It's been several months since I've posted anything on here or have grown anything. I had a bit of a run in at work back in May. Had an accident, got tested, failed. Fortunately I still have a job, unfortunately I am tested weekly for the time being so I'm a non-toker these days. All that however has not taken away my love of this marvelous plant, so though I cannot smoke, it's time to pick up where I left off. I normally don't grow during the summer as the environment in my basement gets too hard to control. It's way too humid, and can be way too hot with the lights on. Besides that I usually spend a lot of attention on my outside vegetable garden and various other outdoor activities. Now that the weather is cooling off, things are a bit more manageable downstairs and I decided today was a good day to start cleaning up and firing the tents back up.
Here's what I've got to start off with this season...
Last year I grew three Sour Diesel feminized seeds from Reserva Privada. One hermed really bad, the other two turned out to be real winners. One grew with coke can sized colas and yielded just shy of 3oz under a 600w HPS. The other one grew much thinner buds, but equally potent, and finished with a beautiful combination of yellow and purple buds that were among the prettiest I've ever seen. The bud from those plants was stinky and sweet, and ranks up among my favorite buds of all time. I cloned both of them, however the clone of the larger yielding plant died so its genetics were lost. I was able to maintain a clone of the purple plant.
Here is a shot of the finished product from her:

The clone I kept alive has been kept in a small pot for the majority of the summer, and given just enough attention to keep her alive. I just pruned her and transplanted her into a 3 gallon bucket, and this is what she looks like at the moment:

As these plants tended to be stretchy, my plan is to tie her back and train her a little once she has a chance to acclimate to her new pot of soil and recover from the neglect she's faced all summer. This is one I am definitely going to try to keep a clone of alive at all times. She is under a 600w HPS right now and currently on an 18/6 cycle, and she will remain in this tent for the duration of the grow. She was potted in just standard run of the mill potting soil over the summer. The new soil I put her in is my own home made compost made of grass and leaf clippings and kitchen scraps that has been composting all summer long. I've never used this with cannabis before, but I figured I'd experiment a bit to see how it turns out. This mix will probably be rich enough to supply her for the rest of the veg phase, and once she goes into flowering she will be getting Tiger Bloom with a weekly misting of a Nirvana mixture I used successfully during my last grow.
Now, onto my plants from seed. I've got 2 Berry Ryder seeds remaining from my purchase last year. The two I grew last year were in a hydro setup, these will be in soil. I ran into some serious problems towards the end of that grow and have decided I will stay away from hydro for a while. I also decided to pop another Reserva Privada Sour Diesel seed and see how this one turns out... I'm hoping for another huge producer like the one I lost, but I'll be happy if she's just anywhere near the same potency of the last two! I've also got a set of hybrids which I made last growing season that I've been dying to try out. I got a few Malawi Gold seeds free the last time I purchased seeds. I planted two of them at the time, one turned out male, the other female. I kept the male separated and used his pollen to make crosses with every plant I had at the time. I decided to grow two plants of two of the varieties I made. The first cross was between the male Malawi and the large producing Sour Diesel. I only managed to get a few seeds out of that bud, so I'm hoping for a female in this mix. The female Malawi was a very large producer, but a bitch to trim with some very airy buds. I'm hoping that if I get a female it will have a nice mix of the large dense Sour Diesel buds, with a slightly less couchy high like the Malawi. But who knows right? The other cross I made comes from an accidental cross a friend made before. I received a clone from him of what we figured out to be a cross of a feminized Critical Jack that hermed and pollinated a feminized Exodus Cheese. It made for some good bud, but very thin buds, with a very couchy effect. I crossed the Male Malawi with this plant, and two of the seeds I'm growing are from that batch.
All of the plants from seed are going to be grown in Ocean Forest soil. They are currently in my small metal cabinet grow box under an apparatus made of 10 clamp lamps using CFL bulbs. As they mature they will be moved into a 4x4 tent with a 400w HPS and then over to the 600w tent for flowering. Here is their home for the moment:
I'll try my best to keep this grow updated weekly. I'm on an overtime schedule at the moment, and I'm also training for a marathon, and living out in the country there's always a lot to take care of as the winter rolls in. Because of my current situation at work, I unfortunately won't get to sample any of the fruits of my labor anytime soon after they are grown. I gave most of my last harvest away to my friends (yeah, I don't sell anything... I guess its good to have me as a friend!) I've already let a few buds know what I'm doing, and we'll be having a tasting session after everything is complete so I can let you guys know what other people think. It's going to be hard to put all the work into this, smell it every day, be so close to it, and not be able to taste it. But in truth, I love gardening, I love trying new things, new methods, etc. I've always wanted to cross strains over and over again until I make something unique, something beautiful, something... just perfect. I'm hoping that this could be the start of that journey.
Here's what I've got to start off with this season...
Last year I grew three Sour Diesel feminized seeds from Reserva Privada. One hermed really bad, the other two turned out to be real winners. One grew with coke can sized colas and yielded just shy of 3oz under a 600w HPS. The other one grew much thinner buds, but equally potent, and finished with a beautiful combination of yellow and purple buds that were among the prettiest I've ever seen. The bud from those plants was stinky and sweet, and ranks up among my favorite buds of all time. I cloned both of them, however the clone of the larger yielding plant died so its genetics were lost. I was able to maintain a clone of the purple plant.
Here is a shot of the finished product from her:

The clone I kept alive has been kept in a small pot for the majority of the summer, and given just enough attention to keep her alive. I just pruned her and transplanted her into a 3 gallon bucket, and this is what she looks like at the moment:

As these plants tended to be stretchy, my plan is to tie her back and train her a little once she has a chance to acclimate to her new pot of soil and recover from the neglect she's faced all summer. This is one I am definitely going to try to keep a clone of alive at all times. She is under a 600w HPS right now and currently on an 18/6 cycle, and she will remain in this tent for the duration of the grow. She was potted in just standard run of the mill potting soil over the summer. The new soil I put her in is my own home made compost made of grass and leaf clippings and kitchen scraps that has been composting all summer long. I've never used this with cannabis before, but I figured I'd experiment a bit to see how it turns out. This mix will probably be rich enough to supply her for the rest of the veg phase, and once she goes into flowering she will be getting Tiger Bloom with a weekly misting of a Nirvana mixture I used successfully during my last grow.
Now, onto my plants from seed. I've got 2 Berry Ryder seeds remaining from my purchase last year. The two I grew last year were in a hydro setup, these will be in soil. I ran into some serious problems towards the end of that grow and have decided I will stay away from hydro for a while. I also decided to pop another Reserva Privada Sour Diesel seed and see how this one turns out... I'm hoping for another huge producer like the one I lost, but I'll be happy if she's just anywhere near the same potency of the last two! I've also got a set of hybrids which I made last growing season that I've been dying to try out. I got a few Malawi Gold seeds free the last time I purchased seeds. I planted two of them at the time, one turned out male, the other female. I kept the male separated and used his pollen to make crosses with every plant I had at the time. I decided to grow two plants of two of the varieties I made. The first cross was between the male Malawi and the large producing Sour Diesel. I only managed to get a few seeds out of that bud, so I'm hoping for a female in this mix. The female Malawi was a very large producer, but a bitch to trim with some very airy buds. I'm hoping that if I get a female it will have a nice mix of the large dense Sour Diesel buds, with a slightly less couchy high like the Malawi. But who knows right? The other cross I made comes from an accidental cross a friend made before. I received a clone from him of what we figured out to be a cross of a feminized Critical Jack that hermed and pollinated a feminized Exodus Cheese. It made for some good bud, but very thin buds, with a very couchy effect. I crossed the Male Malawi with this plant, and two of the seeds I'm growing are from that batch.
All of the plants from seed are going to be grown in Ocean Forest soil. They are currently in my small metal cabinet grow box under an apparatus made of 10 clamp lamps using CFL bulbs. As they mature they will be moved into a 4x4 tent with a 400w HPS and then over to the 600w tent for flowering. Here is their home for the moment:

I'll try my best to keep this grow updated weekly. I'm on an overtime schedule at the moment, and I'm also training for a marathon, and living out in the country there's always a lot to take care of as the winter rolls in. Because of my current situation at work, I unfortunately won't get to sample any of the fruits of my labor anytime soon after they are grown. I gave most of my last harvest away to my friends (yeah, I don't sell anything... I guess its good to have me as a friend!) I've already let a few buds know what I'm doing, and we'll be having a tasting session after everything is complete so I can let you guys know what other people think. It's going to be hard to put all the work into this, smell it every day, be so close to it, and not be able to taste it. But in truth, I love gardening, I love trying new things, new methods, etc. I've always wanted to cross strains over and over again until I make something unique, something beautiful, something... just perfect. I'm hoping that this could be the start of that journey.