El Dorado - The Hunt for Green Gold

It started with an idea, then came the plan followed by action, finally after months and many hours of work El Dorado is a reality. The undertaking was larger than I had ever planned, there were many setbacks, delays and problems, for awhile I wondered if this would ever be finished. This is not the first crawl space grow that I have built but it is the largest and it will be the best. The mass majority of this build was done solo with no help and with life throwing curve balls at me it took much longer than envisioned to complete. The work began back in April, a lot of work and money spent but things are finally up and running. There is still some work yet to be done and some finishing touches to do but for all intents and purposes things are rolling.

The purpose of this thread is to share my growing adventures in El Dorado and the hunt for my holy grail. There will be lots of pretty pictures and plenty of information. I will still be running separate threads for my different test grows but will also be posting about them here. All of my seed popping and pheno hunting adventures will be logged here going forward. I will use this thread as my breeding laboratory(pollen chucking adventures) as well where my previous, current and future projects can be documented and discussed. I welcome the sharing of information and posting of pictures contributing to this thread from anyone and everyone.


Behold El Dorado......








To get to the end there had to be a beginning, a starting point. It took a lot of imagination to picture what the mess of a crawl space would become. Its been a long 6 months with many hurdles and obstacles along the way. It's such a fantastic feeling to see how far this idea has come and to see it becoming a reality. This is what the mess looked like when I begun, just a dirty sand pit filled with all kinds of junk. I thought it was going to be a quick and easy process cleaning out the trash so I could start working. Even that was more work and took more time than planned, nothing about this build came easy from beginning to end.

First things first, time to clean house and clear out all this mess so the work can actually begin.







...And next came the digging and digging and some more digging. I swear I was having nightmares about shovels and dirt all summer. Hauling hundreds and hundreds of pounds of heavy dense clay out of a 2 and half foot hole was so much worse than digging it up.







Things are starting to take shape now, its sort of starting to resemble a space that might look like it could be a grow area. Still ungodly amounts of earth move and haul out, seems like it would never end. I stand at over 6 feet tall and skinny so working and digging in cramped spaces like this is not my cup of tea.

Lots of digging left to do but I can finally stand and have some headroom in this sandbox. Shows a little perspective from the inside looking out.




Hmmmm..... this oddly reminds me of a certain show...... Looks like Dexter is ready to come out and play with his knives lol. I do like clean environments so unlike previous crawl space grows there will be no dirt and dust floating around, full on Dexter mode.





Down the Rabbit Hole you go....







The first volunteers to start life in El Dorado with many more to come in the coming days and weeks. Still some work to complete and some odds and ends to tie up but things are open for business. The environment has been excellent so far, temps are running pretty consistent at 66f to 74f with lights off and on.

Rocking the Casbah....


Gorilla Glue #4




While El Dorado isn't 100% complete things are up and running and moving along smoothly. Hopefully within the next month or so all the work should come to a finish. If things continue running to plan all lights should be running and I will have the room filled up. Now its time to focus and discuss the purpose of this thread, the plants, projects and plans to unfold.

Im picky, I like variety, I needed more than I was getting from my current grow, I just wasn't satisfied. I decided to build this new grow to increase the variety and numbers of plants I could run. Initially I never planned for it to be as large of an investment in time, money and space, it just grew and morphed into what it is. My other grow has a 1000w HPS and the plan at first was to have 1 or 2 lights to basically double, maybe triple my numbers. As things stand now in El Dorado there are 2x 1000w HPS and 2x 600 HPS/MH set up with space to add another light or two if I was so inclined. Now between both my spots I have more space than I have ever had before and I will have my hands full with the variety and keeping the lights full. Lol Im sure as time goes on this wont be enough and I will want even more room.

Down to Business

The main purpose for this room, for growing. beside it being a passion of mine is to find my holy grails. I think that is the reason why most of us grow, pop seeds, try new clones is to find those perfect plants that hit all those pleasure senses for you. To find those plants that bring back old memories, to find the plants from the best buds you have ever smoked. You know the buds Im talking about, years and years later you can vividly remember their smells, taste, appearance and the quality of the high. Its also about finding those new flavors and smells, to discover the unique and unknown, at least this is what El Dorado is all about for me.


Road Dawg



The First Ladies Up To The Plate


2x I-95 #1 (TopDawg)
2x PURPetrator #3 (Archive)
1x Road Dawg #3 (Karma)
1x Headbanger #5 (Karma)
1x Gorilla Glue #4
1x Karma's Og #2 (Karma)

Ladies on Deck

2x PURPetrator #4 (Archive)
1x PURPetrator #5 (Archive)
1x Headbanger #4 (Karma)
1x Headbanger #5 (Karma)
1x Karma's Og #2 (Karma)
1x Karma's Og #1 (Karma)
1x Sour D
1x Sour P
1x Girl Scout Cookie (Forum)

Coming Up The Ranks

2x PURPetrator #5 (Archive)
1x PURPetrator #3 (Archive)
1x Road Dawg #3 (Karma)
1x Karma's Og #1 (Karma)
1x Karma's Og #2 (Karma)
1x I-95 #1 (TopDawg)
1x SFV OG
4x Girl Scout Cookie (Forum)


I-95



Kalyx's Harem


Clone Only

Gorilla Glue #4
Girl Scout Cookie (forum cut)
Sour D
Sour P
SVF OG
Sour Tsunami (CBD)


Seed Plants

Elmer's Glue (Relentless)
Karma's Og #2 (Karma)
Karma's Og #1 (Karma)
Road Dawg #3 (Karma)
Headbanger #5 (Karma)
Headbanger #4 (Karma)
I-95 #1 (TopDawg)
PURPetrator #3 (Archive)
PURPetrator #4 (Archive)
PURPetrator #5 (Archive)


The Dudes

Fire Cookie - Pollen (Relentless)
MoonTang - Pollen (Bodhi)
Sour60 - Pollen
Road Dawg - Alive and well (Karma)
Purpetrator - Alive and well (Archive)


Recently Retired Ladies

Karma's Og #3 (Karma)
Moontang #1 (Bodhi)
Moontang #2 (Bodhi)
Moontang #3 (Bodhi)
Fire Cookie #1 (Relentless)

Moontang



More to come very soon this is just the beginning. There is about to be a bunch of new seed popping going on. I will have more information on what is getting popped and also discuss some of the current and previous projects I have worked on.

cool, great show. Tanks for sharing the journey

look forward to updates and progress reports.

good luck!

Congrats on getting el dorado up and running! Can't wait to see some colas swaying in the breeze! All of that hard work will be paying off soon enough!

subbed, ambitious this be

That is a bad ass build Kalyx. Fantastic job getting that up and working. I'm here to see you find your El Dorado. Seems like you like OGK and Chem crosses a lot. subbed

subbed after ive seen the thread title

shovel nightmares the indoor shovle nightmare

Late to the party here but here nonetheless. Great job kalyx, looks like the back breaking work has really paid off and you are rewarded with a very nice little spot.

Great line up as usual and I am tuned in.

Cool man cave!

Yo kalyx, that shit is f.cking AWSOME...!!!... We have a lot of the same passions and feelings about this plant that we grow...
Mad respect for you putting in all the work and time that you do...!!!...

I know what it's like building your grow room from scratch... With no help and trying to be discreet as possable ... "Well my pop helped me a lot"...
Anyway, I'll be sticking around... Peace.

theJointedOne said:

cool, great show. Tanks for sharing the journey

look forward to updates and progress reports.

good luck!

Click to expand...

Thanks for dropping in, this has been a rough journey so far but has been worth all the blood, sweat and tears.

HerBnGorE(illa) said:

Congrats on getting el dorado up and running! Can't wait to see some colas swaying in the breeze! All of that hard work will be paying off soon enough!

Click to expand...

Thank you I really appreciate it, started thinking I would never have El Dorado operational, started feeling like just a dream.

igrowone said:

subbed, ambitious this be

Click to expand...

¥es it is, I got in over my head in just about every aspect with this from the work, finances, scale, size and time. This was an overwhelming project to take on and a huge relief to be at the point I am currently.

3rdEye said:

That is a bad ass build Kalyx. Fantastic job getting that up and working. I'm here to see you find your El Dorado. Seems like you like OGK and Chem crosses a lot. subbed

Click to expand...

Thanks a lot bro, I really appreciate the kind words. Its been a long time coming with lots of ups and downs. Now is the time to focus on finding those special ladies and studs. I am chem/diesl/ogk fiend so most of what I run tends to have those in the mix somewhere. I do have other taste, goals and projects I want to work with so there should be some interesting variety.

OakyJoe said:

subbed after ive seen the thread title

shovel nightmares the indoor shovle nightmare

Click to expand...

Glad the title pulled you in muwhahaha, welcome to the expedition. We had our first significant snowfall this week, going to shovel the driveway yesterday brought back bad memories so I stopped halfway through lol.

Bmac1 said:

Late to the party here but here nonetheless. Great job kalyx, looks like the back breaking work has really paid off and you are rewarded with a very nice little spot.

Great line up as usual and I am tuned in.

Click to expand...

Hey brotha thanks for stopping in, you haven't missed anything yet. I have been slacking getting all my threads updated the past 2 weeks. Glad to have you along for the ride!

sdd420 said:

Cool man cave!

Click to expand...

Thanks.... you are spot on, I never really thought of it like that be for but this is the ultimate man cave for a grow nerd like myself.

nickman said:

Yo kalyx, that shit is f.cking AWSOME...!!!... We have a lot of the same passions and feelings about this plant that we grow...
Mad respect for you putting in all the work and time that you do...!!!...

I know what it's like building your grow room from scratch... With no help and trying to be discreet as possable ... "Well my pop helped me a lot"...
Anyway, I'll be sticking around... Peace.

Click to expand...

Hey Nick,

Thanks for dropping in bro, I really appreciate the kind words. Im really pleased with how things have turned out so far. My last crawlspace grow got it done but wasn't pretty doing so. Those were in the years before I would take pics of these things. I wish I had so I could post them up here for comparative purposes.

It was a pain in the ass to build, everything about it was bigger, cost more, took longer than planned. I nearly ran myself and El Dorado into ground before ever finishing. Dedication and persistence have paid off, I had received some help getting this thing built, just a very small amount of it compared to overall workload.

I love this plant and everything about growing it. I really find it almost a symbiotic experience and relationship with my girls. Nothing eases my stress and worries better than some time in the garden with the girls. Growing is a passion of mine, if I did this for money I would be really bad at what i do.

-Kalyx

Kalyx said:

Thanks for dropping in, this has been a rough journey so far but has been worth all the blood, sweat and tears.

Thank you I really appreciate it, started thinking I would never have El Dorado operational, started feeling like just a dream.

¥es it is, I got in over my head in just about every aspect with this from the work, finances, scale, size and time. This was an overwhelming project to take on and a huge relief to be at the point I am currently.

Thanks a lot bro, I really appreciate the kind words. Its been a long time coming with lots of ups and downs. Now is the time to focus on finding those special ladies and studs. I am chem/diesl/ogk fiend so most of what I run tends to have those in the mix somewhere. I do have other taste, goals and projects I want to work with so there should be some interesting variety.

Glad the title pulled you in muwhahaha, welcome to the expedition. We had our first significant snowfall this week, going to shovel the driveway yesterday brought back bad memories so I stopped halfway through lol.

Hey brotha thanks for stopping in, you haven't missed anything yet. I have been slacking getting all my threads updated the past 2 weeks. Glad to have you along for the ride!

Thanks.... you are spot on, I never really thought of it like that be for but this is the ultimate man cave for a grow nerd like myself.

Hey Nick,

Thanks for dropping in bro, I really appreciate the kind words. Im really pleased with how things have turned out so far. My last crawlspace grow got it done but wasn't pretty doing so. Those were in the years before I would take pics of these things. I wish I had so I could post them up here for comparative purposes.

It was a pain in the ass to build, everything about it was bigger, cost more, took longer than planned. I nearly ran myself and El Dorado into ground before ever finishing. Dedication and persistence have paid off, I had received some help getting this thing built, just a very small amount of it compared to overall workload.

I love this plant and everything about growing it. I really find it almost a symbiotic experience and relationship with my girls. Nothing eases my stress and worries better than some time in the garden with the girls. Growing is a passion of mine, if I did this for money I would be really bad at what i do.

-Kalyx

Click to expand...

That is a great response and your work, passion, and approach are uplifting and inspiring to me. Thank you for sharing

Update 11/20 - The Search Continues

Its time to pop some seeds, actually well over due to start popping some seeds. The first of many new seed pops started today by dropping 18 gems into shot glasses with water. Everything growing will be logged here in this thread, 3 of the strains being run will have their own threads as well. These are either strains Im testing or running for people, thus will dedicate entire threads to those specific grows. Once I have those grow logs started up I will provide links to them here on this thread.

First off I do want to extend out my apologies to Relentless and Bodhi, if ya'll happen to stumble upon this, for the obscene delay getting these seeds started. Life is rough at times and things get put on hold when we least plan. Better late than never though I will PM and address each of you directly. I had hoped and planned to have these started months ago and Im very excited to finally get these seeds in dirt. I will have a few other seeds thrown in the mix as well with more to come in the very near future. I have a very long list of seeds, clones and projects I want to work on for the following year. I doubt I will get to everything I want to run, Im sure lots of new strains/clones will join the party that aren't in the plans now. This thread is going to be a way for me to document my grows and projects and see just how much of my list I can knock off.





Time to crack out the vault and get to work. So many choices, its never an easy decision on what to pop. These are the problems that I like to have in my life, too bad all problems cant be this much fun.
Over the next year I will be doing a lot of testing, running strains/clones that I have specific interest in, as well as working on some of my own projects. Im sure I will barely scratch the surface of my goals initially but I think I have plenty to keep me busy for the rest of my days.





Karma Genetics will be taking up a huge amount of the overall space but I also have plans to run some other breeders gear Im very interested in. Top Dawg, Archive, Relentless, CSI, Loompa, Jaws, Bodhi, Motarebel to cover the main ones. I have some of my own projects that I want to continue testing and working, one being GG#4 x Fire Cookie "stinky boy". Another project of interest is a colab that was done by one of my friends, that I feel has a lot of potential in Catpiss x Moontang.

Currently there are 2 males in the stable that are doing the dirty with my ladies. I have just harvested a bunch of seeds from both of them and plan to produce more seed and create some new crosses as well. The current boys are Road Dawg #8 and Purpetrator #2, really excited about their potential. Next step for them will be to start testing to see if the make the list as a "stud/dud" daddy. I will have a post shortly with more details and pictures specifically on all the daddies. I will discuss further goals and directions of my projects with said males.

Update Continued 11/20 - The Search Continues


I-95 early flower basking in El Dorado



Im really excited about all of these seeds and the potential inside these magical little beans. I really wanted to have these started months ago, shit happens and thats all I will say. The good news is they are getting started now and things will start moving along without further delay. The list of seeds, strains, and breeders at the top of my list made for some very difficult decisions on what to start first. I had to take care of my obligations first and those even made for some tough choices. Im expecting some unique plants some really tasty and potent flowers.


The first round of seeds to begin their potenial journey to greatness.

-5x Afkansastan x Goldstar (Bodhi - Testers)
-5x Dago Og (Relentless)
-5x Karmado Og ix (Karma)

-1x Purple Dogbud (CSI - Fem)
-1x Cataract Kush (DNA - Fem)
-1x Ogre99 x Sourbub (Useful - Fem)


These babies are going to produce some serious Og funk to the max, I have been itching to get to these for many months now. Seeing my brotha Gardening Angel kill these on his thread has done nothing but fuel my desire to run these. I just hope I can do these girls half the justice GA did with them.




These are testers that I should have been finishing right around now, very sorry I couldn't start these until now Bodhi. I have high expectations for these, looking for some really nice unique hybrids with some old school flavors. I love old school affies and I expect some great plants with the added Gold Star daddy to the mix.




I was considering the Fire Pie Og over these briefly but I just couldn't resist going with the Dago Og. I havent smoked any Albert Walker in a long time but I love that citrus skunky stank. Mix that with the Fire Og bx2 should produce some amazingly tasty plants. Im really sorry Relentless its taking me this long to get to these, thank you again I will do these babies proud,




Coming soon I will provide some information and pictures on the boys Im using and the plans and projects for them. I will also discuss strains for the next seed pop, the ones that weren't able to make the cut this round. Of course there will be lots of pictures and updates of all the current ladies flowering away in El Dorado. Today is right about the 7.5 week mark since the first girls went in so things are really getting interesting.


Some of the ladies in El Dorado a few weeks back.

3rdEye said:

That is a great response and your work, passion, and approach are uplifting and inspiring to me. Thank you for sharing

Click to expand...

Thank you very much for the kind words, they are greatly appreciated. I am humbled, honored inspired by your remarks and glad you have enjoyed, thank you.

-Kalyx

You had me at crawlspace...

How in the hell did I miss this thread?!?! Room looks awesome man, genetics look even better. Subbed for the show brother

And a ? bro, what made you drop the Moontangs in their entirety? I followed the thread, and they seemed pretty dank. Obviously without being able to smell, taste, or feel the high they seemed great lol, but I was thinking about getting a pack or 2 to run of them, would love to hear your opinion