BunkerMonkey's Soil Elephant Bud & Vanilla Kush Grow Journal 2014

[BunkerMonkey]

5 WEEK UPDATE:
At this point in the grow I don't know if I'm going to see any improvement in this plant, but as long as the yellowing, leaf tip curling, and necrosis spots don't progress onto the newer growth (and it doesn't seem to be) then I'll be happy. My current hypothesis is that I had/have multiple deficiencies that appeared about 2-3 weeks into flowering because I wasn't checking pH after adding supplemental for budding resulting in a soil pH of around 5.4. This strain really packs on the bud compared to the other three plants and at that low of a pH Mg, Ca, P, K, and Zn just weren't available to the plant in sufficient quantity especially since I only add base nutrients to about 700ppm. The probable Zinc deficiency is odd considering it is available to plants at a pH of 5.4 but perhaps there was a reason - I had needed something to stake this girl up when I moved it to it's new accommodations because it wanted to fall over so I grabbed the first thing I saw that would do the job...a steel rod. I may be wrong but Zn does have an affinity for iron and maybe it was migrating over to that steel rod in the middle of that acidic soil. I guess it doesn't matter since I'll never use metal again to stake a plant up and I doubt that too many other people ever have or will either. For a more details and graphs and charts and other shit about nutrients here's my thread -

Help! Deficiency or Lock-Out?

P.S. I snipped a nugget off her about 5 days ago and it's dry enough to smoke so this morning I so I lit up a small bowl and YEAH BABY! Even uncured it's smooth and potent. The supplemental UV-B undoubtedly helped with the potency. Still mostly clear trichomes and with about 3 weeks to go yet but even dried out these buds are already as large as my big ol' fat thumb and dense and sticky. Just as a benchmark - based on underground quality and prices - this bud would fetch $10/gram and they would come back for more so the dispensaries in Ann Arbor and Jackson will be glad to see me. Happy days ahead!

 

[danknessdude]

Hahaha! Excellent taste test! The sample I just took was from Lucy whom a friend gave me. She had been through way to much and was a waste of space so I copped it. Man got good smoke! free 1/2 oz dried only had 30 days in it...lol

 

[BunkerMonkey]

Right on Dank! I could call it quits on this grow right now and be quite happy with the result, but I'm no fool! Three(?) weeks and counting until I start seeing some amber trikes On the Elephant(?) and maybe four weeks for the Vanilla Kush according to my cousin and then let it cure over the summer and I might enter it in the cannabis competition at the county fair this fall. Blue Ribbon Bud.

 

[Stumped]

If you were to cut down now yes you would be a fool lol and the quality would not be there 3 weeks early.

Got a pic maybe someone here can help you fix your issues

Grow is looking good, the leafs could be naturally yellowing, mine yellow 6-7 weeks into flower and start getting crispy and falling off.

Cheers.

 

[BunkerMonkey]

60 DAY UPDATE:

I definitely underfed the elephant! Having that 2 1/2 gallon of Miracle Grow potting soil in the middle of the root ball made me err on the side of caution and flush and underfeed her. I figured that if it was nute lock I would kill the elephant with thicker soup. After a couple of weeks of holding back on nutrients without any improvement, and in fact making things worse, I upped the nutrients and she almost recovered, but alas...the end is near. All the spotting and necrosis went away on new growth when I started cranking on the P and K and getting the soil mix pH in line.

I took off some of the buds that the pistils were turning brown on and trimmed them up and dried them. That's a little bit of kiff in the pan from grinding up about 10 grams for making budder. It was in the bottom of the coffee grinder and smokes like hash except it's smooooother.

I have four more elephants in late veg that have been DWC since I cloned them. In a couple of weeks I will have harvested and then I will build a recirculating DWC system for the bloom room. I'm a newbie at DWC but I worked in water treatment for many years so it's second nature...when I don't fuck up! I moved the elephants in veg down onto the basement floor so they wouldn't get root rot. In the process I kinked the air line going to one of the two vanilla kush I still have. When I went to change the nutes a few days later I found that bucket was septic. I took that girl into the shower, washed her roots, put her back in fresh soup with an extra dose of H2O2 and she barely suffered at all. The vanilla kush is an easy variety to grow compared to the elephant but the elephant has mush larger and stickier buds than the kush even when she was starved half to death. Except for that minor mishap the DWC plants are all growing at twice the rate of the plants in the soil mix. I will build a real vegging room but this is temporary just to get ideas on the final layout.

The only downside I see is keeping the nutrients cooled down in an 85°F bloom room during the summer even if it's in a Michigan basement. It looks certain that I will have to drop about $450 on a chiller before I put the RDWC system together or lose the entire crop. The guy I'm learning from mainly, HygroHybrid said all you needed was more air stones when it got warmer and he just lost a whole crop to root rot. Live and learn from other's mistakes, huh? It's a damned good thing I can afford the chiller, usually I'm really strapped for cash.

This room gets warm even in the basement. Day 60 (or maybe 61).

And one of the Vanilla Kush that seems to be happy if just a little nutrient starved. The trichomes still aren't showing any amber and white pistils are still popping up so they may have another 2 weeks to go. Hey...as long as they are putting on weight it's cool with me but the vanilla kush isn't my first choice to grow even if it is easy. We still have to wait for the final THC/CBD tests to be done when it's finished. The plant definitely is attracted to the blue in the lizard light and doesn't seem to be adversely affected by the UV-B. Superfically the 2 vanilla kush under supplemental UV-B look no different from the control plant that isn't getting it.

 

[Tamir]

Man.. Now that's a grow room..... Ladies are looking great. Scrogs compleletely filled!!! Damn I wish I had that amount of space. No samples yet??

 

[BunkerMonkey]

Samples? Hells yeah, I'm tokin' on the elephant as I write this! I've been snipping off samples for at least 2 weeks. In fact I think I'll cut the topmost buds off her tonight (since the trichomes are starting to turn amber) to give the lower popcorn buds some full light while I wait for the vanilla kush to finish.
Forgive the poor quality photo. When the harvest is dried and cured I'll be able to afford a new phone, until then....

I'm fortunate to have the space to build a nice big grow room in my basement. I'm also fortunate that I totaled my car on black ice back in February. Actually that wasn't fortunate, but the insurance check was! I had been trying to build a veg room and bloom room on a VERY tight budget and then BAM I had $5000 at my disposal which is good because now I have to drop $450 on a chiller before I move the DWC plants into the bloom room. That's OK though, I figure that every dollar I put into this will come back tenfold over the next year.

 

[BunkerMonkey]

UPDATE: Day 77 - Chopped the Elephant Bud.

Well, I waited to get some amber trichomes and here's where we're at. This bud was much stickier about 10 days ago than it is now. Maybe I waited a week too long to harvest. The plant went to hell in about the 3rd week of flower because I should have been feeding it like an elephant and I didn't want to risk burning the roots. Hell...I even flushed her because I feared a nutrient lock-out. Oh well, I still have some damned good bud and a shitload if cooking material. Next time when I lollipop the girls will get Brazilians instead of a French cut.

Sorry again about the shitty camera, it doesn't like this UV-B light I'm using as mold prevention. Yes, I know UV breaks down THC, but it's at a safe distance and a little THC loss is better than losing it all to mold in a (well ventilated) basement. The dispensary I will be supplying will reject moldy weed, but not weed that's 15% THC when it could have been 18%...or at least that's my reasoning.

This hanging rack is 3 feet in diameter. These are top buds mostly.

Here's the total haul. The lower two racks are just the popcorn bud and fluff and shit. It looks much more impressive than it is.

 

[BunkerMonkey]

FINAL UPDATE:

The crop is in and I did a little better than I'd hoped (although I didn't have high expectations). Drying took over a week due to 70% humidity but nothing got moldy. I had thought that I'd bought too damn big of a drying rack, but that proved not to be the case.

I think I should have harvested about two or three weeks sooner, but I was waiting for trichomes to turn amber, which they never really did. I figured that after 12 weeks and with all the sugar leaves dried up it was time whether the shit was ready or not. The final tally is 5.23lbs of bud. I still have to trim it all up a little for the sake of bag appeal, but I should still have well over 5 lbs left.

Here's what I learned -

1. I don't like growing in soil because I don't know what's going on with the pH or TDS (EC).
2. The Elephant needs more nutrients this next time around.
3. The Vanilla Kush may or may not be genuine Vanilla Kush, but in either case it's not my favorite and I won't grow this strain again.
4. Nutrients and electricity added up to about 20% of the value of the end product leaving about 80% "profit".

Good growing to all!!!

 

[Richard Richardson]

Thanks for sharing your grow with us, BunkerMonkey.

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

Hope all is well in your world.

Love and respect from all of us here at 420 Magazine.

 

[Max Reefer]

awesome job! I may have missed it, but what were the dimensions of your scrog screens, and the size of your grow room?

MR

 

[BunkerMonkey]

Hey Max,

My bloom room is 10'x10' and the 4 scrogs are about 43" on a side. I'm not a blueprint kind of guy when it comes to these things.

"Yup...that looks about right."

And I'm going to make 4 more scrogs to go over the current scrogs so as to hold up the massive colas I'm expecting from the RDWC system that I keep saying I'm going to start building "tomorrow". Oh well...the longer I veg the next crop (which is cheap under fluorescents) the bigger the girls will be for the bloom room, but I need to get started soon! My main YouTube instructor just made hanging scrogs and I'm thinking about it too.

HygroHybrid | Grow Monsters-Be Rewarded

Where's the bubble forum that your current grow is at?

 

[Max Reefer]

Hey Max,

My bloom room is 10'x10' and the 4 scrogs are about 43" on a side. I'm not a blueprint kind of guy when it comes to these things.

"Yup...that looks about right."

And I'm going to make 4 more scrogs to go over the current scrogs so as to hold up the massive colas I'm expecting from the RDWC system that I keep saying I'm going to start building "tomorrow". Oh well...the longer I veg the next crop (which is cheap under fluorescents) the bigger the girls will be for the bloom room, but I need to get started soon! My main YouTube instructor just made hanging scrogs and I'm thinking about it too.

HygroHybrid | Grow Monsters-Be Rewarded

Where's the bubble forum that your current grow is at?

thanks bm. that helps me put everything into perspective. my current journal is at bubble ponics (all one word dot com) forum.

MR

 

[BunkerMonkey]

I bookmarked it Max...see you there soon.

 

[BunkerMonkey]

And one other thing I learned...lollypop the shit outta them bitches as soon as you put them in the scrogs. This is from my first grow which I just finished. I thought it was sufficient. Wrong.

I got too much popcorn and fluff.
(Note the 1.25 M^2 area on the corner of the frame.)

Next time (in about a week or so) when I put the next rotation into the scrog I'm going to get all Medieval on their asses. Brazilian cuts.

 

[Max Reefer]

final update:

The crop is in and i did a little better than i'd hoped (although i didn't have high expectations). Drying took over a week due to 70% humidity but nothing got moldy. I had thought that i'd bought too damn big of a drying rack, but that proved not to be the case.

using a room dehumidifier is a great way to get a handle on the high humidity

i think i should have harvested about two or three weeks sooner, but i was waiting for trichomes to turn amber, which they never really did. I figured that after 12 weeks and with all the sugar leaves dried up it was time whether the shit was ready or not. The final tally is 5.23lbs of bud. I still have to trim it all up a little for the sake of bag appeal, but i should still have well over 5 lbs left.

amazing harvest to be sure!

here's what i learned -

1. I don't like growing in soil because i don't know what's going on with the ph or tds (ec).
2. The elephant needs more nutrients this next time around.
3. The vanilla kush may or may not be genuine vanilla kush, but in either case it's not my favorite and i won't grow this strain again.
4. Nutrients and electricity added up to about 20% of the value of the end product leaving about 80% "profit".

Good growing to all!!!

mr

 

[Max Reefer]

60 day update:

The only downside i see is keeping the nutrients cooled down in an 85°f bloom room during the summer even if it's in a michigan basement. It looks certain that i will have to drop about $450 on a chiller before i put the rdwc system together or lose the entire crop. The guy i'm learning from mainly, hygrohybrid said all you needed was more air stones when it got warmer and he just lost a whole crop to root rot. Live and learn from other's mistakes, huh? It's a damned good thing i can afford the chiller, usually i'm really strapped for cash.

after almost losing my current crop, i decided to go back to what i know and have had success with. Even after getting the res temps under control, i still had root rot in the dwc. Now, after going to my top drip hydroton beds, my room is a jungle.



this room gets warm even in the basement. Day 60 (or maybe 61).

once i installed my ac system and the room temp is now 70 degrees 24/7 my res temps are 66 with no chiller. One other benefit of keeping the room temps down, is extending the life of your lighting equipment.

mr

 

[Max Reefer]

I bookmarked it Max...see you there soon.

looking forward to seeing you there. I have been watching your grow closely because I am about to scrog my hydroton beds. it will be my first ever scrog/sog. the way my girls are growing, it should be monumental!

MR