420 Magazine's Official Girl Scout Cookies Comparative Grow By Emilya

[ChronicTrees]

Veg, Day 5

The intense growth continues and several of the plants used half of the water in their containers. Several others are still on the 3 day track. While moving and rotating this evening I lined them up by size. To slow down the big ones I put them on the outside of the light pattern on the table, while the smallest ones are directly under the brightest section of the light so that they grow the fastest. It is all about getting everyone to even out as best I can manage... this is not a race.

Healthy looking girls as can be!

 

[DonkeyDick]

Humming

 

[XiwsX561]

Check out our sponsor, @Sierra Natural Science and their product, Mosquito Bits. The dunks are just an industrial sized version of the same thing, because I am treating my water 55gal at a time. It is not nematodes, it is a poison that stops larvae from reproducing in the soil. Stop the gnat cycle at any stage and you wipe them out.

I do not mix my soils when I build new containers. I use layers of various types of soil. I use Happy Frog as a starter soil, because that was what it was first intended to be used for. I am using a product that is no longer available and that I don't know another source for as a secret weapon ingredient in the middle of my containers, called Vulx. I suspect that similar results could be gained using vermiculite or moisture retention beads, but I like Vulx and have used it in this grow. This makes the middle of my containers a very nutrient rich and moisture holding layer. It is my belief that because this is where the bulk of the rootball forms, that this is very important. Then I use a mineralized supersoil as the bottom third of my container, that all by itself could provide everything the plant needed all through the grow. I also use thin layers of worm castings as I build up the containers, aged cow manure as the very bottom layer, and I have been seen putting a thin layer of blood meal just under the surface of the soil. Layering... way better than mixing. It allows the roots a choice as to whether to deal with a particular nutrient, and to be able to specialize in that area of the container to better deal with it. Mixing can not give you that, nor can it allow different areas of the container to have different functions based on the soil type found there.

The only mosquito bits and or dunks I find are made by company called summit. Not our sponsor SNS.

 

[Emilya Green]

The only mosquito bits and or dunks I find are made by company called summit. Not our sponsor SNS.

Ohhh... I am confusing suppliers and our sponsor's great natural products with another company that provides natural solutions to some of the problems we have out here. I remember now that I received those bits along with an order of nematodes early this year to fight my fungus gnat problem. They however are not a sponsor of this forum, so all I am going to do is provide you with a couple of words to search for. Organic Biological Pest Control Truth be told however, the 'ZON has dunks and so would practically any hardware store. Their primary purpose is to keep mosquitoes from hatching out in standing water, such as a rainwater collection system.

Sorry about that... it really is a terrible thing for a mind to be slipping so much as mine, at only 42 years of age.

 

[Emilya Green]

Veg, Day 6
Today was just another day in the comparative garden, so we took the time to individualize each plant in the room for easier reference and tracking.

So, meet the cookies! Toast-Yay, Thin Mints 1 and 2, Lemon-Ups, Lemonades, Shortbread (one of the short ones), Caramel deLites, Peanut Butter Patties, Do-si-Dos, Toffee-tastic, Caramel Chocolate Chip, and S'mores. These delicious things will be referred to by shortened versions of these names as we go forward, but there you go. We now have individuals, not just a table full of various sized plants.

Growth is still strong and the light trick is working. Everyone found a new spot on the table within the same amount of relative light. No water was needed today, but tomorrow is likely across the board. They are all starting to even out together.

 

[BakedARea]

They are looking happy after getting their names!

As for the mind slippin'.. yeah...I can fully relate to that statement Em. Sending you good mental vibes!

 

[Emilya Green]

Veg, 7 Days
As predicted, all the plants needed watering this evening. The significant thing is that they ALL were light and ALL needed the water. Before we had about a third of them that were stragglers, but not this time. They are syncing up like women on a camping trip, and all is as it should be. Above ground, the plants are starting to all achieve the same development, but some of the leaders are still a bit ahead of the others and I clearly see node 4 starting to show itself.

I have been debating with myself what training method I want to go with this time, concentrating this time on maximum poundage. Lately I have been experimenting with Uncle Ben's topping method and I am sort of tired of that shape... I am thinking of going whack-a-mole after topping at node 5 and seeing if I can develop some 36 cola bushes. Eleven of them ought to keep us in GSC smoke for a while.

Here is a shot that is the same shot as 24 hours ago, so you can see the growth rate.

Then, of course, the glamor shots:

 

[Brett Blaze]

Looking real nice Emilya.

 

[Azimuth]

Lately I have been experimenting with Uncle Ben's topping method and I am sort of tired of that shape..

Could you briefly describe that? I've not heard of that one before.

 

[Emilya Green]

Could you briefly describe that? I've not heard of that one before.

Uncle Ben taught us to patiently wait until the 5th node was just starting to pop up and could be snipped off, but instead, we do a very drastic topping between nodes 2 and 3, taking off a good portion of the plant. This causes nodes 1 and 2 to become primary and the plant develops 4 main kolas. Topping a plant between nodes 3 and 4 produces at least 2 main kolas, but sometimes it acts like a FIM cut and can develop 3, 4 and very rarely 5 main kolas. Topping between 4 and 5 always produces 2 main kolas, as does any topping higher than that before alternating nodes start occurring.

 

[Emilya Green]

What I am proposing to do is to top between 4 and 5 and then to keep chopping as secondary nodes hit the canopy level, continually forcing growth tips to branch off into 2 growth tips. By continually doing this whack-a-mole method of topping every time a node tries to take dominance, I will end up with lots and lots of bud sites and a very top heavy plant at the end, and one that will require a support structure, with each plant having only one main kola.

 

[HashGirl]

Will you be posting detailed photos of your chosen method? I'm always trying to learn how other people do things to see if I want to incorporate what they do with what I'm doing.

 

[Emilya Green]

Will you be posting detailed photos of your chosen method? I'm always trying to learn how other people do things to see if I want to incorporate what they do with what I'm doing.

Yes. The commitment that I made going into this grow was for daily detailed updates, so I decided to detail my every thought and every move with these plants, complete with high resolution pictures.

I used to use this whack-a-mole method exclusively when I lived in the land of clandestine grows, always with care to keep the plant count low in case of troubles, and it allowed me to produce a large amount of product in a tiny space. I got scolded one day as to how this was forcing me to produce a bunch of B quality pot, with only one main kola on each plant rising to that critic's view of what was A quality. Since then, I have realized that my "B" quality pot is loads better than the top flight stuff coming out of the dispensaries, and I have never really noticed much actual difference in quality between my main kolas and some of the wonderfully hard nugs found elsewhere on the plant. So, my ever inquiring mind needs to know... have I been shooting myself in the foot? This investigation, complete with pages of documentation and 100's of HD quality 8x10 color glossies, will form my rebuttal to the folks that throw negativity toward this easy to implement method of training... It is my belief that sometimes, not quite perfect is perfectly ok.

 

[Emilya Green]

Veg, Day 8
There is no stopping them now... they are growing like weeds! Nothing much needed to be done in Veg Room #1 today, so it was a quick hello and rearranging, a photo shoot, and a love ya, see ya till tomorrow. Be well everybody!

 

[ChronicTrees]

Veg, Day 8
There is no stopping them now... they are growing like weeds! Nothing much needed to be done in Veg Room #1 today, so it was a quick hello and rearranging, a photo shoot, and a love ya, see ya till tomorrow. Be well everybody!

Amazing, a few days later, and they are as large as can be! Awesome job Emilya!

 

[BakedARea]

Looking wonderful! I'm excited to see you start cutting. Will you start topping while they are in the solo cups?

 

[Emilya Green]

Looking wonderful! I'm excited to see you start cutting. Will you start topping while they are in the solo cups?

Hi Baked, and thank you! Yes, if they rise up that 5th node so I can get in there with my little scissors and cut it off, I will do so, no matter what container they may be in. Until they can hit my benchmark of being able to drain the water in 36 hours or less the first time, they ain't moving from those cups. At the speed they are developing however, I don't think we are going to have long to wait for both of these processes to take place.

 

[BakedARea]

Until they can hit my benchmark of being able to drain the water in 36 hours or less the first time, they ain't moving from those cups.

I feel like mine aren't anywhere close to this. It's been a week since I watered mine! Lol

 

[Emilya Green]

I feel like mine aren't anywhere close to this. It's been a week since I watered mine! Lol

When mine are running long like that, about every 3 days I water with just a wee little bit, right around the outside edges of the cup. This entices the roots to grow out that direction to help form a rootball, and it keeps the metabolism high so that they continue to grow quickly and drain that water in the bottom of the cup.

 

[Azimuth]

Why not just give them what they can drink in three days, and slowly increase the amount as they are able to drink more?