Picking My Agent Orange Pheno

[TheMadScientist99]

I've been growing for a few years, and have decided to get a new pheno of Agent Orange. I have grown it once before, cloned by a friend. I think I can get a better pheno than I had before. I started with 10 seeds, 9 of which sprouted, 7 of them I'm pretty sure are female altho it has only been 5 days into flowering.
I grow under 2 1000 watt HPS. They are in "10" gallon pots that when tested only held about 7. These pots have about half supersoil in them, the only change made to the formula was the addition of 2 lbs of kelp meal. Greensand can be used instead of kelp meal. My water is filtered by a filter from Home Depot, it brings the ppm down from about 200 to 20 to 25. I put 2 inches of cedar mulch that has been baked in an oven for 20 min at 250F to kill off any pests. The cedar helps with pest control as well. I don't worry about pH at all once the water is filtered. I topped each plant 3 times and took the bottom 2 branches from them to make clones.
Will be posting photos along the way and any comments on which plant would make the best pheno would be great.

 

[TheMadScientist99]

Here is the photo above right side up.

 

[kermit2692]

wow all looks quite uniform

 

[ColdArmySoldier]

I would pick the best pheno AFTER growing them and giving the buds a good cure, especially if you are having nice uniform growth among the phonos. Those plants are looking good!

 

[Budologist420]

If it was me I would be rubbing the stems, and the one with the most pungent/citrusy smell I would keep an eye on as my keeper, in the finished product I want that pheno that smells like Orangesicle's, that was my favorite when i grew out 2 female seedlings of AO last year.

 

[TheMadScientist99]

If it was me I would be rubbing the stems, and the one with the most pungent/citrusy smell I would keep an eye on as my keeper, in the finished product I want that pheno that smells like Orangesicle's, that was my favorite when i grew out 2 female seedlings of AO last year.

I am definitely going for more on the citrus side and not the biggest yielder. They smell like citrus already so cool. So I rub with like my finger lightly?

 

[Big N' Tasty]

I am definitely going for more on the citrus side and not the biggest yielder. They smell like citrus already so cool. So I rub with like my finger lightly?

Taken from an article written by dj short- "With clean, odor-free fingers, gently rub one plant at a time, on the stem where it is well developed and pliable, above the woody part and below the developing top (approximately at the spot where a clone would be cut). The newer leaves at their halfway point of development may also be rubbed and sniffed.

These are the places that the earliest chemical signatures of a developing plant present themselves, and it is our intent to gently disturb these chemicals and inspire an odor/flavor reaction on the fingers and on the plant. By examining these various aromas in this way one may be able to determine certain desirable (and also undesirable) characteristics. After clearing one's palate and refreshing one's fingers, another plant may be tested."

This part of the article was written to describe how to select males for breeding, but it still applies to your situation.

 

[subcool]

I thought some inspirational Agent Orange shots might be in order

 

[nugbuckets]

nice shots sub....inspiring...

 

[BatMaN SKuNK]

from my experience, I've done AO from seed about 5 times.. every pheno was delicious and had a great orange citrus aroma. I would tell ya just to pick the highest yielding pheno. the shorter more sativa whiskey sour like plant technically had the best taste/smell but it wasn't so much better than the OV leaning pheno to make me keep it. I prefered the heavier gal with the football cola.

 

[TheMadScientist99]

Wow thanks for all the great input everyone. Love the pics of AO, so pumped to see the end result. I can barely tell the difference between all the plants, when rubbed they all smell so great. I have one that is my fav but my buddy has another... lol.
Three of the phenos are shorter and four are a bit taller.

Two of the plants are male and much taller than the others. Over 70% females for me!!! So excited for my selection. I topped another time and it will probably be the last time. I watered today finally after 8 days and the plants didn't look thirsty. This is the power of mulch, it destroys the capillary action in the top layer of soil.

You can really see the difference between the male and female plants, plus the huge balls...

This is my favorite so far. The plant structure is really great, super short nodes but still as tall as others so more bud sites. The smell is fantastic, not my favorite but they are all so close.

What is so cool with the super soil is watching the plants when they really hit that nutrient rich material. In a couple days they just darken right up. My male plants turned dark green about 3 days before the females which would make me suspect that male roots grow faster. Which leads me to my next question; has anyone ever heard of grafting a marijuana plant onto another root system, either male or in the same family of plants? Maybe one with stronger roots. lol Random question I know.

 

[Kalyx]

Personally I would choose one with a strong sour present in the flavor. The thing I liked most about the (cloned) pheno I grew was how the citrus was orange without being lemon-lime and the sour aftertaste complimented the funky citrus inhale SOOO well.

 

[E Doh907]

on youtube i stumbled across some guy grafting different female strains on one female plant. i dont know about the female to male.... would that make the new graft start producing male hormones? good question dude.... random indeed

 

[Big N' Tasty]

What is so cool with the super soil is watching the plants when they really hit that nutrient rich material. In a couple days they just darken right up. My male plants turned dark green about 3 days before the females which would make me suspect that male roots grow faster. Which leads me to my next question; has anyone ever heard of grafting a marijuana plant onto another root system, either male or in the same family of plants? Maybe one with stronger roots. lol Random question I know.

I dont think grafting a female plant onto male rootstock would turn the female into a male/hermie, because when you graft one plant onto another the genetics dont change, so if a plant is genetically a female and you graft it onto a male i dont see how it could change. But im not positive. I've heard of a few successful attempts at grafting marijuana onto the rootstock of hops, a very close relative to cannabis.
If i were you, i wouldnt waste the time grafting unless you wanted to make a multi-strain bush (possibly to get around some mmj laws, have multiple strains on each of your twelve plants...). It'll take a while for it to recover from the stress, and that time could be used to simply keep the plant in veg longer to get a bigger plant.

 

[Beeb Beebman]

I've been growing for a few years, and have decided to get a new pheno of Agent Orange. I have grown it once before, cloned by a friend. I think I can get a better pheno than I had before. I started with 10 seeds, 9 of which sprouted, 7 of them I'm pretty sure are female altho it has only been 5 days into flowering.
I grow under 2 1000 watt HPS. They are in "10" gallon pots that when tested only held about 7. These pots have about half supersoil in them, the only change made to the formula was the addition of 2 lbs of kelp meal. Greensand can be used instead of kelp meal. My water is filtered by a filter from Home Depot, it brings the ppm down from about 200 to 20 to 25. I put 2 inches of cedar mulch that has been baked in an oven for 20 min at 250F to kill off any pests. The cedar helps with pest control as well. I don't worry about pH at all once the water is filtered. I topped each plant 3 times and took the bottom 2 branches from them to make clones.
Will be posting photos along the way and any comments on which plant would make the best pheno would be great.
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Looks great. I like the usage of cedar to keep pests down.

 

[TheMadScientist99]

Some quick pics of the garden at night. It's nice when I'm not done working but the lights are all off.

Look at all these bud sites. They show up a bit better with a flash at night.

 

[rootine]

Hell yea looking great. Are you looking for a specific pheno?

 

[BatMaN SKuNK]

Dude your AO looks great. I think you'll be quite pleased with that one.

 

[greenlikemoney]

Wow, sub, those are beautiful !!!!!

 

[TheMadScientist99]

Here's some pics of the potential phenos, all looking great. Slight magnesium deficiency but will correct that, my filter takes out too much calcium and magnesium. They have all stopped growing taller and started growing wider. So my girls have turned from a sour orange smell to a more lemony smell. I prefer the sour smell and am wondering if others have seen this? Will they turn back toward the end? etc.
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Here's my new mother/cloning room I built over the weekend. Looks like I need to replace my filter.
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My babies all ready to be transplanted.
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