Basement Buds in Bed

[Guest]

Day 47 flower

We'll kick things off with Three Queens today...

Sugar Puffs

VG Bubba

CSI Bubba

Mendocino Purple Kush day 37

Peace
DM

 

[calientecarlos]

Lookin friggin great!! Nice work!

 

[Guest]

Thanks carlos, much appreciated!

Day 48 flower

Squish!!!

Wait...let me back up. About a week ago, I cut two of the lower branches back on CSI Bubba, as they were pressing up hard against the buds of the next node up. The leaves were really pale on parts, and I didn't want to risk mold.

Long story short, I got 1.8g dry of Day 40 lower nugs. Had a little taste out of the bowl today, still very fresh but didn't taste bad. I decided to take my new DabPress 4-ton bottle jack out for a test drive tonight. Using 1.7g of the flower in a 37u filter bag, I got 0.3g from two presses; right around 17.5%. The first press was 190F and apparently not very much pressure, gave me 0.12g. Folded the (almost) puck twice and did the 2nd press at 195 with a bit more force, got 0.18g out of it. Still getting the hang of the new press...

...now to figure out what to do with this stuff! Haha

Peace
DM

 

[Mars Hydro Led]

Very nice work. The flowers look pretty beautiful.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Mars!

Welp, I confirmed the small growth at the very top of MPK is, in fact, a seed...

...and also found one at the very bottom of VG Bubba...

Sugar Puffs showing a banana now, too.

She was watered quite well by the Blumat yesterday, so I closed the carrot all the way to start her drought process. Here is a turgid leaf angle on a secondary branch. It's at 60 degrees now, I'll water her again when it's at 90 degrees.

Peace
DM

 

[Wolverine97]

It definitely feels like a guessing game where I don't know by how much the light intensity changes when I bump it up or down 50 watts. Maybe I'll order one of those cheap LUX meters...


Peace
DM

If you get the cheap ($30) Amazon Lux meter, MiGrow on youtube has worked out a conversion chart to convert to PAR. He calibrated against an Apogee Quantum meter, for different light sources (just not blurple led's).

 

[Wolverine97]

Also, the conventional wisdom of letting your soil go dry the last couple weeks is a wives tale. Dry environment is good for resin production at the end, but don't let your soil go dry, it is counter productive.

 

[Guest]

If you get the cheap ($30) Amazon Lux meter, MiGrow on youtube has worked out a conversion chart to convert to PAR. He calibrated against an Apogee Quantum meter, for different light sources (just not blurple led's).

Already did exactly that; good tip! Since most of different spectrums I saw required a multiplier of 0.023 - 0.026, I figured 0.025 was a good balance. And I'm not looking for perfection, just close enough for cheap!

Also, the conventional wisdom of letting your soil go dry the last couple weeks is a wives tale. Dry environment is good for resin production at the end, but don't let your soil go dry, it is counter productive.

While the benefits outlined in this study may be strain-specific, I'm willing to give it a shot based on what I've read: https://www.researchgate.net/public...ical_Cannabis_Using_Controlled_Drought_Stress

Peace
DM

 

[calientecarlos]

I just did side by side of drought finish vs wet and I could not tell a noticeable difference. Living soil no till.

 

[Guest]

I just did side by side of drought finish vs wet and I could not tell a noticeable difference. Living soil no till.

At least you saved a little water! Thanks for sharing

How did you measure the drought stress of the plants? By any chance do you squish? I wonder what the results would be of pressing the exact same flower weights across the two different plants. I, unfortunately, am very limited in the number of plants I can grow and my insatiable desire to try millions of different strains. So it'll be hard for me to measure the effects of the drought stress on the plants. Even if I did a mono-crop and did the drought for half of the bed, what's to say the roots from the drought half wouldn't make it over to the other side and just drink from there? It's tough...

What's interesting in the referenced study, they said the drought plants measured the same Water Potential as the control plants all the way up until the 11th day, which is when the leaf angles reached 150% of the initial recorded angles. That same day, the Water Potential of the drought plants was suddenly 50% lower than the control plants.

I believe that is the true indicator of drought stress in the plants, when their Water Potential drops as if the plant is "giving up" or "making other plans", as it were. While I don't have the tools to accurately measure water potential in these plants, the study concluded that you could use the leaf angle as an accurate indicator with a strong correlation to the water potential of the plant. When that leaf angle hits 150% of the original angle, you know the water potential has dropped off and the plant is stressed.

I'll plan to water these again before chopping, too. Not sure if you did that in your side-by-side, but they did it in the study so I'm just trying to replicate what they did.

Peace
DM

 

[Guest]

From yesterday, Day 49 flower...

I closed the blumat carrots for all but MPK and recorded the leaf angles of newly-full-grown fans on secondary branches:

SP: 60° (Target 90°)
CSI Bubba: 67° (Target 100°)
VG Bubba: 67° (Target 100°)
3Q: 60° (Target 90°)

I'll shut off MPKs carrot in 10 days when she hits 7 weeks, too.

Sugar Puffs

VG Bubba keeps showing a couple of leaves with mildew growth each day. Sometimes I just pluck affected fingers, other times the whole leaf. Going to run out of leaves by harvest at this rate...lol

CSI Bubba

Peace
DM

 

[calientecarlos]

I had two 15 gallon pots so they were separated. It happened by accident really bc the mazar x green crack were just way more thirsty in the last 14 days vs the nana's cookies x black cherry. Soil was still hella wet in m x gc pot and the nc x bc was bone dry with leaves way below 60 degrees.

This round I have 2x gg4's in each 15gallon so it should be lil more scientific. I am def interested to see how it plays out.

 

[LizardMan]

Dopey can you fill me in on the leaf angle and what its going to help tell you?

 

[Guest]

I had two 15 gallon pots so they were separated. It happened by accident really bc the mazar x green crack were just way more thirsty in the last 14 days vs the nana's cookies x black cherry. Soil was still hella wet in m x gc pot and the nc x bc was bone dry with leaves way below 60 degrees.

This round I have 2x gg4's in each 15gallon so it should be lil more scientific. I am def interested to see how it plays out.
View Image

That's cool, maybe some day I'll put a divider up in the bed or something and try some side-by-side grows. But I'm OK for now with not knowing the exact impact these types of changes have on the end result. As long as the end result meets or exceeds my expectations, it's all groovy...

Dopey can you fill me in on the leaf angle and what its going to help tell you?

It tells me the plant's water potential has dropped to a level corresponding to drought-induced stress, which may cause an increase in cannabinoid production. Since I don't have any control plants to compare against, the best I can do is get a Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) test to determine cannabinoid levels. More research to do on at-home testing still...

CSI Bubba

Sugar Puffs

Peace
DM

 

[calientecarlos]

CSI bubba and sugar puffs lookin great!! Your results should meet and exceed!!

 

[VerdantGreen]

....
It tells me the plant's water potential has dropped to a level corresponding to drought-induced stress, which may cause an increase in cannabinoid production. Since I don't have any control plants to compare against, the best I can do is get a Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) test to determine cannabinoid levels. More research to do on at-home testing still...
...
Peace
DM

That's interesting, and i could well imagine that the plant may at least produce extra terpenes in response to drought stress... Mediterranean shrubs such as lavender produce aromatic oils to reduce water loss from the leaves for instance...
having said that, as a gardener by trade for the last 15 years, i have to tell you that water stress and plants getting too dry before watering, or having very uneven watering, is one of the main causes of powdery mildew that i have observed over the years. (others are poor air circulation and high humidity, and plants getting rootbound in their pots early in their life often get PM later in life.)
swings and roundabouts!
VG

 

[Guest]

...
having said that, as a gardener by trade for the last 15 years, i have to tell you that water stress and plants getting too dry before watering, or having very uneven watering, is one of the main causes of powdery mildew that i have observed over the years. (others are poor air circulation and high humidity, and plants getting rootbound in their pots early in their life often get PM later in life.)
swings and roundabouts!
VG

Thank you so much for sharing your experience! I think all of the causes you listed there are pretty well under control here in my room: Blumats made sure the waterings were properly regulated, air comes in bottom of room and exits opposite top-side with 3 circular fans moving air perpendicular to the intake (above and below), humidity kept between 40-50% at this stage between lights-on and lights-off.

When you said, "...water stress and plants getting too dry before watering..." as one of the main causes of PM, do you see the potential for that here considering the parameters I just listed and the fact that I'm intentionally stressing them with drought?

I'll try to snag a pic of the current mildew I'm currently encountering...at least, I assume it's mildew.

Peace
DM

 

[VerdantGreen]

When you said, "...water stress and plants getting too dry before watering..." as one of the main causes of PM, do you see the potential for that here considering the parameters I just listed and the fact that I'm intentionally stressing them with drought?

I'll try to snag a pic of the current mildew I'm currently encountering...at least, I assume it's mildew.

Peace
DM

Yes, i think that would definitely contribute to a PM problem by making the plants more stressed and susceptible.

Not saying that you have these problems i'm going to list, but other factors can be the fast, soft growth you can get from plants having an excess of N and other nutrients ,is more easily attacked by PM spores.
The spores have an advantage over most other fungi -

PM's 'special move' as it were, is that the spores can 'germinate' in much lower humidity than most other fungal spores... so keeping the air moving around helps to prevent the spores from settling on the plants to germinate in the first place... as well as good extraction which it sounds like you have.

If its only my bubba that has it then that's not too bad, maybe it is more susceptible or maybe it got a bit more dry and stressed than the others by the drought responses you are encouraging (not heard of it being a problem with my bubba before) ...
Also PM can be localised and seasonal, encouraged outside by certain weather conditions and then more spores around.

In UK for eg, wet, humid weather after a summer drought tends to bring it on.
If it's just an occasional thing in your grow rather than a regular fixture, probably not too much to worry about.
VG

 

[Guest]

Very good, thanks again! This is my first grow in this space, so trying to figure out what's what...

Here is what I'm seeing currently on your Bub

None of the others showing this. It happens at the top only, usually comes on quickly overnight. I notice it on leaves that are just barely starting to turn purple or "fade", as if their weakness is being exploited.

On another note, I've found a handful of seeds developing on some Sugar Puffs branches on the opposite side of the bed from VG Bubba. Talk about good circulation!

Also spotted a branch exhibiting polyploidism, which is funny because her backup clone has a a double-case of whorled phyllotaxy; 3 growth spots on one set of nodes, 4 growth spots on the next set of nodes...this girl is so confused...

Peace
DM

 

[VerdantGreen]

hmmm, i wouldn't say that was 'classic' PM symptoms, usually it is more of a white powdery deposit.... but PM covers numerous similar fungal species so i guess it could be.


One thing to watch out for in companion planting in the beds is that it can increase congestion and humidity and reduce circulation. I'm a fan of companion planting but don't use it with indoor cannabis grows for that reason... it is also worth considering that any 'companion' you plant next to your weed plants will also compete with them up to a point.. or could catch a disease and pass it on to your weed plants.



Some people will disagree for sure.. but that is my opinion.



VG