The Melting Pot

Firing the dutch buckets back up after a thorough cleaning of the room and a heavy spray of permethrin to keep the creepy crawlers out. Will be running some "heavy hitters" in what will be "The Melting Pot". This will probably be my perpetual diary. Had my eye on the slurricane from In House Genetics for a while so got 2 of those going. Also running 2 of the sugarcane (slurricane #7 x platinum cross). Threw in an Apple Sundae from cannarado genetics. And last but not least got a limited edition strawberry eclair from G13 labs. These IHG strains come with a price tag, but are they worth the big $$? Well that is what I am here to find out! Attitude seeds bank is where I ordered from this round. They delivered fast and stealthy. No issues Several people have asked why not run rdwc instead of dutch buckets? Dwc is easier to setup. I prefer the dutch buckets because I can run a warmer reservoir without root issues, the system doesn't depend on a lot of air supply. If I lose power or have mechanical issues the plants can stay happy and healthy for several days since the perlite holds a little moisture. It is also really easy to move plants around in dutch buckets. Nothing is really attached. And also I don't have to worry as much about the reservoir level. Just much easier in the long run for my style. Anyone that has interest in trying out this kind of setup without the pumps and all then check out the grower @Jwjoh. He is doing the hempy buckets and growing some really nice plants. I usually don't start my diary until I have some seedlings to show but they haven't poked their heads out of the rockwool yet. I am excited about this run though!!! I expect to see some cotelydons popping open in the next 2 days and I will try to update on these girls often. I soaked the beans in pH 6 RO water and they all cracked in less than 48 hours. Transferred them to 1.5" rockwool cubes that had been soaked overnight to stabilize ph. They will go in the buckets when the taproots grow out of the bottom of the rockwool. Planting them before then can suffocate them from lack of oxygen. Got the buckets up and running. Will run the system for a few days with plain RO water to make sure there are no leaks and everything is sailing smoothly. Update: about 48 hours after putting them in rockwool I can see all 6 of them breaking the surface. The strawberry eclair was the fastest to sprout and the first to emerge. They are all coming along. Probably 2 more days and they will be ready to go in the buckets. Day 6 the girls are looking happy and making slow progress. The biggest challenge now is keeping the humidity up. Running my homemade humidifier 24/7 and keeping it around 60% but they don't seem to mind.

Welcome to week 2 in The Melting Pot! All the girls were topped on day 11 and I removed the first single blade leaf today on day 14. They are starting to branch out and will probably start some training around the end of week 3. I had a stoner moment on day 8 and overdosed them on armor si with a double dose during water change. Only 2 of the plants showed a couple glossy spots on them the next morning which quickly turned into little burn spots. I changed the reservoir and it doesn't look like it slowed them down. One of the sugar canes skipped the 3 blade leaf and popped the 5 blades. Lighting them with a 240w 3000k +660nm QB and a 140w galaxyhydro 1000. Will be firing up another QB in a few days. Pumping nutrients 24 hours a day. Note: My temp is not 50 degrees. Must be a glitch that keeps reverting it to 50. Temps are 77 day and dropping to around 73 at night.

Day 21 in the melting pot and training daze are in full effect. On day 18 I cut off a few nodes and removed some leaves so every branch can get the best light possible. Snapped a branch on the apple sundae so had to release her ties and will give her a week to heal up before subjecting her to any more torture. I have added another 240w QB so they are getting 620 watts total. When they start growing into each other I will spread them out and add another QB along with another roleadro to give them the total 1000w they will flower under. In the process of filtering water for their water change now and I will bump the maxigro up to .75 tsp per gallon. Other than that just going to give them a little bending and cutting as needed in hopes of building some nice structure for flower. I am thinking I will run a 6 week veg but that all depends on my level of patience when the end of week 5 arrives.

Gave the girls a little training and more defoliation on day 27. They are growing well and bushing out fast. Added the third 240w QB and another roleadro 140w so they are getting 1000 watts now. I am thinking they will be set up pretty good for flower at the end of week 5 if they keep growing like they are. Just going to keep bending them down as they grow out

This was the last week of veg for these girls. Flipped the light to 12/12 on day 33 and added a pinch of maxibloom to the reservoir. Will be upping the maxibloom as I lower the maxigro a little over the next couple weeks until the stretch is over. Then will start adding some flower boosters to try to build some fat sticky buds. Couldn't ask for a smoother veg as far as nutrient maintenance goes. The plants have required defoliation pretty much daily and their growth rate has been great so having to readjust their tie downs every couple days. Will continue to spread the branches out a little as they make their stretch. Most of the girls are pretty uniform other than there is a sugar cane that is turning into a monster. Pretty sure she is going to put on a huge stretch. And one of the slurricane is a bit of a runt compared to the rest but I like that there is some difference because it means I have a better chance of getting to sample more phenotypes. I have started a breeding project diary on the strawberry eclair already, but keeping my eye out for a couple more candidates to clone. Going to wait until they show them trichomes before deciding though. Should start to pop some pistils and stack some calyxes in about 2 weeks.

The first week of 12/12 light schedule is over and the stretch is on. Most of these plants are getting huge. I gave each plant a 10 gallon flush and fresh nutrients. Upped the maxibloom a little and increased the reservoir volume to 25 gallons since I won't be around to check on them this coming week. I am thinking we should have some pistils popping on the next update. Nutrients are pumping 24 hours a day. Excited to see how these start to frost over the next few weeks.

Pretty disappointed with the grow today....had to kill a sugar cane a few days ago and the strawberry eclair today because they were both hermies. But all hope is not lost because 2 of the remaining plants are monsters and I think they may fill the space up pretty well. Got a lot more stretch on both of them than I like to see but we are just going to keep moving on and see what they do. They are all transitioning to flower. Hoping for smooth sailing from here on. On another note attitude seed bank has really shitty customer service. Would not recommend ordering from them. Seedsman has always been top notch and I will definitely stick with them in the future.

Been another week of crazy stretch for the sugar cane and apple sundae. Been supercropping several branches because they have maxed out my light height at over 4 ft tall. The slurricanes are looking much more manageable and it looks like the stretch is about over on all of them. I switched them over to maxibloom and added a little liquid koolbloom and Beastie blooms to start feeding those flowers. The room is definitely filled up now. just have to keep the juice pumping and see what they do.

Been an interesting week in the melting pot. At the end of week 4 in flower. They are steadily popping pistils and starting to pack on a little frost. I noticed the sugar cane isn't growing many pistils and little green balls everywhere looking like little seeds. At first I thought she had been pollinated but after doing some research and closely inspecting the plant I am pretty sure she has a genetic mutation. The ovules are growing outside the calyxes. A lot of the calyxes are empty and the parts that should be inside are growing on the outside. Something strange going on but she is packing on the frost like I have never seen before. The slurricane is starting to look pretty thickly coated with trichomes. The apple sundae is looking pretty average as far as the frost but looks like she is moving a little slower than the others. The stretch was crazy on the sugar cane and apple sundae. Had to supercrop countless branches a few times. They got some burn on the leaf tips as usual so I backed off on the maxibloom a little. Just going to keep the pot bubbling and the water pumping. I expect to see some nice buds start to shape up in the next few weeks if everything runs smooth.

Everything is moving along. Buds are building up pretty nice. Apple sundae is showing a little heat stress on the top leaves because she is so close to the light. Still running it full power though. Everyone else is looking pretty happy.

6 weeks of flower and things are shaping up pretty nice. Sugarcane is a frost factory! Apple sundae is stacking up some big sticky buds. Slurricanes aren't the frostiest I have ever seen but one has a dank fruity aroma and I think they will make some nice progress over the next couple weeks. Giving them a flush and fresh nutrients today. Going to keep the nutrients light and try to push these girls to the finish line. In house genetics is looking like straight 🔥🔥. I took advantage of their 420 special and grabbed a couple more strains.

Had to start tying up some branches this week. Sugarcane will probably be ready to flush in a week. Apple sundae is starting to swell a little but still stacking calyxes so it looks like she will put off some nice size colas. Slurricanes buds are still pretty small but the fruity terps are strong and dank!

I have started flushing the sugar cane. Will probably harvest her in 7 days. The apple sundae is swelling up pretty fat and the slurricanes look like they will start to ripen up in the next week or 2. The aromas are really starting to come out. Strong smells or fruit and fuel. Looking forward to chopping these girls down and starting a new adventure.

#inhousearmy

All the plants have been chopped down. The apple sundae has massive buds. She stacked up some big foxtails but is super sticky and smells skunky. The slurricanes have totally different aromas. One is really fruity. Can't wait to sample them. Will post harvest update when they are dried and trimmed. I planted the next round of girls in buckets today and the water is pumping.

On to the next run...

This harvest wraps up this diary. But the melting pot lives on!