Jon's First Outdoor Grow: Sugar Breath Photoperiod & Strawberry Banana Autoflower

[Rexer]

Thanks Rex, and even that one isn't entirely in focus. But I notice things like how it handles the light in the background around the edges of the bud, and how it deals with too much light on top of the bud. Seems it's really hard to get a closeup bud shot from any bud getting light without getting that overexposure on the white parts on the top of the bud. Is for me anyway with my camera. This one did much better on both of those counts, and the editing program is superior too - same on as on the 11s, but upgraded. This was a 13 camera shot.

No problem Jon! Since upgrading my phone- the best photos I've taken, are by taken from a distance, and zoomed in from an editor.
But their so fancy now, mine even will take a picture video, analyze it and make pictures from the short video.

 

[Jon]

Training Question

Hey @InTheShed, @Stunger, @Bill284, @Emilya, @Rexer, @StoneOttter, @Grand Daddy Black, @Azimuth, and anyone else who wishes to chime in, I have a training question that I'm putting here in case anyone else might have the same question, if you might have a moment or three - thanks!

So when you're making a final determination of what's going to make the canopy and what's not, and thus what you will then remove or not, do you allow for branches that might not be at canopy level yet, but are "close enough" that they will be when the stretch happens? And if that is the case, what constitutes "close enough" to keep the branch in your opinion? A couple inches? Four to six inches? (I mean those inches below canopy at start of stretch if you kept them) I guess this question would only apply to plants without a scrog netting situation.

Thanks!

 

[Rexer]

Training Question

Hey @InTheShed, @Stunger, @Bill284, @Emilya, @Rexer, @StoneOttter, @Grand Daddy Black, @Azimuth, and anyone else who wishes to chime in, I have a training question that I'm putting here in case anyone else might have the same question, if you might have a moment or three - thanks!

So when you're making a final determination of what's going to make the canopy and what's not, and thus what you will then remove or not, do you allow for branches that might not be at canopy level yet, but are "close enough" that they will be when the stretch happens?

Depends, is snipping that branch going to create an open hole up top?

And if that is the case, what constitutes "close enough" to keep the branch in your opinion? A couple inches?

a couple of inches of difference can be made up for in training. Take the leaves of the nearby colas, and cover them with the shorter branches leaves. It will "borrow" energy that would have hit the nearby branches. Kind of the opposite of leaf tucking. I'm not sure how many others use this technique, it's my own and I've noticed has helped get/keep even canopy. Obviously come later in flower this technique is a no go.

Four to six inches? (I mean those inches below canopy at start of stretch if you kept them) I guess this question would only apply to plants without a scrog netting situation.

Thanks!

If it's not going to get higher then 4-6 inches below the canopy- snip it good bye.
It's one of those things that needs to take in the totality of the plant and space, along with current growth stage IMO.
Im Interested to hear what other do! Great question as always Jon!

 

[Jon]

Depends, is snipping that branch going to create an open hole up top?

a couple of inches of difference can be made up for in training. Take the leaves of the nearby colas, and cover them with the shorter branches leaves. It will "borrow" energy that would have hit the nearby branches. Kind of the opposite of leaf tucking. I'm not sure how many others use this technique, it's my own and I've noticed has helped get/keep even canopy. Obviously come later in flower this technique is a no go.

If it's not going to get higher then 4-6 inches below the canopy- snip it good bye.
It's one of those things that needs to take in the totality of the plant and space, along with current growth stage IMO.
Im Interested to hear what other do! Great question as always Jon!

Glad you liked the question Rex, your answer is even better! Thanks for your input, I appreciate it.

 

[Bill284]

Thanks Rex, and even that one isn't entirely in focus. But I notice things like how it handles the light in the background around the edges of the bud, and how it deals with too much light on top of the bud. Seems it's really hard to get a closeup bud shot from any bud getting light without getting that overexposure on the white parts on the top of the bud. Is for me anyway with my camera. This one did much better on both of those counts, and the editing program is superior too - same on as on the 11s, but upgraded. This was a 13 camera shot.

Potential New Phone/Camera
Test Picture #1

Hey guys, I'd love to see if you guys agree with me that this is a significant upgrade in picture quality. I took seven or eight pictures with this phone I'm considering, and this is the one that came out the best. Had I been steadier and not rushed by the phone's owner I could have gotten more, but it will suffice. I think this picture is enough to see the upgrade from my usual stuff when I happen to get a focused shot.

This is a Blueberry bud. What do you guys think? Better, right?

Any excuse to show off.


Stay safe
Bill

 

[Azimuth]

Depends, is snipping that branch going to create an open hole up top?

a couple of inches of difference can be made up for in training. Take the leaves of the nearby colas, and cover them with the shorter branches leaves. It will "borrow" energy that would have hit the nearby branches. Kind of the opposite of leaf tucking. I'm not sure how many others use this technique, it's my own and I've noticed has helped get/keep even canopy. Obviously come later in flower this technique is a no go.

If it's not going to get higher then 4-6 inches below the canopy- snip it good bye.
It's one of those things that needs to take in the totality of the plant and space, along with current growth stage IMO.
Im Interested to hear what other do! Great question as always Jon!

∆∆ This.

Great answer Rex!

 

[Jon]

Any excuse to show off.


Stay safe
Bill

Any excuse for a humorous, sarcastic reply rather than include the answer to the actual question.



I kid. Yeah, ok. So? It's a journal. It's for showing off. Heh.

 

[Bill284]

Training Question

Hey @InTheShed, @Stunger, @Bill284, @Emilya, @Rexer, @StoneOttter, @Grand Daddy Black, @Azimuth, and anyone else who wishes to chime in, I have a training question that I'm putting here in case anyone else might have the same question, if you might have a moment or three - thanks!

So when you're making a final determination of what's going to make the canopy and what's not, and thus what you will then remove or not, do you allow for branches that might not be at canopy level yet, but are "close enough" that they will be when the stretch happens? And if that is the case, what constitutes "close enough" to keep the branch in your opinion? A couple inches? Four to six inches? (I mean those inches below canopy at start of stretch if you kept them) I guess this question would only apply to plants without a scrog netting situation.

Thanks!

Good day Mucker. @Jon
Hey Rex
As you might know I ran things a little different.
I'd top once and spread them out for 2-3 months.
Little trim underneath then flip.
After stretch a little clean up again.
I didn't putz with bud sites and leaves.
Big roots big fruits.
Running 50 or so ladies at a time kept me busy.
What wasn't perfect smokable bud got made into healing salve.
Sorry I know that doesn't help.

Stay safe
Bill

 

[Jon]

Good day Mucker. @Jon
Hey Rex
As you might know I ran things a little different.
I'd top once and spread them out for 2-3 months.
Little trim underneath then flip.
After stretch a little clean up again.
I didn't putz with bud sites and leaves.
Big roots big fruits.
Running 50 or so ladies at a time kept me busy.
What wasn't perfect smokable bud got made into healing salve.
Sorry I know that doesn't help.

Stay safe
Bill

Heh. Thanks Bill. You know I was only ribbing you. But yes, it's interesting to see different answers. I think Rex was talking more generally and you more specifically. Although I really dig his "opposite of leaf tucking" trick, that makes sense to me and it's worth a shot if necessary. I topped this girl above the fourth node and her two branches from there are basically the main supports of the plant. That's sort of in line with what you're saying only I am not going to let her stretch out for 2 or 3 months, lol. Thanks.

 

[Prescription Blend]

@Jon while @Rexer answered indirectly the material is right on point.

I guess this question would only apply to plants without a scrog netting situation.

This is the major variable. If your talking about a garden canopy with no ongoing training then the dominant branches will grow more dominant throughout flower and receive energy from the plant dependent on height.

Depends, is snipping that branch going to create an open hole up top

If you are going to do some training then cutting an opening can influence how the plant grows.

a couple of inches of difference can be made up for in training. Take the leaves of the nearby colas, and cover them with the shorter branches leaves. It will "borrow" energy that would have hit the nearby branches.

I agree with the idea but would have used "divert" instead of "borrow" because that energy is not really given back to the original branch (a little bit is, this is meant as a general statement).

If it's not going to get higher then 4-6 inches below the canopy- snip it good bye.
It's one of those things that needs to take in the totality of the plant and space, along with current growth stage IMO.

I interpret this to be "if you think the final height of the branch at full flower is going to be 4-6" below canopy, cut it", and this seems like good advice if your growing technique has a small footprint and no scrog net with minimal training.

A few tie downs can go along way, it doesn't have to be full scrog. @Rexer I hope I didn't misunderstand what you were saying here.

 

[Jon]

@Jon while @Rexer answered indirectly the material is right on point.

This is the major variable. If your talking about a garden canopy with no ongoing training then the dominant branches will grow more dominant throughout flower and receive energy from the plant dependent on height.

If you are going to do some training then cutting an opening can influence how the plant grows.

I agree with the idea but would have used "divert" instead of "borrow" because that energy is not really given back to the original branch (a little bit is, this is meant as a general statement).

I interpret this to be "if you think the final height of the branch at full flower is going to be 4-6" below canopy, cut it", and this seems like good advice if your growing technique has a small footprint and no scrog net with minimal training.

A few tie downs can go along way, it doesn't have to be full scrog. @Rexer I hope I didn't misunderstand what you were saying here.

Thanks @Prescription Blend, I'm with you. But I don't have a small footprint, to be clear, nor is it an untrained plant. Quite the opposite. I will have an entire 3x3 flat canopy without a scrog net. Here she is right now after her morning canopy maintenance. This will clarify I hope what I'm doing here. See why I ask about lower growth not catching up in this situation? This is after more staking, a little supercropping, a tiny bit of defol, and her general daily morning canopy maintenance. She gets flipped in four days. See how good your nutes are doing? I couldn't be happier with your product.

 

[Jon]

Cocotown
Strawberry Lemonade Trichome Check
Flower Day 44

I really do try to do as well as I can for you guys, including trying to always get better and better pics. Lol. In that spirit, here's five trichome pics from today of the Strawberry Lemonade, who is fattening up nicely. I hope they're better. I think they are. Not sure they're good enough to call trichome porn, but maybe right on the edge. Enjoy. I'm working on my Fracture collection. I started with a test one having never tried them, and used my best trichome picture at the time. It is the coolest thing. So I decided to start a collection of the same size prints of killer trichome shots, eventually having enough to go on the wall and encircle a whole room. I'm on a constant hunt. It's really fun to do when you're high and all you have to do is two tents in a garage with four plants and it feels like you're not even growing anything or working at all. Lmao.

 

[StoneOtter]

Training Question

Hey @InTheShed, @Stunger, @Bill284, @Emilya, @Rexer, @StoneOttter, @Grand Daddy Black, @Azimuth, and anyone else who wishes to chime in, I have a training question that I'm putting here in case anyone else might have the same question, if you might have a moment or three - thanks!

So when you're making a final determination of what's going to make the canopy and what's not, and thus what you will then remove or not, do you allow for branches that might not be at canopy level yet, but are "close enough" that they will be when the stretch happens? And if that is the case, what constitutes "close enough" to keep the branch in your opinion? A couple inches? Four to six inches? (I mean those inches below canopy at start of stretch if you kept them) I guess this question would only apply to plants without a scrog netting situation.

Thanks!

Oh man you're finding the fine points! Making the fine points really! Well, there's a place from the top bud to the bottom where I say no more. You know, where the clean up hits from the bottom up. So there's a foot or more maybe 16 inches of real grow space to want. This grow i kept two branches that I thought may be good. They were about 6 to 8 inches lower than the tops of most. Many others, actually like 20 I'm pretty sure. I've been watching them build bud and they aren't keeping up with the main canopy really. I'll smoke them but I don't think I'll let more like these stay if better opportunities present themselves like having all the other colas to build instead of all that and these two rather sad ones.

 

[Jon]

Oh man you're finding the fine points! Making the fine points really! Well, there's a place from the top bud to the bottom where I say no more. You know, where the clean up hits from the bottom up. So there's a foot or more maybe 16 inches of real grow space to want. This grow i kept two branches that I thought may be good. They were about 6 to 8 inches lower than the tops of most. Many others, actually like 20 I'm pretty sure. I've been watching them build bud and they aren't keeping up with the main canopy really. I'll smoke them but I don't think I'll let more like these stay if better opportunities present themselves like having all the other colas to build instead of all that and these two rather sad ones.

Thanks SO! And your answer makes perfect sense. That's exactly what I'm thinking about. But I also have four more days, and even that's not set in stone, and as the canopy keeps growing out I'm finding it becomes easier to identify the stragglers that are leaving. Thanks again!!

 

[Azimuth]

And nothing really beats OJT. Just like you can't learn to swim from reading a book, same here. You just have to get some good advice and then try it on your own. After the first go you'll have a better sense as to what works for you. Just like SO; those two buds he was talking about may be just fine for another grower with different objectives.

 

[Jon]

Thank you guys for your help on the training question. Like I said, it's becoming easier to identify. Here's a pretty good example. Before asking the question I thought this one goes. Now that I have I'm pretty sure of it. These two pictures show the same lower branch that I don't think makes the team and should go now. Do you guys agree?

 

[Jon]

Hey @Kanno26, how's the grow going? Those girls must be close to done by now, yes? Hope all is well.

 

[Bill284]

Thank you guys for your help on the training question. Like I said, it's becoming easier to identify. Here's a pretty good example. Before asking the question I thought this one goes. Now that I have I'm pretty sure of it. These two pictures show the same lower branch that I don't think makes the team and should go now. Do you guys agree?

Hey Jon I'm a fan of letting nature do its thing.
But if you deem it unnecessary than take her off.

Stay safe
Bill

 

[Emilya Green]

Training Question

Hey @InTheShed, @Stunger, @Bill284, @Emilya, @Rexer, @StoneOttter, @Grand Daddy Black, @Azimuth, and anyone else who wishes to chime in, I have a training question that I'm putting here in case anyone else might have the same question, if you might have a moment or three - thanks!

So when you're making a final determination of what's going to make the canopy and what's not, and thus what you will then remove or not, do you allow for branches that might not be at canopy level yet, but are "close enough" that they will be when the stretch happens? And if that is the case, what constitutes "close enough" to keep the branch in your opinion? A couple inches? Four to six inches? (I mean those inches below canopy at start of stretch if you kept them) I guess this question would only apply to plants without a scrog netting situation.

Thanks!

Sorry my answer took so long, but I am still fighting the after effects of covid and enjoying how it morphs into all sorts of fun things as it completes its course through our bodies. Just today am I feeling pretty good and at least for now, free of other symptoms.

Oftentimes I will very early on remove nodes 1 and 2. If I am just going to chop them later anyway, it's probably better to allow that energy to go into producing more bud sites at the top and all up and down those branches. I think that when this is done, the buds stack on the primary branches a lot closer together, producing more impressive colas on what is left.

All of this depends on how long I am planning to stay in veg. The longer I am willing to wait and let things build, the more likely I will keep one of the lower branches that looks like it is heading up into the canopy. If it has risen up even half way to the canopy, I will keep chopping the top to keep it even and then wait for the outside branches to rise. If I am in production mode and plan to move to bloom as soon as they are mature, there is no point in waiting for the lower branches to rise up and I chop them early in order to send that energy to the buds that are already at the top.

 

[Jon]

Sorry my answer took so long, but I am still fighting the after effects of covid and enjoying how it morphs into all sorts of fun things as it completes its course through our bodies. Just today am I feeling pretty good and at least for now, free of other symptoms.

Oftentimes I will very early on remove nodes 1 and 2. If I am just going to chop them later anyway, it's probably better to allow that energy to go into producing more bud sites at the top and all up and down those branches. I think that when this is done, the buds stack on the primary branches a lot closer together, producing more impressive colas on what is left.

All of this depends on how long I am planning to stay in veg. The longer I am willing to wait and let things build, the more likely I will keep one of the lower branches that looks like it is heading up into the canopy. If it has risen up even half way to the canopy, I will keep chopping the top to keep it even and then wait for the outside branches to rise. If I am in production mode and plan to move to bloom as soon as they are mature, there is no point in waiting for the lower branches to rise up and I chop them early in order to send that energy to the buds that are already at the top.

That's pretty much where I land, although the early advice is good, I was looking for that. In my case I'm four days from flipping if I flip on day 60, and there's only really two branches we're talking about. I'm giving them til the flip to see how far they get and then deciding. Thanks for the response!