Do-si-dos/Wedding Cake (Diary #2)

A few of the Wedding Cake seedlings look weak, likely be throwing them out unless they display a little more vigor. Do-si-dos all look good and healthy.

Threw out a Wedding Cake seedling this week. Cull the weak, keep the strong!

3rd set of leaves coming in

Everyone looks happy this week. Even the runt is coming around. I'm removing the dome for a few hours, twice a day, to acclimate the plants to the room.

Started with veg nutes and CalMag this week. Still seemed really slow growing so maybe the feed helps. To the next 🍻

(Actually week 5) Girls got new shoes this week! Two still need time before transplant. This run, I screened the hydrated coco to remove the pith (two coffee tins worth from 2 bricks!). I hung the 3 gallon bags of coco into 5 gallon buckets of CalMag solution around 7.5 ml/gal @ 6.5 pH for 12 hours. Update: Attempting a mainline on one of the girls...if it takes well, will do the rest. Adding weeks of veg doing this but apparently the yield is worth it in the end To the next! 🍻

Topping and training begins! Will try to take a few clones off the next round of topping. Would really like to have a few mothers to cut from down the road. Getting more vigorous growth now that I've moved to a high frequency fertigation schedule. Trying to water at lights on, lights off and somewhere in between. Update: Definitely cocked up the topping on a few. Too early on DSD1, too high on DSD2 & 3 (4th node instead of 3rd) and cut WC1 at the 4th node. I'll still get multiple main tops, they'll just be working off two nodes instead of one. I'll get it right next time lol To the next! 🍻

At this point I'm just sort of tying branches down and cutting clones. I want to make sure I have the chance to grow out a strain again if I really like it. I moved the plants into my bloom room for the last week or so of veg and put them under a 600w MH lamp set to 400w. Will transplant to 10 gallon bags when the coco is finished buffering. I'm planning to run veg nutes for the first week of bloom transition, half and half for the 2nd, then to full bloom nutes for week 3. March 20: I've decided to keep DSD1 and 3 in veg another week or two in order to allow the mainlining to grow in. It's taking longer because I stunted the growth by cutting off too much, too early. Now I'm waiting for all growth tips to grow to 4 nodes and then cut clones from the ones that won't stay. I've replaced them with clones from my last grow (Bubba '76 #3 / Black DOG #2). Since Wedding Cake and Do-si-dos can take 9 weeks to mature, I figure having a few faster finishing strains will be nice to space things out. To the next! 🍻

Giving the ladies another week of veg before switching the light schedule. Increased nutrients to 850ppm. Took cuttings from all plants and transplanted 4/6 to 10 gallon bags. Coco was buffered in a CalMag solution for 24 hours, rinsed with pH 6 water (to 450ppm runoff) and mixed 50/50 with perlite. To the next! 🍻

Bent a lot of branches away from the middle to keep them low. Keeping DSD1 in veg until I can get her transplanted. I took multiple clones from her and will need a few days to recover. She may end up being a mother I keep in veg or an outdoor girl because she'll be two weeks behind the rest by the time she's transplanted and rooted again. This would be the final "VEG" day (Mar 29) for the rest. Will be interesting to see if using the Metal Halide bulb for bloom transition keeps the stretch down. I used a 600w HPS on my last diary and saw her double in height after 2 weeks. Next update will be after the first 7 days of 12/12. Really looking forward to watching these grow for the next 8-9 weeks To the next! 🍻

Finally entering bloom after 10 weeks! This would be Bloom Transition week one..Lights switched over to 12/12 on Mar 29. For the 2nd week of BT, I'm cutting the veg nutes in half and adding half strength bloom nutes. Will try to get ppm to around 900-950 by end of week. Added DSD #3 to bloom, even though it was so close to transplant, it didn't seem stressed at all. Fingers crossed! They're all looking nice and bushy (except DSD3). Update Apr 7: trimmed some leaves off from the bottoms. Noticing a clear difference in stretching between the ones under the MH bulb vs. the HPS. Internodal spacing is much tighter and branches are thicker. This is something I'll continue to do going forward during bloom transistion, as I'm limited in height and it looks to be producing a strong foundation for greatness. To the next! 🍻

Had a hot few days and it's caused overnight temps (18->21) and humidity (50->65) in the room to rise. Probably going to need to add a portable air conditioner to regulate the hot air blowing out of the dehumidifier. I've read Wedding Cake doesn't like fluctuations in climate or she can herm so I'm hoping to get this stuff in check before she shows buds. The cuttings I took have started to sprout roots so I've been getting those into cups this week as well. Will be adding a few more pics as the week wraps up (Apr 5-12) Update: Last day of Bloom Transition! Next week I'll be using full bloom nutrients and bringing pH up to 6.1-6.3 for the duration of the flowering phase. I didn't quite make my target PPM of 1000, but I'd rather step it up slowly at this stage. Plus they're not looking deficient so I'm happy to go up 50 PPM every watering. I've defoliated a lot of the bottom leaves and some through the middle to increase airflow throughout the plant. Temperatures are coming down outside so the room has leveled out climate wise. Super happy with this week's progress!! To the next! 🍻

Start of week 3 and we have signs of buds forming on day 15! Since this is the first week of full bloom nutes, I decided to check the EC. It was 1.8 so I diluted to 1.2...i think I would've toasted them. Now I read EC is much more accurate than PPM so I'm switching to that. I've also switched out the MH lamp for HPS so there's 2 x 600w of light for the ladies. Updates rolling out every other day with pics. To the next! 🍻

Week 4: Starting to monitor EC and pH more closely and the numbers are all over the place. Some plants aren't really feeding, some are feeding a ton...they all LOOK good but I think I'm locking out P/K a bit with low pH values. The plants with good pH are the heaviest feeders. The plants with low pH are not feeding. I'm just going to continue giving them the same strength (1.5 EC) and pH (6.1) until they stabilize. Update: After tracking EC/pH run-off for the last 6 days, it appears I'm starting to get some nutrient/salt build up in the roots. Some of the EC out values were HIGHER than the EC in values (+1.0), coupled with a dropping pH (-0.6) means there's build up. I'll be giving them pH'd water with Sensizym for the next watering or two followed by a light fertilizing. Update: The flush worked great. EC levels down to 1.1 and pH starting to stabilize around 6.0. A few light feedings and back to regular strength! Update: Last day week 4! Definitely thought I'd be seeing more growth this week but I flushed and dialed back nutrients. Probably for the best, as I caught it before any real noticable damage...just the faintest leaf tip yellowing on a few of the DSDs. The clones look great and are stacking up nicely. They should be ready between day 49-55. Do-si-dos and Wedding Cake are both 9 week strains so they'll have longer to bulk up anyway. To the next! 🍻

WEEK 5: Welp...I 86'd DSD2/3 on Monday 😐. Some male flowers have shown they're ugly balls and I'm very dissapointed. Maybe I stressed them, maybe it's the genetics. Who knows... The good news is none of the flowers actually opened so I shouldn't be getting any (or too many) seeds in my buds. I've finally got the EC and pH under control (1.3/5.8) and now resuming regular feedings! Update: Starting to get some predictable run off numbers...so that means something will go completely out of whack tomorrow lol To the next! 🍻

WEEK 6 ------------- Do-si-dos: - Very little flower development - VERY tall, lanky branches...lots of bud sites but very small buds and no colas - Long white pistils Wedding Cake: - Great trichome development - Buds are not stacking up as much as I'd expect after 5 weeks (vs other strains) - Pistils are curling back into the flower, some turning amber Black DOG: - Buds have stacked nicely into one another up the branches forming colas - Good trichome development - Long white pistils, a few amber Bubba '76: - Buds are stretching into each other forming colas - Long white pistils almost touching the bottoms of the flower above - Good trichome development UPDATE: EC run-off consistently higher (1.8-1.9) than EC in (1.4) and I don't get it. Putting 2 gallons through the pots, plenty of run-off. Any ideas...anyone?

Start of week 7! They're 9 week strains so plenty of time left to stack on some weight, right?! Add a week to what the breeder says, right!? Cool, so it's a 10 week strain? OOOOK, LOTS of time...Feels like the buds on my Wedding Cake have looked the same for two weeks and just appear to be maturing instead of fattening. I see curled in hairs turning amber and a few amber trichomes on some tiny ass buds. Likely got pollinated. I guess I'll try to run the clones next to see if it was something I did wrong, or the genetics, but I'm pretty unsatisfied with her so far. Hope I'm wrong about it UPDATE: Plummeting pH (6.1 down to 5.6) I skipped a day of fertigation because I've been giving them 10L a day for a few days straight to get the EC to stabilize. They were bone dry when I watered last night (May 12). Do-si-dos appear to be stacking a bit more so I'm more optimistic on her vs the Wedding Cake To the next! 🍻

Clipped some branches from Wedding Cake that were bent sideways from weight. Was making it difficult to get her through the door lol. Last week of nutes for WC and B76 then a 3 day flush. DSD looks like it needs a few more weeks. This should be the final week of bloom for BD. Will be giving her the chop around day 55. Update: Last day of week 8! I've taken the Wedding Cake and Black DOG out of the bloom room and into a dark room for a few days (while flushing) until I chop them. I just started flushing the Bubba 76 clone and the Do-si-dos will need at least another week, maybe two. To the next! 🍻

Only Do-si-dos left in bloom. She still needs another week plus flush. Wedding Cake, Black DOG and Bubba got the chop this week. They'll hang out for a week then I'll trim and move to drying racks until they're ready to put into jars for curing. Update (June 1st): I've trimmed over half of the plants so far, with mixed results. Wedding Cake was layer after layer of leaf. By the end, there wasn't much flower remaining. I'll weigh it in a few weeks after curing a bit, but pretty dissappointing yield from her. Black DOG was decently dense and filled 4 x 1 quart jars. Bubba 76 was much less dense than my last run and had similar layers of leaf. Very resinous buds but likely won't crack the 4-5 oz mark from last time. Do-si-dos is still in bloom and will likely stop nutes at the end of the week to start flushing if the trichomes are right. To the next! 🍻

Had a look at the trichomes today (Jun 3) and they're mostly cloudy. I would like to see some amber before I start flushing so I'll maintain the feed schedule until that happens. Pistils have changed colour and started to curl in, but only on the top 1/3 or so. The bottom half looks wispy with white hairs. I'm debating on a top half harvest, dropping the lights and giving the other half another week To the next! 🍻

WEDDING CAKE --------------------------- Vegetation time: 10 Weeks Flowering time: 58 Days Plant height: 40" Yield: 109.89 grams (dry and trimmed) One of 3 seeds survived. This is her. One couldn't crack the shell, the other was mutated and I 86'd her after 2 weeks. However, this one was a vigorous grower out the gate. Big fan leaves, responded well to topping and LST and gave me several clones along the way. I had some issues in bloom (light leaks, heat waves, cold snaps, humidity jumps, stress from pruning) leading to some less than dense buds. The buds I harvested are like airy, foxtail-ey swollen calyxs. Very frosty though, and has a really really nice smell so far (one week into curing). I thought she may have been pollinated by the 2 Hermie Dosi's I threw away but there aren't any seeds. Do-si-dos ---------------- Vegetation time: 10 weeks Flowering time: 73 days Plant height: 40" Yield: 155.99 grams (dry and trimmed) This strain grew UP for me . Massive stretch in flower led to constantly tying branches down. Two of three plants hermed, likely stress induced. If I grow again, I would pay special attention to keeping conditions consistent. I would also do all the pruning and cleaning up of the plant BEFORE I flip. Male sure there's no light leaks (I had some) too. Buds were really frosty and decently dense for the top half of the plant. The lower half was a bit larfy but will do nicely for tinctures. The smell is something else. Strong, pungent kick in the nose with lemon and a noticeable cookies note. The taste is earthy, sweet and that GSC taste comes in late. The face-off OG's strength is apparent quickly after inhaling a few tokes. I can see why it's award winning. One day I'll come back to this strain to do it justice. Well worthy.

Growing: Vigorous growers in veg, all three shot up and responded well to LST training. In bloom transition, they stretched like crazy. Started at 16", final height was 40". I harvested after 73 days, but probably could've let it go longer tbh. If I grow this strain again, I'll veg for 5 weeks MAX and do all my staking and LST prior to flip. Definitely room for improvement. Two of three plants hermed (likely my fault) about 4 or 5 weeks into bloom and I threw them out before any pollination could occur. The buds, although plentiful, aren't the most dense, and again, this is something I could've improved if I fertilized at a higher strength and didn't stress the shit out of her in bloom. There's a pungent kick to the aroma that is mostly a woody, earthy, kushy smell. Gets you right in the back of the nose, making you pull away a bit, before going right back in for another intoxicating sniff. I don't want to use the term "Gas" or "Fuel", this isn't Blowdiaries and this ain't cocaine lol. That being said, it's a very addictive smell. Keep growing potnas! To the next!! 🍻