Grow Journal Reports

Here is my GG4, Peanut Butter Breath, Space Goo OG, and Bruce Banner Mixed Grow. I have 10 plants in my 2 x 4 flood tray all in 1 gallon root maker pots. Some are in coco and some in rockwool croutons.

There are 6 GG4, 2 Bruce Banner and one each of the Peanut Butter Breath and Space Goo OG. They are under 700 watts of COB LED lighting. Actually it’s a bit more like 750 because the Pacific light Concept COBS pull more than the rated 250w from the wall.

The girls are currently in veg and will probably be flipped within a week. I’m just waiting for the Glue to size up a bit more. They are being fed on V+B nutes, the RO formulation. It’s nice to be able to use the same nutrients all the way through the grow. And I like the fact of not having to keep a bunch of different bottles around. So far they have worked pretty good for me and I definitely like the simplicity of use.

Here is some background info on these strains:

Bruce Banner

These are my 2 keeper  phenos from my Bruce Banner grow Lots of info on this strain in my grow. One is an OG leaner with beautiful purple buds and the other leans towards the diesel side.

Peanut Butter Breath

Genetics: DoSiDos x Mendo Breath f2 (Studly Spewright)

Peanut Butter Breath is a pretty new strain from Thug Pug Genetics. It is supposed to be a 50/50 sativa indica hybrid that finishes in about 60 days. And it does not smell like peanut butter I am told. Genetic info available at: http://en.seedfinder.eu/strain-info/Peanut_Butter_Breath/ThugPug_Genetics/

Space Goo OG

Not much info available on this girl. I was told it was a Jilly Bean Jesus crossed to 9 Pound Hammer. Been around the Seattle area thanks to Artizen but seems they no longer have it on their site.

GG4 Formerly Known As Gorilla Glue #4

Plenty of info on this girl online so you can Google her and also find a really long thread on IC Mag here. Possibly the largest thread on the site, it was so big they had to split it into an old and new thread.

You can watch her grow here too of course.

I am really looking forward to growing this girl out, especially after receiving a fake glue cut.

I have been assured this cut is the real deal.

Fingers crossed because she is half my grow and I don’t like being duped.

Cannabis Girls Gone Wild

These ladies have been vegging this past week and I am just about to flip them.

Growth has been good and I am feeding Veg + Bloom at 900 ppms and pH has ranged from 5.6 to 6.0

That’s pretty high for me but I wanted to push the glue a bit because the other plants are quite a bit taller. I hear she is a big, stretchy and vigorous plant so I think she will catch up if not even overtake the others.

Hope to get some pics up before flip but unfortunately my camera just died. No one locally had what I wanted so had to order one. So pics soon and also a YouTube video coming asap.

Mixed Grow On Day 7 – Screen Goes In And Making A Few Environmental Tweaks

So today is day 7 for my mixed grow. I just put in a 2 x 4 screen because the Bruce Banner was getting tall and soon it would be difficult to get a screen on. As it was I broke a couple of branches.

The Space Goo and Peanut Butter Breath are also starting to get tall. The GG4 is still below the screen but hopefully will stretch above it this week.

I made a few environmental tweaks as well. Humidity is low in my closet because its passive air source is a room with gas heat where the humidity is usually low to mid twenties. The humidifier adds about 10% so my room humidity is 24% and the grow is at 35% which is still low but better. When the weather is rainier(often in Washington) humidity is about 45-50%.

The other change I made was lowering my fan speed to pull less dry air in and allow the temperature to climb. I will be adding an article on the other LST which is leaf surface temperature to explain more.

Day 14 Leaf Stripping

Day 14 is when I like to do my leaf stripping. Some people like to do it on day 21 and some people think it’s crazy to do it at all.

Leaf stripping or schwazzing wont hurt your plants. Yes they look pathetic but they will recover fast. I can already see new growth several hours later.

If you strip off everything with a stem the leaves will come back with trichomes so you wont have useless water leaves to deal with. Do it now or do it later but at some point you will be dealing with fan leaves.

I cant explain exactly what happens or why but it throws the plants into extreme bud mode. It also lets light and air get to the lower buds that would just be larf if the plants are left alone. Here are some before pictures and after pics of the defoliation.

Mixed Grow On Day 21 – 6 Days After Defoliation

It has been 6 days since my plants were leaf stripped. They have been recovering, although not as fast as I thought. I think this was due to a change in my watering schedule. Normally I feed multiple times a day but this past few weeks I have been feeding once a day. I think these girls needed more food for recovery.

I know leaf stripping is controversial and some think it harms a plant but it doesn’t. Go check out Grand Master Level or HiGrowGroup on YouTube if you doubt me. They have some of the best grows I have seen and both leaf strip.

Here are a few pics from day 21, this is 6 days after I defoliated these girls:

Day 28 The Frost Is Coming

It’s day 28 and the room is starting to smell and the GG4 is starting to show frost. The plants seem to have recovered from the leaf stripping and everything is good.

Ran out of the V+B so decided to run Canna Aqua Flores and the rest of the line because I had it here. I also decided to add some Canna Boost. Still too early to tell if there is a difference but smells and frost started picking up right after use.

The Aqua Flores is made for recirculating systems so I went with that rather than their Coco nutes. I like how stable the pH stays in my reservoir when I use it.

Here are some day 28 pics of mostly the glue:

Day 35 Bruce Banner Space Goo OG GG4 Mixed Grow

Day 35 is here and with it comes some increased trichome production and calyx swelling too. For the most part everything is doing well.

The Bruce Banner is starting to put on some frost and the buds are continuing to size up. The Space Goo probably has the most trichomes showing at this point and nice large buds developing.

The Glue is looking good and I can see the calyxes swelling nicely and a few plants look zuzzy because of the thick trichome growth going on.

I think they are behind a bit from where they should be though. I flowered them small expecting a lot of stretch from them. I think because of their smaller size the leaf strip may have stunted them a bit. They took about a week to recover whereas larger more vigorous plants recover much faster, usually in about 3 days. Here are some day 35 pics of the ladies:

Mixed Strain Grow Day 42 Starting Flush-Air Pruning

Day 42 is here and I have started to flush. I am not running straight water yet but I have cut my nutes in half. So running about 320 ppms.

The buds are very nice but they are small. Since the calyxes are still swelling I didn’t want to cut all nutes off cold turkey but around day 45 they will go on a full flush.

I think leaf stripping works but it is meant for larger plants. I know it set these girls back and took almost a week for them to recover and it should not take that long.

I also noticed the plants are not drinking as fast as they should. I inspected the PBB that I pulled and it had nice white healthy roots but they were mostly on the bottom half of the pot. In order for a multi feed system to work they need to completely fill the pot so they can drink a lot. Otherwise they will be over watered.

So I started looking into air pruning the roots before they get potted up. I am going to experiment with letting more of the roots get air pruned at the start so they will develop a fuller root system.

When a root gets air pruned like coming out of a smart pot the tip dies. But it creates branching on the rest of the root which helps fill the medium with roots.

One way to do this is to transplant your plugs into 3 inch rockwool blocks kept on a rack so the bottom roots can be air pruned too. You can flood them or hand water but is important for the bottom to be elevated once the water is gone.

Here are some pics from day 42:

Day 49 Starting To Fade

These girls are starting to fade on day 49 so they wont be going much longer. The trichomes are about 80% cloudy right now.

The Bruce Banner is starting to show some purple and the GG4 is starting to go yellow. At this point the Bruce Banner looks closer to finishing than the glue. I thought it would be the opposite. However the BB doesn’t seem to be callyxing the way it did before and they look like they need more time to swell up.

They have been fed at about 250 ppm this past week withwhich is 1-34-32. I think it’s a pretty good bloom booster and it’s pretty cheap too. I am sure the high P and K along with the low N has started the fade. Here are some pics from day 49:

Terpinator Does It Work?

This week I am going to be testing out some to see if I can increase trichomes and terpines. This nutrient has had mixed reviews. Some love it and others say it’s snake oil. What I noticed is using it at higher levels seems to work. 15 – 30 ml per gallon is recommended in flower. Those using it at 10 ml had mixed results.

Since it is pretty dilute it can get pricey to use. What I am going to do is mix it at 30 ml a gallon in a bucket and top feed it to my plants so I shouldn’t need to use more than 2 gallons on this test. My girls are pretty far along and I will only be using it for a week so I am not sure if I will get the results I am hoping for.

Speeding Up harvest

Things are progressing much faster than I thought and it looks like I will be harvesting earlier than expected. Most likely at 56 days.

Everything is fading hard. The purples are really coming out as well as the yellows. Some leaves are drying up too especially on the Bruce Banner.

Today I turned my screen into a free floating one using light hangers. My arms were bare and the resin stuck the hairs on them together. Good thing I didn’t need to go out because I smell very dank. A few pics of the Bruce Banner from day 52 just before harvest.

The Truth is a classic old school elite the Triangle Kush crossed with SFV OG Kush x Chemdog D which won 2nd place in Indica category at 2014 HTCC Amsterdam. It was bred by True Canna Genetics.

This is not the same strain as the cup winning True OG strain from Elemental Seeds which I have a grow journal about here.

Some Background Info On The Truth

There is a full description of the strain at http://en.seedfinder.eu/strain-info/The_Truth/True_Canna_Genetics/ but there is a misprint, they used SPV instead of SFV.

Also Triangle Kush, SFV OG and Chemdog D are all clone only strains. So I began wondering what male was introduced and where. After digging around I found out the Chem D was from Reservoir Seeds and they list the male used to make this in seed form as Hindu Kush.

Hindu Kush is a pure indica strain named after the mountain range stretching 500 miles between Pakistan and Afghanistan where it originated. The harsh climate of its homeland has conditioned this strain to express a thick, protective coat of crystal trichomes cherished by hash makers worldwide. With a subtle sweet and earthy sandalwood aroma, Hindu Kush induces a deep sense of calm that helps bring relief to those suffering pain, nausea, and stress disorders. https://www.leafly.com/indica/hindu-kush

I managed to find a few grow shots and they looked pretty impressive. The creator took 2nd place Indica at the High Times Cup in Amsterdam with a plant straight from a single pack of seeds so I am hoping this strain lives up to its hype. Here are some pics from IC Mag.

I have a pack of The Truth and decided it’s time to pop them. I have been hanging on to it for 3 years and was afraid germination would suffer if I held it much longer.

Popping The Truth

So these seeds come 15 to a pack and I soaked them all in a shot glass with some H2O2 to help them along. It has been about 24 hours and 10 have cracked and have tails. So I guess they didn’t lose too much in my fridge. At 48 hours all 15 seeds had tails.

The seedlings were planted into straight coco in a 50 cell 2″x2″ cell tray and now it is a waiting game to see how many make it up and shed their husks. Sometimes older seeds crack and even get a tail showing but lack the vigor to fully sprout and I am hoping that wont be the case here.

So I have 14 seedlings. One had issues, it threw its husk but somehow couldn’t get its roots out and looks like it’s a goner. Here they are 5 days later:

My plan is to put these seedlings directly under 12/12 lighting. This will let me sex them and once the males are gone I will reveg them in larger pots. This will provide me with monster cropped type seedlings with lots of branches to choose from.

It can take a month for plants to totally reveg, sometimes even a bit longer. I am not in a big hurry to flower these and would rather spend some extra time getting rid of the males and growing a larger multibranched plant.

Almost Ready To Sex The Truth

So a few weeks have passed. I kind of lost track of the days. There are still 14 plants and they are all showing the 3 leaf pattern that OG Kush is known for.

I decided to run them 12/12 from seed so I could sex them faster. Then I will dump the males and reveg the girls.

They are in my flower closet along side the Cookies and Cream and should start to show sex in about a week. So here are a couple of pictures of The Truth:

Sexing The Truth

Another two weeks has passed and all plants have been sexed and topped and placed back into 24/0 lighting to reveg. There were 9 girls and 3 males Another 2 were almost definitely male. They were the smallest of the bunch too so they were culled. Here are the remaining 9 females:

Of these, there are 4 or 5 that are larger than the others and are most likely to be cloned and then flowered. Triangle Kush is a vigorous upright strain and so is SFV OG and my feeling is that the smaller ones most likely are not what I am looking for. At any rate I would only run 8 maximum so at least one has to go.

Final Veg Phase For The Triangle Kush Cross

So about a month has passed since this TK hybrid was sexed. It has been busy and I kind of lost track. The Truth has been in the same 3 1/2″ square x 3″  deep pots and definitely needs repotting.

They were crowded under 200w of which have a customizeable blue and white spectrum which helps keep stretch down and makes stockier plants.

Great veg lights.
Cheap, work great and have been very reliable.

One light will cover about a 2×2 area. Perfect for clones or sprouting seeds or vegging a few plants.

I highly recommend giving these lights a try.

The girls were put in 1 gallon pots and went under a 250W COB LED on an 18/6 lighting schedule to veg for another 4 or 5 weeks. They have gotten 18″ to 24″ tall in spite of multiple toppings. Some plants have over a dozen branches.

They have a very upright OG growth style and I think they will stretch like crazy in flower. Showing a lot of 3 blade leaves which is also typical for a true OG plant. They have a stink to them already. I am looking forward to flowering these ladies. Here are a few pics right after transplanting:

So here’s a bit of an update taken a couple of weeks later. These plants are easily 2 feet tall and have at least 8 main branches. I have topped multiple times and thinned some lower branches out. I am still about a month away from getting them into flower. So they should yield well.

Baby Gets New Shoes

Here are the girls again with new shoes. They just went in to 2 gallon smart pots with coco. They will probably have to go another 2 weeks before the flower room is ready for them.

Definitely outgrowing their space and there are 2 more plants in another tray. Lots of tops to flower!

So here is another update on the ladies. They still have another 2 weeks until I can flower them. Click the image to view the update video on my YouTube channel.

So I have not watered these girls in a week. They went from 1 gallon plastic rootmaker pots to 2 gallon smart pots. I want to encourage the roots to spread out and search for water. Hoping to keep the size down a bit as these ladies are already getting close to 36 inches tall even with multiple toppings. Should be a great harvest as all of them have at least 8 arms ready to flower.

In a few days I will water them with some recharge to further build up the root mass. Once they are ready to go into flower I will begin regular feedings again.

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: https://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.

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: https://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. 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 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 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.

Here are some night shots taken on day 26:

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 , and 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 ins filled with . 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

tends to produce smaller less leafy plants than the COBs. It is a powerful light and it is easy to bleach your buds unless it is at least 24 inches away which is not an issue with my COBs.

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 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.