New Grower First Grow, South Texas: WOS Pakistan Ryder/Strawberry Blue

[Alter Ego]

Disclaimer: Starting late in the season, constant 95-100 F temps, 70-90% humidity, using small pots, root bounding, stunting, stressing, over/under feeding/watering and *first* grow = Tiny ass plants . Go easy on me.


PR#1: Chopped at day 55. Had no choice. Bud rot was setting in and more rain was on the way. After drying for 3 days, final weight came in at 4.7 grams... lol. Sorry, forgot to take pics but I rolled up a J with all the sugar leaves and trimmings and man I tell you...WOS Pakistan Ryder is one hell of a stoney Indica. My god....I was sitting like a vegetable for 2 hours watching Looney Tunes without even flinching. Felt great to smoke my own fruit. I will never buy from a dealer again.


PR#2 @ day 40: This PR aka "Freak" has lived a healthy life for the most part but she is still small. It's all good though.

Strawberry Blue #1 @ day 59: My best plant thus far. After the transplant she grew quite a bit then I split this girl right down the middle . I then did some slight defoliation for sunlight penetration and tried to do a ghetto LST method on her. I realize that I probably won't yield much so I am trying to promote branching/multiple bud sites. Looks like a buch of small branches are starting to grow out of the stem. How does it look to you?

Strawberry Blue #2 @ day 40: She looks good and has doubled in size since the last update. I am not sure what to do with her at this point so I am following the LIFTA rule with her.

Kilimanjaro @ day 23: My tiny African Sativa baby. She has thin Sativa leaves from the start! I only have a good month or so of vegetative growth time left. I know she wont yield much of anything but I will happy if she just grows and produces anything. I am not a hard man to please.

As always, thanks for looking!
-Alter

 

[greenthumper]

Hey man great looking plants. I have similar temps and humidity to you so I'll be watching

 

[Alter Ego]

Hey man great looking plants. I have similar temps and humidity to you so I'll be watching

Well I can tell you this. If you start your plants from seeds and get them outdoors ASAP, they will adapt and learn to thrive in their prospective environment. What you will have a problem with is the night time humidity. It sucks and destroy a harvest in a snap. I had to pull my 1st plant early due to bud rot..sucks.

 

[Truu]

Hey man your plants don't look bad at all. I'll admit the weather is harsh these days. Keep showing them love and they'll repay you brother.

Any chance you can put them inside at night?

 

[Alter Ego]

Hey man your plants don't look bad at all. I'll admit the weather is harsh these days. Keep showing them love and they'll repay you brother.

Any chance you can put them inside at night?

Thanks brother! I hope moving is going smooth! I might bring them inside in the kitchen at night but I have to be careful with getting dirt and shit all over the place. Plus they don't stink outside but the second I bring them in, they reeeeeeek of bud. Pretty damn obvious. My better half would murder me quite honestly, so I doubt that'll work.

 

[Truu]

Aww man that's a bummer. I'm in the same boat with the old lady lol. That's why im building another grow room. Well man I wish I could help ya out but you know how the nighttime humidity gets. 100% every morning with 80 degrees as the low! Bud rot is defiantly going to happen with this weather. Either way the growing experience is good to have for when the weather gets right.

 

[Alter Ego]

Aww man that's a bummer. I'm in the same boat with the old lady lol. That's why im building another grow room. Well man I wish I could help ya out but you know how the nighttime humidity gets. 100% every morning with 80 degrees as the low! Bud rot is defiantly going to happen with this weather. Either way the growing experience is good to have for when the weather gets right.

The Kilimanjaro is mold resistant. She is a landrace from Kenya where the RH is about 70-90% all year. I think she will make it out ok (I hope). It's the Strawberry Blue I am worried about. I have read that they produce dense heavy nugs and that might be a moldy problem if they cannot dry out quick enough. I'll have to figure something out because I do not want to lose any more plants to rot. I am very good with my hands so maybe a tiny makeshift greenhouse with a vent system and a dehumidifier might work....or maybe buy a shed...I dunno....does anyone someone have any ideas?

I might have to talk to the Mrs. again and try to convince her to put them in the attic or some shit. Unfortunately, she doesn't care to understand Botrytis and the situation I am in. Either way, thinking out loud, maybe the guest room or the study. No one goes in there...except me. Maybe just get a kiddie pool from Wal-mart and put the pots in there so I don't ruin the carpet.

 

[Truu]

Next weekend I'll be walling off part of my shed for a new grow room. It will be a 4x8 area. I've seen 8x10 sheds at lowes for 600$. Get ya a portable ac in there or a window unit and your ready to go with a light man. Defiantly makes it easier on you being able to control the environment. You seem like a smart guy I'm sure you'll come up with somethin good!

 

[gtron]

Alter,
I am guessing several things conspired together to cause your bud rot, but two of them perhaps more than others.
First, being outside and getting dumped on by all the rain Houston was having right then, and also it being so small the bud was right next to the moist soil. Consequently the bud was never getting dried out.
If bringing them in is a real hassle, you could easily make an "open greenhouse". Basically just a clear covering over the top of them to let them get light and protect them from getting water directly on the buds, but open enough to let the breeze blow through them and help keep them dry.
An attic grow room would be a bitch, I can promise you. Roof temps in Houston are regularly 120-130 or higher and from your pic it didn't look like you are in a heavily treed or shady area.
Years ago I built a flowershop for a woman in the attic above her house, it was a nightmare trying to get that thing insulated well enough to keep it cool. The heat transfer from shingle, to decking, to rafters was very high and her ceiling was connected to the rafters. In the end we got it worked out, but it took a LOT of tweaking to get the insulation right.

 

[Alter Ego]

Alter,
I am guessing several things conspired together to cause your bud rot, but two of them perhaps more than others.
First, being outside and getting dumped on by all the rain Houston was having right then, and also it being so small the bud was right next to the moist soil. Consequently the bud was never getting dried out.
If bringing them in is a real hassle, you could easily make an "open greenhouse". Basically just a clear covering over the top of them to let them get light and protect them from getting water directly on the buds, but open enough to let the breeze blow through them and help keep them dry.
An attic grow room would be a bitch, I can promise you. Roof temps in Houston are regularly 120-130 or higher and from your pic it didn't look like you are in a heavily treed or shady area.
Years ago I built a flowershop for a woman in the attic above her house, it was a nightmare trying to get that thing insulated well enough to keep it cool. The heat transfer from shingle, to decking, to rafters was very high and her ceiling was connected to the rafters. In the end we got it worked out, but it took a LOT of tweaking to get the insulation right.

Thanks for the advice Gtron!

I wasn't planning on growing in the attic. I wanted to store them in the attic at night to protect my plants from the nigh time humidity. For example, right now @ 5pm the RH is about 25%. At night, Houston experiences 90-100% humidity. I am noticing that my biggest problem is the morning dew. Morning dew soaks everything overnight. Can I cover plants with a tarp or something @ night?