Epicannabis - Soil — LowRyder Hindu Kush Critical Cure — 2014

[Epicannabis]

Colleagues,
Now that my only son is 18, becoming an individual, I have less to worry about the example I set and can revisit one of my passions that I had to set aside 18 years ago in California – growing cannabis at home.
This grow journal is a bit atypical in that half of it is passed for some strains and it is over for the autoflowers. In order to keep the unnecessary replies to a minimum, I am going to bring you up to date on a strain-by-strain basis before I shift to “reporting the news”.
This grow and future grows, one already started, are totally organic. Also, look forward to a detailed posting on the growth method used, a twist on Soil/Perlite mixture.
Epicannabis


BACKGROUND
The grow was started with
• LowRyder(2) -Vision Seeds - mostly Indica - LR1 harvested 6/3, LR2 harvested 6/8
• Durban Poison - Dutch Passion - Indica - 8wks - entering 12/12
• Critical Cure(2) - Barney's - Indica - 8wks - entering 12/12
• Hindu Kush - Sensi - 8wks - Indica - MALE!!! inducing pollen generation/collection
• Bagseeds (2) – to be used as guinea pigs to protect above species

Grow History - 8 wks 18-6 / 2 wks 12-12
Indoor - DR120 veg, DR90 flower
Growth Method - PseudoHydro 1”Perlite at bottom of pot, 2:1 Soil/Perlite growth mixture , 1/2” Perlite “moisture wizard” layer
PotSize - 5x5x7 up to 7 wks, repot to 8x8x10
Lighting - Veg – Blue CFL, Flower – Red CFL
Aircooled - 4” computer fans – intake and exhaust
DarkRoom Environment - 76F – 50%
Watering Cycle - Watering like in Passive Hydro - 2 day intervals
Nutrients - BioThrive Grow/Bloom
Pests - Whiteflies – Homemade Organic Tobacco Tea

Here's a topview of the Grow, along with two bagseed guinea pigs.

LowRyder 1 (LR1)
First experience with autoflower, LR1 was truly a virgin experience, with me acting as a hovering mother, and in retrospect, after harvesting, drying, and sampling, I realized that even though I now knew (from LR2 harvest) that I had pulled her before peak THC synthesis. I now understood the adjective "milky" better. I digress.
Here's photos from 4 wks to harvest at 8.5 wks.


4 wks and 6 wks - All going well, and no decisions having to be made

7 wks - a closeup of the main cola and it looks yummy.
By the end of week 8, chlorosis was setting in - hard to be calm.

A pic with the flash on revealed that the flowers were filling the main cola. It seemed ready, and was probably not a bad call for a first experience with autoflowers and indoor growth. Finally, the unmanicured harvest, and of course I have had to sample it since then, and have been pleasantly surprised by its spicy taste, and powerful punch with exceptional "clarity" to its high. Probably due to the CBD preagents that had yet to be synthesized completely into delta-9.

The buds have been drying in my new humidor, with attention to the dessicator pacs, and just got moved to a Mason jar for curing.

It's Saturday night, and enough for now. I will continue with LR2 tomorrow, its Father's Day! How appropriate. And I am pursuing one of my most passionate interests: the intricacy of Mother Nature and her Web on this planet - Earth

Apologies for the size of the photos: they previewed in pairs................

 

[Epicannabis]

The saga continues with the trek of LowRyder 2 (LR2)
LR2 was started a weekafter LR2, largely due to nervousness on my part about the slow start to LR1 poking its head up to find sun. LR2 was started in a 5x5x7 hydro pot. The growth medium was a 2:1 Soilerlite mixture with a Perlite layer on the bottom, followed by the 2:1 mix, and topped with a thin Perlite cap. Progress through the first two weeks was slow, probably the tap root seeking the bottom of the pot.

LR2 showed greater internode spacing in the following weeks, a characteristic that seemed to be shown by DP1 (to be discussed later), and to this day i have been able to determine if this was due to some fertilizer sprinkled on the surface of these two plants, or whether they were stretching to find the UV from the quartz halide that was being used in conjunction with daylight CFLs.
By 4 wks (left) LR2 had begun autoflowering, at which time, I shifted from BioThrive Grow to Bloom, and by 6 wks (right), axial growth had become focused, and sugar leaf development was clear.

By 7 wks, although both axial and peripheral flower growth was underway and the plant seemed to be getting the environment that it desrired, systematic chlorosis had manifested itself, and curiously, would march up the meristem, as the plant sucked chlorophyll from the fan leaves. A large photo was used to let you see the chlorosis progression from bottom to top. Experience with LR1 told me to start flushing, so a watering flush was performed, and I was surprised to not see salts in the tray under the flush. N appeared to be gone. Systematic chlorosis continued as the main cola sped up its growth when at 8 wks (right), sample of the trichs showed they were definitely milky, and main cola growth abruptly slowed down. It was time for harvest. All in all, I was feeling quite happy.

LR2 yielded some nice buds, probably ~0.7 oz. Just at this time, my humidor arrived, and I decided to do the drying using my humidor. Here's a pic of the harvest in one of the humidor trays. LR2 is getting ready to enter its own Mason jar for curing.

All in all, LR2 spent about 2 wks drying. No signs of mold, 46-50% RH now, even with other residents in the humidor (sugar leaf trim from LR1 an LR2 and fan leaves from defoliation of CC1 and CC2 late last week. I will get into this in a reply to lessimore12's posting on Defoliation. Defoliation

Samples of LR2 have been extremely enjoying, including getting lost in a pinner about halfway through, when
I realized that I was smoking homegrown. It tasted just like some good open market critical.
Enough for 2night, Hindu Kush (HK1) is up to have its story told tomorrow. HE would be proud. HE has lotsa balls..........................................................

 

[Epicannabis]

Onward with Hindu Kush (HK1).
I can only say positive things about the structure of HK1. Classic Kush throughout the grow. Here we go with this adventure.
In case you didn't catch the background info on the grow, here's a background reduced to HK1.

BACKGROUND
The grow was started with
- Hindu Kush - Sensi - Indica

Grow History - 8 wks 18-6 / <1 wk 12-12, then isolation
Indoor - DR120 veg, DR90 flower
Growth Method - PseudoHydro 1"Perlite at bottom of pot, 2:1 Soil/Perlite growth mixture , 1/2" Perlite "moisture wizard" layer
PotSize - 5x5x7 up to 7 wks, repot to 8x8x10
Lighting - Veg — Blue CFL, Flower — Red CFL
Aircooled - 4" computer fans — intake and exhaust
DarkRoom Environment - 76F — 50%
Watering Cycle - Watering like in Passive Hydro - 2 day intervals
Nutrients - BioThrive Grow/Bloom
Pests - Whiteflies — Homemade Organic Tobacco Tea

Everything started off as wonderful as a grower could want. I won't go into a lot of detail about early veg growth as we will be starting a grow with 5 Hindu Kushes in about 2 months.

Everything looked wonderful the first month. I hadn't screwed anything up...yet.

And fantastic through the second month. Note the top shot on the right above. Unbelievable foliage!
So, it was time to xplant HK1 into a 1.5 gal pot and move it to 12/12.
Of the collection started in this grow, HK was the only seed that wasn't feminized. But I seem to have forgotten about that and was expecting to see expression of gender as we were seeing in CC and DP, but not until I moved HK1 to 12/12.
And then I was hit by a frying pan!
Just 4 days into 12/12, HK1 decided to show HIS balls!

What the ? He wasn't feminized. What am I going to do with him?
Given the strong landrace characteristics that HK1 was expressing, I decided that I wanted to get its Kush structure genomes and apply them to Critical Cure and Durban Poison. And.....

HK1 was sentenced to my son's closet to fulfill his purpose in life. It was time for him to create his pollen so that he could leave his mark on this planet.
By week 10, HK1 was expressing his gender all over himself, and it was time for pollen collection.

The process of collection has been a learning experience, but HK1 has already started leaving his mark.
2 wks ago, I was able to pollinate select calyxes of CC1, CC2, and DP1 which were in flowering.

And it worked! All 3 females got what they needed and started doing their job. The ladies are not only brandishing their buds of sinsemilla, in addition, they are making seeds!

But HK1 x CC1, HK1 x CC2, and HK1 x DP1 will be covered in a separate journal, as the journey is just beginning with the formation of seeds...........................

All in all, HK from Sensi, IMO is a gem. Will let y'all know more in August, when HK and their crosses take the grow stage.

 

[David Bowman]

How did this grow turn out?

We would love to be updated with some pictures and info.

How about posting a 420 Strain Review?

If you need any help with posting photos, please read the photo gallery tutorial: Photo Gallery Guide: How to Resize, Upload & Post Photos

I am moving this to Abandoned Journals until we get updates.

Thanks and hope all is well in your world.

Love and respect from all of us here at 420 Magazine.