Farmhouse Berry Pink, Bodhi SSDD (F2) and PeakSeedsBC SB journal...

I haven't been on in a couple of years, felt the urge to start a grow journal for this one. First grow since they legalized it here. I had done my last couple grows in a tent in an upstairs closet, but I moved the tent to the basement because I'm not too worried about nosy neighbors anymore, and my neighbors two doors down on either side grew outdoors this summer.

First of all, I have to say RIP to the seeds that I accidentally drowned... I started some Bodhi Wookie x Dreadbread, Hazeman Blue Dream x Pure Kush and Schwaggy's Chem D x Black Triangle that popped in damp paper towels. But because sometimes I'm dumb, they never emerged from the soil after I planted them. I used some seed start blend from the hardware store, I've used it before and had problems with it being a bit hydrophobic at first, so I kept adding a little bit of water and it really got drenched, but I thought it would be ok and left it, I guess I was a bit rusty. Two of the three Farmhouse that I started came up, but nothing else.

Oh well, I started a few more seeds, and decided to change up the selection a bit, I guess to prioritize some things that will be good for my back pain (hopefully). Better success this time.

Farmhouse Berry Pink are the two on the left. These were the ones I most wanted to grow out this time... so little info on Farmhouse.

PeakSeedsBC Skunkberry are the four in the top right. 100% germ rate on ~4 year old seeds, grown these and liked them before... hoping for a blueberry leaner and maybe some nice color since I'm growing them in a chilly basement.

Sunshine Daydream F2 are the rest, I bred these about 3 years ago, straight pollen chucking. 6 of 7 popped (the one that didn't was a bit small and pale), going to do some small scale pheno hunting on these for something approaching a keeper (I have dozens more of these seeds to work with moving forward, along with about a pack and a half some original Bodhi SSDD)

(That's an Eastern Redbud tree in the foreground, going to try to overwinter it with a few other things to plant in the spring, it'll be out of the way soon.)

Plan on flowering 4 in 2 1/2-3 gallon pots, but I could do 6 in smaller pots if I get some promising stuff. Or maybe move some things into my other tent set that to start clones or keep mamas alive... I haven't really decided.

Running a single HLG QB288 v2 3000k in a 27"x27" MarsHydro tent, and will be probably using Ocean Forest (but might do Coast of Maine). Have been using Advanced Nutrients, and may or may not continue with them... we'll have a look around. Ventilation and carbon filtration will be added when needed.

Plan on doing only a short veg. I do have a secondary 2'x2' tent with a HLG QB288 v1 5000k that I can move things to if it get a little too crazy, or I get more ladies than I anticipate.

Encouragement and helpful comments are welcome. I've done a few grows before, but definitely don't have it dialed in.

And a little more than a week on. Progress... FH are the two slightly further along ones on the left, SSDDF2 left and middle, SB on the right. Pretty sure this seed starter has no nutes, I gave them a light feeding. Been meaning to get a fan running in there for some better airflow, I'll get on that over the weekend.

About 4 weeks in for the Farmhouse and 3 for everything else. I up-potted today. I should have gone to the store and gotten some more of the square pots, but I just used what I had.

Went to CountryMax to buy soils a few days ago (cheaper than most grow shops), they didn't have any Ocean Forest in stock, so I went with the Coast of Maine Stonington Blend, I've used it before and think it's pretty solid.

Most of the plants just smell vaguely of fresh weed, but FH Berry Pink #1 (middle left) is starting to get surprisingly stinky for being so early on. Berry Pink is Brightberry (Blackberry Kush x Bright Cookies) x Dosidos. I guess I didn't realize it was soo cookies based, but that's ok. I've been sitting on for a bit and curious.

A little dry, gave them a good water after I got them in the new pots.

FHBP #1 with some good looking root development.



SSDD #5 looking good too (that's the one in the round green pot in the top row in the group pic)



The two middle left are the Farmhouse, the other six back there are SSDD, the ones in the foreground and more domesticated pots are the SkunkBerry.

Snipped um and flipped um today. I topped/fimmed the plants... a few got topped, a few got fimmed, I wasn't super duper careful about it, tried to fim, but I took a bit too much on a couple. No big deal.

Flipped them to 12/12. Will play it a bit by ear what to do after that. I'll probably just run them, but if there are a bunch of males (I don't think there are), I'll cull the boys and switch them back to veg for a bit. Though, realistically, even in smallish pots flowering more than 6 would be pushing it in this tent, so I might have to be selective, and move some back into veg or give them away.

Pleased by how bushy and tight the Farmhouse are (the left two in the middle row).
I'm a bit surprised at how uniform the SSDD F2 are looking, considering that they're F2.
Skunkberry are looking a bit scraggly, but I've grown that out before and they have ended up as lovely plants.

Will look to pull clones off of the best looking plants... particularly the SB since PeakSeedsBC gear's availability seems in question to say the least, and the Farmhouse for the same reason. Though, I don't really know what to expect from the FH.

They're all looking a touch N deficient, I'm hopping that the nutes in the Stonington Blend will bring them up a bit. Will keep an eye on it.

A week since the flip. Starting to get bushy, probably another week or so before the start showing sex. They're all looking pretty girly right now, nothing just screaming "I'm a boy" at me (you know, those ones that are just bean poles).

Well, just had a look with a magnifier, and it looks like I'll be clearing out some room in the tent here soon.

Good news is that one of those really healthy looking SSDD in the back middle is showing fem already.

The bad news is that SSDD in the back right is showing male. BOTH of the Farmhouse seem to be showing male, which is really surprising to me since they're both really bushy robust full plants, which hasn't been my experience with males in the past... it's possible that what I'm seeing are not balls, because they're still so small, but I'm pretty sure. If they are both males, I'm tempted to use them for breeding, though I wasn't planning on it. I'd move the other tent back upstairs and probably pull a good looking SSDD and SB (if I get one), I think that both would make pretty interesting crosses.

I'm also rather confused by that SkunkBerry in the green pot in the front right. It's in the same soil and getting the same water as everything else, but it's looking crispy and not perking up. My first thought was that it was overwatered. But the soil isn't waterlogged, and I pulled it out of the pot and the roots look good. Possibly a bit root bound, but it's only been uppotted for a couple of weeks. It's also pretty chilly in the basement, so maybe it's not really digging that.

Well, took a closer look today and pulled out 5 boys. Both Farmhouse, two SSDD and one Skunkberry. I'd post pictures, but you all know what balls look like.

Have currently moved the confirmed boys to the smaller tent under the 5000k for now. I'm leaving tonight until probably Friday and will decide what to do with them then. I don't really want to cull them all because none of these genetics are available anymore (though, plenty of SSDD crosses). They're also really robust good looking males (except maybe that SSDD on the right). I also think that they'd all cross pretty well with an SSDD or SB fem. We'll see. Here are the boys in the penalty box:




The other tent with a bit more room. Two confirmed SSDD girls, the rest too soon to tell. That Skunkberry in the middle is still looking really sad. I haven't been pHing my water, which tends to be pretty alkaline, and I'm thinking that particular plant just might be more sensitive to it. So I gave them a good watering pHed with lite nutes... I'm hoping it will have perked up by the time I get back

We're about 2 1/2 weeks from the flip. I was gone since Monday. I was expecting more progress, if I'm honest. But, it's pretty chilly in the basement, so that's going to slow it down a bit... currently about 66 degrees in the tent at about 55% humidity, but ambient temp in the basement is only about 55 degrees. I may need to add some warmth somehow.

Anyway, SSDD #6 (top left) is looking really nice if a touch N deficient. It's also the only plant in a cloth pot, I'm wondering how much those things are connected. SSDD #2 (top right) isn't looking as good (though not bad), but smell on the stem rub is funkier than the others.

Only one of the SB has shown sex so far, and it's the sad looking one in the middle. It's looking better than it was when I left, but still not great. With limited tent space, I might end up giving this one away or culling it if it doesn't perk up soon. The SB on the left (I forgot the number) is really interesting. Super tight node spacing, bright purple stems, might want to breed that one. The one on the right is still pretty tight, but not as tight. Will take cuttings from several of these later today or tomorrow.




Here's that SB on the left:

And here's SSDD #6 (top left):



And here's a nice looking SB male that I think I'm going to do some breeding with:



I think I'm going to let this SB and the nicer looking SSDD male go for a little bit, and then finish them up in a trash can under CFLs and collect pollen from them. Then I'll throw SB pollen at that nice looking SSDD and vice versa. I'll also pull some clones from maybe all of the SSDDs and save some pollen, so I can cross it to a clone of whichever SSDD fem I prefer, which will give me F3s, which, if I'm still interested, I'll cross back with a clone of the original mother after a little pheno hunting. But, then again, that all sounds like a lot of work.

It does seem to me that the blueberry characteristics and the skunk characteristics from each strain might really work well and reinforce each other.

Gotta add, both of the Farmhouse males are still looking really good, vigorous, bushy, etc. Maybe I should breed those too... I don't really have the room for all this stuff, though. I'll have to think it through a bit more.

Pulled a bunch of cuttings yesterday from the most promising looking plants. Just cloning in soil, have had pretty good luck with it in the past. I don't need them all to root as long as I'm batting over .500 I'll be cool with it.

Interestingly I was looking through my seeds (actually making a spread sheet) and looking at the Farmhouse pack it says Berry Pink is Brightberry x Double Sour Diesel, which sounds more like something I'd buy (it's been a couple of years). Some places have the Double Sour Diesel listed as DSD, and I guess when I googled it somebody misinterpreted that as dosidos, which is reasonable.

Now I'm feeling more inclined to both collect some pollen from those boys I have and pop some more seeds looking for a girl.

Having some issues. I think I had the light a little bit too close (it's been a bit since my last grow and it's little things like that that I forget). I'm also having some problems with temps. I guess I should have seen that coming moving it to the basement. I added a seedling mat and a bit of insulation outside of the tent to try to get the temps up. I'm getting into the high 60s or low 70s. Which likely isn't enough. I don't really want to put an actual heater down there. I guess I could move the tent back to the upstairs closet where that wouldn't be a problem, but I really like being able to keep my guitars in there. We'll give it another few days and think about it.

I up-potted the four fems that I want to flower first and moved the others to the other tent. They all have things that I like about them... but they're looking a bit sad. That Skunkberry in the front left in particular had just not been doing much, I hadn't watered it in about a week and the soil was still a bit damp. And the difference between the two SSDDs in the back is pretty striking. The one on the right definitely has a funkier smell to it (and a little foxtailing from the light being too close). These just got up-potted yesterday, so I'm expecting them to perk up with the fresh nutes from the new soil and the light feeding I gave them.



The boys and the girls that I don't know what to do with right now in the other tent actually looking better:




The boys and the couple of girls that I don't know what to do with, actually looking better than the other tent.



I still have to decide how I"m going to proceed on this... will probably open pollenate One of the SSDDs and one of the SBs with the two SSDD males and then isolate the other males and finish them in isolation to collect pollen.

Ok, so this whole thing is sort of outing me as a bit of an idiot. I've been pretty stressed out with a busy time at work and some family stuff, and I haven't been paying that much attention to the happening in the tent. But there's really no excuse for this.

I had IDed SSDD #2 as being a fem, and then went ahead and up-potted it without looking very closely at it, apparently. But looking at that pic above, something seemed off... it's a little early for foxtailing, even if the light is too close. That looks like a boy. Actually, it kind of looks intersex in the pic, because those whispy bits look a bit like pistils. But on closer inspection I don't think they are. So I put #2 in the other tent and brought #4 (definitely actually a girl) into the flower tent. In a couple of days when things ease up on the work front I'll up-pot #4, and separate out the boys that I want to breed with and get them in isolation.

Yep, those are balls. Not always the sharpest bulb in the drawer:

Ok, things are starting to look up, and I'm working on overcoming some of early setbacks.

I put the seedling mat vertically between the plants, and pushed the pots up against it, and it seems to be providing some good warmth to the pots, and bringing the tent up to a decent temp. The last two days when I've gotten home from work the thermo has been reading at 72, but it definitely feels a bit warmer at the canopy. That'll be fine if I can maintain it, but it hasn't gotten really cold here yet.

I also think that the Stonington Blend that I've been using isn't quite as hot as the Happy Frog and Ocean Forest that I'm used to using, because I'm not used to seeing what seems to be N deficiency so early on, used to letting them just run into early flower without having to supplement the nutes much... but also maybe it was just getting locked out.

Anyway, looking a bit better:


This is my current thought on the breeding front. I'm going to cross that nice looking SB male to a couple of the SB females to make F2s, since PSBC isn't available anymore, and I'm also going to cross it to one of the nicer SSDD. I'll then also choose another of the nicer SSDD to cross with the two Berry Pink males. And then I'll save pollen from the two really robust SSDD males. And then, at some time in the near future, I'll run a bunch of SSDD F2 (and maybe some F1) pull more pollen from whatever good males I get, and then cross that with one or two of the choicest females, and then back cross that. I still have dozens of SSDD F2 and a pack a half of F1 that I can hunt through a bit, so maintaining the other genetics seem the bigger priority.

So, I have the boys isolated. Started collecting pollen from the Farmhouse boys, both good, robust fellows. Then took a closer look at the SSDD. And had another look at the SSDD #2, which I had originally identified as fem, but then started growing balls. Well, on closer inspection a little ways on, that one does seem to be intersex, and I feel a little bit redeemed in my initial ID. That's obviously a problem with the genetics (I made these F2 crosses a couple of years ago, didn't have any hermie problems with the parents or any siblings). So, obviously this one is getting pulled.

But, this seems pretty clearly to be both balls and pistils:

Original SSDD beans, you're a lucky dog!
Great grow man, I'll just take a seat quietly in the back.

DrDukePHD said:

Original SSDD beans, you're a lucky dog!

Click to expand...

The SSDD in this grow are F2s that I made a couple of years ago. I do have about a pack and a half of original Bodhi SSDD beans in the fridge, though.

ReubenIsMyDog said:

The SSDD in this grow are F2s that I made a couple of years ago. I do have about a pack and a half of original Bodhi SSDD beans in the fridge, though.

Click to expand...

Yup for sure man I've read every post. I've got some F2 BX1's myself. Still having some originals in the archive though, phew... lucky man!

So, in addition to the SSDD male that showed intersex traits in late flower, the SB male did too. I did some reading about this, and though it's a hotly debated topic, some folks (notably DJ Shorts) seem to think that these males bring some favorable traits to breeding stock, those that aren't sterile, anyway.

I think the SB might be one of the sterile ones. It's in a tent with a SB and SSDD fem and releasing pollen for at least 4-5 days, and I've applied some directly to the pistils, but not seeing any signs of feralization yet. I'll give it another day or so, and if there's still no sign, I'll put one of the Farmhouse males in there (just using these for seed, so haven't been giving them the star treatment):


Was away for a couple of days, and came back to find the main tent looking good (if a bit overly humid). First hints of frost starting to show. The SSDDs in back might be wanting a bit more N:



Some close ups of the SSDDs:



And the SBs:





Collected pollen from 3 SSDD males and 2 FH males (mixed together so it will effectively be an open pollination... I mean, 3 SSDD with the SSDD and the FH with the FH, not all together), planning to hit a few bud sites on an SSDD fem with the FH pollen, and I might end up throwing a bunch of SSDD pollen at one of the SBs.

I pulled a handful of clones, the SSDD took pretty quickly and are doing well.

The SB fems have not rooted, and one of them just sort of rotted off, though the males I took, from the possible sterile one, took off like crazy. I only have 3 or 4 more seed that strain, and PSBC isn't selling to the public anymore. Crossing my fingers that the clones take. If not, I'll try to reveg and see what happens. I'm not super attached to the strain, but PSBC was the first place I ever bought seeds from, sending off cash in a birthday card, so I'm a bit sentimental about them.