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Week 1 and the first round of testing for this recent new cross. The F1 generation of Northern Spice. Germination was a full 100% with varying degrees of development across 3 days in the towel. Oddly however, about half of the beans cracked the shell head first with their cotelydons. Stability is always suspect with F1s anyway, but this kind of sampling, this early is concerning somewhat. We’ll see where it goes.
On another topic, we also made some big changes to the grow method this cycle. We’ve moved over to a grow system by the bucket company. Fairly similar to the Dutch bucket design, just without the small reservoir in each bucket that acts as an additional insurance policy. So far, she’s purr’n like a kitten👌.
Strain details
She’s a mix of a particularly strong Northern Lights, mixed with a Spicy Bitch sativa hybrid. The hope is that we’ll be able to combine the overtly narcotic effects in the NL and mellow it out somewhat with the quality daytime sativa effects found in the SB.
Both strains feature numerous grower qualities. Both parents possessed vigour and resiliency, the SB particularly colourful in late flower.
Week 1 of veg and growth has been a little slow but still ok. The heat and light intensity may be impacting this as it’s been a consistent 32 in there without the benefit of forced air in to the tent. We’ll be moving back down to a 300w fixture to mitigate this and ensure that we don’t torch yet another cycle. Sometimes less is simply more there. We’ll see how it goes. So far, this bucket company system appears to be working as advertised.
Strain details
She’s a mix of a particularly strong Northern Lights, crossed with a Spicy Bitch sativa hybrid. The hope is that we’ll be able to combine the overtly narcotic effects in the NL and mellow it out somewhat with the quality daytime sativa effects found in the SB.
Both strains feature numerous grower qualities. Both parents possessed vigour and resiliency, the SB particularly colourful in late flower. These beans were the product of a shotgun breeding run that presented an unexpected opportunity so there’s quite a bit of testing that should flow from the various F1’s we’ve produced.
Week 2 of veg is in the books. Despite making some changes and dropping back to a 300w fixture, also upping the nute ratios - growth has been pretty decent for a single first week of veg. Got some yellowing on the leaves which is somewhat concerning. Again, hopefully rectified now that we’ve regulated to more acceptable temps and humidity. All are fairly uniform to start and the new bucket system has been issue free which is a bonus. Figure another week to the fim and then another week of veg before the flip. All on pace to get em to flower as quick as possible👌. We’ll cull as soon as able - if we pick up 3/4 spaces after losing the males that would greatly assist to free up some more space elsewhere and move in some new fems that have been backlogged recently. Finally back to focusing on quality buds and it’s and great feeling👍.
Strain details
She’s a mix of a particularly strong Northern Lights, crossed with a Spicy Bitch sativa hybrid. The hope is that we’ll be able to combine the overtly narcotic effects in the NL and mellow it out somewhat with the quality daytime sativa effects found in the SB.
Both strains feature numerous grower qualities. Both parents possessed vigour and resiliency, the SB particularly colourful in late flower. These beans were the product of a shotgun breeding run that presented an unexpected opportunity so there’s quite a bit of testing that should flow from the various F1’s we’ve produced.
Week 3 of veg. And within a couple of days of the changes, they all hit their stride in earnest. We fim’d mid-week and they all bounced back quickly despite some cuts being a little on the long side. Approx. 24 days of veg. And they’ve now been flipped to flower. So far, the system has proven impressive despite a failure of our run off pump. Just a cheap bilge pump that was doomed to fail and has since been replaced with something a little more durable. We’ve got some trademark NL variegation showing now and they all stretch from the second node very similarly to the SB. Seems as though we’ve got a good gene mix here but the proof will be in the bud pudding. Should have the males picked out and culled within a week or so. Until then - all is extremely well in this tent👌👍.
Week 1 of flower/transition and a bit of blip in the diary radar. Didn’t really have a chance to grab photos this week and updates for this cycle have lagged somewhat. They bounced back from the fim and heat issues like a dream. We have strong specimens in all pots and expect stretch to be pronounced. Now that the issues are resolved the only really pertinent update this week is that the system is essentially on auto pilot now👌. Couple trims and it’s all just waiting.
Week 2 of transition and finally caught up with this diary. What’s missing are the pre-defo photos - it was an absolute jungle in there so we had to take out some leaves to up the air flow below the canopy. I’ve changed my approach there somewhat in that II tend to leave a lot more on the plant than I used to. The increased stress for the sake of uniformity in the canopy just doesn’t assist with flowering growth like it does when you leave the plant alone. We take what’s needed to clean up the under carriage and open up the middles to expose bud sites. It’s paid dividends and growth this week has been both pronounced and robust. Very uniform for an F1 generation also. We’ve got our first signs of gender coming out too. So far, just 1 male that I can see but it’s still a little early. He’ll get the chop shortly once we’re absolutely sure about the others. Flower show should be come’n in hot shortly👍.
Strain details
She’s a mix of a particularly strong Northern Lights, crossed with a Spicy Bitch sativa hybrid. The hope is that we’ll be able to combine the overtly narcotic effects in the NL and mellow it out somewhat with the quality daytime sativa effects found in the SB.
Both strains feature numerous grower qualities. Both parents possessed vigour and resiliency, the SB particularly colourful in late flower. These beans were the product of a shotgun breeding run that presented an unexpected opportunity so there’s quite a bit of testing that should flow from the various F1’s we’ve produced.
Ahhh crap… week 3 and I totally blanked on photos for the week. It was a busy one. It was cull week around here and we bounced the obvious males from the tent, leaving 5 of the original 8 plants. Great ratio this time round👌. The most notable things this week are that the plants are certainly still stretching and that they’ve all got significant hollow stem carbon deficiency. That’s the term for it anyway but most growers liken it to signs of upcoming 🔥. I’ll take good omens on an F1 test run right now 💯. Alls extremely good in the tent right now.
Strain details
She’s a mix of a particularly strong Northern Lights, crossed with a Spicy Bitch sativa hybrid. The hope is that we’ll be able to combine the overtly narcotic effects in the NL and mellow it out somewhat with the quality daytime sativa effects found in the SB.
Both strains feature numerous grower qualities. Both parents possessed vigour and resiliency, the SB particularly colourful in late flower. These beans were the product of a shotgun breeding run that presented an unexpected opportunity so there’s quite a bit of testing that should flow from the various F1’s we’ve produced.
Through 4 weeks of flower now and the stretch is still on somewhat. They continue to gain height and lengthen nodal spacing. We should still have enough room but end of the day, the fim was supposed to mitigate this and it clearly didn’t play that way at all.
Regardless, they’re all extremely healthy and vigorous. I don’t expect these bud sites to creep into full donkey docks but if they do…😳
Strain details
She’s a mix of a particularly strong Northern Lights, crossed with a Spicy Bitch sativa hybrid. The hope is that we’ll be able to combine the overtly narcotic effects in the NL and mellow it out somewhat with the quality daytime sativa effects found in the SB.
Both strains feature numerous grower qualities. Both parents possessed vigour and resiliency, the SB particularly colourful in late flower. These beans were the product of a shotgun breeding run that presented an unexpected opportunity so there’s quite a bit of testing that should flow from the various F1’s we’ve produced.
Week 5 of flower and stretch has been excessive in these F1 testers. Buds have been slow to develop and supercroppibg of 3 tops was necessary to maintain canopy consistency. The hollow stems are a good sign of things to come but I will say I was hoping for much better bud development. Perhaps unrealistic with this sativa dominant cross but still. I guess as long as the buds are fire, we’re prepared to deal with less overall yield.
The system continues to perform admirably. It’s one major drawback is having to recirculate through an additional drainage pump. The cheap bilge pump we wired into the tray failed and flooded out a portion of the basement - my fault really as I knew the pump was crap and should’ve changed it earlier. Still can’t get past how much more simplistic a gravity dependent system is but despite that - I have no complaints about this equipment and it will get regular use regardless of any future set up changes. Alls good in da hood y’all👌🤟
Strain details
She’s a mix of a particularly strong Northern Lights, crossed with a Spicy Bitch sativa hybrid. The hope is that we’ll be able to combine the overtly narcotic effects in the NL and mellow it out somewhat with the quality daytime sativa effects found in the SB.
Both strains feature numerous grower qualities. Both parents possessed vigour and resiliency, the SB particularly colourful in late flower. These beans were the product of a shotgun breeding run that presented an unexpected opportunity so there’s quite a bit of testing that should flow from the various F1’s we’ve produced.
Week 6 of flower and bud growth and frost development continues. Slowly though… these F1s have taken a remarkable long time to enter flower and resultant stretch has been ridiculous. This is in direct contrast to one that we have growing outdoors which is developing far more typically/normal. What is growing is both lush and healthy but for an indoor cultivar, this cross might just be too unmanageable. The fim did nothing to break apical dominance and as a result we’ve been knocking down the canopy with hst and lst to avoid any light burning issues. Bud size is expected to be popcorn like, even at the tops and the nodal spacing is just too long to realize significant yields at harvest. Regardless, it is a strong and resilient genetic that doesn’t require nearly as much maintenance and feeding as the average strain. Probably a benefit of the NL genetics within er. Nice to see that at least some of that transferred as the rest of these plants appear very sativa dominant. I suspect a very extended flowering time based on current development - possibly up to 11/12 weeks of flower before we’re ready to chop. It’s all an unknown right now but other than that - these girls are lookn just fine👍👌
Strain details
She’s a mix of a particularly strong Northern Lights, crossed with a Spicy Bitch sativa hybrid. The hope is that we’ll be able to combine the overtly narcotic effects in the NL and mellow it out somewhat with the quality daytime sativa effects found in the SB.
Both strains feature numerous grower qualities. Both parents possessed vigour and resiliency, the SB particularly colourful in late flower. These beans were the product of a shotgun breeding run that presented an unexpected opportunity so there’s quite a bit of testing that should flow from the various F1’s we’ve produced.
Week whatever and…. Gross…. Not sure when it happened but we now know the culprit for this runs excessive and prolonged stretch. Been busy with other shit lately and At some point after the first 3 weeks of flower I left the light on instead of the timer. Pretty much every one of em revegged on me and threw the entire test run into question. They’re all a confused disaster now and instead of trying to salvage what I can, I elected to simply cut losses now and wipe out the whole run. It’s yet another stupid mistake due to poor attentiveness and I’m somewhat ashamed.
That said it’s not a total loss either. The lady of the house suggested I throw the outdoor version of this one in there, given that it’ll never see harvest outside. Great idea and we did just that👍. It’s not often that you get a do over and this is as close you’ll get to one. We’re down to a single plant now. She’s about 3/4 weeks through transition and ready to start pistiling hard. At least we’ll get a some sort of a sample set off the buds. Growth characteristics and data are pooched but hopefully we can still launch a buzz at the end🙏🤞🙏.
Strain details
She’s a mix of a particularly strong Northern Lights, crossed with a Spicy Bitch sativa hybrid. The hope is that we’ll be able to combine the overtly narcotic effects in the NL and mellow it out somewhat with the quality daytime sativa effects found in the SB.
Both strains feature numerous grower qualities. Both parents possessed vigour and resiliency, the SB particularly colourful in late flower. These beans were the product of a shotgun breeding run that presented an unexpected opportunity so there’s quite a bit of testing that should flow from the various F1’s we’ve produced.
Again no pics due to life shit happening. I said last update she was 3/4 weeks into flower but that’s inaccurate. She really started psitiling significantly on this week which more like week 2/3 of flower. We’ll go with week 4 and split the difference on this update. Again, no pics due to life circumstances.
Strain details
She’s a mix of a particularly strong Northern Lights, crossed with a Spicy Bitch sativa hybrid. The hope is that we’ll be able to combine the overtly narcotic effects in the NL and mellow it out somewhat with the quality daytime sativa effects found in the SB.
Both strains feature numerous grower qualities. Both parents possessed vigour and resiliency, the SB particularly colourful in late flower. These beans were the product of a shotgun breeding run that presented an unexpected opportunity so there’s quite a bit of testing that should flow from the various F1’s we’ve produced.
Week 4ish of flower if we’re going by overall development. Not much to say really; she’s adapted well to the indoor environment and now that she’s on Druid nutes, she’s also loving the additional shots of go-juice. We’ll see how cops development goes over the next 2 weeks and it should be a little more telling with respect to final yields then. Alls good.
Strain details
She’s a mix of a particularly strong Northern Lights, crossed with a Spicy Bitch sativa hybrid. The hope is that we’ll be able to combine the overtly narcotic effects in the NL and mellow it out somewhat with the quality daytime sativa effects found in the SB.
Both strains feature numerous grower qualities. Both parents possessed vigour and resiliency, the SB particularly colourful in late flower. These beans were the product of a shotgun breeding run that presented an unexpected opportunity so there’s quite a bit of testing that should flow from the various F1’s we’ve produced.
Week 5/6ish of flower and they’ve started to stack up pretty nicely now. Looks like a smaller harvest at this point and likely still another 4-5 weeks of flower to go. I do expect this strain to naturally run out longer but it’s definitely gonna test my patience.
Alls good in the hood for this week - just wait’n on the prime time photo ops now👌
Sitt’n about week 7ish of flower and all proceeding as expected. Got a little bit of tip burn on the mains fan leaves but really just do to minor light burn. She’s lush and beautiful and bud development has been excellent. The trichome production is certainly above average which is an excellent sign. While I don’t expect this F1 to be particularly colourful she’s definitely got it where it counts. Trying to pinpoint how much longer we’ve got is difficult. It’s in soil, moved from outdoors and a tester plant on one of our newest strains so far too many variables to have any kind of expectation. If I had to guess I’d say we still got at least 3 weeks around here until chop. Still rolln without issues though👍.
Through week 7/8ish of flower and she’s starting to round out nicely now. We still don’t expect a huge harvest here, despite the plants lanky, tall size. Frost production is absolutely off the charts and she’ll round out very nicely when it’s time to chop. Probably start trich watch next week and take it from there until we start to see the fade. We’ll also move over to plain water feeds and cut the nutes off due to the soil medium. Let her finish slow and steady. Not much longer now and this F1 is expected to be some 🔥 bud👍.
Week 8/9ish and like the energizer bunny this one just keeps on going. Trichs are barely starting to look milky and I really don’t think that the buds have truly begun bulking. Highly likely we’ve got a 10-13 week flowering plant here… is what it is and she remains very very healthy while we continue to wait for the finish. Alls good but my patience👍👌.
Week 9/10 of flower and this one is juuuust starting to find its end. Trich development and bud bulk has increased pretty significantly over the last week and if u look real close we’re seeing slight signs of amber. Still not there just yet but leaves have begun to fade a little indicating that the end is nigh.
Frustrating to see little spots of WPM here and there - we’ve been treating that with spot sprays of sodium bicarbonate which has kept it in check. The soil and pot simply aren’t getting enough airflow.l due to the plants overall size and a need to keep the canopy cool when so close to the grow light. Other than that , she’s been pretty smooth sailn. Not long now and looking forward to the finish on this one👍.
Week 10/11 ish update. No major changes and wasn’t able to get photos for this week. Plant continues to show ripeness but a lack of amber trichs under the scope. We’re still battling spotty WPM and just hoping that she hurries up before it becomes really problematic. Guessing it’ll be another week as long as the WPM doesn’t force our hand earlier. She’s on the flush but that’s not really a factor as the pot barely dries out at all over the week. Just a drawback to lack of lower airflow and a heavily condense soil and root mass. Yet another failure of the overall grow on this strain in general…
Week 11/12ish of flower and this is the last week for this girl regardless. The lack of air circ. Below the canopy has molded out the fabric pot and as a result, the WPM continues to spread and pop up. We’ve been treating it and spraying localized areas with sodium bicarbonate solution which has greatly mitigated its advance but at this point I’m simply too concerned with it taking full hold and losing some of the crop. We’ll be taking her down in a couple of days. It’s not ideal, the plant hasn’t really faded or coloured out much but the trich development is on point and despite a lack of amber - she’s still juuuust barely entered into the chop window. All told - should have a good bit of bud to smoke test👍👌.
Harvest deets coming in short order but the real review will be when we finally get to try it out.
Initial harvest report on this one is pretty basic. For all intents and purposes this entire run was an abject failure. We lost the initial tester run and were left with this one plant that we brought in from outside. So there are no growth benchmarks or details on nodal spacing, flowering times, overall plant structure or even potentially bud quality. Another problematic development was the presence of WPM, the NL part of the cross just can’t seem to escape it on any grow but I can’t exactly blame the plant itself for this.
The only real good measures we got off this girl are such that the trichome development on the buds is definitely above average. As is overall density at maturity. One other positive outcome was that the plant requires very little in the way of water/nutes and it Carrie’s a somewhat subdued scent when in full bloom. These are all testament to the northern lights roots.
One unexpected outcome however was the scent profile post chop. It was like unlocking Pandora’s box when you open the trim bowl - an incredibly strong, terpy fresh scent that I’d almost equate to a mint type of profile. The strength was surprising and usually bodes well for any strain once it’s time to jar it up and cure. Only time will yell and we’re now waiting on the dry.
***post-dry update***
Well, the buds dried up lighter and airy-er than preferred likely due to its time outdoors and an inability to maintain canopy uniformity when it was inside. The grow itself would be a complete and total failure if not for the effects - cerebral awareness with a physical “lightening” effect I would equate to a half decent day time high. Not mind flaying by any stretch but it wasn’t really supposed to be either. The scent profile is pure nail polish remover which is only prevalent when it’s chopped up. These two positive qualities alone will require that we test this further before axing the whole genetic line and moving on to something different. We’ll see what happens in the next couple years. There are definitely other crosses that need to be run first.
@CRiSPrGrow, Cali’s nice dude but you’ll have to venture a lot further north on this continent to get closer to me lol. Still state side works for faster mail deliveries no doubt👍
TheBudWhisperer
