Boocoo's Ghetto Grow

[Bucudinkydow]

Well, by no means a trophy grow but I'm pretty pleased that I was able bring my first attempt to completion. I've learned a lot and above all it has been most therapeutic for an old fart battling the demons of PTSD for so many years. It's been exciting to once again be involved in something that I actually look forward to.

The plants to me look very leggy & airy. Early on I did a lot of fan leaf tucking & some LST'ing. The effort seems to have resulted in numerous colas & buds but most seem less developed than I expected.

I think this was probably due to to my poor distribution of light as well as the absence of a true reflective surface. The overcrowded compartment I'm sure also had an adverse effect on light getting to the right spots. I've built a couple of fixtures for my cfl's using some old porcelain street lamp reflectors from an era that few will remember.

In addition I added a 150w sun system hps just for kicks & giggles. This is my newly converted ancient army wall locker for my next grow.

I'll post an update of the chop & some new pix as my new grow box develops.

 

[Bucudinkydow]

Well, time to wind it up. Scheduling constraints required me bring them down a bit early, day 86. Most all trichs were cloudy but search for ambers with my jeweler's loupe came up empty. I feel 100 days would have been more appropriate, a far cry from the optomistic 63 days touted by the seed dudes!! While I've started another grow with autos, with many phenos being harvested in 100 days seed to weed @ substantially less light usage, I'm beginning to question the advantage of autos.

My grow box proved to be a bit tight for these three plants. The tallest was 39" & the other 2 were 32". No massive colas by any means but when I removed them I found the stems were unable to support them. They just didn't have enough room in the grow box to fall.

No bragging colas but each plant had 10-12 equally sized moderately sized tops. Additionally, they were simply covered with under developed popcorn buds. With adequate light, I think this strain has some potential of a hefty yield. My poorly spaced cfl's with nonexistent reflector took a toll on the outcome.

I don't have scales so I don't have a clue as to the weight of the harvest. When I stripped the stems, I separated everything into 1: well developed buds (less than immaculantly manicured),2: popcorn & poorly developed buds & sugar leaves & small resinous fan leaves from bud sites, & 3: larger fan leaves. This is what I reaped from the largest plant (less fan leaves).

The largest plant yielded a slightly compacted qt of fan leaves. Allowed to air dry about a week, decarbed for 30 min @ 250* & popped it into my new magic butter machine with a couple of cups of coco oil without much expectations. I used a cup of the coconut oil to make 24 mounds type candy nuggets. To my surprise, one small bar gave a mildly relaxed, slightly sedated feeling. I also experienced a definite decrease in the slight but constant joint discomfort that accompanies old age; something I hadn't anticipated. I ate a couple more on two occasions at bedtime & found them to be excellent sleeping aids. The down side is the taste is absolutely so horrible I can't stomach eating anymore & will most probably dispose of the remainder. I'm hoping the foul taste was the results of not allowing the leaves adequate drying & curing time. The other 2 plants netted a little over 1.5 qts of fan leaves & I'll definitely give it a try again in a month or so. I also have a little over 2 qts of good, well formed buds and a like amount of popcorn & really resinous trim. Pretty happy for my first grow on a shoe string budget. Have yet to smoke any but I've got a fatty rolled up tight & ready to go. Being this will be my first toke since 1981, I look upon it as a momentous occasion that I promised to share with a long time friend that I often smoked with back in the day. After all our friends & family vacate the premises after the holiday, Katy, bar the door!!!

What I've taken away from this grow:

My grow box was not adequate for my expectations. My new digs are now about 4'X2'X6'.

CFL's are probably not the best light source but I'm not quite ready to throw in the towel just yet. I've now got 2 good reflectors with 6) 23w in each. I've also added in new 150w hps. One dedicated light source for each plant.

The coco coir/perlite grow medium is the point of this grow that I can truly say I'm totally satisfied with. For my situation, I couldn't imagine anything more perfect. I'm using an automated top drip system & can comfortably be absent for lengthy periods. In my homemade fabric bags, it's virtually impossible to overwater after the plants are a few weeks old & the coco/perlite adequately holds enough moisture to keep things going for a few days if you fail to water. A winner for me.

I'm sure there are far superior nutes available than the floranova I've used but for the simplicity factor I'm going to hang in there with these for a while.

So, there she is. Let's call this one done. Happy thanksgiving & wishes for prosperous grows to all.

BOOCOODINKYDOW

 

[David Bowman]

Hope all is well in your world.

Thanks for sharing this grow with us.

Please head over to the 420 Strain Reviews forum and post your smoke report there too.

I’m moving this to Completed Journals now.

Have you started a new grow you would like to share with us?

If so, please feel free to start a new journal here: Journals in Progress

Sending you lots of love and positive energy.