Dank

Welcome to the fam @Chris Jay , good peeps around, looking forward to checking out what fire you growing on Doing the good work, going to drop u a invite to the breeders group, little grassroots strating to grow, have a blessed and blazed one man!

Happy New Year 420SA fam! Some nug shots from the two BlueberryKush f2's, stoked with how they turned out in the not so optimal setup. Quick update about the ChocoNL 3 from Totemic, the smoke is super tasty after about a month cure, almost like a berry liquorice og, very nice High is very good and longer lasting that a lot of other popular strains out. The stretchier plant of the two have a more tangy taste, where the smaller bushier plant has a nice creamy flavor with more subtle berries on the exhale. The shorter plant should have been harvested earlier so might have affected the taste somewhat. The high is strong and long lasting, the stretchier bud could be a bit psycoactive for some new users in large joint or bongs.

Happy New Year 420SA fam! Some nug shots from the two BlueberryKush f2's, stoked with how they turned out in the not so optimal setup. Quick update about the ChocoNL 3 from Totemic, the smoke is super tasty after about a month cure, almost like a berry liquorice og, very nice High is very good and longer lasting that a lot of other popular strains out. The stretchier plant of the two have a more tangy taste, where the smaller bushier plant has a nice creamy flavor with more subtle berries on the exhale. The shorter plant should have been harvested earlier so might have affected the taste somewhat. The high is strong and long lasting, the stretchier bud could be a bit psycoactive for some new users in large joint or bongs.

Its pretty dense bud, but these were not grown in the best setup, stacks calyxes nicely, sorry my camera is crappy, does not do much justice to the buds. Here are a few nugs from the other mother, more bushy plant and can go seriously purple if temps drop. This is that classic blueberry muffin, less tangy than the other mom.

Here is my BlueberryKush f2's straight from Cali, now my local fire, have 2 moms, this is the stretchy one

Yeh sorry I have been a bit scarce the last month, very stoked with all the activity in the breeders group. I want to make this group a place for the community to get to know local breeders, arrange testers and also to learn about breeding if they wish. Have been a bit busy, but should get some new projects off the ground soon, hopefully by the new year. Will try and get some budshots up of the my Blueberry Kush f2's that cured a bit more than a month now. Been meaning to show off some fire, will get some time today i hope!

Looking forward to checking the progeny of your breeding project @Mambawana Feel free to start a thread about it (if you wanted) under "Whats in your stable", you can call it whatever you wish, just add - Breeder: Mambawana. Want to reply to the topics above mentioned by you and @Cannabist , but will wait for some decent me time and write a proper post, stoked to see all this activity in the breeders group!

Looking majestic there @Bospatrollie2 , by the sounds of it your ladies are going out some of those Cookies terps, the cinnamon one could be a bit like Bodoir biscuits in a jar, or like some Cinnabun With your growing methodology the flavor profiles will be nice and dank, and hopefully very enjoyable smoke.

Yeh its true, I think that big one was almost ready to become a ladybug. They love the aphids as well as spidermites (only pests i could observe them with) and the coolest thing about the larvae is that do not fly, so they just hang around the infested plant until the food source runs out. Thanks a lot man, I really need a better camera, and skillset for those National Geographic shots! Well said man, sounds like your compost heap is pumping out the chitin and frass. Those fruitchafers can cause a bit of nag when they pull into the weedplants, but I rarely find them on weed, they always going after some fruit tree by the looks of it. A bigger issue i found is their grubs eat roots, devastating for a small plant in a pot. I dont bother them though, they are not like locusts. Ladybird larvae will usually be around a aphid infestation, this year started off quite bad with aphids, so I have been lucky spotting and observing them. Try growing a rose bush in a pot if you still not having pests for the ladybirds, roses are pest magnets. Ladybuggos prefer to breed and lay eggs nearby a source of water, they need nectar from smallish flowers (like yarrow,fennel,blackeyed-susans, etc) and then off course they need some pests to eat. Sorry for the late reply guys, hope errybody having a lekker holiday season! PS - Did you know? Ladybugs live between 2 to 3 years on average (in nature).

Whats good 420SA fam!? Wanted to post a update on this thread about regenerative practices outdoors. This year I am trying to help ladybirds/ladybugs multiply in the garden. Even natural pest control methods as harmless as a neem mix is enough to kill ladybug larvae, so this spring I decided to leave a few rose bushes infested with aphids to see what happens. To the complete shock and horror of my better half, the rose bushes were covered in aphids about a month ago, but the first ladybirds arrived then and there was some ladybug breeding going on. A month later, the bushes probably have about 20 - 30 ladybird larvae on them, aphids have been destroyed and the little guys are chasing around looking for the last to feast on. The only downside I see is there is a lot of larvae frass on the leaves from the feasting, left untreated will cause blackspot mold, etc. A fair price, i will remove leaves and prune soon as the larve are grown up amd leave their nursery. So all these years I have been killing ladybird larvae, by treating aphids in a "natural" way. Here are some pictures of my new pets

Thanks a lot for the advice @PsyCLown and @highchome I didn't know all this (makes a lot of sense), also heard about some horror stories about so called "solar experts" basically wasting peoples hard earn monies, pays to learn about these things before hand. Thanks again guys, I appreciate it

Thanks a lot for that informative answer @PsyCLown , will have to give you a shout when I decide to get a small setup! Ideally for now the setup will just kick with load shedding situations, I assume that at night the batteries will get depleted a lot faster than when they have sunshine on the panels? Pretty big layout, but will save up slowly for some solar and perhaps a small windturbine.

Yeh I have a small veg box with one of those old timer timers Thanks @PsyCLown , i'll remember that, perhaps upgrade at some point, I've been thinking about a small solar setup for my vegbox, just have to save up some buckaroos. Solar seems to be getting cheaper, but might also run a few LED's off a kind of battery system you find in 4x4's (when camping etc), but needs a deepcycle battery I think, also pricey, then back thinking bout solar.

Some strains will be more upset by the loadshtting than others, in the veg mode, i switch to 24hrs of light as soon as the crap starts with Eskom, causes havoc on a 18/6 cycle, not to mention having to readjust timer after each shed.

Here a few nugs shots from Totemics Choco #3 (the plant that did not enter the competition). The smoke is very nice and creamy with that classic indoor taste, nice and earthy, and surprisingly its got some fuel in there as well. Buds are still curing so I expect really good smoke from this plant. The high is good and pretty strong, perfec for chilling out at home or in nature. A earlier harvest should give a potent speedy high i would imagine. Hats off to Totemic, this plant could have been grown better than I did, better setup, etc, will be phenomanal smoke. Side note - I have a few flavors from overseas f1 beans im blazing, and this bud can stand right next them for quality of high as well as taste. Pretty dope for a f4 selection

Looking OSSUM @Bospatrollie2 ! Stoked that she earned a place in the ground now she can flex and show you what she s capable of, dont be afraid of training her for more width if height is a issue, going to reach for the stars! Working on tall plants is difficult, but if u decide to go tree style, be sure to get some BIG stakes for support, or cage it mendo styles. Thanks for all the effort Bos, enjoying your diaries a lot

Hey @Cheeezy , for sure those are male saks, doesnt look to serious, you can pluck them out with a tweezer, gets a bit more critical when the sak swells up with pollen. If there are swollen/open saks, take care when removing them, a small vacuum can assist with get those swollen saks off without spreading too much pollen around. Hope that helps, plants look bfok dude, nice

Looking good @Smelly Joe they can be quite hungry so I think will respond nicely to the teas and brews, the microbial life must be loving it! One thing I would say is just how the Kelp was treated after collection. It should soak in a big tub of water to help leech out some of the salts that could cause issues. If your friend is using it without issues it should be fine, I use it in soil building from time to time, soaked in a old tub for a day or two then dried again, crushed and into the soil/compost building.

Hi @Bospatrollie2 , sounds lekker man, there is pheno that got its nickname in the ghetto "zumbuc paranoid" or the ThinMint pheno like the rest of the world calls it. Looking forward to seeing what she does, looking good my bru!

For all the rebels Keep it blazing @420SA

That is exactly what happened to me this winter Had one male but he didn't make the cut, will get searching again soon, moving house is no breeders friend! Best of luck man, may the frost be with you!

Good questions, no need to apologize, that is what this group is about. There is a bit of debate about this, I have heard people say light intensity doesn't matter much, as long as you grow a healthy male, etc, etc. My personal view is that a male that grew under a t5 might have some children that doesn't do well in the sun. Just a theory. I try to breed under the sun as well as under the hps when possible, hps for seeds I am aiming to grow inside, and the sun for outdoor varieties. Some males will take a bit longer to flower than others, in a controlled environment you could leave the male to make a fat flower. Harvesting males as soon as the pollen starts to drop will result in the least pollen, waiting about 2 weeks after first pollen drops will give you a lot more pollen, you can take a look at @CreX indoor competition diary, a very good example of a male flowering. Edit: grabbed the link -

This is really up to you @Mambawana , in the beginning it is probably not necessary to back up the males, but its good practice if you do have the space. More serious breeders have their prize studs that they keep in veg and try to keep alive for as long as possible.

That is flippen cool , I'm sure you going to get some good results, luckily Mr and Ms Weed does most the work, we just have to experiment and see what comes from the marriage. Phenotypical expressions according to the environment is one of the coolest things to see when breeding, experience the greatest teacher, that is for sure! One of the biggest issues a new breeder can face, breeding with a hermi or male that threw of a lot of herm offspring. The other trick I would say is when to use one male and when to use more than one male, and visa versa with the females. There is not a wrong or a right way I feel, but depending on what you want to achieve, single males usually to get specific traits passed on, or a male that passes no traits on, more males in the batch if you want to create a bigger diversity within the genome, good for finding new profiles, as well as improving genetic diversity. Oh yah @Mambawana I completly forgot, about the pollination of the beans, usually seeds need about 3 weeks to mature in my experience, 4 weeks is best. I manually pollinate the lower buds about 3 weeks into flowering, perhaps 4 weeks if she is not a explosive budder. This usually results in enough time for a nice mature bud and also mature seeds. Thanks for being a part of the group bro, feel free to create a thread here about your breeding program ,if you felt like it of course!

For real @Mambawana that would be cool, and probably a reality as the laws normalize around cannabis worldwide. Kev is a legend, he is one of the big reasons breeders in California are getting recognition and continuing to grow that fire. Also in a way prob the reason that I have a bit of fire from Cali. I dig his view about how anybody can sift for their location/tastes/experiences and breed something truly unique that you can enjoy and share. Busy drying out some BlueberryKush f2's that came straight outa Cali, from a oldtimer breeder dude in LA (got the beans for free as well), will post a nugshot or two when i jar em up. I keep beans from Europe and those from the States separate, most big seed companies in Europe sift through 1000s, and some do 10s of 1000s of plants every 4 months, California has thousands of growers and loads of breeders. There is a lot of collaboration between breeders from the States and EU. Some dank coming from the EU as well, however they are relying a bit on genetics from the states for their "new stuff". Sjo Mendo Dope boyties are serious, will have to check that out! Will invite Cannabist to the breeder group, not sure if he could see the mention.