Pandora's Box, Querkle, Dairy Queen in Super Soil

Hi All - I've been lurking around here for about a year, soaking up as much info as I can from the "great ones" of RIU. I figured it is about time to give back. In this fun-filled adventure we will showcase some TGA genetics growing in Subcool's famous Super Soil recipe, with a couple of twists to keep things interesting.

I've been an avid gardener for about 12 years now but just got serious about our beloved herb last year, so most of my experience is with tomatoes, peppers and basil. I've tried pretty much every growing method you can name - ebb and flow, aeroponics, drip systems, straight up dirt, etc. I've settled on the Autopot system due to its performance and simplicity. I often travel for work so I can't have a high-maintenance system. This became clear to me when I lost 30 outdoor tomato plants in an aeroponic system because of a pump failure. Having run Autopots exclusively for 10 years, I've had very few mechanical issues and get consistent high quality.

I did my first run of Super Soil outdoors this summer with G13 Haze and The Purps. That experience taught me that the Autopots keep things a bit too wet for SS, so we'll add some more perlite this time around. But I think I'm getting ahead of myself. We won't be transplanting to SS for a while...

So - here's a look at the (hopefully) lovely Querkle ladies soon after popping surface 5 days from planting on October 26.
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Fast forward to November 15 and they are off to the races.
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The rest of the crew was planted on November 8 and here on November 15 they're up and moving. I normally wouldn't have transplanted to the #1 pots this early, but I was heading out of town for Thanksgiving so they couldn't go that long in the Rapid Rooters.
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We have the start of a happy family. 4 Querkle, 3 Pandora's Box, 2 Dairy Queen - 100% germination rate. The Querkle in the small pot is on death row. It looks to be the most sativa dominant, and I'm growing the Querkles for my night-time stash, so it will get killed if the rest of the kids stay healthy.
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Looking good so far! I myself "lurked" around this site for over 2 years before posting anything lol. I've heard Autopot Systems can be a bit touchy but it sounds like you know what you're doing. This looks interesting I'll be watching. +rep for starting the journal

Thanks Norcal. I am totally sold on the Autopots. They work best with a medium that doesn't retain too much moisture, but other than that they're truly "set and forget". I've been away from home for up to 2 weeks at a time with a hydro garden full of 6 foot tall tomato plants, in 85 - 90 degree heat, and not skipped a beat.

Wow that sounds fantastic, I hope you have the same success with your ganja plants
-Norcal Grower

nice job, im along for the ride med

here for the ride.. looks really good

Thanks for riding along mane2008 and nathenking.

Let's fast forward again to November 19 and see how the kids are doing.
First the Querkles 1 - 4 in order below
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Then Dairy Queen 1 and 2
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Last, but definitely not least, Pandora's Box 1 - 3
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Lookin good nice and green good tight nodes on the Querkles.
Can't wait to see more recent pics!

Thanks Norcal. Those Querkles are so uniform in stature they almost look like clones. I'm going to try to catch up on the recent pics to get us up to date.

Here's what we were treated to when we got back from Thanksgiving vacation on the 30th. Everybody looks happy and healthy. There's definitely something funky going on with PB #2, in the lower left of the picture, though.
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We have a mutant on our hands! PB #2 is pushing out a couple of club leaves and is quite a bit smaller than the others.
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If I was going for yield over anything else I'd probably toss that one in the trash to make room for the 4th Querkle. If everyone remembers, I've only got 8 autopots and now I have 9 plants. One of these poor babies is not going to see its first Christmas.


Here are the other two Pandora's Box. Both looking nice and happy.
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And here are the Dairy Queens.
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The Querkles look like they're ready for a hair cut. Right now we're growing in a closet in the basement. When I move out to the shed (thus the name "Medshed") we'll be height challenged so everybody gets topped. I picked up my topping technique from Uncle Ben here on RIU. Thanks Ben!

Off with their heads! Here are some before and after shots.
Querkle #2
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Querkle #3
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Querkle #4
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If you've been keeping track you may now be wondering what happened to Querkle #1. Well, curiosity got the best of me so I had to keep the mutant Pandora's Box around to see what it becomes.

Fast forward to December 5 and the kids are kickin' into gear.
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Pandora's Box
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Dairy Queen - DQ#1 is looking a bit more lanky than #2.
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The Querkles have recovered nicely from their trip to the barber shop.
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With this post, we are now up to date. This is definitely one big happy family!
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Let's see how those Querkles are coming along. Remember, they got a 2 week head start on the others and were topped last week.
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Now for the Pandora's Box before and after topping shots. Looking fresh with that stylie new 'do...
PB#1
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PB#2 - Our mutant is shaping up nicely. I've got high hopes for potency on this one. Let's hope it's a girl...
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PB#3
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Dairy Queens just back from the salon...
DQ#1 - seems to be leaning more to the sativa side of the family
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DQ#2
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That's it for now. Those Querkles are ready to transplant to their final home in the autopots and super soil. I gave everyone a drink of Earth Juice (grow, bloom, catalyst, meta k, microblast) at half strength on the 6th to get them prepped for the super soil. They all seem to be enjoying the calorie increase.

I just need to clean the shed and we're ready to transplant. Hopefully I can get to that in the morning...

Plants look awesome Medshed. Looks like you have some small bushes on your hands, and it seems like those Querkles really liked their haircut. I can hardly believe you only topped a week ago, there is some nice growth post-topping.
I'm excited to see those autopots in action!

Thanks Norcal. I'm definitely stoked on the Querkles right now. #3 (on the left in the group shot and the solo shots) is taking on a bit of a purple hue already. Can't wait to see what (s)he does when the days grow short...

Today I moved everyone out to the shed and transplanted the Querkles to the Autopots. The Medshed is basically a shed inside a shed. It's fully insulated and complete with heater for those cold winter days. I grow outside in the warm months so we don't need a/c.

Here are the shed specs:
Workable growing space = 4' x 6' of floor space with 35" from the top of the autopots to the bottom of the light.
Light system = Growzilla hood with 400 and 600 watt bulbs powered by Lumatek ballasts. The hood is on a light rail mover. For veg I just run the 400 watt Lumatek with a Hortilux Blue bulb. For flower I swap the 400 watt Blue for a Hortilux Super HPS and flip on the 600 watter, also powering a Super HPS bulb.
Ventilation = 8" Can Fan Max (654 cfm) pulling air through a Can Filter 66. This is probably overkill for the space but I was having some serious overheating issues last year when I added the 600 watt light to the 400 watter. I went through a couple of different fan/filter setups and couldn't get the heat under control so decided to go big and be done with it.
There is also a 16" wall mount fan to keep everybody moving. I'm thinking about adding a smaller fan on the floor pointing up and at the wall on the opposite side of the wall fan to maximize air circulation.
Water = The Autopots are plumbed to a 35 gallon reservoir that sits outside the grow room, but still in the Tuff shed. The reservoir is heated with a fish tank heater to keep the water around 65 degrees.

Here's the Growzilla, Light Rail and Can fan/filter. As you can see, I like duct tape...
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Here are the ballasts, heater and fan. The ballasts are mounted about a half inch away from the wall so they stay nice and cool. The heater and exhaust fan are each on separate temp controllers to keep the room 75 degrees during the day and 65 at night.
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Here's the family checking out the new pad on move-in day.
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Now for the Querkle transplant project.
I'm using the Autopot Single which is a 4 gallon pot with it's own Smartvalve. In the past I used the Double pot system with 3 gallon pots sharing a Smartvalve. The double pots work great for things like tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, etc. but the single pots are much better for kind bush.
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I always add about 1" of Hydroton to the bottom of the pot for a little extra drainage up to, and just above, the water line. You can tell where the water line is on the pot above.
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I believe the Querkles like about 1/3 to 1/2 a pot of Supersoil. I added about 20% more perlite to the SS to improve drainage, so I filled the pots about half full of SS.
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After placing the girls (I think, but not sure yet) into the pots, and watering them in well, they seem to like their new homes. In these pictures, we have Q3 on the left, Q4 in the middle, and Q2 on the right.
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Here's a closer look at Q2
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And Q3
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And Q4
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I'll give them a few days to settle in and then start the bondage. I'm going to try Hobbes' Crop Circle of Bud this time around. With these pots I guess I'll have to call it Crop Square of Bud, though...

Very nice update man. You do great journals man. I will def be following this one to the end.