Super Silver Haze Clone 2019 (I)

Okay! New strain! This is a clone that I just received from former GrowDiaries user Sherpa, however, he received the clone from a friend of his. So, the clone comes directly from some unknown person through my friend, to me. That is risky, I realize, considering pests. But I love strains. I do not know the seed company - a quick google search reveals that Super Silver Haze is Original Haze x Northern Lights #5 x Skunk #1. It is projected as a 10 week flowering period. I don’t know the age of this plant, this is day 1 counting. I feel free to criticize the clone as my buddy didn’t actually take it. It came in a container that was hard plastic (non breakable) and I would say to large a diameter for an early clone. I.e. it would take awhile to fill the bottom with roots. Unfortunately, the soil choice necessitated a transplant even if it wasn’t ready. The soil, wow, like heavy, crumbly, woody? Not good. When I did transplant the soil all fell out, the rootball crumbled, and it seemed like i destroyed everything. One full night and no wilt reveals that it has survived. Hardy plants! I transplanted using VPW20 soil, Myka microculture, and a mix of sheep manure compost, worm castings, and a small amount of bone and blood meal. I’m not concerned about pests as I already have a fungus gnat problem which I am in the process of solving. I am using sticky traps and pure ethanol in spray form. Check out my other grows for more information. So I am excited to see what this new strain has in store! I still need to do research on Super Silver Haze, I am truly running blind.

Day 7 since I started counting for this Super Silver Haze clone (seed distributor unknown). I’m just trying to be patient, the measurements show its growing albeit slowly. Just sort of chugging along. The clone wasn’t the best so there was alot of deficient stem to partially repair and then explode with growth later on. New stem is nice and green. Play the long game and think of harvest..

Day 14 since I started counting for this adopted Super Silver Haze clone. The transplant shock slowed this plant down, as stated the crummy soil choice by the breeder made for a bad repotting. It is growing, and it one of my bigger vegging plants. No worries as of this time. I gave everyone in here a very diluted feeding of 24-8-16 All Purpose Miracle Grow plant food. I went way light, as a means to see the progress of the all the plants and stay ahead of deficiencies. You can see the slow journey on this one from purple and sickly stem to fresh and green. Nevermind all the clones up for adoption. Its getting crowded!

Day 21 since I started counting for this Super Silver Haze clone. I repotted using HP Pro mix soil, the last of my VPW20 soil, sheep manure compost, worm castings, blood and bone meal, myka microculture, and a very light amount of used coffee grounds, alfalfa meal compost, and pulverized egg shells. With water and time I am unconcerned about the little bit of overnuting before transplant. I’m so confident I did a bit of defoliation. The last couple pictures show the before and after cuttings.

Day 28 since counting for this Super Silver Haze clone of unknown origin. The big news is the LST, tying down the main stalk as well as some side branches. I don’t try to go too complex, just break apical dominance and manage whatever canopy from there. I suspect it may be a little overnuted, but just chilling in the final pot for now. Another of my plants got spider mites, so I have been nuking everything with near 99% ethanol. The only residual damage is a bit of brown on leaves that don’t get fan breeze or where the alcohol didn’t evaporate fast enough. Super Silver Haze didn’t really sustain too much damage from the spray, but its worth it to eliminate pests.

Day 35 since I started counting for this Super Silver Haze clone. The plant is slowly recovering from the transplants, training and cloning, and growing. I expect the pace may quicken as we get going. I’ll need to start applying plant food as we head into any flowering if not before. I like the use of amendments to get me to flowering if possible when I start to use specific things. i.e. just water for this plant for now. In fact, probably due for irrigation today. Its begging me for a drink, you can see the leaves are really dried, but moving the pot around reveals plenty of moisture deep within. Don’t get lazy, roots! A dartboard projection could see me cloning again and flowering in two or three weeks.

Day 42 since I started counting for this Super Silver Haze clone of unknown distributor. This plant will get at least one more week of veg., I was tempted to flower it this weekend but it was the smallest height of the plants ready to be flowered. The major storyline is that my house is without heat until my new furnace is installed, its November 10 and there is snow outside. My basement is frigid. Thankfully, because I run my veg. tent 24 hours it accumulates to 18 or 19 degrees, but the air near the floor, and no doubt the root system, is colder. There is nothing I can do but wait another eight days until the install. If I could afford to run a bunch of heaters I would, but I’m already using a space heater for the family. Its pretty cold! Plant growth has slowed, and I really see the symptoms in the availability of nutrients. Just hanging on. I feel this plant needs some food, but with flower on the horizon and my feeding sched., and the unknowns with temperature, I am hesitant with nutrients. I dipped a popsicle stick in blackstrap molasses and irrigated with just water, so I’m trying to gear into the feeding schedule. But nothing yet. On a brighter side I have a Super Silver Haze clone rooted and transplanted for the next rotation, in the main tent, in the background. I want to see if it can sustain itself for a week before starting a diary on account of the temperatures. I’m have a heat mat in my clone box and so its not necessarily a better spot.

Day 49 since I started counting for this Super Silver Haze clone. My house is still without heat and now the core temperature has dissipated. Hopefully things will change early this week but for now the basement is frigid and all attempts to slow ventilation, keep the tent shut, etc., can’t mitigate the drop. My veg. tent runs 24 hours so it stays between 17 and 18 degrees. The big thing here is nutrient absorption. I noticed a very rapid onset of phosphorous deficiency, darkening/blue of the leaves, streaked purple woody branches, the pace of it is due to the cold. I fed plant food this week for two reasons: 1) Super Silver Haze actually goes into flower today 2) the liquid food would be more readily available for the deficient plant. After a dose of 18-18-21 Miracle Grow Tomato plant food with a popsicle stick dip of blackstrap molasses, I can see a noticeable difference in the plant. S.S.H. actually has a super long flowering time and so its no big deal, I can just resume my usual flowering feeding schedule with no worries of running out of time.

Day 56 since I started counting for this Super Silver Haze clone of unknown distributor. One week of flowering complete, nine weeks to go. Super Silver Haze has settled into its new home of cool temperature and is stretching. It begins in the early flower feeding schedule and gets 18-18-21 Miracle Grow Tomato food with a popsicle stick dip of blackstrap molasses, alternating with irrigations with water. My light setup encompasses past and present and includes two sets of fluorescents that I was using as ambient heat and light (2 x 36Watt and 2 x 40Watt), 152 Watts; a cheap full spectrum LED that is 300 Watt actual draw as measured; and six yellow spectrum LEDs providing 96Watt total. The yellow lights are specifically in the ~500-800nm range and really flesh out the light’s spectrum range. From experience this really enhances the setup. Looks good so far, my flowering tent is up a couple of degrees. Be patient.

Day 63 since I started counting for this Super Silver Haze clone. Two weeks of flowering complete, eight weeks to go. I’m still alternating water and 18-18-21 Miracle Grow Tomato food with a popsicle stick dip of blackstrap molasses. I have a bunch of new guardian ladybugs/Asian Lady Beetles/etc. cruising my tents in search of food. I’m hoping to get some nice passive pest protection.

Day 70 since I started counting for this Super Silver Haze clone. Three weeks of flowering complete, seven weeks to go. At this point I would expect stretch to be almost done ... although if that is the case I am surprised based on the sativa qualities. Most recently I gave just water but before that, was 18-18-21 Miracle Grow Tomato plant food with a popsicle stick dip of blackstrap molasses. Next irrigation will be the next stage of food.

Day 77 since I started counting for this Super Silver Haze clone. Four weeks of flowering finished, six weeks to go. Apologies for the subpar pictures as it is the plant in the most back, as it has a long time in the flower tent. However, I did realize it wasn’t getting its fair share and moved the entire lot a bit more centered. Indirectly, I added another full spectrum LED of the same type. It won’t effect SSH too much as it had a spot secured, but it will boost the wattage in the entire tent. The most recent feeding was 2-7-7 Shultz Cactus food with a popsicle stick dip of blackstrap molasses. Not much to do but stay the course. For a long flowering time I am surprised by the lack of stretch. Even if lights are an issue for yield, I would expect the plant to stretch to try and get more.

Day 85 since I started counting for Super Silver Haze clone. Five weeks of flowering complete, five weeks to go. It has been a stressful week and this is probably one of the few diaries I get to update without major damage, although I sense I am on the verge. Firstly, dealing with temperature in my other grows, and so in my tinkering there are effects for the flower tent. I shut off the output ventilation, and so this greatly increased daytime temperatures and humidity. That being said, the first night I did not block the vent, and the heat was sucked out at an incredible rate: it was 10 degrees at lights on! Now, I’ve blocked it and humidity is through the roof with watering (I watered SSH today). Secondly, I have overnuted all my plants I am realizing. This may explain poor yields in the past. Another plant has sustained major nitrogen toxicity, and I would suspect SSH is on the verge. Thankfully, the long flower period gives me some leeway. I’m hoping a better feeding schedule with cutting off nitrogen much earlier will help future plants. I will point out Super Silver Haze was fully finished with nitrogen at this point anyway. Lastly, when I did feed earlier this week before all the revelations, it was 2-7-7 Shultz cactus food and a popsicle stick dip of blackstrap molasses, also trying out Plant Prod MJ Spike (CalMag), and Earth Alive Big Blue Wave.

Day 92 since I started counting for this Super Silver Haze clone. Six weeks of flowering, four weeks to go. I have to assume the borderline toxicity is fading. As mentioned last week, I found the toxicity too late in other plants, so I knew this one was on the verge. I was already finished with nitrogen on my regular cycle anyway, but I certainly cut it off. Water most recent, but the last feeding was 0-10-10 Alaskan Morbloom with a popsicle stick dip of blackstrap molasses. I am also using Plant Prod MJ Spike (CalMag) and Earth Alive Big Blue Wave. It looks like I will get yield, I’m not entirely sure what the quality/quantity will be like. Still sort of a herby/spice smell. With the ventilation off I have been leaving the tent parted (open) in the daytime to reduce humidity.

Day 99 since counting for Super Silver Haze. Seven weeks of flowering complete, three weeks to go. I have to assume that this plant was deeply on the verge of excess nutrients too. It has a slightly smaller pot than some of my others, but the dark green, small non existent buds, no development at all. Very discouraging. I’ve given water back to back times now, and so I sit with a decision to feed again (sans nitrogen), or just continue water. I am preparing for keeping the plant longer in the hope that flushing will help use up some nutrients and I may get some swell. Up to two weeks extra, so five more weeks ... or less. I have sort of a gradient effect over time starting with a complete fatality, to another dark green, vegged plant, to this one which is small and pitiful, and very green and stringy. The plants that follow in time are slightly better each iteration. So, cutting back on plant food and giving more time to use amendment is the strategy for now. Each future plant will benefit. It looks like I will get a very small yield here, the buds do have trichomes though and some smell.

Day 106 since I started counting for Super Silver Haze clone. Eight weeks of flowering complete, two weeks to go. Second pic is just to give you an idea of how crowded the tent is, and how much a tangled veggie mess the plant is. Keeping all the issues in mind, considerable swell this week post-flush. I can tell the plant was thankful to have multiple, major irrigations of just pure water. Stilly puny to where I’d like to be, just as a straight comparison to last week this was not the worst. I would say this about the strain: lots of crystal. Even though I botched the buds, the sugar leaves are absolutely covered in trichomes. Just touching the plant is sticky and dank. Just before photos I gave it one last hit of 0-10-10 Alaskan Morbloom, with blackstrap molasses, Plant Prod MJ Spike (CalMag), and Earth Alive Big Blue Wave. I will now continue to flush it until the very last moment. I have been drenching my basement unfortunately. Last note, this plant’s daughter clone has entered the flowering tent.

Day 113 since I counted for the Super Silver Haze clone. Nine weeks of flowering complete, one week to to. Because of the overburn on soil amendment I will likely keep this one an extra week in flower. Its trying to swell a bit, but the early damage is just too much. Lots of vegetation and leaf matter. Its a crowded mess that can’t even support itself. I will say, compared to my other overnuted plants, Super Silver Haze produces ALOT of crystal and trichomes. Wow! It has a strong smell too. Really nice, I expect good potential for future plants. I am in the process of just flushing with water in the remaining week or two.

Day 118 since I started cloning for the Super Silver Haze clone. Big movement this week as there are many shifting parts. Ideally, I wanted to keep SSH flowering for one extra week as I saw good progress (comparatively) the last two weeks. Keep in mind, this plant got way too much soil amendment. Two major factors for decision making: - I am overcapacity in my veg. tent. Its like a 3D puzzle and you keep getting stuck with one piece that doesn’t fit in the box at the end, like it fit in the first time. HellishJam will find that funny. - I found a good number of mites and pests on the lower leaves of this plant. So, the scenarios: could be leftover eggs from the veg. tent holy war, could be original from the flower tent as there was not a major war, could be because my basement is an open environment. Reading online, mites are able to hide anywhere so unless I grow in batches with a completely sealed environment Im a bit stuck for now. I noticed that the infestation was limited to the interior and lower leaves of SSH, a great reason not to bouquet sagging plants. None of the mites were apparent on any other plants. I am not convinced there aren’t more eggs or adults, but the population was on SSH. So, how did they not completely take over and wreck everything like I’ve seen? Not being overrun going into flower helps, but I think it has more to do with temperatures and light cycle. Chilly night cycles reduces mite activity, and I’ve now done some reading on spider mite diapause (Look it up), and it turns out winter triggers a stasis or hibernation naturally. My 10 hour lights on cycle was actually working to induce reduced activity. So needless to say I debated it but thought that as I’m at the original projection, the plant is already wrecked, plus mites, its worth chopping. I budwashed for the first time (and will save that for the corresponding harvest entry) but will be doing it regardless on this grow to ensure the bud is pure and not mite remnants. Flushed SSH, and she sits in darkness waiting.

Harvest was the standard wet trim and hang. I only keep the primo bud, and my standards were even higher given the pest history and whispy, nuted bud. I budwashed, especially with the mites found at the very end. First container is just baking soda, lemon, and water; second is just water. Lots of flavour, and no lost trichomes. Buds hung for about 6 days before moving to bottles with the lids off and then slowly cap them and burp. Realistically I vaped it faster than it was going to cure.