Garden Pics I

Got a couple awesome strains from Ethos and a couple homebrewed seeds cooking. Flipped to flower after 6 weeks of vege. Had strong aroma in early vege from all of the Grandpa's Stash (5). High hopes; pun intended. A couple Banana Hammock (3) sure look like stretchers, but all I read is "small-to-midium size" and fairly fast to flower. Homebrew seed (2) are expected to be big stretchers and finish within 9 weeks or less. Should be a quick ride with all plants finishing within 8-9 weeks. I will update at various stages of flower development - mid stretch, end of stretch, ripening of buds and end of grow. Shit's boring now, anyway.

Total Days: 54 Flower Nights: 12 BBxGS - Been bombading with WAY more light that previous cycles with these seeds and seems to have prevented the typical excessive stretch. Internodes at top are a healthy length. Might start singing some sensitive pistils starting to form, and that will trigger an adjustment to the lights. Until then, I will keep "burning" them up. One of these plants is making me regret not taking a clone off of it. It's been one of the easier ones to manage in the room. No worries as I have a 1,000 of those seeds and so far most come out great. Good thing it filled out more than 2x2 space, too. Update - after raising lights these did get the expected growth pattern based on previous seeds. Stems are thick AF. Grandpa's Stash - Vege growth is dropping off faster than a prom dress. I've had 8-week plants before, but even those still had vigorous growth through day 21 to 24ish of flower. Had a couple runty grandpa's stashes, too, unfortunately. When I pay for something it causes some decisions to be irrational. I sowed extra plants specifically so that I could toss out the runts. Not only that, i didn't put one of them in a corner slot (worst light). It is responsible for vast majority of total "gap" in canopy. Update: The slowing of vertical growth was due to too much light. Vertical growth has ramped up again, thankfully. A wake up call to monitor light distance daily, dummy. Raising 1/2 - 1" per day keeps up. Stems are very thick. Banana Hammock - I likely caused the unusual growth pattern on Ham#1 (back row, left of center pole) by over-aggressively removing too many fan leaves. The adjacent Ham#3 was also over-pruned but recovered more gracefully. The other ham was a bit small in vege but has done okay in flower. Trying my best to bombard the lanky one with enough light to slow its ascent down. Found some singed pistils today, so i had to back off with the light a bit. Update: the excess defoliation these received almost certainly caused the excess stretch as it searched for more light due limited leaf surface relative to energy needs of the plant. "i done fucked up..." but they'll still do okay. General Notes I will undoubtedly be snapping some stems of the taller plants (HST) once the shorter plants plateau. Until then some of the taller stuff may suffer some limited light stress. I'll try to do what is best for the bulk of the canopy. I'd like to have a better idea of height potential of each plant before snapping any stems of the taller ones. No point in leveling out a canopy, if it isn't going to remain level. Second time with a scrog and trying new things.. none of which will be repeated from this cycle, LOL. I need to be more systematic about it. For one, reduce number of colas per plant. All i've done is increase trimming time with excessive axillary growth. Two colas per sq ft will achieve same mass per square foot of yield and be easier to trim / less overall work. Working backward from intended number of colas in future will help. Also, eight primary branches did not consistently work well. On some, the lowest pair were completely useless and had to be removed. Start with 4-6 primary branches in future. Also, do a better job breaking apical dominance of terminal buds near end of training. These bits need to be held lower than scorg canopy and for longer before released. Possibly try topping and then reducing to 1 terminal bud if still exhibiting symmetrical growth. Setting them back early and let them catch up late. We'll see how it goes and implement a better plan next grow cycle. By next winter, it should all be 90-95% codified. Consistency in how I do things allows for fine-tuning of processes. This wasn't possible the first few years of growing and also not without some horrible setbacks to learn from. It makes you feel all warm inside as it comes to fruition. Update 4 days later - scrog actually filled in quite well by FD16 and still filling in. The gaps around smallest stash are slightly mitigated with some training of the taller Ham1 plant adjacent to it, but this is limited. compared to last scrog grow where an entire plant was removed due to herming, this cycle may actually be more productive, but can definitely improve it. Also went with 10 plants this time instead of 12 the prvious while vegeing for only 2 days longer. Had i tossed the 2 runts for the extra homebrew plants i germinated to cover such things, it'd be even better yield. Some positives to take from it, but defnitely plenty of constructive criticism too. This sort of thing is my wheelhouse.. creating a system to account for all variations.. a mindless series of behaviours (once an SOP is refined) that will incrementally control the outcomes in a specific and repeatable way - simply observe and react per day and the outcome is assured, Barring oncontrollable hiccups like a herm, staying over 1.5g/w will be easy as pie.

So, been giving too much light to a few plants due due to uneven canopy. I'll HST some of the taller stuff once vege growth starts to slow down. You can see the singed pistils in the overexposed pictures of bud sites and colas. This is not a huge concern but hopefully I can level out the canopy in 5-7 days or so. These are all fast to flower strains, which is good for harvest timing. I don't expect anything to take longer than 60 days given current rate of development. Already see trichomes on the better plants. Overall, develpment is great. Plants are 95% healthy. I've lowered previous Mg ppm levels by 20-25% or so. See some extra lush foliage on the plants that got over-pruned, which makes sense due to previous lacking of leaves. May drop N ppm by 5-10% and see how it reacts. After a lile consternation, feeling much better about yield potential. While there is a bit more stretch to come, the plants are no longer adding new leaves. Majority of stretch will end by 28FD with a couple more inches eked out after that. Should see nicely formed buds by FD 35-40, then just waiting for them to fully ripen after that. I think less Mg has been good, but may adjust formula in regard to recent reduction of K. I'll run with new formula from early on in next grow cycle and get a better idea of its effects. I see a red streak in a stem but could be genetics too, as growth rate, development rate and overall health is excellent. BBxGS - Growing as expected. These are fairly consistent plants considering they are a hybrid. The one in back is a bit smaller. The one in front, is awesome sauce, relative to the strain. These plants produce dense golfball nugs up and down stalks that surprisingly end up being a fairly average yielding plant and incredibly easy to prune. 50g/sq ft is attainable with these plants with ambient CO2. Good, early trichome development on these is normal. Grandpa's Stash - After a little stunting due to light, these really took off vertically, which was a small concern early on. Sweet pine is a good enough description as I fail to find the words to desribe it beyond "sweet." These are also showing excellent trichome development - some more than others. Good cola development as bud sites are still forming and filling out. These seem the most sensitive to the light, but if I raise them a bit more I get a little more stretch than I want. The runty stash is the primary reason for the large gap in canopy (first "oops" picture). I should have tossed the smallest stash and filled with a 3rd bbxgs, but oh well. No more suffering weak plants even if I pay for them. Lesson learned. Banana Hammock - Once they recovered from over-pruning, the stretching wasn't as extreme, so I think this was self-inflicted more-so than a typical growth pattern. They will still be fine, but probably cost myself a few percent of yield. Early trichomes on hammock#1, and it is a tripical, sweet aroma. If they fill out well, 50g/sq ft is still possible. Been a little disappointed about these but the early trichome development and aroma have alleviated some fears. 25C / 50% RH is rocking consistently. Minding potential dewpoint and making sure there is a safe buffer to allow dehumidifier to control rising RH as temps drop after lights power off. VPD is on high-end for flower, but the infallible avoidance of dew is worth it. Clones have rooted in 10-11 days, woot. Will be transplanting 4 of those in coming days and tossing the rest, though some may find a home with a local grower, too. The heat mat and humidity dome definitely improved speed and consistency of root development. Colder air temps along with a warmer rootzone slows down foliage growth and allows for more resources to be used for root growth. Really like the results. Kicking myself for never buying these things before... Sure, it still "worked" without them, but the consistency in germination rates as well as the effect on rooting cuttings makes it a no-brainer given context of my winter season environment. Update - added a fairly accurate temperature and RH% probe that also calculates VPD and dewpoint. No more checking on these things manually and worrying about dewpoint. Alerted when dewpoint rises above a particular threshold or within a range along with any of the other metrics.

Greater climate control incoming. I've always spot-checked and adjusted dehum/hum to some extent, but having this data polled constantly, then graphed for me is making some decisions possible that were not before. I'm saving watts by reducing space heater setting at night, because i am confident I'm nowhere near the dewpoint at any point after the lights go out. Something I couldn't check when it matters - flower phase. I've found a few simple things can lower RH -5%. My dehum can maintain 53-55% but the VPD i want is at 50% given typical temperatures, so this was helpful, too. With greater accuracy (+/- .3F and +/-1.8%) -- 74F / 50% during lights on and 69F / 50% night after lights go out. My vpd was actually higher at night until i saw what was happening and tried to make some adjustments. Now, night and day VPD are about the same. I'd like to get the VPD at night slightly lower than during day. Temperatures take about 1.5 hours to reach new equilibrium, but the other factors level out before first hour of lights on/off. I doubt these things will make a huge difference, but maybe it avoids a nanner or shaves a day or two off a grow cycle. I'll take it. General notes - HST'd the taller bits of canopy. Still expect another 2-4" of growth, and a bit more HST likely to come. No droopy leaves after breaking a few branches, so that's always a positive sign. Mad another tweak to formula fully dropping to bit over 50ppm of Mg. EC is just over 1.2 and getting as good of growth as I've ever had feeding at higher levels. Awesome trichome production all over given it is 26+ days into flower. It's stinky and sticky all over. BBxGS - Looking as expected. These will be heavily frosted before it is all said and done and well on the way to that end. These have been quite resistant to light burn, but from past experience i know it will catch up afterr the buds form if i keep at the current levels. Possibly breaking more of these tollar colas down, but will wait for a hint of damage. These are coming out a bit sweeter and fruitier than the past.. maybe, that's the lower mg or just genetic variety provided by meosis? These seem sturdier, but won't know for sure until everything has ripened. these are forming the typical smallish top cola but good, tight golf-ball nugs nearly all the way down. Grandpa's Stash - One of the smaller iterations already has some visible plump of calyxes occuring - not much, but definitely seeing it. This plant is also heavily stacking, which is going to make it a surprisingly ok yield, despite it's slightly diminutive stature. It isn't the smallest but it's a close second of the stashes. Loving the smell off these. Hoping that "sweet pine" comes through on the taste test later on. These plants are studry AF and need no suppurt. The 2 i cloned for potential breeding are looking good. I keep waffling each week as to which i prefer more. The way the buds are stacking and the no longer gap in trichome production is leaning back toward #1 pheno, now, and i wouldn't mind a structure somewhere between the two, so a sister-sister matchup is still on horizon. Unfortunately some of the best forming buds, as far as size, are on the 2 smaller plants and luckily stash #1, too. Hopefully, the more robust plants are merely a bit slower to bulk up. Banana Hammock - These girls are looking good. A bit stretchy, but as I mentioned before, I exacerbated that trait with excesive pruning of leaves. These still have that nice tropical fruit / grape smell on the plants I cloned, woot! Buds are forming really well on all three of these plants. Similar to BBxGS but more substantial top colas and golf ball nugs all the way down, This is going to be a good pairing of similar plants, methinks. I'm liking both combinations of ethos plants, so far. The best 1 of each will be hybridized with the other too. Nearly half way done, and in the case of one of the possible 7-week-flower grandpa's stash, possibly past the halfway point. Plants are healthy. The ones I over pruned have darker leaves and that makes sense given their limited ability to store excess for a week or two. I'm keeping a close eye on how that progresses, but I think they are drawing down resources from leaves at this point and not adding to them. Otherwise, I like the tweaks to my nutrient formula - Significantly less Mg, added +16% P, dropped N 5% and add 2-3% K. The EC was dropping so low I wanted to amp "something" up, lol. Sitting at 1.243 EC +/- 5% due to error related to filling 55-gallon reservoir. My vpd is a bit high, and that may be why this sligtly reduced concentration is adding up just fine with slightly increased rate of drinking. Really enjoying this grow. Lots of things to improve, still. Next cycle will be a drastically more systematic approach to filling canopy. If all goes well, can start re-formig baseline expectations. Then, start tweaking climate. --- update The last few hours or so of the light cycle the plants seem to at least slow down transpiration. Less humidity is released and the dehum catches up after barely maintaining 50% for the previous hours of light. Humidity starts to drop slowly after 330am (3.5hours before lights out). The dehum is off at night and furnace slowly drops it further over time. I'm not bothering with a humidifier at night. The stomata should be closed anyway. The probe is suspended 6" under foliage, Relative to my willingness to spend on climate control, this is working out well. The heat during the day is solely provided by the lights and dehumidifier. I could open a door or blackout curtain at certain points to even out Temps and VPD to some extent. But a 1-2 degree variance is not something I'm going to worry about. For whatever reason, getting a lot less RH at night lately. Maybe the furnace is running more? The dehum used to help add heat at night but is not running lately. So, the space heater thermostat setting (-1F) is the 'floor' now. 6-7F total varaince day and night and It steadilly rises to 75-76F over the day. No idea what optimal is, but i've got things as controlled and leveled out as well as I can given what resources I am willing to expend. Night time temps should have a higher floor going forward compared to the pictures. Space heater was adjusted +1F. The room is probably low 60's F ambiet temp. it's normaly cold AF in winter. If i recall my lights and dehum add about 10-15F to ambient temperatures in this particularly sized room and ventilation properties.

Seeing some initial plumping by FD 30 and even more in the current pictures. BBxGS - going strong and similar to previous plants of this strain. Grandpa's Stash - Loving the aromas. Except for 1 plant, definitely the fastest development rate so far Banana Hammock - The primary cause of the massive stink throughout my house, I think. Also develioping quickly. Overall, the plants are healthy. Some blemishes here or there. Had some trouble keeping up with RH, so I removed some leaves. I have been topping off the 3 hammocks and 2 bbxgs plants with plain water immediately following a fertigation. They were lookin too lush. I've done this 5-6 times over the last week and adding less than a 1/2 gallon to each. However, i think the night time temps dropping to 67-68F are the cause at this point and i am seeing purple creep into leaves not a toxicity. Have had some minor tip paling on 1 of the hammocks for at least 7-10 days, but it never progressed. If i get some exotic colors in these as they progress, i don't think this is necessarily a nute-related issue at this point. I upped K ppm when i initially saw it, but only slightly. Think these plants are just on the dark side. Thinking these will have dark purple leaves like my Dinafem OG Cookies grow. Even so, will continue to dilute just in case on the darker plants and cease doing that if i see a hint of deficiency. While trichome production has been great from an early stage of flower, I've been a bit disappointed by it lately. The ethos plants seem to be lagging a bit, but also seeing it on stems and petioles. The bbxgs plants continue to cake it on. I don't smoke stems, petioles or leavs, so it isn't a major concern. All that matters is the aerial density of trichomes on the calyxes. I'm sure they'll be okay. The smell is really intense for the last week. My house smells like it is harvest day, every day. Love it! Climate pics added / update - You can see where dehum settings change at end of day. It can barely keep up when plants are trasnpiring. I had to remove leaves in order for it to maintain 50% during lights on. Temps are consistent as long as outside weather isn't unusually warm. Like I've said before, probably operating a bit too high in VPD, but concentration of fertilizer is reduced slightly and the VPD at the leaf, where it matters, is probably a bit lower than these readings. Probe is 6" under canopy and would be more accurate if placed in the middle of it. Night time VPD used to be equal or even a bit higher before i started trackign this stuff. I've got that flipped back to normal, but no idea if that is a benefit or just my own OCD. According to what i've read, it shouldn't be more than .4 kPa below daytime VPD. At least that part has some research behind it as to why. A week of tweaking behaviours and settings at specific points in time has lead to as consistent of an environment as i'm going to get relatiave to what i'm willing to invest (time/effort). The night time graphs are an hour short because they are of the day of this update. Close enough for display purposes. I will make a spreadsheet that will link to the exported date file of the probe at some point. For now the graphs in the app are good enough. I want to collect a lot more data in future. Start to figure out just how impactful some of this is or is not. Ambient weather outside, growth measured in multiple ways (height / number of nodes), incremental use of water/fertilizer electricity (already have a good guage of this) etc etc.. Gonna do a full statstilal analysis andn regression of various factors over time... come back in 10-20 years, LOL. Then again, may proclivity for laziness may be a factor too.

Climate control has been rough this week. RH% is rising due to unseasonably warm outside temperatures and the furnace is not running as much, so the struggles of my dehumidifier are put into the spotlight. It can keep it out of a danger zone, but that's about it. It is set to run continuously while lights are on. Even at night lately it is struggling to keep it near 50% with limited transpiration occuring. Alrighty.. Got the usual progression pics from relatively same angle starting from a few days before flower phase began through 43 completed 12/12 cycles. Took an individual shot of a bud from each plant to show current range of development. The little white cap on the one cola is an attempt to stop a little bud bleaching without HST. the stem is so thick I'm worried it'll break/sever as opposed to snap into position. So, just attenuating the light a bit in that 1 spot with a breathable mesh bag -- the type you put around fruit if concerned about a frost occuring. All have shown some amber, though only 3-4 show it consistently across numerous locations inspected. BBxGS - One of these is in a mad rush. It's nearing full plumpness and has 3-5% amber at FD 42. I'm guessing this will be done FD49-52. I didn't scope today. The other BBxGS is more than respectable in this regard, although not as fast. It shoudl finish in less than 60 days. These are both fruity/sweet aromas. Grandpa's Stash - This one has a a range of development rate like BBxGS. Some look like early 50s others will be late 50s. Even the 2 runts have surprised me with soem fairly hefty colas that go deep into canopy. the Stash #2 is not quite as stacked but could be due to different pruning - i took off more leaves from this plant an may have caused some excess stretch, or it's just genetics. Can't be 100% certain. #1 and #2 still ook the best overall and I like the stank emanating from these plants. Definitely breeding these two. Banana Hammock - Still tropical AF. Still the stankiest. All three look to be on a very fast development schudule. All three forming some fairly thick buds. They all look as fast or faster than BBxGS1. Finding amber easily, but still a low percentage overall. These look like 49-52 days will be enough. I'll keep an eye on it and react to trichome development. they look the part already. The breakdown of development rate is quite fortuitous. Should have 3 different timelines to allow me to break up the harvest into easily manageable bits for 1 person. I'll be able to take 3-4 at a time and no sacrifice to ripening process for convenience. A slightly staggered harvest is possible. If I don't like the looks of lower buds, I'll chop above that point and revisit it in a few days. In my experience 2-3 days realyl doesn't make a difference, so it'll have to be extreme to warrant it. Can't wait for this harvest. Every plant looks good enough to smoke, which is not always the case. I like all of the aromas even if some are better than others. No duds here except for 2-3 smallish plants, which won't be included in any breeding runs. Should have a minimum of 6 strains to play with next winter. If the pieface or bbxgs from 2nd winter cylce this year surpsie me, that number will only go up. Possibly have some breeder cut tagalong hybrids too. Next winter is gonna be fun...