Repuk indoor (first ACE) run

[repuk]

Not sure if I understood Farmerlion, do you mean cheap pens?

What do you mean with capsules and small container?

I totally agree though re: bad meters...

I think you'd better use your best water straight (rain is usually PH neutral at 7) specially with soil than trusting a lousy meter, because you end up achieving the opposite of what you seek: watering with varying PH values instead of stable, steady PH.

Maybe not the optimal value, but at least steady... while you achieve none with a lousy pen, nor optimal values, nor steady ones.

 

[repuk]

Thanks Neiko!!!!!!

 

[dubi]

Hi repuk,

Nepal Jam is usually quite fast flowering, especially the newer generations i've been working with, which have been inbred towards a very early flowering (45-50 days) purple resinous pheno. Nepal Jam is nowadays heavily inbred and quite stabilized towards this hashplant purple resinous pheno so yields are moderate at best.
I have some other Nepal Jam lines with more jamaican sativa influence which yield better, but their flowering time is longer and the terpenes and resin production are not so good like in the early purple pheno i've been stabilizing.

Spider mites do affect yield, resin production and quality of terpenes and effects of the infected plants. A constant strong flow from the fan can also dehydrate too much the plant in flowering, producing an induced ripening and lowering down the yield. Be careful because if the infected plant is just beside the fan you are probably expanding the mites all over the indoor garden space.

I won't recommend you to use any product now at the end of flowering to fight against the mites, just make sure to clean everything properly (fans, tools, tent, pots, lamps, etc ...) before start a new cycle in the same indoor space.

Hope it helps.

 

[repuk]

Nep Jams, Kali China and Kristalicas Harvested

Nep Jams, Kali China and Kristalicas Harvested

Nep Jams
Both Nep Jams weren't doing it, #1 had mites, and #2 was stalled, so both got the ax, also the krystalica as it was ripe enough for my taste, wanted to chop them earlier this time.

Discovered the reason of Nep Jam #2 uneasiness... aphids! the plant was healthy, but full of aphids on her biggest fan leaves.

argh... on any case both have been harvested and are drying.

Nep Jam #2 has the sexiest stalks I've seen, really fat, nodes were huge due to supper cropping. The only thing I liked less on this pheno was the leaf ratio. In any case I'm afraid I haven't provided them the best cares missing the aphids… hope I tender them better next time, #2 speed and huge hairs kind of anticipated an impressive end which got ruined by aphids.

Lesson learnt: pests seem to be plenty here, get more paranoid regarding that.

All of their nugs but for a handful ones will go into cobs, if potency was harmed, I'll be using Dexso with those cobs to extract the cobs oil.

Scent on Nep Jams had changed, to a really noticeable peanut aroma.

Kali China
Kali China got the chop because of the ripeness, discovered some lone aphids on some of her fans, but didn't look as if they thrived on her at all.

Funny trait on the Kali China: fan leaves were oddly fingered (11 fingers):

All the fans at the top had this trait (about 8)

Nugs are hard to the point of feeling pointy! Both me and the people around at manicuring time couldn't help but sniff on her constantly.

I can't put names on her scents right now, but there's a new tone over the hash-fruitiness that reminds me of grilled food definitely.

If the smoke of this girl has no ceiling I see her being a staple on all my grows.

Krystalica control cuts
The Krystalica cut under the SIL had shorter internodes, and had stretched less than the one under the COB, and had nugs down to its very bottom.

Harvesting the COB one tomorrow.

New girls on the block
Panama and Malawi made their way (after a good dose of neem) to the flowering tent.

I will be getting all the girls out of the tent tomorrow for a under-the-leaves inspection, will wipe out any aphids manually with some potash soap.

 

[repuk]

Krystalica under COB

The krystalica cut under the COB has been chopped.

It was plenty of aphids on fan leaves and even some sugar ones... some sort of really tiny white bugs on the upper side of the leaves, looks like white, tiny ants... these cuts get really frosty up to the fan leaves, didn't notice until I brought her outside... argh!

Cleaned all the fan/sugar affected leaves.

Plant was 30% bigger than the one under the SILs, and noticeably frostier (HPS also reached her). Calyxes are bigger, more swollen, but fluffier, so cannot say regarding yield vs the other cut until I weight it.

Violeta - 4th week
Violeta is really fast, starting to show her Violet traits:

I fed a good Neem dose today to her and the new Malawi and Panama girls.

Malawi & Panama

Look of the tent, new round on the left; tent bottom: Malawi & Panama under SILs, front Violeta under the HML.

I think Thai-Chi is closer to finish. No new hairs on her, existing ones fading out... I'd say I got the Thai pheno?

Guawi smells and looks impressive... all white hairs still.

If it wasn't for the web site specs, I'd say Zamaldelica is the one that will finish next? Will take good pictures tomorrow.

 

[Kaskadian]

Looking lovely amigo! Love the 11 point leaf; really interesting! Great colour too.

 

[repuk]

9th -> 10th week update

9th -> 10th week update

Sooo... spider mites should have been the less of my worries, aphids all around... Zam seems to be their less preferred one, very small ones here and there, not sure if applying some potassic soap, or just let it be, I'd say no more white pistils flush, considering chopping it if worth?

Same cola I snapped always, the rest look fairly identical to this one.

Zamaldelica

Closer

100% Crop

Spotted them here and there on Thai Chi and Guawi.

Thai Chi seems is not shooting any pistils either.

wondering if an early chop is the best option. Right now I can manage this on violeta and Malawi/Panama as they're early in flower.

Next spring I'll be ultraparanoid on getting pests inside.

I'm also going to change from the eight waterings per day to a single, longer and slower one.

 

[repuk]

All Chopped... Update

All Chopped... Update

I took the Nep Jams, Kali China and the krystalica cut yesterday, were ready to trim from the branches and go to an oven bag, will be jarring them today.

Infestation
For those who face a similar situation (aphid or mite infestation in late flower):

Aphids moved out of the remaining sugar leaves/buds, first to the stems, to end up dying and falling off.

I hung the plants/branches inverted from a string to dry... found mites moved to the main stem cut at the top, or to the highest bud (lowest in the plant, near the stem base) as there's were moisture is kept while drying... they left a tiny web there...

So just discarded those shoots (one on each plant), inspected the rest and looked undeveloped, but fine.

I will consider this as nature's cut of the crop

Sadly, this means no cobbing as buds are too dry by this time.

Lesson learnt: don't get mad nor overthink it, chop and dry, if the infestation wasn't critical, and it's for your own use, nature will do it's job and the critters will leave...

My luck: all but Krystalica and Nep Jams to a lower degree, were aphid resistant, they didn't thrive in there, no molasses left and all fan leaves were discarded; same goes with the mites, they could only cover one small top in their web/eggs, so cut before there's no way back!


Grower's Early Prize

I vaped the scissors/finger hash... a blast with all of them mixed in.

I vape-tested and then smoke tested all of them (say a thorough job! ) got ultra white ash, and smooth smoke considering is still green... really happy with the salts regime.

Loved the effect, at one point after vaping the scissors/finger hash I couldn't prevent giggling and being jolly all around, tried keeping still but couldn't, that only made me to laugh harder... something I missed so much! I felt creative and only stopped doing things after sun went down...

Sampler "kit"

(I pick the smallest/airiest buds for testing)

Kali china is a blast but too much green taste yet, it's a waste (a crime I would say!) to test this early; Nep Jams taste and smell to (green) peanut butter / oily wood, but smoke is smoooooth.

 

[repuk]

Zam, Guawi & Thai-Chi chop

Zam, Guawi & Thai-Chi chop

Zamaldelica, Guawi & Thai-Chi
I chopped them today, didn't want to risk their crop, nor the Violeta, Malawi & Panama going in early flower.

The cola I'm holding is the tallest one, same I've been shooting.

Seem to be an aphid resistant strain, they didn't thrive that much, didn't saw much damage. And the red mites was possibly due to a circulation fan blasting on her too hard from too close.

I was actually surprised on the yield from her, didn't expect that much!

Trying to reveg her... gave her a thorough foliar bath with potassic soap/neem and left her outdoors.

it would be a blast running her a second time outdoors with Spain summer sun! Tips welcome!

 

[repuk]

Thai-Chi

Thai-Chi

Chopped at her 10th week beginning.

2nd best yielder (under HPS)

Strong stems, a blast to manicure.

Can't report on scents as once Guawi is near she overpowers everything else.

Guawi
indoors, hand (XL) for reference

Had to hold the colas, they were really heavy. Guess who was the yield winner... (haven't weighted anything yet)

She would have benefit from another week but didn't want to risk neither this crop nor the new plants on early flowering.

It felt like a plastic plant while defoliating her, so perfect! Incredible lateral branching, impressive yield too.

Scent is out of this world, it reeks to sweeeeet Mango/Apricot...

I decided to reveg her to run it a second time and keep a clone; so far I've found ACE fem lines to be pretty consistent pheno wise, but this one just rocks... if smoke is on par... I see this chick winning cups.

Left a couple lower shoots but kept her on the vegging tent as there's space only for a big pot plant, Zamaldelica won't fit... so she's outdoors.

 

[repuk]

Conclusions

Conclusions

Mistakes
I think I screwed in two areas: air circulation and fertigation frequency; I went overboard on both.

Fixes
I positioned the oscillating fan so that it doesn't blast the plants, and will fertigate once per day only.

I gave a thorough spraying bath with neem/potassic soap to the remaining Violeta (5th week), Panama and Malawi (1st week), and the tent walls/floor.

Tomorrow I will be taking everything out to do a thorough bleach spraying on all inner tent surfaces.

I think I became kind of a slacker when it came to preventive measures (neem feeds, etc)... it won't happen again, and I'll be closely watching the girls regularly.

Salts/Fertigation
I never went higher than EC1, 0.9 all the way, and flushed feeding plain water for two days on week 8th-9th. As can be seen on Guawi, Zamaldelica and Thai-Chi yields, no need at all to poison the girls with high ECs.

If a plant is thirstier, I just add more drippers to her.

Problem is having too diverse strains; will be manual feeding supplements to the hungrier ones next time (Kali China, etc)

Mother Nature
Out of honesty, I was kind of mad that my crop got kind of ruined, but looking at it with perspective now, I feel Nature has been fair...

Bugs left my buds so everything wasn't lost; but the icing of the cake was discovering 4 tomato plants that grew wild in my yard, already in flower!

Seems some seeds --from the tomatoes leftovers I fed the hens with-- made it, sooo... I'm thankful! Moreso, they're spotless, not a single bug on any of them, clearly a Mother Nature gift, already selected! not even nutgrass was able to choke them...

The biggest one, short shrub strain, 4 strong developed branches, already in flower (I just tied them and added compost and leonardite to their feet for a warm welcome):

 

[repuk]

Lightning comparison

Lightning comparison

SILs
Sadly the plants under SILs were the most affected by spider mites and aphids hindering their bud development, so it wouldn't be fair to do a comparison, specially checking how SILs are performing at the 100% SIL tent.

Kali China was the one yielding less... my fault. Cold temps, aphids, and should have fed her more in early flower.

Now I realize the leaf snowflake pattern/size wasn't exactly caused by SILs, but cold temps.

COB
Really happy with it, if a Zamaldelica thrived under it being a high light intensity demanding strain, I think I can grow anything under it...

HML
So far only Violeta has been flowered under it this time; It has barely stretched and looks healthy and more purple as each day passes...

HPS
After this run (and also seeing Kaskadian impressive Purple Haze x Honduras grow) it's obvious to me the key for success with an HPS is to use only on tents oversized for them...

I got horrible results with it on the small 80x80cm/2x2' tent (0.6gpw) but on this run on a tent four times bigger... results (Guawi & Thai-Chi) were more than four times better.

I moved the Violeta under it... was going to shut it off for summer but oddly we have cool temps still, so will leave her there for now, all grams count!

The krystalica cut grown under the HPS is still drying, it became bigger and by looks I'd say it yielded about 15% more than the one under the SILs, buds looked bigger too, but kind of "deflated" after drying this cut was the most affected by spider mites, and seem to be a magnet for them (suffered them also on previous run), so I'm letting her go.

Will do a smoke/photo comparison once both cuts are cured. SILs cut scent was great, pure strawberry cream candy...

 

[repuk]

Zamaldelica Cobbed

Zamaldelica Cobbed

Almost ready to begin... (have your strings ready)

Buds trimmed from the stalk

mmm... shoulda have four hands...

Second one is easier, stuff it in there!

All done...

Kept rest of buds for standard cure, enough for a fourth, maybe smaller, cob.

 

[repuk]

Zamaldelica Malawi Cobbing continued

Zamaldelica Malawi Cobbing continued

The three beautifully vacced...

AppleTV remote for size comparison... just to find out I made them too big for the yoghourt maker...
So went with a different setup:

- Big pan, with thick diffusor bottom, half filled with water
- On top of it a second pan with water too, containing the cobs
- Electric stove at minimum

BEWARE
I monitored it for an hour, just to come back at two hours to find temp had risen to 60C at least, so turned the stove off, and left it to sweat with the remaining heat.

So if you go this route, do a test first!

argh... just noticed I forgot to put a canary bud...

 

[repuk]

Zamaldelica Cobbing: Sweat log

Zamaldelica Cobbing: Sweat log

As I used the pan setup, sweating has been different this time; I raised the water on the lower pan up to about 60C, then switched off the stove, leaving the remaining heat for 4 hours.

Did so three times, so 3 cycles of 60C then remaining heat for 4 hours, 12 hours total.

I opened the bag this morning, was moist but not dripping wet; wiped them with a cloth then resealed and put it behind a TV to ferment.

Didn't want to open the cobs, just peeked inside one, everything was mostly "damp" green inside.

 

[repuk]

Unsealed cobs today to check moisture... this time I'm getting an additional note to the sickly sweet smell, due to fresh corn husks I guess... like brined olives.

 

[repuk]

Zamaldelica Cobs
Unsealed them today again, some gassing inside.

Nice, more pronounced fresh brined olives smell this time.

Resealed in new vacuum bag. Will be drying tomorrow to finish the fermentation stage (7 days will had passed) then reseal to cure/age.

Really busy lately, managed to dry and jar or put into oven bags all the tent.

Busy testing also

So far:

Nepal Jam
The yield was severely affected by aphids, didn't jar them yet but guess a 2L jar between both.

The bigger Nep resinated a lot.
Aroma: Green Peanuts.
Effect: Green (unfocused) yet. Mood enhancer, giggles.
Smooth, a joy to smoke.

Thai-Chi
Really good yield, filled two large (2L) jars. Buds almost didn't lost any volume after drying.
Aroma: Pure Ginger, up to the soapy-perfume smell.
Smooth smoke.
Effect: without any cure it can be felt out packs potency. Feel-good, dreamy, little else now.
Smooth smoke.

Guawi
Impressive Yield. Filled 2L mason jars of pretty homogeneous size (golf ball once dried) and density nugs, hard as rocks.
Aroma: Out of this world crazy-gummy-apricot.
Effect: Too green yet, potency can be perceived instantly.
Smoke: harsh... (not cured)

Tent
Sadly Violeta lost all her nice purple after spraying her (and Panama & Malawi) with potassic soap to keep aphids/white flies in check.

Panama and Malawi are stretching nicely.

Girls in reveg
Up-potted both Guawi and Zamaldelica to bigger, around 30L pots, with a mix of 70% peat, 20% coco and %10 homemade vermicompost, hoping to provide a smooth coco -> soil transition, both are outdoors with 15+ daylight hours per day.

Guawi didn't like the reveg... her remaining nugs dried... but I still see some green, hope is not lost...

Zamadelica on the other hand has lots of tiny nugs I left... most are still green, plant development seems "freezed".

Krystallyca cuts: SIL vs HPS
I think these cuts may have been the source of the red mites and aphid infestation... both were the most affected plants, which in my honest opinion renders the experiment inconclusive.
The one under the SILs was the most affected by spider mites, yield I guess around 70gram. it shared the 210W SIL with the Kali China.
The one under the HPS is the only plant were aphids couldn't leave, so plenty of aphids on her nugs... so resinous they got trapped in trichs. Yield: 150gram.

Thinking on running some dexso through them and try making some regular e-cig vaping liquid (propylene glycol base) with the oil.

 

[farmerlion]

Aphids suck! I had to cull an entire crop except 2 or 3 plants a few years back. It about broke my heart after investing so much emotionally in them.
It was a great lesson to learn. I put ladybugs in the greenhouse if I think I need them or not. I know this season I had several comparisons going on. I have done a poor job at all of them, instead of staying simple and focused.

If growing becomes to busy it loses some of it's joy, for me anyway. Life is to short not to enjoy something so beautiful as growing cannabis.
May your next grow be lights out beautiful for you my friend. Peace

 

[repuk]

Thanks for the support farmerlion!

Luckily the other (100% SILs) tent crop was spotless this time and aphids while having an impact on this crop, didn't ruin it entirely.

Panama and Malawi seem to be thriving, Violeta felt the aphids and treatments but seem to be fattening fine now.

Will post pics.

 

[dubi]

Hi repuk,

Guess is still too early for the smoking tests, sounds like the terpenes are still too 'green' and harsh and the effects and potencies not fully developed yet.

But there's nothing better to have several jars of new strains to experience during the summer time Hope you are enjoying there!