Day 17: All aboard! New

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Day 17: All aboard!

After a several-month hiatus for work on my house, I've got another grow in motion. The tents have been set up for a few weeks, but since contractors have still been dropping in without warning it was strictly peppers and tomatoes. Once the nights are consistently warmer here I'll transition them outside, though I'm tempted to take a few pepper cuttings to keep inside too.

Anyway, growing weed! (I'm excited about the peppers too though)

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This setup is broadly similar to my previous grows: coco with a smattering of perlite and hydroton, hydroponic nutrients (Dyna-Gro), a mix of fems and regs in small pots, and mostly bottom-feeding starting a couple weeks in. The fem seeds are in new containers, 0.75L orchid pots (MCO 12) I saw at a gardening store that seem perfect for bottom-feeding: they have a raised section in the middle, lots of holes for drainage, and a couple channels for water to run through to the center. I'll see if I prefer them to the 1L air-pots. The regs are in reused ice cream pints with a couple holes drilled and hydroton on the bottom -- a slightly smaller container because there were more regs packed in together on the right.

This time I'm trying to get ahead of problems that came up in my last two grows. Last time I got way too busy with work & the house and didn't water to runoff often enough, which eventually led to problems from salt buildup. I'll be more consistent about that this time around. The white circulation fan is on top of a plastic takeout tub from some Tom Yum, that way the fan is above the lip of the windowboxes so there's air circulation down to where the stems break the surface, which will hopefully keep pythium (or whatever it was) from attacking the stems.

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On the left (center and back) are two Mephisto Walter White bx1s that have been vigorous from day one. That and their Old School Mango Haze are two of the strains I'm most excited about right now; this is a batch of other quick autos to go with the WWbx1s, and next batch will probably be OSMH and some other longer flowering sativas.

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Front left is a Sweet Seeds Sweet Trainwreck Auto. I grabbed a pack because I like Trainwreck, I like autos that finish around 65 days, and I've been pretty happy with the Sweet Seeds lines I've tried so far (Dark Devil, Red Pure CBD, and particularly S.A.D. Auto). It sprouted a couple days behind the others, and for a couple days after I wasn't even sure it was still alive, but then resumed growing as if nothing had happened. The seed line has been discontinued for a bit, and I guess the seeds were a couple years old when I got them. Maybe that's why the seedling was so lethargic, maybe it was just bad luck or my environment (too dry? too cold?). I wouldn't be surprised if it finishes a week later than the others or ends up smaller, but it's here for the ride.

The right windowbox has four Gnome Automatics Bobby's Widow regs and a World of Seeds Pakistan Ryder. Three of the four Bobby's Widows have been just as vigorous as the WW bx1s, though #3 needed help shedding its shell and has been growing pretty wonky since, but each node has looked more normal than the previous. (There were two other BWs, six total -- one didn't sprout, the other sprouted but turned upside-down and showed no signs of life for days after (we've all been there), so those two were eventually culled.)

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BW #3, with asymmetric growth from the start. The first node came out of the seed pretty mangled.

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BW #2 was the first to show sex (and the only so far), with two clear stamens on day 16 from sprout and a couple more forming, visible with a loupe. I cut off the first stamens to buy time, because my second tent for the males has like thirty pepper plants in right now and it's been a cold spring so far. In the worst case I can stick it in my pollen isolation bin, though it may not be the only male and the bin only comfortably fits one.

PR2.jpg


The Pakistan Ryder (one of two; #1 germed but didn't sprout) is also a bit behind. It broke the surface the same day as the Sweet Trainwreck, but has been fine after that -- it's just four or so days behind the others. The other World of Seeds autos I've grown (Wild Thailand Ryder and Neville's Haze Ryder) were really good, and while searching for more NHR seeds I found a seedbank with a clearance sale on several other (probably old) WoS packs. Other strains I've tried with prominent Pakistani Chitral Kush lineage had me curious about growing a fully Pakistani seed line, and some old posts here had good things to say about PR, so I decided to give that a try.

After taking these pictures I topped both WWbx1s and three of the four Bobby's Widows above the fourth node (leaving #3 as is). I will probably top the Pakistan Ryder in a few days (once there's a clear cut above its fourth node), and the Sweet Trainwreck if it catches up.

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The peppers in this tent are yellow ghost peppers and Thai "Compact" from PepperJoe's. They're packed in too tight here, but they'll have plenty of room outside.
 
Day 21: 3 BWs are male, 1 TBD New
Day 21: 3 BWs are male, 1 TBD

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It's only been few days since the last update, but they're growing a lot daily now. The pots all have roots down to the bottom, so I'll be mostly bottom-feeding from here on, but once a week or so I'm going to top-water to runoff to remove salt buildup.

So far three of the four Bobby's Widows have shown sex (#2, then #1, and #3 this morning), all male. I'm hoping the fourth will prove to be female in a couple days, but worst case I've still got enough plants for a full tent, and the pollen from the males is getting collected and used either way.


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Possibly minor nitrogen clawing on WWbx1#2, but I'm not planning on increasing nitrogen any further anyway. I'm currently watering with 5ml Dyna-Gro Pro-Tekt and 5ml Dyna-Gro Foliage-Pro per gallon of tap water, pH'd to around 5.9 - 6.0.

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I topped the Pakistan Ryder on journal day 20. That was actually its day 18, since it sprouted a bit later than the others, but it's catching up.

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The Sweet Trainwreck is also nearly ready to top. That one sprouted a few days later as well, and it appeared to stop growing for the first several days, but aside from being behind and staying quite short it seems to be doing fine.
 
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Day 24: Last BW is female New
Day 24: Last BW is female

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My suspense is over: Bobby's Widow #4 is female. I'm hoping to make a bunch of seeds with it soon. 3 males and 1 female is probably a better outcome than 2 males and 2 females, because the other broad-leaf plants are really filling the tent. It's also better than 4 males and 0 females, of course.

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I moved the first two males to show sex into my pollen isolation bin, because BW2 could start dropping pollen any day now. They are only getting a little light from the window right now, but soon they will be under a spare light or in the other tent -- I just need to move some tomatoes out to make space.

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With two of the three males out, there's some more room. Now the two WWbx1s are in the back. The left tray now has the Pakistan Ryder in front, the Sweet Trainwreck in the middle, and WWbx1#1 in the back. The right has BW#3 (the other male) in front, BW#4 (female) in the middle, and WWbx1#2 in the back.

Oh, and I forgot to mention before -- all of these autos were germinated during the eclipse.

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BW4, lots of side branches.

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Pakistan Ryder, with big broad leaves. A few leaf tips are bent because they've been pushed up against the corner of the tent at times.

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Sweet Trainwreck, with a lot more distance between the newer nodes than the first two, when it was barely growing. It seems fine now, and I topped it yesterday.

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WWbx1#1 from above. It responded very well to topping and should have several colas once it starts flowering.

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WWbx1#1 had a few stamen-like growths that sprouted stigmas. I'm going to keep an eye on it, and I removed those.

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WWbx1#2. A little bit of clawing, but I'm not going to increase nitrogren further. The top leaves curling may also be a response to the fan blowing more directly at it than the other plants? It looks similar to WWbx1#1 aside from that. You can also see the root growth down at the bottom of the pots. These pots are more transparent than the ice cream ones. I haven't seen any sign of algae problems so far, and the canopy should be shading the pots pretty well from now on.
 
Day 28: ...bring may flowers New
Day 28: ...bring may flowers

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After some plant jenga, all the Bobby's Widow males are in my other tent for pollen collection. BW2 has a few cupcake cups on. BW1 will very soon too. BW3 is right behind, and an American casual dining restaurant and sports bar franchise. I've also moved the peppers under an Eastern-facing window, hardening them off to move outside. Everything remaining in the tent has more elbom room.

The WWbx1s and BW4 have started flowering. The Pakistan Ryder and Sweet Trainwreck sprouted later and are a couple days behind.

I've now top-watered them with calmag water to flush out salt buildup twice (followed by the normal nutrient water), and last time there was only a 300-400 us/cm difference between the input and runoff. That suggests watering to runoff once a week should suffice, but I'll keep measuring.


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Structurally it looks like the Pakistan Ryder is transitioning into flowering -- the newer node growth is increasingly asymmetrical -- but I haven't found any stigmas (or stamens) on it yet. It's only on day 24 or 25 from sprout, so it wouldn't be my latest plant to show sex, but at this point I'm checking every day.

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Meanwhile, WWbx1#1 is stretching and starting to develop pompoms. In a week or so it should be ready to pollinate, hopefully with fresh BW pollen, and I've got some other old-but-hopefully-still-viable pollen in my freezer. (This picture had flash on, most of the others did not.)

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Bobby's Widow #4 has also started stretching, and should have several top colas later on. Since I only have one female I'm leaning to using a separate branch for each male's pollen later.

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The Sweet Trainwreck had a really slow start but is doing fine now. Its main stem is really leaning where it breaks the surface, and after taking this picture I added a support and some ties to reinforce the stem.

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WWbx1#2 is also stretching and flowering. Some of the top leaves are clawing, but I've started transitioning from veg nutrients (Foliage-Pro) to flowering (Bloom), so if excess nitrogen is the cause that should improve soon. WWbx1#2 is about 14" tall right now, about the same height as #1.
 
WWbx1#2. A little bit of clawing, but I'm not going to increase nitrogren further. The top leaves curling may also be a response to the fan blowing more directly at it than the other plants? It looks similar to WWbx1#1 aside from that. You can also see the root growth down at the bottom of the pots. These pots are more transparent than the ice cream ones. I haven't seen any sign of algae problems so far, and the canopy should be shading the pots pretty well from now on.

WWbx1#2 is also stretching and flowering. Some of the top leaves are clawing, but I've started transitioning from veg nutrients (Foliage-Pro) to flowering (Bloom), so if excess nitrogen is the cause that should improve soon. WWbx1#2 is about 14" tall right now, about the same height as #1.

I seen it with both my WWbx1's I've grown and even the first WW I grew all were slightly N senstive :pass:
 
I seen it with both my WWbx1's I've grown and even the first WW I grew all were slightly N senstive :pass:
Good to know, thanks. I'm giving everything the same nutrient mix so I usually see some leaning one way or another.
 
I don't want to jinx it by posting about it so early, but I started an Auto Purple Bastard Eater (an auto with the Australian Bastard Cannabis leaf trait) germinating a few days ago and that sprouted this morning. I'm hoping the timing will line up for it to take over the second tent with the males once I'm done collecting pollen from them, and to hang dry it in my main tent when these are done. I germinated it in a peat puck, using a plastic jiffy tray and a heat mat. I scuffed the seed with sandpaper before planting (using a GLG freebie seed scuffer), and it sprouted after about two and a half days. I cut a few slits in the peat puck wrapper, in case the roots had a hard time poking through, then planted it in a 1-liter airpot.

It only has the cotyledons so far, so it may be a few days before the first leaves are developed enough to confirm the ABC leaf trait. If that one isn't ABC I'll start another -- the pack has five more seeds.
 
Day 31 New
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The tent, as of this morning.

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From above, lots of flowering sites visible and most of the canopy is filled in.


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The Pakistan Ryder has finally shown sex, on day ~28 from sprout. Not in a super obvious way, but if I look with a loupe I can see a couple wiry stigmas here and there. Otherwise it looks like it's transitioning to flowering, though not quite stretching yet -- mainly growing into a big bush.

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WWbx1#1 is all pompoms now. It's been the clear the leader of the pack since it sprouted.

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Bobby's Widow #4 is also starting to get pompoms, though they aren't as prolific as WWbx1#1's.


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The Sweet Trainwreck has also shown sex, stretch is starting, etc.


WWbx1#2.jpg


WWbx1#2 looks like #1, aside from worse clawing, just a day or so behind.
 
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