Emeraldo's 2020 West-Facing Balcony Grow

[Emeraldo]

We are now in the midst of another heat wave. Temps over 40C this past week, almost every day. Today will hit 43C.

I hope this heat doesn't damage the plants in flower! I've tripled their water and am spraying the leaves down with water to cool them during the hottest part of the day. Maybe there is something to that "heat stress" theory, that semi-drought would force the plants to intensify their THC production, but I think that would be better if the heat could be controlled somehow. Anyway the heat makes the pistils turn brown, fortunately there are always more on the way.

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• Emeraldo
• Aug 18, 2020

AG, Aug 18

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• Emeraldo
• Aug 18, 2020
• 2

AG, Aug 18

And Dream Berry has continued to stretch, the stalks are at least 4 feet long now.

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• Emeraldo
• Aug 18, 2020
• 1

Dream Berry now approaching 4 feet, Aug 18

 

[Stunger]

Exciting times, they're looking great!

 

[Emeraldo]

Thanks Stunger, I thought I could provoke you into a diatribe about heat stress therapy

It cools off to about 22C at night here now. It hit 39C during the heat today, I hope a little cool water on the leaves is good for them, I've never done that before. The water dries quickly, no chance for mold.

But yeah, those trichomes are starting to accumulate, exciting times...

 

[Stunger]

If you can keep them happy in the heat then there is a good chance they will get a bit more greasy and sticky to cope with the weather. I read how kelp is good at helping the plants cope with stress, and you have a bunch of that in their soil mix already, so hopefully they'll thrive and do just fine. All I can say is, that so far they look like they're the product of someone with green fingers!

 

[Emeraldo]

My main strategy against the heat is water, water, water. I guess tripling the water wasn't a bad idea, plus spraying them with cool water to cool them off. They looked happier after spraying them, using the hose from down below on the patio. It "rained" on them around 5 pm, artificial rain from the hose. They are looking greasier and greasier!

Am really excited about the Acapulco Gold. The terpenes. Her buds have the aroma of tropical fruit punch (mango, orange, passion fruit), something I've never had in any strain I've grown. It's wonderfully fruity. It's not berry, it's more jungle fruit. Amazing.

So... maybe the heat wave, if managed with lots of water and care, will provide the benefit of a low-stress stress resulting in a great THC level? The buds already look close to being ripe, but the breeder says harvest in mid October. That's two months from now and I doubt it will take that long. We'll see. Maybe end of September. The climate here is warm like Mexico, so not surprized the AG likes it here.

 

[Stunger]

It's probably real good weather for potent buds that the plants are getting, it'll be interesting how you find them after a cure.

The terpenes you're getting off the AG sound fantastic. What I've wondered with such fruity terpenes and the description of, is how does the plant smell from a stealth perspective? If you're smelling mango and passionfruit, does than mean that any drifts of breeze to anyone unintended would not carry a weed dank smell, that instead they would just smell a fruity smell, or is there no escaping from a definite cannabis aroma?

 

[Emeraldo]

Underneath the fruity aroma of the Acapulco Gold it's a cannabis aroma, but not at all strong. I can detect a cannabis aroma, but it isn't penetrating as with skunky strains. I don't think it would attract much attention, at least not at this mid-flowering stage. We'll find out in a few weeks if it intensifies.

The Mexican Sativa I grew two years ago was great for a stealth plant. I grew it outside and was concerned my nosey neighbors might detect it. The aroma was a mild citrus from close up, say 5 feet away, outside where the breeze disperses most aroma anyway. There was an underlying cannabis aroma as well, yes, but standing say 15 feet away it was not obvious. At 10 feet you might get an occasional whiff of something. Depending on your breeze and setup, probably a good strain and little cause to worry. If your balcony is at least 10 feet off the ground, you're probably good.

Stunger I hear the NZ elections have been postponed because of coronavirus. Is the cannabis referendum postponed?

 

[Stunger]

Stunger I hear the NZ elections have been postponed because of coronavirus. Is the cannabis referendum postponed?

The referendum was to be held on election day so that should be still be held with the election a month later.

Interesting with the flowering aromas and they progress in the coming weeks!

 

[Emeraldo]

Front view

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• Emeraldo
• Aug 19, 2020

Dream Berry on left, White Widow on right, Aug 18

Acapulco Gold...

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• Emeraldo
• Aug 19, 2020

AG, Aug 19

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• Emeraldo
• Aug 19, 2020
• 2

AG, Aug 19

Super Lemon Haze

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• Emeraldo
• Aug 19, 2020

Super Lemon Haze, Aug 19

Blackberry

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• Emeraldo
• Aug 19, 2020

Blackberry, Aug 19

White Widow

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• Emeraldo
• Aug 19, 2020

White Widow, Aug 19

Dream Berry

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• Emeraldo
• Aug 19, 2020

Dream Berry, Aug 19

 

[DonkeyDick]

Looking nice, Em’o. Wow that AG is so much more developed than her step sisters. Your evocative description of her armpits took me back to reading Freak Brothers comics as a teen. I haven’t wanted to try AG this much since then.
Cheers Em’o
It’s never too late to have a happy childhood

 

[Emeraldo]

Looking nice, Em’o. Wow that AG is so much more developed than her step sisters. Your evocative description of her armpits took me back to reading Freak Brothers comics as a teen. I haven’t wanted to try AG this much since then.
Cheers Em’o
It’s never too late to have a happy childhood

Thanks, DD. Yeah, it is astonishing how that Barney's Farm Acapulco Gold has grown and now flowered. Just stunning, I've had strains looking like this in September, not August. One exception would be sone early-flowering strains from female seeds, like Purple Maroc or Sexbud, which were bred to flower early. Barney's says AG will be ripe for harvest in mid-October, so I guess we'll see if she is ready before then.

You are right that the other strains are not flowering as early or as rapidly. Super Lemon Haze is flowering one little bud at a time, looking like they will be hard little nugs. Those Greenhouse Seeds strains are sometimes different from "garden variety" cannabis. A little odd, like Arjan's Haze #1 in my grow last year, which had a different flowering schedule also (and was harvested Nov 21).

Apart from SLH, the White Widow from Spliffs is now in full flowering, as are Dream Berry and Blackberry. Though not as far along as AG, they are getting there.

I haven't seen much flowering on the Gold Leaf or the G13xHaze yet, am hopeful they's soon join the party though they are on the shady side of the balcony grow space and will probaby will not get as sodden with resin as those strains that get full sun all day. Gold Leaf is now above the raingutter and so does have sunlight on her top growth tip all day long to that extent. So yes, still enjoying the happy childhood haha

Cheers


Glad to see your plants flowering inside.

Cheers

 

[Emeraldo]

It is a strange season we are experiencing. No, I'm not talking politics. The weather, the climate, is showing the cracks in the delicate balance of nature.

We've had heat this summer, in June. Now the heat came back and with it, wildfires. Earlier this week there were over a 1000 dry lightning strikes all around No Cal. The resulting 500+ wildfires have filled the sky with smoke. Yesterday the sky looked like an overcast day in winter, the sun a reddish disc behind a grey layer of smoke. Very fortunate here that the wind, so common this summer in high and powerful gusts, almost disappeared so that the fires are not being fanned at high velocity. But that could change.

I do have a question regarding how cannabis will flower under these conditions. Could the reddish light actually enhance flowering? I've read that cannabis in flower needs the reddish hues of the August sun, but what if the August sun were even redder than usual? The hormone that controls flowering is responsive to the longer frequencies in the reddish light spectrum, I understood. Do indoor growers ever monkey with the light spectrum in flowering?

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• Emeraldo
• Aug 22, 2020

CA wildfires fill the sky with smoke, turning the sun into a red ball, Aug 21.

 

[DonkeyDick]

Could the reddish light actually enhance flowering?

Oh my god! This is one of those “you know you’re a grower when...” moments.
Em’o, Em’o, Em’o. That’s hilarious, mate. Never mind saving your instruments, pets, friends/family... the world has caught fire and we want to know how it affects our garden. Of course. And you’re right. A lot of monkeys who grow indoors have far too much time on their hands. Dicking about with the far red can be part of that. I’m sure there’s more to it than gimmickry.
At the start of this year when Australia was on fire we had some of the weirdest light. At its thickest it was like a moonless night in the middle of the day, but presidentially orange. So weird.
Cool photo. How are the fires now? Saw them on the news over here.

 

[Emeraldo]

Hey DD that was a good post.

Well, ...yeah! This is 420, where I don't usually write about the fact that my house could burn down in a huge conflagration. No, I ask about what this conflagration means for... the trichomes!

Could be the stuff of a whole series of grower jokes. You know you're REALLY a grower when...

...your house in on fire and you instinctively rush to remove the plants...
...the sky is filled with smoke, and you ponder the effect of that reddish light on flowering...
...or what the f*** the moon is doing in the middle of the sky at noon

But I appreciate your sense of humor, I was afraid someone would take me seriously.



On that serious note, it is reported that the fires could spread with more lightning strikes this weekend. Let's hope not! Aaarrggh! My grow!

 

[Emeraldo]

Do indoor growers ever monkey with the light spectrum in flowering?

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• Emeraldo
• Aug 22, 2020

CA wildfires fill the sky with smoke, turning the sun into a red ball, Aug 21.

Do indoor growers, including monkeys and without limitation donkeys, fiddle with the light spectrum during any part of the grow? I guess the makers of indoor grow lights figured that out a long time ago... The blue light of May and June (November and December down under) and the red light of August and September. But can you control the spectrum in your grow room? Is the a dial you just turn...?

 

[Stunger]

Hey Emeraldo, I hope you're continuing to keep safe and out of harm's way where you are. As if there's not enough going on already with Covid. Cheers.

 

[Emeraldo]

So far so good, Stunger. Yeah, Covid. Then there's the wildfires raging all around. And of course Trump is destroying the Constitution and the basic principles of Democracy. All we need now is a law and order argument by an outlaw.

But -- aarrghh! -- I do worry about my grow! lmao



Here's the latest from Super Lemon Haze, coming along.

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• Emeraldo
• Aug 24, 2020

Super Lemon Haze, August 23

And of course AG...

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• Emeraldo
• Aug 24, 2020
• 1

Acapulco Gold, Augus 23

 

[Stunger]

Yes, some things are just not in our control. The SLH is coming along nicely and that AG cola is looking really good! I assume you're doing your full experience derived preventative pest spraying schedule to keep the intruders out.

 

[Emeraldo]

Yes, sometimes proactively to prevent pests, as in a full drench with neem oil + insecticidal soap every two weeks. But am also a monitoring for the white flies. If you shake your main stem, the whole plant vibrates such that the whiteflies buzz off, as it were. They usually flutter around in a circle, and are easy to see and spray. I've gotten quite a few of them this summer, and they don't get a chance to settle in and lay eggs because I check on them every day.

Most critical for me in the past has been the main colas highest up on the plant, and am watching closely.

I see quite a few ants lately, too. I've read they will get a nest going in your pot, around the roots, and then have a "colony" of aphids providing the ants with honeydew, a sugary product of the aphids. Maybe it's aphid poop. Anyway, the ants have these aphids working as slaves in a colony, producing the stuff. I've been zapping the ants too, before they can set up their aphid colony.

 

[Stunger]

Last grow I saw a few ants that seemed like they were living in the pot. At the time short of doing something that could poison the whole plant I decided the plants appeared well so I assumed they would most likely cohabit just fine so I left them. I think some of the diatomaceous earth would be good, but that stuff is quite fine and probably not good to inhale either on application or later on blowing into the air. Last grow, one plant had a family of mealybugs that favored one branch, I tried squashing them rubbing neem and spray on them but I think they were there till the end. I had caterpillar outbreaks and red spiders too, which I blame mostly on not carrying out a regular spraying schedule. Anyway the main thing was to reach harvest! But this next grow I will spray on schedule!

On your AG cola above, is that some little bug silk strands trailing down in the top right corner or just an out of focus web in the background. Last grow I noticed some little silk strands but it didn't register, I even thought at first they were little strands that had blown there by the wind, there was only a few, then a bit later I noticed 1 or 2 seemingly harmless looking little bugs (red spider mites) but then within a couple of weeks they'd multiplied to a whole lot. So I will repeat again to myself... this next grow I will spray on schedule!