Bob's Journey into Hybridisation and Genetics - For Dummies

[Bob's Auto's]

Hey guys

Growth is accelerating in the tent. Especially for the Skywalker OG x UK Cheese on the left, these ladies are stretching like there is no tomorrow.
Whojah!!!!

I've been tucking the larger fan leaves underneath the side nodes, which gave them just enough time in the light to stretch over them leaves. It doesn't show that well in the picture, but almost all the side nodes have reached into the light. And except for the Skywalker OG x UK Cheese on the left, I don't think the others will stretch that much, except for them nodes of course.

Oh, and I've discovered another advantage of topdressing with the VIANO MIXPROF FERTISOIL 3-2-3...
I don't have to water so slowly anymore, as the top-layer disperses the liquid and it disappears into the soil as fast as it got dumped on top

Mr. Sawney_bean's, Slaughtered Lamb are the furthest ahead. These girls have been flowering for a couple of days now. Still, #1 is looking the best. Tomorrow when I water them I'll be measuring the internodal distances. According to some breeders out there, if there is a 1:1.6 ratio between each next node, this should indicate a great specimen. Got something todo with the Golden Ratio...

The choice between the two Cheese XXL's is clearly an easy one. #1 is the furthest of both. In the back the race is on for #1 of the two Double Grape x 3 Bears OG, as she is doing her best to gain in on her sister.

And finally my male. A nice compact flower cluster, indicating a possibility of compact flowers in the female progeny.

For now the only one besides the two ladies and a undecided one...this undecided one will probably not make it for breeding as I want fast auto's, just like my mate Sawney

Another time lapse, a short one this time, but not because I sped things up, rather to show how fast everything is growing...
Speed = 30fps, duration = 38 hours!! Enjoy

Regards,

Bob

 

[Bob's Auto's]

@hecno, thanks for the rep dude And why yes, it sure is my friend. Learning so much at the moment and I'm sharing it all here

The ladies and gent are growing like their lives depend on it, they are in stretch modus... Check out the time lapse in the end to be flabbergasted

And while stretching the first flower clusters are starting to form...

Yummie

Loads of potential in this little one.

I've also rearranged the plants so they go from high (left) to low (right)...

I've hung my light accordingly

I told you I would share some stuff I learned... Previously I discussed the Golden ratio, when this is also found in nature, I meant to say the Fibonacci ratio.
Most of you have seen The Da Vinci Code, no? If not look it up Anyway, the sum of distance A+B should equal C, and the sum of B+C should equal D and so on. If you find a plant where the internodal distance is following this ratio, then it get's one tick on the notepad behind it's name.

This shouldn't be the only parameter to be used for deciding which one to use, but it helps in selecting that one special parent

Check it out for yourselves...

A great example of above said ratio if you ask me...

And to end today's post...exactly what you guys have been waiting for...An amazing time lapse...Growth is spectacular to say the least
Speed = 30fps, duration = 58 hours. Enjoy

Regards,

Bob

 

[Bob's Auto's]

First of all, thanks to @Emerald Archer for the rep. Tanks dude!!



Day 30 my friends

Ladies have stretched almost double in size. Great to have that extra 40cm headspace now. Will definity be a challenge with the Widow grow next as these guys can get really big!!!...

This is my male which is definitely conforming to the Fibonacci ratio, not that I had loads of choice as this is my only male
He sure has nice clusters of flowers to show for it. I'm thinking on removing the ladies which aren't to be pollinated outside the tent for a couple of days. This dark period will also stress these cultivars and see is any herms show up.

The flowers aren't nearly ready, so I'm not afraid anything will get pollinated right now... I have also been pondering why I just wouldn't let everyone sit inside the tent and let the male do it's thing. If, after a good cure, I dry/cure my buds to 52-54% humidity so I can crush them between thumb and index finget without the need of my grinder, which would definitly crush the seeds.

The advantage of this is, there's only one male. So genetically speaking the rest depends on every female in the group. I could harvest each plant, give it a personal wecking jar for curing and organize a test day. Maybe @Antonio_DutchPassion, would be interested in such an event? I know @Sawney_bean and many more would be, but for those guys, such a trip would have more preparation needed I'm afraid

Some of the leaves on the male are starting to show signs of trichomes...

This one shows it even better. And even though it are stalked versions, they imply a preference to building those structures. This is a good sign

A short clip of my male. Felt a video showed more then a photo. Turn your volume down as the fan is makeing quite some noice...

After taking these pictures I dosed the plants with another 200ml Boom Boom Spray. This should take the flower production in to overdrive.
Meanwhile I've been giving the soil a PK booster, based on Molases, Bone meal (1) and Potash (2).

Spoiler: receipe

These were mixed with the molasse inside a large ketle over a low heat. This allowed the additions to dissolve way better the when just dumped inside the 5L canister.
I added the amount by volume, as is according to EU standards and what the PK value's on the side of them bottles means. And had a hard time to get everything dissolved. 5%P according to volume was about 280gr of the pellets, the 8%K would amount to 340gr pellets. This didn't seem much on paper, but was almost a third of both boxes. To get these additions added to the Molasses I poured out 1L into a bucket, to which I added about 5L lukewarm water to it and mixed it up. This got poured over the Biochar that's still brewing outside. The extra carbs will keep the bennies inside the carbon happy, if I must guess.
Everything got poured back into the 5L canister and was left to cool. Meanwhil I ordered myself the last ingredient I needed. One small bottle of BIO PK 5-8, there's enough PK converting bacteria inside that bottle to seed my 5L canister and if I shake that bottle every day everything gets mixed even better. After one week I noticed the molasses was quite more luiquid then before... Also the additions, which previously sunk to the bottom, weren't there anymore and got emulsified with the molasses. What happend is that the bacteria started munching on the carbohydrates in the molasses and the P and K nutrients, suddenly there's more room for other things and this gets taken up by the additions, with the help of some vigorous shaking.

(1)

For quite some while now. I notice that the first bottle of PK 5-8 I made in the beginning had loads of chunks still floating around in the liquid, but after dumping this back with the original batch, mixing that up again and refilling the bottle, I notice there's more finer stuff floating around. Everything a Organic farmer need, if you ask me
(2)

Everyone got soaked from top to bottom. 200ml is just enough to do this for me and have no waste to throw through the sink...

Nice flower, sadly this lady won't make the cut, if I choose to do selective pollination.

Mhmmmmm....Slaughtered Lamb #2, yummie!!!

This takes about an hour for them drops to dry up, well in time for when the UV light starts up. We're now at the stage that I'm giving one hour exposures, four times a day. This pushes the plants to defend themselves for it and like we use sunscreen, they make use of trichomes, being it bulbar or straight...

Normally I water with a piece of air hose, just to slow down the amount of liquid dumping onto the soil and disturbing it. Ever since I've top dressed with the VIANO MIXPROF FERTISOIL 3-2-3 (+Trichoderma & bacteriën), something happened to that top layer. I can pour an entire cup of liquid onto the soil and it soaks in as fast as I poured it on top. Nothing gets through to the bottom and runs out...
Have a look for yourself, but be warned about the volume again

The values inside the tent are perfect. I've installed my small heater in the lung room, which is on a separate breaker, which is connected to the bathroom residual current switch. Safety first right. To keep it even more safe, I've adjusted it so it only fires up when the lung room's temperature goes below 21°C / 70°F.
When looking at my logs, I can see the heater runs for fifteen minutes, shuts down for over an hour and then kicks in again. I can live with that for now...
This makes that the temperature has been in the upper 24°C / 75°F with a near perfect VPD. I can tell the stretch is nearing it's finish line because the plants are expressing less water then a couple of days ago.
Below is a screenshout about half an hour after dosing the plants with the Boom Boom Spray, so humidity is still a bit high...
Within the hour the room will have found it's equilibrium and everything will run on auto again.

Also have a look at the amount of CO²!! The 10L bucket I made up with the sugar and bakers yeast is still kicking ass. If I hold the sensor against the end of the air hose I get a N/A value on my app, lol. And this is a real CO² sensor, not the cheap E-CO sensors you can buy for a dime a piece. This sensor costs 17€ for one and that's whole sale. One of my more expensive sensors I'm currently using if you must know...So I know it gives accurate values.

No time lapse today as I've been quite busy running around, dropping of kids and to going to a vasectomy appointment, arch...What we do for our better halves. But they are so worth it, aren't they guys At least the s3x will be better...They say...
So, this means I'll be posting again in a couple of days and have an extra long time lapse for you guys. I Promise



Regards,

Bob

 

[Mozzy]

This is my male

Your dude pictures are so good I worry they'll give me nightmares about my auto-fem tent getting pollinated

 

[Antonio_DutchPassion]

A judging event for the white widows you mean mate?

Sorry if I'm wrong, I just came back from holiday and don't have the time to read everything right now

 

[Bob's Auto's]

A judging event for the white widows you mean mate?

Sorry if I'm wrong, I just came back from holiday and don't have the time to read everything right now

Firstly, welcome back my friend!!! And you are welcome any time brother!
Second, I was talking about the current grow. This is eventually going to become something in the lines of the Port & Stilton I smoked in the distant past. I've decided to let the male be inside the tent and pollinate everyone. Each of those plants will go into a separate jar and will be sampled. The best two samples will continue that line.
Next grow though, that will be the blind test with the Widows...Which reminds me. I should give a holler about a month before I plan to start.

Currently I'm digging through all the pages on MNS. Loads of interesting stuff, but also so much trolling and fighting going on in the day. Sometimes I get so frustrated I have to stop reading them pages and do something else. But when you do find a couple of pages without all them bs, you can find some true gems hidden there. I'm currently in the archives from '98 and oh boy, there's things we now take for granted, but those old timers really experimented with everything to lay the foundation for us Auto growers/breeders... So much information on breeding, inbreeding, genetics and so on..it's priceless.

 

[Bob's Auto's]

Your dude pictures are so good I worry they'll give me nightmares about my auto-fem tent getting pollinated

Ever since I went organic my plants haven't looked better. I know you can get better results (read, quantity) with chemical nutes, but this is so much more fun for me. Don't even know if my pH meter still works or not. Haven't had a need for it.
Organic all the way my friend!!

Sidenote:
Not to say mineral nutes don't have their uses, even in an organic grow.
But that's a story for another time children

 

[Rasterman]

Ever since I went organic my plants haven't looked better. I know you can get better results (read, quantity) with chemical nutes, but this is so much more fun for me. Don't even know if my pH meter still works or not. Haven't had a need for it.
Organic all the way my friend!!

Sidenote:
Not to say mineral nutes don't have their uses, even in an organic grow.
But that's a story for another time children

I've been doing living soil for most of my grows for the past year. I still have to feed chemicals occasionally, but it's much less trouble than the traditional way.

 

[Antonio_DutchPassion]

Firstly, welcome back my friend!!! And you are welcome any time brother!
Second, I was talking about the current grow. This is eventually going to become something in the lines of the Port & Stilton I smoked in the distant past. I've decided to let the male be inside the tent and pollinate everyone. Each of those plants will go into a separate jar and will be sampled. The best two samples will continue that line.
Next grow though, that will be the blind test with the Widows...Which reminds me. I should give a holler about a month before I plan to start.

Currently I'm digging through all the pages on MNS. Loads of interesting stuff, but also so much trolling and fighting going on in the day. Sometimes I get so frustrated I have to stop reading them pages and do something else. But when you do find a couple of pages without all them bs, you can find some true gems hidden there. I'm currently in the archives from '98 and oh boy, there's things we now take for granted, but those old timers really experimented with everything to lay the foundation for us Auto growers/breeders... So much information on breeding, inbreeding, genetics and so on..it's priceless.

True, laying a foundation is never easy but its very important and cool work!

Is it time for you to get the White Widow?
Would be cool to do a blind tasting/testing with that round mate.. I'm sure me and some colleagues are up for it.

 

[Bob's Auto's]

@Emerald Archer > Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
@Antonio_DutchPassion, You sure did my friend. If it wasn't for you I'd still be messing around with chemical nutes and pale green leaves...
The same goes out to BioTabs, as without them I wouldn't gained such knowledge in such a short time. It helped me to stand on my own two feet and somehow I'm grateful for how it ended as I came out stronger.

I've been doing living soil for most of my grows for the past year. I still have to feed chemicals occasionally, but it's much less trouble than the traditional way.

Like I said in the side note, There still is use for chem nutes. Like Magnesium and Calcium. Both are regarded semi-organic as they are mined and not made by man. Although Magnesium Sulfate is man made, but allowed in Organic grows, the same for Calcium...
That being said, if you prepare ahead of time you don't need any other chem nutes...ever. All you need is a mixture of the right bennies and myco and keep them alive. I can explain how to do that or even how to multiply them.

True, laying a foundation is never easy but its very important and cool work!

I'm planning on doing some serious hunting my man! First I'll make four clones per plant.
Then, after the initial testing (*) the three best females and three best males (yup, we're going to smoke males, lol hold your horses, I'll explain) will be selected to continue my hunt for thé White Widow from my olfactory memory.
The clones from the plants that didn't make the cut will be tossed, except for one clone from each plant. These will be put together, males and all and let go into flower. ie, doing an open pollination with approx. 36 plants from all different origins. This should open up the possibilities quite a bit and leave me with a nice base library to start from?

Is it time for you to get the White Widow?

I'm currently at day 32, that almost a month until harvest no?

Would be cool to do a blind tasting/testing with that round mate.. I'm sure me and some colleagues are up for it.

* The initial testing...Well after I'm sure the clones have taken hold, I'll be switching the lights from 24/7 to 12/12 inside the tent to flower the plants grown from seed. At which time they will get a spraying with Ethephon (this time I'll be prepared and turn down the exhaust and lights during the plant shutdown), which will turn my males female and keep the females female... Found this old trick in the archives from Nevile, lol...He keeps teaching, even from between the stars
After drying, each plant will get it's own jar for curing and then my friend....Then I would be honored if you and the team came over for a testing and judging of the warez. Of course with some BBQ on the side, maybe I could bribe you guys with some fresh Pulled Pork?
The goal will be to select the three best females and feminized males. The latter should show their feminine side, trichomes et all...At the very least we'll have something to hold and smell, we'll discuss smoking them over some Belgian ale