CinderFellas

"The Holy Grail" is what most seed sites describe the Female Seeds C99. I'm guessing that's because typical landrace sativa type strains often have an incredibly long flowering period, such that some climates like mine may not be able to grow them to completion outdoors and takes a long time indoors. But this cross of C99 has mastered a much shorter projected flowering time of 7-8 weeks which is amazing and totally do-able inside or out here. As for other aspects making it the holy grail...I'll watch throughout the grow for other interesting things. Both seeds soaked in some Green Buzz Humic Acid water for a few hours before going into the paper towels. I'm not sure if it did much since the seeds took a few days to pop...but they're also not extremely old seeds as far as I know, but maybe it gave them a strength coating or something. Not much action in this first week. About 3 days to put out their roots. Then after being put into soil cups with some Plant Success soluble mycorrhizal fungi product only one plant sprouted....the 2nd while having a longer root has still not broken the surface. So far, 7 days 1 out of 2 is kicking and making moves. Wish them luck. ✌️

Wow what a slow and tedious week! The second seedling finally broke ground on like the 9th day! I thought it was gonna turn out to be a dud and then finally a tiny little speck of green showed up. It was a long, slow process of showing itself. They're growing, but at a below average speed. 2 weeks old and only at 2 inches. Maybe I got too used to autoflower varieties going so quickly, and I've got to get back in the mind of photoperiod plants. I'm keeping them well humidified, but the temperatures are dropping here so they may be a little irritated by the fluctuations. I'll continue to try keeping them as happy as possible. They haven't had to be watered since their first soaking so maybe as things dry out they'll boost up a bit.

With supplements V without supplements This week is about trying to give these girls a boost! They're growth has been slow so I decided to try giving them a dose of water containing green buzz humic acid and More Roots; as well as a small dose of Superthrive. The beginning of the week was still small but after the small nutrient supplement watering their leaves grew more and faster, and roots began appearing in the cups. I should have did a side by side test, but regardless I am happy with the end result. * use supplements.👍 Naturally there's one dominant plant and one runt, but I'm hopeful the small girl will catch up soon. Happy growing and harvesting everyone. ✌️

I love transplant weeks! It's one of the few things I do consistently well with growing. These two handled it beautifully. I didn't notice any signs of shock or irritation. The plants leaves stayed healthy and they continued to stand upright. After their recent watering using the green buzz products they did some great growth and have continued to grow nicely. I gave them an additional watering of the humic acid, more roots, and a couple drops of Superthrive prior to transplant. Then watered the new pots with a bit more humic acid and some Plant Success soluble mycorrhizal fungi. I'm going to try running these using the majority of the Green Buzz products with a few other things along the way. The only negative to this week was the plants are too big for my humidity dome cups and the humidity here is pretty low, about 30% and their leaves do seem a bit drier than before. Happy Growing everyone ✌️

A week full of indecision. Topped both plants...one went alright the other ehhh not so much, but they both healed nicely at least. I experimented with some LST but couldn't make up my mind until like 30 minutes ago when i decided to tie them both, not just one. They're a perfect green color and get bigger every week. I haven't decided on how long their veg time will be, but time and growth will tell. * possibly thinking of trying the "Schwazzing " method....anyone ever done it?

What a good and weird week. It's been a good week for both plants ...two very pretty and healthy looking CinderFellas. However they each have a flaw, hopefully they're both from the less than perfect top they got. #2 had a tiny 3rd shoot where the secondary shoots come out from the Top site. I decided to just pluck it and get it out of the way since it'll just be deformed and scraggly. #1 has several odd leaf tips on the secondary shoots and I'm not sure if they're bug bites or more likely clumsy fingers that did a touch of damage when I pinched off the tops. I've continued trying to LST but I'm not really that good at it...and I'm in the worst area for humidity...30% so things get stiff and woody real quick. I expect I'll snap a branch before this is over. 🤣🤣 Happy growing ✌️

Another week for topping and transplanting. They respond great to topping and LST, and are definitely ready for some larger final containers. I'll give them about a week to get comfortable before switching them over to flowering. Each plant has been topped 3 times, and has multiple branches tied down. I got the 1st plant transplanted into a 3 gallon pot and I think it could have maybe used a 5 gallon, but it's done now. Perhaps the 2nd plant will get a 5 gallon. There was a substantial amount of roots in the plastic pot, must transplant 2nd asap. Happy growing. ✌️

It's been a good week. Both plants are in the tent under LEDs now. The transplant was successful with minimal negative effects. The only poor thing I've noticed this week was a few bottom leaves discoloring or wilting and dying off. My first idea was nitrogen and they need more nutrients, but I figured with fresh soil they'd be alright for a week or two. I also thought they're so low and in the shadow of the canopy they're dying off....or maybe the LST is irritating them, but I think that would affect more leaves than just a couple on the bottom. I'm going to increase "grow" nutrients slightly and start adding in some cal-mag usually my plants do a lot better with a cal-mag supplement in their diet. I was undecided about what other plant training i wanted to do with these plants. But after much reading I'm planning to do a side by side of one plant having the Schwazzing method(extreme defoliation) done and the other just the topping and LST and some regular defoliation. For anyone who doesn't know essentially Schwazzing will involve removing all the fan leaves at day 1 of flowering and then an additional big defoliation around day 21 of flowering. Whether I'll get the suspected "yield increase " or not, only time will tell. Happy holidays everyone ✌️

Wow it's already week 9!? Where's the time go. Great week for the girls, beautiful bushy canopies....too bushy. Crazy amount of roots coming out of the pots, so I probably should have did the 5 or 7 gallon. *note for next time. I defoliated both of them heavily as LST isn't opening things up much. Planning to flip to a 12/12 here very soon but I wanted them as healthy as can be and no more yellow leaves showing up. I need to increase the Grow nutrient a bit more and then we'll be good. I'm deciding whether to Schwazz both or just one, but I am really indecisive and have a bad habit of breaking plans at the last minute. 😂 The 1st cutting I took from the plant has now established a bit of roots, even though it was putting out a large set of roots above the pod I decided to just put it in a cup of soil and let them get growing. I finally see a main root at the bottom of the cup. It took approximately 2 weeks from cutting.

Getting ready for the flowering flip. I'm interested to see what their stretch will be like, this is my first time doing extensive LST....hopefully it helped out. I'm glad to see the plants are at least pretty even in height. There's roots popping out of every piece of the fabric pots....i really wish i did a 5 gallon...i don't want to try to transplant them cause it's real difficult using a fabric pot or i have to cut the fabric. Both plants have had more yellow pale bottom leaves so I think they must be some hungry little hippos or possibly the organic nutrients need a slightly heavier dose than recommended. Happy holidays!

Lots of action this week: heavy defoliation, successful clone, new clones rooting, and beginning of the 12/12 schedule. My 1st C99 clone is now its own little plant. Thriving and growing new leaves. I started another 3 clones and had been waiting for them to root, but it was taking a while; so i added a dash more rooting powder to the top of each pod and watered with a very low bloom/micro nutrient water. Now all 3 have lots of roots clustered at the top, will move to bigger cups and add soil. On the day of flowering switch I went and heavily defoliated one plant and smaller on the other. I don't think I can fully call it Schwazzing because I did not remove every single fan leaf. I started to and kinda panicked. They say defoliate again at day 20 so maybe I'll get the grit before then. Happy Growing. Happy Christmas. Happy holidays. 💚☃️

The 2nd week of flowering has been good. Only 1 small problem, fungus gnats...about 10 of them flitting around, i kill them as i can and have used a hydrogen peroxide/ water spray but not sure it's working. Both plants did a nice stretch of about 4.5 inches and I don't think they're done yet. Hopefully the lst will keep them from getting too big. I did a bit more defoliation. I just couldn't help myself. Not only did i see some very large fan leaves that really should've been removed at the initial Schwazzing attempt but then I saw more low laying branches and budsites that just had to go. Ive tried keeping up their micro nutrients like it was suggested by the Three A Light guys. I've been watching 1 very odd branch lately who has an extremely flat/thin stalk and ends at a very odd bud site. It has an excessive amount of leaf build up and an unusual shape, not round or pointy the way the other tips are. Im sure it will grow into a very unique bud. Happy New year to everyone. ✌️

A very exciting 3rd week into flowering! Big flowering stretch, from 22 inches to the now 34 inches. A bit closer to the light than I'd like but too bad. I've got the one plant with the mutation and that's been an odd but fun branch to watch since i noticed it was off...I couldn't remember the name of it but thanks to the good old @teamdirtbag3 it's a polyploid...I think it's a sort of chromosomal mutation. The only similar example I've seen was on daisies but they called it Fasciation. At the end of the week I did the 2nd round of Schwazzing, day 20. I did still leave a fair bit of leaves though as it was mentioned to be careful of removing too much since the plant won't typically make more leaves like the 1st round. I think I did the whole process a bit poorly as i was afraid to remove so many leaves... I should have went full swing on the 1st round and took out every fan leaf. But lesson learned for the next try. I did however do a good job at maintaining good levels of micronutrients etc. And I haven't seen any negative leaf symptoms with the exception of the very irritated leaves from lack of watering while sick/holidays. The plants are producing gorgeous early flowers and it'll be interesting to watch over the next couple weeks for response to the heavy defoliation. Happy growing everyone ✌️

4th flowering week has gone good. I think the stretch is finally over and I'm finally noticing the uppermost buds start building and bulking. The branches on these plants however are very thin and weak... I don't know if increasing airflow or something would have helped them strengthen or if its just the sativa haze like quality to be long and lean. Ive had to continue defoliating and cutting away the very tiny short undeveloped branches from the bottoms and I'm hopeful that the biggest branches will at least produce some nice buds. I'm sure I'll end up needing to support the branches since they are so weak and wavy...the slightest touch sends them swaying. But I'll handle that as it comes. Happy growing everyone ✌️

5 weeks into flowering has really shown some great progress. The pistils are nice and swollen and finally discoloring at a steady rate. I think these plants will be maybe 1-2 weeks past the Female Seeds estimation of a 7-8 week flowering period. I found most of my grows typically go just a week or two past the anticipated flowering period. I had this canister of co2 from TNB Naturals in my back room for a while and had recently been reading about co2 in the grow space and I figured I had it and might as well try it out. I read adding co2 in flowering is best around weeks 2/3 so I'm a bit late but it's always fun to experiment. I took pics with coins to get an idea of scale and changes over the next couple weeks. I'm a bit frustrated by all the small buds lower and in the center of the plants....maybe the co2 can help them? whenever i pull the plants out all the branches sway so much. I needed to go in and add additional sticks and change up the tie positions I had already put in place. Eventually I may need to change to bamboo sticks because theyre longer and stronger but for now the s'more sticks are working well. I think these plants are definitely meant to use a net or scrog approach...perhaps next time.

The end is near..... Pistils are changing colors and shriveling up. I'm keeping close eyes on the trichromes but am still seeing mostly clear ones so they must need a bit longer. When I squeeze the buds they're very oily and the smell is making me think of a sweet grapefruit...which i don't typically associate grapefruit as sweet, but that's the most distinct aroma i can point out. The poly bud is making me laugh because her sides have such nice orange hairs but the tops still completely white pistils...maybe those mutant buds just develop slower or in a different pattern. The top buds are wanting to fall over so i had to change out some sticks for longer bamboo stakes. But even the little branches keep wanting to fall over...hopefully none will snap and I'll continue to add more support where i can. It's definitely giving me the push to start attempting to understand and use a scrog approach. Perhaps the next plants I'll give it a try and do a little research on it.

Here we are, we're in the zone of harvesting now by the Female Seeds guidelines of 7-8 weeks. I've been watching the trichromes closely and feel like I have only just spotted a couple amber ones in the final day of week 7. However the pistils have gone very orange in this last week. Especially with the polyploid bud has been very fun to watch the pistils changing, it's nearly a bright red on the top in some photos. I wonder if some strains never really get those milky/amber trichromes? I was reading an article on Ed Rosenthal's page about harvesting and he said that as soon as they change colors the buds begin losing their psychotropic bang essentially.....that may be so but personally I don't like any panic attacks with my cannabis, and so I prefer to aim for milky and amber. I started this week with a reduced feeding with some agave syrup, but by day 3 i switched into just water and then water with the "clean fruits" by greenbuzz added in. The TNB enchancer bottle of CO2 reached its 2 week limit and has now been tossed out...I'm not sure how effective it was and would like to test it properly in the future. The one thing I did notice was that the temps had risen into the 80s while using it, even though I made no changes to fans or lights. I anticipate the harvest will be in this next week 8 of flowering and if not very closely after. I'll still wait for some change to the trichromes but will evaluate the plan if I don't see some immediate differences. Happy growing and harvesting everyone thanks for all the support. ✌️

This has been a great week over all... I had a hard time accepting that the plants weren't getting a color change to their trichromes but eventually I just decided I would go a little further than the timeline set by Female Seeds and chop them at week 9 whether they got milky or not. Sometimes making an executive decision isn't so easy and I always second guess myself. But now looking back on week 8's photos I feel better about seeing a few amber trichromes in there. Both plants have some nice solid buds up top...but also a huge amount of larf buds in the center and at the bottoms even though I did clean up the bottom very well and did a adequate Schwazzing attempt. I definitely have some kinks to work out on how to channel the energy into main colas versus a dominantly larf garden. But every grows a process. Happy growing everyone, thanks for the support

I had a great time growing the C99, they turned out gorgeous, I got to try some new things like the Schwazzing attempt, learned more about removing unnecessary branches and leaves, got a polyploid bud, and got to do a full test of the Green Buzz products. The plants probably didn't respond to the Schwazzing as well as I had expected, but it was also a 1st attempt and I do not have as powerful lights as the 3 A Light people. Next time i will try doing it accurately to only one plant and watch for difference. Even with all the training I did, LST, extreme defoliation, removal of all bottom bits...I still wound up with a large amount of Larfy buds, both in the center of each plant and at the lower ends of each main branch. At least 23 grams were trim and larf, do we cry over this? No....instead making some edibles or something like that sounds like a good idea, so I popped all that into the freezer so it'll stay fresh for when I'm ready for a concentrate or gummie day. The most difficult part of this grow was definitely the last 3 weeks. I was having a very difficult time being patient waiting for trichromes to change their glassy appearance and give me the signal to harvest. However it was wonderful to have other same strain diaries to look at and get ideas from and had so many fellow growers here cheering these plants on and reminding me to chill out. 😂 Thanks so much for everyones support of this grow, encouragement and advice. ✌️💚🌱 Happy growing, harvesting, and puffing.