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

[Stunger]

Yep. About to hit stretch here in SA. The pure sativa are getting massive already and will likely double or triple in the next month and a half. We get smashed with wind here too. They get to 100km/h at times. Found strapping them down on to a net like a scrog works the best and the plants hardly move in the wind. Really great for getting some thick and strong branches though so not all bad. Happy New year to you.

Thanks Lerugged, wishing you and your's all the best and a good year ahead!

Good suggestion to use a net for support in the wind. Currently the Mulanje has a lot of LST ties which must be giving her a bit of support as well.

There's some bruised brown parts of some of the leaves from the wind but all in all they appear quite fine. To be honest, I think if I had the choice of bud that came from a lush rainforest cannabis 'tree', or bud that came from a gnarly wind blown exposed plant growing out of some rocks, I'd imagine the later would have the potency to remember.

 

[Lerugged]

My choice too. Just updated my thread with some up to.
date pics. You will find the strapped down lady there. I'm not worried about stealth as my grow is right in the middle of Cape Town city and I am sure it's visible but the low strapped style might work for your situation in a lower pot

 

[Stunger]

My choice too. Just updated my thread with some up to.
date pics. You will find the strapped down lady there. I'm not worried about stealth as my grow is right in the middle of Cape Town city and I am sure it's visible but the low strapped style might work for your situation in a lower pot

Your grows look really fantastic and to be in the middle of the city, really great stuff, great pics! That wind must add to their potency too!

 

[Lerugged]

Not noticed much increase in potency from the wind but the branches are thicker and stronger and support bigger buds which is a goodie. I think by the time they are flowering they are used to the wind and have prepared to flower in the wind.

 

[Jon]

Update - Damage to one plant

Greetings 420 enthusiasts! Happy New Year to all!

While my plants appear to look good as far as nutrition goes, they are only getting water with some worm wee while growing in their containers of organic worm laden soil.

However today, upon checking their status when I got up, I noticed that the Honduras/Panama x Mulanje had a nasty break in her mainstem. Yesterday (last year), I had been congratulating myself on how tightly I had trained it with LST. The balcony is currently getting assaulted with 50kph+ winds, so whether that contributed to it's harm, or perhaps just my over exuberant LST, I don't know. But anyway, I have introduced a plastic stake of sorts which I have placed under the injury to help stabilise it and hopefully it can rebuild it's break. I am fairly hopeful that it will be ok.

Still no sign of gender to the Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras and the Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje.

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras

• Stunger
• Dec 31, 2021

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras showing limb damage

• Stunger
• Dec 31, 2021

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras showing limb damage

• Stunger
• Dec 31, 2021

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras showing limb damage

• Stunger
• Dec 31, 2021

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje

• Stunger
• Dec 31, 2021

Mulanje male

Mulanje male

• Stunger
• Dec 31, 2021

Mulanje female

I am pleased she coming along promisingly

Mulanje female

• Stunger
• Dec 31, 2021

Best wishes for 2022, keep well and keep safe!

Hey Stunger! I broke the main cola on one of my Dos Si Dos, at about the same point of growth that you're at, and with about as thick a stem as you have there. My break was as bad as yours, only mine was a bit cleaner. I did almost the same thing you're doing to fix it. Mine worked and I just harvested the plant. It slowed her down for sure a bit, she was maybe 25% smaller than the other two DSDs grown the same way. But what you do differently than me (please correct me if I have misinterpreted your pictures) is, you appear to leave the break about halfway opened? In my case I set the branch back on top of the broken lower part exactly as it was, with the break completely closed, and tried my damndest to keep it exactly in that position. I didn't move the plant at all for a week, maybe 10 days,

So do you find it's not necessary to go through the rigamaroles I went through to keep that branch in place? Will the plant repair itself even keeping the break open as you appear to be? Or do you normally do it with as close to a closed break as possible, and in this case it was just the nature of how the branch tore/broke that makes it (it appears) very hard to do that?

Thought I'd pepper you with a question or two to start the new year. Lol. Happy NY Stunger!

 

[Stunger]

Hey Stunger! I broke the main cola on one of my Dos Si Dos, at about the same point of growth that you're at, and with about as thick a stem as you have there. My break was as bad as yours, only mine was a bit cleaner. I did almost the same thing you're doing to fix it. Mine worked and I just harvested the plant. It slowed her down for sure a bit, she was maybe 25% smaller than the other two DSDs grown the same way. But what you do differently than me (please correct me if I have misinterpreted your pictures) is, you appear to leave the break about halfway opened? In my case I set the branch back on top of the broken lower part exactly as it was, with the break completely closed, and tried my damndest to keep it exactly in that position. I didn't move the plant at all for a week, maybe 10 days,

So do you find it's not necessary to go through the rigamaroles I went through to keep that branch in place? Will the plant repair itself even keeping the break open as you appear to be? Or do you normally do it with as close to a closed break as possible, and in this case it was just the nature of how the branch tore/broke that makes it (it appears) very hard to do that?

Thought I'd pepper you with a question or two to start the new year. Lol. Happy NY Stunger!

Hi Jon Happy NY to you! I agree with what you say to try and close up the wound. Ordinarily I would have done that straight away as then there is a good chance it will re-join like I have found in the past with stem splits etc. But generally speaking I have been present when those past splits have occurred and their wound sites have been more mature and wood like (easier to man handle), this break is in much more delicate tissue right at the 'baked in' curve from LST so it was problematic to bind. However too, this one must have occurred in the night and the edges of the break had already 'browned' and didn't look great for closing. After some tentative initial attempts I then felt more comfortable not touching it further and just supporting it to keep it stable and hoping the plant can repair itself from here, otherwise it'll effectively result it an unplanned topping.

But first thing this morning on opening the balcony curtains it is looking more fresh and perky than yesterday, I think if I can keep it stable for a bit until the stem gets more woody and then hopefully it'll be fine.

This is the plant this morning, I will avoid touching it for a few days to give it a chance to further heal itself.

Honduras/Panama x Purple Panama

• Stunger
• Jan 1, 2022

 

[Jon]

Hi Jon Happy NY to you! I agree with what you say to try and close up the wound. Ordinarily I would have done that straight away as then there is a good chance it will re-join like I have found in the past with stem splits etc. But generally speaking I have been present when those past splits have occurred and their wound sites have been more mature and wood like (easier to man handle), this break is in much more delicate tissue right at the 'baked in' curve from LST so it was problematic to bind. However too, this one must have occurred in the night and the edges of the break had already 'browned' and didn't look great for closing. After some tentative initial attempts I then felt more comfortable not touching it further and just supporting it to keep it stable and hoping the plant can repair itself from here, otherwise it'll effectively result it an unplanned topping.

But first thing this morning on opening the balcony curtains it is looking more fresh and perky than yesterday, I think if I can keep it stable for a bit until the stem gets more woody and then hopefully it'll be fine.

This is the plant this morning, I will avoid touching it for a few days to give it a chance to further heal itself.

Honduras/Panama x Purple Panama

• Stunger
• Jan 1, 2022

Nice, and thanks for the response. That's about what I figured, just asking. I'm a bit surprised it'll heal leaving it open even though I totally understand you had no choice in this circumstance really. But look at that plant! Every time I have broken something, I could pretty much tell in 24 hours if it was going to heal or die. That one looks like she's gonna heal for sure! Good luck keeping her stable in the wind!

 

[tropics]

Happy New Year Stunger and all!
Looking amazing!!

 

[Stunger]

Happy New Year Stunger and all!
Looking amazing!!

Thanks Tropics, wishing you and yours the very best too!

 

[Stunger]

Update - on the damaged plant, and another reveals herself!

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras

As I noted in the last update, this plant has received damage, it's mainstem has broken probably 2/3 thru. It occurred I think overnight prior to discovery, so the edges of the wound were brown by the following day. Any movement seemed to exacerbate the damage, whereupon I settled on poking a plastic stake into the soil and letting the wounded mainstem rest upon it and carefully wrapped some garden wire around the stem and stake to hopefully keep it resting in place as I thought if it falls off or is blown off in the wind then surely the mainstem will completely break.

However, by the next day the plant had 'actually lifted' it's mainstem off the plastic stake to the maximum that the garden wire would permit. I was a bit surprised that it could/would do this with only a 1/3 of the stem unbroken. It is concerning that the wound is open as it exposes a hollowness in the centre. But with no obvious way to help and not wishing to risk making it worse, at this point I am leaving it to the plant to hopefully heal itself successfully. So far it is growing with vigor, which is encouraging.

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras

• Stunger
• Jan 2, 2022

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras - closeup of break damage

• Stunger
• Jan 2, 2022

The photo doesn't show it, but the mainstem is clear of the plastic stake it had been resting on.

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras - break damage

• Stunger
• Jan 2, 2022

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje

It's a girl!

Yes indeed. My plant grown from regular seed is now showing pistils. So that's really great and the uncertainty of gender now removed! And wow, Malawi crossed with Ethiopian laughing grass, and then with Mulanje, excellent!

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje

• Stunger
• Jan 2, 2022

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje - pistils sighted

• Stunger
• Jan 2, 2022

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje - pistils sighted

• Stunger
• Jan 2, 2022

Mulanje male

He is a healthy looking specimen even though I only need a branch or two for pollen, so I don't want him growing massively, altho I am happy for his sister to do so!

Mulanje male

• Stunger
• Jan 2, 2022

Mulanje male - node closeup

• Stunger
• Jan 2, 2022

Mulanje female

She is filling up quite nicely now, and still a very nice colour. She is due some more LST soon and probably supercropping as well.

Mulanje female

• Stunger
• Jan 2, 2022

Thanks for dropping by and all the very best to your gardens!

 

[stinker]

Congratulations on the confirmation.
Its a shame about the main stem break. I have had similar breaks that heal. Since its perked up, I think it will continue to repair itself and its pathways. The confirmed Mulanje is really exploding with growth and showing her sativa leaves.

 

[BakedARea]

Welcome to my new grow journal for the new outdoor season down under!

This year I am growing Sativas from regular seeds, of which I have had a 100% germination rate. I am hoping to make some seeds of the Mulanje, if that goes to plan then I may look to make a cross with the other plants also (just selectively pollinating a branch or two only), but that's getting ahead of myself at this point, just saying for now.

A flashback to last year's balcony grow

Mango Sherbert, Godfather OG, Strawberry Cough - 2/Apr/21

• Stunger
• Apr 3, 2021

This pic was taken of my last balcony grow. It can be seen in my previous journal Stunger's Last Stand: Banned To The Balcony. One was quin-lined and supercropped, and the other two were LST'd and supercropped. I got close to a pound and a half from them.

Location

Southern Hemisphere, land of the long white cloud, temperate, humid summers. Growing outdoors on a balcony that only gets direct sun in the afternoon and is open to bouts of rain, wind and bad weather.

Training low for stealth

Due to suburban living I need to keep my plants as stealthy as possible, mostly that means keeping them height restricted by topping and training them to no more than 2.5 feet max. When it comes to smell, I can only hope that my long term neighbours either don't mind or don't realise. I always hope any dank smells stay under the radar, altho sometimes there are dank whiffs in the air that are detectable to me when the breeze is in a certain direction, but to someone who wasn't a grower or connoisseur of this fine plant, I am not so sure they'd notice. Of course, it is a risk, but I think once you decide to take it, you just have to let go of such concerns and trust the thought that it will likely be undetected to others, and therefore try to avoid getting stressed about it. I used to feel the stab of stress whenever I heard a helicopter passing overhead, but now, thankfully, I have accepted that they haven't been gawping at my grow and so I don't get bothered about it.

I will look to carry out some selective pruning to remove weaker growth, because there simply isn't a lot of space for voluminous canopies on the balcony. But having said that, many folk post pics of tasty frosty popcorn buds which causes my pruning hand to hesitate.

Growing in organic living soil

The soil recipe that I started with a few years ago was initially based on what I could source locally to match or approximate Subcool's Super Soil recipe. I added fresh worm castings to it and soon had worms living in the soil too, even with the harsh hot wet/dry cycles of the pots some worms always still survived post-harvest. I re-use the soil for successive grows and re-amended the soil during and between the grows, so this soil has been used in grows several times already. I have since included ingredients from Clackamas Coot/Jim Bennet's soil recipe, like crustacean meal and malted barley, and more rock dust. I regularly added more worm castings from my home worm farm and some home compost mixed in. I have a 3 layer worm farm unit, which is easy to feed the worms chopped up banana skin, fruit/veg waste, and in return you get rich dark worm castings and worm wee that the plants appear to grow well with it included in their daily waterings.

Due to the intense heat that my home made 'air pots' are under, I usually put a mulch layer of pea straw or similar, on top of the soil, it helps keep the moisture in and allows the roots to come right up, and worms tend to hang out underneath.

Amendments added between grows

For what it's worth, below is the list of amendments I mixed in to my final pots after the last grow. I added the amendments over 3 months ago, so the soil should be good by now for this year's grow. It's pretty much the same amendments as I gave them last year in the 'off season' between grows. Rock dust is an amendment that keeps on giving for many years, so I probably won't bother with giving this batch of soil any more of that from now on, besides I'm almost out of it.

2021 organic soil amendments based on 30L container ( or ‘*’ for 50L)

2/3 cup (*1 cup) Blood n Bone
2/3 cup (*1 cup) Kelp meal
1/3 cup (*1/2 cup Neem powder
1/3 cup (*1/2 cup) Fish meal
1/3 cup (*1/2 cup) Guano phosphate
2/3 cup (*1 cup) Malted barley (diastatic)
2/3 cup (*1 cup) Seafood Lush Fert mix
1/3 cup (*1/2 cup) Gypsum
1 cup (*1.5 cup) Aged chicken manure (composted with sawdust)
1 cup (*1.5 cup) Dried shrimp, washed/soaked to remove salt
1 tsp Humic/Fulvic acids
1 tsp Fish Hydrolysate

Top Dressing during the grow

In order to carry out a full grow that is water only, either bigger pots are needed or smaller plants. I have usually found that after 3 months vegging, the plants are ready for some kind of topdressing which I have usually carried out with amendments like Neem meal, organic Blood n Bone, Kelp pellets, fish meal, Guano phosphate, worm castings.

Foliar Feeding

I feel Foliar feeding is of benefit, and something I have regularly done using a seaweed Kelp concentrate in the spray water once or twice a week, the plants seem to really like it, and when I have tested the leaves with a refractometer they have shown high Brix readings.

Pots

Final pots sizes I use, either 30L (8 gallons) or 50L (13 gallons). I have drilled holes around the rims to secure plastic coated training wire for LST purposes. Ideally, I would like to grow in much bigger pots but these are the practical limits for me and this location. As I mentioned above, for these size pots I have found top dressing is still needed during the grow.

I got interested in the concept of 'air pots' before there were any such available where I live. They seemed very compelling for root health and growth so I drilled a fair number of holes in the sides and bottoms of my pots, and I made a simple pot liners from some lightweight landscape fabric to keep the soil and worms from coming out through the holes. These pots cause the soil to lose moisture quicker because of all the holes drilled into them, so I have usually watered daily and on hot days more than once when the heat measured coming off the stone tiles of the balcony can easily get up into the high 30's C (somewhere around 100F).

The 4 sativa plants/3 strains that I am growing this year

These 4 are all from regular seeds, I am hoping if genders are 50/50 that these will give me at least 2 females, but 3 would be even better!

#1 Mulanje

A landrace sativa from Southern Malawi, grows at 1800m on Mt Mulanje the second highest mountain in Africa. It has been described by some as the King of Sativas and very strong. It is said to be high in THCV, but I have no confirmation of that, it is said to be very clean in effects, psychoactive, euphoric, long-lasting.

I started with germinating 3 Mulanje seeds, but unfortunately a hungry slug ate one of the new seedlings so I only have 2 surviving Mulanje plants, I have topped both above the 4th node, first nodes removed and hex-lined with the remaining 3 nodes. I usually micro top by 'wiggle wagging' the young shoot when it is only an inch long (or less) because it breaks cleanly and heals fast. However, this time with the 2 Mulanje plants, the shoots were more 'bendy' and failed to break off from my 'wiggle wagging', so instead I used a pair of scissors to micro top both Mulanje plants above their 4th nodes. My eyesight is not so flash these days, and in time I saw I clearly buggered up the attempted topping and managed to FIM one plant, and then a few days later I realised it was now apparent that actually both plants had been FIM'ed, oh well no worries. My designated #1 Mulanje plant is shorter than the #2 and therefore with no other signs yet apparent I am pencilling this one as a potential female.

#2 Mulanje

This one is taller with greater internodal distances, possibly male? I will put it into a smaller 30L pot when it's ready. Because if it is a male, I will use it for pollen so no need for it to grow large. In fact, if I can verify that it is a male before up-potting to the final pot, then I will consider putting into a smaller 20L pot to make it easier to limit it's future size. It's FIM growth is larger than #1, and I have applied some additional LST to bend the stem over a bit, and LST to keep the other top node shoots closer to horizontal.

#3 Purple Honduras/PanamaxPurple Honduras
Honduran sativa with purple Colombian phenotype combined with Panama sativa and re-crossed to a Purple Honduras. Said to be initially, clean, energetic, euphoric, and leading on to dreamy, psychedelic, blissful.

#4 Malawi/Ethiopianx Mulanje
Ethiopian and African strains can be high in THCV, although I cannot confirm that for what I am growing, but nonetheless it is interesting to note. This has been described as strong, euphoric, laughing grass, for which I think there will often be times when that could be my cup of tea.

My aims with this grow are to

• maintain stealthiness,
• make some seeds, ideally some Mulanje,
• probably prune off more weaker growth this grow to focus on bigger colas which would allow less extra canopy to manage, as it can become a PITA for maintenance when it is crowded on the balcony.
• If I can balance all the above ok, then I'll consider some drought training too, as my one real experience of (unplanned) drought training was really encouraging (small ceramic pot in hot summer), I still rate it as being the plant which gave me the stickiest and strongest buds I have ever grown.
• make some cobs from the Sativas

Any suggestions/comments all welcome, as it's only through the experience of so many other good folks that I have any chance at all of growing these wonderful plants.

One final caveat before we get started. I have not previously grown pure sativas before, so I don't know how they will respond to the necessary stealth training that is ahead of them, or indeed the environment that I am offering them, but I am assuming that they'll be fine.

Mulanje #1 & #2

Mulanje #1 & #2, at 3 and 1/2 weeks

• Stunger
• Nov 27, 2021

#1(L), #2(R) These are about 3 and half weeks after breaking soil. The first 2 nodes of #1 grew as single blade leaves, whereas the #2 grew the 'normal' 3 blade leaves on the 2nd node.

Mulanje #1 & #2, at 5 weeks

• Stunger
• Nov 27, 2021

#1(L), #2(R) These are about 5 weeks old and were topped above the 4th node a week prior.

Mulanje #1

Mulanje #1, at 5 and half weeks

• Stunger
• Nov 27, 2021

#1 at 5 and half weeks. First node leaves and initial fans removed and plant's main arms trained out.

Mulanje #1, at 6 weeks

• Stunger
• Nov 27, 2021

Mulanje #1 at 6 weeks

Mulanje #2

Mulanje #2, at 5 and half weeks

• Stunger
• Nov 27, 2021

#2 at 5 and half weeks

Mulanje #2, at 6 weeks

• Stunger
• Nov 27, 2021

#2 at 6 weeks, showing extra FIM growth which has been additionally LST'd bent down.

Germinating 2 more sativas

For these, I gave my usual scuff and overnight soak in roughly 6:1 dilution of 3% H2O2.
Then instead of planting direct in the soil like I did for the Mulanje, I chose to put them in a zip lock bag on some water moistened paper towel. Previously I have sandwiched them in the wet towel but this time I did it so I could see any progress thru the plastic, it was great to be able to easily view them.

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje (top), Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras (bot)

• Stunger
• Nov 27, 2021

After 1 night in plastic bag

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje (top), Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras (bot)

• Stunger
• Nov 27, 2021

After 2 nights in the plastic bag, now ready for planting

#3 Purple Honduras/PanamaxPurple Honduras

Purple Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras at 4 - 5 days after breaking soil

• Stunger
• Nov 27, 2021

4 - 5 days since breaking soil

#4 Malawi/Ethiopianx Mulanje

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje at 4 - 5 days after breaking soil

• Stunger
• Nov 27, 2021

4 - 5 days since breaking soil

Damn it...how did I miss this beauty of a journal until now?! Your intro post is what I wanted to do but then forgot to actually do it. You got me hooked with all the living soil. Love your style and methods. I'll get caught up at some point so I can learn and implement similar methods into my garden. Blessings Stunger

 

[Stunger]

Congratulations on the confirmation.
Its a shame about the main stem break. I have had similar breaks that heal. Since its perked up, I think it will continue to repair itself and its pathways. The confirmed Mulanje is really exploding with growth and showing her sativa leaves.

Thanks stinker! Yes I am pleased about the confirmation, that's great.

Damn it...how did I miss this beauty of a journal until now?! Your intro post is what I wanted to do but then forgot to actually do it. You got me hooked with all the living soil. Love your style and methods. I'll get caught up at some point so I can learn and implement similar methods into my garden. Blessings Stunger

Thanks for dropping by BA! Altho to be honest, it is less about style and methods, and much more just bumbling along, but thanks for saying so!

 

[Jon]

Update - on the damaged plant, and another reveals herself!

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras

As I noted in the last update, this plant has received damage, it's mainstem has broken probably 2/3 thru. It occurred I think overnight prior to discovery, so the edges of the wound were brown by the following day. Any movement seemed to exacerbate the damage, whereupon I settled on poking a plastic stake into the soil and letting the wounded mainstem rest upon it and carefully wrapped some garden wire around the stem and stake to hopefully keep it resting in place as I thought if it falls off or is blown off in the wind then surely the mainstem will completely break.

However, by the next day the plant had 'actually lifted' it's mainstem off the plastic stake to the maximum that the garden wire would permit. I was a bit surprised that it could/would do this with only a 1/3 of the stem unbroken. It is concerning that the wound is open as it exposes a hollowness in the centre. But with no obvious way to help and not wishing to risk making it worse, at this point I am leaving it to the plant to hopefully heal itself successfully. So far it is growing with vigor, which is encouraging.

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras

• Stunger
• Jan 2, 2022

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras - closeup of break damage

• Stunger
• Jan 2, 2022

The photo doesn't show it, but the mainstem is clear of the plastic stake it had been resting on.

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras - break damage

• Stunger
• Jan 2, 2022

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje

It's a girl!

Yes indeed. My plant grown from regular seed is now showing pistils. So that's really great and the uncertainty of gender now removed! And wow, Malawi crossed with Ethiopian laughing grass, and then with Mulanje, excellent!

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje

• Stunger
• Jan 2, 2022

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje - pistils sighted

• Stunger
• Jan 2, 2022

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje - pistils sighted

• Stunger
• Jan 2, 2022

Mulanje male

He is a healthy looking specimen even though I only need a branch or two for pollen, so I don't want him growing massively, altho I am happy for his sister to do so!

Mulanje male

• Stunger
• Jan 2, 2022

Mulanje male - node closeup

• Stunger
• Jan 2, 2022

Mulanje female

She is filling up quite nicely now, and still a very nice colour. She is due some more LST soon and probably supercropping as well.

Mulanje female

• Stunger
• Jan 2, 2022

Thanks for dropping by and all the very best to your gardens!

I am sitting here at 5 am in total disbelief. I can't even believe that branch did that. OFF the support? With only a third of the stem for transport? You gotta be kidding me. I thought it would heal, but this is insane. You gotta be so psyched. I might wrap a piece of tape around that break. I've done it before when it was possible. Not only did I find it helped support, but more than that (cuz that was minimal) it "sealed" the stem. So that hole wasn't in play in terms of stuff getting inside it and likely it helped with nutrient transport too as the vacuum inside the stem would have been slightly improved. You're the master, I'm sure you already considered this, just saying. Also, that Mulanje - the gigantic outside one that you said is "ready for more LST." My god man when does it stop? The reason I ask is, aren't you basically going to be supporting the entire top of that plant when it goes to flower with just the four first main branches? I mean for the main supports? So does that ever become a problem? What do you do if it does, support the crap out of the buds? And how would you do that on a balcony? Ever have issues with buds falling over when you create so many bud sites? Another question - do you believe there's any kind of "sweet spot" in terms of number of bud sites? Like, how many will give you max yield? Is it 100? That's 100 small buds. Is it 50? That's 50 bigger buds. Etc. You see what I mean? I find myself wondering about a sweet spot. With photos in particular I mean.

Sorry to pepper you at 5 am, lol. You got me going crazy, in the best possible way!

 

[StoneOtter]

Love your selections Stunger! Amazing power to stay alive in that wounded one!

 

[BakedARea]

I'm with @Jon , I would wrap it and tape it. Looks like the tissue has healed but at least reduce the risk of something getting in there. I started using masking tape a couple years ago. I'm a clumsy dope sometimes and I have busted a few more branches than I would like to admit.

 

[Stunger]

I might wrap a piece of tape around that break. I've done it before when it was possible. Not only did I find it helped support, but more than that (cuz that was minimal) it "sealed" the stem. So that hole wasn't in play in terms of stuff getting inside it and likely it helped with nutrient transport too as the vacuum inside the stem would have been slightly improved.

Ordinarily I would tape wrap it, but it was very fragile when I 'handled' it and I could see that the tear was worsening. However, yes I would like to still do something, I did think of applying some pruning sealant to the wound area to stop water and stuff getting into that area. But it is looking quite strong for what's happened so maybe it will do ok with it's own resources?

My god man when does it stop? The reason I ask is, aren't you basically going to be supporting the entire top of that plant when it goes to flower with just the four first main branches? I mean for the main supports? So does that ever become a problem? What do you do if it does, support the crap out of the buds?

The main thing is there is a lot of LST ties, which to my mind is similar to a camping tent, the poles hold a lot of weight but the guy lines provide additional stability. And supercropping I think helps strengthen branches.

Another question - do you believe there's any kind of "sweet spot" in terms of number of bud sites? Like, how many will give you max yield? Is it 100? That's 100 small buds. Is it 50? That's 50 bigger buds. Etc. You see what I mean? I find myself wondering about a sweet spot. With photos in particular I mean.

No, I don't know about that. But great gardeners like @VetSmoke85 tend to limit their colas to stronger growth only and get 'baseball bat' colas as a consequence. For me, I want to prune off the weaker growth but in reality I find it hard to do so.

Love your selections Stunger! Amazing power to stay alive in that wounded one!

Thanks Otter!

I'm with @Jon , I would wrap it and tape it. Looks like the tissue has healed but at least reduce the risk of something getting in there. I started using masking tape a couple years ago. I'm a clumsy dope sometimes and I have busted a few more branches than I would like to admit.

Hi BA, while the weather is hot and sunny I will probably leave it longer to get more 'woody' and then see what I can do. I am also a little concerned about causing mold conditions with any tape potentially harbouring moisture in the area. Ordinarily I'd splint and tape it up, but this is on a tricky LST curve in the stem.

 

[VetSmoke85]

No, I don't know about that. But great gardeners like @VetSmoke85 tend to limit their colas to stronger growth only and get 'baseball bat' colas as a consequence. For me, I want to prune off the

I don't know about the 'great'. But thanks mate. This is something I've thought a little about and I reckon it depends on many things. There will be a sweet spot I'm sure but it will all depend on strain, pheno, pot size, etc. That sweet spot will vary. I've found that fewer but denser colas is easier when it comes to trimming though. Ha ha. I did feel when I trained to have more colas they weren't as large or dense but it could have been several factors that caused that. It would be interesting to do a little experiment with clones one day.

 

[Stunger]

Update - A Holy f%*k moment , and a further gender reveal.

Greetings 420 folks! There wasn't going to be an update today, it began like any other day. The plants are showing growth each morning when I check on them. We're going thru a nice patch of hot sunny weather. I even gave them them a dash of Kelp concentrate, fish hydrolysate, humid/fulvic acids into their usual water with worm wee added.

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

• Stunger
• Jan 3, 2022

All quite uneventful until I looked closer...

The holy f%*k moment

I apologise for my use of the keyboard but I couldn't believe what I was seeing, and it suddenly explained the injury to the mainstem of the Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras. The plastic coated garden wire was cutting into the mainstem as it grew. The previous spool of garden wire was notably softer whereas the current one is stronger in the wire. Each LST tie that I attached to the mainstem I wrapped around 1.5 times but without any twist to fix it, as my intention was that the plant could then expand it accordingly as it grew. I was shocked when I noticed that half the LST ties were actually sunken into the stem tissue, or rather, the expanding plant had clearly not expanded the garden wire but had simply grew around and over it. That explains the position of the break and the brown edges that occurred to the H/PxPH. The break was right at the apex of pressure of the restraining tie as the stem was bent forward by another tie. This occurred over some time as the plant grew around the tie until it cut itself in half. So I consider myself lucky that I spotted this when I did, Otherwise in by another few days, the other plant would have been similarly damaged. After this I'll go check my grape vine that has been growing nicely since I put it in in Spring, I have some ties on that too, so I hope they're not causing any similar damage. But hey when it comes to garden plants, I've got my priorities!

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras

I turned the plant around to show it's fuller side!

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras

• Stunger
• Jan 3, 2022

Following is a side on pic showing the damaged mainstem. I looked closely to see if there was anything that as assisting giving support to it's mainstem, but nothing (this was when I noticed the damage caused by the LST ties). I originally rested the damaged point upon the black plastic stake and wrapped a bit of garden wire above it to help it avoid being blown off in the wind, but it has surprisingly grown up and off the stake, to now be pushing upwards against the wire.

Honduras/Panama x Purple H., showing mainstem break self supported

• Stunger
• Jan 3, 2022

So anyway, I released/loosened all ties to the growing mainstems. There was some other damage but I think it'll be minor and the plants will rapidly heal themselves at those points. Of course with the main point of damage shown above, I'll have to keep an eye on it and see how it heals and maybe give it a binding of sorts if I can do so without causing my damage.

Well onto another gender reveal. I have spotted new pistils on the Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras!

Honduras/Panama x Purple Honduras showing fresh pistils!

• Stunger
• Jan 3, 2022

So that's great, 3 girls!

I will have to rapidly get on to their training because they're noticeably growing each day.

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje

There is not much I can add about her. But she is growing strongly and thankfully I got those cutting ties off her before any real damage was done.

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje

• Stunger
• Jan 3, 2022

Malawi/Ethiopian x Mulanje, newly showing pistils

• Stunger
• Jan 3, 2022

Mulanje female

She is growing nicely. I need to go over her training very soon as she's having a bit of a stretch at the moment.

Mulanje female

• Stunger
• Jan 3, 2022

Thanks for popping in. All the best!

 

[stinker]

Good catch on the garden wire. Great pic of the Mulanje female, love the shadow ring around the pot.