Black Venus's secret garden 2022

[Black Venus]

I'm now able to do an update on Granny's Garden. Poor Guerrilla Granny has had Covid and been very poorly.  But now she's on the mend I was able to go round to see how the plants are getting on. Covid or not, Granny is doing a bangin' job.

 

 

The plants are a bit bigger than they were last time I visited! And that thing dangling on the wall behind is a grapevine, loaded with baby grapes. Think I'll be visiting Guerrilla Granny a bit more often when those ripen up. 

 

   

 

 

Lemonade OG from Real Gorilla, vegging happily.

 

 

Fast Zkittles from Real Gorilla, which has a beautiful stem rub smell of lemon sweeties, yum.

 

 

Red Sticks. This is bigger and more branched (but more loosely structured) than its identical sibling which is growing in my garden. They looked pretty much identical when I had them both in pots in my greenhouse and it's amazing to see how different they look after just a month of being grown in different gardens. Still got a classic sativa look though.

 

 

DFG bx from Real Gorilla. This is bloody huge and growing like a triffid.

 

 

And finally, the dud. This is Fast Cookies from Real Gorilla, but the little bugger has autoflowered, and ended up the size of a basil bush. I photographed it next to the huge leaves of DFG to show the contrast!

I did wonder about this one because it looked a bit odd even when it was a few weeks old, and produced preflowers way earlier than it should've done, so I'm not entirely surprised it turned out to be an auto. I don't mind autos, but I was growing this one as if it was photosensitive, so it went through a couple of pottings-up and other things you don't do to autos, and consequently it has become stunted and will give a crap yield. But that's life ... it will at least give Guerrilla Granny something fresh to put in the jars (well, a small jam jar) in mid-August.

I can only assume that the seeds got mislabelled somewhere along the line. I had a look on here and found a few other people have had exactly the same issue with Seedstockers Fast Cookies, but this isn't from Seedstockers, it's from RGSC. 

 

[OldFord]

@Black Venus   Mighty impressive girls     Very happy & healthy indeed.    If it all comes to fruition then the jars will be bursting   

 

You know its been a great season ... when you need to rush out and grab more kilners        I had to do this last year !  Caught me out.      

 

Keep on doing what your doing & keep the pics coming please.       Especially the grapes 

[Revive]

@Black Venus garden is looking lovely.. sorry to hear about the covid, kicked my arse a few weeks back and im still trying to recover.. evil virus.. hope it never got you too bad and you can get back to the wonderful garden..

Keep doing what your doing dudette and keep the pics comming.. love this time of year, a real treat for the eyes 

[CheechChongReturns]

Lovely looking garden. Top job.

Are the Fast Cookies F2 or F3?

Seems they must have some recessive auto genes .

Probably 5-10% of the seeds present as auto .

 

 

[Black Venus]

@OldFord Oh yes, the great kilner jar buying sprees! I ran out of them a couple of years ago after a mega-harvest, went to buy some more, and couldn't get any because they'd sold out. Funny how everybody seems to be buying them around October time. 

 

Thanks @Revive – got some more pics taken today for whenever I can be arsed to upload them. It was my friend Guerrilla Granny who had Covid ... I've managed to escape so far. I read about yours though and what a tough time you had with it. I'll be watching your pollen chucking prowess with interest – I think you'll get some fantastic beans at the end of the season, and then lots of fun with them next year.

 

@CheechChongReturns They shouldn't be F2s – they were fresh from the packet. I'll have to ask Panik if anybody else has had the same issue.

[Revive]

Just now, Black Venus said:

. It was my friend Guerrilla Granny who had Covid

oh right.. stoned again obviously.. the way I read it I thought you was calling yourself guerilla granny

Look forward to the new pics 

Yes hopefully the pollen chucking goes well..I didn't harvest much of it but I know i dont need that much..its just spreading it far enough that may be a problem..  nothing ventured nothing gained 

[Black Venus]

11 hours ago, Black Venus said:

 

@CheechChongReturns They shouldn't be F2s – they were fresh from the packet. 

 

I didn't explain myself very well there. I mean that they're unlikely to have been F2s if they were fresh from the packet, because it would make no sense for a fast version to be sold in F2 form for exactly the reasons you say – it would segregate into autos and other ruderalis-related crap.

[murphyblue]

I had one fast cookies from RGSC auto on me the other 2 not flowering yet deep purple hairy bits smells nice on the stem rub though.

 

[Black Venus]

That's interesting @murphyblue. So if you're getting autos and non-autos in the same packet then maybe it is an F2 or F3.

 

I only sowed the one seed, so I don't know whether the rest of my packet will auto or not.

[Black Venus]

@Revive Good luck with the pollen spreading. Yes, a little bit of pollen goes a long way, so hopefully you'll have enough, but even if you aren't able to do everything you hoped for, the learning experience will be priceless for your future efforts, so it's all good.

 

You have amazing energy and dedication, and that will see you through most of the setbacks.

[Revive]

10 minutes ago, Black Venus said:

@Revive Good luck with the pollen spreading. Yes, a little bit of pollen goes a long way, so hopefully you'll have enough, but even if you aren't able to do everything you hoped for, the learning experience will be priceless for your future efforts, so it's all good.

 

You have amazing energy and dedication, and that will see you through most of the setbacks.

Thanks dudette.. ive a few packets that have a small amount in, like a very thin yellow line it the bottom of the wrap so ill take a few and hope its enough for a branch or 2.. ive a prob at 1 plot cause can only do dark visits or very early morn but thats prob isn't best with the dew possibly killing the pollen.. ill just do my best and suck up the experience for next time.. thanks for the encouragement 

[Black Venus]

@Revive A thin yellow line of pollen should be enough to do a few buds and you can get loads and loads of seeds out of a few buds – so I reckon you will be fine. Yes I guess it is a challenge with the plot you can only visit in the dark, but what the hell – you can only try things and see what happens! It might be fine. Nature wants that pollen to make seeds as much as you do, and she's very good at getting things to work against the odds.

[Black Venus]

Right then, I've taken a fair few photos in the last few days, so let's start with an update on Red Sticks and Mandy Sticks.

 

All the plants are girls and all of them are in early stages of bloom. Being a sativa they take their blooming time but they are semi-autoflowering and so they're a way ahead of the photosensitive plants. Just to recap on where we are: I had intended to make F2s and start selecting from them next year, but as they are all girls I won't be able to do that. The best I can do is make a polyhybrid by crossing them with something else (a gene lottery in which anything could happen). I already did that in 2017 after another all-girl outcome, and made some seeds of Red Sticks x Double Durban which I haven't grown out yet and I may not ever get round to doing so, especially if I'm able to cross it to something else this year with a special high like Smile or Celia.

 

Red Sticks produces very light, loose, strung-out buds with small trichomes, and not much resin. It has absolutely bugger all bag appeal, which is fine by me because I don't put it in bags or display it on the mantelpiece. I guess we're all used to the received wisdom that thin wispy buds are crap, but Red Sticks had probably the nicest high of all the plants I grew in 2017. It isn't 'potent' in the sense that it won't slam you against the sofa. But it hugely enhances the beauty of music and colours, and gives pleasant physical sensations like fizzy sherbet in your brain. It's all about what kind of high you're looking for! The loose buds have an advantage in the UK weather, in that they don't trap moisture the way fat resinous nugs do. The original dad line was a pure sativa which finished outdoors in November, but hardly ever got bud rot because of the improved air circulation.

 

This year's plants are all quite uniform, with very few differences between Red Sticks and Mandy Sticks. At the moment none of them actually have 'red sticks' – the bright red leaf stalks which made them so distinctive when I grew them out in 2017 – so maybe they don't have the right name! Or maybe the colour will develop better when they're fully mature. The main Red Sticks terpene is a lovely bright scent of fruity pear drops, but there's a few other aromas going on with these as well. They look, and smell, radically different from everything else I have in the garden – even other sativas.

 

Here's how they're shaping up so far.

 

Red Sticks, plant A: The tallest plant with a fairly upright structure, narrow leaves, and rhubarb-pink sticks (leaf stalks). Negligible smell generally but stem-rub smells of meaty spiced fruit, with the pear drop terpene also coming through.

 

Red Sticks, plant B: I gave this plant to Guerrilla Granny and haven't made any notes on it yet.

 

Red Sticks, plant C: This one was a runt when it germinated, but is now the second tallest and quite vigorous, with a distinctly bushy structure. Leaf blades are very narrow. Leaf stalks are greenish with a rosy blush. General smell quite light and grassy, but stem rub smells of Christmas cake and spices.

 

Mandy Sticks, plant A: Well developed bushy structure and large narrow leaves. Minimal pigment, just a slight bronze blush on the leaf stalks. It has a mild sausagemeaty skunky smell with a hint of fruit, and the stem rub is very fruity, sweet and spicy with the pear drops terpene.

 

Mandy Sticks, plant B: A smaller plant and moderately bushy, with medium-narrow leaves. Leaf stalks are a deep dusky rose pink and it has some colour on the stem. Almost no general smell, but the stem rub smells of stewed rhubarb.

 

Mandy Sticks, plant C: This plant was very runty and stunted when it first started, and is still very small. But it's got some vigour, and beautiful emerald green leaves with very striking maroon leaf stalks, and some purple on the stem. It's also the most strongly flowering, with denser buds and larger pistils than the others. General smell is mild and grassy, but the stem rub is very bright and fruity with the boiled sweets/pear drops terpene.

 

The way this is going I'm going to have to rename the project Rhubarb Sticks. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Alys]

What a lovely sight! You certainly have green fingers. 

[CustardVape]

Your gonna be in for a treat with these ladies oh yes 

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