Blueberry Muffin, Caramel Cream, Blueberries 'n Chocolate

Welcome, everyone! I decided to challenge myself this run and go with three different varieties. All 3 are photoperiod fem's.
Thank you to all the readers that follow along on this journey! I enjoy hearing your feedback and advice, please feel welcome to comment and subscribe. I try to post updates with pictures at least weekly. Also, be sure to check out my other grow that's further along if you're interested: https://www.rollitup.org/t/grow-1-3x-mango-sherbet-humbolt-3x-blackened-oranges-useful.1009986/

Cultivars - 2x Blueberry Muffin (Humboldt SC) - (Purple Panty Dropper x Razzle Berry) 45 Day Flowering


2x Caramel Cream (Humboldt SC) - (Royal Highness x Old-School Cookies) 60 Day Flowering


2x Blueberries n' Chocolate (Useful Seeds) - (Blueberry Hashplant x Chocolate Diesel) 60 Day Flowering


{{Stock photos -- not my grow}}

Grow Environment

Germination Stage -
Closeted space
120W HPS Clone/Seedling light
Heating pad
4in exhaust fan
Wide plastic trays
Jiffy pellets
Distilled water and misting bottle
Shot glasses & small tupperwares w/ paper towels for early germination
Small tube of sand-paper for scuffing seeds

Seedling/Veg Stage -
5x5ft grow tent
2x 250W Blurple lights
Switch to RO water (and nutrients)
6in inline exhaust fan
4in intake fan
Fabric pots, at 1/2 gal, 3gal, and 5gal (skipping 1gal this time and ending in 5gal's instead of 3's)
Heavy duty totes, lid's drilled; to catch run-off
Small humidifier and dehumidifier

Bloom Stage -
5x5 grow tent
SpiderFarmer SF4000
6in inline exhaust fan w/ 6in carbon filter
4in intake fan
Larger dehumidifier
Heavy duty run-off totes

Monitoring/Management -
pH & EC meters
"Smart" thermo-hygrometers
Smart plugs for timer scheduling and wattage monitoring

Nutrition Line -
General Hydroponics Flora Trio
GH CaliMagic
GH Diamond Nectar
GH KoolBloom
GH Armor-SI

Grow Mediums -
Coco coir
Chunky Perlite
Jiffy Starter Pellets

Scheduling -
High frequency fertigation
Hand watering; various amounts at each stage
4x/day during Seedling/Veg; 3x/day during Bloom
18/6 light schedule until 12/12
Mainline training

Apr 25
-Seeds put into labeled shot glasses of distilled water after being scuffed, and left to soak for aprx. 6 hours
-Prepared individual tupperwares and cut paper towels to fit
-After soaking, seeds were moved to tupperwares, placed on heating pad and sprayed w/ distilled water
-Tupperwares checked periodically every few hours and remoistened when needed

Apr 26
-Both Blueberry Muffins sprouted vigorous tails, one Caramel Cream with a short tail, and one Blueberry 'n Chocolate started to crack open with a baby tail exposed after aprx. 24 hrs in tupperwares
-Planted into Jiffy pellets and exposed to 24hr light until cotyledons expose and unfold

Apr 27-28
-Muffins have both popped out of the pellet and are showing cotyledons, one with helmet-head. Spraying it lightly to encourage it to drop it's shell.
-Two of the seeds, one Caramel Cream and one Blueberry n' Choc, have not sprouted yet, but I encourage them to continue germinating by watering them anyways.
-Switched to 18/6 lighting

Apr 30
-One seed that hadn't popped has germinated! Caramel Cream is now 2/2

May 2-3
-Both seeds that hadn't popped have now germinated successfully, that's a full 6/6!!
-The Muffin with helmet head had slightly mutated-looking growth initially, will continue to monitor
-A few others had helmet head, but didn't have any problems spraying the seeds and lightly brushing them off the cotyledons

May 7-8
-Noticed rooting on most of the Jiffy pellets, plan to up-pot into 1/2 gals soon
-Began giving very small amounts of nutrients after all plants had developed first set of leaves

May 9-10
-After buffering and mixing coir, all 6 have been up-potted and moved into the veg tent and put under the blurple lights
-When they reach their 6th node, they'll all get their first topping
-Currently on a feeding schedule of apx 150-175ml seedling nutrients @ 4x/day

All but one popped here


Blueberry Muffins' helmet head that resulting in this mutant growth


Last day under the HPS


Into the tent

BB Muffins; Mutie on the right

BBHPxChoc.D

Caramel Cream

May 16

All the girls have gotten a lot bigger since I've last posted. Everyone seems to be doing well enough, most I would say are thriving, with the exception of Blueberry Chocolate #1, whose shown some strange growth and some browning on a few leaves. I'm guessing it was from leaving them in the pellets for too long and letting their baby roots get too much exposure to air, and she's just the one that's suffered the most from it, but I'm not entirely confident in this diagnosis. I don't think it is a response to nutrients, because the other BB Chocolate is younger and has developed less nodes, but showed less response to being given the same nutrients, with only some very small signs of the burning on the tips. They're also the same distance from the lighting as the rest of the girls, who are doing great, leaving me only to guess that it was from prolonged exposure to air in the jiffy pellets, or just a bad response to nutrition in earlier stages from this particular strain. I'm only left to guess for now.

I'm keeping them on a 4x/day schedule, and they'er getting about 150-175ml of 1100EC nutrient blend. I felt like this was very little water, but upon feeding, I see significant enough run-off each time, so I've maintained this amount because they look healthy and they're growing rapidly.

Anyway, here's some pics

Blueberry Muffin on the left, Blueberry Chocolate in the middle, Caramel Cream on the right


A few closeups of Blueberry n' Chocolate #1's troubles, significant rusting and a few leaves with weird kinked growth


Compared to Blueberry n' Chocolate #2, whose less developed, with much less rusting, and no signs of weird growth


Here's the Blueberry Muffins, the one that started mutie is turning out fine, new growth looks good. Muffin #1 looks fantastic


And finally, the Caramel Cream - both looking great, Caramel Cream #1 showing the tiniest bit of brown though

May I ask y u went with ro water and general hydroponics being synthetic your "sterilizing" water even further u might get some bonus out of city water I didn't see if you were on well water or have super high ph with you main feed but I see the usefulness of ro more toward the organic grower with living soil your soil won't hold a microbe if you tried with GH products but that might not be your goal... what I'm saying basically don't get reeled into teas and microbes if your using synthetic nutes....sorry if I'm out of line with my 2cents ...I started using gh then i made the organic transition and it was well worth it i can't burn my plants if i try .... but with gh if i didn't ease them into feed schedule I'd scorch my tips i use full line of emerald harvest now and i couldn't be happier

Fano_man said:

May I ask y u went with ro water and general hydroponics being synthetic your "sterilizing" water even further u might get some bonus out of city water I didn't see if you were on well water or have super high ph with you main feed but I see the usefulness of ro more toward the organic grower with living soil your soil won't hold a microbe if you tried with GH products but that might not be your goal... what I'm saying basically don't get reeled into teas and microbes if your using synthetic nutes....sorry if I'm out of line with my 2cents ...I started using gh then i made the organic transition and it was well worth it i can't burn my plants if i try .... but with gh if i didn't ease them into feed schedule I'd scorch my tips i use full line of emerald harvest now and i couldn't be happier

Click to expand...

Fano_man, No definitely not out of line. I welcome advice and discussion.
I use RO water because it was much cheaper in the long run for me to do that than to buy gallons of distilled. I don't use my tap because pretty well everywhere I read when learning suggested for me to use water with as low of an initial EC/PPM as possible to sustain the most control over the pH and EC of the coir environment, and this was most easily achieved with RO or distilled. I am on city water, and specifically the chloramine in the water here is hard to aerate out and pH is a bit high, but really, the starting point of EC/PPM would be very difficult to control for me if I started as high as tap - even when carbon filtered it comes out over 400PPM.
I use GH Diamond Nectar as a humic acid to aid in nutrient intake, and hadn't planned on using teas or anything microbially beyond the Micro in the GH Flora Trio line. Does GH's FloraTrio-Micro not introduce microbials and promote mycorrizael growth? ((I'm sure I butchered that spelling, sorry))
Also, most of my nutrition schedule (and general information) came from cocoforcannabis.com, just as a reference to who's advice I've been following.

Correct GH is a fully synthetic line and is a direct relation type nutes water it down its instantly available at the root level the products used to achieve there end product are from alot if synthetic sources which kill all microbial life a good way to make gh effective is to look into a product called slf100 it's a enzyme based product that basically breaks your nutes down hella fast it's made as a final flush and hydro cleaning agent but I used it repurposed as siding in the break down if the synthetic salts that's comprise gh nutrients it's all manufactured salts the self breaks the salt bonds and almost does away with the need to do mid grow flushes as you will be fully dissolving your nutes not allowing salt build up where gh calls for mid grow flushes when things get hairy and out if whack the self keeps things normal.... I did floranova line grow bloom cali magic armor si ... its basically what u got had some stupid purchases like rhino skin flawless finish bud candy I was doing things I was nutrilizing with tap water who woulda thought I finally got the floranova gh dialed in pretty easy no thing needed got lucky I guess but I had hell in the beginning

May 23
Big changes this week. Baby girls got moved into 3 gallon pots on the 22nd, and then had their first topping in their mainline training late night between the 23rd and 24th. Depending on how long it takes for each of them to recover and grow new nodes, I may end up manifold training any that are slower to grow, but I won't know about that for awhile.

Before topping

After topping, Blueberry Muffin #1

Blueberries 'n Chocolate, #1 and #2


Caramel Cream, #1 and #2

Blueberry Muffin #2, aka "Mutie", still had the weird fused leaves and hasn't grown as fast as the others, but the weird leaves haven't spread to any other plants, so I'm guessing it's genetic. Roots looked healthy when I moved them from the 1/2 gal's to the 3's. Weird, because this plant had the most vigorous early growth.

May 30
Things looking okay in the Veg tent.
I've spotted a little bit of algae building on a few chunks of perlite among the top layer. I removed what I could spot and haven't seen any more develop in the last day, but I'll be watching for it. I've also noticed a bit of build-up in the run-off tanks if I leave it for a few days without dumping.
I didn't have this happen quite as much last time, but I'm guessing it's because I'm using bigger pots this grow than last time, and therefor more water each feeding; I know keeping a larger environment more moist is a better breeding ground for them.
EC is on point for everyone, input ranging around 1050-1150, and runoff is picking up about 50-100EC above that, usually around 1180-1200EC.
The second topping in the mainline training was done to 4/6 of the plants today. Mutie Muffin and Baby Chocolate weren't quite ready, and were still a node behind. Also took any lower grow shoots that weren't going to remain.
I'm considering abandoning the mainline training with Mutie, and taking one of her main branches off, and leaving her with just the one branch. It's a little late to notice, but it's really only the one half of her that's all mutated and struggling. The other branch I would leave looks healthy and unmutated.
Next up this week, I need to get some stakes and start low-stress training the branches, and charging coir to prepare for their up-potting into their final 5gal homes. Before that, I'm guessing I'll do their final topping in the 3gal's, except for the 2 that are behind in nodes; they may end up getting topped in the 5gal's.

June 10

Hi everyone
Things in the Veg tent are looking good (at least in my amateur opinion)

Everyone has finished up their final toppings, and the setup for mainline training is done. I'll continue LST by spreading them out with plant ties and stakes, until they're in the Bloom tent and ready to begin trellis training. I'm already nervous about them being too tall though. I thought all the toppings would help, and they did, no doubt, but I'll have to be slightly more aggressive and begin training sooner next time.

I've decided to leave them in the 3gal pots as their final homes. After lining up all the final toppings with plans to transfer, I decided they would be fine in 3's.
They also had a big upgrade in their reservoirs. I purchased some heavy-duty totes and drilled holes, and cut a square out to allow for easy access to a basin that catches the run-off. This will hopefully make testing and changing run-off a lot easier and faster, plus stop a lot of algae from building up.

Speaking of algae, I have seen a bit more in the pots since last posting about it. I don't know if it's some I missed, or if more is developing. It's still only found on the perlite itself and not 'spreading out' onto the coir. I pick it out when I see it, and so far it isn't causing any trouble, but I'm reducing to 3x feedings/day and changed the totes in hopes this would curb it's formation. I've even started to see one or two gnats flying around, and bought some Spinosad spray (a very weak mixture, at %0.01) and some sticky fly traps to deal with any further problems like that.

Anyway, here's some pics of the girls. Caramel Creams are getting tall, BB Chocolate's are getting very bushy and big, and BB Muffin #1 is looking healthy and happy, Mutie Muffin needed some trimming on the side that had the rough leaves, and I'm worried that dominance is going to take over on the other side now that I've trimmed it.

Group photo; Muffins in front, Chocolates in middle, Caramels in back; #1's on the left, #2's on the right

New totes and their catch-basins; the 3gal pots fit perfectly!
.
Some top shots

Pics showing the 'wishbone' formation from the first topping in the mainline training and the training being implemented

June 20

Big changes for these girls. They were moved into the Bloom tent on the night of 18th/19th, and had their first 12 hours of sleep yesterday. I won't start counting their "Bloom" cycle until they show me some pistils.
The decision to flip was made after Caramel Creams forced my hand by starting to grow about 10-12 inches taller than the Blueberry varieties, leaving me running out of vertical room to continue Vegging them. I had to drop the totes and put them on just lids to keep them away from the lights and from towering over Blueberry Chocolates and robbing them of any light. It lowered them enough to be about equal to the others and the lids keep them from sitting in their run-off. After moving them into the Bloom tent, I also attempted to trellis-net them, in hopes I can keep height under control during this run, but I won't really know until they hit the stretch.

I also shifted their feeding and light schedule forward slightly, to align with the hours of the day/night that I'm actually awake. I had too many alarms going off at times of the day I was finding difficult to manage, so instead of 6am to 6pm dark period, they got pushed forward with 2 extra hours of light for one day, moving them to an 8am-8pm dark schedule. So far it's been much much easier to manage.

From this point on, I'll probably have an intentional delay between the flip to Bloom and the next germination. It will give me a lot more time and ease to clean and sterilize everything, plus time to manage the harvest before worrying about what and when to plant next.

Here's a few shots of everything under the full-spectrum light now. Things didn't stay in the same order as before. Caramel Creams were put in the front of the tent so it would be easier to feed them, with their pots being lower than the rest. Muffins and Chocolates were put in behind them with Muffins being in the middle-row of the tent.

Humboldt Seed Company has fire genetics.... I want to try both Caramel Cream and BB Muffin ...I heard that BB Muffin has minimal stretch and stays very short...

oswizzle said:

Humboldt Seed Company has fire genetics.... I want to try both Caramel Cream and BB Muffin ...I heard that BB Muffin has minimal stretch and stays very short...

Click to expand...

That's some good news about the stretch, I strongly hope that's the case!
I'm kind of hunting which strain I'll grow more 'permanently', and other than producing fire buds, how easy it is to handle the training and the stretch are big factors for which strain I go back to the most. BB Muffins sound so amazing, I'm hoping they're one of the "go-to" strains for me

June 30

Pistils are starting to show on everyone and over 10 days in 12/12, transition phase will be wrapping up soon. Height of the plants is radically different. Caramel Creams are shooting up and both Blueberries are on the shorter side, with BB Chocolates being the shortest.
BB Choc's fan leaves are enormous and they're both going to end up as bushier plants while the Caramel Creams are going to try and branch out. The Muffins I think will land somewhere between that happy medium, but that's just a guess still.

Radical height differences, I dubbed it "The Slope"


Even with all the height differential at the bottom, Caramel Creams are towering over the others


Some not-so-good close ups of pistils beginning to form

what kind of smells from the stem rubs of the HSC gear bro

oswizzle said:

what kind of smells from the stem rubs of the HSC gear bro

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From the BB Muffins, I would say surprisingly kushy, but mostly a full bodied earthy aroma. On the Caramels, they have a clear, sharp top note, wet and crispy plant smell similar to cucumber or morning dew on grass

July 4

Happy Independence Day
Well, some bad news for Caramel Cream #2.
She (or should I say he? They?) showed hermie pre-flowers, so I had to pull her. It gave me more room for a large dehumidifier though, which the time for was fast-approaching. It also gave more room to train the other Caramel Cream and gave the Muffins a few inches of breathing room and extra light.

Still new to this, so I'm not sure if there was enough development of the male genitals to pollinate the rest of the girls, though I'm thinking (and hoping!) not. I'd welcome input from more seasoned growers. I gave everything in the tent a foliage spray before moving the hermied Caramel, to try and prevent any pollen from moving around, and to perhaps 'sterilize' any pollinated pistils.



The tent after opening things up and installing the dehuey. Chocolates are still compact AF, with gigantic fan leaves. Took a few crowding leaves from them to give them some room to bush out, but it's not really visible in these pics.




Caramel #1 getting more space and seeing more light everywhere

July 9

Gave the girls a stem rub this morning after watering, and just WOW!
Caramel Cream smells really sharp this week, with crisp and bitter lemony-pine aroma very similar to actual Pine-Sol but more pleasant and not quite as overpowering.
Blueberry Muffins have an intoxicating bouquet of very good smelling Kush and a background of light fruity smells. I think these buds will be heavenly.
Blueberry Chocolates were the biggest surprise though. Their stem rub came back smelling just like I had my hands on a chocolate bar! I was blown away! The smell wasn't intensely potent, but it was clear as day smelling exactly like milk-chocolate

July 9

Also I should mention that Caramel Cream and BB Muffins are drinking a lot more water. Both have pushed upwards of 1000ml before showing sufficient run-off. They're some water hogs. Luckily I'm mixing a different nutrition cycle up for BB Chocolates, otherwise I'd be mixing nutrients all the time...

July 13

BB n' Chocolates have been trimmed up a bit more and it's allowed for them to stretch out and finally get through the net. I think they were bushing up a little too much under the trellis and it was hindering growth. I would do more but I'm worried it may be a little late into bloom to take any more without stressing them, so I'll be cautious and leave it where it's at for now.

After seeing the continued growth of Caramel Cream, I'll be getting stronger trellis netting next time, something like coated fiber wire/fencing that has a more strength and can train a bit more aggressively. Still, the net I have now is helping some to keep branches out of the light.

As for BB Muffin, they're filling out fast and still smelling amazing. If they smoke anything like they smell, they're going to be something I try to get very familiar with and clone over and over.

Some photos of the bud sites filling out on BB Muffin and Caramel Cream, and a pic of overall growth