Second Time Out - White Rhino, Butterscotch & Ak-47 Oh MY!

After a shocking success on my first grow I had a brief hiatus when there were no girls in my life, and I was sad. So, I took steps, in several directions, to remedy the situation. For a start, it was off to Attitude, fine sponsor of this very site.

Ten White Rhino beans and a Cole Train freebie for good measure. But as I pondered the process of starting from seed, something I've not done, an acquaintance was able to hook me up with a couple mothers, Butterscotch & AK-47! The AK is in pretty rough shape but the Butterscotch is gorgeous. Gonna have to learn to take clones ASAP!

As if all of the above wasn't enough to amuse a casual-growin' n00b like myself I was also able to put my hands to six more White Rhino plants from the same source as my previous grow! Meet the latest girls in my life:

Got them tucked into a bubbler yesterday and they seem to be settling in nicely. Looks like I'm going to need to start setting up a vege/clone space if I'm going to keep these lines available for my use.

If anyone has any wisdom or commentary they would care to share I would love to hear from you. Stay tuned - updates as warranted!

Technical Details for my Rememberings:

Six White Rhino clones put into bubbler on 8-7. Half-strength nutes at 800 PPM. Looking good so far.

AK-47 & Butterscotch mothers acquired roughly 8-1. Showed signs of some form of deficiency after a couple days. Tried Seabird Guano at two tablespoons to a gallon with no results. On 8-10 treated with CalMag at one teaspoon per gallon. Removed all damaged growth. Monitoring...

CalMag was the solution. Everyone is lean and green. Big Butterscotch mother is branching and growing like mad. The "Oops" clone from my first grow is finally turned around in its photoperiod and producing its first true five-fingered leaves. No signs of any more Mn deficiency. Will take Butterscotch clones very soon!

I'm following this journal.
Give us some love.. what lights, nutes, soil, grow-room, etc etc!

My first grow - read all about it!

Technical Details for my Rememberings:

Minimal drop in tank level, PPM 770. Huge root growth. Stay the course for now.

'Nother round of CalMag for the girls wearing soil. Yellowing looked to be starting up again. Must get this shit cloned, stable and lose this soil shite!

Well for good or ill I took clones for the first time last night. Four from various scrawny Butterscotch mothers and four from the mega Butterscotch mother.



Will they live? Stay tuned to find out!

***ETA - Forgot to mention that I FIM'd four of the Rhinos. At least I hope I did...I know I cut some of the tops off...remains to be seen if I actually did it right!

Technical Details for my Rememberings:
Added one gallon full strength veg mix to tank, PPM still at 800.

Good luck with your grow.
I like Ak-47, and im currently growing White Rhino...
Never had a Butterscotch bud before but it sounds good...

Hears a couple pics of my White Rhino's there about 1 week from starting to flower...


Dice

Hey Dice!. Those are some good lookin' ladies ya got there!. I'm looking forward to getting the fairly messed up AK mother back online and producing clones. I've been smoking Rhino for years now and am ready for a change. The Butterscotch allegedly tastes like...well, butterscotch. That would be different!

Good luck with your girls and stay Kind!

So a pretty major revamp in the grow room this weekend. Finally cleaned out the box I built for veg/clone/mothers, lined it in Mylar and slung the first of two T5's. Some of the mothers I was given are going to need some radical LST to fit in the 3.5' box but overall I'm pleased with the end results.


One bit of bad news - the four clones that I took from the scrawny Butterscotch mothers croaked and those from the large mother aren't looking so great. Friend of mine has an Aerocloner that he might lend me if only he can find it. In the mean time there are more to take...just keep trying until I get it right!

I also dropped a screen over the Rhinos but think I'm gonna try a different screen. Move two of the Rhinos to their own buckets; they'll be moving to the veg box after I sling the second T5.



Technical Details for my Rememberings:
Added two gallons full-strength veg mix to bubbler. PPM around 880.

'Nother busy weekend. Everybody, both the big bubbler and the two standalone buckets, got a nute refresh of 1000 PPM goodness. Cut a bunch of clones from the two Rhino mothers, some from the large Butterscotch, and some more from the little Butterscotches. Two of the four clones from the first batch of large Butterscotch cuttings look like they are going to make it so I put them in soil. My only problem right now is if the two dozen cuttings I have in trays actually take...I have no idea where the hell I'll put them! But not to worry - I'll figure something out.

So yeah - lotta free time over the past eight days means, so a lot changed. To whit:

1. Pulled the two White Rhino mothers out of the mylar-lined-box-of-T5-loving-goodness as they had NO bidness getting so large in there. Threw those bad girls under the SCRoG screen and never looked back. Bitches are FIM'd & SCRoG'd hard:

I flipped to 12/12 on Labor Day. Last time I dated these girls' sisters they went sixty days, so I'm looking to harvest early to mid November with some cured smokables for the arrival of ole Saint Nick. I veg'd my first run for eleven days. I veg'd these ho's for three times that. Even with all the nodes I've cut for clones I've most definitely got three times the flower sites as the prior grow. Even tho' some of the central stems got away from me on the SCRoG, I've got much better lumen distribution this time...dare I hope for twice the 1/2 Z per plant I got last time?
2. Had to pull one T5 from the above box due to temp (no ventilation in the box - I'm working on it...) Even tho' they are $125 a pop for these 100 watt T5's I am pondering one more - they are just so fucking flexible. With the onset of colder weather I could probably put one back in the box and actually help maintain optimal temp.
3. Moved all soil-borne mothers to the office closet, as ambient temps allow it again. Guess where the above-referenced T5 went? Thin light but enough for the moment. Grabbed the shitty Agway-style 1' flouro for the two trays of clones (more on that in a sec) Now have four clones from the big Butterscoth mom in local soil and home-grown compost

4. Have a tray of Butterscotch cuttings in rockwool, both large and scrawny mothers. Another tray of White Rhino cuttings from all six of my WR's. Even tho' some of the cuttings are going on two weeks, and look great, I'm still not seeing any root development on all of the WR's and most of the Butterscotch. But that topic leads us to...
5. Ever wonder what to do with that under bed storage containter? Why not punch eighteen 3" holes in the top, a couple more holes for tubing in the side, line the top with Mylar to block light & optimize lumens, add a couple air stones and a pump, and make a shallow DWC rig for freshly-rooted clones to acclimate to their new world before being thrown into the harsh realities of the flowering chamber?

The first four clones from the big Butterscotch mamma are rooting in varing degrees of enthusiasm - all good. Tonight I threw two more clones from said mother into this bubbler along with three WR cuttings. None of the clones added today had any roots showing, but WTF - I've got plenty more where those came from. Took another dozen cuttings from the WR's that are in the flower chamber (as seen in left of above image). Even tho' I have to one mutant WR lady from my first grow I would like to back her up with a couple cousins. At this point only time will tell.

So I think I am about where I've wanted to be. Three seperate spaces, one for maintaining mothers, one for clones and cuttings, and one for veg. Even when the warm temps return and banish my girls from the office I've got plans on how to build a space on top of the existing hotbox.

God I love this "hobby".

I can't stop! Craig's List landed me one of these here gizmos:

It's a teeny little 150 watt HPS that will be perfect for the teeny six-node bubblers that I'm playing with. Figure why not play with flowering some fresh-out-of-the-rooting-bubbler babies. Pretty soon I should have a lot of girls looking like this:

Finally, just because I can't leave well enough alone, not mention the insane number of nodes available for clones on the WR's:

I managed to land this 60-port EZCloner!

So the cycle of life will be something like...lotta Butterscotch clones and a LOTTA White Rhino clones -> once rooted go into the box for couple weeks to grow a bit -> then out into the flowering chamber. Will get some mothers in soil and distribute them amongst friends for "offsite backup". So yeah, the factory is really starting to ramp up? Stay tuned!

Built a couple more bubblers for the cloning box and a larger one for flowering. Here's the new ten gallon, twelve port bubbler under the new 150 watt HPS with four Butterscotch clones from the large mother:

And here is the contents of the hot box. At this point I've got fifteen or so White Rhino girls in the large bubbler to the right, tho' only one has actually rooted. I took the eight remaining WR girls and threw them in soil hoping I'll actually be able to get ONE Rhino mother going. The front left six-port bubbler has more Butterscotch but these are from the scrawny mothers. I'd kind of lost interest in these since they've been around for a month or so and had no rooted. I was going to chuck them to make some room - imagine my surprise when I discovered that they had rooted like crazy! So yeah...few weeks of veg for them then into another ten gallon twelve port bubbler in the flowering chamber. Finally, once I pick up some more three inch net pots I'll throw some more Butterscotch babies from the big mother into the left rear mini-bubbler. Lot going on in the hot box right now!

Finally, two weeks into flowering and the girls are starting to show their goods:

Since I kinda screwed up my attempt at a SCRoG it will be interesting to see how much I get out of this grow. Given the number of flowers poking their heads above the screen, I don't expect to be disappointed!

So things keep on keepin' on. White Rhino girls will have been in flower six weeks this coming Monday. They are too dense for the space and it's showing in terms of their development. I think I'll cut them a couple weeks early just to free up the flowering chamber. From here on out small plants in constant rotation will be my approach. Still, I should pick up a Z or three:


The Butterscotch that I started a month ago is slowly coming along. Interesting plant in that it shows no sign of branching; just nodes with a fan leaf and flower directly on the stem. And yes, it does smell like butterscotch! Can't wait to get some cured down.


I've got another round of both Butterscotch and White Rhino in the box right now. Think I'll just flower the Butterscotch and use the WR for clones. I have a couple WR mothers in soil, but it's going to be a while until they are ready to have cuttings taken. Of the five WR girls I have going in hydro right now I'll butcher three for clones and keep the other two as additional mothers. Never hurts to have backups of your backups!

I also have some Butterscotch starts ready to come out of the cloner. This weekend I'll bust out the bit 18-node bubbler and drop the starts in a weak veg solution under a T5. Hopefully in a couple weeks I'll begin my first round of rotation using these starts. The two large Butterscotch mothers that I have are going to get carved up for the cloner and returned to whence they came. My hope is to be able to build another light-tight veg box on top of the existing one so I can house my mothers there. If I can move the cloner in there (or get rid of it - it's really more than I need) I'll have everything I need in the grow room, thereby decreasing my footprint in the house and improving security.

Really gonna have to do something about the smell soon. If you know to look for it you can totally notice that SWEET scent when you walk in the door. Probably should have put the grow room somewhere other than right under it!

A most definitive weekend. Moved the six best Butterscotch clones into a bubbler. Had a master cloner work over my mothers so all sixty node on the cloner are now populated. Moved all my mothers to the grow room. And ... decided to have a little party next weekend to take down the six White Rhinos currently flowering. It will only be seven weeks in flower, while they allegedly prefer ten...but my better half likes the heady, couch-lock-free, edgy buzz of early bud. It's also time to stop wasting lumens and get serious about taking a resource-based approach to the operation.

Speaking of the kind of twisted buzz you get from early nugs, I almost ruined the evening of a newbie who took ONE bong hit of freshly cut bud...she was on the couch in a quiet room for hours! As a daily toker I forget that White Rhino is one of the stoutest medical strains out there and can FUCK YOU UP if not treated with respect. I told her that I'll grow a plant or two for an extra couple weeks just to keep it mellow.

Failure of an epic proportion hit the cloner, resulting in a total loss. I still have some mothers able to offer up some cuttings, but this has been a serious setback. I took six WR cuttings and put them in rockwool, since I KNOW that method works. Had the aforementioned master cloner (and actual owner of the aerocloner) do some maintenance on it so hopefully I get get some girls in there and ROOTING. I am disappointed but cautiously optimistic.

Cut down the WR girls that were flowering. Seven weeks so a bit early but the chaos had become too much. I found a whole layer of really immature bud under the tall stuff, so I may let them run for another week or two just to maximize the yield off of this grow. Based on the yield last time I would guess that I'll get between two and three ounces out of this grow. Not great but hey, live and learn. Here some shots of the girls right before they went down:


Immature WR budlets, one week drying in an open paper bag mixed with fresh Butterscotch bud. What will that smoke like?


Seven leave, nine leaves...as long as it smokes well who cares?

Nom!


So I guess that closes this grow. Still have some Butterscotch that needs another month or so, and hopefully I can get the perpetual grow rolling along so this is by no means over...

In testimony to the hardiness of Cannabis I give you this little girl

She was cut almost a month ago and spend her early days in a malfunctioning aerocloner. I hadn't gotten around to removing all the corpses from said cloner until now - imagine my surprise when she came out with those roots! I had to throw her in an available bubbler just to see how far she would go. She has a couple sisters of the same vintage that may soon join her.

Speaking of cloning, the six WR girls in rockwool seem to be holding their own. I topped the four Butterscotch mothers that I have in soil and threw them in the aerocloner and so far they appear to be ok. I have a fair number of WR cuttings that will go into the aerocloner this weekend. As long as I don't have any more technical breakdowns I should be able to get this operation back on track.

Cleaned out the flowering chamber and moved the Butterscotch under the big lights. Slung the 150 and threw another bubbler under it.

Things are much more manageable now. I love these ten gallon tubs for bubblers, they are just the right size. The two largest Butterscotch girls continue to grow straight up with no intervention on my part. They are almost entirely covered on flowers. If this strain always grows this way I think I have found the perfect strain for a small grow like mine. Not a great pic, but enough for you to get the point:

Two more weeks and they will be at eight weeks of flowering. Not sure what the recommended period is, so will just have to keep checking the trich's. Can't wait to try the finished product!

smoke report on rhino please?

Dont you love it and you almost do a whole thread and It's almost all you talking. lol Hey man nice work! Rhino rules doesnt it! I pop in and out friend so I'll catch ya. From time to time. Keep it up people are to get to comment sometimes.