God Bud & Kahuna - 12/12 From Seed

After 20+ years of growing, I finally pulled the trigger and bought some seeds. Now that I'm growing strains with names, I feel like I've finally made it to the show. I've moved on up to the East Side.

I won't go into details about the purchase, as I got the seeds from a vendor that does not advertise here, and so I can't mention the name. But I was very pleased with their prices, service, prompt delivery, and stealth packaging (if you want details, PM me). It wasn't nearly as nerve-wracking as I thought it would be.

This is my fourth grow in this cabinet. I've posted details in my previous diaries so, in a nutshell, I have 2 250-watt MH bulbs, 10,000 K for veg, and 6500 K for flower. It's a standard double-wide wardrobe. I'm growing in soil, all organic.

Shortly after receiving my seeds, I soaked them for a few hours then planted them directly in soil (no paper towels). Because of the heat, I'm running 12/12 from seed this time, lights on 9 PM to 9 AM. I don't expect a big harvest, just enough to tide me over till my winter grow. So far at 5 days post-sprout, the results are mixed.

I planted 5 God Bud, and within 3 days all sprouted. They all look great, with minimal stretching. All are just starting their second set of leaves. So far, so good.

I also planted 5 Kahuna, which also all sprouted within 3 days. However one shriveled up and died soon after breaking the surface of the soil. Another got a little further and seems to be stuck, not growing but not dying. A third looks a little sickly with its first set of leaves a bit twisted. A few days later I planted one more Kahuna seed to make up for the dead one, and it has not sprouted after 4 days in soil. The three that are growing normally look healthy and are starting their second set of leaves, although they are stretching a bit. So out of 6 Kahuna seeds, I have 3 healthy plants, 2 doubtful and 1 no show. Not so great.

Please stay tuned for weekly updates and pictures as soon as there's something photo-worthy.

Update @ 7 Days

Update @ 7 Days

We are now at one week post-sprout and looking good. My last Kahuna seed never made it, so I have 5 God Bud and 4 Kahuna seedlings. The one Kahuna that I said sprouted and then just stalled is still pretty much as it was.

I adjusted some ventilation and noticed that heat is not the problem I thought it would be. And I was a little concerned that some were stretching a bit too much. So I switched the lights today to 16/8. That will still avoid lights being on in the hottest part of the day, and hopefully give the little ones an extra boost. I'll flip back to 12/12 in two weeks, when they are three weeks old.

An now without further ado, I'd like to introduce the players:


This is the Kahuna. You can see little stalled one in the front left. And in the back left is the one with twisted leaves. It looks like the second set is also a bit deformed. Hopefully this will straighten itself out, as the plant otherwise looks good, if slightly behind its siblings.


And here are the God Bud. One is stretching a bit more than the others, but they all look happy and healthy and fairly uniform.

Youre gonna be kicking yourself for growing those bagseeds all those years, that god bud is really dank my friend bought some locally a month or so ago, it was all these blue-ish hues.. good luck ( you wont need it )

My Setup

My Setup

So I decided to play around with Google Sketchup (the worst, most awful 3D modeling program I've ever used) and make a model of my cabinet. I left off the doors for easier viewing. Here it is:



Unfortunately, I can't get a good picture of the cabinet, so this will have to do. The space is so narrow I only have about an inch clearance when I open the doors, which means I can't get far enough back to get the whole cabinet in a picture.

It's a standard double-wide wardrobe, about 48" w x 72" h x 18" d. I left the top shelf in and took out the vertical divider. In the top compartment I have a Panasonic Whisperline fan pulling through a homemade carbon filter. A power strip and the timers are also in the top compartment. I cut a hole in the shelf for intake from the grow area. Below I have two darkroom louvres for input on the opposite side as the exhaust hole in the shelf. For circulation, I have 3 PC fans -- one in front of one of the intakes, one on the opposite side blowing upwards, and one blowing across the lights. The entire inside of the grow area is painted flat white.

The lights are on chains (not shown) so their height can be adjusted. The dual 250-w MH ballast is sitting on top of the cabinet. For veg I use 10,000k bulbs, and for flower I use 2 Iwasaki 6500 k bulbs. The Iwaski are about the brightest, most wide spectrum MH bulbs available.

Rather than the 3-gal buckets I had been using, I switched to 3-gal bags on my last grow. With buckets I could only fit 4, but with bags I can fit 8. The bags are sitting on a piece of eggcrate for drainage, and underneath the bags the bottom is lined with a piece of heavy drop-cloth plastic. My medium is organic soil. I started with Fafard's soil in the purple bag, which has no additives. It lists its ingredients as top soil - 75%, compost - 15%, and peat moss - 10%. I like it better than MG organic soil, which is the only other organic soil I can get around here. It is a very rich, dark soil. To it I added perlite, a little vermiculite, bone meal, blood meal, ground egg shell, epsom salts, dolomitic lime, and kelp meal. The seedling mix, in 16 oz plastic cups, just has some perlite added to it.

For ferts I use Metanaturals. For veg I use their grow formula, for flower I use their bloom formula, and I use their calcium supplement as needed. Since this will be a short veg period, I probably will fertilize them maybe once at the most. I also add molasses to my regular water about every other watering during flower.

That's about it. Now you know what I'm growing and how I'm growing it. Please check back for a grow update in a few days.

Update @ 14 Days

Update @ 14 Days

It's amazing sometimes what a difference a week makes. Here they are at 14 days from sprout. They've been at 16/8 for a week now. Still not full light, but it seems to be working out. I'll switch them back to 12/12 in about another week.


Here's the God Bud. They all look very healthy. Just starting to see some variability in the different plants, some are a little taller than others, but that's about it. Also notice the VERY wide leaves.


Here's the Kahuna. The two in back are what I consider the normal, healthy ones. The left front is the one with its first two sets of leaves twisted and somewhat deformed, but the third set looks OK. It will be fine, just a little behind. Then there's the freak, right front. It's the one that sprouted, then stalled, not dying and not growing. Now it's finally started growing, getting its second set of leaves, but it's like it's growing in super slow motion. Not sure what will become of it.


And here's a close-up of the freak Kahuna. You can see not only is it slow, but it's pretty deformed too. But still growing, so I'm not giving up on it. With my luck, it'll be the only female.

All in all, these sprouts at 14 days are comparable to my recent grows at about 3-4 weeks. So they are doing VERY well indeed. Possibly the result of NOT using bagseed? Who'd of thunk it? Regardless of the reason, I'm one happy camper right about now.

Hi, very nice set up m8! I noticed some stretching in these first pictures. How far away were the lights from the plants?

loko17 said:

Hi, very nice set up m8! I noticed some stretching in these first pictures. How far away were the lights from the plants?

Click to expand...

Thanks.

I only have the MH lights, so I start with them up high and gradually lower them over the first 2 weeks or so. Also, this time I started with the lights on 12/12. I think both of those factors contributed to a bit of stretching, mostly with the Kahuna. Since increasing the photo period and lowering the lights, the stretch has been reduced. But I think, all things being equal, the Kahuna are just going to be stretchier than the God Bud.

they're growing fast!

good luck

V.

Update @ 21 Days

Update @ 21 Days

Heat has been a problem this past week, and I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out what I can do, as my ventilation options are limited. Then last night, after self medicating, I had an insight. Maybe even a revelation. I have darkroom louvres over my intake and exhaust openings. I don't think they restrict flow too much, but it occurred to me that maybe having one right in front of the fan was not good. Since the top compartment gets very little light, and the fan draws through a carbon filter, I really don't need the louvre for the exhaust. So today I took it out and ran the fan output directly out the hole. Luckily, it fit perfectly and a little duct tape for a seal was all it took. All I can say is WOW, what a difference!!!! The cabinet now has a noticeable negative pressure, sucking the doors closed. And air flow is substantially increased. I think it's a bit quieter too.

As to the little ones, they continue to look happy and healthy, although I don't think they grew as much this week. Maybe the heat. However they are bulking up, with thicker stems and sprouts appearing at the nodes. I'm thinking one more week before flipping to 12/12. That would put them at 4 weeks.


This is the God Bud. As you can see, I transplanted to 3 gal bags this week. These guys/gals are looking good, with no stretch and lots of lateral growth. I would have to say they are quite stocky, maybe even husky. I'm also noticing more variation amongst them. The one on the top left has narrower leaves, while the others are keeping their wider leaves.


As you can see, the Kahuna are exactly opposite. Two of them are tall and thin, very stretchy with just the hint of the beginning of any branching. The one in front however has just as many leaves, yet is the smallest, thinnest out of all 8. I'm not sure if this is a different pheno or just the result of it getting a slow start. Regardless of their shapes or sizes, they all look healthy.


And I just had to include one more picture of the freak. I've had to face the reality that this little one is just not going to be ready to start flowering in the next week. It's still in its Solo cup, and a whopping 2 inches tall. Even if it did flower, what would it yield, 1/2 gram? I do find it interesting however that its third set of leaves is a quad, four leaves at one node. I'll keep it going as long as possible just to see what becomes of it.

So now I'm hoping my ventilation adjustment did some good. The cabinet's been closed for a few hours now, so it should be reaching its maximum temperature. Wish me luck.

Update @ 27 Days

Update @ 27 Days

I don't know if it was my ventilation modification or the change in the weather -- probably a combination of the two factors -- but the situation is vastly improved. A week ago, my temps were hovering in the low 90s. Now they never get higher than 80-82 deg. And I think the little ones appreciate my effort. They are all looking great!

So great in fact, that I flipped to 12/12 today. That would make it one day short of 4 weeks of veg. I gave them their first shot of veg ferts (with a little molasses for good measure) this past week, and will give them one more next week. Then I'll gradually start giving them more and more bloom ferts over the next 6 weeks or so.


Here's the five God Bud. These are some sturdy looking plants. There are definitely two distinct phenos. The ones in the back left and front right are taller with narrower leaves. The other three are shorter and have the very wide, overlapping leaves. All have thick stems, big fan leaves, and branches sprouting at every node.


Here's the three Kahuna. They are tall and thin, relatively frail looking. Although they have the same number of nodes as the God Bud, two of the three are twice as tall with smaller leaves. As you can see, I tied the two in the back down so I wouldn't have to raise my lights. The one in the front looks basically the same, just shorter. They are all just starting to show some side branches. Unless these produce some really oversized buds, I'm thinking they're not going to be big yielders. Assuming of course there is a female or two in the bunch.


And yes, the little freak is still alive and growing VERY slowly. I put it with its siblings for the photo so you can get an idea of the size comparison. Maybe it's just me, but I'm doubting this little one is going to produce very much. Seems not quite ready for flowering, although it is on its fifth set of leaves. We'll see.

All things considered, I am thrilled with this grow and have high hopes. To paraphrase Alfred E. Neuman, "What, me optimistic?"

Update @ 8 Days of 12/12

Update @ 8 Days of 12/12

Remember how in my last post I said I had high hopes for this grow? Well, those hopes have mostly been crushed. Much like my hopes for wealth and power. And not losing my hair. Here's why:


Boy, do I hate seeing those little footballs!!!!!

Unfortunately, the gender results are in. Only one of the three Kahuna is a girl. With the God Bud it's even worse. Five of six are definitely male, and I'm still unsure about the sixth one. It has just the tiniest hint of some pre-flower nubs. I'm somewhat hopeful only because it is so late showing its sex.


Here's the three Kahuna before the chop. The one in the back center is the female. And you may notice just to the right of it a small leaf? That's the little freak. It's starting to grow normally now, although still pretty small. And I think it's a male too! They look a little bent over because I had just been handling them and twisting them around, checking for balls. (That's what she said.)


And here are the five God Bud just before their untimely demise. The one on the far right is the unknown, hopefully female. Luckily, it's the biggest of the God Bud. The one on the rear left is the one with red stems, which you can't see in the pict. Such a shame to kill these extremely healthy, great-looking plants. As you can see, I've done no training of these, they are standing straight and tall. At least now I have a lot more room for them to spread out.

So today I went a-choppin'. I now have just the one Kahuna, the one uncertain God Bud, and one male God Bud. I kept the male because I had this idea I could make some seeds. The reason I kept that particular male is because it has red leaf-stems. God Bud has some purple genes in it, so I'm thinking that might be a purple pheno, and maybe next time I might get some purple buds. That'd be cool.

Now I don't know what to do. I had thought of re-vegging the female(s), letting them get bigger, then flowering them again. But checking my calendar, I see I don't have time for that. They need to be chopped and jarred before the Xmas holidays, and I'm already looking at a mid-November harvest. So this really sucks!!!!! All that effort, care, and nurturing for (almost) nothing. I am crushed. I may have to turn to drugs to escape this horrible reality.

But just to put things in perspective, last night I talked to a friend who is doing his first (semi) serious outside grow this summer. His news was worse than mine. He ended up with only 2 females that had been flowering for a while. A couple of weeks ago a storm broke one off and it didn't survive. Then just yesterday his one remaining plant disappeared without a trace. Talk about bummed. He said he was only about 2 weeks from harvest. Makes my results seem a little less sucky.

Addendum: I just noticed that these pictures look quite different from the previous ones. I got a new camera before this grow, and I just learned that I had not been setting the white balance properly. This last batch of picts no longer has the blue tint from my veg bulbs.

I like your setup bro - very sorry to hear about so many males.

That's crappy luck, I hope you've got more seeds left from the packs you ordered. I'm sure you'll take clones either way.

How would you compare flowering with those MH full spectrum bulbs VS an HPS? Obviously your happy with the results. Just curious.

Good luck.

nice setup , the few plants that flower will love all that light though

Work2much said:

That's crappy luck, I hope you've got more seeds left from the packs you ordered. I'm sure you'll take clones either way.

How would you compare flowering with those MH full spectrum bulbs VS an HPS? Obviously your happy with the results. Just curious.

Click to expand...

I'm not really set up to do clones. Don't have any space and can't really keep mothers around continuously.

I can't really compare my bulbs with any others, since I've never used anything else. Definitely better than the shoplights I used to use years ago when I was first getting started! My light setup is salvaged from a former reef aquarium. It's what I already had, so it's what I used. I've always believed that intensity is the most important factor when it comes to light. I originally got these bulbs for my aquarium because they have the highest output across the spectrum. Seems appropriate that these lights went from growing a reef to growing reefer.

There are looking good Im hoping mine will turn out too

hoping you get a bunch of males?

bengie187 said:

There are looking good Im hoping mine will turn out too

Click to expand...

Gender Update

Gender Update

The final results are now in. In addition to the one Kahuna female I was already certain about, the one God Bud I was unsure of finally showed some white hairs yesterday. At least I ended up with one of each.

It's still disappointing. I think I'll be lucky to get a 1/4 oz off the Kahuna. Probably more off the God Bud since it is quite a bit bigger and has more developed side branches. Still, pretty shabby.

On the bright side, I just ordered some Mandala beans for my next grow. So at least i have something to look forward to.

Update @ 15 Days of 12/12

Things are starting to develop. Now that all the males are gone, there's more room to spread out and take in some rays. Speaking of which, I put in the flowering bulbs today. I guess I finally got my camera's white balance figured out, as these picts looks pretty much the same as the last, even though the light is quite visibly different.

You can see in the picts that I tied them down to make them more horizontal and get the lights closer. Unfortunately, it's a little too late to do any real training. These two have stretched very little and are growing quite slowly now. Which is good, since that means they are devoting their energy to producing flowers. Which they are. They're looking very healthy, but small. I'm still bummed that I flowered them so quickly and didn't let them get bigger. But who knew I'd only end up with two? What're gonna do?


Here's the Kahuna, a wide shot and close-up of the main cola. Not exactly a cola yet. This one started flowering a few days before the other, but is now behind. I'm guessing it will be a small yielder.


Here's the God Bud. This one was a late bloomer (literally), but is really starting to develop. Very healthy and sturdy looking with large leaves, still. Just two days ago I had to look pretty closely to find just a few white hairs. And they're all over today. This plant could have been a good producer, I think, if only it were bigger. A good earner, as Tony Soprano would say. And I think you can see in the wide shot that the leaf stems are turning red. That's also a new development.


And here's one remaining God Bud male. It's really popping out flowers all over. I wish the female buds were this big already. I plucked them all off except on this one main stem. My plan is to wrap a plastic bag around them when they start opening and collect some pollen. My guess is that some of these flowers will start opening within the next few days.

So that's it for now. I'm going to feed these girls like crazy and hope they get big and fat. And I'm already looking forward to new seeds and a new grow.

Looking good man