Mendo Breath: Clone Conservatory, SoCal

stnsclptr

420 Member
Hiya All.
This is my second grow. I attempted to grow a Purple Punch and a 24k for my first grow but they got infested with mites right as I needed to harvest. I was too grossed out. I bleached out the tent and accessories, and quickly grabbed more clones.

Strain: Mendo Breath x3
Grow Tent Kit: SF-2000
Grow Medium: 2 Plants in Roots Organic 707, 1 Plant in Fox Farm Ocean Forest
Grow Pots: 2 Plants in 7gal fabric pots, 1 plant in 5gal fabric pot
Nutrients: Fox Farm: Grow Big, Big Bloom, and Tiger Bloom
Dynomyco Mycorrhizal Innoculant
Exhaust Fan Switch: Temperature and Humidity Controller
Overhead Fan
Pest Control: Neem Oil - Biweekly on Plants / Pyganic - Weekly on Soil/Mulch Surface
Cedar Mulch covered with clay pellets


March 6: When I purchased the clones they came still in the rockwell? cubes. I immediately transplanted them into dixie cups. I filled my pots and put the dixie cups into the soil so that it would form around them, making the next transplant easier. I sprayed them with hydrogen peroxide and then rinsed with regular water.

March 15: Roots clearly established in dixie cups. Transplanted to pots. I covered the soil in cedar shred mulch and clay pellets.






 
Hiya All.
Once the clones had a few days, I started them on their nutrient plan. I follow fox farm's recommended feeding schedule. I premix the nutrients per gallon, multiplied by the number of gallons of water I use during the week. So I started with one gallon that I used to feed the plants for a week. Currently, on week 6 I mixed 3 gallons of water for the week, applied daily(?) as needed in 1/2qt - 1qt doses. If I feel the bottoms of the bags are wet, I hold off on the watering for a day. I am also supplying molasses mixed with water (1tbsp/gallon) at about 2oz to each plant per watering.

I had not read quite enough on topping to realize that it really doesn't work with clones (lol) so I topped the plants at the end of week 2.




I gave them a couple of days to recover and then I did some minor LST. I just wanted to bend the main stem and level the tops. I really didn't need to top them for this type of grow.




 
Hiya All.
Once I hit week three I added tomato cages. I had done a scrog on my first grow. It made fantastic shrubs with lots of colas but once the plants grew through the scrog I was having a terrible time trimming and clearing out lower branches. I decided to let these grow a bit more traditionally, only bending down tall branches at the first two ring levels. My plan is to level them at the first and second ring. Once the are halfway to the third ring on the tomato cages, I am going to switch to flower. I am more concerned with getting these girls all the way through the harvest than I am harvesting a motherload of buds.




 
Hiya All,
During week 4, I continued to feed the according to the FoxFarm Schedule. At this point was still at about 1/2qt of the nutrient water that I mixed up on Sunday. The three plants were going though a total of 2 gallons of nutrient water in a week.

The branches had started to crest the first ring of the tomato cages, so I bent and tied any tall ones to the cage. I am just trying to keep the tops even without the use of a scrog.

I noticed that Buttercup had spent a couple days in the middle section when the lights were only 12-18in above the tops and she had a growth spurt. I have been rotating the plants to the middle in order to even out the light they get. It did seem to have some effect.

Once the cages were on, it became harder to move them every day, so I stuck Blossom in the middle as she was the smallest.




 
Hiya All,
End of Week 5. The plants are doing well, in my opinion. (Which as a first timer, isn't exactly a good opinion, lol)

I really want to get the whole process under my belt, so I am planning on switching to flower at the end of this week. I have been lightly "lollipopping" by trimming lower branches and nodes. I have watched Kyle Kushman's videos and his "chiropractic" method. I did actually twist and pop a couple of branches, but I am not confident in it, so I am lightly applying his rule of getting rid of everything below half way to the top of the canopy before starting flower. I may still allow for a few more nodes below the tops than he recommends. I think that the plants are still pretty thins, so lower bud sites should still get enough light to grow a decent bud.

I bent a couple of branches during this week (after the photos). One created a "knuckle," as intended, but the others pretty much just turned back up with a slight curve because I did not break the inner fibers.

I am up to 3 gallons of nutrient water per week, with one gallon of Molasses water added a few ounces a day to each plant with the nutrient water. I learned last grow not to mix the molasses in with the nutrient "tea" as things will start growing in the mix. lol. Next week will go to 4gal n.w. and 1gal m.w.




 
Hiya All,
Things got away from me and there has been a bit of a jump in time, so I will make this a catch up post.

Mendo Breath Strain info:
Strain Cannabinoids:
THC:19.0 - 20.0% CBD: 0.46 - 1.43% CBC: 0.25 - 0.68% CBG: 0.06 - 1.29% CBN: 0.09 - 0.23% THCV: 0.43 - 0.89%
Grow Info:
Flowering time: 63 - 70 Days
Harvest time: 77 Days
Yield indoor: 1 - 2 Oz/Ft² (~ 400 g/m²)
Yield outdoor: 2 - 3 Oz/plant (~ 550 g/plant)
Height indoor: < 30
Height outdoor: 60-80
Grow difficulty: Moderate
Flowering type: Photoperiod
Primary Terpenes: Caryophyllene, Limonene, and Myrcene

So, right now, I have had the clones in soil now for 14 weeks. I have had them on the 12/12 flowering cycle for 7 weeks now. I believe I will be harvesting this coming weekend (end of 8 weeks of flower). I am starting to see amber trichomes on lower sugar leaves. The plants seemed to have gone through a stage where most of the pistils turned brown, but then a whole new load of flowers and pistils have appeared on the buds. I am now seeing mostly milky trichomes all over and a few amber here and there on the upper buds. I am wanting a very heavy body high, so having more than a few amber trichomes is fine with me.

I will sum up my grow log.
Light Timing: Veg: 18/6 (4am - 10pm) Flower: 12/12 (6am-6pm)
Temperature Range: I usually took temperature readings around 7am. Fan was set up to kick on at 28deg and shut off at 22deg unless humidity was a factor.
Average: 23deg Celsius
Highest: 26deg Celsius
Lowest 21deg Celsius
Humidity Range: Humidity seemed to be the issue driving ventilation. The LED lights just don't put off that much heat, but the space is only 2x4, so it doesn't take a lot of moisture or heat to change the environment. I ended up putting in a second fan to circulate air under the canopy. This also helped with pests - more later.
March: 45%
April: 48%
May: 50-55% range. Lots of regular moisture in SoCal so humidity peaked at 62% on may 7th. I started to ventilate the garage in the mornings to cool the air and drop the humidity in the garage. I would like to have the humidity below 50% during flower, but I don't think my canopy is dense enough for mold and I have lots of airflow and a small dehumidifier running.
Water/Nutrients: I mix my nutrients for the week in one 5 gallon bucket for the FoxFarm Nutrients and a separate 1 gallon jug of Molasses/water (20ml in the gallon). I then distribute as the watering for each day. I followed the FoxFarm feeding schedule. We have a water softening system to pull out the calcium. It is not a system that uses salt, so there should not be a problem with that. The nutrients lower the PH of the water, so I do not believe I will have any issues with nutrient lockout. I have not flushed the plants to check runoff. I did it on my previous grow with the same watering style and it was 6.7 after 12 weeks or so. I intend to flush the buckets right after harvest to see if there was a PH buildup over the grow.
Quantity: Average 1qt "nutrient water" and 4oz "sugar water" for each plant / Day (skip if soil damp) If I run out of premixed water, I switch to plain water.
Water PH: 7.2
"Nutrient Water" PH: 5.5avg
Nutrient quantities:
Big Bloom: 30ml(w1-3) - 15ml(w4-12) / Gallon
Grow Big: 10ml (w1-9) / Gallon
Tiger Bloom: 10ml (w5-12) / Gallon
Pests: I was having a terrible problem with fungus gnats for nearly 8 weeks. I would spray both Neem and Pyganic. Nothing seemed to make a difference. I bit of good reading here convinced me that "mulch" was only for outdoors. I had put down cedar mulch (to hinder pests!) and clay pellets so that the organic soil did dry out. *learning: If the soil is damp on the surface, I will get fungus gnats. I removed the mulch. Sprayed with neem and put a fan blowing over the top of the soil. The topsoil definitely dried out. I have had very few gnats since.

I can't figure out how to make a smaller gallery. Anyone can message me with advice. :)
I have a week by week of the flowering stage with all three plants. I had more stretch on "Buttercup" (on the right) and less stretch on "Blossom" (middle). The bud pics start with a bud on Blossom, but I switched to a bud on Buttercup after the third week of flower. Blossom appears to be getting ready for harvest a bit before the other two.

Whole Grow








Flower Buds








 
Hiya all,
I am in week 7 of flower. The strain info says 7-9 weeks. I had thought that some of the trichomes changing to amber meant I was close. I then saw new white pistils sprouting and thought it might be this upcoming weekend. I got out my loop again and looked at several different buds. It seems to me that many of the trichomes are still clear. I am checking every day now. If anyone else has opinions, I'd be glad for the feedback. Thx in advance.

Various bud pics

Week 7 Bud 1.JPEG


Week 7 Bud 2.JPEG


Week 7 Bud 3.JPEG


Week 7 Bud 5.JPEG


Week 7 Bud 6.JPEG


Week 7 Bud 7.JPEG


Week 7 Bud 8.JPEG
 
More pics. I am trying to make them appear as a carousel of thumbnails. If anyone can give me a suggestion as to how I can make my posts less BIG with pics. heh.

I held a jeweler's loop up to my phone camera and zoomed in just slightly to lose the ring.

Week 7 Bud 9.JPEG


Week 7 Bud 10.JPEG


Week 7 Bud 11.JPEG




Week 7 Bud 13.JPEG


Week 7 Bud 14.JPEG


Week 7 Bud 16.JPEG
 
Thanks,
I was all ready to go this past weekend, then a bunch of new white pistils shot out. Then I thought this coming weekend will be the ticket, got a good look, and saw clear trichomes. I am ready to go anytime, but I am looking for the heavier body high that everyone says waiting for cloudy with a few going amber will achieve. So, I wait and watch. Seems like I just planted them last week, even though its going on three months. I am very excited.
 
Took a few more shots today with the loop/phone. I see one bud has some amber. I am planning for Saturday harvest at this point. Everything seems to look pretty milky.




 
Hiya all,
Definitely planning on Saturday morning harvest. I can see several of the buds have trichomes turning amber. Here is a top of one of the branches from Buttercup and a variety of magnified pics from Blossom, and Bubbles as well.






 
Hiya all,
Day before harvest. I’m seeing amber pop up on every bud now. I just can’t wait any longer. Harvest day tomorrow!!






 
Hiya All,
HARVEST DAY!

I bought the clones from Clone Conservatory and "started" my part of the grow on March 6th. Even though I kept a journal, the days and weeks in the journal would be off sometimes, lol. I went 6 weeks in veg. The determining factor for switching was the height of the plant. I have read that hybrids will end up 1.5 times as big after going to flower and sativas will double. Buttercup experienced some stretch and definitely doubled in height. Bubbles and Blossom were closer to double than 1.5x. Buttercup was in the 5 gallon pot as well, which I theorized would keep her smaller. With the short veg cycle I don't think there is a difference between the size the plants will get while in a a 5gal or 7gal pot. I watched the plants during flower and by the end of 7 weeks, I was seeing amber trichomes popping up. The grow information stated 7-9 weeks and maybe the plants could have gone another week to get to 8, but only a few had white pistils. Almost all had gone brown and some lower buds were looking like they had pistils that almost looked desiccated.

Throughout the grow I kept my nutrient regimen consistent. I followed the Foxfarm schedule up until the last week where I only fertilized at the beginning of the week, plain water "flushing" for the rest of it. I don't think that I will stop my feeding schedule until I harvest, next time. I am not convinced that the food the plant is eating will end up stuck in the flower. I've read the arguments on both sides and I'll roll with feeding the whole way. I do want to monitor my soil PH a little better. The water out of my tap is 7+ ph. When I mix in the nutrients this drops down to low 5's. I understand that there may be a build-up in the soil, but my watering schedule (1qt per day for an adult plant) does not create any runoff from the cloth pots. There were a couple of times during the grow that I saw burnt tips. I theorized that they were connected to nitrogen deficiency (most common cause I found). I just kept feeding and they would go away. From what I read, "nutrient lockout" or nutrient burn could also be the problem. It was inconsistent and really on hit the tips of the plants during veg. I think I may look into an individual nitrogen source that I can add separately as needed. Once the plants went into flower I expected to have leaves suffer and need to be pruned. This never seemed to be more that one leaf every day or two. There were plenty more new leaves sprouting, I decided that I would not make any drastic changes. For the next grow, I am l going to stay with what I have been doing with one plant and try one of our (I think) sponsored products, Geoflora, in the other. I tested Foxfarm ocean floor against Root Organics 707 soil mix and the only difference in the plants was that the plant in the ocean floor soil stretched more than the other two. Correlation isn't causation though, so I don't know. I did like the feel of the Roots organic, so I will go with them for both plants. I wanted to see how well the root systems held up and when I tried, pretty much the whole pot full of soil was held together with fine roots everywhere. To get into the soil, I had to rip apart webs of roots. I feel like this was a good thing.

During this grow, I did not want to get too involved with plant training. I topped the clones, which I found out does not work in the traditional sense. Rather than the two branches on a plant from seed being symmetrically at the same place so that when you top the plant, these two "branches" become main "stems;" on a clone, the asymmetrical nodes mean that if you cut above a node, that node becomes the main stem. I think it may be possible to "FIM" some sort of split, but I don't see that. I do think that "pruning" in a way similar to banzai training would thicken up the stems if you kept it up in veg and then those bigger stems might carry more nutrients to make bigger colas. A friend of mine aggressively did this with clones from the same place and they are much sturdier that mine ended up. We will see how his yield compares to mine. We planted at the same time, but he stayed in veg longer. I did do some LST bending. I was not very aggressive and just did it to try and maintain a similar height for the tops before I went to flower. I will only grow two plants in my tent next grow. I will use feminized seeds, top them twice to get 4 main stems, build separate scrogs, and use those to create a couple of very bushy girls. I am shooting for 80's adult film star bushy. lol. As the plants matured I lightly clipped dying leaves, leaves that were blocking the light from buds, and scraggly thin branches that popped up here and there. I will be more aggressive next time. During harvest I was hanging some stuff that was going to used as trim for edibles at best.

I was very anxious about the harvest. I did not want to sit, so I planned for a few days about how to set up the garage to make this process easier. I was going to make a frame to hang the plants from that would stand on my workbench, but the plants were near 4 ft tall at this point. I decided to use two ladders with a 1x4 resting on a rung of each ladder. I picked up a few hooks and screwed them into the hanging board 18in apart. The way it worked out, I cut the whole plant at the base, hung them upside down on the hooks by a stem-branch crotch. I gently pulled the tomato cages down over the plant. I had to be careful as some of the buds wanted to get hung up, but most were so heavy they pulled the branches down so much the plant sild out of the cage easily.

I had though that I would trim and hang the whole plant. There were too many branches to reach through and the heavy tops were pulling everything together in the middle. I hung a 2'x4' scrog net in the grow tent and fixed it in place with some clamps. My friend helped trim and we would cut branches and hang them from the net with a clothes pin.

I had read a couple of different guides for harvesting and of the "leave on the branch group" there are two camps: leave everything and just hang it to dry or trim as much off as you don't want to mess with in a final trim. Our two rules were: Every fan leaf with a visible stem got the axe. Parts of leaves that were partially covered in trichomes had the green stuff trimmed. I figured that having more to trim in the next phase before curing would mean that I didn't waste any frosty good stuff and that I would have stuff for tincture.

The rack worked like a champ. We were able to trim the three plants in just a couple of hours. We, of course, pre-gamed with a 60/40 sativa dominant strain called Fatso that I think elevated the mood and focused us. This was my second time trimming. These plants were in much better shape. I started at the base of a branch and just worked my way down. Big fan leaves were easy. Getting some of the leaves off that started right below a bud was harder but on three plants, I only trimmed three small buds along with the leaf below them. My clippers got a little sticky, but not bad. I was able to gently hold the branches in between most nodes and I actually got very little on my gloves. The smell was potent to say the least. The wind out here is pretty strong, I but I have no doubt that my neighbors to the east of me knew I was up to something. My partner has the nose for terps and she said that she smelled kind of a hoppy smell with a little citrus and lightly "gassy." Two of the primary terpenes are myrcene and limonene, so that made sense. Some sites show terpinolene as a secondary terpene, which might be the gassy smell. I plan on having a test done for thc content and terpene profile, so we will see.

I tried to make a lightbox for bud pics. I tried. I have the idea now, and will have a better one for next time.

Right now the weather for the week in SoCal is 70's today up to the 90's on the weekend. The humidity has ranged from 34% to 55%. My garage is insulated so I open the door slightly in the mornings and get in some cool air, then seal it up until the evening. I am working on keeping any smell that escapes the tent to a minimum. I have been adjusting the exhaust fan speed to maintain the humidity. I read that I should aim for 55% day 1-3, 50% 4-7, and 45% 7-10. I think this is doable right now without much trouble.

Here are the pics.

The rack.



The drying rack and branches/buds







One of the bigger buds in the "lightbox." Still working on technique here. :)







 
Hiya All,
Sorry if it seems like I dropped off the map. Apparently, I was posting a comment on a media download and not here. So, I will recreate those posts here. (#noob).

Hiya all,
Drying day 2 and three. Day 1 was all about adjusting humidity. The temp has been pretty consistent at 23deg Celsius. The humidity started dropping from 55% when I hung them to 45%. I turned down the exhaust fan and waited an hour. I saw the humidity was rising and it wanted it to set at 55% again. I had to slow the fan down quite a bit and I shut off a tiny intake fan as well. Since then the humidity has been between 53-55%. I will look to lower it tomorrow to 50%.

I am posting drying pics of the same bud for a “time lapse” type thing. We’ll see. Heh.



 
Hiya All,
Drying days 4-6 are all going well, as far aa I can tell. The temp has stayed between 21-23deg C. The humidity has wanted to go low a couple of times. The first three days were pretty consistent at 55%. I had to turn the exhaust fan down to prevent the drier SoCal air, hovering in the high 30%'s, from being drawn in too fast.

I have my small fan circulating air just below the bud and the exhaust fan is drawing the air upwards and out. I will be checking tonight for mold with a black light.

Days 4-6 were supposed to have the humidity down to 50%, recommended on several posts and websites. This just kind of naturally happened as the plants slowly got rid of moisture. By the beginning of day 6, the humidity had dropped as the outside air became drier this week. I poured a bit of water into one of the plant drip pans and the humidity has set at 46% for over 24hrs now, at least the few times I have checked over that time.

I have a couple of small (popcorn) buds that fell off during harvest that I have sitting off to themselves in the tent. I pulled them yesterday and they felt soft still. I had originally thought that this would be 7 days, but I think it may go at least 10, maybe the full 14.

The smell was very "grassy" when they went in the tent. Yesterday it seemed like the grassy small has lessened and a more floral smell is taking over. I will enlist my partner's help today as she has the super sniffer. I read a forum post from @nivek about the smell changing and I think I am on the right path.

Here are the pics. Bud and Branch






 
Hiya All,

So a week has gone by and we are at day 12. I am going to trim and start curing tomorrow on day 13. I could go to 14 days, but the trash pickup schedule is ruling this harvest, lol.

I have had the RH in the tent consistently between 45-55%. I would say the average might be low 50's. The temperature has been a little high these past few days as we entered a heatwave. The first weeks was low 20's, but I have seen it at 27deg C lately.

As I have read will happen, the smell of hay has dissipated and the aroma of the flower is present. I have smelled a bit of lemon when I crushed a bud and as one of the primary terpenes is Limonene, I think I am on the right track.

I have been checking some of the smaller branches. They are bending but not snapping. A pop for sure. So, I might be a few days earlier than perfect, but some of the smaller buds crunch on the outside, so I still think I am okay.

I did have to put some water in a tray about day 8 to keep the humidity up. But, other than that, it has just been sitting back and waiting patiently, which I don't do well, so.......

I had a couple of small buds that fell off their branches during harvest. I ground them up and... I am a very happy grower. I packed a decent bowl because I was concerned about potency. I don't feel like it was any harsher than any product I have bought so far and I am picky about what I buy. About 15 min later, I was starting to feel the vibrations start. Nice body hai. No stuffiness. A little heady, but I stayed pretty alert and happy. Pretty much what I was hoping for. If this gets better with curing, I am going to be very satisfied with this grow.

Here are all the "time lapse" pics. I tried a hand held light to increase the clarity. One of the goals for my next grow is to up my photography game.












 
Hiya All,
It has been 4 days since dry trimming and starting the curing process.

I began trimming by pulling a few branches at a time to my "trimming station." I had been testing branches after the first week. I never had one break, not even a small one. I could feel them pop inside, but they would just fold. Everything I read said that they needed longer. I do not believe that was the case. I had even read that the flowers would crackle like "popcorn" on the outside but would still be "soft" on the inside. Many of the buds, even the small ones were like that. Once I put them in curing jars and added the hydrometers though, they just sit at 45-47% RH. I expected to be burping them to keep it down to 62%, but...nope. I have added bovida packs but I am not sure they will add any moisture as they have not collected any. I looked for instructions to see if they needed to be primed with a drop of water or something, but I couldn't find anything. Maybe I have duds, I will order some more eventually and if they are different, then I will know. I would like to be able to probe the flower to see the humidity inside so that I can cure them when they reach the 60% range. Still a learning process, so, next time, I think I will pull them a little earlier if I am feeling the buds get that popcorn feeling instead of relying on the stems.

The good: The trimming did go well. I had trimmed most everything without sugar on it during the initial harvest. I just trimmed a few sugar leaves and burnt pistils. Some of the bigger buds I shaped a little, but the smaller nugs I left pretty much as they were. My tools didn't get too gummy, I wasn't overwhelmed with the three plants, but that might have been more to do with "the bad." I think my skill level and ability to sit and snip for long periods is going to limit me to two plants, although I may trim over multiple days to pull smaller stuff and end with the bigger buds. I intend on defoiling with a lot more vigor next grow. I left way to much little crap that took energy from the bigger branches and barely formed anything anyway. #hatchetjob next time, lol.

The bad: I think that Blossom suffered from the fungus gnats too much and was in flower too long, so she hermed. I was not sure if everything I thought was a seed actually was. I definitely found some full on 1/8in "whiteish balls" that I took to be seeds. I also found these little pods that looked like a single flower petal, some with a pistil coming out that were just below the buds. They all had trichomes on them, but some had little hard white "seeds," I suppose. The flowers that seemed the most affected had many more dead pistils and were much dryer. When I found a branch that looked bad, I would just strip all the flowers off and rub the handfull together to break up the flowers. They were still moist and I could see little white flecks in some of the ground up flower, but I am not so familiar with the plant that there might not be something white as part of the flower petal. I will dissect buds during the next grow in order to become more familiar with the way the parts look. I kept all this crap, and the trim from the good buds, for making tincture or oil.

Right now: I collected 4oz of what I think is seed free "good" flower. I have them stored in three 32oz mason jars with a hydrometer and a bovida pack. The smell is amazing. Very powerful lemon smell from the Limonene. My partner says she smells a "beer like, hoppy" smell which should be the myrcene coming through. I am going to wait till after two weeks and then I am going to send in 5g for testing. I expect a few more posts on this thread. The first will be when I vacuum seal the flower. I expect to lose some weight still, but I should get a coupe dozen eighths. I have 3oz of trim and "questionable" flowers that I will use for a food grade alcohol tincture as well as a infused coconut oil. I will post those processes as well. And then lastly, I will post the results from the lab: I am requesting THC content and Terpene profile.

Here are some pics.




 
Alright All,

I cured the plants for over a week, but the RH was sitting at 45% with no movement so I vacuum sealed the total. In the end, I weighed out 25 - 5g bags for a total of 125g. I should have got more but one plant (at least) had seeds and I sorted out another 75g to be used to make tincture. I am very happy with my first full grow. I think the flower produces a great high.

I used a test company out here in Cali called SCLabs. Very good people. I ordered THC content and Terpene Profile. Here are the test results:

1626349824064.png
1626349841809.png
1626349896988.png
1626349923741.png


I started a new grow from seed. I already think it has gone sideways. Once I get the next one up and running, I'll start a new thread.
 
Back
Top Bottom