My little forrest of AK-47s....hopefully :0)

Hello all,

Mr. new here.

I grew ages ago, but only fun stuff using poor bag-seed, and without much yield.

I decided to get a grow tent and give it a go and just harvested some
nice Sweet Tooth, Low Girl, and Biodiesel Mass (see attached)

I know that the buds could have gotten much denser, but I timed
the next crop badly. I also sprouted two photo-period plants,
AK-47 and Somango, at the same time that I started the
auto-flowering plants. My second crop is using clones from these
two breeds.

(see attached again....still figuring the site out)

I will follow with the specification of my soil, nutrient, and setup.

Take care all,

JD

OK.

My setup is an ~ 5' square tent. (not cube, as the height is 6.5')

I am using a 600W HPS ducted lamp. I have a MH HID bulb as well,
but I intend to flip at two weeks of veg, and I just left the HPS bulb
in from the last crop. (I may still switch it, just for fun, if I have to
dig into the tent for some other reason).

I have two additional Kessil 350's, one purple and the other magenta.

I am using FFOF soil and 2 gallon smart pots. I have 24 AK-47 clones
and 6 Somango clones, along with the two mothers with about 9-10
weeks of Veg already. (I am using the Kessils to assist the larger plants
while the clones are keeping the HPS too low for them to really use it)

As far as nutrients go, I am using the Botanicaire line, with ProBlend Bloom,
Cal-Mag, Silica Blast, Strapped, and Liquid Karma. I am going to be adding
Big Bloom and later Overdrive. LK is the only thing that I add pretty much
every time but when flushing. (Oh yeah, and a mycorhizal additive too).

I went very easy on the nutes the last grow, and had zero nute issue or burn.
(tho this must make me wonder if I could have step it up a bit ;0)

I am going to Veg for two weeks and then flip to 12/12.

I have a brace of new mothers, growing to prepare clones for the next crop too,
under four T-8s, see attached.

These are two of BlueBerry BX, Qrazy Train, Dead Head, Blue Cheese, and Chem 40G.

Only the Cheese is femmed. I am playing it a bit risky by just trying two each of the
regular seeds....hoping to get a single female of each breed. I know now that I can
(I cloned for the first time for this grow...but rocked with 45 out of 45 taking) make
enough clones to fill the tent even if I only have the Cheese to use. ...and I have heard
very good things about this breed.

OK, that is it for now I suppose.

I will post an update at week one, and then again when I flip.

Take care,

JD

Mmm AK-47 nomnomnom...grew her out many many moons ago (wish I kept my mom of my selected pheno,fat yields of utterly sticky & stanky goodness!)

I'm going to pull up a seat cause I'm interested in Soma #10 aka SoMango...

On the note of SoMango,anyone know how she compares to the old KC Mango from KC Brains?

Your experience gives itself away.

...one of the things that I am explicitly *not* doing is "selecting a pheno".

LOL, I am just learning how to keep the ladies happy at this point.

I figured out cloning during the first crop, and have made colloidal silver to
try seed making to share with friends, but I am not at the point where I am
aiming to select perfection. (I am trusting the seed bank at this point)

And they did me fine with the Sweet Tooth and others that I grew last.

I really appreciate your kind attention, as I am just getting started at this forum.

I hope that a Mango Expert comes along to chime in with your answer. :0)

JD

Hey javadog looking forward to seeing your grow here man! That is about the size I top my plants twice to get 4 heads. Looks like a good start!

Thanks Tony!

I am learning a lot here. The node count is getting into that area isn't it?

Check out the last photo in the first post. I think that if I crop these things, that
I will end up with a canopy so dense as to be untenable.

I am thinking of lollipopping them, taking most of the lower third growth....probably
a couple of weeks after flowering starts (but this is an area where comments are most
appreciated ;0). If I grow 30 plants to completion, in my small tent, then I will have
a SOG on my hands.

I earned my stripes learning other cultivation skills, and know enough to share my results,
good and bad, as the mistakes are where I really learn.

Take care,

JD

Hello all,

Just a note. I decided to flip to 12/12 this evening, as these clones have been
in soil for a week and had weeks in the clone tray to mature and grow roots.

I had to hold off on starting the clones while my first crop finished maturing,
leaving them in the Root Riot tray, but I have the high dome and they
had a chance to develop, and the results were strong. (see attached)

The ladies are attached as well. I have no idea how long these will
take to finish flowering, but hope to allow them all the time they need.

Take care,

JD

Nice looking roots.

veri nice lookin garden grower, im tuned!!!

Looks nice!! I'll sub up

Thanks TP.

I am very new here, and apologize in advance if I blabber....it is by design because if I do
not expose my thinking then there is no way for more experienced growers to help.

I did a few solo-cup-on-the-windowsill quality attempts over the years, but this last year
I got tired of my homeys at myco-tek posting frosty nugs while I sat, old and disconnected
from reliable access to smoke.

So, I just finished my first serious grow, Sweet Tooth, Biodiesel Mass, and Low Girl.
These were auto-flowering plants and I can tell you, the whole ruderalis thing hit me
by surprise. Wow. I have been out of the loop. 24/0 from the start and a couple months
later I had massive buds.

When I started that crop, I also grew out a Somango and AK-47 photo-period plants.
30 clones (!) of these plants are what you see in the photo above.

I have flipped to 12/12 and intend to let these mature fully.

Please feel free to comment on protocols....I am a Mod at The Shroomery, but do not
know the ropes here yet.

I will be posting new photos weekly, and should not be making too many posts like this,
without something juicy to enjoy. :0)

Take care,

JD

Good ole shroomery,haven't been there in a while.

LOL, it is still as rambunctious as ever.

We had a couple of scares over the last year, but the community
came through every time.

I wanted to post an update, as I hit two weeks since the clones hit soil.

I may not update every week, for a few weeks, as even though some hairs
are starting to show, this grow is going to get crazy in a month or so.

See the attached.

Besides the girls at two weeks attached are photos of the re-worked tent.

I had to work to get the filter to hang from the tent in a way that did
not overload it, and to get the oscillating fan off the floor. For the
fan I pulled it off the base, glued the shaft to the top, and then
used a hose clamp to hang it from the ceiling.

You can also see Crop #3 mothers coming along nicely, under
four T-8's. As I wrote before, these are regular seeds of Dead Head,
Qrazy Train, Chem 40G, and Blueberry BX. I have only two of each
and one of the Chem, so I know that I risk not having a female,
let alone my selection of phenos. I added a femmed Blue Cheese
to guarantee clones for the crop.

I am at the "getting good at growing" Stage. Grow one was pretty good,
all in all, as I built the tent, planted and grew auto-flowers to buds,
grew mothers, and then took clones.

Grow two is a SOG of my clones, and the creation of a mothers/clones area.
I took over a closet and should be able to support many plants, with
T-8s on panels that I can control the height of. I am also doing some
some colloidal silver experiments.

My third grow was me trying to be a bit more selective of the breeds used.
Please comment if you can on any of the above.

Grow four is going to be off the hook, as someone very kindly laid
on me 10 seeds of each of Sensei's Hash Plant, Jack Herer, and
Blueberry. :homerdrool:

I feel like a kid....I am as old as the wind. This is so cool.

Take care all,

JD

P.S. You cannot see in the photos, but I had a blast topping the
mothers....smooshing the tops in such a way that I was sure that
I managed to FIM some of them....and not worrying one way
or the other. I will post some photos. Interesting.

I topped the crop #3 mothers the other day. I decided to go ahead and try for my first
FIMed tops....I was pretty easy-going about it, and even pinched the tops off with my fingers.

I think that a couple of them are already taking off, while a couple others are still working on it.

Take care all,

JD

Hello all,

Week 2 ended on Wednesday, and I wanted to post an update.

(I expect that updates will get more exciting as time goes along ;0)

These are the girls today:


I expect updates to be less than thrilling for a few weeks.

Here is a closer shot of one of the AK-47s:


...the structure is nicely dense along the main stem. This is
important as I want trees more than bushes. I knew to expect
the better behavior in this regard from the AKs rather than the
Somangos.

The Crop #3 Mothers are growing strong.:


The FIMed tips are going nutso...really though I expect them to
settle down as they grow out. Some seem to have still given the
advantage to the child nodes and others are pushing up. Time
will tell.....there is a lot to learn on this front.

Tops:


Finally, we have the clones that refuse to die:
[Image Limit]

I still have one #2 smart pot, already filled with soil. I am still
thinking that I will drop a few clones into that pot, to be hit
with silver and then put into the tent. If I get pollen off-cycle
then I can just store it.

So, that is that.

All apologies for my inability to better associate my attached images
with the text to which they relate!

Take care all,

JD

P.S. I fully drenched the soils when I started these and insisted on giving
them some food a week ago. The result is that I am having to wait to give
them their next watering/feeding. I am a believer in letting them dry out.
I am eager to start the bloom additives, but expect that this will wait until
the weekend.

Javadog said:

Hello all,

Just a note. I decided to flip to 12/12 this evening, as these clones have been
in soil for a week and had weeks in the clone tray to mature and grow roots.

I had to hold off on starting the clones while my first crop finished maturing,
leaving them in the Root Riot tray, but I have the high dome and they
had a chance to develop, and the results were strong. (see attached)

The ladies are attached as well. I have no idea how long these will
take to finish flowering, but hope to allow them all the time they need.

Take care,

JD

Click to expand...

just making sure I see this right, it looks like you clipped the tips of the leaves on this plant, could you go into what this technique is?

Great looking results JD! Thanks for sharing!!

macumba said:

just making sure I see this right, it looks like you clipped the tips of the leaves on this plant, could you go into what this technique is?

Click to expand...

Sure. The idea there seems pretty clear. The idea is that you want to
help the clone focus on roots.

I did not come up with the idea, but it does seem to be part of
pretty much anyones explanation of the topic.

I did a search on YouTube, and the first hit shows this trimming
at 2:30

Good luck,

JD

P.S. Thanks for the good word Rob!

Great set up. I am getting pretty good at this green art and i am at the point where i am questioning the meaning of life. I noticed that you have experience with auto flowers. I have had great success from auto sweet afhani and loved the fast flower cycles. I got greedy and started playing with regular. I was plagued with males and flower cycles that could last until the next olympics. May i ask, why did you move away from auto flowers? Also are you as sick as me of paying for the upscale soils? I have been toying with the idea of getting rabbits to fertilize my soil. At the very least for my next cycle which i germinate my king tut seeds in two weeks, what soil mix to do. I have done my reading and i refuse to pay a scalping artist at my local garden shops fee of blood for guana and such. I want to try and mix my own blends and i have access to worm castings. Any ideas? Sorry for rambling, it seems like you are just as passionate about the green arts as i am. Hope the ladies are thriving!

Thanks for taking the time BL.

I intend to try everything I can, and so a move was natural. :0)

I made clones and am basically doing a SOG of 24 AK-47s and 6 Somangos,
plus the two huge mothers in the corners.

Next was a more careful selection of skunky breeds (Crop #3 will be
Dead Head, Qrazy Train, Chem OG, Blue Cheese, and Blueberry BX).
The mothers for this next crop are happy under T-8s.

...now Crop #4 will be off the hook, with all three of Sensei's Jack Herer,
Hash Plant, and Blueberry.

I appreciate your desire to get off the grid and on your own. You should be
researching composting and making live teas. Feel free to make an outside
garden, as tomatoes are a fine specimen to experiment on...and you get to
eat the result.

Take care,

JD