Stoner's Spring '06

[Captain Skunk]

This will be my first attempt at spring flowering. I had planned on 6 weeks veg time, then flower them. I'm a couple weeks ahead of you weather wise so, I may be able to use the big light outdoors before you.

The number of females, will determine how many will be allowed to continue flowering.

I want to make sure enough clones go out into the bush to offset any natural losses I may encounter, it's a long unpredictable summer.

Keeping my fingers crossed for the TW pheno aswell.

 

[clear and blue]

headstart..YAAYYY!

headstart..YAAYYY!



about a week ago i found this growing in an old plant pot that only had weeds growing in it. still a complete mystery because i didnt plant it, never grown in this pot, and noone in my family admit to it - i thought they may have chucked a seed in to boost my morale..but no

anyway the pot it was in was full of crap, heavy soil that was completely saturated and showed no signs of ever drying out. dig it out of it's clay mire today, removed as much clay as i could and transplanted to a smaller pot with turkish compost.

when i found it it was obviously not in very good shape (soil being so dense and full of water) and it was getting rained on every night. i started by bringing it into a little shelter (with plastic shutter i can roll down when a storm comes) and it already started to look a lot healthier but showed no growth. in a smaller pot with better soil it should dry out much quicker and i should be able to see some decent root growth finally.

i have seeds germinating in another house but this really did put a smile on my face. nice to find a young 4 node old plant when your still waiting for seeds to pop! still dont know how it came to be though..

wondering if anyone has had any experience with cloning in soil and no rooting hormones? its a bit different when you dont have clonex, rockwool cubes and a heated propagator. maybe a bit of honey would help in place of rooting gel??

 

[Stoner133]

What a nice surprize CB, no doubt that is a Cannabis seedling.

I tried several methods before settling on jiffy plugs, including one attempt to clone in real soil. I can be done, but your working blind until you see new growth. I really appreciate seeing the new roots as a measure of success.

The rooting gel is not required, but if used, it will speed up the process and produce a higher percentage of successful rooting. Forget the honey.

What does count is moisture control. The ideal environment over the first week is minimum moisture loss through the leaves. During the first week, the cutting has very limited ability to absorb water. A high humidity, medium temperature works best. The goal is to keep the leaves from wilting by covering the plants to raise the humidity to saturation levels. You should be seeing condensation collecting in your rooting chamber.

During the second week, the base of the stem has thickened and become rough. That allows the cutting to absorb a lot more water and the cutting becomes wilt resistant. The cover can be removed for extended periods, but I still like to cover them for the night.

During the third week, primordial roots will appear. The cutting can be transplanted into a small planter with quality potting soil. Covering is no longer needed, but keep a spray bottle of water at hand, they enjoy their morning and evening misting.

Shortly after that, you can expect to see new growth, your on your way.

Spring flowering is a great way to deal with excess females.

I have one LUI ear marked for early flowering. This the the predominantly female plant that grew a single anther. I broke it off and am watching to see what develops. It will go into natural light in early March. If it continues to show maleness, I can cull it before the rest of the plants join in April.

Captain Skunk has 10 degrees of latitude on me. That means much warmer weather starting earlier in the season. Much better conditions then I have to work with at that time of the year.

Speaking of excess females, there is another Derailed Blues sprouted this morning. 80% and still counting.

 

[clear and blue]

thanks for the help again stoner. going so primitive and natural seems a bit daunting, especially as losing a cutting is unheard of with the proper equipment. i have a while until ill need to take any so i may be able to source some jiffy cubes and trays at least.. (fingers crossed - maybe peat pellets would be better for me not having a pH probe or E.C meter here).

if the seedling shown turns out to be female ill look to cut her back to keep her low and to provide some fems for summer. spring harvest is a completely new concept to me so ill have to see how long i can leave it before chopping back. good thing is its warm enough here to have them outside right now (but were still getting storms).

"Spring flowering is a great way to deal with excess females"

BRING IT ON! i say. summer is a good time to have stash at hand and im hoping to be able to take atleast a few clones from this and the other seedlings.

thanks again for the cutting advice. ill probably use slightly larger than usual cuttings if i have to resort to soil but ill stay positive.

looks like the gauntlets down now. and your going outside in march?? look forward to seeing you both work your magic in this race to May. my little plant that could is already outside and more will follow in a couple of weeks. be able to see how experience matches up to lower lattitude..exciting

 

[Stoner133]

I just love my TrueAir odor eliminator. This is how they are drying, not a trace of odor.


The seedling and vegging gardens.





@CB, by all means, feel free to join in on Spring flowering, looks like that plant is on the way.

The first season I tried it, the plants began to recover in mid May. That sets my deadline for natural flowering in early May, the plants need time to respond. Your lower latitude means you can delay a little longer, about 10 days for 40N.

 

[R00KIE]

Heh... Must be nice that your True Air works... :wink: My place stinks... LOL
I got a pretty big ass plant in flower and a whole lot of cuts..
Theres gonna be plenty of excess females to throw out this spring...
Good to see everything is working out so far Stoner...
Good to see you too Capt... I still weep, when i think about that UC in the BY. That chick was HUGE!
Well off to tend to the babies...
Demanding women, I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, i'm rootbound. When will the madness end.... :wink:

 

[Guyute54]

Can't wait to see what you get from this spring harvest. So how did all the seeds turn out. were they all pretty much mature when you harvested? And also do you ever have to bring these spring plants inside at all or does the greenhouse keep them warm enough?

 

[Stoner133]

Can't wait to see what you get from this spring harvest. So how did all the seeds turn out. were they all pretty much mature when you harvested? And also do you ever have to bring these spring plants inside at all or does the greenhouse keep them warm enough?

Thanks guys, I appreciate the comments. Excess females....

The buds are drying slowly so I have not seen the seeds, yet. I expect better then 80% to be fully mature, only those fertilized two weeks after the males were removed, will have had less then 28 days to mature.

In my climate, serious cold is still a factor well into May. Cannabis can take a some cold, but will be seriously set back if it freezes. My backup plan is a heated shed that I can move the plants into if the forecast is freezing nights. Not much for light in there, so they will come back outdoors when the Sun comes out.

 

[Guest]

Here is some good outoor...

Here is some good outoor...

 

[Peregrin Took]

Your quite the busy gardner Stoner!

Im attempting a spring harvest for the first time this year. Have 12 UC cuts rooted right now, gonna upgrade my rubbermaid a bit and switch to 12/12 this week, keep em inside for 2 more weeks till around march 5th, will then pick my 6 heartiest, and out they go. Hope be able to give em 60 days of flower time and harvest around cinco demayo...

Then in goes 6 more for fall harvest.

Well, atleast thats the plan. In my simple mind.

 

[Stoner133]

Sounds good, among the advantages of flowering in the Spring, the weather improves as the plants mature. They finish in the better weather of early May.

When we look at the Suns position in the sky and the day-length that follows, we see the Sun on March 1, in the same position as October 15. No doubt flowering is in progress, the nights are longer then the days.

By April 1 the Sun is in the same position as Sept 15. One week after the equinox and all strains will continue flowering.

On May 1 the Suns position is complimentary to August 15. Most temperate adapted strains will just begin to flower and flowering plants will be nearing harvest.

The challenge is getting in some vegetative growth before flowering is initiated. Hopefully your clones will have a few weeks of growth by that time, without overgrowing the inside space available. A fine balancing act, but one that produces some impressive results.

Great way to deal with surplus females.

 

[Peregrin Took]

ahhh surplus females. The story of my life

 

[clear and blue]

maybe you dont need to switch to 12/12 so soon peregrin.. i mean if they are going outside at beggining march.you are a lower lattitude to stoner so weather isnt as much of an issue and you have a week or so extra flowering time too. or are you switching to 12/12 to kickstart flowering?

it will be interesting to see how things pan out when maturation will slow down towards the end as opposed to starting slow and getting quicker..also wonder how things are going to go here with no artificial lights to keep them in a veg cycle till im ready. maybe just start flowering as soon as they hit maturity.

im thinking i may be forced into setting up a makeshift veg area/propagation with a fluoro or something.

 

[Stoner133]

LUI f2, my Valentine collection.




Of course, that means the long awaited toke test has taken place.

My first impression is very favorable, taste will come as it cures, but it smokes very smoothly and has a great punch. The first joint was a fattie, 500mg or better. Lets find out what this stuff is made of...

Trippy and grinning go together nicely.

It's been a very pleasant day, I am pleased.

After de-seeding is complete, I would estimate 5-10g smokeable and a couple hundred seeds.

 

[Guest]

Stoner133: Looking good. Summer is coming, but it seems slow. Be safe.

 

[pipeline]

Well the day finally came. Looks like the good majority of them are mature seeds. Now you're really ready for spring.

 

[PureSativa420]

looking good stoner and grats on harvest of the LUI

was wonder how far along your spring plants are in veg

Here 2 pics of my north #1 after fighting with nute def and some training

 

[Captain Skunk]

PS, judging by the new growth at the top, it looks like it's doing fine. Have you considered repotting with some perlite mixed in to loosen the soil?

Give her roots a little breathing room, and I'll bet it perks up quite a bit.

If there isn't a DB thread, I'm going to start one

good luck

 

[Stoner133]

Smoke report, part two.

It's a long lasting high, easy to buzz along all day.

After sorting, about 25% are rejects because they are immature. Another week would not have been too much.

 

[PureSativa420]

its not the soil i kno for a fat as ive grown in it numerous times, its more like the dam temps where they stay go up and down and slow the growth of the plant but seems it likes to be tied down and topped so far

but i put a small heater in the room to makes the temps rise and then it started to show heat stress so i took it out and then let them sit in nutes and then it was nute def one problem after another, oh well what i get for growing in a basement when its 30 to 50 degrees outside


sorry that 25% of your seeds are immature Stoner but wouldnt the plant start to degrade if it went longer or the fact that its seeded will keep it from degrading? never quite understood the point of where it would start to degrade, maybe you or someone else could explain that to me