05/2019 - Mixed Strains

Soil had excess nutrients the previous week so flushed all pots until runoff below 300ppm and fed a very light dose on first day of this week. Watered 1.5 quarts per plant and LST on all plants except Blue Velvet on June 4th at 9am Topped Mystery Weed on June 5th (2nd topping overall) Kings Banner #1 seems more sensitive than the rest of the plants. Every now and then she hangs her leaves, almost like she’s thirsty or over watered, but I’m having a hard time pinning it down due to Kings Banner #2 being on the same schedule.

This was the best week these plants have had so far. I've been reading Ed Rosenthal's "Marijuana Grower's Handbook" and realized I had been totally ignoring the TDS levels in my water. I had been using RO filtered water and found that I need to mix 1 part RO filtered water to 3 parts tap water to get my water to be in the 100-250 ppm range and then started supplementing Cal Mag to get the TDS up to 750-950 ppm. The plants have been responding well to this and look great. Also confirmed that all King's Banner #2 is female but I'm still unsure of King's Banner #1 and Mystery Weed. Blue Velvet and Mystery Weed both got some light pruning this week to clean up the lower sections of the plants. Both Kings Banner plants were left to do their thing. All plants got 1 quart of water on Sunday, 2 quarts on Tuesday, and 2 quarts on Thursday. It's been very rainy here this week so humidity levels have been slightly high, but not overly humid for being this early in flower.

The "Mystery Weed" plant turned out to be a male so it was removed from the tent on Monday. The three remaining females are growing extremely well and appear to be very healthy. I'm continuing my new water routine (1 part RO to 3 parts tap and adding Cal Mag to get the TDS to 750-950 ppm for watering). I'm not a huge fan of defoliating but I'm thinking about doing some defoliation on the Blue Velvet plant since it is so much more dense than the King's Banner plants.

King's Banner #1 turned out to be a hermaphrodite and, unfortunately, I didn't notice the pollen sacs until a few had released pollen and removed the plant immediately. I did not see any pollen on the two remaining plants, but sprayed them down to make sure any remaining pollen was washed off.

Plants have stopped their stretch and buds are fattening up, but it appears that both plants have been pollinated. Will let them finish out their schedule, harvest the seeds for future grows, and will use the rest for concentrates.

It's been a super hot week here and this weekend isn't going to be any better. The plants seem to be holding up well to the heat, as long as I keep up with the water they need, but I'm hoping to not have to resort running an AC unit in the room due to the power requirements. The King's Banner is looking very seedy but I'm having a hard time telling if the Blue Velvet was also pollinated or if it just has swollen calyx.

Buds are slowly plumping up but the seeds are definitely slowing the growth down a lot when compared to previous grows. The King's Banner plant is extremely seedy. Between the seeds that have fallen to the floor, and the ones I pulled of the plant that were about ready to fall, I've collected 90 seeds so far. There are hundreds of immature seeds still on the plant. I'm still unsure of how badly the Blue Velvet plant has been fertilized. The calyx o the plant are swollen, but I haven't noticed any pods with seeds showing on that plant yet.

This is my worst grow so far so waiting for it to finish seems like it's taking forever. Today marks the last feeding of these plants and I'm expecting (hoping) for them to be ready for harvest in 2-4 weeks. I have a feeling the King's Banner will be ready 1-2 weeks before the Blue Velvet, because the Blue Velvet does appear to have been pollinated, but the seeds are not splitting the calyx yet. What I find interesting, though, is the BV plants leaves appear to be starting to fade. I didn't care about the King's Banner getting pollinated, because I have plenty of flower left of that strain, and the extra seeds will be great to have. I'm a little bummed out that the Blue Velvet got pollinated, because it's the first time I've grown this strain, and I don't have any other seeds for it...but, it will be interesting to see what grows from the seeds that come from it since it was pollinated by a King's Banner plant.

King's Banner plant is still producing a lot of seeds and I've collected 250 seeds from that one plant so far. The Blue Velvet has also started showing the seeds it has been growing and I've collected 50 seeds from that plant as of today. Counting the days until this grow is finished while the seedlings for my next grow get ready to take their place in the tent.

I pulled a total of 295 seeds from the plant but the bud still looks decent enough to use for dry herb vaping. Smoking would probably have more of a harsh flavor due to the seed pods, but I can't wait to see how this tastes and smells once it is dried and cured. The wet weight includes all the branches and stems so the dry weight will be a whole lot less.

This plant got heavily pollinated. I pulled 380 seeds from this plant but there are a lot of white seeds left in it that aren't worth keeping. The bud was extremely fluffy and airy so all of the bud from this plant will go into making hash or concentrates.