Unkown genetics x Skunk #1 wonder-wierd

[Hydrofarm420]

Hello all, decided to try and get this grow on here even though im pretty far along. Reason being that the plants from this cross are funny looking (at least to me... they look like an odd cross between a sativa and a pissed off porcupine) and have exhibited some spotting. setup is as follows:

600 Watt HPS hortilux
10 Gal. Pots using Fox Farm Ocean Forest
pH is 6.94 (as of yesterday)
ppm is 755 (as of today)
temp is 78 degrees
RH% is 45%
General Organics Nutes

As stated before i do not know the mothers genetics. The father was a Skunk #1 that was used for a friends breeding program and was known to be a good candidate. The mother was from a batch of some VERY (and i cant stress the very enough) good local but i have no idea of its history. The high was debilitating so the skunk was used to pollinate a clone of her and these are the first 3 I have grown. These plants are 3 and a half months old and have been in 12/12 for 2 weeks as of yesterday. The 2 on the left and center both flowered slower than the right and appeared to be similar. The right branched more severely and flowered about 5 days sooner than the other 2. Also has substantially darker leaves. Dont know how this'll turn out but the only way to know is to try...it might be hard to see the spots in the pics below, ill get a better pic tomorrow when the lights are back on.

week 10 veg. tops have been cut multiple times. pinched between every internode to keep internodes short.


week 11 veg


week 12 veg


week 13 flower


Week 14 flower (current)


Last ones are the latest. Guess we'll see over the next few weeks just how they turn out!

 

[Hydrofarm420]

So these are some pictures from today. Im not sure what happened to my spots but i cant seem to locate any anywhere on the plants. I will definitely take what i can get though so im not complaining. Anyways pics from today. seeing a little yellowing of some larger leaves so i foliar fed with a very dilute mixture of organic grow and some Ca+Mg. Just trying to cover all the bases.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=26284&pictureid=588309

 

[love2gro]

looking good. they look like my skunk #1 (seedsman seeds) did a little bit ago..

 

[FoCo(No.Co)]

Very nice job with the veg stage, bud. I wouldnt worry about the plant being hungry, your leaf stems are still green which is a sign of a well fed plant(red or purple leaf stems mean the plant isnt getting enough NPK or Mg).


I would recommend removing these lower budsites with a sterile razorblades or scissors. They will just eat up resources that the tops can use but will never develop into anything but popcorn or "larf" as some call it.

Peace.

 

[Hydrofarm420]

@love2gro thanks man just curious what was the flowering time on ur skunks? I was told that it was more on the long side of things even approaching 14 weeks. Im hoping this is not the case though.

@FoCo(No.Co)thank you as well. Which branches in those pics would you remove or is there a good method to tell whether or not it should be removed? Sorry for the questions I've grown a few times before but never really experimented with cropping/pinching/training so im not sure what to leave on these plants. The original idea was a ScrOG but as you can see it turned into a Sea of Screen of Green. Somewhere in between lol.

 

[FoCo(No.Co)]

Basically, you want to remove all the leafy growth in this picture-

If you are going to do it, do it NOW. Right after the stretch and early in the generative phase is the best time to trim up the lower stuff becuase you know what will and wont be getting adequate light. And the sooner you remove the useless budsites, the less energy they will leech from your tops.

Here is the best example I can find from my arsenal-

 

[love2gro]

in the 8-9 week range

 

[love2gro]

although yours do look like they have a bit more sativa then mine

 

[Hydrofarm420]

@FoCo(No.Co) ok so basically just everything below the canopy thats got less than say 3 inches of growth? I can kinda get an idea of what looks like it wont fill in so i will go ahead and do this today and see if i can clean it up a little bit. Ill post pics so you can tell me whether i succeeded or butchered them lol.

@love2gro wow i seriously doubt the slower 2 of these will be ready in 9 weeks. The back right has kicked out lots of hairs in typical fashion but the other 2 barely have preflowers after 3 weeks of 12/12. I dont know it just sounds long and yea i see ALOT of sativa in them. Mother was probably more sativa than anything else so now im gonna end up with a massive stretch or massive potency...hopefully the latter.

 

[Hydrofarm420]

also FoCo(No.Co) how do you post pics with the original resolution instead of thumbnails? Just curious

 

[Hydrofarm420]

Ok so now we have some leaf pictures to show what problems i was describing earlier. The ppms have dropped to 650 and ph is a lil low @ 6.3. lemme know what you think.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=26284&pictureid=589834
These are after the trimming FoCo(No.Co) did i do that correctly? I went all the way up to the canopy with it so everything left is in direct light.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=26284&pictureid=589832
These are overall on my failed ScrOG lol. no complaints when your tops start pulling the trellis out of the wall!

so thats the status as of today. The spots on the leaves make me worried along with the yellowing. Ive seen a few fungus gnats in there can they cause this?

 

[FoCo(No.Co)]

To post big pics, go view the picture (wherever you have them hosted) that you want to post and copy the image url, then when you are typing your post click the little yellow button w/ mountains(Insert Image) and paste the image url.

These are after the trimming FoCo(No.Co) did i do that correctly? I went all the way up to the canopy with it so everything left is in direct light.

That looks perfect sir, good work.

Ok so now we have some leaf pictures to show what problems i was describing earlier. The ppms have dropped to 650 and ph is a lil low @ 6.3. lemme know what you think.


so thats the status as of today. The spots on the leaves make me worried along with the yellowing. Ive seen a few fungus gnats in there can they cause this?

Yes, that is what root pest damage looks like. But the bugs you see flying might be root aphids and the attack plan is a little bit different for aphids(gnats are more common and you are probably right, but its good to make sure because the adult stage of the root aphid look just like gnats to the untrained eye). Check this thread to find out what pest you are dealing with-https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=159960&highlight=fungus+gnats+root+aphids

All root pests rely on water for reproduction, so letting the soil dry out well between waterings is a good start in the fight against the bugs. If you are able to, I reccomend that you pick up a bottle of Azamax(the organic chemical azadirachtin, which is found naturally in Neem). Aza wont get rid of an infestation, but it will slow down any insects that feed on the plant. However, you should not use Aza or Neem within a month before harvest because it will affect the smell and taste of the bud if used too late.


BTW- Your canopy looks awesome and the buds are developing very nicely! .

 

[FoCo(No.Co)]

...

 

[Hydrofarm420]

Well its a good thing you took a look because i squished one and its an aphid. Looks more like a very small ant with wings. They are rapidly getting worse so what would be the most aggressive plan of attack for them?

 

[FoCo(No.Co)]

The most aggresive plan of attack(and the only way to actually get rid of them) is to use something called Imidacloprid, which is a sythetic pesticide that will be absorbed by your plant.

Most people think that you can use it up to a month before harvest, but you should probably research the risks and benefits yourself and make an informed decision. Your other option is a 'kill on contact' poison which wont be absorbed by the plant so it wont be nearly as effective, but it wont end up in your bud.

Good luck.

 

[Hydrofarm420]

Week 4 flower now and i know which plants are sativa dominant. The left 2 have STTTRRREEETTTTCCCHHHEEEEDDDD and the back right has not. Also the back right is flowering much faster so i think ill continue with its genetics if possible. I applied the imid a day ago and havent seen anything flying around since then. im hoping with a few more good applications theyll survive and at least finish. somethings better than nothing at this point i guess. Also does anyone know if its possible to take a just rooted clone in soil and knock the soil off its roots and put it into DWC using hydroton (large clay pebbles)?

big stretches...

this is Sativa heavy

this one didnt stretch at all

up close of the back one. Ironically the least affected by the aphids...coincidence?

 

[B. Friendly]

if I was going to thin them out I would not do to much at all. as long as light is penetrating canopy you're a-ok

 

[Hydrofarm420]

what are you speaking in reference to B. Friendly? at this point im not really cutting anything else off as i already thinned them quite a bit. Only problem is coming from root aphids or fungus gnats or both.

 

[Hydrofarm420]

no one knows if its possible to take a bio clone, wash its roots off and put it in hydro? Searching hasnt yielded anything along this line, at least without having to read through hundreds of pages of forum to find it. I have a clone with the genetics i like i just dont want to grow it bio. any input greatly appreciated. Also, the aphids i think are getting there fill of imid because the leaf damage has drastically slowed. Always a plus even though i think im still going to lose the smallest plant but hey, at least it wasnt a total loss.

 

[prince kali]

why wouldnt it work? as long as you dont destroy the major root system it will recover. but it will stress for sure. slowdown of growth will be for sure..

i would keep it in soil, let it grow a few nodes and take 2 or 3 strong cuttlings..
like that you will save the genetics for sure.

good luck.
pK