Hyena's Never-Ending Adventures In Growing

[Hyena Merica]

Happy Friday!

Here's a Project 26 update!

Everybody is growing like a weed, so to speak.

Here are the three gals on the left, the all-LED section. From front to back: Black Hyena, Blueberry, and Jack Herrer.

Naturally, my own sativa Hyenas are leading the pack, height-wise. But all look nice and healthy.

I don't think two plants per pot will be an issue, Ive done it before with one or two and there's more than enough room for roots because the direct-feed method is so efficient and effective.

Next row down the middle is comprised of, back to front: Blue Hyena, Blueberry, and that little Holy Grail that still seems like a midget. I moved it to the least-productive spot: front center.

Finally, on the right, back to front: Jack Herrer, and a single and then a double Amnesia.

I rarely go up there, it's quite hot again and the lab is hitting 95 for stretches but that doesn't seem to hurt the young plants at all. It seems that the flowering stage is the one where temp control is crucial, since the flower formation and frosting takes place in a very complex manner as a direct response to the quality of the conditions. But when they're little they're just hardy little weeds and you can bake 'em if you just water enough.

On we grow!

Peace, Hyena

 

[CheeseWedge]

Looking good! Pretty amazing how you can be so hands off with this rig. Very appealing! .

 

[Hyena Merica]

Looking good! Pretty amazing how you can be so hands off with this rig. Very appealing! .

It's from a German design originally, by a guy named Otto Mattick.

Peace, Hyena

 

[Hyena Merica]

Happy Monday! Project 26 update time!

Our girls are really cooking. Nice growth everywhere! Everyone so far looks healthy and happy as they can be.

In row one, we have two Jack Herrers and three Amnesias. These are mainly under the 400W Metal Halide and one 300W original Mars Hydro LED. All looking very good, though perhaps I have a smaller pheno of Amnesia in the middle bucket, it just seems a little smaller.

Here is row one:

In the center is the blue zone...Blue Hyenas and Blueberry, both doubles and both popping.

Also in front, that teensy little Holy Grail that seems so forlorn...but like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree, I believe in it...it will grow. Maybe.

Finally, the left side, row three, where I've got two each of Jack Herrer, Blueberry, and Blue Hyena.

This side looks the best overall and it's supported by the Twilight LED light that I tested last time around. What a light! It really does get the best out of my green girls. I'm leaning towards replacing the other HID light with another one of these.

I topped everybody that was ready for it, all except three that still aren't showing decent branching. Again, the significant difference between several of my pairs of young plants may indicate different phenotypes, or maybe just random stuff that will even out...it's so fun to wait and see all the mysteries of nature as they reveal themselves over time!

I also ramped up the nutes to adult, high-growth levels. Until now I have kept them on very light nutes, and now I hit them hard. I topped off the reservoir and tucked in my now-almost-teen girls. Let's see what happens...

This calls for a joint.

Peace, Hyena

 

[pino0911]

Looking great my man as always!! Im with you nothing like caring for mother nature and observe threw the whole process all the way up to flowering! Nothing like it. I really think m beginning to like it more then smoking and I LOVE SMOKING!! Cant wait for the next installment!!

 

[CheeseWedge]

That Twilight LED is kicking ass. Just by this example alone I'd be tempted to buy another one (or two.).

I like the Charlie Brown Christmas tree, I'm pulling for her too, hope she produces a memorable smoke ..

Always look forward to these updates, hope to have my own mad scientist lab one day.

Think you'll do any more experiments with seeds? Maybe project 27 or 28?

 

[Hyena Merica]

That Twilight LED is kicking ass. Just by this example alone I'd be tempted to buy another one (or two.).

I like the Charlie Brown Christmas tree, I'm pulling for her too, hope she produces a memorable smoke ..

Always look forward to these updates, hope to have my own mad scientist lab one day.

Think you'll do any more experiments with seeds? Maybe project 27 or 28?

Brother, the seed thing is more complicated than it looks...to do it right.

Maybe next year but the next several runs will be familiar names with the goal of big, solid yields.

Stay tuned for Christmas budz that will amaze!

Peace, Hyena

 

[Rifleman]

I am convinced the sustained temps of 90+ caused that...it's like the plants were trying to elongate and grow in a way that would help them survive the heat, longer, thinner colas where each bud is comprised of "strands" instead of bulking.

It's very stony weed but it tastes like crap. I basically threw two pounds in the trash.

Oh well, you live and learn! The next round will be a lot better!

Peace, Hyena

Walking through my 100 plus subscribed threads this morning and I come across this. Yeah I know I'm behind the curve, always have been. Anyway, I've had the same thing happen. Most definitely heat, and a good dose of sativa genetics. My Amnesia Lemon smoked the same, it was just ugly and loose.

 

[425jesse]

Lol, my summer grow was similar too, this falls grow is gonna be out of control...GO HYENA!!

 

[Hyena Merica]

Walking through my 100 plus subscribed threads this morning and I come across this. Yeah I know I'm behind the curve, always have been. Anyway, I've had the same thing happen. Most definitely heat, and a good dose of sativa genetics. My Amnesia Lemon smoked the same, it was just ugly and loose.

Thanks Rifle, I was 99% sure I had the whole thing figured out and you added the missing 1%.

Since my major limitation is my grow lab is hidden in an attic (on the sun side no less) I haven't yet figured out how to keep the temps low enough in summer...not yet. But I have some ideas I might engineer by next summer. Even if I can't, I could live with two grows a year...it's a hobby.

Lol, my summer grow was similar too, this falls grow is gonna be out of control...GO HYENA!!

Thanks, Jesse...yeah the next grow will be easy, no fighting heat...it will be a frosty Christmas!!

Peace, Hyena

 

[Hyena Merica]

Happy Friday!

BOOM!

The nute blast must have worked because these girls grew a TON in just 2 days.

Here's how we are lookin'

It's just amazing what growth rates these girls can achieve when everything is optimal.

I'm starting to see where my real density will probably be so I'm thinking through my SCROG startegy. It's about time to string the thing, as they say.

Left side is winning so far:

You can't see the true colors with these kwazy LED lights but the plants all have great color and the leaves are perfect including tips...that's when you know it's going on baby! Pre-pubescent pot perfection!


The center ring has a few elephants:

...and one little dwarf:

I don't know about the little misfit Holy Grail. What will we do with her? She's the slowest-growing normal-looking plant I've ever seen...perhaps it's a 1-foot-tall phenotype. Bonsai! I feel like I will work for three months to produce a joint...it better be good!

The right side with the HPS looks strong and vigorous, though I'm pretty sure I have a shorty Amnesia pheno in the middle bucket. My experience with shorter phenos is they still produce nearly everything the bigger plants end up producing. How you ask? Well, when this grow is SCROGGED everything will grow everywhere, there will be aggressive branches trimmed and redirected and in the end it won't be about which was taller, rather, everyone will have the time to grow horizontally as far as they want so the shorter phenos essentially catch up and end up putting out about the same amount.

It's that day when the temperature suddenly drops 20 degrees from the past week's average highs, it feels like it went from summer to fall overnight. I like this time of year because it means no more high temps to fight and perfect grow room conditions! I really can't wait to see this grow finish...I honestly feel it might be the best yet. Even having scaled my total light power usage back by 500 watts, I believe this grow could exceed anything done previously in this chamber.

I'm particularly excited that the simple seed start method worked PERFECTLY...no more messing with the separate nursery chamber and all the associated complexity. The two-chamber approach was designed to minimize the gap between grows and I suppose it works, but my grows produce so freaking much now I'm not worried about squeezing them out faster. I will never be able to smoke the pot I have already made for God's sake...I have so many jars of buds I feel like a dispensary.

I better get smoking!

Peace, Hyena

 

[pino0911]

Great Stuff! Blants are expkoding!!

 

[Hyena Merica]

Good day! It's Saturday! Hope yours is great!!

SCROG day!

I have had a lot of good ideas in my day, (though most of them, it turned out, were previously thought of) but the reusable SCROG frrame might be one of the best. It's so great I don't even care if someone else thought of it too!

I have a frame around the grow pots at SCROG level, made of 2x3 wood. It has brad nails every six inches all the way around the upper surface.

I take a ball of cotton twine (much better than wire, etc., because it does a lot less damage to tender stems and leaves) and simply string it back and forth.

It goes fast. You can see the girls on the left (under the all-LED lighting) are already above the frame! Last time I frankly waited a little too long to apply the SCROG and they were all too big to do it. Advice: SCROG early.

A little goes a long way if it's tight. That applies to SCROG too.

A reasonable string density will do fine, it still contains vertical growth but is easier to work with than small-opening SCROGS like chicken wire or pre-made wire screens. Plus, when the harvest comes you simply cut the string and easily remove it. A bit easier than trying to work branches out of a metal SCROG without doing extreme damage to buddage.

So once we are SCROGGED the fun begins.

I tend to let plants stay in veg too long. It's just greed. Even when plants are at the right height and fullness to flip, I never get the feeling that everybody is going to put out their maximum so I wait a couple weeks too long and then have to deal with the negative effects of a canopy that is too dense.

So as you might remember I went for ultra-density this past grow and achieved it...and we found he point of no return. The amount of colas was staggering but the hedge was so dense a lot of the interior branches simply couldn't get enough light to develop properly and a lot of these buds were airy and useless. Even throwing away at least a pound of fluffy branches I still got two pounds of usable buds which means it really isn't necessary...what I learned is density past a certain point is counterproductive and diminishes the quality of the entire grow.

I'm still learning. I have read so much on this subject but one big realization has been there isn't one best way to do it. Results are what matters and there are different ways to achieve great results. We adapt to our environment and develop our own style. I learn from reading the results of others but also find you have to do it yourself to really understand it.

Dialing it in, grow by grow...

Lately I've been smoking Great White Shark, Lotus, Oakland OG, Blueberry Headband and Chem Dawg. As I write this morning I have smoked a small bowl of trim from my last Christmas grow. Just leafy crumbles from trimming buds, in bags to be used for concentrates and never meant to be smoked, just junk really. It has gotten me so freaking high I have to say I am higher and have a better buzz than I've had in weeks. THAT is the absolute beauty of learning to grow your own...it really is better!

Have a groovy day!

Peace, Hyena

 

[Hyena Merica]

Project 26 Update! Sounds so official to say that...

Hello, here's the Day 32 report. 32 days since I poked dry seeds into rooter plugs and threw on some water.

Plants are growing 1-2 inches per day vertically, as expected once the big nute solution took effect. I see no discolored leaves or even so much as one imperfect tip, anywhere.

How? I have not measured any nutes, rather, at this point I have a mother hen's instincts when it comes to what to add and when...can't really explain it. I just start the first few weeks with very little nutes, then once they hit about a foot I turn it up a bunch (though still not nearly to the amounts recommended on the bottles). I add what I feel they need based on experience. I can't imagine them growing any faster or looking any healthier so I guess those instincts are okay. No science whatsoever with that one.

SCROG time is on like donkey kong...I spent ten minutes starting to weave the freakishly-fast-growing branches on the Blueberrys...the ones on the left side are jumping and have way thick stems already.

It's always a mess after the first SCROG. It went well though.

The middle:

Cotton twine makes it so easy compared to rigid SCROG screens. Doesn't hurt the tender shoots a bit.

Little Holy Grail is still such a midget...I hope she grows tall enough fast enough to avoid being blocked out completely. If not, well, survival of the fittest. It's the law.

We are going out of town for basically nine days starting this Sunday. My wife deserves a cruise and she's getting the works. However, I must admit this will be by far the longest test of my setup to date...if it were much further into this grow and/or much hotter outside I would genuinely worry that the reservoir would run dry in that time period. I have measured the attrition of the reservoir for the past 2 weeks and I believe a full reservoir will easily support the girls for ten days even at their present usage plus 25%. This is another reason I waited an extra month to start Project 26, I knew this trip was coming. If everything goes according to plan I should be able to flip right around the time I return and still harvest by Christmas.

So, I will spend this week dreaming of the Caribbean, and letting the girls grow, grow, grow.

Keep 'em green.

Peace, Hyena

 

[pino0911]

Well m sure your system will hold up like everytime tested. Hey oh btw got a visit from postage man today!!!! The HYENAS are gonna come out n play!!! Looking perfect and loving the scrog. And never caught that you dont measure ppm or n e thing! Thats crazy cinsidering how i rarely see you deal with any kind of deficiencies!! Great work and have a Grand time on the open ocean! Safe Travels and Hope you and your better half have a great trip!!

 

[Hyena Merica]

FINAL UPDATE for about a week or more!!

I went up this morning and filled the reservoir as high as I dared. Adjusted the nutes (just a splash of GROW and MICRO) and the Ph (set it down to 5.6 because it will creep up gradually over ten days of recirculation and evaporation) and checked them all out for any problems whatsoever. NOPE!

Poking up all cute and stuff. Now to SCROG their tits off.

Had to work fast but effectively, and pushed and tucked every branch that could go somewhere. Just getting them spread as much as possible before ten days of neglect.

Looks a bit rough but I wish I could do more. They will probably be ready to flip in ten days. I wish I could tend them and weave their beautiful branches about three times during that stretch but I will probably be on the Caribbean somewhere so this is a ten-day autopilot test of my setup. Very excited since it's essentially going to be one of two scenarios: everybody is popping insanely, or something went wrong and everything is ruined and/or my house burns down.

That last thought was a joking semi-paranoid thought but it proves the worth of the sativas I grow. Every day is a series of mental flights of fancy as my stoned mind attempts to wrestle with the major concepts of the universe, and the cerebral lubrication of a good sativa has become the key to making it a fair fight. Tell me I'm not high. Mt. Everest seriously.

WHAT is up with this freaking Holy Grail? It's like a little green child. Perfect but hopelessly behind...or not?

Anyways,

I'm pretty confident that my shit is constructed in a proper manner to operate flawlessly for two weeks if necessary. So the hurricane that is scheduled to hit New Orleans the very hour we were scheduled to land is moving ahead of schedule so it looks like we will actually make it to the Love Boat, one way or another, then it's on.

I will be excited to see what is there when I pop the secret door in ten days...life? Death? Bigfoot?

Have a great week!

Peace, Hyena

 

[425jesse]

Have fun, see you in a couple weeks!!!

 

[pino0911]

Have fun my friend! Will come home to a jingle busting doors down!! Hope u have safe travels!!

 

[Hyena Merica]

Happy Monday!

We are back from our AMAZING week on the high seas...I was high, and I was on the seas.

So, I sneak the ladder out with wifey and daughter upstairs and unpacking (very risky move but I couldn't wait)...and this is what I see...

INCREDIBLE! OVER an inch PER DAY of frantic growth! I looked everyone over and there isn't even a bad leaf tip anywhere. Not only did my setup pass its longest test yet, the girls have become huge.

Another thing I am now sure of is the superiority of the all-LED side! Last project, and now this project...both show noticeably better growth on the all-LED side, both height and density are better. I have maintained an attachment to my HID lights that has gone from very strong to mainly sentimental at this point and I'm pretty sure I will order another TWILIGHT-type light. I used to have a 600W HID and a 400W HID, then we tried the GS1000 LED with the 600W HID, now I have only the GS1000 LED and the 400W HID and so the testing has been thorough and the results are clear. The growth is dense and lush, everything I want.

This means my heat signature will drop quite a bit and my power consumption will too...while maintaining full production that meets my expectations for the space...rapture!

I topped a bunch of branches while realizing my window for SCROGGING has already effectively closed! Yes I could weave all this all over the place and end up with a zillion branches but the last time I did I got so much canopy it was counterproductive, the quality suffered from too much quantity. I've found there's a balance between the available space and the effective penetration of enough light to form dense buds.

The other realization is there is great early density as a result of having two plants in most of the pots. I thought two would sort of cancel each other out and result in no net gain, but early indications seem to indicate they both are growing about the same as if they were single, so they have filled in the space twice as fast which means the first SCROG rounds were doubly effective.

My last several projects resulted in lots of quantity (about 2-3 pounds each) but the quality was only suitable for concentrates, it was not very tasty or smokeable. I think I now would prefer slightly less harvest weight and far greater quality and so we'll go for that this time around.

Even little Holy Grail seems to want to play!

Still seems way behind but I think she will make it. Plants can catch up a surprising amount, once the flip takes place and the plants switch over to flower mode.

So we flipped them today.

Shockingly early or right on time? The last three grows I feel I waited too long and everything got way too tall so I want to see if I can look like a pro for a change and properly control my grow.

Let's get flowering!

With the delicious varieties I have here (even now some are starting to get stinky!) I am SOOOO excited about the next ten weeks. They might produce the most beautiful buds yet and the photos will reflect that I hope! I miss taking pics of shimmering flowers...but I keep telling myself soon enough. Soon enough.

See you soon!

Peace, Hyena

 

[425jesse]

Glad you are back mate! I have a black Hyena growing in this round, and with out all the heat stress, she is badass! Yesterday was 2 weeks into flower, and I definitely Vegged for too long. Good call on the flip. I'm excited to see how it goes. I wish I had that headspace that you have...excited to see what the lil holy grail puts out!