Barney's Farm - Biscotti Mintz

Nov 20, 2023 Today marks the official kick off of the experiment with Soil Microbs. Xtreme Gardening Products, and Hygrozyme Products. Hygrozyme, Xtreme,Gardening and Green Planet Products will be added at the specified ratio's throughout the entire grow. 4 Clones planted today, one of which was treated with Beneficial Bacteria and Fungi. 3 were not. The best 2 of the 3 non treated clones will be chosen to use to compare with the treated clone. The treated plants roots were misted with B1 SuperThrive to wet everything, then Azos and Mykos were dusted all over the roots, and the layer of soil they were set down on was also dusted with both. The clones were planted in party cups. I burned little drainage slits in the bottoms of each cup. The party cups were used to provide a smaller and easier to fill root zone, so that when they get transplanted the root ball won't be flimsy and break apart. It will be exciting come transplant time to compare root balls between the treated and untreated clones. I'm hoping to maintain a 1/2 strength feed regiment with Remo Nutrients 2x per week. So they will receive a normal recommended dose, but split in half per week. In a week I am harvesting my 4x4 tent. Then it will be cleaned to make way for the new crop. Mid Week Update: It's been 4 days since the clones have been planted. Today they were watered with just straight tap water which was 200 ppm, and pH to 6.3. Hygrozyme was added to the 3 experimental clones. at approx 2ml per liter. Biscotti Mintz shows the most adverse effects of the hot feed. Lemon Kush look a little unhappy and lack nitrogen. The Oreoz look great.

November 27, 2023 Today i was pretty careful with the feed as you can see from the low ppm. I hate my tap water. It came out at 197 ppm. I added a little kelp, and a little micro nutrient. Anything more and i risk another burn, potentially. pH to 6.3. of the 12 plants, 9 are watered with nutrients listed above, but without microbs and enzymes. After feeding the 9, i add hygrozyme and hygroben to the remaining water (1 liter) and mix in the hygro Products and feed 140ml to each solo cup of the experimental plants. I think it's clear after 1 week that beneficial microbs and fungi are more valuable than first thought. You can see the treated plants have little to no nutrient burn, while the rest of the plants are damaged from the 592 ppm initial feeding when planted. I knew it was a risk when i watered that in but decided to take the chance, and i lost. It's amazing how much more vigor and just over all growth of the inoculated plants vs. the rest, Crazy! Hygrozyme is included in every watering HygroBen is applied 1 time per week (today) Azos was a 1 time application at planting Mykos was applied at planting and will be further applied when transplanted into fabric pots. I wasn't planning on topping any of the plants, but the Biscotti Mintz seems to be a stretchy fucker. I don't know if that's because of the light distance or what. The mum is kinda stretchy as well with long internode spacing. Any squat varieties will suffer with the lemon kush and biscotti because they seem lanky which will rob the squat plant (if any) of light intensity.

This weeks entry will be done in stages over the course of the week. So i will update and complete the week's diary when I'm done. Pictures and Nutrient info to come later today. I've decided to modify the experiment to a degree. Since the benefits of microbs was clearly evident, i've decided to not use the treated clones, and opt to use the non treated clones instead, BUT, ALL plants will be treated with microbs rather than just 1 from each strain. The decision was because the microbs were so much more robust and grew way faster, that it will be impossible to maintain the canopy uniformity. Hygrozyme was applied at full strength, as was HygroBen. Hygrozyme is a beneficial enzyme that eats up dead organic matter and turns it into a usable plant nutrient that the plants can absorb, such as dead, dried out or rotton root matter. HygroBen is another beneficial bacteria which will be applied at the recommended rate of once a week. Nutrients have been mixed and ph'd and is soaking into and distributing throughout the coco. When it's all absorbed i will begin the transplant. Mykos and Azos will be dusted on the root ball, as well as in the transplant hole. The plants look like shit because i have been purposely under feeding them in to try to slow their growth down because i was not anticipating a 9 week finish on the last crop, so i ended up behind by a week. Some are also suffering from over watering and a touch of root rot. That was accidental. I have a AC Infinity humidifier and i use the hose to pump in the humidity. Well the hose drips onto the floor where the solo cups were so they wicked up the water on the floor and i hadn't noticed it, Fock! Every plant was treated with Mykos, and Azos. Mykos was sprinkled into each hole, as well as Azos but Azos was also dusted on the root balls themselves. Light is 24" away and set to 50% power They should be ok though. The over water will be sorted shortly and the root rot will be dealt with by the Hygrozyme. Thats best case scenario. X Fingers! Here we go again mother fuckers! 😎

They look like shit don't they lol. Fuckin things i figured they'd bounce back within 24 hrs of transplant, but today is day 5 after transplant and they are still droopy and unhappy. I did give them a very light 410ppm feed initially because i was afraid of burning them again. My tap water ppm really fucks me up and i have to do all kinds of adjustments to the feed regiment so i don't get the ppm's too high. My tap water today was 189 ppm. That extra 189 ppm can be the difference between burning your plants, and not burning them. I mixed week 1 of Remo nutes and i got 828 ppm which is double what i gave them 5 days ago. I'll check them in an hour and see if they get worse or if they stay as is. They were again hit with Hygrozyme and HygroBen because i am sure there is root rot going on with all of them. That I am partially to blame for. I don't take 100% of the blame because the AC Infinity humidifier hose drips water on the floor and it accumulates to the point where the solo cups ended up wicking up a buncha water and just sat in the dripped down water. Word of advice, if you use the AC Infinity humidifier hose attachment, get a catch bucket under it to collect the condensation drips. You can re-use the water if you want, but more importantly, if you have solo cups on the floor, or any pots with drainage holes and no saucers, they will suck up the water off the floor and water log your roots. I hope I can get these plants to bounce back, but I'm starting to worry a bit. They aren't dead, but they aren't happy. They are very prone to pathogens and could be infected already. Light intensity increased to max. at 15" from canopy. If that's the case then I'll just have to cut more clones and try again. Shitty thing is it throws off my grow season schedule. But at the same time i do enjoy the challenge of recovering these girls. I'll do my best. You see, even a 40 year veteran grower can still fuck up by just a slight over sight. DECEMBER 13, 2023 UPDATE: I've added a picture of the entire garden on day 7 after transplant. Today is the first day they have shown some perkiness. The back right Oreoz has been the saddest one of the bunch and today is the first time in 7 days it's shown signs of bounce back, yay! I was on the fence on whether i should cut more clones because they looked so bad I wasn't optimistic they were going to make it. Only issue now is that they are ready to flip to flower based on my height preferences due to height constraints, but i don't like the lack of branching and they are not healthy enough to flip yet, so i am going to top them, and veg a little more. I want them more branchy and healthy before i flip. DECEMBER 15, 2023 UPDATE: Since the plants are bouncing back nicely, and some of the plants were a bit leggy due to lack of light intensity at the solo cup stage, I've topped the plants down to 5 inches in height. The entire garden was topped at 5 inches. Light has been dropped to 13" above the canopy and dimmer remains at 70% Plants are really greening up now. Thankfully I've managed to handle the root rot with hygrozyme (great product) and I've got over 800ppm of food in on the last feed and the pots are still heavy so their roots are exploring the pot now for water and food and will require more watering as they fill out the pot with roots. The primary goal of topping was simply to reduce the height and legginess. Equally, topping will promote more side branching which ultimately results in increased yield by creating 2 tops and more robust side branching and overall growth tip production. The plants will be vegged till they are 12 inches tall, and then they will be flipped to 12/12. I may feed 1 more week of veg nutrients, but i'm not sure yet. I'm going to try something I've never tried before. The plan, if all goes right, is that if the plants grow to 8 inches by Monday (3 more days) then i will feed them week 1 of bloom, but keep them in veg one more week. I want to see if the claim made that the plants don't stretch much when higher P and K are introduced during the last week of veg. Another tip to reduce stretch is to maintain consistent temperature, especially when lights are off. I have to organize my inkbird trigger and a small space heater. Still debating.......or i could just close the window in the room....but thats a whole ordeal.

It's only been a few days since they were all beginning to recover and have been topped. Side branching is taking shape. Health still improving. Next week 100% i will introduce Green Plants Rezin To the regiment. I will do a controlled experiment with it by treating only 1 of the 3 plants and we will see if the claims they make are legit. If you wanna know the claims of the product look it up yourself. Each pot was given 1 liter of nutrient solution today. And that will likely carry them right through the week because they are still not loaded with roots yet. Which plant i want to treat with Rezin i haven't decided yet. When i know i will report it here.

There's a picture from a few days ago where the plants are really perky and vibrant. In the past few days they have taken a down turn in appearance. There's a few reasons for that. #1, I'm lazy, and I tend to not ever go into the tent unless i need to feed or water. In that time the plants grew and what was acceptable light intensity became too much for them as they got closer to the lights, and they are now suffering from light stress and a little damage in the form of bleaching leaves, tops, and tips. #2 The temperature outside has dropped and the high in the tent today was 67F. That's not something they like either. It's been 6 days since they have been fed so today they were fed a day early, as tomorrow is Christmas day. The open window i used to use to control the H.I.D heat is no longer needed and i've just been sitting on my hands about going and closing it. It's now closed. You might notice that i've given the plants week 1 of bloom formula, yet they are still in veg. A little birdy told me that giving them a reduction in nitrogen but a boost in Phosphorous 1 week prior to light flip, will greatly reduce the length in which they stretch when flipped to 12/12. Stick around to see what happens i guess. The other experiement kick off today is the addition of the Green Planet product "Rezin" Rezin is a natural plant stressor that fools the plant into thinking it's under attack and as a result is supposed to create more rezin production. So i have applied nutrients like normal to plant 1 and 2, and Plant #3, i added Rezin to the 2 liters of nutrients that was applied to it. So every other plant was fed per usual, but nutrient solution was set aside and Rezin applied to keep it controlled. As usual, Hygrozyme and Hygroben was added at the above mentioned ratios. Once the plants are big enough to require 2x a week feed/water, hygroben will only be included on feed day, but Hygrozyme will be applied to every watering. Biscotti Mintz appears to be a light feeder. Even applying last weeks feed which was under 1000ppm they show signs of burn, and also a slight potassium deficiency. Today's feed was high in Potassium so that should clear up. I'm just worried the 1155ppm feed is gonna cook them. Even though that's not a huge ppm, it's still worrying me a little. My tap water today was 215ppm.......after nutes, 1155ppm They haven't been fed for 6 days and they were fed less than 1000ppm of nutrients so they are showing some signs of malnutrition. That should clear after today's feed. I'm hoping after a few days they will recover and perk up. I've raised the light to 15 inches above canopy and plan to increase the light intensity to 100% later on. I just want to wait and see how they react to the feed. Don't wanna hit them too hard all at once with big adjustments. Plus the temps are going to rise from 67F to 81F over the next 2 hours. I'm liking the growth pattern of the Biscotti Mintz strain so far. The mom grew all tall and lanky with long internodal spacing, but after I chopped her back a few times she's pretty stout and bushy now. And the clones are now too which is nice. One thing i won't ever do again, is grow multiple strains in 1 garden. Different growth patterns and rates of growth are too difficult to manage to keep everything uniform. I might LST but i hate doing that. All the fucking around, ya know? We'll see...

This week has been a whirlwind and the garden has really been neglected. I'm at the beginning stages of a divorce which has all exploded in my face about 7 days ago. I've been separated for 1.5 years. It's been a really stressful, emotional week and the plants are just not so important to me right now. I'm doing a little better with each day but it's still very hard to go through. I fed them today the same as last week, only the light flip will begin today. I've been having problems with low temps for some reason. I have them light dimmed to 6 out of 10. The plants are light stressed because of whats been going on and they got to close to the lights. I will post some pictures tomorrow. I'm not really to enthused to show them. They aren't as bad as i am making them out to be, but they are in distress right now with a few issues. I managed to continue the Controlled Green Planet Rezin experiment. Plant #3 of Biscotti Mintz and Oreoz got the Rezin, and Plant #2 of Lemon Kush got Rezin. The rest have not been treated.

Shit! Just realized i forgot to add rezin to the last 3 Plants! It's ok next time. Smoked too much today....got forgetful. The plants did however get a dose of Hygroben. All plants were to get hygroben but i mistook it as the one only the experimental plants were getting so all the rest didn't get any. No big deal. Stoner experiments....lol Anyways, the plants bounced back after some ruff stuff with light stress and being under fed at the beginning. Today they got 2 liters of nutrient solution each. Some were a little droopy from drought. Not severely though so they'll perk up in an hour or so. I'll take more pix tomorrow i just forgot today. A buddy came by and we smoked up. I usually don't smoke up during the day so thats why i bungled the experiment a bit today. I'm trying to keep the day/night temps close to see if it impacts the stretch and internode spacing. But the relationship drama recently has placed my focus elsewhere so it fell by the way side. I have a small space heater in the room and the temps have been fluctuating from 80F to 74F at night. Not too bad but i'd rather see no more than a 5 degree gap. It's hard to regulate. Light dimmer is set to 7 of 10. If i increase it the temps will rise and trip the exhaust more which drops the humidity out of range and jacks up my VPD. It's a delicate balance that's hard to maintain! I have to say that i'm not very pleased with the Oreoz Strain so far. It's spindly and has long internodeal spacing. The Lemon Kush is always a great plant with consistent growth patterns. The Biscotti Mintz is ok so far. We'll see how they play out. JANUARY 13, 2024 Today the girls are getting a flush in the bath tub. They have a touch of tip burn, and they are being fed chemical nutrients and have been fed 8 times since planted. I do this around week 3 of flower because in my experience, and if you look around this site, week 3 is when things tend to start shitting the bed with deficiencies and more severe nutrient burn. A 1 gallon flush using room temperature gassed off chlorine water that's pH to 6.2 will ensure a smooth sail to the finish line. So flush today, then they will have 11 hours of light (1 hour to flush them all approx) then all Saturday, and all Sunday, and through to Monday 5pm when the lights come on to dry up a bit. Then week 3 of feed will be applied regardless if the soil is dry or not (which it won't be) and onward we roll.

The experiments continue... It's been difficult to manage the temps in the space this past week with the arctic cold front thats blanketed the area. Outside temperatures have been -47c with the wind chill. -40c without the wind. It sucks! I've been trying to maintain no more than a 5 degree difference between day and night temperatures to see if it affects the stretch during the first few weeks of flower. I don't know anything about Biscotti Mintz as it's my first time growing it. But i do have extensive experience with lemon kush, and they are much shorter than they typically get. The other experiment I did was feeding week 1 of flower nutrients, the last week of veg. That has been a very interesting result. The amount of flowering material on the plants is quite shocking for 14 days of 12/12. I would say they are a full week ahead of schedule on flower development. I did this to see if it would affect the stretch, but i didn't expect this. VERY cool!! I'm going to do it from now on! The last experiment is ongoing. And that is using the Green Planet product called Rezin. It's supposed to create a stress like condition in the root zone which they claim cause the plant to produce more resin glands. I've treated plant #3 only with Rezin, and plants 1 and 2 are untreated. We'll compare as the garden progresses. I've got a small space heater in the room. The room is 35c, but in the tent it's 69F. It's amazing how the ac infinity tents keep the atmosphere in,and vice versa. Humidity has been bouncing between 40 and 58% The extraction fan kicks on at 58% and will turn off below that value. The extraction fan is a 6" ac infinity cloudline fan so it's powerful. It will extract till it dips below 58% RH but will drop it all the way down to 39% Then it rises again due to transpiration and soil evaporation till it reaches 58%. You get the idea. The temperature trigger is set to 79F but it never gets there because the humidity is the one controlling the atmosphere more than the temperature is. VPD has been floating around 1.30 which is ideal for flowering plants, so i'm pretty happy about that, and the plants are showing their happiness as well. When you get VPD dialed in boy do the plants respond holy shit! Using the Remo nutrients has been a pleasure actually. Every bottle measures the same amount per gallon. So for 16 liters of water, i put in 30ml of each. Mix, pH to 6.3 (high 6.2 today. 1 drop of pH down too many) Add Hygrozyme enzyme, and Hygroben beneficial bacteria and 2ml/l each. Might do a little defoliation next week. In fact i know i will. Just selective stuff not a major strip. Onward and upward!😛

Fed 2 days early. Coco was getting a little dry. I'll add more pix and detail tomorrow. Ever see that much bud development only 22 days into bloom? Wanna know how i did it? I'm not telling!, but if you look through my diary you will find the answer 😁 JANUARY 25, 2024 When lights come on today i'll be giving each plant some plain 6.3 adjusted tap water, with some Hygrozyme added in. Either 1 liter each or 2, i haven't decided yet. Likely 1 liter each, but i might change my mind. The cold snap has passed now so the light has been dimmed to 70% from 100% to tame the increase in temperature.

Well, i've been watching my plants getting worse and worse with some kind of bullshit fuckery. I decided to whip out the ol' soil pH probe and to my shock, the pH is way off!. Why.....unknown. I pH to 6.2 or 6.3 every watering. I calibrated my pH pen 2 weeks ago and it was dialed in. Some of the pots tested 5.2 pH for fook sakes! No wonder everything is going to shit lol. Bad time to have a shit slide. Well, I'll test the soil tomorrow and see what i see. In a few days I'll give plain water but i may water in a 7.5 pH and see where it settles. Really bizarre because i've been very consistent with the pH in my mixes. Today it settled at 6.1 pH (1 drop too many) I had problems with Remo nutrients in the past in RDWC but this time i was trying it in Coco to see what would happen. Hopefully i can raise it to an acceptable range next watering. What a fuck over! Today I bottom watered in 1 liter and 1 liter through the top of the soil. Hygrozyme and Hygroben were added as usual, and the Rezin was added only to 1 of each strain.Hopefully i can get the pH up sooner than later! Stay tuned for more fuck over's or resolution and recovery! Terrible time to get a pH problem. Week 5 of flower....fugggggg FEBRUARY 2, 2024 After discovering a catastrophic pH drop for reasons unknown. I have been watering in just dechlorinated tap water which naturally resides around 8.3 pH over the past 3 days. I've gotten the pH in the soil back in acceptable range. Anywhere between 5.6 and 6.4. One plant in the garden is being stubborn and won't rise above 5.0 pH so i hammered it again with 8.3 tap water. The girls seems to be perking up a bit and are less droopy and sad. Lots of damage from the out of range pH though. Hopefully they green up a little more. I just can't understand what happened with the pH getting so low. I consistently pH my watering between 6.1 and 6.3. I'm baffled.

blah. Website is dogshit. Don't give a fuck anymore.

Lazy growers sometimes get bit in the ass. Also stoned growers because i for the life of me can't figure out why the pH got so drastically low. I'm talkin 3.8 pH in some pots. Sometimes i get really high and mix nutes and well, oops..... Don't really care though, i have more pot than i know what to do with. Anyways, next run i'll be more cautious, i hope.

Plants are nearing the end. I'll check the trichomes this week to see their progress. I'm not too happy with the results. The pH fiasco really zapped them bad. I was lead astray by a sub standard pH meter. Might be time to retire the old HM meter to the trash bin. Long internode spacing on the Biscotti Mintz. Not really something that appeals to me. I like a squat bushy plant. I'm gonna do 1 last run for the season coming up and i'm thinking i might to half Biscotti Mintz and half Oreoz. I haven't decided. Clones will be cut this week off my mothers. Plant #3 was treated with Green Plant Rezin. In my opinion, it's snake oil. I see no difference in trichome production between the treated and non treated plants. Thursday February 22, 2024 Plants given 2 liters of 6.3 pH water with Typhoon Clense.

Plants are being trimmed right now. The Biscotti Mintz is gooey and does aq nice job at gunking up my scissors. 2 plants done as of yesterday. I'll snip up the last one this morning and finish up this with the wet weight numbers.