Monku's first grow

[Monku Bakatare]

Here goes my first grow journal. I know I'm bitting off a lot to chew on my first go...9 plants, with 4 more seedlings to go in after flowering is finished. Here's the facts...

3' x 4' x 7' closet
600W digital ballast with Sun Master MH conversion & SLI HPS bulbs
Stanley blower pulling fresh air via 6" x 14" passive and exhausting under my house. The carbon filter will be attached to the end of the vent under the house
Temps 78-87 at 16/8. I should be able to keep it under 84 once i go to 12/12
Soil grow mostly Gardner & Bloom
Plants:

4 Angel Dust clones- These are the furthest along. I got them as fairly large clones a few weeks ago, and have LSTed them to give some of the others time to catch up.

1 Big Bud clone I recieved about a month ago. I got 3 all together, but 2 died.

4 various BOG Medley seedlings unsexed. These are supposed to be Lifesaver, Bogglegum, Bogbubble, LSD, Blue Moon Rock.

4 AK 48 seedlings about 2 weeks old.

 

[Monku Bakatare]

Here's the first group shot of the 4 AD and the one Big Bud on the left.




Later the 4 AD started getting very light green in color, and some leaves began to yellow and fall. I transplanted into larger pots, and gave a very light feeding of Grow Big. It caused a bit of nute burn. These AD are super sensitive to nutes. They prefer to take their own from the soil.

 

[Monku Bakatare]

This first pic shows the nice side shoots of one of the ADs. Man that will make some nice clones.

Next pic is a group shot with the Big Bud front middle. She's getting really light in color even after light feeding the last 2 waterings. I will give her some Alaska Fish fert tomorrow to boost the N a little. She started her bondage training this morning. I want to maximize her output.

Next pic shows the 4 BOG seedlings, along with the 4 smaller AK48 seedlings.

Finally a group shot....how green is my garden, or better yet, how crowded is my garden...this baby is gonna get tight before it's all over. The 4 AK's are gonna come out when I start 12/12. They'll go back in my smaller veg cab, but they are loving that big MH.

 

[Monku Bakatare]

I took some clones just before switching the lights. I took 3 Big Bud, 2 Angel Dust, and one each of a couple of BOG seedlings I have not sexed yet.(pic1) They are in a bubble cloner made from two small plastic bins. I used the second one turned upside down for the lid. I cut out the opaque bottom, and put saran wrap over it to make the humidity dome. It's easy to get open to spray. Inside are a 27W daylight CFL and a dual outlet pump for the bubble cloner. I cut a hole in the top for the light cord, and just rigged a hook on the side to hang the pump.(pic2) It's all contained in the two large platic bins.(pic3) There's a large computer fan pulling air through the whole thing.


I switched the lights 12/12 two days ago. I had to remove the 4 AK48's to my veg cab, as they are not ready to flower yet.(pic4) They are under 2 85W CFLs. I had to rig a couple of small clip fans for circulation and cooling. It gets too hot in there for my liking. I want to put a 175W MH in with a cool tube, and a better fan like a small Lasko pulling the air. I think I could get better light with lower temps. One problem is fans are harder to find now that it's cooler.

 

[Monku Bakatare]

The happy family enjoying the cheer in the flower room.(pic1) The Big Bud has finally hit it's stride, and is off to the races. It's stretching the most.(pic2) The BOGs are all finally throwing off a lot of side shoots.(pic3) The problem is that from my untrained eye, they are all looking male. That bums me out, as they look dank just vegging. I was looking forward to growing them out. I want to try to find some BOG seeds or clones now. I'm leaving the MH conversion bulb in for the first 2 weeks of flower to try to hold down the stretch.

 

[Monku Bakatare]

The BOG all turned out to be male. They got the axe. The rest are well into flowering. I think this pic is at day 18. The Big Bud looks pretty good. I left the MH conversion bulb in for the first 11 days of flowering, and I think it kept the stretch down. The HPS has been in there for a week at least, and it isn't stretching much. One of the AD's is stretching. I find this strain really difficult to grow. It always looks like it needs nutes, but a as soon as you feed it, nute burn... The one stretchy one seems to tolerate nutes a bit better, but they all look sad, as they are starved. I just don't know what or how to feed them. I've used the FF starting at 1/4 strength, and tried to follow the chart. The BB seemed to do well under this routine, but even they are getting bleached looking lately, and I wonder if I have undernuted them as well.

I put the 4 AK seedlings into the flower room yesterday. I'm hoping for a least one female, then I'll take clones and transplant into larger pot for flowering. I'll post some pics as soon as there is some indication.

 

[Monku Bakatare]

It's been just over a month of flowering for the AD and BB. The BB is putting on weight, but getting very light green in color. I wonder if it is getting too little nutes?(pic1) It isn't fading from the tips, just the whole leaf getting very light in color??? Here's a close up of the BB. (pic2) It has the most wonderful mango smell. Kinda like mango that is a bit over ripe. Here's a close up of the stretchy AD bud. It shows the nute burn with the leaf tip curl and burn.(pic3) I will probably not grow this again, as it is too difficult to feed correctly. The last pic is the one AK48 that turned out to be female. It has been in the flower room for almost 2 weeks now.(pic4) It has quite small leaves, and is not throwing out many side shoots even though I have LSTed it pretty heavily. I have one nice shoot that I'll cut today or tomorrow for a clone. I'm having issues with my bubble cloner, so hoping to sort that out first.

Man those AK48s were not too good on germination and females. I tried germinating 10 seeds all together on two occassions. Only got four to pop, and only one turned out to be female. All four BOG seedling I had also turned out to be male. I seem to have the reverse Midas touch.

 

[Punani JAck]

Sup Monku,

FEED THEM NOW PLEASE!

too yellow this early in flowering. Im not familiar with Angel Dust, but BB can take 1400ppm in hydro. Not sure how to relate that to soil...

Better to be bright green and burned, then yellow and wilting I think. Seems like the overly sensitive AD's have made you scared to fert.

Nice job on the cloner though... =)

EDIT: oops I guess Im a month too late howd things turn out?

 

[Monku Bakatare]

Well, I finished my first grow, and harvested all my plants. I'm pretty pleased with my first effort even though I had some major issues. The Big Bud is pretty dense, and perhaps a bit more stoney. 25 grams from the one plant. The Angel Dust smells better, is a bit fluffier than the BB in general, but pretty close in stone. 40 grams from 4 plants. The AD is definetly smoother already, the BB is a bit harsh still. I've had it jarred for a couple of weeks now. The quantity was hurt by the yellowing I described earlier. I'm not exactly sure what the problem was, but I am going to do some experimenting with my next grow to try to narrow it down. My number one suspect is that my FF nutes had gone bad. I'm trying Botanicare on my next grow.

Here's some pics of the BB and the first AD. A close up of a trimmed BB bud. The final one is a pic of an AK48 showing the same horrid yellowing all the rest experienced. It starts about a week or two into flowering, and nothing seems to slow it down?