Prof's Lab: Diary Of A Bedroom Farmer

[ProfessorFlora]

Welcome back Prof!

Great comeback from the major extinction event. I do love that first unknown Afghan especially.

Onto more important matters - where's the slime barrel update??

Thanks syenite. It was a pretty close call but we got almost all of them back again. I'm pretty sure that the first unknown Afghan is a female as well. I think I can see some pistils

Your wish is my command. One slime barrel coming up!....

It looks nice and furry today....

Here's some weed....

Bobbing for apples anyone?....

It's alive!....

What I do before using it is give it a good stir so it looks more like a soup....

There are many wonderful ingredients in here and after a good stir it smells like a farm yard. It doesn't smell as bad as the compost anymore....

I keep adding more and more stuff to the mix and allow the rain to top it up. We must be coming up to the end of the first year soon....

Does it work though?

 

[ProfessorFlora]

We have lots of tomatoes. The plants aren't in the best of shape but that is more likely to be an environmental factor as I have tried again since starting these with much better success. These need more calcium which I could have given them if I had buffered the pots at the beginning of the season....

The sunflower was grown with a good fortnightly dose of the liquid. It went about 130 days and produced a huge face full of seeds. It bloomed for around 3 weeks. The stem was solid and it only needed a bamboo cane as support even during the severe storms we experienced earlier in the year. It wasn't the tallest sunflower but it looked much healthier than many I saw in the village I live in. It is ready to come down now....

 

[syenite]

Thank you for indulging me Prof! Love the poetic conjunction-disjunction of the fur and the fruit/flower!

Both beautiful

 

[ProfessorFlora]

Thank you for indulging me Prof! Love the poetic conjunction-disjunction of the fur and the fruit/flower!

Both beautiful

My pleasure. I've just been getting the pots ready for the next outdoor plants which will be fed that lovely stuff. Lets see how it goes this time

 

[ProfessorFlora]

The next outdoor attempt is ready. The medium is the same as in the grow room but I didn't bother sieving this stuff. I have added a spoon of dolomite lime to each pot before potting them up and have given them their first watering with the homebrew.
In the first pot we have a little Balkh clone. It will be fun to see how this one grows as I have the other one indoors being done properly. Well, maybe not properly but you know what I mean. The second plant is the re-vegged Crumbled Lime. This one got really big but also turned really bad in the end because of having no roots. Since going into soil she is growing again but she annoyed me so I chopped off the top half of the plant with some garden sheers. It was all twisted, yellow and dead anyway but it was fun. This one has a bit of a head start so I will have to find somewhere safe for it to go where there is a little bit of sun.
It has been a wet year so I can't promise that we won't see any mould again. We will just have to risk it....

Little Balkh....

Butchered Crumbled Lime....

 

[Pennywise]

Hope your outdoor girls take off fast for you.

 

[ProfessorFlora]

Hope your outdoor girls take off fast for you.

I think there is just enough time left for a little veg before the nights start drawing in. I don't mind them being a little small as it makes them easier to hide. I'd just like to see one finish without going mouldy lol

 

[Pennywise]

Well good luck, I lost all mine to deer this year.

 

[ProfessorFlora]

Well good luck, I lost all mine to deer this year.

Ouch. That's a shame. I don't have deer problems though the cat could probly eat the Balkh if I'm not careful.

 

[Pennywise]

Ill use fencing next year for damn sure.

 

[ProfessorFlora]

Ill use fencing next year for damn sure.

What about deer repellents? I just googled it and found some products that either taste bad or smell bad to deer.

 

[Pennywise]

Deer become acclimated really fast, might keep them away for a day or two but they’ll move in to investigate at some point.

 

[ProfessorFlora]

Flowering Day 1

The next round is officially underway. Should be an interesting bunch. Out of the 4 Afghan landraces 2 are showing as female which is great. Both of the unknown strains are female so now we are just waiting for the Balkh, Tashkurgan and the Chocolatina. I'm pretty sure that the Balkh is a female as it started to show before the root rot issue. I wasn't 100% sure so I still can't call it. We have at least 5 out of the 8 so that is good....

Unknown Afghan #1 is a female....

Unknown Afghan #2 is also female. I have a good feeling about this one....

Balkh. This plant has a unique smell to her leaves. It's a bit like the smell of burning certain wood types of wood, like if you were smoking some fish or something like that. It is really quite pleasant....

Tashkurgan. Apparently this strain can get quite large. It is also known to exhibit dwarfism which I think mine may have. Even before the rot it was a bit slow and was left behind by everything I was growing at the time. Still, it sounds very interesting and is supposed to have a good blackberry flavour....

Chocolatina x Chocolatina. I've been looking forward to seeing this one but there is still a chance it could be a male. The Exotic Genetix strains I have grown have been fantastic and I'm sure that this one won't disappoint....

The Pineapple Express #2 looks messy but she's growing. If it is anything like the PE #1 then everything will be good. An all round reliable fruity and skunky plant. Should have some massive flowers too....

Unknown fem #1 is doing alright now. New growth is good and she is reaching for the light....

Unknown fem #2 is looking similar to the first but is a bit more stocky,,,,

 

[Pennywise]

Your Bahlk will be interesting

 

[syenite]

That's a beautiful spread of genetics Prof.

Also congratulations on the at-least-5 out of 8. Already looking forward to the smoke reports!

 

[Heavenly Hybrid]

Ooooo, I hope the chocolatina is a female. I’ve tried that from the dispensary and it is fab, fab, fab.

 

[ProfessorFlora]

Your Bahlk will be interesting

The clone I have put outside has 12 fingered leaves forming which is pretty cool. Still don't know if it's female though

That's a beautiful spread of genetics Prof.

Also congratulations on the at-least-5 out of 8. Already looking forward to the smoke reports!

It's lights-out shortly so i'm going to go and check them again. It's still only 5 as far as I'm aware.
One cool thing will be running the landraces side by side with some modern hybrids to compare them. The Landraces are currently winning but they had a head start even if they were dying and then recovering for much of that time. With the exception of the Tashkurgan they all feel very strong and look like they are going to grow really well.

Ooooo, I hope the chocolatina is a female. I’ve tried that from the dispensary and it is fab, fab, fab.

Lew said that the mother was potent. Fingers crossed for the ladies!

 

[ProfessorFlora]

Hey 420. Time for the overdue harvest results from the last grow.

So using 200w of LED, MegaCrop and coco coir as a medium we have achieved this from a 60cm x 80cm tent....

Fat Purple.....27g
Critical Jack.....32g
Hashplant D.....39g
Tropicanna Banana.....82g

Grand Total....180g

Not bad but no way near the GPW of the previous grow using the 100w light. I know that I can pull more weight from the space but I don't think I can do it economically. I have run 400w cobs in there before and pulled close to 8oz which a great score for the size of the area but a terrible GPW. The TB was a standout plant but I'm surprised at how well the HPD did. The flowers on that plant are super tight and would have the best bag appeal if it wasn't for the Fat Purples looks. HPD is much better all-round in my opinion though. The Critical Jack seems to be Critical leaning as it reminds me of both the Critical Cheese and Critical 2.0 from Dinafem.
The bottom feeding worked well for these as they all had good root balls though there were a lot of fungus gnats in the medium.
Anyway. Here's some pics of the dried nugs....

 

[ProfessorFlora]

Here's a few more....

 

[ProfessorFlora]

Some slightly better pics of the largest nugs....

Fat Purple....

Hashplant D....

Critical Jack....

Tropicanna Banana....