JB's sativa hacking hub

[JockBudman]

End of week 2 update

A real bad luck week this, I've sexed and killed off three zamaldelica males and the thrips are back in the veg tent so I'm back to neem sprays and the nirvana NL won't go into flower til next weekend with a fresh neem spritz and the worst leaves removed. I got one zamaldelica potted up coz there's some pistils showing but I'm not 100% on the other preflowers so she could still turn on me. That would leave just one zamaldelica- the most lanky one that I'm fairly certain will be a girl but who knows.
Its been shit losing so many zamaldelica as that was my new year's fun time plan - a selection of trip buds. I've gone from worrying about having too many plants to hoping most of my red snake are females.

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The better news is that other than a thrip resurgence, the veg plants are doing OK. Looks like the other NL9 is a girl, just waiting to confirm. Plus I have a trifoliate red snake which is cool - I'll try to get photos next time

 

[JockBudman]

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So, Panama #8. The aroma on this one is an absolute delight - starburst orange, pine and some notes of (and I appreciate how weird this is) a kind of bubblegum toilet cleaner I've come across in public toilets. Somehow that all works.
The taste is thankfully more on the sweet orange side.

High is strong, headbandy and similar to the others with a bit of a trippy vibe, though not the strongest in that regard. Definitely a bit more physical and introspective. Still good though, definitely another to think about line breeding long term.

 

[944s2]

Very nice Jock,,,
love me some orange flavour,,,,,

 

[JockBudman]

Another unnumbered one now, this one I call The Runt as it was the smallest plant out of the lot.

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The smell is different to the others and is like a mix of the stereotypical weed stank of the old pack Panama with the fruitiness of the rest. Its possibly the loudest as well, with hints of petrol, bubblegum, sweet berries and citrus. The flavour is complex but mainly sweet, fruity and a bit sour. Quite nice tbh, I think this would be a good commercial bud if I cared about that.

What I care about though, is the effect and in that regard she's potent on the low end. Not to the extent of an indica, but very much a zone out weed, something to use when the day is done but you don't want to sleep yet. Brings some hunger but makes it a chore to get up and make food, though not impossible. Pretty good tbh, I'm on the fence about keeping some of these seeds separate as well.

 

[JockBudman]

OK, late week 3 update - the nirvana NL have both gone into flower, the last sag NL9 got potted on and is still in veg and I finally got a shot of the trifoliate red snake

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The taller zamaldelica showed female tonight so will get potted on tomorrow and the one I was concerned about seems to just be growing bud at the nodes which I've seen this line do before.

Thrips are still about so I'm still spraying neem- I drenched the nirvana NLs before they went in and pulled all their lower leaves, but I'm still a bit concerned they've brought bugs into the flower space.

Still no sex on the bubblegum mix plants, I'm thinking it might take a few more weeks yet. But the red snake will get a pot on into 2 litre pots soon, they're looking sad in small seedling ones.

 

[bleepboop]

lovely stuff mate

 

[JockBudman]

lovely stuff mate

Thanks dude, hopefully things will continue to be lovely and not go south into thrip land. I'll stick some Panama f2s aside for you as well

 

[JockBudman]

Old pack Panama is last up for a review, maybe not necessarily the best but a solid plant nonetheless and the clone will keep me in Panama for a while after the others are gone.

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The initial smell is much more savoury than the rest, almost musky, but soon the sweetness comes through. When ground up its a mix of sour berries, juniper and maybe a hint of pine. Taste is definitely fairly sweet, bit of sour and musk and spicy when exhaled through the nose.

High is similar to the others in the mid range between cerebral and physical - bit of a headband, not so trippy. Relaxing but still able to function when needed. Produces a lot of vapour too.

 

[JockBudman]

End of week 4 in the flower tent and a lot has gone on - with the crowding in there I'm kind of glad I only got 2 zamaldelica fems, I think

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I've potted the red snakes, topped the taller ones and stuck them all straight into flower. Normally I'd veg a few weeks first but I'm hoping to finish some before the end of the year - let's see how this goes. I've also potted on one of the bubblegum mix that showed female but she'll get a few more of veg before she goes in. And in the back right corner there's the other sag NL9 that got potted on because I'm pretty sure she's female and I'm bored of waiting.

I'm also collecting some pollen from the male NL9 to dust the other NLs with so hopefully I'll have a little Dutch lights thing going on.

 

[944s2]

Hey JockB,,
Have some great and interesting variety’s in there mucker,,
I take a seat mate ,,

Keep on keeping on Jock

 

[JockBudman]

Bit of a late update because my phone camera has been playing up and I wanted to highlight the changes since last week.

First up I've taken out a fair few males - the NL9 sadly showed balls, as have 3 red snakes including the trifoliate which seems to be common for tri plants. I've done a bit of reading up and it's not worth breeding with them in my eyes so it got binned with the rest.

I've also put cobs on and the main light up to 100% but I'm starting to get concerned that I might have some bleaching going on - although I'm mainly worried about the runty zamaldelica and the Panama and both are only losing/yellowing on lower leaves not close to the lights. The runty zamaldelica in particular is annoying me - it seems not to have grown any roots at pot up despite me using this technique before with these and it working well. The thai pheno one is performing as expected but this is acting like the Panamas did when they were thripped out. Think I just got an f2 dud.

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Got 3 shots this week to get a closer look and because I'm struggling to fit them all in one now.

In the veg tent the larger bubblegum mix will be going into flower next weekend and her sister hopefully the weekend after. When that all happens I'll take the heat mat out and stick that into the main tent to try to keep the root temps up as we go into winter. Hate having an out of control environment but there's not much I can do. Just hoping this grow does well in the end.

Last but not least, I've collected plenty of NL9 pollen and I'll dust the 2 nirvana plants next weekend. Just waiting on the lower branches to bud up a bit.

 

[JockBudman]

End of week 6...

Except not really, is it?

End of week 6 - old Panama and zamaldelicas
End of week 3 - Northern Lights
End of week 2 - Red snakes
Week 0 - Bubblegum mix 1

That's gonna be complicated to write out every week...

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Anyway, I'm down to two red snakes now, with one potted on and the other still to show sex - if it does turn out female that'll give me two each of four strains which would be a cool wee ratio.
Having said that, the one that got potted on has something looking suspiciously like a ballsack coming in at one node so I'll need to keep an eye. Its unusual as all other snakes I've done have been sexually stable and I'm hoping its just a weird wee node branch like on the runty zamaldelica.

Speaking of, she's not getting any better, dropped a lot of her already few leaves and not producing any resin so far. I've had a low resin one before but nothing this bad. I don't need the space so she can stay, but I'm not holding out much hope for this one. I think its the soil I used as I had a shit bag for the veg and used that without sieving. Soil in her pot is very compact and doesn't take water well.
The big Thai one is doing well however, but I'm not expecting bud for Christmas...

The two northern lights are still to be pollinated as I'm waiting for the one on the right to get larger buds on the bottom branches. Should be done by the end of the week.

And the wee bubblegum mix is now in at the front, sprayed with neem - her sister will be going in next weekend.
Putting her in and seeing how dark she is compared to the others, plus looking back at the northern lights plants a few weeks ago, made me realise the lights were too close. I've now got them to 12 inches above the closest stems. Bit annoyed at myself, especially about the Panama which was looking like a big yielder but now is so hammered that I'm worried she won't finish well. Still need to find some epsom salts as well...

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[JockBudman]

End of week 7 - old Panama and zamaldelicas
End of week 4 - Northern Lights
End of week 3 - Red snakes
End of week 1- Bubblegum mix 1
Week 0 - Bubblegum mix 2

Everything is in now so the veg tent is off for a bit giving me a chance to clean and also get the heatmat out and under this lot asap to help with the cold.
The final snake showed female and the other just has a branch at the node so it's 2 girls from each strain which is nice and the last bubblegum is in to hopefully catch up on her big sister.

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I've also given everyone a top up dusting of dry ferts as well, everyone is starting to lose leaves on the lower branches and particularly the zamaldelica and Panamas have a lot more time to run.

In other news my partner has got into thc free cbd bud which means I'll be picking up some new seeds soon so we can run a few of those, possibly some auto versions over the next few months. It also means I don't need to worry as much about yield going forward, as the cbd stuff is simple enough to get hold of. Tbh I'm enjoying the hash we got myself, its great as a night cap without any racing brain and the oil has been good for keeping me chill at work.

It's just going to be watering and feeding from now on basically, maybe the odd mosquito bits drench as the gnats are still around, but hopefully smooth sailing for another five or six weeks at which point the first few should be ready to come down.

 

[bleepboop]

brilliant mate. I am also relieved that the gnats have seemingly done one for the remainder of the year as i picked up water kefir and kombucha starters again and they also attract them quite heavily. appreciated the placement pairing for spotting who everyone is. props on the slog of keeping zamaldelica happy. i certainly struggled with that. panama looking decent especially! and congrats on all the gyaldem.

 

[JockBudman]

brilliant mate. I am also relieved that the gnats have seemingly done one for the remainder of the year as i picked up water kefir and kombucha starters again and they also attract them quite heavily. appreciated the placement pairing for spotting who everyone is. props on the slog of keeping zamaldelica happy. i certainly struggled with that. panama looking decent especially! and congrats on all the gyaldem.

Good to see you back dude. I did a huge batch of kombucha recently but it moulded. Need to get it drained and cleaned and start again with the mothers from the other jar but I'm being lazy.
I've done better with the zamaldelica before, think they just really suffered from the new light early on. Plus I stuck the Thai one into a lighter soil and it may have been too light. Need to try again with these soon.

 

[JockBudman]

End of week 8 - old Panama and zamaldelicas
End of week 5 - Northern Lights
End of week 4 - Red snakes
End of week 2 - Bubblegum mix 1
Week 1 - Bubblegum mix 2

Another week down and some are looking nice, others barely clinging to life. Despite the dry ferts they're all still hungry as fuck so I'm still feeding with liquid nutes every second watering. I seem to be great at keeping plants green in veg but not so much in flower. Think next time I'm going to start feeding as soon as they go into stretch and keep it up at once a week throughout, as well as make sure the lights aren't too close.

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So the northern lights are starting to bulk up and I think will be done in as little as four weeks time. I'm guessing same for the old Panama which is doing better with regular feeds and the lights being higher up.
Zamaldelicas are fucked tbh. I'll be amazed if they make it to the end without losing all their leaves. Really need to get my head around how to keep these happy in future. I read on Mandala's site about potting plants on in early budding but that would take me up to 10l pots and I don't have room so I'll need to think of something else.

Red snake and bubblegum mix are trucking along fine and I hope will do better as I'm feeding them regularly which I didn't do with the others, relying more on the soil to get them through to my regret. Both strains will likely need another seven to eight weeks minimum before I think about taking them down.

Thinking ahead with the soil issues I'll need to stock up on my compost mix as peat is due to be banned soon. Even though I support the move I'm dreading the shift as I have no idea what I'll move to. I've got one base compost that I've been working on amending and to get close and then it gets banned - its going to be a tough road next year or so for sure.

 

[JockBudman]

End of week 9 - old Panama and zamaldelicas
End of week 6 - Northern Lights
End of week 5 - Red snakes
End of week 3 - Bubblegum mix 1
End of week 2 - Bubblegum mix 2

Not much to report this week other than a realisation that the light was still probably too low which I think is causing my problems. Still feeding at most waterings but I'm seeing clawing on the untopped red snake now so I'll need to back off on some and hopefully the greater distance from the new panel will help arrest the yellowing a bit.
Other plants like the bubblegum mix and NLs are liking the feed though and I'm pretty sure its the only reason the Thai zamaldelica is still alive.

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Got some individual shots of the NLs and Panama. I'm hoping it'll be at most three more weeks on the Panama and these northern lights could be down not long after. I've never done NL before but I'm liking growing them, very easygoing, very uniform and not too much smell - so far they live up to the hype and I look forward to seeing how the seeds that are ripening come out.

The rest are trucking on - the small runty zamaldelica will probably come down at the same time as the Panama as I can't see much point keeping it. I'm still hoping the Thai one lives long enough to give up something but we'll see. I'll need to do a seed run of these again in the next few years so hopefully I can get my light heights dialed in by then.

Stocked up on the compost btw. I'll keep picking up the odd bag until it's gone.

 

[bleepboop]

Yeah I was thinking that moorland gold was going to be hit by a peat ban this year but unsure now as it still seems to be about and the company has a new website/new management for the future so perhaps they've managed to be let off the hook. I picked up a bag the other week and it was a great fluffy fine consistency compared to what I've seen from the westland all horizon organic compost that supermarkets/hardware stores have been shelling out for cheap.

I'd mention dalefoot compost as a lake district sustainable vibe - bracken, comfrey and sheeps wool. I've seen it stocked occasionally but not every season in a couple of independent garden centres round here.

I have had melcourts sylvagrow which was a well priced base for dry organic ferts.
it's a composted pine bark fines/green compost/coir mix. they do several versions including an organic one, an un fertilised one and a john innes extra horticultural gritsand one.

Also used to get rice hulls and oat husks along with high diastatic power malted barley from a brewing supplies site called malt miller that mixed in with that very well. plus worm castings/previous soil rounds/biochar/mineral mixes.

that indoor organics company use a dalefoot, fertile fibre coir, castings, biochar, pumice and buckwheat hulls with a dry ferts mix for their swag no till mixes.

 

[JockBudman]

Interesting you say that about the moorland gold, the place near me seems to be selling off the last of it but I'll just hope it somehow evades the ban.

I'll need to pass on the Dale's foot, I've checked it out but wool isn't vegan really unless I get my own from a sanctuary somewhere or something.

Good shout on the sylvagrow, I've heard of that from other places online. I was thinking of doing a mix with a base soil, coir, castings, perlite and dry mix - so I'll keep the sylvagrow in mind in case the moorland disappears. Gonna have to build a worm farm at some point to get free casts.

 

[bleepboop]

I hear you, and thought as much with the dalefoot. east riding horticulture and lssystems best priced for ordering melcourt online aswell as some nice aggregates to mix in. both also still do peat bales if you just want to get it in.