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Here we go…let start the outdoor session 2023: around 30 weeks to grow; carrying, fighting pests or diseases, hiding from people, anticipating heat waves or humidity problems….I like to play this daily game😎🤙
This year I decided to grow 3 different strains by Anesia seeds: this Blackberry Moonrocks was chosen for the Indica genetic: short size and flowering cycle.
Genetic: Blue moonrock( blue moon x BOG Bubble) x Blackberry( Bubba Kush x Blackberry) 👌
I start to prepare a enriched soil (recipe next week)
The germination room (indoor) is ready with a Mars Hydro TS 1000 power: 40%
Week 2 Ok: the crucial period of vulnerability is almost behind us.
Perfect mini plant. Transplanted the peat pot in a 3L pot for 4 or 5 weeks.
Few fungus gnats around: I putt sticking traps, sprayed Neem oil.
3 watering 25cl every 60h:
- algamic + bio heaven + root stimulator
- humic/fulvic + root stimulator + Cannazym
- root stimulator + tarantula
Week 3: growing normal; vigorous and healthy.
Start to reduce the time of the light: 3 to 4 minutes each days to arrived to 15 hours lighting mid May.
Light Niello 300 veg mode (blue spectrum)
watering with 30cl rain water every 60h:
-root stimulator + Cannazym + tarantula
-root stimulator + algamic + bio grow + bio heaven
Blackberry Moonroocks week 4 done.
The tallest plant of the session: this Indica is growing fast, healthy and strong…💪🏼🇪🇸🌱
Transplantation day 28: 3L to 18L. The plants start to be tall for the little grow space under the stairs: I will stop growing under light (Niello 300-veg. Mode) soon. Next week we’ll have 14h45 of sun light and the plants will be in the same timing. The sun is still here in the garden and the plant is already outside all day long with just 1 hour of artificial light.
Soil mix was ready before (cf week 1)
Watering 30cl 3 times in the week:
- root stimulator + bio grow + bio heaven x 2
- Cannazym + root stimulator + bio-heaven + humid/fulvic (after transplantation)
Week 5. It’s time to go definitely outside.
Sunrise 6h35 - Sunset 21h25 = 14h50: same light time than under artificial light. The plant is the major part of the time outside since 10 days, in a greenhouse during the night and when it’s rainy days. Spring temperatures are nice and sunny days are coming.
Used a foliar Neem oil spray one time before night to prevent pests and enforce the plant.
Continue to stimulate the root system, the soil is enough rich for the moment: no need to fertilize more. Watering every 3 or 4 days + some little rain episodes.
Did the topping after 5 nodes: I start to control the size if I need finally a plant around 1m50.
Week 6
Daylight 15h03: 6h25 / 21h33 - sunny days, hot but a little bit windy 👌
Slower growth after the topping but healthy plant: green and vigorous.
Salted to add some nutrients with the root stimulator; 2 x 80cl watering this week.
Sprayed some Neem oil on the whole plant.
2 weeks ago I started to write the weekly post like this
Week 8
Plant is waiting for the growing kick. For the moment it’s a pretty plant; relatively healthy despite of all pests or diseases to prevent or fight soon before summer. Temperatures are around 30 degrees some day, and there’s lot of insects: some are good for the plant, some are bad.
I’m intensifying the preventative treatments: this week I sprayed Neem oil and 3 days after: a decoction made with distilled water + garlic + chili (maturing 10 days in dark).
12 hours after spraying my preparation without any ph test before😱🤯💀…disaster happened: the plant was damaged, burned, with crispy yellow leaves: very big mistake.
Stressing and busy life has bad consequences on the culture. I must take my time before acting.
New commandment: ALWAYS YOU’LL TEST YOUR PREPARATION BEFORE SPRAYING
So angry 😡 I started fo flush leaves and plants , spraying morning and before night distilled water. Cutting yellow leaves.
I tested the preparation after, too late: ph 4 or less….😔👏🏼….well done.
But plant are not dying, major damages on leaves. It will be a question of time to recover health: plant is still growing.
Training the plant such as an espalier, well adapted to the light exposure in my place. I built a sort of basic scale with bamboo and twisted carefully the main branches around. Less risky and less time spend….
Using nutrients: Flora Series from général hydroponic : working good for outdoor
Week 15
Coming back from holidays: left the plants 13 days in self sufficiently.
-grow spot: greenhouse
-Automatic Watering Blumat with 5L supply of water / plant
-ventilation: 6 AM to 22 PM = 15 min/h - 22 PM to 6 AM = 15min/2h
-companion plants: dill, basil + in front of the greenhouse: lavender, sunflower
-insect traps ; artificial (paper glue) and natural : numbers of spiders around
-1 manual watering day 7
Blackberry Moonrroks have a good comportment; surviving to th ‘ph shock), resisting good to heat, minimum water, continue to grow, creating tot of ramifications and blooming sites the pre-flowering stage will start soon.
No pest or predators around (I will have a meticulous daily check)., no signs of dehydration but a dense root system around the ‘carrot clay’ (Blumat) cf photo.
Daylight 6h34 to 21h43 = 15h09 👇🏼- Lucky weather: sunny, not too hot 🤙
Nutrient cocktail BioBizz 2L
Sprayed Neem Oil early in the morning
Training technique : espalier
I used to train some outdoor plants like this since 2 years. The spot is located in a sort of greenhouse or sun room; southern exposure, full light=9am/5pm, illuminated surface=60x300cm: it’s not so much space behind the glass with a good exposure.
Remembering some trees and plants trained with this technique in my grandfather’s garden apple trees, pear trees, french beans….all the growing space (around 10m x 30m) was organized in several tight rows with different species of fruit trees or vegetable plants: quasi all where trained in espalier technique. More easy to walk between plants, good for light exposure, maximize blooming sites, easy to check and the yields were amazing.
I had good results last year using this technique.
—advantages: simple….it’s a primitive scale structure bamboo + food string . It protect: less risk of broken branches . Size controlled and easy training
´week 15
Compared to last summer; heat waves, dry conditions, pest, predators: the situation is stable optimal. Major part of the time it’s sunny, sometimes cloudy and windy with
24 to 26 degrees (top temperatures).
Less heat (+ humidity after storms) = Less insect pests 👍🏼
Preflowering well engaged. Near the point of stretching stagnation : ✊🏼Welcome to stag 3: Flowering. Seedling ok….Vegetative stage ok (despite of a violent Ph stress)…
Day light: 6h40/21h37 = 14h57 (-2 minutes)
Watering & Nutrients
-BioBizz Cocktail: Root juice + Bio Heaven + Bio Grow + Calmag
-additives: Humic/Fulvic + Root Juice + Calmag + Cannazym
Sprayed:
-Fish Mix + Alga Mic
Soil amendment:
-Bat guano (GuanoDiff 🇫🇷) NPK 3/6/10: on top of soil.
At this point I’m a little bit too optimistic… it’s almost the middle of the session: so I count a maximum of 10 or 12 weeks till now ( all plants are Indica dominant except the Gorilla Glue#4 ): the session is under control, the environment too. Now it’s question of time, nutrients and vigilance.
Blackberry Moonrocks was really shocked after the ph mistake. However the plant is now healthy and ready for flowering. The easy training works good for light exposure and space between stems.
Week 16
Nothing really moved this week. It’s something like between low tide and high tide: not my favorite moment … waiting for blossoms and flowers 🙄🙏.
Good point is that every plants are healthy ( except a parasite problem on Psicodelicia) and well
prepared for flowering.
For now it’s bad weather outside: 20 degrees max, with lot of wind and rain (cf video). The green house is the best option despite of less exposure.
Morning soon I moved the plants outside to sprayed them with potassium soap (natural insecticide). I cleaned the grow space inside the greenhouse (didn’t touch spiderwebs…good insecticide too).
I removed the automatic watering and get a few liters of rain water during this days.
Watering 1L every 3 days
-Calmag + Cannazym + Alga mic + Root booster
-Flora Series: preflowering quantities.
Daylight 14h30: 6h50/21h20
Blackberry Moonrocks is still healthy; no problem of deficiency or pests, diseases. This strain is resistant and vigorous: no more stretch, waiting for flowering.lot of blooming sites along the branches.
Week 18
Middle August : weather is changing. Return of heat and humidity: 28 degrees, a little bit rain. A heat wave is coming but near the ocean the maximum will be around 32 degrees.
It’s good to grow in greenhouse during this period :
-ventilation control: I adapted the rythme: for now it’s around 18h/24h intermittently
-pests and diseases control: insect’s traps natural and artificial, less heat
-humidity control: no rain problem
Daylight 14h: 7h/21h
Flowering time 😁. Healthy plant, beautiful green color, just a few yellow leaves on the base.
More watering: 1,5L every 60 hours
Same cocktail: Calmag (0,5ml/L)+ FloraGro (2ml/L), FloraMicro (2ml/L), FloraBloom (1ml/L) + Root booster + Cannazym
Feeding soil with guano bat (NPK 3/6/10) for a slow dispersion + dried horn and blood (NOK 13/0/0) for nitrogen add.
Protecting plant: sprayed Neem Oil, added diatomaceous earth on soil.
I will make a defoliation soon.
Week 21
Finishing August, 23 degrees with some rainy and windy conditions during ten days; after that start a new heat waves (38 degrees tomorrow) with sunny days. The whole summer was like this: no really regular conditions. But it’s a pretty good test for finding a way to grow without any electricity during 6 month: preying to get a good harvest in quantity and quality. One of the lessons When you grow in Europe, west coast around 46°N, near ocean is to have an Indoor shelter to preserve from weather irregularity’s (rubbery and cops). There’s good year giving good fine vintage, bad year and poor harvest. To have a reasonable harvest: shelter is better!
Daylight 13h - 7h30/20h30 (-3 minutes)
Plant is changing to the final morphology. Flowering since around 3 weeks: we needs almost 7 weeks more before the harvest question.
I was doubtful about the flowers size, but I compared to the last year diary and note that the evolution of plants were similar. Middle to end October will be probably the harvesting period: It’s because Indica dominant or low Sativa genetic is a reasonable option when selecting the outdoor strain.
Blackberry Moonrocks is globally a good plant. Toppings and LST provided numbers of flowers. Just 3 weeks flowering, but I’m suspecting a treat nutrient lockout: lot of yellow leaves dying despite of a good water ph. It could be a wrong earth ph too ( guano + palm tree ashes = low ph). I will try to flush and see.
Some Thrips around (white points on leaves) but not more. 💦 Sprayed Neem Oil, I will restart soon or with soap…
Problem of air circulation during heat or humidity episodes = pests
The plant is not totally healthy but initiate the flowering stage normally; next day will be interesting and crucial.
I suspected some deficiency signs on some leaves; nitrogen or phosphorus… not sure…
Whatever I put some palm tree ashes and sprayed the plant with a FishMix solution
Feeding the plant with Canna Terra Flores (easy when you’re busy)
Watering every 72h 1,2 L- ph <= 6.5
- Rain Water + Cannazym
- Calmag + Terra Flores (2mL) + Cannazym x 3
- FishMix + BioHeaven + Humic/Fulvic
Week 21
Beginning September: entire week with temperatures >36°C (23°C at night) and sunny days, no really humidity.
Daylight 12h43 : 7h37/20h20 (-2 min)
Ventilation 24h/24 in the greenhouse
🧐 Problem: lot of dying leaves. From the bottom to the middle of the plant numbers of leaves become yellow, brown and quickly dies. This phenomenon is continue and look abnormal at this stage.
- Water pH is ok between 6,3 and 6,5
- Ventilation ok.
- I added some FishMix to correct an hypothetical nitrogen deficiency
- the soil ph is may be wrong after amendment with Guano bat and Palm tree ashes (acid ph)
-
Thrips have perhaps weakened the plant. I treated the plant, sprayed a soap for plants.
- heat or exposure are not the problem
🤔Thinking to a NUTRIENT LOCKOUT. All symptoms are corresponding to this.
I chooses to flush one time the plant and give water during almost 5 days.
It’s around 5 or 6 weeks more to achieve the flowering process: cleaning the roots before the last stage could be a solution if I want to give the last nutrients for a good flowering finish.
I’ m looking the daily evolution
Week 25
Daylight 11h40 : 8h/19h40 … 😢
1st October: 32°C, sunny days; lot of record values of temperatures in the country. All garden are green, vegetables keep growing… no signs of Autumn. The harvest will be late….
In the last episode I was facing a Spider Mites attack; I reacted with a compulsive buying of products to eradicate those weed’s killer. Neem oil, liquid manure (fem, nettle, horsetail…), and one especially used on fruit and vegetables ( Solabiol: colza base). I used this one first: spraying plant early morning: 3 days later there is no more Spider mites in the area but some leaves and flowers are seriously burned.
The treatment seems aggressive at this stage of flowering cycle. Lot of pistils turned rusty but after one week the plant recovered: suffering but still flowering ✊
I’m thinking about a bad utilisation of the nutrients: may be too much; quantity and frequency., and mixing lot of products like a mad wizard 🧙♂️🏻💥.
May be a problem of air recycling in the greenhouse. Testing the earth ph could be a good thing to verify if some nutrients did change this and caused some problems.
For the final weeks I gave a last dose of nutrients…may be a too strong cocktail but I will start to flush soon.
Watering 1.5L each 3 days (hot temperatures + sun)
- BioBloom + TopMax + BioGrow + Diamond Sugar + BioHeaven
- Diamond Sugar + Cannazym + PK 13/14 + Calmag
- Diamond Sugar + Cannazym. + TerraFlores + Calmag
- Bud XL + Overdrive + Diamond sugar
Chaotic outdoor session this year; less problems compare to other years, but too busy to really be attentive to the plants. It’s almost 3 weeks before to think about harvesting and flowers are not so bad, smelly and sticky… story continue…
Blackberry ìMoonrocks is finishing slowly ; the successive bad treatments, parasite’s aggressions, heat etc…caused stress and damages but we will have a result in some weeks (2 or 3) if three is no problems of moisture or predators. Flowers are resinous, very smelly: complex and powerful aroma: seems a good product.
Week 26
8 October. Almost 8 weeks flowering .
🌞Great weather, sun and abnormally hot temperatures, lot of humidity in the morning bring by the fog (oceanic climate).
Daylight 11h20 - 8h10/19h30
Still hunting caterpillars. Those are big and hungry, causing damages and forming sort of cocoons under leaves. I don’t want to treat the plant at this stage of flowering; just check every day and kill the intruders
. No more Spider mites.
Flushing : water + Flawless Finish
harvest approach: it’s to risky to wait more. I prefer to cut soon and save a yield : this session is chaotic but flowers are here, maturing, and should give something good.
Blackberry Moonrocks is suffering. The plant look weakened: branches are bending down under the flower’s weight. The plant is making the last effort to finish the cycle. Flowers are getting more meaty and sticky, the smell is strong and heady…
Despite of the conditions, wrong treatments or agressions: this phenotype survived and produce e pretty good weed.😅.