Black Rhino Clone 2019 (I)

Day 54 since this Black Rhino was cloned for me by my buddy Max Pointy. The original seed comes from a local potshop, called Mary Janes, and I believe is from Mary Janes Seeds.ca. That site says it comes from the breeder Seedsman Seeds. Neither is on GrowDiaries. Black Rhino is Afghan x Brazilian x South Indian, and is an indica/sativa hybrid. It has been vegging away and it ready for the main veg. tent. I repotted to a larger container using a mix of VPW20 soil, and a light mixture of sheep manure compost, worm castings, blood and bone meal, alfalfa meal compost, pulverized egg shells, used coffee grounds, and Myka microculture. 1..2..3.. GO!

Day 63 since being cloned. This plant has majorly stretched. I did not anticipate this at all. I may top it at some point. It will be due for a transplant soon anyway and so I may just elect to tie it using LST.

Day 67 since being cloned. This plant stretched like crazy, not in a good way. It really prevented any reasonable topping, so I elected to tie it down. LST has always served me well. Other than that... steady as she goes.

Day 74 since being cloned. No issues thus far. It has really adjusted to the LST. My tent has been really hot and dry, but still it carries on. We will see if the smaller growth will catch up to what was formally the top of the plant. Lots of time to veg. (~7 weeks).

Day 81 since being cloned. Just shaping the canopy at this point and topping as necessary. The green has really grown in area. Nothing to report other than consistent growth. Just water, letting it eat all the soil amendments.

Day 89 since being cloned. This plant is really coming on and I assume filling its pot with roots. I may not transplant again. Lots of leaf action, everything looks good and is green. I get the sense we are on the fringe of needing plant food. A bit overwatered today as I went away and was forced to really irrigate before leaving. Trying a bit of bud produced by this strain, dried and cured by a friend. So I will have an idea before I get to the end of this plant.

Day 95 since being cloned. Really liking the looks of the Black Rhino. With the topping, the canopy has become nice and bushy, and the overall size is great. I most recently gave 24-8-16 All Purpose Miracle Grow plant food. Just monitoring the stems and leaf stems for deficiencies. Looking good!

Day 101 since being cloned. I’ve always had a two tent set up. When I initially built them I made a 6’x4’ veg. tent, and a 4’x4’ flowering tent. Available electrical hardware at the time, and wanting to clone and do things in the tent, I thought I’d use the extra room. I’ve since learned clones like so little light that they can’t be in the veg. tent at all really. I had extra CFL tube lights heating the 6’x4’ in winter, and most of the tent was empty, until...: I upgraded my timer, and a power bar, and have switched my tents. The 6’x4’ becomes my flowering tent, and my 4’x4’ flowering tent becomes my veg. tent. A good trade. I have moved the yellow spectrum LED light bulbs over, to complement the standard full spectrum LED that I have in both tents, and the 4 total CFL tubes (2 warm, 2 cold). In general, there is about 550Watts of actual draw, but its spaced out in the tent. I have the CFLs and four yellow lights towards one end (the Black Indica end), and the main LED and some yellow lights towards the other end. I will rotate the plants through as they mature. The last two pictures attempt to illustrate the full tent. Another thing to note is my oscillating fan broke, so for now there is no circulation. I only have the outtake vent. Thankfully its getting cooler in my basement. The temperature reading is slightly misleading, as the thermometer was sitting on the shelves under the canopy. I need to find a place for it, that isn’t on top of the lights, which would also be slightly misleading. I recently fed veg. food so I will have to cool it a bit with nutes, just giving water for now. I will soon start the feeding schedule. Looking good, this plant really started to bush out and now will be hit with stretch. Next week is a flowering update! Really lovely green.

Day 108 since being cloned. One week of flowering complete, eight weeks to go. Looking good, a bit of stretch, and lots of green. My regret is how oversized some of my other plants are, as Black Rhino hasn’t gotten the best light. Most recent nutrient feeding was 18-18-21 Miracle Grow Tomato Food with a dip of blackstrap molasses. For those keeping track my previous fan broke, and I did not waste much time before replacing it. I had a larger Costco fan my family was no longer using, and I placed it on its side on the highest setting. The under canopy is well circulated, and the main canopy not badly disturbed. Overall, the tent is better in terms of air flow. I think i am getting more accurate temperature and humidity readings too.

Day 115 since being cloned. Two weeks of flower complete, seven weeks to go. Most recent feeding was 18-18-21 Miracle Grow Tomato with a popsicle stick dip of blackstrap molasses. Bud sites are forming, albeit slightly slower than a nearby indica who entered the tent at the same time. This is expected. Because of the logjam this plant has stretched unevenly to stretch to the light; I mentioned this last week. Its unfortunate, it will be a hassle when the buds get huge. Onward! Space will be cleared under my main LED next weekend. Bud sites still look good, lots of green. Tally ho!

Day 121 since being cloned. Three weeks of flowering complete, six to go. This plant occupies one of the four spots under the main LED, in fact Black Rhino is likely getting the most light in of the tent. Some branches have developed much faster than others. You can see bud sites clustering. Most recent feeding was 2-7-7 Shultz Cactus plant food with a popsicle stick dip of blackstrap molasses.

Day 128 since being cloned. Four weeks of flowering complete, five weeks to go. The unfortunate stretch on a few of the main branches is starting to hurt as my plant has become lanky and saggy, it reminds me of a recent Strawberry Cough I grew. I was forced to tie the branches and keep them upright to stop overcrowding. The last two shots show the before and after. We shall see how it works out. Most recent feeding was 2-7-7 Shultz liquid plant food with a popsicle stick dip of blackstrap molasses. The smell is actually quite good, sort of perfume? As I wouldn’t call it sweet or fruity. Very nice.

Day 135 since being cloned. Five weeks of flowering done, four weeks to go. Most recent feeding was 0-10-10 Alaskan Morbloom with a popsicle stick dip of blackstrap molasses (today). My critique would be this strain is a bit veggie, the buds have alot of leaf. I can confirm this from a friend’s grow. Unlike the comparison grow, I haven’t overnuted mine and so I am experiencing the smell - ohhhh baby. Sweet, fruity, perfume, strong! Could be a variety of smells. Its not overpowering in the tent but when you get your nose close it is lovely. Almost to the finish line!

Day 141 since being cloned. Six weeks of flowering complete, three weeks to go. Next feeding is tomorrow. Everything is looking good and this beast is fragrant! Very strong smell and dense flowers. My critique is lots of leaf, and not much trichome activity. I thought I was experiencing some phosphorous or other deficiency with gray, crumpled, dying, splotched leaves in the under canopy but I now think it is actually wind damage from the fan breeze. I had it set to 3/4 and have since turned it down to 2/4. I say this because it was not uniform throughout the whole plant, and only an adjacent plant had the same thing. The two plants in the back blocked from the wind do not have any symptoms.

Day 148 since being cloned. Seven weeks of flowering complete, two weeks to go. I gave the last of the 0-10-10 Alaskan Morbloom, and blackstrap molasses, this week so today was the first of what will be only water from here on out. The buds themselves are okay. I like the fragrant perfume smell, its unique to all the strains I’ve grown so far. The main colas are dense and will be quite heavy. I don’t like how veggie the flowers are and how little trichomes. I am seeing some kewl colours coming in a bit which is fun. I’m seeing what I believe are bananas on at least one bud. Lame! I don’t think its stress based on such a large sample of plants in identical environments in my tents, but genetic. I haven’t openly badmouthed Black Rhino much but maybe some things should be addressed, you can find the seed provider and stuff in the first recorded week. My buddy bought the ‘feminized’ seeds and got a male, and eventually no compensation from any parties involved. Then his first female was very veggie like mine, unfortunately overnuted, and really flavorless garbage. My clone from those genetics seem to smell great, but are also veggie, and now possible hermaphrodite prone? (Pictures 7 & 8) I mentioned wind damage in past updates. (Pictures 4, 5 & 6) I kept turning the fan down in strength but now I’ve laid the fan back down horizontal, so its blowing flat beneath the canopy. It was more of a hassle the other way and causing damage. There is some nute burn/deficiency mixed in there but the reason its primarily wind damage is because its isolated to the one part of the plant, and other blocked plants on the same feeding schedule has no similar symptoms. Lastly, I had no power for eight hours yesterday. Clearly, my province is a bit amateur hour at times. It won’t harm anything but I feel bad for the social emotional health of my babies. The light came on for four hours, then interrupted for eight, and then 30-45 minutes of light before another regular dark period. Bad for the psyche!

Day 155 since cloning. Eight weeks of flowering complete, one more week to go. I am going to try to do the full nine weeks even if I’m not happy with the strain. The buds are very dense, but also very veggie. A harvest haircut is needed but I’m guessing it will reveal rock hard cylinders of flower. The smell is like perfume, very fragrant. Not an overabundance of trichomes. I’m only giving water now and its obvious that its using the last of nutrients as the leaves quickly turn colour. I have a larger 6’ x 4’ grow space that allows me extra room to work or for another plant. I’m just keeping Black Rhino at the lesser lit end of the tent for the rest. For the most part it is under the two sets of CFLs, and getting angular lighting from the main full spectrum LED, and the yellow spectrum smaller LEDs.

The buds were very leafy but ultimately harvest wasn’t too bad. It should also be noted that I saw what I suspected were bananas from stress or genetics. Just another thing piling on for Black Rhino. Just steer clear in my opinion.