ReikoX's Workshop 2017

[ReikoX]

These are the Zak Haze clones that I put in here on Saturday. They seem to be pretty happy, they are in my amended recycled organic living soil. I'm kind of regretting giving a bag of it to my brother. I'm still trying to work out how my perpetual is going to run. My original plan was for a nine week veg period. I'm pretty sure after nine weeks of veg, there will be no room for stretching. So, think what I can do is keep them in the cup for the first three weeks, as planned, but put the cup in here.

These Bubba Kush S1s are really starting to piss me off. I have no idea what's going on with these. Even the clover seems a little stressed out. I'm thinking it may be cal/mag deficiency now. I have been giving them RO water the last few waterings, so I gave them a bit of ferments (15 ml/gal of fish/gro). I will spray them this evening with some CalPhos to see if that helps. I will flower these out, just so I don't have empty space in my flower cab, but the mother has been culled. I'm sick of babying this cultivar.

After three or four weeks (I lost count) of spraying this Crystal Candy girl every day, I think I am finally starting to see some changes. You can start to see some clusters forming on the top bud, so I stopped spraying. I have been calling here Bruce. I also decided to spray one of the La Divas since I have four of them.

The rest of the autos are already starting to flower. I need to check the pH next time I feed, they look like they are getting either overwatered or the pH is out of whack. I have to remember that this is a sort of manual hydro type method so my pH is way more important with these small containers. Otherwise things are progressing nicely. The Lowryder, the only regular seed, is female. I'm debating hitting her up with the Lowryder (male) pollen I have in the freezer.

 

[ReikoX]

Yesterday I was looking through my grow logs looking for a good picture of my veg area. I was zooming in and I noticed what I now know is thrip damage. So I started going back looking at pictures of my plants for thrip damage. I'm not saying I got them from the Skywalker OG cuts, but I couldn't see thrip damage before and did after. I found evidence of damage on my last CBD run in the main cab, my last auto run in the workbench, and the last Jilly Bean run. No wonder yields have been suffering. Thrips will never be an issue again, I know what the symptoms look like, and I know what kills them.

Last time I was looking at the autos in the PC, I was thinking that the pH was off. I decided to test the pH after I mixed up the nutrients. My pH pen read 7.0 which didn't seem right to me. I lowered the pH to 6.1 and it took way more pH down that normal. Something isn't right. So I take out my spare pen and it reads 5.1. Holy crap guess it's not working right. I again adjusted the pH to 6.1 and then calibrated both to read 6.1. I decided to be on the safe side and used my pH drops just to check and it was back up to around 7. So this time I just adjusted it as close to 6 as I could with the drops. Now, thinking back on it, there are a few clues that the pH pen was out of calibration. First one was that I mixed up the Lucas formula and remembered it needed a tad pH up. But when mixing it for the party cup hempys, I was using pH down. Another clue was when I had that high PPM runoff from the Bubba Kush S1, the pH was 7.0. I thought it was odd to be so neutral with such a high pH. So I gave them proper pH water and a foliar of CalPhos, let's see how they respond.

I was spraying the plants with CS and decided I would check my PPM on the solution. Hmmm 40 PPM starting with 20 PPM RO water. I'm going to get some distilled and try to run it until I get 50 PPM. I still can't tell if it is working on that Crystal Candy, but I think she's going to produce pollen sacks any day now. I have a La Diva I just started spraying, so I'll mix up a batch at 50 PPM and follow the directions correctly (not supposed to use RO water I guess).

I was going to try and trim my Jilly Bean plants that I cut down Saturday, but they were still a little too wet. They have been hanging for five days, and usually it only takes around 3 to dry here. It has been raining for the last three days so that's slowing things a bit. I decided to take the bottom popcorn buds off and press them. I got about 15% return which is pretty good considering how wet they were. The rosin is pretty tasty. It's a mix of both plants, so it's a nice orange and tangerine mix, with a hint of green. I have debated just turning the whole thing into rosin. I would have to trim anything. Maybe I'll just trim the main bud on each stem and rosin the rest.

 

[Gnz]

Wet weather here for the last month that I've been back in country definitely slows the drying process when you use ambient outside air, humidity is 85%+ and will get worse over summer!

Experiments are looking great Reiko, hopefully that bubba kush bounces back fast

 

[ReikoX]

Well I trimmed up the two Jilly Bean plants. Probably a half ounce each. Not too bad considering they had thrips the whole time. The left plant, #4, had denser buds and more sugar leaf. It also had a more mellow orange smell. The right plant, #2, had more airy bud with less sugar leaf. The right plant also has the sweeter smell more like candied manderine oranges. They will go in a paper bag for a day or two before going in jars and burping. I'll probably combine the trim and do one big squish.

This is the Jilly Bean #2 clone that had the "fascination". It came out pretty dense.

This is the Jilly Bean #4 clone, not as dense as #2, but still might out yield the mainlined plant.

Here they are trimmed up ready to dry. The clones may outweigh the seed plants.

 

[Soulrebel239]

That #4 looks nice and ready for a taste test.

 

[ReikoX]

That #4 looks nice and ready for a taste test.

Been holding off trying to get at least a week in the jar. The rosin I pressed from the trim is helping the wait.

 

[ReikoX]

I got a new tool to play around with in my garden. This is a Brix refractometer. They are used in beer and wine making to determine the sugar content. By reading the Brix value before and after fermentation the alcohol content can be determined. Now, I'm not talking about brewing beer right now (though I could). I will be measuring the Brix of my plant sap. Higher Brix values usually indicate a healthy plant.

I saw this discussed in another thread, but here is a bottle of General Organics CalMag+. The funny thing is, it says right on the bottle not for organic farming in California. Whew good thing I'm in New Mexico! Seriously though, I'm not above using a non-organic supplement when needed. I mixed up a hefty dose of CalMag+ along with some fish hydrolysate. They also got a foliar of CalPhos.

I have come to the conclusion that the BBK S1 is a heavy CalMag feeder. I have plenty of Mag in my fertilizer from the molasses I use, but calcium is not added. They look lots better (again) after the foliar. Event he clover greened up a bit. This batch of soil will be re-amended after this round.

In contrast, here are the Zak Haze clones I put in there just last week. Look how happy they are in my re-amended soil. There are several calcium sources as well as other minerals. I watered them with yucca today and the soil easily easily soaked up every drop I gave them. Happy Happy!

 

[Dave Coulier]

These are the Zak Haze clones that I put in here on Saturday. They seem to be pretty happy, they are in my amended recycled organic living soil. I'm kind of regretting giving a bag of it to my brother. I'm still trying to work out how my perpetual is going to run. My original plan was for a nine week veg period. I'm pretty sure after nine weeks of veg, there will be no room for stretching. So, think what I can do is keep them in the cup for the first three weeks, as planned, but put the cup in here.
View Image

These Bubba Kush S1s are really starting to piss me off. I have no idea what's going on with these. Even the clover seems a little stressed out. I'm thinking it may be cal/mag deficiency now. I have been giving them RO water the last few waterings, so I gave them a bit of ferments (15 ml/gal of fish/gro). I will spray them this evening with some CalPhos to see if that helps. I will flower these out, just so I don't have empty space in my flower cab, but the mother has been culled. I'm sick of babying this cultivar.
View Image

After three or four weeks (I lost count) of spraying this Crystal Candy girl every day, I think I am finally starting to see some changes. You can start to see some clusters forming on the top bud, so I stopped spraying. I have been calling here Bruce. I also decided to spray one of the La Divas since I have four of them.
View Image

The rest of the autos are already starting to flower. I need to check the pH next time I feed, they look like they are getting either overwatered or the pH is out of whack. I have to remember that this is a sort of manual hydro type method so my pH is way more important with these small containers. Otherwise things are progressing nicely. The Lowryder, the only regular seed, is female. I'm debating hitting her up with the Lowryder (male) pollen I have in the freezer.
View Image

Reiko, droopy plants like the ones pictured above combined with the yellowing, is often a sign of low fertility levels. If media fertility drops too low, plants will begin to droop, as the media EC/PPM actually has a significant impact on how turgid your plants are.

If you like buying new toys for your garden, I would highly recommend a suction lysimeter. This is one Ive been considering buying as its a slim model and better suited for containers. Although Ive only used them with chemical nutrients, and never organic. I myself would be curious to know what EC/PPM levels are in an organic media when the plants are healthy and green like your Zak Haze.

I know your worried about ph shift in such small containers, but you're more likely to experience low fertility problems than pH issues. Ive grown lots of plants in tiny containers from seed to harvest, and the biggest problem was keeping fertility levels at appropriate levels throughout.

I hope you can get them back on track soon.

 

[ReikoX]

Thanks Dave, I agree the soil is completely depleted. I amended another batch of soil for the next few clones heading into veg. This cultivar is also picky and this is my last round with her. I've even debated just tossing these and starting over with something else.

 

[Dave Coulier]

Thanks Dave, I agree the soil is completely depleted. I amended another batch of soil for the next few clones heading into veg. This cultivar is also picky and this is my last round with her. I've even debated just tossing these and starting over with something else.

Well that'd be the easy way out wouldn't it? Take on the challenge and try to nurse them back to health I say. The challenge of reviving them will provide its own rewards. I dont know if you are able to transplant them right now, but that always does wonders for helping me get my plants back on track after Ive neglected them, but only as long as I dont forget to feed as well.

 

[ReikoX]

Jilly Bean #2 Smoke Report
After a little over a week in the jar, the Jilly Bean girls are ready for their first smoke test. I rolled up a smaller size djoint for this test, about 0.3 grams. When breaking up the buds, I was greeted with the mandarin orange smell that I got from the stem rub. On the dry inhale, the flavor is sweet and pungent. Once lit, it was a bit more smokey flavor. It probably could use a little more cure time. The flavor stayed true through the whole joint and it stayed lit without having to be re-lit. The aftertaste was quite pleasant and had quite a bit of staying power. The high is pretty mellow at the beginning. About 30-40 minutes later came rolling waves of euphoria taking me higher and higher. After that it leveled off and was a nice daytime smoke. I definitely want to run this again and see if I can't dial her a bit better. I'm sure she will shine without thrips. :joy:

The party cup girls were cut down. They are now dry and came in at 19 grams, that's about 9-10 grams each. No complaints here. I'm doing another round. This time it will be from seeds of only this variety. I got 2/3 females in that lot and 0/3 of the other two varieties. I am hoping to get better M:F ratios next round.

Not a lot to see right now, just wanted to show the next round beginning. They are finally under light and should soon be on their way. The cups were dry this morning, so they got a bit of water. They are still trying to shed their shells, but most are above the perlite now.

 

[plantahumana]

Too! Very high level your race! congratulations!

My tb plants responded similar to yours on the previous page, yellowing ... I'm trying to regulate the pH to see if that was the blow.

 

[ReikoX]

I finally got around to filtering the cactus fruit and yucca ferments. I am reusing these 250ml nutrient bottles for easy dosing and storage.

After weeks of spraying with CS, I'm finally seeing some pollen sacks on this Crystal Candy. I hope she drops some pollen in time to pollinate the rest of these girls. I bought the stuff for STS next time, only spray once or twice with that.

Week one since the seeds hit the water. One looks like it won't make it, so down to eight. I had to help them off with their shells because I didn't use a humidity dome. I was a little too rough with the one that died. Still giving them just RO water.

My brother came over last night and we were trying to guess the sex of the plants. Our guess was that the two big ones were male and the smaller three females. Well, we started talking about Phylos and their gender test. So, I ordered up one and we will see how our guess was. So get your guesses in now, we will know soon! The only problem is the test is for four plants and I have five. I'm going to test the two on each side and either cull or clone then remove the one in the middle. This will allow me to throw the screen in there and start training them.

 

[ReikoX]

Zak Haze at just over two weeks being in the veg side and in the re-amended soil. They got a watering with Soil Balance Pro. I trained the branches to the screen and tucked the fan leaves behind. I'm hoping I can get another three or four weeks before flowering.

The bubba kush S1 are finally starting to recover. I think they even have grown a little. These have been quite delicate. They did lead me to realize what I did wrong with my soil recycling.

 

[ReikoX]

These two Bubba Kush S1 were put into flower three weeks ago. Unlike the ones in veg, they perked right up after feeding them Bio Canna Flores, Boost, and Rhizotonic.

My party cup hempies for week two. They are off to a slow start, but they will take off soon enough. The bottom right one will be tested for sex via Phylos Biosciences.

 

[shawkmon]

looking good

 

[Deprivation]

Say what they will, CS is more work, but there are plenty of threads about Sts not reversing or not dropping pollen. Looking good in your garden.

 

[ReikoX]

So the PC is still kicking around. Not a whole lot to see. The reversed Crystal Candy still isn't dropping pollen readily. I plucked a few older flowers and there was some pollen falling. So, I surrounded the her/him with the other girls. They are pretty far along (six weeks from germination), but I will let them go as long as possible to get a few seeds. I moved the La Diva to my upstairs bathroom to try and collect some of her pollen, I want to pollinate some of the Lowryder x La Diva with it.

The flowering side is full. I had to move the Zak Haze over to flower. She has quite the bit of stretch on her, so Let's hope I got it right.

These two BBK S1 are looking alright. Nice little puff balls for three weeks old.

Here is the veg side. I will be adding some LEDs to this side for cloning and small cups. I'm not sure if I can handle the heat/watts running bot the LED and the CMH, but there is only one way to find out.

 

[Chevy cHaze]

Good shit ReikoX,
love the bare bulb vert scenario !
Have you ever thought about trying one of these new LED lamps that look like a cob of corn to replace the hps ?
CC

 

[ReikoX]

Good shit ReikoX,
love the bare bulb vert scenario !
Have you ever thought about trying one of these new LED lamps that look like a cob of corn to replace the hps ?
CC

No, never considered those. I'm going with horizontal strips like these I got from a user on overgrown. These will be the basis for my new veg light. About 120W of Samsung LEDs, yes please.

poor things were starving in the perlite so I took them out and replaced the top 2/3 with soil. The bottom 1/3 is still perlite. By this time last round, they were showing sex.