Operation Clone

[Crow River]

52 minutes ago, Oldman2.0 said:

@Crow River Junior's tip'n along nicely alright 

 

At 50% lights, how many watts is it drawing 

 

Aye, she's doing fine. Full power is 110 watts, so approx. 55 watts, though it might be a bit more than that with cooling fan, etc. May not seem like much, but the canopy is fairly close, and I'm running a 20/4 light schedule so lights don't need to be as intense.

[Oldman2.0]

@Crow River thanks mate, I'm on 24hrs, and I don't really know why been honest I went with that, but was think'n if I dropped to 20/4 would that upset the ladies, been there used to 20/4 lighting since the beginning 

[Crow River]

@Oldman2.0, the only effects that switching down to 20/4 might have are: slightly slower growth, slightly more stretch, and it might trigger flowering earlier. That was my experience on an earlier grow, where I started on 24/0 and then switched to 20/4. I find 20/4 a nice compromise, it allows fairly speedy growth, but also gives a short dark period which I believe is beneficial.

[Crow River]

A wee update on the clone in the second tent. Second day of 12/12, and I may be mistaken but I think she may be showing pre-flowers. Should become clearer in a couple of days...  

 

I'm just going to do LST with this girl, and aim to pollinate her once she has some flowers.

 

[Oldman2.0]

@Crow River That's exactly what I'm wondering, that would the dark period be of benefit, ya see if I went that way, would be to get another few tops out before flower, don't want to be mucking about to much from then, so I like to slow for a few days, and get that little bit of stretch, just so I can position the main tops, ready for flower 

[Crow River]

@Oldman2.0, my experience is that 24 hour lighting leads to really vigorous vegetative growth, but keeps the plant relatively short. Oh and I'm talking here of autoflowering strains, not photoperiod. I was originally going to try 24/0 all the way, but was getting concerned that my autos were late to flower. So I switched to 20/4 and they started flowering.....so the dark period has some effects for sure.

[Oldman2.0]

@Crow River Good stuff, I'm gonna give it a go for 3 days, and see how i get on, I don't mind wait'n a bit extra for flower, better efficiency too 

[Crow River]

Been mulling this over for a while, but now decided. I'm going to chuck some pollen from my reversed Dr Jack clone on a couple of lower branches of the Auto Duck growing in the polytunnel. Could make for an interesting cross. Will be taking some stored pollen down next visit...

[Crow River]

Potted up six cuttings in my new larger propagator. We'll see which ones root, and I'll select two or three to grow on. I've selected a further half dozen as backups that are going in the fridge.

 

[Crow River]

Dr Jack "Auto" Clone 4 is on day 6 of 12/12.

 

And.....it's a boy. 

 

I had my suspicions a few days ago, but then I noticed that the cuttings I had taken were starting to flower at the tops, and the flowers looked male. So I had a really thorough check in the tent tonight, and pollen sacs are definitely forming.

 

I could have just written it off as silver contamination from the tent, had it not been for the other evidence that, in fact, all the clones and the "Mum" are in fact males.  I did predict this two weeks ago right enough:
 

On 02/08/2022 at 7:16 PM, Crow River said:

Was just spraying the CS on the clone in a small tent, and noticed some pre-flowers. They appear to have balls!  So, either the CS is working its magic already, or the Mum and numerous clones are, in fact, a Dad and several wee boys. The original seed was supposed to be feminised, but then it was supposed to be an auto too. 

 

So, it would appear that I got a male "photosensitive" auto Jack Herer seed. Not a feminised pure autoflower. Ah well. 

 

I have no use for so many males. I will probably grow Clone 4 out until pollen starts dropping, then collect as much as I can to add to put in storage. But the rest will be getting chopped. I'll process leaves and stalks for edibles.

 

Note to self: next time an auto takes ages before flowering, take a cut and pop it in a tent on 12/12 to at least be sure it's a female.

 

[brock1]

On 17/08/2022 at 11:28 PM, Crow River said:

Dr Jack "Auto" Clone 4 is on day 6 of 12/12.

 

And.....it's a boy. 

 

I had my suspicions a few days ago, but then I noticed that the cuttings I had taken were starting to flower at the tops, and the flowers looked male. So I had a really thorough check in the tent tonight, and pollen sacs are definitely forming.

 

I could have just written it off as silver contamination from the tent, had it not been for the other evidence that, in fact, all the clones and the "Mum" are in fact males.  I did predict this two weeks ago right enough:
 

 

So, it would appear that I got a male "photosensitive" auto Jack Herer seed. Not a feminised pure autoflower. Ah well. 

 

I have no use for so many males. I will probably grow Clone 4 out until pollen starts dropping, then collect as much as I can to add to put in storage. But the rest will be getting chopped. I'll process leaves and stalks for edibles.

 

Note to self: next time an auto takes ages before flowering, take a cut and pop it in a tent on 12/12 to at least be sure it's a female.

 

Just pop the cardboard tube from a toilet roll over a arm. Ho squeeze 1 side and tape up to stop the light obviously. Remove it after a week and it will show sex shortly after 

[Crow River]

@brock1, good tip!  

[Crow River]

Big Yield Auto Junior is 85 days old.

 

Seems to me that she's nearly finished. The buds are looking more and more ripe, pistils are predominantly ginger and crispy. Just a few white hairs dotted around. The aroma is more potent every day. Maybe another week to go for this girl and then it's harvest time. Possibly I'll do a staggered harvest and leave lower buds to mature a bit longer.

 

[Crow River]

Big Yield Auto Junior is 93 days old. It's harvest day.

 

Not going to be a progressive/staggered harvest this time. Mainly this is because all buds appear to be ripe. Perhaps because I let her grow so long. Been pretty busy lately or would have chopped sooner.

 

Lots of yellowing, dying fan leaves, all buds have crisped up. What would have been the main cola appears to be light burnt to hell. At least I think that's what it is, hopefully not rot. We'll see.

 

Pics from yesterday.

[Crow River]

Luckily there was no bud rot in the large cola, just the light burn had killed off the uppermost sugar leaves. All of the buds were mature, even those that had less light lower down. Light penetration seems to have been quite good on this grow. The yield wasn't huge - slightly less overall than I got from the lower half of the big sister Big Yield Auto. Still I am very pleased with how this girl turned out. A really potent fuel smell comes off the buds, similar to Sour Diesel. Counting her Mum, this single seed has yielded a large amount of bud that will keep me going for ages...  

All the buds have had a rough trim, removing bigger leaves. Will be putting this lot to dry this evening. Need a wee break first.