LST vs. Natural - Sour Crack Experiment

@Hexus, yeah I've been taking a similar approach with nutrients in that as soon as you notice a little bit of burn but it otherwise looks good, you're probably near ideal levels (unless it progresses). I can't honestly say though, and since I'm growing outdoors (random bag seeds) in rather varied, though mostly exceedingly hot conditions with some pests now and then, strain variation, it's kinda tricky to know if it's actual nutrient deficiency. It's also quite intensive managing the watering with the pot plants, like I can only water them so often and it's a fine line between watering enough and having a fungus gnat infestation (which I've had and certainly set back some of the plants) and possibly resulting mold, which also shows as nutrient deficiency (since it essentially is). Especially when you get like a week of raining. And then that also flushes the soil to some extent, draining a lot of the nutrients which means I have to use more. Annoying. My pot plants aren't terrible, fairly anemic (no topping/fimming/mainlining/etc), though they do seem quite potent and some are really developing nicely now and they might do well with revegging, since they're clearly quite tough. They do take their time, but tentatively speaking, I think it pays off, relatively. What initially looked like weaker plants with apparent signs of nutrient deficiency are pretty much overshadowing the more impressive looking ones at an earlier stage. Like at no stage didn't they show purple stems and such, but they're doing really well now. I guess that's just due to it being random, older seeds and related to environmental suitability and varying genetics, where some (local adaptations) are better than others. Ones in straight soil (heavy clay with some ammendment) though? I dunno, some are almost 4m tall plants, barely flowering, with about 60cm space around it, and not only catching up but surpassing the more "cosmetically" appealing plants. I'm even worried about the one plant breaking due to weight. https://growdiaries.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/static/post/photo/19262/917998_african-bagseedscustomsativa.jpg Amazingly, I didn't get a single autoflower from my random seeds (likely due to them being older local/landrace, free of ruderalis seeds). *Sidenote, in that picture, on the left there's a huge datura some birds dropped off (which I quite enjoy smoking with weed) and the bottom left corner near that pole, there's a cutting from one of the flowering pot plants (which happened to use no rooting hormone, had incredibly harsh conditions, straight sunlight mostly, etc) and it is growing incredibly well compared to the parent. In short, I don't like pots (especially those I'm using) much.

@Hexus,It seems like you've pretty much mastered the Sour Crack strain. I like the LST plant the buds are nice and dense. The plant is putting it's energy into budding not growing.

@@@Ssomeguy, Word. These girls are 55-65 days from seed and pretty much done. They are lightning quick. Low stress training is about all they can handle, just because they can't afford three days of shock and recovery. 3 days lost is 5% yield with these Sour Cracks. They typically yield around 30-60 grams if you're good to them. Some people get 3 out of them but usually not in soil. What they do give you, though, is 19-20% THC content buds, 30-60 grams, in 60 days, out of a plant that doesn't get much taller than 20 inches without LST. So the ideal way to grow these girls is a bunch of 'em in small pots, with a good, simple nutrient regimen. SOG, Scrog, or hand bending LST. For instance, in this experiment, the LST plant is actually about 10-15% amber already. I could chop her with no anxiety tomorrow. I'd like to let her go to day 65 or so, just to max out her bulk, but my grows have tended to hit the finish line a couple days earlier than breeder spec. Dunno if that's just from blasting them 24/7 with good light or not being afraid to hit them a tiny bit hard on the nutes. I'm usually backing down on Maxibloom when some bottom leaves get a little toasted. Not afraid to chop off some popcorn either. Most of them look like they've been lollipopped by their final week or so, but I haven't done a systematic defoliation on them. Just cleaning up dead and dying leaves from the bottom and running nutes a *little* bit hot. For autoflowers that's .75tsp of Maxibloom with every watering and some Mammoth P. If I get burned tips up top I feed plain PHed water for the next feed, then go back to nutes the feed after that. So far it *seems* to be working. :-D

@CovikLaFlaire, They weren't. One gave up a solid 70 grams (The LSTed one) , and the other ended up having two harvests, several weeks apart. Harvested a solid two 2.5 ounces off of the non-LST plant, (Also 70ish grams) and there were about fifteen four or five inch popcorn stems on the bottom. I threw her back into the grow and a couple weeks later those tops managed to give up an additional 1.4ish ounces. Look through the final harvest post for pics marked "Post harvest" for the second harvest I pulled out of the non-lst.

@ThatoneAKguy, Thanks much!

@Momgrowsthechronic, They re Cree Cobs (Three) running at 190w, and also in the tent was a blurple from Amazon that ran at 125w. (Real watts for both) These two plants were under the blurple for about 35 days of their grow, and went over to the COB side at the same time for the finish, as older plants were harvested.

@GreenHouseLab, Tomorrow we'll both know. :-D