One Week On

My plants have been housed for about a week so I thought I'd put a couple of pics up to show how they are developing.

I Thought I'd leave the plants with full light as they were housed early so I will be putting the shading up this weekend to prevent any damage / scorching of the blooms as they develop.

Phils

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Gigantics...................................General shot

Housing Time Comes Early

Well I was planning on housing on the 18th September but due to the recent strong winds and heavy rain I have brought the plants in just over a week early. Some of the plants have took a battering but at least they are safe and away from the elements now.

Every plant was brought in to the greenhouse and then sprayed with a mix of 2 insecticides and a fungicide to make sure no nasties were fetched in to the greenhouse.

In the greenhouse I have 3 fans and a dehumidifier running 24hrs a day, the fans help to keep the air moving around the plants and the dehumidifier is set to 75% humidity this will help me to flower the plants at a lower temperature and is drained directly outside so there is no chance of it switching off with a full water tank.

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Time to Bag

The calyx on some of my Phils has split so it was out with the insecticide a quick spray around the bud and neck and on with a bud bag. The bags I have used are 12"x12" greaseproof bags, I put one bag inside another for extra protection, the reason I have used large bags and not the 7"x7" bag is that the bud will be in the bag for about 2 1/2 weeks so it has got plenty of room to develop.


As the rest of the calyx split on other plants I will bag them just the same, all bags will be removed after housing.

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Big Clean

I thought I'd better start and prepare the greenhouse today ready for my plants which will be housed on 18th September if the weather holds, as its not been used since April.

Greenhouse prep started with replacing 4 pains of glass that my sons football had smash during the summer months, as soon as my plants are housed footballs are strictly forbidden. Secondly all my benches needed removing and putting in my poly tunnel which is were I am thinking about doing all my rooting for next year.

I will be finishing off my prep work in the morning a complete clean out then I will burn all the gravel on the floor and wash with armilotox this will be mixed at double strength. I will be white washing the outside of the roof with nixol. Finally the greenhouse will be sprayed with insecticide to kill any nastiest that could be left.

Disaster

As went to check my plants at 6.30 this morning I was greated with a horrifing site of an aluminium ladder wedge between the garage wall and my Peggy Annes. I moved the ladder and I thought I'd got away without any casualties apart from a few leaves. The ladder usually lives on 2 hooks above the plants (safe as houses I thought). On my return from work I went to doudle check The Peggy Anne plants and found that there was one major casualty, one plant had been snapped off about 1" above the soil. Disaster but I've got 2 Peggy Annes left so lets hope they grow well.

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Update

Well no major problems to report from the Northern Group meeting, a few early buds here and there but nothing else. People were informed not to through away the cleaned up stock that had not performed as as it should have done (producing small wide plant)they had bought through the N.C.S. but to use it as a stock plant for next season.

Anyway back to my plants, with my supply of dry food running out and the weather being wet for a few days the only choice I've had to get food into my plants has been to give them a good foliar feed. This appears to have worked as the plants have continued to bulk up and the leaves are getting a real nice feel to them (firm without snapping when rolled round the finger).

A few photos


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..................Eliz Shoesmith............................................Gigantic Bud..............



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.........................Dukes........................................................Lanc Lads.......



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.......................Gigantics.....................................................Phils..............

Time To Secure

With the buds now big enough to secure on alot of my plants I have removed all the side shoots from around the bud and cut the spare break off so the plant can focus all its energy into the one potential flower for the shows in November. Hopefully this next week or so all my other plants buds will be ready to secure.

The only problem with securing and removing the spare break is all the carnage that you are left with.

I will be catching up with some other growers on Saturday when I go to the Northern Group NCS meeting so I will let you know how they are doing.