Rabbit's Big Leap - High Brix With Doc's Kit

[KingstonRabbi]

I've been journaling this grow in my perpetual journal, but it's time to give this grow it's own journal. I'm making more changes than just the soil on this grow. Plus it was getting to hard for me to follow my own posts on my own journal with 5 projects going on at once. This will let me focus more attention on fewer plants and post more details of development.

The big change is LOS (live organinc soil) mixed with Doc's kit. The base is same Sunshine #4 with mycos and added worm castings that I'm using in my other grow now, but with the kit amendment.

Soil: Sunshine #4 with mycorrhizae and added earthworm castings and kit amendment mixed per instructions.

Nutes: Just what comes with the kit. I dusted root balls with Roots! at transplanting, gave them first drench with Growth Energy last Saturday, and done 3 weekly foliar sprays of Destress and 2 of Brix. I'll do weekly Brix spray tonight prior to watering tomorrow.

Pots: Seedlings in 1 gal pots, clones in 2 gal smart pots, final pots 5 gal Target shopping bags. They function a lot like smart pots and will hold up to 7.5 actual gallons. This increase in size is to accommodate the LOS, which according to Doc and others does not do well in the 2 gal pots I've been using.

Training: ScrOG 2'x2'. Unlike my first grow I am training these plants early for more even spread and fuller canopy.

Veg Lights: T-5 florescent, 8 x 4' tubes. Eventually I will need to build a tent to control climate this winter.

Bloom Lights: 8 LEDs: 5x Mars-Hydro Reflector 96 and 3x MH600. Total draw 1851w. The MH600s are a little brighter but Reflectors have more efficient spectrum. I alternate fixtures so all plants benefit from each type.

Bloom Tent: Panda Plastic hung in my basement. Just under 5'x10'. Room for 32 1x1 plants (old grow style) or 8 2x2 plants (this grow).

Temp: High 72F (22C), low 60F (16C). Basement temps are very stable but low will gradually drop into 50's in winter. May add heater if high temp also drops. Blue Mystic may like colder night temps.

RH: 40-60%. Very stable in basement, may increase slightly as winter comes.

plants: 8 will go into bloom tent, one of each strain. I have more than 8 strains so some choices will have to be made. For first round I will pick 4 new strains from seed and 4 clones from last grow. I will detail these in next post.

Already seeing a complete change in plant health and grow from last grow. Really feeling good about this grow. Feel good about my other grow too. Those plants are healthier too, but not like these ones.

 

[KingstonRabbi]

Just a little experiment

I did a little test to see how alive my soil is. Top photo is a clone that didn't make the cut. I buried it in soil for 6 days. Bottom photo shows leaves and small roots eaten away completely. Soil is definitely alive. Reburied stem to check in another week. Can't help doing these little experiments.

 

[KingstonRabbi]

The Seedlings - 4 new strains

This is first and foremost a medical grow. After weeding out all but 4 strains from first grow I needed a) more CBD and b) more high THC indicas. Also concerned about length of flower time on Hash Bombs. With this in mind I avoided temptations on every page of GYO website and chose 4 new strains.

10/14 All seeds up after 1 week. Almost. Indica seeds popped in 48 hrs. CBD seeds took 4-7 days. 1 ended up a no-show and 1 never developed true leaves.

11/1 Potted up from 4" to 1 gal. Kit soil was only half-way cooked but I used some for potting up.

Dance World (Royal Queen Seeds), sativa dominant 1:1 strain with 10% each THC:CBD. A very uplifting strain.An uplifting marijuana strain with great medicinal potential. Dance World is a cross of two different phenotypes of Dance Hall. Its genetics are a mix of mainly Mexican and Afghan crossed with the great medicinal strain Juanita la Lagrimosa. Dance World is quite a short cannabis plant that grows mostly like an indica, reaching a height of 60 to 90cm. It will flower in around 8 weeks, again very much like an indica. The effects, however, carry much more of a sativa influence.
First 2 seeds were slow so I started 2 more. All popped toward end of week, but 1 never developed and 1 had early deficiency/necrosis. Of 2 stronger plants only 1 will go into the tent.

K-Train (Greenhouse Seeds) K as in Kush, Train as in Trainwreck. A pure indica plant that will be very suitable for those seeking a powerful sedative and/or pain relieving strain. The K-Train has an indoor flowering time of 9 weeks and proves ideal for Screen of Green gardens, yielding around 800 g/m2. Top match for my search criteria. Strong branching even before topping. (on left)
Blue Mystic (Nirvana Seeds) Another high THC strain (>20%). Not quite a perfect match with lower yield, but I got sucked in by the color. Nirvana Seeds Blue Mystic marijuana seeds were specially selected for the soft blue hues which appear roughly halfway into flowering. Blue Mystic grows in a similar manner to Northern Light, with yields of 400 - 500 g/m2 a reward for the competent grower. Also slightly uplifting for daytime.

Medical Mass (Royal Queen) An indica dominant 1:1 CBD strain with 10% each. This strain of medical marijuana is a good choice for most growers, whether they are working with a tightly controlled indoor grow room or an outdoor growing setup. Its relatively short stature (from 0.6 meters up to about a meter in height) makes it a very manageable plant for indoor growers that don't have a lot of space, and its indoor yield is well within the 500 - 550 grams per square meter range. 1 seed failed, but 2 plants are both strong candidates for last spot in tent.

That's it on the new strains. They will have several weeks of veg while other grow finishes flowering in tent. Other 4 spaces will be filled soon by 3 clones from prior grow plus an old favorite that will finally be getting the attention she deserves.

 

[Lady G2HM]

And down the rabbit hole we go...I'm sub'd in!

 

[Mars Hydro]

You buried your cannabis....

 

[Dwight Monk]

You buried your cannabis....

Them darn Pirate Rabbits anyway

following along for the ride, rock this grow.

 

[KingstonRabbi]

You buried your cannabis....

Composted actually. One of the benefits of living organic soil is that it recycles plant matter back into plant food very efficiently. The down side is that it has to be fed!

 

[AngryBird]

Flying over the rabbit hole.... flap..flap... darn it is well hidden, smelling the weed..found it...HELLO I am here too.
I have no idea about brix, but will enjoy learning about it.

 

[KingstonRabbi]

A short explanation of Brix

For those of you that haven't become obsessed with Doc Bud's journals like I have, strictly speaking Brix is just a measure of the density of carbohydrates and other nutrients in plant juices. It's a scale.

It's used to predict quality of produce while 'fruit is still on the vine' by measuring the juices in plant itself. The higher the brix level in plant juice the better the fruit will be, or in our case flowers. Plants with high levels of carbs and nutes in their juices produce more resinous and more potent buds.

So really many different growing methods can be used to grow 'high brix' crops. But I will be using Doc's kit, which he has developed specifically for cannabis. When I say High Brix I really mean Doc's system of living organic soil with specialized drenches and foliar sprays that create high brix levels. I'm following Doc's directions and taking it on faith that brix levels will follow.

 

[veinz]

.

Sent from my GT-I9195 using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[AngryBird]

thank you
Send him a link to your journal, I am sure he will be happy to help out when needed

 

[golfer420]

Hats off to you, Kingston You're really on a quest for your meds and I respect your focus.

I spent a fair amount of time reading through the thread to learn about brix and have a decent understanding One thing I know is that it isn't for me. I know you brixer's say it isn't that hard, but I respect the effort that goes into doing it right and understanding it. I'm just too busy to dedicate the effort (and probably a little lazy too)

Just going to sit over here on the couch once in a while and enjoy your ride

 

[KingstonRabbi]

Hats off to you, Kingston You're really on a quest for your meds and I respect your focus.

I spent a fair amount of time reading through the thread to learn about brix and have a decent understanding One thing I know is that it isn't for me. I know you brixer's say it isn't that hard, but I respect the effort that goes into doing it right and understanding it. I'm just too busy to dedicate the effort (and probably a little lazy too)

Just going to sit over here on the couch once in a while and enjoy your ride

I completely understand brix not being for everybody. It's really not that complicated once you get a feeling for it, but isn't that the way it is with everything. It's not more work than bottled nutes but it does require a lot of changes in planning the grow. And it requires a different understanding of how plants grow, which at first is taking a lot on faith. I've wanted to do living organic soil all along but I still thought about it a long time before taking the leap.

 

[KingstonRabbi]

And down the rabbit hole we go...I'm sub'd in!

Welcome back G2! Can't wait for you to get your new journal going. Never thought of my indoor grow as a rabbit hole, but it's in the basement so I guess it is. Now I'll be thinking of the white rabbit everytime I go down the stairs.!

Them darn Pirate Rabbits anyway

following along for the ride, rock this grow.

This will definitely be an interesting ride. Pirates and buried treasure... it doesn't get much better than that!

Flying over the rabbit hole.... flap..flap... darn it is well hidden, smelling the weed..found it...HELLO I am here too.
I have no idea about brix, but will enjoy learning about it.

Glad you made it. Rest your wings awhile.

.

Welcome veinz. Hope you enjoy your visit.

Hats off to you, Kingston You're really on a quest for your meds and I respect your focus.

Just going to sit over here on the couch once in a while and enjoy your ride

Thanks for the praise. And while you're here try some of my White Widow. I hope it compares to yours.

 

[KingstonRabbi]

The Plants continued - HB10 aka 'The Runt'

This plant is the main reason for the rule in my garden, "no runt left behind." She had stem problem, bottom half was narrow and brown, looked like stem had died, almost tossed her, thought I had until I found her in green house finally starting to grow 3rd leaves. You may remembered this photo of her at 57 days.

And day 66 next to first clone of HB2.

And potted up to 2 gal on day 74. At this point I was still just planning to fit her into the scrog grow with all the others.

Topped for scrog at 78 days.

Day 86, her initial training for style I was developing as the Aerial Hexoflux.

Growing nicely, developing strong main branches.

More training at day 99. Still thinking I would have the time and energy to create the hexoflux even though I hadn't touched her for 13 days.

10/17 - 35 more days pass. Still thought I could pull off my original perfect plan. Tried thinning her to the 36 colas I had planned. There was just too much branching and foliage to get her back on track. I got the hexo part down with the star shape, but the flux part just wasn't working out.

11/2- day 152. Finally admitted that the perfect hexoflux wasn't going to happen this time around. She had outgrown her roots in 2 gal pot (with lousy soil) and was suffering multiple deficiencies, plus recovering from severe mite attack. I needed to pot her up with better soil. The brix kit was cooking and almost ready, so it seemed natural to include her in high brix grow.

Taking the leap. She was already recovering a little from months of neglect. Potted her up according to Doc's instructions: dust the roots with Roots powder (part of kit), score the roots to promote branching, and water with Transplant (also part of kit). planted 2 gal root ball in 4 gal of kit soil, 6 gal total. Optimistic but still wondering if it wasn't a little too late to convert her to brix growing.

And tonight, day 178 of veg. She's had 3 weeks for roots to grow into new soil. First drench (watering with deep soak) lasted over 2 weeks. Second drench lasted her just 1 week. I think her roots are filling new soil fast. I wish I could have gotten picture in natural light to show how green she's become. Problem was I can't lift her after a drench. By end of week she'll be light enough for me to move her to the tent as first high brix plants in flower. I still need to thin out shoots and reposition some. She's bigger than I originally planned, but I think 36 colas is still a good number. Also need to remove the wires from main branches that are starting to constrict because of the rapid growth since transplanting. I don't think there's anyway to understate how excited I am to finally see her stretch and put on those first tufts of white.

 

[KingstonRabbi]

The Plants - Clones

Starting page 2 with the last intro post.

Out of 11 strains in my first grow (12 counting my outdoor grow), I selected 4 strains to continue, 2 of them with 2 phenos. So there are 6 clones and only 3 slots left for this grow. I've already decided on 2, so really only 1 slot left for 4 plants. As a wild card I'm considering giving that space to one of the new strains from seed. I just love the suspense and plot twists with this grow!

First the 4 candidates in reverse order.

Hash Bomb #8 is my indica pheno. I kept her mostly because she was so different from the others I wanted to preserve her genetics. Mother plant already produced seeds in first grow, so genes are preserved but I might want to back breed with her. I am not starting a breeding program, just keeping options open. Whether or not I keep her depends a lot on how her sister clones do in my current scrog grow. This one is still revegging after I left her in greenhouse too long, so no chance I'd put her in tent anytime soon.

White Widow #2 and #3. Originally I was planning to put one of these in tent. I'm growing 4 in SOG as a salvage project, but I'm impressed with results so far that I'm now considering that style for WW. Also the ones I have in scrog grow now are still not stretching above screen. Bottom line is I think I can get better production from these with less effort in SOG. These 2 will likely become clone mothers for a future SOG grow.

Black Cherry Soda is the front runner for last spot. This one is also revegging but I think she's almost done. Her sisters in scrog grow are full and stretching well even though they were rushed into tent a little early. I don't remember if I posted a smoke report on 2nd run, but it was potent, which may be why I don't remember. It's also uplifting and relatively clear headed high which I need for daytime. Still a chance I may go with one of the CBD strains instead.

Critical was another good producer of my first grow, very resistant to the problems that plagued that grow. (Me. I confess. I was the plague. But I've changed.) She clones easily, 3 of the 4 in current scrog are full and stretching. 2 of them suffered from a relapse of the plague. I under watered 2 in same tray, both collapsed, one recovered fully, one not so much. This one was a shoe-in for this grow with 2 vigorous stems. She is already in 6 gal and filling up her 2x2 screen. I expect she'll be ready for tent in 3 weeks.

Hash Bomb #2 is the big girl of the group. Not as big as HB10 but she's been in 6 gal of kit soil almost as long. I potted her up several weeks ago in plain Sunshine mix, then took a risk and pulled her up and replaced the soil with kit soil. She lost a lot of roots but doesn't seem slowed by it. She's filled screen and just needs a little vertical growth before she goes in tent. Oh, and I need to remember to clone her because she's the last one in veg.

And that is absolutely every single plant in this grow right now. Except for the clones I will make before they go into tent. But that's it, really, I mean it this time.
Seriously, I was losing track of plants left and right last grow with way too many clones. (Cloning is addicting just like growing) I managed to rein it in by using the surplus clones in seed and SOG projects. Now I need to keep it under control with just one clone of each in veg.

 

[KingstonRabbi]

Brix Spray Night

Another difference between high brix grow and my other grow is foliar feeding. My prior experience with foliar feeding was with nurseries that used it to speed growth and make flowers pop when they're first delivered on Friday but look like hell Monday because they don't have the roots to support all the top growth created by foliar feeding. Early on I read a post that said high brix with Doc's kit is all about foliar feeding. That turned me off instantly. It wasn't until I did my own research on high brix that I learned how nutrients move from leaves to roots. The sprays in Doc's kit do exactly that. They are absorbed by leaves then transported to feed roots! I was definitely on board with that. I kept reading about brix and finally made the leap.

Everyone got a weekly spray of Brix tonight. They had the Destress spray on Monday. The names pretty much say what each is for, but they also have other uses.

Let's start with the small girls.

Dance World. I picked the middle one, DW3, for the tent. She has better branching and slightly tighter nodes in spite of being taller than DW4. I tried to FIM DW4 when I topped the others. It didn't work, I just messed up the leaves and it seems to have slowed growth compared to topped plants. DW2 had some problems early but they have cleared up. I moved the 2 extras further from the light to slow down growth to use in future grow.

Medical Mass. Again I chose the one with better branching and tighter nodes. MdM2 was shorter when I picked her but is already as tall as MdM1. She must have been focusing on roots while #1 was growing taller. The extra plants didn't get a drench last weekend, pots were still heavy. That's another indicator that I picked the right plants because they were already dry last weekend. Tonight I mixed gallon of Transplant and Tea. I don't remember exactly what's in Transplant. Tea contains microbes for soil. I gave the extras a good soak in the drench because they were finally ready.

Blue Mystic and K-Train. These two got a leggy start but are starting to take shape. I had to top them a second time to get them down to height for training. I'm a little disappointed at BMs slower branch development. My hash bombs and now K-train have spoiled me with their branching.

Black Cherry Soda clone. Clearly done revegging with several sets of 5-bladed leaves. On the right you can see the single and 3-bladed leaves from reveg. Good growth since Sunday and over due for some training.

Critical clone. Quickly filling her screen that she just got Sunday when I transplanted her to 6 gal. I need to do some training on her 2 stems to fill in center of canopy.

Hash Bomb #2 clone. Ready for the tent this weekend. Screen is nearly filled and lots of tops poking up above the screen. In my first scrog I kept everything below the screen in veg and first week of bloom. On current scrog I let them pop up above screen before flipping and I think it helped stretch. This one is exactly where I want my plants to be going into bloom. I need to remember to take clones first though.

And my favorite girl, Hash Bomb #10, still the original plant from seed. I wanted to work on her tonight to get her down to 36 tops. I counted 30 tops well above rest of canopy and maybe 30 more at canopy level. I'll be doing a lot of trimming and adjusting on Saturday. And also resisting urge to make 20-30 clones from all the trimmed shoots for what purpose I don't know. I already have 2 clones going. Last step will be to open up one wall of tent because I can't fit her through the door. That's a problem I like.

 

[AngryBird]

They are looking soooo good

 

[KingstonRabbi]

Critical Update

If you don't install this update on your computer Windows may crash. This update will do nothing to fix that, as usual.

Back to things that can be fixed. There's a gap in the center of the screen that will be difficult to fill. It would require many awkward twists that would need extra time to develop into solid canopy.

To fix this I used bonsai wire to pull the two stems closer together and bend the tips down. This brought center shoots closer to screen and reduces the amount of horizontal growth needed to fill screen. Also brought the tips of stems back under screen making those bends less awkward also. Very pleased with results. Also pleased with the smell, kind of spicy and woody.

And I made a couple Charlie Brown Christmas Trees!

Also need to make clones of HB10 and HB2 that I will move into tent tomorrow. Cleared out three of the SOG pots last night to make room. Just need to rearrange the shelves and lights a little and the Brix Era will be in full swing!

 

[KingstonRabbi]

Moving Day

HB10 is in the tent as of last night.

I removed several shoots and started clones. I have another long session of thinning tonight. I know I should have waited until that was done. I had to remove a wall of tent to get her in, and I can only do that on a weekend so it had to be yesterday. I still have room to work in the tent until I move HB2 next to her.