How can I use Spin-Out for chemical root
pruning?
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Contributed by: Uncle Ben
Root Pruning by Chemical
Means A while back I took an
interest in using root pruning chemical products on a
trial basis with Cannabis and other plant
material. These products use a copper base and are
sprayed or painted on the inside of the pot to achieve
root-tip dieback inducing profuse secondary root
branching. As far as I know, root pruning products have
never been evaluated by the horticultural community,
amateur or otherwise on Cannabis. Past experience
with yard plants and a few Cannabis plants was
successful, so, I decided to commit my entire garden to
its use and see what might happen. I decided to
try one such product called Griffin's Spin-Out on
various strains, aka copper hydroxide suspended in a
carrier, painted on the inside of the pots to achieve
root tip pruning. The commercial trade has been using
copper compound paints for root pruning for many years,
and thousands of professional studies have been
conducted on the merits of chemical root pruning. Rather
than go into the details, I'll refer you to a link of
the product and what it does:
click here The following
photo shows one gallon pots that have been spray painted
with two coats of Griffin's Spin-Out. My current plan is
to sex in these pots at around 3 weeks (if growth is
good), and then upcan to untreated 3 gallon pots
to finish.
Seedlings
One Week Old
Just took this pic
of my seedlings that have emerged from the soil and are
anywhere from 3 days to 8 days old. The plants used for
evaluation consist of (5) TFD Thai-tanic, and my
crosses: (4) C99 X H, (4) Peak19 X H, and (4) C99 X
Peak19. 17 seeds sowed, all germinated. They are under a
400W MH, Super Sun hood.
The larger plant in the
foreground is an unknown (in an untreated pot) that is
about 2 weeks old, topped two days ago which if female
will have 4 main colas. A few seeds became strays on the
sorting table, and if I had to guess, it's a C99 X
Peak19 based on its leaf/node structure. I started it
early to test my new soil blend's merits, as well as to
test for damp-off as I only used solarization to
sterilize my soil mix, not heat, as I normally do.
Week
Two
What a difference a week
makes, eh? Two weeks after the faves popped the soil's
surface, thought I'd take a pic. The largest (and first
germed) faves have spreads of up to 13.25"/34cm... with
the smallest fave (and last one to germ) about 5"/13cm
across. The smallest is in the foreground holding the
Chills hemp papers (the best papers IMO) and the larger
ones to the left.
Week
Three
It's about time to go
12/12, especially with the C99 X Haze as this cross has
long internodes and will surely end up like trees. They
are turning out very sativa dominant.
Thai-tanic, C99 X Peak19 and P19 X Haze are very
well behaved, having beautiful profiles. The plant in
the left foreground (Haze X Peak19) is now 20" (51cm)
across, the late germing kid (Haze X C99), sitting on a
high chair in the foreground, is 8" (20cm) across. He
got a toppin' a week ago or so ago.
Plants are
very healthy requiring watering twice a day with the
exception of the smallest plants. Side panels have had
to be expanded 3 times since the last shot as the garden
is expanding rapidly. We got Skunks around the Bendejo
farm... Love dat aroma! You can see some Skunk influence
in the Thai-tanic. Very nice cross so far.
All
plants are doing extremely well in the Spin-Out treated
pots. In fact, the only plant that is pouting is the one
in the untreated pot. Maybe he's jealous...
Photo is a little dark...a wine bottle is in the
foreground for reference.
Week
Four
Week four, 12/12 started 4
days ago. The growth continues at an excellent rate.
Maintenance is quite high due to the small pots and very
warm weather which is causing temps to peak and hold at
a high of 94F in spite of my efforts to keep it
down....not good.
Wide angle shot (which skews
the large size of the plants and spread of the garden),
flash only. Garden is now 20 s.f. where it started at 9
s.f. in week one. Plants are crammed into the
space of 20 s.f. Lights have to be raised about 1" to 2"
everyday now.
Results!
Today I dumped all plants showin' any nasty lil'
balls after six days at 12/12. Of 18 plants started,
nine are female (which REALLY is gonna be a space
problem for me!), six are male and three undetermined.
The attached photo shows a representative profile for
six males that were destroyed. The two on the left are
TFD Haze X Peak19, the one on the right being C99 X
Peak19. Tallest plant is 27" (66cm) tall not counting
the height of the rootball. Yardstick is in the middle
for reference.
Notice the middle rootball with a
few exposed roots? I'll explain later with another
photo.
Closeup
of Rootball
As you saw in the
previous photo, roots are not spinning out.
The
following pic is a closeup of the middle plant's
rootball. With the tip of my finger, I knocked off about
a cm of soil (in depth) in a small area located in the
middle of the rootball so you can see what's lies behind
the rootball's outside perimeter. Keep in mind these
rootballs are quite small - 6"/15cm in diameter and 6"
tall.
Fibrous
Rootball Closeup
Here's a closeup
of a rootball showing an extremely fibrous rootmass
after I shook off as much (fairly dry) soil as possible.
The mass is very dense with no spin-out indicated at
all. Fibrous mass stretched about a foot long when held
up. Large white root in the middle looks like the
original taproot. Again, the importance, for vigor's
sake anyway, of starting a seed in a deep, tall pot...
as reflected in my germination archive.
Plants
are definitely potbound although not showing any
indication of such except for the need to be thoroughly
watered twice a day.
They will be upcanned to
untreated three gallon pots tomorrow.
Good
Link!
Here is a link that shows
increased production for flowering plants. Doesn't mean
that cannabis will have the same results regarding
increased flower production, then again, doesn't mean it
won't. The conclusion drawn on this premise will take
some study and time. Plants' reaction is based on simple
botany.
Here is a PDF file (you'll need Adobe
Acrobat) that reflects four species of flowering plants
that showed a 55% to 160% increase in flower production
while grown in copper hydroxide treated pots. Open the
file when and if prompted regarding saving it to disk or
else save it if you'd like to read it later.
click here
Profile of a Male that was
Destroyed
Here is another male
(O.Haze X Peak19) found this morn that will soon be
destroyed. It is 31" tall (with pot height)...shot was
taken overhead. It has a strong indica influence from
the Peak19. In fact, it looks almost identical to the
regular Peak19 I grew last year. Has very dark, wide
leaves and leafsets, especially at the lower levels
(correct color being evident under normal room
lighting).
Rootball
of a Male in an Untreated Pot
Destroyed another male, the only one in an
untreated pot. Pot-bound condition with typical rootball
spin-out is noted.
Week
Six
Plants love the Griffin
Spin-out treatment. Am having to water the three gallon
pots everyday now and having to top some plants due to
the vigor and heavy Haze influence. This garden is
sativa dominant with the exception of a few faves, which
are taking on a typical indica/sativa hybrid profile -
the C99 X Peak19. Topping during this late stage of the
game is not my preferred method of plant height control
and I don't recommended it to most folks, but, I don't
need or want the aggravation of fighting my garden's
height even if it means a sacrifice in yield. Some
plants are already 46" tall while approaching only the
third week of 12/12 this Sunday. Shyste burgers, there's
a whole lot of stretching left!
Here's a partial
garden shot reflecting all plants upcanned to untreated
three gallon pots. Would have taken a full garden view
if possible, but, the Bendejo farm is getting a little
cramped, to say the least, and the lens won't handle the
expanse or height from where I'm (restricted to) as I
shoot the photo.
Popcorn
Anyone?
Three weeks at 12/12 and
the plants are just now responding with a strong
flowering response. Getting nice little balls of popcorn
on dem dar faves! Here's a partial garden shot with a
C99 X Peak19 in the middle. This is turning out to be a
great cross regarding profile, vigor, and flowering.
Thai-tanic is also very nice but being practically a
pure sativa, is a PITA regarding its long internodes and
long petioles. I mean, the damn plants are like 24"
across leaving my garden really cramped. Garden is
around 20 s.f. The vigor and health of the plants is
excellent with the only drawback being very frequent
watering while they were in one gallon pots.
Got
my custom soil blend a little "hot" this go-around but
that's another issue. I've had to either cut out any and
all chemical tweaks or limit it to a select few.
Four
Weeks Flowering
This is a shot of
some of the garden at four weeks flowering. This
is a very sativa-dominant garden so I'm wrestling with
stretching and doing alot of topping, even now. There
are two Thai-tanics barely visible on the left with Haze
crosses showing as the leggy, fluffy buds plants worked
around the perimeter. The only plants that I think will
give me thick, heavy colas are my C99 X Peak19 crosses.
Their parents produced heavy colas....and are already
showing heavy trichome formation. Thai-tanic being as
pure of a sativa as you can get with a tad of indica
thrown in from the Skunk #1, has a great profile, but
man is it leggy. Buds are quite dense for a sativa.
C99
X Peak19 - Six Weeks Flowering
C99XP19 cross. Excellent profile, should be
ready in another two weeks. This fave is six weeks old.
There's some leaf curl due to excessive heat about two
weeks ago... oh well.
The
Experiment was a Success!
Just an
update with a pic of my first harvested plant from the
experiment to show her health, yield and all. This is a
C99 X Peak19 harvested just shy of eight weeks
flowering. Bottom line? The experiment was a success!
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| Last modified: 14:23 - Oct 09,
2002 |
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