Family! 
HAPPY 420!Let's get the introduction and preliminaries out of the way. If you followed my previous journal, most of this is redundant. Feel free to skip ahead. Here's the windup, and the pitch...
STRAINS FOR THIS GROW
Returning champions for this season include: Pitbull, Ace of Spades, Grape Ape x Sensi Star, and Golden Tiger(+). New to the roster are: Liberty Haze, Gorilla Glue #4, and Zamaldelica(+). A total of 7 plants. I have complete strain descriptions for each but I figure you know most of them and I don't want to clog this up with too many details. Following is the Readers' Digest condensed version:
GT = Golden Tiger(+)
GT+ was started from seed in late November, '15. It was sexed and moved into a 1 gal. pot mid-January. It was topped a few times and held until March 27 when I moved it into its current 7 gal. pot.
ZD = Zamaldelica(+)
ZD+ was also started from seed but not until early February. It was slow to show sex — not until late March under 12/12. Re-veg has also been slow. She is still in a 1 gal. pot.
LH = Liberty Haze
LH started from a clone I picked up in early February. It was up-potted to 1 gal early March then into 7 gal on March 27.
GG4 = Gorilla Glue #4
GG4 is another clone, but came late to the party (March 27) after my Panama seeds were males. She was up-canned to 1 gal immediately and is still there.
AS = Ace of Spades
AS is a cutting from a cutting of one of my outdoor plants last year. I kept her in a 1 gal pot all winter, up potting to 7 gal. with the others on March 27.
PB = Pitbull
PB is the evil twin to AS. She is another cutting from last summer held all winter in a 1 gal pot and moved to 5 gal. March 27. This is my current favorite strain I've grown. In my last grow it was fast, easy, a good yielder, purple, with a wonderful complex fuel smell, and she packs a punch. A real joy to grow. This time around it has become my problem child and is going to get some special attention. PB got the brunt of our recent storms. I had to remove a couple of broken branches. In addition, I'm convinced she has a root problem. I will be exploring what to do today. Both PB and AS will have their hem lines raised and some internal defol' before going in the ground.
GASS = Grape Ape x Sensi Star
GASS was also started from seed in late November '15, sexed and held in a 1 gal pot throughout my previous grow. An unstable F2 hybrid, she was another up-can on March 27. I grew these in my previous grow but they were never given a chance to shine (almost no veg time). I want to see what it can really do.
SOIL
Soil mix is: 2-1-1-1 sawdust-pumice-sandy loam-compost
Above base soil mix was amended (in no particular order) with: EWC, bone meal, guano, blood meal, feather meal, rock phosphate, Epsom salts, dolomite lime, Azomite rock dust, kelp meal, neem meal, myco, alfalfa meal, and humic and fulvic acids. It was mixed and has been cooking since mid-January.
Each pots was made from a piece of 2' x 8' metal lath with a second piece cut and wired to the bottom to create gopher cages. They are buried about ¾ down into the surrounding sandy soil and each holds 10 cu-ft (75 gallons) of the soil mix. I've already found my mix a little too porous. That should be easy to fix in future runs with additional amending. I have five of these pots ready. Because they are so much younger and smaller, two plants will be in smaller pots and in a different location. GG4 will go into a 25 gal. softpot with Promix and organic nute's, while ZD+ will be hanging out in her own 25 gal. softpot of DBHBB.
PESTS
The usual culprits for me: White flies and spider mites without a doubt. Potential pests include: deer, squirrels, gophers, bears, turkeys, moths/caterpillars, and people.
WATERING
Water as needed. It varies a lot. Some plants need it every day (they are ready to up-pot), most about every 4 days currently, The LH went for two weeks and looks very happy.
FERT'S USED
TBD for the 5 big pots. Nothing at first. Trial and error tests along the way. I am trying to stay organic. Fish fert's likely. I can also top dress with more EWC and amendment. Expect experiments on various plants with possible (unintentional) negative consequences. Because of its soil and smaller pot, GG4 will get feedings w/ Earth Juice. ZD will get the usual DBHBB drenches and foliars.
Here are thumbnails (click for larger versions) of where I left off and where we begin:
This is PB. Photo was taken a few days ago. She looks much worse today. She has acted differently than all the other plants since being moved into the bigger pot. PB usually looks over-watered - yet keeps wilting more often than any of the others. Now leaves are drying, necrotic, twisting. FUGLY! I'm not sure what the deal is unless I didn't do a thorough job of mixing my soil (possible). We'll see if she makes it.
AS She has a bit of a list to starboard from the wind.
From left to right: GT, LH, GASS
ZD (left) and GG4 (right) still in their 1 gal pots. They are ready for bigger pots - I just need more room.
This is the future home for the girls getting the larger pots.
Since days are still relatively short, I am keeping all under lights to make sure they don't flip early. The big pots get a couple of hours in the middle of the night, ala GLR. The small pots go inside for a total of 16 hours of light. I hope to hold them this way until mid-May, but IDK if I will be able to at the rate they are growing.
4-20 is a bittersweet start to this outdoor journal - only because my personal fav' strain that was doing great, is now off to a very bad start. Job #1 is to see if I can find the problem and if you all can help me turn her around. I'll try to document what I see...
