Weasel Forges Ahead

[Kriaze]

Damn I just bought my last lot of seeds last week so a full Sativa will be out. On the other hand I do grow any strain as though it's my first grow of it anyway, does that count?

I'll join in in spirit anyway, if I move my lights up they'll stretch like Sativas.

 

[Annabanana]

Is a 'jenny-come-lately' allowed in this sativa competition? Considering I'm a complete rookie to this indoor growing biz, the chances of me ending up with the coupon is slim to none - but I'm more interested in the fun of it anyway.
This is probably a super stupid question but; Weasel...can you graft a female plant onto a male stem/roots? I assume probably not BUT I'm about to cull males from my bloom tent and some have the loveliest, thick stems and roots that I just wondered...? And you're The Graft Master!
And thanks for the warm welcome. Fuck Facebook...this 420 thing is far more entertaining to me!

 

[Annabanana]

1 more question please Weasel? I read you have your 600W HPS's as close as 12" above the canopy, yeah? If so, do you let the plants grow up to that distance gradually during flower phase? And when you first flip to 12/12, what distance do you start them at?

 

[Weaselcracker]

A while back there was a 'competition' (no prizes and no real winners for that matter) to grow a plant in a solo cup (max 17 oz container). It was a lot of fun and people learned some new tricks. But I see two of those solo cup competitions happen to be happening right now on 420.
The idea of the competition would just be as an excuse to do something new and fun- just for entertainment really. I'm not even sure it will happen. Just kicking ideas around. Personally I'd love to see a bunch of people try some weird sativas but that's me- and it's unrealistic to expect people to go out and order sativa seeds specially. Any other ideas are welcome. Just looking for an excuse to stretch the growing skills a bit.
The other thing is I have this $100 seed coupon from a company I'm not super fond of. Maybe I should just give it away and skip the competition idea. One cool thing about the solo cup comp was that it had no prizes. Made it more fun.


Annabanana- I sure don't feel like a grafting master- but the bar is set incredibly low around here since I'm probably the only one doing it. There's an actual master grower named LightAddict who I think was doing some grafting as well but I haven't seen what he accomplished and I'm pretty sure he's not around anymore- or not at the moment at least. Anyway- grafting is extremely easy.
Yes you could certainly graft a female into a male, and I read some comment somewhere that this is actually desirable. I didn't ever find out why.
As for the lights- I really just play it by ear and don't pay a lot of attention how close the plants are. My veg room light is usually running right at the top as high as it will go which is probably about 30" up. I just let them grow. The little ones stay down low and the big ones often have to get bent lower to avoid burning. They quite often grow into the light - but have to get within a few inches of the 600w to actually burn. At the 400w setting I find that the leaves almost have to touch the bulb to burn.
One of the main factors to manage is airflow under the lights. A plant can burn at 12" if there's no air movement- while if there is a fan blasting air between the light and the plant, it can get very close before burning. The warning signs of overheating are when the leaf edges start curling upwards.

 

[dr.h00k]

Your coupon...your choice...a lil' friendly competition is always nice tho'...to include everyone following your journal is the challenge, if that was the way you were leaning...so many variables...whatever you decide, someone will benefit...Cheerz...WC...h00k...

 

[GrizzWald]

except mafia members, they die all the time for knowing too much, jkjk, I know what you mean, KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!!!!

 

[Weaselcracker]

I used to love reading adventure stories about discovering ancient treasure and lost civilizations, or exploring strange empty buildings full of humming machines and alien technology. Skeletons of the ones who came before, got trapped in there and died. As a born scavenger I dream about this stuff at night, most literally. My best dreams involve roaming hallways full of mysterious abandoned junk ripe for the scavenging. I hate waking up...
That's what came to mind tonight when I was cleaning the far corners of the flowering room and found the sad remains of some bold traveller slug, who died while exploring mysterious wonders that few slugs have seen before. RIP- sluggy.

Dried to a crisp.


Took the last batch of harvests out of the dryer- P Purple, P Chunk, Afghan, and Chocolate Mint OG were all in there. I'll try to get some photos tomorrow. Also have some pics of the Strawberry Blue- but life has been crazy. So I'm going to choose sleep right now.

 

[Annabanana]

That information r.e. heights of HPS lights is super helpful, thanks Weasel. Exactly what I needed to know.
As for the Solo Cup competition idea? I love it! They're actually my specialty...by default. As in, my plants were at their healthiest and happiest in their Solo Cups. So full of promise and potential. And I found some transparent blue ones they loved.
So if that's the challenge you choose...I'm in (if I may?)!
Or the sativa one. I'm in for whatever. It'll be a laugh regardless.
Oh and I am so interested in that grafting idea of grafting a female shoot onto a beautiful thick male stem! Thanks again.

 

[GrimReefer83]

What's this? A sativa challenge?? I'm in Weasel! Assuming it'll run for a longer period, so I'm going to try run with a 'Tutankhamen' photo by Pyramid seeds. 2-3month indoor veg then clone & outdoors. Been waiting for a while to use the Tut, only got one !
Subbed up, might have missed some details, is there a start date? .

 

[GrimReefer83]

Just looking back.. I got a Barneys Farm PChunk too if that's what we doin ...

 

[Tead]

That information r.e. heights of HPS lights is super helpful, thanks Weasel. Exactly what I needed to know.

I have many heat challenges in my world. Weas's words regarding airflow are very important. The bonuses of airflow are many and it's also a variable that's really easy to increase.
If you want to bring your HPS closer to the plant canopy, an enclosed hood (tho I prefer a cooltube) with active airflow exhausting outside your garden is a must. The heat off your bulb is probably the largest heat source in your garden.
If one needs to lower the temp in the garden as a whole, one should keep in mind that there are 3 heat sources from lighting systems. Power conversion (ballast), bulb temperature, and emitted radiant heat. Obviously you can't effect the last variable, but the first two have mitigating options. You can move your ballast (driver, power brick, whatever) outside the grow area thus removing that heat from the garden. For bulb temps, the active cooling with an enclosed hood is the only option I've discovered. Of course, airflow and exhaust also have a huge impact.

Just some thoughts on a lazy Saturday morning as I enjoy a brew 'n bowls.

 

[Kriaze]

Weasel a great deterrent against slugs is copper. We have copper strips surrounding our herbs in the garden and they stop slugs from crossing on to the herb area, although not ants as I've found much to my dismay. I can't remember the exact reasoning behind it but a quick Google search should have the answers and will save you from becoming the human equivalent of a Kraken to all those intrepid explorers.

 

[Weaselcracker]

Kriaze I've got a lot of copper barriers and copper slug fence mesh in my outside gardens. It may or may not work. I'm inclined to think it doesn't now, and I've been told it's a myth. But most of the time my slug barriers are overgrown by the jungle which grows up here in summer every time I turn my back for five minutes. A rough surface like jagged gravel works better but also gets instantly overgrown. Slug bait (iron phosphate) works best though it's kind of overpriced. Beer is a satisfying trap (as we know).
The big slugs can make a splash when they get in- but actually it's the little ones that do the most damage in the long run because they're sneaker and harder to find.
But my indoor grow is definitely indoors and only the most valiant of slug heroes could breach my defenses. We have seen the fate of the one that did...

 

[Kriaze]

I'm not sure if it's a myth or not Weasel as it seems to work out in my garden. I'm not sure if it's just the fact that my herbs are in raised beds and the copper covers the tops of those or whether maybe the herbs just aren't appealing enough for the slugs. I know for sure that salt works as I found that out when I was very young but was just hoping to point you in the right direction of some lesser lethal methods that can be used as a precaution rather than a cure, call me a soft arse but yeah I know a slug is just a slug lol. You tainted my eyes with your pictures of death

In all seriousness though I'm going to have to test the copper method myself for sure

 

[Tead]

I put my used perlite in my outside garden. I had a huge snail issue. The layer of perlite stops the snails completely when dry. They pass over it some when wet, but way less than without.

 

[Skybound]

You all got me curious so I did a quick search and saw some creative ideas. Whether petroleum jelly wiped around a pot works or not, it would sure be funny watching a slug climb up and slide down. There were also egg shells, salt, honey, saw dust, copper, electricity (lmao), diatomaceous earth, insect and bird netting, ash, sand, crushed pistachio shells, ducks and chicken in your yard, citrus skins, yeast, vinegar, wine iron phosphate and red clover as a bait crop. I'm sure other sites have other ideas.

 

[Weaselcracker]

Copper is popular here. Maybe it does work. Let's assume it does- well all it takes is a blade of grass leaning against it and the slugs just slither up across the barrier and into the garden. Think they can find that blade of grass to slither out again even if they wanted to? Nah- they're trapped inside the garden forever.
I don't know- I used to assume it worked, other than the logistics of keeping the barrier clean, but at one point I went googling it, and couldn't find the proof. I'll have to capture some slugs and run them through an obstacle course sometime.

Anna and GR- at this point the contest is just an idea. Nothing started yet. I'm glad to hear of your interest though. Thanks. And GR its always nice to see someone else growing the P Chunk. It's an interesting strain.
Originally I was thinking of a pure sativa strain- but a sativa dominant would make it more accessible to people without having to order seeds specially. Will keep turning the ideas over. I'm heading out on a 8 or 9 day trip soon and nothing will be happening till next month at the very soonest.

Been having some issues uploading photos but it finally worked once I shrunk them down a bunch. Some pics of the SB, as promised.

~Strawberry Blue~

This plant has always looked quite pretty to me. I can't totally put my finger on it because in some ways it's sort of a generic looking plant. But the flowers are a nice white colour and it seems to project a certain healthy glow that makes me fond of it. It's been flowering two months and seems to me like it's got at least a couple weeks if not a month to go. It actually smellled like strawberry a bit in early flowering, but now it's become more of a fumey pungent smell.

And the CMOG buds. Meant to get more pics today of the curing buds but... more madness and no time.

 

[Weaselcracker]

The state of the flowering room.

Honduras with the grafted sativa behind her. Not much to report but they're happy enough- so far so good.

I bent the Honduras tip over, and repotted her. She's done stretching now and is growing a zillion pretty little flowers. Going to be very interesting when she fills out.
Room is half empty right now but that's ok. I don't have time to deal with a full house.

Actually the two closest plants on the right side are Golden Tigers which could be stretchy as hell- so maybe it will be a fulll house when I get back from my impending trip.
There was another much bigger GT in there. That was the one that went hermie on me before but I thought I'd give it a second chance. Found some balls on it tonight so she/he went to join the big gay plant pride parade in the sky.
I hooked up the auto watering system, which hopefully will get me through 9 or 10 days away.

 

[Tead]

You all got me curious so I did a quick search and saw some creative ideas. Whether petroleum jelly wiped around a pot works or not, it would sure be funny watching a slug climb up and slide down. There were also egg shells, salt, honey, saw dust, copper, electricity (lmao), diatomaceous earth, insect and bird netting, ash, sand, crushed pistachio shells, ducks and chicken in your yard, citrus skins, yeast, vinegar, wine iron phosphate and red clover as a bait crop. I'm sure other sites have other ideas.

I've tried many....
Petro jelly melts and flows in garden temps... messy to say the least.
Sand, ash, and egg shells seemed pointless.
Salt works, but who has 1000hrs to sprinkle them all. Plus, laying out all that salt in one's garden could be way bad.
Diatomaceous earth works.... but flows when it rains and must be frequently re-applied.

 

[Tead]

I'll have to capture some slugs and run them through an obstacle course sometime.

Can we bet on the winning slug?