God Bud & Kahuna - 12/12 From Seed

[Tony Aroma]

How NOT To Collect Pollen

How NOT To Collect Pollen

As I mentioned previously, I had this brilliant idea to wrap my male flowers in a plastic bag to keep the pollen contained and to collect some for making seeds. Sounded really good on paper. Unfortunately, I forgot to take into account the process of respiration, of which I got a nice little demonstration. All animals and plants respire, and one of the outputs of that process is water vapor. It's the process responsible for creating rain forests.

So I plucked all the rest of the flowers off the male and put a plastic baggie around the main cola when I saw the first of the flowers starting to open. I secured the bottom of the bag around the stem with a twist tie. Nice and secure, no pollen's getting out of there! So I went back to check about an hour later and, lo and behold, the inside of the bag is covered with water droplets. I'm thinking that cannot be good. Even if I do collect some pollen in the bag, it will get all wet. I figured I'd do some pondering about the situation and check again the next night when the lights came on.

Fast forward to the next night and the bag now has LOTS of water in it. So much so that the whole top of the plant is bent way over. I'm thinking maybe if I pluck off all the leaves and just wrap the (dried) bag around the flowers, it will minimize the problem. Well, in plucking off some leaves I inadvertently snapped the main stem in two. Completely, so it's hanging by a thread. Bummer!!!! Those were the only remaining male flowers.

Hopefully though, all is not lost. I took the flower top and shook it over my hand and got a light dusting of pollen. Not much, as only maybe a half dozen flowers had opened. I rolled a Q-tip in the dust and rubbed some on a lower flower on each female. There was very little pollen, but enough to turn the Q-tip yellow. But I'm also a little worried that with all my handling and shaking of the flowers that more pollen was released into the air. Who knows, I may have fully pollinated the females with my carelessness. However, since the females are just beginning to flower, only those early flowers will have seeds and the ones that grow from here on out will not. We'll see what happens.

 

[Tony Aroma]

Update @ 23 Days of 12/12

Update @ 23 Days of 12/12

Here we are at day 23 of flower, which would make it the beginning of the fourth week to you and me. The two girls now have plenty of room. I've tied them both down, as you can see in the picts. A little to late for training, but at least I can get the lower buds closer to the light. They are looking great and filling in pretty fast. This is when their growth spurt should be getting underway. Which it is, since they are now filling in noticeably every day. Quite a difference from last week, as you'll see. I'm very happy with their progress.

Here's the two young ladies in a wide view. The Kahuna is on the left, bent toward the middle, and the God Bud is in the bag (pot) on the far right, also bent toward the middle. (That bag of dirt in the middle is empty.) I don't know if you can tell, but the God Bud has more lower buds that are more developed. I think the Kahuna is pretty much just going to have the one main cola. Also notice that they both have red leaf stems now. Wonder why.

Here's a close-up of the Kahuna main cola.

For comparison, here's the God Bud. Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to compare and contrast.

And here's a macro shot of the God Bud main cola. Some of the hairs are starting to turn color already.

That's it for now.

 

[Tony Aroma]

Update @ 29 Days of 12/12

Update @ 29 Days of 12/12

No big news other than the girls are continuing to look good, while I hike up the ferts to try to fatten them up. And they are indeed getting fuller and fatter each day. Noticeably. As you can see in the first pict (Kahuna-left, God Bud-right), they actually have what you might call main colas now. And I started noticing the other day that the God Bud has a distinct lemony smell. When I touch it, my fingers smell like Lemon Pledge. The Kahuna, in contrast, has very little smell. And I don't know if you can tell from the side-by-side, but the God Bud buds are definitely thicker around.

Just out of curiosity, I measured how tall they are. Tricky, since they are in an "S" shape. Close as I can tell, if they stood up straight, the God Bud would be about 24" and the Kahuna about 21".

Here's the Kahuna. It's definitely trying to catch up, and not looking too shabby.

And here's the God Bud, thick and stout as ever. It looks like it might even have a few respectable buds on the side branches.

I don't really have a sense of what these girls will yield yet, but I'd guess that the Kahuna will produce about a half, maybe 2/3, of what the God Bud produces.

And it looks like my attempt at pollination has actually worked. The two buds I brushed with pollen appear to have seeds forming. No sign of seeds anywhere else, so maybe I wasn't as careless as I feared.

 

[Tony Aroma]

Update @ 36 Days of 12/12

Update @ 36 Days of 12/12

Just finished week 5 and they are looking GOOD!!! If these smoke as good as they look, I may be spoiled for bagseed weed forever.

Here's the Kahuna. The main cola is really filling in nicely. Not much smell. As you can see, some of the lower leaf tips are turning brown. I think that may just be the result of this girl not being a heavy feeder and I'm giving her too much to eat. So I figured this last watering I would skip a feeding for her. Stupid me, I ended up pouring some of the fertilizer water on her anyway. I caught myself halfway through, so she only got about half with ferts and half plain water. D'oh!

Here's the God Bud. No brown tips on this girl -- she's got a healthy appetite. I like a girl who's not afraid to pig out. She's going to have one heck of a main cola. And the side buds are getting pretty chunky too. Just imagine if I had let these grow another week or two.

Here they are together, Kahuna on the left. Just look at all that wasted space. Damn males!!!

We're in the home stretch now. Just waiting for the fat ladies to start singing.

 

[Greenlife1]

Looking real nice.

 

[CANNACO-OP]

Very nice....will stop back to check the finish

 

[VerdantGreen]

looking really nice tony - shame about the waste of space
if you are buying decent seeds then it's worth trying to think about a little mum/clone room. you only need something tiny - mines an old kitchen wall unit with 50 watts of t5's and i keep 8 mums in there. then not only can you keep your best plants, but you can root a couple of cuttings and grow them on as 'reserves' to use if you dont end up getting as many girls from your seeds as you wanted. clones cost nothing so just toss them if you dont need them

please post a smoke report for the strains too - im interested to hear it

best

V.

 

[colonelcrackers]

Just finished week 5 and they are looking GOOD!!! If these smoke as good as they look, I may be spoiled for bagseed weed forever...

Here they are together, Kahuna on the left. Just look at all that wasted space. Damn males!!!

Tony,

I'm subscribed. Everything looks top notch. You girls are definitely kicking it into high gear. I'm just wondering why you decided to run 12/12 from seed with 2 fairly indica dominant strains? I thought 12/12 from seed was specifically for sativa doms who might out-stretch the space. Was it merely to get sexing out of the way early?

A little advice about your male isolation-bag escapade...Next time you want to try and harvest some pollen, think about things in a real-world sense. When you buy your wife (girlfriend, mother, etc.) flowers, occasionally there are flowers who are premature, and when placed in a nice vase of water, they will commence to opening up, then die back. It's the same thing with males. Next time just chop off the male at the main stem, or a long flowering branch if you prefer, and place it in a glass filled with water. Place the plastic bag over it and secure it, but poke a few holes in the top to allow the water vapor to escape. In a couple days the flowers will ripen, open, and drop their pollen. Since the branch has no root system, it should not transpire nearly as much. After this happens you can harvest the pollen and mix it with some flour (up to 10x flour to 1x pollen) and use a qtip or water color paintbrush to paint the pollen on the calyxs. Viola, seeded lower branches, sinse top buds and plenty of free seeds for you.

I hope your girls finish up quick and heavy for you, so that you can pop those Sadhu beans. I'll be checking in. Be safe.

 

[toke much]

glad i pulled up ma chair lol this looks a nice grow i am curently doing 12/12 from 2 weeks veg.
shame bout ur males but nice colas comming on there man.
i waz wondering if u have any idea about when to add miracle grow or when to start lst training as my plant is 4 days old and is nerly time to flower

thanks ill keep an eye on this

 

[Tony Aroma]

I'm just wondering why you decided to run 12/12 from seed with 2 fairly indica dominant strains?

Heat. I did not want to run my lights during daylight hours. But, as I said, I resolved my ventilation/heat issues, and so switched to 16/8 six days after sprout. I'd change the title of this thread, since it is now misleading, but that doesn't seem to be possible. Sorry if I got you here by false advertising.

A little advice about your male isolation-bag escapade...Next time you want to try and harvest some pollen, think about things in a real-world sense. When you buy your wife (girlfriend, mother, etc.) flowers, occasionally there are flowers who are premature, and when placed in a nice vase of water, they will commence to opening up, then die back. It's the same thing with males. Next time just chop off the male at the main stem, or a long flowering branch if you prefer, and place it in a glass filled with water. Place the plastic bag over it and secure it, but poke a few holes in the top to allow the water vapor to escape. In a couple days the flowers will ripen, open, and drop their pollen. Since the branch has no root system, it should not transpire nearly as much. After this happens you can harvest the pollen and mix it with some flour (up to 10x flour to 1x pollen) and use a qtip or water color paintbrush to paint the pollen on the calyxs. Viola, seeded lower branches, sinse top buds and plenty of free seeds for you.

Where were you six weeks ago???? That's a GREAT idea! I'll be doing that my next grow (with my Mandala genetics).

 

[Tony Aroma]

glad i pulled up ma chair lol this looks a nice grow i am curently doing 12/12 from 2 weeks veg.
shame bout ur males but nice colas comming on there man.
i waz wondering if u have any idea about when to add miracle grow or when to start lst training as my plant is 4 days old and is nerly time to flower.

Thanks.

I know nothing about MG, as I grow organic. Can't help you there.

As far as training, I normally do a scrog. Since my screen is a fixed height, I let them grow high enough above the screen height to be able to bend them back. That's when I put the screen in and start weaving them through it.

If you're just tying your plants down, you can do that just about any time, the sooner the better. Although 4 days from seed sounds a little early. You need to at least let them get big enough so you don't risk snapping the stems when you bend them. But if you wait too long, the stems will start getting stiff and harder to bend.

 

[sneakinman13]

looks great in here tony!
i saw in another post. this guy did what you tried for the males. only he use's brown paper bags to tie around the top.. looked like he had great success maybe this can help you out for next time

 

[qwerty]

Tony,

Sorry about the high male ratio. But the females you have are gorgeous indeed. How long do you think they will run, and can you tell if you were able to pollinate those lower branches?

 

[NOF]

How is going Tony?

Your setup seems to be fine.
Plants are healthy.

Actually I would say that you have been doing some mistakes as some guys told you before. I don´t see any advantage into grow 12/12 from seed. Except for the hurry...

Grow cannabis in my case has teaching me a lot to be patient.
Now I really enjoy to let my babe veg as long as I can.

I like to grow huge bushes on scrog ou LST and I realize that the more they veg, the
more they will produce.

The attempt to collect pollen...

You should clone your female plants and them use one clone or more, just for making
seeds if it is a need. You can also clone your male plant and grow it in the future, just
for breeding purpose.

What you should not do is to pollinate buds wich are going to be smoked.
Here is a good thread for reasearch:

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=1034


And here is a awesome thread from JLP on male isolation:

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=1034


I hope that those threads may help you with yours skills.



Keep growing,

NOF

 

[Tony Aroma]

Tony,

Sorry about the high male ratio. But the females you have are gorgeous indeed. How long do you think they will run, and can you tell if you were able to pollinate those lower branches?

I don't know for sure how long they will go. The place I got them says 8-9 weeks, but it says that for just about all their seeds. And I've never grown these before So who knows, but I'd guess I'm getting close. I'm going to check the trichs for the first time tonight, which is halfway through week 7. I'll post an update with pictures later.

As far as seeds, yes I do believe I made some. It's hard to tell now, because the buds have grown around them, but I did see some seeds on the buds I pollinated a few weeks afterwards.

 

[Tony Aroma]

Update @ Day 45 of 12/12

Update @ Day 45 of 12/12

We are now into the 7th week of flowering and WOO BOY! Looking good, smelling good, and packing on the weight.

For my last 5-6 grows I've been keeping careful records of wet versus dry weights. I chop the entire plant, trim the leaves, then weight it. Then after I cut the buds off and jar them, I weigh again. Turns out this is a surprisingly consistent ratio. The final dry weight of the buds is right around 17% of the whole-plant wet weight. Which means my wet weight must be around 6 oz. to get one oz. of bud. What do you think, will I make it?

Together, Kahuna on the left, God Bud on the right.

Here's a better view of the God Bud main cola. It looks like that whole thing is going to be one big bud 10-12 inches tall. This was taken from down low with a flash, showing the white hairs quite well. And the red leaf stems. What's up with that?

You can see the frost is starting to appear on the God Bud. It shows up much better in the picture than in real life.

The Kahuna is much less frosty. You can hardly see any unless you look close.

But visible frostiness or lack thereof does not necessarily mean anything. These girls are really STICKY. I just put my hand in their general vicinity and it comes away sticky. And smelly. Wait, what were we talking about again?

Remember I mentioned some brown tips on the Kahuna? Well, it's gotten a little worse, as you can see. Nothing terrible and mostly the lower leaves. I gave them both a good soaking with plain water yesterday, so if this is nute burn that should help. Whatever it is, no sign of any problems with the God Bud.

Oh, and I got the last of my new seeds in the mail today, all safe and sound. That means I now have Sadhu, Mandala #1, and feminized LA Woman for next time. Plus more of these two if I should especially like either or both. Golly, I've gone from a crap shoot of random mediocrity to a smorgasbord of fancy-sounding, exotic names. But I only have room for 8, so what to do?

 

[colonelcrackers]

We are now into the 7th week of flowering and WOO BOY! Looking good, smelling good, and packing on the weight.

Together, Kahuna on the left, God Bud on the right.

Remember I mentioned some brown tips on the Kahuan? Well, it's gotten a little worse, as you can see. Nothing terrible and mostly the lower leaves. I gave them both a good soaking with plain water yesterday, so if this is nute burn that should help. Whatever it is, no sign of any problems with the God Bud.

Tony,


My White Satins showed a similar symptom towards the end of flower...

I did some checking, I would check out the Sick Plants thread here

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=11688

and monitor that Kahuna...it may possibly be a Potassium Deficiency or a Calcium Deficiency. They are looking great in any case. The GodBud is super frosty. Great work bro. k+

 

[Tony Aroma]

and monitor that Kahuna...it may possibly be a Potassium Deficiency or a Calcium Deficiency.

Thanks for the suggestion. The first thing I did was check that sick plant thread. I don't think it's a calcium deficiency, as I've had that before and it's typically rust colored spots in the middle of the leaves. Potassium maybe, but with all the bloom ferts I've been giving, I figured it had plenty. Unless it's some pH lockout problem (I don't measure pH), but both plants have the same soil and same water and the God Bud is OK.

The closest I found in that thread that looked like what I had was nute burn. I didn't think that was possible with organic ferts, but who knows. I probably won't be giving them any more ferts, so if that's the problem it should at least not get any worse. Anyway, this late in flowering I'm not too worried.

 

[Tony Aroma]

Update @ 50 Days of 12/12

Update @ 50 Days of 12/12

Here we are at the beginning of week 8, and I think the end is nigh. I checked trichomes today, and both girls were in the neighborhood of 50% cloudy. They've also slowed considerably, especially the God Bud. I think the Kahuna is still filling out, but the God Bud not so much. Not much else to say, really. Just watching and waiting. And smelling.

Here's the Kahuna on the left, God Bud on the right. You can see some of the Kahuna's leaves continue to get browner. She's possibly overfed, but hasn't gotten anything to eat for the last two waterings. It's getting worse, spreading to the upper leaves, but slowly. Maybe it is a potassium deficiency after all, although I don't know how that could be. Maybe I'll try top dressing with a little kelp meal. Regardless, it shouldn't matter that much at this point. The God Bud still looks pretty much perfect.

For scale, here's the Kahuna main cola. Not bad for such a small plant. Nice and solid, but nothing to write home about.

And here's the God Bud main cola. Look a little bigger to you?

 

[bigtower]

hi tony nice grow watching this one almost thinking here that the kahuna might outrun the god bud in size but the god bud normally are decent yielders sow don't know good luck anyways peace bigtower keep um growing