Grow Journal Reports

True OG is a cup winning OG Kush from Elemental Seeds. While there are seeds available from time to time there will always be more variations between seeds and clones.

I was lucky enough to get a couple of cuts from the original cup winning plant and boy they didn’t come cheap. I also had to promise not to share them so please don’t ask!

Below are pics of 2 of my True OGs at 4 weeks vegged under 3500K  CXP250 COB LEDs from Pacific Light Concepts.

They are in 3 gallon smart pots filled with Grodan mini cubes in a DIY 2×3 flood and drain tray. I was planning on vegging longer but the plants are outgrowing their space.

I originally used this 2×8 area to flower but converted it to veg temporarily. My main flowering area is being used for my Gorilla Glue #4 which shared this space until a week ago. You can check out that grow journal at: http://420dotcom.com/gorilla-glue-4-gorilla-glue-grow-journal.html

They have been growing vigorously and the leaves are getting huge so I will be flipping them over to 12/12 along with some Hells Angel and White OG on the other side of the closet.

If you want to find out more about the history and background of True OG you can find that info here

True OG Veg Update 5 Weeks

My True OG ha been growing nicely. I started with very small cuttings and have been doing a lot of topping on these girls.

One thing I have noticed is less wicking with these rockwool mini blocks, especially compared to coco. The top of the pots were pretty much dry and I suspect the water was just channeling down to the bottom of the pots instead of spreading out.

I have switched over to flood and drain from top feed drip and have seen improvement. The top surface is moist now. So far I really like the rockwool croutons in smart pots.

I always thought the blocks held too much water which is why I hesitated to use them but the croutons seem to be much better drained while still holding enough water.

True OG Flipped To 12/12 Today – Day 0

Today I flipped my True OG clones over to flower. It has been about 6 weeks and although I would have liked them a bit larger, space limitations forced me to flower now.

They are sharing a space with White OG and some Hells Angel which were much more vigorous growers. I also want to try and keep a perpetual grow going. These should finish a couple of weeks after my Gorilla Glue grow. Here are a few pics taken today:

True OG Day 7

So it’s been 7 days since my True OG clones were switched over to 12/12 lighting. They are under a CXP 250 from Pacific Light Concepts rated at 3500k and it puts out a bit more than the 250 watts it is rated for.

The girls have been stretching and it looks like flowers will be starting to show over the next few days. They are still shorter than I expected them to be but look very good otherwise. Here’s some pics:

True OG Day 14

True OG is starting to show its flowers now. It is also stretching. After a slow start it has caught up in height with the White OG and Hells Angel OG.

Plants are being fed with Jacks 321 mix at about 700 ppm and a pH of 5.8 to 6.0 . They are being flooded for 1 minute every 2 hours and that seems to be working. The rockwool croutons are in 3 gallon smart pots but I think I would get the same or better results in 2 gallon pots.

I am liking the croutons a lot. They dont get as heavy as the cubes and provide lots of airspace so no worries about over watering.

True OG Day 21 Of 12/12

My True OG plants are growing nicely on the Jacks 3-2-1 mix and it looks like the stretch is just about over. I am starting to see nice trichome development too. I have been feeding at about 650 ppm and pH has been in the 5.8 to 6.0 range.

They have been feeding and drinking well on a 2 minute flood every 3 hours. The croutons seem to be working well, staying moist without getting too heavy or waterlogging.

There are some nice white roots in the trays that are coming through the smart pots and I think next time I am going to use matting and covered trays for more root growth.

The nodes are fairly close together for an OG and it looks like some nice fully stacked  colas are coming.

Here are some day 21 pictures:

True OG Day 28 Of 12/12

Day 28 for my 2 True OG girls. Being fed Jacks 3 2 1 mix at 650 ppms and pH 5.8-6.0. They look great and the buds are twice the size of my Hells Angel and White OG along side them.

The girl on the left is taller and the one on the right is shorter but has more tops. I think it might have something to do with the extra red light bleeding over from my Platinum P600.

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SaTrue OG Day 45 – Jacks Plus Humboldts Secret Golden Tree

Seems I lost a week here. So just to update: I began adding Humboldts Secret Golden Tree to my Jacks. It has delivered some amazing results too.

My plants were looking good but seemed stalled out like they were waiting for something to happen. I saw some amazing growth and within 24 hours my Hells Angel and White OG started to shoot up. They put on about 3 inches of new growth in about 24 hours. All the calyxes began to swell and on my True OG there was significant bud elongation and swelling.

The Golden Tree is black as night and smells kind of like rotten eggs. It is kelp based with vitamins and aminos, probably humic and or fulvic acid along with molasses. It has been advertised as a replacement for Canna Boost but honestly I never saw anything like this from Boost.

I also had very similar results in my other closet so I am going to continue using it in both grows. I would recommend checking it out.

Golden Tree: Best Plant Food For Plants & Trees - Yield Increaser - Plant Rescuer - Excelurator - All-In-One Concentrated Organic Additive - Vegetables, Flowers, Fruits, Lawns, Roses, Tomatoes & More

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So I am feeding Jacks and using Golden Tree as a bud booster at 620 ppms and a pH of 5.8 and nothing else. No beneficials and no other additives.

As far as I know there are no bacteria in Golden Tree. I think the auxins and cytokines in the kelp play a big role in what it does.

Here are some pics from day 45:

True OG Kush Day 52

Today is day 51 for my True OG Kush girls and my Hells Angel and White OG girls too. It looks like the True is developing a bit slower than the other 2 OGs but the buds are swelling and some hairs are turning brown as well.

Some of the True’s branches are pretty tall and were leaning from the weight of the buds so they were given some additional support with yo yos.

Not sure what True OG genetics are but it is supposed to be a pure OG cut and not a cross or hybrid. Some buds are showing elongated calyxes almost like a foxtail. I have seen this on buds coming from Ghost OG and it is possible this cut came from that and was reworked and renamed.

Mine is supposed to be a cut from the cup winning cut, but who really knows for sure. Elemental does make a seed version of True OG although it is rarely available. Here are some pics from day 52:

True  OG Harvest Day 63

I started harvesting my True OG on day 63. I think they could have gone longer but I had some Cookies And Cream girls that needed a home too. Bud trichomes were cloudy and they had a nice gassy OG smell to them.

I think these ladies could have used more light and a better pruning job. Top buds were nice but many lower down were on the larfy size. For as deep and uneven as the canopy was I dont think 250w of COBs was enough. I usually flower smaller plants under this light and they are fine but these were a bit too large and bushy.

Here are some pics of some True OG buds from a rough green trim, buds will get final manicure when dry.

Gorilla Glue 4 is one of the hottest strains with growers and tokers. Here is my Gorilla Glue grow journal and I hope if you are thinking about growing the Gorilla Glue strain it will provide you with some inspiration and some Gorilla Glue 4 grow tips and info.

GG4 has created so much excitement because it is one of those rare strains that checks all the boxes. It yields well, finishes in 8 weeks and has great bag appeal and trichome coverage. It is extremely potent and lately some samples have tested 31-32% although 26-28% is more the average for well grown bud. Still nothing to sneeze at! And smokers love it.

Gorilla Glue 4 Clones

Gorilla Glue is a clone only strain but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any seeds around. Every pollen chucker around is pushing S1s and GG crosses but you probably wont find what you want in that trash with one exception.

Gorilla Glue Seeds

There is a strain called Gorilla Bubble from Tony Greens Tortured Beans that is on its 4th BX and 5 years in the making. It’s even recommended by Josey Whales the creator of Gorilla Glue 4  he said:”their gorilla bubble is as close to gorilla glue 4 as your going to get, so many seed companies using my gorilla glue name with there fake assed shit, DONT BUY FAKE SHIT, get the real deal or tony’s bx”

I have to agree, if you can get a hold of verified GG4 clones that is definitely the way to go. If you are interested in the Gorilla Bubble you can check out my grow journal at: http://420dotcom.com/gorilla-glue-strain-gorilla-glue-seeds-gorilla-bubble-grow.html

My Gorilla Glue Grow Journal

I normally avoid clones at all costs because of bugs and other shit that can come with them but in this case I decided to make an exception. I found a grower with a cut from one of the original GG4 cup winners and got 2 clones of this girl. He was hit with spider mites and sprayed the shit out of them with Azamax. When I got them they were in rough shape from all the sprays but they bounced back and appear to be clean now. Here they are:

In another week or so they should be large enough to take some clones. GG4 is known to be an easy cloner often rooting in a week, sometimes even a bit less. I probably wont flower these 2 right but use them for mothers for a while.

I will also probably flower the clones as soon as they are rooted because I want to get into production ASAP and longer veg times will come on the next run.

I also want to see how these will compare to my Gorilla Bubble. If they are close I may select a good male and make some seeds too. Gorilla Glue was an accident created by a hermie and is a complex poly hybrid which can make it very hard to find something that breeds true from seed and doesn’t hermie too.

Transplanting My GG4 And True OG

The girls are doing well and I was able to take some clones off them. The clones do root fairly easy and  I have about 8. Since I have healthy rooted clones I decided to transplant my 2 original Gorilla Glue clones into 3 gallon smart pots.

I also was lucky enough to snag some True OG clones and 2 of those were also set into 3 gallon smart pots. They are nice plants and are showing that 3 leaf OG trait. I am looking forward to growing them out also.

All these plants were started in coco but they have been transplanted into rockwool croutons because I am trying to move away from growing in coco and transition over to rockwool.

Here is a pic of the girls:

Gorilla Glue left and front center and True OG back center and right in veg. I am not sure how long I will veg these ladies but probably at least 3 weeks. At that point one of my flowering closets has room for them and if I see lots of roots being pruned I will flip them but I want them to fill the pots before I do.

I am trying to veg a bit longer and flower larger plants in 3 gallon instead of 2 gallon smart pots. I am hoping I can flower less plants and get better yields from them. So I will only have these 4 in a 2×4 flood tray instead of the usual 6-8. Also from what I have seen the GG4 can be vigorous and get pretty big in flower.

Gorilla Glue #4 Ready For Flower

So my Gorilla Glue is ready to flower. I was actually going to veg them longer but they outgrew their space.

They also have roots growing out the bottom of the 3 gallon smart pots they are in. One lady had roots about a foot long coming out on one side.

So they were set in a 2x4 flood tray with a spreader mat underneath them and panda film was used to cover them.

New Flood And Drain System On Steroids

This is a new flood and drain system, at least it’s new to me. The idea has been banging around in my head for a while now. I have seen a few grows like this but not many.

A spreader mat is used under the pots. In this case I am using smart pots filled with rockwool croutons but this system will work for net pots or rockwool blocks and just about any grow medium.

By covering the top of the tray with panda film the roots will stay moist and grow into the mat. The idea is more roots means more yield and a healthier plant.

I was going to try this with net pots and some Bruce Banner girls but they were too small to flower and the Glue was busting out of her veg space. And they had roots busting out the bottom of the pots too.

Right now I am flooding for 3 minutes every 3 hours during lights on but once the roots get into the mat in a few days it will be 24/7 and the cycle may need to be adjusted again.

Gorilla Glue #4 Week 1

Day 7 for my Gorilla Glue 4 girls is here. They are doing phenomenal. They have just about doubled in size and my 2 plants pretty much take up the entire 2 x 4 flood tray.

White pistils are just starting to show up and the roots are just starting to dig into the grow mat.

I am still running 3 min on every 3 hours. I did increase the output of my pump so I could flood at a higher level. I want to encourage roots growing out from higher up in the smart pots. I noticed that the croutons dont wick heavily and the top of the pots were still fairly dry.

Running my Heavy 16 nutes at a bit over 600 ppm and the girls seem happy with that although I am sure they could and would take more.

I am getting ready to put a screen up so I can start spreading the branches out a bit and get more light into the canopy.

Right now my Gorilla Glue is at 24 inches and the stretch is really just starting. I have heard 2-3x stretch is common and plants I have seen are large. I expect with my COBs they will be a bit shorter but I can handle 6′ plants if I have to. Here are pics from day 7:

Gorilla Glue 4 Day 14 Flowers Are Here!

It’s day 14 for my Gorilla Glue and they are showing some nice flowers.

GG4 Day 21 Growing Glue

As you can see these ladies are certainly growing and stacking quickly if you compare them to photos on day 14. Frost rails are also starting to show.

They also started to really reek. This is probably the stinkiest weed I have ever grown. If you are thinking about growing this strain odor control is a must!

I may need to add a 2nd carbon filter to control the smell. Right now I am using an ionizer inside my fan to help. It cuts the smell in half, at least inside the closet. Hopefully nothing is coming out the vent.

The smell was coming through the grow room door and into my house. I am not sure if it was blowing back in from the roof vent through an open window or what. My grow closet sucks air in and doesn’t blow out. The suction is strong enough to to close the door if it is left open a bit. But my house clearly smelled from dank weed.

The smell was sharp like ammonia combined with something else I cant identify. The flowers have a sweeter smell to them along with the ammonia gas smell. The Glue has a very strong and unique smell and not at all unpleasant.

Nute Changes

The girls are healthy and growing well with no real issues. They are really starting to fill out the spreader mat too. Everything is going well except for a constantly rising pH.

When plants eat a lot it is common for the pH to rise and the TDS to fall. But in my case the TDS was pretty steady and the pH would go from 5.8 to 6.3 in a couple of days. That usually happens when something is growing in your reservoir.

I found some brown stuff in the nutes. Between the Heavy 16 and the Recharge everything turns brown so I cant say if it was algae or something precipitating out of solution. So I dumped the res and ran H2O2 at 15 ML per gallon for a day and then drained it again.

I decided not to run Heavy 16 again or use the Recharge because both have a lot of molasses and other organics. I wanted something cleaner. I used some left over Cyco nutes I had instead. I used their Grow A&B and their Potash Plus which are very clean.

I believe this combo will work well. When I combine numbers Heavy 16 bud a&b is 3-3-9 and the Cyco veg nutes are 4-2-6. A bit higher in N and a bit lower in P and K. But adding  the Potash Plus brings additional P and K with no extra N. So it works out to 4-6-12 which I think will make a good flowering ratio. We will see. I will run it for a week along with some H2O2 every other day and see how the girls like it.

GG4 Day 28 PH Issues Solved

The ladies are doing great and thankfully my pH issues don’t seem to have affected them. I have switched over to using Canna Aqua Flores on day 23. Although I am not a great fan of Canna nutes they are clean and have always been pH stable.

Canna Aqua is designed for use in recirculating systems so it was the natural choice for replacing my nutes. I like Heavy 16 and it is a complete line that gives great results. However I feel it is better for soil, coco or drain to waste systems.

I think all the calcium and other ingredients in Heavy 16 were causing my pH to rise continually. I am growing in rockwool croutons so there is no buffer like in soil or coco to absorb them.

Rising pH is normal as plants feed because they remove nutrients which are acidic. My problem was a concern because the ppms in my reservoir were not dropping as pH rose so essentially the plants were not feeding even though they looked healthy.

At this point my ppms are dropping by 10 ppm a day so plants are eating and and pH is dropping 1/10th point along with it. Currently my ppms are 610 and pH is 6.1. By tomorrow I expect them to drop to 600 and 6.2 and at that point I will readjust things back to 5.8 pH and 650 ppms.

Here are pics from day 28 and these glue girls look fantastic.

As you can see the girls are no less for all the wear and tear. I hear some harvest at 53 days but Josey takes his at 63 days and some go longer, closer to 70 days.

I am not a big fan of couch lock so I will probably aim for 63 days depending on how the plants look. I have a feeling my plants will finish on the early side because the buds are very well developed even at 28 days.

FAKE GG4 DAY 35 FORMERLY GORILLA GLUE #4

Sad but true. It’s fake glue. It does have GG4 genetics in it. Might be an S1 or a cross. I am disappointed for sure but at least whatever it is is a pretty decent cut.

First pic in was day 30 the rest are day 35 so they are sizing nicely and some are starting to show brown pistils. Some pics are showing purple tints, but it must be from the flash because they are all green.

I have had my suspicions almost from the start because GG4 is a very stretchy sativa dominant strain and this one really has indica traits. It went wide instead of tall.

Also missing is the telltale GG#4 leaf twist. The frost levels are good but less than the original glue and the bud structure at this point in time appears wrong also.

With that said this cut is very stinky with an onion/garlic/skunk smell. My house was reeking from it even with an 8″ fan and carbon filter.

I also quick dried a lower bud and this strain is potent. Sativa head high with a strong indica body. Your mind is alert telling you things you can do but your body is glued to the couch telling it no.

Original  Glue – Fake Glue Day 41 – Chunky Nugs

This is definitely not the Original Glue but even so my Fake Glue is developing some nice chunky nugs. She does have glue genetics but no way to tell if she’s an S1 or something else crossed with the glue.

The main difference is she is not as stretchy. She makes those long laterals like the glue but not as many. The smell is similar and so is the buzz based on an early bud sample.

She doesn’t have the frost the original has either but she still has time. She does look like she is an early finisher. The bud calyxes are beginning to swell and most of the trichomes are going from clear to milky.

Although not having the original was a disappointment, this cut may be worthy of a second run if the final yield and potency are there.

I am still running Canna Aqua Flores and I am also trialing some New Millennium Winter Frost for my local hydro store. It is supposed to be a late finisher/maturing agent that promotes heavier buds, resin and terpenes. It is supposed to be used in the last 7-10 days before flush. My nute levels were reduced to about 500 ppm because flush is not that far off.

Not sure what is in it at 0.2-2.2-2.3 it appears to me just to be a weak bloom booster but who knows. Lots of things are not on the label for many products in order to protect proprietary secrets. I am a bit skeptical and I also like to know what I am feeding my plants. But this seems like an ideal situation to test something new. Here are some pics:

 Day 44 Testing Humboldts Secret Golden Tree

So after running New Millenniums Winter Frost for over a week I saw no visible change in my plants. No increased resin, no fading, no increased smell. I decided to try testing a bottle of Humboldts Secret Golden Tree that I had laying around.

The website says you will see a visible difference in 24-48 hours and boy did I!

Within 24 hours I noticed new white pistils coming out on my mostly brown buds. This plant obviously has a lot of indica genes judging by the way it sized buds so fast and most hairs had already turned brown.

But there was fresh growth happening now. Calyxes began to swell and new hairs were growing making some buds look like they were fox tailing.

I had tried it before and it made plants really healthy but it was my first flood and drain grow so plants were overnuted. I think it makes what’s there more available so it was a double whammy.

But that said there are very few products that show results that fast. So what they say seems to be true. Golden tree can replace Canna Boost and most other additives.

You can check out Humboldts Secret Golden Tree on Amazon at Humboldts Secret Golden Tree

Here are a few pics taken 24 hours after adding Golden Tree:

You can see calyxes starting to swell and fresh white pistils beginning to appear on these buds.

GG4 Mystery Glue Day 48 – Who’s Your Daddy?

My girls are doing great and will start to flush them next week. Nice buds with new pistils and swelling calyxes thanks at least in part to the Golden Tree. Feeding Canna Aqua Flores,Golden Tree and CaliMagic at 580 ppms and pH of 6.o-6.1

I believe this is a cross with Gorilla Glue 4 and an unknown indica. I have contacted the guy I got the cut from, who contacted the guy he got it from and he is still swearing it’s GG4 but I know for certain it is not. I doubt even he knows what’s in it.

So Fake Glue, who’s your daddy? Will probably never know and it is possible I could be wrong about it being half glue. But it is a nice strain what ever it is and if the yield and potency are there I will probably keep it and run it again.

Here are some pics from day 48:

Day 55 Time To Chop Some Glue

My fake glue has been chopped on day 55. She was ready. Trichomes all cloudy with a few amber showing. Not much to say until harvest is complete. I dont know what this strain is to be honest. Looked very much like GG4 when young but much different in flower. I do believe there is Glue in it but cant say what else. I think the plant on the left may be a different pheno so this may have been from seeds, possibly from a hermie, but who knows. Here is a video taken just before chop:

Fake Glue? Harvest Results

So I harvested my 2 plants and was very disappointed to find out that not only did I have something that was in no way related to GG4 but also 2 different phenos or possibly 2 different strains.

The smaller plant on the left smelled like strawberries to me and had pointier and less dense buds than a the larger plant which had a fruity smell and nice sized solid nugs but lacking in frost coverage. Neither smells are even close to what GG4 smells like and neither had the frost, stickiness or potency of the Glue and I really think I was passed some shit.

The yield was good at 18.25 ounces with the larger plant hitting 10.25 and the smaller at 8 ounces even. The weed is not real strong. Nice sativa leaning high but not something I would want to keep or share. It’s a shame too because the buds look really nice except for lack of frost. Not really sure what I will do with it but tempted to flush it down the toilet!

I have been promised a verified cut of the Glue so I will be growing it for real this time.

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Here is my Exotic Genetix Cookies and Cream strain grow journal.

So I received 11 large healthy looking seeds in a nice box. Seeds were all well protected inside a foam lined plastic case.

I dropped all 11 into a shot glass and within 3 hours they all had sunk so I moved them to a paper towel inside a small container.

After 2 days they all had cracked and had roots so they were moved into party cups filled with coco.

Once they fill those out I am planning on moving them into pots with mini grow cubes or larger blocks. I will probably use the cubes since these seeds will still be unsexed and I hate wasting a block on males.

So here is what they are supposed to look like:

Cookies And Cream Seeds at 14 Days

I decided to move my Cookies And Cream seeds under 12/12 lighting even though they are young. I have some space issues and I dont want to carry any extra males. Once they show sex I will reveg the ladies and take some cuttings.

From there the revegged girls will go into 1 gallon pots filled with rockwool cubes. This will be what I call a shakedown run. I like to make my final selection from clones.

I have seen differences between clones and the seed plants they came from with some strains. You only flower a seed plant once but clones get flowered many times so you want to make sure they are stable.

So here are my Cookies and Cream about 10 days later. So far there have been 3 males removed and I have 8 left (mostly girls I hope) but these are taking longer.

They are being grown along side my Bruce Banner seedlings which were much faster to show sex. But these plants have made better growth and all look really healthy.

I should know in the next few days if there are any more males hiding in here. Once they are all sexed I plan to reveg them and take some cuts before flowering.

Cookies And Cream Day 7 Of Flower

Today my cookies and cream have been under 12/12 lighting for 7 days and are beginning to show  flowers. Actually there are 7 of them and one Bruce Banner.

They are in 6 inch net pots filled with Grodan mini cubes. Currently I am running Heavy 16 Bud A&B, Prime and Fire at 670 ppms and pH 6.0.

The plants are not very large but do look very healthy and were trained with the one node and flip method. At this point I am not concerned about size and yield, only finding the best keeper if I think they are worth growing again.

Here are some pics. Half under my CXB 250 COB and half under my Platinum P600. The larger plant on the far left in the 2nd pic is the Bruce Banner.

Cookies And Cream Day 14 Leaf Stripping

On day 14 I did a major leaf stripping on these Cookies and Cream girls. I removed pretty much every leaf that had a stem, leaving a few fan leaves on top. These plants are small and probably wont produce that many buds so I want to make sure what is there will be nice and solid. I dont want any larfy buds.

I am not that concerned with yield at this point. I want to see the buds and smells, tastes and potency. If I find a nice pheno out of this bunch I will give it a longer veg time next round if it’s a keeper.

Here are some before and after photos. There are 7 Cookies and Cream girls and one Bruce Banner on the left under the blurple LEDs. The Bruce Banner was cut back hard just before flowering but it still is the largest plant.

Cookies And Cream Day 35

About 2 weeks have passed since these girls were defoliated. They had a total leaf stripping except for a few fan leaves on top. They have recovered nicely from the scwazzing and are stacking flowers now.

I also flipped another 6 cookies and cream about the same time the flowering ladies were on day 35. I plan on moving them to my other flower room in about 2 weeks when my Bruce Banner girls are finished.

I have gotten some nice cuts of Wedding Cake, Peanut Butter Breath, Space Goo and GG4 but since they were cuttings and not clones they will need some time to root and veg up before I can flower them. So I will be running the just flipped C & C girls while I wait for them.

Cookies And Cream COB LED Grow Day 28

So I moved 6 Cookies And Cream, girls into my main flower closet last week. They looked very healthy  and had just started to flower. Today I did some under skirt cleanup on them. They seem healthy and are being fed with Veg+Bloom at about 600 ppms and a pH of 5.8

I am using rockwool croutons again and 6″ net pots which I guess are about a 1 gallon equivalent. The plants are much shorter than the OGs I usually grow and so I lowered the screen quite a bit from where it usually is. At 28 days I am not really expecting to see much more stretch if any at all.

I still have plants under the Platinum P600 also but I am not really happy with them. I did a heavy leaf strip on them and I think it stunted them. I think some strains may respond better to defoliation than others. I would have to say the Cookies And Cream did not like it. Here are some pics taken on day 28 of my new grow:

Day 58 Flushing

Everything is the same. The cuttings, the nutes but these were leaf stripped and grown under my Platinum P600. They look much different from the ones I am flowering under my COBs.

I have noticed the

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Cookies And Cream Day 35

Here are some pictures taken on day 35. These plants seem a bit fussy. A bit of tip burn and some leaf discoloration and one plant is clearly not happy and pistils are already brown.

So far I am disappointed in this strain despite all the hype it has received. It is still early and it may surprise me and of course I haven’t smoked any yet.

I harvested the buds in my other closet and they are curing in glass jars. Yield will be low and the buds really are leafy to me. The only pheno that was worth keeping was the purple one. Better size with purple in them and nice orange hairs and probably one of the better yielders.

I didn’t run her this time because the cut I took died. I was able to grab a bud to reveg and it looks like it took. So I will hopefully be able to save this pheno and give it a better test run.

Fighting Fungus Gnats In My Cookies And Cream Day 42

Above are some shots of my Cookies And Cream grow on day 42. Some leaves are starting to show some purple and others are starting to yellow. The breeder says 58-63 days with 60 being average.

Some plants will actually start to fade naturally. I also noticed some pistils starting to go brown. So it is time to start flushing these girls soon.

The buds are frosty with good trichome coverage. I am not expecting a big yield from these and there are a lot of different phenotypes showing up. Honestly I think Exotic Genetics needs to refine this Starfighter x Mystery Cookies cross. These plants are really all over the place which to me is a sign of pollen chucking rather than breeding.

Die Fungus Gnats!

A while ago I noticed a few fungus gnats in my clone tent. I gave it a couple of sprays with neem oil and pretty much figured that would take care of it. Boy was I wrong. I have been invaded. Now I have them in all 3 grow areas and in my houseplants.

I tried a bunch of things that did not work. After a lot of research I decided to go with Azamax and Gnatrol drenches.

I did not get rid of them yet but I have definitely seen a major decrease in population. They are hard to get rid of and they dont go away overnight. It takes multiple soil treatments and the use of sticky traps to catch the fliers.

Day 49 Fading Fast

This week when I changed my res I wanted to reduce my ppms and start to flush. I added a tablespoon of Veg + Bloom and it brought my ppms to about 200. I had a bottle of New Millennium Winter Frost with a bit left in it so I through it in. It brought my ppms to 400 which was right about where I wanted them this week. Here is what happened within 2 0r 3 days:The recommendation for Winter Frost is 10 ml per gallon 7-10 days before flush. I used this product on my Bruce Banner which normally turns purple so was not sure how effective it was although it did start to turn purple within a few days. But it obviously works. As you can see from the picture fans are turning yellow and some have actually faded to the point of drying up.

Funny thing is I used way less than 10 ml per gallon. Maybe half that at most. Didn’t measure it but could tell there wasn’t much in the bottle. So I was surprised at what happened and I am definitely sold on it. Plants will be flushed another week on just water. Right now ppms are 60 and my tap is 40 ppms.

Day 46 Bud Shots

Nice frosty buds with excellent trichome coverage but this strain seems to be a light yielder, at least for me with the phenos I have.

Bruce Banner seeds are available from Dark Horse Genetics. They have embarked on a breeding project to deliver the original cup winning Bruce Banner 3 in seed form. Lineage:OG Kush x Strawberry Diesel

I just purchased a pack of Bruce Banner seeds which is labeled as Bruce Banner 2.0 (Bruce Banner BX2). I received 12 seeds and germinated them. The pack says “For souvenir purposes ONLY – Dark Horse Genetics are not to be germinated anywhere.” Luckily I don’t live “anywhere”. I live in Washington. I am happy to say within 48 hours all 12 had cracked and had tails. Here is how I germinate weed seeds: http://420dotcom.com/how-to-germinate-weed-seeds.html

Before I start my grow journal I thought I would share some background info on the Bruce Banner strain. So following is some background info on this strain from their website:

Original Bruce Banner. This is the original cross that created Bruce Banner. Same female. Same male. The outstanding BB3 and BB5 phenos were found in less than a dozen of these seeds. Now these legendary seeds are finally unleashed en masse to the public. Expect outstanding flavor and unrivaled potency and resin production.
More on the Bruce Banner http://www.darkhorsegenetics.com/

Dark Horse Genetics – Bruce Banner 1.0 Aka: Bruce Banner BX 2.0
Strain: Bruce Banner 1.0
Breeder: Dark Horse Genetics
Location: indoor, outdoor
Type: mostly indica
Flowering: ~70 days
No feminized seeds.
Here is some more information about the Bruce Banner story, how it was created and its genetics: http://en.seedfinder.eu/strain-info/Bruce_Banner_nr1/Dark_Horse_Genetics/

There isn’t a lot of info about Bruce Banner strain grows online, mostly smoke reports, but I did find one Bruce Banner grow:

Bruce Banner Seeds – Bruce Banner 2.0 Grow Journal

So Bruce Banner 2.0 is making its debut. These seeds are ready to hit the coco!

I decided that I was going to try growing Bruce Banner in rockwool cubes instead of coco. So after setting the sprouts in coco I removed them and washed the roots clean.

Some roots were fairly long already, even though they were only in cups for 3 days. So there was a bit of transplant shock.

I cut the rockwool in half and put the roots in them and they fit snugly inside the tray. The first leaves are looking crappy but there is new white root growth coming out of the blocks and the next set of leaves look healthy and green. All twelve seedlings should be just fine and the new rooting will help hold the cubes together.

The other group of seeds in the tray are Cookies and Cream from Exotic Genetix at 3 days.

Bruce Banner Seeds 21 Days

Sometimes a grower cant make up his mind! I ended up potting these Bruce Banner seeds back into coco again which probably set them back about a week or so.

I have been having some problems with pythium now that it is warm, and plants seem to better in coco than rockwool. Mostly cleared up from previous grows but there are still a few spores floating around, although I am winning the war.

I just moved these plants under 12/12 lighting so I can sex them. Right now I am short on space and between the Bruce Banner and the Cookies and Cream I am growing I have 24 plants.

I dont like to crowd things so hopefully getting rid of the males will save space. I am not in a hurry to run these so after the males are gone I will reveg them and take cuttings. So here they are at about 21 days. There is 1 runt but overall they dont look bad and they were just fed so they will start greening up.

Bruce Banner Sexed

So after 10 days under 12/12 lighting I was able to sex my Bruce Banner seeds. I have 10 girls which is phenomenal with 12 seeds. It is early still and there is 1 that looks like it could go either way but even if that happens the m/f ratio on these beans was great.

For the most part they are tall and leggy like an OG but there are a few smaller shorter phenos too. I am going to move them back into my veg tent in the next few days and I will take some clones of them too.

Bruce Banner Seeds Day 1 Of Flower

Today is day 1 of flower for my Bruce Banner seeds. These are the original seed plants after going under 12/12 for sexing and then reveg. They were transferred from coco solo cups into 6 inch net pots filled with rockwool croutons.

I have clones taken from these girls so this is basically a shake down run. I think there are 3 basic phenotypes in this mix. A tall OG leaning towards the original Bruce Banner, a medium pheno that leans more towards an OG/ Strawberry Diesel mix and there appears to be a 3rd phenotype that is much smaller than the other 2.

They are looking pretty healthy all things considered and this will be their first full day of 12/12 lighting.

I am planning to run them in a modified flood and drain/nft system. My plan is to put them on a spreader mat and cover the plants with panda film.

This will allow the roots to stay dark and moist and grow into the mat. The plants should be able to grow a much larger root mass than in standard or even smart pots and hopefully this will equate to higher yields.

I am waiting for my OG Kush ladies to finish up over the next 2 weeks as they flush. Then these BB girls can have the tray to themselves and I can put the cover on it. Meanwhile I will be hand feeding them at 600 ppm as the others flush.

Bruce Banner Clones

While these seedling girls are in veg I also took clones of them. It’s not unusual for clones to be different than the seed plants they came from so I also take clones from them. These clones rooted for me in 8 days.

Then the seed girls are a shakedown run for me. They help give me an idea which plants are likely to be the best keepers. In this case I have 10 girls and I can only keep 1 or 2 at most if I decide a strain is worth running again. I am pretty sure I will be running Bruce Banner more than once.

Bruce Banner 2.0 Week 1

The Bruce Banner seeds just finished their first week under 12/12 lighting. Some plants are already starting to show preflowers. They are being top fed right now at 600 ppm.

Once the table clears in the next week to 10 days they will be fed with flood and drain with a spreader mat underneath them. The top will be covered with panda film allowing the roots to spread out and grow much more. Here is a couple of pics:

Bruce Banner Flowering Delayed

I have decided to delay flowering these girls. I am concerned because they started flowering before the sized up. Maybe this was a result of putting them in 12/12 to sex them and not giving enough time for them to totally reveg.

So I moved in 2 Gorilla Glue #4 plants that outgrew their veg area instead. If you want to follow that grow it’s at http://420dotcom.com/gorilla-glue-4-gorilla-glue-grow-journal.html

Meanwhile I am vegging the clones I took from them and they will be going in after the Glue is done. Right now even the clones I took are flowering but hopefully 2 months of veg time should cure that.

Bruce Banner 2.0 Week 1 Flowering For Real This Time

After a long delay by Bruce Banner 2.0 is finally in my grow closet under 12/12 lighting. The clones I took are about 18 to 24 inches tall and stretch on these ladies is supposed to be up to 200%. So I am expecting 6′ tall plants from the taller phenos.

I have 10 girls in my 2×4 flood tray. They are sitting on a spreader mat with a panda film covering. Watering times are 1 minute every 2 hours.

I am using Heavy 16 Bud A&B along with Fire and Humboldts Secret Golden Tree the current pH is 5.8 and ppms are 560.

Lighting is 750w of 3500k COB LEDs and par readings above the plants right now are at about 650 µmol

Here is a video made on day 1 of 12/12:

Bruce Banner 2.0 Day 7 And Flubber From La Plata Labs

The Bruce Banner is at day 7 and already showing several different phenos. Some of the largest plants from seed are much smaller as clones. That is why I like to do a pheno hunt from cuttings. In my experience clones of seed plants can grow quite differently as clones.

There are 10 girls but one is a runt and I dont expect it to do much. One girl #5 is a monster and #1 is looking good too. The rest are shorter and I guess will lean more to the Strawberry Diesel side.

I also brought in a Flubber from La Plata Labs at about day 55. It was overgrown by my OGs and did not get much light so I am sure it is smaller than it should be. It has really nice looking trichome development and looks like it will make some nice bud in spite of all its abuse.

Not too much to show this early except for the Flubber. Here are some pics for you:

Bruce Banner Flowering Already On Day 9

I started to notice preflowers showing on some of my girls on day 8 and today my Bruce Banner #5 pheno has open flowers on day 9 and #1 isn’t far behind. Most of the plants are showing them now but #5 is crushing all the others.

I started to notice some cal/mag deficiency on some of the fan leaves and that is really not unusual with OG strains. They are cal/mag whores. So I added some CaliMagic at 2 ml per gallon.

I have been using Heavy 16 Bud A&B and Fire but not the Prime until now. So I added it too. My mix is much hotter at 850 ppms. I usually aim for about 650 and will probably drop back down in a few weeks.

I also started only feeding at lights on for 1 minute every 3 hours.  I want to see if fewer waterings will encourage more growth in the matting. Here are a few pics taken on day 9:

Bruce Banner 2.0 Day 14

My Bruce Banner continues to grow and flower. Plants look very healthy. I did spot some minor calcium and magnesium deficiency signs on a few of the larger fan leaves. OGs tend to be heavy cal/mag feeders and magnesium is mobile so it is common for plants to move it from lower to upper leaves and buds.

Plants were sprayed with Heavy 16 Foliar which contains calcium and magnesium as well as silica. Very sticky thick stuff that works well especially in veg, but because flowers are now forming I will only use it this one time.

I have trained these plants in a one node and flip style similar to what Jungle Boys do. However my plants are smaller so most only have 2 stems. Everything below the first few inches was removed. The idea is to have most buds above my screen and eliminate pop corn and larf.

I am after Bruce Banner #3 leaners so I believe the pheno hunt will be in the taller plants. The shorter plants will likely be sour diesel leaners and some will be a mix of the two. So I am not that concerned with yield at this point. I want to see bud development, flowering style and smells on the taller plants.

So far my #5 pheno looks like the keeper with #1 close behind. #5 seems to be the heaviest yielder and is the largest plant. Because these are clones from a seed run there is some obvious size differences between phenos.

Bruce Banner Schwazzing/Leaf Stripping Day 21

On day 16 of flower I decided to test out schwazzing or leaf stripping on my Bruce Banner ladies. These girls were flowered using the one node and flip method the Jungle Boys popularized on Instagram.

I have always done some defoliation but this was my first total leaf stripping or schwaz where every leaf with a stem is removed. I did leave 2 or 3 top fan leaves though.

They looked kind of pathetic after stripping but they began to bounce back quickly. More importantly bud size started to increase and leaves began to regenerate.

My Bruce Banner Seeds At 28 Days

So my Bruce Banner 2.0 seeds turned 28 days. They had a major leaf stripping on day 16 and seem to have recovered nicely. There is some height difference between phenos and at 4 weeks stretch should be over.

The tallest ones are the ones I am most interested in because they are more likely to be like the Bruce Banner #3 clone. I am sure they are all fire but at this point I am not interested in the Strawberry Diesel leaners. All I want is a good yielding, dank OG from this run.

I removed the cover from my flood tray because I felt it was keeping the rooms humidity down. With it off my humidity is up 10-15%. So from 25% to 35-40% is right about where I want it. I know those who use VPD like higher humidity but I like it low, especially in flower.

BRUCE BANNER DAY 35 TRYING OUT  VEG+BLOOM RO SOFT NUTES

These Bruce Banner girls WERE scwazzed on day 14 and are now at 35 days stacking and getting after it. Getting stinky and frosty. Trying out some Veg+Bloom RO Soft  along with Heavy 16 Prime and Fire. So far so good. Been running this combo for about a week and the girls seem to like it.

Day 42 Guest Appearance Groot From Guardians Of The Garden (Galaxy)

I am a big Guardians of the Galaxy fan so I think part 3 should be called Guardians of the Garden and took the liberty of inviting Groot over to keep an eye on my Bruce Banner girls. He is the Incredible  Hulk as you know but since he’s a guy I think these ladies should be called the Hulkettes. So Groot, meet the Hulkettes.

I have been running the Veg + Bloom along with Heavy 16 Prime and Fire and it seems to make a good combo and plants are responding well to the mix. Currently pH is 5.6 and PPMs are 630.

I have taken the panda film cover off the flood tray which has helped keep the humidity up in my closet.

I also have changed flood times to 5 minutes every 6 hours. I am flooding deeper because the rockwool croutons dont wick water as easily as coco or larger rockwool blocks. I have noticed the longer flood times also flush nutrients out of the spreader mat better and as a result my pH fluctuations have pretty much stopped and stay pretty stable.

Here are some bud shots taken on day 42. Everything is growing well with lots of frost and calyxes are swelling nicely.

Bruce Banner Day 49 With New Millennium Winter Frost

Everything is sizing up and getting frosty. On day 43 I added some Winter Frost from New Millennium. As far as I can tell it’s a bloom booster/bud enhancer/finisher. It is supposed to be added 10 days before flush. It’s hard to tell if it made any difference in bud size or frostiness. It does seem to start the fading process though. I am starting to see fall colors show up. I will run it until day 53 and then start a 10 day flush.

I have 2 phenos I am thinking about keeping. One has the Bruce Banner 3 bud structure and the other looks like a hybrid with buds that are showing more of a diesel influence.

There was a lot of variation between plants because this is a BX and so lots of recessive genes show up. Some are good and some not so good. Some OG leaner plants have small buds and there are some nice strawberry diesel leaners but I am not saving those even though they could turn out to be better smoke it is the OG leaners I am interested in.

Here are a few shots from my 2 keepers taken on day 51. Very nice trichome development on these ladies.

Bruce Banner 2.o Day 56 Bud Porn

Lots of pretty fall colors and fat trichomes on these girls as they finish up. Here’s some Bruce Banner 2.0 bud porn for you to enjoy:

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Karma Genetics has done some great work on OG strains and one of my favorites is White OG V2.0 . I have been growing it for a few years now and it is pure fire and never disappoints.

This was a coco grow pretty much using the whole Heavy 16 line. Bud A&B, Prime, Fire and Foliar. I am testing out some new nutrient lines because my old standby nutes are no longer being made.

I also have switched from aeroponics over to growing in coco because of root rot issues that I so far have not been able to conquer.

Earlier I did a Heavy 16 review but because I was growing with HPA I was unable to use Prime and Fire so was only able to test the Bud A&B

You an read about Karma Genetics White OG V2.0 genetics here but I will tell you it is one of the easier OGs to grow and some phenos finish around 9 weeks.

White OG V2.0 – Heavy 16 Coco Grow

These plants were grown in Canna Coco in 2 gallon smart pots. They were watered with a top fed drip system. The drippers ran 15 seconds on and 2 hours off 24/7.

Unlike most coco grows, mine is a recirculating system. Drain to waste just seems like a waste to me. If you read about growing in coco everyone says go DTW but it is obvious most have never tried recirculating coco. I usually change my reservoir every 2 weeks but sometimes I go longer and I have had zero problems.

The Heavy 16 maintains a stable pH but it is usually around 6.2 which is a tad high for coco with 5.8 being considered ideal.

I found no need to add any Cal/Mag during flower although I did use some during veg because OGs are heavy Cal/Mag feeders, especially early on.

Because these plants are being given frequent small feedings it is important to use a low nutrient strength. Otherwise they will be over fertilized and bad things can happen.

Through trial and error and lots of research I feed my plants at 600 – 650 ppm. Feeding much higher can result in nitrogen toxicity.

Although these numbers may seem low, you need to remember that everything is going directly to the roots much the same as in aeroponics. The difference is coco can hold on to nutes so it is important to have some run off to prevent salt build up.

Karma Genetics – White OG V2.0 Bud Shots

Plants were grown under a 250w COB LED from Pacific Light Concepts. So here is some bud porn taken at 60 – 64 days:

You can watch this it video format here