Indoor Jewel Tones

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My next batch is up and running. As usual I've spared you all posts from the first couple days, waiting for them to sprout and so on. Same setup as before: 2x2' / 60x60 cm tent, reused 1/2 liter polypropylene food containers (ice cream pints) full of coco and hydroton, bottom-feeding with Dyna-Gro hydroponic nutrients. I'm using ~110 watts of LED COBs lights. Using 24/0 this time (normally I do 20/4 in the summer, 24/0 otherwise) because I'm curious if it will help keep the grow short, I'm not so worried about the heat.

My usual germination method -- soaking in tap water (with a little hydrogen peroxide) somewhere warm for about a day and a half, then planting. 100% germination.

Left row, front to back:
- Pink Panama (Mephisto)
- Dark Devil (Sweet Seeds)
- Sour Crack (Mephisto)
- Red Pure CBD Auto (Sweet Seeds)

Left row, front to back:
- another Pink Panama (Mephisto)
- 2x JEM regs (Gnome Automatics)
- another Red Pure CBD Auto (Sweet Seeds)

So I've got JEMs, Red Pure CBDs, Pink Panamas, a (purple) Dark Devil, and a Sour Crack (from a lousy lapidarist). Jewel Tones. I've got a mix of cannabinoids here -- JEM brings some CBG to the table, and the Red Pure is all CBD, so THC-dominant crosses with it could be interesting. I've grown Sour C before but screwed up the cure and I wanted to give it another go, and I started two Pink Panamas because I love Pink Panama. All these should be on the quicker side, particularly in small containers.

Originally there were four JEMs, but two had very badly stuck shells and didn't sprout. Oh well. Two made it, ideally there will be one male and one female, but I still have several more seeds to try another time.

I put that fan in the back this time to even out airflow, because the other circulation fan on the tent beam is pointed towards the back. The pots in font haven't had as much air circulation, and I could see the pots in back drying out faster.

Some of the plants have burnt leaf tips on their first node or two, I had a heat lamp in the tent to keep things warmer for germinating and sprouting and it made the tent too dry for the ones that were past that. It's long gone, new growth is looking better.

I transitioned to bottom-feeding a couple days ago, so from here on I can just dump nutrient water in the trays. I will probably top them in a couple days (above the fourth node), and I'm waiting for the JEM regs to show sex. Depending on how that plays out I may only keep one of the Red Pure CBDs -- the one on the right was the first seedling to sprout, but since then it's been the least vigorous (and the Sour C the most).

 

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It's day 19 from sprout (give or take a day, not everything sprouted at once).

JEM3 looks male. Two days ago I could see staminate growth forming with a loupe, now it's pretty clearly visible. I haven't decided whether I'll temporarily set up my second tent or just move the fan, push the trays to the side, and move JEM3 into the isolation bin inside the tent, but that will probably depend on the other JEM (no signs yet).

I'm at my usual full veg nutrient mix and the slightly pale ones are greening up, though the Dark Devil is still a bit pale. All the new growth looks good, the yellow/burnt leaves are all from starting out with the tent too dry.

Between yesterday and this morning I topped everything, and I see side branch growth picking up.

 

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Both JEMs are male. Bummer. while I won't be able to try any JEM flower this time I should be able to collect plenty of pollen, so now they're in my extra tent. I've had good luck with freezing pollen and using it on future grows, and I have more JEM seeds, so this won't be a dead end.

The tent was getting tight, but the other plants have more space with the JEMs moved out. The left tray now has PP2, SourC, RPCBD1, the right PP1, DD, RPCBD2.

PP1: Pink Panama #1 is doing great, the new growth looks very happy. The Pink Panamas are in the front because that strain seems to prefer slightly less light. Both responded very well to topping, with two clear "main" branches and the sides also taking off.

PP2: Pink Panama #2, also doing great. Pink Panama seems like one of Mephisto's less popular lines, but I've never tried anything else with its coffee/plums terp profile or distinctive high. I would probably love the Panama and Deep Chunk parent lines' effects individually, but the combination is really special. The super foxtailed picture on their website's strain page probably doesn't help sell it, either; none of mine have foxtailed like that.

The Sour Crack has also been moving along fast, lots of branching growth to fill in later.

Red Pure CBD #1 is branchy and stretchy so far, a bit sparse compared to the others. It grew leaning towards the lights in the center of the tent and I didn't rotate it to even out growth, so instead it's got stakes pulling it back towards the center. Hopefully that will keep it from tipping over later on.

Red Pure CBD #2 is really squat, the shortest of the bunch, but otherwise doing fine.

The Dark Devil seemed nutrient hungry before (nitrogen and possibly magnesium), I'm addressing that but now it's got something going on with its upper fan leaves -- when I moved it to the right tray they were hanging down, like when plants anticipate the dark cycle, but perked up a few hours later. Now it has those yellow patches between the leaf veins, looking like when lower fan leaves are damaged on a plant that dried out. I don't see any signs of pests or pathogens, but I'll keep an eye on it. Hopefully the new growth will look better.

 

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Everything's flowering now, and most of them will probably be ready to receive pollen by the weekend. The Dark Devil is really stretching, so I swapped it and the Red Pure CBD #2 (which is still quite short) so the tallest plants would be in the back. The DD's two discolored fan leaves are really yellow now, but all the newer growth on the plant looks fine so I'm not too worried about it. I may prune the leaves later. Pink Panama #2 has mild clawing from excess nitrogen, but I wasn't going to increase N further anyway.

Nice branching structure on one of the Pink Panamas (PP1), it's only just starting to stretch but it should have a bunch of good side branches.

The males are also moving along. I'll put cupcake cups under the clusters of stigmas in the next couple days and collect pollen. That tent's fan is very low, just barely running enough to maintain negative pressure, so pollen tends to drop and settle rather than circulate.

 

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Everything has stretched a bit since last time, but the Dark Devil has stretched about twice as much as anybody else. Looking at the breeder strain descriptions again that one is expected to get a bit taller, I guess I missed that since I was mostly focused on shorter-cycle autos. Still, it's not anywhere near tall enough to be a problem, it just looks a bit funny next to the others.

I did my first round of pollination, using Wizard's Apprentice pollen I saved and froze from my last batch. Just a small side branch on each plant because I can. My main priority in this batch is crossing the Red Pure CBDs with Anvil, that seems like it could be a nice pairing. I will probably hit everything with JEM pollen while it's fresh, too. The JEM males should start dropping nontrivial amounts of pollen soon, and I have cupcake cups around the stamen clusters to catch them, like a cone on a dog's neck.

The Dark Devil's bracts are turning purple.

So are Red Pure CBD #2's, along with some of the leaves.

A consistent Pink Panama trait I've noticed -- all of mine have had thin, wiry stigmas. I wonder what part of the lineage that comes from.

 

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I've finished with pollinating lower branches in this batch. I did a few branches here and there with old pollen from my freezer, and I've collected enough pollen for immediate use from the JEM males.

I'm going to keep them going for a couple more days to collect pollen JEM for the freezer, but then I'm done with them. I'm still glad I bought the second tent, even though I only use it for about two weeks at a time it still gives me a lot more flexibility.

The main tent. Everything is flowering, but they're probably done stretching now. Between topping and 24/0 all of them besides the Dark Devil stayed short.

The Dark Devil is getting some other rust spots on its leaves. I think it's just calcium hungry. I don't tend to use much calmag (outside of rebuffering coco) because my base nutrients already provide some calcium, but I'll include some in the next nutrient mixes..

Red Pure CBD #1. Yay, purple.

Pink Panama #2. A little water left on the leaf from misting the pollination bags, evaporated since taking the pictures.

 

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For the rest of the grow I shouldn't need to do a whole lot besides keep giving them nutrient water. I usually take them out once a week or so to check for any issues and take pictures, but otherwise they're just doing their thing.

Full tent. A few yellowing lower leaves here and there, and the older growth on the Dark Devil looks gnarly but the newer growth looks better

Pink Panama #1, with two mains.

Pink Panama #2, with more even side branch growth.

In-tent closeup of PP2's top buds developing.

Sour C, also with two clear mains and then some good side branches.

Red Pure CBD #1, branchy and purpling rapidly. Starting to smell sweet and fruity.

One of RPCBD1's tops.

Red Pure CBD #2, not quite as tall as #1 but nearly as purple.

Dark Devil, finally done stretching.

One of the DD tops.

 

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The full tent. Not much obvious happening day to day now, but the flowers are bulking up.

Pink Panama #1. Getting frosty. A bit of light stress at the very top.

Pink Panama #2. Also getting frosty. (Edit: said #1)

Sour Crack. Filling out, a bit of clawing from excess nitrogen. (The white powder is leftover flour from spraying branches pollinated with a pollen/flour mixture, not powdery mildew.)

Red Pure CBD #2. The empurpling continues!

Close up of one of #2's tops.

Red Pure CBD #1 (I'm going front to back in the tent), a little further along than #2.

Close up of one of #1's tops.

Dark Devil. I think this one is just going to continue to have calcium-deficiency-spotted branches, oh well. I'm not growing for sale or instagram, so it is what it is.

Close up of one of DD's tops.

 

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Day 53, new pictures since it's been a week and they're all further along.

Pink Panama #1.

Pink Panama #2.

Closeup of one of PP2's tops. It's not so visible here because of the trichomes and flash, but PP2's buds are starting to turn a bit pink/red, like the old strain picture from Mephisto's site (archive.org link). My previous Pink Panamas have looked pretty close to that, none like the current strain picture.

Red Pure CBD #2. Pretty short. Getting frosty. Smelling sweet/fruity.

One of RPCBD2's tops.

Sour Crack, continuing to bulk up.

One of Sour C's tops. It's possible this one will be ready to harvest around day 60-65, though I'm planning on waiting until at least day 70 to harvest so that the seeds have more time to mature.

Red Pure CBD #1.

One of RPCBD1's tops, with the stigmas looking a little further along than RPCBD2's.

Dark Devil, the tallest of the bunch (about 22", the others are around 16"). Still lots of yellow/spotted fan leaves.

One of DD's tops, with pink stigmas.

 

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Day 60. I'm planning on giving these another ten days or so just so that the pollinated branches' seeds have more time to mature, but they're looking like they'll otherwise be ready to harvest soon -- trichomes are getting cloudy and so on. Not bad for 60 days from sprout.

The full tent. The Pink Panamas' uppermost fans are pretty yellow now. They wanted less light (lower growth is fine), but all the other plants want at least as much. Likewise, the Sour Crack wants less nitrogen but the Pink Panamas want more. There may have been a way I could rearrange the plants and lights to give each tray a different nutrient mix and different light levels, but I've been too busy so everything has stayed as-is.

Pink Panama #1 (green pheno). Yellow fans aside, this one's doing okay. It's hard to pick out from the others in the tent, but both the Pink Panamas smell like coffee.

Pink Panama #2 (pink pheno).

Some pink buds on one of PP2's tops.

Red Pure CBD #2, the only plant that wound up wider than it is tall (about 16" tall).

One of RPCBD2's tops.

Sour Crack. This one has bulked up, got frosty, and it smells sweet/fruity.

One of SourC's tops.

Red Pure CBD #1, probably the purplest of the bunch.

Dark Devil, looking pretty rough and a bit foxtaily.

One of DD's tops.