2015-2016 crazy NHS grow / Venus in Furs

OlympusMons

New member
Hi all!

So, last fall I started my first medical grow from Mr. Nice seed, going with some older NHS seed (2008? 9?) generously contributed by a forum member here. Of the 20 beans I started, about 11 germinated and went into a dwc setup that I'd begun to experiment with. Now, last summer/fall the heat in my grow space was simply extreme, and everything in hydro did not fare well. In spite of my best efforts, root rot took hold. The weakened root system problem was compounded by a root aphid infestation and, over the subsequent months, nearly all of the plants died. Around the winter holiday I basically gave up on the batch, turned my attention to a great many other pressing matters, and left the survivors to die with the intention of starting afresh in the spring. I literally ripped dying roots off the plants and didn't bother to change the fetid water but about once every month or two, and I left the lights running 24/7. However...

...I had one plant that, no matter how many times I ripped the roots off back to the cup, no matter how much abuse the plant took, it simply wouldn't die. It would get wilty looking, and the leaves would brown and fall off, but would...not...die.

Separately, I've been working on a project to capture data from my grow with microprocessors and controllers, and so a few weeks back I decided to return to the grow to evaluate how to set things up. The sole surviving plant had flopped over in the tent, roots and reservoir wholly exposed to the light, it's 3rd or 4th batch of newly sprouted roots lying in a shallow puddle of water with no nutrients for the past month. The tent was full of dead leaves and dead bugs.

But the plant was thriving, doing better than ever!

So, I decided to get serious about this plant. Somehow, miraculously, the root aphid infestation had finally run its course, as had the root rot. So I put clean water into a new liner in the tank, propped the plant back up, put new GH Flora into the tank suitable for flowering, and dialed down to 12/12. Within a week, it became evident that this was a girl! I'm keeping the nutes pretty trim, for this plant seems to *like* harsh conditions. Anyway, here she is:

olympusmons-albums-try-picture12348-aa.jpg



olympusmons-albums-2015-2016-nhs-venus-furs-picture12350-filling-space.jpg

Now, I've never grown out MNS before, so I wonder what NHS pheno I'm looking at here. Can anyone help me with that? The leaves max out at a total of 5 pinneate. I had FIM'd her a lot in the early go, so there's a fair amount of branching. And when she flopped over, she had started to grow sideways. But now she's a sprawling beast. I've trimmed her back a bit and will do so again soon to take many clones. And while this one can take A LOT of abuse, I'm anticipating that she's a switch that can give as good as she gets, so I'm naming this cut Venus in Furs. Strike dear mistress, and cure my heartl :D

Thanks in advance,

OlympusMons
 
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Subscribed :D

Going forward with my venture, I keep wondering if going all Spartan on my plants might be the right way to go about selection.
Cull the weaklings, only the strongest of the strongest survive.

My only fear is that I eliminate plants that might be weaklings but produce superb bud if I go this route..

But always curious what comes from a plant like this. One that has been stressed to oblivion and simply didn't care and kept doing its thing.

Even if the end product is not all you could hope for, I am sure its survival characteristics alone could make it a viable parent in crosses.
 
Subscribed :D

Going forward with my venture, I keep wondering if going all Spartan on my plants might be the right way to go about selection.
Cull the weaklings, only the strongest of the strongest survive.

My only fear is that I eliminate plants that might be weaklings but produce superb bud if I go this route..

But always curious what comes from a plant like this. One that has been stressed to oblivion and simply didn't care and kept doing its thing.

Even if the end product is not all you could hope for, I am sure its survival characteristics alone could make it a viable parent in crosses.

Greetings sir from Mount Brolympus! :p

Yeah, I am very curious how this will smoke. See, the thing that always kills me is that I've smoked damned little of Shanti's work that I can sure of, except perhaps for Medicine Man (which was excellent), so I won't have much to compare this to, except whatever schwag they are pushing on us down at the dispensary ;-)

I can't say the plant is particularly resistant to root rot or root aphids; it's more that neither they nor anything else that I ran across could take it down. That said, the plant did endure heat that killed her siblings, as I recall. I'll need to check my grow log for that. As I think on it, I seem to recall that Shanti created a strain with just such a survivor from a very old batch of seed. I should look around for that tale. I want to say it is skunk? I just don't recall, but I read about it once.
 
Okay, moved her into the shed this evening to start a clone operation and trim her. I have some doubts about trimming her back as I have this late in the game. I don't want to stress her too much in flower, but she was so bushy that no light would be getting to lower branches. As with all else with this plant, I'm going tough on her even if I am running the risk of hermies at this point. She had a broken branch from her earlier fall that was exacerbated by moving her around. I will check the forums here to see what my best recourse is for that. Perhaps someone can give me a tip here.

Anyway, I snapped a few pics before the trim, and here they are.
8J7u9KgA9c9lZ04FurEm2yUDZ0uVwEoAtutPrjjOb5-TxJGDUfRICW4Ih1M6mGFSCttpLtPE3OX53UIXM-x3w_C4Q6iAg3sY0opXpZ7DD6cvBV1QFBOClnHgwQGqR8xqCSDVyoIu2zCedFLfewN11K_FpyO8fthyf7vKOeXcVMkaxuKshMZLuBNOLKQp0oncA7qX3nU_ycO4liQ5oXsdImek1ZDyOlFSvPwbPyg81cW6X2XAZDPrrOrpnNYeZLMwXaLOqRix1iI4PStDCdYwjKbAyty8DdW5ul3iTjSbqM3i6Kt9_lZZCGuz_48crUsrHYIV3w4UPq_94-8ZOe1HKZmmNqXJqUgqdTUMqA-l0Q7K7CFNpXleaEn3PU0b3ur4xyxbwOzrIOldxkycEoTgQ1xitAE03cbLsNlsByMuwDPvECMEdbqRWkmlSYulOnaXV4uAuBzM8DjkRMScvKvll7Nm7xvRtOBObC7qNwio3ptflKBrsJcXB6yWyvVr_pWXUjEJnezeY3-e8XgMITgGmeqM8bQW_FHFRm_TGElzZWSHuTqIpzX9TA0gHukseKYR5LJmHa-0knD7gSC7RdEXcvNQbgOkKJw=w694-h925-no


a02vJh_bhtgg1Axx2Ddu53fK-a4yMaWip-hLmUL8LBkdf-KdRk6Gn3Bx3ajULH8RAhxeRA6fex-f-XJ5WasgFxEH5AT9p270ni-Ny8yS-w47IETHDZVCXXK_-mGQLbiJ1w1XwsozKoNWc_KEC4GzTpNg6BldRNlVEXlVt_-k5qsivlxXLcfqA5lYiy8uHm74CzgTtZBpjbZDqURbNInJ8osPCNYCVhp10abFTl5UyIs-keraJs0TKnGBMGXhwFsFDYl7B9kMr0p0QUsQl4IkJb5aFSdtU1BuCN7EykDBjbsCNyo-r8yJxgMtxP-jG-6j8_etFnDjC1F_4CXOvFwZM6oDGtYuBgzTJqZducIghXiwi2JMNMiC7atJSwKrGFjGKhr2fwgdzpgL-CIlSmAHErqawkHUWqUMU5nOnTLrDMYMbfTi4KB9QzxS0FQ-6vfwVwwZLX4dlcQEwFzxEf2cViltQXmNdaT7_qtxCyoDNSwZBv92ai6_qXRn18B_P8Rh8-BDDcoIT3tmpRyWoudPBRpUXbekt844BLdLEmHM6_wBODRWYHF1rTK6_AxS-FZLFk01EOm8eLs8ABQR0P9EaVNpiwYsF-I=w694-h925-no




As I go into the clone room, one thing I noticed is that most of the growth I have to work with from the trim (sitting in water now) were pretty "woody" and not succulent. Maybe that has to do with the stage of growth. I'm going to take a lot of clones and do some of them I think with a more concentrated Dip 'n Grow solution. Incidentally, this is the end of the 2nd week in flower.

I'd still gladly take any tips on what which NHS pheno I'm looking at here too.
 
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Venus stripped down

Okay, last post of the night. Finished cloning and opening her up. This is what she looks like now:

C-wov2D7_2k3FI-GIDTN6XQ7uYKAVWSYHuRcwPLMAvxRfSkKoAXbyjWwG1uwN1_ntGv-bWofehxSB7LwQ9GJQwCNrd_6FbcC-ts_GScNhGoPM9bKbhIWtbN531FJ6o5cR5CVSHx-MnNvJHDw067JrmoqGSoPRDr91Ox8VfIG6oHQ4J0B8pyBD3hSqWYFYwRItAyb49FxL68JWMYuCcCPIeSAPwnZvpLaDk6vZ3GrtaNun-2q3DwCvVCNbqUs1O7POiCxkIXZCX2H6YyIgscmopkquXUEo-CVqSHhTK0jAZeTwP8jbJoXfTmMZSGvVxIBHUQo0EVDogM8rjEAAlv9HEMEO2TzaMAajqtc6mUe2hTmaXQ-p_yW6u8sRLTDYyxOs3mwF9vLnKm9bHnM-gnyaCGDOu4ZJsy2gNDAJsVPLZCTmT506lwxZx-_xtj7BY4ra19bTOHLKdOE64SwzE2cGIire_VNw0KjCftIlC62EdSkGkvLAYhY8MaNSmKM7nqF2d2Vpg9cXOLnA4iZM0aiVAYp4nKR6pFSeVD7v5sTm037mdEOlxvS_1PlTHKyT_zGNhJj3Uvan7-9ZQXbMExBcLxsimYrROU=w729-h971-no




I took 15 clones using Clone-X gel. We'll see how she goes.
 
Hi Mr OM
You certainly have one resilient and vigorous girl on your hands there. I hope that that is a positive sign for the finished product.
The MNS skunks have impressed me to no end. From their vigorous growth, their plentiful yield and quality high they really deliver.
The 5 pinneate leaves are common to the mns skunks that I have grown so sorry I cant help you with phenotype more than that.
As far as the split stems go I would recommend using electrical insulation tape to bring the split togeher. Since it is flexible it can be bound quite tightly to repair the wound and will allow expansion as the plant grows. After a few weeks it can then be cut away if you wish but I have generally left it in place with no negative effects.
Nice job on the pruning by the way I think she will bud up very nicely.
Good luck
 
Day 20

My notes suggest I'm 20 days in today. She is shooting up very fast. I had HPS kicked down to 600W, but I'm having to raise the lights every day, so I booted it up to 1000+. I also boosted the nutes last night a little. With about 8 gallons in the rez, I'm reading 550ppm. Everything about the plants looks healthy, but the leaves don't have a lot of gloss to them. I don't know if it will help, but I put a 20ml shot of silica in the tank, along with some Hydroguard to keep any future root rot at bay. She had it all winter long, and I still don't know what ultimately took it down, but the hydroguard seems like a good precaution at this point. Ph is running a little low at 5.4, but she's seen plenty worse. I'll keep my eye out for hermies, but things are going much better for her in flower than they did in veg, so hopefully she won't stress too much on being just a tad off.

Anyway, here she is at day 20:
dDJhcWc21c7D-Z_bRIY6IgNRCImjxcxVzUazL42sQuI3YlqkJfMEQG3wCp9bOHIs8q7lNMB8KHvTHzRuBpKpj3KJO2eePyK_d8auhOoPz4lo1kCkPP-Zg8egH2UWhy4OdRa1uW42as0Oab5uSHcUnOBDoZIEI2EhNM0Gt_eMx0ibWcIAMtJu9Nrc6_oZ0OdsJeXgG7JeVBMu3LbDFutIHAeDSkoi7aGpREPbNt0O8jco1jGEH8h-7KDo-E0HKwPEfQXsowDWcS9X8WcvqoRsMMuJ3aEhRsB3LzsV9gpP4CdEAetIDzKp1EvAle4lEsxzSb1J5mrdmg--8IExTcMI3fUFt11tylEH8Z2GL722M5jPQZqXLgnSCgy_YGUL1XUPTuQOFETwviQ4Y_TdLEMW76pPzQArLPrLWDXOfbK70FGwALNjYs32o5KbrdexDuVaBGyakfgq7SNOV3uIwsLS4lnZ2Sr0UxALezta0LcmqiwhibYpRaXreKA0Y8gYRMI-uKHFh9_ca6J11Kj-V512CEa_1kkW7YkwI8T2KXyB0YpIseUAtCHoWAoKFqJN1uDUm-iDfFdmibIB9oOrQZ_BN0MfNDoTFTk=w1233-h925-no


Correction: 5.9 in the tank. I bumped it up a notch to 6.2. Maybe nudge it again tomorrow.
 
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Hi Mr OM
You certainly have one resilient and vigorous girl on your hands there. I hope that that is a positive sign for the finished product.
The MNS skunks have impressed me to no end. From their vigorous growth, their plentiful yield and quality high they really deliver.
The 5 pinneate leaves are common to the mns skunks that I have grown so sorry I cant help you with phenotype more than that.
As far as the split stems go I would recommend using electrical insulation tape to bring the split togeher. Since it is flexible it can be bound quite tightly to repair the wound and will allow expansion as the plant grows. After a few weeks it can then be cut away if you wish but I have generally left it in place with no negative effects.
Nice job on the pruning by the way I think she will bud up very nicely.
Good luck

Thanks for saying so! I wondered if she's skunk, but I thought the smell would be a giveaway. There's not much fragrance in there right now, but what I do smell is almost floral. Maybe that will change as she matures. I bound the plant up as you suggested, using rubber bands and some sticks to act as splints. Tape goes on next.

One thing though: looks like she got some light burn. The upper leaves near the light are bleached and when I came in this evening, she hadhad photo-response after lights came on and the leaves classically curled up, and right into the glass under the ballast. Those leaf tips may burn, I don' know. I don't know how bad this bleaching will be in a month if I fix it now. As I understand it, the affected leaves never bounce back, but there's a lot of bud growth yet to come.
 
I recently grew critical skunk and found floral notes early in flowering, they changed the deeper into flowering they went. So dont stess too much things will really stink up the place soon enough.
For a 1000w you really dont want your canopy any closer than 500 to 600mm from the fixture any closer than that will literally bleach the hell out of any foliage and it isn't good for resin production. If your light is as high as it goes you may need to tie the branches down away from the light if you can. I would only drop the wattage as a last resort because IME lumens equals huge ones. In the end its up to you and i wish you the best.
 
I recently grew critical skunk and found floral notes early in flowering, they changed the deeper into flowering they went. So dont stess too much things will really stink up the place soon enough.
For a 1000w you really dont want your canopy any closer than 500 to 600mm from the fixture any closer than that will literally bleach the hell out of any foliage and it isn't good for resin production. If your light is as high as it goes you may need to tie the branches down away from the light if you can. I would only drop the wattage as a last resort because IME lumens equals huge ones. In the end its up to you and i wish you the best.

Yes, I will probably need to tie down. I'm 20 days into flower. When will she ever stop stretching?
 
@ 20 days into flower I would have a guess that she wouldn't be to far away from full stretch at the moment, maybe a couple of inches left at best. I think your going to get some real nice colas judging by the pics.
 
Damn. Damn damn damn damn damn.

Hermied.

She lived a hard life, and she's a survivor. She wasn't stressed in flower, but perhaps I should have guessed anyway. A few days ago I noticed some of the flowers starting to die back some. Today my suspicions were confirmed. At first, it took a long time to spot any male flowers at all, but once they started to show up, they were everywhere.

I didn't check closely for male flowers at the beginning, so maybe they've been there for awhile, but I doubt it. She has maybe 6-10 male flowers per branch, mostly embedded within the female clusters and mostly on the lower branches.

So, I'd like to ask for some advice. This is the only plant in the flower tent right now. What should I do? She's been in flower for precisely 4 weeks today. Is there a way to salvage her for hash or similar? She smells incredibly good, so very floral. I'll need to wipe down the tent now anyway. Should I let her grow out more, or cut her down? What's best?

OM
 
Shit that sucks.
It all depends how much effort you are willing to put in. I had a similar thing happen in a large room at week 7 of 10. The male flowers that pose the biggest concern are those that form at the nodes of the lower branches. These tend to consist of multiple anthers emerging from a single female flower at the nodes. Remove as many of these single calyxes as you can this removes the site where the male flowers can form. I would then strip bare the bottom 1/3 of the plants and check daily for flowers in the top buds and pull them out. After stripping the bottoms off I didn't get many flowers in the tops. Also if possible remove any oscillating fans that you may have that could help disperse pollen. By doing this I salvaged probably 75% of the crop and that had maybe 5 to 10 seeds in an oz, It was alot of work but in the end worth it.
That was along time ago.... now I would just cut them down and start again. It is only 1 plant and you can access it all pretty easily so it could be done with time and effort.
Do you have anything else ready that could go straight in?
 
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Shit that sucks.
It all depends how much effort you are willing to put in. I had a similar thing happen in a large room at week 7 of 10. The male flowers that pose the biggest concern are those that form at the nodes of the lower branches. These tend to consist of multiple anthers emerging from a single female flower at the nodes. Remove as many of these single calyxes as you can this removes the site where the male flowers can form. I would then strip bare the bottom 1/3 of the plants and check daily for flowers in the top buds and pull them out. After stripping the bottoms off I didn't get many flowers in the tops. Also if possible remove any oscillating fans that you may have that could help disperse pollen. By doing this I salvaged probably 75% of the crop and that had maybe 5 to 10 seeds in an oz, It was alot of work but in the end worth it.
That was along time ago.... now I would just cut them down and start again. It is only 1 plant and you can access it all pretty easily so it could be done with time and effort.
Do you have anything else ready that could go straight in?

Not really. I could go to a dispensary and pick somthing up, but I've got nothing but seedlings. It really does look like she's swollen with seed all over the place, so I'm doubtful about how much can be saved. That said, since I suspect this is stress and not genes, I'm collecting pollen for a future cross. She's already sticky and smells very sweet. I don't know if it is worth trying to harvest for the drug value.
 
Hermaphrodite pollen is a real gamble, personally I wouldn't be saving it for breeding. It's just too risky, intersexism isn't a trait you want to be passing on. Better off using a real male from proven lines.
If it looks like you will still get a decent yield keep it going and just make oil or bubble from it. The seeds wont matter.
 
Hermaphrodite pollen is a real gamble, personally I wouldn't be saving it for breeding. It's just too risky, intersexism isn't a trait you want to be passing on. Better off using a real male from proven lines.
If it looks like you will still get a decent yield keep it going and just make oil or bubble from it. The seeds wont matter.

My strong suspicion is that it is from stress, so after I run everything else through this year, if my surviving clones take and flourish, I'll try her one more time. She's slowed flowering (as one might expect after self-fertilization), but she's not done. I killed the fan as someone suggested, and continue to let her flower. The new flowers are not fertilizing, so it won't be a total loss I suppose.

One thing I've noticed is the smell: it's hard to describe, but you could say it is sweet, like honey! A heavy smell that's hard to describe, but not offensive in any sense. I wonder what part of her ancestry could contribute to that? Her haze side?
 
My only experience with NHS.......you know that sinking feeling you get when you can hardly move your hand anymore because it's cramped from trimming and you look at the pile of bud left to trim.....NHS outdoors was amazing!
Made great hash :) In Canada, no less
DSCF1106.JPG
 
This is the second NHS that I moved outdoors, it was male when I put it in the ground. It completely reversed, I showed it no love at all and it still thrived. This one was very skunky.

I still have some seeds and I will run it again, right now I have U2 on the go indoors and Master Kush outdoors.

 
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