Crow's Seedstockers on the wrong side of the tracks

[OldFord]

Your certainly seeing progress mate       The autos def seem to be pushing on !  

 

The Thunders look to be frosting up        Did any on the MP's show pink pistils ?     Thought i could just see pink tinges in your pics but sights not the bestest     

 

Fingers crossed you get a few jars full 

[Crow River]

4 hours ago, OldFord said:

Your certainly seeing progress mate       The autos def seem to be pushing on !  

 

The Thunders look to be frosting up        Did any on the MP's show pink pistils ?     Thought i could just see pink tinges in your pics but sights not the bestest     

 

Fingers crossed you get a few jars full 

 

Yeah they're only 67 days old today and seem to be ripening up rapidly. I didn't spot any pink pistils, maybe it doesn't come through in the auto version? Conditions were a bit harsh last month, so maybe the buds haven't had ideal development.

 

Looking at the forecast, it's rain for much of the next week. That's fine for vegging, but I'm worried about the autos. I might harvest a few that seem to be finishing up. Possibly a bit early, but the alternative could be that I end up with mouldy mush in ten days' time... Sunny weather tomorrow supposedly, so could be a good opportunity to chop some of the autos that are a bit further on...

[OldFord]

Just now, Crow River said:

 

Yeah they're only 67 days old today and seem to be ripening up rapidly. I didn't spot any pink pistils, maybe it doesn't come through in the auto version? Conditions were a bit harsh last month, so maybe the buds haven't had ideal development.

 

Looking at the forecast, it's rain for much of the next week. That's fine for vegging, but I'm worried about the autos. I might harvest a few that seem to be finishing up. Possibly a bit early, but the alternative could be that I end up with mouldy mush in ten days' time... Sunny weather tomorrow supposedly, so could be a good opportunity to chop some of the autos that are a bit further on...

 

Yeah i feel you on the early chop !!   Better in the jar than left out to rot mate  

 

The auto MP -  the 3 i have given out went pinky pink almost luminous from onset of flowering ,  my own hasnt and has about 3wks left so i doubt im going to see it    

The others i handed out all seem really pink and look lovely but a tad behind my own    

 

Im lucky as the plants  handed out are all within our group so i can see them & get pics and its all going into one big haul anyway       

 

[Crow River]

@OldFord, I would not normally harvest autos before 80 or 90 days. But looking at these, I think because they started flowering under lights, when transplanted their way of dealing with the shock was to focus on the buds. So leaf yellowing and fade has been accelerating, and the buds ripened up earlier. I'm hardly seeing any new pistils on most girls, calyxes have fattened up, and so on.

 

These autos are further ahead with bud ripening than the ones at the railway, despite being the same age. But the railway girls went out before starting to flower. So they might give a better yield.

 

So yeah, harvest at least the main colas soon or I might lose the lot to rot...

Edited July 6, 2023 by Crow River

[Crow River]

Went to the photoperiod plot just before sundown. Planted a Frisian Duck clone, did a bit of light weeding, started clearing an area for two extra plants to go in. Also tried to find an area for the next plot, but it was tricky. This location is really overgrown with brambles, much more so than October when I did a recce. Would be a lot of work to make a plot. Another option is to expand the current area, but I was trying not to make any plot too large. I'll have to think about it more. There are a couple of areas (currently head height brambles) which get really good light. Maybe I need to bring a strimmer next visit...

 

Some pics. The light was fading so not as clear as in full daylight, also the girls droop a bit as evening arrives.

 

Plot on arrival - girls are doing fine, they've all grown a bit

 

BCN Critical XXL Fast  x 2

 

Plot after weeding and planting a Frisian Duck clone

 

[Crow River]

Yesterday was harvest day for the autos at one plot (which I'm going to call the embankment plot from now on, as it's perched on a strip of level earth, three-quarters of the way up a man-made slope leading up to a service road).

 

Lovely sunny day for it, which was good as it gave the girls time to dry out a bit. Also made it easier to spot any rot or mildew. All the autos, without exception, had a spot or two of rot. A couple had the beginnings of powdery mildew or white mould. The rot was mostly found in small buds located at nodes where a side branch is joined to the main stem. This pattern was seen in several plants. Unfortunately one Mandarin Panties Auto had some rot in the main cola, at the top. Thankfully this was the only affected top bud. All rot was removed on site, and after trimming fan leaves buds were placed in paper bags for transport back to base for drying. As for mildew / white mould, only a couple of instances were spotted, affecting the undersides of fan or sugar leaves, and in one case at a node on the main stem. Again these were all removed on site.

 

What I can say is that most of the buds were finished or in the process of finishing. There were some lowers on a few girls still with a few white pistils - arguably I could have left these to cook longer, but given the weather forecast I would probably have been condemning them to rot. So no big loss to take them early. It may seem surprising that they were all pretty much ready to harvest at just 71 days old. However I think the "unique" circumstances hastened bud ripening. Firstly, they were all flowering already under lights indoors. Then transplant shock for a week or so, fan leaves began to fade and intensive bud ripening began. So a kind of accelerated development, but no additional growth. 

 

In a way, I'm quite pleased to get an early harvest and only minor losses from rot. Really most of the girls are intact. OTOH I now know what happens if you put autos out in mid-flower!  I already knew it might not be good news, but it's been interesting to see it play out. Ultimately I got a decent haul, and by the way the stink coming off these ladies is pretty powerful! Could I have reaped more bounty by getting them out earlier? Very possibly. I've got the railway autos as a kind of "control" for this experiment, although the environment is quite different there. The embankment plot was like a desert until the first heavy rain a few weeks ago. The railway line was not as dry, maybe a bit less sun too. The autos there were quite a long way from finishing last time I saw them.

 

Anyway, that's one part of the GG completed. I don't need to visit this plot for a while now. The semi-autos, fast and early versions, and the clones can carry on vegging for a few weeks. I will be planting a few more girls there, I have some CBD strains to try out. But for now, I can focus on the other plots.

 

Pics below, taken with the "fancy" smartphone this time.

 

Arrival group shots

 

Thunder Banana Auto x 2

 

Mandarin Panties Auto x 2

 

[Crow River]

The girls down at the photoperiod plot are doing okay, a few yellow leaves down below on several plants. Some of those date from when they were in the veg cab - not enough light reaching them. But it seems they are starting to die back, though the tops and new growth look great. Possibly the soil here doesn't have much in the way of nutrients. There's a lot of grit, stones, lumps of coal, ash, cinders, but maybe not much organic material beyond the compost and coco I've added. There's been so much rain too that although it has softened the soil nicely, maybe the continuous release pellets are not quite enough. I gave all the girls an extra teaspoonful to tide them over, plus a bit of the liquid seaweed I brought to water the Joshua mum in. Next visit I'll bring some compost and mulch around all the girls, get a bit more organic material and nutrients washed in by the rain.

 

I've decided to take the easy route to planting the next wave, and just extend this plot. There's some space to the west that can be used. I just can't face clearing a virgin bramble forest in this heat and humidity. Maybe in the off season... Only problem is there's an old pile of wood, ash, gravel, and stuff in the middle of the area, partly overgrown with brambles, etc. Not realistic to shift that in the time I have, would be a lot of work and take a couple of days. So I'll just work around it. If I decide to use this plot again, then I can do that job in the winter maybe. I trampled down surrounding vegetation this visit, next time I'll start clearing and digging over.

 

It was nice hanging out there, peaceful and the sun was still hitting the plot from the west until about 8pm. It's good, gets sun right through the day (when there is some). 

 

Plot on arrival

 

BCN Critical XXL Fast x 2

 

Those yellow / dying lower leaves on BCN Critical XXL Fast

 

Scope for further expansion westward

 

That's it until the next time.

 

As they said on Hill Street Blues: HEY. BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!

[Crow River]

Visited the railway plot yesterday evening as it was a rare dry day. Earlier than usual, I wanted to be able to see properly. Given how much rain we've had over the past week and a half, I feared the worst. But I was pleasantly surprised. The girls are almost completely free of any rot or mildew. After a thorough inspection I only found a couple of really small pieces of mould on two plants. Quite a few leaves munched by slimy beggars, but that's all. As the forecast is for another four days of rain, I was also looking to see which autos might be finished, or near enough to harvest.

 

Nearly all the autos were ripe and ready. The Mandarin Panties Auto still has a way to go yet, loads of white pistils. So I'll let her cook a while longer. There's another dry day supposed to be coming in five days, so I'll wait until then and see how she is. I harvested all but two of the other autos.

 

I reckon the reason why there's so little mould despite all the wet weather, is airflow. The railway is quite open where my girls are, so even though they get wet the breeze stops the mould, at least up to a point. The embankment plot is more sheltered, and of course even though I grew some of the same strains there, they spent longer in the veg cab so that probably didn't prepare them so well for the outdoors conditions.

 

I'm pretty pleased to get an intact harvest. Also got a truer representation of the strains, they fulfilled their potential better. That's partly environmental, but also they had more time to grow in the outdoors and acclimatise. The Seedstockers strains are taller with chunkier buds. 

 

So that leaves just five girls down by the railway. I'll probably chop the remaining two autos when I visit next week.

 

Some pics. 

 

 

Mandarin Panties Auto

 

Thunder Banana Auto

 

Edited July 14, 2023 by Crow River

[Crow River]

Went to the railway plot to see how the girls are getting on. I was anticipating some chaos after the strong winds on Sunday, but everything's fine. I took paper bags with me, but the two remaining autos are not there yet. Mandarin Panties Auto has uppers that are nearly ready, but lowers still need some time. I'll let her cook a bit longer. All the flowering girls give off powerful aromas when touched, but not detectable otherwise. 

 

I brought some compost and dry ferts to top dress, as the rain has washed a fair bit of the topsoil away from the top layer, exposing cardboard beneath. Hopefully that will help them grow, and build buds too. I also cleared away the old cages which I had stashed in a gorse bush, they'll be stored for future use.

 

So basically all is good, I'll pop by next week sometime and see if the MPA is ready to chop.

 

Mandarin Panties Auto

 

Three girls in a row

 

---

 

[Crow River]

Headed to the bramble plot this evening, with two plants from the veg cab. Also took some compost and liquid seaweed. Dug over a bit of the "mound" in the centre of the plot and planted the two new girls up. Gave all the plants a bit of extra compost as a mulch. The soil is really dry again, I think it drains quite fast. Also there's not been much rain lately - was forecast to rain while I was there, dark clouds overhead but nothing happened. 

 

Most of the girls are fine. A few more yellow or dying leaves on the BCN Critical XXL Fast though. They are getting taller, noticed a bit of extra growth since the last visit.

 

Plot on arrival

 

BCN Critical XXL Fast x 2

 

Plot after planting two new girls and an extra compost top dress

 

 

[Crow River]

Finally finished planting the bramble plot this evening. Well, apart from the Triton Biscotto Lime mum, she's getting some UV in the veg cab for the rest of this week before going out. Anyway, the plot is finally taking its final shape for this season. The girls are doing okay, I gave them all a bit of water again, but they really need some rain as the soil is dry as dust.  So if a few of them are looking a bit hungry, it's probably down to lack of moisture and thus lack of nutrient uptake. Hopefully the forecast precipitation will in fact show up later this week...

 

Unless it turns out really sunny and dry, I'll not be back to this plot until at least next week. Which is a bit of a relief, I can get on with other things for a change.  

 

Plot after planting the final girls

 

BCN Critical XXL Fast x 2

 

[OldFord]

Mate can we swap weather for a bit !?            Just a strange seasonal run  ,  think we been spoiled the last few runs , Mother Nature just giving us a reminder

 

Your plot seems reasonably happy        Happy watering sir  

 

 

[Crow River]

@OldFord happy to do so if you can have a word with the Powers That Be to arrange things?  

 

Anyway, had some rain today and last night, just showers but a fair bit of water lying in puddles on the streets, so hopefully some has fallen on the plot too. Supposed to be raining on and off this week. Fingers crossed! 

 

Problem with the plot is the soil's really sandy. So nutrients just get washed away, and it dries out quickly. Next week will top dress with chicken manure, maybe add a straw mulch too - lighter to carry than compost.  Might help retain a bit of moisture...

[Crow River]

Went to the railway plot this afternoon. Nice to see the girls during the daytime for a change. 

 

My objective was to chop the Mandarin Panties Auto, she's 92 days old and had an extra week to ripen buds. She was ready to harvest, and not a single spot of mould or rot either. Couldn't have wished for better, except the skies opened while I was there, so got a bit wet. So that's just three girls left at this particular plot.

 

Mandarin Panties Auto before harvest

 

[Crow River]

A fortnight has passed since I was last at the embankment plot. I brought some chicken manure to help sustain the girls in this wet weather. Also some bonemeal for any that are in flower. On arrival it was clear that the recently planted autos had suffered. Two had been munched to within an inch of their lives by slugs. Almost no leaves left on either of them.  The others don't seem to have been munched at all, but one had been dug up, maybe by a fox. It was lying in its fibre pot, on its side, half under another plant. Otherwise unharmed, so I replanted the wee girl. All the other girls are doing fine. All except one look a bit hungry and pale, and all but one are still in veg. I weeded around the plants, and the girls except the autos were top dressed with chicken manure. They are all getting taller, the rain seems to have brought the soil to life and the girls are looking pretty healthy, if a bit pale. Hopefully the chicken manure will help with that. The Triton Biscotto Lime clone is doing great, you'd really never know she nearly died in June.  Around 70cm tall currently, looks like she'll grow taller yet. 

 

I'll be back after another fortnight to see how they are getting on.

 

Plot on arrival

 

Triton Biscotto Lime clone

 

Plot after top dress and some light weeding