Class 207: Semester 2
We will be picking up on the grow to talk about some of the changes, choices and chances we took during our current run. We are several weeks into flowering, and we have made some changes to our setup and how we flower. Let’s first talk about the strains we are growing to better catch up. I have Ace of Spades and Blood Diamond again, but this is Ace of Spades from my mother plant. They’re growing fast and strong with a noted difference from the last run with the changes made. We have Strawberry Cake and Space Candy from @dinosaur_barber which have been two opposites with Space Candy being a slow grower, while the Strawberry Cake has already begun to stack. I have my Skywalker OG from @moltenwhisper which smells the greatest of anything else. The Strawberries N’ Cream as well as the Grandaddy Confidential from @plantaddictsnursery_pan have been impressive to say the least as they are both giants!
My tent also has Banana Krumble from @ledcabinetgrowmaster which was the first to have its tendrils start changing while also being the diva plant this run. My late entries of Durban Poison from @dabbsdelights is a mighty plant already needing tie ups with the GDP from @theganjamom & @theclonedaddy getting a funky smell. THe final two are from @birdman378 who gave me Sunset Sherbert and Wedding Cake, both of which are doing excellent. The strong growth from everything has got me excited to harvest which we’ll discuss in October. I have had to adjust my equipment to accomodate for the Phoenix summer, which has been brutal. My changes come as we also face some difficult indoor humidity swings here in the valley from monsoons. My hope is to help navigate the seasonal change of spring to summer to fall by reviewing our current flower cycle.
Night & Day
The changes to my equipment was a necessity to deal with the heat of summer in my house. We started by changing our light to an inverted schedule in which the light comes on at night, while the plants sleep in day. The heat is better displaced by this because the lights and heat inside the tent will never meet the peak heat of the afternoon. I then reprogrammed the light timer for a 12 hours on and 12 hours dark light cycle. I did not immediately switch to the 12/12 light cycle, instead choosing to use 36 hours of dark to accelerate the change to the flower cycle. The dark helps promote the change in dark red light receptors into red light receptors which is what signals the plant to enter flowering. Following the 36 hours of dark, we started our light at 75% intensity to not burn our plants. I kept this intensity for the first week so my plants could adjust and not be stressed while starting the pre-flower phase stretch. The pre-flower phase lasted a little bit in which my plants gained some length before pistils shot out over my bud sites. At this point I turned the light intensity to 100% and lowered the light to around 8 inches above the plants, then began my count of how many days in Flower I was at to track my progress against the research I gathered. I am looking to flower all of the plants for about 60-65 days or roughly 8-9 weeks.
Schwazzing
The appearance of pistils on our bud sites, and the first few weeks of flowering passing led me to begin thinking about my final defoliation. I wanted to be cautious with my temperatures as well as the humidity my environment maintained to avoid any issues with mold or rot. I cannot get my house to stay under about 78 Fahrenheit during the day while holding an average humidity of 65%. These factors combined with the possibility of a heavy monsoon season had me researching techniques to best suit the environment. I first referenced a vapor point chart to find the ideal zone for my environment with the temperature and humidity I was holding. I then found a technique called Schwazzing, which is basically a heavy defoliation of the plant as it starts to develop buds. The strip took any leaves with a stem, and saw only one plant using a regular defoliation and leaving leaves as a control. The results were with the schwazzing as I have seen no rot, mold, or otherwise; while also seeing an explosion in budsite development with a very solid bud structure forming. The technique has carried me through the summer with no heat stress while also keeping airflow high to prevent molds. As I get further into flowering I added a small dehumidifier to help reduce the humidity more, and hopefully resulting in a successful harvest.
Plant Tech
A huge shoutout to @aptususa and @grow.az who helped to get me the entire line of Aptus nutrients. Aptus Plant Tech is made with organic and naturally derived ingredients that help heal the soil that it treats, while not utilizing common salt-based formulations. The synthetic and salt-based nutrients found in other boosters or additives can damage soil over time while also taking away from naturally available nutrients. A study of Aptus revealed many of their formulas use ingredients that are broken down organically (perhaps with composting using animal urine?) and then highly concentrated. The result is potent nutrition without the water weight, all of which has a high bioavailability for better uptake by your plants. Bottom line is Aptus is a top shelf line of nutrition that could greatly improve your yields. I have found the combination of Aptus and Agromar Seaweed Solutions to be symbiotic in boosting the overall health of my plants. I would encourage anyone to explore options such as Aptus for maximizing your plant’s genetic potential.
Another Round
Finally, we have our plants in flower, our plants in veg for the next run, and plenty of new seeds to start new cultivars. I have been genetic hunting with several exciting finds and trades to speak on. The first is another huge thank you to @ledcabinetgrowmaster for taking the time to trade seeds and explore possibly great plant genetics with me. The next is our editor Mike Cassini who went to the Auto-Flower Cup this year and came back with some rare beans. We then have Bee’s Selections who has provided me with all his best genetics to explore the world of breeding cannabis with. Bee will be joining us on occasion to talk about his techniques, experience, and advice on our new round of seeds. I will be making preparations to make these seeds and plants exclusively grown with all-organic materials for the cleanest cannabis possible. Be sure to download the Cannabis Cactus App for more grow education and access to our #cannabiscommunity forum as well. We have lots to look forward to, and we will take a moment to learn more from Bee!
A Moment with Bee’s Select Seeds
I took a moment to write Bee, and ask about how he got started breeding and if he had any tips for picking strains?
When Medical Marijuana Law Prop 203 was passed in Arizona, I was introduced to a small community of growers and enthusiasts. Through this small community I found a network of breeders and generational farmers, whose families have sought and preserved genetics from all over the world. My interest peaked after being given a few different clones; GDP, G13 & Apple Jaxx. These three different hybrids were so unique from each other and so much fun to grow, seeing the way they respond differently to the nutrients and environment. This excited me and got me into looking to preserve certain genetics for myself!
When it comes to selecting seeds and hybrids to grow and breed, I look into their genetic heritage. For example, the lineage of my first hybrid is Archive Seed Bank’s ‘French Bread’ female I crossed with Relentless Genetic’s ‘Orange Cookies’ male. I chose the female for it’s heavy flowers and unique smell of Doughy Kush, and it’s lineage of OG Kush. Then, the Orange Cookies male I chose for the traits that were lacking in the female, for instance, the way she would rely on stakes or a SCROG net to put on weight. The male expressed strong branching and the lineage closely resembles the French Bread. So, the outcome of mixing French Bread and Orange Cookies is Gibassier, a French pastry made with fruit-infused Olive Oil and candied orange peels. The ultimate goal of preserving genetics will be done by those of us who possess seeds closest to those landrace strains which make up these hybrids! Now for those who wish to obtain seeds or clones of their favorite strains or hybrids, I will proceed with a warning; there are many people online who will claim to have seeds or clones and will ship them to you, be very careful as I have been scammed many times by people showing pictures of legit seed packs from well known breeders, these people will take your money and run! My suggestion is to find a trusted group of people, you can find some of these individuals on the Cannabis Cactus App now! Good luck and happy growing!
See the whole cultivation series to keep reading and learning.
Adrian Ryan was born in New Mexico and attended school since elementary in Arizona, his time growing up split between the two states. He hopes to work towards recreational cannabis, enjoys reading, writing, film, music, and also writing music.