Monster Laughing Buddha Clone (2019)(II)

BeanswithPork This is a monster cropped clone that I took from a Laughing Buddha plant in flower - my other diary, Monster Laughing Buddha (2019) (I). There has been a few generations of monster crop cloning from the original Barney’s Farm seed. This is roughly day 50, as its sat as a tiny twig since April. I cut off most of the vegetation and it looked like it died for a long while. However, Buddha just wants to grow... I recently repotted to a larger container with a light, rich mix of sunshine soil #4, sheep manure compost, worm castings, alfalfa compost and bone meal. This plant has quite awhile to veg. Laughing Buddha is one of the best strains... here we go again!

BeanswithPork 58 days since being taken as a monster cropped clone. Progress has been made and I expect an explosion of growth. Monster crop clones do take a little longer, compared to another clone I have of similar age. Just hanging out in veg.

BeanswithPork 64 days since being taken as a monster cropped clone. Its starting to get big and vigorous. Just letting it get a little taller before any LST. So far so good. I have not fed any plant food.

BeanswithPork Approx. day 71 since being taken as a monster cropped clone. I elected to apply only water but I feel this baby will need food soon, I can see the phosphorous levels are low from the stems. Next time... It is starting to gain some good height so I will be looking to start LST in a week or two.

BeanswithPork Approx. 78 days since being taken as a monster cropped clone. Lots of good growth and a major LST bend. I did feed some 24-8-16 Miracle Grow liquid plant food, with a popsicle stick tip dip of blackstrap molasses. Everything looking good, just trying to manage the purple streaked phosphorous deficient stems.

BeanswithPork Approx. day 85 since being taken as a monster cropped clone. This plant had a weird shape to it, but it is gaining mass. Not as big as its bushy regular clones tent-mate. Just vegging away...

BeanswithPork Approx. day 92 since being taken as a monster cropped clone. I’ve been watching the purple streaking on the stems, phosphorous deficiency, but instead of feeding I actually potted up one last time. The new mix is VPW20, myka microculture, sheep manure compost, worm castings, blood and bone meal, pulverized egg shells, and a small amount of used coffee grinds. This is now the biggest plant in my veg. tent since a departure. I will be continuously topping the branches I haven’t already to try to contain size and get a more even canopy.

BeanswithPork About day 99 since being taken as a monster cropped clone. This is my biggest plant in veg. and I will be forced to top all the branches to keep it within height restrictions of my tents. I don’t really have room in my flowering tent for another four weeks. Everything looks good, once it uses some of the food from container transplant I will resume liquid food. You can see the healthy stretch where the purple streaked stem goes to green. I have noticed the Laughing Buddha strain, combined with peat and perlite mediums with low starting phosphorous levels, demands lots of Phosphorous.

BeanswithPork Approx. day 106 since being taken as a monster cropped clone. At this point I am just desperately trying to slow growth and limit height. This plant has been ready to flower for some time. I don’t plant on any more defoliation or tying, I am just continuously topping each branch. Some tips have been topped multiple times (2-3), and have many little sprouts. This should be interesting in flower. I fed some 24-8-16 Miracle Grow All purpose plant food with a dip of blackstrap molasses today to stay ahead of the nutrients a bit, I keep cutting new growth and am watching the progressing purple streaked stems and applying food as necessary. I will be moving this plant to flower in three weeks.

BeanswithPork Day 113 since being taken as a monster cropped clone. This bushy beast has two more weeks to go, I’m just topping everything to contain the size. I will be prepping for transition food in the coming days. Nothing much to report other than it has been hot, which has increased the grow room temperature as well.

BeanswithPork Approx. day 119 since being taken as a monster cropped clone. Okay! It can’t wait anymore! After this update I moved this giant bush to the flowering tent. The last picture is its new home and neighbors. It will experience darkness for the first time. I have only gave water recently, and will start transition food. Here we go!

BeanswithPork Day 129 since being taken as a monster cropped clone. 1 week of flowering complete, 9 weeks to go. I will be applying plant food again soon. This baby has stretched! Nice green stems near the tips still though. Nice healthy branches. This plant will be sagging in the last few weeks. This plants direct clone is another diary I recently started: Laughing Buddha Clone 2019 (III).

BeanswithPork Day 133 since being cloned. Two weeks of flowering complete, eight weeks to go. This Buddha quickly flowered even with a typically longer stretch period. I think the concentration of yellow spectrum (LED grow light + multiple LED yellow spectrum light bulbs) helps the acceleration of budding. Everything looks good, nice healthy stems. Lots of bud action. I recently fed 18-18-21 Miracle Grow Tomato food with a dip of Earth Alive Big Blue Alga and blackstrap molasses.

BeanswithPork Day 140 since being monster cloned. Three weeks of flowering complete, seven weeks to go. Most recently fed 2-7-7 Shultz Cactus plant food with a dip of Earth Alive Big Blue Alga and blackstrap molasses. I am easing off the nitrogen. The buds are bunching up the nodes, this plant has potential to really kick some a**. I am surprised by the bud development so far. No alteration of plans.

BeanswithPork Day 147 since being monster cloned. Four weeks of flowering complete, six weeks to go. The buds are the typical Buddha. The stems are already barely supporting the long branches and thickening buds. Nice and thick with plenty of time to go. I have finished feeding 2-7-7 Shultz Cactus Food with a dip of Earth Alive Big Blue Alga and blackstrap molasses. My flowering tent is insanely crowded.

BeanswithPork Day 155 since being taken as a monster clone (i.e. snipped off a flowering plant). Five weeks of flowering complete, five to go. Orange has spread throughout this plant! Wow, the pistils have quickly turned and are beautiful. This is a nice iteration of Laughing Buddha. The buds are getting so big compared to the thin, stretching branches that I had to tie them bouquet-style just to keep everything upright. My flowering tent is so crowded it really makes for poor photography. Very difficult to move around and work. The last two pictures are attempting to show the entire tent but is essentially two other plants blocking the view. Apologies.

BeanswithPork Day 161 since being taken as a monster cropped clone. Six weeks of flowering complete, four weeks to go. Are you seeing the frost?! Wow, these buds are gorgeous. True specimens. I fed 0-10-10 Alaskan Morbloom with a popsicle stick dip of Earth Alive Big Blue Alga and blackstrap molasses.

BeanswithPork Day 167 since being taken as a monster cropped clone. Seven weeks of flowering complete, three to go. When I built my current setup I built two tents, one that is 6’x4’ and one that is 4’x4’. The available electrical hardware, and timer situation, and my thought process on working with clones made me choose the larger tent for veg. Since then, I realize clones need much less light, the rest of the tent has sat empty, and I’ve been heating my larger tent with two sets of CFLs. But now I’ve upgraded my timer and power bar, and have flexibility, ... I’ve switched my two tents. The 6’X4’ tent is now my flowering tent, and my 4’x4’ is now my veg. tent. I have moved Widow over to the new home. There is the main LED standard to both tents, four tube CFLs (2 warm, 2 cool spectrum), and the six yellow spectrum LED lightbulbs. The last two pictures attempt to show the main four from the previous flowering tent. Another note to make is my oscillating fan broke so at the moment there is no circulation other than the outtake fan. The thermometer is currently under the canopy so the reading is a bit off. Tomorrow this plant gets the last of its plant food. The buds are seriously massive. Laughing Buddha is the best yielding genetics I have come across. These flowers are huge! The branches are too tall and lanky, so it is struggling with weight. Many of the buds are laying on other plants, or fully slumped downwards. It can’t support itself. I have it tied to the top of the tent to no avail. When I moved the plant between tents it almost snapped off, the main stem almost uprooted itself from its own weight! I was forged to bear hug the entire plant and fumble for string. Another note, wow there is alot of resin! Look at that frost! Lots of pistils have turned orange. Unreal. These may be the best crowns I’ve grown, challenging past Buddha grows and Crop King’s Hash Plant. The smell is sort of pungent, sour.

BeanswithPork Day 174 since being cloned. Eight weeks of flowering complete, two weeks to go. Everything is looking elite. I’ve tied more of the plant to the structure of the tent just to keep it upright. The smell doesn’t overpower the rest, but it has a nice fuel like smell. The buds are dense! No food, just water. For those following I had said my fan broke - I didn’t wait long to replace. I just reused a larger Costco fan my family no longer needed. I placed it on its side and have it on the highest setting. The air is circulating, I have a feeling I am getting a more accurate flowering temperature/humidity now. The main canopy is not badly disturbed, and air flows underneath where I have stripped vegetation.

BeanswithPork Day 181 since being taken as a monster crop clone. Nine weeks of flowering complete, one to go! Gawd damn! Beautiful. What else can I say, I love it. Its a nice reminder that sometimes I can succeed, considering other struggles and weak harvests. Laughing Buddha is consistently stellar. I would say thus far growing, this is the top strain I’ve experienced. Just water of course as it finishes. It smells of sour or fuel, the smell is very sudden and pungent. The buds are rock hard. Pictures can not do the size and density justice.

BeanswithPork Day 185 since being monster crop cloned. 10ish weeks of flowering complete, this was the projection! This plant/strain deserves one last update, and so Laughing Buddha gets a day of darkness and then harvest. When its chopped it will actually be 10 weeks. I had to get tie the plant up to the rafters, where it is sitting in dark, just so it doesn’t uproot itself. I documented this earlier - it is still in this state. I gave her one last extra watering. Its somewhat satisfying seeing the two sister Buddha plants finishing at almost the same time. If you recall, I had a regular Buddha clone at the same time, this plant is now outdoors and finishing up (another Grow Diary). There is no doubt my indoor LED grow op is much better than outdoor. The buds are not even comparable. Yield, in favor of outdoors, but I would prefer these flowers! I’ll pre-crown this baby as the best plant I’ve grown start to finish. I can feel good about this one. Props to Barney’s Farms as always.

BeanswithPork Not much to add... this is probably the best grow I’ve pulled off so far. The diary speaks for itself. Just positive things to say about the genetics and the original seed provider.