AKGramma's Perpetual Grow

Of the 18 twigs I tried to root (taken at harvest), only one is still green, with no sign of roots. I buried the entire twig in the medium for a final chance before giving it up.

The Arjan Haze in veg is no more. When I tugged on the stem, it came out easily. The roots had all died and had totally disappeared from the soil. So that soil got dumped into the soil recycle bin. I added a bag of earthworm castings to the bin and mixed well. It feels like I need to add more vermiculite, too.

The stems on the revegging AK 47 x Durban Poison are still green, but the stem-root connection is not as firm as it was. I will have to depend on the seeds that came from the cross with the White Castle males when I'm ready to grow that strain again.

I have most everything gathered to activate a third space in a tried-and-true spare closet. (it holds the humidity at a steady 50%) I just need to pick up a new heavy-duty timer, power strip, and short extension cord. Since these are in demand this time of year, the stores will be well-stocked. I find the extra money for heavy duty electrical equipment well worth it, for reliability and longevity.

Not sure what I want to use the space for yet. Its headroom is limited by built-in drawers at the bottom so is only 48". It will probably house for veg and clones, and I'll use the tall unit for a crop of autos.

Since only 2 of the CDB Yummy seeds survived to sprout, I plan to clone this strain and grow it alongside of the AK 48s for this run.

In spite of using a recipe for Living Soil, I have had to go back to a regular feeding schedule. I can see the difference in the health of the AK 48s in veg. Those halfway through flower, however, the leaves are far too gone to come back. There won't be any more new leaves, so feeding them is necessary to build the buds I left to finish out.

For veg I use

Miracle Grow all-purpose liquid fertilizer (has a healthy variety of trace minerals in addition to NPK) (Use half the dosage)
Liquid seaweed extract (use dosage on bottle)
Molasses + epsom salts (The mixture spoils quickly, so mix only what you're going to use right away)

For flower I use

Earth Juice Bloom
Liquid seaweed extract
Molasses + epsom salts
 
WOW, I only have 27" from the top of my flat bins to the LEDs in the spare closet.... Since 12" is the closest a plant can be, that only leaves 15" space for the plant. I will have to train low and wide if I let them mature.

The CDB Yummy's are 4" tall with 5 nodes, and they are branching out by themselves. Cloning is going to be easy! Taking a cue from Sue, any clones I take from sides and top will have 6 nodes, 3 for below the soil and 3 above. This is one strain I want a lot of clones of, since it's just for my meds.

Gradually assembling the closet in between other things on my to do list. The lack of height for the spare LED panel is going to be a challenge, since I'm so short and I can't stand on stepladders any more.

My other option for that space is to go back to using CFL's like I did for my first grow. With heavy horizontal training, I did all right. But I DO like the extra penetration of the LED and the improved health of the ladies.
 
Having time to decide what I want to do with my spare closet with the limited head room, I think it will be a good place to grow out clones.

I want to take a lot of clones over time of the CBD Yummy and the AK 48. Their environment and lighting requirements are also somewhat different than the more mature plants, so they will get special attention by themselves.
 
I posted this recipe on one of Sue's forums, but I want to post it here.

I am increasing the amount of cannabis I'm ingesting to reduce my osteroarthric pain. I have capsules, but I also like a ready-made meal I can pop in the microwave. The dose is below my level of getting high.

My goal, for those who have not seen my posts, is to find the dosage of dried and ground herbs that don't make me high, but still give pain relief for Osteoarthritis.

The important ratio that works for me is how much herb to how much lean ground meat.

Meatloaf Muffins

Preheat your oven to 350 deg. F

1) The herb: 1/2 cup dried, ground leaves, minibuds, and male pods (when available). The resulting herb is a mix of strains, gathered when I trim out the plants during the grow. No decarb necessary. Cured is preferred, but not required. I dry mine before grinding, but you can use fresh. Just use a full cup of fresh, finely chopped greens.

2) 2 pounds ground lean meat, uncooked. Most meat has enough fat in it to absorb the herb while cooking.

3) Add the herb and raw meat to the rest of your favorite recipe for meatloaf. Mix well.

4) Spray or otherwise grease 2 large-capacity muffin tins. These are sold as 6 cups to a tray, and you will get anywhere from 8 to 12 muffins, depending on the amount of other ingredients you use in your recipe.

5) Fill each muffin cup full, unless you are using uncooked rice and extra liquid. Then I would fill half-full. Bread cubes or stuffing mix will not expand like rice will, so fill to the top.

6) Cover each tray with aluminum foil for thorough cooking

7) Bake for 1 hour, then turn off oven and remove the foil to allow for browning, while the oven cools down.

8) Freeze each muffin in a ziplock bag for a single-serving, microwavable snack later on. (save one for your sample)

9) My dosage is one muffin. This dosage is equal to 1/2 cup (dried herb) or 1 cup (fresh herb) divided by the number of muffins you make.

This dosage should not make you high, unless you are just starting out. If your sample DOES make you high, next time eat 1/2 a muffin until you adjust to eating a whole one without the stoner effects.

I don't follow the percentage of cannibinoids per dose, just the quantity of any particular recipe I use. This is a partial list, (chose one):
1/2 brownie,
1 meatloaf muffin,
2 cups of meat stew, or
2 "00" sized herb/coconut oil capsules.

I hope this is helpful!
 
Tead posted a great side-by side photo of a clone and a cross from seed of the same strain. Tead's - Indoor-ish - Winter - Hempy - OGK - SOG post #3796

That explains why my clones look so puny compared with their seed-grown mothers. I get smaller leaves and weaker stems from the AK 48 clones, even tho the strain is a vigorous grower. I also have noticed that each generation of clones (clones of clones) is less vigorous than the previous generation.

I'm only getting the Good Housekeeping nugs from the seed-grown. The clones give me lots of small buds, but even when I prune the ladies, the top flowers aren't nearly as large.
 
With that limited space overhead,, you could use some CFL's and do your veg in there along with clones........ Plants can grow right into them lights. Interesting sounding recipe.
GL and Keepem Green
 
Plants will mutate doing the clone of a clone of a clone... If you really want to save a plant and keep from mutating, you have to keep a mother alive. Some people keep mother plants alive for 10-15 years by never letting the mother flower. I end up cloning the clone myself. But seems everytime you do they lose alittle of the mother plant qualities. Or least seems to me.. GL
Keepem Green
 
Norcaliwood said:
With that limited space overhead,, you could use some CFL's and do your veg in there along with clones........ Plants can grow right into them lights. Interesting sounding recipe.
GL and Keepem Green
Click to expand...

Yep, did that my first year of growing. I had to use the flat bins, tho, to allow for headroom.

So, time to cut some more clones and plant some seed!
 
Norcaliwood said:
Plants will mutate doing the clone of a clone of a clone... If you really want to save a plant and keep from mutating, you have to keep a mother alive. Some people keep mother plants alive for 10-15 years by never letting the mother flower. I end up cloning the clone myself. But seems everytime you do they lose alittle of the mother plant qualities. Or least seems to me.. GL
Keepem Green
Click to expand...

I have not been able to keep a mother alive that long. One of two things happen:

1) She decides to go to flower, even under veg lights. it happens almost overnight and there is no stopping her

2) She starts to decline, drops her leaves and her branches wither. Also, the roots begin to die back. This also happens when I try to reveg a mother after harvest.

I see the point, however. Try to avoid taking a clone of a clone, and take 1st gen clones from the mother. I will have to take better care of the mother, this time, trimming back her roots and some branches and repotting occasionally to refresh her growth.
 
Today the AK48 clones are at their Breeders' min flower time of 53 days, but the plants are so far gone, that I will harvest them today. Had to spray the buds two days ago, as that was the only part of the plants that had anything for the mites to eat. (Yes, they appeared again) The leaves are dead.

Bud washing is definitely on the agenda, since I had to spray so late in the maturation process. :surrender:
 
Job is done. I harvested both AK 48 ladies at 53 days because all the leaves were dead. I trimmed each bud separately then put them in a kitchen collander and sprayed a fresh water through them with the spray head.

AK48_buds_after_wash.JPG


I laid them out on paper towels on a 13" x 18" cookie sheet.
Once most of the liquid evaporates, I will put them in the refrigerator for a slow dry, flipping them twice a day till they are dry enough to jar with a hydrometer.
The open jar will go back into the refrigerator.
I will stir the buds twice a day until the moisture drops to about 62%, then I will drop a humidipak in the jar, cap the jar, and keep an eye on the moisture content, burping when necessary to get rid of the extra dampness.
Once the percentage is stable, I will remove the hydrometer, recap the jar and leave it to cure in the refrigerator.

This method has worked for me over the last couple years, and I only had one instance of mold, because I tried to rush the process and capped too early. And yes, I tossed the jarful of buds AND the jar to avoid future contamination. I suppose I could have tried to sterilize the jar, but it was only a pint jar, and I was not in the mood for a lengthy sterilization process.
 
The harvest weighs 67.8 grams after 1 day of drying in the big tray. They are still at 80% humidity. But I need to move them to a smaller tray to get them into the fridge. Way too early to jar yet.

I'm still trying to decide what to pop next. I don't have anything worth cloning at this time, as the AK48's in veg are second generation clones.

The only other AK 48's I have are seeds from various crosses, so they will be half AK48 to any of 3 males (mystery Sativa, White Castle, or AK 47xDP). Luckily the males did their thing in different months, so the seeds are sorted and labelled. Some of the ancestries are quite ... interesting, tending towards Sativa, but with enough Indica to grow easily.

All the little buds/trim/leaves get ground together, so no bother about keeping their ancestries straight. Mini-buds for edibles tend to get mixed, since they will be ground before making cannabudder. I just have to keep track of what will be smoked. The family likes to sniff the jars and choose what floats their boat. :Hookah:
 
AKgramma said:
Your grow looks like mine. So many of my friends have whizzed right past me with fancy lighting, primo Gorilla tents, and installed ventilation. The farthest I'm going to get are wire shelving covered with tarps, Mars 300 panels supplemented with 23w CFLs, desk fans, and other economy equipment.
Click to expand...

Did it for years just that way... well... sans the LEDs.
Kinda still doing it in my bloom room, but I do like just walking up to the veg tent and unzipping the door. Yup... I'm that lazy.


Norcaliwood said:
Plants will mutate doing the clone of a clone of a clone... If you really want to save a plant and keep from mutating, you have to keep a mother alive. Some people keep mother plants alive for 10-15 years by never letting the mother flower. I end up cloning the clone myself. But seems everytime you do they lose alittle of the mother plant qualities. Or least seems to me.. GL
Keepem Green
Click to expand...

Not my experience. Clones from clones for years.... nearing the decade mark. Even when I screw up a plant somehow, I can get a clone, put it in a good environment and grow it out just fine.

AKgramma said:
The family likes to sniff the jars and choose what floats their boat. :Hookah:
Click to expand...

Spoiled!
Ain't we all.
 
After a night in the fridge in an open cardboard box, the buds test out at about 65% in one jar and 70% in the other jar. This is odd, because I calibrated both hydrometers to each other before placing them in the jars. It's all the same crop, too, so I don't know what the difference could be between them.

The crop weighed just over 2 oz (57.25 g) today. My inner voice is telling me to put the crop back into the cardboard box for another day in the refrigerator. 70 years of experience has taught me to listen to that inner voice. ;-)

Once I get this crop safely jarred and stored in the fridge, I can concentrate on what I'm going to do next: take clones or pop some autos.

Thank you, Tead, for sharing your cloning success with multiple generations of clone. It must be the difference in climate that allows you clone so easily and have them perform as well as the mother grown from seed.
 
Hey gramma! Your northern neighbor here to tag along for your perpetual adventure. Congrats on the harvest :high five:
 
Congrats on the harvest over here... Time for the next rodeo... Hard choices. I too am at that point,,, thinking about my next strains to try.

GL and Keepem Green
 
The buds drying in the fridge are now at 60% moisture, so I jarred them with Boveda packets, leaving lots of room in the 2 jars to gently stir/shake them so they don't compact. The final weight is 49.43 grams from two AK 48 second-generation clones.

My yields are lower than many people on this list because of limitations of space. Experience has shown that 3 gallon bins are the best for my setup, and I keep the plants under 40 inches after the stretch.

Buds are loosely formed with a slightly firm center. and are less than 1/2 inch in diameter. Odor at this stage is still a bit grassy, because I had to harvest them a tad early (early in the timeframe recommended by the seed company).

I let them veg 3 months before switching. By then they are well-filled out sturdy enough to support the canopy. But some clones never do develop thick stems, and they need support.
 
I took clones of the baby CBD Yummys, two of them from the tips and 3 of the bottom-most side branches. The side branches are very small, but I managed to get one node deep into the soil. I don't expect the latter 3 to root, but I only had two leaders to cut off the 2 babies.

Being the two CBDY's I have in veg are all I have of this strain, I thought it would be worth cutting as many clones as I can from them, then using the 1st gen clones to grow out and flower. If all goes well, at least one of the originals will become a clone-mother, so I don't end up with 2nd and 3rd generation clones with puny stems and leaves.

I'm using Sue's bag-em method of keeping the clones moist while they grow roots. :cheesygrinsmiley:
 
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