GG7's Indoor/Outdoor Grows!

[Goldengoose7]

UPDATE:

Since this is the first time I have seen any of my plants flowering under natural sunlight, I was really impressed with how cool these flowers look in the golden afternoon sun! Had to get a few shots before everything went into shade.

 

[420GodsTrichome]

GG my friend, looking so awesome!!

 

[OG13]

Looking great, got to love the free sun.....

 

[Goldengoose7]

GG my friend, looking so awesome!!

Looking great, got to love the free sun.....

Thanks guys!

I appreciate your positive comments and support!

I'm hoping that my somewhat radical idea pays off! I figured that I could risk the harvest of one of the two BBK plants if for some reason this late flowering outdoor idea goes south.

I wouldn't recommend this to anyone else flowering indoors UNLESS you have a pretty good handle on your light levels outdoors and have at least the same or shorter day/vs night ratio we have right now. It is right on the edge, so there is a possibility that some strains would still react negatively from being removed from a true 12/12 cycle. Having plants of the same strain or similar already outside and showing flowering activity is really the safest way to know if this can be used in order to make room inside for new plants to flower indoors.

Here at our place, we are in a little valley, and our entire property goes into late afternoon shadow at around 5PM right now. Even though this doesn't qualify as actual darkness, it appears that the plants are perceiving this early shade as twilight and adding at least a portion of it to their night cycle time.

At least, that is my unproven theory behind why all the plants on the back hill are starting to set bloom, while the few plants that remain in sunlight till closer to 6:30PM are showing only very subtle signs of flowering behavior.

Whatever the root cause, this outdoor flowering behavior in mid-August does present a few hurdles for me to deal with. Most notably is now the rush to get all remaining outdoor mother plants inside under artificial veg lighting in order to prevent them from going into flower. I found one BBK clone that didn't have any hairs on its growing tip or secondary branches so that got put under 18/6 next to the cloner last night.

As I have mentioned before, although some claim to have had success with cloning from flowering Cannabis, the reality of the situation is stacked against their success.

When Cannabis goes into flower mode even as early as the first 7-10 days, the plant's root development slows to a crawl. Dormant rooting activity built into any cuttings you take IS NOT what you want to be dealing with when trying to clone!

As I mentioned above, the original Blue Cheese mother is really starting to put out a lot of flower hairs which means that I need to get that plant trimmed down and brought inside ASAP. I am waiting for this latest cloning session to end so I can do one last session with another half dozen BC cuttings and a couple of BBK growing tips before time runs out!

That will likely be my last cloning session of the season until March/April when Spring 2012 is upon us!

 

[MSquared]

I think your plan is sound in thought to put them out there. I bet it will pay off in spades for you, but just in case good luck anyway, no sense in tempting fate here...

I cloned flowering plants my last cycle, it did not go very well. I used an aero cloner and out of the 16 cuttings I only got 2 clones. They are huge and look fantastic, but took soooo long to revert back to veg that I thought I had lost them too so stay away from that if you can.

Your plants look just great, keep it up!

 

[papatater]

Great lookin plant and pics Beautiful Man Beautiful

 

[Goldengoose7]

Great lookin plant and pics Beautiful Man Beautiful

Thanks as always for checking in Papatater! Glad you are enjoying the photo essay of my 2011 growing season!

I think your plan is sound in thought to put them out there. I bet it will pay off in spades for you, but just in case good luck anyway, no sense in tempting fate here...

I cloned flowering plants my last cycle, it did not go very well. I used an aero cloner and out of the 16 cuttings I only got 2 clones. They are huge and look fantastic, but took soooo long to revert back to veg that I thought I had lost them too so stay away from that if you can.

Your plants look just great, keep it up!

Hi MS and thanks for the input!

Your comments are very timely as I am a bit concerned with my latest batch of GDP clones that are just now about to come out of the cloner. GDP #4 has already put out some respectable roots in spite of the fact that it has a little flower top on the growing tip instead of the usual new growth! When I took these cuttings, they showed no signs of pre-flower and have been under 16/8 light cycle while in the cloner, so why they are starting to produce flower tops is a bit of a mystery. Perhaps there is more to this than just light cycle? Maybe its something in the genetics of GDP?

I am just about to post a new update, so stay tuned for that!

Cheers.

 

[Goldengoose7]

Turbo Klone Session #2 Update!
GDP #4 Gets Transplanted!

This little bugger rooted faster than any of the 21 previous clones from session #1 and none of the other cuttings from this current session are anywhere close to this much root development. Getting some spikes on about half, but at least another 3 days minimum for any others to be this far.

Have a look!

I always like to transplant my clones into soil before the roots get longer than about 4 inches. I prefer to transplant with only root spikes showing, but this plant has been beating the odds in terms of rooting time and speed.

Here are some transplant photos from about an hour ago...

I always like to sprinkle CocoBlend on the bare roots before putting them into the pot

GDP Clone #4 Officially Transplanted!


Notice the cute little flower top on the growing tip instead of the usual look? Despite the fact that all but the GDP 1 growing tip have started to make little powderpuff tops, GDP #4 appears to be bucking the well proven trend that flowering clones are a lot slower to develop roots.

Hopefully this doesn't cause any problems since these plants are all destined for at least 5 weeks of veg time under 18/6 in my veg room.

I am using FoxFarm Ocean Forest soil for this new clone, and will see how it does in this compared to my usual homemade mix.

Veg Room Back in Action!

Because of the early flowering activity going on outdoors, I decided to reactivate my indoor veg room in order to keep my mother plants and clones from going into full blown flower! Unfortunately, without the power of the summer sun, these are going to be a lot slower growing than the summer crops.

From left to right: Blueberry Clone, GDP #4, Blue Cheese Cuttings in B1 water waiting for their turn in the cloner, the Blue Cheese mother plant trimmed down to fit under the T5 light fixture

Thats it for now!

I will be posting mid-week update this week as soon as the remaining clones in the T48 are ready to be transplanted.

Stay tuned and thanks for checking in!

 

[MSquared]

Thanks as always for checking in Papatater! Glad you are enjoying the photo essay of my 2011 growing season!



Hi MS and thanks for the input!

Your comments are very timely as I am a bit concerned with my latest batch of GDP clones that are just now about to come out of the cloner. GDP #4 has already put out some respectable roots in spite of the fact that it has a little flower top on the growing tip instead of the usual new growth! When I took these cuttings, they showed no signs of pre-flower and have been under 16/8 light cycle while in the cloner, so why they are starting to produce flower tops is a bit of a mystery. Perhaps there is more to this than just light cycle? Maybe its something in the genetics of GDP?

I am just about to post a new update, so stay tuned for that!

Cheers.

mine did the same thing, I pinched all of the flower tops off and they seemed to respond well after that, but I think I decided to do it a little late and lost a good bunch of them. 2 survived and are 2 of the strongest plants I have had- go figure huh.

Those roots are outstanding and you take such excellent photos. It is always a pleasure to see your updates.

 

[Goldengoose7]

mine did the same thing, I pinched all of the flower tops off and they seemed to respond well after that, but I think I decided to do it a little late and lost a good bunch of them. 2 survived and are 2 of the strongest plants I have had- go figure huh.

Those roots are outstanding and you take such excellent photos. It is always a pleasure to see your updates.

Thanks again MS! Glad you are enjoying my photos! I try to use good lighting and no flash in order to get the most natural colors.

So, pinching the flower tops off seemed to make a difference in future flowering activity? Hmmmm... I might have to try that on a few of them and compare the results.

This latest batch of clones are mainly destined for over-winter veg to provide the first cuttings for next season's outdoor grow, so as long as they settle down between now and March 2012, we should be cool. It is definitely a lot more work to keep strains going via cloning versus seed stock.

Since all but my Blue Cheese are clone only strains, I have to keep a few mother plants alive and thriving through the winter.

 

[Goldengoose7]

Blueberry Kush Week 6.5 Outside Finish!
Turbo Klone Session Ends with Mixed Results

Hi gang!

Just thought I would update the grow journal with a few shots I took over the last few days of our Blueberry Kush plant that was moved outside to finish flowering. Also a bit of news on our second turbo Klone session than ended today on Day #18.

Here are the BBK outdoor shots!

Hope you like'em!

I have had a few people ask about the Blueberry Kush strain I am growing.

Found a good description here that very accurately describes what I have seen in my BBK plants so far.

Turbo Klone Session 2 Ends with Mixed Results

At Day #18 all of my GDP cuttings have rooted perfectly including the growing tips, but NOT A SINGLE Blue Cheese cutting had any roots or even root buds! What's worse... about half had stem rot BUT the other half looked like they might root if given another 3-5 days more in the cloner.

Here is a shot of some of the transplanted GDP clones from this last session.

Since I had that original Blueberry Kush growing tip that was now 27" tall and needed a topping of its own, I decided to run one more cloning session for the season to clone out that last BBK growing tip AND try another batch of Blue Cheese cuttings while also leaving in the ones from the last session that could start root budding any day now.

Of course I drained the cloner and cleaned it thoroughly in the stall shower with hot water, soap and H2O2.

For session #3, I have decided to go back to using bottled RO water instead of our own tap water, and this time I won't be adding any cloning solution to the cloner until Day #8. Only the cloning gel washed off the cuttings will be added to the water for now. I suspect that the BCs that died in the cloner died from Black Stem Rot which the BC cuttings seem to develop rapidly if given the right ingredients.

We shall see if the same thing happens this time. At least the GDP was immune from any of that in the same cloner and the cuttings rooted like champs! Just as easy as cloning the BBK strain!

Harvest Approaches!

Saturday will mark week #7 for the BBK plants in flower, and I plan to start putting samples under our Celestron Lab Grade Microscope with Camera to show you guys what the trichomes are looking like right now! That all happens this weekend so stay tuned!

Cheers and thanks again for checking in!

 

[Twelve12]

The outdoor plants are looking good. How tall are they? What's the size of the biggest cola? Sorry if I missed it somewhere. May I offer you some photo tips? Have you try taking pics during sunrise/sunset? To fill in the buds with light and get rid of shadows a white foam can be use. The background can stay dark, and you'll have yourself a magazine quality bud porn! Make sure to obtain a copy of her ID.

 

[Goldengoose7]

The outdoor plants are looking good. How tall are they? What's the size of the biggest cola? Sorry if I missed it somewhere. May I offer you some photo tips? Have you try taking pics during sunrise/sunset? To fill in the buds with light and get rid of shadows a white foam can be use. The background can stay dark, and you'll have yourself a magazine quality bud porn! Make sure to obtain a copy of her ID.

Thanks Tweleve!

As you can probably deduce, I moved the BBK to the Back Hill alongside all the other larger outdoor plants that are too big to keep under my light stations inside. The ground cover and forest makes for great camouflage but it also makes it harder to get a good photo of any of those plants since they all blend in so well with the background.

Probably the best bud shots are going to come from the other BBK that remains in my Bloom Room when I bring it outside to harvest it. I plan to take some shots similar to your suggestion then. The difference in Trichome coverage between the two plants is getting pretty dramatic. It almost seems as though the plant outside is "losing" trichome coverage from being in a non-12/12 light cycle, while the indoor plant continues to get more and more "frosty". Have you heard of that happening?

I've read in several threads here on 420 that it is safe to finish flowering a plant outside once it has reached the 6 week mark, and the light cycle outside will not effect it. The idea being that it is too far gone to reveg.

As far the height of all those back there... The average now is about 6 feet tall with the White Rhinos taking the prize for the tallest plants at about 9 feet each! The Nothern Lights is a close second at 7.5 feet tall, and then the rest at between 5.5 and 6.5 feet tall.

The Cola sizes are about average on the BBK and definitely smaller than normal on the GDP, but I read that the GDP strain does not yield HUGE buds. Somewhere in between your average Indican and Purple Urkle which traditionally makes VERY small colas compared to most strains. I will be finding that out for myself soon since the Urkle in the Bloom Room hits Week #5 on Tuesday.

I'm just letting them all do their thing since there is no reason to cut them back for height reasons. I am surprised that they have reached these heights while remaining in 5 gallon pots!

I'm planning to take some additional BUD photos today of the GDP and BBK still in the 12/12 Bloom Room and also put a few sample pieces under the trusty Microscope for some serious trichome comparison photos!

I'll be posting that first Weekend Update either today or tomorrow morning based on time constraints with other duties I have to deal with today.

Stay tuned and thanks for the suggestions!

 

[papatater]

Beautiful Man Beautiful i have a hard time takin pics outside every thing looks the same

 

[Goldengoose7]

Beautiful Man Beautiful i have a hard time takin pics outside every thing looks the same

Thanks Papatater! Always good to see you walk in the door!

Yeah... Taking any kind of botanical photos out in a forest or even in your own back yard is really a lot harder than most people think.

You either have to try to isolate your subject matter as best as you can, or do what Twelve suggested and basically build yourself a little "set" (as in photo shoot set) that has a nuetral background and where you can spot light your subject as well as use a few fills. I've done a lot of photography in my life, but not until I started growing "the herb" did I ever think much about taking plant photos.

All my other crops are food crops and it never occured to me to document those grows with photos. I grow all my stuff from seed usually, so the process is very similar to Cannabis cultivation. This is the primary reason why I hit the ground running when I started growing.

Most of the stuff you need to know about gardening can be learned with any crop or flower and is easily applied to anything else that grows in the ground and needs water and light to live.

Looks like my first Weekend Update may have to wait until tomorrow. I've got a lot to show everyone and I don't want to just rush through putting it all together.

Stay tuned and hope everyone is off to a GREAT WEEKEND!

 

[Goldengoose7]

Weekend update delayed until tomorrow.


Due to some problems I discovered in my Bloom Room with Powdery Mildew on my GDP plants and partially on my remaining BBK plant indoors, I have not had time to prepare my update for posting today.

I did post some info about the problems on my GDP Start to Finish thread in case anyone is interested.

Hopefully by tomorrow I will have all this CRAP sorted out and can get back to documenting the grows. I will be including all the bad news as well in my update then.

Stay tuned.

 

[Xlr8]

Hi GG7 -

Well, I'm late but subbed.

Bummer to hear about the PM problems - that sucks. Just wanted to follow along on your grow - you've got some beautiful plants you've been growing. Hope you get the PM thing solved without too much headache.

 

[Goldengoose7]

Hi GG7 -

Well, I'm late but subbed.

Bummer to hear about the PM problems - that sucks. Just wanted to follow along on your grow - you've got some beautiful plants you've been growing. Hope you get the PM thing solved without too much headache.

Hey Man!

Glad to see that you made it over here! Thanks for the good words and encouragement. Today has definitely been a long, hard day, but I think when all is said and done, it all worked out for the best. I think the plants and buds are all going to be fine.

I'll be planning to post my twice delayed weekend update before noon tomorrow. (Sunday)

Talk to ya'all then!

 

[Goldengoose7]

Weekend Update! • Sunday, August 21st, 2011
Trouble in the Bloom Room • Harvest Time Coming Soon! • Trichome Photos!

Things have been rather hectic around here lately, and as a result I have not had as much time to monitor my grows as normal. This is usually when disaster strikes!

Sudden Trouble in the Bloom Room!

Early yesterday morning as I was in the Bloom Room preparing some bud photos for this update, I ducked down low so I could take some good shots of GDP #2 which was really starting to ripen fast. That is when I saw it… POWDERY MILDEW!! Since this plant is on the floor and only comes up to my knees and is obscured by the 2x2 T5 fixture, I hadn't been paying much attention to it over the last week.

Here is what PM looks like. Notice the patches of White Powdery Material on the lower fan leaves. Contrast Enhanced for Detail

As soon as I noticed the fungi on GDP #2's leaves, I checked GDP #1 which had only been in there for a week, and its lower leaves had powder splotches too! Arrrgh! Closer inspection of the back branches of the BBK revealed even MORE mildew!

I quickly clipped off an infected GDP leaf and put it under the microscope to confirm.

With the naked eye, the organism resembles fine shavings of a white substance on the sufrace of your fan leaves. Usually starts on lower portions of the plant where there is less light and heat

Under extreme magnification the fungus is easily identified by its classic appearance of little transparent "beads" connected together to form a chain or stalk

Unfortunately... A Classic Case of Powdery Mildew Fungus!

Although this fungi is not extremely harmful to the Cannabis plant itself, this organism is still a form of mold and you definitely DO NOT want to be smoking or vaping any buds that were allowed to be infected/harvested and cured with this stuff on the or in the bud material. The fact that it bears a close resemblance to trichomes when covering the same portions of a bud, makes confirming under exterme magnification the surest way to know for sure.

Even though I didn't see any powder on the actual buds, there was only one thing to do! EVERYTHING HAD TO GO OUTSIDE for a thorough spraying of anti-fungal mixtures! I had this problem once before during the winter, so I already knew what to do, but this time I had the added power of some 90 degree heat and the summer sun!

After trimming off as many infected fan leaves as possible without hurting the plant, the next step involves some homemade fungus killers and a spray bottle.

The next step was to mix a tablespoon of Baking Soda with a gallon of water. Fill the spray bottle and go to town on all the remaining fan leaves that show any sign of the powdery residue while taking care NOT to get this on the actual flower buds.

Any contact with the hairs of a flower top will cause them to turn red or orange within a few hours regardless of the age of the flower top.

Unfortunately, GDP 1 got hit in a few spots, but it was unavoidable at the time. The flowers should recover without any serious damage to growth or development. Any time you bruise a Cannabis flower in some form or another, it will turn color like this. Polination can also cause this if there was no other physical or chemical damage done to the flower tops.

Let it sit on the plant for 15-20 minutes and then wash off with another spray bottle of distilled water.

Next mix up a batch of Milk Water using 1 part Skim Milk (non-fat) to 9 parts of water. Spray the entire plant INCLUDING the buds with this solution and leave it on for 24 hours. Substances in the milk kill the fungus and the spores. The milk actually foliar feeds your plant as a free bonus. The next day as soon as the sun is shining on the plants, spray them one more time with distilled water and leave to dry.

This should take care of the problem, but you need to remain vigilant for at least a week in case the mildew returns. It is a royal pain in the ass when this happens this close to a harvest, so I am still not a happy camper!

After all the plants had been moved outside, I decided to leave the other BBK and GDP #2 outback on the deck. Since I already committed to flowering one of my BBKs outside, I decided to go for broke and leave two more out there too. I am pretty sure I mentioned this somewhere in my previous entries but THIS is the FIRST time I will be flowering plants outdoors! Up till now I have always flowered exclusively indoors to avoid pests, pollen from rogue forest males and the like, so this is all going to be just as new to me as it might be to you!

Blueberry Kush Week 7
Have a look at these last indoor shots of both BBK #1 and GDP #2 before the move outside

Blueberry Kush #1 Week 7

Grand Daddy Purple #2 Week 6

Grand Daddy Purple #2 Week 6 Outdoors After Move and Fungal Treatment

BBK #1 • Week 7 Outdoors After Move and Fungal Treatment

Purple Urkle Week 4.5 Moved Into the Tub Next to GDP 1!
Notice that I had to tie the thing down to tame it from growing too far into the light fixture before it got moved yesterday

Two BBK clones and a Purple Urkle Clone under second light station

iGS-15 Flex-Timer System Set to 14/13 Light Cycle (27 Hour Day)

I figured after the radical swap of plants in the Bloom Room it was time to resume my 14/13 light cycle experiment with new subjects. The display is indicating how many more hours and minutes remain before the lights go off. It does the same thing during the night cycle. This thing is probably the most advanced horticultrual timer on the market right now.

Now on to MORE FUN STUFF!

One of my FAVORITE parts of growing this stuff is all the scientific kinds of things you get to do at the end. And nothing is more fun for me than checking out the Trichomes of my soon to be harvested plants! Although I also use a Jewlers Loupe daily to check after Week #6, only a quality Microscope can deliver images like these!

Blueberry Kush #1 - Indoors
Sample taken from top of main cola

One of the "Hairs" from the top of the bud

Grand Daddy Purple #2 - Indoors
Some of the areas of this main cola sample already have cloudy and amber tops, but the plant needs to go beyond week 6 if I want it to turn purple, so I am going to hold off chopping this one until I get closer to week 8.

Notice the PURPLE substance entering the trichome stalks?

So there ya have it! With all the commotion around here the last few days, I wasn't sure if I was even going to get a chance to post this one considering how big it turned out to be, but here it is, better late than never! I hope that you enjoyed all the photos and the microscope shots!

Next week will likely be one of our best updates yet since we will be ready to harvest the BBKs! Will keep you posted on the Mildew issue too!


Talk to ya soon, and I welcome your comments!

Have a great week!

 

[Mr. Krip]

GG7, great update and great pics! I tried to give you +reps again, but need to spread it around more first! The trich pics are absolutely amazing!

Also, your explanation on how to ID PM is great!

Plus, your plants look fantasic!