Geesh man it’s so lonely in the sour diesel bx4 thread…I want to pop some of these right now too but I’m gonna wait. I’m keeping up though
Ok, so the mite protocol has wrapped up, looking good there. Some of the lower leaves that were around for all of the mite treatment are still hanging around looking a little angry, but the new growth is rockin’.
Since last update, one of the three turned out to be male so I’m left w/ 2 girls. Both have been trained w/ ties & some strategic pruning during early stretch. One of them was supercropped to bush out & I’m gonna let that one grow on the taller side:
The other I pruned and trained to an open center style. When I saw the close node spacing and shape on the “looking for testers” pictures, I thought the structure lended itself well to this open center style. The idea is to bend over all growth to the outside of the pot to acheive an overall bowl shape & keep the lower growth on each branch instead of pruning it off. The shape allows light to penetrate to the lower areas & if you center a light fixture on the plant, the more intense light at the center of the fixture reaches down to the lower areas of the plant, whilst the less intense light from the edges of the fixture reaches the tops positioned around the outside of your “bowl”. Just another way to try and achieve even light intensity. It if works out, you end up with 8 or 9 branches a 12"-18" long completely full of bud. Sorry if this is old news, but thought it might help folks, especially if they have height restrictions… grew like this for many years in a small cabinet with only 4ft of vertical space.
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Kinda like manifold or mainlining. Very cool you found that out on your own. Should end up with 8-9 mostly packed colas. That’s not quite a manifold but kinda the same idea!
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Thanks, but I totally can’t claim to have made anything up. Folks prune peach trees to open centers around here 
It is very similar to manifold/mainline methods I’ve seen around. Sometimes folks using those methods leave the centers open too and the results are basically the same.
Just another thing in the bag of tricks to bail you out of a weird situation or a manage plant that wants to grow funky.
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Nice bushes you got there! 
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These are nice plants, one is supported , the other is unsupported. The unsupported one is really stacking fast. I’m thinking maybe end the comparison and stake that one for support. Many thanks as always.
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I’d stake it. I made the mistake in not doing so, last grow. The branches only get so thick and the buds are usually heavy enough to bend or break branches.
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They’re coming along nicely. The open center plant on the left is raised to be even w/ the taller one on the right. Both are budding up pretty well. Saw signs of slight mag deficiency & some calcium deficiency, but only where the lights were the brightest. I adjusted the intensity & to be safe I topdressed w/ a couple tablespoons of lime each, castings, a little bone meal & bat turds, some worm poop tea with a little molasses and fish fertilizer mixed in, and a little great white myco to help make sure my soil was still alive. I’ve been messing w/ replacing some of the peat w/ coco in my soil mixes & still getting used to it.
Cool thing is the light intensity at the top of the open center plant is only 100umols brighter than the bottom of the center. It’s looking like all those lower sites are getting plenty of light to fatten up. We may end up with some donkey dicks.
Note: its greener than it looks and the tops aren’t bleached; my camera doesn’t do stuff good… its from 2002. 
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They look great. With the Sour d heavy plants, it’s best to load the soil with calcium during veg as well as flower. Also make sure to feed nitrogen the first four to five weeks in flower. You’ll be rewarded with better tasting buds and large yields.
I changed amendments this round and did not add One Shot, which is my calcium source. I’m paying for it. All the other plants are picture perfect.
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Thanks for the info, much appreciated. I think I may be able to work that out. Believe it or not, I just started soaking some crushed oyster shell in vinegar a week or so ago to make some cal-phos liquid and I think it should be about ready. I already have more worm tea brewing & I can always add a bit more fish fert to it for some extra N. I believe I may be able to get your recommendations worked in before its too late. How about that for good timing? 
I’m wondering if thats been my issue since replacing some peat in my mix w/ coco… your pictures look alot like my last couple of harvests since I made that switch. They showed their fall colors a little earlier than normal.
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Stacking nicely!
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Thanks for the chance ! The one that i didnt stake , i gave it a good pull over and its so stout.
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Welp, @MG_Canna, I think you were dead on with your N and Ca recommendations, but unfortunately I was a little late to the draw. All is not lost, by any means, but we’re not going to get a true representation of the potential… or my gardening ability, lol. The replacement of some of the peat in my soil mix w/ coco has not worked out well., over multiple harvests. The mite issue in veg & subsequent hasty move to flower while treating for mites probably didn’t help much either. I’ve swapped to a low dose of jacks every watering to try and keep them fed since the soil isn’t doing the job. It seems to be going ok… not great, not horrible.
Enough complaining. On to the good news! Some positives to consider:
-No sign of mites. Fuck those guys!
-Despite soil conditions, they’re starting to stink up the place, and fattening up quickly. Those lower buds on the open center plant are nice and dense. I’m seeing a lot of potential with these genetics and the open center style.
-They’ve passed the “Ivy’s stupid coco organic idea” stress test so far. No herm action to be seen. (Hey, I said I’d test them…I didn’t say how I’d test them… 
)
-They take to pruning and training well & without complaints, super easy to get an even canopy, very indoor friendly & don’t want to run away from you in the stretch period.
I have cuttings of each female and I’ll be running them again. I’ll be able to get them back in the flowering room in a couple of months. In the meantime, i have a nice batch of my old soil mix brewing up & its looking good. I think I’ll do a side-by-side of my water only mix w/ a promix-osmocote or a promix-jacks for some salts vs. organic action. Mites are not allowed to attend.
I appreciate the opportunity, sorry I missed the mark this time… I’ll get the cuttings rolling soon enough and give her a solid run. She deserves it!
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Great job, man! Congrats
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They look like they will make it across the finish line. Its gardening, stuff happens. I lost my AJ Sour Diesel ,it curled up and lost its leaves as soon as it set flower. Im glad these Pondo are in a different bed /area.
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Thanks for the support. Yeah, they’ll totally make it. I’ve definitely limped home under worse circumstances. Just not quite up to par is all. I’ll get even in round 2.
Yours is looking nice though, gonna be a good harvest out your way.
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Mistakes or learning experience? I say the latter! I love the way those look. I think they’ll finish and put out some decent bud. Are they stinky yet? They look like they yield well. Can’t wait to see the finished buds this round and next round. Thanks for taking the time to test these. I’m grateful 
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I’m digging how long those colas are and how well they’re stacking. They grow surprisingly well outdoors. Let’s hope they finish before the weather gets cold.
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