NL5 x Hz Female Select: Medical Grow Journal

Two things- I would probably go with the five gallon buckets. However, for the flower lighting I would do 11 on and 13 off. I use this if I am ever going to pheno hunt. Got the idea from DJ Short. You see stuff that will usually not come out under 12/12.
 
I also would not recommend topping them for a pheno select, you can see their structure better when they are growing normally. If you have not yet cloned, I would take a lower or a middle branch.
 
We plan to top the plants and root the tops, does that seem a good idea?

I just did that on my CM run and had close to 100% success.
2 out of 40+ stragglers still look healthy though, just haven't seen a root pop out yet while some others already had foot long roots.

It worked much better than my last attempt with the too small clones I took from the bottom of plants.

The only drawback is that apparently tops take longer to root. But they do root and do so well, just takes a while.
I cloned them with powder hormone and jiffy pucks and it took almost 2 weeks but almost 100% success and they look quite healthy.

Also I innitially thought I would not top my plants for pheno hunting to "get to know the plant better" but I kind of disagree after 2 runs.
I also have some untopped ones standing next to the topped ones and I believe topping is fine, even when pheno hunting.
First of all, the structure below the point where you topped doesn't change so you can get an idea about node spacing etc. from that. Even if you top very early and very low on the plant, up to that point, you get to see your node structure etc.

I also don't think all these things play as much of a role in selecting keepers/pheno hunting.

As far as I am concerned, the main decision making factor are still 2 things (which one takes priority is personal preference then again):
1) Effect
2) Yield

Sure it's nice to have a plant with a golden ratio node spacing, thick stems pleasant leaf structure etc. etc. but you will throw that plant and it's beautiful sisters in the garbage if you find one that knocks your socks off in terms of effect and yields well on top. Agreed?


Now yield plays basically no role for myself in terms of pheno hunting. It is all about potency for me. And since reading the whole chemdawg story and seeing what its legacy has turned out to be, I am inclined to look at any cripple, mutant, stunted looking straggler as a potential holy grail.
Because it all depends.

My plan is to reserve judgement until after curing and sampling the final product. I plan to take out my notebook during that time and while sampling, looking at the notes and reminiscing about that grow and remembering what stood out etc.

But that is all secondary, the judgement will come by way of the effect on myself and that can turn everything upside down.

In my first round, a strain I had "just thrown in there" and had 0 expectations for, NLxSkunk, blew all the rest away, safe for Critical Mass.
I was much more into the Blueberry, the C99, even that great smelling MasterKushxSkunk or the White OG from Karma or the Malawi or the Mango Haze.

But after curing and testing, the NLxSK and CM were the best so far.
On a secondary level, the NLxSK grew very "straight up" and yielded better than others but not as well as the CM which had the christmas tree shape.
The CM was on par with the NLxSK while the NLxSK was more grapefruit/citrusy, the CM was more in the berry direction and yielded better.
Potency/effect wise they were on par and not far apart (which makes sense, given their genetic makeup).
That's why ultimately I decided to pop the near 50 beans of Critical Mass instead of any other hype strain like Malawi etc.
It's because it was among the best smoke I had in the first two rounds while also yielding well, being tasty, easy to grow and overall nice to look at.

Having topped all of them now, I can say that after topping you still notice and can definitely clearly see which ones are looking "ahead" in terms of veg. Some are simply a bit more bushy, you also note which ones reacted better to topping and not or which ones rooted better/pushed more root mass and faster etc.

But again, to me that is all just mental notes, not to be discarded but also not to use as a base for judgement.

I regard this information as a supplement to the big kahuna of information that is the sampling after curing.

Stay frosty bros

Broseidon
 
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I always take the tops for clones but that's me. If your going to veg for a bit after the plant will still have some defined tops compared to a scrog grow so plenty to judge on and compare. If you were growing something much more indica dominate like critical mass it would be much easier to leave them un topped but the stretch potential of some phenos will be huge with nl/Hz so be prepared for that If you go that route.

It's gonna be a pretty tough choice as it is. I would plan on narrowing it down to a few this round and have the championship ballot slated for round two. You might end up keeping more than one. In hindsight I should have kept two, my hazy lady and the powerhouse yeilder. So there's a lesson learned by me just recently.

Your doing a great job, plants are uber healthy and so happy! Keep up the great work man!
 
I always take the tops for clones. If your going to veg for a bit after the plant will still have some defined tops... so plenty to judge on and compare... the stretch potential of some phenos will be huge with nl/Hz

It's gonna be a pretty tough choice as it is. I would plan on narrowing it down to a few this round and have the championship ballot slated for round two.

Your doing a great job, plants are uber healthy and so happy! Keep up the great work man!
Thanks Topheavy420, appreciate the positive feedback! It seems that in an ideal world, growing outdoors in the perfect climate, it would be awesome to grow out all these beauties to full height and really appreciate them in their fullest potential. In practice, we're working with a space 7' floor to ceiling, so topping seems a sensible plan.

I do think we may end up selecting multiple plants this run!
 
Having topped all of them now, I can say that after topping you still notice and can definitely clearly see which ones are looking "ahead" in terms of veg. Some are simply a bit more bushy, you also note which ones reacted better to topping and not or which ones rooted better/pushed more root mass and faster etc.
Broseidon, how do you veg your females?
 
I am still going by feel with everything.

The first round I let everything grow naturally, no topping etc. and simply flipped them when everything was ready (I vegged them about 3 months at that point). Plants were huge and had accordingly nice yield due to sheer size, for a inaugural round.

Second round I had a horrible fungus gnat infestation and had to shut down, nothing I did there bears much meaning, with regards to the plants. Battling infestation-wise, I did and learned a lot ;)

Now this round, I topped them to take clones. This is the first time I ever topped a plant and successfully took clones.
Very pleased with the result.
I will top closer to the bottom/earlier next time. I topped at well over 1 month from seed this time, they were already quite large (the clones are also quite large). Didn't measure really to be honest (I can't keep a complete log this time around, didn't have everything ready by the time I had to cut the clones). Maybe around 70 cm or so.

Anyway, cut them down to half while taking the clones, leaving 3-4 nodes from the soil before the topping, which makes them look a bit funky.

Since then, I let them grow for another month or so.
They are ready to be transplanted and flipped as they have produced a complete canopy with close to no empty spots.

Basically I want them to get as tall as possible in the 1 gallon pots and produce as tight of a canopy as possible.
At the moment I am giving the soil I had to mix up again (I underestimated how much I need and ran out) time to cook. I think another week or two, then I transplant to 5 gallon pots for flower, veg them another week or two in the flower room in their new pots and then flip them.

Their sex is still undetermined by the way. I might take a second batch of cuttings and flower them unrooted to determine sex, as was previously suggested..
Or I do the whole transplanting thing and then having to pull out the males and transplant new females into their pot until my room is full..

I thought I give the plants a good look with my macro lens and see if I can determine sex this way and then just transplant the "most female looking" ones into the 5gal pots and see how many I misjudged and take it from there.

Not sure...

Oh and in the future I will likely top my females twice to get 4 solid tops and work on that whole "grail structure".
 
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hi , nl5 haze do some crazy main colas , i would put it into flower now, 15 plant m2 ,and you make cuts with the lower branch. this strain can be so huge after the stretch ,;)
 
My first two rounds I also didn't defoliate very much.

I will this time.

Week 2 of flower i plan to remove all lower growth.

My reason being:
Nobody got time for those popcorn buds at the bottom.
At least for me, everything beyond a certain point (towards the bottom) was so small that it was useless to attempt trimming it. It was still a bud mind you but come on...

So I just tossed those buds in with the trim to make hash from later.

I believe the plant would have been better off putting that energy into a couple fewer buds further up top on the plant.
 
Looking awesome bro, gonna do a run of my keeper here, hopefully I'll have time to post up progress in my thread.

Keep up the good work, I'll be watching for updates!
 
Week 2 of flower i plan to remove all lower growth.
We took your advice and it definitely seems like a winner. Better airflow, tidier, greater distance between the grow medium and the plant. We removed around 2 bottom nodes from each girl, most of which are being used as clones.
 
They are looking very healthy.
Look like it will be a claustrophobic flower room.
My advice is to you learn how to train the plants (lst), it may become necessary further.
:)
 
We took your advice and it definitely seems like a winner. Better airflow, tidier, greater distance between the grow medium and the plant. We removed around 2 bottom nodes from each girl, most of which are being used as clones.

Are you getting them to root without problems?

Asking because my plants are usually long mature and pre-flowering when I flip them and therefore already have quite a bit of stigmas in week 2 of flower. So I never dared trying to cut a clone from them..... yet :D

Maybe going to this time, if you say they root fine, why not. Seeing as I killed one of the clones from one of the females currently in flower (and have no other backup), Ima just try that out then.
 
Foetus, you're going to have some jungle there! The NL5Hz does pack it on!

Broseidon, I have never experienced problems taking "preflowered" clones from long-flowering strains and I've done it loads of times. Go for it! Just make sure you give them lots of light afterwards, even 18/6 if possible.
 
The fun really begins! Looking forward to them really taking shape here in the coming weeks. Take lots of pics please!

Does the stretch seem to be over at week 3 to you?
 
Smart choice on growing them big in their natural state with no shaping for distinguishing phenotypes. It's going to aid you so greatly in selection. You'll be reviewing these pics countless times I'm sure. It's so nice to have the amount of room you have, so much versatility, and once you have your keeper(s) no doubt you can rock the weight out of there knowing you'll have top quality.

So far (as seen from here) they mostly have a NL or hybrid type look to them (mine did as well), anything stand out at this point for any reason? Any special lady catching your eye?
 
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