My First Grow: Aeroponics, LED veg, Super HPS flower, CO2 sealed room

Trichomes



Got some close up pics of trichomes to show everyone just for laughs - took them with the Eyeclops. Most are at 200X magnification and a few are 400X. I took a little bud off C99 X A11 for observation (which was dutifully chopped, dried and smoked by those who shall remain nameless - they got all happy, giggly & chatty, proclaiming it "definitely good shit" - happily when questioned they confirmed hat the seedmakers said it would do - a head/psychedelic high with euphoria but also a decent light body high, it's more than I expected given the small quantity, early harvest & knowledge of their smoking habits, so hooray!)



All comments and observation are welcome & wanted as I'm totally new to reading trichomes. As it is 5 weeks, I'm reading them as all clear. Perhaps someone with more experience can let me know if I'm right. I'm using UVB and I know that often accelerates trich maturation & degradation, so perhaps the trichs really are part cloudy.



When taking pictures of the trichs, you can often only get a few into focus as they are often on a curved surface. I am considering only the ones in clear focus for accuracy.



Even though in the pictures there appears to be cloudy heads, I think that is b/c they are out of focus or in front of other objects that make them appear cloudy - with this picture at the bottom it even looks like there are 2 broken amber heads, but I doubt that. I don't know, first grow and all, but I think early week 5 is too early to see anything but clear heads. Correct me if I'm wrong. And if any of you old timers have any tricks to share regarding how to tell when plants are indeed cloudy, don't be afraid to shout.

Clones of the last remaining strains taken


Second set of clones (new clones) taken in front - older clones in back tray

Regarding this last crop of mother plant cuttings I kept 4 Apollo 11's, 2 Blue Apollos and 2 Sugar Berrys. At first glance, the Sugar Berrys are twins, however, I have noticed Sugar Berry 'hotel' is taller & sparser than Sugar Berry 'india' which is a little less tall, but much bushier. I think 'india' will win out in the end and become a permanent mother.

With Blue Apollo we have 2 plants very much alike, again one taller than the other, but still bushy which is 'bravo'. The other is slightly smaller & less thick branched but is very bushy all around, 'echo'. What might throw this to 'bravo' though is while it is not as bushy as 'echo' - it has a very large, circular, bushy canopy that I can imagine would produce many large buds.

I kept 4 potential mothers for Apollo 11 b/c I think she's going to be a real standout. As of now, 'golf' is the clear front runner - she's by far the bushiest & decently tall. 'delta' is the tallest, fairly bushy itself and like most of the taller ones is sturdy. Then comes 'echo' and 'bravo' - they are both smaller but very bushy, 'echo' being a little more so. I have faith in the strain so I'm willing to devote the time & the space to find out which is best. In the other cases - the choices were very clear and luckily are bearing themselves out in the flower room now.


New Veg Room Set-up, permanent set-up still in progress

Another thing: I've got my mothers up and running in the dutch bucket mother system in the veg room. The final mothers, I took one of each clone - one I put in rockwool and one I put directly into the Hydroton, bare roots. It looks like they're doing fine. Plus I have The other clone in rockwool & 2 more cuttings in the cloner unit for backup should it not work. The clones I had taken earlier & rooted first in rockwool & placed in Hydroton are doing great & growing. Regarding the clones I took bare rooted & placed directly into hydroton, first off I was very gently, secondly they had a lot of roots. I just held the plant up where I wanted it & rolled the hydroton balls under & through the roots and gently around them, trying to leave not much space to collapse. Then I took the emitter and watered the area where the roots were. I then just left them with the others, it's been 3 days & they haven't died so I'm optimistic.


Permanent mother plant system in veg room

I'm concentrating on establishing my mothers. I've topped the established plants just above the third node on each in the hopes of getting a bushy, short plant that will quickly provide cuttings for the perpetual harvest system.

Anyway another piece of good news - my little C99 X BB 'echo' cutting has rooted! I'm going to be very careful with him and let him sprout a few more before I o putting him into rockwool as I only have the one. Even thought I was successful with the other mothers, transplanting them with bare roots, I only have the one and it is such a different pheno than it's brother 'bravo'

One last try on the yellowing leaves situation: Normal N loss during flower, disease or both?

*All pictures are of the C99 'grapefruit' plant on two particular bud sections:
C99 'grapefruit' bud, chlorotic leaves - this is typical of all the branches on this plant.

I had mentioned before that some leaves were yellowing - nearly all of C99 'grapefruit's and quite a few of C99 'pineapple' - with the two smaller plants in group 1 showing absolutely no signs of this disorder whatsoever despite them being farther from the lights. I cannot say for sure - but it is useful to note that C99 'grapefruit' and C99 'pineapple' are much larger than their two sisters, causing problems due to being heavily root bound - also these two plants reside in the uncleaned Hydroton where as the other two are in cleaned Hydtoton. This leads me to conclude that the dying from the inside of the branch to the outside is a sign of some form of root rot or damage, hence the FloraShield cleansing and it's addition to the system as a regular staple.


Same bud shot and leaves but shown in perspective with the rest of 'grapefruit'

What has me most worried now is the progression of yellow fan leaves amongst the larger plants in Unit 2. It started with C99 X BB 'bravo' & appears to be showing up in C99 X A11 'alpha.' Now, these plants could have caught whatever it is making the sick plants in unit 1 ill, but then why haven't the others in the same units gotten ill as well? This is only occurring amongst the largest plants in each unit. Perhaps it's due to an inadequate amount of root space. I really do not know. It's also worth mentioning that it is later in flower (middle of week 5) so perhaps this is a normal loss of N as I am using an Aggressive Bloom formula. I've heard it can happen. I wonder though. And it must be said - the plants are putting out nice buds.


A different grapefruit bud close up with more pronounced chlorosis - the tips are curled and burnt on some sections.

Here are the symptoms one last time. It begins on the larger fan leaves - they turn bright yellow and can stay that way for a while. When they are fully yellow their veins and stems take on a purple color although there is purpleness present in the healthy plants too. In the final phases, the leaves dry, turning brown along the edges and curling upwards at the tips and along the edges. The leaves to go last are the ones closest to the ends/buds. I realize that I may have to harvest early if this situation progresses and the plant starts to die - especially the 'grapefruit' plant.


Here is a picture of a leaf on grapefruit in mid-chlorosis

As I read more, maybe I'm having a little hysteria (in the case of unit 2 at least) over what naturally happens - nitrogen loss during flower. Perhaps that is also the case with Unit 1 to a degree, but I have to think it got too bare too soon, at least 'grapefruit' did. I know C99 loves Mg, but I am supplementing, it couldn't be lacking Mg save for lockout, which worries me. I don't know. I'm showing this to show what the problem looks like on the plant - this is the best illustration of the problem thus far, it's all there in a nutshell.


Same 'grapefruit' leaf as the first plant pictures above but in close-up. Notice the complete yellowness, the curled up brown edges.

Unit 2, I'm thinking might be experiencing a natural yellowing during flower. The yellowing is primarily large fan leaves, most of the growth remains dark and lush. Not like the bare branches of the C99 'grapefruit' plant. Any ideas are welcome as I'm stumped. I am fairly certain that the two large plants in Unit 1 have problems due to complications that I'm not entirely sure what they are, but that have left them with diminished functioning root mass. There will be a 'root autopsy' which I will post after harvest if this isn't figured out to a near certainty.

Here are some details on what most of these yellow leaves look like.

Here's a picture of a progression from mottled green to yellow to yellow with brown fringed tips:


Close up of typical yellow leaf:

This leaf has gone beyond any green remaining in it's veins & is totally yellow. Notice the brown tips and the purple stem.

11/22/09 Update



End of fifth week of flowering, beginning of sixth week of flower for Units 1 & 2
End of second week of flowering, beginning of third week of flower for Unit 3
End of first week of flowering, beginning of second week of flower for Unit 4



Well let me say first off, now I don't have a knot in my stomach anymore regarding the density of the bud - it got fat this week, swollen and feels hard. It's also very sticky, even after casual handling I have to wash my hands. The smell is very sweet and fruity. I don't know if this is due to the flavored sweetener I'm using or just the strains themselves which do boast low & fruity odors, but marijuana smell hasn't been a problem yet due in part to the strains and the ONA & Can Filters.



As scheduled I have started the Ripen formula using KoolBloom Dry in the oldest 2 units. The calyxes have begun to swell so now would definitely be the time, I think. I'm using it at a strength of 1/4 tsp per gallon as per the company's recommendation. I'm a little concerned as there was some problem in Unit 1 that may have stressed them enough already (KoolBloom induces ripening & bud swelling in part by stressing the plant - it appears to be a P & K bomb, the guaranteed analysis is 2-45-2



I'm really starting to appreciate the strengths of the genetics I've chosen and believe me, it was a painstaking choice - a lot of research went into picking these particular strains/breeders. I hope the genetics prove strong & resistant (and please don't hermie on me w/the KoolBloom!) - they already are producing distinctive, and in my opinion, handsome plants.

Unit 3 is at the start of the third week as of this day. All plants are doing well and drinking a lot of water at this time in their lives. I took cuttings for clones from one plant in the unit despite it being 2 weeks into flower because it had a thick meristem & so far, what I've seen is the best plants have the thickest meristems stems. It's not the best specimen of Apollo 11, but may turn out to be very good. I took 4 cuttings from Apollo 11 'hotel.' I know Cinderella 99 has had clones taken from it successfully 2 weeks into flower, as Apollo 11 is Cinderella 99's descendant, I'm hopeful one may take root giving me the option of another specimen as a mother. I took so many cuttings of Apollo 11 because out of all the strains, it has been the smallest by far offering only one stand out and that plant is smaller than the other strains, so I want to give myself the best possible chance for picking the right mother. Also, I've notice that Apollo 'delta' which I had taken cuttings of before is not a good rooter, which would be a problem when running a perpetual harvest system that relies on clones.

Unit 3 pics:


Unit 4 is very large & seems to keep getting larger exponentially - they are showing their superiority to the plants in Unit 3 that I didn't select for mothers, same for the Blueberry mother & Sugar Blossom mother. The plants are quite tall and I think appear to be getting enough light, as are the plants in Unit 3. The Magnum xxxl reflector has a rather wide footprint. As you can see from the pictures, you can no longer anything but the top of Unit 2 when viewed from the front. This reservoir as also changed today from the Transitional formula to the Aggressive Bloom.

Unit 4 pics:

Not much to tell in the Veg room, all the mothers, save C99 X BB 'echo' - the newest transplant have been topped above their third node in the hopes of producing bushy plants. I thought it was risky to transplant from the aerocloner directly into the Hydroton with no Rockwool intermediary step, but it worked fine for all of the plants I tried this with so I was very pleasantly surprised. The success rate of the previous transfers are what changed my mind about putting my only surviving, rooted clone of C99 X BB 'echo' into rockwool first & instead I decided to just put it directly into the Hydroton as I felt now that the Rockwool may even present an unnecessary extra step with its own complications.



I transplanted my one cutting of C99 X BB 'echo' that lived & I successfully re-rooted directly into the Hydroton from bare roots in the aerocloner. It's been 2 days, the leaves are perked up. I hope the little guy survives - I think it will. I hope so, as I don't want to re-veg the C99 X BB 'echo.'

Initially I was thrown by the appearance of amber heads this early in groups 1 & 2. I didn't expect that. The first place I'd look for the cause would be at the UVB. One thing I know, the trichomes I've gotten into clear focus look very clear to me. There also appears to be some true clouding starting. The amberish heads all appear smaller than their brothers or damaged and probably not representative of the "true" ambering I expect to see later. I'm going to hope and assume we're on schedule. Before this, I was worried that I hadn't used enough UVB or put it close and the trichomes wouldn't mature fast enough. But this reassures me somewhat on this point, plus light at that end of the spectrum is powerful and does carry, so more plants than I think may be getting the UVB light. Just to remind, I added the supplemental UVB b/c I am using very red Super HPS Solarmax in addition to having them put behind glass in vented hoods, blocking any UVB I would be getting from an HID.



A small bud was taken off C99 X BB 'bravo' and my "lab rats" smoked it. (Forgive the scanty report - it's hard to get intel off of stoned people who are focused on the visuals & can't speak b/c they're laughing uncontrollably at the televsion) The report was similar to last week's test of C99 X A11 tiny sample, but a bit more potent this time - a good clear "up" high but needing to mature (obviously) as you could feel it as immature & not "all there" yet - but still potent. The bud was sacrificed for the trichome pictures, but I am finding it helpful to get this feedback, it's relaxed my worries about the trichomes' maturity & if they are too ripe for their age.



A small bud of Cinderella 99 'pineapple' was taken to observe the trichome development. Like the C99 crosses taken before her, she was smoked after being thoroughly examined & photographed. The reaction from the "lab rats" were much more pronounced this time. The sample got them much more high than the previous samples and had a very clear, very bright, very happy up head high and although it was very young - it was pretty potent - only a small amount of green bud was needed to get these blokes stoned proper, so I'd caution anyone smoking C99 to take it slowly at first because one small bud of this 5 week old sample got two somewhat-heavy/heavy smokers stoned with mostly clear trichomes that appear to be just starting to turn cloudy.



As these are sativa dominant strains and I'd rather harvest when mostly cloudy up to 25% amber the farthest for most of the strains and 50% cloudy 50% Amber for the C99 X BB maybe. I read a post that I found reassuring; it said that basically, you do start to see ambering here & there at weeks 5 - 6 sometimes, but it levels off and maturation goes much slower after that, ambering in earnest around week 8 and later (I notice that my all or mostly indica strains give a week or two longer of projected harvesting time, perhaps this is why), so if that holds true I won't have to pull the plants early. I also see that there are quite a few clear heads and most of the amber heads appear to be smaller or damaged. I'm looking at a 50 day harvest schedule for the 2 units, all trichome dependent, of course. I am totally new to this so if anyone has a better read/interpretation of these trichome pictures, please say so.

Here are some pictures of the trichomes of the C99 'pineapple' plant that was smoked by the "lab rats" that they recorded as being quite potent. Watch for the pictures at the end - I managed to snag them at 400X magnification, all others including those up until now have only been 200X as the higher resolution is a bit tricky.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends here at RollItUp.

your trich pics look excellent! that eyeclops sure does a nice job.

you should be excited as you've got an amazing setup going and really have been doing a tremendous job with it all... inspirational! do you have an estimated target date for when you'll chop? 'looking forward to raising a j in celebration.

cheers
-g

georgi345 said:

your trich pics look excellent! that eyeclops sure does a nice job.

you should be excited as you've got an amazing setup going and really have been doing a tremendous job with it all... inspirational! do you have an estimated target date for when you'll chop? 'looking forward to raising a j in celebration.

cheers
-g

Click to expand...

Hey there Georgi,

Thank you so much, it gives me confidence to know that I'm on the right track - it's be a lot of work, the start up - I'm glad you'll be celebrating for me!

I'll be keeping the eyeclops pictures coming as I think they're a pretty useful resource and there aren't that many of them around.

The breeders give a chop down window of about 50 days to 56 days so I'm looking at Dec 8 - Dec 12. However due several factors, one of which being the yellowing issue, the other is me wanting to harvest in stages to see how it changes the high - it's really going to depend on the trichomes & how they're looking. Plus there's one plant - the C99 X A11 cross that looks very A11 that's a different story b/c Apollo 11 harvest one week earlier than C99 & it's looking it, but that's another update - here's the update for the start of week seven.

11/29/09 Update


Unit 2 Canopy shot from front

End of week 6 for Units 1 & 2, first day of 7th week
End of week 3 for Unit 3, first day of 4th week
End of week 2 for Unit 4, first day of 3rd week

Today Unit 3 and the unit in the veg room had their reservoirs changed, unit 3 to aggressive bloom, mother reservoir to regular growth formula.


C99 'grapefruit' cola

This week, trichome willing and if the plants keep to the schedule recommended by the breeder, should be the last week for our first 2 units before harvest day on the 6th of December at day 50. I hope I don't have to pull them early as I've noticed that after the addition of the Ripen one week ago, they have put on considerable weight. However, they have also been through a rough patch & I'm not just referring to the KoolBloom Dry.


C99 'pineapple' with C99 x BB at the far right edge

At first I thought I was being over run by brown algae which I thought was choking/smothering the roots & eating their food which caused those pictures of damage I showed you before. I do believe that was a problem earlier on, but now as new growth is dandy & the yellowing is not continuing. Plus the PH is no longer climbing as it was when the algae was bit more of a problem - I believe the flushing out with FloraShield combined with the addition of Hygrozyme & FloraShield to the biweekly nutrient regiment either killed it off or at least kept it at bay from wreaking anymore havoc than it already had. Just to mention, "brown algae" is a misnomer - it belongs to a group of organisms previously classified as algae due to similarities in nutrient uptake, it is actually a cyanobacteria.


C99 'grapefruit'

All seemed well, plants were improving, the yellowing had stopped, when quite suddenly midweek I noticed a more severe browning/crisping of the leaves at the top of unit 2. Naturally I thought the brown algae was back again, but the steady PH readings didn't seem to bear that out, they were holding steady and if anything, dropping a tad in Unit 3 - when you're dealing with brown algae, your PH swings up. What also convinced me was it wasn't just yellowing as it had before, it was browning & crisping and all the plants below the canopy weren't effected - all green. Plus, the leaves on the plants in the unit directly to the front of Unit 2 (Unit 4) were showing the same speckled browning & crisping as well on the side closest to the HPS - more importantly they were not yellowing as the older units had. I looked at a few pictures and it was clear the damage was heat stress. But why now? The canopy was at 90 degrees at it's highest but that should be no trouble for a plant room fully supplemented with Co2 and why the sudden sensitivity? It seems there was a broken timer, mechanical error, which lead to my Co2 burner not turning on for what I can gather must have been 2 or 3 days. This appears to be what caused the sudden heat damage. C99 X BB 'bravo' as the plant most effected, but basically, the plants directly below the HPS at the highest level of the canopy had their fan leaves burned. Especially those in Unit 2 as they were closer to the lights than the plants in Unit 1. Needless to say I replaced the timer & the Co2 is running on time again.


C99 X A11 mid-level canopy

I hope the strain of it hasn't significantly damaged the plants in units 1 & 2 - the Ripen has significantly added weight to the blooms & they're drinking water like a champ. But a case of brown algae, no matter if it was contained, coupled with a spot of heat stress may have been too much for them, we shall see. I'll not cry as others have suffered far worse, a few days early harvest plus the favorable smoke reports will ease whatever sadness I will have over the lack of extra weight if an early harvest is needed.


C99 X BB 'bravo' cola - this is the very highest point of the canopy, note the severest heat stress damage

I've decided the plants will be taken early if it appears that either the plant is just dying, or the buds are being damaged. Temporarily I am of the mind that if the sweet leaves start to yellow, I'll sacrifice them for a few more days of weight if it comes down to it, just to see what kind of weight I'd have sacrificed had I saved the "sweet leaves" to be used for hash. If the plants leaves yellowing progresses to shriveling and dying en masse, I think I have no choice but to harvest in that case - I have to remember that this is an annual & that it is natural for it to die after it has pushed forth it's final reproductive effort. Plants don't harvest on a set schedule & there are any factors that contribute, got to remember that too. I do not think the plants have been damaged enough to warrant an early harvest as the two older units are drinking their water like mad. The one I'm keeping my eye on is the C99 X A11 - the phenotype is very Apollo 11 and it's got an earlier flowering time than the others by one week and it is coincidentally this plant that is looking like it may be ready very, very soon despite being the least damaged plant of unit 2. I also want to harvest in stages b/c it's an experimental grow, taking the buds just as they start to turn cloudy, a 50/50 clear-cloudy, & a 100% cloudy harvest to compare, maybe also a harvest with 10-25% amber for the C99s crossed with Blueberry (as these 2 units are sativa dominant I think their best expression is in the THC/cerebral high)


Unit 2 C99 X A11, the lower part of the canopy

Another less depressing thought is this: Units 1 & 2 suffered some heat burn, Units 1 & 2 also suffered an early but brief bout of what was likely brown algae which caused an interruption in nutrient uptake causing a deficiency, but I believe it was successfully handled and is no longer present. The yellowing & crinkling leaves I have seen before in many grows here people flush the last week or two, it's a deficit of nutrients but primarily Nitrogen. I used the Aggressive Bloom formula which, unlike regular Bloom, uses no FloraGro - the main source of Nitrogen. Given all in all, I'm inclined to think this explains the dramatic (to my newbie eyes) yellowing without a flush and the reports on the nice taste of sampled buds from the lab rats, plus the plants being annuals and are ending their life cycle naturally. Had the plants not had to deal with the microbial issue, the surrounding leaves likely would have stayed greener up to now. That's my present thought on the subject.


C99 'grapefruit' the lower part of the canopy - these buds were shielded by higher vegetation too

Another thought regarding the possible brown algae - I took a reservoir and filled it with "tainted" equipment, the reservoir would have been tainted with the algae as well - I added to it the recommended Physan 20 dilution. When Physan 20 hits microbes, it fizzes like crazy. Here it didn't. However, the much used measuring bucket which surely had some bacteria on it did react with the Physan 20 mixture & fizzed up as it killed whatever microbes were there. As I even threw in some of the brown roots, they did not fizz. Perhaps after treating the unit for so long with Hygrozyme & FloraShield the algae disappeared along with any other significant amounts of microbes.


This is C99 X A11, I'm watching this plant close as it's the one that looks close to being finished early

I think I may add here that I'm likely not going to flush this crop. Nitrogen has the biggest effect on taste and as you can tell from the leaves, it's not got much if any Nitrogen (or other minerals) left in it. I will of course flush the Hydroton after harvest.


C99 X BB 'echo' cola

I've added extra fans on the floors & mounted on the walls to increase circulation. In light of some information from Weezard & others on Canna forums about the effects of UVB I will be shutting off my UVB for the rest of the grow & just let them cloud & hit them with a bit of UVB for an hour or four to amber the desired amount of trichomes.


C99 X A11 bud arm

Units 3 & 4


Unit 3

Units 3 and 4, in their 3rd and 4th week respectively, have shot up considerably. I bent the stems down - sideways really, of some of the tallest plants that did not seem controllable by tying alone. I did this with C99 X BB 'echo' & other plants in Unit 2 early in flower and it healed quickly and went on to be one of my biggest plants.


Unit 3 canopy

To my eye, the flowers seem to be developing well and on time. The PH in the reservoirs either stays steady or drops a few points, about 5.5, but they need to be topped of regularly as they are drinking a lot of water.


Unit 4

As I'd mentioned in earlier posts, I'd pruned all the lower 1/3 growth, and I'm glad I did as the HPS is not properly centered and the lowest leaves & branches have been dropping off from lack of light - nothing drastic, but I am anxious to re-center the light and get them under the HPS proper. Of course I've been diligently removing all growth that is obviously dead or comes of very easily on all units to stave off bud rot.


Unit 4 Blossoms


Unit 3 Blueberry mother

I am mulling over the question of whether or not to "nuke" Units 3 and 4 with a dose of Physan 20 in a risky attempt to remove significant amounts of the brown algae that is present, but kept at bay by Hygrozyme and FloraShield. On one hand, I started these plants on Hygrozyme & FloraShield much earlier than the 2 older units so perhaps that will be enough to overpower it. In either case - Physan 20 or not - I might be adding some "bio-soup" I'm creating as a culture for my reservoirs as I explain below. The idea is to get a reservoir, fill it will water, bio-balls & an air stone, SubCultures M & B, FloraNectar & FloraBlend and use this mixture as a "tea" of beneficial microbials to start off reservoirs with before the algae or other nasties can take hold. If I due use the Physan 20, adding this tea will be essential or the algae will just grow back again. If I decide to continue without the Physan 20 routing, then the question is is it better to continue with the FloraShield - which is the sterile route or swap it out for the SubCulture bacterial soup - the organic control route. The decision whether or not to run even a small dose of Physan 20 through my plant's systems for a short while - no more than a few hours - is a heavy one as Physan 20 can kill plants very easily, even at recommended doses and below. I think perhaps it is wisest now to continue letting the Hygrozyme and the FloraShield do their work as I continually remove as many browned roots by hand as I can reach.


Unit 3 Sugar Blossoms mother

The only thing "wrong" with either of the two younger units is the dropping off of lower canopy leaves and that very much appears to be due to their being out of the light - Unit 4 displays this more and it is the unit covered least, Unit 3 has a supplemental light (a Procyon 100) over it's canopy. Still, Lux readings are not bad at all - in the 100,000 - 300,000 range at the top and at the very lowest 56,000 - but those spots are small and at the very end. It will be remedied soon as Units 1 & 2 will be ready to be removed from the room & to be harvested. In light of this I'm inclined to go the way I have been unless I start to see signs of the nutrient deficiencies I saw before, which would mean the algae is now taking over and causing harm.


Unit 3 Blueberry mother blossom

On another note, the Blueberry and Sugar Blossom mothers I chose are living up to their promise - they are vigorish, full of bud sites, strong & stocky. As I've been bending and tying the plants in Units 3 and 4, due to this uneven distribution of stressors during flowering I won't be picking a definitive mother directly based on the results I get in the end. If a plant becomes monster like C99 X A11 'alpha' did, then that's a different story, but as of now, they all look either weak or fine but too alike to make a choice.

Veg Room & mother plants


Veg Room

In the veg room all mothers have been topped to 3 nodes & are bushing out wonderfully - even little C99 x BB 'echo' was topped & has survived the chop so far (thankfully - he's the one I had to re-root) Since it is just as easy for me to keep 15 mothers as it is to keep 10, I may run a few grows to determine my favorites in the strains I had not previously selected for: Blue Apollo 'bravo' & 'echo', Sugar Berry 'hotel' & 'india', and Apollo 11 'bravo', 'delta', 'echo' & 'golf', if no real standouts occur as they did in units 1 and 2.


Mother plants

Trichomes & Harvest:


All pictures are of plants from Units 1 and 2. This is at 100x magnification

It appears that the trichomes on our plants in Units 1 and 2 have turned cloudier making me think I may be harvesting those two units on schedule around day 50 as I think a few more days would be all that's needed to turn them all mostly cloudy and add the extra weight. Another indicator is the hairs have been turning red to one degree or another and recommended flowering times are helpful to guide you. All these things taken into account will steer me in the right direction, I believe.


200x magnification

I've included pictures taken at 100X magnification as this is the magnification many people use and are familiar with in the hope they'd share their insights.


200X - this is a shot of C99 X BB 'bravo' - I've heard that blueberry strains don't exactly amber but turn purplish-blue. I wonder if that's what's being seen here at the base of the trichomes

To my eye, it could go either way - they either look clear or cloudy from this vantage (100X). It is probably a combination of both - which hints to me they have at least a few days to go before getting yanked. To ensure I'm seeing cloudy trichomes for certain, I may allow a small few to go amber just to see what trichomes look like at the latest stage of cloudiness. With the exception of C99 x BB, I wish to harvest the plants when they are showing mostly clouded trichomes, the C99-Blueberry cross I think I will harvest with 25% ambering. This I will accomplish by exposing the plant to UVB lighting for anywhere between 1-4 hours, checking the effects of exposure as I go.


200x magnification

Improvements to grow:


100x magnification

I've been able to determine what improvements I'd like to make to the room for fine tuning. First off, as I'd mentioned, I would center the HPSes and make the UVB lights more easily adjustable. Secondly, I'm going to add another chiller to eliminate the need for any supplemental cooling with an air-conditioner to make the room truly sealed (and I can cut down on the cost of refilling propane tanks so often). As per a tip from Weezard & dependent on the grow results - I think I may be removing the UVB from my grow as a constant presence & only using it at the last to "ripen up" in the last few days a few hours or one hour in one go or remove it entirely as the far red in the light may be enough to ripen the plant sufficiently.


100x magnification

I'm also adding a reservoir of beneficial bacteria & mycorrhizae which will be maintained with an air-stone for oxygen & bio-balls for a livable substrate which will be used to add a few cups of it as water to start off reservoirs and for reservoir changes & toppings off to colonize the plant's roots & the reservoir itself - this is to head off the brown algae that did the damage to the grow in the first place. It will be replenished with standing water when needed.


100x magnification

I may get a RO machine with UV to use to clear the replenishing water, but I'm reluctant as they seem to use a lot of water themselves. I'm less reluctant to do so as the water I'd be putting through reverse osmosis wouldn't be for all the reservoirs, just for the little colony I'd have going. I may also, in addition to adding a portion of this water to every reservoir, run each new unit through for about a week or two to establish the beneficials on the apparatus & plants (if I chose to do so with plants. I feel this will ensure and make clogged sprayers & overgrowth unlikely. Since I have it at hand, I'd probably use SubCulture M at full strength with some FloraBlend & FloraNectar added for food and run it for a week before adding the SubCulture B at full strength. Currently I'll be running a test of this new addition to see if it takes & if the bacteria become "gummy" & how likely it will be that the mixture will possibly be a source of clogged sprayers. Alternatively, if the bio-soup I'm thinking of concocting proves to be ineffective or a hindrance to the system in some way, my second option is to install UV filters in the reservoirs.


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I'd have rather the first method work out as the UV can interfere with the chelated metals in the nutrients causing problems specifically with iron, manganese & magnesium, off the top of my head. I don't know how to deal with such problems & I haven't found any resources on the subject, so option one looks the best right now. This is to fend off further outbreaks of brown algae & other microbial enemies, I got the inspiration from a thread at IC Mag - it's stickied & if you type brown algae, you can find it. It appears the solution the posters with brown algae in their systems came up with the solution of mixing in 3 cups or so of earthworm casings tea to their reservoirs - or using UV light sanitizers, but all after a thorough cleaning of all parts of their systems with the nuclear bomb of sanitizers - Physan 20. Which I may use myself after this grow as I did have to deal with the brown algae. I'd rather not and just clean with FloraShield or bleach & try to grow with the beneficials from there, but if it comes to it I may have to break out the biggest gun of all in our horticultural cache.


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Has anybody ever had luck with cannibisseeds.com Are they for real or scams

Popping some old Sugarberry seeds tonight. Reading up on the strain. Is the OP still around?