Stunger's Organic Soil Stealth Balcony: Landrace Mulanje & Other Sativas

[Jon]

A mostly pictorial update

Greetings 420 enthusiasts! The sun has continued beating down on the balcony, there's been no rain for quite a while and the girls are looking lush and appear to be growing well.

The view from the side window

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje; Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras; Mulanje

• Stunger
• Jan 20, 2022

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje

She is showing a similar fine leaf structure to the full Mulanje.

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje

• Stunger
• Jan 20, 2022

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras

• Stunger
• Jan 20, 2022

Mango Sherbert

Mango Sherbert

• Stunger
• Jan 20, 2022

Mulanje

Mulanje

• Stunger
• Jan 20, 2022

Thanks for dropping by, keep well, and may your gardens be blooming!

I fricking LOVE your canopies. Damn man. That's beautiful work.

 

[Melville Hobbes]

Happy healthy plants.
Excellent work!

 

[7Dust2]

I second the looking great.

 

[tropics]

3rd great! HAHA

 

[Stunger]

They're all looking great, but that Mulanje is incredible!
Damn good job you're doing on those girls Stunger- "short & bushy" and "sativa" don't usually go together, but you're making it work!

Thanks Carcass! I hadn't known what to expect from the Sativa so I just treated them as I normally do.

Balcony looking like prime real estate.

Cheers Reave! With one more plant than my last grow, it is now getting a bit tight between expanding canopies.

So beautiful!

Cheers Otter!

I fricking LOVE your canopies. Damn man. That's beautiful work.

Thanks Jon!

Happy healthy plants.
Excellent work!

Cheers Mel!

I second the looking great.

thanks Dust!

3rd great! HAHA

Cheers tropics!

 

[Stunger]

Update with LST training

Greeting 420 enthusiasts. The balcony girls have been stretching up and getting a bit close to where I want them. I need to allow them enough height so they can fully carry out their flowering growth without exceeding permissible stealth limits and showing themselves to the neighbours. I would prefer to time it so at that real flowering point I no longer have to concern myself with their height, just that they have enough room to bloom out to their full potential without me having to take last minute remedial action (of course if I have to, then I have to).

I checked all the plastic coated garden wire ties and I loosened several that I found were showing pressure on the stems that if left unadjusted could start to cut into the stems.

These pics were taken early evening, and this time I tried to separate the plants so to photograph each one a little more clearly than my last attempt.

The balcony girls from the side window

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje; Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras; Mango Sherbert; Mulanje

• Stunger
• Jan 22, 2022

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje

I carried out a little LST on her, she didn't really need much as her height was pretty good but I further bent and tied the mainstem around, and lightly adjust a few of the other minor stems to sit down a bit. Picture taken straight after LST so not so pretty.

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje

• Stunger
• Jan 22, 2022

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras

She has shown strong growth, especially considering the almost 3/4 broken through mainstem injury she had a few weeks ago, and for that she got no binding just a blob of arborist goo over the break. Her pic was taken straight after LST so not her prettiest at the moment!

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras

• Stunger
• Jan 22, 2022

Mango Sherbert

She started life as a mutant and was almost dispensed with as having no potential. When I tried to pull off the membrane that was sticking her cotyledons together I pulled the seedling right out of the soil which can't have been good for it. Anyway, she is now growing like a powerhouse, and is getting the tallest of the 4 of them so tonight she's had some LST and her picture taken straight after.

Mango Sherbert

• Stunger
• Jan 22, 2022

Mulanje

Well that brings me to the Mulanje. I didn't touch her at all today. She has a couple of stems that are teasing the height limits, but I am reluctant to supercrop her because she is looking so nice and I am wondering if I can get away with leaving her as she is in the hope she will only want to grow another foot (which I can accomodate). However, I may have to take remedial action if she exceeds her height quota! In meantime here she is, untouched, I think she is looking really nice, her once frailer stems are thickening up.

Mulanje

• Stunger
• Jan 22, 2022

In the next update they will be recovered from the LST and should be looking much more chirpier! I can't wait for the bud and trichome pics in the coming weeks, wow, as an outdoor grower it is such a long wait but so lovely when the growing season comes around again!

Be well everybody and thanks for dropping in!

 

[stinker]

Beautiful garden Stunger. I love the Mango, you will have your hands full keeping the sativa low. You can do it.
I lost notifications for this thread again.

I checked all the plastic coated garden wire ties and I loosened several that I found were showing pressure on the stems that if left unadjusted could start to cut into the stems.

I use a hollow core spectra fishing line, 200 lb, where a constant pressure is needed. It lays flat being hollow, like a Chinese finger cuff and has no stretch. I make a loop in the end and pull the tag through and secure it. As the girth increases, so does the wrap. It works for me.

 

[Stunger]

Beautiful garden Stunger. I love the Mango, you will have your hands full keeping the sativa low. You can do it.
I lost notifications for this thread again.



I use a hollow core spectra fishing line, 200 lb, where a constant pressure is needed. It lays flat being hollow, like a Chinese finger cuff and has no stretch. I make a loop in the end and pull the tag through and secure it. As the girth increases, so does the wrap. It works for me.

Thanks stinker! Interesting with the Mulanje, she is sort of behaving herself fairly well, so far. I don't mind giving them all some leeway but if they push it too far then I will have to step in, but so far I am curious how she'll proceed from here.

Spectra, funny I out fishing today using Spectra, my brother and I managed to catch a couple of fish for tea!

The garden wire I currently use is pretty viciously strong, but I guess it is like everything, best to know your tools, and knowing any shortcomings can allow one to work around them, it mostly seems quite fine. Cheers.

 

[7Dust2]

Update with LST training

Greeting 420 enthusiasts. The balcony girls have been stretching up and getting a bit close to where I want them. I need to allow them enough height so they can fully carry out their flowering growth without exceeding permissible stealth limits and showing themselves to the neighbours. I would prefer to time it so at that real flowering point I no longer have to concern myself with their height, just that they have enough room to bloom out to their full potential without me having to take last minute remedial action (of course if I have to, then I have to).

I checked all the plastic coated garden wire ties and I loosened several that I found were showing pressure on the stems that if left unadjusted could start to cut into the stems.

These pics were taken early evening, and this time I tried to separate the plants so to photograph each one a little more clearly than my last attempt.

The balcony girls from the side window

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje; Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras; Mango Sherbert; Mulanje

• Stunger
• Jan 22, 2022

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje

I carried out a little LST on her, she didn't really need much as her height was pretty good but I further bent and tied the mainstem around, and lightly adjust a few of the other minor stems to sit down a bit. Picture taken straight after LST so not so pretty.

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje

• Stunger
• Jan 22, 2022

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras

She has shown strong growth, especially considering the almost 3/4 broken through mainstem injury she had a few weeks ago, and for that she got no binding just a blob of arborist goo over the break. Her pic was taken straight after LST so not her prettiest at the moment!

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras

• Stunger
• Jan 22, 2022

Mango Sherbert

She started life as a mutant and was almost dispensed with as having no potential. When I tried to pull off the membrane that was sticking her cotyledons together I pulled the seedling right out of the soil which can't have been good for it. Anyway, she is now growing like a powerhouse, and is getting the tallest of the 4 of them so tonight she's had some LST and her picture taken straight after.

Mango Sherbert

• Stunger
• Jan 22, 2022

Mulanje

Well that brings me to the Mulanje. I didn't touch her at all today. She has a couple of stems that are teasing the height limits, but I am reluctant to supercrop her because she is looking so nice and I am wondering if I can get away with leaving her as she is in the hope she will only want to grow another foot (which I can accomodate). However, I may have to take remedial action if she exceeds her height quota! In meantime here she is, untouched, I think she is looking really nice, her once frailer stems are thickening up.

Mulanje

• Stunger
• Jan 22, 2022

In the next update they will be recovered from the LST and should be looking much more chirpier! I can't wait for the bud and trichome pics in the coming weeks, wow, as an outdoor grower it is such a long wait but so lovely when the growing season comes around again!

Be well everybody and thanks for dropping in!

They do look nice and fluffy.

 

[StoneOtter]

They're shaping up perfectly!

 

[7Dust2]

They're shaping up perfectly!

They are. Gromming well bro.

 

[7Dust2]

Stone. I got something I like to know and your one might know . I was watching Belushi farms. And when plants were in veg stage before flowering . They trimmed all the tops off the plant. Yes . All tops. Made them round and let them grow few more weeks and then went into flowering. And whole plant was uniformed and round. Same size nugs from top to bottom. . U know anything about that style of growing

 

[BakedARea]

Looking awesome and

Anyway, she is now growing like a powerhouse, and is getting the tallest of the 4 of them

She's telling you 'thank you'

In meantime here she is, untouched, I think she is looking really nice, her once frailer stems are thickening up.

I think she is lulling you to sleep dude. She's going to explode. She's putting off that vibe to me. I can sense it in her. She wants to be huge!

should be looking much more chirpier!

TOTALLY not anything ti do with anything but I recently got those back roller things called 'Chirp' and I have been joking with the wife about getting chirped out or feeling chirpy. Haaa haaaa. This reminded me of that and for some reason, I had to take the time to share that. So yeah...

as an outdoor grower it is such a long wait but so lovely when the growing season comes around again!

Ohhh maaaaaan!!! I am chomping at the bit right now. I was doing a bunch of landscaping and fruit tree watering yesterday. Some of my trees are already trying to wake up. It sucks because it has been a warm winter. I have to resist the urge to start planting too early. Those late frosts have cost me dearly in the past.

What is your biggest environmental hurdle in your area? Mine is high humidity in the late flower stage...the worst time to see it spike and not go down fast enough to dry out the buds.

Interesting with the Mulanje, she is sort of behaving herself fairly well, so far.

Yeah...sounds a lot like a teenager pretending to go to a friend's house for a sleep over. More like preparing for a massive party. Don't be a naive dad Stunger. She wants to explode!

 

[tangwena]

I'm flying on some Mulanje right now and looking at yours I had a flash into the future and all I see is a forrest of pine tree looking colas one on each tip ha ha.
The Mulanje /Malawi Ethiopian looks beautiful as well the buds on those are sticky and golden cured.
One of my friends a heavy heavy smoker raved about it saying it made him feel so smooth he is normally shy but it made him confident and outgoing so much so everyone he knew thought it was a big improvement ha ha.
Probably two of the best highs on the planet brother.

 

[tropics]

Looking awesome and

She's telling you 'thank you'

I think she is lulling you to sleep dude. She's going to explode. She's putting off that vibe to me. I can sense it in her. She wants to be huge!

TOTALLY not anything ti do with anything but I recently got those back roller things called 'Chirp' and I have been joking with the wife about getting chirped out or feeling chirpy. Haaa haaaa. This reminded me of that and for some reason, I had to take the time to share that. So yeah...

Ohhh maaaaaan!!! I am chomping at the bit right now. I was doing a bunch of landscaping and fruit tree watering yesterday. Some of my trees are already trying to wake up. It sucks because it has been a warm winter. I have to resist the urge to start planting too early. Those late frosts have cost me dearly in the past.

What is your biggest environmental hurdle in your area? Mine is high humidity in the late flower stage...the worst time to see it spike and not go down fast enough to dry out the buds.

Yeah...sounds a lot like a teenager pretending to go to a friend's house for a sleep over. More like preparing for a massive party. Don't be a naive dad Stunger. She wants to explode!

Blow it up! Blow it up! Blow it up! HAHA
I also have to agree with Tang!
HI TANG!

 

[Stunger]

They do look nice and fluffy.

Cheers Dust, this is still the easy bit.

They're shaping up perfectly!

Cheers Otter. I found a slight mishap with the LST on the Mango Sherbert this morning, it's mainstem was 3/4 snapped thru but has been glued and bound up, I think she'll be alright.

What is your biggest environmental hurdle in your area? Mine is high humidity in the late flower stage...the worst time to see it spike and not go down fast enough to dry out the buds.

I would guess mine would be the same, high humidity in late flowering, aside from Summer/Autumn storms.

Yeah...sounds a lot like a teenager pretending to go to a friend's house for a sleep over. More like preparing for a massive party. Don't be a naive dad Stunger. She wants to explode!

At this point I am unsure whether the Mulanje has been contained enough in preparation for her flowering growth or whether she'll need more training to keep her stealthy. But she is looking so nice that I don't really want to do more on her if I don't need to.

I'm flying on some Mulanje right now and looking at yours I had a flash into the future and all I see is a forrest of pine tree looking colas one on each tip ha ha.
The Mulanje /Malawi Ethiopian looks beautiful as well the buds on those are sticky and golden cured.
One of my friends a heavy heavy smoker raved about it saying it made him feel so smooth he is normally shy but it made him confident and outgoing so much so everyone he knew thought it was a big improvement ha ha.
Probably two of the best highs on the planet brother.

Thanks Tang! I feel up to this stage has been the easy bit, it now starts getting interesting as flowering comes on. I can't wait to see and enjoy the budding.

Blow it up! Blow it up! Blow it up! HAHA
I also have to agree with Tang!
HI TANG!

Cheers tropics!

 

[tangwena]

A few pics from my last grow of those plants.
Mulanje

Mulanje in foreground
Mulanje x Malawi/Ethiopia in background.

Mulanje x Malawi/Ethiopian close up

 

[StoneOtter]

Stone. I got something I like to know and your one might know . I was watching Belushi farms. And when plants were in veg stage before flowering . They trimmed all the tops off the plant. Yes . All tops. Made them round and let them grow few more weeks and then went into flowering. And whole plant was uniformed and round. Same size nugs from top to bottom. . U know anything about that style of growing

I'm not sure. They're in greenhouses so almost outdoors. Maybe just going for more marketable buds?

 

[Jon]

Wow. Just Wow. Thanks for the primer on how to begin a journal. That's some serious detail, and it's amazing. I have several questions if you don't mind:

- Can you talk a little bit about your refractometer and Brix readings and why you feel they're important to measure?
- Where in God's name are you getting these crazy exotic landraces? DAMN. Are you allowed to tell?
- How long do you keep a plant in veg in a 13 gallon pot if it's only supposed to end up 2.5 feet tall?
- I love the stealth detail. Most people don't have the balls to put that stuff in. I did. I love it. I'm curious. What floor are you on? Are you high enough up that someone walking by on the street couldn't see your grow if it got too tall?
- Do you produce or buy all those amendments?

DAMN man you must work your arse off. The pics from last year's grow blow my mind. I was already in but now that I'm caught up, DAMN is all I can say and yes, in all caps. I know how hard I worked to train the three photos in my tent....I can't imagine the extent of what your training must be.

Very excited to learn from you Stunger. I'm all about training and I have a feeling I'm about to get a master class.

EDIT: One more....(lol)
- Topping. You said you topped above the fourth node. I'm curious. Obviously you'd be familiar with Uncle Ben's method of topping above the second node after the fifth is out. In my experience that is the first step to any SERIOUS training. So can you talk a bit about why you choose to top where you do as it relates to how you train?

Hi @Stunger - so a while back in your journal I asked you this:
So can you talk a bit about why you choose to top where you do as it relates to how you train?

Then I got real busy and forgot about it for a while. But then I started the Apple Blossom I have going now. After seeing how you train, and also many others, it seems that topping above the fourth node is the premium spot to make a nice strong canopy and still have some length and stem under all the buds if you want. It seems to beat Uncle Ben's method if you don't need plants that finish less than two feet tall like I did last time. It allows for much much better undercarriage work, air flow, and access. Now that I've done it this way, it seems like it's almost a no brainer, lol. Now, I did train my outdoor autos that way in sevens, and that worked out extremely well. I don't know why I never tried it like this on a photo, but I didn't. Glad I have now. I get it. I think.

 

[Stunger]

Hi @Stunger - so a while back in your journal I asked you this:
So can you talk a bit about why you choose to top where you do as it relates to how you train?

Then I got real busy and forgot about it for a while. But then I started the Apple Blossom I have going now. After seeing how you train, and also many others, it seems that topping above the fourth node is the premium spot to make a nice strong canopy and still have some length and stem under all the buds if you want. It seems to beat Uncle Ben's method if you don't need plants that finish less than two feet tall like I did last time. It allows for much much better undercarriage work, air flow, and access. Now that I've done it this way, it seems like it's almost a no brainer, lol. Now, I did train my outdoor autos that way in sevens, and that worked out extremely well. I don't know why I never tried it like this on a photo, but I didn't. Glad I have now. I get it. I think.

Hi Jon, the main consideration is height. As however I train them they have to remain under the sight of the neighbours. Of my 4 girls, I have trained 3 with LST, some which doesn't make such a pretty canopy because I have gone for 'containment' and not prettiness.

These 3 have received no topping, just bending the mainstem down and around and the same with secondary stems bending them down and across where needed. I did carry out some minor supercropping on 2 of the larger 3.

The Mulanje was topped above the 4th node, and I choose to keep nodes 2, 3 and 4, and then I 'hex lined' out those 6 node growth stems.

So these are 2 quite different training approaches. It is tricky to say what I prefer, I am leaning for either quad lining or hex lining because that really allows a nice large horizontal canopy, but on my tight balcony it also can mean the canopies can get very horizontal and thereby it becomes a squash for space. I also started the Mulanje a month earlier so she is a bigger girl.