New Grower DWC, Megacrop, Forgotten Cookies. COBS and QBs

[Frenjamin Banklin]

Hello FB,

I will be eagerly watching the results of your FB CBD Crack in 3 gallon grow bag run. I grow in 3 gallon grow bags in a very similar fashion and top most of my plants. It will be very interesting to see your results topped versus un-topped.

I think you will like the FB GG...I am on my second run of the FB GG ....really kick-ass smoke.

I will be watching your Mephisto run as well. I am going to run their Double Grape and Sour Stompers in my next run.

Awesome job!!!

Unfortunately the 3 gallon bags will be leaving to go to another grow. I might keep one to finish it off but the topped girl will be going to a first time grower that wants to try growing meds for himself. I figure if I get it to the stretch for him he’ll be way ahead of the game. He’s going to finish it under the sun.

I can tel you based on this situation the roped girl will double the yield of the un-topped. But it di slow her down by about a week at least. She was roped because she was furthest ahead and now the other two are a week ahead in flower development. Topped vs not will be debated for years here and personally I think it is plant dependent. If I have a pheno that for whatever reason is running away in veg even though I know lights are perfect I top that plant only to slow it down and spread her out. Growing with the COBs and QBs I’ve only had to do that 10% of the time, the lights usually do a very good job with LST of creating. Very nice canopy.

Here they are anyway
Topped girl

This closet will be shut down for a few weeks later today if all goes well.

Chopped two FCs yesterday and another will come down today. Putting the CBD cracks in the big room will same some killawatts until the HSI Blue Dream photos go into this room. They have been topped above the fourth node. Pictures later of the big room and some additional harvest pictures of the FCs. Three of the five will be down today. Two big girls have at least 2 weeks. Gotta count the days but that will put them close to 100.


FB

 

[Frenjamin Banklin]

The phased harvest is working really well, allowing you to maximize yield. Nice job with this, FB!

Definitely increased yield and allows more consistent bud. I suppose there are many ways to achieve that, but this works well for me. Like seeing those lowers get matured.

 

[Frenjamin Banklin]

Took down the third Forgotten Cookies that already had the tops taken. No trim shots sorry but here are the stems for structure. The plant in the middle was the cob plant that was always on 17/7. The outside two were in the QBs closet for 8 weeks at 16/8 before coming into the big room and bringing their lights with them. The cob plant had a bigger structure but I honestly feel like the other two were just faster plants. Also did slit more trimming in the plants in the smaller closet. But then again the Cob plant lost entire cola early on. Final weights will be in when all is dried but COB plant probably bigger than these two just because it had more room.

Here is her scar from the branch that was lost. Yes I tried to save it, no luck, tape splint nothing worked.

To save some $$ I’ve moved these soil girls into this room for a few weeks. 3 Fastbuds CBD crack in Soil. They are for friends to help them get some meds. They will finish under sun.

The first three plants came down at 80 days for the tops and then the rest at 90. Plus or minus a few days. These last two will have the tops taken next weekend and then the lowers a week later. They are some sloppy bitches right now. So neglected.
Back

Front

Tight on space for my germination mat. Guess this works.

This little seed is a Fastbuds GG4 that is going to get reversed for some pollen. She/he will go in a gallon fabric. First time for me but without this site I’d never have a clue.

Here are the five what I believe to be photo fem HSO Blue Dream CBD. Freebies from seedsman so you never know, lol. They will hit the big buckets next week and this little nursery will be used for next round. Back left hasn’t hit the water yet so I guess I already know the four strongest. Number 5 might have to survive the compost pile.

Literally 2 inches of water for 3 weeks now. Very light nutrients and bennies. No sign of bad water which was a huge surly considering water temp and light transthriugh cheap buckets.

And here are the roots from one of the Forgotten Cookies buckets,

Reservoir was never changed through the entire 90 day grow in these. Others still on the same water also. In a few weeks when final numbers come in for this grow I feel like the light schedule honestly made no difference. And the density of the buds is the same from the 4K Samsung’s tithe 3k/4k Cree cobs. May not prove much other than they can both grow some great medicine.

By the way, all you guys in AFN are bad ass. Good grow vibes to all you crazy growers.

FB

 

[baked in the bluegrass]

Been growing for a year and am going to try and journal a few Mephisto Forgotten Cookies. These will be my second Mephisto plants as I also have some Northern Cheese haze a few weeks ahead of the FC.

Medium
I grow in 8 gallon bubble buckets. I use current culture lids with 8” net pots. I start the seeds in peat pellets with a dash of GH rapid start added to the water they expand in. Seeds are geeked in water for 24hrs then into sandwich bag with wet paper towel on the heat mat. Once popped the are added to the pellets and allowed to grow till they pop out the bottom 2-3 days. Net pots are full of hydroton. I use an individual Danner AP4 pump the pulls 3.5 watts and pumps through 2 4” air stones in each bucket. The individual pumps are quieter and easily moved with each bucket. And have been through 4 grows and never needed more air in the buckets.


First post always gets boring but I promise lots of pictures soon, just want to set the stage. I’m a cowboy and have over each consecutive grow made things easier on myself testing theories of failure. Luckily for me I’ve had good luck. I am currently not doing any bucket changes on my bubblebuckets, I run them the whole way through ( unless shite completely hits the wall), I don’t measure my nutrients or keep a schedule of any kind. Just kinda look and listen to the girls. I began with a very nice Hanna EC meter that has been put away since second grow. I run the nutrients as light as possible and let the plant talk. I started pushing till tip burn but that just overloaded my DWC, so going the opposite route has been much better.



Nutrients on hand

Megacrop V1 ( still have 15 lbs)
GH cal/mg
Epsom
D-mannose(. Have no clue yet)
Hydroguard/ mammoth/ southern Ag bacteria. Whatever is closest
Aloe juice
Maxi bloom and Kool Bloom powders from GH.
Rapid start from GH

So I start my buckets with about 6 gallons of water to the bottom of the net pot. I add 1/2 cup of aloe juice, and one scoop of MC to the mix, probably close to 1g per gallon. And that’s it for the first two weeks. I add the bennies later in week three or four.


Lights, oh yeah I love my lights. COBS and QBs in two separate rooms. I run one room with the Rapid Led kit with 12 Cree cobs mixed between 3k and 4K spectrums. Currently running about 20w per square foot. I run them between 12-18 inches depending on stage. The cob room runs at 17/7 light schedule.

Second smaller room runs 4 QB 132s at the same wattage per foot but I am running the light schedule in this room at 16/8 and the QBs are all 4K. So you can see ism playing with wattages and scheduled to get the most good quality most efficiently.

I think that’s enough of the BS ground work. Now let’s see if this cowboy can grow some top shelf medicine.

FB

Heya FB, i got a couple questions for about your lil setup here.
How do you regulate the temp of your water/res? Is that an issue and if so how do you work around it?
Ill probably have a thousand more questions as i do more research and reading.

 

[Frenjamin Banklin]

@baked in the bluegrass

I grow in my basement in the northeast US and have pretty stable temperature without lights. I’d say 50-65 in the winter and 65-75 in the summer so I am lucky. The room runs anywhere from 65-85 degrees with lights on. I run 17/7, 16/8 and used to run 18/6. Non of which was for temp control but it does help the buckets not overheat. I literally add bennies when first starting my buckets and then boost them again when flowering starts and have no issues with root rot. I make sure I have no light getting into the reservoir and that makes a huge difference. I’m not going through hydroguard like water. I don’t even ever change my buckets out for an entire grow. But that may not be the case for everyone, I feed light and watch closely.

I grow with well water that is 300 ppm and 8ph after going through a whole house filter, add corosex with a brine tank to adjust my water from 5.0 ph to 7.5/8. My copper pipes corroded with the acid water. And then through a small carbon filter. So maybe I have magic water but once I add nutrients I can get my PH to 6-6.5. My first few grows I was trying to hold some magic 5.9 ph and constantly adjusting. Now I know my system and let it float from 5.9 to 6.5 and sometimes higher and have had no issues with uptake of anything.

I just keep experimenting and seeing what works for my setup. One of the big issues with hydro ( in my opinion) is the staggering of grows. Solo cups are great for the dirt growers but don’t work for hydro transplants so I needed a new method that took up less space than having small plants in huge buckets. You can see from some previous pictures my hydro nursery with the red buckets. Water in them is 80f and no issues. If you run LED and your tent is in the 70-80 degree range you should be able to manage water temps well.
As far as air goes I have Danner AP4 pumps that pull 3.5 watts and run one per bucket. They are quiet and I either run 2 4” or 2 2” air stones per bucket. I do have several of the $7.98 pumps from Wallyworld that have 2 outlets and they were fine.

I read a lot before I started and a lot of the information is good. BUT I have experimented and found that I have been able to do things differently and it works for me. I use less air, less light and less nutrients than most. I also don’t clean my reservoir at all. I add nutrients directly to water and don’t even mix. This is not right for every person but it works well for me. I get what consider to be very healthy yields of some very potent and tasty bud.

Looking forward to seeing how things go for you and hope you enjoy the journey

FB

 

[baked in the bluegrass]

Its been a fantastical journey so far! Wish i had taken the plunge and tried growing way earlier lol.
Ive got myself mostly talked into it, i may have to shell out a few bucks tho cause im about as diy-inclined as a 3 week old kitten lol.

 

[Iriee Vibez]

Took down the third Forgotten Cookies that already had the tops taken. No trim shots sorry but here are the stems for structure. The plant in the middle was the cob plant that was always on 17/7. The outside two were in the QBs closet for 8 weeks at 16/8 before coming into the big room and bringing their lights with them. The cob plant had a bigger structure but I honestly feel like the other two were just faster plants. Also did slit more trimming in the plants in the smaller closet. But then again the Cob plant lost entire cola early on. Final weights will be in when all is dried but COB plant probably bigger than these two just because it had more room.View attachment 1066704
Here is her scar from the branch that was lost. Yes I tried to save it, no luck, tape splint nothing worked.View attachment 1066705
To save some $$ I’ve moved these soil girls into this room for a few weeks. 3 Fastbuds CBD crack in Soil. They are for friends to help them get some meds. They will finish under sun.View attachment 1066706
The first three plants came down at 80 days for the tops and then the rest at 90. Plus or minus a few days. These last two will have the tops taken next weekend and then the lowers a week later. They are some sloppy bitches right now. So neglected.
BackView attachment 1066707
FrontView attachment 1066708
Tight on space for my germination mat. Guess this works.View attachment 1066709
This little seed is a Fastbuds GG4 that is going to get reversed for some pollen. She/he will go in a gallon fabric. First time for me but without this site I’d never have a clue.View attachment 1066710

Here are the five what I believe to be photo fem HSO Blue Dream CBD. Freebies from seedsman so you never know, lol. They will hit the big buckets next week and this little nursery will be used for next round. Back left hasn’t hit the water yet so I guess I already know the four strongest. Number 5 might have to survive the compost pile.View attachment 1066711
Literally 2 inches of water for 3 weeks now. Very light nutrients and bennies. No sign of bad water which was a huge surly considering water temp and light transthriugh cheap buckets.View attachment 1066712
And here are the roots from one of the Forgotten Cookies buckets, View attachment 1066713
Reservoir was never changed through the entire 90 day grow in these. Others still on the same water also. In a few weeks when final numbers come in for this grow I feel like the light schedule honestly made no difference. And the density of the buds is the same from the 4K Samsung’s tithe 3k/4k Cree cobs. May not prove much other than they can both grow some great medicine.

By the way, all you guys in AFN are bad ass. Good grow vibes to all you crazy growers.

FB

You are the bad ass, man! Damn fine cannabis grow right there!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Frenjamin Banklin]

You are the bad ass, man! Damn fine cannabis grow right there!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Thanks growbro
Took down the tops on the last two this morning. First three plants are slowly settling into 62% RH and we will get a weight in them ASAP. Pretty pictures in a few hours of what’s going on in the room.

 

[Frenjamin Banklin]

Some pretty green porn and updates
Here is the super sloppy Forgotten Cookies that I can’t wait to be rid of, this is a sloppy drunk that is just falling all over herself. Not a true representation of the strain but what happens if you leave her in a small space and the wall support her and she gets lazy.even with the tops gone she’s a slob.

Her sister lost her tops and is holding up just fine. Spread wide and soaking up the QBS on those lowers.

Here is the plant I’m donating, she’s had no issues. These plants are in Miracle grow natures organic potting mix with 25% more perlite added. Other than water they have had 1 tsp of MC1 added to a gallon of water and shared amongst the three plants. For $8 this soil has not been terrible. All these dirt girls were an experiment and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome so far.

Girl in the middle wasn’t topped just LST and clearing lots of lowers

And the lady small one I’m trimming it to have just the main and the four dominant from the 2nd and 3rd nodes. I’ll be keeping this one and the middle one. Probably finish inside but not sure yet.
Little one gallon fabric is my GG4 sprout, going slow, hope she/he is building roots. Shy and hiding behind that fan leaf.

The DWC nursery is rocking hopefully moving them tomorrow, maybe. Probably not lol.

Whole room kinda, under the fabric is the recharged buckets for the girls in the nursery. Bubbling and stabilizing, waiting for the little ones.

I think I’ll start a perpetual thread after the final weights are in for the Forgotten Cookies. I usually run a pretty mixed variety. This was the first time entire room was one strain.

Thanks to all you crazy growers for swinging through to check out the ladies. Pass a puff , top off ya glass and enjoy your night/ day/ morning.

FB

 

[baked in the bluegrass]

Ignore the heavy breathing coming from this dark corner over here. Has nothing to do with the sexy spread you just put up, nothing at all!