[O RLY?]

I have been a long time off and on grower (and reader of OG and ICMag) but this is my first time posting...

I grow because I have an anxiety/depression disorder which I used to go to a doctor and took medication for but I found that I hate the side effects for just about every medicine I have ever tried. The only medicine that doesn't have any ill effects is pot. Plus I love to grow it

I have grown strains from Chimera, BOG, Rezdog, and many others and recently I wanted to try something new... I wanted something cheap and reliable... That is when I came across Mandala Seeds. After reading forums and researching on Mandala's website I chose Sadhu and Satori...

I try to keep things as simple as possible. The following is my grow set up and method:

I germ using the paper towel method and then I plant the seeds in a small plastic cup and place the cups under 24/7 floros.

Then when I see fit (or about after the plant has had enough time to sprout roots/grow about 2-3 inches) I transfer the plants to 1 gallon pots and place them under a 250 MH light which runs on a 16/8 cycle. I run at a 16/8 cycle because I grow in a closet and i have devided my closet in half and I want to cut down on the time in which there is a chance for light from the veg side to affect the flowering side.

Going off on a tangent I have a stanley blower fan which supplies exhaust and I have a smaller fan in each section which provides mixing and just general circulation. I also have a humidifier running almost all the time. I live in a dry climate (Northern US) and even with the humidfier on this winter I never really have RH above 35-40%.

Anyway from here I generally move plants into flower between 8-12 inches depending on strain and how plants have stretched. I run a 400 watt HPS light in my flowering side and generally after about 5 days (sometimes I wait till sex is determined) in flower I transfer the plant into a 5 gallon pot.

From here I determine when I chop down a plant by looking at the overall plant; color, new growth, and the color of the trichs using a microscope.

Anyway I was going to provide pictures of my babies I have two ladies (1 satori and one sadhu) that have been in flower for a little over a month and another plant (cant remember which strain) that I just put into flower today but it is night time in my grow room. So pictures will have to wait til tomorrow. I also have 7 others (counting the one i just put in flower i think 4 of each) in veg that vary in age.

I only grow in the colder months because I dont have central air. So once those 7 others grow out I will put things on the shelf til fall... which makes things a little more difficult since I cant clone and keep females around. So I always have to start from scratch which also makes the process a little more costly.

Anyway I would like to get as many females as possible out of what I have remaining and gross as much as possible to last me til my next harvest which should be in the winter. I estimate that I would need about 7-10 ozs. I had a frostbite and a malibu (by Chimera) which grossed me about an oz (i know i know poor yield but I was just getting back in the saddle) and that lasted me a month and a half. But what a great month it was.

I will try to post pics and keep this post going and eventually provide a smoke report in about a month for both strains. Also I will keep this post going with new (cross you fingers for more females) plants in flower.

Let me know what you think.

[StayHigh149]

SUGGESTION:

After u harvest this run...why not just reveg ur girls & pop them outside somewhere with some chicken wire around them & set a cup of beer on the ground next to the stalk to drown the slugs? It couldn't hurt, rite? I mean, ur going to chop them after this harvest anyway, so just take a couple of extra steps & see what might happen if u throw them into the great outdoors...

That might help ya get a few more oz's to get ya thru til ur next indoor grow. Also, ur timing should be just about right to place them out in the wilderness if ur harvesting in 1 1/2 to 2 months from now plus a couple weeks for the reveg.

My 2 pennies.....

[O RLY?]

SUGGESTION:

After u harvest this run...why not just reveg ur girls & pop them outside somewhere with some chicken wire around them & set a cup of beer on the ground next to the stalk to drown the slugs? It couldn't hurt, rite? I mean, ur going to chop them after this harvest anyway, so just take a couple of extra steps & see what might happen if u throw them into the great outdoors...

That might help ya get a few more oz's to get ya thru til ur next indoor grow. Also, ur timing should be just about right to place them out in the wilderness if ur harvesting in 1 1/2 to 2 months from now plus a couple weeks for the reveg.

My 2 pennies.....

Thanks for the suggestion but I do not have anywhere to put these babies out doors. If I did I would surely try this.

Here are a couple of pics of my ladies (and little ones)....



















I will try to take pictures under better lighting later...

[StayHigh149]

Looking great!!! That's one spear that I'd love to have somebody throw at me!

Gonna pack on weight nicely too! Be sure to snap those pics of it as it fills in, it's gonna b real interesting to watch it put that weight on & get obese.

[A.N.Other]

Looking wicked O RLY, I'm looking forward to seeing them fill! Going to be a great harvest down the road.

[O RLY?]

I use an organic fert (or atleast it says organic on the box) when I transfer into 5 gallon pots... but this time around I also added a weak chemical fert by schultz. It says to add 7 drops per quart. So I used half the recommended dosage and with the organic fert I saw "clawing" or over N so I dont think I am ever going to use that crap from shcultz again... I should have known.. I used this because on my first grow of Frostbite and Malibu (first as in this this season) things started to yellow pretty early so it seemed I needed more N in the soil... Oh well you live and you learn right?

[O RLY?]

One more thing.... I usally FIM or top my plants but I read somewhere that is wasnt necessary (I think in a thread by MandalaMike)... I was thinking of trying it on one of my lil ones.... but I figured I would ask if anyone else has done this with good results. Another thing, does anyone cut off small growth toward the bottom of their females? I only have a 400 watt light (in a small space I might add only 3x2 feet for flower and 3x2 feet for veg)... I have a buddy who always did it but I always feel weird cutting off something that doesnt fall off on its own. I have heard/read that when doing this is keeps the plant from wasting energy on small buds and helps focus that energy elsewhere. Any thoughts?

[tngreen]

i am a full believer of trimming off the lower parts to promote upper growth. i use cfls so light penetration isnt the best. trimming off the lower growth is completely necessary so i dont have worthless popcorn buds in the end.

plants are lookin excellent! Sadhu has really intrigued me and i may be running it next.

[Creeptic]

im running some Sadhus right now... only about 10 days old right now

wondering which of the pics you posted above is the Sadhu? how much did they stretch during flower? Not much side branching from what I can tell in the pics... which is perfect for my current grow situation

plants look great... ill be watching this thread closely for updates

[O RLY?]

Originally Posted by tngreen

i am a full believer of trimming off the lower parts to promote upper growth. i use cfls so light penetration isnt the best. trimming off the lower growth is completely necessary so i dont have worthless popcorn buds in the end.

plants are lookin excellent! Sadhu has really intrigued me and i may be running it next.

So how far up do you trim? There are a lot of satellites on the Sadhu some have grown out amd up and some havent... So I guess I can chop the ones that have no chance of getting enough light to become much of anything. I was hoping to see if MandalaMike had an opinion on this question.

So far I am really impressed by both these strains and I cannot wait til fall when I start to order some new Mandala strains... I am thinking def Hashberry and two others.... Havent decided on the others any suggestions? Well I guess it is only between Speed Queen, Mandala #1, Kalichakra, White Satin, Krystalica, or some Safari Mix. So what will it be