Paradise Ice Cream / 250W MH

[Gelado`]

So the first auto female I started harvesting (with the really bad curl) looks to have been a decent yielder...about an oz for an auto isn't bad and since I don't smoke much, should last me a few months! The buds are very resinous and taste great too. If I'd used more HPS through the grow I bet it would have yielded much more.

The other auto female should yield more when she's done. She seems to have a much higher leaf to calyx ratio, but she is still a long way from done, so she may still swell up significantly in these last three weeks.

The Ice Creams should yield significantly more. With each plant I take down I have a little more knowledge about my conditions and organic amendments, so my yields and quality are only going to get better!

This AK/Widow is an interesting strain. Good potency, very relaxing without paranoia, anxiety or too much body, but after a few bowls I get pretty sleepy!

 

[wildgrow]

Oh no! Youre going to have too much!

 

[Gelado`]

You can never have too much.

BTW, I love the quote in your sig, I think about it all the time!

 

[Gelado`]

Some leafy bud from the female with bad leaf curl that I just started curing:

 

[wildgrow]

Some leafy bud from the female with bad leaf curl that I just started curing:

View Image

Mmmmmm...

Its true though, a few middling buds keep your colas safer longer.

Im just thinking - works for dieters too. Better idea, fill the cookie jar with popcorn.

 

[Gelado`]

I'm getting a sweet and mild berry aroma from the buds from the plant with botrytis that I salvaged what I could from. The nugs are in a jar and have been curing for about a week.

I'd much rather have cookies than popcorn, but I snack on other stuff.

As for bud, I'd rather have a jar full of chunky cookies than popcorn!

 

[Gelado`]

Harvested the rest of curly and vaped some scissor hash right off the scissors. Very tasty and very potent. I'm much higher than I thought I'd be! My lighter picked a great time to run out, but I'm plenty baked!

 

[Ras Mason]

shmoke that shit!

 

[Gelado`]

Transplanted my healthiest Ice Cream clone into a one gallon Smartpot that contained soil from a plant I harvested about a month ago. The BIoNova enzymes really digested the roots in there...I was amazed! I really only had to remove what was left of the stem.

I mixed the soil, which was mixed with clay pebbles, with buffered coco (40:60 ratio) and then threw in two handfuls of perlite, five handfuls of worm compost and about a handful of two different organic fertilizers for agriculture (cheap and good stuff). I also put in about two tablespoons of Azomite. All of that good stuff should definitely get this clone going!

 

[OKD]

As for bud, I'd rather have a jar full of chunky cookies than popcorn!

My lighter picked a great time to run out, but I'm plenty baked!

Good to know you're enjoying the fruits of your labor!

 

[Gelado`]

That I am! Each successive plant tastes better than the last (knock on wood)--I have high hopes for the Ice Cream!

 

[Gelado`]

I forgot to mention I threw a little rice husk charcoal into the Smartpot and also made up another gallon or so of media that I'll mix into the existing 'heavy' potting mix that was giving me poor results. I bought the rice husk charcoal to provide K, without realizing coco doesn't really need supplemental K, but after reading about the benefits of biochar I decided to throw a little (a couple of tablespoons) in anyway.

The feminized skunk looks much better now. I'm going to lift it out of its pot and replace as much of the soil under it as I can with the new mix to give it a better chance of survival. The five gallon Smartpot has a block of the heavy mix in the middle of it, so once the roots from 'curly' break down, I'm going to mix it up well and reamend.

 

[Gelado`]

Repotted the skunk fem today. She's put out new leaves and was vegging ok, but the Smartpot weighed a ton because of the heavy potting soil.

She had much less root mass than I expected, and lost some in the process of repotting. Hopefully she survives and rebounds in the new medium, which is much airier with the extra coco fiber in the mix!

The surprise seedling appears to be a male auto AK x Widow. It definitely appears to have the start of male flowers. I think I should know for sure one way or another in a few days.

The rest of curly was dry enough to start curing today...all of my jars are full! Fortunately I have a new glass tupperware-style container for the other plant, which is still beefing up, and is starting to get resinous and smell better and better.

 

[Gelado`]

So I read worm castings are supposed to help with root aphids--apparently they do! I top dressed all my pots with a healthy dose of worm compost and watered it through, and the root aphids seem to have taken a major hit! I only saw two under my Ice Cream mom today and killed one. That's a big difference compared to the dozens I came home to after my last trip!

 

[Gelado`]

All my plants are doing well. The Ice Cream clone I repotted took off and was praying for the light when I checked on it, and the skunk took the transplant right in stride. It looks like I have a few more rooted clones that will be ready for transplant in a week or so too.

The last AK/Widow female looks like it's going to be a pretty good yielder (for a two-foot tall auto) and is still putting out tons of fresh pistils. The curled leaves are yellowing and dropping off. I'd say she still has three or four weeks left, which will put total flowering time at 12-13 weeks! At least she's paying me back in greater budweight, and the extra time is great veg time for my Ice Cream clones.

 

[Gelado`]

No trace of the root aphids today! The Ice Cream mom was very slightly wilted, so it was watering time. I also watered the just-rooted cuttings. I watered with enzymes, Plagron Alga Bloom, neem (concentrate and oil), alfalfa meal, sea minerals and a little food grade calcium carbonate. It only takes one drop of pH down to get where I need to be!

 

[wildgrow]

1 drop!? Is your water still ph'ing 7.8?

 

[Lammy]

gelado
I finally found your thread. I don't know how I missed it in the 'new posts' all these times.

I like the Advanced Nutrients pH up and down. last time I bought the down I left it in the bag on my nice leather couch for like a week and when I finally moved it it had eaten a hole about a foot across through the leather in both the seat in the back.

their pH up was burning small blisters on my arm. just from squirting a few eyedroppers of that stuff into a 15 gallon reservoir of water and then reaching into with my hand. I finally learned that it was a concentrated film sitting on top of the water when I first reach my hand in there that was burning my skin so bad.

I tried using apple vinegar for a while because Mandala Mike recommends it as being cheap and natural. but I think I was going through like a gallon of that a week. it became a ridiculous task to even buy that much vinegar.

 

[Gelado`]

WG, yes, 7.8. I only feed one liter at a time, hence just one drop. A gallon would take 3.78 drops. It's one drop with enzymes (the enzymes are pH 4.0) or two drops without it, and I almost always incorporate enzymes.

Lammy, glad you found my little thread, and sorry to hear about your couch mishap! The guys at the grow store showed me burns and holes in their clothes from the pH down. I haven't had an accident with it yet (knock on wood)! I can't imagine going through a gallon of vinegar a week. If you bought it at the same place all the time, they would've wondered WTF you were doing! ^_^

The Ice Cream clone I potted up is growing incredibly quickly. I spotted some aphids in the five gallon pot the just harvested plant was in, so I'm going to have to mix up the soil, amend and add more coco and then add more worm castings to the top. Worm castings rock. I'm going to buy several lbs this time since they are very much a necessity!

 

[Lammy]

how about a layer of sand on the top of the pots? I'm trying that myself right now.