Random Thoughts: Plants & Genetics

[Jackalope]

Yes. Pinching means super cropping. I very seldom top a plant. "Ie pinching the top off". All my pinching is supper cropping. I normally lolly pop my branches. My plants react by pushing the lower branches higher. By doing this there is lots of branches coming out from the same area. No way to get good light to all of it with everything so close together. I clean all that stuff up in the middle. This creates lots of that wasted space you talk about lol.

Plants are going to stretch in flower. Outdoors you just can't stop it. You can only try to control it. What got me thinking. If your plants are stretching a lot after the treatment you gave them last year. Then maybe you are getting to much defused light. If your neighbors can't see them. Are they getting enough direct sunlight?

Sounds like you are getting enough light to grow but not enough to keep them really short. Strain type may have something to do with it. The one down fall of training plants this way is they get wide. I now flower a few less plants in the same space because of it.

I have super cropped side branches that are getting to tall but I don't do it often. It does slow that branch from going up. It also makes it branch out more below the pinch. Not always a wanted outcome during flower.

Not sure if I answered your question or not. Well I answered the pinching part LMAO. The rest I am not sure if I help or made it worst LOL

 

[Jackalope]

I had planned to post this picture today anyway. Not sure if it will help Stunger. I mentioned the Bent and Twisted grow the other day. Here is a updated before and after picture of how things worked with them.

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• Jackalope
• Aug 20, 2020

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• Jackalope
• Aug 25, 2020

As you can tell most are bushing out beautifully except for the one on the far left. It is the same plant type that always gives me hell super cropping. It took lots of pinching and bending to get growth to start from the lower branches. It is finally starting to see things my way. I can already tell that there is going to be lots of booster seats in this tent in the future. To many differences in growth types.

 

[Jackalope]

Stunger. I should also say. This whole new growing style is still in it's infancy stage for me. I am not even sure if it is the way I will continue to do things. I am actually thinking of going totally different this next grow just to see the differences in production.

I won't be much help with it till I figure it all out for myself.

 

[Stunger]

Plants are going to stretch in flower. Outdoors you just can't stop it. You can only try to control it. What got me thinking. If your plants are stretching a lot after the treatment you gave them last year. Then maybe you are getting to much defused light. If your neighbors can't see them. Are they getting enough direct sunlight?

Sounds like you are getting enough light to grow but not enough to keep them really short. Strain type may have something to do with it. The one down fall of training plants this way is they get wide. I now flower a few less plants in the same space because of it.

Thanks. I would love for them to get more direct sun but I can't change that because the location is where it is. Depending on what end of the balcony the plants are sitting they aren't in full sun until around 1 - 2pm in the afternoon and then till sunset. It isn't ideal I know and that may very well be contributing to extra stretching altho I am not sure, I feel the stretching is probably normal.

I have super cropped side branches that are getting to tall but I don't do it often. It does slow that branch from going up. It also makes it branch out more below the pinch. Not always a wanted outcome during flower.

Not sure if I answered your question or not. Well I answered the pinching part LMAO. The rest I am not sure if I help or made it worst LOL

This coming grow I plan to remove all wispy/weak growth. Last year I let my girls veg for about 4.5 months, and they grew out accordingly to be quite wide. This coming grow I would like to also let them have similar long time in veg, with the idea that they develop a good root base, but at the same time if I can carry out a succession of pinching/supercropping to try and keep the branches short until flowering is underway then with a bit of luck they'd get a good root base, and have smaller bud heavy canopies with less wasted branch length that doesn't carry buds. Previously I never gave any thought to branch length, I simply supercropped with the purpose to create a specific canopy height. If the plants produce say 3.5 foot branches and the cola bearing part of the branch is, say, the last 1.5 feet, I'd like to avoid the 2 feet of wasted branch that contributes to a wider more cumbersome shape to work around in my limited space, or at least reduce the 2 foot of wasted branch length to say, just 1 foot. So yes I think you and Pennywise answered my question or at least it leaves me with the view that what I was thinking should be workable. I don't mind if I slow down the canopy growth in veg just as long as I let them take off to do all the budding they want in flower!

 

[Jackalope]

Stunger. Make sure to give them plenty of rest time at night. To much light and they kind of hold the stretch off till flower time. I would stick with a 16/8 during veg.

When I grew my plants taller. I removed any branch that was not within 4" of the top. This gave the branches that were left all the energy. With shorter plants and LED light. I am keeping more branches. I have yet to see what the differences are. It is going to take a few head to head match ups to figure it all out.

There is not a whole lot you can do about the defused light other than what you are doing. It may or may not be part of the problem. When you can't fix things you just have to run with what you got. Sounds like you are doing fine. Good luck with short and fat!

 

[Jackalope]

I got a few pictures of distant relatives. I gifted a friend in Tennessee seeds from my mentor a few years ago. Since then lots of great bud have coming out of the Tennessee mountains. The Critical I grow get about 4' tall. His get 12' tall in sunlight. It was to tall to get cola pictures of it. All I got was a picture looking up to the top LOL. The others were a little more cooperative.

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• Jackalope
• Aug 27, 2020

Here is a Green Crack that is looking real nice.

Next up is the cool plant. A Purple Blue Dream. Hundreds of these Blue Dreams have been grown before without this coloring.

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• Jackalope
• Aug 27, 2020

What really sucks. It is growing in the ground and no way to move to regenerate it. If this plant is truly special that is going to suck. Lower branches are showing tons of frost and color.

 

[Stunger]

What really sucks. It is growing in the ground and no way to move to regenerate it. If this plant is truly special that is going to suck. Lower branches are showing tons of frost and color.

Well I guess if you judge it to be truly special, then it would still be worthwhile attempting to cut it out of the ground with as much root ball as is practical and transplanting it to a container, nothing really to lose in trying is there? We know they're tough plants from how they cope with damage above the ground, there must be a reasonable chance that such a transplant would be successful. Anyway, here's hoping!

 

[Jackalope]

It is all speculation anyway. If it was me I would take a clone and try and reverse/root it. I would even consider trying to uproot it. Alas it isn't up to me. The grower is just growing a few plants for sale each year. He was buying seeds out of the UK when we met. He has been growing my mentors females seeds every since. He also makes moonshine and has a full time job LOL. He and his wife have 3 other small businesses they run on their days off. Quite the inter-prizing couple.

So he really doesn't have the inclination to save just one plant. That is my job lol. Over the next few years he will be growing my genetics. He has a couple of my regular strains already. I am hoping to have him more female seeds by the time the he runs out of what my mentor made.

I do take a little pride in all the places these genetics are being grown. 7 states and Canada have plants growing because I shared what I had with others. I got some great seeds from some of these same people. With all the new seed banks and seed breeders these days. I am not needed like I was before. Seed access is simple now compared to what I had to go through over the years. I am just glad I could be helpful while I was needed.

 

[Jackalope]

New T-5 lights showed up. I will be setting up a new tent for them today. I need to get more seeds started. Only 5 to 6 weeks of flower left for the plants in the big tent. Even starting now they will still be small when the time comes to move them.

My biggest problem is being able to move the plants in the veg tent. It looks like these might have to be flowered where they are. Pretty sure I can do this with a 600 watt HPS but not the 1000 watt I was hoping to flower them with. I will have to drop the big tent light to 11 hours to do it. I will be at the border of tripping breakers. I need my flower room on the other end of the house but can't move them yet because of the back up generator instillation. I don't like having people here with plants going but there is no choice. They are fine where they are. I just can't spread out the way I need to right now.

There was a time I was worried I had too much growing stuff. It is times like this I feel better. I have everything I could possibly need. I just have to arrange it right.

Now I just need to decide which ones to grow. The New and Super Lemon Haze I know will be on the list. Not positive of the rest. If I get the new tent put together today I will be germinating seeds. No turning back after I get them wet. The wet ones will be my final choices LMAO.

 

[Jackalope]

I went ahead and dropped the lights and went to full power in the big tent. Everything is flowering pretty well. Plus all these are real early strains. If a strain finished in 6 to 7 weeks then it may not stretch for a full 3 weeks. Pretty sure most if not all is finished stretching. I didn't get much as I expected.

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• Jackalope
• Aug 29, 2020

What they lack in height they make up for in branching. As you can see from the next picture. Most are extremely bushy.

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• Jackalope
• Aug 29, 2020

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• Jackalope
• Aug 29, 2020

This is my tagged Purple Afghani. It is the one plant that was different from the start. Out of the 8 females 3 of them look just like this now. A couple look more like Afghani and the last is kind of a mix between the 2.

The last picture is just a tease. It is one of the main buds on the Cinderella 99. I will be doing a photo shoot with it soon. If things stay the same this is going to be my best Cinderella yet. Already pumping out the trichomes.

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• Jackalope
• Aug 29, 2020

 

[Jackalope]

Oh yeah. The new line up is wet and on their way to being sprouts. The only major change was I decided I wanted the Katsu genetics for my smoke. I just don't know how big the Key Lime Kush will get. I have more of it if I want to do a production run of it at a later time. I am going with Golden Berry for production. Here is what took a bath last night.

Golden Berry, DNA
Key Lime Kush, Katsu
Super Lemon Haze, Greenhouse
The New, Humboldt Seed Org.

 

[Jackalope]

Lemon Cheisel is old enough to do plant porn now. I am really liking this one plant. I wish there were more for me to look at though. I planted 6 seeds to get a look at this strain. All popped and only one female. At least it is a good looking plant.

Lemon Cheisel.jpg

• Jackalope
• Aug 30, 2020

Lemon Cheisel bud.jpg

• Jackalope
• Aug 30, 2020

Lemon Cheisel close.jpg

• Jackalope
• Aug 30, 2020

Trichome's are showing up now and the plant is starting to take off. Smell so far is nice and fresh. I think it is the early stages of lemon. Early on I found hints of cheese dankness. I sure hope it returns.

Flo F-5 is starting to get red hairs. I am not sure exactly why. I know this is a early strain but something I read recently makes me wonder. Kush strain hairs I have heard turn red early if the plant is has to many nutrients in flower. This robs it of some of its strength. I know this Flo F-5 was close to being overfed. Its sister didn't like the new nuits and is showing signs of to much phosphorous. I have had this happen before and the plants have all pulled through. The Flo F-5 is forming buds well now.

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• Jackalope
• Aug 30, 2020

Flo F-5 bud.jpg

• Jackalope
• Aug 30, 2020

One thing I have noticed with the Flo F-5. Is a abundance of Banana's coming from it. I was going to say this is the worst I have seen a regular strain do this. Then I remembered. My old Trailer Trash Betty used to do it a lot also. I never got any seeds from the TTB when they did it. I am hoping that is the case here. They are only single banana's poking out here and there. NOT fully formed male flowers. I managed to get a picture of one nice fresh yellow one.

Flo F-5 banana.jpg

• Jackalope
• Aug 30, 2020

A few new seeds have sprouted. They will be going into dirt today.

 

[Jackalope]

Cindy is back! Better then ever from the looks of it. I have found 1 major difference in Cinderella pheno's. One will have more leaves. The plants with a more open structure like the one pictured tend to do really well.

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• Jackalope
• Sep 1, 2020

If things continue they way they are. This could be my best Cindy yet. I even moved her to a better position so she can get all the light she wants. Buds are doing great so far. They grow in leaps and bounds from here on out with Cinderella. Only a few weeks till this one is finished.

Cindy cola.jpg

• Jackalope
• Sep 1, 2020

Cinderella bud.jpg

• Jackalope
• Sep 1, 2020

Frost is building up nicely. This plant has showed lots of trichomes since week 3. It is so much different growing strains I know LOL. I should do it more often LMAO. So far the only strains I know as well as this one are Headband, Cannalope Haze.

Cinderella 99!.jpg

• Jackalope
• Sep 1, 2020

 

[Jackalope]

Well I have hit another growing milestone. This is the first time I have had plants in every stage of growth. I have girls in mid flower, in veg, and starts. Still more milestones in my future. I still need a mother plant and a crop of clones before I can say I have did it all LMAO.

Now I just need to manage to keep everything happy. Purple Afghani is more of a feeder than I thought it was going to be. At least Nitrogen wise. I got lucky this time and noticed the lighter green before I watered last night. I hit them once with their first dose of flower nuits. Last watering was just water. I would have been better off not taking a week off for them. Now I need to see how much food they want. I should be fine with this strain. When the SSH get behind I never caught up with it. Like I mentioned I thought with the Afghani and Kush genetics they may not be heavy feeders. I am pretty sure my supplemental feeding will be fine for it.

The big Cinderella only got flower nuits. Its leaves are plenty green. The leafy pheno had to get a double shot to catch up but with a 6 week flower time they will not get much for very long. My first Cinderella never got any nuits at all.

Another thing I have started again. Floral feeding. I used to do this all the time. I have forgot about it. It is a great way to push plants without hurting them. If a plant doesn't want or need it it will not absorb it from being sprayed. How is beyond me. There are just smart I guess LMAO. I only floral feed till buds start forming. Mostly just to avoid any molds or anything in flower. I think the biggest reason I started doing this again is because I have a fancy new battery powered sprayer. I got it for bug spray LOL. I need to do some checking and see what I will use in the future. As of now I am using my old stand by Schultz's plant food. I can't remember why I stopped spraying before. It wasn't because of problems I know. Pretty sure it got to be a pain in the ass with bigger plants.

 

[Jackalope]

I also want to add. I have had a bunch of new white hairs show up on the Flo F-5. I really wonder about the over feeding causing early red hairs. I am not even positive it is real LOL. I was getting red hairs before I expected them that is for sure. One of the Flo F-5 plants took offence to the first feeding. It showed a phosphorous abundance. Just water every since and it is looking better. These are sensitive plants though. Much like D.J. son LMAO

 

[CannaFish]

I might be wrong but i think DJ Shirt wrote something about FLO having several “harvest windows”.
Last run i thought I had spider mites and I had to spray sugar/peroxide water at about week 3 of flower. All the pistils turned brown after that. And it took awhile to get fresh ones coming out.

 

[Jackalope]

The one kicker in the multiple harvest thing is it is outdoor only. Indoor plants won't do it the same way from what I hear. What I found yesterday after checking further was lots of cloudy trichomes. This plant is just about done. Lots of the original Flo flowered fast. This pheno must lean that way. I plan to give it about another week. I moved plants early to sex a few of them this Flo F-5 was one of them. It is around 2 weeks farther along then the rest. That puts it right around 5 weeks now. I may even pull a bud this week to check it out.

 

[Jackalope]

I might be wrong but i think DJ Shirt wrote something about FLO having several “harvest windows”.
Last run i thought I had spider mites and I had to spray sugar/peroxide water at about week 3 of flower. All the pistils turned brown after that. And it took awhile to get fresh ones coming out.

I had PM while in flower. Most the cures would turn all the hairs red when used in flower. The only thing I spray flowering plants with anymore is Bleach water. As far as I could tell growth on those buds pretty much stopped after the hairs turned red. I used 1 TBLS per 32 oz sprayer.

Probably doesn't work for anything other than PM.

 

[Jackalope]

F**king Hermies. I found a hermie in the Purple Afghani. We are not talking a couple bananas here. I mean full blown male flowers. I found one pod coming off the stalk of one plant. That plant checked out clean and didn't have anymore anywhere. That got me looking at the rest.

What sucks is where I found a real hermie. It is the one plant that has been different from the start. The one plant I wanted to see finished as a female. It wasn't extremely bad. I trimmed off 3 buds that had male pods in them. That is out of the whole plant. I left the rest of the plant that looked clean. As much as I hate to kill any plant. Plants that that I like are even tougher. I got lucky this time. If not for the back up tent I would have had to kill it. I am going to give this plant a bit more of a chance. As long as it doesn't get really bad I will keep it and see what happens.

I am moving the 2 plants that are with the Flo F-5 to the big tent. That will give me room in the back up tent for little miss hermie. I have got away with trimming male flowers before. I don't know that I have tried it with a plant this bad. Normally if I find flowers in the buds the plants are done. The Flo F-5 will be done in plenty of time not to produce seeds so it will be fine in the same tent. I will watch this plant closely over the next few days. Even if a small amount of flowers are produced I may still keep it. I will trim them as I can. I have hopes that it may not produce more pods. Not high hopes, Cross your fingers and pray hopes LOL.

 

[Jackalope]

I just happen to have pictures of the plant I was referring too. I was planning on showing the differences between the 2 main pheno's. I can still do that. First off is the Afghani leaning pheno. This was also the first plant to show sex.

P.A. Afghani pheno.jpg

• Jackalope
• Sep 4, 2020

P.A. Afghani pheno cola.jpg

• Jackalope
• Sep 4, 2020

I am very happy with these. They have a sweet smell I have not put a name on yet.

Here is the "hermie" Kush leaning pheno. My favorite from the start.

P.A. Kush pheno.jpg

• Jackalope
• Sep 4, 2020

P.A. Close up.jpg

• Jackalope
• Sep 4, 2020

Where you can really see the differences. It is best to look at the buds. Lighting and distance slightly different between these but it does show some differences.

P.A. Afg. pheno bud.jpg

• Jackalope
• Sep 4, 2020

P.A. Kush pheno bud.jpg

• Jackalope
• Sep 4, 2020

Kush pheno's have multiple hairs coming out of each pistil