WOS AK Landraces Cheap Chinese LED closet experiment

[BrownThumb]

Phycotron, thanks for the wisdom! Yeah, I am operating on a shoe-string budget so I just chip away at supplies as I can afford them. I agree I need some Mylar or Panda film. I also need to go back to LST or do a SCROG type grow next time around. The soil is being used for a third time, so yeah, it's not the best at this point, but only the taller one seems to be much affected, the others are healthy. Growing in such a tiny space is new to me and I am making all kinds of rookie mistakes, but I will get it eventually. I am still debating on getting a cheap Hydro kit....you know like "Emily's garden" type deal, but then i think about how much of a PITA it would be to deal with hydro underneath a screen in the corner of a smallish closet...

Oh yeah, the light. It works at least pretty well for veg, leaning towards very well. I am just getting into flower so do not know how that phase will go. I already threw a CFL in the bottom of the picture and have a BS 180 LED cross lighting the bottom of the space, but the clutter factor blows. The cost for the units is as advertised on their web pages, so you're going to pay in the 550-600 range minimum for a 192x3 (which consumes somewhere between 345 and 384 watts, though some refer to this as 600 watt unit). That 550-600 includes shipping which is VERY expensive. What kind of picture are you after? There's a bunch of them here (http://lgledsolutions.en.alibaba.co...13321803/high_power_led_grow_light_panel.html) , which is where I first saw this unit. Let me know if there is something in particular you would like to see that is not in the photos displayed when you follow the link. BTW...I got a demo unit, so mine is generic, IE, no branding. The dude selling these on e-bay is not pricing them too badly assuming he/she are only able to buy in relatively small lots. I would guess they're making making 100-$150 a unit for whatever my guess is worth.

One last tid bit for you on LG LED's...the rep I dealt with used pictures of MJ allegedly grown under these to push the light...they know what's up and their audience, though they may not have dialed in the spectrum's to our demanding pot-headed standards. Could the impressive grow pictures be BS? Of course, but that would not be good business now, would it.

 

[BrownThumb]

About 18 days in to flowering

About 18 days in to flowering

1 The 2 larger Afghan's.
2 The smaller yet stockier than all others afghan
3 The lone Sativa, a Bhutanese Thimpu Holy Smokes seed which as it turns out is female and has been dusted w/ Afghan pollen from a male that was so bushy I thought it was a female.
4 Another perspective on the 2 larger of these little afghans.
5 Picture of the main LED

I think I f'd up and spilled pollen the other day. The male opened up really fast. Hopefully I don't get seed bombed, but if I do, everything I get will be good and I wanted some anyway, so... and if I manage to not kill the clones I took, well, things will work out.

The pots are solid root balls, so I would go 5 gallon to get a better result for bigger plants, probably not news to a lot of people. 3 gallon works for the space I have. The smaller of the 2 bigger afghans is two weeks younger than the taller one, but it has had more life under the bigger South Korean Chinese made LED. Now who's on third?

 

[S-V-K]

Nice grow,can't wait to see how effective LED light is. I'm playing with idea to buy one of them.
Keep up good work !!!

 

[BrownThumb]

About 24 days into flowering cycle

About 24 days into flowering cycle

The potash deficient plant has gotten a couple different seaweed treatments, but is still not real happy as of yesterday. I suspect it is really a PH/lockout issue, but I am a lazy pot-head, so rather than figure it out for sure, I think I will take another bong-rip and start with fresh soil on the next round to make things less interesting.

I ended up seeding all of these little f.'ers because there are good things about all 3 of the girls and really, they were not given proper lighting for the first half of their lives, so all of them would have been bigger/bushier if I had been better equipped when i started.

I hear the Bhutanese with which I crossed the Afghan isn't worth a shit, but I will still see what the seeds do at some point.

The close up of the afghan branch I have included gives you a real good idea of how big the ovum will swell and it's pretty dramatic when you look at the flowers that were not pollinated on the branch.

 

[Texan]

Hey man, I am so glad I found your thread. I have been looking for a Bhutanese Thimphu grow forever. I think you are the only one currently documenting it online.

Do not under estimate that strain. It is rare and should give you a psychedelic smoke once it's all said and done. I got 2x Bhutanese Thimphu, 2x Afghan Peshawar, 2x Nepali Rukum, and 12x Mulanje Gold getting ready to go this season.

I have grown WOS Afghan Kush and Pakistan Valley. They are both knockout smokes. You will LOVE it. The Afghan Kush needs a solid 2 months to cure for you to fully taste it's amizingness...lol. My only advice is to becareful with your feedings on the ladrace Bhutanese. They are sensitive to N.

Good luck man, I'm rooting for you!

 

[BrownThumb]

Hi Texan!

Thanks for the input, much appreciated! I am glad you piped up, because I have only found one other person here who has grown the Bhutanese (BlackBart I believe) and he was kind enough to give his opinion, which was not high on the Bhutan stock. You can probably find the thread if you search through his posts. Also, thanks for confirming that the WOS AK is what WOS claims. I was already starting to think SCORE, but it's nice to have someone who has gone before you confirm. Those afghans don't' smell as much as I expected, but I have a month or more of flowering to go, so that will probably change.

Thanks again!

BT

Edit: 2 months cure? Really? What was your technique?

Also, I have some of those Malberry or Holy Smokes seed freebies you mentioned, so maybe we can compare notes when we get around to growing those out.

 

[BrownThumb]

Little Bhutanese, starting to figure out it's time to flower

Little Bhutanese, starting to figure out it's time to flower

Since I am watering here are some shots of the little Bhutanese from around Thimpu (BT) to show how far it is behind the Indica plants. One of the shots shows the top sullied by the WOS Afghan pollen. I see at least 4 or 5 seeds in the shot provided. The calyx look like they get pretty big and personally I like big calyx. You can see one of the Afghans behind the BT and see that the Indica is rolling along and the Bhutanese is just waking up to flowering. The BT is also just now starting to get the woody stem (before it was a rubber plant - ideal for training), that and flowers on the branch tips. For reference, the date I changed the light cycle was 10/8/12, so close to a month to get to this point.

The smallest of the Afghans in the last picture is an example of a plant I think a lot of people would say I should "defoliate". No? Yes?

Oh yeah, the BT passed the small Afghan pretty quickly and easily..I think it was about 14-16" when I changed the cycle, so it has probably doubled its height in the past month.

I am wondering what the cross between the BT (that was branded Holy Smokes not Malberry) and WOS Afghan will be like punch wise. The Afghan is supposed to be around 20+% THC, but the BT down in the 10-15% range from what I have read and heard. It should be stocky based on what I am seeing of these two strains, but only time will tell for sure on that and the THC content.

 

[Husky Jackal]

Nice grow, man !
If you topped them a couple of times they could have yielded better.
I had an Afghan Kush outdoor this year, but unfortunately it was stolen two weeks before chop...
It smelled very strong thorugh veg and flower, I'm sure it would be a very nice Indica.
Good luck with your grow !
Peace, HJ.

 

[BrownThumb]

Nice grow, man !
If you topped them a couple of times they could have yielded better.

I agree, but learned what to expect generally from the WOS Afghan naturally. These don't stink...I may need to pee on them a little more.

 

[BrownThumb]

Just some bud shots, the sick looking one is two or so weeks older than the other two, but under the same light cycle, illustrating the significance of chronological age. I wonder if I will ever learn about properly recycling my soil. It seems like I get amnesia and then have things not go well until i am reminded of the importance of not cutting corners. Being a cheapskate doesn't help. No smell to speak of, maybe a really low skunky smell you notice when you first walk in the room, but really, nothing much. No excitement, yet. These were changed to 13/11 on 10/8/12, though i think i said that just above. Of course, the Bhutanese is way behind.

Sorry about the crappy pics.

 

[BrownThumb]

oops, forgot to upload pics

 

[BrownThumb]

Update for 11/11/12.

You can really see how the one Afghan that is a little older is a lot thicker than the others, but the others are starting to fill in.

The light cycle was changed 35 days ago and as you can see in one of the pictures, the lone Sativa (Bhutanese from around Thimpu) is way behind, but it has not been treated as well as it could have been. It probably wouldn't be much farther along if it had been given better treatment.

You may be able to see some of the pollinated ovum in one of the pics, they get pretty huge.

 

[BrownThumb]

Some more bud shots, one showing the plants ripest to least ripe ending with the Bhutanese Sativa. It's pretty dramatic how the oldest Afghan is farther along being only a couple of weeks older than the others. You can also see the branches that were pollinated on at least one of the plants. The seeds look to be coming along nicely. Not much smell even with your nose right up on the buds, but the ripest one is starting to get the smell. I see a couple of crystals on the flowers if I get out the magnifying glass, but nothing much to speak of yet. There is one picture of the Bhutanese, too.... it's kind of hard to see in front of the other plant behind it in the same pot. The scrawny top is the Bhutanese, too.

 

[BrownThumb]

Update, flower and clone shots...the plant w/ no real flowers yet is the Bhutanese from around Thimpu (Sativa). It looks like I have some issues with the soil, but don't care too much right now because we're getting close and the growth has been pretty good, so.... And this is the third go w/ this soil, so, not too bad. I was eyeballing the Hempy pots thread earlier, might have to do that to get my toes wet w/ hydro.

 

[BrownThumb]

Do you smell something burning? Lost the blue lights in a quarter panel, but have a replacement and spare PSU on the way under the warranty after talking to LG at midnight on turkey day. It shouldn't be a big deal to change it out. Hopefully there is no more of this BS, but I knew it's pretty common for lower end LED's to have issues going in, so I am just thankful it's not completely out or something really f'd like that. Here's a snapshot of the damage.

 

[Texan]

Hey man, sorry for the late reply. I do not really frequent this site as much...

Your plants are looking well!

It's funny you mentioned there is no smell on the AKR. Mine stank like a mofo since the 2nd week of veg. The smell really picks the last 2 weeks of flower.

In regards to my curing...honestly, it was a total accident that I cured for 2 months. I had 4 mason jars of ARK and forgot where I put 1 of the jars...I found it 2 months later and when I smoked it, it was fan-fucking-tastic! There was no comparison between the 1 month cure versus 2 month cure. It was smoother, stinkier, tastier, and the high was crisp yet veeeeery relaxing. You don't feel like doing shit when you hit this, I promise.

Just FYI, I chopped my ARK at day 79 from seed. It really packs on weight between day 60-80 so I suggest not following what the breeder said. I basically waited till all the fan leaves fell off on there own...just buds/stem, then I chopped at the bottom of the stem and hung the entire plant upside to dry. I only manicured/jarred when it was time to cure...which took about 5 days of drying.

On another note, I get the notion that you are not really too fond of the Bhutanese Thimphu. Give her a chance, you cannot grow a landrace sativa the same way you grow hybrids/indicas. You mentioned that she "flowers slowly", well my advice is that cut out all N drastically. Even a teeny bit of N will slow her flower production down. Also, believe it or not, when trying to tame a landrace sativa indoors, you need to use small ass pots so she gets root bound. A root bound sativa will finish faster.

A plant can have 12% THC and a plant can have 22% THC. That doesn't mean shit. What determines the high/effect is the cannabanoid profile. I.E. THC, THC-V, CBD, CBN, et cetera. Take Duban Poison for example. It is a revered stain all over the world for its potent effects, yet it barely cracks the 10% THC mark...just sayin...

Either way, enough rambling for one night. You grow is going awesome from what it looks like. Just get the LED fixed and you are back in business!

 

[Texan]

BTW, I love AKR so much, I just germinated 2 beans myself tonight. HA! Thanks for the motivation!

 

[BrownThumb]

Hey Texan! Good to hear from you! I appreciate your wisdom very much.

If it sounds like I am down on the Bhutanese, that's not intentional. It's my first Sativa, so a learning experience. That plant is sharing a 3 gallon smart pot w/ one of the Afghans and it is WAY root bound. It is also almost as stall as the biggest Afghan and I changed the cycle when it was about 14", so it has roughly tripled in size, maybe a bit more when all is said and done. It is finally starting to flower, it's just way slower to start as we all know that is how it is with most Sativa's.

On the topic of when to chop, I go by the plant, not what someone tells me. IMO you don't need to go through all of the BS of lopping trichomes, you can go by red hairs and pretty much nail it. One of these may go 2 or 3 weeks past the advertised 55 days.

Durban is only around 10%, aye? Did not know that. I will keep an open mind as I am definitely still a student in gardening and strains of smoke.

I am looking forward to how crazy the "monster clones" I am creating from these Afghans will perform.

Anyway, thanks for checking in and happy T-day!

 

[BrownThumb]

More porn. This is the oldest of the Afghans by 2 or 3 weeks. Really small stems to flower ratio and surprisingly dense considering it has looked sick almost its entire life. This is 46 days since the light cycle was changed. In contrast the Bhutanese Sativa I am running in this same thread is just starting to show flowers, so I am probably looking at 12-14 weeks of flowering as suggested by the breeder. I am guessing 60 -70 days max on the Afghans, the breeder suggests 55 days, I believe.

 

[S-V-K]

Plant is looking good
When you get your parts,please take som photos of how the light is looking from inside ie. heatsink and so on.

Thanks ad keep up good work