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LoKey

Member
a staggered start might be beneficial as it will get me in a perpetual cycle (2week) sooner
 

LoKey

Member
well with the veg area being as small as it is, i can only fit so many, even after i did some rearranging, and killing two weakling clones.

Sooo probably come Monday ill switch to 12/12 on 9 seedlings and 3 clones, already picked them all out as their are some definite slow pokes in the group, so then in two weeks from monday , i should have some of the males culled that im expecting to pop up, but will add all of the other seedlings then (just wildly guessing here but im gonna say (9 girls and 6 boys overall out of all the 15 seedlings left)

whats your guess ? (all for fun, no seriousness of course :jump:)

but after they decided what they want to be, i will try somehow to fill it into a even perpetual cycle where im putting in a row every two weeks so either with the original plan of 2liter bottles (10 max,at 2 every 2 weeks), or some smaller 1 liter bottles (18 max, doing 3 every two weeks, while leaving me with a 3 spot buffer zone, which i could fill with new seedling, or extra clones when i want), but that will leave me with a 70day window for flowering out any girl.


but we will see
 

qball0247

Member
hopefully more girls than dudes, i mean that's usually just a general rule i keep for my life.. I'd say flower those out all the way, keep track of their stretch and finished flowering duration so you can pick the all-star cast and turn them into grown mommas. Then its easy as, taking the cuttings, rooting, putting the clones in the flower box... could say perpetual from there
 

LoKey

Member
Another week, and another photo, they are doing quite well at the moment and will be going into flower today


picture.php
 

LoKey

Member
so ended up throwing them all (clones and seedlings) into flower, other than my one runt seedling that started with no cotyledons, but their heights range from 5.5" to around 3" with between 5-9 nodes.

Some i dont think are ready to be flowered, but the slackers are growing and stretching in a characteristic male pattern from what i have seen in the past, so im just gonna flower them so they can be culled sooner, and if by chance some are females, then we will see if they are worthy later on

also turns out all the cuttings i took last week have rooted (5-10 roots each) so i transplanted them into the little 2.5" starter pots, and also took two more cuttings off the safari mix B mother.

What im noticing so far, is the safari mix A mother seems like she wants to be a scrogging queen, cause every axial on every cutting ive taken sends out shoots, where as the safari mix B mothers cuttings have all been growing like a sog single bud plant, so we will see if what i think they are doing is correct, but ill still wait till this run is done and some samples tested to see what to keep.

As for the mandala #1 mothers, they are still showing signs that they are still revegging (single and double blade leaves) but are going alot better now, so probably in a week or two they should be ready for some cuttings, and i will get to see how fast they root compared to the safari mix's


also ive been lightly trimming off fan leaf's, but only on the nodes where the axial shoot is at a decent size, and where the canopy above them is pretty dense, so i guess kinda similar to the whole defoliation technique, but i wait till the axle shoots are a decent starting size, pretty much the same size as depicted in Tick's sog box tutorials that were carried over from OG.

Hopefully this will allow the plants to grow a bit better and denser, instead of stretching like mad to try and out pace their neighbor to get more light, but i will probably do very minimal to no trimming in the first couple weeks of flower, as there is no point in stressing them when they are going to be growing as much as they can.
 

qball0247

Member
If you could post a link to Tick's thread that would be much appreciated. I think i remember reading it a while back, but ive read so many grow logs on here blazing i somehow tend to forget (?) also just figured out the user menu so ive been subscribing to tons

I have been reading recently into the defoliation techniques. It seems to be beneficial in small spaces. Ive noticed though that most defoliation threads are done with plants that the cultivator has grown more than once and knows the plants "dialed in" point, as dr. bud would say. The only leaves that i pluck off new seedlings or clones are the yellow tipped bottom stragglers. Im just always apprehensive about putting the plant under too much stress its first go around because i want to know how the plant will grow naturally, undisturbed, uninterupted... of course plenty of experiments will ensue shortly there after. Im trying it now and comparing side by side on 2nd generation clones.. Why you always gotta have a momma.

I love the ScrOG technique because its always so rewarding after putting hours of time weaving those stems in and out of that screen. Then to watch all the bud sites turn up towards the light when you switch to flower. Some times we bet to see which lollipop will weigh the most. Winner gets to roll as much of that nug into a blunt as he can fit.

Glad to see everything looking nice a green. Diggin the fat backed, stubby leaves. Beautiful genetics.

Q
 

LoKey

Member
i totally understand not wanting to stress the plants from the get go, but they definitely aren't stressing fortunately (last round that was a different story), cause they are now starting to throw new sets of nodes quick, some plants have already thrown on 2-3 nodes and 1.5" of height since pretty much there first full 12/12 day which was yesterday i think i might be in for a ride :plant grow:

But yes the defoliation thing does seem to be done on plants that people know how they will react, also i find that plants from seed vs plants from clone do definitely grow different, probably mainly has to do with age in a micro environment, cause we aren't really able to let a seedling mature enough due to space limitations, so they are typically always rushed.


as for the tick's stuff, the construction of his box is in pontiac's DIY thread

but here are re-posts of his veg and flower cycles and what he does, not alot of explanation but more than enough when looking at the pictures, but i think it can definitely be improved upon in a micro environment, cause we can focus more on individual plants

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=32013

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=32017

not that it was asked but for the cloning i tried various methods which most all failed (as freezerboy would say) its definitely "voodoo", but the cloning method used by OG member oldtimer1 in his bonsai mom tutorial has worked awesome for me, not to mention, its the smallest, most compact and energy efficient method that i have found so far, but a humidity dome (plastic bag) was definitely key to my success compared to all my previous varied attempts, but this cloning method is explained around post 3

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=31919



side note, i personally don't want to be running anywhere near this many plants, but it will be reduced and more manageable once the males show themselves, still some testing will need to be done, but i think the 2litter bottles as containers might be a little to big for this environment, but im liking the 1 liter bottles, as it seems to be a good compromise between the smaller bottles and the 2 liters, and if i wanted to im able to fit 18 in the flower chamber.

Would it be beneficial compared to running a few less (12-15total), probably not, as so far that's the one thing that doesn't really work in the drbud method (for me), is that having the plants really crowded causes them to fight for light and space if left un-attended, which would definitely cause diminished returns, but its something i will definitely refine more, and see if they can be crowded (think the staggered start is key).


Other than all that i might do some mid week photos over the next two or so weeks, as its nice to see the growth, as this is more or less a journal for myself that i allow everyone to look at, its a good way for me to read back on what i did that went good or bad.
 

LoKey

Member
well looking forward to when the males pop up cause then ill have some room, right now its pretty crowded and getting more crowded every day (and i could fit in another two rows :crazy: ).

So far only three have preflowers, but are too early to tell gender in my opinion. Also culled one runt the other day, so right now in the flower chamber we have 13 seedlings and 5 clones, for a total of 18 plants which are averaging around 5-6" and increasing in size by about 3/4" a day, the one SM B clone is at 8" already but has pretty good structure.

As for the clones, im really liking the growth structure of the Safari Mix B's, as the A's look like there just gonna become a squat bush, so on the next round of clones, if they grow the same way, ill probably cull the SM A mother and just run through the clones, if i deem it worth while or dont have any mandala #1 clones to run through.

Apart from that nothing much else has happened, oh i did swap my flower chamber circulation fan for a quieter one, and tried a small circulation fan (random fan i had kicking around) for the veg chamber but deemed it to loud, so im either gonna pick up a little (60mm or so) quite fan, or i might just stick in my spare 92mm if i think it wont take up too much room

picture.php
 

LoKey

Member
Well guess this would be considered 1st week of 12/12.

Did a couple things, first 4 males and 1 female showed up, so culled 3 of the males, and the forth (which was growing really well) i chopped back and put in a smaller container and threw it back into veg, whether or not i use him to make seeds in the future is anyone's guess, but im not ready to kill him completely just yet.

So that leaves us with 8 unconfirmed 1 female, and 5 clones. So its definitely not as crowded as it use to be, but i still think staggered starts will be key for good growth structure and yields.

also changed the bulbs, had more of a blue sided spectrum in the flower chamber, but its gonna stay how i have it now as i don't think ill be vegging in the flower chamber again, or any time soon.

Still need to get a small fan into the veg chamber, but need to get a quite one, if i was to rebuild the cab, i would probably run a separate veg chamber only exhaust fan, and only run one fan for the flower chamber, but still have a glass/lexan heat shield.


Oh also lowered them to the floor of the cab, they we raised up about 4 inch's so if they look small/lower compared tot he other pictures that is why

picture.php
 

LoKey

Member
Looking great man.. :D


thanks, Ive been following your latest grow from the shadows :respect:


side note for myself: seeings how this is a journal for mainly myself, and anyone who want to view it.

But ended up taking 8 cuttings today (4 each from SMa and SMb), and am trying a slightly different method for the cuttings (couple more nodes plus clipping the fan leaves to focus more on root development and trying to grow, plus less water loss), i will be trying same method just larger cutting in 2 weeks if these work out decently, and maybe run a side by side of clipped vs non clipped to see if it helps my cloning.

Also re-potted some of the clones in the flower chamber to the bigger 1liter bottles, so they might lag for a couple days till the roots take hold again, and culled more or less all the clones from the last batch as they weren't doing so well, (had plenty of roots, but seemed like they sacrificed there top foliage which result in them being stunted, not to mention they weren't the best cuttings to begin with).

also its looking like there still might be 1-2 boys in the group, but a bunch of females have showed.
 

LoKey

Member
well im gonna give an update today, but probably wont update again till next monday.

Anyways, they kinda all got their stretch on like mad, most are around 10" one is about 2" from the plexi, i think the main cause is letting them get too dense/packed so once again they tried leaping over each other to get above there siblings, so i need to be a bit more aggressive earlier on with this setup, currently im trying something differnt on one seedling i just threw into flower.

The clones on the other hand are doing better, and some are growing how i want them too which is awesome, so i expect them to do well. The SM B's are still doing the best as far as structure goes, the SM A's on the other hand seem like they want to grow more shoots than nodes, cause as soon as they make the starting of a new node, the shoot takes off like a gun shot in the opposite direction to start a new node, but the new axial growth is so small it just looks like stem zigzagging its way up.

So ill see if its the same case with the clones/cuttings i have in veg, if they do the same thing and the current clones aren't throwing on some decent weight, then ill turf the lot of them alongside the mother.

Also started some new seeds as well.

Oh and ended up with 7 females out of the 13seedlings, but i culled one female as its growth structure was crap (skinny and stretchy) as i like my ladies with a bit of meat on them lol. But im still waiting on 2 two show there sex, one i just threw into flower, and the other one i should know in a couple days, so the number could be a bit higher.

picture.php
 

LoKey

Member
gonna wait till Monday for the update even if its gonna seem like a week and half just didn't happen :abduct: (ill explain later)


Anyways her is a Question for you all.


My clones are rooting and quite furiously (rooted in 7 days), But here is the thing, recently (well with this cab) the top/new foliage is quite pale/yellow and kinda crinkley, almost like there is no chlorophyll there, what happens after this is usually they kinda just grow roots quite well but the top doesn't really start growing, till weeks later (like putting on good growth), it just sorta lags.

mind you im not complaining because ive been having really good success with this method compared to all the others i have done, but i know it can be better soooo what do you think ?

Too Much Light ? here is a picture

picture.php
 

LoKey

Member
Well Sunday is good enough for me for an update.

So when looking at the pics just pretend the last week and a bit didn't happen, and then all will be good ;)

What was happening was because i didn't get on removing fan leaves from the seedlings and training them a bit more during the first week and a bit of flower they did the whole i want to be bigger than my sister deal, and fought for space, so darn near all of them started stretching like mad, two were at the lights, so had to supercrop them to get them back to a manageable height.

And i needed to stall them hard to prevent them from stretching any more, so i got more carried away than i should and made them look like poles, which i knew would stall them for a good week.

Will it affect the yield ? most definitely so, but it needed to be done, well at least in my mind. I also got rid of two of the cuttings, as one they weren't gonna produce that much being as small as they were (bad start heights), and second im gonna need the space shortly with a new batch of cuttings and seedlings on the way.

So here are some pics of the veg and flower chambers, we have 9 new seedlings (3 each of 3 different crosses) the new batch of cuttings (7 of them but 1 im pretty sure im gonna toss if it doesn't pic up over the next week), and the thin looking mothers, the one mandala #1 mother is still going through a slight nute burn situation, from the base soil and not having enough foliage (the mandala strains really are low nute users)

picture.php


picture.php
 

LoKey

Member
well at a dilemma right now :chin:

Just of it is i have too many plants, needed to transplant the seedlings to bigger containers as well as the clones but seeings how the veg chamber was already packed that means there definitely isnt enough room now.

So something either has to die or get bumped to flower (apart from building a small secondary over flow cab which i dont want to do.......yet)


So its either throw the seedlings into flower, and cull the weak ones that show, which will leave room for the clones in about a week or two, even though the yields wont be as good as i wont have as much veg time on them.

Or throw the clones into flower, but i know they aren't at there "sweet spot" yet, which will cause them to have a lesser yield, not to mention i would probably have to stagger the seedlings flowering start time (which i have no problem with), but it would be so i could weed out the males and weaklings and have enough room at teh same time.





So what do you think ?

Throw the seedling into flower, or the clones, both have there disadvantages.



Side note: the other girls are starting to throw on alot of hairs, so its looking promising, also the one M#1 mother is still struggling, so i transplanted her into some fresh soil. Also changed my soil mix slightly, added some more peat and coco to fluff it up, and balanced it out nutrient wise and sifted everything through a 1/4" screen(the old lcmix had been sitting for some time, and decomposed most of the coco in the mix, and was quite grainy)
 

LoKey

Member
well that's the thing, the clones i know for a fact wont do that good, as their sweet spot is 5"-6" and they're at 2" right now, and some of the clones come from a mother that seems to exhibit excessive branching, which is not good in my grow style, but i want to give them a really fair chance this round to see if the mother is worth keeping, and to see if the branching was due to them still sorta being half in reveg mode, cause if not then she gets the boot, and i put her through flower and that's the end of her and her clones.

as for the seedling's, they will probably still grow for another week, to a week and half before they decided to start to actually try and flower, as that is kinda common in 12/12 grows or when seedlings are thrown to flower right away, there is gonna be that extra lag time, they just wont do as well in my mind as if they had more veg time.

But if a couple of them show promise, ill be revegging and sending their clones through flower down the road, as im in the hunt for good mother plants. (still have about 230 odd seeds, so im not to concerned about trying to keep every plant grown from seed, like what you would do if you were buying a expensive strain)


So im going to put the seedlings into flower, and then in possibly a week, ill be able to put two clones in the cab at minimum (has two spots left) and more if i cull some weak/mutant seedlings
 
Have you considered elevating your pots up in order to get your smaller ones closers to the light? I mean supercropping is a great way to go, but since my lights are static in my micro I just stack stuff underneath my pots and lower it the larger the plant gets.
 

LoKey

Member
Have you considered elevating your pots up in order to get your smaller ones closers to the light? I mean supercropping is a great way to go, but since my lights are static in my micro I just stack stuff underneath my pots and lower it the larger the plant gets.

if you look at my past posts, that what i have done, but supercropping, aka bending over the top, i only do if the plant grows too tall and starts hitting the lexan.

Also the objective for me is to have them stretch to the light and filling in that space with bud, but if you raise them up to the light, they wont stretch as much (more concentrated light source)which is a bonus, but at the same time once you put them back on the floor they are further away from the lights.

As the plants will grow to their surrounding environment, so if its getting all this intense light and then you take it away by lowering it, its gonna stretch like mad to get that much light again.

its kinda a toss up to either way you go. Get more compact growth, but not as tall (not as good for light to the lower sections), or let it stretch a bit but allowing more access to light over all. That perfect balance is very hard to find
 

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