Baked Alaskan's Hi Brix Vertical Grow

[BakedAlaskan]

Greetings friends! It is time to uncover all of the hard work going on at my place over the last few months.

So what are we growing this round? Some pretty cool strains using REALLY cool methods!

The strains -

• Resin's Cannatonic
• Barney's Cherry Berry
• Barneys Vanilla Kush
• Matanuska Thunder

The nutrients- Doc Bud's HI BRIX kit!!!!

The environment -

Secret Jardin DarkStreet 120 tent. It is a 4'x4' footprint, 6' tall. Installation of the tent required digging out and pouring a slab because my crawl space slab was 5'10" below the joists.

The drain table is a 42" square platform with a gutter on the front. There is a 1' square box in the center for a fan. Here is a shot of it before the roofing is installed:

..And another with the roofing glued down:

Here is the table installed in the tent with the fan in place:

This is my carbon scrubber powered by two high power computer fans. I shall call him #5.

The drain table is nice because it allows me to place most of my cords and crap underneath the deck. This works well provided the drain system flows properly. Water and electrical cords dont mix!


To vent, I have a 6" fan mounted in the floor with vibration buffers in place. It exhausts to a rim joist, but the connection between the fan and the exhaust pipe is also vibration-proof by connecting it with a bit of flex ducting.

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Now it is time to install the light! I'm running 400 watts which may be a bit underpowered for the space. Since this is my 1st vertical grow I plan to stick with it. If feedback from the forums indicate that a second 400W or upgrading to a 600W is in order, Ill make that happen.

Here is a shot of the Vanilla Kush. This is the thickest stalk I have EVER seen on a 3'tall plant! Genetics + Hi BRIX = outstanding performance.

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Last pic of this post - The tent with all of the ladies settled in.
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I plan to flip in a couple weeks.

Cheers!!
/BA

 

[BakedAlaskan]

Hello again fellow 420'ers.

Since this is my first vertical grow as well as my first BRIX grow, I decided not to incorporate the screen into things. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to attach a screen to a pot so that I can move them around for spraying. Some ideas on that in a future post.

I decided it was time to flip tonight. The ladies will be in the dark for 36 hours. I took one last chance to photograph them on this side of the flip.

Here is the Cannatonic. She smells almost like a tomato plant; hardly pungent in the slightest but "fresh" smelling.

This is the cherry Berry. She is really leaning to conform around the vertical "sun". She smells very pungent.

A closer one of her top.. the leaves are all extremely healthy.

This is the Matanuska Thunder. I am enjoying the oil and smoke from her parent right now.

And finally we arrive at Vanilla Kush. If she were male, I'd call her "John Holmes" for that thick shaft of a stalk. It is unreal how much differently this one grows from anything Ive ever seen. I hope her smoke is just as unique!

A group shot before the lights go out.

That is quite a change for one week. Thanks Doc for a terrific kit.

/BA

 

[CO Finest]

Awesome setup. Supper clean. Nice and green plants. I bet it will smell outstanding in flower time.

 

[Calyx Hunter]

Fricken awesome setup BakedAlaskan! Thanks for the invite. I'll be watching and rooting for you

 

[Graytail]

Another brixster!

You sound like you're an experienced grower. Whaddya think of the kit so far? What differences have you noticed?

Things look great, and nice tidy setup!

 

[BakedAlaskan]

Hi Gray, CO, and Calyx. Thanks for hanging out and pulling up a chair. The BRIX kit is an amazing way to learn and grow. Im trying to get it dialed in and understand how it all works. It seems strange to not dump all that stuff in the cool looking & expensive bottles. It will get really exciting in a couple of weeks when the flowers get going.

Vanilla Kush

Cherry Berry

Top of the Cherry Berry

MTF

Cannatonic

All four girls

Wow.. I forgot how long it takes to type a journal entry stoned. I made some everclear oil from bud. Took a nug of Tijuana and wiped some of the oil on it for a smoke. Dam. I typed that last sentence four minutes ago and zoned out.

Time to call it a night.
/BA

 

[KingJohnC]

Subscribed. I have been advised by 420 that the proper name of Alaskan Thunderfuck or Matanuska Thunderfuck Is either Alaskan Thunder or Matanuska Thunder.

 

[BakedAlaskan]

Subscribed. I have been advised by 420 that the proper name of Alaskan Thunderfuck or Matanuska Thunderfuck Is either Alaskan Thunder or Matanuska Thunder.

I was born & raised in Anchorage. In the'80s we always called it Matanuska Thunderfuck because it came out of the Matanuska Valley near Wasilla. A friend of the family brought the strain to the lower 48 and my cutting came from that linage. If there is a concern about profanity in the forums, then I'll happily refer to it as MTF.

 

[budnoob2]

Great looking setup and plants - i'm cooking soil for my first high brix grow now

 

[BakedAlaskan]

Great looking setup and plants - i'm cooking soil for my first high brix grow now

Thanks for checking out the thread! The hi brix growing method is revolutionizing this genre. For me, it is more than a great way to grow but it also a new way to think about the health of plants and the people who consume them. It is a tragic commentary on society that what we do is still against the law in some parts of the world.

 

[BakedAlaskan]

First drench following the flip. The plants continue to grow at a strong pace. They are in need of a good pruning, but I really want clones and my equipment must be sterilized and prepped first. Time was not on my side this weekend, so hopefully there will be an opportunity for the cloning early this week.

Here is the Cannatonic. She is finally starting to smell like cannabis.

Here is the Cherry Berry. I saw some purple streaks developing on the stem so Im adding some Cal-MG at a really light level

Here is Vanilla Kush. We will call her JH or "Jane Holmes" due to her thick center stalk.

Finally the MTF. She is drinking faster than the others. I have never seen this strain looking so well.

The drenches went well tonight, but I did see a design flaw with the drain table. The water tends to slip upward under the drip edge and misses the makeshift gutter. Ill have to reconfigure it with an alteration so that the water will flow properly.

Happy growing!!
/BA

 

[CareStaker]

Gotta check this out! Subbed+

 

[BakedAlaskan]

OOPS!!

I just realized in the photos above that the Vanilla Kush and Cherry Berry photos are switched. Jane Holmes was one pic up.

 

[CareStaker]

Wow you like the bigger girls I see. It's OK. They need love too..... and they love you back even better

Truly fine work, AB! I'm in like Flynn.

 

[Bud Diamond]

You're plants are looking awesome bro! I need to check out the hi brix next i guess. Also about the design flaw, I know that moonshiners will put a lil twig in the end of the copper tube where the shine pours out to keep it tidy. Plus water will follow along whatever surface itu can. So maybe you could put zomething like a skewer in there or clip the plastic to make it pointy. You seem to be more crafty than me so you will figure it out im sure.

 

[BakedAlaskan]

Thanks for the accolades! Happy to have more folks hanging out. I guess I do like the big girls, but only when the put out!! I have a plan for the drip table, but it will take time and lately my schedule is out of sync with the light schedule. It will get really sketchy soon because I have to be overseas for a week (heading to the UK). Ill snap some more pics tomorrow early morning while the lights are still on and before I head into work.

Cheers!
/BA

 

[BakedAlaskan]

Two nights back I gave the girls a trim. Here are some before and after shots:

Cannatonic before:

After:

Cherry Berry before:

After:

Vanilla Kush (Jane Holmes) before:

After:

MTF (only took an AFTER photo)

Here is a shot of the leaves.. the light sucks but trust me when I say these are some of the most healthy and green leaves I have seen on plants at this stage.

Now what to do with all the trimmings? Well, its CLONING TIME!!!

This:

..Turned into this (after three hours):

I got up this morning and decided it was time to start prepping for the next journal by planting some beans. For the next round, we will be growing:

Dinafem - White widow
Barney's - Tangerine Dream
Cold Sweat seeds - Albert Walker / Dog S**T / Flav

An aside about Cold Sweat seeds - I had the fortune to meet a very reputable breeder in the Washington area at a 420 party last month. By the end of the night I left with a 10-pack of seeds from him. While his operation is on the down-low, those "in the know" consider his work to be legendary. If that is indeed the case, then I'm eager to see how a Hi-Brix grow will affect this strain.

After a spraying of STRESS today, I took some shots showing the early signs of pistils.

..

And one with all four hanging around the light:

After closing down the tent and cleaning up, time to call it a night

Many thanks to my fellow 420 members for the love and encouragement.

/BA

 

[Shrike]

Great looking grow so far, BA.

Loving these HB gardens...

 

[BakedAlaskan]

Small update today...

All three seeds sunk, so its time to plant them! Not too much to say about the planting method.. just following Doc Bud's kit instructions. So they are all now nestled into their 1/2" depressions and hopefully will push their way through in a couple of days.

One of the most exciting things about growing is trying different strains. Earlier this year I harvested MTF for the first time and enjoyed it so much it will be a permanent part of our family. Blimburn Tijuana may as well; but since it is the only pure sativa I've grown chances are Ill branch out a bit first. The big issue is maintaining moms for all of the strains. It is really hard for me to let something go knowing that I will not be able to permanently cultivate it. In my circle of growers, there is some redundancy with strain preservation. This came in handy earlier in the year when we nearly lost MTF. Now three growers are maintaining moms, and Im am relieved to know that we have a backup plan.

Next round will be these seeds plus Girl Scout Cookies. I'm only growing that one out because a friend has it and says it is really popular right now. I tried some of his finished product and it was nothing special in my opinion, but it remains to be seen if a HB grow of it would impress more. He cracked my last Vanilla Kush seed and promptly killed it. So the only remaining strain of Vanilla Kush is the one in this journal and it is notoriously hard to clone. Im hoping that my HB clones have more success in this regard.

As an aside, my wife never consumed cannabis in her life (really, EVER). It was a couple years back when she decided to try it for her headaches and amazed us both when it became apparent that this was the only treatment EVER capable of curing her headaches. She tried some weed from friends in our circle and quickly refused it because of harshness. She is a weed snob now, and the only acceptable stash comes from what I grow. Last round was MTF and Tijuana grown in soil supplemented with Mills nutrient line. I washed the harvest using the 3-bucket method Doc recommends. It was BY FAR the best product we have consumed. We are counting down the days until we can sample the strains from this grow which should be on a whole different level.

Occasionally Ill post some shots of the Blimburn Tijuana. We located a secure and secluded spot outdoors. I mixed up a batch of Oscomote+ / Promix a few weeks back and gave them a deep planting with lots of terrific soil around them. If my swale is cut right, we should not have to water them once the entire season. This will be a "set it and forget it" outdoor grow... at least that is the hope. I wont let the wither if it comes to that in July / Aug.

Okay Im rambling and there is work to do. Happy Memorial Day to all 420Mag Americans! While our elected leaders may send the military into dubious engagements, those who serve in the military deserve our thanks and respect. Very few of us take a job which risks our life, and for that I am thankful.

/BA

 

[BakedAlaskan]

Great looking grow so far, BA.

Loving these HB gardens...

Thanks for stopping by, Shrike. I hope you tag along for the ride.