Ol' Doc Aroma Grows Sadhu, God Bud, & LA Woman

It's a new year, and that means a new grow for Ol' Doc Aroma. Nothing new strain-wise this time, just some old favorites.


Yesterday I planted the following in plain soil in 16 oz cups: 4 Sadhu, 4 God Bud, and 2 LA Woman. The Sadhu, one of my all-time favorites is from a new batch of seeds. The first batch I had did not have a great germination rate, I think because they were old when I got them. The God Bud is from the original batch I got about a year and a half ago. I made a bunch of F2s and they were all like the originals. But I figure I might as well use the F1s before they get too old. God Bud is definitely my favorite smoke flavor-wise. The LA Woman was a bit of a surprise. I forgot I had one more of the original feminized freebies left. I was planning on using the seeds that came from my first plant (I got 6 seeds from it). So I planted one of my F2s and the one remaining original. We'll see if there's any difference. I have no idea who the father of those LA Woman seeds I found.

 

Never heard of the Sadhu, but that God Bud is some excellent smoke.


You, sir, have an Excellent seed collection. props... can't wait to see this grow underway. God Bud is one of the strains I was going to try to find next.

 

My Growing Environment


Unfortunately, I can't get a good picture of the cabinet, so this 3D rendering will have to do. The space is so narrow I only have about an inch clearance when I open the doors, which means I can't get far enough back to get the whole cabinet in a picture.





I'm using a standard double-wide wardrobe, about 48" w x 72" h x 18" d. I left the top shelf in and took out the vertical divider. In the top compartment I have a Panasonic Whisperline 240 CFM fan pulling through a homemade carbon filter. A power strip and the timers are also in the top compartment. I cut a hole in the left side of the shelf for intake from the grow area. In the chamber below I have two darkroom louvres for input on the right side (opposite the exhaust hole in the shelf). For circulation, I have 2 PC fans -- one on the left side blowing upwards, and one blowing on the lights. The entire inside of the grow area is painted flat white.


I'm currently using a single 400-w HPS bulb in a Super Sun 2 reflector. I have an EYE Metal Ace MH bulb for veg, and an EYE Hortilux HPS bulb for flower. I have the one PC fan blowing into the right side of the reflector, and some ducting on the left (not shown) taking the air up into the top chamber. The reflector is on chains so I can adjust its height as necessary. That's the ballast sitting on top of the cabinet.


I can fit eight 3-gal grow bags in my cabinet, which means if all 10 seeds sprout, I'll have some life-and-death decisions to make. The bags are sitting on a piece of eggcrate for drainage, and underneath the bags the bottom is lined with a piece of heavy drop-cloth plastic. My medium is organic soil. I started with Fafard's soil in the purple bag, which has no additives. It lists its ingredients as top soil - 75%, compost - 15%, and peat moss - 10%. I like it better than MG organic soil, which is the only other organic soil I can get around here. It is a very rich, dark soil. To it I add perlite (about 5 to 1, soil to perlite), a little vermiculite, bone meal (flower), blood meal, ground egg shell, epsom salts, dolomitic lime, kelp meal, and the dried, ground-up leaves from my previous harvest. The seedling mix, in 16 oz plastic cups, is just straight Fafard's with some perlite added to it.


For ferts I use Metanaturals. For veg I use their grow formula, for flower I use their bloom formula, and I use their calcium supplement as needed. I also add molasses to my regular water about every other watering during flower. Since Mandala are supposed to require little in the way of feeding, I will probably fertilize them maybe once at the most during veg. The God Bud and the LA Woman will be a little hungrier, especially toward the end of flowering.


Be sure to check back soon for an update and some pictures.

 

As I've said many times, IMO you can't go wrong with any genetics produced by Mandala Mike. All of his strains are extremely hardy, require little feeding, grow fast/big, and produce great smoke. Surprisingly, what he says about his strains is not only extremely detailed, but always spot on. Here's the official description of Sadhu.


And I know there are some different strains of God Bud around. Here's where I got mine (great service and great prices): God Bud.

 

Quick Update


Finally, on the fourth and fifth days after planting, I have some sprouts. I guess I planted them a bit deep (which I like to do as it helps insure the seed coat will come off). But it's not all good news.


All four God Bud have made an appearance, and both LA Woman have too. In fact, the one original LA Woman seed has produced a twin! Never seen one in all these years, and now twins in two consecutive grows. Even the F2 LA Woman seed I found is up.


The bad news is that only one of the four Sadhu has made an appearance. I'm starting to wonder about the Sadhu. The first time I grew them I also had a very poor germination rate. I figured I had gotten some old seeds. But with a fresh batch of seeds this time, I'm still only 1 for 4. Pretty crappy if you ask me. I'll give it another day, and if I don't see any more Sadhu sprouts I'll plant a few more. I really like the Sadhu, and don't want to end up without any. Not sure who to blame, Mandala or Attitude Seed Bank. So far all other Mandala strains I've grown have had a 100% germination rate.


More to come, and some pictures when there's something worth seeing.

 

I want to see pictures of the twins.

 

You asked for it. Here are the LA Woman twins on day 2:





Last time I just chopped the smaller one. The surviving twin still ended up being a bit of a runt. But I really hate to waste a living plant. Maybe I'll try a little surgery to separate them. Hope they're not sharing any vital organs!

 

Planting Round Two


I did a little digging last night to see what had become of the three Sadhu no-shows. I found two. They had popped open and then just stopped. If I recall, this is what happened the last time I grew Sadhu. So I carefully removed the cracked see coats and put the little embryos back in the soil. They looked healthy enough. I couldn't find the third no-show.


This morning, nothing. Couldn't even find the two I performed surgery on yesterday. So I planted three more Sadhu seeds. We'll see what happens. AT the very least, these new ones will be almost a week behind the rest. Shouldn't be a major problem as Mandala genetics grow relatively fast.

 

Never heard of a seed "twining" (just made that word up).


How rare a thing is it???


Peace....

 

That would be "twinning."


I've been growing for close to 30 years, and just saw my first twin my last grow. Now another one on my very next grow. So lately it would seem pretty common, for me anyway, but generally I'd say it's pretty rare. I didn't even know it was possible!


I thought the first time I had accidentally planted two seeds, but I counted and recounted my remaining seeds and confirmed it was really two plants from one seed. This time I know I only had the one LA Woman seed.

 

Interesting.... I never knew that MJ could produce a twin plant from one seed. Cool stuff Tony. Waiting for the show to get exciting! :thumbs-up:


asssit:


opcorn-2:

 

What, twins isn't exciting enough for you already???? Maybe by my next update, my sprouts will have been involved in a car chase or shoot out, or been abducted by aliens (maybe that's what happened to my Sadhu). Would that keep you coming back?


:alien11:

 

We'll see what happens with the Sadhu. If the new seeds I just planted sprout, then I'll have no extra room and the little twin will meet its maker. But if the new Sadhu are DOA after a few days, I just might try to separate the twins. I definitely don't think it would be a good idea to just leave them as is. I can't imagine having two plants growing right next to each other in a 3-gallon bag would be good for either of them. I'd rather have one big healthy plant than two runts.

 

That's not what I meant.......:mashed: I meant it will be exciting in the next few weeks to watch the twins develop and see if they are girls.:thumbs-up: car chase.....You Goober.......:roffl:

 

Just yanking your chain a little.


They better be females, since it was a feminized seed!

 

Another Bit of an Update


Just for the heck of it, I separated the twins today. In case those Sadhu don't grow, I'll at least have one more plant to work with. Sort of.


Using forceps, I carefully pulled the smaller twin up and away from the bigger one. It had a bit of a tap root, but that's about it. Probably sharing a root system with the other one. But I was careful and don't think I did any damage. It's now in a cup of its own, looking very tiny and lost. Even if it survives, it surely will be a runt. One other interesting thing about the smaller twin -- it is a tripoloid (I think that's the term). It has three cotyledon leaves rather than the typical two. Whatever that means.


One other thing of interest is that I contacted Mandala directly about my two "bad" batches of Sadhu seeds. Last time 2 of 5 germinated, this time 1 of 4 (so far), while all other Mandala seeds I've tried had a 100% germination rate. They responded immediately, asked for my invoices so they could look into the seedbank situation, and offered to send me a replacement. That's good customer service, IMO.

 

pretty cool. I was just checking out Manala's website, how can they offer such amazing genetics at rock-bottom prices? Seems too good to be true.


How many times have you ordered, grown out their seeds?

 

Hard as it may be to believe, there are a few breeders around who would appear to be in it for the love of the plant (as opposed to the love of the money the plant brings them). Mandala Mike appears to be such a breeder.


And his gear is unique. None of the handful of lines that much of the commercial strains all seem to be derived from nowadays (skunk, kush, etc). He travels the world looking for genetics and combines them in interesting ways. Lots of old world landrace genetics in his strains, which is probably why they are so hardy. I've never bought any really expensive seeds, but I find it hard to imagine that they could be that much better than Mandala's.


So far, I've grown Mandala #1, Sadhu, Beyond the Brain, and Point of No Return. All are good in their own way. Can't go wrong with Mandala. Check out my recently-completed grow diary in this forum for more info about BTB and PNR. And I think there might be an old thread around about my earlier Sadhu grow.

 

what exactly is "landrace"?


I see Mandala's tend to have a good mold resistence, which I will need growing in this climate.