KingstonRabbi - Mendo Madness - Outdoor - 1st Grow

[Zogrowsgreen]

Hey KR, finally had the time to swing by and sub in. Sorry to hear about your issues, i believe we are in the same boat. I found out yesterday my AK had hermied on me, at 7 weeks of flower I really dont know what to do at this point. Good luck with the rest of your grow, I will be tuned in.

 

[KingstonRabbi]

Thanks Mr. K and Zo.

I do intend to make seeds from the MM male and also from Hash Bomb male in my indoor grow. But I only plan to go as far as F1. If something incredible shows up I'll get it tested and keep a clone mother. That is actually my goal for all of the strains I'm growing, to find mother plant for each of best strains and weed out strains that don't meet my needs. When I first ordered seeds I had a lot of mixed info on what would work best for my cancer. I have 4 strains growing with potential THC over 20% and 2 with THC:CBD levels rated at 15+%:5+%. I'm taking yield and time to harvest into account also, but will have 1 of each tested for potency before choosing mother. The rest are mostly free seeds that I'm growing out to see what I get but not expecting to keep in the mix.

I'm also looking at new seeds for very high CBD strain without THC. Reason is I thought CBD had different decarb temp and timing than THC, but now finding that may be less of an issue. 2nd reason is it's easier to find strains high in one or the other, and having them in separate strains/oils will make it possible to create precise ratio if I ever figure out what that ideal ratio is.

I am well aware of the variation in phenos. White widows are very uniform, but Hash Bombs range from pure sativa to pure indica in shape. I can only wonder about the effects at this point. I'm really fighting the urge to go nuts with crosses. Someday I'll have time for that, but for now I'm focusing on learning how to grow and finding mother's to keep going. It's a lot o fun, but I'm taking it very seriously.

 

[KingstonRabbi]

Question: When is best time to harvest pollen from maturing male plant? Pods on MM#3 are increasing into very loose colas but none have opened, and I don't see any female flowers yet on other plants.

 

[KingstonRabbi]

Final pics of MM#3. I think the point is clear enough.

 

[Mr. Krip]

Question: When is best time to harvest pollen from maturing male plant? Pods on MM#3 are increasing into very loose colas but none have opened, and I don't see any female flowers yet on other plants.

I haven't played with breeding yet, personally, but have done quite a bit of studying and here is the technique I plan on using, which I think will answer your questions and/or give you some ideas you can use:

After the male has been under 12/12 for about 2-3 weeks, cut the branches with the clusters, trim the lower stems to just "sticks". Cover a glass/container of water with tin foil and then poke the branches through the foil so the stems get submerged in the water as if you were trying to root them.

Be careful not to keep the holes as small as possible as you're poking the branches through the foil and make sure you don't have water/moisture on the foil.

Every day, or two, you can agitate the clusters with a small paintbrush or other object to try to "milk" the pollen.

When they're ready, the pollen will spill onto the tin foil and can be easily collected.

If you want to keep the males in the garden and not use the tinfoil/cup method, after 2-3 weeks of 12/12 you can try to "roll" some of the nanners in your fingers and, again, see if you can milk any pollen. They'll tell you when they're ready and the pollen sticks to everything and is very hard to see, so make sure you change clothes and shower before going near any plants you do NOT want pollenated!

 

[KingstonRabbi]

I'm frustrated beyond words by these plants. Still no active flowering except on #3, which is male. I took cuttings of rest to put inside tent and force them to show. Should've done that weeks ago. Autos have been moved inside, so just 6 plants to update.

Overdue for photos, so here we go plant by plant.

MM#1, showing signs of neglect since finding what I suspect are male pre-flowers. They are so small that even in photo I can't be sure. I did a quick job to restore ties to maintain spread in case it's a female. Maybe I'm fooling myself but the fact that it hasn't gone into full male flowering yet gives me hope.

MM#2, looking leggy but healthy. Before restoring spread it was almost to top of fence. Still holding out hope same as with #1.

Collecting pollen from remains of #3. Hard to see but a little has already fallen onto foil. This is the one I want to use for seeds. First, it caught up in size with #1 & 2 even though started month later. Second, I know it can flower outside even with urban light conditions at night.

MM#4 (left) and MM#5, now located in hidden spot away from others. I found female pre-flowers on #4, nothing on #5. #4 is still flourishing since being freed from training. #5 hasn't done much of anything since being untied. They are in the most night-time light protected spot in garden but still no actual flowering.

WW#3 is the only other plant outside (except for suspected HB males waiting to be juiced). I moved her outside rather than try to fit her in scrog. Trying to bend her I snapped the trunk at point that made it impossible to train to correct height without breaking completely. Snap has healed and she's growing into nice tree. The pot is waste basket from Daiso (everything $1.50) that holds 3.5 gallons. large holes good for aeration but not watering. I will line it with landscape fabric to make it work more like fabric pot.

Still no sign of flowering. It just started getting dark before 9pm, so counting early dawn and twilight we are still at 14 hours daylight. Just figured that out now. I had been going by sunrise/sunset times, didn't factor in that twilight lasts a long time here. Will have to wait to see what September brings (besides rain.)

 

[SweetSue]

Well I'm glad you figured out that you're not into flowering lighting yet.

My thoughts on #1 are that if it was a male you'd be overrun with pollen sacks by now. My experience has been that they make that change in lightening speed, which is why we have so many unexpected crosses growing in gardens all through this site.

They all look like decent sizes KR, so I'd anticipate a decent harvest in the end. Once they start flowering it's like they take off in a run. It's so crazy, isn't it, having so much at risk that you don't think you have any room for those little setbacks that everyone ends up with? You have to trust the universe. I'll trust it for both of us, if that's what we need. You're going to get the harvest you need, and that's all there is to it.

In the meantime, tell me you don't sometimes feel like the king surveying your little kingdom of cannabis. You have a nice brood going and it's almost party time.


.... I forgot, if you have it, weed blocker cloth is the best choice for the pot, but if you don't have it a reusable grocery bag from your local grocer will work. Dollar General sells them in black.

 

[KingstonRabbi]

Thanks Sue!

I do feel like Yertle the Turtle sometimes. From my workbench I'm surrounded not just by cannabis large and small but all my heirloom tomatoes and dozens of plants I've collected in pots waiting to find a home in the ground. It's my happy place.

As for lining baskets weed block is exactly what I plan to use. Also testing Target shopping bags. So far they drain just like fabric pots, and the handles are strong enough to lift bag full of wet soil, about 7-8 gallons. Plus they add color to my field of green.

 

[KingstonRabbi]

Brief update:

MM#2 has finally started to flower and is definitely male. MM#1 looks to be starting flower and male. Pods are very small but no white hairs.
No change on MM#4 &5. We are definitely under 14 hours daylight now. Weather has turned cooler. If they don't take the hint by this weekend I'm getting out the black tarp. I have portable green houses for when the rain starts, but I was really hoping to avoid this hassle.

 

[KingstonRabbi]

A farewell to my first two plants, MM1 and MM2. Even though they turned out males I learned a lot from them. The final lesson, I found the sweet spot in my backyard for flowering (out of all the stray light sources at night, but full sun at least part of day). I moved the remaining three: MM4, MM5 and WW3, which are all showing subtle changes in growing tips that I hope are signs of flowering. Had a busy day in both grows. I'll post pics of them tomorrow.

 

[SweetSue]

Finding males can be so frustrating. Look at how well you grew them! Drat! I'm holding out hope for the other three. What do you plan to do with them?

 

[KingstonRabbi]

This will be the last post for this journal. It doesn't make sense for me to have 2 journals anymore, so I'll post updates of the outdoor grow in my indoor journal after this.

Great news! My remaining 3 girls are actually girls! Yes, I'd already seen pre-flower pistils on MM#4, and WW#3 is from feminized seed, but given recent developments I wasn't taking anything for granted. (side note: HB2 in the tent was also giving me grief taking her time but finally showed white tufts this morning.) MM#4 has gotten a little fuller and #5 has also bulked up to respectable size. I'll ignore that this is day 106 for both. It's now day 1 in flower.
This is the group in the middle of the yard, which is ironically the most protected spot from stray lights. I started getting the greenhouse ready for when it starts getting colder and rains come, but for now they're happy in the open.

White Widow #3 is easy to see. I noticed her starting last week and she's well on her way.

Mendocino Madness #4 (right) is tough to see even with magnifier, partly because all the foliage makes it hard to get camera close enough to focus. MM#5 is a little easier but still needs magnifier to really see white hairs.

Dutch Treat #3 & 5 will also be staying up with the big girls. I probably will get some seeds on them from the pollen I was collecting from MM#3 but no worry. I plan to use that pollen on a couple buds on MM#4 for next summer's grow. I also have 5 Hash Bomb males that I'm waiting to show their pods before I juice. I'll save pollen from one of them to do the same with HB#2, my best female HB.

I was a mess on Friday for a lot of reasons. Today I started out still struggling a little but now feel really good about my grow and able to handle the world in general (as long as I don't read the news.)

Thanks for following and please continue to follow my indoor journal, which I guess I need to rename now.

 

[Mr. Krip]

Nice job, Brother and to the males! I'll keep following your other journal! +REPS

 

[David Bowman]

Hope all is well in your world.

Thanks for sharing this grow with us.

Please head over to the 420 Strain Reviews forum and post your smoke report there too.

I’m moving this to Completed Journals now.

Sending you lots of love and positive energy.