Ethos:
5 Strawberry Cookies OG R1
2 Cherry Diesel (testers)
My Custom Fem Seeds:
4 Buttermilk Biscuits x Garlic Storm
Wildeweed's Custom Fem Seeds:
3 "Elsa" x Godfather OG
3 "Elsa" x Platinum Gushers
3 "Elsa" x Blueberry Gum
Substrate: Pro Mix HP mixed with vermiculite #3 and DE
Fertilizer: Jack's Nutrients 3-2-1 + triple superphosphate
Lights: 320umol/s LED early on - 1300umol/s LED after first transplant - 3800umol/s array of LED lights for late vege and flower.
No soaking. Just straight into the substrate they go. In hindsight, should have soaked the older seed.
The first of two grows has started. Twenty seeds sown, but only 12 will be grown. I don't suffer weak plants. A 1020 tray is currently on a heat mat set to 76F. Should see sprouts within 2-3 days, and then I'll remove the dome, which delays irrigation a couple days beyond sprout.
Four will be trashed when I transplant to 1-gallon pots after 10 days above ground, give or take. Then another four will be trashed on final transplant to 5-gallon pots after 21-28 days above ground. At which point they'll migrate from 4x4 to 10x10 tent, and I'll get the irrigation system set up. Culling weak plants doesn't guarantee consistency in flower, but it sure does improve the probability. One or two duds isn't uncommon with 12 plants and won't ruin anything.
I want to find 2 strong Strawberry Cookies OG plants to breed. I have no interest in 'selfing' a plant. The results of selfing usually suck a big fat dick. Up to 4 plants, one each from the other strains, can tag along for some F1 hybrids. So, should have 5 new strains of fem seeds for 2025-2026, if all goes well. Second step would be to pair similar homebrew strains and create more F1 hybrids going forward while avoiding the genetic depression that comes with inbreeding.
Goals:
Improve canopy management to avoid over-crowding. Stick to the plan, dummy!
Shave 5-7days off vegetative phase.
Find some terpy plants for breeding.
Update - Well, all 6 of the ethos seed and 1 bbgs have germinated by 3 days. The other seeds are between 3 to 5 years old and are taking their sweet time. 7 of 20 after 3 full days. Expect the rest by tomorrow evening even if they are older seeds.
Continued Updates - 15 / 20 as of 3.5 days. The 3 year old seeds all popped. The 4-5 year old seeds are slowly sprouting. The first three i probably buried a bit deeper. Only had 1 shell-head and it was easy to pull off with no effort or prying open. +1 EBG, 16 of 20. This shell is a bitch and will need to wait for the cotys to push it open a bit before removal, but we got her removed. 17 sprouted out of 20 approaching 4 full days from planting.
At this point, the EGO seeds are starting to concern me, but it may just be a case of old seeds taking their time, or possibly not viable at a high percentage any longer. I'll update the below tally, but no more updates for germination. I planted the first 3 or so too deep. If they are viable, I'd expect them to sprout before 5 days. If not, 17 is plenty. Culling the 5 weakest will still be beneficial.
5/5 SOC
2/2 CD
4/4 BBGS
3/3 EPG
3/3 EBG
3/3 EGO
20 of 20
@Krisis, When i up-pot 16 to 1-gallon pots, I'll pull the unused seedlings out of the seedling pots by their stems just to hear their little screams... and as a warning to the others. Muahahaha!
@001100010010011110, But but but .. I don’t want the generic. I came to talk shit here and I don’t want a thank you for that. DUH
Say no to plant murder! Coming to throw a can of soup on you!!!
I love that I came by your page, I really like what I see!. If you have time to spare, please come over I have 5 diaries going on at once. Would be fun to have you over! Good luck with everything and I’m sending my best wishes for you and your future grows! /LST 😃🌱
Hey nice! Just found out you are an actual Human not a Robot🙀 (im joking oc)😄
I just have to ask what kind of pump are you running to water them ? ( i run a 2000l/h ) Is it one System for 12 Plants with only one Dripper for each ?
Kinda overdone my watering system, and just checking around to see some alternative builds to compare and improve mine.
Nice Setup btw... so much space, fixed Nets and even a runoff tray 😍
@Mooncat, @Mooncat, Beep boop, 110011 1011 1101 101
That's just a generic 5.?gpm, 45-70psi booster pump - typically used in an RV. Same type of pumps that come with the hydrolock irrigation kits - how I sized what i needed. think the name brand ones are orange? but, if they look the same, they probably roll off same factory line in china.
I use 2 of the 8-jet sprinkler emitters per pot. They share a 1/4" line to two 6-port full flow manifolds on a 1/2" riser (per manifold) from 3/4" pvc connected to a 3/4" 15' hose from pump. It's pushing 24 fairly high flow emitters with room to spare. -- I'd use different emitters in hindsight. I'd put 5-6 of those slow dippers in each pot or however many a 1/4" line can handle to get a more effective water distribution. they self-regulate so no adjusting to even flow out. The sprinkler type gets a little erratic at times. I meant to add an air vent this year but was lazy.
Runoff tray leads to a float switch pump. Those are polycarbonate roof panels. Entire platform and roof panel accessories to make it is maybe 100-120. I often regret diy, but this is not one of them. Garden trays of this size (4x8) are highway robbery.
Think there is a video of the irrigation running in first week of 2023-2024 diary.
Choice of emitters is the key.. find soemthing low maintenance and consistent flow. "Adjustable" usually just means you have to constantly adjust them. Think the pressure regulated slow drippers are the way to go. soak'em in vinegar once in a while and no adjustments needed. Someone told me to avoid adjustable manifolds and i ignored them... then i repeated that mistake with these sprinklers. Fertilized water is extremely hard water, so anything with tiny holes is probably constant cleaning/soaking to ungunk them.
I went the high psi pump route because it gives more options for emitters. Even the slow GPH drippers work most consistently at a certain psi range that aquarium pumps typically can't do - especially enough for 12 pots. Using 3.8L/gal, My pump is ~1100L/h, but even that isn't necessary. that could water my pots in a little over 2 minutes at max flow. 5-10 mins would be fine, I do have some shut-off valves built in so i can shut off half the emitters, because i wasn't sure if it would be enough when i initially built it.
If you want to do something even better, run fertigation directly from your home's tap. Need a stop valve to prevent fertilizer entering home's water pipes and a 100:1 fertilizer injector. Would also need to use dry nutes in order to make a concentrate for the injector. Pop a new 1-gal jug on as needed. Wouldn't need a pump. Just turn the faucet on/off to get the job done. This is my next step once motivated. No rez and all the work that comes with it, too. I have a 55-gallon barrel sitting in front of my utility tub, which is not convenient. Oh, would need 2 injectors -- one dealing with high concentration Ca++ component and one for the rest of the fertilizer (a third injector if you add silica). Makes the pvc work slightly more complicated but there are diagrams.
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It's a huge tent because i scaled up and had no idea what i was doing. A canopy that large puts out a ton of moisture. Half a tent worked better.
@AsNoriu, The 3 strains I ran last year were fine. The freebie testers are the ones that had issues for me. I am stupidly depending on 2 Cherry Diesel testers this time, too, lol. Ethos is a lot better than the average bulk reseller and not too over-priced.
I might try MSNL zoap and oreos in the next run. Haven't decided, yet.
Hopefully after this year I'm not buying any seeds except to introduce new genetics to my home-brew lineup of fem seeds :P Had it not been for a failed 2nd seed run last year, I probablay wouldn't have bought these.
FFS the bb x gs seeds I made a few years ago are the best plants each cycle against so-called professional breeders. Consistently dense buds, yield and potency. Flavor has some variability but always similar, which is actually beneficial to me. And, that was just randomly pairing 2 strong plants. These breeders selecting from large samples for perspective parents have no excuses.