I am finally starting my Karmarado OG grow journal. I have been wanting to try this Karma Genetics strain for about 6 months now but did not have room for it until now. Here’s a bud pic from Karma:
This strain is a collaboration between Karma Genetics and Cannarado and PinkHouse from Denver.
It is basically a SFV x TK x WOG.
As Karma says: “A bx to my selected pheno of Cannarado’s SFV x TK.”
Genetics: (SFVxTKkgCUT) X (SFVxTKkgcut x White OG v2.0)
This version is actually KarmaRado OG ix. The only real difference is Karma tried to breed some of the White OG out of the strain.
Some people think Triangle Kush is the original OG and I am excited to see what it brings to the table.
I have grown some SFV OG hybrids and the White OG too but never anything with the Triangle Kush.
Not a lot of info on this strains days to maturity so I will assume it is 10 weeks like its SFV OG parent.
Karmarado OG Seeds
The pack had 15 seeds and 14 germinated. It seems I lost one somewhere or double seeded.
Seedlings were soaked for 16 hours and then planted directly into rockwool mini cubes. You can go to my article on How To Germinate Weed Seeds for details on my method for germinating cannabis seeds
Karmarado OG Seedlings
Here are my seedlings at 7 days from the start of germination:
They are just about ready to go into my 3 inch net pots and will get a couple of weeks of veg time in my aeroponic cloner/vegger before going to 12/12. I would rather not veg these as they can be large plants and it will mean wasting precious space on males but there wont be room to flower them before that.
Karmarado OG Seedlings Transplanted
So here are my plants about a week later. Not sure the days from start of germination exactly but it’s somewhere around 14 days.
I haven’t been pushing them too hard because they still have about 2 weeks before I can get them in my flower room.
Ready To Flip The Switch To 12/12
Plants are 5 or 6 nodes and most are about 12″ tall. They are about 21 days from germ. There are a few runts in the first row that look healthy but are much smaller.
I actually expected them all to be a bit larger. Also I am not really seeing that 3 leaf OG trait showing up as of now but that doesn’t really worry me because with genetics like this I am sure they will be pure fire.
I should know pretty soon what sex these guys are. Then depending on how many girls I have I will decide whether to cull the runts or grow them out if they are girls.
Karmarado OG Day 7
So these ladies have been under 12/12 lighting for a week now. Growth has been good for the most part. They are all bunched up under one 600W HPS right now but I will soon be spreading them out and turning the other light on. They are 18-20 inches tall right now with a few exceptions.
I have 3 plants that are much smaller than the others. I have destroyed one runt plant because it is obvious it will never catch up and produce much. I have 13 plants now and may cull another one or two.
Still can’t sex these yet. They are definitely not quick about showing their sex but I am sure I will know in the next few days.
Plants are at 800 ppm and pH is between 5.8 and 6.0. They are being fed Dutch Master Flower and CaliMagic at 5 ml per gallon. These ladies definitely need extra cal mag to stay healthy.
Growing some nice roots. They are pure white but the HPS lighting yellows them. These ladies had almost no roots a week ago except for about 2 inches coming out of the bottom of my rockwool cubes.
I suppose all the top and root growth they are making is why they haven’t got around to flowering yet.
Karmarado OG Day 14 Of Flower
So far I have found and removed 3 males. These plants are still not showing sex easily and I know there are a few more males in the group.
By the end of this week I will know for certain how many females I have and will take cuttings from them. I have not had any problems taking cuttings early in flower. They may take a few more days to root though.
I have plenty of time for these cuttings to reveg and cloning like this is sometimes called monster cropping because these clones will produce many more branches than a clone straight from veg.
Growth is healthy and some of the fan leaves are pretty big on these plants. New growth is very upright where it comes up from the nodes.
My screen is 30 inches above my totes and a few plants are already coming through it so the Karmarado will be a pretty tall strain.
I like to leave my plants as natural as possible on my first grow with a new variety with the exception of removing lower limbs that don’t look like they can make it to the screen. If they get too tall I will break some necks and do some supercropping. But I don’t top and so far I have never had a shortage of branches to flower.
Still feeding the same as last week. I had my lighting down to about 700 watts and just bumped it to the full 1200. I don’t usually raise or lower my lights. I just keep them all the way up and let the plants grow towards them.
Here are some pics. Not very exciting but there should be some early flower pics next week.
These plants have been spread out a bit. You can see there are some big size differences between the plants
Here is a bit lower of a view. Definitely will be taking cuts and cleaning up the bottoms.
Headed through the screen.
A couple of the bigger plants in the group.
I am hoping for 6 healthy and vigorous females out of this bunch. After removing a runt and 3 males I am now down to 10 plants and I know at least 2 are showing strong signs of being males.
Karmarado OG Day 21 Of Flower
It has been a busy week. All males have been removed and I now have 8 females. One is really a runt and will probably get the axe. I hate to kill plants, especially girls but this one is so far behind the others she will never catch up. She will be shaded and wont produce much so she should go.
All plants have been trimmed to remove any growth that wont make it through the screen, or at least close. I am not going to do much more pruning because I want to see these Karmarado girls au natural. I am spreading the lower branches out on the screen though.
These ladies have just started flowering so things should start getting real interesting real soon. I have taken clones from 7 of them. No point in cloning the runt.
The room looks kind of empty with everything spread out and trimmed. So far I have noticed the branches are very upright but not as much as my regular OG strains.
There is a fair difference in size but that can be expected in a seed run. So far there is one, #4 that looks like the most likely to be top dog. She’s the largest one and will probably produce best but really too early to say until they are further along in flower.
They also have a very different smell. They are stinky already and the smell is like burnt rubber. There is more to it but that is mostly what I smell right now. The smell probably will change as they get further along.
Here are some pics for this week. Still not that exciting but next week should have much more to show.
Lots of variation here. Half are tall and half are shorter. You can see the runt too.
Not many branches left now that the bottoms have been trimmed up.
Right side of screen
Left side of the screen
Karmarado #4 is the leader of the pack right now. But she has 3 sisters that could be contenders for the throne. It will be interesting to watch the Karmarado continue to grow and flower over the next few weeks.
Karmarado OG Day 28 Of Flower
These ladies are growing well and reaching for my lights already. I wanted to leave these plants as is for their first grow but it became necessary to break a few necks and super crop these girls.
I have been spreading the lower branches out into the screen. The screen is nowhere near as full as I would like. Certainly the yield will be affected and lower than it could be.
The Karmarado did not make as many branches as I expected so they will probably need to be topped in future grows. I never had a problem with getting enough branches on my other OGs but every strain is different and I am new to this strain.
On a more positive note the plants are flowering well and I expect to see some really nice buds develop on these girls. Here are this weeks pictures:
Looking forward to watching these buds fatten up. You can see from the pics that these girls are really tall and why they needed supercropping. Some were already and inch below the glass and hopefully the stretch is pretty much over. From here I will just spread what branches I can into the canopy to make better use of the light.
Karmarado OG Day 35 Of Flower
Thirty five days is the halfway point for these ladies. They are developing nice buds. Golf ball sized right now and firm to the touch.
Some plants are showing a more individual bud style and on a few colas they are stacking together nicely. These plants look like they will be fairly easy to trim. There are not a lot of leaves on them. I wish I had a few more to fill out the room and make better use of the light.
Most are very tall and I have had to keep super cropping these girls to keep them off the glass. There are a few shorter ones that seem to be stacking more than the tall ones. I am really glad they finally stopped stretching.
The smell is predominately cleaner with some sweet undertones. Really reminds me of cheap dollar store all purpose household cleaner. The stem rub is typical OG funk.
Here are some pics taken on day 34:
Getting tall about an inch from the glass.
Nice stacking on shorter girls in back
Super cropped branch
Branches are actually pretty sturdy for an OG
Another broken neck
Laying down tall branches
Another super crop
Big girl headed for the sky!
Lights out
Nice and frosty
Nice frost even on lower branches
Group shot under rear light
Group shot under rear light again
Two Karmarado top colas almost on the glass
Two Karmarado top colas
Some stacking going on with these shorter ladies.
Nice side buds too!
Karmarado OG Day 42 Of Flower
Week 6 has come and gone and my Karmarado girls are starting to size up now. The plants are really sturdy for an OG and I am surprised at how strong the branches are.
Leaves are really dark green telling me that these ladies may need less nitrogen than they are getting. I have stopped using my CaliMagic because it is 1% nitrate nitrogen and these plants have not shown any signs of cal/mag deficiency. At this point in flower I don’t believe they will need any more. My ppm are at 900 – 1000.
I have been adding some Canna PK 13/14 this past week. I usually don’t use boosters and even though growers swear by it I really have to question whether plants need it if you are using a good base nutrient.
In this case though I really don’t want to give my plants any more nitrogen so I will use the PK instead. So far I don’t see anything magical happening other than normal bud swell.
I did notice that my pH rose dramatically to 7.0 but I have been able to keep down to about 6 although it wants to rise. I thought the booster would drop my pH not raise it. There could be other reasons for the rise not related to the PK like algae or bacteria growing in the res but I don’t think that is the cause.
Over all the girls are doing well though and seem pretty happy. If they are happy then I am happy. My only regret is not being able to fully fill the screen so I am not expecting a bumper crop this time around. The clones I took are doing well so this wont be an issue next time I run them.
Here are a bunch of pics taken on day 42:
Karmarado OG – Week 7 – Day 49 Of Flower
Week 7 is history and my Karmarado girls continue to impress me. The buds have gotten much larger and fatter this week and continue to size up and grow together.
She is a very strong girl too. The stems are extremely stout and very strong, like nothing I have ever seen before on any OG or OG hybrid.
I am not seeing much difference between plants other than size in this grow. The buds and plant structure are really uniform which is kind of surprising considering Karmarado is a 3 way cross but then again Karma is a pretty amazing breeder and he had really good plants to choose from.
The smell on her is hard to describe partly because my nose has been stuffed for a while from a cold or maybe allergies. The flowers definitely have a typical OG smell with something else I can’t put my finger on.
The stem rub is really unique too. Along with the typical OG funk there is a smell like burning plastic. If you ever threw a plastic bag into a fire you will know exactly what that smell is.
There are probably 3 more weeks for her to continue growing and if she keeps going like this the buds will be mind blowing. So far she is showing no signs of slowing down.
Leaves remain very dark green and her fan leaves are quite large. There is a bit of tip burn on some fans most likely because of the PK booster. She is being run at about 1000 ppm and pH 5.8 but I am thinking about reducing her nute levels this week or next.
Here are some pictures taken today:
Karmarado OG – Week 8 – Day 56 Of Flower – Fading
There have been some dramatic changes taking place this past week. The Karmarado has started to fade. Some leaves are starting to turn although I don’t know how well it will show up in the pictures.
The girls have pretty much stopped drinking which is always a sure sign that harvest is not far off. I will begin reducing the nutrient levels from 800ppm to about 400 ppm this week.
I also have removed some large fan leaves to let light in on some lower buds. There are not too many and most all are getting good light but a few are just below the screen. Like many OGs there aren’t that many leaves to begin with and this strain seems a bit lighter than others I have grown. So I really did not have much to remove.
The buds are still swelling and growing so I don’t want to cut off nutes completely. Last peak had clear trichomes and the hairs have not started turning brown yet but they probably will this next week and I am expecting to see some cloudy trichomes too.
I have never been one for letting things go amber. At that point you have lost a lot of THC. I like to harvest at the cloudy stage with a few amber trichomes because I think the smoke is better balanced.
Here are this weeks pictures from day 55:
Quick view of my smaller grow closet
Just a quick view with the door open. Enter at your own risk! The Karmarado OG is really starting to finish and the bushy stuff you see on the bottom is overflow from my clone tent that will be getting flowered soon.
Some Karmarado OG Trichome Shots Week 8
I just got a USB microscope and have been playing with it so here are a few trichome shots. It works pretty well but I need to extend the cord to really get in the room. These are week 8 and trichs are still mostly clear.
Hard to take pics that are clear if there is any movement. I had to shut the fans off and figured how to take the pic from my keyboard without touching the cam so the pics get better as they go along.
Karmarado OG Week 9 Harvest Time Is Here
My Karmarado OG was harvested the last day of week 9 on day 63. I actually thought they might go another week but the plants said no we are done.
At the beginning of the week leaves were starting to fade and turn yellow but by the end leaves were turning brown and it was clear these ladies had finished.
They were on just pHed water the last week and really were not drinking much at all which again is a clear sign the end is near. Trichomes were mostly cloudy at harvest and that is usually where I like to harvest at.
Total green weight of trimmed buds with out stems was 840 grams and I am guessing there will be about 8 ounces when dry. I will post final weights once they are dry.
The yield will not be that high because there really were not enough plants to fill the grow space. I had 7 and a very small runt. 12 to 16 would be a better number for these on a 12/12 from seed grow.
I also notices some plants had very hard buds and some were quite a bit looser. The looser ones were stickier and stinkier than the harder buds. But I think the bud density might have hurt yields on these ladies.
Not sure if it was a pheno difference or heat related because this closet can get hot in the summer. But suspect it was the phenos because there were both types of plants side by side.
There was almost no popcorn on these ladies because I lollypop pretty hard. The few buds that did develop under the screen were pretty good size and firm.
The first 4 phenos from right to left were the top yielders which really was not a surprise. They yielded 125 -190 grams each with #4 being the clear winner at 190 grams and runner up was #1 at 145 grams. Both these ladies had very tight hard buds too. So number 4 looks like the keeper of the bunch.
I am planning on giving these girls another run soon. Right now I am waiting on the cuttings I took to fully reveg and then they will go again after which time I will decide which I will keep.
Here are some pics for week 9:
These pics were taken on day 60 before lights went on. You can see some lower fan leaves have already turned brown in some of the pictures.
These pics were taken the day of harvest on day 61 and leaves are yellow but may be hard to see under the HPS lighting.
I guess technically these ladies were harvested on the morning of the first day of week 10 and I just could not see any reason to let them go longer. I will be back with final weights, smoke report and summary soon.
Karmarado OG Yield And Smoke Report
I like to trim green and take the buds off the stems so there are no hanging shots of these girls but here is a few pics taken the day before harvest:
Final Weight
Final weight was 255 grams or about 9 ounces. It was about what I expected because the canopy was not totally full.
The buds on the Karmarado grow really close to the stem and not on branch ends. Some buds were hard and some were somewhat loose depending on the plant. My top yielder was 70 grams or 2.5 ounces the lowest was the runt plant I kept at 15 grams. Most of the plants were 40-50 grams each.
About half the plants had really tight buds and half had looser ones. The bud density was a surprise to me because OGs usually make very hard tight buds.
The smell is citrus with earthy OG smells. It is very close to lemon but not exactly and not quite as sweet as my Hells Angel OG or even the White OG.
Karmarado Bud Shots
I took some close up pics with my USB microscope and these Karmarado girls are pretty frosty and the buds are definitely good sized.
Here are some shots with a regular camera. These buds are typical size. There really wasn’t any larf in this grow.
Smoke Report
This smoke is definitely OG in flavor. It did not taste as resinous as my other OGs though but definitely tasty. It has a citrus OG funk when broken apart.
Karmarado is potent but not as strong as Hells Angel or White OG. It definitely is more indica dominant than these two. The initial head up buzz I first get when smoking an OG was less and the body was more.
It is a bit of a creeper and takes a few minutes to fully hit you. It was pretty mellow and I could feel my muscles relaxing and I could feel it in my eyelids almost right away. I think it would be good for chilling or night time smoke and it definitely took care of my back pain.
This is a seed run and there are some cuts that are more potent than others. Last night I got into a bud that just wrecked me. Very stony and long lasting.
This was almost pure indica in effect and definitely not day time weed. It is an almost dreamlike high and although I did not fall asleep I would not want to use this in the daytime if I had things to do. If you need help sleeping this is the stuff dreams are made of.
Final Thoughts On Karmarado OG
It was very good smoke and enjoyable and definitely a very strong indica body high.
Bud size was very good and the branch structure was extremely strong for an OG or any strain for that matter. Trimming was very easy. Yield was decent but not great.
Bud density was a bit disappointing to me. Since it is summer season heat may have been a contributing factor. Because of that and the fact it was a 12/12 from seed run I have decided to run her again from cuttings. This time I will have a full canopy and will be running 1000w instead of 1200w so temps will be a bit more manageable.
My new Karmarado grow is at: https://420dotcom.com/karmarado-strain.html
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.