- syzygy's journal - the clown show

Some cool background cards came in the mail today after I already took my shots for today. Had to pull the LJ back out to test them out. Too small to work on portrait shots but for up-close bud shots they will do the job. Should make @minitiger happy at least.

Kidding, I prefer the gradient over pure black I think actually.

Lav Jack with different background cards.

Pinesoul

Triple Sunshine G

TK

TSA

What camera were you looking & and what feature were you interested in from mirrorless? I will say my Z5 sucks at low-light autofocus and anything action related. Doesn’t really affect me for my primary use of the camera but the negative reviews of it are on point for sure.

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so is the Matt Berger cut the same one CSI uses?

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They do make me happy, actually haha! Those backgrounds look sooooo much better than the black. Very groovy… haha.

I love that last pic of the TK, too, even though it has a black background haha. I mean, I love all the pics (plants look good!), but that “wall of nugs” pic… Awesome, no matter the background.

Of course. I love popping seeds, but I will say that that Lavender Jack is the only thing I’ve ever smoked that I seriously considered (and am still considering) bringing in a cut of. Of course, I haven’t tried the TK, but yeah, I thought that those LJ nugs were very, very good.

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So beautiful, you do a great job! That Lav Jack looks like a winner. :trophy:

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Ya, going to have very narrow use though because of their size. Up close and dried bud shots should be a good use of them.

Ya it seems fairly productive for sure.

You saying that last year is what really made me interested in this cut haha. Would be cool to see you change things up with it one day!

Ya nn did a good job selecting it and I was lucky enough to have higgins share it with me.

Bubba Kush -

Olympus isn’t charged but it looks like the trichs are mostly clear/cloudy still @ day 56~.

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I love that you’re growing Devil’s Hashplant!

I popped half a pack of Devil’s Hashplant a year ago and found a short slow grower with amazingly flavorful terps. It has a lot of fresh, non-pungent, lemon smells with a little chemical cleaner. The buds themselves smell like pure lemon wile growing. The tent exhaust smells like flat sprite soda. After harvest and cure, the buds taste like sweet lemony hash with an uplifting high, low anxiety, low drowsiness, and extremely low tar. Breaking open the buds gives a nice quick whiff of “gas.” The smoke has a very smooth and soft pillow-like character.

It was my first Bodhi pack and I’m happy I took a clone because this one became my “go-to.” The flavor and high makes this an “all day” smoke for me. I’m all out right now so instead I’m smoking Solfire but I keep day-dreaming for my Devil’s Hashplant.

I’ll post some pics in some of the other Bodhi threads.

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Cool to hear you grew that one out and liked it. Very interested to see your pictures of it, feel free to post them here if you wish as well. That reminds me, I should try some of those samples tonight.

Also here’s a stacked LJ picture with the red background. I’m liking the cards for the stacked shots but they’re kind of difficult to get into position and have them stay there.

Forgot to comment on this. I’ve toyed with the idea of buying (renting) Photoshop but the whole yearly/monthly fee is just something I can’t get over haha. I probably would have bought it if you could buy to own. I’m sure photoshop’s AI is really good when it comes to stacking but for now I’m going to stick with Darktable / GIMP / Zerene. Photoshop / Lightroom does sound appealing though.

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The BH7, despite being a 105 day cut, is really exceptional. My only issue with it is that it’s soooooooo relaxing that you really shouldn’t call it a “sativa” or “haze.” And apparently taking it early doesn’t improve it. But it’s great smoke.

The Santa Cruz Blue Dream smoke is on this list, however, I may drop it off the list because the plant wasn’t a great grower for me. But it’s at least worth a re-run at a future date. The smell and flavor of this one is exactly like the blueberry weed I got in Portland and Dead tour in the mid 90s. The smoke is such piney blueberry deliciousness and the effects are so happy and anti-anxiety that just about everyone likes it except for those jaded heavy Chem D smokers for whom nothing is ever enough short of smoking fentanyl or shooting up heroin or whatever. SCBD is not potent, but it’s always good. Also, my gf loves it.

The Tahoe is likely on this short list because it’s just so darn bulletproof and so much different. It’s not ultra potent, but it’s medium/high potency and very enjoyable headie indica effects. Also, it grows and clones exceptionally well without any complaints - a joy to cultivate. It doesn’t strike me as an OG, but I really enjoy it.

The Chem 91 Skunk VA is also exceptional. It may be a little lower down the list, but it’s still fantastic for the reasons noted above.

Honorable mention to Irene…it tastes great and it’s decently potent…if only it didn’t grow so slow and weird in veg/early flower. If I regularly had pain, I might also include that Matt Berger Bubba cuz it legit did alleviate a headache for a couple hours, and it smells great in the jar! I also have five “new to me” cuts coming down in the next few weeks, so there’s potential for something else to make the list.

But seriously, so far even the best of these cuts were just barely up there with the best phenos from quite a few of bodhi’s crosses I’ve grown. People on this forum often convince themselves and others that certain crosses suck because they grew out two or three phenos and didn’t find something exceptional. You need to plant more seeds cuz there’s incredible stuff to be found…but you prolly won’t find it by popping half a pack or less.

I know, I know - people are gonna say, “Keepers or it didn’t happen.” Well, being a renter sucks. And, after a year+ hiatus from sprouting seeds, I’m ready to get back to it and start sharing keepers. Maybe in the Fall!

Damn dude, are you just swimming in cash?!? lol I keep thinking I need a new camera to take weed pics, but then I think, is it worth several thousand dollars to me to take better pics to post so other people can view them on a website that automagically compresses them? Nah, fuckit, you get what you get from my shitty 5yo phone, internet friends. And I’ll save that cash for a downpayment on a house some day. But, if I happen to meet you in person, I’ll happily send you home with as much free weed as you can handle, and then you’ll know the pics don’t do it justice.

The one thing I will say for both you and syz is I personally think your branch/budshots and whole plant pics need a little better lighting. You’re losing a little contrast and depth by using such low light or diffuse flash. They don’t need to be blown out and overexposed, but some of them are very low light and a little flat. It could also be this budget craptop’s screen, too, or my old man eyes!

:peace_symbol:

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That’s partially why I’ve been dropping the comments about how I think it’s reasonable to try to find something close in their LJ packs haha. I don’t want to contribute to a culture where everybody is growing or seeking out the same cuttings. It is probably a good idea to keep expectations grounded though.

That’s awesome!

Agree also that an upgrade from dslr-> mirrorless would probably be a waste of $$. I’m no expert and I got my camera handed down to me for free, but I was under the impression one of the biggest advantages to going mirrorless is mainly just the electronic viewfinder - what you see is what you get on your images. If I were to buy a camera I would have bought a cheaper DSLR because of the lens availability and the pricing is more reasonable also.

I’ve been trying to play around with what I have and figure out how to brighten up the shadows without overexposing the trichomes. It’s still a tricky balance but I’m going to keep working on it for sure. Earlier today I added a panel under my diffuser to bounce some of the light upwards, so that may help. That’s one of my hangups with switching over to raw as well - my monitor is cheap and the color calibration & brightness are surely off. Even still a lot of the images I’m posting seem a bit too bright on my monitor.

Excited to mess around with outdoors stuff, that should be fun.

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Sure, here’s some pics.I have a 2x2 and a 3x3 running now with Devil’s Hashplant clones. [edit] Pics were out of order. Re-did them

This is at the start of week 5 in the 2x2.

Here’s 3 more clones in a 3x3 that were just re-potted. They’re now in week 2 since this pic was taken.

This is the first time I grew her from seed.

And this is the second time I grew it. It stretched a lot more than the first time around and got a little floppy.

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Very nice @Calcium_Enriched1996
Looks great and awesome review!

The six Triangle Sunshine x SSDD are doing good. I will top them soon for a clone and then put them in flower soon after that.

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Yeah for sure one downside is lens availability, although I think manufactures are catching up now and there’s more affordable options. The Nikon and Canon lens are always ridiculously priced.

I must say, I kind of dig 'em! Nice to mix things up from the black, every now and then…

Sony A7 probably. Focus peaking, and magnify assist for focusing would be cool. Reduced vibration for macros shots, as there’s no shutter. Better image stabilization… Better video quality… but…

lol, I wish! More dreaming than anything… although Oregon did hook me up with an extra 800 I wasn’t expecting… If I were to upgrade, I’d buy a used mirrorless, just like I bought a used DSLR, and I’d probably sell all my Nikon stuff to go towards the upgrade. You can get a used A7 for under 1000, but then you gotta look at lens’ too… But, it really doesn’t matter that much to me. I think my pics are good enough for what I’m trying to convey. If I was a digital marketer or something like that, I may think different. I will say, weed in hand is better than any of the photos!!

Yeah, like Syz was saying, it’s a fine balance on the up-close stuff, hard to not blow out the trichs while still getting the green stuff underneath exposed properly. I don’t have a hot shoe flash, only using my built in, with no diffusion, and usually setup negative exposure compensation when the flash is on, so the images do get darkened a bit. I may play with the ring flash some more, but mine is cheap and limited… also, I may try to switch to RAW, but it seems like even more work to add to an already time consuming process to get pics uploaded to this site. I don’t know nothin about calibratin’ any monitors!

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:100: agree. You and syz are two of the best growers & photographers here. You make the rest of us look like amateur hoarders living in between piles of refuse stacked to the ceiling. Seriously.

No doubt. Let’s make it happen!

:peace_symbol:

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Pssshhhh… Yeah, I dunno. Maybe at some point. I’m still getting used to the new grow schedule, still wrapping my head around it (even though it’s pretty simple haha). Nursing a clone isn’t in the cards right now, but maybe in the fall.

I’m glad I motivated you to check it out, anyway haha, pretty curious to hear how yours turns out.

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Yeah, of the samples I tried, that’s the only other one besides the Lavender Jack where I was like,”Alright. Okay. Yes.” That’s the only other one I’d take a clone of. BUT I’M NOT INTERESTED IN CLONES haha.

Haha… For real…

I do wonder about all that, when people go on and on about how “heavy” some kinda smoke is and I’m just like,”I don’t get why people wanna be glued to the couch…” but to each their own, right? I guess? Haha.

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Got rooted clones of all the SSDD f2’s now @syzygy .
The one pictured is an extra. I potted the best rooted #3 (had about 3x the roots of the one pictured).When I checked today the entire tray was rooted. So now I have multiple rooted clones of each of the SSDD in flower.

So I’m all set if I find a keeper in this 1st small batch. :crossed_fingers:

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Looks nice & frosty!

I had a really nice soapy / skunky smelling Devil’s HP that smelled like a church when vaporized. Was kind of cool but I didn’t keep a clone of it for long.

Devils HP #2 from last grow (not the church smelling pheno described above)


Currently I’ve used this Devil’s HP #2 from last round a few times and it’s decent. Lasts about 1-1.5 hours and is pretty mellow and relaxing. Not a “keeper” or stand out in terms of effect, but I screwed it up a bit. The smell is incredibly attractive and very strong - a kind of shaving cream skunky butterscotch smell but when broken up seems to disappear completely. Kind of puzzling but it’s probably my fault because I really screwed up the dry/cure and over-dried it. Weird that it smells so strong when undisturbed still though. Taste is surprisingly good as well.

I have more seeds and would like to revisit this one again (and the other OG x 88 crosses). I definitely dropped the ball on the dry/cure phase…

I know that it’s possible to apply settings with presets / defaults in darktable which would save a ton of time. For me it’s just figuring out and really understanding the settings haha. I’d like to actually use the library in Lighttable and use tagging to organize the pictures - I think that would be a really good way to sort through grow pictures in the future. I like the rating / reject option too when going through pictures.

I think I’m in the lead for farming nanners haha.

Haha ya I only say it because I know you’re going to say no. In all reality I think your seed-popping approach keeps things most interesting. I’m going to get back to it as well after I’ve had enough time to decide what is going to stay and go. This place would be incredibly dull if there wasn’t any seed popping going on, so you’re setting a good example(and everyone else actually popping seeds)!

Good timing, I think minitiger was just looking for clones!

Big if but I’m hoping that luck is on your side!

Darktable adjusted image of a seeded Triple Sunshine : testing a brighter bud shot without any blown highlights.

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I do have at least one extra of each of the 3 females. Maybe more than 1 of each, need to check again.
They are in those same root riot plugs (or whatever they’re called). I’m down to ship them off to minitiger if he/she wants them. As long as they know I haven’t seen them flower out yet…

I’m not sure of the best method to do it (ship them). Open to suggestions for sure. lol

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Sorry it was just a joke, he stated a few times here and other places his unshakable position on taking in cuts haha.

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Great breakdown as always! Ill have to try out the bandaid for evenings - have been mostly using it for daytime activities and its nice for that, at least in low amounts.

I hear ya on the blue dream nolstalgia! It brought me right back to lots of good memories seeing shows. Tons of blue dream, headband etc. Im still looking for a certain nolstalgic dank bud from back then… hippie feet funk fruity incensey… haha. Thats interesting it didnt grow well for ya, it did super well here, vigorous and easygoing. It would have overgrown the tent had mothers milk not beaten it to it!

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