we have Science.

Im going to leave this as the intro and get right into where theyve been and a bit about where they are headed.

 

[DV8]

Started this with 20 seeds, which was sort of an accident. 20 is way too many to keep up with for me personally, the unwritten rule is a max of 9 to stay inside a proper defence, so it kind of went 10 & 10. For whatever reason, the short cold spell, genetics, too long sunbmerged the first 10 went into small seedling containers and, well, just hid for a week.

By day 5 I hadnt given up hope but I was highly dubious given that I was batting 0/10 and, well, that had never happened to me before. So I got right down to business once more and went the paper towel direction, only to see 6 break on through in the next 48 hrs. I mean good problem to have, but 16 was a lot too many, and theres only so many you can give away.

Being a vege gardner I kind of resolved to get them up and just cull what might not be gifted, survival off the fittest.

Turned out to be less of a problem thanks to a bit of bad luck. The weather got super hot and I had to be away from home for work mid week. 16-7 was the result as the indoor temp soared and cooked a few closest to the heat.

Transplant came and 2 stretchy ones just kind of stalled out, they went the distance just refused to grow in any measured way. Almost like frozen in time while the siblings powered on. Again another first for me, hard to put a finger on exactly might have been the cause, Too much Love and not enough Trauma has been suggested, lol. Any way as Runts they were given a swift but respectful termination.

The 7 left are still doing their thing, and theyve just started showing the subtle variations in their individual personalities.

Once they got out the grow dome and hardened off Experiment 1 began. As they were germed Dec instead of Sept I kind of had concerns they might need a bit of help and pushed them out to a definitive 18/6 using alternating light Morn Sun/ Afternoon indoor Light/Late Afternoon dappled Sun/Night indoor light.

But I been talking for ages about trying to put the Blue end of the spectrum into seedlings/veg into outdoor candidates with a few others for a while. Natural settings mean the Sun in Early to Late Spring tend closer toward this end and then trend toward the other red end in Late Summer to Autumn which fits most flowering annuals in the garden food patch. I tried this on Romas (Tomatoes) a couple years back both from seedling and running a perpetual second season and noticed just how compact they grew. I had (have) no doubt in theory this could accentuated in Canna.

So under the blue(ish) light they have been. Of course a control is needed to at least attempt to measure natural vs artificial, but so far I believe the theory is on point.

Now why would I want that? For me the result is positive because tighter growth should assist a few things. If the plant footprint is smaller then its exposure to the harshest conditions should decrease. It becomes harder to see with prying eyes. But if it is tighter the flowers should stay tighter throughout the plant. All worth aiming for. Feel free to disagree, theres no right answer here.

So far they havent recieved any more than water. Now Im a soil guy, build it, cook it, ammend it, but plenty of others have had experience and success with nutes. So 2 will be split off and will undergo trials with some commonly found products, not specific industry related ones, just the type virtually anyone can go out and collect. Im kinda curious, Ive read all sorts of crazy claims but would be nice to see.

And lastly Ive wanted to try self watering (wick) growing on a couple for a while. Theres so much discussion around roots and perhaps Im crazy to even try but if it was to work it certainly would be handy to know.

Anyway, heres the babies. Taken today. Cheers.

 

[Reave]

I’m in!

 

[Bill284]

Started this with 20 seeds, which was sort of an accident. 20 is way too many to keep up with for me personally, the unwritten rule is a max of 9 to stay inside a proper defence, so it kind of went 10 & 10. For whatever reason, the short cold spell, genetics, too long sunbmerged the first 10 went into small seedling containers and, well, just hid for a week.

By day 5 I hadnt given up hope but I was highly dubious given that I was batting 0/10 and, well, that had never happened to me before. So I got right down to business once more and went the paper towel direction, only to see 6 break on through in the next 48 hrs. I mean good problem to have, but 16 was a lot too many, and theres only so many you can give away.

Being a vege gardner I kind of resolved to get them up and just cull what might not be gifted, survival off the fittest.

Turned out to be less of a problem thanks to a bit of bad luck. The weather got super hot and I had to be away from home for work mid week. 16-7 was the result as the indoor temp soared and cooked a few closest to the heat.

Transplant came and 2 stretchy ones just kind of stalled out, they went the distance just refused to grow in any measured way. Almost like frozen in time while the siblings powered on. Again another first for me, hard to put a finger on exactly might have been the cause, Too much Love and not enough Trauma has been suggested, lol. Any way as Runts they were given a swift but respectful termination.

The 7 left are still doing their thing, and theyve just started showing the subtle variations in their individual personalities.

Once they got out the grow dome and hardened off Experiment 1 began. As they were germed Dec instead of Sept I kind of had concerns they might need a bit of help and pushed them out to a definitive 18/6 using alternating light Morn Sun/ Afternoon indoor Light/Late Afternoon dappled Sun/Night indoor light.

But I been talking for ages about trying to put the Blue end of the spectrum into seedlings/veg into outdoor candidates with a few others for a while. Natural settings mean the Sun in Early to Late Spring tend closer toward this end and then trend toward the other red end in Late Summer to Autumn which fits most flowering annuals in the garden food patch. I tried this on Romas (Tomatoes) a couple years back both from seedling and running a perpetual second season and noticed just how compact they grew. I had (have) no doubt in theory this could accentuated in Canna.

So under the blue(ish) light they have been. Of course a control is needed to at least attempt to measure natural vs artificial, but so far I believe the theory is on point.

Now why would I want that? For me the result is positive because tighter growth should assist a few things. If the plant footprint is smaller then its exposure to the harshest conditions should decrease. It becomes harder to see with prying eyes. But if it is tighter the flowers should stay tighter throughout the plant. All worth aiming for. Feel free to disagree, theres no right answer here.

So far they havent recieved any more than water. Now Im a soil guy, build it, cook it, ammend it, but plenty of others have had experience and success with nutes. So 2 will be split off and will undergo trials with some commonly found products, not specific industry related ones, just the type virtually anyone can go out and collect. Im kinda curious, Ive read all sorts of crazy claims but would be nice to see.

And lastly Ive wanted to try self watering (wick) growing on a couple for a while. Theres so much discussion around roots and perhaps Im crazy to even try but if it was to work it certainly would be handy to know.

Anyway, heres the babies. Taken today. Cheers.

Woo hoo. looks good my friend.
Hope your having a great day @DV8
Have you met @Trala yet? one of your country mates.
I'm in

Stay safe
Bill

 

[DV8]

Well the Summer weather is here, and no matter how forewarned its still filthy hot to live through. Took the Kids out early (although I call them girls, putting the vibe out and its 2021 almost 2022 so, you know, anything goes ). Got some nice rays until that Thermonuclear SonofaBitch got so hot you could fry an egg in the shell.

Back in the day I could get around barefoot all seasons, partly cos we were kinda poor and kinda cos I was a natural free spirit, but hell youd stick to the ground today.

I had to let No7 sit it out though, science is Science after all, got her/its rootzone getting the chill on from the swampy flow at the threshold in some hope of not frying the pot and roots. I swear Ive heard it asking to come in and join its siblings.

Low key plans for tonight, The Virus has taken control here down under, and thats enough excuse not to attend the street party in this unforgiving heat.

Best wishes to subs and family, Ill be up early to put some substrate together aquired today whilst out on my regular (annual) hair chop. Coir Castings included from a new supplier, if the substrate is half as nice as he was it will be a winner. Got some potting forward shortly on the Pineberries, should be a good test because they are the most fickle variety in my garden by a long way.

Heres my outlook, not much relief till Tues it seems.

Cheers.

 

[DV8]

Spent yesterday morning running around playing in the dirt. The castings looked and felt fantastic. I thought initially it might be a bit pricey but now I think its fair value.

Potted 2 of the seedlings forward, and often hear of the wisdom in not transplanting too often, but Im not to worried about stunting, if anything they seem to be already a bit undersize. Castings went in the bottom with a mix of the rest of the soil. Roots looked good, another week and they might have started to really curl with the feeders just pushing to the outside and bottom, so probably a good time, gives me a good idea of where they are all at.

Time spent outdoors in smaller pots with this weather is hard on them (kinda kicking myself on such a late start) so it was a positive sign.

I did a thorough examination of 6 vs No7, there is a clear distinction on how tight the 6 are compared to the outdoors only. The Blue light exposure is definitely something I will continue in the grows from here out.

Due to timing these ones got a bit leggy from the outset, being in front of a north facing window and not having any supplementary lighting, but the blue light led has certainly done the job of tightening subsequent nodes in their upper grow. Next time Ill add another light bar from the start and push them deeper into total hours for the first few weeks.

On that note I got a good deal on a couple grow Leds that should arrive in the next 1 to 2 weeks, will be nice to have the option of indoors once we go to the new place in a couple months.

Stage 2 of experiment has begun, 2 of the slightly smaller 6 got the first of added commercial growth mixes, at diluted ratio. Ill give it 2 or 3 weeks and see if there looks to be any advantage.

Biggest one seems to be growing a little different to the others which is interesting, the rest seem tight and really rounded in the leaves, but the bigger one seems thinner and longer. As each day passes it seems more pronounced. Last night it seemed to claw down a bit while the rest still reached for the sky. Should have taken a pic as side by side against any of the others it would have looked out of place as a seperate grow or a cross.

Still having no idea what they are its probably not a surprise. Got a text saying " Ace Malawi x Sour Zamel?" from the seed guy but its anyones guess.

Ill get some pics up in the next couple days try and add something more than just banging on.

 

[Reave]

Cool , sounds like interesting seeds, maybe he crased aces malawi himself? or it could be a limited time strain, I have one from them right now that isnt on their site either, its a Kali China x Bubba Kush. Prettys sure its my next grow too. THC seemed a bit light but it sounded like a nice smoke. Anyway if it is a Malawi cross, its going to have some kick and should be a fun grow! Happy new years!

edit: I found it,

its called Zamaldelica.

Genetics	Zamal x Malawi/Thai.

 

[DV8]

Thanks Reave, some food for thought.

After dealing with the regular life stuff got to pondering today about this grow.

One of the 6 seems a bit odd as mentioned and seems to be outpacing the others. Did get me wondering if its gonna turn out to be a male, not that anything is certain, but I can remember the days when it was all regs and no feminised and probability of male was always higher in the early bolters.

Next I was thinking of topping. Traditionally I like to bend, now known as LST, where apex was looped below the lower node and yeilding colas where about 6.

Anyhow not sure (undecided) where to chop, "Uncle Bens" might push the width too much for the final home, but is something I havent tried. With a bit of recon I could make a proper home. They will be shipped out to the Forest, not ideal, but anymore than 1 or 2 cant stay here long term. The original configuration was a looped mesh upright to hold a xmas tree style plant until chop, around 2 feet wide and 4 to 5 feet tall.

My original thought was to just see how they went, no expectations on yield, and maybe clone out one if it looked good and turned out to be a good smoke. Its probably here I should point out for my own stash Ill punt on to others for a return on some oil and edibles. Fortunately I have 2 people who are really good at each of these things who I have regular contact with.

Will have to make my mind up shortly though, if you have any suggestions throw them up, nothing to lose by trying something different.

Had them out the last couple days in higher temps to help them adjust, plenty of days left over 40(C) between now and the end of Feb so Im trying to push them into having 30 to 33 as a regular exposure. Weather includes some Summer storms this week as I return to work. They will learn to adapt or not, times run out to baby them to much more.

Heres a couple of pics.

The fastest odd one. Wet from a brief thunderstorm that rolled through yesterday, thought the N infused shower couldnt hurt. This one pushed out the first 5 finger leaf ahead of the others.

This one of the other 5, apart from the outdoors one (7) they all look almost identical.

 

[DV8]

Kids are on the push today, brought 4 inside for the day, sat between 20 and 26C around 40 - 60 RH, obviously loved it.

Picked up some lucerne is flower, nitrogen fixer, Ive always liked the idea of taking them in flower to add a little extra as a dry amendment. Will dry and process over next week. Good substitute easily aquired locally here in Oz for afalfa meal for our friends on the other side of the globe.

Picked up the kelp meal, really should have been in by now but Ill try and prep it ready for next transplant. The days are looking warm, humid and wet from tomorrow on and no doubt this will induce both some growth and small nutrient loss.

Good timing, saves me guessing the leaf turn down indicating a need to water, would only be 48 hours more before they would be searching if I had an educated guess. Not ideal, one more day would have been better but prefer to take natures gifts when she hands them out.

Will have look at end of week to see if they look ready to go up in pot size and start some shape training with or without the blade.

 

[DV8]

Ok so I had a few minutes spare to bring the outside one in and do a side by side.

Although the pics do show the difference it is certainly much more obvious looking at them than what is pictured. 1 control plant is probably not enough and there are other factors at play (temp, light strength, RH, genetics etc) however Im pretty much certain that giving them strong blue additional lighting is clearly something worth adopting and even this early on the gap between results is enough evidence.

 

[DV8]

To the left is outdoor, and the right indoor. The difference in stretch, nodal space and size of plant and stem are obviously better in the indoor supplementry lit plant. I tried to take the least developed one from indoors for the comparison, in all the above mentioned areas all the recipients of the blue light were superior. With this small but significant change the effect on the overal trajectory of the grow and how I approach the seedling to early veg stage is obvious.

 

[DV8]

Slow Day but got notice of lights being placed for carrier pickup, so hopefully sooner rather than later for arrival.

Mixed up kelp meal, squirt of molasses, pinch of epsom salts and some castings from my backyard wormfarm. Ive always got (not tested of course) good Nitrogen and Potassium inputs from the castings due to low carbon inputs and all the banana peels going in.

Not much rain today but RH and temps were solid bn 20 and 26C, and 50 to 70 from dawn, theyll come in around 45 mins time for a bit of tanning, growth is excellent, still got the perk on with most reaching the push of 5 finger leaves currently.

Cant be far from next water/feed, will go with organics on half, supplement added on the other 3, see if it translates into any measureable difference.

This will be provided with "GoGo Juice" and "Nitrosol" both products I have discussed with other gardeners specific to Canna. Will ease in with 1/3 strength, all in all these kids should be quite happy already.

Dusted off my nettle flakes for the organic side, have some dried and powdered nettle mix, awesome stuff for any garden member but stinks no matter how much aeration you provide, smells almost like cow (dairy) manure but more potent at it zenith, keeps the neighbours cats away though. Give them all a diluted infusion in the next week or two, works like a multivitamin for us, has a lot of those little trace elements stored in it (complex but not 100% complete) that they will all search for during veg and flower. Often referred to as the gardners friend.

Thats all I got today.

 

[DV8]

Theres probably good reason to keep a journal. Had my first 2 problems come along today, and no matter the attention to detail, care, planning and good intentions SH!T Happens.

Went in early to check on the Kids this morning as I put them to a feed and water when they came in last night. Its not ideal but The Claw on a couple had started and I knew thered be exactly 0 secs spare before work today.

They looked great from the moment my morning eyes adjusted but (and keep in mind 7 is probably double my grow number ever) they were Stinky. Just hit me immediately and there was no mistaking it. On a scale from 0 to the nighbours would know it wasnt so bad, however it was magnitudes more than anything else Ive ever had to overcome ever this early into a grow.

It was a filthy, heavy, Mother could tell, stink, bound to get stuck in the carpet and drapes type of smell. Once the alarm bells stopped (its a rental) I was kind of happyish though, given free range its the type of thing I would be excited about. All this time Ive been telling Wifey the smell would be cool until relocation but weve sailed past that threshold now.

Which brings problem 2. They went out, then I went out and today the weatherman gets it bangbon and 20ml of rain came down on them. They dont look too bad and have found the uplift this evening but bloody hell could have done without it for sure.

Put a couple into LST, spindly outdoor 7 and 2 of the others, figured go hard, go early. They will be last out of pots so have a bit more time with them for shaping. The rest will have to wait.

Here they sit before wrangling earlier today. Hopefully they stay reaching by tomorrow night, barely had a wet foot since doming.

Cheers.

 

[7Dust2]

Thumbs up. You will make it. All confidence for ya

 

[Reave]

I like the smell. Crazy that they smell so much already.

 

[DV8]

Thumbs up. You will make it. All confidence for ya

Cheers mate.

I like the smell. Crazy that they smell so much already.

As do I, but Ive never had ones go so hard so early. Shifted them to the Garage last night, definitely still a noticeable tang going in this morning though. Cant begin to imagine what they might be like like in pre flower and flower.


So had a bit of time gardening yesterday after a crazy day of weather, absolutely pissed down with rain, had them covered just in case it did thankfully while I was away working.

The high humidity did them good, and after looking at the pots they are definitely in the up pot zone.

One was given a new home, looked healthy, good feeders distributed around the outer of the grow zone, could maybe go another week or 2 but rather be early than late, the temps coming up are in the nice 20(C) to 31 for a couple of days with lingering RH in the beautiful 40 to 70 range. If I wait could go higher temps and low RH and they can stunt and stagnant. Will complete them by Sunday night.

Heres a quick side by side of the two types, first pic is the one that looks more pointed and skinny in the foliage, like a hint of sativa trait rather than the more rounded fat others, is it just me or do they seem different to anyone else?

I can see they could easily be related, but seem different enough to be noticable, to me at least.

The training looks OK, still thinking of topping at least one between 2nd and 3rd node, just need to find the courage to take a blade to it, I get attached too easily it seems. Maybe next week after transplant has settled in.

 

[7Dust2]

Yep they looks good. Good and healthy

 

[Trala]

Hey bloke

Looks like you’re off to a good start

I’m in like Flynn maaaaaaate

 

[DV8]

Re-potting looks successful, greeted me with the Happy Uplift this morning.

When I up pot I place the smaller size container into the larger and fill both, set the edges in with a slight firming, then remove the smaller. This way the rootball slots straight in like Tetris.

The training is turning out to be a bit like herding cats, my fault entirely going a bit early before they really had the height to make it much easier. Once they shape up Ill put up a pic.

Any advice for the topping? Sharp blade, halfway between nodes, any thing Im missing?

 

[DV8]

Well it had to happen. Things seemed to be moving along, me whistling in the background.

Seems the odd one of the bunch might have fallen victim to my good intentions. Might have packed a bit much goodness in from the bottle. Or maybe I spilt some on it too after repot.

Or maybe Im way off and dealing with something entirely different. Bigger fan leaf got real curly, then another, then the tips. I tried a bit of distilled water flush, as a remedy. Its been the strongest in growth but took a turn today in a matter of hours. Pic above shows it this morning, caught it like this around 1pm, will see by morning the upshot.

Looks a bit droopy here as the others did, got pulled into hot dark shed as I had to go out for cpl hrs.

All the others seem absolutely fine.

Any input welcome. Hopefully a small bath hasnt hurt none.