Hoosierdaddy? Cab soil V-ScroG...MOC Carnival, Mandala #1, StS Thunk

[hoosierdaddy]

This is the 2nd grow of my new cabinet.
I learned lots with the first grow of Mandala Safari Mix, and hopefully I can now concentrate more on quality and quantity. I still have some minor issues with the cab that I want to dial in, but all in all the cabinet is performing very well.
The stealth of the cab seems to have good integrity, as I was able to keep the grow from being discovered by our two oldest boys who are living in the house, (18 & 20 yrs old) And their weight bench and punching bag are within feet of the cabinet!
LOL...try hiding anything from boys that age!

This is what my cabs look like in my garage...aka hoosiers hash den

OK...day 1 seed pop
On the left are two Sam the Skunkman's Original Thai Haze x Skunk #1
In the middle are two Ministry of Cannabis Carnival (fem)
On the right two Mandala #1 (fem)


The Mandala #1 and the Thunk in the front row had a tough time of it. The M#1 did not make it. I did't think the Thunk would either, but it fooled me! I'll get to it later...
Here is the lineup for the next grow at six days since pop

My cab has both a veg chamber and a flower chamber, and the flower chamber has Mandala Safari Mixers finishing up now. I try to follow moon phases if possible, and these were all cast and popped during a waxing phase. The current grow in the cab now (Mandala Safari Mix) will probably not be finished until mid month, so it looks like I will have about 6 weeks veg on the next run. I estimate this on some folks seeing 70 days to finish some of the Safari mix phenos.
This is my veg chamber with the four seedlings on the left under 78watts of 6500K CFL.

These four plants will be grown in 2 gallon containers using Miracle Grow potting mix only.
I will be feeding no ferts at all, unless the plants ask for it.
My watering during flower consists of steam distilled water with added H2O2 (~4oz per gal) and black strap molasses (1 tbs per gal).
Watering during veg with straight tap.
All four plants will be in separate vertical screens that measure ~10" x 24"
I will be experimenting with two styles of screens. One hand made with string that has 88 bud sites, and one using 1" square hurricane fencing that has 200 bud sites.

After sprout, I keep the seedlings in beer cups until the roots show ready for re-potting. I normally like to let them get a bit more root bound before going to the larger container, but they were just about ready.

I repotted into coffee containers.
The coffee containers hold approx .6 gals of soil.
These shots are at 6 days:

Carnival A


Carnival B


Mandala #1


Thunk A

You can see in the shot that I repotted Thunk A into a smaller container.
I am hoping to limit it's growth a bit by not letting it have too much root mass.
You will also notice that there was a nutrient problem with the plant.
Apparently the available N that the MG Mix provides is a bit much for this strain. It was burning the hell out of this little plant.
With some help from Stich, I was able to confirm the problem and correct it by giving the plant a heavy flush of 2 gallons of dechlorinated tap.
It is much happier and healthier today.

I started out casting 6 seeds. All popped, but one M#1 and one Thunk were having troubles. The M#1 did not make it. The Thunk lived, but it was a dwarf and went days and days without any movement at all. It may have been a nutrient thing, dunno.
This is Thunk B at 6 days

I had given up hope that Thunk B would grow, but a couple days later it showed signs of life!

Here is Thunk B at 20 days!

My next grow really doesn't provide room for more than the 4 screens, but I am going to wedge Thunk B into the mix. I plan to not do any training at all on it, and hopefully it will fit in between screens.
Besides, the M#1 and the Carns are fem seeds, but the Thunks have not been sexed. They may not get to join the other girls for finish. I hope to get lucky and have a female and a male, but I would settle for two females.

Save for Thunk B, all the plants have been FIM'ed one time and have been getting LST.
These are shots of the plants at 21 days:

Carnival A


Carnival B


Mandala #1


Thunk A


Thunk B



I have some back-ups on board in the event that the Thunks are both males.
The plant in the back is going to be one of my Safari Mix (sat dom) moms.
The other two are cuts of the same plant that I plan to gift some deserving friends.
I've got some other cuts that I may put out in the woods as well.

 

[Retardo Motabon]

Looking good there. I started some Carnival recently too, but you're ahead of me so It'll be fun to watch em grow.

 

[hoosierdaddy]

Hey, RM!
I'm really hoping for the Carns to be something special. MOC is asking more coin for it than any of their other offerings. I have to assume that is for good reason.
If the potency level is as claimed, and tastes unique, could be another sought after strain.

I don't know what pheno Mike stressed for the M#1s, but I am hoping its one of those frutty tasting rascals.

But what I am really looking forward to, is that thai skunk. Got my fingers crossed for a gurl.

Best of luck with your Carnivals, RM!

 

[BennyHogan]

That's insane that your boys haven't found this op yet.....when I was that age I was designing ops and could smell the faintest hint of kindness from 100 yds away....lol!!!!
They must not puff (or they only puff schwag as it seems you are from Indiana), because being that close to tastiness they would have to smell it!!! I would love to be that age and stumble upon this in the middle of the midwest....lol!!!

 

[hoosierdaddy]

LOL....for starters, let me clear something up for you, Benny. I no longer have a habitat in the hoosier state, but I was born, raised, and went to school there. I didn't leave until I was into my 40's. I can tell you for a fact, that Indiana produces some of the finest herb that graces this planet. Bar none.
Many of the strains that are used for breeding today had many decades ago been stabilized and growing as a regular staple for thousands of kindness farmers in the hoosier land. Now granted, the N half of the state is another world, to which I rarely ever ventured. But Humbolt co has never had anything on S Indiana my friend!
There isn't more fertile soil, than that of the Ohio river valley.
Even ditch weed that once sucked, is now potent. Gotta love the woods boys and their spreading the pollen.

As far as smelling the herb...my herb don't smell because I have a scrubber affixed to an efficiently operating cab. It's also in my garage, which only gets visited by the boys to raid the deep freeze for hot pockets and other nasty freezer munch.
Both of them smoke up, but not like I did or do. They hide it from me, I hide it from them. Although neither them or me are stupid.
But the cab, they have seen both of my cabs in the garage for years, and they are just familiar fixtures to them. As long as they can't hear or smell the goodies inside, they don't know squat about it.
It's not that I don't trust them...they both turned out real decent men and I trust them...to a point. What I don't trust is them running their ego inflated lips to some friends about pop being the growlord of shitsville! That is nothing but the start of a closed down op.

However....
The oldest boy now knows.
If I am tending, I have a lock on my side of the garage door. I didn't use it the other night and at an hour that he wouldn't be expected, he comes trapsin into the garage after a hot pocket, or some other nasty freezer munch...and he was blinded. He thought ET or some shit was there.
Alls I could manage to say was "dewd".
He didn't get a good gander and left right away as if nothing happened.
We talked and I expressed the importance of not getting busted or ripped off, and how for a fact that people are NOT TRUSTABLE no matter what, no ifs ands or buts.
I showed him the whole enchilada so he would understand the importance of my stealth. He is kewl. Things are good.
If the 18 yr old finds me though, I'm way fucked. He too is a good kid, and trustable..to a point! 18 yr olds are retarded. Just the way it is. Please don't take too much offense 18yr olds reading this. You will agree one day(sigh) just trust me for now and don't get upset. You are retarded. So was I. And so will yur kids be.
I'd have to close shop if he finds me, so stealth and clear conscience planning of each and every facet of my growing is of the utmost importance to me.

Glad you stopped by, Benny.

 

[BennyHogan]

I def agree with 18 year olds all being r-tards at that age....I was a soph. in college at the time and still had no clue about how the world "really" works!!!.....lol

 

[hoosierdaddy]

Where I live now I can grow 4 plants, no matter size, and it's a misdemeanor if caught.
An eighth in Indiana is a misdemeanor, btw.
I appreciate the parental advise, but our bond is just fine. He has already been out on his own with a good job. He is living back here in a transitional period.
Yes, I have been to Humbolt Co., and no Iowa does not have have best soil. Or many hills either. lol...

 

[Retardo Motabon]

How long are you going to veg those Carnivals Hoosier? They are looking fat and beautiful for being so young!

 

[hoosierdaddy]

My plan was to harvest these


at 60-65 days (5th is 60 days flower) and put the next run right in. But, it looks like all of my Safari Mixers are not going to finish together. Two look like they are ~70 day plants, although the others look like they may finish this weekend.
I will probably go ahead and put the carns in when the first two get done. Hopefully by this weekend. They have been vegging 30 days on the 7th.

The plants have all been FIMed one time and all have some good lst goin on.
I have them all but the Mandala#1 turned around 180 degrees.
I think I may have created a monster doing this with the Thunk. Hopefully the screen will subdue it.
Crappy photo, but you can see the curve of the stalk...

I had a tie loose to shot the shot, but I tie that stalk back down almost horz.

Tops of CarnA

 

[Kreat]

Can we get an update on the Carnivals? I just ordered a pack and want to see how they look!

 

[hoosierdaddy]

I have been super busy with things and have not updated this thread for quite awhile. My apologies to anyone who was following with any interest.

Thanks mucho for stopping by Retardo and Kreat!

OK, Things have been real hectic trying to juggle my work life with my hobby life. This hot/humid time of year presents many extra problems for the cab growing, especially since every time I get things dialed in, I go and change things up and cause more problems.

At the time of my last post here I was still finishing up the Safari Mixers using a dual 150wHPS vertical cool tube.
That harvest was a great success and I ended up with a couple of very nice phenos that I am keeping for a little while.

I took the next five plants to run in the cab outside for a flush and a little sun bathing just before their final repotting.
Upper left: Carnival A
Lower left: Carnival B
Upper center: Thunk A
Right: Thunk B
Lower center: Mandala #1

These plants had been in veg for 36 days at the time of the shot.

All of the plants, except for the late germing Thunk B, were getting LST.
You can see the curve of the main stalk of Thunk A in this shot.

This particular T*hazexSkunk1 has very little oder at all. Rubbing the stalk does bring about a weird light smell, I liken to the first whiff one would get when entering an antique store. This plant has a very distinct asian look to it.
I let it have it's head (removed the ties) about three days before going into flower.

This is Thunk B, which had no LST and was topped once after 6th node.

This plant has a very weird smell that is as close to what Tom Hill describes the old hazes as...the smell of high school metal shop.
It looks to me to carry more of the Skunk traits than does the Thunk A.
It also has started to develop very dark purple stripes on the stalks and stems.

The wild thing about this plant is how it bleeds! When I topped it, it bled black! A very distinct black juice filled up the cut immediately.

My plan was to use my new modular vert screens for 4 plants using my vert cool tube. But as things progressed, I changed my mind a bit.
For one thing... the M#1 (fem seeds) is the NZpurpInd pheno, which is very squat with branches that barely leave the main stalk and very tight nodes. This plant does not like LST in the slightest. The growth pattern after a couple weeks of LST didn't look much different than if it were left alone. So, I discontinued LST on the M1. It will continue on and flower out with no more training and no screen.

Since I had a fifth wheel to contend with (the late germing thunk) I was waiting to see if one of the thunks would indeed be female before committing them to a screen.
The Carnivals were the only ones that I planned on VScroging. And these plants absolutely loved LST! These two fem seed plants are almost identical in every way. They could be clones of one another they are so identical. And they love to branch. These carns are very vigorous.

OK, so now some of the changes I made...
The 5 plants were all put into 12/12 after 45 days of veg.
With this new cycle, I swapped out the two 150hps' for one 400wCMH.
I added a fan to the bottom of the tube.

I experienced some heat issues with the new 400w and the hurricane globe, so I soon switched to new tubes that are cylindrical. I also added one of the 150HPS's to the mix, which brought some more heat issue into play.
I increased the size of the ducting from 4" to 6" and increased my fan power.

While I was at it, I also added AC to my cab. I figure I may as well get serious if I am going to run so many watts in a 1sq meter floor space.

Let me say that so far, I am not a big fan of the vertical screen. It seems to me that I have hid lots of precious light from the plants using the 1" square material. I decided to take the screen off of one of the Carns and leave it on the other. Since they are so identical to each other, I figure I can see a good test. So far, they seem to be growing almost identical to one another still, even though one is not in a screen. Although I bet the one left out will yield better.

Picture taking is still a chore for me, as I have no proper camera, only this stinkin cell phone. But oh well, I have had too many fans and other gadgets to spend my money on and the camera will have to wait.
Here is a shot of the flower chamber at present.
Everything went into 12/12 on June 21 (solstice, full moon)

The Carns and the M1 all showed buds on about the 12th day of flower (seemed very fast).
On day 14 of 12/12, Thunk A showed his balls. He is no longer (although I did keep a cut of him)
On day 18 of 12/12 Thunk B showed her wonderful self to the world!
The flowers of the Thunks do not show at the internodes, but rather at the buds themselves. The beans of Thunk A came on fast and furious in multiple clusters and all morphed within a 24 hour period.
The Female Thunk B showed just as fast and profusely, throwing white hairs out of all the growth sites. If she don't hermie on me, things will be lovely.

This Thunk is only in a 5.5" pot. I think that by vegging her out for 45 days, plus the small size of container, I have managed to bypass alot of what folks normally see for stretch with these thai's. At least this one has not went hog wild, yet...

The squat indica M1 is a very robust plant indeed. It will be a bud on a stick, and is now only 14" tall. (it's on a block to keep it up to the other plants height)

You can see the thick stalk in the shot. The space shown is about all the stretching this M1 did (Maybe 3")
This is 20 days into 12/12.

Note in this pic how the top of the canopy is getting the blue light from the CMH and the lower part of the plant is seeing the HPS...

Oh yeah...though I would mention that I have given up on the Miracle Grow potting mix. It is just too hot for some plants, and it keeps delivering N though flower.
I have since went to straight FFOF for the Thunk, and a 50/50 coco/FFOF for the rest in 2 gal containers. I can get by with watering the Thunk once a day in it's small pot, and the other containers can go 2 or 3.
I am feeding full strength problend w/h2o2 and molasses every other watering, and straight water flush every other. Seems to be working out fine.

I promise some individual shots outside the cab soon. They should be worth looking at before too long.

Later...

 

[Anonymous7o2]

Looking GOOD!!! Smoke Report is in order for this one.

 

[Cozy Amnesia]

Keep us updated! I'll be growing some thunk soon too. Would you recomend LSTing them when growing in a tight space with indicas?

 

[hoosierdaddy]

Be the middle of Aug at the soonest, Anonymous7o2. Thanks for stopping in.

I will try, Cozy America.
OK, here is my take on the Thunks...although I may be way off base...
I thunk, I mean I think that folks may be approaching the Thunks in the wrong way.
Seems that everyone is trying to get them to flower as soon as possible to keep the stretch down. Yet they stretch and stretch.
I think that much of this is due to the THunks not being matured and fully vegged when flowered. I think much of the huge stretch seen is due to the fact that they are not vegged out yet and are still doing the veg grow thing at the same time they are stretching for flower light.
My Thunk was vegged for 45 days before being put into flower, and is in less than a gallon pot (5.5" round pot). It has been in flower since the 21st of last month and it is still below 3 ft tall. Now, it is starting to grow profusely on the leaves and buds, but the stalks are not taking off like many Thunks I have seen.
I attribute most of this to the small container and root mass, plus the fact that the plant was matured with alternating nodes before it went into flower.
BTW...I am not feeding the Thunk the same things I do the other plants. They seem to do well with little feed at all. I am mostly depending on the FFOF it is in, plus a little molasses and H2O2 for nutrition. So far the plant is showing no signs at all of malnutrition.
*note: small pots mandates a daily or maybe even twice daily watering. I doubt the Thunk would survive a missed day with such a small pot in such a harsh environment, but who knows.

 

[hoosierdaddy]

THanks, Anonymous!

Hey, Cozy!
I had two Thunks, one LST one not. The LSTed Thunk was a male and was chopped. It was a nice smelling male that had good resin on the stems so I kept a cut.

The other Thunk was only toped one time and let grow from there. I have it in a very small pot trying to contain her growth, which I think I have. It is only just over 3 ft tall at 5 wks of flower. From what I am seeing, a man could keep one LSTed and it would work out just fine. It is very whispy in it's own area, and as long as you don't block it with other plants, it should do fine all wound up. I would say that when the stretch starts, it would be a constant bit of LST work to keep up with it.

I think that keeping them in a small container AND letting them actually mature using easy lights like CFL's before you flower is the key. So many are flowering from seed and I think this is what is causing such explosive growth.

My Thunk is a picky little plant. She doesn't like much food, and is a heavy drinker. In this shot you can see the leaves yellowing a bit mid section. This is where I had a jute string tied to keep the limbs sturdy to the bamboo stick. No idea why it wanted to yellow there. I removed the tie and things look better.

This is the Mandala #1
I was going to put it in a screen, but it did not like LST one bit. I let her go the way she wanted to from early on.
Basically a bud on a stick starting to fill in well. I'd say this is for sure the indica pheno.
Smells like sort of like fruity windex.

This is Carnival A.
She is really starting to smell very nice! Her buds, sugar leaves, and fans are all triched up. Calyxs really swelling now.
IF I didn't know they were plants from separate seeds, I'd swear CarnA and CarnB were clones. They grow almost the same even though one is in a screen and one isn't.
I am fairly certain that this plant will beat the one in the screen in yield.

CarnB

It was a bit cloudy and the sun decided to come out and give this bud a lil kiss...

I let a SafariMix cut join the party a bit late...

Outdoor group shot before going back to the dungeon!

These shots are @ 5 weeks of flower.
Flower chamber is a total of 1 sq meter.
400wCMH x 150wHPS vert tube
50/50 coco/FFOF
30cc gal 3% H2O2
1 tsp. gal blackstrap mollasses
30cc PBP Flower
Tap

 

[Skrappie]

hoosierdaddy i'm not a pro so take my advice with a pinch of soluble fertilizer:

I'm getting into vertical growing with my legitimate veggies outdoors. One of observations I've made from the handful of experiments ran this seaon :

your V- Plants will grow better is some light shines on both sides.

As it is in your garden now, the V plants get light on one side and reflected light on the other, they will use energy to fill in both sides so you most likely will not notice the lag in grow except where you say your disappointed with lack of plant growth compared to the 'natural' plants .

if there is some way you can adjust your V-Plants so that your light hits both sides directly... even if its not the max exposure, I think your reflectors would do a better job of reflecting, and your V plants will impress you a tad bit more.
Looking at pictures of your set up, I'm not sure if its possible or if the night would be an issue because of the trellis, anywho Remember I'm just a stoner that likes plants, I'm not an expert.

 

[hoosierdaddy]

Thanks for stoppin in, Skrappie!

I am certain that the plastic on my screen is blocking valuable light. So, if I do this sort of screen again, it will be with string.

Being the screen is modular, I alternated the sides to the light through the stretch. I did this with the potted plants too. Once the buds started swelling, I just leave them in the same position. I then stuffed what buds I could into a hole towards the front and trim the rest of the back.
The yield of the unscreened plant is going to blow the screened plant away.

In the dungeon:

Veg side:

 

[D Rock]

lovin the grow hoosier. Everything looks so healthy and I really like the screen thing you got going on.

 

[hoosierdaddy]

Hey, D Rock thanks for stoppin in and for the kind words.
I as of yet torn on the screen thing in a total vertical fashion. I will wait until the harvest before I make a judgment though.

The MOC Carnivals are turning out to be some fantastic plants. So far I absolutely love them. I have just started the flush on them and the buds are really swelling. These plants love nutrients and water. Yesterday I had to add a couple of bamboo poles to the carn not screened. Nothing like the feeling of your buds being two damn heavy!

The Mandala #1 is also starting to fatten and thicken up. One of the tightest growing plants I have seen.

The thunk buds are starting to spiral. Haze is a wonderful thing to watch mature.

Here is the thunk dad:

 

[hoosierdaddy]

The Carnivals and the M1 have been going into nug hyperdrive. Calyxes are swollen like they are ready to burst on both the Carns and M1.
I know the jury is still out for lots of folks on the CMH issue, but it will be a permanent part of my growing scheme. I am really impressed with the bud formations and resins this light seems to have brought out. Although I did have 150w HPS supplementing the 400CMH, the HPS light saw almost none of the top of the plants. It basically just fattened up the popcorn.
The MOC Carn will be a part of my growrooms as well for a long time. I plan on doing a runs of the clones in the future with just CMH and then HPS for a comparison.

Somewhat of a surprise to me, as there is no mention of this trait anywhere by the breeder, the Carns have mucho color in late flower!
It may have lots to do with me having AC in my cab, and the root zones have all been in a consistent 68F throughout the grow, but the MOC Carns sure are starting to put on the color show.
This pot tastes good right off the dry. A very pungent almost skunky smell. I would almost bet skunk in the line somewhere...but not real close.
I really want to find out the lineage of this strain, but the breeder aint tellin.

The M1 is also doing the purple thing, although I have known from early on that this was the NZ Purp pheno.

I have got to get a nice camera so you can see these choice bud swells.