VerdantGreen's quarters - 250HPS organic mod.scrog

[VerdantGreen]

just a quick look at the greenhouse where i am growing the Geurilla Gold 2 and a Congolese x GG from breederbrad. The males from these have been culled but not before saving pollen. i am in the middle of making various small batches of seed crosses so i have a good selection of outdoor seeds in the freezer.

the greenhouse with 3 plants, nearest being congo x gg and the other two being GG2. kept them in small pots because i want it to be low-profile

here is the congo x gg on it's own - very pretty lady

i can safely say these canadian genetics are flowering a full 6 weeks to 2 months earlier than the best i could find in europe - respect!

V.

 

[Standaman]

Wow VerdantGreen what a really good grow(s) you got going on mate, loving the little quartet scrog four strains that i would imagine are very different yet you have managed to keep them very even, are their feeding requirement's quite different?

 

[VerdantGreen]

thanks Standaman! - i tend to put them all in the same fairly rich organic mix and then just feed them if they look like they need it. Sometimes the mix is enough for them all the way through. if they need feeding i generally use biobiz bloom at fairly low dosage. This current round, as i mentioned above, 2 of them are going short of nitrogen so i'm dealing with that atm. both scrog and organic are pretty forgiving and with the modular you can stand the pots of the shorter strains on something to get them up to the same height as the taller ones.

Have some 'proper' sativas going in soon and i am thinking of putting extra perlite into the mix for them - just researching that now.

V.

 

[Standaman]

So i'm guessing that's some potent soil concoction you put together lol, yes i did see the lighter looking leaves but i'm sure you will remedy it. Scrogs are great i think organic seems good too the more i'm seeing and reading about it some strange ingredients but gets the results. And i would love to grow out some sativas at some stage but i first need to get dialled in way more then i would grow out the purest one i could but any good one will do for practice!

Cheers

 

[VerdantGreen]

this morning i tilled a dose - 10g or so- of high N guano (cavemans fresh guano) into the top of the NL. I hope this will help it grean up - it's about halfway through and still growing pretty quick so hopefully i caught it in time!

i followed advice posted in the organic forum by crazy composer. Im going to copy it here because it is such a useful couple of posts - i'd better check that it's ok too!

In response to a question about the signs of plant hunger, from somebody041...

First... know that your plants are happier underfed than overfed.

An underfed plant can be fed, and this will fix the problem.

An overfed plant cannot be fixed as easily.

Get my drift? Feed lightly and increase as the plant asks for more.

How do you tell when the plant is asking for more?

A well-fed plant will have just the slightest tint of red or purple on it's leaf stems (of course there are a few strains with red or purple leaf stems, so watch for those one getting even darker). If there is no red or purple at all on the leaf stems, it is likely that the plant is close to being overfed. There's a fine line between plenty of fertilizer, and too much fertilizer. Green leaf stems = plenty... so be reserved about feeding when the leaf stems are already fully green.

So, try to keep that color on the leaf stems very light, not completely green, not completely red or purple. In the middle is where I like it.

When my plants start to head toward starvation, they will ask for food by showing more red or purple in those leaf stems. So, if the color is darkening, I know the plant is asking for food, whereupon the plant gets a very light feeding, and the watching of the leaf stem color continues.

After doing this a while, you'll know what amount of fertilizer is working to stop the darkening of the red and purple colorations on the leaf stems.

Another way to judge how much food the plant has available to it is to break a leaf off and taste the juice droplet that forms at the broken end. If this juice tastes bitter, the plant is eating. If it tastes like pure water, the plant doesn't have much nutrient available to it.

This is a scalar thing. In other words, you can tell how much fertilizer is available by the bitterness of the juice. Very bitter is very well fed. Very clean, like pure water... is where you want the plants at harvest time. You don't want to harvest a plant with bitter blood coursing through its veins. This bitterness comes from dissolved salts and minerals, and so cutting the buds and drying them with these salts inside is unhealthy and will make for some terrible smoke.

The trickiest way to tell about plant nutrition takes some real experience. Smelling the resins of the plant.

Smell the resins when you KNOW the plant has plenty to eat. Then smell the same plant when you KNOW it has been flushed of nutrients. There will be a difference. This is the difference a good pot grower should be able to tell.

To a novice nose, most pot smells great. But to a truly great pot grower, the smell of the resins can tell him/her a lot about the amount of nutrient left in the plant. Get used to this difference if you really want to best tools in the intellectual toolbox for growing superb dope.

----

It's not what you feed, it's when you feed, and how much.

A plant will tell the grower what it needs, and what it does not. It's up to the grower to adjust.

Personally, I take the absolute minimalist route when I feed.

My organic soils are very simple, with only enough organic material built in to get the organic process kicked off. (coco coir or pro-mix, perlite, worm castings and a small amount of a well-rounded fertilizer which contains bone meal, blood meal etc.). This soil mix is very light, and its only purpose is to establish the microherd.

The rest of the fertilization is done as the grow progresses. Generally, I like to use bat and seabird guanos, scratched into the surface and watered in. This feeds the microherd, which --in turn-- feeds the roots.

I use the same basic theory to feed my plants organically as I do in EVERY OTHER METHOD, chemical, or organic/chemical hybrid growing styles. This is what I mean... A plant will show certain signs of hunger, or of overfeeding. If you know these signs, you can give them ONLY what they ask for.

Terrible herb can come from both chemical AND organic gardens. Terrible herb is usually a result of a plant having too much access to available nutrients at harvest time. This condition can be true in organics as well as in chemical growing. I don't care what the "no flush for organics" crowd says, I know better. Flushing organic soil CAN be necessary to achieve what I call acceptable herb, IF the soil is too hot at harvest time. By "hot" I mean it has too much actively releasing organic material at the time of harvest. Some of the most disgusting herb I have ever smoked was harvested from hot organic soils.

To avoid this organic heat at harvest time, I use the above-mentioned organic feeding method, where I only give them enough to last a week or so, and keep an eye on them to know when they're running out of the last dose. Actually, this is the way I feed ALL plants, organic or not. I use NO schedule, I just feed them when they're starting to ask for it, and it's that simple.

In this way, you can create starvation conditions at harvest time, allowing the nutrients to dissipate almost completely, and forcing the chlorophyll to begin to leach out of the leaves and then the buds. By harvest, my plants are dropping leaves left and right, just like in a natural autumn/FALL situation (remember to be a good surrogate Mother Nature).

My herb tastes like the plant it comes from, and NOTHING else. There's no hint of ANYTHING but the essence of the herb itself, as it should be. The reason I get these results is that my plants are allowed to starve for a week or two before harvest. The buds often have a golden/yellow hue to them when dry.

The moral of the story... Don't overfeed any plant, even in organics you can overdo it.

Hint - When scratching your dry guanos into the soil surface, don't just water them and consider the job done. It is important to scratch it in, then wet the surface and wait for a minute or two before giving them their full watering. This pause allows the dry guanos to get wet and begin to release their bounty of nutrients and enzymes. If you wait this minute or two after wetting the guano, then water completely, the plants will receive a good feeding. If you don't allow this time, you'll get a very concentrated cake of nutrients at the surface of the soil, which does the plant very little good.

It all comes down to common sense. Often, the common sense thing to do takes a lot more effort, so many growers skimp on these steps thinking it won't matter. It DOES. The difference between a great grower and an average grower = effort. You just gotta do what ya gotta do, no matter what time of day it is, how sick you feel, how drunk you are or how much of a pain in the ass it is, you just gotta go get er done.

cc

(as posted here by cc)

 

[VerdantGreen]

and a couple of pics of the plants vegging up for the next vacancies in the flower cab

Exodus Cheese - takes a while to burst into vigorous growth but it's on the way now

Power Plant
this cut goes about 7-8 weeks. I like powerplant for it's 'Lively' high (as my wife describes it). This one will probably go in when the MLI is harvested in a couple weeks. i want to veg the cheese as much as pos because people have told me it doesnt stretch much

 

[Standaman]

Thanks for that CC and VerdantG that is a nice informative thread even if i am neither soil or organic but it still has relevance to all growers in general.

I have loads i want to ask about what i have just read but i'm gonna print this off and study it and maybe i can just work them out

Thanks again

 

[VerdantGreen]

hey standaman ask anything you want! - i'll answer if i can or try and point you in the right direction.

quick update - the cab is going quite well, done some more pollinating with geurilla gold pollen. Not sure if i'll quite be getting the yeilds i did last time but we will see - most of the plants have 4 weeks or so to go except the MLI which has a week or so.

here is my Blueberry today at 42 days/6 weeks - smells great and starting to frost up
she went 10 weeks last time.

nug -

will take some shots of the MLI next week before i harvest and hopefully some shots of the NL and the Arjans haze 3

V.

 

[Yeti]

Wow. VG you have got your cab down. I ran a cab like that and having multiple strains going made my head hurt. Mad respect for you and good luck with your future and present breeding. Your strains will make wonderful crosses. the blueberry looks wonderful. DP?

Keep us posted. I enjoy following in your footsteps to improve my own ways as a gardener.

 

[K.J]

Wow VG, how did I miss this!? Great setup, not too dissimilar from my own. Your modScrog is amazing, and I just might copy it someday. Your methods are sound and the plants look amazing as a result. I'm taking a seat!

 

[VerdantGreen]

yeti - thanks for checking it mate. The Bb is a DP Fem (from all i've read about folks experiences with DP Bb i reckon the fem gives better results to the regular.)
it still has a way to go so i'll post more pics soon.

K.J. - i was hoping you would stop by because i thought your grow was quite similar in many ways. nice to be able to compare notes. the modscrog has served me well over the years - i first did it in the early nineties - necessity being the mother of invention because i was growing in a cupboard 2.5' high. of course the i had never heard the word scrog back then as there was very little info out there and no web.

thanks

V.

 

[VerdantGreen]

took a quick snap of the arjan's haze 3 at 50 days (yesterday)
this is starting to look like it will finish soon but the description says 10-11weeks so either it will have a second growth stage or its a very early pheno (or my reduction in N has made it peter out a little too soon)
looks and smells good though...

and a quick snap of the canopy,or some of it. The MLI on the bottom is nearly ready - probably chop it next week. i changed my mind about which pheno i hope to like best though - the short one looks like a low yeilder and the tall one looks much more heavy. it will be interesting to see if they taste or smoke differently

later

V.

 

[K.J]

K.J. - i was hoping you would stop by because i thought your grow was quite similar in many ways. nice to be able to compare notes.

You're absolutely right on both points. I can learn much from you it seems!

 

[McSnappler]

Looking really good bro, super healthy. They look reasonably fat leaves for a Haze too?! Maybe you really do have an early, indica leaning pheno?

 

[neongreen]

Not to mention buds!

Nice buds either way man

 

[bandonlooper1]

hey verdant, its looking great in here, anxious to see that blueberry finish up




i got my mod-scrog buckets made finally, cant wait to try them out, the plants i have in flower now are falling all over the place, so i hope this will help contain them

 

[VerdantGreen]

hey neongreen - thanks for stopping by!.

snap - im pretty sure this pheno is the same as the one they use for the strain description. The buds are nice and fat but the bud leaves are pretty thin (whearas the veg leaves are fatter) my friend who i got the cut from said it was the best sativa plant he had ever grown.
im quite pleased but i think i can do a bit better with it - or perhaps it will fatten up a bit more!

Bandonlooper!- nice work! cant wait to see how you get on with them. i guess you will be lifting them by the pots so you need to make sure the screen doesnt move when you lift it. if you have any trouble i would carefully drill and screw them out through the pot and into the pipe at those top corners. you may not need to though.
also if you carefully burn the ends of the nylon rope the strands will fuse together and not fray .
if yours are perfectly square then that is great because you can change the orientation of them so as the taller buds are at the edge. woohoo!

i am still perfecting mine actually. i still want to find a better way to attach the screens above the pots

V.

 

[bandonlooper1]

thanks for the advice, i will be making 7 more as soon as i get a chance.
im pretty sure i can fit 9 of these in my tent, but for my next run i think it will be 4 of these and 1 dwc bucket

 

[VerdantGreen]

sounds good bl - 9 modules would be awesome!

---

here is the Dr Atomic NL at 42 days - still a bit yellow but the guano feeding seems to have kept the growth going on well.

and here are the Black Forrest sativa plants in veg - topped twice and the cuts are on 12/12 for sexing. my initial theory is that i have a male and a female in the two big ones, the late germ is too early to tell - thats just a guess based on the form of the plants.

MLI will be harvested in the next week or so and i'll take some pics beforehand

V.

 

[socbutter]

Man, I love porn!

Thank you