Back to the Swamp 2014

[The_Core]

This year was a learning experience for me.

Never grow more than one plant in its own container. Outdoors with the intense sun and rain they grow like a beast. My plants are getting 10-12 hours of direct sun. My nepals got to 90 cm in just over a month. And that is in a 25-30 liter grow bag and I have 2 plants in some of my bags! I will never do it again. The roots are choking each other and it will definitely effect my finished yield at harvest time.

Next year 90 liter tubs per plant. If they dont use all the soil its not a big deal, Better to have too much then not enough. Thats just how I feel.

My plants stll have another solid 2 months and the roots have grown through the entire 30 liters. So 30 days for 30 liters, 90 days for 90 liters? Its what I think!

 

[RosettaStoned]

Every grow is a learning experience They really will take off if you just give them the right environment.

No pics this week. 2 weeks will show better development anyhow.

We're around halfway through the season, so I've topped the 3 big girls with about 4-5 gallons each of some fresh soil, compost, manure, and some other goodies for N. They are growing like mad since the last feeding, so I want to keep them going. I'm gonna to do the same for the bagseed girls soon.

Both of the bagseeds are developing well. The little runt isn't so little anymore, I'm beginning to train her over now. The larger bagseed looks good and somewhat exotic. She's darker green than the other plants with sharper, perkier leaves. Hard to tell from the leaf shape is she's more indica or sativa leaning. She also has some red-purple stems, seems genetic to me rather than a deficiency. Bagseed genes are usually hit and miss, but sometimes you get something really special

I've got some more bagseeds now, so I'll be working on getting some pollen soon, so I can finally make some seeds of my own with these outdoor girls.

The smaller Jack Herer is well. I've been letting her grow a little more vertical than the others. The bigger one is actually almost as big as the Brainstorm, certainly going to be one of the biggest I've ever grown. She's a nice bush now and I'm slowly training her for more tops. This one is next to the Brainstorm and they'll probably end up touching by the time they are done growing. I never thought they would get this big, so I didn't give as much room as I should have, but they are close in height/size so they aren't really choking eachother of light.

The Brainstorm is still very happy and growing a lot. This little area it's in gets the most light, especially in the morning. Really spreading this one out, the canopy is going to be huge at the end of the year. It's already wider than my arm span right now. I've gotta just find more sticks to train with Once we hit August I'll probably stop the training other than minor tweaks, just to let the budsites grow up to the light some more.

Things are really going great. Trying to keep my expectations low, but damn it could really be an amazing year

 

[The_Core]

I am watering the earlies and the autoflowers about twice a week right now. No rain here. Keeping me busy. I do 1 watering full strength bio bizz and 1 watering plain water. Its funny, After I water with bio bizz full strength the plants look kinda shitty the next 2 days but then they get real green and start growing like crazy. Its nice. Going back out tomorrow and wednesday to water again, Autos tomorrow and earlies on wednesday.

I went to visit my early plants this weekend. the cows walked right next to my grow bags again and did not step on them or eat the plants. I am very lucky or these cows really dont care about my plants. Lets hope it stays this way.

 

[J.V]

Hey RossettaStoned.....Bagseed is like a lucky dip, only better...Over the years, I've grown out plenty. The majority of it, was decent.....But occasionally, You get something special come along...I wish I had the knowledge years ago, that I have now...Thanks to Icmag....The old Advanced Nutes forum etc...I would have some sweet cuts.....Some really nice stuff.

Bye the way......I'm tipping that Jack Herer will be some nice smoke....looking good.

 

[RosettaStoned]

Update
All is well in the swamp. Just continuing with training and spraying as usual. They've all been top fed with 4-5 gallons of soil and manure, so they should be held over for awhile. They seem to really like the top feeding and I haven't had anymore animals digging as of late.

Here is the small bagseed female.

Here is the bigger one, starting to grow nicely now.

And there was a little friend on her when I visited the spot.

The more sativa leaning Jack Herer

 

[RosettaStoned]

The indica leaning JH and the DP Brainstorm, both are pretty massive plants.

The indica Jack Herer again

Her fan leaves are some of the biggest I've had on a plant.

The swamp monster Brainstorm

She has a nice twist in her stem where I super cropped her.

Thanks for stopping in.

 

[The_Core]

Your plants turned into some monsters. Very impressed with how your grow is going. When those plants finish they are going to be giants.

 

[locoezon]

Great healthy plants and excellent choice for the seeds,especially for the JH!!

Have a great residual cultivation man.

Subbed!

 

[calientecarlos]

ShiJeah!! Lookin real friggin nice!! Great work!!

 

[Team Microbe]

Wow, looking great already RosettaStoned. I'll be back in the swamp as usual but it's still too early for me. Still working with our Baby's Breath but also Pineapple Chunk (fem) and the recently revived Blue Velvet (fem) from Dutch Passion. Dastardly seed companies always lie when it comes to outdoor harvests it seems but I'm hoping they're both done by early October.

I'll be tuning in - good luck!

I heard from a buddy of mine that finish dates are irrelevant unless the strains were bred at your latitude, now I try to find genetics bred around 42N for that exact reason


Can't wait to see your grow pop off man!

 

[Team Microbe]

Looking amazing Rosetta, I'm just getting the girls in the ground now. Wish I had the start that you had! You're gonna have a great season, I'm pullin up a chair for this one

 

[RosettaStoned]

Thanks everyone! Yeah there's no easy way to tell when something will finish outdoors until it happens. I'm hoping mine are decently fast finishers, no way to tell when the weather is going to turn to weeks of rain here, especially in the fall. The girls are putting off pistils like crazy right now, but I don't think we'll see flowers until late August. I'm giddy to see how big they get, really been an ideal season so far. We had a little less rain this month than I would've liked, but it's still enough so I still haven't had to lug water out to the spot. Fingers crossed for a nice July, then things are really gonna start booming.

There's been a little more insect damage, mostly due to summer being in full swing now, but it's still very minor. No more digging in the mounds which is great. Training is getting tricky, but I should be able to spread the girls out a little more before I let them stretch, if they stretch too much, I won't be able to reach and inspect the buds On the other hand, they'll get more airflow, so it's a trade-off either way. The big girls continue to get bigger and bushier every time I visit, they are really a site to see. I'll have new pics in a week or so. Maybe some of the little indoor I have going in a few days, I've got 3 little plants waiting to flower now, hoping for one more, but bagseed germination rates haven't been kind to me lately. With any luck I'll get a decent male and I can start breeding, and eventually I'll have some nice strains that are acclimated to my environment.

 

[RosettaStoned]

I jinxed myself of course and I had to water a little a few days ago, but we just got some rain and everything should be happy for awhile. Weather looks good for the next week or two.

I found an old air compressor/pump and it looks like I'll be able to make some proper aerated compost tea this year. The pump is strong enough to agitate 4-5 gallons pretty well. My test formed bubbles on the top pretty quickly and lost the terrible smell from some composted chicken manure I added. This solves my problem of what I was going to use for feeding during flowering. It'll also help the girls really get huge while they are still in veg.

The male project indoors has been put on 12/12. I read somewhere that males drop pollen rather quick, like 3-4 weeks. If that's the case it'll make things easier, and I'll have pollen on the ready. New pictures of everything soon.

 

[RosettaStoned]

Hey everybody, time for an update from the swamp

I ran my first compost tea, but after about 12 hours the pump was very hot, so I decided to scrap that batch and wait until next time to feed the girls. I didn't want to risk a fire or ruining the pump, so I'll just do a 12 hour tea for them next time instead of a full 24.

The little indoor grow is going very well already. It's been only a few days since the switch and the oldest plant has developed male preflowers already. Plant is healthy, although conditions are far from ideal, good vigor, and it put out a lot of tops for being only 4-5 inches tall. The other two are too small to show yet, they may veg for awhile before they start to flower. If I'm really lucky, this male will pop real quick, and I'll have plenty of pollen for a few seeded buds outside.Then if the other two are females I can have some nice smoke while I'm waiting for the outdoor to finish. They look a little rough, but it's probably just a bit of heat stress, but things have cooled off a lot since the switch.

Now for the girls outside.

Takes longer to spray and train them every time, I've been 10 times busier with them this year than I've ever been out in the swamp before. It's actually quite relaxing as long as the insect life isn't particularly bad that day.

Here is the small bagseed, I train her top over everytime I come to visit, but then she is standing straight back up again the next time. If she doesn't take off soon she may not yield very much.

Here is the larger one, starting to get big now, lots of tops, looking like it may end up being something special, really killer smell whenever I get a wiff.

This is the smaller, more sativa leaning Jack Herer after I did some more training to spread her out. Might get a nice canopy here after all.

 

[RosettaStoned]

This is the bigger JH. It was hard to get this one all in the picture from where I was standing. Really nice dense growth, she may possibly be getting the most intense light of all the plants.

And of course the biggest of them all. The DP Brainfreeze, she continues to get bushier and exceed my expectations, although she is close to growing into the JH girl next to her. I'll have to get tricky with the training is it really becomes an issue.

And here she is again are some much needed LST.

This is her main stem with a lighter for reference.

The spot seems thoroughly secure at this point. Still no activity, no garbage, no signs of humanity anywhere out here. Really happy with the progress of everything and I'm real excited to see how they react to the compost teas I'll be feeding from now on.

That's all folks, until next time

 

[Chunkypigs]

looking good!

 

[locoezon]

Keep it Green ROSETTA as u know!!
Alot of training eh? Maybe if you do that from start as i do,
u will not have that problem now

I focus on JH seed,maybe i have to give a try in next season.

 

[RosettaStoned]

Thanks guys. I might be having an easier time if I did some training like that, but I do enjoy having to work with the plants more. They also grow very vertically due to lack of light, although they get enough, it's not nearly full sun. If I want to get more bud sites and yield decently I have to keep training outward. Some of the big ones are 6-7ft tall already so it's a lot just to train these 3 out every time I get to visit.


The male indoors is steadily growing balls, they really do produce face. I should have pollen from him soon. I also have a top of a male from a friend, drying it now, hoping I may get a little pollen from it. It may be too immature, but the plant was really nice, so I'm hoping I can continue the genetics. The other two still are showing no preflowers, so it looks like they will do as I thought and grow for while, then flower. I repotted them into much bigger containers.

We've been getting lots of rain, so I can sleep easy for awhile knowing I won't have to water, but I'm hoping to get out to feed compost tea soon.

 

[ssq.talker]

 

[Guyute54]

Nice to see some big girls out in the wild! Sorry if you said it already but what are you using to keep the bugs off?