Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 25 Entries. Saturday, February 2 View Page 2 DAP OK, OK it has been too long since I posted. Finally back and ready to go. This year I am going with some unproven CA seeds as my main plants: 1200 Urena 05 has grew a 1292 for Leonardo last year. 1127 Glasier 05 is a 845 X 898 and so should have great genetics. Also, I am using as backups my 219 Buchsieb 06 and my 469 Buchsieb 07 from last year. Seed starting is with dilute calcium nitrate. Pretty straightforward. After almost 48 hours, every one has movement except the 1200. In the pots they go. Saturday, February 2 View Page Expanded the patch this year. The intent is to grow 2 plants towards each other. Both should be able to make it to over 15 ft before I have to decide which one to pull. I will have the opportunity to cross pollinate and also determine which plant is doing best before I pull either one. Not much amendment was done. only OM was put in the new soil area and the addition of K, Mg and Mn. B as well as CaN will added through my RO system. Last year I had problems with Ca because of the RO. It strips EVERYTHING out of the water and Ca is a tough cation for plants to take up. Since I had my success last year, I am going all out this year. I am using more N than I have in the past and supplementing heavily with B. If I blow up, then I blow up. My feeling is I had some serious deficiencies I really need to work on overcoming this year and have no problem putting the plants into more extreme conditions than in the past. Friday, February 8 View Page Something weird happened. I started my seeds as I normally do and used the VAM Myco fungi at the time I put them in the pots. Every single one of the seeds came out with the roots balled up. They grew for about 6 days and then stopped. The only thing I can determine is that the Mcyo fungi I am using is 3 years old and somehow caused a problem. Sadly, I lost the 1200 Urena that I really wanted to grow. Thankfully, I had an extra 1127 Glasier and a 961 Urena that I have started and are in pots now. This time, no Myco. fungi and I am using potting soil. Should be planting by next week. I am a week behind but not too bad off. It's not like I am trying to hit a weigh-off...I create my own. Thursday, February 14 View Page Restarting my season...7 DAP at the time of this writing. In the close greenhouse: 1127 Glasier and 991 Urena In the far: 961 Urena and 469 Buchsieb I am just releved they are out of the house and in the ground. I needed a break from maintaining them. Now it is time to till again and place the soaker hose. Probably won't go to auto watering for a week or more. Thursday, February 14 View Page 1127 in the background with the 991 up front. I really started the 991 about 18 hours later but for the purposes of dates, I will say the were planted the same day. The 1127 was supposed to be my main but an interesting thing occured. I put my plants under grow lights for the first week. at the end of the week, the 1127 was the most aggressive however it burned its first and second true leaf from the heat of the fluorescent lights. This made me think this is not a good genetic line for heat resistance. So I decide to make it my pollinator and put it in the pollinator position. This is the part of the patch that is not as amended. Further this part of the patch does not drain as well. For all I know, the 991 is the one I will go with. Let's see when the time comes in 4 weeks. Thursday, February 14 View Page The 961 in the background and the 469 as the backup in the fore. The 961 saw heat from the lights just as the 1127 did but no burn. All plants got a little CaN with some B. Next watering I will bump up the concentration more. Just getting them adjusted but they did grow some. Heat set to come on below 65 F air. The heating cables are keeping the soil constantly above 68F Normally at this time of year, the soil would be in the high 50's to low 60's. March and April are the really kick ass growing months here. Hopefully I can be setting one by early April with the best growing conditions occuring in the late April-early May timeframe. This year I scheduled things around the prime growing weather and correlated that with the time our fruits put on the most poundage. I wanted my 20-40 day on the fruit to be optimal when it comes to warm weather. Thursday, February 28 View Page 21 DAP. The plants are doing fine but I have had NO time to set up my watering system. I won't even have time until another week...I am that busy. This is the 1127 and 991. All they have been getting is very light CaN and B. Just started heavier does of CaN tonight. Thursday, February 28 View Page The 961 and the 469. All is going well. Not much to say because I have been gone for the last week and have spent probably 20 minutes with them. Thursday, February 28 View Page Didn't look like my first pic took. Tuesday, March 11 View Page 33 DAP. This is the 961. Seems I am growing slower this year than in prior. Been cold. Granted we are just now coming upon good weather but even with the covers off and full sun during the day, I am getting minimal growth. I will use the "I don't care" attitude to carry me through. Using RO water with about 150 PPM CaN and some B. Next week I sacrifice the two other plants to a good cause: foliar analysis. Tuesday, March 11 View Page This is the 1127. Just starting to vine. At this rate, I am looking at early - mid April to pollinate. I think that is too late as the punkie will see too much heat at the tail end of its growth. Any input is appreciated. Tuesday, March 25 View Page 47 DAP. I took this pic of my 961 yesterday. All good just going a bit slow in the growth department. About 3" a day on the vine now. Tuesday, March 25 View Page 1127 doesn't seem to be as green and energetic as the 961 however it is growing about 4" a day now. Tuesday, March 25 View Page Misting system in now. 55 gallons of RO does not go very far when you are misting this big of an area. Sunday, April 6 View Page 58 DAP. The 1127. Consistent growth of about 3-4" per day. Should be about 1-2 weeks from pollination. A bit behind but should be OK. This, I think, will be my main plant. Sunday, April 6 View Page The 961. It does not like heat. Only in the mid 80's here and it can't stand it. The 1127 is holding up fine but this plant cannot stand it. Not even sure if I want to pass on its genes. Sunday, April 6 View Page 1127 pollinated at about 7 ft out. Not a keeper. Was selfed. Probably will pinch off here in a day or two. Sunday, April 6 View Page My watering system. The RO is in the shed and that little pump is perfect! It puts out just the right amount of water and creates plenty of pressure when I want to mist. I am not misting now. I am waiting for the warm weather first. 55 gallons does not go far enough for misting. Should be able to get 100 gallons per day however with my setup. I will just have to be careful how I mist. Once I go to one plant, it will be easier. Sunday, April 6 View Page My latest foliar analysis: N: 6.3% P: 0.65% K: 4.6% Ca:3.9% Mg:0.61% S: 0.23% Na:0.01% Fe:110 ppm Zn: 44 ppm Mn: 29 ppm Cu: 11 ppm B: 82 ppm B much better than prior years but Mn just does not want to come up. Now I am adding Mn in my water. Ca should be up even more with the CaN I am adding. Sunday, April 20 View Page 72 DAP. Consistent growth but I am much later in the season than I wanted to be for pollinating. Everything is looking good but this plant burns a bit easier than my previous year. Even with the additional Ca it is burning. Sunday, April 20 View Page Misting system is now up again. Tired of watering by hand. I took out the 961 leaving only the 1127 to self pollinate. I did not like the 961's heat genetics and that is too bad. Sunday, April 20 View Page Day 3 of this try at 12-14 ft out. my first one at 10-12 feet just did not grow so I pulled it. It was day 6 and was the same size as this guy after day 2. I have a few more coming up in the coming days but that will be too late. I wanted to be done growing mid-June but now it looks to be late June/beginning of July. It is DAMN hot here at that time. No growth will happen I assume. Wednesday, April 23 View Page Just for my reference, I pollinated one today at 14 ft or so out. Of course was selfed. My other that is 12 ft I think is not growing well at 6 days. I will give it to 10 days to see what I really think. Monday, April 28 View Page Again, just for reference, I pollinated another one yesterday so this is day 1 of the selfed 16 ft out. The one I pollinated earlier is doing better than the others. We are on day 5 of that one at 14 ft. Saturday, May 3 View Page Day 10 of the fruit 14 feet out and the CC is 22.75"