La Buena Hierba La Buena Hierba Team HQ.

[AJrexxx]

LBH Selection Round 1 - Day 29

All is well at site with the two strain #3 and one strain #2.

Here are the two strain #3 plants, looking happy in the sun!
View attachment 1170435
I am quite happy with the soil situation.
It seems to hold water slightly better than I thought.
It is literally a mound of quite sandy dirt, heaped up in an area which would otherwise be prone to ground water pooling in heavy rain.
Kind of like a natural raised bed.
But because it's raised up and sandy, I thought it may dry out too quick.
But the rains have been perfect, good amounts every 3-7 days.
It is also getting some green cover, so these two don't stand out too much like green go lights on a brown background.
A few little bug bite nibbles, but nothing much.
Bugs here have so much vegetation to choose from, they can't do much damage in my experience.

I added some organic dried amendments, my usual mix of high PK + Ca chicken fert, high PK fert, kelp meal, diatomaceous earth.
And then washed it down with a liter (I know, not much, but they are not dry) of my hydro nutrients.
Okay, okay, I broke the pure organic grow rules, I don't care!

Individually, the slightly taller plant (on the right):
View attachment 1170436
We have pistils, it's a girl!!!
The first pistils are at the 5th or 6th node, even though she is now putting out node 8 or so.
Looks like they would have been visible at a couple of days ago.
It's day 29 now, so maybe day 25 - 28.
Which matches what @AJrexxx and @hairyman have said.
The apical growth site indicates some more leafy nodes to come, but also shaping into flower.

She's about 25cm = 10" tall max, not super high, but her internodes are tight.
Should be about to hit her stretch for flowering!

And the slightly shorter plant (on the left):
View attachment 1170437
Wow, more pistils, she's a girl, too!!
Great, 2/2 females. LBH, I like this ratio!!! Should be 25% chance for 2/2 ladies.
Her pistils are also at about node 6 I think.
She is a bit shorter, maybe just 20cm = 8", and about 1 or 2 leaf nodes behind.

She is still showing some leaf mutations.
You can see on the two larger leaves on the top right and top left.
Smaller leaflets coming out from the petiole, rather than the usual nice radial shape.
Maybe @La Buena Hierba can tell from this what strain it is...? @Waira ?
Is it a trait of Thai sativa strains, perhaps?
I'm quite sure it is not the twisting sign of early Ca deficiency.

Given that they are already showing pistils, and are not too tall, I decided against topping.
I just gently bent them away from each other.
Their positioning means they showing block each other from the sun.
The sun will soon be almost directly overhead at midday, a little to the south.
The left shorter plant will get more of the morning light, the taller the afternoon.

Plus, little strain #2 is still hanging in there:
View attachment 1170438
Nodes 5 and 6 are in there somewhere.
No sign of flower, still looking somewhat stunted.
But healthy and growing nonetheless.

I also went and did some digging for Round 2 plants.
I only need three sites, obviously, but did a few more sites, just for back up.
Added some of my amendments into the soil while I was there.
Though I ran out before I could put any in the last two holes.
But I got some into what I think are the best locations.
I still may use this site above (Rnd 1 site) for Rnd 2.
Especially the location where my strain #1 seedlings died.
It's a good site, but I'm weighing up re-use of good site vs spreading the risk...

In the process, rescued a turtle that was looking like it was about to bake in the hot sun -- into the river for him/her!
And almost stepped on a couple of snakes in the grass on the way home.
If the anxiety of guerilla growing isn't enough for you, try adding snakes............

Happy growing gro-bros and gro-gals!
@Weed Warrior @trailanimal @blue @islandgrower @RivetGrrl @Jraven @Mañ'O'Green @SOOTDAWG @Dabber @the green bandit @hecno

Looking real good. "two out of two aint bad"

 

[Waira]

She is still showing some leaf mutations.
You can see on the two larger leaves on the top right and top left.
Smaller leaflets coming out from the petiole, rather than the usual nice radial shape.
Maybe @La Buena Hierba can tell from this what strain it is...? @Waira ?
Is it a trait of Thai sativa strains, perhaps?
I'm quite sure it is not the twisting sign of early Ca deficiency.

they look quite happy to me Ms.M! .... A few chewed on spots, but it seems not to be the bug's favorite so there's a plus...
I don't know about the leaf growth aberration, it might be but only LBH can offer specifics on that... one of the Aunt of Farouk's I tried last year had a extra finger count thing going too, full size no less! It stayed consistent too, at least until it sexed out male... In fact all bloody 3 did -
What strains are you running here? .... I hear he's making fem's, at last! But I don't know how many or of what. I hope he does the Guerilla Gold

 

[Shiva's Mistress]

they look quite happy to me Ms.M! ....

Thanks @Waira -- if they look good to you, must be doing okay!

A few chewed on spots, but it seems not to be the bug's favorite so there's a plus...

I've found in this country that most plants get bit a little bit when they're small, but then not much after.
There are always lots of other green plants for them to chew on and leave mine alone.

I don't know about the leaf growth aberration, it might be but only LBH can offer specifics on that... one of the Aunt of Farouk's I tried last year had a extra finger count thing going too, full size no less! It stayed consistent too, at least until it sexed out male... In fact all bloody 3 did -

Aunt of Farouk is Pakistani Indica... only connection here may be very distant in the Thai Gold, via the Guerilla Gold, which has some Afghani... not much of a link. Maybe LBH will have something to say.

Sorry about 3 males, oh noooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I got 2/2 female so far, very happy.

What strains are you running here? .... I hear he's making fem's, at last! But I don't know how many or of what. I hope he does the Guerilla Gold

First up, three strains, but don't know which are which, cos in the stealth shipping had three separate lots and I had them out before I got LBH's notification as to which package was which.
He sent Jack Herer Auto, La Gasolina Auto, and Thai Gold Photo (semi-auto, has the auto Thai haze x photo Guerilla Gold).
I've labelled mine strain #1, #2 and #3, and hope if I can get some to harvest, I'll be able to identify what strain is what.
Have also done that really stereotypical thing of looking at leave phenotype and guessing sativa/indica ratio.
These ones, my strain #3, have fairly slim leaves, while the #1 had somewhat wider.
For what that's worth, because all three of these LBH strains are sativa leaning hybrids anyway......

 

[Shiva's Mistress]

Day 32 - LBH Selection Rnd 1

Went out to check on the girls, and give them a nice dose of my hydro mix for the next few days of hot sunny weather.

The two strain #3 girls, looking great:

The taller, on the right, is up to about 14" = 35cm:

Mainly just putting out a single long top cola. Can see she still has a few more nodes to put out.

The shorter girl on the left:

A few more pistils than the taller girl, and also looks like she has fewer nodes up top still waiting to stretch out:

Last, but not least, the tiny little strain #2 has shown sex, another girl, at about 3" = 8cm tall!

Micro growing. Outdoors. That's new!

The Round 2 plants are doing fine, almost identical to Round 1.
Namely, the two strain #1 are strongest, looking great.
Then the two strain #3 are smaller, but also good.
And of the two strain #2, one is small but fine, the other barely hanging in there.
No photos, because they are just little babies and need their rest.

 

[Shiva's Mistress]

For these Round 2 babies, the strain #1 in particular is really taking off.
They look a couple of days ahead of Round 1 at the same time.
Already need to start planning for the plant out.
With the two successful strain #3 girls out there already doing well,
really hope that this round the strain #1 plants (girls??) will survive.
As for the strain #2, well, just hoping can maybe get one to survive,
so I can see what they look like. They really haven't done well.

Weather today and yesterday has been wonderful. Hot and sunny.
The Round 1 girls will be thriving!
A bit of cloud and rain coming up soon.
Which at least is good for a plant out.
Don't like to plant out to direct hot and sunny weather. Risky.

 

[smokeyfromau]

Looking good Shiva Mistress, Sorry about the loss of some plants but considering its a guerilla grow, that would be expected sometimes. Healthy looking girls, wonder if some fencing or sticks stuck in the ground to deter wild dogs, lol i have to put sticks to keep the Kangaroos from eating the girls leaves. True its good to have good rainfall with planting out, not like the drought we had here

 

[Shiva's Mistress]

Looking good Shiva Mistress, Sorry about the loss of some plants but considering its a guerilla grow, that would be expected sometimes. Healthy looking girls, wonder if some fencing or sticks stuck in the ground to deter wild dogs, lol i have to put sticks to keep the Kangaroos from eating the girls leaves. True its good to have good rainfall with planting out, not like the drought we had here

Thanks for the support, Smokey!
Yeah, guerilla grows (really, any grows) should germinate and veg more than needed.
Always figure in some losses, it's gonna happen.
I won't use stakes or sticks, for two reasons.
The local wild dogs obviously aren't interested, and there aren't really any other herbivores out that like cattle, deer, etc.
The other reason is the location, as it's right next to a public park, just off (like, two meters away) from a little trail that goes to some uncles riverside vege garden. I'm counting on the uncle not looking or not recognizing what it is.
We have plenty of rain here, drought almost never happens, just a bit less rain over winter (which is not cold, and I've done outdoor winter grows of tiny plants before).
It's just started a nice thunder storm and rain right now...
With the climate here, my ideal would be to finish in mid to late June.
That's the longest light hours, about 13+ hrs, only.
It's hot, high 30s, and every few days we get heavy afternoon rains, maybe 5mm to 50mm at a time.
By late June and then more from July through October, it's typhoon season.
For you (from Au), that's a tropical cyclone.
Massive killer winds, and often 300mm+ rain a day.
Those winds will shred everything outside, unless can more plants in pots under a big bushy tree.
Then it will only half shred it, not totally shred it.
So my best results have been starting plants around Feb, March or April, finish up before late June.
Autos and photos kind of effectively grow the same, as photos outside are immediately on about a 12/12 schedule.

 

[smokeyfromau]

You're welcome Shiva's Mistress. The Typhoons (tropical cyclones) are always a problem with the winds and floods, we get them as tropical lows by the time it reaches South East QLD with lots of rain and sometimes damaging winds, and extreme cases upwards of 300mm in a day

Good idea any of those ideas would draw unwanted attension , at worst the dogs would just give the plants some nitrogen, That is close, i had a spot in thehills near home it was close to the road but very private , but when i bought a bucket load of ticks home, my brothers shut down the idea. He should not notice them, and being close is good accress, better than having to spend hours getting to the location. Ive read stories with some Aussies hiking through bush , up hills to get to their sites.

I am pretty new to photos, first was blue fire from HSO, now these girls i got, bascially the same time frame in harvest?

Hopefully you can finish before the Typhoon season.

 

[Shiva's Mistress]

You're welcome Shiva's Mistress. The Typhoons (tropical cyclones) are always a problem with the winds and floods, we get them as tropical lows by the time it reaches South East QLD with lots of rain and sometimes damaging winds, and extreme cases upwards of 300mm in a day

Good idea any of those ideas would draw unwanted attension , at worst the dogs would just give the plants some nitrogen, That is close, i had a spot in thehills near home it was close to the road but very private , but when i bought a bucket load of ticks home, my brothers shut down the idea. He should not notice them, and being close is good accress, better than having to spend hours getting to the location. Ive read stories with some Aussies hiking through bush , up hills to get to their sites.

I am pretty new to photos, first was blue fire from HSO, now these girls i got, bascially the same time frame in harvest?

Hopefully you can finish before the Typhoon season.

Yeah, I've had a grow a couple of years back, where some roadside workers literally moved my plants in pots to do mowing and just left them there...... OMG!

Same season had a couple of photo Mandala Safaris, which are "random crosses" of mixed genetics.
They went about another 8 weeks after they were planted outside around this time of the year.
So, autos that are stated to be maybe 9-12 weeks, and then photos which I keep inside for 1-2 weeks, then outside to mature a bit plus 8-10 weeks flowering, is a total of about 10-12+ weeks as well. Same time frame to harvest for autos and photos for me, depending on how long I let the photos grow inside before putting them out.
Another option would be to grow very long season photos, like 12-16 weeks, then at least they'd get to 3-4 months old in total, decent size.
But, stealth, don't want huge plants, to be honest.

Super convenient location to get to if I need to check, add top dressing, or whatever.

These will definitely finish before typhoons. Should be late May to June sometime.
Just hope I can time the last couple of weeks of flowering with some hot sunny weather to bring out the trichomes and avoid the dreaded BR.

 

[smokeyfromau]

Yeah, I've had a grow a couple of years back, where some roadside workers literally moved my plants in pots to do mowing and just left them there...... OMG!

Same season had a couple of photo Mandala Safaris, which are "random crosses" of mixed genetics.
They went about another 8 weeks after they were planted outside around this time of the year.
So, autos that are stated to be maybe 9-12 weeks, and then photos which I keep inside for 1-2 weeks, then outside to mature a bit plus 8-10 weeks flowering, is a total of about 10-12+ weeks as well. Same time frame to harvest for autos and photos for me, depending on how long I let the photos grow inside before putting them out.
Another option would be to grow very long season photos, like 12-16 weeks, then at least they'd get to 3-4 months old in total, decent size.
But, stealth, don't want huge plants, to be honest.

Super convenient location to get to if I need to check, add top dressing, or whatever.

These will definitely finish before typhoons. Should be late May to June sometime.
Just hope I can time the last couple of weeks of flowering with some hot sunny weather to bring out the trichomes and avoid the dreaded BR.

That is crazy, but nice of them, thank god they didnt steal the plants.... that would have been a shock !

That would be ideal to be able to harvest the photos around the autos time. Same here not wanting huge , if i lived in the state ACT ( lucky them can grow 4 plants but only 50g of product ! still if my state ever allowed that i'd grow them big. I got a greenhouse on ebay so will try to keep them to 2 metres or less. The Mandala Safaris is a long flowering strain, Waira said something about the landrace Sativas talking a long time to bloom as in the case i think of Dr Grinspoon ( i got the seeds). I was thinking hybrid sun/ indoor light for April then out to bloom in May

What is BR ? My fear is mould or gnats here. Hopefully the rain will hold back so they get more sun, and yeas great loaction if convenient as mine was that my brothers shut down lol - i would have put up with millons of ticks to grow them big on the hill. Even the Koalas was up there making their sounds, such a cute creature, sound isnt that nice, like a deep.. grunt growl sound,