SCCA Grow Journal

looking real good there SCCA! seems like a good yield and some very purple chron! i like the before and after shots of the Granddaddy grapes, should be some beast in a few weeks. hope the cheaper medium for the clones works out for you. i use rockwool and its not very expensive.

We did the final weigh in of the blackberry yesterday. a little over a pound total, with some scrap and popcorn buds left over. still waiting on a full cure before a smoke report. the buds are beautiful, the intense purple color is awesome. it looks almost black under anything but sunlight.

the GdG that are in mid flower are already covered in crystals at week 4. we didn't use Great White on the test plants so the crystal content on this run is a great bonus. we transplanted the 4 GdG for the next run into 7g pots. i noticed they were starting to look a bit deficient, i checked the runoff from 7.0 water, it was 5.0! YIKES! after a very thorough flush the pH was back in line. runoff is now 6.0ish. im going to keep an eye on it for a while. they are going to get retied and a routine spray with azamax today then get put into the flower room in the next few days.

our cuttings arent showing any roots yet, but thats normal. i expect by the end of next week they should be going into pots. a few of the BD cuts in the test soil have died but we still have 95% that look healthy. all the GdG, both in the peat plugs and in the soil, are looking perfect. we root pruned the moms today and trimmed them up a bit, they should be ready for more cuttings in about 2 weeks.

the sunset moms were getting too big so we donated them to a friend. they are going to be put in a bloom room for a few weeks then put outdoors to finish. iv never done this before, but my friend read about it on some forum and wants to test it, so i figured what the hell. the idea is that after a plant is fully flowering (week 4ish), natural light cycles wont cause it to revert before it finishes.

i have 2 sunset females in 1g pots, but i have no idea which plants they came from. i have labeled them 1 and 2. i topped and supercropped them the other day. i threw some cuttings into a test bubble cloner made out of butter tubs. if i get good results with this simple setup i might make a larger version. i like the simplicity and low cost of these systems but iv never tried one before. the two girls in 1g will probably go outside in a few weeks.

i was hoping to have some pictures of our outdoor garden by now but the rain has delayed that. i am going to start a few seeds today and our cuttings for outdoor are vegging and rooting. we are going to plant two GdG in large holes and train them to be short and wide. i going tri to keep them 5‘ tall and about 7‘ wide. we are hoping for 2lbs each from the big girls. we are going to grow 4 more GdG in 15g pots, these are going to be 5‘ tall with the pot and about 3‘ wide. im hoping for 1/2 to 3/4 lb from each of these. we are going to sprout the 2 Afgooey hybrid, 4 Goofy Grape x Blue dot (old version), 2 So Cal Sativa, and 2 of the seeds from Oregon. We may sprout a few more seeds to be donated later in the season. that way we get the females we need and people in need get free plants.

i trimmed up the GdG before transplanting. there was a bunch of useless inner growth.



these babies should swell up in the next couple weeks




the room looks empty, we need to get those plants moved!




These are the two sunset we still have, and the bubble cloner test.




On a side note, this pretty little girl wandered by while it was pouring the other day. she was soaked to the bone and very cold. we got her dry and warm and fed her. i took her around to the neighbors, nobody knew where she lived. we took her to the vet and had her scanned. she didnt have an RFID chip, so we put up signs and left our number with he pound. after 4 days nobody has called, so it looks like she will be moving in. she looks like a lab and pit cross, she is incredibly sweet and already knows a few basic commands. she had to belong to someone but they dont seem to be looking for her. the guy at animal control said that this is a common area for people to abandon animals. neither ogre or i need a dog but she will be nice to have around.

beautiful root structure on those GDG! i was somewhat against the idea of a transplant for those size plants but that root system could definetely use some more room and would probably benefit from it. ive seen some great grows in small pots but that root system was great for such a large pot! cant wait to see how well they do in flower. looks like a cute puppt there as well, sucks people abandon dogs or loose them and find it a lost cause.

thanks littlegrower! i get much better bud from a large root system than a small one. a little clone thrown into flower will do fine in a 1g, but if i put the same clone in a 4" and let it root then drop it into a 2g and flower i get a bigger stronger bud without much difference in plant size and less than a week of extra veg. i dont feel a root bound plant has the same ability to uptake nutrients that plant in a larger pot does. i like to let the plant get well rooted then transplant into a pot about twice the size.

SCCA said:

thanks littlegrower! i get much better bud from a large root system than a small one. a little clone thrown into flower will do fine in a 1g, but if i put the same clone in a 4" and let it root then drop it into a 2g and flower i get a bigger stronger bud without much difference in plant size and less than a week of extra veg. i dont feel a root bound plant has the same ability to uptake nutrients that plant in a larger pot does. i like to let the plant get well rooted then transplant into a pot about twice the size.

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yeah i can tell that your a major advocate for repotting haha! ill have to try some larger pots after a decent veg one time and see the comparable results. i like the idea of more bud but i also like more pots which also equals more bud. a root system is the plants heart basically so if thats big its going to be able to pump some major juice upwards versus a small root system. though ive seen some crazy bud grown outdoor in some very small pots!

i have seen some crazy results from seemingly small pots outdoors, too. most of the time my out door pots grow roots right out the drain holes and into the ground. i had one plant grow so many roots it wouldn't drain properly. i had to cut the pot away and bury the root ball with bags of soil to save it. got over 4 lbs off that baby.

SCCA said:

i have seen some crazy results from seemingly small pots outdoors, too. most of the time my out door pots grow roots right out the drain holes and into the ground. i had one plant grow so many roots it wouldn't drain properly. i had to cut the pot away and bury the root ball with bags of soil to save it. got over 4 lbs off that baby.

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holy shit! 4 lbs off a single plant! thats fucking dankkk! ive got my skywalker that grew roots out the bottom of the holes after transplant in less than a week.

4 lbs isn't that hard to achieve if you plant a large plant in fertile soil. my largest was 7 lbs from a purple kush that was 4' tall and 3' wide when i planted it. that same year my friend got 10 lbs off a slightly larger plant of the same strain. the next year there was a bunch of fires in nor cal, i only got 2 lb of fluffy bud from the same strain and same size plant.

damn i need to get some real property up north and get some of those bushes growing! its in my future so one day haha! cant wait to see your garden this year.

12 of the GdG cuttings that were in the peat plugs were showing roots and ogre transplanted them into 1g pots yesterday. we went to the hydro store and all they had was happy frog so we got a bag, i haven't used it for a while but they should be fine until they grow into the 1g. we should see roots on the rest of the peat plug cuts this week. no roots are coming out of the bottom of the cells in the test trays yet, but they are still green and healthy. we have only lost 2 or 3 more, good rate so far.

we moved the 4 large GdG into flower today, the ones that are in mid flower have 3.5 weeks left. that give the cuttings that just rooted time to grow and be trained before being put into bloom. the outdoor garden has had to be pushed back a few weeks due to financing problems and scheduling issues. we hope to plant by the 7th of june. that will give us a decent growing season, we just need to plant a few more buckets. our new plan is for 12 plants in 15g pots, hoping for 1/2 lb each. most will be the GdG cut, but im also going to get a nice Blue Cheese cut from a friend and maybe put one Black Domina out. i want to test a couple of the sunset plants i have outdoors too. i will probably plant a rooted cutting in a 5g about the time we plant the rest of the garden.

the Blackberry is well cured and smokes wonderfully. it has a sweet, rich, almost leathery, sativa smell when broken up. the jar smell is a bit earthy. the smoke is very smooth, with a slightly sweet flavor of thyme and berries. the nugs are very resinous and leave a sticky spot on the table when i roll a joint. It has a nice relaxing high that leaves a huge grin on my face, great for after work. it gives a slight couch lock, but a large joint doesn't make me sleepy.

as i look at the buds after they have dried, i've decided that some of the fluffiness of the colas is because the flower room got a bit too hot during our false spring a few weeks ago. it never got over 83*F and never for very long. average was 77*-79* with lights on. but the buds definitely show signs of stretching due to heat stress. we are going to get an ac in the next couple weeks. i priced out a 15,000 btu window unit at Home Depot for $400. its about 50% more than what we should need to cool the room but it can get really hot here so the extra cooling capacity is a must.

its a little frustrating that i cant find the soil i want when i go to the hydro store. i think i may have found a solution while at the landscape supply today. they are selling a soilless mix that they make for a local nursery for $4/cu.ft. or $29/yd. its a mix of 60% 5/16 lava fines, 30% nitrolized sawdust, 10% Ligna Peat (super well ground bark fines). per yard they add 1 1/2 lbs urea formaldehyde (usually 38-0-0 slow release), 2 1/2 lbs dolomite lime, 1 lb triple super phosphate (0-45-0), 5 lbs oyster shell, and 1 lb iron sulfate. this is intended for outdoor containers in a nursery. im going to pick up a couple bags and do a few test plants to see how it does. for indoor i plant to cut it with varying amounts coco up to 50%, i figure about a 70/30 mix will be what i want. im concerned that it may be a little rich but for the price its worth a try. i get 1.5 cu.ft. bags of roots soil or coco (cant remember the brand) for $12/bag. thats $216/yd. if i mix in 1/3 coco per yard (9 cu.ft./yd) thats about $77/yd. if i want to buy 5 yards at a time the place will even make a custom mix for me, but cost would be based on materials.

sounds like a good deal on the soil especially if it works well. i have a buddy that prefers happy frog to ocean forest since it doesnt seem to waste as much water during his watering time. i have also noticed the same thing, ocean forest doesnt seem to hold on to water very well compared to other companies and mixes. sucks to hear about the outdoor plans being changed but im sure you will still do well and get a good yield that will hold you over and give your patients the meds they need. i really enjoyed that smoke report for the blackberry! very surprised it doesnt put you to sleep after a fatty since i thought it was a majority indica. i didnt know that temps in the low 80s was able to cause stretching as you mentioned but it doesnt seem to far fetched since a lot can stress a plant and make it do different things. once summer comes around youll be real glad that you got the A/C unit cause we aint seen shit for warm weather yet. will the A/C be exhausting directly into the grow area or will it be vented in? i have one but i have ducting from it to my grow and was wondering an easy, hasslefree way to direct more of it and better. not super necessary right now as ive had a high of 81 for the last two weeks and avg is low 70s. summertime gets me up to like 86ish. cant wait to see those big girls in flower!

i think the stretching was more due to that specific plant not not liking the heat as much. i thought Blackberry was a more indica strain too but the guy i got the clones from said that i was an 11 week strain. i think that this was a cut of the Sativa Seed Bank Blackberry. looks exactly like the pictures ive seen online. i was not happy with this cut at all, it needed another week to truly finish and it hermied on us at 10 weeks. im sort of inclined to think its genetic, our room is pretty stable during winter and spring. we didn't train these other than topping once and clearing out the lower growth for ventilation. it could be environmental, but a strain thats that sensitive isn't something we want any way. regrettably, i have found 2 severely immature seeds in the bud we have smoked so far. probably an ounce and and a half total. no one else other than me has found a seed but im still worried.

looking back at the recent shots of the GdG in mid flower, i think i see some brown pistils that are the tell tale signs of seeded buds. i really hope this next crop is ok, seeded bud is not very popular around here. if it is seeded, i may have to process it into hash or butter and sell it that way. on the bright side a cross of the GdG and the Blackberry would probably be some pretty sweet stuff. they would be feminized and if i cut them at 9 weeks like the GdG i shouldn't have any hermie problems. Hmmm.... might be doing an indoor run from seed in the fall. hell i might even plant a couple outdoors this year.

the ac will be a window unit mounted right into the wall. we are going to have to cut a hole and frame it in. it will operate as if it were in a window and blow cool air toward our oscillating fans and the plants. i hope by mid summer to get another ducted hood and new bulbs for the flower room then we will be able to enclose our lamps and keep the room cooler. we also will need to get a can filter and new inline fan to help with air exchange. we might be converting our 600w HPS veg light to a MH in the next couple weeks. when we do ill post a tutorial. its really simple with a magnetic ballast, if you buy a few extra parts you can make it switchable.

you are lucky with your summer temps,littlegrower. ogre was telling me the other day how their first few runs in this room under a 1000w HPS had temps regularly in the 100's. they were even running the light at night to try to keep the heat down.

ya 11 weeks is not a heavy duty indica and may be more of a hybrid at 50/50 if not more sativa. how bad did it hermy? did it produce balls or just some bananas threw the buds? i know that it is in alot of genetics for plants to have a last ditch effort to continue the lineage and produce bananas to hope they pollenate some close pistils but that shouldnt happen unless the plant has passed it peak of ripeness which in the blackberry case should be after the 11th week. it would suck for just a few seeds to ruin your whole harvest and cause you to make hash or butter. i dont think seeded bud is very popular anywhere except mexico haha but i dont think a few premies should be looked to harshly on if people understand growing. going to be some major work on that A/C unit it sounds like but will be well worth the effort to have a control environment. aircooled hoods are crucial for keeping in heat and keeping smaller areas cool. will be pretty neat to see how you go about converting the ballast to make it switchable. i have definetely had to work on my area to get the temps to where they are and my 440HO canfan is now a bit strong and doesnt allow the A/C to cool the room as much when it is on since the air is being exhausted so quick. i also run my light at night and during the summer i have to run the A/C quite a bit so my temps dont get hot in the plants night time since my house gets to nearly 100!

im pretty sure this Blackberry, especially this pheno, is very sativa dominant. they only threw out naners at the ends of the buds, and only on a few. if there are only a few seeds in the next GdG harvest, we will be fine. but if its heavily seeded, then i cant sell it. Ogre is going to send me some pictures today so i can see if any of the calyxes look preggers.

after talking to a buddy that grows the same GdG cut we have, and doing a bit of googling, we have decided to cut the GdG at 8 weeks. i harvested the test plants at 9 weeks and i noticed that even though they smelled and smoked great they werent as grapey in the jar as samples i tried from my friend a week or so later. i thought maybe it was just the cure, but i didnt have enough to let it go for a month or more. i happened to mention this to my friend today, and he told me he cuts his at 55 to 59 days (takes him 4 days to trim). his buds smell great in the jar and are just as potent as mine were. we both dry and cure the same way and at pretty much the same rate, so it has to be the harvest time.

after deciding this i looked back at my journal to double check my harvest time, well it turns out we are 2 weeks ahead of where i thought we were. and tomorrow is the end of week 8. i dont know how i fucked that one up so bad...

luckily today was the day ogre was going to fertilize them, and it has been about 4 days since their last water with plain water. i think im goin to skip our traditional soil flush since they have only gotten water for the last week anyway. if they had been fed last watering we would have had to flush and wait a day or two.

ogre sent me a few pics and the trichs are definitely cloudy and only a little amber. they still have some white hairs on them but the trichs look good. i would normally let them go untill they were a little more amber but im gonna trust mu friend on this one. hes been growing this strain a lot longer than me.

sounds good to me there SCCA! lets see the harvest pics when you get around to it! not sure that trimming them any earlier will cause a different smell to be experienced but its well worth a try.

im not too sure about it either, littlegrower. but it is worth a shot, besides both the parents are 8 week strains.

yeah it should be ready at week 8 and as long as it looks mature it should be ready for the chop. i always like to push my strains a bit longer to ensure they have swollen to there peak size and about 90% of red hairs. my GDP went around 9 to 10 weeks last round and the product was fantastic! didnt turn real purple but it had a slight purp hue show up. have you ever done a comparison with flushing vs non flushed chron? i personally dont flush my coco plants.

i haven't really tried a comparison of flushing vs non, but i dont use any really harsh ferts. the FF solubles i use at a very low dose and they didnt even get much cha ching this run. the Maxsea is fairly natural so im not really worried about it. i developed the habit of flushing because i used crazy harsh products when i first started growing. have you ever seen the salt build up old school koolbloom powder used to leave? now it just feels weird not to flush before cutting them.

dude your growing is nice its like a work of art