InTheShed Grows Inside & Out: Jump In Any Time

[FelipeBlu]

Thanks Maritimer! I have withheld watering/fertigating during the final week and have observed what seemed to be increased resin production, so I am interested enough to give this a try.

exposed to drought stress at week seven in the flowering stage

In the text from the study, it’s unclear to me if the drought stress is only during week 7 or continues until harvest. You appear to indicate that it’s continuous, which makes sense to me.

 

[Maritimer]

Thanks Maritimer! I have withheld watering/fertigating during the final week and have observed what seemed to be increased resin production, so I am interested enough to give this a try.


In the text from the study, it’s unclear to me if the drought stress is only during week 7 or continues until harvest. You appear to indicate that it’s continuous, which makes sense to me.

Hi Felipe,
The drought begins at start of week 7 and continues until a 50% change in LWA has been observed or 11 days later, whatever occurs first. I normally run at least 8 days before the plants tell me they have been stressed enough (greater than 50% change from turgid reading). If I still have active bloom (pistols) I resume normal fertigations until harvest. If the pistols have retracted, I just take her down straight from the drought.

 

[FelipeBlu]

continues until a 50% change in LWA has been observed or 11 days later, whatever occurs first. I normally run at least 8 days before the plants tell me they have been stressed enough (greater than 50% change from turgid reading).

By 7 weeks of flowering, I typically have to fertigate daily in perlite hempy. I would likely see 50% delta LWA within 3 days. So would I run several leaf wilt cycles until 11 days has passed, and then resume normal daily fertigations if the plant isn’t ready for harvest?

 

[Moony]

By 7 weeks of flowering, I typically have to fertigate daily in perlite hempy. I would likely see 50% delta LWA within 3 days. So would I run several leaf wilt cycles until 11 days has passed, and then resume normal daily fertigations if the plant isn’t ready for harvest?

At a certain point I do question whether this is even English anymore? Lol.

Don't forget the fertigations of the film flam with HLQ and 4 days worth of sniffle flops.



I'm assuming that the reason I understand non of this is that it is hydroponics related? Hehe

 

[FelipeBlu]

fertigate​

(ˈfɜːtɪˌɡeɪt)
vb, -ates, -ating or -ated
(Agriculture) to fertilize and irrigate at the same time, by adding fertilizers to the water supply
[C20: from fertilize + irrigate]
ˌfertiˈgation n

 

[Moony]

I was right!!!! Words and things!!! Lol

 

[Maritimer]

By 7 weeks of flowering, I typically have to fertigate daily in perlite hempy. I would likely see 50% delta LWA within 3 days. So would I run several leaf wilt cycles until 11 days has passed, and then resume normal daily fertigations if the plant isn’t ready for harvest?

Sorry to say, but I do not think it will work out with your medium drying so quickly. The plant will not have enough time to process the environmental stress and begin hormonal changes. According to Dr. Kaplan repeated droughts are not the answer either, however the young doctor was not conducting the study in perlite. You may get some benefits from repeated wilt cycles and we can tune the process. You might, just might find this works. In mostly peat moss it is certain.

 

[InTheShed]

I'll get to this all later but I just wanted to make sure that @Moony knew we were talking soil and soilless here, not hydro. And also to be clear, soilless is not hydro, it's peat-based growing media...which is what I grow in.

I hope that clears some of this up!

 

[FelipeBlu]

THIS is the article, yes?

Yep, this study was soilless

Plants were transplanted into 11-L blow-molded black pots (279 mm diameter · 241 mm height) containing Pro-Mix HP Mycorrhizae (Premier Tech Horticulture)

 

[InTheShed]

So much to catch up on, here and all over the site! Let me get this quick Monday update out of the way so I can get to Maritimer's great post on drought-stress for increased cannabinoidation in the next post!

Yesterday I was tired of having the Sour G clone living in the solo cup, so even though it wasn't needing water every day, I transplanted it into a 1 gallon pot:

20211003_122534 Sour G clone transplant.jpg

• InTheShed
• Oct 4, 2021

Sour G upcan

20211003_123017 Sour G clone transplant.jpg

• InTheShed
• Oct 4, 2021

Sour G upcan

20211003_123144 Sour G clone transplant.jpg

• InTheShed
• Oct 4, 2021

Sour G upcan

It's in the shade for the next few days to lessen the transplant shock and then it needs to get moving!

I hope you all had a great weekend. It was hot and dry here as the Santa Anas blew through.

Drought info post below... ↓↓↓

 

[InTheShed]

A short essay on droughting cannabis.

Thanks for posting this here Maritimer! I'm going to drought the Sour G only, because in case everything goes horribly wrong I still want to be able to show off how well the Chiquita Banana from WSE did the old fashioned way.

Doctor Kaplan

The paper has it as "Caplan" for those trying to find it online.

“The drought treatment elicited a 12% increase in THCA concentration and a 13% increase in CBDA concentration but had no effect on the concentrations of the other detected cannabinoids Drought had substantial effects on cannabinoid yield, expressed as grams of cannabinoid from floral material per unit growing area (g·m-2). In the drought treatment, THC yield was 50% higher, THCA yield was 43% higher, CBD yield was 67% higher, and CBDA yield was 47% higher than in the control.”

Who wouldn't like a 12% increase in THCa for no work at all (other than the effort it takes to not water!)?

I was concerned that the increase in THC and CBD were a result of a decrease in the size of the buds, because if you don't water it, how can it bulk up in those final weeks. But the article states:
"...inflorescence dry weight did not differ statistically between the two treatments...These results suggested that the level of drought stress applied was adequate to stimulate cannabinoid production without reducing inflorescence dry weight for this cultivar."
so I think that means the buds weren't stunted! "Inflorescence" refers to the complete flower head of a plant including stems, stalks, bracts, and flowers.

I've seen the light! Actually I've seen the trichs build during my droughting them. Wouldn't grow without doing it. And it's free!

Free!

By 7 weeks of flowering, I typically have to fertigate daily in perlite hempy. I would likely see 50% delta LWA within 3 days.

This is my concern as well given how quickly my plants dry out in ProMix HP. I'm sure Caplan's tests were run indoors in a controlled environment, as are Maritimer's. Yesterday my plants got watered in the morning and sat in the sun with air temps at 88ºF (I'm sure leaf temps were near 100º) and humidity in the 20s. This morning they were pretty light already.

I'm assuming that the reason I understand non of this is that it is hydroponics related?

LOL! As mentioned above, not hydro at all.

In mostly peat moss it is certain.

Thanks for clarifying that!



Since I've started the drought period, I thought I would post some reference pics. Here is how Caplan diagrams the leaf wilt angle measurement:

LWA diagram.JPG

• InTheShed
• Oct 4, 2021

Leaf wilt angle diagram from Caplan's paper

And here are my lame attempts with a protractor on sagging branches!

20211004_083421 Sour G LWA reference.jpg

• InTheShed
• Oct 4, 2021

Sour G leaf wilt angle reference, flip day 43

20211004_083510 Sour G LWA reference.jpg

• InTheShed
• Oct 4, 2021

Sour G leaf wilt angle reference, flip day 43

20211004_083549 Sour G LWA reference.jpg

• InTheShed
• Oct 4, 2021

Sour G leaf wilt angle reference, flip day 43

20211004_083603 Sour G LWA reference.jpg

• InTheShed
• Oct 4, 2021

Sour G leaf wilt angle reference, flip day 43

20211004_083403 Sour G LWA reference.jpg

• InTheShed
• Oct 4, 2021

Sour G leaf wilt angle reference, flip day 43

I tried to make sure the bottom of the protractor was even with the branch, as they will sag more over time.

And for fun, I took some slightly blurry pics of the trichomes on the very top of the top cola:

2021_10_04_08_40_43_132 Sour G top.png

• InTheShed
• Oct 4, 2021

Sour G trichomes before drought, flip day 43

2021_10_04_08_41_05_335 Sour G top.png

• InTheShed
• Oct 4, 2021

Sour G trichomes before drought, flip day 43

2021_10_04_08_41_27_209 Sour G top.png

• InTheShed
• Oct 4, 2021

Sour G trichomes before drought, flip day 43

2021_10_04_08_42_57_893 Sour G top.png

• InTheShed
• Oct 4, 2021

Sour G trichomes before drought, flip day 43

And one of a random lower just to compare:

2021_10_04_08_43_36_847 Sour G lower.png

• InTheShed
• Oct 4, 2021

Sour G trichomes before drought, flip day 43

Big to Maritimer for doing all this research and testing it on his own grows.

Now let's see how long this plant can go without water and still come back and not die! Stay tuned...

 

[Maritimer]

You might consider throwing a couple bricks (counterbalance) on your pot to prevent capsizing.
I use a cheap angle finder but your protractor will work.
I observed something I found interesting in your up potting picture. The pic with you showing the roots. The pot the plant is going into (I think) looks as if it has a nice hole made to fit. Is this a common practice?

Why can't I ever think of something so cool. Must be the medicine.

 

[InTheShed]

You might consider throwing a couple bricks (counterbalance) on your pot to prevent capsizing.

We're on the same page sir! I've already figured I'm going to use my big river rocks across the top in an attempt to stabilize it.

I observed something I found interesting in your up potting picture. The pic with you showing the roots. The pot the plant is going into (I think) looks as if it has a nice hole made to fit. Is this a common practice?

Common enough for me to do it! A few years back I googled something about low-stress transplanting and found a video from a guy doing this inverse/inverted sand castle method. Here is the post where I did it the first time. It's just a pot of the same size as the one going in and you build the medium around it, then slide it out and gently put the rootball in. It only works for roots that hold the soil together. It won't work on loose roots obv!

 

[GratefulBud]

It's just a pot of the same size as the one going in and you build the medium around it, then slide it out and gently put the rootball in. It only works for roots that hold the soil together. It won't work on loose roots obv!

Brilliant!
This is why I like hanging out with you guys.

 

[Bode]

Highya ITS,

Very nice presentation! Easy to follow, concise, very logical. I loved the pics too. When I look at trichomes through my loupe, it's hard to keep still enough to see the same trichomes long enough to evaluate. And I only drink tea (1/day) (coffee gives one the shakes, lol)!

cannabinoidation

Couldn't find it written elsewhere! I guess you could get into a "stoner dictionary" Happy Trails to You

 

[InTheShed]

Brilliant! This is why I like hanging out with you guys.

Hey GratefulBud, and to my perpetual journal! I try to attract some of the smartest folks on the site so I can learn from and share with the best. I'm glad you've joined in the festivities.

Very nice presentation! Easy to follow, concise, very logical. I loved the pics too. When I look at trichomes through my loupe, it's hard to keep still enough to see the same trichomes long enough to evaluate. And I only drink tea (1/day) (coffee gives one the shakes, lol)!

Getting sharp pics was easier with the loupe taped to the cellphone! Though this wifi microscope is pretty cool. I needed to drag the plant over to the ping pong table so I could put the phone on it. Then I could hold the scope in one hand and tap the camera button with the other. On a plant grown in the soil I'd need to leave the phone on the ground and tap it with my toe!

Couldn't find it written elsewhere! I guess you could get into a "stoner dictionary"

Just made it up for the occasion! Seemed most appropriate.

 

[Carcass]

I took some slightly blurry pics of the trichomes on the very top of the top cola:

Does droughting produce more trichomes, or more thc/cbd in the existing trichomes?
It doesn't look like there's room for any more....

 

[InTheShed]

Does droughting produce more trichomes, or more thc/cbd in the existing trichomes?
It doesn't look like there's room for any more....

Thanks! I'm afraid I don't have the answer to that, but perhaps @Maritimer does. I haven't had a chance (or the clarity) to read the entire paper to see if it gives the exact method by which this process occurs.

 

[Maritimer]

Ahoy @Carcass
Does droughting produce more trichomes, or more thc/cbd in the existing trichomes?

As the drought progresses the amount of ABA (Abscisic Acid) synthesized increases. The rising ABA will antagonize (trigger) the JA pathways. These so called pathways are signaling channels that report to the plants GRN (genetic regulatory network) that serves as sort a central nervous system in people. Anyhow when the rising levels of ABA caused by the lack of water gets severe enough the GRN will issue orders that the Jasmonate production will receive all available plant resources and increase production of essential oils containing our enriched goo. Simultaneously the existing density and capacity of glandular trichomes increases dramatically.

Sorry, the short answer is drought stimulates both more trikes and fatter existing trikes.

 

[InTheShed]

First off, today's posts are here and here!

Ahoy @Carcass
Does droughting produce more trichomes, or more thc/cbd in the existing trichomes?

As the drought progresses the amount of ABA (Abscisic Acid) synthesized increases. The rising ABA will antagonize (trigger) the JA pathways. These so called pathways are signaling channels that report to the plants GRN (genetic regulatory network) that serves as sort a central nervous system in people. Anyhow when the rising levels of ABA caused by the lack of water gets severe enough the GRN will issue orders that the Jasmonate production will receive all available plant resources and increase production of essential oils containing our enriched goo. Simultaneously the existing density and capacity of glandular trichomes increases dramatically.

Sorry, the short answer is drought stimulates both more trikes and fatter existing trikes.

Thanks! I'm looking forward to reshooting those trichome shots in a few 11 days!