DankestBuds Aurora Indica Grown In Soil

[DankestBuds42]

Hey everyone. I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I'll be picking up soil today. Will be able to up pot some of the clones that are just getting root bound. The bad news is my Can Clone has thrips... I usually let the soil get pretty dry so not sure how they've managed to stay alive. I've only seen two or three of these tiny tiny bugs, but they leave a gross slime on the leaves where they hangout. Very worried about colonization of these fuckers. Tried to take a picture of the bug previous to it's demise, it's pretty small though.

I'm a pretty confident first time grower. Not many things can worry me. But this issue with the bugs is starting to raise concerns. I have since moved the can clone on my window ledge to prevent infecting the other plants. Plus now that it's September, the days will be shorter so I might get some budding action. But I definitely saw one of those bugs on Flow.... That is the part that worries me most. They usually hide under the soil and come up on to the leaves to bask in the light and munch. But that makes dealing with them challenging.

Did a little light reading and some remedies include 1. Insecticidal Soap (maybe) 2. Neem Oil (may be harmful to humans? no thanks) 3. Spinosad Products (maybe). Funds are very tight at the moment so I'm leaning towards something diy/home made. If need be I will save up for the Spinosad Products and incorporate them into a foliar feeding/watering. I refuse to have bugs in my apartment. My girlfriend will skin me alive if they spread and any get out of the tent. So this will be our little secret for now. Hopefully I can control this before it gets out of hand.

Will do research on remedies. Could really use some outside opinions now more than ever. Any experiences with Thrips? Is my grow done for?

Here's the gang

 

[DankestBuds42]

Flow

Athena

Cloning Success

Mystery Strain Update

Have a great day folks. Stay frosty.

 

[TheFrizz]

Hey DB, thanks for checking out my grow, I figured I'd see what you are up to as well!

I feel ya on the temp struggle, makes me wish I was growing during winter so it could warm up the house haha. Hmmm I wonder if it would be possible to harness the excess thermal energy produced and use it to power something... science project time!!

I really like the diversity of plants that you have, it seems like for a first time grow you will learn a lot more by having multiple strains and multiple sizes to observe rather than if you just grow one thing (like meeee)

 

[DankestBuds42]

Hey Frizz, glad to have you along for the ride! Yeah temps can be a pain. I've managed to keep my tent around 25-28*C which is way better than +40*C heat it was at. I like your thinking about making use of the wasted heat to power something. It'd be cool to throw some solar panels in and use the power to cut down a little on electricity or charge various devices. I definitely like the visual variety I have, but I really enjoy your even canopy. Cant wait to see your harvest.

I see you're using dwc. Have you had any issues with pests? I've started to see a few thrips on my plants.. I just kill them on sight until the Spinosad comes in the mail. Need to find a temporary solution in the mean time. Mail is supposed to be here Sept 26 - Oct 6th. That's so long from now.. I hear hydro growers don't have bug issues. Lucky ducks. Makes me want to do dwc for my next grow!

 

[SCROG IT]

Lookin good , im late but subbed in now... Gonna have lots of tops with that training!

 

[DankestBuds42]

Lookin good , im late but subbed in now... Gonna have lots of tops with that training!

Thanks bud! Not late at all, I still plan on vegging for another couple months before flipping to flower. Hopefully! I topped Ezra like there was no tomorrow. She definitely put up with a small topping obsession while I was just learning about it. She has over 35 tops. I'm just now thinking about topping some more actually. On the other end of the scale, I just want to leave the clones be and see how they grow in comparison. My plan is to flip to 12/12 (or maybe 11/13) once I have a somewhat even canopy OR when Ezra is half her final height. I can't let her get too big or she might grow into the light.

Also have a quick update:

Thrips were a very unexpected dilemma for me. I caught it early on which made it really easy to deal with. More of an annoyance than harmful at that stage. I bought some Safer's insecticidal soap and sprayed all of the plants and top soil down right before lights out two nights in a row. Haven't seen any since. Bought some DE for good measure. Mixed some up in my spray bottle and gave them all a misting. This was a BAD idea. Clogged up my mister bottle. Still managed to cover a good portion of the plants though. Next time I will mist the plants with water and then sprinkle de on them. But yeah. I hate bugs so I'm glad I found out about diatomaceous earth.

Here's Flow. Tied down her 3 main stems to get light to all those new growth sites. Such tight nodes holy smokes. DE is the white powder on the plants/soil.

Clones

Ezra

Mystery Strains

Noooo! Not Lefty! Man, both Lefty and Righty bit the dust. That's pretty harsh. At least now I can focus more on plants I already have.

More Clones

Sprayed all the leaves down with water to wash off the DE. Plants are a little droopy but they'll perk up once they dry off. Hopefully I see some explosive growth soon. That would be cool.

Stay frosty

 

[Mono]

Yeah temps can be a pain. I've managed to keep my tent around 25-28*C which is way better than +40*C heat it was at.

Hey bud!

Temperature and HID lighting can be a little bit of an issue. But to be honest it might not be as hot as you think...

The intense heat that comes from the bulb can make the 'room' temperature appear to be 30 or 40 degrees celcius, when it's really just that hot directly below the light. MH tends to run a little bit hotter than HPS bulbs... I've found plants grow really well when the temperature is sitting between 28 and 32 degrees, any more and they seem to slow a little... The higher temps also help them transpire and use water quicker, allowing you to water or feed on a more regular basis.

I'm guessing your tent has vents to allow fresh air in? If so, you might find it stays cooler by creating negative pressure (sides of the tent suck in when doors closed) this ensures that all the warm and stinky air is being pulled out of the tent. If you are pulling air in with a fan, then an awful lot of that cool air is just going to be pushed straight out of the lower vents, without having a chance to cool the tent.

Also, roughly for every inch you raise a HID light, the canopy temperature decreases by roughly 1 degree

 

[TheFrizz]

Hey Frizz, glad to have you along for the ride! Yeah temps can be a pain. I've managed to keep my tent around 25-28*C which is way better than +40*C heat it was at. I like your thinking about making use of the wasted heat to power something. It'd be cool to throw some solar panels in and use the power to cut down a little on electricity or charge various devices. I definitely like the visual variety I have, but I really enjoy your even canopy. Cant wait to see your harvest.

I see you're using dwc. Have you had any issues with pests? I've started to see a few thrips on my plants.. I just kill them on sight until the Spinosad comes in the mail. Need to find a temporary solution in the mean time. Mail is supposed to be here Sept 26 - Oct 6th. That's so long from now.. I hear hydro growers don't have bug issues. Lucky ducks. Makes me want to do dwc for my next grow!

Thanks for the kind words! Fortunately I haven't had any issues with pests at all. I found a single dead moth at the bottom of the tent once and that's pretty much it. This makes sense, because I started them from seed and there was never any contact with the outdoors or dirt, so there is literally no way for critters to get into their tent.

I personally think it has been easier for my first grow to be DWC than it would be if I was using soil, because with DWC you can flush and "reset" any time there is a problem, and the plants respond to abuse very well.

 

[DankestBuds42]

Hey bud!

Temperature and HID lighting can be a little bit of an issue. But to be honest it might not be as hot as you think...

The intense heat that comes from the bulb can make the 'room' temperature appear to be 30 or 40 degrees celcius, when it's really just that hot directly below the light. MH tends to run a little bit hotter than HPS bulbs... I've found plants grow really well when the temperature is sitting between 28 and 32 degrees, any more and they seem to slow a little... The higher temps also help them transpire and use water quicker, allowing you to water or feed on a more regular basis.

I'm guessing your tent has vents to allow fresh air in? If so, you might find it stays cooler by creating negative pressure (sides of the tent suck in when doors closed) this ensures that all the warm and stinky air is being pulled out of the tent. If you are pulling air in with a fan, then an awful lot of that cool air is just going to be pushed straight out of the lower vents, without having a chance to cool the tent.

Also, roughly for every inch you raise a HID light, the canopy temperature decreases by roughly 1 degree

Hey Mono, How've you been? Woah. You may just be onto something there. I usually keep my lights as close to my biggest plant as possible without burning her. But at that distance I can only keep the lights on 75% at most. Now I want to raise and crank up the lights to full powa!
My tent does have vents but I usually keep them closed as they get dusty. I have an air intake fan to keep things nice and cool. Temps usually stay around 26-30 now with negative tent air pressure. Very happy with these results.
Appreciate the tips!

Thanks for the kind words! Fortunately I haven't had any issues with pests at all. I found a single dead moth at the bottom of the tent once and that's pretty much it. This makes sense, because I started them from seed and there was never any contact with the outdoors or dirt, so there is literally no way for critters to get into their tent.

I personally think it has been easier for my first grow to be DWC than it would be if I was using soil, because with DWC you can flush and "reset" any time there is a problem, and the plants respond to abuse very well.

Hey TheFrizz, hope your doing well my friend. Sounds like you have a good handle on your first grow! I used outside soil on a couple clones and I have learned my lesson. Got a bunch of thrips.. Such a pain to deal with. Glad they are done with. Definitely considering dwc for my next grow. Just want to do some research before hand. Do you have any plans for your next grow? Stay Frosty

 

[DankestBuds42]

Hey everyone. Going to try and keep this one short.

The tent is starting to reach maximum capacity for pots. Still lots of room for buds. Athena the Kish of God was up-potted from a 2 gallon to a 30L fabric pot. Two of my clones were up-potted from water bottles to 2 gallon fabric pots. Culled the smallest clone bc it was using outside soil and I am NOT messing around after stupidly bringing thrips into my garden. I've got a fatty bag of DE just in case though.
Did a serious topping throughout the garden. Topped all of the plants but a few of the clones. Ezra is almost 3 months old now! She had 35+ tops. Double that and were soon to be at 70+ tops! Cool beans.

New tent layout

Ezra the Aurora Indica and Athena the Kish of God

Mystery strain are looking great. A little top heavy but no worries.

I've also raised my lights up and increased their output to 100%. Will be checking in on them tomorrow to fine adjust the lighting positioning Thanks for the suggestion Mono!

I wish you all a merry Friday. Stay frosty.

 

[Mono]

Nice update bud! Hope the light adjustments work out well for ya!

 

[DankestBuds42]

Nice update bud! Hope the light adjustments work out well for ya!

The light adjustment is indeed working out well! I have my lights on full blast now at 600w, temps staying beautifully between 26-31*c (plants are lovin it), lots more room between the plants and the reflector so makes defoliating easier, air circulation is great and I have negative tent air pressure. Finally getting everything dialed in! Just need to make it another month or two in veg and then I'll flip to flower. Excited to see if the mystery strain are guys or girls.

Side note: One of Ezra's stems was broken pretty badly, but the top half still looked golden. So I nipped it off and stuck it in some dirt with a humidity dome. Should be fun to see her progress.

I have some bad news folks. My landlord is apparently bringing in some pest inspectors from 9am-noon on the 27th. Not sure what for. I took care of my thrips lol. But I need to have the plants out of the house on that day. I'm thinking I'll get some big cardboard boxes and use them to carry the plants to my girlfriend's car. Where I will either leave the plants in the boxes or just leave them in the back seats and cover the windows with blankets. This is super lame but also probably good. I can empty the tent for the day and leave my tiny cactus in there. If my landlord asks, I'm growing a cactus to be huge. Then he wont question the tent in the future because he'll think I'm growing cacti. Up until now he's never seen inside the tent or questioned anything but I don't want him getting suspicious. The transition should be interesting for sure. Carrying a large box with 30L of soil and a fairly decent sized cannabis plant twice then moving all the smaller plants. Car is currently parked in a parkade 15 minutes away so it might be risky biscuits. As long as it's temporary it's doable. I did some reading and plants can easily go 1-2 days with full darkness so 10 hours shouldn't be the worst. Just need to find some big ass boxes. Wish us luck!

 

[DankestBuds42]

Wow.. This has been an unnecessarily stressful past couple days. Found out my landlord was bringing in pest control to inspect for mice. Woke up at 6:30am to shuffle the plants from my apartment 15 minutes away to my girlfriends car. Packed them all up in boxes and covered the two biggest with garbage bags. Had to make a few trips but I got them all out. WELL. My landlord shows up with the pest guy and they both act super nonchalant about my tent. Just asked me if I've seen any mice. I said no. Then he put a mouse trap behind my fridge just in case. Then they left. So I worried and stressed my plants out for nothing. But wait! There's more! I didn't just stress the plants out by moving them out of the tent and taking away their light. I F#^$%ing tried to carry all the plants back in one go. Never have I made such a stupid and easily avoidable mistake. I was wheeling them down the street and they took a tumble. Rushed Ezra back to the car as she was feeling most solid still. Took the two boxes with plants and Athena. Dropped them off in the tent and quickly longboarded back to grab Ezra. It was kind of fun traveling through town with a fairly decent sized cannabis plant. Must have passed at least 8 cop cars over my journies. Too heat. Lets just hope I never have to do that again.

Here are some pics from this ridiculous adventure.

Before the Migration

After the Migration

Packing Up

Method of Transportation

Plants back in the tent. Before defol.

After haircut.

Clone defol

Athena and Ezra

I cant remember who it was, but someone linked this thread in their journal and talked about how defoliation can really help new growth. I'll try to find their post to give proper respect. Major respect goes out to who made this thread. I gave it a try and it looks kind of extreme but all the new growth sites are exposed to light and get way more airflow. This is good considering I just have the 1 oscillating fan. I have 35 tops on Ezra the AI. Each top has about 8 new arms and counting. Plus each branch top has been topped. But don't think I'm finished just yet. There is still much work to be done.

Stay golden everyone.
Increasing yield with defoliation indoors - What's it mean? How to do it?

 

[DankestBuds42]

Don't hate me for the frequent posts. Get stoked for an update!

Up potted the 4 Mystery Strain to 2 gallon fabric pots. No clue what the smaller pot size is. Tried out some organic soil and compost. Plants seem to love it. Not sure if these 4 are girls or guys but I'm prepared to find out! I was shocked to notice my last mystery strain show his guy bits so early into veg. I'm thinking I may have judged him too soon. I just didn't want to risk any chance of there being pollen in my grow space. These plants all look pretty similar in structure to my femenized plants but I'm still a noob at this so I could be in for a surprise.

Before the Mystery Strain Up Potting

Mystery Strain Top Shot

Side Shot

#4

#3

#2. Sorry for the blurry picture. Had to be quick and only had one hand free.

#1

Mystery Strain Up Pot

Full House

Still just rocking the one super cheap oscillating fan. It's a bit strong for the Mystery strain and Kish of God, even on lowest setting, but I just keep them furthest away and it works awesome. Temps are great, RH is great, plants don't need to be watered often so everything is basically taken care of and on auto pilot. Just need to top the younger plants as they grow up to get a more even canopy.

I started my first girls around July 1st-15th, the rest were started at random since then and I'm paying the price. Instead of focusing the light and air on on girl to get maximum growth, I have to share it all between 12 plants and one clone. I'm making it work but for my next grow I might like to try growing one plant huge. That was my original goal but I was curious about cloning and the mystery strains. My goal of 4-10 ounces is still a go. Need to work on evening out the canopy and topping the younger plants as they grow up. Then just letting them be until we have the dankest of buds.

Stay frosty everyone.

 

[DankestBuds42]

Welp. I spotted a couple more thrips but on the mystery strain #4. But I am NOT HAVING ANY OF IT WHAT SO EVER. At least I am prepared for this. Got a big ol bag of DE at the ready. Make it snow.

 

[Greenchef]

Hey dankestbuds,

Sorry to hear you had the headache of moving your loot across town like that! Everything looks happy to be back home. Thanks for stopping by my garden I appreciate the vibes man! Have a good one!

 

[Light Addict]

Ha lol, I've done the street dash a few times with some huge plants and understand how much fun it can be, even if a nightmare at the same time!
Also bravo on posting Bassmans journal on dwefol, he was a great member when I joined up and became a good friend. I've been pushing that thread for others to read for an age. He was a proper diamond and is missed!

Anyway all looks good

 

[DankestBuds42]

Hey dankestbuds,

Sorry to hear you had the headache of moving your loot across town like that! Everything looks happy to be back home. Thanks for stopping by my garden I appreciate the vibes man! Have a good one!

How's it going GreenChef? Yeah man, that was absolutely ridiculous. Totally an over-reaction on my part lol. But yes, they are definitely stoked to be back. Just have to work on evening out the canopy some more before the plants get too tall. For sure bud! I really like exploring the 420 mag for different grow journals to see what else is out there. You have a really awesome lineup of girls, be proud!

Ha lol, I've done the street dash a few times with some huge plants and understand how much fun it can be, even if a nightmare at the same time!
Also bravo on posting Bassmans journal on dwefol, he was a great member when I joined up and became a good friend. I've been pushing that thread for others to read for an age. He was a proper diamond and is missed!

Anyway all looks good

My first street dash was quite the experience. Waaay to many cops though. Got some weird looks but nothing more. Next time I'm parking the car in front of the building instead of mishing 15-20 mins away lol.

Bassman definitely posted an interesting topic imo. Plus the pictures he includes shows the plants extreme growth 10-12 days after. Who can argue with photographic evidence? Sure you're removing a lot of leaves. But there are so many more new growth sites getting light now. Plus, this slows down Ezra's growth and will give my youngest plants a chance to catch up. Appreciate you stopping by

 

[Greenchef]

How's it going GreenChef? Yeah man, that was absolutely ridiculous. Totally an over-reaction on my part lol. But yes, they are definitely stoked to be back. Just have to work on evening out the canopy some more before the plants get too tall. For sure bud! I really like exploring the 420 mag for different grow journals to see what else is out there. You have a really awesome lineup of girls, be proud!

Glad you got em all back on their homes safely. I'm good man finally back to work after dropping a cast iron pot on my toe, took a week off to recover. Thanks for the compliment man I'm trying to keep them happy. You have quite the forest happening over there yourself man. Sorry if spacey, just smoked after work and it bout made me go horizontal. Peace



I done ducked up the quote, can't figure out how to fix it. If anything, get a chuckle out of it

 

[DankestBuds42]

GreenChef: Glad you got em all back on their homes safely. I'm good man finally back to work after dropping a cast iron pot on my toe, took a week off to recover. Thanks for the compliment man I'm trying to keep them happy. You have quite the forest happening over there yourself man. Sorry if spacey, just smoked after work and it bout made me go horizontal. Peace

Thanks bud YOW! That does not sound like it would tickle. Hope you're doing alright. Definitely take some time for your self homie. Are you a chef then? Your girls look very happy bro. Reaching for the light haha. How much are you hoping to harvest? Yeah just a mini forest at the moment. I don't want my girls getting too tall though. It's a struggle between wanting big plants and not wanting them to grow into the lights. Difficulties with growing different strains at different ages in a small space. I'm usually spacey haha, no worries. Have a good one man.