In Search Of Monsters

[McMan]

Utilizing the latest evidence and investigations, this series promises to present new information in a hunt for the truth about infamous, iconic monsters and their origins. It features eyewitness accounts and all-new stories while unveiling eye-opening theories about these nightmarish beasts.

 

Wowzers what an intro! I'm intrigued if I may say so myself. That, however, is actually the description from IMDB for the TV program In Search Of Monsters but it seems appropriate here.

 

I'm looking to grow a monster of a tree that could serve as a Christmas tree at the end of the year if things go well. This journal will document the journey. 

 

So the game plan is to take one of the Tortoni clones in the veg tent outside when the sun comes around in Spring, with a headstart into veg. End goal is a 200L pot and have 10L, 15L, 20L, 30L and 80L options to get me there. 80L is the biggest I've grown in so this could/should be a personal best for me in terms of growing a tree, especially with the headstart. 

 

In the veg tent, we have our clones:

12 Tortoni's - I took 6 cuttings each from Tortoni #1 & #3 from the 2021 indoor grow-off. Despite my noobness at cloning and it getting pretty cold at times I somehow have all 12 cuts alive, albeit to varying degrees of strength. I'll take that as a win, and beginners luck but I'm sure it actually has a lot to do with working with quality material.

Something about these @Totemicgenetics having an incredibly strong desire to live - kudos where it is due

Biggest plant you see here at the moment, right-centre in this pic is a Critical Churchill seed I had left lying around. The rest are the Tortoni clones. Those 3 in black single plastic pots in the tray were the first to root and are clearly the most developed of the clones at this point.

 

But that's where we are starting from and going to. Thank you in advance to anyone who offers their insights, tips and suggestions 

 

Edited August 4, 2021 by McMan
Grammar correction are/were

[West Coast Vaper]

Utilizing the latest evidence and investigations, this series promises to present new information in a hunt for the truth about infamous, iconic monsters and their origins. It features eyewitness accounts and all-new stories while unveiling eye-opening theories about these nightmarish beasts.
 
Wowzers what an intro! I'm intrigued if I may say so myself. That, however, is actually the description from IMDB for the TV program In Search Of Monsters but it seems appropriate here.
 
I'm looking to grow a monster of a tree that could serve as a Christmas tree at the end of the year if things go well. This journal will document the journey. 
 
So the game plan is to take one of the Tortoni clones in the veg tent outside when the sun comes around in Spring, with a headstart into veg. End goal is a 200L pot and have 10L, 15L, 20L, 30L and 80L options to get me there. 80L is the biggest I've grown in so this could/should be a personal best for me in terms of growing a tree, especially with the headstart. 
 
In the veg tent, we have our clones:
12 Tortoni's - I took 6 cuttings each from Tortoni #1 & #3 from the 2021 indoor grow-off. Despite my noobness at cloning and it getting pretty cold at times I somehow have all 12 cuts alive, albeit to varying degrees of strength. I'll take that as a win, and beginners luck but I'm sure it actually has a lot to do with working with quality material.
Something about these @Totemicgenetics having an incredibly strong desire to live - kudos where it is due
Biggest plant you see here at the moment, right-centre in this pic is a Critical Churchill seed I had left lying around. The rest are the Tortoni clones. Those 3 in black single plastic pots in the tray were the first to root and are clearly the most developed of the clones at this point.

 
But that's where we are starting from and going to. Thank you in advance to anyone who offers their insights, tips and suggestions 
 

What The FCUK?
T1 & T2 clones busy rooting my side for the sole purpose of being planted into 100l boxes in the shade house.
To be honest, the Tortoni might have to fight for their space against the Haunted Kush Cake seeds left over from a previous grow.

Looking forward to this summer doing a rerun on a variety of @Bay Seeds , @Totemic and @Daggafontein Genetics as part of my apprenticeship.
Seeds were leftovers from previous test grows with no training in 10l pots.
Going 20l plus this year with training.
Hold thumbs.

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[Pants]

For big trees check the Mendo Dope stuff on YouTube. They veg 2+ months indoors before season.

#Growers of trees”


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[McMan]

I noticed a familiar logo on some shelves in a store and figured why not support a fellow comrade from the 2021 Indoor Grow off - @mantis and "bring a little luck into my grow" with 3 Mantis pots which 3 of the stronger clones have moved into. 

 

The furniture got rearranged

[Naughty.Psychonaut]

fokken naaaas boet  

am I tripping or is that duct coming right through the qb? 

if you got a christmas tree by Dec, you gona sit with roughly another 5 to 6 months before the outdoor flower season starts. by that time you should have the 200L pot fully grown in. which would probably be just too big to flower her inside. and outside will be bit of a stretch unless you give her an even bigger pot or go straight into the ground to push her through till outdoor flower cycle starts then grow a 2kilo plant hahahah

[McMan]

6 hours ago, Naughty.Psychonaut said:

am I tripping or is that duct coming right through the qb? 

Sir, I can neither confirm nor deny the possibility that you are in-fact tripping balls (may the odds forever be in your favour)... but yes that is indeed ducting coming through the light/between the lights intake fan sending fresh air onto the plants. Small oscillating fan bottom right out of frame to circulate air back up to the extraction fan at the top left.

6 hours ago, Naughty.Psychonaut said:

outside will be bit of a stretch unless you give her an even bigger pot or go straight into the ground to push her through till outdoor flower cycle starts then grow a 2kilo plant

Hmm... very good point... so you say an even bigger pot??? I will have to search far and wide... and also apply for a small bond to finance the soil

 

[McMan]

Been a while since I posted an update here- nothing too exciting but things are progressing along. Potted up since my last post here.

So far the plants that are top middle and bang centre are looking like the front runners to be the chosen one for project Xmas tree  

The bare looking pots on the outskirts are coriander and dill which should sprout any day now... trying out some companion planting which benefit the plants and I can also use as herbs for cooking   Alfafa mulch has been added to the arsenal. Never mulched cannabis before but what better time to start than now, right? Always levelling up, or at least trying to!

Gave a clone to a fellow growmie to spread the Totemic love and culled some stragglers which were forming new growth but just too slowly for my liking and with bigger pots, space under this light is limited. Decisions were made. 

 

 

[Pants]

Got a feeling this is going to be a grow to follow


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[SkunkPharm]

Can you plant into the ground?

[McMan]

40 minutes ago, SkunkPharm said:

Can you plant into the ground?

Unfortunately not. My outside space is full on astro turf and while there are a few garden beds the best spot for max sun ray collection is in the middle away from walls. So I typically give my outdoor ladies a seat or even a table to sit on out in the open away from shade - found a pic from my last outdoor run as an example.

 

 

[PsyCLown]

 

Nice that you give them a chair, far more comfortable compared to the hard, cold, ground.

Last season looked good, obviously may need to water more often with them being outside, but I am sure you are aware of this.

 

Cannot wait to see these monsters!  

 

[Pants]

Why are you not showing off what you can do?

Or should I ?


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[McMan]

14 minutes ago, Pants said:

Why are you not showing off what you can do?

Or should I ?


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Me? Lol show us. I also want to see now.

 

[McMan]

4 hours ago, PsyCLown said:

Nice that you give them a chair, far more comfortable compared to the hard, cold, ground.

Last season looked good, obviously may need to water more often with them being outside, but I am sure you are aware of this.

 

Cannot wait to see these monsters!  

The extra height saves strain on my back when gawking at them daily and also helps lower the risk of damage when the gremlins are playing outside unsupervised. At least CCTV is there to record any crimes that may take place for what that's worth

Thanks for heads up on the watering... First time I'll be taking a plant from indoor to outdoor but yeah would make sense that they will work through water at a faster rate outside.

I've been thinking of approaching the transition to outside slowly. When days are a bit warmer I'll start taking the plants outside and then bring them back inside overnight. Do that for a week or 2 and then leave them out in the wild for good.

This approach of bringing the plants in and out of the veg tent makes me a bit wary of bringing goggas into my tent - hence companion plants and buddi spray(s) are part of the preventative plan. 

[Pants]

There was this one you shared



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[McMan]

There was this one you shared



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Ha yeah that was from an even tighter space to manage sun exposure but that is currently the biggest plant I have grown so far. Had to go dig up a charger for an old phone to find these photos




I've also dabbled with the Xmas tree idea before but we going a bit bigger this time  

[McMan]

Got a few updates for project tree:

So I'm planning on taking these 2 outside by end of the month. I took then outside for some sun the other day but the wind is quite savage compared to the oscillating fan in the tent they survived the beating but I will look to supplement silica to strengthen stems soon (gonna need strong stems to hold up all the tinsel and decor anyway). Since plants in flowering tent have been harvested, veg plants moved in there to benefit from the stronger light. Took the opportunity to pot-up the 2 plants for project tree to 30L pots. 

Before pot-up:

 

 

Pot-up to 30L Orgasoilux and mycaroot fungi 

I dropped some red clover, dill and coriander seeds in some worm castings around the plants for cover crops for the next 5-6 weeks before I expect to pot-up again. I'll try and transfer as much cover crop as possible when I transplant but I will just plant more seeds if I rough them up too much. 

The plant that is top centre in the pic above will go to 200L and I'm not going to top at all - want the Xmas tree shape. The plant in top left will go to 80L and I'm going to top a bit once I'm confident that the plant in the bigger pot has settled well after transplant, otherwise this will be plan B for the Xmas tree.

Gave all the plants a spray of buddi all rounder. So far I have been giving them liquid gold microbes, activera and based on the recommendation of @Prom - Canna Pro Amino Boost, the most recent addition to my toolkit.

So quick visual recap of the adventure so far:

 

[Weskush]

Now that's my style of growing. Baie mooi 

[Weskush]

I will be joining you brother

 

[McMan]

39 minutes ago, Weskush said:

 

 

Very exciting! Laying a very solid foundation

 

How big is this pot and have you grown in it before? If yes, how did the plant look at the end?

 

Are you letting your soil cook there?

 

 

Edited September 14, 2021 by McMan

[Weskush]

Howzit man...Mcman! Previous grows i used 20L fabric pots which provided me with just shy of 6ft plants.

This time round i got a Maxigrow 100L from Organics Matter and it is lekker sizey! Made my own supersoil from Subcool's Super Soil recipe inspired and added some extras. It's been cooking under a tarp for 2 months with bi-weekly tilling and put in their containers today with some cover crop and Alfalfa mulch. Will germinate seeds soon and planning on transplanting around October.

The grow bed took about 200L soil. The plan is to selectively grow Durban Poison(GSR) and a White Afghan Skunk, gifted to me by @John Stonedwell.

Maybe a RQS Critical will also get a spot. 

[McMan]

 Full house  good thing other tent will be available again soon. 

This weekend the trees-to-be in the back got slight alfalfa mulch island top ups and diatomaceous earth around the stem. Also did some slight defoilation of inner and lower branches. They got some time in the sun outside on Saturday but rearranging the whole tent to get them in and out is a mission yoh it will be easier once some other plants move to the other tent soon and there is more space.

This week, they have been fed with Amino boost, very light dose of fish mix, microbes, activera and k50 for silica.

 

[SkunkPharm]

On 9/3/2021 at 9:20 AM, McMan said:

Unfortunately not. My outside space is full on astro turf and while there are a few garden beds the best spot for max sun ray collection is in the middle away from walls. So I typically give my outdoor ladies a seat or even a table to sit on out in the open away from shade - found a pic from my last outdoor run as an example.

 

 

I hope this post is not to late. Please look at this video. I really think it’s the way to go if you want to grow monsters.
 

 

 

 

[McMan]

45 minutes ago, SkunkPharm said:

I hope this post is not to late. Please look at this video. I really think it’s the way to go if you want to grow monsters.
 

 

 

 

I'm 25mins into this video and it's incredibly informative, thank you! Looks like my lazy ass approach of just filling a pot with soil out the bag needs to be refined a little bit. Appreciate the share will use these lessons when repotting to the bigger and final pots. 

Getting comfortable now so I can watch the rest of the video

[Weskush]

Can't wait to watch this full video.

Watched the beginning and it is very interesting to hear about the part where he mentioned the inner lining of the fabric pot that prevents the sides from becoming hydrophobic.

I was led to believe that fabric pots create the optimal environment for roots and soil health and this is the same fabric pots that everyone uses (without the inner lining). 

Is he trying to punt his fabric pot "system" or are the fabric pots that we know actually flawed..?

Lots of controversial methods being used here eg. gravel at the bottom of the pot etc.

 

Edited September 20, 2021 by Weskush