It seems like the most challenging strains are also the most rewarding. Chocolope took well to LST and started frosting out extremely early. Her funk was unmatched until mid to late flower. But she did not like the supersoil. At some points she was dying out so fast that I was worried about her stress herming on me. In the end, all that energy got pumped into terps and flavs. Her smell is INSANE...graham crackers and burnt toast. Sweet flavor where the chocolately aroma really comes out. And the high is the raciest I've had in a long time.
I've heard DNA does good work and this was my first try with DNA. I can assure you it won't be the last!
It seems like the most challenging strains are also the most rewarding. Chocolope took well to LST and started frosting out extremely early. Her funk was unmatched until mid to late flower. But she did not like the supersoil. At some points she was dying out so fast that I was worried about her stress herming on me. In the end, all that energy got pumped into terps and flavs. Her smell is INSANE...graham crackers and burnt toast. Sweet flavor where the chocolately aroma really comes out. And the high is the raciest I've had in a long time.
I've heard DNA does good work and this was my first try with DNA. I can assure you it won't be the last!
Growing 6 strains from seed. Seed germination (Day 0) started on 10/23/16. Growing method is organic living soil. This grow will utilize the Mars Pro II Cree 128 for a grow light (LED). Plants are started in a soil mix, even parts Roots Organic and Coast of Maine, with no other additives. After 3 weeks, they'll be transplanted into super soil (composed of the prior two brands, plus amendments). These girls will feed exclusively on spring water, organic aloe vera from build-a-soil, and Recharge by realgrowers. Strains are as follows:
HSO: Amherst Sour Diesel, Blue Dream, 707 Headband, Purple Trainwreck (one HSO Bubba Kush seed failed to germ and will not be included this run)
DNA Genetics: Chocolope
Seedsman: Original Skunk #1
Wish me luck!
beanbean
Looking good man, I've thought about buying some HSO seeds before but never got around to it. I look forward to your grow and hope everything goes well :)
Ah that sucks about the bubba kush I've tried it a few times and it was a delight. Oh really that's good as I'll have to check them out bro, yeh definitely will keep an eye on this so I can decide whether or not to get some for myself :)
Sup BudsDownUnda420! Yeah man...everything I saw online about HSO was either extreme hate or extreme praise, lol. But there's also some REALLY nice HSO grows online by Justintime, twinroots, and fregrowli, so I said fuck it, lemme pull the trigger on this one.
Kinda sad the Bubba Kush didn't pop :( But I think that was my own error, I think I waterlogged the seed in germ.
Hopefully these girls turn out good and help you decide whether you'll mess with this breeder or not.
Big up.. are those 1 or 3 G . AP's
. Going start a new run Soon as germ cooperates with APs And SPs ... 1 3 5 n 10 G sizes maybe .. and 6 inch blocks .. Coco media .. mephistoG.. n Nutes maybe or a split ..luv the AIRPOTS. I just see to many pushing to much water feed making a mess been there..less water feed more times. No to drain. Specifically with this coco n perlite ratio. Unless lay a Mesh under the bottom. I use 4x4 tray . Mesh catch's the coco perlite. . NOT needed in a drip .. or slow feed multi x.. end rant ๐
Hey @Tek_Grow!
I started with the 1L Air-Pots, then transplanted them to the 5L (2 gal equivalent) Air Pots. The 5Ls are the biggest I can fit in my space and still have max plant limit (6).
And yes, as far as watering, the BEST thing I have found is to use squeeze bottles to water with. I use 32 oz. squeeze bottles that I grabbed from Amazon, holds about 4 cup, and that's perfect to slow water each of these girls fully, with little to no water to drain (don't really wanna drain living soil).
Sup WeirdBeard! Luckily I have the luxury of time to let these things veg as long as possible...I'm thinking of taking them until 1. I see the Skunk #1 start to preflower (that's the last planted and slowest grower), or 2. mid-December, which would be just over 50 days veg from seed, 45 for the Skunk #1.
What a nice selection of genetics you have and some beautiful growth.
Can I ask a couple of questions?. I see that these are photoperiod strains, can I ask why have you chosen to do a 24/0 light regime? i,ll be watching this thread with interest as I'm liking what I see with the LST and defoliation, Have you tried the serious defoliation technique?.
A great line up of genetics and a very healthy looking room of some lush green ladies. Nice work and i,'ll be back in soon.
@beanbean, I've seen some growers do some very serious defoliation taking close to all the larger fan/shade leaves off. Myself I've only done minor lst and taken 20-25% of the unwanted leaves off. I think from what I've seen you will be fine stripping most of the bottom 2inches upto the staple level then also removing 30-50% of the shade/fan leaves should in theory direct that energy to the remaining plant, this producing more buds and a bigger harvest.
Personally I would get this done no later than 7-10 days before you go to 12/12 (flower cycle) this will give the plants enough time to recover and cause the least amount of stress on the plants.
This is a super interesting topic and one in my opinion needs more research. If I was yourself I woukd tinker around taking more leaf material from some plants and less from others. This would allow you to see what is the sweet spot for this growing method/technique.
Thank you for going into so much detail ๐ if you don't mind I'll be along for the ride on this one and will help all I can๐.
Very interesting indeed and your doing a fantastic job ๐๐
@Dinafem-Mark, Thanks again!
Each of the girls has around a half-dozen or more staples holding down various LST points; some of them I could pull out and the branch would just grow more vertically, while others, like the one on the original main stem, really need to remain permanently to keep the new, circular shape of the plant. In addition to that, I've tucked a lot of the fan leaves from very early, mainly to provide light coverage for new, emerging tops; I've noticed a tiny top double in growth overnight just by being positioned with a lot of light and a tucked fan leaf. But in turn a lot of those leaves have yellowed and died, my guess being from a combination of touching the soil bed directly while watering, being underneath any potential light (poor penetration), and lack of airflow. The new growth has all looked good, only the tucked leaves have done bad so far.
So with that being said, the plan was to let them veg with no further training for a week, and then prune anything underneath the bottom-most parts of the canopy, which I would consider staple level (around 2 inches, they are all LST'ed to within 4-6 inches currently, so not a lot of canopy to work with). That really just means a lot of tucked leaves, but they are mostly fan leaves, so I'm worried about the detriment or stress to the plant, taking off a dozen or more fan leaves. Thoughts on that? After a week's time, I'll also be able to tell which new growing chutes won't be able to blossom into tops in enough time for flower, so naturally I'll be removing those too.
So I guess my main concern is whether you'd think removing too much fan leaf would harm the plants at this stage 2 weeks before flower (keep in mind feminized seeds, I don't want to stress them too much), or if there's any general tips and tricks on how you think I should proceed.
-beanbean
@beanbean, it's a pleasure to be hear mate and thank you for answering my question about your light regime. It as you said personal preference and your plant look to be doing just fine. Really nice dark green colours and no signs of any deficiencies or over feeding.
I have been following several growers who de foliate they plants and with great results. I'll be watching these with interest mate๐ beautiful work so far and as said a real nice selection of genetics๐
@EveryGrow, thanks bud! I definitely appreciate that and I definitely plan on submitting for DOTM!
Should have additional updates later this week when I separate stalks and transfer to paper bags. After a few days of that it's de-stalking, dry trimming and jarring for the cure. Should have a good idea of final weight at that time, and I'll FINALLY get to take my first samples! I'll definitely smoke one for ya!
-beanbean
You sound to have a solid plant for this final week of the veg stage. Leave the ladies along to keep the stress down. This should definitely help the transition to 12/12. Will be watching the flower show with great interest ๐. Great job so far mate ๐
@HOW_i_GROW, those were two I had my eye on but passed, same with the Black D.O.G. My 707 looks like she will be a bit disappointing in the yield department, but she's super frosty and terpy, been smelling like lemon pinesol since early flower.
Recently grabbed some HSO regular strains for future projects (Lemon Bubba, Amherst Sour Diesel X Blackberry, Sour Diesel X Afghani). and also have a couple more fem packs for down the road (Sapphire OG, Lemon Thai Kush)
-beanbean
@HOW_i_GROW, she was finicky early on, didn't have much stank, didn't seem to take as well to the super soil like the other girls, and was slower growing. So all in all, I didn't really expect much from her but to be decent. Then in flower, she exploded into an absolute monster. Almost tripled in size, got huge dripping frosty colas, and her funk has been very close to straight sour for weeks. Thinking she's going to be definitely top 2, it's really between her and how the blue dream turns out.
Great grow Bean!!! And thanks for the vote on my grapfruit harvest...just 1 more vote to crack the top ten but not much time!!! It looks as if you will be one of the winners so hope that holds up for you bud!!!