Backyard Grow 2014

IvyPirate

IvyPirate

Well-Known Member
Welcome all! I have been a lurker on this site for several years (and a poster on another well know site) and wanted to share this year's success/consternations with the RollItUp community.

I will post grow details soon but first off- one of my plants (a "mystery seed") that I germinated at the end of April is already showing male balls. Is it unusual for a seedling (it only developed 4 sets of leaves before puberty) to show male traits so soon? At least I won't be wasting nutes of efforts for the next 6-8 weeks before knowing for sure...
 
bigboybuds

bigboybuds

Well-Known Member
I always sex my indoor seed runs before I flower. Most of the strains I run will show sex within 30 days of germination. Males usually before fems.
 
spankdizz

spankdizz

Well-Known Member
if you let them veg long enough they will show you some genitals without changing your light schedule
 
IvyPirate

IvyPirate

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the replies! Checking my schedule, the seedling showed at 5 weeks after germ. Learn something new on these forums every day!

I'm down to seven juveniles- four that germed inside in March, moved outside at 4 weeks, now sitting pretty in 3 gallon pots, planning to transfer to 7 gallon containers later this month. For sure I have a pure indica, a pure sativa, a Jock Horror cross, and one called Pineapple Train Wreck (if you know what that strain is let me know). I also planted four (now three) mystery seeds that I had collected over the years which I germed outside in late April. I put them in started pots three weeks back, will upgrade to 3 gallon pots next week.

For the last few years I have moving my plants every four weeks to successively larger pots. This year I have three 10 gallon pots for three ladies and 7 gallon pots for any other females. Playing the odds here, I'm hoping for 4 plants, will be happy if I get any extra. I'm using Mycorzine Promix as my growing medium with Botanicare Pro Grow for nutes. I have had trouble with underfeeding in the past so this year I will make sure to feed weekly until I see signs of overfeeding.

I'll try to post some pics next update- sometime around mid-June
 
IvyPirate

IvyPirate

Well-Known Member
A few quick updates:

1) It might be of interest how I transplant: once the seedling comes out of my incubator I put it in the smallest pot (on the right); every three to four weeks I transplant to the next largest container. Approximate sizes are 1 qt/ 2 qt/ 3 gallon/ 7 gallon/ 12 gallon (the blue container). In my last post I said the container was a 10 gallon but, after doing some math and cubic feet comparisons, the conatiners are larger than I expected!) Currently all plants are in 3 gallon containers, getting ready to move one to a 12 gallon container (see below) and others to a 7 gallon bucket.

This method allows the rootballs to form tight (but not too tight) before going to the next container. I also save on effort/ProMix media by eliminating males and runts early in the process. Last year was the first year I used the 12 gallon container and got a big yield from my sativa plant; I have three ready to go this year. Since I have to move the plants around the yard often due to nosy neighbors, changing foliage of surrounding trees, and non-imbibing house guests the 12 gallon bucket is as large as my creaky back can handle and then only when the soil is fairly dry and lightweight.
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2) Here is a quick view of my grow- the closest plant on the left and the two on the right are the younger plants that came from my "mystery seed" bag- they germinated about 1 month after the first round of plants. I am passing along two of the youngsters to my friend this weekend, leaving me with five plants. Playing the law of averages, I should end up with three ladies (one for each of my 12 gallon containers).

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3) For sure my pure indica plant is a girl- she's already covered with hairs though it might be hard to see from this close-up. The seedling came from a clone from a three years ago- the last two years the plant has pushed out 3-4 seeds which I recovered. Only 1 (out of 2) germinated this year but I still have 3 seeds left for future grows as well as what this lady may produce. The previous generations have all given nice yields. Since I am more of a sativa & sativa cross connoisseur most of this plant is used for Christmas presents. I will be transplanting this one to a 12 gallon bucket in the next few weeks.

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4) This year I have learned from previous mistakes and have been feeding on a weekly basis using Botanicare Grow; in years past I get to this stage and then slack off on feedings, ending up with wimpy plants. My goal this year is to get more yield from less plants (last year I had six plants but only three came through with a quality yield, two others got mold disease and I had to pitch half the yield). Proper feeding, larger containers, and what looks like a drier and warmer summer should all help. The solstice is coming up, days will start to get shorter, and soon I'll know just how many plants I'll be working with for the rest of the growing season.

I'll update around July 1 with better close-ups of the remaining plants.
 
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IvyPirate

IvyPirate

Well-Known Member
I've been checking out many other threads and came up with a question: I topped two of my plants (a standard sativa and a Jock Horror) about 4 weeks back- at the time they were at their sixth node. I saw a suggestion for heavy duty wire mesh to support the plants and will buy some later this week.

Did I top too late? If so, anything I can do? The sativa is already over 3 foot tall on the two main stems that grew from the topping point. I'll post pics soon.
 
IvyPirate

IvyPirate

Well-Known Member
Grow update and then a question:

Update- gave two of my mystery seed plants to a buddy for his wife, now down to five plants; a couple have big hairs and will get transplanted to larger containers next week, a couple look like they are growing hairs, and one is still vegging. Now that the solstice has passed I hope if any balls appear they will appear soon. The newest mystery seed plant is growing tall and lanky; I moved it to behind my potato patch (which is nearly 5 ft high now & screens the new neighbor's view) in hopes the more sunlight will help it fill out. I'll post pictures next week.

Question- the past two weeks we have been getting daily afternoon rains of around 1/2 inch so my plant's soil is continually damp. Since I feed when I water (and I wait for the soil to completely dry between watering/feedings) I have not had the chance to add nutes for about 10 days. It looks like the daily rain pattern will continue for the next 7-10 days. Any suggestions on how to feed the plants with all of this rain activity?
 
MightyMike530

MightyMike530

Well-Known Member
Perhaps concentrate your nutes into less water than you would normally use for a feeding, feed prior to a rain, let the rain do the rest, dunno. Wish we would get some rain here.
 
IvyPirate

IvyPirate

Well-Known Member
So Friday afternoon when I got home (after 1 hour after my last post) I discovered balls on my Pineapple Train Wreck plant- oh the humanity!!! The plant was nice and bushy & I was looking forward to a new strain to add to my supply. (I may cross pollinate with one of the females but will set up a thread to address this issue.) Now I am down to four plants- three showing lots of hairs and my juvenile mystery plant which is showing marked sativa tendencies and is nearly four feet high.

Yesterday I transplanted my Jock Horror and standard sativa plant to a 12 gallon recycling bucket "container" and my standard indica to a 7 gallon. (Don't worry- I drilled additional holes into the container so the plants don't become waterlogged.) This time I rehydrated my ProMix medium with Botanicare-infused water so that I could repot & feed at the same time. Bright sunshine the rest of the day and this morning- and then a gully-washer came at lunch that dropped 1" of rain in about 45 minutes. Fortunately I had staked up the plants after putting in the new containers so no damage from the downpour.

MightyMike530 said:
Perhaps concentrate your nutes into less water than you would normally use for a feeding, feed prior to a rain, let the rain do the rest, dunno. Wish we would get some rain here.
Click to expand...
Good suggestion- if the rain pattern keeps up I will try this option and see how it works.

FresnoFarmer said:
Top dressing
Click to expand...
Not quite sure what Top Dressing involves but I will investigate.

I will say at this point the plants are looking pretty good given my predicament of only getting about 6 hours of direct sunlight and growing in small area. If the sun stays out I will try to post pictures later this week.
 
IvyPirate

IvyPirate

Well-Known Member
No rain since last post six days ago- the soil in the two 12 gal containers are still pretty moist; Promix is real light when dry but it holds soooo much moisture I still cannot lift/move the containers, can only drag them in my grow area. My back procedures over the past six months have caught up to me and I can't move/carry heavy loads like I used to do. Getting old sure does suck but it beats the alternative!

Here are some pictures from earlier this morning- the white stick is a yard stick to give a relative indication of the height of each plant. Each plant is showing lots of little hairs...

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My sativa plant that I "topped" six weeks ago; the new main stem has grown about 4 foot from the topped spot & the plant is now 6' tall. Hard to tell from this image but it looks like it is starting to flower up top.

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Here is Jock Horror- also topped six weeks back but has more even growth in the two main stems, lots of bushy undergrowth. Also looks like it might be starting to flower

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This is my indica plant- nice and bushy, currently in a 7 gal container which I can move with some difficulty when the soil is moist/saturated. No flowering yet but covered with pistil hairs

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My Mystery Seed plant- it is about a month younger than the other plants but is already at 5' in height- looks to be a Sativa to me and, like the others, has hairs forming in all the right places... I will probably repot this afternoon or at some point during the week.

You can also tell from this pic of my limited growing area- it gets about 3 hours direct sunlight and 8+ hours shaded by a high pine tree. Just on the other side of the shrubs on the left is my neighbors patio; no issue now but when the plants start stanking I will have to move them to another spot that gets even less direct sunlight but a far more open space to grow. Every year I move my plants to that area of the yard around beginning to mid-August once flowering starts going strong; in that spot they are not noticaeble to the neighbors but anyone coming into the backyard (guests, pest control, cops) can't miss them.

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Finally, the little bastard Pineapple Train Wreck with his balls visible near the top of then plant. I will let him grow to develop the pollen sacs, harvest the pollen, and then pollinate 1-2 buds on each lady to see what kind of seed stock I will have next year. (This is the aforementioned area to where I move my ladies for their final two months). I decided not to nute or repot this guy- should keep watering to get more pollen sacs.

Sorry for the large pictures- I downloaded straight from my mobile device without resizing the images. I will continue with the updates next weekend.
 
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