The RastaDred Grow! (The 'real' return)

Whats good my ol' roll it up fam! its been a long time....again, but im back! new country, new city, new strains, new grow rooms! Got quite a bit going on right now, as I just finished building a quick pop up green house, currently working on my indoor room, and growing some outdoor babies, while germinating some new strains!!!

I have been around these threads for a long time, and with that comes a lot of knowledge and a lot of experimenting over the past decade or so. previously from the riddler fam....if u know, u know. I have experimented with gaslighting not currently, drowning plants (not currently), no flush, heavy topping and fimming, scrogging, etc. im always researching and learning and expirmeenting/implementing certain things to my gardens.

OK! so my current set up is an indoor set up that I am currently in the process of building and setting the room up (I will attach a picture of that progress)and my other current set up is in a make shift greenhouse made from an old pop up gazebo, using poly sheeting and a very primitive way of framing/reinforcing it with free pallets. it was a project where I used what I had and only spent $60 in materials! currently I have 3 Sour Diesels (a strain I have been pheno hunting and working on cross breading)....I like to call this strain Grapefruit Diesel, as it just stinks of sweet, fruity, pungent, grapefruits!... this strain I usually have to wear something like a mask or shirt over my nose and gloves in a well vented area to harvest and trim this strain, she is definitely a stinky favourite of mine! Next I have a recent favourites from Barneys farms, Triple Cheese, and Ayahuasca Purple. and a test run of a new strain named Tom Ford Pink. I have all these babies outside in my make shift greenhouse going on about week 5 I believe. they had a slow start, as I just moved into my new place and had to start these in a window sill, but now they are out and doing well.

here's the room gutted, cleaned, and partially started, im thinking I will divide this into 2 rooms, and then run a 2x2x4 clone/seedling tent (which will be located just outside this room) I will be using a t5 set up for seedlings/clones. 400watt MH for veg, and 600watt hps for flower. exhausting with 4inch and or 6inch fan, will be tapping into AC supply and return, and possible exhaust out the side of the house in the near future.




Here they are vegging I the greenhouse in 5 gallon and 2 gallon fabric pots. about week 5 of veg, they have been topped and fimmed a few times and lightly staked down in hopes of chasing a massive canopy with nice legs....u can refer to my last journal to see what I mean, and what plant shaping im going for. these are planned to be finished in 30gallon pots, super soil, and a trellis will be added to all.


few days ago.


today.

Ordered Some New Strains to throw in the mix! and they just arrived today! I stuck with favourite seed bank, Barneys Farm. You will notice a pattern in alot of the strains I grow, I love cheese strains, any crosses with skunk #1 or afghani.... I also chase the cerebral (trippy) highs you have heard many old timers talk about! but yet im still an ultra fan of any couch lock highs with the cerebral effect!

my new strains!

From Barneys farm...

Pineapple Chunk (all time fav first time growing)
Blueberry Cheese
Strawberry Lemonade

Others...
Orignal Afghani
White Widow

Jus threw a pineapple chunk bean into germination! can't wait for the fun to begin!...hopefully I can finish my room before she pops!

And feel free to post away, any questions or comments, tips or advice, always down to hear from people!

here's some bud porn from a Sour 'Grapefruit' Diesel, from a few years ago.

Whats good RIU Fam.

been Mia trying to get everything off the ground for the indoor and the outdoor setups. In the Greenhouse temps and humidity have been crazy! reaching way up, as high as 120f some days. I had to get another 22inch box fan and set it up inside one of my vent cut-outs, this seemed to keep the spikes at around 100f. I know I need a roof vent so bad in this ghetto construction!... thought and thought and thought, about ways I can vent without running a huge rip in the plastic and being able to close it due to rain or cold weather, the only thing I could think of was taking a small sized bucket, cutting it to only about 3inches long and shoving that through the 'X' shaped cut I made inside of a taped square to ensure it doesn't rip. I then taped around the bucket, and I can use the buckets lid to keep rain out and stop venting when needed. now with this set up I don't even have to lift the sides on even the hottest days, and it seems to only rise about 10F than the outside air temps.

(doesn't look the greatest but definitely keeps the temps and humidity stable now)


So I am almost ready to transplant into what I have now decided will be 25gallon fabric pots, and a 30gallon pot. I wanted to go all 30s or all 45s-50s. but the price in soil would too much. considering I need to still purchase a few more things for the inside grow, as some of my stuff is either lost, broken, or outdated. The plants have been growing a lot slower than id like due to several things:
1. I topped and fimmed a few to many times to soon.
2. The venting hasn't been good enough in the greenhouse.
3. Humidity levels are far too low.
4. temps way to high during the day (120f)
5. -"- way to low during some nights. (49f)
6. Transplanted to early.

despite this huge/minor setback, the plants are finally back to kicking out new growth at a better rate in the past few days:

you can see I have been heavily training them, and have removed the stakes I was using to lst. I have now resorted to my old methods of pinching and rolling the stems and several times a day coming in and bending colas down , the plants are shaping up nicely, and have started to increase budsights and main colas.
(pics a few days apart)



I started to prep the final bigger pots, I decided to mix a 'super soil' I aded happy frog from fox farms, I added a living soil from black swallow (a lot hotter mix than ff) I also added more perlite, in the mix and lined at bottom of pot. I also aded worm castings from a smaller farm closer to me. and I will be adding 'micros' to soil during transplants. I am also going to be trying these tomato cages that can be buried into bigger pots for the first stage on supports/trellis. I only bought 2 so will be trying with two plants. I will also be using a 4x2 fencing around each pot as a secondary form of support/trellis, and then a 3rd trellis will be added later to the grow in early flower.



One of my plants in the 1gallons, Tom Ford Pink, Is really taking off In comparison to the rest of the garden. he's been topped more, more heavily trained etc. it was more than time to transplant her as she had been drinking her pot almost ever 24-48hrs.

here she is before and during the transplant,


i haven't worked on the indoor setup in a while as this greenhouse, garden, and all my house plants, and other plants been taking all my time. I was able to finish laying the plastic and hanging lights and setting up a fan and a fee other things:


so im hoping im out of high water now, (considering temps and my other issues) and I hope everything is smooth sailing. I am excited to see how much my super soil will do for me, I set some aside to try on one of the indoor strains also.

I wasn't able to upload any more pics here so ill show some updates of the vegetable garden etc. in another post.

so my vegetable garden is starting to take off well, as I had 2 cut leaf harvests already (party size bowl of salads)

pics taken 1 week from each other.


I also purchased a inline filter for my house in the garden for when my rain catch barrel runs out on the occasion. its called a boogie blue plus, its supposed to lesson the hardness of your water. more specifically it only take outs chlorine and bromine...nothing else. when tested before and after the filter was installed I am only seeing a minor difference of 20-30ppm. our water here is very hard...reading out at a whooping 450ppm..but the filter been working okay, not for the price I paid..and I won't be using this for the girls like originally planned... unfortunately



here's some Chilli Peppers doing fantastic in the greenhouse. also pictured are jade, melons, mint plant, and basil.


ohhh and I almost forgot...I decided to pop a Pineapple Chunk I was hoping to use as a mother to take my 8...maybe more clones from for the indoor grow. andddd I said F%^k it and decide to germinate a few more beans today. check em out.

white widow, 2 Strawberry Lemonades, and a Blueberry Cheese, and Pineapple Chunk has already popped, broken soil, and is working on her 2nd node growth. (soon to be transplanted).



not to sure what my exact plan is now, but this is gonna be fun.

feel free to follow, stick around, comment what ever!

Whats good RIU fam?!

Alot has happened around the garden in and out since I been away from here. Some of the issues I previously mentioned weren't really what my problem was. After looking over the garden I noticed what looked like a cal-mag def. but couldn't possibly be as I always keep up on my cal-mag. After closer inspection I found the little thrips bastards happily sucking away under the new growth and some fan leaves! Damn thrips! I acted quickly and went out to reup on Neem oil, Dokter doom, and grub grenade predatory soil mites and over the course of a week applied the spray then soil mites.

I instantly noticed the thrips were few and far between on the next inspection, I waited a little to long to apply the 2nd spray and the bastards where back again but very limited. another spray and keeping up with it weekly should do the trick nice.



The new seeds I started for the indoor grow are all Popped and moved out of the dome into small pots for their 1st transplant and first week of veg.


if u look close you will notice that my slightly older pineapple chunk is showing what is the start of a cal-mag def. as she is screaming for it very early.

Here they are a few days ago and after a topping, they are 2 and 3 weeks into veg. I am certainly not proud of how this pineapple chunk is suffering, as you can see she is severely cal-mag def. I have corrected what I needed to. as you know they don't bounce back over night, same way the problem didn't happen over night. So I debated throwing away the blueberry as it is on some supper runt status right now. the first time I have seen this happen, the newer fan leaves where essentially fused at the stems choking out the top of the plant and new growth, it was almost non existent. I left it for like 2 days before really taking a look and after being baffled by it I took the two fan leaves and pulled them open separating them from their stems revealing the now choked out and struggling top....very weird, but I decided to keep her as I have plenty going on now to fulfill the indoor set up. and my clone dome is literally about 75% full of already rooted, and rooting cuttings from the outdoor girls. but here are the new strains.

Strawberry Lemonade
Blueberry Cheese
Pineapple Chunk


All the OutDoor plants were transplanted into their final containers (a lot earlier than I would have preferred) as soon as I saw signs of no thrips. they took to their transplants in promix, happy frog, and black swallows living soils. I also used mycorrhiza for the transplant.

here they were right after the transplant. As you can probably see I defoliated a bit to allow me to really hit them with the spray for thrip control.


A lot of plant training, lolipopping lower branches and pulling them to the middle, bending over branches, topping, filming, as well as using the metal ring to somewhat lst. the goal here Is to create many tops, creating a bigger wider bushier but very even canopy. im never interested in height, as I am interested in making my plants wider than the pots they are in, and growing as many tops as possible. basically top as often as possible, constantly laying over (stepping on...gives it a stepped on look until the tops turn up.) branches to create a bush.
this is them a little while ago.

this one is more recent photo u can see I 'stepped on' these ladies in the morning and you can see the tops where already turning up buy afternoon. notice all the tops that have been created and are now even with all the tops creating a even canopy. things are back on track after those few past issues and looking to finish their last month of veg strong.


here's a veggie garden shot. and some chillies n habaneros.




Feel free to post away.

Things are looking good. no complaints, just got to keep up on my pest management and it should be smooth sailing. I meant to add my caging around the pots today as I think I can start to pull the tops through them as Im finally starting to get them wider than the pots. I pulled the biggest plant in the back, above the cage, I was previously pulling the tops below the ring to widen the plant and get more tops to come up. I will add the cages around the pots and go back to training them into the cages. everyones looking happy and healthy and thriving (besides my mag def. seedling)

back left: Tom Ford Pink (with cage)
Back Right: Triple Cheese
Front Left: Ayahuasca Purple (30gallon)
Front Right: Sour Deisel
Left Hidden: Sour Deisel (Small pot with cage)


closer look at the Tom Ford that's just been exploding: (will get a cage on her tomorrow and start pulling her through)


Sour Diesel; I allow this one to stay "OutDoor" as the others are in the greenhouse. I wanted to see the difference between the results in the greenhouse and if I wasn't to build the greenhouse. I did leave her on wheels as I can choose when I want her to be moved in and out of the rain. I wasn't going to show this lady for a bit but here she is, been laying over too and she's exploding tops. she's currently being rained on now.

from quick observation you can see the sour diesel in the front right of the greenhouse is doing much better than this girl. (same strain, time, pot, feedings, training, and toppings.) this girl has a lot less branching and noticeably slower growth, and recovery from toppings.

My seedlings are starting to explode with new growth from their toppings. I tried something different here with the 2 identical strawberry lemonades. I topped one at the 3rd node, the other at the 4th. the one topped at the 3rd node, I think I am going to try 'mainlining with'. and I will train my other one, topped at the 4th node, how I usually train. I am interested in finding out the difference in veg times, yields, and potency....I don't expect to see any changes in potency....more interested in seeing if this technique of mainlining will increase yields in the same, if not less veg time than the techniques I currently use. So I figured this would be the perfect chance to compare as my variables are as limited as I could get them with these 2 seedlings...should be interesting.


All my clones, except maybe 2 or 3 have exploded roots. some are even growing out off the cubes and into the next spots cubes. I should be transplanting these in the next day or so and moving them underneath the rack with the other 4 seedlings under the bigger t5 LEDs.


well everything seems to be moving along well. soon enough I will be moving the seedlings into flower room. they will continue to veg under metal halides for a few weeks. the reason I will be vegging in my flower room for a bit is because I wasn't able to grab the additional ballast, plastic, and wood needed to build my little HID veg room. but soon enough I will have it up and running as vegging in the flower room will surely slow me down and lengthen the time between harvest ultimately limiting my number of harvest a year.

Be back soon with more updates!
Blessings and Happy growing RIU Fam!

Well its been a little while RIU Fam, but things are rolling along great. Pretty Happy with where the gardens are at right now. Some of the things I got done in the past 15 or so days are....I got a lot of the clones in the dome out and into starter pots and under the t5leds. I only have a few more clones left in the dome waiting for transplant and waiting to root. everything under the t5 LEDs, have been transplanted and moved into the flower room for veg (just this first round will veg in the flower room until I set up my veg space.) alot of the clones that are waiting for the roots to completely fulfill the pot have also been moved into the room with the HIDs and are now currently all under a 600watt Metal Halide, dimmed down to 400watt.

All the outdoor trees are thriving and have exploded. they are all currently much wider than their pots, and are very healthy and taking off. I have added mesh cages to all but 1 pot, keeping the canopy even, and training to create as many tops as possible and absorbing stretch for a nice even rounded canopy.

The first Day the Cages Where added and tops where pulled though.


(about a week later) you can see what they look like after I 'Step' on them and pull the tops through the cages, allowing all the other tops to come up, I lollipop and plant train in this stage to allow the lower just starting branches to stretch and catch up to the canopy giving me alot more bud sights.




And now some more recent pics from this week

Here are some pics from today: (forgot to take a pic before I went in and 'Stepped on' them.)
Front Left: Ayahuasca Purple
Front Right: Sour (Grape-Fruit) Diesel
Back Left: Tom Ford Pink
Back Right: Triple Cheese








The Indoor room wasn't 100% finished yet, but these ladies didn't care as they were ready. rooms ventilation is pretty much finished, just need to clean up some electrical and some relocate some stuff like ballasts etc, and mount some things on the walls.

Strains: Blueberry Cheese, Strawberry lemonade, Pineapple Chunk. Th rest are Ayahuasca purple clones, triple cheese clones, and tom ford pink clones.

So this is a Great example of what this technique of topping, lollipopping, fimming, and basically LST through the cages does.

Before Cages where added where I have just topped a few times and filmed a few times.



As you can see here I have added the cages, I have begun to pull the tall tops through the cage holes, topping hasn't stopped at this stage, and I have now began to lollipop the small tops coming off these branches so they can catch up and become main tops in the canopy.


This is a good view looking down at the tops, u can see it branching out with tops.



and now you can see all the tops have grown, turned up, and become main tops in the canopy, I will continue to shape the plant pulling tall tops into the cages allowing more Tops to come up. usually after the flowering stretch or during I will add a trellis to help support and separate buds and absorb some of the stretch to keep the canopy as even as possible, and support heavy buds.

Those look so healthy, and I really like the shape with those cages. Excellent!

here's a little veggie garden update for the ones interested. alot of peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, and kale have been harvested continually.

Tracker said:

Those look so healthy, and I really like the shape with those cages. Excellent!

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Appreciate it! thanks for stopping by!
Yea the cages really allow me branch out, get them wider than the pot, and maximize flower sights which in turn maximizes yield. can't wait to see these ladies flowering!

Impressive and enlightening ,enjoyed reading from the start! Cheers.

REDHORN said:

Impressive and enlightening ,enjoyed reading from the start! Cheers.

Click to expand...

thank you so much. you should stick around, things are just getting started over here!
got alot of plans, and will be rolling along with my indoor grow. thanks for stopping by!