Olderfart's rotblock test

[Olderfart]

This will be where I document my outdoor shelter grow with Rotblock. Both my previous grows in the shelter have developed Botrytis on every plant at mid to late flowering. The shelter is enclosed on three sides, and the one open side can be "closed" with plastic during cool conditions. It is near a swamp, and at times stays >80% RH for days. I learned what guttation is down there.

The strains are 3x Dinamed Auto CBD Kush, plus one of that strain crossed with Dinamed Auto CBD. The medium is a quickie soil mix I put together hoping to set up a water only grow. No time for KIS or super soil, so the mix is intended to keep plants happy until autopot irrigation starts, at which point, some Jobe's tomato sticks in the bottom of the pot will gradually take over. All theory so far, but I am not going to be around continuously this summer to fiddle with nutes and pH, so water only is the only realistic option. I will be around for the first two - three weeks, so will be able to help out as apparently needed for getting things started. I haven't applied Rotblock yet. The product arrived after germination or transplanting, so I will give them their first dose once they get a bit bigger. I will give them regular doses after pre-flowering starts.

At this point the babes are still indoors under LED @ ~ 150 mmols/m2 sec, 24/0, 25C, and ~55%RH. I will move them to the shelter when sub-irrigation starts.

Anyway, here are the babes now in their final pots, the first three are the CBD Kush, the last is the CBD cross. They were transplanted from 4" insta-transplant pots about two days ago. The CBD Kush plants are in 10 gallon fabric pots at ~day 8, the CBD is in 5 gallon at ~day 5. All will be sub-irrigated with autovalves once they have developed far enough (at least the survivors will - the "soil" is a bit of a crap shoot). I had planned to do 2 plants per pot in the 10 gallons, but that was before finding out that I am only allowed four plants here in Canada whether they have THC in them or not. Might as well stay legal.

Dinamed Auto CBD Kush:

Dinamed Auto CBD Kush x Dinamed Auto CBD:

There may be a bit of clawing going on on a couple of the CBD Kush plants, but I will let them go and see if they grow out of it.

Happy growing peeps.

 

[Olderfart]

Here the girls are at Day 18 for the 3 Dinamed Auto CBD Kush at the back, and at Day 15 for the Dinamed Auto CBD Kush x Dinamed Auto CBD in the front.

The CBD Kush plants are runts so far (See @Waira, this is what "runt" means ), but it is too late for me to do anything other than grow them out and see what they do. The CBD cross is doing fine. The reason for stunting in the back 3 is not clear, but they seem to have perked up some since I gave them their first serious watering. It is possible that they got a bit dry. I was trying hard to avoid overwatering them in the large pots. Or maybe the soil mix is a problem. The 3 runts have a slightly different mix than the larger plant. Whatever, at this point, they will do what they do.

Light is now up to ~350-400 mmols/sqm - sec, but backed of to 20/4 timing. I will move them to the outdoor shelter sometime in the next week or so after I introduce them to lights out and crank the light up a bit more. They will go on sub-irrigation of water only when I move them.

Happy growing peeps.

 

[Olderfart]

All the girls are in their final home in the shelter, and on autovalve irrigation. Temps in there range from about 9C overnight to high 20's C during the day. RH max over the last couple nights in the shelter has been 99% (it has been a bit wet of late...) Did I mention that this will be a decent test of Rotblock?

Here they are in all their glory, three runts, and one not so runty. The runts are all Dinamed Auto CBD Kush (@22 days), the bigger plant is a cross between that strain and Dinamed Auto CBD (@25days), both more or less pure CBD with negligible THC - the dearest is going to run out of sleepytime tincture if these plants don't make it The runts have shown their sex, the larger not yet.

The larger girl is in a 5 gallon fabric pot, the runts each have 10 gallons, not that they seem to have any intention of using much of it. These would be optimistic US gallons.

All the girls got their first soaking with Rotblock today. I had a half liter left, so they got a bit of a root drench as well. One liter of mix would do three or four good sized plants, so the container of Rotblock Phyter sent will go a long way.

Happy growing peeps.

 

[Olderfart]

Been a tad distracted since these photos were taken, but here they are four days after I took them. Dinamed cdb/cbd kush cross (larger on left) at ~32 days, Dinamed CBD Kush (other three) @ 27 days.

Sorry about the crap photo, not sure what happened, but I didn't see the results until today, and I am away from home and can't take another until I return.

I gave them another soaking with Rotblock when the photos were taken. The girls have been on their own since I took the photos, and will stay that way until I return home a week and some from now. They are on water only from a float valved reservoir, so they will not go dry. Other details however... It will be an interesting return to the grow shelter when I get back.

Happy growing peeps, and thanks for checking in.

 

[Olderfart]

Here they are at about six weeks.

They have been on their own with water only autovalve irrigation for the last two weeks in my absence. The three Auto CBD Kush girls are healthy runts, the CBD Kush/CBD cross is, in my estimation, hungry. Larger plant in smaller pot and all that. I trimmed a few dead fans off the bottom before the photo. I will figure out some way of feeding her separately at least while I am home.

They will get another application of Rotblock later today after the temps and light back off some.

Bottom line is that the plants survived the heat, all are flowering, and it looks like there will be some CBD bud later.

Happy growing peeps, and thanks for checking in.

@Kyote, you were wondering how the girls made out.

 

[Olderfart]

Here are the girls at about 7 weeks. No orange pistils yet, so they still have time to bulk up (hope springeth eternal...) At this point, they have the most pathetic harvest of buds of anything I have grown to flowering.

I gave them another application of RotBlock this morning. Those buds should be well inoculated by now.

Happy growing peeps.

 

[Olderfart]

Here they are about week 8:

They had another RotBlock soaking yesterday. Still no sign of budrot mischief, and now the girls are headed into the danger zone as the buds bulk up a bit (I think, I hope...), and the weather is cool and rainy, so RH is bad. Maybe I'll get some bud out of these girls after all in spite of the crap weather.

Happy growing peeps.

 

[Olderfart]

Here they are at something ~9 -10 weeks:

The yellow coloration may be partly fade by now, but I suspect that I have a pH issue, especially with the larger plant. This is similar to the same mischief I had going in my SS#4 grow last winter. I think that the SS#4 has a screwup with the liming and pH is too high, but do not have a proper soil pH meter to check. When I chop them, I will investigate the soil with my regular pH meter. In any case, I will not be using SS#4 again. If I do a peat mix again, I will be mixing it from scratch so I can sort the pH the way I want it, likely by using Dr. Bugbee's mix suggestions and then testing the pH of the mix before using it. OTOH, I may go back to coco, or go organic with water only. The jury is still out for next winter.

By the way, the Jobe's tomato spikes did not do the job, I have since added ~900EC Megacrop II to the the fertigation. Either I did not put enough of the Jobe's in, or they don't dissolve quickly enough for autoflower cannabis. Who knows. It was just a desperation way of getting a grow going before I had to leave home, and is unlikely to be repeated.

It still appears that I will get some bud, but no prizes will be won on the size. Here is a trich shot from one of them, they all seem to be on the same clock. I see mostly cloudy with some clear, and negligible amber. I will leave them for a few days yet.

Happy growing peeps.

 

[Olderfart]

Trich check today, and nearly no change. Maybe the odd amber showing up, but still a fair bit of clear, so not ready for me yet. I want to see more or less as much amber as clear before I get out the choppers. OTOH, I will not wait forever, maybe these girls don't do amber much. They are clearly fading now, so they can't do a lot more.

Patience, patience.

I might give them another rotblock hit later when things cool down in case they hang in there longer than I expect. I am leaving home for a week or so on the 6th, so I am not sure how I will handle that. Partial dry and freeze perhaps. It is all going to extract for tincture, so the cure may be less important than for vapable stuff. I hope.

Happy growing peeps.

 

[Olderfart]

Well peeps, time ran out today. I am heading onto the road in a day or two for 10 days or so. So, the decision was whether to chop now, or chop a week and a half from now. I chose now. A bit of amber had shown up gradually, but there was still a bit more clear than I wanted. So be it, the buds are now bagged, and will go in the freezer as we head out the door. It is CBD only, and destined for extract/tinctures, so the freezer treatment will have to do. When we get back, I will continue the dry, with some very careful initial care to make sure that the potential extra moisture from the freezing does not cause mischief.

So, on with a few pics and then my conclusions on this Rotblock test.

Here is the cross between Dinamed Auto CBD Kush, and Dinamed Auto CBD at 79 days:

And here is her main cola:

She is reasonably frosty, and very, shall we say, aromatic. When the better half got back home after I had been trimming downstairs, she mentioned that it was "pretty plain that a certain something was going on". Understatement. Strong, pleasant spice, no hint of diesel. Not really fruity, but kind of hinting a bit in that direction. That is about all this elder nose can do with it, other than note that I love it.

Speaking of the bud, here is the harvest from the big girl:

This is wet of course, dry weight may happen later.

Onward to the runts. Here is the biggest of a poor lot:

And the next best:

And the runtiest:

And here is one of the best colas on the runts:

And the last pic, the harvest combined from the three runts, wet as noted earlier:

The aroma of the runts is similar to that of the cross, strong, pleasant, and all spice, no fuel, and only subtle hints of fruit.

Ok peeps, bottom line on the grow is that I got a bit of bud, but nothing to be proud of. The soil mix that I knocked together was a bust. It caused, I think, serious stunting on the three CBD Kush girls, and likely limited the growth of the cross. The Jobe's spikes did not do the job at all, I had to start feeding MCII at ~900EC not that far into the grow. Maybe the spikes do not dissolve and become available soon enough for autos. Whatever, it was a one off, and will not be repeated. I threw it together with the time I had in order to do the Rotblock test in my grow shelter. Later with more prep was not an option. This grow was about throwing some plants into the evil grow shelter to test Rotblock, not about dialing in a productive grow.

Here is my take on my Rotblock results. I have done two previous summer grows in this grow shelter, and every plant in both grows was hit in mid-late bloom by serious enough Botrytis to shut me down early. I had, prior to this grow, given up on the idea of growing outdoors at all as a result of the bugs, slugs, and mold. I managed to deal with the bugs and slugs, but the mold pretty much finished my interest in outdoor where I live. A small indoor winter grow suffices for my needs, so I have little interest in fighting to get a grow through the outdoor pestilence.

Enter the generous opportunity to test Rotblock. I had considered the product, but the price for a small container put me off given that I did not know whether it would work for me. Given Phyter's generous offer of a sample to try, I dove in, and here we are.

While I trimmed the bud from these four test plants, I fastidiously searched for any sign of mold or mildew. I found NADA. Not one hint. Not one unhealthy sugar leaf. In short, not a hint of problems for the first time in this grow shelter in spite of repeated sessions of ~99% RH, regular guttation in the morning, and huge variation in temperatures. Rotblock prevailed, and this grow was totally mold free. I am impressed. Rotblock has re-ignited my interest in outdoor growing where I live.

In fairness though I have to note two complicating factors in interpretation of my results. First, I did not suffer a fan screwup, as far as I know anyway, so this grow probably (power interruptions? who knows, I wasn't home) had fan circulation throughout the grow unlike my second attempt. Second, due presumably to the soil, but possibly to genetics or excessive heat, the buds from this grow are on the airy side, so may not be subject to the highest level of mold risk. However, all of the plants in my first grow down there also had light-ish colas, and they were hit hard. On balance, I conclude that the Rotblock saved me from a repeat performance with mold regardless of bud density and regardless of the change in fan operation.

Happy growing Peeps, I recommend that you try Rotblock if you have experienced mold problems. The small container (50g? can't remember) goes a hell of a long way, so don't let the price discourage you. For ~$50 or so as I recall, you could do multiple 4x4 grows with heavy weekly application to all plants. If you are selling the stuff, which I do not, a couple colas saved would more than pay for the product for multiple grows. Even if you are not in the business, saving yourself the disappointment and hassle of trying to save what you can at the end of a single grow would be worth the price for me.

Thanks sincerely to @Phyter for generously providing me with chance to try their product.