Klompen's Comeback (Summer Breeze Trifoliate)

[Klompen]

I have finally managed to get my pest problems under control. I had to dig out the chrysanthemum spray to finally win the fight against the evil that is russet hemp mites. I have dealt with almost all manner of plant pest(spider mites included), and this was the toughest to beat I have dealt with.

Through it all, one strain, Summer Breeze Trifoliate, managed to survive in the veg chamber no matter how bad the pests got. All but one of my other strains all got killed, and the only survivor, Gooey 13, barely survived. Now I have those two strains, with one large example of each in the veg chamber and 4 clones now of each of those. I also have one really huge clone of Summer Breeze in the flowering chamber.

I have been trying with Summer Breeze for quite some time now. I discovered it was trifoliate when it was originally in veg, and I had a beautiful original plant that failed to flower because of bugs. I knew there was something special about it and I kept clones of it going in hopes of eventually succeed at flowering her. I was getting really depressed about the grow since I've put all this work into these plants and this chamber only to have constant problems, but now that may finally be behind me!

To start at the beginning, here is the plant a day before flower. You can see she has a lot of signs of suffering from the bugs.

The next day I flipped it to 12/12 and then 14 days later it looked like this

See next post.

 

[Klompen]

After 25 days of 12/12

Then at day 28(yesterday)

Here is the veg chamber with Summer Breeze Trifoliate(Left) and Gooey 13(Right) with 4 clones of each mixed up in the front.

So that is where we are right now. I'm really thrilled with how the flowering has turned around. Its filling out fast. Still has old deficiency damage on some of the leaves, but overall its doing really great. My clones all rooted too which is exciting. Things are so easy without bugs all over them.

 

[Klompen]

I should probably specify that I am using a HLG QB96V2 overhead running at about 85W and DIY Samsung A series strips(they were on sale) all running on Meanwell drivers at around 50W. This gives me about 21.25W per square foot overhead and 25W on each side that probably run a bit over 6w per square foot(total guesstimate on my part there).

Anyway, here are some pictures from day 29 of flowering. Its just shy of 30 days and filling out incredibly fast. The plant is getting hard to reach through now to get leaves that come off. This strain can fill a space really densely due to its structure. It also doesn't produce any large fan leaves for whatever reason.

 

[Klompen]

Here's a quick update from day 45

 

[Gry]

Nice to see things working out better for you.

 

[Klompen]

Nice to see things working out better for you.

Thanks for stopping by! She's had a lot of problems so far this run but I am hopeful for what this will produce. I'm really eager to see how things will go once I get my system dialed in better.

The next generation is looking hopeful. I am stuck with just the two strains right now, but I tried to make 4 more clones of each and was surprised with a 100% success rate I need to rebuild my veg space pretty urgently, but its an evolving project. Here's the veg space:

The two big plants are Gooey 13 in the back right and Summer Breeze Trifoliate on the left with 4 Gooey 13 clones in the back row and 4 Summer Breeze Trifoliate clones in the front row.

 

[GMT]

Hey man, you knew I'd have my nose up to the glass on this. Good luck.

 

[Klompen]

Good to see ya GMT. I was excited to find a trifoil among my seedlings, but I really had a hard time getting to this point. I had no idea what hemp mites were at the time, but the first flower run was totally destroyed by them. They cause the plants to herm out and defoliate, and they are super tiny and hard to defeat. I can't overstate how much hemp mites suck. I have had spider mites and they are super easy to beat comparatively. All the organic sprays like neem and Maggie's Farm blends, and the only thing that has worked in pyrethrum from chrysanthemums. It still takes repeated application to get them under control but my veg space is finally clear of them I think. This strain has proven incredibly hardy in veg at least. The mites killed all the other plants except Gooey 13, and even that one was extremely close to being lost as well.

The whorling growth really seems to be doing well in this style of cabinet. So far it is looking like I'm going to have a cubic foot of buds and this plant had a lot of problems going in to all this. I am really eager to see what this one can do with a good clean run with no major crisis. We've been stuck smoking crappy leaf shake soaked in some iso oil(also made from leaves). I really hope this yields well enough and is strong enough to get us through till Gooey is ready. Summer Breeze isn't stinking up the room at all yet, but when I brush the plant it lets off this hard to describe beautiful smell that is very floral and not skunky or hashy at all. Its a very sativa-dom phenotype with great lineage so I'm excited to see what we get out of it!

 

[GMT]

You ran into something that makes the Borg look French? Wow. Good luck mate.
oh, those side LEDs, interesting idea, hmmmm

 

[Klompen]

I should have some new pics by tonight. Here's an couple old pics where you can see how bad the mites attacked her the first time I tried to flower.

Here is when she was first going into the chamber. I don't think we had many mites at that point, but you can already see the damage they're doing to the lower leaves.

Then it ended up like this.... Summer Breeze is on the front right, just totally messed up. On the front left is Loud n' Proud, b ut that plant looked a lot better than it was. It resisted the bugs relatively well but it hermed like crazy and the finished buds were fluffy and the high was weak. Neem oil early in flower just made it all end up tasting bad and it didn't stop the bugs. In the back there is Gooey 13, the original. That one is the only one so far in this chamber that has gone well. It had a ton of problems, but I was learning to fight the bugs after losing the first few plants so that played out a lot better.

So far this one pictured below is the best result I have been able to get. I don't think Gooey 13 came anywhere near its potential and it still had a pleasant smoke with an apricot flavor to it. The buds were practically identical from top to bottom too. You can see its fan leaves are all over the soil. The next one of these I have vegging is now being treated for bugs better and should hopefully yield a lot. I think I got maybe 3 ounces out of her, but I really think I could push an HP or more out of this chamber once I get stuff under control.

I tried to run J1 Hashplant after that and put a ton of work into her but that turned out really badly too because of the bugs. I already need cannabis for my psychological well being and all these setbacks is stress I do not need. Our money situation is really bad and we're basically not still homeless by getting very lucky to find a remote rural lot on contract. We moved in right as the pandemic was starting so all our plans went to hell on us. We also got hit with a really bad storm twice and keeping up with repairs and getting this grow going right has been a really big challenge. Seeing my trifoliate really start to put on some beautiful bud is really good at least. I think she still has 3-4 weeks left though to really fatten up, but we'll see.

 

[Klompen]

Update from day 48

 

[Klompen]

She is starting to swell a bit now finally. On day 53 as of lights out last night. I think its really too late to try to monkey with fixing the deficiencies that the mites caused, but some parts of the plant are actually unaffected so that's something.

I just feed the soil so it can be sort of hard to get them to uptake as much as I need under these intense lights. I think more calcium and magnesium next go around would be good.

The aroma of this plant is divine. Its hard to explain. I couldn't tell you exactly what it smells like. Its floral, fruity maybe, not skunky at all. I think most people who were smokers would recognize that smell as cannabis, but we'll see what its like as it grows more. The odor off it is clearly growing. Up to this point its barely had any odor emanating from it, but that is definitely changing. Going to have to get the filter going again soon here.

I would say I am seeing a few amber trichs already, but its hard to be certain with a pocket microscope and those red diodes in the QB96v2. Anyone have any guesses on how long they think this will have left? The breeder says 63 days, but I have literally never seen a plant finish as fast as breeders claim they will. Not once ever; not in my grow indoor or outdoor, or in any grows of any of my friends I have known over the years. Its gotta be rare at best anyway for them to finish on time. I'm guessing at least 2-3 more weeks but its hard to say since I have never finished this strain before.

Some closer shots of the buds, cat hair included:

 

[Klompen]

Day 55!! I know this run hasn't been perfect but things are going in a good direction. I have a good supply of clones vegging and in a couple months I should be able to keep this chamber full and hopefully one more just like it full too.

 

[Klompen]

Day 57 progress. Still plenty of new pistol growth. I watered last night with about 3/4 gallon of water that had a mix of molasses, blue agave nectar, and unfiltered honey in it. The good smells from the plant today seem to really suggest that was a good plan. Surprisingly the plant doesn't seem like the stems are full of water. I might give her more soon but better too little than too much on that. My mix has a lot of coir and perlite in the soil layer, and the very bottom of each bag has a good thick layer of vermiculite for the drinking roots and to catch mobile nutrients like sulfur and magnesium that precipitate out of the upper layers. Basically I have a mulch layer at top(which itself is kind of 3 layers), and then there's the fertile soil mix in the middle and then just pure verm at the very bottom. When I don't have hemp mites that approach works nicely. I just added pine bark mini nuggest that are broken up finer to my top layer of mulch and I love it! Mulching is an art.

Anyway here's all 4 square feet of Summer Breeze Trifoliate.

 

[Klompen]

Some updated shots from Day 62 of 12/12 (or day 48 if you don't count preflower). She's actually starting to swell finally! Exciting times!

 

[GMT]

I looked back but couldn't see it listed, that's a big old bag of dirt man, how much is in there?

 

[Klompen]

I did forget to mention that. The bags were made by my GF out of untreated landscaping fabric. They are just shy of 10 gallon capacity but probably have about 9ish in them right now. Its an organic semi-soil mix done in layers. The very bottom is pure vermiculite for about 2-3 inches, then my own personal mix of soil in the middle with a lower mulch layer and an upper mulch layer. When pests aren't all over them this method works well. I will put up a pic of Gooey 13 in one of these bags later so you see what I mean.

 

[Klompen]

I have some side lights I am intending to put int he veg chamber, but despite not having any I have still managed to get Gooey 13 to really fill this space out like a big old cube of weed. She will be the next one into flower and so she is vegging a bit in the big grey bag. So she went from a bag that was just under 3 gallons to a bag that is a hair under 10 gallons.

My current mix is approximately composed of the following: coir (maybe 30%), perlite (20%), peat(15%), EWC(15%), then the rest is a mix of Espoma and Jobes organic foods plus some cheaper brand composts along with expanded SiO2(dessicant crystals), zeolite pellets, vermiculite, gypsum, and probably a small amount of lime.

 

[Klompen]

Day 65 of 12/12. The buds are gaining weight enough that I have to use garden ties to keep some of the branches upright enough to avoid them touching the side lights. Bud swell seems to really be starting in earnest now!

Here's Gooey13 getting ready to go in after Summer Breeze is done

 

[Klompen]

The buds are getting noticeably fatter every day and the weight of them is starting to cause sagging. I have been tying it together strategically to keep it from flopping against the side lights but its challenging to find good places to tie to because there's just bud everywhere all over her.

See what I mean?