Outdoor Organic Balcony Stealth Quadlining: White Widow/Gorgonzola

[Emeraldo]

Caterpillar alert

A month or so ago I found a future flower head was sort of gummed up and stuck, which I unstuck and opened the leaf growth out and I wondered what had caused that. A few days ago I found a second such glued up flower head and as I unpeeled that, a little brown caterpillar came out which was duly squashed. Today while conducting a regular scheduled appreciation gaze for the harvest yet to come I spotted a light yellow looping caterpillar which was duly squashed too

I then gave the 3 plants a good spray of BT. This worked well last season when a caterpillar infestation occurred to my grow. Luckily it is only the start of flowering with no real bud development having happened yet, unlike last season when it occurred the buds were quite developed. Last season it was White butterflies, but today's looping one was different, as were the 'glue leaf' variety I saw twice. Anyway I will be monitoring for further incursions to my future harvest!

They have settled nicely after the recent round of emergency Supercropping to maintain a semblance of stealthiness to their hiding positions from the neighbors. But I am considering doing further Supercropping to perhaps reduce the canopy height a little bit further. Now in hindsight I feel I would have preferred to start Supercropping at about the half way point of the stretching. Nevermind, it is something to learn from..

Those plants are beautiful, Stunger!

If you get a chance, post a photo of a gummed up and stuck up flower head, just curious, never seen that.

What does BT stand for? I would have gotten my neem/surgical soap mix and sprayed the whole plant.

Imho supercropping earlier isn't the solution if it is your feeling that the plants are too big. Certainly supercropping now and going forward until stetching stops, that would be necessary unless you liked Jack and Beanstalk as a kid.



If you don't see an end to stretch soon, you could divert the direction of growth (using continued supercropping plus some sort of lattice or netting) to keep the growing points lower rather than higher. That would need lateral room within your balcony space, allowing the plants to grow more or less sideways.

Another thought, going forward a bit, you might want to thin out the foliage within the plants, to allow for more light and air to the inner buds. It will soon be so thick down in there, although your canopy for the top buds is very good. At this point you can still prune whole branches away (only the weakest and smallest) and it will actually improve the yield, you know, like the grape farmer thins the crop to get less but higher quality. Concentrating the plant's efforts and energy.

It now being February 2, my guess is the stretch is mostly over, what do you think?

 

[Stunger]

Hi Emeraldo,

If you get a chance, post a photo of a gummed up and stuck up flower head, just curious, never seen that.

I looked thru my pics as I thought I may have it, but alas couldn't find it - I have taken a lot of pics so could have missed it scanning thru.

What does BT stand for? I would have gotten my neem/surgical soap mix and sprayed the whole plant.

Bacillus Thuringiensis, Caterpillars ingest it and then cannot eat and die. Yes, I thought of your Neem/Surgical soap solution that I have already bought in advance. I will keep a close eye on things and may bring in the heavy artillery if there is a further breach in the defenses

Another thought, going forward a bit, you might want to thin out the foliage within the plants, to allow for more light and air to the inner buds. It will soon be so thick down in there, although your canopy for the top buds is very good. At this point you can still prune whole branches away (only the weakest and smallest) and it will actually improve the yield, you know, like the grape farmer thins the crop to get less but higher quality. Concentrating the plant's efforts and energy.

That is probably the next thing I will look at doing.

It now being February 2, my guess is the stretch is mostly over, what do you think?

I read the other day that as long as the Supercropped branches turn up and grow at the ends then Stretching is still happening. I have noticed the Supercropped branches continue to grow up at the ends so I assume it is still happening altho it must be very close to going to the Bloom phase. Going on pics of last year's outdoor grow in same location, I'd expect to see the formation of the budlets to where they are quite visible in just a few more days. They are developing but not where you can see the clusters of them from a couple of meters. Not far away tho, it is very close.

Today I carried out further Supercropping, such is my love for this newly utilized technique! One branch looks a little sick but I think it will recover, I first bent 90 degrees one way in my stealth haste and then found it would better suit being bent 90 degrees in the opposite direction, but I think it should recover fine. I found some of my previously done Supercropped branches were growing up and showing distinctly anti stealth growth behavior, so this morning while I had a chance, I did further Supercropping and used plastic coated garden wire to make individual braces for each Supercropped branch to hold them in place close to the desired angle (mostly close to 90 degrees). It was a bit laborious doing so, but now both canopies appear very level compared to before, and the top of both are now below the balcony rails. Hopefully the wounds heal strong before any winds come that may unsettle the 'wire braces'.

The canopy height from the rim of the containers to the top of the canopy is approx 60cm or 23 1/2 inches. So it is pretty condensed and now with the Supercropping it probably quite light shaded underneath. I will look into carrying out some sort of defoliation where leaves are overly blocking bud sites.

A pic of the new profile taken level with the balcony rails after Supercropping, 2-WW & 3-WWG.

Viewed level with Balcony rail after Supercropping 2-WW, 3-WWG, 1-GGa

• Stunger
• Feb 2, 2020

And 2 pics taken looking down on them

Front 2-WW, Back 3-WWG

• Stunger
• Feb 2, 2020

L to R: 2-WW & 3-WWG

• Stunger
• Feb 2, 2020

It will be interesting in a few days when the stress of Supercropping settles down and blooming starts.

 

[GardeningGnome]

Hi Emeraldo,

I looked thru my pics as I thought I may have it, but alas couldn't find it - I have taken a lot of pics so could have missed it scanning thru.


Bacillus Thuringiensis, Caterpillars ingest it and then cannot eat and die. Yes, I thought of your Neem/Surgical soap solution that I have already bought in advance. I will keep a close eye on things and may bring in the heavy artillery if there is a further breach in the defenses


That is probably the next thing I will look at doing.


I read the other day that as long as the Supercropped branches turn up and grow at the ends then Stretching is still happening. I have noticed the Supercropped branches continue to grow up at the ends so I assume it is still happening altho it must be very close to going to the Bloom phase. Going on pics of last year's outdoor grow in same location, I'd expect to see the formation of the budlets to where they are quite visible in just a few more days. They are developing but not where you can see the clusters of them from a couple of meters. Not far away tho, it is very close.

Today I carried out further Supercropping, such is my love for this newly utilized technique! One branch looks a little sick but I think it will recover, I first bent 90 degrees one way in my stealth haste and then found it would better suit being bent 90 degrees in the opposite direction, but I think it should recover fine. I found some of my previously done Supercropped branches were growing up and showing distinctly anti stealth growth behavior, so this morning while I had a chance, I did further Supercropping and used plastic coated garden wire to make individual braces for each Supercropped branch to hold them in place close to the desired angle (mostly close to 90 degrees). It was a bit laborious doing so, but now both canopies appear very level compared to before, and the top of both are now below the balcony rails. Hopefully the wounds heal strong before any winds come that may unsettle the 'wire braces'.

The canopy height from the rim of the containers to the top of the canopy is approx 60cm or 23 1/2 inches. So it is pretty condensed and now with the Supercropping it probably quite light shaded underneath. I will look into carrying out some sort of defoliation where leaves are overly blocking bud sites.

A pic of the new profile taken level with the balcony rails after Supercropping, 2-WW & 3-WWG.

Viewed level with Balcony rail after Supercropping 2-WW, 3-WWG, 1-GGa

• Stunger
• Feb 2, 2020

And 2 pics taken looking down on them

Front 2-WW, Back 3-WWG

• Stunger
• Feb 2, 2020

L to R: 2-WW & 3-WWG

• Stunger
• Feb 2, 2020

It will be interesting in a few days when the stress of Supercropping settles down and blooming starts.

Looking healthy!

I see you you are moving forward with the suppercropping and using some wire to get it done. Regarding the bending back and forth; my personal experience has been similar situations and I've never lost a branch. Those plants are sturdy and will bounce back with vigor.

I'll second that defoliation idea of yours. They seems to be getting thick!!

 

[Emeraldo]

Howz about growing some other herbs or flowers in the balcony containers, plants that are fast growing, fuller and bigger and hence would give you some added height to the stealth? Something annual that will get big fast and not need much care. Gardenias?

You could buy some foot tall tomato plants, about 10 of them to get a nice thick camoflage, and grow them in your balcony rail containers. The advantage of tomatos are their fast growth, and both their color and leaf shape is a great stealth companion for cannabis. They can also be LST'd to grow into whatever shape you need, horizontally as well as vertically.

I really would do some serious thinning, Stunger. I am tempted to say "massive" thinning, not just of some branches but of leaves all through. I can see how the lower leaves are getting yellow already. Thinning out the foliage will not hurt the potency of the end product, rather the contrary, it will improve it. The plant will be happier and healthier for it.

Cheers

 

[Stunger]

I'll second that defoliation idea of yours. They seems to be getting thick!!

They have indeed been getting thick and I hope I can adequately address that, especially if there is increased bud production as a result!

I really would do some serious thinning, Stunger. I am tempted to say "massive" thinning, not just of some branches but of leaves all through. I can see how the lower leaves are getting yellow already. Thinning out the foliage will not hurt the potency of the end product, rather the contrary, it will improve it. The plant will be happier and healthier for it.

Today I made a start on some thinning out of the leaves. I must have taken off at least 60 - 80 leaves I guess. I focused just on the canopy leaves, and haven't yet had a go on the lower half. It is tricky doing so, finding 'stealthy' time to do it without either drawing the attention of family or the numerous neighboring places that would look out towards me on the balcony. I'll probably try to do another couple of tranches of thinning over the next day or two. The sooner the better really, as I don't want to hold the girls up as they go into Bloom.

Howz about growing some other herbs or flowers in the balcony containers, plants that are fast growing, fuller and bigger and hence would give you some added height to the stealth? Something annual that will get big fast and not need much care. Gardenias?
You could buy some foot tall tomato plants, about 10 of them to get a nice thick camoflage, and grow them in your balcony rail containers. The advantage of tomatos are their fast growth, and both their color and leaf shape is a great stealth companion for cannabis. They can also be LST'd to grow into whatever shape you need, horizontally as well as vertically.

You are quite right, some fresh new plants of a suitable variety would indeed provide additional stealth. The trouble is they also block out light, the right side of the balcony starts getting the sun by about 1pm, while the left side it is 2:30pm before it's fully in the sun. If the sun is out they get it until 7:30pm but in my opinion they are not getting a lot of prime time sun. So I do notice the shade that the planters cast later in the day and of course that'd be more so if the planters had foot high plants in them.

Just for cosmetic reasons, it sure would be nice to put in some fresh plants, herbs flowers or whatever, to the planters. But I deliberately leave them looking unattractive so their appearance doesn't draw the gaze of the neighbors.
My growing friend took a different tack, and grew big sunflowers next to his plants to draw the gaze, but I felt quite possibly that would work well in the first instance as people exclaimed 'oh look what lovely sunflowers', and then maybe in the next instant realize they're growing in a bed of cannabis plants, it wasn't a biggie but I prefer a 'not worth gazing upon' appearance.

A further funny thing. My friend's grow which consisted of about 11 plants, 5 of my last season regular seeds, a Gorilla Glue Auto, plus 5 supposedly 'feminized' seeds. All his feminized seeds turned out male, while I think 4 out 5 of my regular seeds turned out female for him. In a few more weeks I am going to dust a couple of colas with some saved White Widow pollen, as even regular seeds can be bloody useful!

 

[Emeraldo]

Just for cosmetic reasons, it sure would be nice to put in some fresh plants, herbs flowers or whatever, to the planters. But I deliberately leave them looking unattractive so their appearance doesn't draw the gaze of the neighbors.
My growing friend took a different tack, and grew big sunflowers next to his plants to draw the gaze, but I felt quite possibly that would work well in the first instance as people exclaimed 'oh look what lovely sunflowers', and then maybe in the next instant realize they're growing in a bed of cannabis plants, it wasn't a biggie but I prefer a 'not worth gazing upon' appearance.

A further funny thing. My friend's grow which consisted of about 11 plants, 5 of my last season regular seeds, a Gorilla Glue Auto, plus 5 supposedly 'feminized' seeds. All his feminized seeds turned out male, while I think 4 out 5 of my regular seeds turned out female for him. In a few more weeks I am going to dust a couple of colas with some saved White Widow pollen, as even regular seeds can be bloody useful!

That's a riot with your friend and the consistently mixed up male/female seeds. And the sunflowers, they might work if they were a good distance away, but that's not something for a balcony.

Now that you mention it, it may be a better "cover" just having some scraggley old rosemary out there as a decoy that hasn't been changed in any way in a year or two -- maybe it's even dead -- nothing to draw any attention toward your balcony. Shades of Sherlock Holmes' The Purloined Letter, you know, the letter was tacked to the wall in plain view and nobody found it. The psychology of a stealth grow... trying to second guess what the neighbors will look at. Fascinating. I do that a lot, too.

 

[Stunger]

My friends male seeds were all from the first successful order he received about 3 years, that was a split order he didn't receive the other half of the split, nor the previous 2 orders and their re-sends.

He gave me one the 'feminized' White Widow XTRM which I grew out, and he grew one for himself as well as a Girl Guide Cookies that grew into a magnificent plant with really big heavy buds until a prolonged period of rain caused bud rot and he lost most of it.

His WWX grew out as a male, and from that I got some of it's pollen and dusted a couple of small branches which I harvested a couple hundred seeds from (regular). The following year he gave me a seed from the third strain of that order which was a 'feminized' Gorgonzola, it grew out female. I made more seeds on that grow too.

This season, after a new order and so far 2 failed deliveries, those remaining seeds from that 3 year old order were his only 'female' seeds left, and against expectation they all grew out male, while the majority of the regular seeds I gave him ended up saving his bacon and turning out female, which was a great and fortunate result.

So, I am so pleased that 3 years ago I talked him into going up the back of his place to retrieve the male WWX that he had chucked out, it was dead or looking that way, but from that bit of recovered pollen (which I still have some of it dry with rice in the fridge), but that allowed me to since harvest several hundred regular seeds and saved my bacon too. My 2 current Quadlined girls are from that seed harvest. All going well and fingers crossed, I'll be about to test them out in a couple of months.

 

[Emeraldo]

...the stuff of legends, epic migrations, etc. The transmission of cannabis genetics into new regions was always by the seeds being able to travel somehow, by bird, by wind. Left alone in NZ, your GWW and WW would turn into one landrace in about a thousand years... unless of course the referendum passes, in which case the gene pool will be inundated. Is there any news on that? Have there been any, you know, polls taking the pulse?

 

[Stunger]

...the stuff of legends, epic migrations, etc. The transmission of cannabis genetics into new regions was always by the seeds being able to travel somehow, by bird, by wind. Left alone in NZ, your GWW and WW would turn into one landrace in about a thousand years... unless of course the referendum passes, in which case the gene pool will be inundated. Is there any news on that? Have there been any, you know, polls taking the pulse?

I haven't seen any recent polls, I don't know why there is not some sort of constant updates on that sort of thing, as I often google for news in my hope that enthusiasm will snowball and snowball as the voting date gets closer. There are some groups that oppose legalization and have been commissioning their own polls which always seem to result in a low pro vote. The polls that are seen to be unbiased have fluctuated to being well over 50% to under it. The last such poll I was aware of was from memory about 48% voting for it. Since then the Govt has called on there to be unbiased coverage with no scaremongering. I think too, it is about timing. I guess we don't want people to 'peak' to early before the voting in case some last minute fearmongering changes their minds. The voting date is still nearly 8 months away. Hopefully there will be a cascade of good pro stuff coming out that make people vote for it so we all get a choice in the future.

BTW I have felt lately, that both girls (2-WW & 3-WWG) have been looking a tiny bit paler than they were before. More so, the bigger girl 3-WWG. I am on the home run now and I don't want to screw this up by saying "she'll be right" or by overdoing it and stunting them, I just need them to be appropriately happily nourished for their Bloom period to come. I only recently gave them both 1/8 cup of Blood n Bone, about 2 tablespoons each (along with the same of Guano Phosphate). They are still in the very end of stretching, still growing taller. So today, I top dressed them with further Blood and Bone, 3 tablespoons for the bigger girl 3-WWG and 2 tablespoons for 2-WW and it watered in. Hopefully that will now see them thru to harvest time.

The main thing now is I have got to find a bit more stealth time to continue thinning out the leaves and letting a bit more light into the Quadlined girls. Today I even fixed a loop of cord to the balcony door so next time the wind blows the door closed behind me I am not stuck like spiderman on the outside trying to grip the glass with my palms to open the doors and get back in.

 

[Emeraldo]

Well, I certainly hope the NZ folks support it. There isn't any info here on 420 about the referendum, is there? I haven't seen any. This is the latest info on 420 about NZ: New Zealand Passes Laws To Make Medical Marijuana Widely Available | 420 MAGAZINE ® That is more than a year ago.

But I'm also wondering what the current law is in NZ: what is the penalty for recreational use? In many countries, say in Europe and US, the is a trend towards "de-criminalizing" possession and recreational use of small amounts, even without full legalization.

As for the new "paler" look of your girls, can you post some more recent photos to show what you mean? It would be helpful to see what you mean. If they are paler, then that could be a sign that your big 50L and 30L pots are big enough to need more than the 1/8 cup of blood n bone you gave a week ago. I am curious to see how your defoliation is coming along, anyway.

I was hesitating to encourage you to feed them still more, since you recently did give them a little and I guess there is worry about giving them too much (though that would be hard to do). But it could be they really do need more. At this point in their lives I usually give my plants a major dose of flowering food, concentrating mainly on P, also a little N and a little K. Then they are good to go all the way to harvest. At this stage I usually give a full cup of Flower Girl 3-9-4 per plant, top-dressed and watered in, but there are other flowering food mixes and methods out there that are just as good. As always, up to you.

It's also really important to give them lots of water during flowering, don't forget!

 

[Stunger]

It's also really important to give them lots of water during flowering, don't forget!

I think I have that one covered. On hot days I give them multiple waterings as I feel they need it with the drilled pots and the radiant heat from the tiles gets into the mid 30C's

As for the new "paler" look of your girls, can you post some more recent photos to show what you mean? It would be helpful to see what you mean.

My camera's battery just ran out of juice when trying to take some photos, it's on recharge and I'll put some pictures up later when it's charged.

I am curious to see how your defoliation is coming along, anyway.

This morning I have mostly completed thinning out the 2 Quadlined girls that I've done over the last 2 days when I've been able stealthily to do it! Of course when picking leaves off, you can go around, and then around the plant again, always finding more to take off. I've tried to not go overboard, altho I know some growers advocate fairly major thinning, the appearance after this is fairly modest I feel. However after this morning, I added the leaves removed to the pile I took off yesterday evening and weighed them, they were 203g. I feel with the previous day's defoliations that I must have taken off at least 250g of leaves, quarter of a kilo! It sounds quite a lot, altho the appearance is thinned, it is not massively so.

If they are paler, then that could be a sign that your big 50L and 30L pots are big enough to need more than the 1/8 cup of blood n bone you gave a week ago. I am curious to see how your defoliation is coming along, anyway.

I was hesitating to encourage you to feed them still more, since you recently did give them a little and I guess there is worry about giving them too much (though that would be hard to do). But it could be they really do need more. At this point in their lives I usually give my plants a major dose of flowering food, concentrating mainly on P, also a little N and a little K. Then they are good to go all the way to harvest. At this stage I usually give several tbs full of Flower Girl 3-9-4 per plant, top-dressed and watered in, but there are other flowering food mixes and methods out there that are just as good. As always, up to you.

I had also thought and hoped that the recently given modest 1/8 cup (60ml) Blood n Bone would see them thru to harvest, I did see a pick up in color in the days after that , but now I feel a little more could be needed. Yesterday, I gave 3 tablespoons of Blood n Bone to the bigger 50 liter pot and 2 tablespoons to the smaller 30 liter pot. As you said it would be hard to give them too much with those quantities.
When I look at pics of some folk's indoor crops where on harvest their leaves can still appear amazingly dark lush green, I think given I feel I was seeing a slight paling of the lower leaves, that the addition of a modest amount of Blood n Bone will hopefully not be in excess.

But I'm also wondering what the current law is in NZ: what is the penalty for recreational use? In many countries, say in Europe and US, the is a trend towards "de-criminalizing" possession and recreational use of small amounts, even without full legalization.

I think the police have backed off a lot on charging people when they are caught smoking and I have heard accounts that when they have caught people growing 2 or 3 plants for personal use that they have turned the other way. However, that is very much down to the coppers involved. There are still instances of them being heavy handed too. So the sooner it becomes legalized the better in my opinon.

 

[Stunger]

I am upping my guessimate of the weight of leaves I removed from the 2 Quadlined girls to probably at least 300g. As I took a few more leaves off since the last post and re-weighed the bag to being 218g. Since over the last couple of days I took 3 smaller tranches off which I didn't weigh, I would imagine that collectively they would reach a minimum of 300g. Sounds a lot, but I think the pictures show it is nonetheless a fairly modest thinning. Exciting times to be watching one's crop, on the verge of Bloom!

After thinning out, 2-WW & 3-WWG

• Stunger
• Feb 5, 2020

After thinning, 2-WW

• Stunger
• Feb 5, 2020

After thinning 3-WWG

• Stunger
• Feb 5, 2020

1-GGa day 36 since breaking soil

• Stunger
• Feb 5, 2020

1-GGa day 36 since breaking soil

• Stunger
• Feb 5, 2020

 

[Emeraldo]

Beautiful plants, Stunger!


It looks like you did a great job of thinning out the thickest of the thicket. The light and air flow will help produce your best bud ever. I hope the recovering colas aren't going to blow your cover. They look absolutely beautiful. Good photos!

huff huff

That's good that you gave more blood 'n bone. That's gotta be good stuff, I will look out for that. As it is, I've just bought blood meal and bone meal separately. The blood meal is known to be fast-releasing N, which also means it may get used up sooner as well. Do you have any longer-term releasing N amendments, such as horn meal, cottonseed meal, or alphalfa meal? Those would do you well just now, make it easier. Or it could turn out now that you will need to give blood 'n bone more often. As you watch the plants, note the color and feed accordingly.

Btw, I didn't notice any particular yellowing in your plants. Just beautifully green and going into flower, maybe a hint of yellow at the center of the but sites?

Also, here is something you wrote last year:

the other thing I did with it, was that I added 2 or 3 inches of volcanic scoria to the bottom of the container, at the time I was only doing this to avoid the roots getting 'wet feet' in the container, but now I wonder whether the scoria gave the plants roots a good source of minerals which I now understand is part of the High Brix approach. Once again I don't know, but when I re-amended my containers for this season I poured a quantity of scoria and scoria dust into the base of the containers, I also mixed in some paramagnetic rock dust to the soil as well. Hopefully not over done, we'll see in time.

Just wondered this theory of whether scoria, which is ceramic if I am correct, provides minerals or micro-nutrients of some kind. Did that bear out ? Is volcanic scoria a source of good rock minerals? I was thinking the benefit you noticed would be due to improved drainage and oxygen to the roots, though it is an interesting idea to add some mineral food in the form of digestable rock dust into the bottom layer of the final pot.

 

[Stunger]

Beautiful plants, Stunger!


It looks like you did a great job of thinning out the thickest of the thicket. The light and air flow will help produce your best bud ever. I hope the recovering colas aren't going to blow your cover. They look absolutely beautiful. Good photos!

huff huff

That's good that you gave more blood 'n bone. That's gotta be good stuff, I will look out for that. As it is, I've just bought blood meal and bone meal separately. The blood meal is known to be fast-releasing N, which also means it may get used up sooner as well. Do you have any longer-term releasing N amendments, such as horn meal, cottonseed meal, or alphalfa meal? Those would do you well just now, make it easier. Or it could turn out now that you will need to give blood 'n bone more often. As you watch the plants, note the color and feed accordingly.

Btw, I didn't notice any particular yellowing in your plants. Just beautifully green and going into flower, maybe a hint of yellow at the center of the but sites?

Thanks Emeraldo!

I feel the thinning out of the foliage and the supercropping has hopefully set them up pretty well for harvest. I will probably look to re-work some of the supercropping and maybe do a few more, but structurally they should be fairly well in place for bud development. I find myself checking them crazy often now.

 

[Stunger]

Do you have any longer-term releasing N amendments, such as horn meal, cottonseed meal, or alphalfa meal? Those would do you well just now, make it easier. Or it could turn out now that you will need to give blood 'n bone more often. As you watch the plants, note the color and feed accordingly.

Amongst the amendments I used in the soil for Nitrogen besides Blood n Bone, was Fish Meal from Fertile Feilds which is said to be slow releasing over 30 - 60 days, and sheep pellets, Neem meal and a Fish Hydrolysate added to foliar feeds and sometimes watering, mostly just diluted worm wee with the watering. Perhaps, now that I have cleared some of the leaf thicket out I could top dress with a couple tablespoons of fish meal to both pots?

They still look good in color, a lot better than my grow last season. However, over this grow I have watched and noticed how slowly the 'strength' of the color has weakened and then improved with a little top dressing, and slowly weakened off again etc. I feel that probably shows that the amounts that I have given them have been modest. I have had no occurrences of leaf tip nute burn, and quite probably could safely have gotten away with adding more. My aim here is to keep the plants happy, not starved, so they hopefully can be in a near best state to produce a good bud yield. Last season, I imagined that I had to be careful of Nitrogen in flowering, but I know now, that in flowering, plants still have nearly the same demand for Nitrogen as they do in Vege. Last season I feel I held up their growth from not giving them enough. At this point I imagine that top dressing with the Blood n Bone, and possible some Fish Meal would be enough. As at this stage it is almost impossible to work anything in to the container soil due to extensive branching and training wire.

Btw, I didn't notice any particular yellowing in your plants. Just beautifully green and going into flower, maybe a hint of yellow at the center of the but sites?

True, they have looked pretty good, but over daily observation I noticed how the 'green' ebbs, and I felt it starting to go a little in that direction and in view of the Bloom stage about to kick off and harvest being only 8 - 10 weeks away, I thought I should jump in and add something now and hopefully that's enough to the end.

Also, here is something you wrote last year:

the other thing I did with it, was that I added 2 or 3 inches of volcanic scoria to the bottom of the container, at the time I was only doing this to avoid the roots getting 'wet feet' in the container, but now I wonder whether the scoria gave the plants roots a good source of minerals which I now understand is part of the High Brix approach. Once again I don't know, but when I re-amended my containers for this season I poured a quantity of scoria and scoria dust into the base of the containers, I also mixed in some paramagnetic rock dust to the soil as well. Hopefully not over done, we'll see in time.

Just wondered this theory of whether scoria, which is ceramic if I am correct, provides minerals or micro-nutrients of some kind. Did that bear out ? Is volcanic scoria a source of good rock minerals? I was thinking the benefit you noticed would be due to improved drainage and oxygen to the roots, though it is an interesting idea to add some mineral food in the form of digestable rock dust into the bottom layer of the final pot.

It was just an idle theory, as the plant the excerpt refers to, was very late germinated in December in bag soil, only fed tomato food twice when watering, it got badly dehydrated a couple of times, did that help the potency? (altho my 2 current Quad girls got even more badly dehydrated this current grow) and it also had Scoria in the container's base to keep the roots from getting too wet. It was unknown bag seed, but the resulting harvest produced the most sticky bud I have had and really gave an exceptional high, far better than the bud the seed was found in. So I theorized that maybe the radiant heat of the balcony tiles caused it to go extra sticky against the heat, maybe the scoria gave it something extra in minerals, or maybe from the dehydration events.. But this grow I did add a reasonable amount of paramagnetic rock dust/ and other rock dusts, as well as the mussel/oyster shell flours etc, all in addition to last year's soil, this I picked up from looking at High Brix related growing. I understand that the rock dust works slowly but does so for years so no need to top up. I just wanted to enrich the soil in this way because it sounded good. But it may be to no avail, it may just be good for keeping roots from getting wet feet! But so far they have appeared fairly happy and fairly vigorous compared to my previous growing attempts. Fingers crossed from this point.

 

[GardeningGnome]

It looks like you did a great job of thinning out the thickest of the thicket. The light and air flow will help produce your best bud ever.

I agree with @Emeraldo , excellent job!!

That's good that you gave more blood 'n bone.

Is this a mix of "bone and blood meal" guys? I used both blood-meal and bone-meal last year in my grows.
Blood-meal is best for veg with a very high nitrogen (mine is 14%)
Bone-mail got high phosphorus and nitroge, (mine is 7% for both) making it great for bloom.

--
The ladies are looking excellent, and the Gorilla Glue is really starting to take the form of a formable lady!

 

[Emeraldo]

They still look good in color, a lot better than my grow last season. However, over this grow I have watched and noticed how slowly the 'strength' of the color has weakened and then improved with a little top dressing, and slowly weakened off again etc...
...
True, they have looked pretty good, but over daily observation I noticed how the 'green' ebbs, and I felt it starting to go a little in that direction and in view of the Bloom stage about to kick off and harvest being only 8 - 10 weeks away, I thought I should jump in and add something now and hopefully that's enough to the end.

Perhaps, now that I have cleared some of the leaf thicket out I could top dress with a couple tablespoons of fish meal to both pots?

Leaf does change color as the plants move from veg to flower. The fresh deep green fades as the plant directs its energy away from rapid vegetative growth. So on a certain level it is a natural thing to see that beautiful green color "ebb". It's going to ebb a lot more before you're done.

It's my theory that fast-releasing N in blood meal also expends itself sooner rather than later, so the effect of bringing the green back may be short lived because the fast-releasing N is used more quickly. You're ok to give a little more, I think you are doing it right just giving a little whenever it looks to you like she is hungry.

With all that quadlining, making a tea is probably the best way to feed them now. Fish meal is a great source of both N and P, I think that is a good food to go with at this point. Not sure what you read about plants needing as much N during flowering as during veg, that is not a commonly stated view. But whatever, certainly ample N is needed during flower, I add plenty in mixing up the soil before the grow, apparently it is enough for my plants, I don't have to add a whole lot of N during flower.

 

[Stunger]

I agree with @Emeraldo , excellent job!!



Is this a mix of "bone and blood meal" guys? I used both blood-meal and bone-meal last year in my grows.
Blood-meal is best for veg with a very high nitrogen (mine is 14%)
Bone-mail got high phosphorus and nitroge, (mine is 7% for both) making it great for bloom.

--
The ladies are looking excellent, and the Gorilla Glue is really starting to take the form of a formable lady!

Yes the one I am using is a combined mix of blood and bone meal (Yates® Thrive® Natural Blood & Bone Boosted with NZ Seaweed). It has an NPK of 10-4-0.2

My Gorilla Glue Auto is looking very good. I have never grown an auto before. When I compare it's progress to the 2 photo girls I am Quadlining, at the same stage they were a long way behind. So the vigorous growth I am seeing from this Auto is very impressive.

However, my growing friend who I shared the last bean order with, his GGa that he germinated on the same day as mine is going amazing. At first, my one growing in a big 50 liter pot compared to his 18 liter pot was growing a little faster. I LST'd mine in an effort to keep the mainstem mostly horizontal until it reached the pot rim. His plant has been allowed to grow freely without training, and it has done so putting on impressive height but the internodal distance of his is a lot greater than my plant. His main stem length is over twice the length of mine. His plant gets also gets more direct sun than mine does. His now appears to be 3 or 4 days ahead of mine as his has developed more defined budlets than mine, yet I think both have the same number of nodes, mine having tighter internodal distances, I wonder if that is a phenotype difference or is a result of me LST'ing my plant. We are very impressed with the growing strength of these. It'll be super interesting how they progress to harvest and vape testing.

 

[Emeraldo]

...My Gorilla Glue Auto is looking very good. I have never grown an auto before. When I compare it's progress to the 2 photo girls I am Quadlining, at the same stage they were a long way behind. So the vigorous growth I am seeing from this Auto is very impressive.

Yes your GGa is looking good too, it's easy to overlook her what with all the incredible developments with the other two. GGa is coming along very nicely, and you took it easier. That's what I do mostly, start out going for a rim circle, ending up giving it up and letting em loose.

However, my growing friend who I shared the last bean order with, his GGa that he germinated on the same day as mine is going amazing. At first, my one growing in a big 50 liter pot compared to his 18 liter pot was growing a little faster. I LST'd mine in an effort to keep the mainstem mostly horizontal until it reached the pot rim. His plant has been allowed to grow freely without training, and it has done so putting on impressive height but the internodal distance of his is a lot greater than my plant. His main stem length is over twice the length of mine. His plant gets also gets more direct sun than mine does. His now appears to be 3 or 4 days ahead of mine as his has developed more defined budlets than mine, yet I think both have the same number of nodes, mine having tighter internodal distances, I wonder if that is a phenotype difference or is a result of me LST'ing my plant. ...

Could be some of both? The plant genetics could allow for an indica-looking pheno and a longer-internoded sativa-looker. LST-ing will keep a plant shorter, too.

 

[Stunger]

Leaf does change color as the plants move from veg to flower. The fresh deep green fades as the plant directs its energy away from rapid vegetative growth. So on a certain level it is a natural thing to see that beautiful green color "ebb". It's going to ebb a lot more before you're done.

It's my theory that fast-releasing N in blood meal also expends itself sooner rather than later, so the effect of bringing the green back may be short lived because the fast-releasing N is used more quickly. You're ok to give a little more, I think you are doing it right just giving a little whenever it looks to you like she is hungry.

With all that quadlining, making a tea is probably the best way to feed them now. Fish meal is a great source of both N and P, I think that is a good food to go with at this point. Not sure what you read about plants needing as much N during flowering as during veg, that is not a commonly stated view. But whatever, certainly ample N is needed during flower, I add plenty in mixing up the soil before the grow, apparently it is enough for my plants, I don't have to add a whole lot of N during flower.

This morning I sprinkled a tablespoon of Fish meal over both Quad girl's pots as top dressing, I was going to do 2 tablespoons each but I had to do so steathily and I was a bit caught for time and getting my hand past the branching and training wires to add the second without throwing it everywhere. Nevermind, as you say, giving a little whenever it looks like she is hungry, seems to be working too. Altho next time, I will do as you do, and mix an increased quantity of Nitrogen amendments to the soil in the 'off season' where it can settle for a few months before new beans are germinated, and look for some suitable long release stuff too.

Not sure what you read about plants needing as much N during flowering as during veg, that is not a commonly stated view. But whatever, certainly ample N is needed during flower, I add plenty in mixing up the soil before the grow, apparently it is enough for my plants, I don't have to add a whole lot of N during flower.

I read this from @InTheShed 's thread, where he posted a really interesting analysis of the macro and micro nutrients used by 3 different strains during veg and flowering. It highlighted to me the Nitrogen demand during flowering was far higher than I had been thinking. See what you think, InTheShed Grows Autos & Photos, Inside & Out: Jump In Any Time