The Misadventures of Captain Sternn in the Cannaverse

[Captain Sternn]

I still need to install my starts, so no pics yet but they're coming. Your comments will be welcome and as I go along besides the grow I will inevitably share some anecdotes and commentary about things maybe not so closely related to my growing efforts. For example, the same day I went and got my starts from my friend, I woke up earlier than usual because my oldest dog was making yak noises in the hallway, and when she makes the noises, there's almost always yak. So I shot bolt upright in bed determined to save the day by getting her out before that happened, and both my eyes were stuck shut -l- smh fml ? Lots of pollen in the air and I had also been mowing the day before. Even though it's not catastrophic you still hate to start a day like that.

 

[Rozgreenburn]

So, are you strictly outdoors? You've got some good geography for it. Looking forward to following along!
Outdoors, for me, is just a place to finish out excess cuttings.
We have pollen issues no matter what. That's just a fact of life when you live in the forest. My wife's white truck looks yellow/green, and we must clean the windows before we drive away! At least I don't have neighbors, and therefore no random weed pollen!
Later bro,

 

[JL2G]

I still need to install my starts, so no pics yet but they're coming. Your comments will be welcome and as I go along besides the grow I will inevitably share some anecdotes and commentary about things maybe not so closely related to my growing efforts. For example, the same day I went and got my starts from my friend, I woke up earlier than usual because my oldest dog was making yak noises in the hallway, and when she makes the noises, there's almost always yak. So I shot bolt upright in bed determined to save the day by getting her out before that happened, and both my eyes were stuck shut -l- smh fml ? Lots of pollen in the air and I had also been mowing the day before. Even though it's not catastrophic you still hate to start a day like that.

But did you get the yak outside? Lol. ???
If you saved the day thats a great way to start the day mang. ???
Welcome to pH, looking forward to seeing the garden.

 

[Captain Sternn]

So, are you strictly outdoors? You've got some good geography for it. Looking forward to following along!
Outdoors, for me, is just a place to finish out excess cuttings.
We have pollen issues no matter what. That's just a fact of life when you live in the forest. My wife's white truck looks yellow/green, and we must clean the windows before we drive away! At least I don't have neighbors, and therefore no random weed pollen!
Later bro,

I get started indoors but I've never finished anything inside. They get cheap blurple lighting until I can get them out.

My wife and I had a lease lot on a small lake here for a few years, there were a lot of pines well conifers anyway. We were astonished at the amount of pollen they produced, it came down in showers.

 

[Captain Sternn]

But did you get the yak outside? Lol. ???
If you saved the day thats a great way to start the day mang. ???
Welcome to pH, looking forward to seeing the garden.

Mostly yeah just some drooly stuff but you really gotta snap to because she's addicted to cat crap and charcoal both. Once when she was more nimble she pulled a pound of butter off the stovetop one night after being left out of her kennel. It was bad lol so now if one of us hears that sound we get right after it.

 

[Captain Sternn]

I'll just go ahead and kick off with this kinda tepid pic of the autos. They can be moved to bigger pots for now, I hate to put them outdoors in the ground until they're established a bit better.

They all helmet headed which guarantees that before they break free on their own I will try to "help" them. The one in the middle went well. The one to the left well I got the seed case off ok but the papery husk around the cotylodons was still intact. I call this leatherhead and don't care much for it either but in this case I mustered the self-discipline to litfa. And then there's the one on the right, which I crushed pretty bad. It's got leaves now so ok but I sort of expect this one to be a real short bushy thing but who knows ? I've never damaged one that bad before, I don't know what it is but I can't leave helmet heads alone.

 

[Captain Sternn]

I've had my starts in the ground for several days and haven't posted on it, had a bad attitude, in fact I had to take a few days to think things over and ended up recommitting to the grow. It's the starts man, I'm just really disappointed in their condition. All badly rootbound and 3 of 5 badly deficient in everything. They appear to be flowering. I don't know if their light period got dicked up somewhere along the way ? My wife thinks it may be because they're so deficient that the flowering is a response to dying. I don't know if they will reveg or not.

So I just don't know where this season is going to go, but in all likelihood it will still end with me having sufficient quantity and quality of bud to get by until the end of next season. This is the last year I'm doing this shit. From here on what goes into my grow will be started by me. I can't stretch my own skills at growing and the plants themselves can't reach their own potential starting out like this. So here's the pics not very good ones, we'll see what happens.

On the right, near to far, Hindu Kush, Northern Lights, Forbidden Zkittles Raspberry Boogie
On the left Durban Poison and Hindu Kush

Hindu Kush biggest of the bunch. Has calcium deficiency

Northern Lights - aside from rootbound in decent shape

FSRB - A rootbound badly deficient sparse and stunted mess

Durban - NPK deficient and rootbound but it will be ok

Hindu Kush - rootbound otherwise ok


I'm not one to quit on a grow, or even a struggling plant, so I'm going to give it a go. Adding in 1 Durban from seed I have dunked now, and I'll bet now that it outruns all these.

 

[Captain Sternn]

Now it occurs to me that if they are flowering induced by stress, they're about as likely to herm as they are to reveg ? I'll def have to watch for it anyway. lol this is messed up, it's Memorial weekend and I'm not sure if I'm going to have a grow or not. There's probably still time to do fast versions from seed but that window is getting tight. Dammit.

 

[GthaEnigma]

What light schedule were you using to veg?? Sometimes too big a change in daylight hours is enough to induce flowering. I usually veg outdoor starts 16/8 to minimize this occurance. Hope things right themselves in time to save your season.

 

[Rozgreenburn]

What light schedule were you using to veg?? Sometimes too big a change in daylight hours is enough to induce flowering. I usually veg outdoor starts 16/8 to minimize this occurance. Hope things right themselves in time to save your season.

You beat me to it! A few years ago, I threw a handful of excess clones out in the woods. They were vegged at 18/6, and when they went out in early May. There was only about 14 hours of natural daylight at that time, and sure as hell, they all went into flower. 6 of 9 switched back into veg after another month. I don't grow much outdoors, so it took me a while to figure out what was going on. Good luck, good growing!

 

[Captain Sternn]

What light schedule were you using to veg?? Sometimes too big a change in daylight hours is enough to induce flowering. I usually veg outdoor starts 16/8 to minimize this occurance. Hope things right themselves in time to save your season.

They were in a room with windows getting indirectly the current daylight period about 14 hrs, going back about 3 weeks from now. On good days I set them out in shade to get acclimated and on days when that was no good I turned on a weak blurple to help them out. Before I got them like 3 weeks ago, I really don't know. My buddy had them in a dark corner of his shed with a weak fluorescent on them and I don't know if he was disciplined about the light period they were getting or not.

Another friend that got a couple from this bunch, those are flowering too so it's not only me. Right now my thought is that yeah it was likely induced by the light period being shortened too much too fast. The guy that started them probably had them at 18/6, I've seen his setup and he knows what he's doing. I'll just try to get their deficiencies handled and watch to see what happens. I think too I had better get 2 -3 going from seed as insurance. This operation has got wobbly wheels and they might straighten out or they might fly off lol but I'd hate to have to tell the people I give to that I have none to give. If I get at least 2 across the finish line the proceeds from that plus what I'm holding should carry things until the end of next years season.

 

[Willie]

Now it occurs to me that if they are flowering induced by stress, they're about as likely to herm as they are to reveg ? I'll def have to watch for it anyway. lol this is messed up, it's Memorial weekend and I'm not sure if I'm going to have a grow or not. There's probably still time to do fast versions from seed but that window is getting tight. Dammit.

You will still have a grow but the time it takes them to snap out of it costs you yield. Is there any way that you can run a cord and a couple of lights/timer?.......just to break up the dark on them.
June 1st here is 15 hour daylight. I have my tent at 15 hrs now.........but I will wait till probably the 2nd weekend in June. I got messed up last season for about 3 plants being out too early and then flowering. I would think about popping some fems/seeds in the ground right where these plants are right now, depending on your weed need situation.

 

[Captain Sternn]

You will still have a grow but the time it takes them to snap out of it costs you yield. Is there any way that you can run a cord and a couple of lights/timer?.......just to break up the dark on them.
June 1st here is 15 hour daylight. I have my tent at 15 hrs now.........but I will wait till probably the 2nd weekend in June. I got messed up last season for about 3 plants being out too early and then flowering. I would think about popping some fems/seeds in the ground right where these plants are right now, depending on your weed need situation.

Yah I've got a couple dunked as insurance. Those 5 will probably take care of me even at low yield I just use small amounts and give a lot away, so with 2 as an insurance policy should be fine.

I do have one theory on how this may have started. We had a tornado come through this area several weeks ago, it tore some shit up and killed a few people. My home town, where the clone starter lives, was without power for a few days and I bet that's what did it. Well in any case thanks guys, I'll soldier on with them and watch for herming just in case but low yield will be ok. This time. I could still check a box this year if any of it turns out to be better than any I've grown to date, but no record yields this year I guess. It should be interesting watching them sort themselves out.

 

[Captain Sternn]

Strange days around here. The insurance plants are doing fine, haven't got any pics of those yet. A new phenomenon turned up, something I can't say I've seen before and it affected my 5 already struggling with multiple issues clones, as well as tomatoes, ornamental stuff and plants that are growing naturally. I think we got kissed by some drifting crop spray and it was bound to happen sooner or later. They spray all around us.
This is the top of the Durban clone

Some of the tops are largely colorless, in other plants it manifests as colorless spots or light spots on leaves.

I got spoiled last year, I only grew like 4 and they were all healthy from go and finished with next to no problems from any diseases or pests and man that was nice lol. I'm throwing the nutes at my plants this year, in the past I have been conservative with feeding. They can handle more.

 

[GthaEnigma]

I think you may be correct on your assesment, that looks like when my neighbor decided to spray round up on mine over the fence.

 

[Captain Sternn]

The 2 Hindu Kush appear to have got back to veg, the Durban is almost there. These three are beginning to look a bit healthier also. The Northern Lights and FSRB are still in flower, and both look like hell. They're on life support. Growth in all of them has been stalled this whole time. It's not what I had envisioned for my 3rd year, but I'm trying to grab what learning I can from it as long as I'm stuck with it.

 

[Captain Sternn]

Off and on rain today, in between I got out and skinned the sod back away from some of them, and got pics.

The smaller Hindu Kush

Durban Poison

The bigger of the two Hindu Kush

Northern Lights - still in flower showing signs of going back to veg, and generally struggling to struggle

FSRB also on life support. To find the plant in this picture, find the stalk in the bare spot on the ground and go up 😆

Grape Cheese Auto by Jean-O's Genetics

Also Grape Cheese

Another Durban Poison, this one popped by me after the debacle with the starts I acquired


I also had a Blueberry Cheese auto that died. I had accidentally crushed it's head trying to help the seed hull off, it survived that but I then let it get too much sun. Had popped a photo Skunk but it died in infancy also. I popped 2 FastBuds Original Cheese auto's as well, they are still in dunk. Basically firing off everything I've got to fend off the unacceptable consequences of crop failure. These FB seeds are from my first purchase 2 years ago, I did not like them a lot, the first 2-3 I grew back then looked like weird mutants, did not make much and it wasn't exactly stellar stuff but since I was on my first grow it was probably me, so now in a time of need we'll try again.

Happy growing everybody, thanks for taking the time to look ✌️

 

[Captain Sternn]

Yesterday evening I spotted a wad of tangled leaves on the smaller HK, which is the healthiest of all these dubious starts I'm working with this year. As expected, a closer look revealed a bit of cottony crap and a caterpillar. *sighs* So it's going to be like that again, I had a fair bit of problems with pests my first year, I pitched about 2# of worm infested Alien over my shoulder while trimming.

So todays plan is to feed them, and spray a big batch of BT on them this evening, and probably neem another evening soon. And some other housekeeping chores in the patch maybe. I noticed the FSRB has grown trichs so I'm assuming it's just not going back to veg, the NL is almost there, both are tragically scrawny.

 

[GthaEnigma]

The backup durban is looking strong. The season is long and those sativas grow fast as hell once they get a solid root mass. What are you feeding with and how often??

 

[Captain Sternn]

The backup durban is looking strong. The season is long and those sativas grow fast as hell once they get a solid root mass. What are you feeding with and how often??

I use NPK salts 20-20-20 and later will do bloom salts roughly 10-50-10. Roughly every 5-7 days. Sometimes I have to let a feed wait for a bit because it's rained, and I like to let the roots have some dry time, had some pythium ? stalk rot in my first grow.

I decided that in the past I had been over conservative with fertilizing, last year I would have said 7-10 days. After watching how it goes for a couple years, it seems like they could handle more. My friends Durbans last year blew up pretty good sized, he pulls his water from the bottom of a small fish pond and boy the plants really seem to take to it, most of his girls get big.

So I'm more encouraged now than even a week ago. I'll do what I can to knock the worms down and go from there. I'm glad it's starting to be fun again there for a while it was just fml 😀