Winter Indicas, some STS and a few testers

[albertgriffiths]

Hi there!
I'm starting my first grow diary with a bit of anticipation, as a means for me to keep track of everything.

General goals of this session:

1. Refilling my pots with my favorite indicas
2. Making a fem F2 of the Space Monkey I hunted last session
3. Growing a few testers of a cross I made last summer: Pe4xNJ
4. (side projects: lots of ideas, we'll see what fits in the 4x4!)

Material:
4x4ft (1.2x1.2m) flowering tent
315W CMH Lumatek Aurora light
Soil - Biobizz light mix
+ Biobizz liquid nutrients essentially

Strains:

• Pineapple Express #2, bred by G13 labs, selection n°4. I'll be refering to this one as Pe4. This is a reworked skunk with a nice lemony/earthy aroma and relatively balanced effects with an indica dominance. "Sandy" resin that makes a good hash.
• Skywalker Kush, bred by Reserva Privada/DNA (Skywalker OG x OG kush). Another keeper cut from a previous hunt. Very resinous, sticky, with a chemical/bleach/dead animal smell. Super flavourful, despite the description! Nice Indica buzz, quite strong.
• Space Monkey, bred by Bodhi Seeds (GG4xWookie). The one that impressed me the most out of my last pheno hunt run. I'm still undicided about which cut is the best. No 6 seems absolutely superior, the stinkiest plant I have ever grown and a great smoke, but I'm waiting a bit to see how she cures, and to judge her "shelf life". No 4 and No 7 seem to be close behind, and No 8 is the most Wookie-leaning, with interesting aromas of wine, cork and lavender. I think I'll grow no 6 for flower, and reverse it to pollinate the 3 other. But that still has to be confirmed through intense smoke-testing.
• Pe4 x Nepal Jam, my own cross, using my selected Pe4 and two Nepal Jam males. Never tried it, but I did grow the Super Skunk x Nepal Jam seeds I had made with the same males, and was positively surprised: good structure, good effects, and an original peppery taste I'm not used to! I'm hoping for 3 females, to have a honest representation of what might be in there.

(there might as well be a Super Skunk, a La Bomba an/or a Thai Chi, but I'm not decided on it yet)

As a teaser, here is a Space Monkey No7 bud from last run (F+75 probably)

 

[albertgriffiths]

First Update - We "mite" have won the battle, but the war continues

I have been battling a spider mite invasion at the end of last run.
It has been bad, and my mothers are slowly recovering from it.

Although in their case, I don't know if the bigger threat to their well-being are the actual mites, or all the sprays and showers I've been hitting them with!

I'm still a bit reluctant to using Spinosad or any other insecticide, so I'm treating them with:
- my homemade "nuke em" (Citric acid + water) (spray)
- diluted alcool + essential oils (spray)
- diatomaceous earth (on the soil, after watering)
- one "leaf shower" per week to try getting rid of the remaining eggs and dead mites (taking them in the shower, and going quite hard on it - tropical storm style)

I'm spraying about once every two days. I'm still seeing a few eggs (don't know if they're "alive"), but haven't seen a living adult in a while.

I've just fed them with 2ml/L Bio Grow, pushed the mars Hydro LED to 150W (max), and switched from 16/8 to 18/6.
I was keeping them small so as to make the fight easy, now I want them to grow bigger and give me some clones!

I've also put 7 Pineapple x Nepal Jam seeds to germinate.

Don't hesitate if you have any question, comment, or advice regarding killing spider mites!

 

[albertgriffiths]

Thought I'd post a few graft photos I have.

Here are some freshly healed succesful graft:

And here is my oldest grafted mother. Pe4 on one side, Super Skunk on the other:

(the rootstock was a Zamaldelica x Kali China from a previous hunt, that I didn't end up keeping)

I've been using grafting mainly for keeping "backup moms". The idea was to have 1 bonsai mom of each sort, and a few super-grafted bonsais, so I always have at least 2 living plants for every pheno I'm keeping.

Ultimately, I've been worried it might actually be a bad idea regarding virus/pests potentially spreading quicker...
I would be curious to know what you think of it!

Anyway, I have a few ideas on how to improve my technique, and I'll be trying some new grafts by next week. The goal would be to have a "super Space Monkey mom" grafted with the 4 phenos I want to include in the F2 pollination, so as to save on space and make future waterings easier.
I'm planing on using the bonsai of the pheno I'm not keeping as the rootstock.

Have a good weekend, don't hesitate to comment on anything!

 

[albertgriffiths]

Update!

Plants have been moved to the big 4x4, under the 315W CMH at 50% intensity, 20/4 hours (as an easy way to keep temperatures around 20°C without using the heater too much)

Seedlings are seedling
Clones are cloning
Grafts are grafting

And no sign of spider mites nor eggs. I'm continuing my spray routine, taking advantage of the plants being small, but going a bit lighter in frequency/dosages.

A lovely lottery ticket (finally decided to sprout one):

Trying to prepare a super-grafted-mother for my Space Monkey F2 project.
The moms being so small, the size and shape of the branches was far from optimal for grafting, but I gave it a try. We'll see.
If it works, this plant will have 1 branch of each of the 4 keeper female phenos. Cool.
If it does not work, I'll go with clones. Easy.

I changed my technique a bit: I added a bit of micropore wrap to keep the graft well tight. Hopefully it will not promote mold.
For grafting trees, I always use rubber band, which has the benefit of degrading itself to sunlight after about one year. But it's not adapted to such small grafts on soft tissues.
Hence the idea of a finer wrapping material.
So far so good (did them 4 days ago).

Until now, I was just using 2 "dots" of super glue on the upper part of the graft, but in my experience it was not enough to keep it tight, + the super glue tended to leak inside the graft, making it harder for the plant to heal.
Here is an exemple of a poor graft using that technique. Amazingly, the grafted branch is doing well, but look how little support it has!
We can still see the superglue "dots" that the plant finally rejected.

As always, questions, comments and encouragements are appreciated!
See you next week for next update!

 

[albertgriffiths]

I was reading a few of DJ short's theories on light cycles and indica/sativa expressions in plants.
And I thought that if we could all emit such hypothesis,
This might as well make them grow narrower leaves:

 

[albertgriffiths]

It's been almost 2 weeks since the last update,
Not much to say, everything is growing fine.

Light: 315W CMH @ 60% (+10%)
20/4 hours

Most clones are rooted, some have already been topped.

Watering alternatively with 2ml/L Biobizz Root Juice or 1ml/L Biobizz Fish Mix
They occasionally get a foliar, with 1ml/L Alg-A-Mic + 1ml/L ActiVera (Biobizz)
+ IPM twice a week (homemade "Plant Therapy")

As smoke testing of last round's pheno hunt goes on, I have a better idea of this round's lineup and on the plants I'll be STS reversing.

- La Bomba n°3 is absolutely intoxicating smell and taste wise. I'll definitely be growing one for flower. I won't be reversing it though, as I did find one ball in mid-flower... I'll be reversing LB n°1, which is less tasty, but had even better structure/bag appeal/calyx-leaf ratio, and was the only one of the bunch to remain absolutely female until harvest. (The 3 other females got discarded because of strong hermie tendencies).
I'm planing on F2ing it, and hopefully I can find a pheno that is both loud and stable.
I'm guessing LB1 could also be a good tool in outcrosses for bringing stronger structure/ bud density. Never seen such solid, rock-hard buds.

- Space Monkey n°7 will probably be the one I'll reverse. I'm loving the smells and taste, and that stuff is really potent. SM6 is equally tasty and potent, but it produced a bit less and took a bit longer. N°4 produced more, but the smell doesn't translate to taste as well, and N°8's smell/taste, although very original (reminds me of a wine bottle's cork plug), appeals to me a bit less.
On 5 females, I discarded the least interesting one, and the 4 remaining ones are very different, but all interesting in their own style. As it will not be available for sale anymore (Bodhi is retiring his Wookie male), I'll be including all of them in the F2, for preservation purposes.

I could talk during hours of future breeding projects, but let's have a look at the current ones:
I've got 4 PExNJ testers. Hoping for at least one female to sample, hopefully 2.
If they're good, I'll run more seeds outdoors next season.

I love how Nepal Jam betters the structure of the plants it's crossed to. The wide leaves make it look nepaljam-dominant. But it doesn't seem as columnar as straight Nepal Jam: i'm seeing good potential starts for secondary branches.
I won't top them, though. The plan is to switch them to 12/12 in about a week, in small 1,5L pots, one-bud style.

Don't want to waste too much space/light on testers anymore.​

I'm usually cloning with Jiffys, but as I didn't have enough left, I decided to have fun and try my homemade basic DWC cloner.
I'm very unexperienced with hydroponics, and I'm having trouble keeping the right PH. It keeps on going up. I lower it to 6, and 2 hours later it's back to 8...
As a result, cuttings are not super happy in it... (see bottom right...)

I'm wondering if there's someting I'm doing wrong?
My hypothesis:

• My rooting hormone might be very alcaline? (Clonex)
• My chinese bubbler stone might have needed some PH-buffering before use?
• It might be normal to adjust PH 2-3 times a day, and I'm just being lazy/ignorant ?

Any insight on this topic would be very appreciated!

Another (related) question for the hydro pros out there: if I can't keep a stable, optimal PH, should I better adjust it as much as possible (thus making it unstable, but in a better range), or let it stabilize at 8-9 and not worry about it?
Is stability better than acidity?

 

[albertgriffiths]

Hola a todos,
Everything is going fine.
Temps are a bit low, though.

Pineapple x Nepal Jam got up-potted. 2 of them are looking great, 2 are recovering from a combo of overwatering/being too close to the lamp. New growth looking better.
I'm hoping to switch these by the end of next week.

News from the SpaceMonkey femF2 project: I managed to succesfully graft 3 of my 4 keeper females to the same rootstock. I made another intent with the 4th one last week (n08). Crossing my fingers.
The rootstock was super-rootbound, I gave it a little root trim + fresh soil. I don't want it to grow too fast, though. I'd rather harvest my pollen first.

I'm happy with my new "micropore band tek":

There are 3 newcomers in that room, that don't quite fit the "winter indicas" description... Quite the opposite, actually. "Wild endless-summer sativas" would be more appropriate.
Jamaican Lambsbread, vibes collective IBL, Rom's (Atao genetics) F7:

One week old and already spreading some love!

And here is the terpiest plant in the room right now. Sniffing it is so strong it instantly gives you the pasta-pesto-munchies:

 

[albertgriffiths]

Ace's Thai Chi is just so good I decided to top her and give her a bit more time to grow bushy.
The outdoor clone was much better terp-wise than its indoor counterpart.
I think this one really benefits from a cold finish.

 

[albertgriffiths]

Merry christmas everybody!

Everything is overall fine here.
The only bad news is yesterday I saw a few spider mites on a basil plant. None on the ganja. Still, I sprayed them all as good as I could, and ditched the basil.
After a few years growing without any bug issue, I guess I have to accept it will probably be a never-ending battle.

All the Pineapple x Nepal Jam are now in 12/12. Most of them looking good. One runt, 3 nice ones. Stem rub is surprisingly smelly. I say "surprisingly" because straight Nepal Jam didn't impress me by its terpenes. The Super Skunk x Nepal Jam I grew last outdoor season smells and tastes a bit better, but nothing crazy either.
However, I feel Nepal Jam betters the structure of everything it touches. So strong and vigorous, with clear apical dominance.

The 12/12 room:

On the bottom right are La Bomba 1 and Space Monkey 7, that I started spraying with STS. Once 5 days ago (before flip), then once yesterday (F+0).

Little closeup on the JLB:

The grafted space monkey mom looking better, 1 week after a root trimming:

Still too early to know if the latest graft will hold, but the 3 earlier ones are looking good.

And here is Thai Chi, FIMed and supercropped. I think I'll be switching her in 7-10 days when she recovers. She should stretch enough to give me a pair of clones.

And a quick overview of the main clones for next session:

Working on getting them bushy. They're still small, but hopefuly entering their "exponential growing" phase. I'm guessing 2 more weeks before I flip them, maybe 3.
I'm aiming for 6-8 nice colas per plant.

 

[albertgriffiths]

Everything is growing fine, I will update a few photos soon.
But as I am as interested in digging music than selecting plants, I thought I might share here my discovery of the week:



This one deserves an attentive listening.
Trippy and spiritual.
Reminds me of Count Ossie's tales of Ethiopia.
This one was recorded about 10 years after, in a nearby island (Martinique).

 

[albertgriffiths]

A glance at the "anticipated 12/12" mini-tent, while the main crop is still vegging in the 4x4.

 

[albertgriffiths]

Weekly update

Everything is growing fine.
The reversal plants are showing a few pistils, but still no balls. Fingers crossed.

Let's start with the 3 cute little Jamaican Lamb's Bread:

Growing slowly but surely under 12/12. Probably feeling a bit cold (min.15°C, max 22°C). They had a bit of Bio Grow for the first time last week and a few Alg-A-Mic sprays. Didn't harm them.

Now a glance at the Pe4xNJ testers.
I lolipopped them loosely, keeping a few branches at the bottom in case I change my mind and decide to reveg them.
Stem rub on #A and #D is surprisingly pungent.

And now let's open the bigger, 4x4 tent, and meet the final selection for this run:

Probably 7-10 more days before I flip these.

 

[albertgriffiths]

Weekly update

Ok, it's been quicker than I had thought!
I flipped them all to 12/12 on wednesday, and I'm glad I did because they look already very crowded.
Everything is fine overall:

Thai Chi is clawing a bit, and I plea guilty for being lazy and feeding her like the others, while knowing from experience how sensitive she is.
She never had more than 2ml/L BioBizz Fish Mix, though (=my base feed in veg).
No obstante, estoy muy feliz con su training and vigour.
FIMing +supercropping + LST bondage:

The Jamaicans are slightly clawing as well, although all they had was 2ml/L BBzz Root Juice (root stimulant), once. That's how sensitive they are! Good to know.
You can see how inbred this line is: growing really slow. But well, I'm expecting to harvest in 4-5 months: plenty of time to stretch, still!

And finally, a look at the more advanced flowers, at about F+20.
Starting to see some trichs and to get some smells. Pine, pepper, honey. Nice!
I'd say smellier than straight Nepal Jam, but with a nepal jam dominant profile.

Cheers!

 

[albertgriffiths]

Blasting this one right now for the Yardies to grow faster

 

[Endrega]

Hello
Can I ask you about your recipe for STS? I want to do some as well and I am not sure about the silver concentration.
Greetings

 

[albertgriffiths]

Hello
Can I ask you about your recipe for STS? I want to do some as well and I am not sure about the silver concentration.
Greetings

Hi Endrega,
I'm a newbie regarding STS, not sure my advice would be the most accurate. Only did one successful reversal in the past, and didn't get much pollen out of it + bad timing.

Right now I'm trying different concentrations, with several clones of the plants I want to reverse:
- 1:8 concentration, once every 5 days
- undiluted, once at F+0, once at F+10

Last time I did 1:7, once every 3 days. I had good clusters of balls, but not much pollen out of it. I read in the STS thread that too much STS can impede pollen development (male sacks still need a bit of ethylene to mature). Hence why I'm going lighter this time. I'd rather have a few balls full of pollen than hundreds of empty sacks.

I also attribute part of my past failures to mixing it with a drop of dish soap. I think the dish soap I had made the solution less effective, because I saw the first balls 1 week after I made a new batch, without soap...
However there may still be an absorbtion problem (especially using a pipette instead of a spray- the solution tends to bead and roll off)... Maybe try yucca extract? (not easily available where I am).

I think patience is the main thing... Now it's F+20 for my pollen donors, and I'm not seing any ball yet. Less pistils than there should be, though - I'm taking it as a good sign.

Oh, and I'm planing to flip the pollen receiver when I see the first balls, so as to be sure the timing is right.

Hope that helps...

 

[Endrega]

How many gramms of silver nitrate do you give on 100ml and what is concentration of the silver that you use? 50% or 95%?

 

[albertgriffiths]

Oh, sorry I misunderstood your question.

100ml sol.A = 0,1g silver nitrate
100ml sol.B = 0,78g sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate

Sol AB (50%A+50%B) is then diluted, or not.

The description from the seller says "pure Ag-N-O3". So 95% seems fair, but I don't have more info.

 

[Endrega]

Yes perfect. Thank you very much for the info! I have only 50% silver nitrate and I will have to adjust the formula it seems.
Good luck

 

[Creeperpark]

Hola a todos,
Everything is going fine.
Temps are a bit low, though.

Pineapple x Nepal Jam got up-potted. 2 of them are looking great, 2 are recovering from a combo of overwatering/being too close to the lamp. New growth looking better.
I'm hoping to switch these by the end of next week.
View attachment 18935125

News from the SpaceMonkey femF2 project: I managed to succesfully graft 3 of my 4 keeper females to the same rootstock. I made another intent with the 4th one last week (n08). Crossing my fingers.
The rootstock was super-rootbound, I gave it a little root trim + fresh soil. I don't want it to grow too fast, though. I'd rather harvest my pollen first.
View attachment 18935113
I'm happy with my new "micropore band tek":
View attachment 18935114

There are 3 newcomers in that room, that don't quite fit the "winter indicas" description... Quite the opposite, actually. "Wild endless-summer sativas" would be more appropriate.
Jamaican Lambsbread, vibes collective IBL, Rom's (Atao genetics) F7:
View attachment 18935115
One week old and already spreading some love!

And here is the terpiest plant in the room right now. Sniffing it is so strong it instantly gives you the pasta-pesto-munchies:
View attachment 18935116

Is that basil?