~ 3 weeks
Greetings and salutations, MNS trailblazers. No pics this week; I'll post pics at four weeks when there's more to see in the flower tent. That said, it's interesting to note the differences between the seed plants, still going strong outside my office window, and The Doors girls in the tent. The Doors D3 and D5, which surround the pollen-spewing male D4 outside, have still not started shooting pistils, while the rest of the outdoor girls have. In fact, they all have F2 seeds forming, particularly on the calyxes that are right next to the mainstem. They will all stay outside until the first frost, after which I will move them back and forth inside/outside until the buds, or at least the seeds, are ripe. The outdoor plants will be my primary source for F2 seed.
Meanwhile, back in the tent, they have all formed nice small buds, even D3 and D5, and are revealing their structure. Resin production and aromas are still mild except for D2, the broader-leaf NL5 leaner that is obviously faster than the rest of the girls; she is making impressive resin at 2.5 weeks. The stretch seems to be well under control, perhaps too well. The tallest plants are D1 and D3 at about 32", then D5, D7 and D10 at about 28'. I still have a lot of overhead room in the tent, and it looks like the canopy will be at least 6" lower than I would have expected for haze hybrids. In hindsight I should've vegged these plants for a few more days or maybe used larger pots, because my yield will be far less than I hoped if these plants don't stretch another foot or so in the next 10 days. I think Shanti may have bred a lot of the stretch out of the rock-n-roll series.
I just re-set the lights to 11/13, and will continue to feed them Jack's 3-2-1 at pH 6.2 and about 550 ppm through the stretch for another week or so at which time I will dial back the nitrogen to something like 3-1-1. Coming up on three years of growing and I'm still learning how to grow hazes, and hope to be able to avoid burned calyx and leaf tips this grow. D1 is clearly the most nute-sensitive girl and her meager requirements dictate what the rest of the girls get, which is no more than 600 ppm.
i would say that in a hybrid with something like haze and NL5 and skunk, flower time of the male has little to do with anything other than flower time of that male.
it will still be a roll of the dice as to what other traits he will pass on.
ideally, he could have very haze-like traits for everything except flower time, and maybe bud density/formation.
but would you be that lucky?
if not, there will be more of the NL5 and skunk influence.
not necessarily a bad thing.
I agree. The only way to tell will be to progeny test the F2s, which I plan to do.
Aloha braddah!
My thinking (and limited experience lol) is that it makes sense to grow the males out to better assess their abilities. While maturity is an important factor, plant structure, resin production, smell, taste, etc. are IME other considerations as they do add to the mix. It necessitates growing and comparing many males within the chosen strain to determine who is best suited for your daughter's (selected female) hand. It doubles the work and requires enormous amounts of time to do it right esp. with the sativas. At least that was the continual challenge I bumped up against. For a while I was alternating female and male grows. All in pursuit of the one lol.
That's what brought me here. Best to start with the best, mostly unaldulterated seed. Of course lately I have decided that much of what I grow and smoke from the MNS stables (staples ha), as it is, has been just fine with me. It provides variety, even within the phenotypes, for a guy who regularly gets bored smoking the same variety and maintaining the same level of high. I have really been enjoying the CBD versions of late because I don't get so wrecked that my day is a throw-away but I still am able to relieve the tension and pain. However, I continue my hobby with passion similar to my braddah Marcus because what else is there to do that is so gratifying? Great job, Marcus!
Agreed, Musashi, there are few things more gratifying than growing, selecting, breeding and enjoying fine MNS herb. One of those few things is testing orgasm synesthesia effects of primo 20-week punto rojo.
These are some long, tall ladies. I can't wait to see colas on them. I think the doors has a distinct spiraling of buds up the stem like a bull kudu horn. Interesting to compare the doors to angels breathe... possibly the same mom, right?
Good to see you Fish! So far the buds on The Doors look pretty normal but I think I can see hints of that spiraling bud structure starting to develop on a couple. Only Shanti knows if it's the same mom as AB, but I doubt it because The Doors is stated to use an NL5HzC mom versus the mango haze mom used for Angel's Breathe. I do happen to have a small clone of my AB F2 #5 keeper outside amongst The Doors and it is already seeded by D4, so I'll have that cross to play with. Several of the more sativa-leaning The Doors girls will get hit with punto rojo pollen in October/November, and those 75% sativa crosses should be spectacular.