Firstly, this is not really all greenhouse - as they are going to be in pots they will be in garden as well on good days.

So I popped 5 Blue Cheese Fems mid March - I haven't watered them too much so they wouldnt get too leggy as there are no artificial lights - just greenhouse which has been bubble-plastic for warmth and stealth.

Also got 10 dwarf autos popped - got 11 sprouts from 10 seeds - but two got eaten by a snail. So left with 9 - one looks really naff - funny shaped leaves - probably won;t amount to anything - but keeping it for the time being. So there are 8 OK looking ones - 2 runts and the rest in different sizes. I have been potting on as I would normally - but I also read here that someone said you have to pot autos straight into their final pot - wasnt sure - so tried it and potted one of them in a 2 litre pot (not necessary the final size but just much larger than the others). Over the last couple of days they have been moved from greenhouse into a small plastic zip up one - leaving the zips open so they don;'t get too hot or grow too tall. (obviously as there is only natural light, they will be a bit leggy anyway). No roots are poking from bottom yet - but I will probably repot next week as they have put on a good size in the leaves over the last couple of days.

First pic shows Blue Cheese in square pots 13cm - with 1 auto in round pot.

Click to view attachment

Next is the autos in smaller pots

Click to view attachment

Auto in 2ltr pot

Click to view attachment

This is my 3rd "grow" - using the term loosely here as the last two have been bagseed - first one was absolute rubbish - picked too soon - last one was better cos I got to know you guys when I was half way through. So by law of averages, this one should be better still as I got you with me from the beginning this time

I was also sent 5 freebie seeds - although they were not labelled - so have just popped them a couple of days ago - have also sown 4 Thai seeds given to me by a mate - but might have to force them when they are smaller as I have read they take the longest to finish

So this is the start of my grow for 2009

SL

nioce, how early do you reckon you could force that thia ?

And here's a pic of them in the plastic greenhouse

Click to view attachment


They are a bit leggy still - but I am not worried will plant them deeper next pot up - the stems are quite sturdy.

Four out of the 5 freebies have popped - and as of this morning they are in their own small pots in a propagator in the greenhouse.

Click to view attachment

Fredman - Re the Thai - well they haven't popped yet - and to be honest, I am not quite sure what I am going to do with them - all I know is that I can not cope with a big sat that takes 12 weeks to finish !!! My plan is (if and when they pop and there are any fems) - once it gets to a good size - after an early topping - I will put them away in the shed (as I think Leroy did with his last year June or July time depending on their size) for a couple of weeks to induce flowering - same as giving them 12/12 - and I will accept a smaller yield - just for the taste. - But of course like all plans ...... who knows ??

SL

Looking good S L like you 3rd grow,so 3rd time lucky,i will be keeping an eye on your grow has its the same has mine good luck..........Tom

Not much to update - everything growing nicely with the fantastic weather we have had for the last week - one of the autos has begun flowering I think. The flowering one is the one that went straight into 2l pot rather than potting up gradually (not sure if that has any bearing) - unfortunately, because I can only give natural light, this plant has not had a chance to bush up at all, so not expecting anything great - so long as I get a smoke (even an eighth) I am happy - smells good already. Hindsight - I have probably sown these autos too early - but they are only a tide-over experiment while waiting for my BC girls.

3 out of 4 Thai's have popped - these were extra large seeds from my mate - they are chunky even though they have just popped their first leaves - the "freebies" from my seed shop in contrast were tiny seeds - and are spindly with small leaves.

Here's pic of the auto that I think is flowering - though no pistils visible - and please don't tell me it's a male

Click to view attachment

Shite weather today - cold and rainy - gonna be the same here tomorrow.

SL

Almost certain it's a male I'm afraid. I'm only on my first grow but the first thing I saw on my girls was the pistils. They are just visible as tiny hairs before the calyx is visible to the eye. Those definitely look like pollen sacks to me, but maybe someone with more experience will disagree. Good luck with the rest of them.

OK No Prbs - thanks Net - a good thing it is male then as it is too small to be flowering anyways.

SL

Good luck, I'm growing blue cheese at the moment, it's indica dominant

Cheers Oldman, good luck to you too - yep - I wanted indica - says on the packet it finishes end of September outside too which was the added bonus - short stocky plants with lots of branches

Where you growing yours ? I am planning on mostly in the garden, in pots so I can move them about and into greenhouse on rainy days - hoping there won't be too many of those


SL

I'm growing mine under a 250w hps indoors but i might take a cutting and plant outdoors.

I'm also pretty sure it's a male.

That bad-boy needs binned pronto mate before it starts leaving pollen around.

I have been enjoying your thread, apart from this setback everything else seems to be coming along nicely, I hope it continues to do so.




Rainman

Thanks Rainman - yep - he has already been removed from the rest of them - (not sure if I want to be saving any of the pollen - if that is possible - as peeps on here seem to be talking alot about making seeds from their auto's/lr's - hmmm Auto x Blue Cheese ???)

Thanks for your interest, I am watching your grow as well (as I did last year too) - Good Luck - hope all goes well for us all.

SL

I'm also trying to collect some pollen for seeds, however it's a bit tricky to seperate the male off with an outdoor grow. Mine is at the far end of the garden with a bag over his head with a few holes in it . There is plenty of info in the knowledge base about collecting pollen if you fancy giving it a go.

From what I've read if you cross a LR with a non-auto strain it is likely it will be an unstable hybrid and if what I've been told is right it may well not autoflower as the autoflowering gene is recessive. IMHO unless you really know what you're doing it's probably better not to cross autos and non-autos, but you could always give it a try and see what happens. I'd certainly be interested to see the results.

Good luck with the growing, lets hope April is a taste of what the summer is going to be like

Net, I am nowhere near competent or knowledgeable enough to do any proper cross breeding - anything genetic just goes over my head - (I can't even tell the difference between male and female too well ) though it might be nice to maybe get a few more autos to sow later in summer though - but the thought of an early finishing BC would still be good to me - even if it is impossible Hmmmm!!


SL

some fine blue cheese youve got there mate
Best of luck, will be watching this thread!

let us know how the force flowering goes too mate

Any chance of an update and some pics, looking forward to seeing how your babies are coming along.

Fredman - Re the Thai - well they haven't popped yet - and to be honest, I am not quite sure what I am going to do with them - all I know is that I can not cope with a big sat that takes 12 weeks to finish !!!


ive had thai plants take 20+ weeks to finish and are still not really ready so outdoors in the uk i recon you got no chance of finishing them unless you force flower from like 3 weeks
peace

"ive had thai plants take 20+ weeks to finish and are still not really ready so outdoors in the uk i recon you got no chance of finishing them unless you force flower from like 3 weeks
peace kaosisallwesee"

Yep - I will probably fail miserably if they take 20 weeks - I got them off a mate - He says Thai - but bagseed nonetheless. The seeds were big and fat and dark brown - 3 have popped out of 4 sown. Just doing them for him really - hoping one is a girl - and I will just do my best - He knows not to expect miracles.



Well my babies are slowly growing and looking healthy. Two more autos are flowering (tiny pistils seen under eyeglass) - but again they have not put on enough veg so the yield will be minimal. A mate came and said he thought the first one to flower might be a female - seems like it has gone straight to budding without pistils he says - Is this possible? Not sure - still got it isolated just in case.

First is the 4 BC girls (the 5th is a runt) They are in 3l pots at the moment -

Click to view attachment

next 2 flowering dwarf autos - you can see they have not bushed at all - so who knows what they will yield - not a lot

Click to view attachment Click to view attachment


SL

And the rest of the autos - not showing yet - small

Click to view attachment


SL

Looking good SL, all the plants look nice and healthy, I'm keen to see how your blue cheese get on.

Looks like the autos are going fairly slow but I'm reckon they'll build up as they start to get going with the flowering, especially as the days are getting warmer and longer. Are you gonna start any more autos to catch the rays in June and July?

E2A: The long range forecast is looking very promising

Thanks for your comments Net - tbh - it has crossed my mind to get some other autos in for the summer sunshine - even went as far as putting 3 Easy Ryder Fem seeds in my online basket (LR2 x AK47) - but then until I know that these autos are suitable for growing in natural light only I think I will stick with what I have on the go at the moment. Was only looking at the autos as a bit of a smoke for August time.

Still got 4(5) free seedlings that were sent with my order though unlabelled - as well as my 4(5) BC and of course the 3 "thai" which probably won't do too much. So that is probably enough for me for this year in my garden.

SL

Just a quick update

got 2 fem autos - 4 male so far - one of the runts died this morning - So now I got 2 left - one looks fem I hope - and the last one is another runt.

So overall, if I get 2g off each 2 females I have covered my outlay - anything more is a bonus. Ounce of decent bud here at the moment is £190 .

One of my BC girls had a curled leaf - magnifyer inspection underneath showed something green with a black eye. Sprayed with a bug killer for fruit and veg - which I normally keep for inside greenhouse use - Ordered some neem.

Pics of my BC girls

First one is short and bushing at leaf joints -
Click to view attachment

Next one is a bit more stretched and I will probably top this
Click to view attachment

No 3 is another shorter one
Click to view attachment

SL

continued .....

and the fourth one - you can see pest damage to a couple of leaves
Click to view attachment

The final one - and the smallest - but it seems to be recovering from the snail attack when it was little
Click to view attachment

This next one is the last auto (apart from the tiny runt) - I am hoping it is a girl
Click to view attachment

So that's all for now - the 2 female autos are still small pistils - so will photograph IF and when they get bigger

Thanks for looking

SL

Thanks for the pics SL, sorry to hear you've got so many males amongst your autos, hope that last one is girl for you. All coming on nicely and looking healthy still, hope ou've managed to fry thst wee basterd on your BC. Shame about the snail damage too, do you have any protection against them, I have two of those traps that you put beer in (£1.99 for two in Aldi) and they seem to collect lots of slugs and snails

Cheers Net - yep only 2 auto fems is a bummer - and the last 2 still not showing - although not a problem cos if they are female at least they gettin more veg time. Next time will get fem seeds and sow later.

BC girlies still doing well - though the pest damaged one is looking a bit sorry for itself at the moment - waiting for the neem to arrive and I have noticed through the looking glass that there are some tiny black bugs on the auto's stems - only a couple - just black bodies with legs - and to the naked eye they look like a speck of dirt much smaller than a full stop . Have been spraying with water - but they are stuck tight. Will probably put them in the greenhouse overnight and spray with the veggie instant pest killer (not systemic so it can be sprayed off)

I have had to put down snail pellets - I use the growing success ones - organic I think ? - makes the snails hide first and they stop eating - bit like the neem stuff. Safe for wildlife and pets.

SL

Too small to squish with your fingers? That's my favourite organic way of clearing up pests when they're caught early

shame to hear about the 2fems but that always seem the way with lowryders/crosses hope i get more then 2fems. anyway that first cross is deff a male. why not let your male seed your fems then you will have more seeds to try again this year.

Weedi - I have kept back one of the males - up the other end of the garden in the greenhouse - it's not ready for pollen yet - but I might try to save a bit just for a bit of fun to see what happens

Net - I have squashed a couple with fingers - but these are bloody minute can only be seen as tiny in my eyeglass. Need to look up what they are - offspring of black fly maybe cos I squashed a couple of them the other day ??

Have sprayed one of them (non-flowerer).

On a sadder note - the pest-attacked BC is looking very droopy tonight - prob going to lose it.

All the BC's have roots faintly showing at bottom of pot - will pot up to final pots next week once they have filled the pots a bit more - got large buckets/waste bins - not sure of size - need to measure them.

SL

will keep an eye on this thread, to see how they yield. matey is now finishing some blue cheese indoors, loads of budsites, loads of resin, dense bud... but i still dont think the per plant yield will be that great.

looks like good smoke, the hydro stuff ive smoked has been ruthless.

Thanks for looking - yes these plants are described as stocky with side branches - indica - which for stealth is great as I hope they will mingle in with my existing garden shrubs

I too have smoked this a while back - a mate had some - it was effin' LETHAL

I got just over a couple oz from 2 bagseed last year - grown in 3litre pots (yep - I know - 3litre wtf ??? found this site too late) - this year I have 15litre buckets to finish them in - so I am hoping for something a bit better than last year - and would prefer quality over quanity - and if it turns out half as good as what I smoked - I will be well happy.

Let me know your mate's final weight if poss so I have some idea what to expect.

Update today, the last 2 autos were male as well - so 2 out of 10 for me. The larger female auto is bushing up a bit now - got her in final 11litre (ish) pot.

I topped the tallest BC today - it wasn't branching like the others - and I have also read that blueberry responds well to topping - so we shall see. I will probably move them up to their final buckets middle next week.

Here are the 4 BC a couple of days ago

Click to view attachment

SL

The BC look like they are coming along realy nicely, hope you get some nice side gorwth on the topped one soon.

Really sorry to hear about you lack of girlies in the autos, makes me feel very lucky to have got my five. An chance we can see how they're coming along?

Update - I repotted the 4 large BC yesterday - roots were filling the 3litre pot - they are now in 15 litre-ish buckets with slow release/water gel - planted in Homebase multi-compost - as they have been from the start.

Roots - quite dry - gave them a good watering once they were in their finals

Click to view attachment

One of these four has been badly attacked by black/green fly - leaves are badly curled - which wasn't helped when I squished them and man-handled the leaves - I also topped it. High winds here a couple of days ago battered it a bit more - so I have moved it into the greenhouse - to get a bit of protection - out of full sun - looking a bit perkier today.

The runty BC is now coming along - though still much smaller than the others

So now to the 2 autos - the big girl is doing well - will probably be a single cola but there are small buds down the stem on the leaf joints. Likewise the smaller one - though showing more pistils -

First pic - big girl - sorry not too clear - will get better ones second pic li'l girl showing pistils

Click to view attachment Click to view attachment

Needing some Bank Holiday Sunshine

SL

hey there, what a great read!
I have found it very useful, thank you very much.
I am beginning this season. might even do BC! outdoors, think this will work?
just a couple of questions where i became confused,,, the freebies you popped, and you put them under cling-film, is this for the same reason people put half a coke bottle over their baby plants?
also sorry to hear about the Autos, but what do you mean by you should of 'sown' your seeds later. I think that using the pollen on one of the female plants sounds like a good idea, why not eh!?
well good luck with your grow i will be watching!

Hi Ombudsman - thanks for stopping by - sorry if any of my comments were not clear - bearing in mind I am still learning myself

To clarify - where the unlabelled free seeds were pictured under cling film - that is how I sow my seeds (as I do all other garden seeds) - in a container - covered in clingfilm - until they pop and grow a bit - then they are transplanted to pots - once in the pots, then the half-pop bottle comes into use - to give a bit of protection.

Also, when I said I should have sown the autos later - meant that the light would have been better (longer daylight hours) - they would have had more chance to bush up before going into automatic flowering perhaps.

At the moment I have my BC girls out in the garden in large pots (they have been out for weeks now) and plan to leave them there throughout the Summer. They grow short and bushy, finishing outdoors end of September (give or take a couple of weeks I suppose) - so I see no reason they shouldn't do well outside as they have stood a bit of colder weather here.

SL

No worries I owe ganja hobbit for telling me about it!
Ok cool, cling-film sounds like a good idea, cheers, i now understand how the coke bottles get used.
I might have to get some dwarfs, first time i saw em' was in in a magazine, made it look like they could only be done indoors, but looking at this thread they don't look so hard at all! Blue Cheese, Im pretty sure in my mind that it's going to be BC instead of Biddy Early, tough decision, they are both so beautiful looking.
well, i need to stop talking and start sowing
good luck with the rest, i'll be watching

The root ball on that BC looks great, hope you don't have any more trouble with pests.

K Guys - latest update - my BC girls got munched to f*ck as I had to hide them when I had visitors to my garden for a few days (they know I smoke but not that I grow - not that they care - but there's no need to tell them as they don't smoke ) Anyways - I sprayed with garden veg spray - non systemic - with that and winds/hot hot sun a lot of the larger fan leaves are damaged - Now I got Neem - have given a couple of sprays (every Sunday) and all the new growth is looking healthy and back to normal .

Now the autos - the two are completely different. The larger one has not had many pistils, just sort of chunky nugs - but this last couple of days these nugs have sprouted - now there are lots of pistils showing - very leafy ratio on the top cola so far. Not very bushy apart from two branches at the bottom. Been flowering just over 3 weeks - so got another 3 weeks to go at least maybe - whenever they ready. Here is an up-pic.

Click to view attachment


The other auto has bushed out a bit more with small branches and lots of pistils. Flowered a few days later than the big girl. Not so leafy.

Click to view attachment

Have given them a couple drinks of molasses (actually black treacle diluted) - and a feed of tomato food. At present they are in the doorway of the greenhouse out of the rain showers here today.

So far I am happy

SL

Yep - I am looking forward to these autos finishing and hope they are a decent smoke

They are smelling nice - both look and smell completely different - but not stinking - inside greenhouse they smell more than they do when they are outside.

Looked back on this thread and realised they were flowering on 1st May - so they have been flowering for 5 weeks (not 4 as I said). Aren't they supposed to finish 5-7 weeks ? We shall see. Trichs are mostly cloudy - no amber yet.

Here are today's pics of the tops. First the biggest one - tight and leafy

Click to view attachment

And the other

Click to view attachment

My LR2's look very similar to yours but mine have more bud than yours. The ones I've got looked like yours about two weeks ago but have really put some growth on. I suspect yours will bush out a lot more yet. Mine are now 9 weeks though! 60 days my arse Good luck!

Thanks for your post - glad to hear they will be bushing up a bit more yet - I wasnt expecting them to finish when they say - but 9 weeks ?? Hmmmm !! - Still - they finish when they finish I suppose You got any pics of yours ?

Are you doing Barney's BC as well - are you growing outside too ?

Good luck

SL

I'll try and get a pic for u tomorrow so u can see what to expect. I'm starting to wonder if it will ever finish Yeah I got a couple of BF blue cheese too but they're only a week old and one is going in the greenhouse and one guerilla stylee. I might try and do a diary too but haven't had a chance to do the pics yet. Had good itentions to do it today but the rain is evil! Anyway hope yours goes well and you get looooooooooads of good smoke

From what I've seen so far with mine you still have a bit of a wait on on your hands but the buds should develop a lot more during this time. Also as I understand you won't get true amber trichs on your LRs, the cloudy ones will oxidise to brown but only when the plant is over ripe (unless you want real couch lock). Hope they've been coming on nicely over the weekend.

Cheers Net - you answered a question I was going to ask about the Trichs turning amber.

So - this leads to the next question - if I dont take notice of the trichs then how can I tell when they are done ?

So far they are just over 5 weeks flowering - I am taking no notice of the 5-7 weeks flowering times given for autos especially as I am growing outside, no artificial lights at all.

But what do I look for ? 90% dead pistils ?

They can take as long as they need. No rush

SL

From what I've read watching the trichomes is your best bet, however it's personal prefence what proportion you want to let go milky before the chop. According to Kafka's guide (link) when 40-60% of the trich go milky (n.b. milky, not just cloudy) then you will have reached maximum psychoactivity. After this stage THC will be degrading faster than it's being produced so I think you'd really only leave it beyond this if you really want more of a mongy high.

I certainly found watching the pistils useful as well as you keep an eye on where white pistils are popping up and thereby keep track of how much and where the buds are still growing, I found if I'd gone by trichomes alone I probably would have harvested a bit too early and lost out on yield. It was also useful for seeing that side and lower buds were still growing and motivated me to do the staggered harvest, which seemed to work a treat

Quick update on the big girls I have numbered them one to 5 - (5 being the runt - which has all but caught up and is looking the healthiest one now. No 1 got badly munched - and was one of two topped - also topped No 3.

2 litre Fanta bottle shows size perspective.

pics 1-3

Click to view attachment Click to view attachment Click to view attachment


SL

No 4 and No 5

Click to view attachment Click to view attachment

And finally a group shot - the 3 small ones at the front left are Thai bagseed from a mate. Front right are 5 unlabelled freebies sent with my order - I have topped the tallest of these.

Click to view attachment

So that's the Blue Cheese & Co update for now

SL

blue cheese is the best weed av ever seen , smelt and smoked.

I hope so Hydro - I had some last week I think - real stinky - but lethal (guy said it was "blueberry cheese") but of course it was grown indoors. Will be interesting to see if there is a difference.

SL

Looks like they're coming along very nicely, getting to quite a good size already too. Are you planning on doing any topping or training?

Not sure about any training yet - although I have topped two and on one of them I have also topped the new leader shoots. Of course, if they get too tall I will lean them and tie them somehow to keep stealthy

From what I have read these plants will not grow too tall - more bushy. I only topped the two because they grew taller and thinner than the others. To be honest, I dont want to top them any more if I can help it as this might delay flowering a bit I think the later you do it. - well it does with other flowers I grow

Of course it will be different with the smaller ones (which as yet haven't shown sex) - but they are Sativa I think so could be quite taller if left to their own devices. I want to keep these as manageable as possible, especially if they don't finish outside I might have to get them under a mate's light for a couple of weeks or so.
Cheers for looking

SL