Barney's Gorilla Zkittlez

I was planning on waiting until October to start my next grow due to a vacation. It turns out that my sister will be dog sitting for me and staying at my place. I figured they'll be well into flower by the end of September so there shouldn't be much for her to do while I'm away.

After the disappointing results of my last grow I'm making a lot of changes, hopefully for the better. I'm only growing two plants in 3x3 scrog instead of four doing their own thing. Last time it was so overcrowded that half the plants were useless immature white buds.

I was using the Captain's nutrient recipe from dude grows and I constantly struggled with dropping PPM and PH. The new recipe I'm using runs a lot higher in concentration with veg PPMs close to what I was previously running in flower. Surprisingly the plants are showing no signs of stress and the PH and PPM are completely stable.

The last change is adding 185 watts of LED strips around the outside of my main light bring it up to around 465 actual watts during flower

It's been 22 days since planted and they were topped five days ago at the fifth node. I thought there was no need to bore anyone with seedling photos. After topping the first sets of leaves continued to grow and blocked all the light to the new tops. Yesterday I decided to strip all the first sets of leaves so the new shoots could get some light. It looked pretty rough at first, all the leaves were squished into a single mass. After a day they have started to spread out more.

First two pics are before/after I stripped back the leaves to expose the new shoots. Feel free to comment or critique, all advice welcome.

Over watering?

Hey glad to see you back LG. This will be much easier to maintain for you in a scrog you wont regret it. You can start LSTing your branches down now to get more light to the lower nodes. With a scrog you usually have a little less veg time with more yield, I'll be watching!

Good luck !! Looking real good!!

Don_Sequitor said:

Over watering?

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They're in a DWC so they aren't technically getting watered. Each bucket has a 15 watt / 25 lpm air pump. The plant on the right was putting out big thick cabbage leaves, I assumed it was just the phenotype. I've never had two plants the same from seed lol.

Axion42 said:

Hey glad to see you back LG. This will be much easier to maintain for you in a scrog you wont regret it. You can start LSTing your branches down now to get more light to the lower nodes. With a scrog you usually have a little less veg time with more yield, I'll be watching!

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The scrog photo you posted in my last journal got me thinking this was the best way to manage the small space I have. I also like the idea of saving on time, water and nutrients by having less plants to deal with. I'll try and do a better job of updating this journal once per week.

Dr.Amber Trichome said:

Good luck !! Looking real good!!

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Thank you.

Laughing Grass said:

They're in a DWC so they aren't technically getting watered. Each bucket has a 15 watt / 25 lpm air pump. The plant on the right was putting out big thick cabbage leaves, I assumed it was just the phenotype. I've never had two plants the same from seed lol.



The scrog photo you posted in my last journal got me thinking this was the best way to manage the small space I have. I also like the idea of saving on time, water and nutrients by having less plants to deal with. I'll try and do a better job of updating this journal one once per week.



Thank you.

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Well if you remember them back then, this is them now. Day 29 since flip.

I'll tag along, ran a single seed of this. Came out pretty fat, kinda fucked up drying and lost a lot of the terps but man they were gnarly. Like a sour lemon cheesecake. It was wild. Diggin' your setup tho!

Axion42 said:

Well if you remember them back then, this is them now. Day 29 since flip.
View attachment 4378753 View attachment 4378754

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Very nice! Can you remind me what strain that is again? Are you growing in a 3x3 as well?

kroc said:

I'll tag along, ran a single seed of this. Came out pretty fat, kinda fucked up drying and lost a lot of the terps but man they were gnarly. Like a sour lemon cheesecake. It was wild. Diggin' your setup tho!

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lol I did the same thing with my northern lights, dried to around 40% humidity and killed the flavor. I nailed the dry/cure on my last grow and it tastes fantastic, even if the bag appeal leaves a little to be desired. What were your thoughts on the high?

Laughing Grass said:

Very nice! Can you remind me what strain that is again? Are you growing in a 3x3 as well?

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The strain is called Icicles from compound genetics, first time running it. I grow in a 4x8 tent with a 6 bucket + res RDWC system. I only use about 4x6 of the tent and I scrog 4x4 with 4 plants then I mainline/manifold the last 2 plants.

Laughing Grass said:

Very nice! Can you remind me what strain that is again? Are you growing in a 3x3 as well?



lol I did the same thing with my northern lights, dried to around 40% humidity and killed the flavor. I nailed the dry/cure on my last grow and it tastes fantastic, even if the bag appeal leaves a little to be desired. What were your thoughts on the high?

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I liked the buzz, it was a little more uppy, the kind of high where you wanna go do something then realize holy shit im kinda high lol

Laughing Grass said:

The scrog photo you posted in my last journal got me thinking this was the best way to manage the small space I have. I also like the idea of saving on time, water and nutrients by having less plants to deal with.

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Thanks for popping by my grow - I stalked back LOL

I am dealing with the same thing - kind of. I have 3 small spaces, but the same issues with space. With the DWC, a scrog might be perfect - I just hate scrogs (personally) because you are literally tied down. I am getting fairly good at the manifold thing, and am also trying to run numerous testers for a buddy. What I am doing is limiting the plants to 4 main cola - and nothing else. They will get tall and fat, but should stay within the pot-boundaries. Meaning I might be able to fit as many plants as I can fit pots, and have each produce 4 hog-leg buds.

We'll see if it works, but something to think about if you don't like scroggin'

Axion42 said:

The strain is called Icicles from compound genetics, first time running it. I grow in a 4x8 tent with a 6 bucket + res RDWC system. I only use about 4x6 of the tent and I scrog 4x4 with 4 plants then I mainline/manifold the last 2 plants.

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When I first set this system up I intended on going rdwc, but the high price tag attached to chillers held me back. My temps naturally run between 67 and 69 degrees. When I was testing the pump the water was creeping over 71 in a few hours. How long do you veg your scrog for? On my last two grows it's been a race to get to flowering as quickly as I can, both times around 5 weeks from seed. I'd like this to go a little longer, maybe fill the buckets with roots a little more before starting flower.

I've just been winging it on the strains. I think northern lights was a good choice for a first grow. It was really easy and forgiving to my mistakes. I bought into the hype on the LSD and it didn't really have any of the properties advertised... not that I'm complaining, the high is really good. These zkittles were a freebie but I think I'm going to do a lot more research on the next strain I grow. I do want to stick with feminized seeds so I don't have to mess with males.

kroc said:

I liked the buzz, it was a little more uppy, the kind of high where you wanna go do something then realize holy shit im kinda high lol

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So not the pot you wanna smoke before bed lol. Good to know thanks.

H.A.F. said:

Thanks for popping by my grow - I stalked back LOL

I am dealing with the same thing - kind of. I have 3 small spaces, but the same issues with space. With the DWC, a scrog might be perfect - I just hate scrogs (personally) because you are literally tied down. I am getting fairly good at the manifold thing, and am also trying to run numerous testers for a buddy. What I am doing is limiting the plants to 4 main cola - and nothing else. They will get tall and fat, but should stay within the pot-boundaries. Meaning I might be able to fit as many plants as I can fit pots, and have each produce 4 hog-leg buds.

We'll see if it works, but something to think about if you don't like scroggin'

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The results you're getting from mainlining are impressive! I like seeing folks like you get really nice results from quantum boards. Gives me hope that I can get there too. That sounds like a hybrid SOG. Here we're limited to a maximum of four plants. In your scenario are you getting a reasonable harvest from each plant to make it worth it if you were to only run four?

Laughing Grass said:

The results you're getting from mainlining are impressive! I like seeing folks like you get really nice results from quantum boards. Gives me hope that I can get there too. That sounds like a hybrid SOG. Here we're limited to a maximum of four plants. In your scenario are you getting a reasonable harvest from each plant to make it worth it if you were to only run four?

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Thanks! So far, no matter how I have "divided" the manifold (4-top, 8-top, lots of extra shoots, no extra shoots) I have ended up with roughly one ounce dry per pot-gallon. So like, 2oz from a 2gal, 3oz from a 3gal etc. The over-under difference on it has been how many times I tried to kill them during the grow. And leaving more cola didn't affect the weight much at all, just more larf at the end.

I'll see on this run if keeping them cleaned up and only 4 cola get's close to 3oz from the 3 gallon pots. If so they will be ginormous! LOL

Laughing Grass said:

When I first set this system up I intended on going rdwc, but the high price tag attached to chillers held me back. My temps naturally run between 67 and 69 degrees. When I was testing the pump the water was creeping over 71 in a few hours. How long do you veg your scrog for? On my last two grows it's been a race to get to flowering as quickly as I can, both times around 5 weeks from seed. I'd like this to go a little longer, maybe fill the buckets with roots a little more before starting flower.

I've just been winging it on the strains. I think northern lights was a good choice for a first grow. It was really easy and forgiving to my mistakes. I bought into the hype on the LSD and it didn't really have any of the properties advertised... not that I'm complaining, the high is really good. These zkittles were a freebie but I think I'm going to do a lot more research on the next strain I grow. I do want to stick with feminized seeds so I don't have to mess with males.

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What's cool about scrogging is that your growing your plants horizontally for most of its life thru veg, and also thru flower stretch, so you could veg a bit longer if you wanted but it doesnt normally take long to fill a 4x4 or like you, a 3x3. Top plants, LST tie down 2 new mains and grow them horizontally under net until about 75% of the net is full then flip, during stretch continue to grow under net and by the time it's done stretching you should have the entire net filled or pretty close to it. I vegged for 5 weeks this run but I had problems in the beginning and lost some growth time, it was my first run with this new system, new light setup so I had to deal with a pretty big learning curve. Really though, shit didn't get kickin until I got my chiller installed.

Your light looks Dope LG. Im also building a light parts ordered just waiting for the bits and pieces, bridgelux strips and quantum’s plus hlg drivers. You and your Dad did an awesome job on it looks pro.
Gorilla Zkittlez is an awesome looking plant and tastes a treat. Good to see you growing again

H.A.F. said:

Thanks! So far, no matter how I have "divided" the manifold (4-top, 8-top, lots of extra shoots, no extra shoots) I have ended up with roughly one ounce dry per pot-gallon. So like, 2oz from a 2gal, 3oz from a 3gal etc. The over-under difference on it has been how many times I tried to kill them during the grow. And leaving more cola didn't affect the weight much at all, just more larf at the end.

I'll see on this run if keeping them cleaned up and only 4 cola get's close to 3oz from the 3 gallon pots. If so they will be ginormous! LOL

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Interesting. My goal has been to get 12 ounces per grow. I was close on my first grow 328 grams, last run was down at 280 grams. The main issue I had was the plants were taller than me and my lights only penetrated about 12" into the canopy. I had several ounces of perfectly white buds that never saw light. I make bubble hash with my trim, surprisingly to me anyway I didn't get as much hash as I was expecting. I don't know maybe the all that white bud didn't have any trichomes on them. I'm going to keep an eye on your thread. I'm always interested in ways that I can produce more with less effort.

Axion42 said:

What's cool about scrogging is that your growing your plants horizontally for most of its life thru veg, and also thru flower stretch, so you could veg a bit longer if you wanted but it doesnt normally take long to fill a 4x4 or like you, a 3x3. Top plants, LST tie down 2 new mains and grow them horizontally under net until about 75% of the net is full then flip, during stretch continue to grow under net and by the time it's done stretching you should have the entire net filled or pretty close to it. I vegged for 5 weeks this run but I had problems in the beginning and lost some growth time, it was my first run with this new system, new light setup so I had to deal with a pretty big learning curve. Really though, shit didn't get kickin until I got my chiller installed.

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Do you run a second net above your first one? I have another question, how high above your plants do you run your net? I don't have a RDWC so I have to be able to access the top to add water/nutrients. Before I started I drilled 1" holes in the lids, they have removable rubber plugs. I have a funnel with a long hose that I can hang on the tent and dump water into. I also have a long rubbermaid container that I'll use for emptying the reservoirs. It fits right in front of the plants and I can empty through the sight tubes.

DustyDuke said:

Your light looks Dope LG. Im also building a light parts ordered just waiting for the bits and pieces, bridgelux strips and quantum’s plus hlg drivers. You and your Dad did an awesome job on it looks pro.
Gorilla Zkittlez is an awesome looking plant and tastes a treat. Good to see you growing again

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Thanks Dusty. If I'm being honest my dad made most of the light. I did a bit of soldering on the dimmer switch only to have him redo it 'cause he thought it was too messy. It must be really pricey to get LEDs and drivers shipped to Oz. I'd be interested in seeing your fixture when it's complete.

If your doing a proper scrog as in tucking and weaving etc try aim for 12inch max of bud above the net and do a little defoliation and your yield of top shelf bud will get the weights your looking.

360 watts of Samsung strips gets me 16oz on a ok grow nothing exciting. That's in a 2.5ftx4.8ft x 100 cm max height using two plants.

Laughing Grass said:

Thanks Dusty. If I'm being honest my dad made most of the light. I did a bit of soldering on the dimmer switch only to have him redo it 'cause he thought it was too messy. It must be really pricey to get LEDs and drivers shipped to Oz. I'd be interested in seeing your fixture when it's complete.

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Don’t worry my soldering skills are minimal as well. The drivers aren’t cheap had a few riu members from Oz push me in the right direction. I’ll post it when it’s complete, hopefully I don’t burn the house down lol.

Laughing Grass said:

Interesting. My goal has been to get 12 ounces per grow. I was close on my first grow 328 grams, last run was down at 280 grams. The main issue I had was the plants were taller than me and my lights only penetrated about 12" into the canopy. I had several ounces of perfectly white buds that never saw light. I make bubble hash with my trim, surprisingly to me anyway I didn't get as much hash as I was expecting. I don't know maybe the all that white bud didn't have any trichomes on them. I'm going to keep an eye on your thread. I'm always interested in ways that I can produce more with less effort.

Click to expand...

Are you talking dry weight? I have had plants with thick stems, thin stems, long stems and no stems. My last plant that did well was a 4 top manifold, but I left lots of extra shoots on it. Ended up 585g wet from a 3 gallon pot, under a 260w QB. That one is almost dry, and should be about 4oz cleaned up. I have pics in my thread.

I do dry-sift for the keif instead of bubble hash, same goal, different method, but I decarb everything I don't smoke and eat it

The pro's so far with mainlining are that it is a quick easy grow. No tucking, less chance of breaking stuff, and the plant is not fighting against the training once the manifold is "set". You top at about a month old, and again about a week later, and in a week or so you can flip. The longer you wait the taller they get, and pruning the lower shoots away as it grows focuses the growth on the tops. You can control the height by how long you let it veg, but the stretch after flip is enough to stack some tallish buds even if you flip early.

They also don't stretch past the edge of the pot. More room, more plants, same effect as the scrog as far as keeping the tops level. Last, since I am running some tester-reggies now I need more room in the veg phase to account for culling males. I am trying the manifold this grow without the heavy LST. Just pruning them and letting them grow. If you look through my page and have questions, don't hesitate.

zypheruk said:

If your doing a proper scrog as in tucking and weaving etc try aim for 12inch max of bud above the net and do a little defoliation and your yield of top shelf bud will get the weights your looking.

360 watts of Samsung strips gets me 16oz on a ok grow nothing exciting. That's in a 2.5ftx4.8ft x 100 cm max height using two plants.

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16oz is a nice target! That would be a hair under 1 gram per watt with my light setup. Your tent is a little larger than mine, if I could hit 14oz with two plants in 9 square feet, I'd be more than thrilled. I've always been afraid of defoliating too much and causing stress. I had a plant hermie on my first grow. I've uploaded a few pics from the last grow, you can see that it's so dark at the bottom of the tent and there are way too many leaves that should have been trimmed back.

DustyDuke said:

Don’t worry my soldering skills are minimal as well. The drivers aren’t cheap had a few riu members from Oz push me in the right direction. I’ll post it when it’s complete, hopefully I don’t burn the house down lol.

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I've seen the photos you've posted of the stuff you build. I doubt there's any risk of you burning your house down lol. My dad is a retired bricklayer and I'm 100% that it's safe to run the lights in my tent.

H.A.F. said:

Are you talking dry weight? I have had plants with thick stems, thin stems, long stems and no stems. My last plant that did well was a 4 top manifold, but I left lots of extra shoots on it. Ended up 585g wet from a 3 gallon pot, under a 260w QB. That one is almost dry, and should be about 4oz cleaned up. I have pics in my thread.

I do dry-sift for the keif instead of bubble hash, same goal, different method, but I decarb everything I don't smoke and eat it

The pro's so far with mainlining are that it is a quick easy grow. No tucking, less chance of breaking stuff, and the plant is not fighting against the training once the manifold is "set". You top at about a month old, and again about a week later, and in a week or so you can flip. The longer you wait the taller they get, and pruning the lower shoots away as it grows focuses the growth on the tops. You can control the height by how long you let it veg, but the stretch after flip is enough to stack some tallish buds even if you flip early.

They also don't stretch past the edge of the pot. More room, more plants, same effect as the scrog as far as keeping the tops level. Last, since I am running some tester-reggies now I need more room in the veg phase to account for culling males. I am trying the manifold this grow without the heavy LST. Just pruning them and letting them grow. If you look through my page and have questions, don't hesitate.

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Yes that's dry weight. I didn't think to weigh them while wet. When the first plant was cut down, the other three just fell over from the weight lol. Maybe I'll try mainlining on my next grow, I like the idea of not having to reach under a net to reach the lids. Do you think LED's cause more stretching than normal? I seem to have massive stretching issues. The plants below were 8 - 10 inches tall when I started flowering and when I finished, the tallest was just over 6 feet. I don't see other people having plants stretch like that.