Randar Grows Some Dank

[Randar]

**Note, this will be an "accelerated" grow log as this grow has been completed. My notes are taken from my personal grow diary.**

So, it’s time to start my next grow seeing as how vacation time is over. This is a new experience for me as it’s my first time attempting photoperiod plants. I’ll be growing in soil this time around, a ProMix mixture with perlite, composted manure, and mushroom compost in 5 gallon fabric pots. Three plants in a 2x4 tent with a total of 320 watts of LED lighting in the tent.

I’ll be growing one each of, all of which are feminized seeds:

Swiss Skunk from Gorilla Seeds contest
TnT Trichome from Super Sativa Seed Club
Gorilla Bomb from Bomb Seeds

So, earlier this past weekend, I dropped three seeds into glasses with water. They all showed signs of cracking the next day and were transferred to wet paper towels. They stayed there for 2 days and when the taproot was long enough, transferred to their final homes. The next day, all three were popped above soil.

Only problem thus far was the Swiss Skunk sprout had helmet head and when I removed the shell casing, the cotyledons fell off as well. It appears to still be alive, but as a backup I popped another Swiss Skunk seed directly into soil in the same pot. If both survive, then I’ll prick out one of them and transfer to its own pot and just grow four plants. We’ll see what happens.

Some photos:

TnT Trichome

Gorilla Bomb

Swiss Skunk (hard to see in the first pic, second pic is a bit closer, and you can see how tiny it is, but it’s still growing!)

Group shot of the tent.

 

[Randar]

Some additional information regarding this grow.

1. Planned nutrients:
   MegaCrop for vegetative and flowering phases
   Bud Explosion for flowering phases
2. Plants will be topped, at least once, during the vegetative phase to increase cola sites.
3. Plants will be tied down to expose more internal areas to light and to try and keep the canopy even and the plants somewhat short.
4. Light cycle during vegetative phase will be 20/4.
5. Water is just normal tap water from my kitchen sink.
6. I intend to pollinate a single branch on each plant with BOG Sour Bubble BX3 pollen. Should end up with some good crosses assuming everything goes to plan.

 

[Roy Growin]

Sounds good so far
Tidy setup

 

[Randar]

The Swiss Skunk seed I dropped directly in the pot popped and was looking better than the stunted growth. So I pricked out the stunted plant and put her in her own, smaller, pot. If she survives, I’ll either give her away, or use her as a pollination plant.

So for now, I have four plants going: 2 Swiss Skunk, 1 Gorilla Bomb, and 1 TnT Trichome.

I’ve started watering with a weakened MegaCrop mix. Roughly 1/4 tsp of MegaCrop for 3 qts of water. The runt is just getting plain water at this point. Seeing if I can get her back on track. Plan is to top these in the next week or two.

TnT Trichome (Day 9)

Gorilla Bomb (Day 9)

Swiss Skunk (Day 6)

Swiss Skunk - Runt (Day 9)

Group Shot

 

[Randar]

Group shot at 16 days!

The Gorilla Bomb and TnT Trichome (the two 5 gallon bags on the left) are both at 16 days, the Swiss Skunk (5 gallon bag on the right) is at 13 days, and the Swiss Skunk in the white plastic pot is the deformed runt at 16 days.

All are growing well, and the three biggest will get topped this weekend or early next week.

 

[Randar]

Overall, plants are doing well. All have now been topped (the stunted Swiss Skunk was topped and up-potted today). Things are getting bushy and stinky in the tent. I’m currently planning on flipping in about 2 weeks, but will be playing it by ear on how the plants are looking.

Aside from topping, I’m only doing some leaf tucking on the plants each morning to ensure they’re getting as much light as possible during the veg period. I’m contemplating doing some LST later this week when I have some time.

Group shot:

TNT Trichome, day 21:

Swiss Skunk, day 18:

Gorilla Bomb, day 21:

Any idea what’s causing this discoloration on my Gorilla Bomb leaves??

Swiss Skunk, day 21 (stunted):

 

[Randar]

Well, as it should be, the plants dictated the flip to flower. Upon checking the tent yesterday, the plants had grown/bushed out enough where, due to height limitations in the tent, I needed to flip to flower to allow for some stretch. So, yesterday they switched to 12/12, and this morning I gave them all a nice drink with 4 grams MegaCrop and 1 gram Bud Explosion. They each were heavily defoliated as well to open up the plants to air movement and light.

This flip was about a week earlier than I planned, but oh well. Also, I now have a firmer window on my pollination schedule. Looking at hitting them with pollen somewhere between 9/27 and 10/5. The plan is to pollinate one branch each of the Gorilla Bomb and TnT Trichome, and pollinate the whole of the second Swiss Skunk. As stated earlier, all pollen is the BOG Sour Bubble BX3.

From left to right: Swiss Skunk #2 (the stunted one), Swiss Skunk, Gorilla Bomb, TnT Trichome. All defoliated and starting their flowering phase!

Almost a full week into flowering and the plants are doing well. Sitting at 72F and ~60-63% humidity. A little on the high side for humidity, but it will keep dropping as we get into fall, and I have plenty of air circulation in the tent, so no concerns there.

(from L to R: TnT Trichome, Swiss Skunk #2, Swiss Skunk, Gorilla Bomb)

 

[Randar]

All the ladies were watered today. Keeping the MC the same (~4 grams per watering), but slightly increased the Bud Explosion to around 1.5 grams. So far, they’ve all been taking the nutes like champs.

Below is a group shot of the ladies in the tent. From left to right: “Stunted” Swiss Skunk, Swiss Skunk, Gorilla Bomb, TnT Trichome.

 

[Randar]

Group shot! Day 48 (Day 19 since flip).

(From L to R: Swiss Skunk, TnT Trichome, Swiss Skunk, Gorilla Bomb)

 

[Randar]

Here’s the update on the ladies. Currently sitting at day 50 (21 from flip). Plan is to pollinate a branch on each of them sometime in the next 3 days (Saturday at the latest) based on available time.

Group shot (From L to R: Swiss Skunk #1, TnT Trichome, Swiss Skunk #2, Gorilla Bomb)

Swiss Skunk #1

TnT Trichome

Swiss Skunk #2

Gorilla Bomb

 

[Randar]

Here they are, happy and loving life. Each plant has a small, lower, side branch pollinated yesterday. Already seeing some of those pistils turning brown, which is a good sign. Even if I don’t get many seeds, it’ll have been a good experience trying my hand at some selective pollination.

As you can see, lots of bud sites and the canopy is more even than before due to my super cropping efforts. Should be a good yield.

One thing I’m noting is that it’s definitely crowded in there. 4 plants in 5 gallon containers is a bit much for a 2x4 tent!

 

[Randar]

Just watered all four plants. Still steady at 4 grams MC and 2 grams BE, no signs of any problems.

Temp / humidity sitting at 68F and 59%.

Everything is getting real frosty in there. Can’t wait to see those buds start to fatten up in the coming weeks.

Group shot

TnT Trichome

Swiss Skunk #2

Gorilla Bomb

Swiss Skunk

 

[Randar]

Day 63 overall and day 39 of flowering.

Group shot

TnT Trichome

Swiss Skunk

Swiss Skunk #2

Gorilla Bomb

 

[Randar]

Things are getting sticky in my tent. Had to use some rubber gloves for the trimming I just performed. Mainly just cleaning up some big fan leaves from the center of the plant and some of the buds. Helping the airflow and the light penetration.

Tomorrow they should get watered and fed.

One thing I found surprising during this grow with photos is that during flowering the watering frequency has decreased a bit. I’m used to it significantly increasing during flowering with autos. After some researching online, it looks like the 12/12 schedule for photos results in a small decrease in the water consumption of the plants. Makes sense, but a surprise to me nonetheless.

 

[Randar]

Watered all 4 plants this morning. Slightly increased the BE to 5/8 tsp up from 1/2 tsp. This results in feeding them all about 4 grams of MC and 2.5 grams of BE. We’ll see how they react. Watering has slowed down to once every 4 days. All plants are looking frosty and I’m starting to see some browning of pistils on some buds.

Judging by my calendar, I have about 3 to 4 weeks left before chopping.

Group shot

Swiss Skunk 2

Gorilla Bomb

Swiss Skunk

TnT Trichome

 

[Randar]

Group shot! All plants sitting at Day 50 of flower.

Swiss Skunk #1 (foxtailing)

Swiss Skunk #1 (Normal Bud)

TnT Trichome:

Swiss Skunk #2:

Gorilla Bomb:

 

[Randar]

Coming to the end of my grow journey this time around. Plants are looking nice. I’m scheduled (and the plants are on track) for a watering tomorrow. Starting week 9 of flower today. Lots of amber and milky. I plan to water tomorrow with no nutes, and then let them go until they’re dry and then chop. Should be chopping this weekend.

 

[Randar]

The deed is done. Plants chopped and hanging in the tent. Went the route of hanging them whole for a slow dry and then a dry trim.

Picture of them hanging. Staggered their heights to allow for more air circulation. Have both side vents open, the fan and filter running at 50% up top, and a small fan circulating air at the bottom. Tent is sitting at 68F and 47% RH.

They should be ready for their dry trim sometime middle to late next week.

 

[Randar]

Final numbers are in!

Dry Weights:

Gorilla Bomb = 122 grams
TnT Trichome = 117.18 grams
Swiss Skunk = 122.12 grams
Swiss Skunk (stunted) = 153.11 grams

Total = 514.41 grams (1.13 pounds)

So, overall a disappointment in terms of the end weight as I was hoping to kill it with four plants (since I’ve gotten over a pound with two before). But I attribute that mainly to not having vegged long enough. Also, I was impressed that the little stunted skunk that I thought was going to die ended up being the biggest producer!

 

[Jungle Joseph]

Nice plants @Randar , great to see the stunted Swiss skunk survived. What's the flavor like?
Thanks for thinking of me when you won the xs1500. It looks like a fantastic light with great coverage. I can't wait to get started growing again.