Ortega pt II

[dankd]

was harvesting the mks and realized i forgot to take a picture : / instead is a picture of the harvest which totalled 98g which will keep me from having to buy weed for a few months

this second run of the mks instead of veg nutes straight through i switched to flower nutes after stretch and the plant yellowed way to early and totally with less turgid/healthy leaves. just by switching the pro mix 7-3-3 pellets with the 4-8-8. for now i will run just veg nute ratios and maybe (maybe) only add p and k for flower without dropping the n

so now on to the critical skunk hunt with a few mks and ortega mixed in (8 cs, 2 ortega, 2 mks). the freak show looking plant in the corner is the mks mom, the mom cupboard was too hot and i over watered it. i will change my containers in there from just sour cream containers to having them lined with burlap and twigs/stones to air prune the roots

 

[Ptree]

Very nice keeper MKS!!
The NL5Skunk have some pretty structure too !!
nice !!

 

[dankd]

i planted the rest of my seeds so now i'm 10 tegas down, plus 4 critical skunks (most mature in the picture) and my keeper mks (recovering in the bottom left corner) and one more mks

had to pull a few critical skunks for slow growth, but my seeds are four years old and i have a mini fridge which is not very consistent. also, the critical skunk seeds were borderline immature even though most sprouted

so i guess this is once again an ortega run with a few critical skunk and one new mks

 

[dankd]

guess i spoke too soon on the four critical skunks, this is only seven days later(!)

ortegas and the lone mks (bottom middle) so far have a typical urinal puck stem rub and similar wide leaf structure but the criticals have an irish spring (spicy soap) stem rub and more sativa-ish leaves

had to get rid of the keeper mks since it was not catching. lesson learned not to let the mother tent get too hot and also to change my potting materials

also, for the first time tried bending the sides out and watering down the sides of the bin instead of on top of the soil. the soil is formed in a square block so it is easy. game changer

 

[dankd]

the criticals are really growing fast wow, and considering they came from such small seeds. i chopped one so far and the mks, and a second critical which i kept in water and now i don't know if it is male. it cleared up some room in the bin and i can replant it though

also nice uniformity in all the plants. the ortegas have similar mild stem rubs scotch tapey urinal type smell and no bouquet. the criticals have more intense stem rubs with the urinal smell plus very perfumy. the tall one has a delicious skunk bouquet that i haven't smelled in ages and the other cat pee

 

[dankd]

glad i kept some of the plants i cut as the critical turned out to be female (top right corner) and also an ortega (tented). i definitely overplanted, but just wanted to plant my remaining seeds

so far it's three critical skunk and four ortega females with four more ortegas still to reveal. three ortegas that were planted late got overshadowed and are still seedlings with no preflowers so i might have to cut and flower them on the next run will see

i think watering down the sides of the bin really changed the overall health of the plants. usually my plants tap out going into flower and top dressing doesn't seem to help but now i put the fertilizer down the sides of the bin instead (along with the water) and they are staying healthy

 

[dankd]

really overgrowing the space now but in a good way especially the criticals. total is three critical skunk and seven ortega females. the two ortegas in the glass in the bottom left will have to wait for next run, one of them has a nice berry cheesecake stem smell

needed to flip already but just waiting on ortegas three, four and five to grow clones

 

[dankd]

had to flip today. held another ortega back for next run so will be flowering 3 critical skunk and 4 ortega and will have 3 more ortega for next run (to run along with my selection from this run) for a total of 10 plants/clones. also got the burlap going lining the planters in the clone cupboard so far so good




some flipping music

 

[Ray]

Good luck with the grow.
Good NL is still a medical favorite in my house.


peace

 

[dankd]

thanks ray, quite stoked that these are og nl genetics. ten days since flip and had to do a supercrop

 

[Diesel840]

quite stoked that these are og nl genetics

It's hard to get much more old-school genetics than with Shanti.

 

[dankd]

cooler temperatures have showed up so got the heater going. the canopy is at 27 ish degrees now. starting week three and the stretch is still going. will fertilize soon

 

[dankd]

a few hours after fertilizing yesterday the plants went into indefinite pray mode o_o

 

[dankd]

start of week five today and everything has good crystal coverage, critical skunk 1 and 2 with the most. still a general early bud smell on the plants. the closeup is of critical skunk 2 on the left and ortega 1 btw

ten clones in the cupboard including the three ortega that did not make it to flower on this run. one has a bunch of mushrooms growing in it (!?). i fertilized it and a few others a few weeks ago and only this one is growing mushrooms so (?)

 

[dankd]

some more zoomies

 

[dankd]

Start of week seven today and all plants are showing good crystal coverage. The closeup of the two buds is critical skunk 2 (left) and ortega 1. That critical and critical skunk 1 in the top right corner look identical, have the most dense crystal coverage, and will be ready in about one more week. For much of the grow the bouquet of the critical skunk 2 buds smelled like vinegary purel or some type of medical gel with some spicy skunk creeping in now.

Critical #3 looks like it will finish last at nine or more weeks. It has sativa like spear shaped colas, less crystal density though good crystal coverage, but super sticky and oily.

I can't reach the plants in the back but the resin on the criticals have a complex smell with varying amounts of pepper, bubblegum, baby poo, urinal puck. The ortegas will be finishing a bit later as well no less than eight weeks, and the one at the front right has a proper blueberry juice smell to the resin. I will reserve judgment until i get to sample the weed since there's no telling what will be what, but really hope this blueberry ortega turns into something. Other plants I've checked have a typical early cannabis bud/lavender smell to the resin.
Also reminder that there are three more ortegas in the cupboard that will be flowered on the next run : )

I have learned so much in the last few years with this setup and I think this grow (I always say this lol) looks to be the best yet. I think the buds are growing to their full potential now that everything is dialed in. Major pieces of the puzzle are now in place:

1. Optimized light levels thanks to the photone app (was using way too much light before),
2. Optimized canopy temps for led (rule: space heater from sep - april)
3. Optimized fertilizing now using 10-3-5 straight through for healthier greener plants up to harvest
4. Optimized watering now watering from the bottom of the soil mass and increasing the amount
5. Finally figured out cloning to where i would say it is 100% with minimal health loss to the clone. Put any sized healthy cutting in 2cm of water, changing every few days if possible. When iridescent bumps and/or roots appear, plant immediately in soil and tent with plastic bag. In a few days roots are growing and the plant looks just about like the day it was cut. Of the ten clones I took this run (one for each plant), all were in soil in about one week give or take, but one didn't show bumps for three weeks. It was then planted, rooted in a few days, and looked healthy like the day it was cut.

 

[dankd]

decided to get my cannabis content creator on haha