It is new to me too. I am not sure whether or not I may still have to do a round of LST to bring those future cola stems down, but I will put some tape around the needle nose pliers to be 'more gentle' on future crushing.
Last grow I went far more horizontal in my training, and I would love to do this even more, but given the limitations of space on the balcony I found it got tricky even opening the balcony doors which became canopy obstructed, and furthermore it became a PITA and at times almost impossible to access the base of the plants just for basic plant husbandry due to the extended horizontal canopies that I had trained them to have, in the later stages I actually had to crawl below the canopies like an invertebrate to check on them. Also, I have to be always mindful of my neighbours who hang out less than 20 feet diagonally down and across from the balcony, so I feel I have to be super careful with any noises I make so I don't have them rubber necking up at what I'm doing, I don't want to get them alerted and curious like the track by Tom Waits 'Whats he building in there'.I was wondering if shorter but wider pots might give you the same size plants but give you some more vertical room...
There's something we could have used pics of.
I find it really hard to believe that anyone 20 feet from your plants in full bloom can't smell them. I mean really hard to believe!
Best laid plans...
Clearly I am delusional and choosing to battle onwards regardless. Because of my specific circumstances I am a devout believer in the theory of the 'thermal lifting of dankness' which is a <much wished for> phenomenon whereby the combined radiant heat from my balcony and my neighbour's courtyard actually serves to safely lift up the dank smell of the buds to a place far above in the sky where it can no longer be detected. Mate, it's also just one of those times where hope is all that remains!
Did you know there is an indica strain called Donkey Dick?
It's funny. I actually thought it was... well, Hi there, DD! @DonkeyDick Hey, hee-haw-how's it hangin?
But no joke, it's a strain I saw in Cannabis Indica by S. T. Oner, a book on cannabis strains, on page 22 there is one Blue Donkey Dick by Karmaceuticals in USA, a cross of Donkey Dick x Blueberry.
Apart from that, this is all I could find:
Interesting, the variations on how to wash. I'm sure it's good, no matter what the order is. The posts I looked at prior to washing (Doc Bud included) suggested the first bucket be water + baking soda to loosen dirt and crud before going into the antiseptice bath (lemon juice + H202 + water), and the third was plain water. Probably makes no difference the way you've done it. For me, there is no going back, the weed is cleaner and even tastes better.First time bud washing
Today I dispatched the CBD Express Auto and gave her a bud wash.
She grew very stunted, barely a foot tall. A grow buddy grew one of the same and his was double the height, but his was getting all day sun, so I think mine really needed a lot more hours of sun to stimulate it to grow bigger than what the balcony was supplying. I have one more CBD Express that has started flowering which it did at 3 weeks and it is also only a foot tall and not looking like it'll grow any taller. I originally kicked off the second as I was hoping to reverse the first and if successful use the pollen on the second plant. However, as far as I could see I had no luck with the reversing. And to be honest, she turned out such a runt that I left her pretty neglected and unsupervised, and in those times she had a few wild aphid parties so I thought I'll use her to have a go at bud washing as you learn a lot more from doing things, and being so piddly small it would be no big deal if I mess up, plus being so small I could bud wash her whole in 10 liter buckets.
Going on what I gather is Doc Bud's most recent update to the procedure. I used;
#1 H2O2 in the first bucket (Doc Bud only recommends this now for conditions like powdery mildew but there was a fair bit of crud on her so I thought why not, it was only perhaps 75ml of 6%),
#2 1/4 cup lemon juice + 1/4 cup baking soda in the second bucket
#3 Plain rinse water in the 3rd bucket
#4 and then in the absence of a 2nd rinse bucket I soft sprayed her with water afterwards.
Last weekend I gave all the current plants on the balcony a Dr Bronner's and Neem spray as a pre-emptive strike against any would be pests. The current plants all appear well, but I know from past grows that once budset is established all sorts of unwanted bugs can start showing up. I'll be trying to do this weekly now, and once budding is underway I'll spray BT for the white butterfly caterpillars too. The 2nd CBD Express is currently growing nice and clean, as are the Godfather and Mango.
Indeed Sir!Clearly I am delusional and choosing to battle onwards regardless. Because of my specific circumstances I am a devout believer in the theory of the 'thermal lifting of dankness' which is a <much wished for> phenomenon whereby the combined radiant heat from my balcony and my neighbour's courtyard actually serves to safely lift up the dank smell of the buds to a place far above in the sky where it can no longer be detected. Mate, it's also just one of those times where hope is all that remains!
Ahoy @Emeraldo,
There's a lot of discussion and reports on bud washing, and Doc Bud has understandably continued to evolve his method over time with small changes along the way. I saw a number of slightly different approaches, was a little confused as to which was the latest 'standard'. Initially I thought you'd made a typo in your mixes/order, as I had failed to see that exactly elsewhere, but as you say it probably makes no difference. And as for concerns of damage I was not aware of any trichome damage from doing it. And if plants are suspected/known to have a lot of crud on them I think bud washing is a great thing.
Haha. I am really pleased with how the Mango Sherbert is progressing after my initial fear that I'd left it too late to kick off. I can't wait to watch her develop in flowering. She's quite open compared to the Godfather and with much bigger leaves and less flower heads so I'm curious as to how she'll develop in comparison.
Yes me included! I'll just have to do my best to keep the visual aspect of my grow as stealth as possible. Last at one startling moment, I'd gone to open the balcony doors to enjoy a close look when I suddenly realised that there were 3 guys standing on the pitched roof of the neighbours giving it a spray, their heads were level with my crop that was just shy of 1.5 pounds of buds, but they were so intent on keeping their footing they didn't notice. Even with balcony rail planters to provide additional stealth there is only so much you can do, the rest down to the lap of the gods and luck I think.
I am a big fan of whole plant drying, and this year I will endeavour to do so with the root mass as well (I'll need to use the bread knife to help cut it out as last year I was unable to pull the big girls out and ended up chopping them). But the size of the whole plant will probably render it too difficult to bud wash whole. Bearing in mind that my balcony plants get regular drenching and poundings of rain, and over flowering I gave them regular sprays as recommended by @InTheShed of Dr Bronner's liquid castle soap, initially for bugs, but towards the end of flowering I also gave them several such sprays solely with the idea of giving them a clean. I am impressed with bud washing but I probably won't do it for any big girls that I whole plant dry.
!!
I've noticed my outside plant has just started chucking pistils so your girls won't be far off as well at a guess...
Thanks Carcass! It's funny to think that the Mango Sherbert is only 18" tall and about 3 feet wide, while the Godfather is 16" tall about 3.5 feet wide. Practically speaking my head says it doesn't want the canopies getting any bigger, whereas my grower's heart wants a big size!
Cheers BC! I am finding the @Weed Seeds Express genetics of the Godfather to be very vigorous. To think in the beginning I stupidly (trying to be clever) grew the seedling within 2 other pots, which meant she didn't make a big root ball but instead grew her tap root right through the bottom of her pot into the next one, which unfortunately got ripped and broken off when I tried to up pot her, and she only hesitated for a couple of days before motoring off again. In the last couple of days she's started throwing out some pistils, so probably 1 - 2 weeks of stretching to go hence today's training of these two to hopefully rein in their vertical growth a bit.That Godfather og is massive brother.... I've noticed she's extremely strong and quite a sturdy variety... I'm positive your training today will but only help her vigorous growth.
Its the best looking balcony you've got there
They're going to be beautiful plants in bloom and I'm ready for the show hehe
