Indoor Grow - VenturaGold

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This journal is being started to show how to grow, take clones, and choose best performers for future grows.

Have been given some very special seeds from California, and the strain has been baptised VENTURA GOLD.

What I do so as to not waste space or time in planting individually, the seeds that have sprouted are growing together in a 8 gallon pot. In this way, I can take clones from all of them prior to being moved into the grow room for flowering. Decisions on choosing the male or female for future breeding and crossing can be done a lot easier in only using 1 pot.

VENTURA GOLD Day 14

 

[PHATBLUNT420]

just thinking, if you end up with a male and you have to pull it out
your ganna mess up the roots that are tangled with others,
if you chop it and leave the roots, you might could get root rot and mess up all your roots...

but hey all females and you dont have to worry right

 

[DownOver]

Phatblunt,

Thanks for the heads up. All that I am doing here is growing in the 1 pot, taking clones, letting the plants get some maturity and to check on the plants I intend to keep for future growing and breeding. If I get a male, I am going to pull it anyway, as I have some pollen that I have kept aside especially for breeding into the VenturaGold.

It's all good and I hope that I get all female too!!

 

[Setting Sun]

just thinking, if you end up with a male and you have to pull it out
your ganna mess up the roots that are tangled with others,
if you chop it and leave the roots, you might could get root rot and mess up all your roots...

but hey all females and you dont have to worry right

If you chop a plant in soil and leave the roots, I don't think it creates the same problems that happen in hydro when you do that. I've planted multiple regular seeds in containers a few times, and in my limited experience, it hasn't been an issue when I've chopped the males and left the roots.

regards,

SS

 

[Setting Sun]

I'm gonna do my best sponge impression and try to absorb some of your cloning/breeding skills bro.

Very excited about learning your techniques!

What kind of soil are you using for this grow and for others?

regards,

SS

 

[DownOver]

SS,

When I decide to take out the male in a 2 or more plant in soil, what I do is leave a bit of growth on it and not cut it out fully, so to keep the rootball on the male alive, but also to get maybe 1 or 2 at most male flowers to open. In Hydro a different story though, as the roots rot quite badly, throw out the PH, and generally cause a nightmare.

Organic, soil mix is so much more forgiving than Hydro in that respect. I am at the moment just looking to take clones from this grow and then really get them going as I think VenturaGold is going to be a very special strain.

Thanks for your thoughts, they are most appreciated!!

 

[Setting Sun]

SS,

When I decide to take out the male in a 2 or more plant in soil, what I do is leave a bit of growth on it and not cut it out fully, so to keep the rootball on the male alive, but also to get maybe 1 or 2 at most male flowers to open. In Hydro a different story though, as the roots rot quite badly, throw out the PH, and generally cause a nightmare.

Organic, soil mix is so much more forgiving than Hydro in that respect. I am at the moment just looking to take clones from this grow and then really get them going as I think VenturaGold is going to be a very special strain.

Thanks for your thoughts, they are most appreciated!!

Do you keep that trimmed down male going through the whole grow or kill it at some point in time?

Do you make your own soil mix or use a commercial mix? No need to share your ingredients if it's a secret recipe.

You've got some techniques that are very unique. I know you've been growing and breeding for quite a while. Did you learn and develop them as you went along or did somebody mentor you?

regards,

SS

 

[DownOver]

SS,

With the trimmed down male, I find that as the others get taller, they block out the light available to the male and it sort of just stays alive but with no real growth as such. Sort of stunted but still alive, if you know what I mean. I have in the past cut the male down at the top of the soil and left the roots as well.

The soil I use is mainly a mushroom compost based soil mix, usually from old mushroom kits, that I have gotten mushrooms from and instead of throwing the box out, use the waste in this fashion. I mix in sand and dirt (usually volcanic soil) to the mix and some general kitchen scrap that has been in the worm composter. This usually runs at about 6.8PH. I top this when in the pots with a general garden mix as the compost really gets a stink on and the general mix allow great drainage from the top. Have got great advice from Canbismxmus about lowering the PH to 6.3 and this is working really well at the moment.

No mentor as such, just doing this for about 23 years now, trial and LOTS of errors over that time!!

It is funny you mentioned that, because here in OZ the game is still a bit of a "silent pride" in that you don't really talk about it to anyone. I so love it when I am at parties and someone is there, who I know grows, and we discuss things but do it away from the party when we are having a smoke.

Will be numbering and cataloging soon to show how I go about recording the plants for the breeding and strain development.

 

[PHATBLUNT420]

i see, i was assuming you were just growing for yield.
nice to see someone with a real breeding skill, i will be fallowing your post very closely and just a heads up i might steal a couple of moves lol

 

[tricome]

I'm on board!
I definitely could use cloning advice from an experienced grower.

 

[DownOver]

Hard trim of the leaves done to encouraging branching

The picture shown is the VenturaGold at 15 days old. I trim the large fan leaves hard, not taking them off the plant completely, as I am trying to encourage the lower branches to form faster as these are the best to take for cloning as they have a higher sugar content than branches higher up on the plant. Will post pics of the numbering system for identification soon.

Whilst it looks like I have really hammered the plants, doing this early, shocks the plant into thinking it is being attacked and the branching becomes more prominent. As I am looking to get clones from these anyway, it is the ideal method I find to speed up the availability of branches for clones. Otherwise, plants are really healthy, PH is 6.3, (thanks again Canbismxmus), using a 27-12-20 foliar spray weekly, high in nitrogen for sure, but I had this given to me by a cloner who makes it from old grape pressings (my wife is in the wine business ), and the stuff is sensational.

 

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Day 17

After how hard I cut the leaves back 3 days ago, you wouldn't even know that I had been so scissor happy.

 

[Setting Sun]

Day 17

After how hard I cut the leaves back 3 days ago, you wouldn't even know that I had been so scissor happy.

Wow, that is completely amazing how fast they recovered from that.

So that produces bushier plants?

regards,

SS

 

[DownOver]

SS,

Not so much a Bushier plant, just encourages a burst of growth as the plant is under threat and as such burst forward with growth. In this grow I am just chasing lower branch growth for clones, and will be taking them tomorrow. Day 18 and I am looking at clones already of all plants. Will keep posting as to the cloning process.

 

[WeedRyder]

very nice, hope to see some good results there ! keep it up.

 

[420fied]

Interesting thread. Subscribed.

 

[Setting Sun]

SS,

Not so much a Bushier plant, just encourages a burst of growth as the plant is under threat and as such burst forward with growth. In this grow I am just chasing lower branch growth for clones, and will be taking them tomorrow. Day 18 and I am looking at clones already of all plants. Will keep posting as to the cloning process.

Gotcha, thanks bro.

regards,

SS

 

[stully]

I'm in..

 

[stully]

If possible, could you go more in depth to your trimming technique. I don't quite understand what you mean by trimming the fan leaves, but not removing them completely. Do you cut the leaf itself back?

 

[DownOver]

Stully

By trimming the fan leaves, what I am doing is cutting the leafs fingers back but not actually cutting the leaf off the plant. This allows the light to penetrate to the lower branches, which I am after as they are high in sugars, and make clones for my breeding programme. Also, by doing this, it makes the plants respond with faster growth as they feel they are being attacked.

By cutting the leaves fingers in half, it also means the remaining leaf swells and is thicker, better for photosynthesis and promotes the plant to develop stronger resistance early to disease and or predatory attack. Learnt this from a grower in Nimbin about 15 years ago, he did it also as a way to reduce the visibility of the plants big cannabis looking leaves.