Shov Spring 2013 Grow

[Shovelhandle]

I decided to start a quick finishing grow so it will be done by the warm Summer weather. I will be starting two strains, Bubblegum and ( Afghani Dream x BOG Medley, purple pheno ) x Bubblegum. These should be 8 week finishers for me, like their parent strains.

I did this last grow log. Post a pic of the parents or plant from an earlier generation.

Purple pheno Afghani Dream x Bog Medley
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Bubblegum
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[Shovelhandle]

So, about 40 seedlings were up and kicking ass in Red Solo Cups under (4) T5-HO. Each was cropped at node three. Yesterday I filled eight planters with 5 gallon soil mix getting ready for transplant today. I also started a transplant tea.
Five planters are mud buckets and three are fabric bags, think smart pots. One is actually 7-8 gallon, reserved for the 'rookie of the sprout season'.
They are scheduled for six weeks of veg (quick for me). These strains can finish in eight weeks, time to concentrate on the outdoors.

[Shovelhandle]

Earlier today.

Cups under the lights.
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Transplants with stand-bys in Red Solo Cups
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Culls, rejects.
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[pushit]

Very nice Shovelhandle! Couple questions for ya if you dont mind. Do you mix your own soil, if so, do you use the same for seedlings as you do when you transplant? Are all these ladies going outside or are you gonna do inside and outside? I know you said they should be done by summer, just didnt know if you were gonna keep some around to be monsters this summer. Looking forward to the show man.:thumbsup:

[Shovelhandle]

Thank you.

No, different stains this Summer (outdoors). Mr Nice Seeds European Outdoor Mix. Maybe someone may take some of the stand-by plants for outdoors, but I doubt it.

I mix my own and I do use a lighter mix for seedlings. I think my soil recipe was posted in my last Grow log, maybe?

[tlranger]

Off and running, it does look good!

[Shovelhandle]

Yesterday I topped them again and started a brew of tea for tomorrow.

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[AD x BOG] x BG
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Bubblegum

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Tea

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[Shovelhandle]

Soil is reused from last grow. Added all organic amendments. Dolomite lime, dehydrated granulated manure, earth worm castings, high P bat guano, bone meal, Maxicrop, Excelerite, Plant Success, a small amount of compost and molasses.

Now I'm feeding a tea of 2 gallons water to a handful of Espoma Plant-Tone, Earth Worm Castings (EWC), compost and 1 Tbs molasses. The mix is pH adjusted for 6.0 - 6.5 and bubbled with air stones of one or two days. Then the pH is checked and adjusted to 6.3 +/-. I add Plant Success maybe once, twice a month. Plants get feed-water-water.

In bloom cycle I'll change the Plant-Tone for Earth Juice Bloom and decrease the EWC.

[Shovelhandle]

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Maybe two more weeks veg. I want a quick indica crop, got plenty of sativa strong stash already.

[Esteban1]

Gosh Darn, the colors are stinging my eyes!

:rasta:

[pushit]

Great looking little ones man! They look happy,happy, happy.

[tlranger]

happy,happy, happy.

To be remembered.

SHOVEL. You are the Bush man. Two toppings in two weeks, how many, no I'll read the book. Stay inside, or pulling tarps?

[Esteban1]

Shovel, I reused my soil from last year as well. Will rejuvenate with hefty amendments since I purchased pretty good "dirt" last grow, ya know, cow manure, Canadian peat & perlite & yea... a little vermiculite. Some peeps feel that vermic is useless. Well as one esteemed member of this board states so eloquently in his tag...... "many ways to sheer a sheep". Again why waste a good blend especially when I rotate crops (like most farmers). Visualizing 3 or 4 blends come this fall. Peace be upon y'all

:s4:

[Shovelhandle]

Seedlings are going so well that day 33 from seed I flipped the lights and running (2) 400 Watt HPS over the eight plants. I'm just using the T-5 for a reflector right now. I'll add it for side lighting when the plants stretch. A couple more toppings on the two taller plants.
Base nutrients will change to Age Old Bloom, an organic miracle <g> and real good product.

[Esteban1]

A "like" just doesn't give enough props. Geeze, love the colors, that attribute alone makes the crop so very kool!


A Siskel & Egbert 2 :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Shovelhandle]

Ditched two bubblegum males so far. One other has 'that look'. At this rate I may go to a single 400W hps for now. :smokin:

[Shovelhandle]

Ok, ditched three BG males. Still waiting on one. All the [Afghani Dream x BOG Medley] X Bubblegum are female.

[Shovelhandle]

AD x BOG X BG
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one missing from the photos as it moved when I took the picture and was not in focus. <G>

Bubblegum
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Some burning on the older leaves. Some of that was from the lights when they were wee. Also, the soil may have been a little 'hot' for the seedlings but the new growth is good and the grow rate is fine. These are much smaller than usual. I normally go 8-10 weeks of veg, these went five. So now they are six weeks from seed.

[Shovelhandle]

One week later...

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Forgive the HPS yellow. Here the girls are showing off their frillies. Four AD x BOG Medley X BG (4/4 females) and one BG (1/4 females).
Canopy temp is 78-80º but it's staying warmer at lights out so now I am using an exhaust fan 24/7. I've started to tuck fan leaves under the buds, where I can. Of course they don't all set still under the cooling fan.

[Mal420xl]

looks awesome so far

[Shovelhandle]

yut, I think so too. Just looking back at the photos in the first post. So far these plants are right there.

[Esteban1]

I'm getting a chubby


:thumbsup:

[Shovelhandle]

Added (4) F54T5HO grow spectrum lamps. Doubled the water dose to 4 gallons with mycorrizhae and molasses. Trimmed a little bit on the 'legs'.

[Shovelhandle]

Grow area is flooded, I'm pumping out and it keeps coming in. It was no surprise with the rain we've had last week. I got all the chores done ahead so I don't have to boot up and go into the water. Last year no flooding, but it's a normal occurrence in the spring. They just finished week three of bloom and I'm up for posting some photos of the plants with super-cropping and LST. They are still about a foot tall but all spread out with lots of bud sites.

[Esteban1]

Natural disasters suk bug time! Confident you'll be fine. Peace broheim


:hippy:

[Esteban1]

Get 'r Done??


:question:

[Shovelhandle]

Yut, it's under control. I just went and pumped it dry. Probably will seep a little more back in but not enough to bother pumping. It will seep right back out with time. It's not hot/summer/humid in there so I don't sweat it about fungi. This is almost an annual occurrence, it skipped last spring.

So I swept and pumped and then released the LST'ed tops (which were tied down out to the side) as the middle buds were now growing straight up in apical fashion trying to be 'The Top Cola'. In a day or two they should look interesting.

I now have one Shiva Skunk and five Shit seedlings into party cups and outdoors in the sun. I done a weeks worth of work this morning too. <g> Sw Now I stoned, sucking some suds and going out to relax in the yard with the ol.

[tlranger]

Good job dealing with disaster, to me it shows your still the most important part or your operation.:jointsmile::thumbsup:

[Shovelhandle]

pics

Bubblegum
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Afghani Dream (purple pheno) x BOG Medley X Bubblegum
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[Esteban1]

****Barter with you any day of the week**** Don't need to do extra credit work, getting a chubby....... AGAIN


:wtf:

[Shovelhandle]

Flooding is all cleaned up. We're about half way through the bloom cycle. All the plants are happy and thirsty. Even though these are smaller than normal because of the abbreviated veg cycle the four of them are drinking as much as eighteen larger plants from the last grow at this point in the schedule.

This is the lone Bubblegum.

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Here's one of the AD x BOG Med X BG

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[Mal420xl]

wicked nice shov!

[Shovelhandle]

Oh, what a disappointment. My plants are heavily laden with seed. I couldn't have done a better job of pollinating if I had 100 male plants and a hive of bees in my grow room. No, I have no idea where the pollen came from. It happened weeks ago as some seeds are mature already.

The new batch of seed from Mr Nice did germinate this time. I have 5 out of 7 with long tap roots and now they are in party cups.

[Mal420xl]

check the underside of the side buds between the stem that supports the bud and the bottom of the bud itself. probably tucked a few hermies in there. thats where they were hidin on mine.

[Shovelhandle]

These seeds are mature, 3-4 weeks old. They were pollinated during the first week or two of bloom. Might have been one of the bubblegum males. He must have been a quick shot though, I never saw a mature male flower.

I looked and did find a banana in a BG bud.

[Shovelhandle]

People in the know have asked how to grow short bushy plants. They realize that unless you're running 1000 watt lamps there is a limit to the height you can grow plants to produce dense buds. This may be a little more extreme than many people are looking for but this shows what can be done when you crop early and use a little LST (low stress training) and super-cropping.
The red line is at the top of a clear (hard to see) 12" ruler. Many plants are less than 12" tall but they will put out some decent bud. Please excuse my crappy photos, as usual.

All the plants at eye level.

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Two AD x BOG X BG

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The single Bubblegum

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[Shovelhandle]

I 'm hoping to harvest most of the buds in a week. This all depends on trichome color. Right now I see lots of clear on top still.

Here's a pheno of the Afghani Dream x BOG Medley X Bubblegum.

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[Shovelhandle]

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[stillsmoken2]

They are very beautiful and love all the crystals , on your last picture . .

[stillsmoken2]

Heavily laden with seeds there is a male or a hermaphrodite in the mix .

[Esteban1]

What's not to like?

:thumbsup:

[Dabs4all]

Looking good, that sux about the seeds. I was using a male to experiment with full strength FF nutes so I don't burn my girls, but after seeing this I think he is dead today RIP!!!!

:greenthumb:

[Shovelhandle]

I checked trichomes for ripeness and they are done. The weather is and has been rain, rain, rain, warm and humid. So I'll let them sit in the pots under the lights until Saturday or so.

[Shovelhandle]

Monday; 400 watt hps only. Last watering.
Friday; jerk the stem, leaving it in the dry soil.
Saturday; TBD

[Shovelhandle]

Cut and hung the plants. Some humid around here lately so I'll keep an eye on the drying.

[Shovelhandle]

The harvest came in on schedule, 33 days veg, eight weeks bloom. The unwelcome surprise was the massive amount of seed. Funny that all the plants are loaded but the single purplish pheno of AD x BOG X BG. They are all trimmed and in paper bags (I forgot to photo them after the trim, maybe another day). They are not 100% dry but the weight is 16 oz. I would guess more like 8-10 oz of seedy bud when it's done. It has great aroma though so I'm psyched to smoke this stuff when it's cured.

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[Shovelhandle]

This is the worst failure I can remember, ever. The herb is so seedy I'm at a loss what to do with it. Not sure if I want to dry sift, ice water or qwiso. Shit, shit shit... I guess I can just buy a frisbee and smoke it up. :stoned:

Don't even ask what happened. I have no idea whatsoever. The male plants showed and were culled early on before there were much of any female preflowers and the males didn't get a chance to mature and open. I kept a good eye on the five plants and saw no 'nanners until the end when I picked off a couple/four, which is not unusual.

[Esteban1]

Appear doable for personal use.

:thumbsup:

[Buggy]

So what have you decided to do with the end product? Is it worth going through for personal use? What are you doing different for next time to work out the seed issues?

Love seeing this and all the pics - very helpful! :)

At what points did you pinch the leaves then, and was it always to improve the bushiness or at some points was it to prevent it from growing up and concentrating on better quality growth already there?

What else would you have done differently?

Thanks for sharing!

[Shovelhandle]

I'd love to answer all your questions, Buggy. But I feel You'd get more out if it if you read back through all my grows I've posted here. And thank you for your kind comment. That's why I bother with the grow logs. I have my own ledgers and photo files but here I explain what I'm trying to do and how I'm dealing with any obstacles I may encounter. I really much rather just do that then try and answer questions or debate what is right or wrong with my grow methods.

But as far as the current issue, the herb is being de-seeded, rolled and smoked, just like the old days before sinsemilla. It's good stoney pot. Tasty and should just get nicer flavored with age. It has a better day time buzz than the last crop which was very well ripened (lots of amber glandular trichomes). If we get tired of all that by the time the next crop comes in I'll make a concentrate, probably qwiso or dry sift hash.

Basically , the seed thing is a first, and hopefully a last time for this. It's weird, I tell ya.