12/12 From Seed Experiment - 21 Strains

Pepe le skunk said:

Hello Hot,
You asked for a review of things that can change and the first is replant into larger containers for the growth that will happen in flower.
Most important to have a big root potential. As for the pruning the plants at this height should not stretch much more an will be heavy into bud production the next few weeks. Don't believe you need to cut anything off except a few very bottom branches that would rob the main colas of there food and weight. Actualy looking good from what I see.
Just repot them so they can have more root room.

If you get 3 gallon or 5 gallon grow bags or cloth pots like geopots or airpots you'll get a bigger yield. Especially if you lift the bottoms with something like a milk crate to get air under them and closer to the light. (just use bigger then what you are in now.^) You can add some distance between the tops and the light. Another 6 inches. Will keep them from burning. Actually that table top would be fine and allow you to fit them all on in square grow bags with more soil. You can use bamboo or something to keep them from falling off the table. Like a fence all the way around in case you bump the table.

If organic never mind this section.
If you don't own a TDS meter or PPm meter they help you to see the nutrient levels in your water mix. In the mean time hit them with lots of nutes over the next few weeks of bud. I shot for 900 to 1400 tds in flower. Also use cal mag. Last 4 weeks molasses is good to add to the mix for taste and smell. Always add the molasses to a little water and mix with a spoon before adding to the nut mix.
Will pop back in to see how they are doing.
Hope that helps.

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Thanks for taking the time to reply...appreciate it. I'm afraid I can't repot...a big part of this experiment has to do my container selection.
I've been working on the room and will have another update soon. I had a scare yesterday...power went out for about 90 minutes so my odor control was shut down. Very scary. I've since gotten a 900 Watt UPS to serve as short term battery backup for the filter and fans.

Regarding defoliation...thanks for the tip. I guess I'll just try and use my best judgement.

Day 40 Update - Day 15 Flower

It's been a few days since I posted an update. Been busy with other stuff. The stretch seems to be about finished and I have to say that I am very disappointed thus far. I'm hoping someone can take a look at the single plant photo below and give me some ideas on why it stretched so much. The plant that I picked out to photograph is a Bomb Seeds Bubble Bomb in a 3" pot and represents the best *average* looking plant as far as node spacing, total height and stage of flowering goes. Some are a little further along and some are behind. Nearly every strain looks like this. Tall...minimal branching (which is good), but with large gaps between nodes. So I have to rule out strains as the cause for the large node gaps. Is it the container shape being very tall but very narrow? Could it be the fact the plants were packed into such a small space...16 per sq/ft for the 3" pots and 9 per sq/ft for the 4" pots? I don't think lack of light intensity could possibly be the reason.

One final question:
In the 3rd picture below, we have the *top* which is about 1.5" tall and then the node below it which is about 1.5" down. Will the top continue to grow length wise or is what I see what I'm going to get? (Obviously it will fatten but I'm talking about height of the top cola). Do you think the node directly under the top will actually grow up to become part of the top cola?

Other than my disappointment in the stretch, things are going great. Very stinky. A few of the tops of the plants are already producing visible trich's which is cool. Plants appear to be very healthy with no noticeable deficiencies. Even the very 1st set of leaves way down at the bottom are still nice and green. Not one leaf has died or fallen off of any plant...none have even yellowed.

I hear you about the stretch. I had a couple of tops that I thought would not stop.

Sweet looking early buddage for sure.

Many thanx for the update.

Peace and Great Grows

Asmallvoice

When growing in small containers the plants get restricted from growing to their potential and some will stretch like that to get to light. IMHO your not getting the best representations of your strains cus they're forced to flower as a small plant and their roots are only given so much space.

I think what you should've done was grow a few strains in 2-3 gal pots so you could see how they perform as a bigger plant then decide or go through some more strains testing them this way. But looks good tho just gonna be hard to find an ideal plant to grow 12/12 from seed in a small pot

I see your point and you're right.

I'm already planning for the 2nd chapter in this experiment so stay tuned guys

Some of my ladies for my 12-12 outdoor stayed super short. I would have liked to see some stretch in them similar to yours.

Sweet looking plants! (yup, a bit lankie, but that may change!) I'd say that your high plant density is one big reason for the stretch. I do be believe that the stretch will be a bit less pronounced if you get more intra canopy-light. Either by lowering the plant density, or by letting small 5000k household bulbs hang between the plants. It's also possible that the plants sense in other ways that they are in a crowded situation were they need to compete.. (touching, or possibly through other receptors, similar to smelling. This do sound a bit crazy i know...) So right know you have to decide if you like to weed out some weed, or let them live in this crowded condition. My 50 cents are that you will get a better yield by killing a few darlings..

Thanks guys for the input...I really appreciate it.

Since I started this experiment, I have continued to purchase seeds. The next step in the evolution of this experiment is to create a large seed stock as buying seeds is certainly cost prohibitive. I spent around $800 just on seeds for this 1st experiment!

I would love your feedback and advice as I have only done a grow for seed one time and it was a single strain inter-breed.

Mosca Seeds Cinderella 99 BX-1
10 Regular Seeds

Bodhi Seeds Blue Tara
11 Regular Seeds

Nirvana Seeds AK 48
10 Regular Seeds

G13 Labs Seeds Pineapple Express
5 Feminized Seeds

Out of this grouping, any suggestions on which strain the male should come from? I'm too inexperienced to attempt to keep more than 1 male from multiple strains so I'm keeping it simple.
I want to use the selected male to interbreed with the best 1 or 2 females and then to also pollinate the best 1 or 2 from the other strains. When I say *best*, all I will be able to go in is appearance, smell and growth pattern. Figure at about 4 weeks into flower is when I'll pollinate.

Holy shit that's a lot of money on seeds

i just ordered some more myself AK48 as i am hoping to get a male in the pack so i can pollinate some girls so i don't need to buy seeds anymore i enjoy growing from seeds yes it takes more time them cloning but the growth i find is better and you can train them easier

still looking awesome bro cant wait to see some huge buds of them girls

Thanks DN. I sure hope the tops grow into cola's. In many respects this experiment has already failed but I'm going to see it thru anyway. The next round will attempt to isolate where the problem was: Either pot selection or plant spacing. I suspect that Five is spot on and the cause was plant spacing but I need to confirm. That said, I plan on using fewer plants during the breeding phrase. I will use the 4" pots again but I will introduce the 5" pots this time and not use the 3" pots. The 5" pots have a capacity of just over 5 Liters. As they enter the stretch, I will space them much further apart. This should isolate and reveal the cause of the stretch and node spacing (hopefully).

Bro we all learn from our mistakes but they will still get some nice colas i think limiting the amount to 10 keep 10 in veg 10 in flower and double pot size will still take up same space but be less hard work with the watering

i don't know but what ever you do should you will make it work maybe topping 1 or 2 times so they are short with more tops anyway bro keep it green

Ultimately I'm searching for the most efficient way to grow without sacrificing quality.
Grams per Watt per year and grams per kilowatt hour are my two measuring sticks.

I'm sure there are a million opinions on this and that's fine....lol

It may take me a few years. It may take me 10 years. I may never find it. Maybe there is no such thing as a most efficient way.

So my tentative harvest date is going to be November 19. That will mark 60 days from the first pistol. I am going to try and time things so I can start the next round such that they are just about to start the stretch when the 1st round finishes. I estimate October 19.

I've decided I'm going to start a new round on October 19...2 short weeks away.
(3) Mosca Seeds Cinderella 99 BX-1
(3) Bodhi Seeds Blue Tara
(3) Nirvana Seeds AK 48
(3) G13 Labs Seeds Pineapple Express (FEMINIZED)

Out of these, I will choose a single male. It could come from the C99, Blue Tara or AK 48...I won't know until they sex and I pick.
I will use this one male to pollinate the entire group. I will also be taking the opportunity to test the theories mentioned in the previous few threads.

Can't wait!!

Hot Diggity Sog said:

It may take me a few years. It may take me 10 years. I may never find it. Maybe there is no such thing as a most efficient way.

So my tentative harvest date is going to be November 19. That will mark 60 days from the first pistol. I am going to try and time things so I can start the next round such that they are just about to start the stretch when the 1st round finishes. I estimate October 19.

I've decided I'm going to start a new round on October 19...2 short weeks away.
(3) Mosca Seeds Cinderella 99 BX-1
(3) Bodhi Seeds Blue Tara
(3) Nirvana Seeds AK 48
(3) G13 Labs Seeds Pineapple Express (FEMINIZED)

Out of these, I will choose a single male. It could come from the C99, Blue Tara or AK 48...I won't know until they sex and I pick.
I will use this one male to pollinate the entire group. I will also be taking the opportunity to test the theories mentioned in the previous few threads.

Can't wait!!

Click to expand...

Choose the Bodhi Blue Tara male. That's where the fire is gonna be with Bodhi.

ok...will do. I'll plant a few more (4 or 5) of those then to ensure I get a male and hopefully at least one good female. Or I suppose I could plant all 10 and keep the best 2 females. Oh the decisions we have to make!! haha

Day 45 Update - Day 20 Flower

So after being very disappointed with the experiment on my last update, I am starting to feel a little bit better about it. The tops are continuing to grow with alternating nodes and it looks like I will end up with some modest colas.

The two Critical Jack Herer - Critical Mass x Jack Herer plants are not only the tallest and most stretched plants but they are also the slowest to get into full flower swing. I really don't want to remove these two but if they continue to get taller I will have to.

I'm posting a picture of the canopy from inside the tent...it's HPS so sorry!
Picture #2 - Barneys Farm Seeds Critical Kush - Critical Mass x OG Kush
Picture #3 and #4: KC Brains Northern Lights Special

Thus far there is absolutely no difference in plants potted in 3" pots vs plants potted in 4" pots.

Going to do some defoliating this weekend. Will post before and after's.
A big flush tonight and then starting on Week #4 nute schedule @50% strength.

Everything looks good. Don't feel bad bro your key words are "experiment" so your bound to see things you don't like and whatno. Try to finish everything you got but if those few that still stretching grows too tall then do what you gotta do but now you know those aren't the ideal strains for what your trying to do. Still great work bro

akhiymjames said:

Everything looks good. Don't feel bad bro your key words are "experiment" so your bound to see things you don't like and whatno. Try to finish everything you got but if those few that still stretching grows too tall then do what you gotta do but now you know those aren't the ideal strains for what your trying to do. Still great work bro

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Yep, yep...thanks and will do. One of the Critical Jack Herer's is right in front in the HPS picture. Notice how it is barely in flower? Based on how the others grew, it appears to be like on day 4 of flowering. So I'm inclined to just get rid of those 2.