Well, thought I'd try to grow a Sativa-dominant hybrid in the bloom. Since sativa's are usually taller and more scraggly than indica's... I thought this might be a bit of a challenge. Thankfully, I did some reading on the forum and got some great help.
This strain is called Slazerbeam and I started from a feminized seed. It's a cross between Super Lemon Haze and Gupta Kush.
I'm skipping to the good picture first, then I'll go back in time and share some of my tricks that helped this strain thrive in the bloom:
Today 11/30: Been flushing for 4 days now. Trichomes were still a little white, but I figured the middle of the plant was ready. If 60% or so of the plant is showing milky trichomes, then it's time to flush. Best to have a microscope on hand to check these or a really good camera.
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11/17:
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11/5 and 11/4: The one really tall branch was getting close, so I eventually took a suction cup and string to pull the branch down lightly towards the side. Doing this would avoid burning the top of the cola on the top lights.
Buds were beginning to fill in nicely and I was able to prune a few of the bigger fan leaves to make trimming a little easier later on.
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10/27:
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10/19 Before Pruning:
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10/19 After Pruning. The fan leaves were HUGE! So it's important to prune them often. This will allow light to penetrate the rest of the plant and allow the plant to take in nutrients where it really matters - the bud sites:
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10/13 Before pruning:
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10/13 After Pruning and training:
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I gently pulled some of the branches through various spots inside and outside of the trellis.
10/2: This was a big day! Plant was starting to shoot out pistols, which tells me it was definitely a female.
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I also flipped it to flower a few days after the pruning.
Before pruning:
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After Pruning & Training. The training might seem aggressive, but it worked out! Bending the plants spreads the branches out and allows each of the branches to get more light. I wanted to make the most out of the space in the bloom and this would allow more surface area for buds to develop later on.
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9/24 Last couple days in veg stage. Still loving those huge fan leaves, but they had to go:
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9/17 First Topping! You want 4-5 nodes before topping. The inner nodal spacing in the bloom tends to be shorter, which is great news for keeping your plants an appropriate size:
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