Xlr8's Hydroponic Adventures & Photos From The Garden - 2012

[Xlr8]

looking great X

Chronic!

 

[Xlr8]

Wow looking great! I cant wait to start my Flood and Drain grow in the next few weeks!

Thanks Xbones - appreciate that. You'll like your system I think -- it's a very effective hydro method, and pretty simple to run, too. Just make sure all your connections are secure and you'll be golden.

 

[Xlr8]

Yes X, for sure. I feel like I am really starting to get there now.

Your rockin' it now Bassman!

 

[Xlr8]

New strains for the planet!
You rock!

Thanks for the love, Surfbuddy!

 

[Xlr8]

And if the good Lord above wanted these plants to be "auto" he would have made them that way. Seems like whenever mankind messes with nature, he messes up big time. I have never been a fan of auto's but then again, I like the control I have and would not do well with plants that have a "mind of their own".

I've only grown one, but it was actually a great plant, imo. Don't get me wrong, I like the control too, but I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised by how well it did (there is a link to the grow in my signature).

Mankind's biggest problem as it relates to nature, is that we think we know what we're doing - what a farce!

Best of the luck to you. I have been growing this way (all phases) for the past 3-4 years and love it. Once you get everything "dialed in" the maintenance is easier unless you have a small system. Seems like the larger your reservoir is, the longer the replenishing time factor is, at least that is what I have experienced...

I like to change my reservoir weekly, but I've let it go 2 weeks without an issue. I started using my old nutrients to water the plants in my yard. Yard plants are looking awesome now! I agree that smaller reservoirs definitely need more frequent changes (the plants cherry pick certain nutrients based on need, and can throw the mix out of whack pretty quick in a small reservoir).

Nice seeing you around more again!

 

[Xlr8]

Xlr8,

They sure are starting to frost up nicely. Your crosses look very healthy can't wait to see what they will do for you.

Thanks HMG - I'm really excited to flower some of those new crosses out once I figure out which are females. I love the mystery of it all, should be fun stuff!

 

[Xlr8]

looking good my friend, those new strains are well on their way, are you only going to clone these or do you have future plans of having a seed stock of the strain so you can grow them in the future and keep some seeds for a long time, would keep the clone going plus could get others growing it,

remember to vote in the contests, some nice plants and buds, its going to be hard to decide this time round, link is below for the contests

Hi Donpaul -

I'm going to figure out which of these first seedlings are females and then clone the females and flower some out the next round. I still have about 30 seeds of each cross for future projects. I'm keeping these for myself - but I'd like to (it'll take a while) find something good from these seeds and cross it with something else again to see what I can come up with. Just a little side project!

I'm assuming you have an entry in one or more of the contests?

 

[Xlr8]

Looking great!

Thankya Heirloom!

 

[Xlr8]

X-cellent! Looking great over here. Sending positive, trouble free thoughts your way. No more (ugs-bay) crawling though your plants!

Shhhh, don't wake up any bügs!

Jandre!

 

[Xlr8]

Looking great there my friend. Keepem Green

Thanks buddy!

 

[Xlr8]

The ladies are looking FROSTYLICIOUS!
You new crosses sound great and look amazing.
Keep up the Xlr8tion of Xlence!

Yeah! I love it when they frost up. Thanks for the most X-ellent compliment!

 

[Xlr8]

looking good XL, smoke some of that for me man

Done - and I mean DONE. thanks my friend!

 

[Xlr8]

Come of folks.......thats all........X..........ever does..........turn out Beauties.

Thanks buddy - I'm just happy if I have good meds for myself. I love growing cannabis. Such a beautiful plant in it's own crazy ways. I can stare at them for long periods of time and just feel peaceful... Thanks for being such a great friend brotha!

 

[donpaul.p]

@sfttailpaul, autos are natural mate, its the ruderalis strain, dont quote me on the spelling, all they did was cross the ruderalis with a normal regule indica or sative strain to give it the thc we are trying to get, auto or ruderalis grows in conditions that dont have the seasons and lighting schedules needed for flower, so they adapted to flower due to age and not lights or sun deminishing, some grow in mountains and have less light and others grow in areas that have nearly constant light, all they did to make the auto strains we now grow is cross them with indica or sativa so it gives us the buds we are trying to get, but i do get your point, i dont think autos are where they should be yet, i dont think the strain is stable enough either, some people only get an 8th of each auto, but others get over 4oz, off this last auto i got 20g dry, but i only harvested the top of the plant, the small pop corn buds i left and put it back under the lights, now these small pop corn buds have got bigger and are now worth keeping instead of putting in the trim box, should give me at least another 7g dry off it, i think autos are ideal for growers that dont have the good sun other growers get, also if you wanted to flower off earlier outdoors then an auto would be ideal as it will still flower even when the sun is not at its best for flowering

 

[jandre2k3]

Thanks buddy - I'm just happy if I have good meds for myself. I love growing cannabis. Such a beautiful plant in it's own crazy ways. I can stare at them for long periods of time and just feel peaceful... Thanks for being such a great friend brotha!

I know what you mean there... I love just sitting at my box, donning the shades, and just looking over my ladies, making sure the light reaches all parts of the plants, adjusting the fans for the week's growth, and just sitting there "watching them grow" as my beloved calls it.

 

[sfttailpaul]

Grow update - Day 35 bloom/End of week 5 since photoperiod reduction:

Mostly a picture update today. Buds still swelling, and the frost is really setting in nicely. This morning I was shocked at how much the trichomes seemed to multiply seemingly overnight. Like it snowed - love it!

A bit of a recap as far as what's happening in the flower tent:

Strains: (2) Super Lemon Haze, (1) Chocolope, and (1) Deadhead OG

• Grown with Blue Planet Nutrients (3 part series) and Liquid Blue bloom booster, in a "Flo N Gro" (Ebb N Grow style) system.
• Currently the PPM's are at about 1500ppm (.07 conversion).
• Temps are about 75f, RH is about 45% currently.

• PH is currently maintained between about 5.5 and 5.9.

• They are getting floods about every 3 1/2 hours during lights on only

Some Chocolope (lower right) and Deadhead OG tops (upper left):

Chocolope:

Deadhead OG:

Deadhead OG

Super Lemon Haze:

Super Lemon Haze (2nd tier bud):

Super Lemon Haze (lots of sativa-like calyx stacking on the SLH's... this is definitely a sativa pheno!):

Last but not least... Here are a couple of pictures of the newest vegging plants -- my own crosses from the little breeding experiment I did in my last grow. I'm SO excited about these plants.

This is an OG Ripper (OG Kush x Jack the Ripper):

This is a Deadhead Jack (Deadhead OG x Jack the Ripper):

Here's a group shot of some of the new crosses, and a Pineapple Express thrown in. There is (2) of each cross, plus (2) Pineapple Express. One of them is on the other shelf, and unpictured...

XL, I will be watching your crosses. Wouldn't the second one be called "Deadhead Ripper", or (MHO) better yet, "Dead Ripper Head"? I like 'em aAnyway...
I am playing around with breeding myself. Seems like this is the natural progression after having some grows under our belt. I have 6 nice strains, right now, that I can cross with my only male of "Larry OG". They are: Deadhead, Blackwater, Master Bubba Kush, Corleone Kush, Purple Urkle and of course, Larry OG. I plan to only pollinate one or two branches, mostly because I have a small amount of the pollen but also because I don't plan on being a breeder and don't want to sacrifice the buds for seed. I am excited to get into this having read a lot about the breeding but never trying it. After growing on and off since the mid 70's I simply was on a path to never, ever have any males and fought this religiously. Heck, I didn't even start taking cuttings until around 2001 after getting tired of buying seeds at great risk and expense. I am on what is commonly referred to as "the slow learner course..."
I am excited to watch your crosses too. Keep up the great works and posts; I'll be there with ya'.
Paul

 

[NorCaliwood]

Another drive bye. Hey seen you used a OG Kush in your seed adventure. I guess I'm alittle lazy but was it the female or the male? I have a sweet looking 4' bush of OG Kush about 6 weeks in. I did manage to cut afew nice babies off her. The plant I got has a great smell to. Kind of fruity and loaded with young sparkle. The plant has a look of a great plant. I seen very few oldtimer grows without it in their gardens. I've never grown it but I've heard great things about it. I was wondering if you got a chance to smoke some of it??
Dude that one strain, Chocolope, That's another one I've heard was top shelf. I've heard of alot of local growers at the hydro stores here, talking about growing it. Pretty plant. Then one of my favorites, SLH. I've only grown it out once and that lemon smell still sticks in my nose. That one I 'Will' grow again. Stupid me, my PE didn't make it last time I tried it. I see alot of people growing it. Least on this site. I seen somewhere people growing a plant called 'endless sky'. Suppose to be another great production plant.
Well XLR looking good keepem that a ways. Keepem Green

 

[Xlr8]

@sfttailpaul, autos are natural mate, its the ruderalis strain, dont quote me on the spelling, all they did was cross the ruderalis with a normal regule indica or sative strain to give it the thc we are trying to get, auto or ruderalis grows in conditions that dont have the seasons and lighting schedules needed for flower, so they adapted to flower due to age and not lights or sun deminishing, some grow in mountains and have less light and others grow in areas that have nearly constant light, all they did to make the auto strains we now grow is cross them with indica or sativa so it gives us the buds we are trying to get, but i do get your point, i dont think autos are where they should be yet, i dont think the strain is stable enough either, some people only get an 8th of each auto, but others get over 4oz, off this last auto i got 20g dry, but i only harvested the top of the plant, the small pop corn buds i left and put it back under the lights, now these small pop corn buds have got bigger and are now worth keeping instead of putting in the trim box, should give me at least another 7g dry off it, i think autos are ideal for growers that dont have the good sun other growers get, also if you wanted to flower off earlier outdoors then an auto would be ideal as it will still flower even when the sun is not at its best for flowering

Yes, good points DonPaul

As I understand it, autoflower strains are exactly as you say - a genetic mash up that includes a ruderalis somewhere in the mix. I also agree that it seems some are more consistent than others. I was fortunate that the one I grew turned out nice (Big Bang Auto from Greenhouse). I can't complain about my experience with them. One of the great advantages is definitely the quick finish time, which allows for more harvests indoors, or an early harvest outdoors. They typically stay manageable height-wise, too, which is always a concern indoor (well almost always!).

 

[Xlr8]

I know what you mean there... I love just sitting at my box, donning the shades, and just looking over my ladies, making sure the light reaches all parts of the plants, adjusting the fans for the week's growth, and just sitting there "watching them grow" as my beloved calls it.

Better than TV!

 

[Xlr8]

XL, I will be watching your crosses. Wouldn't the second one be called "Deadhead Ripper", or (MHO) better yet, "Dead Ripper Head"? I like 'em aAnyway...
I am playing around with breeding myself. Seems like this is the natural progression after having some grows under our belt. I have 6 nice strains, right now, that I can cross with my only male of "Larry OG". They are: Deadhead, Blackwater, Master Bubba Kush, Corleone Kush, Purple Urkle and of course, Larry OG. I plan to only pollinate one or two branches, mostly because I have a small amount of the pollen but also because I don't plan on being a breeder and don't want to sacrifice the buds for seed. I am excited to get into this having read a lot about the breeding but never trying it. After growing on and off since the mid 70's I simply was on a path to never, ever have any males and fought this religiously. Heck, I didn't even start taking cuttings until around 2001 after getting tired of buying seeds at great risk and expense. I am on what is commonly referred to as "the slow learner course..."
I am excited to watch your crosses too. Keep up the great works and posts; I'll be there with ya'.
Paul

I like Deadhead Ripper better now that you bring it up again, but I think I was trying to avoid having Ripper in both names or some silly thing. I think I'll go back to "Deadhead Ripper". Too many other "Jack"s out there, too, so it makes more sense to make it clearly a Deadhead and Jack the Ripper cross. Thanks!

OG Ripper = (OG Kush x Jack the Ripper)
Deadhead Ripper = (Deadhead OG x Jack the Ripper)

I like your strains and plans for crosses - I see you like the Cali Connection stuff, too. I'll bet you get some winners with those!

I pollinated only one or two buds per plant that were well below the canopy, stuff I might have actually trimmed off during defoliating or something otherwise. Just from the one or two buds on each plant, I got anywhere from about 20-50 seeds (I think I actually have a more accurate number in the journal here somewhere, but something like that). So, you don't have to pollinate much for a lot of seeds!!

Almost all of my seeds looked healthy and viable, so I'm thrilled with the results.

If your curious or missed it, here's what I did when I pollinated the females, in a nutshell:

I kept a male well isolated in another room, with no airflow shared between the spaces (this is very important!). The male will typically produce viable pollen before the females are ideally ready for it, but wait for the females to be ready. Based on tips I gleaned from TGA Subcool and others, I pollinated my females at 21 or 22 days, something like that. I believe he suggests 21-28 days as the window he likes best for pollinating the female plants. That gave the seeds plenty of time to mature before harvesting, and resulted in nearly all of them looking healthy and viable at the time of harvest.

What I did first, was collect a small amount of pollen in a glass bowl that was placed underneath male pollen sacks. I let the pollen drop into the bowl. I was careful not to spread it to my clothes or anywhere but the bowl.

Ahead of time, I put a couple of flourescents temporarily in the female flower tent, so I could shut off the HPS lights and fans without overheating anything. I didn't want any air movement when I brought the pollen in.

I took a q-tip and "painted" the intended buds with the pollen very carefully (I marked each budsite ahead of time with a gold foil twisty tie just below the bud to be pollinated so there would be no confusion). When I finished, I took the pollen bowl away from the room to avoid unintended contamination.

I wiped the floor underneath with a damp cloth (moisture/water will kill the pollen). I then gave the plants about 20 minutes to a half hour to become impregnated with the pollen (really, it happens almost instantly!). Then, I took a spray bottle and sprayed the pollinated bud down heavily with water, as well as the immediate vicinity around the pollinated bud.

Finally, I turned the HPS lights back on along with the ventilation system. There are probably more specifics earlier in the journal when I actually did this, but that's the jist of it.

Now, there's some shortcuts in there that aren't for the feint of heart. Usually, one would be advised to thoroughly spray down the whole plant and surrounding area with water to make sure no rogue pollen was on the loose before turning on the fans again. I chose to gamble that I didn't fumble anything, and only sprayed down the pollinated area. For me, it worked and I didn't have any unintended pollination, but I wanted to put that out there.

Oh, and thanks for reposting my last photos!