Chocolate Thai F4/NL#2/Meig's OG/Race Fuel/Tuna Kush

Update:

The Tuna Kush X Hindu Kush turned out to be a male, so I pulled it. Now, I am down to three plants. The good news is that the Meig's OG and the Chocolate Thai F4 are females for sure. I have strong feeling the Northern Lights #2 is a female, too, but the next few days will confirm that (or not) for certain.

The Chocolate Thai is not stretching much....which kind of surprises me. I was expecting a big stretch. Oh well. I'm not really looking for yield as much as searching for those lost flavors.

Update:

I see the first pre-flowers appearing on the NL #2 and they are female. I think this may be my favorite looking plant at the moment.

I was disappointed to have to cull the Tuna Kush X Hindu Kush cross, yesterday, when it was definitely confirmed to be a male. I will try it again on the next run.

I'm not sure what to think of this Chocolate Thai F4 so far. I was expecting it to be a tall, stretchy plant the way most landrace Thai Sativa is....but it's looking like it will be short and bushy....This may be an indication that the genetics are not really landrace Thai Sativa. There's still plenty of time for it to start changing its expression, but I get the feeling it's not going to be much of a producer. I just hope it ends up with a delicious smell and flavor.

Update:


Here are some late pics of the preflowers...

Northern Lights #2






Here is the Chocolate Thai F4)...





And the Meig's OG (Meig's County Gold X Ancient OG)...

Update:

Here's a group picture...Northern Lights #2 (in the back) is the largest

Meig's OG (left) has come from shortest plant into 2nd place

And the Chocolate Thai F4on the right

Update:

The Chocolate Thai F4 is finally displaying its Sativa traits now. It's a small plant, though. I thought it was going to be the tallest.

Update:

Here is the Meig's OG. Was the shortest in veg and now is the tallest! Buds are forming in knobs along very thick stalks. I have no idea what to expect from this one, but it looks interesting.

Update:

Here is the NL #2. It's been the lightest green color all along. Buds are starting to stack a bit.

Update:

Today is the completion of week #4 of flower. I'm expecting (up to) 14 weeks (total) for the Chocolate Thai F4...but we shall see!

Here is an interesting10-blade leaf (lower) as well as a leaf that started to split into two leaf tips (just to the right of center on the leaf coming right at you -kinda hard to see) on the Northern Lights #2. I should mention that this plant displayed a few twisted leaves from the very start. Even when it germinated, it spun back down into the soil and then curled back up. So, there is a twist at the base of the stalk! It's a twisted cultivar!

Update:

Just watered and decided to take a group pic. Chocolate Thai F4 is front, The Meig's OG is in the back, and one cola on the NL#2 is on the right and stacking nicely! This coming Tuesday will be the completion of week #5.

Update:

Chocolate Thai F4 @ the beginning of week #7

The smell is just....I dunno...light and fresh?...nothing distinct....yet. This one might go for a long time.

Update continued:

Meig's Og

Update continued:

Northern Lights #2

Update:

I decided to chop the Meig's OG -probably tomorrow morning. All the calyxes are swollen....hairs receded...scoped the trichomes and saw mostly milky with some amber....and a few clear. Overall, the plant is telling me it's done. It looks done. I don't think I've ever had a plant finish and ripen this early....53 days as of tomorrow. Most of the strains I've been growing, I've taken a lot longer, so it's hard for me to come to grips with this one! My natural inclination is to let her go longer, but....she's done....DONE I TELL YOU!! Pics to come...

The Chocolate Thai and the Northern Lights #2 are still chunking along....I'd say 2 more weeks for the NL#2 and maybe 3-4 more weeks for the Thai....but, we shall see. This HPS light run has certainly reawakened me to the real power of HID light.

Update:

There is NO doubt in my mind and in my experience that HPS light is THE preferred light for flowering a small hobby size grow. I know they are impractical by today's efficiency standards, but....well...the plants love HPS.

For one thing, every time I grew with LEDs, it seemed to take forever for trichomes to become milky. In fact, many times, they stayed clear and then went directly to amber. But, under the HPS light, it's pretty much ALL milk all the way down to the larf buds!

I don't think the plants like HPS as much vegetatively speaking. I think LED (or pretty much any light) will do fine for vegging. But I'm now sold on HPS for flower.

This is specifically referring to my experience using an older style UNSHIELDED HPS conversion bulb. I think it's important to note because I think HID lights that have a glass safety lens are blocking a lot of the beneficial aspects of the HPS spectrum.

I know it's not for everybody. If I was a commercial grower, or a bigger time hobbyist, then I'd be all about LEDs and saving money on the electrical bill....

...Having said that, I used my MH bulb (same ballast/hood) for veg. and I used the Gas Lantern schedule, which allowed me to cut back the "on" hours from 18 hours down to 13 hours -which in and of itself, made up for a big part of the discrepancy between the efficiency of using LED. I've used the Gas Lantern schedule many times and it works perfectly.

One thing that is bad about HPS light is that it's horrible for taking pictures! heheh

Here is the Choc Thai and the NL#2....

Update:

After a 12-day hang dry in the Gorilla Shorty, the Meig's OG is trimmed and in a 1-ounce Grove bag. That's right...ONE ounce! wow....cough...really not meaning to brag! heh heh The plant did not yield much, but I wasn't really using any yield-increasing growing techniques. I just topped each plant one time. I didn't want to end up with a bunch of mediocre smoke like I got last time with my Archive Chemdozer run -beautiful looking, vigorous plants, nice dense bud structure....but just not the right flav.

Anyway, the Meig's OG has a very interesting smell...reminds me a bit of Bailey's Irish Cream liqueur. I'll probably wish I'd grown more of it if that smell transfers to the smoke. It came as a freebie, anyway, so it's all good.

The Chocolate Thai F4 and the NL #2 are coming along. I think another week for the NL#2. The Thai....maybe 1-2 weeks more.

Update pix:

Chocolate Thai F4

Update pix:

NL#2

The plants are telling me it's almost time. I'm not going to push it too far time. The smells are delicious...can't describe....The Northern Lights kinda reminds me of Maui Wowie -kinda fruity. The Thai....still can't describe it.

Trichomes are milky a few clear...not many amber...but smells are very strong.

Update:

I went ahead and chopped both remaining plants. They scoped out to be milky. I saw a few amber on the NL#2's upper buds....milk below. They smelled nice. I just felt it was time. I guess I might have let them go longer but I think they will be fine.

So, now they are hanging in the drying tent at ~60% and 60F. I'll give them a couple weeks and then trim them up and into the Grove bags for a couple months.

In the meantime, I will set up my plates and run some flower rosin with last year's Chemdozer overrun. Hopefully, the rosin won't taste like Vick's Vapor Rub the way the flowers do! Anyway....It was an interesting and educational grow as always and I'mlooking forward to some tasty results!