So, as predicted, the clones did not take. Tomorrow (today) if I remember, I will go to the store and buy an Exacto razorblade for better cuttings. For now, I spaced the plants apart to take advantage of the room provided by the clones being removed from the pot. I am eagerly hoping that even if I don't get the hang of cloning, keeping two regular plants will still yield me a favorable amount of cannagoodness.
As for said ladies, they are looking well. The top cola on #2 has already got some sparkling glandular trichomes all over its leaves, with several pistils starting to turn brownish orange. #4, still a week younger, is not quite so mature, but getting there. However, despite this, #4 continues to thrive due to its initially lanky nature. That is, the wider node spacing compared to #2 has allowed the fan leaves to situate themselves farther apart, allowing for these side buds to take off more rapidly than those of #2.
I have done some minor fan leaf pruning. When weighing the benefits of their light intake versus the tactics of pushing growth to other areas (to serve a strategy of exposing lower buds to more light [bearing in mind that due to LST, these lower buds should get an equal shot at size compared to their 'higher' counterpats]), pruning won out. There are probably a dozen better ways I could have worded that, but I'm high, sue me.
On behalf of my crop, and the Johan that exists 2 months from now, smoking his own herb, I want to thank you for watching this journey. This has been, and continues to be, a learning experience as well as an opportunity to reflect on life, nature, free time, nurturing, politics, the whole works. It's more to me than growing some stupid bushes in my basement to spite 'the man'...it's an attempt at liberating myself from the government's broken system of cops and non-violent offenders, and a way for me to test my abilities at maintaining regularity and responsibility (a nut that years of punishments, incentives, therapists, employers and teachers have been completely unable to crack).
There is a day coming in the future, when I will be sitting on a porch in the afternoon breeze, watching my grandchildren play in the yard, smoking some home-grown, home-bred herb from a glossy wood pipe. Maybe half-way across the country, or the world, you guys will be doing the same thing. And maybe while you are, you'll think, "I remember when we were helping that noobie try to tell the difference between calyx' and staminates."
And I think that's great.
Pics tomorrow at feeding time.
j/k... 
