Runtz

This is my first run with Crop King Seeds - Runtz. I've had the strain for awhile but haven't gotten a crop of it started till now. The clones were taken off a mother i had that got infested with Thrips. I discarded the bushy mother and cut 10 clones off it before doing so. These are 9 of the 10 i cut. The 10th will be the new mother plant. The plants were topped 2 days ago. They have been transplanted from solo cups into pure Canna hydrated brick coco. They were hydrated using a calmag mix at a pH of 6.0 The soil is still moist with the hydrate solution so they have not been fed PPFD at the center is 711. Lady bugs had been saved from my last crop. They have been in the fridge in hibernation. They were taken out and misted with water, and drinking stations have been set up for them and a jar lid with honey has been added. The clones were insecticidal soap sprayed every 2 days, but to be safe i've added the lady bugs. The soap spraying will no longer be applied from now on.

It's looking like a weekend light switch. I switch to 12/12 when my plants reach 12 inches in height. Generally, that will top me out at about 25 to 30 inches when the stretch subsides. Different strains though behave differently. This is my first go with Runtz so we'll see how it progresses. I'm guessing it's name suggests that its not a large stretchy variety. I like to feed week 1 of bloom in the last week of veg. I find my plants are 7 to 10 days ahead of flowering schedule when this is done. It also helps to reduce the stretch of the plant. Onward we go! See you next week. This is day 10 of transplant.

Today is Tuesday December 10, 2024. Today marks day 1 of 12/12. The plants have already had 2 feedings of Bloom whilst in Veg. Light schedule is from 430pm on, to 430am off. Today they will be fed 2 liters each of Remo Plants are 2 inches taller than I'd prefer, but that's what happens when you're a lazy grower. I have a folgers coffee container that has my humidifier hose inside of so the water doesn't accumulate on the floor. It's doing it's job, but the stupid lady bugs are finding there way into it and they are drowning. Every time i look in it i find I'm saving 3 or 4 of them from their doom. A piece of bug screen over the can should fix that..

Not a lot to report. They were fed and watered the other day. They'll likely need another watering and feed tomorrow. I'm feeding full strength nutrients with each and every watering. She's gonna be crowded in there. The AC Infinity clip fan is a cool unit, but it does take a considerable foot print of space unfortunately. The plant closest to the fan always lacks. I should do 6 in 5 gal pots in that 4x4 rather than 9 in 3 gal pots.. Lady bugs just hangin' out standing guard against any Thrip larvae that might be present, though i don't think there's any, it's better to be safe. The lady bugs have honey out for them to eat and there is always water for them to drink. We press on! Fed and Watered on December 17, 2024

Not much to see. Lotta leaf material. Runtz is a bushy one. It's not that stretchy either from what i can tell. Next weekend i'll do a mega defoliation on them. Getting kinda crowded in there. I should honestly do 6 plants in 5 gal pots in there rather than 9 in 3 gal pots. I dropped the pH to 5.8 because my shotty soil pH probe says 6.8 is the pH in the medium and thats too high for my liking. We'll see if the solution pH drop lowers the coco pH. A couple of the plants have some funny rusty coloured spots between the leaf veins. It's not Calcium, it's not potassium. The spots look like turmeric colour. I've seen it before but not sure what it is. Onward..

Well, i got 6 of the 9 defoliated. Ran outta time for tonight. I'll get the last 3 in a day or so. Feeding will be tomorrow. There is evident Thrip larvae damage here and there but the ladies have them well in control. Today is the last day of week 3 so it's day 22 of flower today. Feeding tomorrow with the 8ml per gal regiment. Next week i'll ramp up the food. Defoliation completed today Jan 1, 2025 Light intensity has been ramped up to 1000 PPFD.

They are a little droopy in the pictures. They were due for a drink so they were just watered and fed before the pix were taken. Nutrient strength is now ramped up. Each plant typically gets 2 liters of feed 2x a week. Trying to keep the pH in the 5.8 range. I find coco tends to drift up the pH scale so thats why i'm keeping it low each feeding. There's minor thrip Larvae damage on a few lower leaves of the plant, but thats fine. Over all the lady bugs are whats allowing me to get crops through to completion. They are collected and saved from my last crop. When this is ready to harvest i'll save them all again and deploy them to the next garden when i'm ready.

Runtz humming along. I've accidentally drought stressed this crop 2x now. I wonder if it will create a stress response to produce more resin? So far i really like Runtz. It's short and branches nicely after being topped. It has awesome bud formation and will actually produce fat long colas. Unlike the majority of strains these days produce popcorn. Man, i been growing for a long time. From 4 plants under a floruessant light in my dad's basement when i was 14, to an all automated multiple tent setup with RDWC and DWC and coco in fabric pots grow at 54. Been a looong time....

It's Saturday night as i type this. Week 7 doesn't officially begin till Monday but i fed tonight cuz they needed it so i decided to get this over with tonight. Runtz is billed as a 9 week finish. So these girls are still putting on weight so it may very well be 9 to finish. Tonight i staked all the plants and tied up sagging branches. Plants again fed full dose of bloom nutrients. There's noticeable Thrip damage on lower leaves, but the crop is close and the lady bugs have kept those little fuckers in check. When i found out i had a Thrip infestation in late summer i was pondering killing all my mothers and cleaning everything and have my operation sit idle for a month to knock out any and all Pests. Fortunately i opted to go the lady bug route. I released 700 lady bugs into my operation and have harvested the bugs off the last crop and deployed them to the next crop. I've been soaping my mother's but i'm not consistent in doing that so the Thrips persist. Next crop will be i think 6 Zake in 5 gal fabric pots in Coco.

Beginning of week 8. Buds still popping new pistils and putting on weight. Leaves are beginning to yellow. The end is near. I'm really liking this Runtz strain. I LOVE how it is short and has dense short inter nodes. It branches well and doesn't stretch terribly when flipped. This run was fed every single watering with at least 1200 ppm. Typically 2x a week. Straight coco without perlite. There is perlite in the soil but that's only from the original solo cup coco i planted them in. When they were transplanted to 3 gal pots it was just expanded canna coco bricks soaked in calmag mix at 6.0 pH Thank goodness for lady bugs. They have literally allowed me to grow this season. Without them, Thrip larvae would have ravaged my crops and killed everything.

Final week. Really nice strain! Grows beautifully. I'll be keeping it around for awhile. Not looking forward to trimming it all. I hate trimming. I do it all by hand because bud bowl trimmers do a shit job. I haven't checked the Trichomes yet. I forgot to before i closed up the tent and now i'm too lazy to open it again and have a look. lol The TDS of 150 represents the ppm of the tap water which is a little bit hard. They were given plain water with a 6.2 pH (the nutrient values don't apply this week.)

Last pictures before harvest. Light will remain on now till harvest to induce stress. Tomorrow afternoon after work the task begins. Snip chop hack slash! Another crop in the books. Hope to save some lady bugs for the next and final run of the season which will be Zake by Ripper Seeds.