Night Meds: ZT's Merlot CBD Pheno Hunt, Soil Grow

[ZeroTolerance]

Hello again 420,

I'm back after a few months of inactivity. This time I'm growing some (almost) pure CBD weed called Merlot. I am mostly growing it for use as a sleep med. I've found that a 10:1 CBD tincture is what works best for me, and really helps with my insomnia.

Here are the specs:

Strain: Merlot CBD by Fortuna Hemp
Genetics: Indica dominant hybrid
Current Growth Stage: Seedling
Lights:
Veg: Spider farmer SF-1000
Bloom: (2) Mars Hydro TSL-1000
Medium: My own custom blend of pro mix, coco coir, perlite, and organic amendments.
Containers: 3 or 4 gallon plastic grow bags
Environment: Around 78-82f lights on, 70f lights off, and 50% RH.
Nutes: Jack's 31 with MKP for bloom and humic acid. May add silica /other misc nutes.
Number of plants: Currently 13, will cull to ~8, depending on how many strong plants there are at the end of veg.

After this grow I'll keep the best 1-2 plants as mothers, and maybe make some crosses with them.

 

[ZeroTolerance]

Right now the plants are still seedlings. They poked through the soil on 8/28, which was four days ago.

Seed Packet:

Some are definitely looking stronger than others, but I'm very happy with the growth so far. All the plants are vigorous and healthy, and seem to be growing pretty quickly.

 

[ZeroTolerance]

Quick Update:

The plants are all growing nicely. I saw a little nutrient burn on one (my soil was probably a little hot), so I raised the lights and bumped up the humidity to lower transpiration. The burn disappeared so I assume it worked. The environment has been sitting consistently at 78f / 80% RH so far.

Here are some pics:
Friday:

Today:

 

[ZeroTolerance]

End of Week 2 Update!​

Hey all, I'm back with another update. The plants have all been chugging along. I've started watering with 1/4 strength nutrients (started with just water), and have been slowly lowering the humidity. Here's how things look today:

I switched the light from a 40w led shop light over to my Spider Farmer SP-1000, as the plants seemed to be growing a little slowly. Growth has been strong since then, so I think they needed the extra light.

It's hard to see in the pictures (I think my phone makes the colors more vivid), but there are some plants which are a little yellow, and some which have some burn on their new growth. I guess that's to be expected in a pheno hunt, but I'm still surprised at how much variation there is between the plants.

So far so good, I'll post another update in a week. Peace!

 

[ZeroTolerance]

It's been a little (maybe more than a little) more than a week so it's time for another update.

I had some deficiency issues which slowed growth for a while. It turns out my pH meter wasn't calibrated, so my nutrients were at about 7 pH instead of 5.8.

Pretty embarrassing mistake to be honest, but the plants bounced back quickly.

I moved them into the flower room (still running 24/0 schedule), and transplanted them into 3 gal pots.

This was literally a minute after I watered them in, so they look a little scraggly. They've perked up a lot overnight.

I figure they'll fill the space out in about a week, and then be ready to flip.

That about does it for this update. I feel like veg isn't the most exciting stage of growth, but things will pick up once we get into flower. Until then, stay safe. Peace!

 

[ZeroTolerance]

Transition to Flower Update​

The plants got flipped yesterday so I figured it's time for an update. Everything's been going well, the girls are growing well and filling out the space nicely. Here's a picture from today:

Top down:

After some light trimming:

Interestingly a couple of the plants have been growing these weird 3 sucker nodes that I've never seen before:

Not sure if it's gonna have any effect of the plants but it looks pretty cool.

These updates are probably gonna be a lot more picture heavy once we get into flower. That's a couple weeks out though, so until then peace!

 

[ZeroTolerance]

Quick Update, little rushed rn so just gonna be pics and dates

10/18

10/21

 

[ZeroTolerance]

Still jacks 3-2-1 g/gal, 12 gallon batch with 1 extra gallon to dilute it (burn)

 

[ZeroTolerance]

End of Week 3 Update

The plants have been in flower for 27 days now. Thing have really started taking off and we're finally seeing some nice looking flowers. On a less positive note, I found hermie flowers on 8 of the plants a few days ago. I have only seen one more pop up since then, but I can't say I'm too pleased with the seed producer.

A couple pics from week 2

~ a week later, day 27. You can clearly see the indica phenos (left) and the sativa phenos (right)

Sativa phenos are taller, less frosty, and have a citrus / fruity smell. One of the plants has a really strong orange smell which I really like, it's a shame it herm'd.

Indica phenos are denser, shorter, stacking a little faster, and have a diesel / gas, earthy smell with a little fruit too.

Very lightly defoliated colas, should be pretty big come harvest.

Close up of one of the triple node plants (mentioned in a post above). It has a weird three headed flower on this cola.

Frostiest most indica pheno, hard to see in this photo but it has way more trichs than the others (the leaves aren't any lighter than the others, they're just covered in frost).

A different indica pheno with super dense stacking.

This is the first time I've done a pheno hunt like this and I have to say it's really fun. Seeing so many different plants growing from the same pack of seeds is really cool. Hopefully the hermie issue resolves, I'd prefer not to be making hemp seeds this run (though all these plants will probably go to extract anyway).

Notes for myself in the future:
Jacks 31g / gal @ 12 gallons + 1 diluted
pH 5.7 - 6.0
Temps ~78 at canopy lights on, 65 on ground. Low ~60-65 lights off
Turned off vent fan during lights off
No MKP

Things are looking good overall, till next time
peace

 

[ZeroTolerance]

Week 5 Update

It's been about two weeks since the last post, things have been going ok overall. Had a little nutrient burn the last few days, but a watering with just recharge and molasses pH'd to 6.1 seems to have fixed it.
Burned plants ~3 days ago

Here are the plants yesterday:

I think they're looking better, but it's gonna be a few more days before I can really tell. I've decreased my nutrient strength a little and raised the pH to 6.1 to hopefully stop any more burn from happening.

One other thing I want to put here, I've been using a 2 gallon sprayer from Home Depot to wet the surface of the coco before watering. The sprayer head it comes with shoots out either a jet of water or a light spray. I wanted a more gentle flow so I made a janky sprayer head out of tin foil.

Looks terrible but works really well haha.

Anyway, that's it for this update.
Peace

 

[ZeroTolerance]

Start of Week 7- Day 51

Plants have been doing good since the last update. I've dialed back the nutrients a little bit to correct for burn and that combined with the lower night temps have been bringing out some colors. Trichomes are still mostly clear so there's still some time before harvest.

 

[ZeroTolerance]

 

[ZeroTolerance]

Harvest Update

Totally messed up my timeline in the last post, it wasn't the start of week 7 it was the end of week 8. Checked trichomes until day 55 when they were all cloudy, then chopped. I'm taking a pretty laid back approach to trimming this time because almost everything is going to go to extract. Took ~2 hours to take the fan leaves off of, cut, and hang all the plants. Pics aren't the best b/c of lighting and shaky hands but they're good enough that you can see each pheno.

 

[ZeroTolerance]

 

[ZeroTolerance]

Nice cool dry conditions for a smooth cure.