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- #21
The Celt
Well-Known Member
Thanks muchly Gnome, I started this journal more to share my grows with those interested and pass on my experiences and knowledge.
RC
RC
Celt’s 2020 Grows
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GardeningGnome
Well-Known Member
I'm still fresh to this forum, but boy is it a great community with likeminded people that love to share wisdom. Will be very interesting to see what the Blue Dream seeds will produce, and following along with the GA3 process for the Pineapple Chunk. Question: Did you spray the whole plant, or just a few tops? I didn't see any marked branches or tops, but the photo was from above, so hard to tell.
I have this excellent Gorilla Glue that I'd love to gather some pollen from in the future. Will be taking a few clones in the near future, have been looking closer into using colloidal silver... but this might be another option to consider for producing pollen.
Btw: Found this little interesting bit of info regarding GA3 and the uses with seeds:
GA-3 should only be used on seeds that are semi-difficult and difficult to germinate.
On seeds that grow easy (such as tomato and chilli) the effect may instead be that the plant grows to death.
Edit: Had to change a few words, the translation got a bit wacky at first..
So, it really packs a punch when used together with seeds, killing it by rapid growth
Thanks again!
I'm in!
All sorts of great info here...
All sorts of great info here...
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- #24
The Celt
Well-Known Member
@GardeningGnome ,
Using GA3, you just spray the tops you want to produce “nuts”, the rest of the plant will continue to produce female flowers and will grow seed. That’s why I am able to use a single plant for this process.
If you look at this photo
You will see 3 paler green tops on the right, front and back corners, and 2 on the left, corners also. These were the treated limbs and were low down on the plant. I chose these limbs as previous experience told me that any top treated would stretch twice as much as those not treated. Choosing lower limbs meant that after the stretch, meant they should stretch enough to be taller than the untreated tops but not by much.
RC
Using GA3, you just spray the tops you want to produce “nuts”, the rest of the plant will continue to produce female flowers and will grow seed. That’s why I am able to use a single plant for this process.
If you look at this photo
You will see 3 paler green tops on the right, front and back corners, and 2 on the left, corners also. These were the treated limbs and were low down on the plant. I chose these limbs as previous experience told me that any top treated would stretch twice as much as those not treated. Choosing lower limbs meant that after the stretch, meant they should stretch enough to be taller than the untreated tops but not by much.
RC
- Thread starter
- #25
The Celt
Well-Known Member
Welcome aboard Preston, I can always make room for more 
GardeningGnome
Well-Known Member
@GardeningGnome ,
Using GA3, you just spray the tops you want to produce “nuts”, the rest of the plant will continue to produce female flowers and will grow seed. That’s why I am able to use a single plant for this process.
If you look at this photo
You will see 3 paler green tops on the right, front and back corners, and 2 on the left, corners also. These were the treated limbs and were low down on the plant. I chose these limbs as previous experience told me that any top treated would stretch twice as much as those not treated. Choosing lower limbs meant that after the stretch, meant they should stretch enough to be taller than the untreated tops but not by much.
RC
Boom! Nice for the details, thanks a million. And, yeah, clever idea to use one plant for the whole process!!
GardeningGnome
Well-Known Member
Did you need to distribute/collect the pollen from the sprayed tops in any way?
I'm thinking of doing this with two plants at the same time, self-pollinating and hopefully crossing them as well. This would utilize my grow space at the max.
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- #28
The Celt
Well-Known Member
Couple of times I took a Q-tip and used pollen that was spilled on a leaf to pollinate a few bud, but for the most part, I left the air do the work. In that tent I use a DIY 400 w LED that is ducted to my 4” fan for cooling.
Unlike most, I use a down draft setup for ventilation even in the big tent where I have CMH lights.
There are a number of reasons I use down draft:
My basement stays about the mid 50s temperature year round so I pull cooler air in the top and exhaust out the bottom, helps cool my lights, both LED which require cooling and cools my CMH. It also keeps my big tent about 80 year round, just requires the fan at full speed in the warmer weather when the basement can rise 10 degrees some days.
If there are any mold spores (there always are, they are in the air all over the world except for the most arid climates) it keeps them low in the tent, much like a downdraft paint booth prevents overspray.
And in my seed tent, there are 4 vents in the light pointing to the corners. This creates a turbulence that moves the pollen around and down through the canopy and out the bottom, as the pollen sacs are generally on the tallest tops.
Those are my main reasons for a downdraft system.
Now that my seed tent is in the basement, I will have to put a HEPA filter on the exhaust vent so no pollen makes it’s way to the other tent even though it’s in a different room.
Hope this makes sense lol
Unlike most, I use a down draft setup for ventilation even in the big tent where I have CMH lights.
There are a number of reasons I use down draft:
My basement stays about the mid 50s temperature year round so I pull cooler air in the top and exhaust out the bottom, helps cool my lights, both LED which require cooling and cools my CMH. It also keeps my big tent about 80 year round, just requires the fan at full speed in the warmer weather when the basement can rise 10 degrees some days.
If there are any mold spores (there always are, they are in the air all over the world except for the most arid climates) it keeps them low in the tent, much like a downdraft paint booth prevents overspray.
And in my seed tent, there are 4 vents in the light pointing to the corners. This creates a turbulence that moves the pollen around and down through the canopy and out the bottom, as the pollen sacs are generally on the tallest tops.
Those are my main reasons for a downdraft system.
Now that my seed tent is in the basement, I will have to put a HEPA filter on the exhaust vent so no pollen makes it’s way to the other tent even though it’s in a different room.
Hope this makes sense lol
GardeningGnome
Well-Known Member
Sounds logical, thanks.
Soo perfect! Have myself gotten three fans for my bloom-tent this week, and experimenting with the optimal solution. At the moment there is also a small air-system standing inside (with a weaker carbon filter) that is distributing/circling the air at floor level. Next week I'll get a refurbish my bigger carbon-filter and get a stronger fan/ventilation to it. It will not be piped out directly, instead forcing down the air, circulating it and giving the carbon-filter several changes to clean the "aroma.
I have tested down-draft today, and with interesting result. Specially since I'm using LED's, it creates heat differently than HPS, and inturn creates different heat-zones.
Very much sense, thank you sir!!
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- #30
The Celt
Well-Known Member
You are much welcome @GardeningGnome
I am a carpenter by trade, the.n went back to school 22 years ago and studied engineering. As such, I use my engineering knowledge to improve my setups
I am a carpenter by trade, the.n went back to school 22 years ago and studied engineering. As such, I use my engineering knowledge to improve my setups
Fredwak
Well-Known Member
Lots of great info here!
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- #32
Fredwak
Well-Known Member
Wish everyone had a pay-it-forward attitude!@Fredwak ,
I learned a lot from others when I came here 5 or 6 yrs ago, and made some good friends.
Since recently returning to the site, I felt I should pay-it-forward, especially as it’s in my nature (and current job description) to be a mentor.
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- #34
The Celt
Well-Known Member
Puttering around here this morning, doing some reading, drinking coffee and planning my day, I realized it was near 9 so decided it was time for a shower and get this day under way.
When I finished showering and came out to the kitchen, one of my favourite smells hit me.
9am the lights come on in the seed tent, and the smell of fresh flowering cannabis was wafting up from the basement. That smell alone is enough to motivate me into action.
When I finished showering and came out to the kitchen, one of my favourite smells hit me.
9am the lights come on in the seed tent, and the smell of fresh flowering cannabis was wafting up from the basement. That smell alone is enough to motivate me into action.
- Thread starter
- #35
The Celt
Well-Known Member
Ok, as motivation struck, time for a quick update on plants and plans going forward, then back to drywall and painting lol
First up, the seed tent with the PC momma/daddy
As the pictures show, the treated tops way out stretch the untreated, just like they were on steroids and will continue to do so although at a slower pace now.
Now that the major stretch is over, I have turned the light up to 430w, the max I will drive it. This gives us about 26500 Lux. With conversion to PPFD, we get 464 PPFD and a DLI of 20. This is actually low for what I would like in flower but we can increase the DLI (more important than PPFD) by now increasing the day length, quite safe after the initial 2 weeks of 12/12.
By increasing the day length to 14hrs, the DLI goes up to 23.4, still not optimal but will grow nice bud, or in this case seed.
As the plants flower, and get closer to the light, those numbers will near double, giving us more usable light than most outdoor grown plants receive in sept/oct here in North America.
I know many will have no idea where I got these numbers, and may not even know what some of them mean, have no fear, in the near future, I will give a full rundown of how to determine what your plants are receiving for light. And you don’t need an expensive Quantum meter to measure it, a cheap simple light meter that goes to a minimum of 100k Lux will work just fine. My light meter on my multimeter only goes to 40000 Lux, so I bought a cheapie on Amazon for $25 that goes to 200000 Lux, doubtful I will ever max it out.
Next up, the 20 Blue Dream girls.
These girls are near ready to be potted up but are going to be in these pots for, hopefully, not over a week more. Aside from finding time to finish building the new pots, the soil still needs about a week to cook, as well as , the parts for the auto watering system are still lost at sea somewhere. Damn slow boat from China. Parts are cheap from China, but don’t expect timely delivery.
Speaking of pots, I had been saying I was using 14g pots, that had been my plan, but had decided to shorten them by 3” (75mm) making them about 11.5gallon. Every inch counts in tent grows lol.
And lastly, the soil.
Last time I posted the temps, it’s above somewhere, I believe they were in the 40s C 110s F. Since then I put a temp probe in the centre so I wouldn’t have to keep turning it, something I avoid while it’s cooking hot.
For the past week, the internal temps have held about 38 C (100 F). The micro herd were feasting like Romans. Yesterday the temp had dropped about 10 degrees C and this morning we are at :
That’s about 70 F.
The feast is nearing its end and the soil will be ready to use in a few days. Once the temperature holds stable at ambient temperature, the gluttonous feast is over, some of the micro herd have died and gave up their lives to make nutrients available to our plants, others have gone for a nap and will wake and feed more as needed by the soil, yet others just continue munching away.
Point to remember, once established, the micro herd is always there, feeding, crapping, sleeping and dying, all the while feeding your plants. No need for additional nutrients, and many commercial fertilizers will actually kill off your micro herd.
At some point during this Journal, I will show you have to make organic liquid feeds for your micro herd and plants. ACCTs are one way and help to increase the micro herd population, but there are others that you can easily make at home with nothing more than a few bottles and organic matter and can be tailored to the plant stage.
That’s it for today guys, keep it green
First up, the seed tent with the PC momma/daddy
As the pictures show, the treated tops way out stretch the untreated, just like they were on steroids and will continue to do so although at a slower pace now.
Now that the major stretch is over, I have turned the light up to 430w, the max I will drive it. This gives us about 26500 Lux. With conversion to PPFD, we get 464 PPFD and a DLI of 20. This is actually low for what I would like in flower but we can increase the DLI (more important than PPFD) by now increasing the day length, quite safe after the initial 2 weeks of 12/12.
By increasing the day length to 14hrs, the DLI goes up to 23.4, still not optimal but will grow nice bud, or in this case seed.
As the plants flower, and get closer to the light, those numbers will near double, giving us more usable light than most outdoor grown plants receive in sept/oct here in North America.
I know many will have no idea where I got these numbers, and may not even know what some of them mean, have no fear, in the near future, I will give a full rundown of how to determine what your plants are receiving for light. And you don’t need an expensive Quantum meter to measure it, a cheap simple light meter that goes to a minimum of 100k Lux will work just fine. My light meter on my multimeter only goes to 40000 Lux, so I bought a cheapie on Amazon for $25 that goes to 200000 Lux, doubtful I will ever max it out.
Next up, the 20 Blue Dream girls.
These girls are near ready to be potted up but are going to be in these pots for, hopefully, not over a week more. Aside from finding time to finish building the new pots, the soil still needs about a week to cook, as well as , the parts for the auto watering system are still lost at sea somewhere. Damn slow boat from China. Parts are cheap from China, but don’t expect timely delivery.
Speaking of pots, I had been saying I was using 14g pots, that had been my plan, but had decided to shorten them by 3” (75mm) making them about 11.5gallon. Every inch counts in tent grows lol.
And lastly, the soil.
Last time I posted the temps, it’s above somewhere, I believe they were in the 40s C 110s F. Since then I put a temp probe in the centre so I wouldn’t have to keep turning it, something I avoid while it’s cooking hot.
For the past week, the internal temps have held about 38 C (100 F). The micro herd were feasting like Romans. Yesterday the temp had dropped about 10 degrees C and this morning we are at :
That’s about 70 F.
The feast is nearing its end and the soil will be ready to use in a few days. Once the temperature holds stable at ambient temperature, the gluttonous feast is over, some of the micro herd have died and gave up their lives to make nutrients available to our plants, others have gone for a nap and will wake and feed more as needed by the soil, yet others just continue munching away.
Point to remember, once established, the micro herd is always there, feeding, crapping, sleeping and dying, all the while feeding your plants. No need for additional nutrients, and many commercial fertilizers will actually kill off your micro herd.
At some point during this Journal, I will show you have to make organic liquid feeds for your micro herd and plants. ACCTs are one way and help to increase the micro herd population, but there are others that you can easily make at home with nothing more than a few bottles and organic matter and can be tailored to the plant stage.
That’s it for today guys, keep it green
- Thread starter
- #36
The Celt
Well-Known Member
Morning all,
A few pics of Mrs/Mr PC
The treated tops still outpacing the untreated. The tall tops on the left, the ones treated with the 3 month old GA3 solution have caught up to those treated with fresh solution, so maybe it doesn’t degrade as much as I thought, just slower to react.
The next 2 pictures show the difference in calyx between the treated an untreated limbs.
Treated
Untreated
Still a female calyx, but the treated tops will get larger/longer and not have any pistils formed. Before long, the calyx higher up will form and release pollen.
A few pics of Mrs/Mr PC
The treated tops still outpacing the untreated. The tall tops on the left, the ones treated with the 3 month old GA3 solution have caught up to those treated with fresh solution, so maybe it doesn’t degrade as much as I thought, just slower to react.
The next 2 pictures show the difference in calyx between the treated an untreated limbs.
Treated
Untreated
Still a female calyx, but the treated tops will get larger/longer and not have any pistils formed. Before long, the calyx higher up will form and release pollen.
GardeningGnome
Well-Known Member
Haaa! Luv it!!
Interesting, didn't think about that. Makes sense.
Thanks for the update and the photos!
Very interesting, and bonus points for the difference between treated and untreated.
Peace&Carrots!
- Thread starter
- #38
The Celt
Well-Known Member
Brief update guys,
The Blue Dream girls, 19 left, I culled one as I put it under the big light too soon and the first true leaves turned yellow and stopped growing before they really began whoops lol
Of the 19, one more will be culled before the weekend when I Hope I can get them into the big pots and start their training regimen.
The 3 in round pots, centre top, are about 10 days younger than the rest, any guesses to which one will be culled before the weekend
Although this will be a pheno hunt, 18 plants is a small population hunt phenos. As I mentioned before, there were 3 phenotype in the original 4 plants I grew from Humboldt Seed and these seeds are descendants of one of the 50/50 phenos.
I am looking for the Sativa dominate pheno as it had the sweetest smell and best smoke of the 3. All 3 were good though.
Still too early to judge, but as a betting man, I’ll wager the plant top left is a likely suspect and maybe the 3 that are 10 days younger but have caught up to the majority in size.
The Blue Dream girls, 19 left, I culled one as I put it under the big light too soon and the first true leaves turned yellow and stopped growing before they really began whoops lol
Of the 19, one more will be culled before the weekend when I Hope I can get them into the big pots and start their training regimen.
The 3 in round pots, centre top, are about 10 days younger than the rest, any guesses to which one will be culled before the weekend
Although this will be a pheno hunt, 18 plants is a small population hunt phenos. As I mentioned before, there were 3 phenotype in the original 4 plants I grew from Humboldt Seed and these seeds are descendants of one of the 50/50 phenos.
I am looking for the Sativa dominate pheno as it had the sweetest smell and best smoke of the 3. All 3 were good though.
Still too early to judge, but as a betting man, I’ll wager the plant top left is a likely suspect and maybe the 3 that are 10 days younger but have caught up to the majority in size.
GardeningGnome
Well-Known Member
Lovely! Another sativa hunter. Same here.
Top left looks like a sativa dominant for sure, from what I can see. Tall almost lanky plant, wider and narrower leaves. Nice!!
Perhaps stupid question, but have you had any issues with hermaphrodites or other strange issues with the seeds grown from a GA3 treated plant? I've read a few tales about strange plants from seeds coming from plants treated with colloidal silver.
Top left looks like a sativa dominant for sure, from what I can see. Tall almost lanky plant, wider and narrower leaves. Nice!!
Perhaps stupid question, but have you had any issues with hermaphrodites or other strange issues with the seeds grown from a GA3 treated plant? I've read a few tales about strange plants from seeds coming from plants treated with colloidal silver.
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- #40
The Celt
Well-Known Member
This will be the first grow from my GA3 seeds but I don’t expect any issues, been growing feminized seed since I started 6 years ago and they are produced with GA3