Totemic

Those are mineral salt nutrients you are using in an organic medium. It is going to do this every time. Either switch to plain coco/perlite and continue on the nutes you have for your next grow, or change your nutes to organic ones

So with filial breeding you are focused on developing the females and the males of a line. Each generation a new male from that generation is selected. Each generation has the potential to produce more and more variation in certain traits while locking in dominant traits. Squaring and cubing is focused on developing the females of a line. There is usually only one pollen source, and every subsequent generation is pollinated by the same pollen. Every generation produces less and less variation and lock in on the traits of the original male/group of males. Creating S1s is a good way to backup a female as it were. But its also an easy way to lock in undesirable traits, by the way having a double copy of that trait(thus dominant) in the generation.

What is your desired outcome? If you can define this in detail, the breeding approach becomes obvious. I have explored a vast number of approaches and do filial, bx, rbx, and cubing and a combination of them while developing my lines.

Getting a competition like this going does cost money. Just getting your seeds to you is R100. Then there is a cost involved with the seeds themselves, any packaging and or printing. Multiply this by 50 to 100 entrants, it becomes an astronomical 5-10k. Now we haven't even bought or engraved a single trophy yet, and there is no prize pool to speak of. Expecting myself or the forum admin to cover that cost is unfair. Neither Totemic or the forum is monetized currently. An entrance fee of R500 would cover costs, and leave +/- R250 per entrant towards a prize pool. The more entrants, the bigger the prizes could be....could be cash, or could be gear bought. I say gear bought, because getting sponsors for these comps is difficult. Getting them to sponsor the top shelf prizes we all want is even harder. If you guys want a proper kick ass growoff, Its just not going to work any other way.

Couldn't say if it will or won't. I take all my plants into a seed run in perfect health for exactly the reasons you mention. Healthy vigorously growing plants will produce more pollen, quicker imo

A single veg nute dose right around preflowering shouldnt be a problem. Plants use a fair bit of N until week 4 or so of flowering. I prefer going into flower with a plant that has a lot of stored nutes in the leaves

They looking good. Some of them look hungry though. Looks like theyd like a little N and soon they going to want more P.

Consider running autos on a 24h cycle. Let loadshedding be your lights off time. Tent can stand open 24/7....

Yeah I'll have seeds available by April probably. Not a huge selection though... Going to take time to replenish my vault.

I only run in rich organics, where i add no additional microbes ever. I nurture the microherd. Even with the worm castings added, your medium is far from the organic foundation necessary. If i were you i wouldnt have added the worm castings, would use a salt based feed on that inert medium, or go a full organic route and build a proper soil if you dont like re-amending, and focus on the microherd with compost teas and or organic nutes such as biobizz. I grow in re-amended FF soils that have been re-amended over and over, since 2019, so 4 year old soil, and zero pH issues ever. But that's just me. Its either or, but not this blended approach. Its just too easy to stress plants this way...

That biodyne causes ph issues quite often. Wouldnt be surprised if you experience the same issues if you keep using it.

I still grow indoors without any buffer to loadshedding. With the current stage 4/6 schedule, i run my veg on a 24h on cycle. Its not the Interrupted light cycle that causes issues during veg though , but interruptions to the 12h dark cycle during Flowering that is crucial. That 12h or more dark time is critical to the florigen hormone function responsible for stable flowering without stress responses presenting. When in flowering, i ignore the loadshedding times. See the loadshedding during lights on as a prolonged cloud cover. Its really not the lights that are an issue though. Its that 12h dark part of the cycle and the ventilation at that time. You need to keep the fans going during lights off/loadshedding times to avoid PM. Leaving the tent open at times when the lights would normally be on, will avert the PM. But during lights off/tent closed, airflow is that thing that HAS to still happen or PM will wreck your grow within a week.

Given me an idea here. I have given up on snail baiting my whole yard over and over... I kill a 1000, and the next day its like that mass death never happened.

Yeah that, will last you forever...literally, althouth the silver seems to be a 0.1mol solution, and not silver nitrate AR salts I can supply in smaller quantities(enough to make 1L of each concentrate, 1g Silver Nitrate and 8g thiosulphate is all you need for a batch), if you aren't looking to buy that bulk.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the last two weeks, with this as my primary smoke. Potency is on point, a strong day and night smoke. I have a lot of options available to me for the F3 generation, but #3 and #11 stand out. 1-sweet and creamy 4/5 2-sweet chem/pine 4/5 3-sweet, spicy and creamy 5/5 4-semi-sweet, earthy 3/5 5-sweet and creamy 3/5 6-sweet, floral and herbal cheesy 4/5 7-sweet, herbal and minty 3/5 8-sweet and creamy 3/5 9-sweet and fruity, mango 4/5 10-sweet and creamy 3/5 11-sweet, spicy and creamy 5/5 12-sweet and creamy 3/5 13-sweet and creamy 3/5 14- sweet, herbal and minty 4/5 Got this phase of the project done before year end which is awesome, setting the stage for an awesome start to 2023.

So these plants have been harvested and currently each pheno is being tested in a series of small fires. All the phenos share a sweet and creamy base profile with variations on the top notes from gassy to chem/pine. Getting a decent number of seeds off each plant too, and after a few weeks rest 2023 will start off testing these F2s.

We are still deep in the pioneering phase of this industry, not just locally but globally really. As someone who is part of the local industry, Ive had to forge my own path over the years, having to navigate through the mire of the last few years of prohibition, then decriminalization, which from an industry standpoint nothing has changed, and infact prohibition on industry is still in place. There is zero motivation, commitment or support from our government to legitimize the industry. They cant even finalize personal decriminalization... So while our grey/black market industy forges on, why dont you start your own thing? Expose yourself to the things you want to do. Create it in your home.

Pretty much my mission actually, but with some selection of the males/females for the next generation. Covid and the lockdown pushed me to help supply the local market that really needed it then. From early next year i should be able to do my releases through the forum again as always at no cost to the forum members.

Strange how its a tough sell hey? I have also had my salts for sale for a stupid low price and had no takers. Have since made many more fem beans with it

12 females that have remained, have been pollinated a week ago.

Awesome man. You sharing any or are they just for you

Awesome! With only 10 entries, what must I do now to secure a spot?

With such a short life cycle, things change fast. They are between 10 and 24 days. Males starting show, with interesting, strong stem rubs ranging from straight fuel, to rubber.

This autoflower cultivar finds its origins in @SkunkPharm space, with a Gorilla Cookies supplied by myself, and dusted with a Bobby's Widow F3 male pollen from Skunks library. That seed run can be found here: Skunkpharm Autoflower Seed Run There is a lot to like here. The F1 specimen pictured above is 65 days from seed and is practically ready to harvest. I'll let her go to 70 days. Besides being frost covered, her terps are loud. Spicy and sweet, with a hint of berries. This thread will be a running journal as I journey to stabilize these very desirable traits. F2s are next, and that run has started.

Strawberry Vostok from @Bay Seeds, 5 females from the pack. Day 30 from seed.