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Greetings Readers! Its Beans again. I’m sort of hitting my sea-of-green/small plant groove. The rotation is alive and well. BlackJack by Nirvana seems to be one of the better strains I’ve got going, and so continuing the line. These are the fourth and fifth clones of the year! The genetics are Jock Horror x Black Domina.
I transplanted into a container of BX Pro Mix, and side filled with a mixture of 10 parts BX Pro Mix: 5 parts worm castings: 1 part Fox Farms Happy Frog soil.
My tent is 4’ x 4’ hung mylar DIY. My lighting is a 300 actual watt full spectrum LED, and I have 1/6th of that panel again.
This day 46. Things are a bit chilly near the floor but spring has sprung!
Day 53 for this duo of BlackJack clones. Nothing major to report. Just cooking away and taking their time. I will be just giving water. Eventual transplant of course. All is good.
Day 60 for these BlackJack clones. Rapid growth, they’ve almost caught up to another BlackJack generation. This is funny because this week I transplanted, and the roots were not too advanced. So I dunno. Looking great, though. I bottom filled with BX Pro Mix. I was going to side fill with something stronger but other transplants and convenience, and I went a bit light. I side filled with a mixture of 10 parts BX Pro Mix: 5 parts worm castings: 1 part Fox Farms Happy Frog Soil.
Day 67 for these two BlackJack clones. They are just chugging along and getting bigger and bigger. They have caught other generations with less roots and time. No matter, they have to sit much longer. I will look to get some clones off these two and continue the lineage, one of my fav. strains.
Day 74 for these two Black Jack clones. Still lots of amendment to get through and roots to expand. I’ll look to take some clones and clean up this week. Having this gen. allows me to wait a bit longer and take multiple generations. Just giving water at this point.
Day 81 for these BlackJack clones. Just waiting around until flowering. I’ll be able to clone some before the switch. I had top dressed with some blood and bone meal, mineralized phosphate (guano), and worm castings. As I irrigate this will get washed through. I turned my output ventilation on this week, temps seem fine.
Day 88 for these two BlackJack clones. It seems I mucked up a bit and they ran out of amendment, or are imbalanced. I had top dressed but they ran out of steam. I’d like to wait, I haven’t cloned, and so I gave some 24-8-16 All Purpose Miracle Grow plant food, with Plant Prod MJ Spike (CalMag). Lets see what happens.
Day 95 for the two BlackJack clones. I kept prodding a bit with feed, and gave some more 24-8-16 All Purpose Miracle Grow with some Plant Prod MJ Spike (CalMag). Its tough to see the phosphorous remedied because its not like stems clear the purple. I do think they needed nutrients. I also did some much needed defoliation and cleaning up, and some cloning. I want to get the health back up and then flower them eventually. Also moved everyone to a new veg. tent. I now have two 300 actual watt full spectrum LEDs now on them, but a bit higher.
Day 102 for these BlackJack clones. I gave water and so I think I’m finally seeing deficiency (and not excess). On leaves that I took off it looked a bit like potassium needed. It could have been locked out prior. Just trying to maintain until I put into flower, probably this week. Once we get into stretch and flower food I’m not as concerned as we focus on bud.
Day 109 for these two BlackJack clones. One week of flowering complete, seven weeks to go. I had the space and opportunity to make the switch so I moved these two into the flowering tent. Its 6’ x 4’, so a bit bigger, and the same hung mylar. My lighting is a 600 watt Vivosun HPS setup. Shout-out to BudXs and Hellishjam, good green people deserving of likes. Blackjack went in on Monday so its been a little less than seven days when calling it a week. I let them sit much of the week and then top dressed with work castings, blood and bone meal, and Gaia Green mineralized phosphate (guano).
Day 116 for these two BlackJack clones. Two weeks of flowering complete, six weeks to go. No food yet, just washing the top dress through. First food comes in a day or two. Modest stretch, ready to start the show...
Day 123 for the two BlackJack clones. Three weeks of flowering complete, five weeks to go. The mites ... the mites ... the mites! Driving me insane. The pace of the infestation is crazy. Ladybugs arrived mid week but it will take time for them to clean up all the plants. Hopefully they make some eggs and speed the feast up. Waiting is the tough part of mite treatment, and sometimes it gets worse before it gets better. I fed this week, 0-10-10 Alaska Morbloom, with a popsicle stick dip of blackstrap molasses and Plant Prod MJ Spike (CalMag). Its going to be a long five weeks.
Day 130 for the two BlackJack. Four weeks of flowering complete, four weeks to go. The pest wave hasn’t improved much. Overall, these BlackJack were getting the mites later and so the progression is delayed. Other parts of my tent improved and I moved some plants outside. The ladies have been munching away but the cat and mouse of populations leaves this in pretty bad shape still. I am really copping out with photos this week, just one general shot and mostly copy and paste description. Sorry not sorry. Midweek, i expect to move BlackJack outside to get picked apart for at least a week or two. I did give some 0-50-30 Fox Farms Beastie Bloomz (and blackstrap molasses and Plant Prod MJ Spike (CalMag)), but it will be water here on out. The food is likely a waste just given the plant condition.
Day 137 for BlackJack. Five weeks of flowering complete, three weeks to go. I threw the batch outside to get picked off by nature. Of the mited plants, this one had the longest to go still. Thats unfortunate because they won’t have time to bulk up under HPS. I’m skeptical how much they’ll be able to finish under sun in the middle of summer anyway. If I do decide to try to salvage the bud I will be thoroughly washing it.
Day 143 for the two BlackJack clones. Six weeks of flowering complete, two weeks to go. I’ll be harvesting a week early at the end of this coming week. Eventually, I expect them to try to revert to veg. I’m not really expecting much anyway, once the mites got to them.
Day 148 for the two BlackJack clones. I can’t maintain it for longer, its time to end this grow. Seven weeks of mitey flowering complete, I’ll harvest a week early in the end. Not much return on investment if I keep going in the shade outdoors, may as well chop and dry. I was expecting worse, thats for sure. I’ve definitely vaped worse. I’m glad I moved them inside my garage as its been rainy all day. I’ll turn the flash on to show the bud more clearly and hide my garage mess.
Harvest report for MiteJack, I mean, BlackJack by Nirvana. As many of my grows that were in the wrong place at the wrong time, BlackJack was overwhelmed by a pack of ravenous killer spider mites. They had a taste for leaf. This plant did not begin infested and so its a sad end when you get to about week 3 of flower. You can see it was doing its own thing, random update, and then toast. Thats how fast an exploding mite population can be. But I digress, lets overview:
These two started taken as regular clones. Growth was moderate as best as I was exiting winter and realizing how much temperatures were effecting things. I also didn’t have the amendment I have now, and was more inconsistent with soil.
Still, a little bout with deficiency, a little food, they entered flower in just okay shape, but the initial stretch and performance indicated they were fine.
As the mites moved, I got a shipment of ladybugs which certainly slowed the population down. Still, reenforcements were too late, and within a couple days these BlackJacks had it too. Unlike other BlackJacks in the tent, these plants were less infested but more importantly less developed. I see that a plant that is only partway and gets mites has far less potential than a beauty plant that gets mites further in development. My next step is to move the plants outside for a week or two in the Canadian Maritime summer climate to allow predators and harsh weather to go to town. Again, in comparison to previous MiteJacks, the pistils were still white at this point and so I was only going to get so far with the plants tossed in the shade. Yield took a big hit, even for mited plants.
Another factor in the youngness of infection, is the lack of full development of the flavour profile. It tastes and smells in the typical range of BlackJack, but because of wash (see below), and the partial swell, much of the flavour is missing. Normally, the sweetness is much more pronounced especially in aroma.
Potency never gets really effected with mites and so this is still sativa leaning, nicely placed in the head or eye sockets depending how much you blast. You just end up vaping less because of the lack of flavour. BlackJack is sort of in the middle of the road for frost, and I usually see a decrease after a omnipotent miting and then scrubbing.
I’d still recommend BlackJack as this was a specific case. Check out Nirvana, I recommend, and this strain is worth your time. Disappointing experience this time 🤷♂️🏻
After all the mites I still had to harvest. I let the plant dry out in my garage and then washed and cut. The process was more intensive than my typical wash, adding a first step.
1- about 20 L of water, 1 cup of hydrogen peroxide, 3 tablespoons of lemon juice concentrate, 3 tablespoons of baking soda. I dumps all the buds in this container, fan leaves including, and really saturated. I let everything sit in the mix as I wet trimmed bud by bud.
2- a bowl of water mixed with 3 tablespoons of lemon juice concentrate, and 3 tablespoons of baking soda.
3- just water for a rinse. Then hang to dry.
I feel ya man...just give them love and let them finish the best they can.
I can't even hardly get myself to take photos of the ones that were ravaged by mites and hoppers...
Extracts and bubble hash are always options. No matter what they look like, they can still deliver the attitude adjustment you were after!
BeanswithPork
