IlovePlants: Welcome to my garden

Mirror mirror on the wall, what are the strains that are dankest of all?


  • Total voters
    32

HockeyBeard

Well-Known Member
Keep an eye out for the Vortex? I will. It's come through a few times, but usually as an outdoor run that someone brought around.
 

IlovePlants

Well-Known Member
I get ya, but your missing the point that red/blues have very poor canopy penetration. I'm not denying the benefits of hitting the red/blue peaks, but it isn't worth developing strains that do better that way cause penetration deep will outweigh any possible benefits
Outweigh any possible benefits eh? Such as enhanced frost production from additional blue wavelengths, or stretchy bulkage from deep reds, or cheaper chlorophyll activation per watt? I tend to favor stretchy, wide leaved, frosty phenotypes when selecting my females. If my plant is already getting penetration by default by simply being stretchy, then why do I need 3ft of penetration? I generally am only looking to grow bud in a 14-20 inch thick canopy. I angle in my monochromatic lights to allow the lights to penetrate into the canopy. I like doing this because I know that I can give every layer of the canopy a nice bathing in pink light, and when you look at my grow room floor you can see the pink passing through. I started out growing under full spectrum lighting and I will never go back. My plants got frostier with the addition of monos, and to me at least it's all about the resin. Check out Greengenes Apache Tech vs. 600w HID. The yield isn't what I'm after, it's about having a more diverse and intense resinous production. Every percentage point counts when it comes to flavor. When I first angled in my lights it was more about mixing the spectrum with my T-5s, but after I did it I stopped doing Flo-style harvests because they were pointless. I didn't need to leave the lowers on, half of the time they were more finished than the tops at harvest time. It will always be better to try new things and strive to make advancements towards goals rather than giving up on them because of previous attempts. The past is exactly that, the past, and right now I'm not working for the past. I work for the future.
Right now I'm attempting things that no one else ever has, and ...

IlovePlants
 

IlovePlants

Well-Known Member
Keep an eye out for the Vortex? I will. It's come through a few times, but usually as an outdoor run that someone brought around.
By "it" I was talking about your proposed GDP x Cindy cross, but honestly I would take Vortex too. I'm typing a lot of stuff so I sometimes don't clarify enough. If you are in CO and get a great cut of either of those... well sharing is caring and it's a two way street :D

Sincerely,
IlovePlants
 

HockeyBeard

Well-Known Member
Yep, that's where the Vortex I've seen has come from! I'm in MI though, so I'd have to talk to my friends out that way to see what's going on over there. From what I'm told, the GDP/C99 was lost about 3 years ago, along with a really awesome Grape Stomper cut (finished like red wine on the palate, the one I'm running is closer to sour grapes) .
 

IlovePlants

Well-Known Member
Things are chugging along at a slower pace. Day 29 and she isn't quite showing it. Between the neem burn and the unexpected inspection the plants are a bit behind, I would estimate I will need an additional 10 days after all is said and done. If they finish by 70 days I will be surprised. They were watered today though and they are just happy to be back in the room. ~2 1/2 days in a storage closet, and then Centery got crushed by the MPC2 and light rail falling apart as I was building it. Many setbacks, so I wonder where the plants really are. They are starting to get meat on them though, and almost all of the affected leaves have fallen off. Next watering they will get some 24 hour EWC, bat guano, rock phosphate, super soil mix, and alfalfa meal tea. Tomorrow the trellis is going up to spread the tops and support the lowers. These two plant will fill the room once the trellis is in place, Centery wasn't needed in the space. Really I should have put her in her own separate closet with my extra lights. I won't lose out too much in yield, but this run is far from ideal. In an ideal situation I would just section off the room and seal it up, but I rent and I need to be able to clear out in 6-12 hours if a random inspection occurs without damaging the room long term. The next place I rent/mortgage I will either go a bit smaller and rent a space specifically to grow in or just utilize an attic or garage. I have ~12-14sqft of operation space outside the 4x8 in my current grow room because of our restrictions at the apartment for stealth sake. Hopefully the next grow won't look so sorry. Thanks for tuning in!

Lefty:

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Righty: The photos may be a bit lacking, as the room has been reconfigured to hide the growing space. Sorry guys, I'll do an in depth photo shoot at harvest to make up for the lacking photos.
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Room: Kinda hard to get a good angle.
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IlovePlants
 

IlovePlants

Well-Known Member
Day 45 of flowering: After a lot of setbacks and misfortune the girls are back and in great shape considering the sheer amount of stress I put them through. I would say they are about 15-20 days from being finished. I will be giving the girls one last tea, the watering after (approx. 3-5days) I will give them sugars. The last three water cycles I will run 115% of my normal water to flush out the green. She got a bit spindly from stress, but I'm pretty impressed by the fact that I didn't get any pollen sacs, not one. This clone is a true female in my book.

Righty:
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Lefty:
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I don't have a great lens for macro shots, but the frost is coming in. This is far from my best run but it was informative, and I learned a lot about this particular strain and her preferences. It was a crazy run, and now there are only a few weeks left! I'll be doing an in depth photo shoot around harvest. I'll try to get into the room to shoot once a week to show them finishing up. Always my favorite time besides around day 20-24 when they are nothing but pom-poms. Stay frosty RIU!

Sincerely,
IlovePlants

P.S. Because of my love of plants I have to do a little aside and talk about where I would take this strain if I do choose to include it into future breeding projects. The plant itself isn't that unique compared to many strains I've grown before. She grows a bit like the Caramel Ice I had but with thinner leaves and larger calyxes. I would back cross a male with a mid yield, high quality dense trichome characteristics. Most likely if I do continue to use this strain I will be looking for a good stretch indica with citrus-pine flavor and thin stalky branches that need support. This Neon Kush has a major flaw in the fact that it really doesn't look kushy at all. It reminds me of the Cheese/Haze/Big Bud crosses that I have grown in the past. I will be looking for a short, fat leaved, asymetrical indica male that stretches 1.5-2x it's veg size, low leaf to pollen sac ratio, and above all enough resin on the stems to make my fingers tacky when working lightly with it. I stated it before years ago, but I think that people throw out a lot of potential in males. If you grow out 10-20 seeds of a strain from a reputable breeder you should be able to expect uniformity throughout with only 1-2 phenotye(s). If the very fastest, strongest, frostiest plant in VEG happens to be male you should consider keeping it. In my honest opinion I think that we have thrown away some of the best opportunities to recombine genetics to advance the common cannon of cannabis over the last 10 years. People hate the male plants, but the reality is that they are what makes new unique cannabis. If you are growing for bud just get clones or go feminized. If you are growing to make bud better always keep a cut of your most prized male.
 
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IlovePlants

Well-Known Member
Today the girls got some tea with sugars, yucca extract, and a pinch of super soil nutrients mixed with ph'd water. They are really freaking me out. The nugs are rapidly growing resin, and they are starting to bulk up. Here are a couple photo's. I have one random blockhead bud in the back that I'm going to try to get solid photos of. That one is going to be for me.

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Right now I'm a little astonished that they haven't hermied on me, or just pooped out. It seems like this plant really wants to finish strong. A lot of buds are getting super thick compared to 3 days ago. It's still going to be a bit of a fluffy yield, but the calyxes that are finished and maturing are getting large and very resinous. I haven't grown a strain with this late of resin in 5 years. I think all of the stress really set back the maturity of the buds lowest on the plant. The tops are ripening quickly, I will chop them in about 10-15 days and the bottom nugs will be raised up after the chop to finish maturing for an additional week or so. There are a lot of completely white haired buds below the second tier nugs. I may grab some pine sap to plug the wounds in the plant once I do the chop or just stick with the twist tie method. If you don't do something to help the plant seal the wound you will suffer a loss of yield lowering the overall efficiency of a flo style harvest. My favorite method is to twist tie the severed stem shut, just keep twisting until the end appears crushed or nearly sealed. If you take a knife to a pine tree you can get the sap on the edge of a blade. Add a little water and microwave until it's hot enough to be considered sterile. Apply the pine sap paste at a warm room temperature to any remaining wound opening. I will do a little photo shoot with the take downs of the first few buds. Even with this double tiered crop I don't think I'm going to be wowing anyone with my yield, but I'm excited for the resin and all that trim XD

More to come! I'm on a hunt for the block head bud in my garden...
 

IlovePlants

Well-Known Member
I found her! She's thick :D
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Day 48 is looking considerably better than the last few weeks. Blocky is all mine bwahahahaha!!!! But for real I share my cannabis. I'm going to try to watch V for Vendetta tomorrow if the Mrs. will agree to it. I'm going to run this strain for at least two more cycles because I'm prepped for the next cycle and I have a clone for the one after that. I think I'm going to pick up a clone of something sour and potent, or something berryE. A small bud broke off recently and it reeked into a mix of mango, guava, sour orange and cheesy skunk scent. I don't know why they named this strain what they did but whatever. I was expecting some sort of Northern Lights X Kush or something. I get the feeling that the name may be BS. Hope you guys are having a great day!

SIncerely,
IlovePlants
 

IlovePlants

Well-Known Member
Everything is going great with the ladies. Day 55 I will get pictures up so I can regain some semblance of a routine, then I'm going to do a photo session every 5 days. So stay tuned for this Wednesday. The girls responded to the teas with gusto, and tomorrow night I will be watering in some molasses and other sugars. I did two teas 2 days apart, drench the first watering and to run off on the second watering with a lower tea ratio. I will do the same with the sugars. This next watering I will give my sugar "tea", next watering will be at ~half strength. Then it's ph'd water until the end.

They are quite green right now, I'm excited to see the colors fade since I can tell that the teas are the only reason they haven't started to fade yet. This strain was supposed to be an 8-10 week strain. Had all things gone well I think I could have gotten great quality by 60 and amazing overall by 65. But I think I'm going to chop the tops at day 65, and the lowers about 5 days after. Even with that extra time the yield this time around simply isn't a good representation of this strain or my skills as a gardener. Soon I will move on to a new cycle with healthy plants. Next run will be three clones of the Neon Kush. I think I will be able to push this strain to it's limits this time around. I'm going to be looking around for some new clones to try for the run after the Neons. Once the holiday season is over I'm going to save up money for a bit to expand my genetics through seeds.

This strain is a bit leafy for my personal tastes, but she has won me over on her other attributes. She is so citrusy and tropical fruity it isn't even funny. I should start calling this shit mango mandarin fruit salad. If I had a yard I would adore this strain outdoors for full hash run potential. With the right training she creates strong stocks and ample bud considering the disgraceful grow I had. I think that this strain would shine in the extract world. She doesn't have a whole lot of bud under the leaves but what is there is covered in delicious smelling resin.

+'s: Neon Kush
-High Stress tolerance true femal: she takes a kicking and keeps on ticking without growing balls
-Medium Nutrient Intake: Neon Kush only showed signs of nutrient overload during high stress periods
-Transplant Hero: She loves and appreciates transplants.
-Branching potential: She is easily trained, very forgiving. I'm able to get many tops without chopping. She also has pretty compact internodes considering her build.
-Branch Strength: She's very strong to support big flavorful cannabis buds
-Rooting Strength: Her roots quickly take over the medium. She conquers new pots quickly.
-Leaves: Leaves grow with the branches and in proper response to trimming.
?Delicious: She's just damn tasty smelling. Hopefully this is in the flavor of the bud as well.

-'s: Neon Kush
-High leaf to bud ration: She just loves making starfish and single leaflets covered in resin.
-Branching Potential: Unless you nip them in the bud, she will grow unlimited new branches.
-Sativa Leaves: Inefficient thin leaves result in producing more and more leaves.
?Foxtailing: This may be due to excess stress from my grow environment. But it's a little much at the moment.
?Thick Stems: May be an issue at harvest, I will report.

Changes I will try to make with her progeny from a growth perspective:
-Higher bud to leaf ratio
-Thicker wider leaves
-Bud uniformity

Right now I'm waiting it out to see what I think of her resin. I can make all of these observations, but ultimately will the resin be up to snuff? I think it will be strong enough, but it will be fun to observe some of her tendencies after harvest from the high perspective. Regardless of how strong her high turns out to be I am impressed with this clone and I will be keeping her for quite some time. I'm looking forward to showing you guys around the garden this Wednesday. See you soon.

Sincerely,
IlovePlants
 

IlovePlants

Well-Known Member
Day 55: Took a test nug last night. Damn, this shit is great. The name is making more sense each day. Happy Kushy high sativa dominant for the first 45-50 minutes after which you mellow out and raid the fridge. I've been in Colorado for three months enjoying the flowers of the area, and this Neon Kush is great by comparison. A bit more chocolatey in after taste than I expected. Sweet tropical fruity, sagey, chocolate flavors on the draw, mellow fruity chocolate aftertaste. I vaped a decent sized bud with the Mrs. What she lacks in bud structure she makes up for in power, motivation, flavor, and positivity of high. I feel very lucky to have this strain in my home. She's a keeper!

Lefty:

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ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Day 55: Took a test nug last night. Damn, this shit is great. The name is making more sense each day. Happy Kushy high sativa dominant for the first 45-50 minutes after which you mellow out and raid the fridge. I've been in Colorado for three months enjoying the flowers of the area, and this Neon Kush is great by comparison. A bit more chocolatey in after taste than I expected. Sweet tropical fruity, sagey, chocolate flavors on the draw, mellow fruity chocolate aftertaste. I vaped a decent sized bud with the Mrs. What she lacks in bud structure she makes up for in power, motivation, flavor, and positivity of high. I feel very lucky to have this strain in my home. She's a keeper!

Lefty:

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Nice smoke report! I do love the fresh air and clean growing of Colorado living!
 

IlovePlants

Well-Known Member
Lower Tier Nug ~8inches below canopy:
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As you can see the second tier is about 3-6 days behind the upper colas. I plan on doing a double harvest unless these nugs ripen up quickly. This is one of the nicer nugs in the second tier, most of it is trash on lefty because I packed the tops in too close, but she was also more likely to receive light leaks because of the rushed nature of this first run. Right now is an extremely busy time in my life, and I can't say I did a perfect run, but I feel I got a good understanding of the nature of this strain. The long thin cola leaves cover most of the actual calyxes making them difficult to photograph. In some of the photos you can see how well the finished calyxes chunk. Photo 2 of the More of Righty's nug album has my favorite top shot. I get the feeling that my photos will be more impressive the next time around.

Yesterday they received their first sugars, and tomorrow night I will give them a lower concentration of the same concoction. My predictions on post #69 are pretty much spot on. This strain would have done well without all the stress, but I have learned from the experience and I think that I will be able to provide a better environment for her in the future. I lost a couple CXA's from the tent collapse that destroyed centery. Once I have the funds I will be making quite a few upgrades to tent.

I'll be doing a photo shoot next Monday for day 60. I'm going to do a veg recap and prep report for my next run. Stay frosty friends!

Sincerely,
IlovePlants
 
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IlovePlants

Well-Known Member
Finally finished up in the Veg room after a few hours. I let it go a bit, but everyone got up potted appropriately over the last few weeks so no harm done except to my wrists. I have 1 plant in a 20 gallon custom tote, 1 plant in a 15 gallon laundry basket, and one plant in an 8 gallon milk crate. 15 and 8 are going on the right side with 20 going on the left side. 15 and 8 will bleed a little over the middle line, but each plant should only have 6 to 12 tops, 20 has about 16 tops.

I'm going to really stick to my guns trimming and training considering how well Righty did V.S. Lefty. I wasn't sure how the plants would flower out so I tried out two different trimming and training regimens. She needs heavy lollypopping to control her girth. Without it the lowers choke each other out. The plants are looking good but the interruption to her schedule throughout the flowering cycle and the high temps from my low cost set up are causing some pretty crazy fox tailing. I'm going to have some candy canes for vaping. I'm thinking of building a light for one of my little grow closets. What do you guys think?

Full Spread Light:
4 x CXA3070 5700k 90CRI Z2 7390lm 38.5V 1925ma @700ma = 107.8w of 5700k @50.77/e= $203.08
4 x CXA3050 3000k 80CRI W4 5225lm 37 V 1400ma @700ma = 103.6w of 3000k @46.75/e= $187
8 X 10 W 660NM 6-7V 900ma @700ma = 36.4w @3.8/e =$30.4
1 x HLG-240H-C700B MeanWell 357v @ 700ma = 249.9w @76.64/e = $76.64
2 x Heatsink USA 10" x 24" Extruded Aluminum Heatsink @82.08/e = $164.16
Shipping and Handling= $36.79
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New Light! 250W = $698.07/ 250= $2.79/w not including build time. Ouch but worth it.

Not necessarily the most efficient bins or chips, but overall I think it's a neat light. I technically already have the 660 chips, and that would take my cost down about 40$. Kind of an expensive build, but I would really love to see it up and running. I don't think that the ~36w of 660 would cause too much stretch with the 5700k helping to keep the mix blue/green. What do you guys think? Next I'm going to build some UVA/ Deep blue bars to have on for a half hour at noon plant time, and I'll start playing with timing to kill some stretch. As well as a couple 730nm flower initiators. Depending on how the new job I'm working pays me I will try to get on this stuff by January or February, but it would be nice to add a few hundred watts to my flowers. Keep on keep'n on folks. I'll have pictures of the Veg up tomorrow for shits and giggles, and the flowers are at day 60 come Monday and they are starting to fade out a bit. Stay tuned!

Sincerely,
IlovePlants
 

Positivity

Well-Known Member
Nice journal, will read through later.

Never used a mix like that before. Not high cri at least. Only used my 4k 660 once but it worked great. May light it up again soon

Just the 5k high cri with 660 would be interesting. Haven't looked at the spd though yet either

Hard to not just get the highest bin 4k 80 cri to go with the reds...

In fact, it's hard to even talk about adding anything to cobs nowadays without feeling like a bunch of people are ready to freak out.

I'll say this much. 4k 660 grew great herb. I'm sure there's better combos out there. If you think your idea might work try it and have fun.
 

IlovePlants

Well-Known Member
Nice journal, will read through later.

Never used a mix like that before. Not high cri at least. Only used my 4k 660 once but it worked great. May light it up again soon

Just the 5k high cri with 660 would be interesting. Haven't looked at the spd though yet either

Hard to not just get the highest bin 4k 80 cri to go with the reds...

In fact, it's hard to even talk about adding anything to cobs nowadays without feeling like a bunch of people are ready to freak out.

I'll say this much. 4k 660 grew great herb. I'm sure there's better combos out there. If you think your idea might work try it and have fun.
I like rounding out the blue, since the 3000k and the 5700k have different peaks. I figured overall it had to at least work.The High CRI seemed like a good choice for my eyes and for approximating solar spectrum. I'm basically trying to get solar curve + red/blue. It makes me extremely curious I wish I had the funds to buy it now. I was trying to find 6500k lights but the 5700k are available and fairly cheap. In the grand scheme of things I'm sure I will be looking at completely different chips by the time I have the funds. Hopefully the parts list will cheapen by the time I have the money too. It would be fun to run a full 6500k with supplemental 660/630. 6500k has been good to me in veg it would be fun to see her flower too. Thanks for the input! I'm excited to build more and experiment more. You've always had pretty plants in your rooms, you should run the 4k + 660 and keep tweaking it to perfection.

Sincerely,
IlovePlants
 

IlovePlants

Well-Known Member
Totally missed the Monday report due to my recent employment. Lets get this show on the road! Day 65: Well for starters she's just been exploding with new pistils, but she has stopped revegging and is now finishing out and fading beautifully. The old calyxes are getting very swollen and their hairs are redding out. She's starting to fade since switching to water only. I can't imagine how well this plant will do once I have a more solid set up. Between heat stress, light leaks, and dark periods the girls got a little behind. I'm going to take the most mature tops on Thanksgiving and the rest will be harvested over the next few days. She should make damn fine Christmas presents. I'm going in to take some pictures now. Vegging plants are way ahead of schedule on growth. The next cycle I'm going to have the screen filled from day 1 and add a second screen 25-35 days into harvest to stabilize the colas. This plant is going to get the full lollypop treatment next time. She stretches for weeks and even has a late season budset about 10 days from harvest. If I had known how wide the colas would become I wouldn't have left any lower branches on the last cycle. I can't even fathom how thick they would have gotten without the bottom larf slowing her down. When I heard the name I assumed I would be getting compact indica nugs so I left some lowers because I thought I would get better penetration. I was wrong, but I'm glad. Next run should be something to behold. Daytime temps are around 78-88, but we have accidentally left the door to the vent room closed so temps would climb ~15 degrees. It was too much heat and change, and not enough love this round. Anyway I'm going to take a photo shoot and update the thread. Peace!

Sincerely,
IlovePlants
 

IlovePlants

Well-Known Member
Photo Dump:IMG_9012.JPG IMG_9013.JPG IMG_9017.JPG IMG_9018.JPG
Good ol Knuckle bud is making some awesome foxtails:
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The girls are no longer budding, they are bulking the new growth and finishing the old. Next run I hope that she finishes a little more quickly and smoothly. I'm going to take a look this Thanksgiving to see if they're good. Right now I would say no, but the buds are really finishing up fast now. Lots of new resin and new grapes. Lefty is a bit sparse from me taking some tops for the Mrs. and myself.
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The calyxes are really graping out. I'm pretty happy as of now. I just wish she would finish up. I suppose a day 70 finish wouldn't be bad, even a 75 wouldn't be too bad as long as she continues to perform and improve. The lowers are a solid 5 days behind.

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Keep it frosty gents!
 

FranJan

Well-Known Member
Dude what up? Hope you and yours are well.

Do you have another light leak cause I swear those look just like my Black Widow did when I forgot to set my timer back to on and I ended up with buds like that? My lights were on for like two weeks and my BW's and the rest of my plants at the time started growing like that. Are you sure all your lights are going off at lights out cause that doesn't appear to be fox tailing, it looks like new growth to me? Even some trich's are looking like they are getting that re-absorbed look. And that stretchy section on the tops with single leaves make me think something's up. Maybe it's just a product of what went on before but something's still fish IMO ILP.
 

IlovePlants

Well-Known Member
She definitely grew a bit weird from all the stress in the past I don't think they're still vegging anymore. Recently I moved the light cycle to 11/13 for the last week to encourage a strong finish. Righty is flopping all over the place. I'm taking them down next Saturday regardless. The next plants are growing into the lights, so I need to move them in. Recently I've been busy with a new job. Really looking forward to the next run and the one after since I will be making the new light. I will probably split up the MPC2 and place the new light in the center with the two 5000k photon cannons on both ends. The tent will push 1000 watts next run and 1250 the next after I install some upgrades. Photos tomorrow.
 
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