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

I'm not sure of the exact definition (Google?), but it means that a plant has been growing in a particular region for many generations and has become acclimated to the local conditions. For example, a plant that has been grown in a hot, dry climate would become heat and drought tolerant. It also means that the genetics are stable. Individuals are not going to vary a lot, such as you would expect with the first few generations of a new hybrid. Kind of like heirloom vegetables.


I believe that's a big part of why Mandala's strains are so hardy, fast growing, and need very little feeding.

 

oooh. great explanation, much appreciated

 

Update @ Day 7


Here we are already at the end of week one, and it looks like things are pretty much on track.


I finally gave up on that second round of Sadhu I planted, and started a few more God Bud the other day. I don't want to end up with wasted space or too little chance of getting some females. And what do I see this morning but a new Sadhu sprout. At least now I'll have two. I just doubled my odds of getting a Sadhu female!





Here's the whole gang. The three in the left rear are LA Woman, the four in the right rear are God Bud, and the two in front are Sadhu. You can't really see the one Sadhu -- it just sprouted today and hasn't opened its leaves yet.





And here's the smaller LA Woman separated twin. Surprisingly, it's still alive and well, although definitely the runt of the litter. You can now clearly see its three leaves.


To any moderators reading this: I just discovered that the album I started for this grow no longer has any pictures in it. Odd. They still show up in the thread, but I have no idea where they went.

 

Update @ Day 12


Transplant time has come and gone, a little earlier than usual. Still, the Sadhu was already nearly rootbound, and the God Bud were not far behind. And now I don't have to worry so much about watering, as those little cups are a real pain to keep watered properly once the sprouts start growing.


Here's the whole group looking a little small and lost in their new, roomy, and final, homes -- 3 gal bags. This picture was taken a couple of hours after transplant. Some are starting to perk up and some are still a bit droopy.





The four on the right are God Bud. They have some seriously wide leaves. And a couple of them had some seriously twisted leaves on their first set, but they all look normal and healthy now. Those sprouts in cups are a few more God Bud I planted after the second round of Sadhu failed to show. I'll keep them around for a while just in case. They're from the MANY GB seeds I made, so no worries about wasting seeds.


In the middle are the LA Woman. The two in the back, one still in a cup, are from the original feminized freebie seed. The smaller of the twins is finally starting to grow a bit. Hopefully it will catch up and not get shaded out. I don't have any extra bags, nor room for them, so it will have to share a bag with its partner. I hate to just kill it though, as it should be a female. In front is the LA Woman from the seed I made.


On the left are the two Sadhu. The one in the cup was from the second planting and is about 8 days behind the rest. It's not quite ready for transplanting just yet. I REALLY want some Sadhu, so this one WILL survive and thrive. Period. And it WILL be a female, if I have anything to say about it.


That's about it for now. Be sure to stop by in about a week, and I'll bet you hardly recognize the little ones.

 

Looks to be a promising crop. May your calyxes be high and your leaves low.

 

Update @ Day 19


Was I right or was I right? I'm talking about when I said you would hardly recognize them in a week. Here we are a week later, and they no longer look so small and lost in their 3-gal bags.





First, the God Bud. As you can see, these four have grown substantially in the past week. The one on the far right especially; it has a main stem that's almost as big as a pencil. All four are growing fast and looking great. Also, after I took this picture, I transplanted two of the back-ups (in back in cups) in with the two on the right. I doubt the smaller ones will get very big, so I don't think they'll really impact their bag mates. Plus, I really hate to kill healthy plants.





Next are the two Sadhu. I transplanted the smaller one this week, and it has started its growth spurt. Remember, it's a week behind it's larger sibling. One thing you might notice, its first set of leaves are not opposite one another, but side by side. Weird. But it looks like it will be normal from here on out. The other Sadhu is growing fast and always pointing its leaves up toward the light. I think it's a happy little plant.





And finally, the LA Woman. As you can see, I transplanted the smaller of the twins in with its partner. They shared a room in the seed, and will share a room in life. I was afraid the little one would get shaded, but it's starting to catch up. The other LA Woman, from the seed I made, is also growing well, but always seems to be droopy. Kind of looks like it's been over-watered, but it's gotten less than the rest. I'm not sure what to do, if anything, but I'd really like to see its leaves standing up like the others.


Speaking of watering, I've noticed that my soil has been acting a little funny. I usually use half the soil from my previous grow mixed with half fresh. But this time I couldn't get new soil, so I reused all the stuff from my last grow. It had dried out, and at first didn't seem to hold water very well. It would pool on the surface and/or run straight through. I started watering it when I planted the seeds, so it's been wet for three weeks now. The soil does seem to be getting better finally, but a few bags still don't seem quite right. Any ideas what might cause that or how to fix it?


The only other thing to mention is that I gave them all a weak dose of the Metanaturals veg formula along with a shot of molasses right after I took these pictures. Maybe that will help kick start the soil and get it into shape. We'll see. And once again I predict that by next week the gang will look completely different than they do now.

 

Mix some shagnum peat moss into it next time and it should retain moisture better. Very healthy looking plants.

 

D'oh!!!!


I checked in again last night about an hour after I watered them, and the droopy LA Woman was standing tall and proud. Guess is was under watered after all.

 

looking good Tony... i always enjoy your grows...:anibong:

 

Tony--are you soaking the seeds over night THEN going to the paper towel-under-a-bowl-on top of the cable-box method? LOL...it works!


Im sorry to hear the Sadhu is such a poor starter. Everything looks great, tho---good work!


Dix

 

for the water pooling, add 1 drop of biodegradable, phosphorous or whatever free dish soap to your buckets before you water the next time or two. it's a wetting agent... it'll make the water wetter basically, and it'll soak in MUCH more evenly and quickly. and it doesn't mess with your plants. You probably have big dry spots in your dirt from leftover clumps from the last grow... gotta water those in pretty good or they'll get worse faster throughout the grow. I usually end up using a wetting agent every 4-6 weeks in soil anyway, just to prevent the buildup of those nasty dry clumps.


Why are you reusing soil at all? I understood it tended to cause a lot of problems, both in water and air retention and regarding disease.


And the girls look really good, but seriously... to hell with those sadhu. they hate your guts, my friend.

 

None of the above. Directly in soil, as Mandala Mike recommends. No soaking, no paper towels, no cable box. Just soil, water, and seeds. Since I've starting using this method, I've never had any problems, except for the Sadhu. But don't hold it against the strain or the breeder, as I think it's just some bad luck (or something stupid) on my part. Others have no problem with this strain.

 

That's a good suggestion, and one I've never heard before. Could you give me a brand or some info about what such a soap might be, as I've never seen or used that kind of dish soap (probably should).


As I said, I could not get fresh soil for this grow. It's hard enough in my neck of the woods to get any kind of non-chemical-additive soil to begin with. Middle of winter -- fahgeddaboudid!


And don't go bad-mouthing Sadhu (see my previous post). It's one of my favorite strains. They may not love me, but I do love them. In fact, yesterday I smoked the almost-last of my previous Sadhu batch. I've got one more good Sadhu buzz left, and that makes me sad (hu).

 

Hahahaha... If you wanna keep goin with it, props to you man! not much point in growing if you don't like your medicine


for the dish soap I just went to safeway and read the back of the bottle. just look for one of the eco-friendly brands... I'm not sure on the names, but since they can make dish soap that won't damage the environment pretty easily, it's becoming pretty widely available.


And no fresh soil is understandable. I just had to flip ya shit!

 

Cool Tony


Can;t wait to see what you can come up with. In regards to the twin, I did the same thing, and I really wish I hadn't. I ended up killing one of them about 4 weeks in because it just was not working out...I planted them close together like you did (lesson learned...I needed to plant them on opposite sides of the bucket for less root entanglement and more space for them to both get adequate light.


Either stay ontop of them and LST the HELL out of them (away from each other) or one will win out over the other and then you have one good plant that fights for food and one runt that never will amount to anything. I don;t mean to sound negative, I just want to see you make the best out of the situation...

 

I found some of that dishwashing soap -- certified organic, breaks down to water, CO2, and some minerals. I put a drop in my water when I watered today. We'll see. If when I check later I find my cabinet filled with soap bubbles (like that scene in Game Plan where the little girl uses too much soap and The Rock ends up covered in bubbles), I'm holding you responsible, Sir.


BTW, when I said I reused the soil from my previous grow, I didn't mean to imply I just left the soil in the bags as is. I took all the old soil out of the bags, broke up all the clumps, removed all the roots, added my usual mixture of amendments, and mixed it thoroughly. So it's not like I started with a rootball full of spent soil.

 

ah! that makes a lot more sense. and yeah, you won't get a bunch of bubbles if you use like 1 drop. it takes like almost none.

 

Thanks for the suggestion.


I usually end up with one or two plants more than I have room for, and they usually do end up sharing pots. If I know this ahead of time, I plant them on opposite edges of the bags so they at least have a little more space. I've had mixed results doing this. Sometimes it seems to make no difference with both growing well, and other times one ends up being a runt. As soon as they get a little bigger, I will start training, and eventually will put in my SCROG screen.


FWIW, I read some research a while back that showed that when plants were siblings, they tended not to compete and interfere with each other when they shared the same pot. Of course I have no idea how or if that applies to cannabis. But since reading that, I only put related plants together. Not sure if this makes a difference, but I like to believe it does. I also make it a point to give those sharing a pot a little extra at feeding time.

 

Sweet man! I hope it comes out everything you'd hoped for asssit: Cannot wait to see em flower out.