Quest for mold-resistant strains, Hawaii outdoor greenhouse grow

[Danishoes21]

Hey Growmies,

Greetings from moldsville

Sunday morning, the Blueberry had hardly any detectable bud rot, and I looked very closely.

Monday afternoon I had to harvest the Blueberry and Sweet Critical CBD prior to trichomes being ready, due to onset of bud rot. Both were salvage harvests – a lot was lost to bud rot. For the Blueberry, the rot was all over the place – crazy rapid onset. For the Sweet Critical, her buds were much smaller and she was more resistant – it was the kind of bud rot that is just barely starting to develop on dead bracts inside the buds. This, too, was all over the place. Fortunately, I got a good sample of both and the buds are now drying.

Keep in mind... I'm doing research, not production. I'm looking for strains that have natural resistance to bud rot. In order to find that out, I am purposefully not pampering them too much. The two CBD strains that I'm trying out aren't really part of this Quest... they're on another track... I'm trying to find CBDs that will come in close to 20% CBD.

The Blueberry, however, was adopted into the Quest (as a freebie), and I will likely grow her again from one of the clones, and this time I'll pay a lot more attention to her, including inoculating the soil with some beneficial microbes including trichoderma, and use a 15 gal fabric pot. She was just an awesome plant – very vigorous, dark green leaves, and heavy producer.

Here's tonight's harvest report for the Blueberry...

Blueberry (80% indica)

category	score
Leaf mold resistance* (low, med, high): low	2.5
Bud rot resistance* (low, med, high): low	1
Bug resistance (low, med, high): low	1
Resin production (low, med, high): med+	2.5
Fragrance: sweet, slightly spicy	--
Harvest status (minus, neutral, plus): minus harvested early due to bud rot	1
Yield (low, med, high): med+ ignoring the rot	2.5
Overall rating:	10.5/18 = 58%

* Low and med resistance implies peroxide or some other foliar spray was used on leaves and/or buds.

Blueberry colas would have been awesome... here's the best, with rotten buds clipped out.

This is all I was able to salvage.

Trichomes were premature... some are milky. Lots of resin and very sticky.

Sweet Critical CBD (50/50 hybrid).

No harvest report for this one. I'll be sending a bud sample to the lab soon to check CBD content.

Small buds with some bud rot resistance. If harvested a couple days ago, would have been OK.

Here's what I was able to salvage... could have got some more, but searching for infected dead bracts inside buds just 'aint worth it.

This stuff...

Buds were small but with good trichome production. Mild spicy/herbal fragrance. Not very sticky.

Sweet Critical CBD trichomes.

You research and effort are well appreciated.

 

[cbdhemp808]

Greetings,

Today I harvested the HI-BISCUS, and I'm happy to report... SUCCESS! This strain is definitely very bud rot resistant – I'd say even better than Humboldt Dream. I can't say for sure there was any bud rot, actually, and if there was, it was very repressed. What I did see – and this is really cool – were dead bracts with NO bud rot... you'll see in the photos. The buds were very clean, especially all the upper buds. The lower larf had some dead bracts, but they were isolated, and I actually kept a lot of the lower popcorn.

The other remarkable thing about this harvest was the strong scent. I would say this started maybe 3 days ago. This was the stinkiest plant I've ever grown... my first impression was skunk, and then I picked up a myrcene mango scent, and tonight during trimming... strong pine.

HI-BISCUS lineage... Zkittles x Blueberry Muffin. Zkittles = Grape Ape x Grapefruit x Unknown.

Here's tonight's harvest report for HI-BISCUS...

HI-BISCUS (50/50 hybrid w/ sativa effects)

category	score
Leaf mold resistance* (low, med, high): low+	1.5
Bud rot resistance* (low, med, high): high	3
Bug resistance (low, med, high): high	3
Resin production (low, med, high): med+	2.5
Fragrance: skunk, pine, mango	--
Harvest status (minus, neutral, plus): plus	3
Yield (low, med, high): med	2
Overall rating:	15/18 = 83%

* Low and med resistance implies peroxide or some other foliar spray was used on leaves and/or buds.

HI-BISCUS top colas. Small colas and buds, but the plant was grown in a 5 gal pot – can do better with a big pot.

The underside of the sugar leaves had a slight purple hue. The photo is a bit off – the hue was more of a dark purple.

The biggest bud of the batch. Very sticky and stinky.

This is how I classify buds (left to right): bud, popcorn bud, sub-popcorn, fairy bud. HI-BISCUS was very easy to trim... bud arrangement was even and organized. Sugar leaves were small, very sugary, and required very little trimming.

HI-BISCUS trichomes. Plenty of milky, and a bit of amber. With more attention and a bigger pot, I'm sure she can do better.

DEAD BRACT GALLERY

I'm fascinated with these dead bracts that are NOT INFECTED with bud rot. I don't think I've ever seen this before... I couldn't find one of these while trimming that had any sign of bud rot, and some were inside of the buds. Does anyone know anything about these brown trichomes on a dead bract?

Dead bracts, no fungus.

This one hasn't turned completely brown yet.

That's all for now!

Next up for harvest... Seedsman 30:1 CBD (sativa dominant)... she has some days to go yet.

Wednesday I will move Grape Ape to the flower house.

 

[cbdhemp808]

Quest for mold-resistant strains, Hawaii outdoor greenhouse grow

SCOREBOARD

HI-BISCUS (50/50 hybrid w/ sativa effects)........... 83

Humboldt Dream (70% indica).......................... 68

Blueberry (80% indica)............................... 58

Green Mountain Grape (90% sativa, green pheno)....... 50

Green Mountain Grape (90% sativa, purple pheno)...... 39

Still to come... Blue Widow (currently in flower), Grape Ape (going into flower later today).

 

[Danishoes21]

Great information Cbd;



I started researching as well for pest resistance cultivars and realised a lot of landrace genetics are said by their breeder to be very resistant. here is a extract of Ace seeds on a Central American sativa;

HONDURAS

"A classical tropical sativa of huge yield, high flower/leaf ratio, high vigor and excellent resistance against the adverse weather conditions of warm humid climates (rains and fungus)."

Resistance against spider mites	Average
Resistance against powder mildew	Average-High
Resistance against botrytis	High
Resistance against white fly	Average-High
Resistance against cold	Average-High
Resistance against heat	High

I made a order of these.

My outdoors work has shown me that the best way to breed pest resistance is to first grow outdoors where all the pest are and second take a loss on infected phenos up until one finds that only pheno that doesn't get sick. Last year I crossed some genetics with the Durban Poison just because its a fast flowering Sativa and highly pest resistant.

 

[cbdhemp808]

Great information Cbd;



I started researching as well for pest resistance cultivars and realised a lot of landrace genetics are said by their breeder to be very resistant. here is a extract of Ace seeds on a Central American sativa;

HONDURAS

"A classical tropical sativa of huge yield, high flower/leaf ratio, high vigor and excellent resistance against the adverse weather conditions of warm humid climates (rains and fungus)."

Resistance against spider mites	Average
Resistance against powder mildew	Average-High
Resistance against botrytis	High
Resistance against white fly	Average-High
Resistance against cold	Average-High
Resistance against heat	High

I made a order of these.

My outdoors work has shown me that the best way to breed pest resistance is to first grow outdoors where all the pest are and second take a loss on infected phenos up until one finds that only pheno that doesn't get sick. Last year I crossed some genetics with the Durban Poison just because its a fast flowering Sativa and highly pest resistant.

Thanks. What is also super important is the breeder making a stable seed line, so you can depend on the traits. I'm sure there's A LOT of variability regarding this among the various breeders. I see "breeding" now as a spectrum, ranging from a "seed producer" (F1 hybrids) to an expert breeder who can make very stable seed lines with desirable traits. At this point, I personally only know one breeder who falls into the expert category, whose seed is also relatively easy to obtain in the U.S. – that's Humboldt Seed Company (HSC). So, I'm now very interested to learn of other breeders who are also in that league, whose seed is relatively easy to obtain here in the U.S., and who are breeding for bud rot resistance. I'm growing Humboldt Dream and HI-BISCUS, both from HSC, and the phenos I got are great... top of my scoreboard right now.

I tried seed from Ace Seeds... Green Mountain Grape (GMG), a fast-flowering sativa. It was also listed as Resistance against botrytis, High. Also, Yield... High. Neither turned out to be the case for me. Both the green and purple phenos had widespread downy mildew on the leaves. For fragrance, GMG was described as "reminiscent of green grape juice, cherry fruit stripe gum, watermelon and cotton candy." This, too, was nothing like the scent of my buds, which I found to be "mild peppery" for the green pheno, and "sweet, peppery, gas" for the purple pheno. Technically GMG was not bred by Ace Seeds, but by Vermontman. Maybe my outcome was more-or-less because of my particular growing style, I don't know.

I would like to know how it goes for you with Honduras.

 

[cbdhemp808]

I took delivery yesterday on a Trichoderma product (below), and also a bag of organic horsetail herb.

Trichoderma is the fungus-killing fungus. I think it's even more important than mycorrhizae, which by the way it can coexist with in the root zone. Trichoderma attacks root rot fungi: Pythium, Rhizoctonia, and Fusarium. It can be added when sprouting seeds, added to a grow mix, added into the hole when transplanting, or added to compost bins (it's a compost accelerator). It can be used as a preventative, or watered-in to treat infected plants. It grows in soil, lives in the root zone, and can colonize the entire plant – leaf surfaces and all.

By adding Trichoderma to my worm bins, I can naturalize it into my grow. The way I manage my worm bins, I just keeping adding coco coir to the bins, so the microbiome just perpetuates itself. Trichoderma can also be cultured on cooked rice. Speaking of the worm bins... this is also a great way to make various beneficial substances more bioavailable. Just add the nutrient or plant matter to the worm bins, and the worms and microbes will turn them into the more bioavailable forms. I think this is true for most types of mineral ferts, for example powdered silicate from quartz, and things like willow bark, horsetail, and kelp meal.

Contains beneficial bacteria, mycorrhizae, and 3 species of Trichoderma

Tea time!

 

[cbdhemp808]

Blueberry vape review...

This was my first time ever trying out Blueberry – 80% indica, harvested early. I vaped some last night and it produced a very pleasant, strong, clear-headed body high. It was very noticeably less stoney and heady than Humboldt Dream (70% indica).

 

[cbdhemp808]

Greetings Growmies,

Here's an update from the veg house and flower house today.

Grape Ape (90% indica) just moved to the flower house yesterday, now 6 ft 5 in tall. She's doing somewhat better, especially in color, but I feel she's been stunted by possible root disease. I treated her with a gallon of Mikrobs water today, to introduce Trichoderma to the root zone.

Grape Ape

Seedsman 30:1 CBD (sativa), about 5 weeks in flower. Fragrance is coming on more now – sweet and slightly fruity. No sign of bud rot. Just a very small amount of powdery mildew, which I've been treating with peroxide spray.

Seedsman 30:1 CBD

Seedsman 30:1 CBD, 5th week in flower.

Blueberry clone in veg. Her color is off, and growth stunted... I have suspected root infection. I treated her with a gallon of Mikrobs water today, to introduce Trichoderma to the root zone.

DBL CBG seedling in the veg house, now 3 ft 9 in tall. I don't see any problems with her, but I gave her a treatment of Mikrobs as a preventative.

DBL CBG seedling.

 

[cbdhemp808]

Just wanted to share that I found a great source for organic aloe juice at the natural food store (see below).

Our sponsor, Royal Queen Seeds, has a great article on using aloe for your plants:

Start Using Aloe Vera To Protect And Nourish Your Cannabis Crop - RQS Blog

Aloe vera is a succulent plant that can benefit the health of humans and cannabis. Find out how to use it as a fertiliser, foliar spray, and rooting hormone.

www.royalqueenseeds.com

Aloe juice contains "beneficial nutrients, including vitamins B, C, E, and folic acid, along with minerals calcium, copper, chromium, sodium, selenium, magnesium, potassium, manganese, and zinc."

Use as both a foliar spray and a drench. It's antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal (it contains our friend, salicylic acid, among other beneficial substances). It's also great for the roots, and can be used as a rooting hormone for cloning.

 

[cbdhemp808]

Here's some shots from Wednesday...

Afternoon in the veg house. The plant on the far left is the Blueberry clone I mentioned in my post on Thursday. This is her color before I gave her the Mikrobs treatment the next day.

The sad Grape Ape in the flower house, before I gave her the Mikrobs treatment the next day. When I took this shot, she had not responded to being watered.

Seedsman 30:1 CBD (sativa)

Seedsman 30:1 CBD

Seedsman 30:1 CBD

Seedsman 30:1 CBD

 

[cbdhemp808]

Just wanted to share that I found a great source for organic aloe juice at the natural food store (see below).

It turns out the aloe juice is pH 4.4, I guess because of the addition of 1% lemon juice. I added 4 fl oz to a quart of my neutral rainwater and got pH 4.8.

I guess this rules out using it as a drench, unless I bring up the pH with some soluble Ca.

What do y'all think about using the acidic solution (pH 4.8) as a foliar spray?

 

[InTheShed]

I'd say give it a try on a test branch! I would imagine the success of citric acid spray (I'm testing a .25% solution these days) is the acidity.

 

[cbdhemp808]

Hey Growmies,

Today I harvested the Seedsman 30:1 CBD, and trimmed tonight. This strain is supposed to be able to reach 20% CBD.

Not the slightest sign of bud rot! BUT...

This was the first time I've experienced a plant hit with PM right at harvest time. Three days ago, the PM was visible but minor. By today, the PM had infected the sugar leaves on the lower branches. The four main upper colas were relatively clean (the plant was topped in veg and had four main branches). Some lower main buds were also mostly clean. During trimming I realized how much PM there was. I tossed a lot of the popcorn and lower stuff.

Another first... this is the first time I've seen heavy trichome production on the sugar leaves – they were almost completely covered. If there had been no PM, there would have been very little trimming to do. This also makes me theorize that the reason for the exceptionally high reported CBD content is because there are so many trichomes... all over the leaves. This is somewhat subtle, but imagine that you've got two dry bud samples, each weighing 1 gram: one from buds that are trimmed close, and one from buds that are barely trimmed and have trichome-covered sugar leaves. It's the same weight – 1 gram – but the 2nd bud sample has a higher ratio of trichomes. Hence, the 2nd sample will contain more cannabinoids. What do you think? Is it true?

And yet another first... this is the first time I've witnessed terpene odor diminishing right before harvest. The opposite was true for the HI-BISCUS I just harvested recently, which turned on terpenes and odor right before harvest – just standing near the plant, I got a good blast of strong sweet, skunky pine. I reported earlier in flower that the Seedsman buds had a very nice sweet and slightly fruity scent. Today when I harvested, that scent had weakened and changed to slightly spicy.

Trichomes could have gone longer, but there were a lot of milky ones in the buds, and lots of amber on the sugar leaves. Next time around, with one of her clones, I'll give a lot more attention, use a bigger pot, and give treatments to help prevent fungus.

Top colas of Seedsman 30:1 CBD (sativa). The plant was grown in a 5 gal pot. The frostiness is from trichomes, not PM.

Buds have an open structure. This was the biggest bud cluster (top of cola is foreground). Good view of the trichome-covered sugar leaves.

This is the first time I've seen this kind of necrosis, and it was isolated to the top of one of the four main colas. When it first appeared some days ago, it looked like a symptom of boron deficiency.

Seedsman 30:1 CBD. Trichomes in the bud.

Seedsman 30:1 CBD. Trichomes on the sugar leaves.

Another view of the trichome-covered sugar leaves.

POWDERY MILDEW GALLERY

This little leaf was tucked in close to the base of a bud. A lot of mostly small buds got thrown out!

 

[cbdhemp808]

Here's some more photos and info, from last Sunday...

The Grape Ape in the flower house, gaining good color and vitality, after being treated with Mikrobs 3 days prior. She continues to improve and is closing in on 7 ft tall now.

Seedsman 30:1 CBD, harvested today. This is what a top cola looked like 5 days ago. Heavy trichome production on the sugar leaves – most I've seen on any plant I've grown.

My very slow and underwhelming pheno of Blue Widow. A very weird indica-dominant plant... she didn't make the cut. Blue Widow is supposed to be 50/50. I'm on the wait list for genuine Dinafem Blue Widow seeds.

The Blueberry clone in the veg house, gaining good color and vitality, after being treated with Mikrobs 3 days prior. She continues to improve.

A new batch of clones started, including horsetail (Equisetum hyemale).

These horsetail cuttings came to me in the mail. I carefully trimmed both ends of each. On the bottom end, I trimmed close to the node, which is where the roots come out. I dipped each in cloning gel. 5 per pot, for a total of 30. I could see that some nodes already had the very beginnings of tiny roots. By the way, this is also how sugar cane is propagated. With sugar cane, you just plant the nodes directly in the ground and they grow, no problem.

 

[Azimuth]

Those HorseTail Fern stems are a lot thicker and taller than what I get. Mine is more of a low ground cover. There are different types. Looks like you've got the big one!

 

[cbdhemp808]

Those HorseTail Fern stems are a lot thicker and taller than what I get. Mine is more of a low ground cover. There are different types. Looks like you've got the big one!

I think what I got is actually Equisetum hyemale. Looks like this...

 

[cbdhemp808]

Hey Growmies!

we are in the middle of a sunny spell and the greenhouse plants are loving it!
pics soon.

Here's my new pH up...

As you may remember, the aloe juice I bought is acidic – due to 1% lemon juice – and has pH 4.56.

I did a test to determine the amount of Ca to add to bring an aloe/water solution into the correct range in order to use the solution as a drench. This could also possibly be used as a foliar spray.

I used filtered rainwater, pH 7.6 and 9 ppm.

The aloe juice was pH 4.56 and 698 ppm.

I mixed the aloe and water at a ratio of 1:2. I used 4 fl oz aloe juice to 8 fl oz water.

Aloe + Water was pH 4.64 and 239 ppm.

Then I added about 1/2 tsp CaCO3 powder to that and stirred well... measured pH at 7 and 467 ppm.

 

[cbdhemp808]

Greetings Ganja Gnomes,

Photo: Lori Harrison, Etsy

Recent sunshine has brought a lot of new growth!

Here's a view of the veg house about an hour ago. The plant in the foreground is the Blueberry clone, greatly improved since 2 applications of Mikrobs. Her color is fully back and she's growing well. The tall plant in the back is the DBL CBG.

Top of the Blueberry clone.

The DBL CBG seedling, 4 ft 9 in tall, growing strong in a 5 gal pot. As soon as her clones show roots, I'll move her to the flower house.

I have the domes off the clones now... they are perked up and this means roots! Hopefully the horsetail have also developed roots... haven't checked yet. I let them go like this until roots start coming out the bottom of the pots... a few more days to go.

Meanwhile in the flower house, here's the Grape Ape in a 7 gal pot. Also doing very well after 2 applications of Mikrobs. She reached 7 ft 8 in tall – touching the roof – so I decided to tie her over. This is the first time I've tried this. Her stalk is green, flexible, and strong.

Grape Ape starting to flower.

 

[gwhunran]

Enjoying your journal. I tend to have a hard time with threads dropping off on me. It's been interesting to see you grow in an environment so different from what I'm accustomed too.

I'm will be growing 4 Blueberry by seedsman(two different sets of freebies), as one of my 2nd grows this year. The other Golden Tiger. Probably start sometime in July. Hope to have your inputs.

 

[Azimuth]

I have the domes off the clones now... t

How long do you typically leave them on for?