Blackberry Kush

The seeds were germinated in tap water. Overnight soak followed by paper towel. After a day they both had 2-3mm taproots showing so I moved to rockwool and placed in starter tray. after another two days, both had "broken ground" with fully formed cotelydons. Due to the increased humidity of the starter tray, they have not needed water as of yet. They currently have 5-6mm true leaves and are showing daily growth. When I give them water again, it will be a 350ppm diluted Jacks solution. I plan to have one of them in the bucket by the end of the weekend.

Today both seedlings look ready for transplant. I have chosen the larger one to remain in the hydro rig, and the smaller will be placed in dirt later, just for fun.

First experience using jacks part a&b and found that they mixed easily and the ppm and ph were exactly as expected. Right now they are getting 250ppm drip, with 350ppm running in the system, once the roots reach it. that will be brought up to around 450-500 next week.

Current lighting is SE7000 @~36" and am reading 12k lux at the leaves.

The dro rig plant Fimmed itself! No accidents happened, but the apical top stopped growing at the 2nd node, and the lateral branches at that node have split into 4. That's never happened to me! These seem to have a propensity for mutation. I've had unusual growth patterns and leaf shapes on both. It is hard to tell in the pictures. The soil plant had unusual growth pattern above the second node, I plan on mainlining anyways so I went ahead and topped to that node, which has normal growth.

I have been learning the ratio for jacks, yes I know 321 is easy, but I was overthinking. Had the ratio wrong for about the first week, but fixed thereafter. Currently running 3.4, 2.2, 1.1 @~600ppm and new growth is looking good.

For the soil, there is worm castings, bat guano, mycos, perlite, and some old miracle grow vegetable gardening soil I had laying around as filler. It seems to be doing fine, I have given it nothing but tap water and have not done any slurry tests or the like. I want to be as hands off as possible with that one until it gives me a reason to be hands on.

Both seem to have bounced back nicely from yesterday's pruning.

Better pics of the top and fim, otherwise nothing new!

Overall growth looks good, color looks good, just a waiting game. I had some weird precipitate forming in my res which was also causing my ph to swing up. Fixed ph as temp measure yesterday, changed res completely today. 6.0ph and 600ppm with jacks 321.

The one in soil is doing it's thing. I'm just watering occasionally and leaving it be. I did remove the deformed lower leaves now that more upper leaves have formed. Even though the growth will likely be slower on this one, I'm still going to manifold to maximize whatever yield I do get from it.

In general my ambient temp is 74F and rh fluctuates between 58-65%.

Topped both plants again today since they seem to be doing well. The one I soil looks a but unhappy due to overwater, I gave the soil a GOOD soak the day before yesterday and it's still pretty mad about it.
The dro has been very happy this week and two of the four mains have turned out to be triploids, which is awesome! Normally, like the soil plant, I'd only have 4 tops, but the dro already has a total of 10! I will likely top one more time bringing the dro to 20 tops and the soil to 8, then flip after a few days of recovery.
Nothing else has changed, the precipitate I had mentioned before is now gone and ppm+ph are looking good.

They have both been topped several times, the one in soil has about as close to perfect manifold structure as you can get. The dro has had all kinds of mutations and is growing like a bush, so for now I'm just letting it grow out a bit before I start pruning again.

The soil has received water only from the start. The dro has been fed Jacks 321 and is currently at 500ppm and 6.0ph.

I am seeing daily growth, and after probably another week I will flip to 12/12.

Im going to allow these 1 more week to better fill the available space in the 4x8, then go ahead and flip.

I've topped the dro here and there to keep the center branches from getting much taller than the rest, giving it a super bushy shape. The soil plant is pinched to 16 tops and will be left to grow that way.

After flip, trellis nets will be added for preflower training.

Nothing has been added to the soil except water ever since it was mixed at the start. Dro still running jacks 321

Hydro: jacks 321 @ 740ppm ~6.0ph. Administered for 10s/10min via low pressure sprayers.

Soil: runoff measured at 275ppm ~7.0ph, several days ago. Since then fertilizer has been top dressed, and compost tea has been administered. Yellowing is obvious, but new growth is looking better. A splash of compost tea was administered again today, in an effort to help raise the ppm of the soil. Normal watering will commence tomorrow or the day after, depending on soil dryness.

Daytime temps sit around 76F. RH 60%. Both lights are set to just over 40k lux directly under the leds (at the top of the canopy). Co2 fluctuates between 550 and 850ppm. All fans running 24/7, exhaust is automated to run at 30% unless temp or rh gets out of spec, at which point it ramps up to 80%.

The stretch is on and pistils are now showing. After another day ir two of letting them grow naturally, I will begin training them with trellis nets to even out the canopies. Towards the end I will supercrop a few branches if necessary, but I think it'll be fine honestly. Especially the one in soil, the dro is looking like it may try to grow out of the tent 😅

First those who actually read these, I will be switching to autopots for my next run using coco and perlite as the medium. My ventures in diy have been fun and I've learned a ton, but ultimately my goal has always been a mostly hands off hydro setup, and at this juncture the autopots just make sense. Truly set and forget. I've seen fantastic results on other people's grows! Expectations are high!

Dro: Jacks 321 @900ppm; 10s on, 5m off. Light is SE7000. Currently at 90% and Lux varies from 45k-65k+ throughout the canopy with current distance (roughly 18").

Soil: Supplemented with 444, 484, guano, castings, langbenite, and a light compost tea. That all started just before flip and has completely brought the color back, she's looking very healthy now. Light is SF4000 @80% and Lux is similar to the other, just falls off at the edges but more concentrated in the center. Not a big deal since this one has a smaller canopy anyways.

Over all, very excited to see how much further these gals will stretch. The dro is so insanely bushy that it will have to have a massive defol right near the end of stretch for light + air penetration. I've been doing light defol as I go, taking leaves where necessary as I train her into the trellis.

They have been trained into the trellis better, and have grown quite a bit. Otherwise all variables are the same.

jacks feed changed to 5.6, 2.5, 1.1 resulting in 1200 ppm. part A is 5-12-26 so its basically a pk boost over my previous ratio to supplement flowering.

soil has been given only water.

SE7000 & SF4000 each dialed in to 40-60k+ lux throughout the canopies. leaves nearest to the light have a little taco but the rest of the canopy is happy. thinning out the dro as I go, she's high maintenance lol

Dro is looking good, though the SE7000 is proving to be a bit much without added co2. at 90% leaf tips started curling, so im back down to around 85%. nutrient wise things are looking good. sitting at a pretty stable 1200ppm, only seeing slight possible cal/mag def. Otherwise things are looking good, I defoliated a bit more to promote airflow and moved the fans around/increased intensity. Buds are looking stacked!

Soil is very deficient, yellowing and showing phos def as well. I've been giving it a slightly lower ppm jacks solution to help it finish out. SF4000 is at 100% and leaves are praying so I've been lowering it day by day. the bud sites are forming nicely, but id hate for it to stall out at this juncture even if it was just for fun to start with. The jacks ought to give it a kick in the ass.

At this point and going forward, my biggest enemy is going to be moisture. the dro is so thick and has buds basically growing into each other, so its nearly impossible to defoliate the way I normally would. I've got plenty of airflow and have been keeping the humidity ~55-60%. daytime temps hovering around 80F, night time around 68F.

Let my ppm get a little high on the dro and you can tell in some of the fans. Its under control now, and regardless buds are fattening up nicely and covered in trichromes. Very dense nuts, rock hard when given a squeeze.

Dro has a darker, more skunky smell, soil is more of a bright fruity smell. Hits you as soon as you open the door.

Few more weeks to go, im just waiting on the buds to finish swelling to start bringing the light and feed back down and try to get some cooler temps for a while before harvest.

Final stretch... 2 more weeks at least. The trichromes on both plants are still mostly clear with some white. They have been bulking up quite a bit, and the buds are very dense. Soil has a fruity, citrus profile, dro is more skunky and dark smelling. Soil will be getting water only from here on, and dro ppm will slowly decrease back to 500ppm over the next 2 weeks.

In other news, I started running my ac for some cooler "fall" temps. 75 daytime, 68-71 at night. Humidity never goes above 60, usually hovering around 55. Im excited to see how these girls finish!

The girls are maturing nicely. The difference in the phenos and terp profiles become more obvious by the day. Soil is super fruity smelling very bright and fresh. Dro is super skunk, extremely dank and dark smelling with a hint of sweetness. Soil has very little foliage in the buds, dro has much more... however the buds on the dro are actually bigger. Its hard to tell from the pictures... but just wait until I break these girls down.

Anyways, I've been checking trichs with a scope here and there. Dro is mostly clear with some white. Soil is white and amber on sugar leaves, but clear and white in the bud/calyxes. Hopefully they will finish together, if the soil does finish first ill just hang it in a 2x4 on its own. Either way, should be looking at a week-2weeks until chop time

Just wanted to give you guys a look at the trichrome development. Still mostly clear and white with just a bit of amber starting to come in on the tips and sugar leaves.

I'd say at least another week if not more.

Both are almost ready for chop. Im leaving town, be back Sunday. Plan is to chop Monday after checking trichs 1 last time (hopefully). The both look and smell great! The dro has a ton of foliage, im guessing due to genetics. It has mutated every step of the way. Either way im not worried about rot or wpm, I have plenty of airflow and humidity/temp under control.

Buds are very dense, smell great, and are heavy. (you can see the soil plant is struggling to hold the buds up) Hopefully next post will be chop and hang. 🤘

As I had planned, I ended up chopping today just before lights on time. I decided to split the plants up into sections instead of hanging them as they were, mainly because the dro was so ridiculously dense. dont want any bud rot here.

Both smell great, are covered in trichs, lots of white little bit of clear and amber. more amber on the soil so I expect it to be more sleepy.

I have ducted my window ac directly into my tent, also left the bottom port open for dehumidifier air to be pulled in from the lung room. My temp is maintaining a stable 60°f, and my humidity is fluctuating between 60-70%. I expect the humidity to stabilize tomorrow or the next day, these are still super wet and I dont want to dry them too fast. So ill leave things as they are for now and keep an eye on the humidity over the next few days.

Two weeks, then trim and into grove bags they go!

Still have some trimming and bagging left to do, but the soil plant is finished. Final weight was right at a half lb. To be expected, it was grown in less than ideal conditions haha. The dro was/is super bushy due to the mutations, and the extra foliage has made it super time consuming to trim. I have gotten through about a half lb so far, and still have plenty left to go. At least another hp or more to trim this weekend. (dry tent conditions are stable and cold, 60% and 58°f, no worries about over drying or degradation.)

Anyways, smell is great and honestly smokes good right off the vine, not harsh and doesn't burn the throat. All of what has been in the grove bags has had their smell increase significantly as curing has begun. Several zips of the dro are already gone, with nothing but stellar reviews haha.

Dro still has a super skunky, gassy smell to it, but it has gotten more pungent and if the bud is in your pocket, it can be smelled across the room. It honestly has been so good right from dry that ive been smoking/moving bud right out of the cure bag quite literally from day 1!

The soil has more of a sweet, but dank, fruity smell. I actually have smoked/handled it the least, as it got trimmed first and I intend to let it cure as long as possible before breaking into it. (just because of the purp color and fruity terps, I really wamma let it develop)