[Strainbrain]

I'm nearing the 6 month mark lurking/posting here on IC and growing this magnificent plant. It's something I've wanted to do for more than a decade, and circumstance finally lined up to allow it this last year. I wouldn't have anything of consequence to show for all of my good intentions if it weren't for several years of backlogged and ongoing conversations by uncountable posters in these forums. A few of you know who you are, many of you do not - but to each and every one of you I owe a great debt.

This hobby is proving to be one of the most rewarding, educational, empowering and humbling experiences of my life - and this community very much makes it what it is. Share this with me:



All the mooshy shit aside, it's time to show you all what I've done so far with my access to this vast knowledge bank we call IC Mag. I won't have some fancy seed -> smoke report diary here. I'm in the chaotic middle of an evolving perpetual microgrow. I haven't finished a second run of anything, only a first run of 2 strains, and by no stretch of the imagination is anything 'dialed in.' By anything - to be clear - I mean strain, cabinet, process, or grower. It's all new. Mistakes have been and will be made, but I could not be happier with the first few harvests.

Let's take the tour. The setting is a residential bedroom closet. The box began life as a piece of wooden bedroom furniture:




I've never been one to follow the instructions too closely. Mine has some extra bits:




The 2 spiral CFLs down the middle are standard 42w bulbs from the Home Despot. The other bulbs are 8w 12" T5s - 12 of em - and though it's hard to see there is aluminum tape lining the ceiling. It's not the best reflector, but it sure is bright in there and I only lose 1.3" of ceiling height. I am running 180w of total light. The bulbs in question rate out at a total of about 13,000 (initial) lumens. In my ~1.8 square foot space, that's 100 watts and ~7250 lumens per. Ventilation is handled by two 37cfm, 92mm PC fans. They keep temps to 7-10F above ambient at the top of the canopy. Odor control is a carbon filter and a 120cfm Panasonic Whisperline fan exhausting from the top corner of the closet into the attic.

It has become a much better place to raise plants than as originally designed - which is fortunate because it just so happens I have a few! As they say... there are no coincidences.

[Strainbrain]

Let's take stock of the players on this stage:


Romulan Kush



This one came to us from a local grower with 4 decades' experience. He says it is 'Romulan Kush.' He knows nothing further. It was labelled 'RK 29' and was given to us as an established bonsai mom. We were a last-minute preservation effort due to a security emergency, rescuing it from a death outdoors 2 nights before the first frost. He claims it's the best-smelling plant he's ever grown. It smells like honeysuckle and peonies, melons and lemons. Sometimes in late flowering it smells like vomit. The taste is the same (sans vomit) - very floral with a pleasant sour note. After a couple weeks curing, the sour/lemon terpenes seem to be gone. In their place is a sugary sweetness that really drives home the honeysuckle/peony/melon notes.

It's not devastating smoke, but it's plenty potent. It creeps hard - 2 hits into a bowl and you're already eyeing the nug, ready to pack another one. 2 hits later, you realize it's been an hour and the first bowl isn't done.... It's pretty heady but with a good stone. It's our bread-and-butter right now, those 3 of us who grow her.





Grape Skunk



My Grape Skunk is an S1 bagseed found in a gift that I got from my personal weed fairy in the PNW. I found one seed, which grew into a leafy, hermaphroditic lady. As 'she' was my first and only plant I decided to soldier on, lance the offending bits and see if I couldn't keep her under control. Good call. Didn't make any seeds the first go-round and the smoke is superb. The bag she came from was one of the best I've ever had. This pheno is different, but she's killer potent. Very blueberry-leaning, it seems, she is definitely on the stinky side. When you rub a frosty leaf, you get a burst of blueberry/grape and then it's pure pine/hash all the way to the finish. The high is complex - good body stone but without lethargy. Good floaty pressure-on-the-eyes head buzz, but not confusing or trippy. Euphoric, but serene. I find that she leaves me alert and functional, but all of my friends tell me they associate her with the word 'retarded,' because it's all they feel after a bowl.

I don't care how many balls I have to pick off of her, she stays. I'm mitigating the risk by growing her in single-cola spikes from now on... but she's not going anywhere until something equals that buzz. The nugs above are cured 6 weeks. At this point it smells like blueberry pancakes - butter and maple syrup too. It's unlike anything I've ever smelled in cannabis and while I'm new to growing this year, I'm a pretty seasoned head and nose.

Edit: I let a clone go 60 days with no nanner-patrol at all. I kept her in the back by the exhaust - so no worries about a seeded grow - but she made no seeds. Her male flowers are proven viable - I've used them to make 5 backup beans - but they do not open on their own. I'm no longer concerned by them at all. This lady is FIRE.

Here are some photos of her, updated since this was first posted. First pic is of the seed plant and the rest are from subsequent clones. She'll go purple like the first one if you starve her... as I finish dialing her in I hope to make that happen consistently. A 10-day flush isn't enough, I think she really needs 15-20 for the colors. None of the purple makes it to the trimmed nugs, but I sure get a show!




-s

[Strainbrain]

Here is the 'other stuff' that's going on in the flowering cabinet. All of this is on its maiden voyage:


Northern Lights



Pictured above on day 44 and 46 respectively. She is also a bagseed, found in a 1-bowl nug gifted to me by a friend in town. He said it was 'Northern Lights.' Father unknown, mother taken with a grain of salt. Possibly selfed. She has been a true champ so far - vigorous, smelly, indestructable. No sign of nanner-one as of day 60. (Edit: there was one. Only one, on the seedplant. No more on any clones so far.)

She clones well and has taken to outdoor conditions like a politician to sleaze. She smells of oranges, limes, and an earthy, funky dank. The citrus note is very sour and detectable from 6" off the colas. The dank smell is on the back end of the resin and all over the green matter. The overall effect is 'dank oranges.' A day 49 popcorn smoke test revealed near-perfect translation to the taste. Nice medium-potent body buzz and a head that you can't just ignore. Promising, but early and unflushed. Here's a shot on day 48 out of the cab with the flash... gives you a different perspective:





-F-



This one is a proven female we received as a clone from the same grower who gave us the RK. This is a recent find as he's started again. After an unsuccessful first-go at flowering her (a mag deficiency from veg was never resolved) I reformulated my entire feeding program and took another stab at it. Much better, I say! She's for real. For a couple weeks in mid-flower she lost all odor of pot and smelled just like lime sherbet. Eventually, the hazey funk returned and she ended up just like she started - hazey sweet limes.



-s

[growMEDS]

Those fluoro look great in that cab.

I'm in the same situation trying to get a perpetual thing going.

[Strainbrain]

It's kind of a juggling act at first. Working with bagseed and clones taken WAY out of their accustomed environment makes it impossible to know when things will be done, how much they'll stretch, nute preferences, etc. So it's more like a juggling act with my eyes closed.

It won't be difficult to run it smoothly once I know the times and behaviors involved. We're a few months minimum from that, though.

-s

[Thundurkel]

Nice grow so far I'm pulling up a chair and chilling about to smoke some Durban Poison I got a 1/2oz last night for a Thunder Goo clone!!! Also don't think you are anywhere close to being in full swing until you harvest 2 or 3 rows consistantly cuz I thought I was 2 weeks away from my weekly harvest of 4 plants and EVERYTHING WENT TO SHIT!!!! I had no ph kit till 2 days ago so that was a part of it.. Also you want to have 2 cloners going, I take 8-12 clones each week and that was working great!! Till it all fucked up on me but as you can see I'm back on track now I just need to get my cloners off set again and I'll be perpetual this summer!!! Also PM me where you are at cuz you have some strains I'd like to get and I may have some stuff you would like to try...

[Tonatiuh]

tagged holmz,you know ill be here for the ride
peace-T-

[growMEDS]

Juggling act is right. Haha

Good luck man!

[Phillthy]

man sb, you are doing the damn thing! that cab rocks! k+

[Strainbrain]

MEDS - Thanks. Beginner's luck has been a reliable guest in my grow. I do hope that continues.

thundurkel - Don't you love trading clones for stuff? Talk about something for nothing. As for a clean production cycle... that's a good ways down the road for me. I have too many un-popped seeds that need to be explored. It may be next year before I have something coming down reliably every week. I may do all of that work in another space, though, so I may soon eat those words. Either way, good luck getting yours back on track.

T - Thanks for stopping in. Guess I'd better double-check my game, make sure I'm on top of it. Would help if I actually knew what I was doing.

Phillthy - Welcome to the show! I think I'd better go buy some bleach wipes and a shop vac, and quick... hehe.


I've got more stuff to shoot and show tonight. There's my super high-tech cloner. Not all of what's vegging is in my space but it's time at least the C99 had some baby photos taken. There's probably something else, there always is.

-s