Auto's from Herbies Seeds - 3 SIP's, a hempy bucket and a fabric pot

[Chuckeye]

Have you switched the the HPS now?

Just now....

As I said, I normally change about a week after flowering starts but I was giving my two slow pokes some extra time !

The HPS could give you 50% more light. It's also a softer light for them. They will grow larger leaves with thinner surfaces, more able to catch the light available.

Given a few years, most growers abandoned the MH. Choosing to instead suffer the quicker stretch of HPS, knowing to was ultimately filling the canopy quicker, an growth below might be cut off anyway. You are not trying for a canopy here though, so certainly while they were grouped, in veg, the MH is useful. 4 foot enclosure height? you could stack two crops to reach your ceiling. Easily done with LED, but commendable with HID

Not looking to grow trees or win any contests for yields

My goal is to have a taste, still looking for the perfect smoke, eh ?

And have an easy harvest. By topping, training and lollipopping I can keep even long grow Sativa's under 4' high.

Max of half hour to wet trim and max a half hour to clean up a bit and cut the buds off the branches....

Cheers

 

[Chuckeye]

Day 47

Stretch continues, they can Stop anytime now

Two days growth/height >

Wedding Cheesecake 3.5"/ 25"
California Snow 4"/ 29" Topped, trained and now let free !
Six Shooter 3.5"/ 30"
CBD Lemon 4"/ 21 1/2"
Gorilla Punch 3"/ 35"

Their last feeding was 4g/gallon of their respective nutrients.

After a critical examination I decided to go back to 3.6g/gallon !

Wedding Cheesecake is just a bit lighter green than I'd like to see but she won't need more until tomorrow. Will see if her last watering with 4g/gallon greens her up...

California Snow has One bottom leaf that is a bit lighter in color but cut her back to 3.6g/gallon anyway

Generally could be a little darker green but...

Six Shooter is at the upper end of green and her new top growth was slightly twisted, back down to 3.6g/gallon....

CBD Lemon is a nice shade of green, last feeding was @4g/gallon, will she how she looks tomorrow at feed/watering.

Gorilla Punch is just about perfect for color, the odd leaf with a Slightly burned tip so back to 3.6g/gallon for now.

SIP's are needing filling everyday, the hempy and fabric pot every second dayish.

Switched to HPS bulb yesterday and raised the light today....

Rh is 50% and temp is 92.3 F.

Cheers

 

[Chuckeye]

Day 49, still at 3.6g/gallon.....

Hard to hold back on the food but

Normally in fabric bags at this stage I'm picking off a couple or three yellow leaves on the bottom of each plant every other day.

In SIP's I have two yellow leaves on the California Snow and that's it

They won't stop, still roughly 3" every 2 days

But, I should mention....

All of these strains have relatively long spaces between nodes and sparse fan leaves, no real reason to do any trimming !

I've topped the California Snow and other than trimming off the bottoms to the first nodes on most of them I have done Nothing aside from training to the side !

Heights now range from 25" to 38"

CBD Lemon....

California Snow...

Six Shooter....

Wedding Cheesecake...

Darn Lambs Bread, looks like I missed the Gorilla Punch

Since it looks like two reservoir fills and then a top watering to run off is working for me I made disposing of the run off easier.

Air dome hose with a wrap of paper to fit draining into a separate saucer

It was the most basic and easy at hand non toxic solution

When the majority of water has drained I just move the hose to the pails saucer...

Cheers

 

[Chuckeye]

Today, Day 50. Stretch continues

California Snow was in need of some attention !

I cut off her second nodes and trimmed some lower interior branches.

Then I removed the hold downs and installed bamboo stakes and a wire hoop.

Also found another yellowing leaf, her reservoir was down to two after yesterdays top watering to run off so filled it with a half gallon of 4.1g/gallon of MC.

Gorilla Punch and Six Shooter were at half so I left them for tomorrow.

And then I found this on two leaves....

Wind burn ?

Cheers

 

[Chuckeye]

Day 51, Gorilla Punch

Now @ 40", I will be bud backbuilding this one...

Cheers

 

[marwachine]

Day 51, Gorilla Punch

Now @ 40", I will be bud backbuilding this one...

View attachment 18889487

Cheers

nice growing there mate. I'm just curious how much difference would sipping be compared to bottom watering?

 

[Chuckeye]

nice growing there mate. I'm just curious how much difference would sipping be compared to bottom watering?

Thank you !

I suppose the test will be on the weight scale but with the SIP's the girls are praying, all day, everyday.

Do you mean bottom watering as in with a wick ? Never tried that but......

With fabric bags and top watering the plants slow a bit on watering day, perk up on the second day and then slow a bit towards watering day...

Traditionally a SIP is only watered from the bottom via the reservoir but I've found with every third "watering" from the top it seems to work better.

Some say watering from the top will defeat the purpose of the SIP as in disrupt the wicking action from the reservoir.

But, I water from the top until the reservoir is full and the next day it is half empty. Then I refill it.

So far, I'm a convert

Cheers

 

[marwachine]

Thank you !

I suppose the test will be on the weight scale but with the SIP's the girls are praying, all day, everyday.

Do you mean bottom watering as in with a wick ? Never tried that but......

With fabric bags and top watering the plants slow a bit on watering day, perk up on the second day and then slow a bit towards watering day...

Traditionally a SIP is only watered from the bottom via the reservoir but I've found with every third "watering" from the top it seems to work better.

Some say watering from the top will defeat the purpose of the SIP as in disrupt the wicking action from the reservoir.

But, I water from the top until the reservoir is full and the next day it is half empty. Then I refill it.

So far, I'm a convert

Cheers

I meant bottom watering by putting the pots on a wider based plate thing and just watering from there. I've seen people recommend it so I thought it was just a lazier version of sipping.

 

[Chuckeye]

I meant bottom watering by putting the pots on a wider based plate thing and just watering from there. I've seen people recommend it so I thought it was just a lazier version of sipping.

You mean with fabric bags ?

It is a lazier way but without a reservoir And an air gap !

That's a big deal...

Not sure about a fabric bag sitting in water all the time. Maybe you give it a dry period ?

And your bag is likely not going to get moisture all the way to the top.

Early on in my grow (and at transplant) it was obvious the only roots that were growing were the bottom "water" roots.

I filled my reservoir 24 hours before transplant and the bottom of my prepared hole was barely damp the next day.

Within a couple of weeks (?) my girls were falling over, not enough root support at the top of the pail....

BTW > my Gorilla Punch is the only one that I didn't start in a SIP solo cup.

Cheers

 

[Chuckeye]

Day 53

Still stretching

Feed now 4.5g/gallon, roughly half a gallon per day.

Strain/current height/growth last 4 days >

Wedding Cheesecake 38"/ 9"
California Snow 36 1/2"/ 3 1/2"
Six Shooter 38"/ 5"
CBD Lemon 32"/ 7"
Gorilla Punch 41"/ 3" snipped her top/bud backbuilding

Cheers

 

[Chuckeye]

Day 54,

24 hours after snipping the Gorilla Punch's top for bud back building !

Pretty sloppy, missed a couple hairs

She still grew an 1" in height !

Cheers

 

[marwachine]

Day 54,

24 hours after snipping the Gorilla Punch's top for bud back building !

Pretty sloppy, missed a couple hairs

She still grew an 1" in height !

View attachment 18890828

Cheers

have you done backbuilding before? how did it go?

 

[Chuckeye]

have you done backbuilding before? how did it go?

Yes, I have...

Seems to produce larger, longer buds !

An example > Apple Betty photoperiod...

Cheers

 

[marwachine]

Yes, I have...

Seems to produce larger, longer buds !

An example > Apple Betty photoperiod...

View attachment 18890845

Cheers

seems legit. do you do this on all the tops now? Why don't commercial growers do this if it improves yields?

 

[Chuckeye]

seems legit. do you do this on all the tops now? Why don't commercial growers do this if it improves yields?

Mostly I do it to the highest growing tops. It does seem to break their apical dominance.

I have no idea what commercial growers are doing.... But it would be picky and time consuming work !

Not sure if it actually "improves" yields but it sure does produce some interesting looking buds

Perhaps that is why they don't follow this practice, they are looking for uniformity..

Cheers

 

[marwachine]

Mostly I do it to the highest growing tops. It does seem to break their apical dominance.

I have no idea what commercial growers are doing.... But it would be picky and time consuming work !

Not sure if it actually "improves" yields but it sure does produce some interesting looking buds

Perhaps that is why they don't follow this practice, they are looking for uniformity..

Cheers

why do you do it then?

 

[Chuckeye]

why do you do it then?

Just another form of training, it's fun to see what you can do with manipulating their growth

Cheers

 

[Chuckeye]

Day 56

The Gorilla Punch is actually a week younger and the farthest ahead.

Looks like I will get my One Big Giant Bud

I snipped the two tallest tops on the California Snow and the tops of the Six Shooter, CBD Lemon and Wedding Cheesecake !

The Girls....

And The Girls with three days growth numbers...

Nutrients now @ 5g/gallon, SIP's watered from the top tonight..

Cheers

 

[Chuckeye]

Day 58

I found two leaves on the Gorilla Punch with yellow spotting.

A while ago I had the same issue with the Six Shooter but upping the MC fixed that...

The GP is as green as I like to see so tonight she received 4.5g of MC and 1g of Bud Explosion/gallon of water !

Ppm was 830 but my battery was close to quitting on me...

My Wedding Cheesecake has been a BAD Girl

She grew four inches in the last two days to 49" and passed my limit of 4'...

Had to pull her down

A gentle squeeze of the stem and a wire to hold her in place.

This was a runt/stunted (?) that was 12" high three weeks ago

She is the one in the hempy bucket and being fed MaxBloom....

Cheers

 

[Chuckeye]

Day 59

I saved the bud back building snips and dried they were half a bowlful !

VERY promising

Having to concentrate to edit images and type this

Quite a pleasant mostly sativa high !

There has to be pictures

The top half (21 1/2") of the Gorilla Punch !

The Girls with the inner panels @ ~ 5' x 5' x 4' high. Buckets and rolling stands ~ 16".

Cheers