Larry Bird Kush (aka Gelato 33) Zamnesia

Week 1, concluding the first week of vegetating (germinating): Hi(gh) guys! Back with a brand new project, growing the Larry Bird Kush (aka. Gelato 33) from Zamnesia Seeds on soil. This strain’s history on GD consists of 2 projects by MissJokerSmoker growing one plant, and Stephandjo growing another two plants respectively to nice results, kudos too you both! By the looks of the diaries from both growers, this strain tends to grow long stretchy branches with large internode spacing. I’m going to take it as a challenge to prevent it from stretching too much and keep the internode spacing small. That way the plant will be more efficiently at delivering nutrients to the buds, and grow thicker buds. Previous grows I’d chose to grow following the ‘V8’ topping technique, because both ‘Bruce Banner’ as ‘Honey Cream’ tend to grow more bushy plants. This time I’m going to choose the ‘Candelabrum’, which is more topping-heavy, to redirect the lateral growth into hopefully a nice evenly canopy shaped like a candlestick-holder. I’m going to try to work with the branches growing from 7 fingered fan-leaves. My previous experiences learned me branches from 1, 3 or 5 fingered leave stay too thin, so I’m going to lose these, what means that the plants will end up having probably somewhat longer main stems. At least this time I think it’s not possible to grow an ‘Upperdecker’ grow on top, so the tent is entirely available for the Larry Birds. Last two grows also, the upperdecker’s stayed underneath the blue growing light while the other plants switched to 12/12 standing underneath the flowering light. I first thought staying underneath blue light longer effected the total length of the cycle, but on that I must recur. What I’d find the blue lights do effect is the bud structure and internode spacing, and that’s exactly what I’m going to use this grow to my benefit. Growing the previous ‘Bruce Banner’-strain, won me the ‘diary of the month May’ contest, which included an Green Buzz Liquids Professional starter-kit containing every product in their line of bio-organic nutrients. Although my previous Mills nutrients line also partially uses bio-organic nutrients, I wanted to try a fully bio-organic system for a while. Now I’m happy I can also discover the differences, thanks G.B.L!! Growing bio-organic also means I’d have to use a different kind of soil, since the D.N.A./Mills soil contains mineral nutrients and that destroys the soil-life. Out of three options I’d chose the most cost-effective bio-organic soil from Biobizz, the All-Mix. And a layer of Plagron clay pebbles 8-16mm on the bottom of the pots. Since previous grows I’d had practically no problems germinating the seeds, I’d chose to pop exactly 9 seeds this time for the nine 11L pots. Offcourse one seed didn’t make it, I’d try to save it but R.I.P. (that didn’t work!). Actually, given the topping technique I chose to use for the first time, I think the extra space to the other 8 plants is actually welcome, so I’d chose to go on with 8 plants. Since I’d started to grow back in 2015, I’d wanted to make a data-sheet on which I could write down my findings and help me plan (and not forget!) certain que points during the plants cycle. When I’d started on G.D. I updated the format to the G.D. diary structure, and when I came into contact with Green Buzz Liquids again updated it to their professional growing schedule. Now, I want to share it with you guys. I think it helps keeping overview during the cycle and gives means to look back into history other than the G.D. diaries. I’d actually prefilled allot of thing for this cycle, but I’ll also have a close watch putting them into practice and make changes as I see necessary. There is space to fill-in every day readings, and it helps me great timing my grows and keeping track of everything. This first week of the grow I’ll always talk you guys trough my chosen strategy, and share the preparations (see the photo’s for that). I find it useful to share my knowledge with you guys because without marijuana I myself probably currently wasn’t alive anymore because of my mental illnesses, and I find it important to be available to everyone who needs it. Use it to your advantage, but also please like my diary! I see a lot of people visiting but it seems that pushing that button is a bit of a problem! Please feel free to push like and also follow me during this new project, I’m looking forward to see you back and check on the Larry Bird’s progress next week!

Week 2, concluding the second week of vegetating: Hi(gh) Guys, Last update I’d share with you the strategy for this project. Where off with a good start, so this update will show there’s already some progress made. What I’d notice right away, certainly compared to last times, is the general health of the little seedlings. They were standing with all the leaves pointed right up from the get go. That’s a change because to me the first part was always a little bit tricky with the plants struggling with what I learned is the V.P.D. (vapor pressure deficiency) what causing those wrinkly leaves that won’t stand up. That’s ‘bio 1 – mineral 0’ already. The growth kicked in and I’d started giving the handmade version of the foliar spray used in the beginners growing schedule from Green Buzz Liquids named Fast Plant Spray. If you like to mix this spray yourself use one liter water with 0,1ml Organic Grow Liquid, 0,2ml More Roots and 0,5ml Humic Acid Plus. I’d wait using the spray until last Friday (today Sunday), but from then I’d use it every day. The plants are on 24Hr still, but in the morning I’d gave them a light spray underneath the leaves and water them also. After that I turn of the lights and let them recover in the dark until the leaves are standing up again after a couple of hours indicating that it’s time to turn on the light again. For watering there was already an estimate amount in my data-sheet, but I’d chosen to give small amount every day instead. So this last week they got 7 days x 50ml solution containing 1ml More Roots and 1ml Humic Acid Plus. I’d notice that by morning when I take out the tray with the plants, most have consumed most of the solution. This way they get a lot of air compared to giving 100ml once and wait two days. Growth is actually going so well, that today I’d make the first round of pinching the branch growth from the nodes matching the single and the triple set of serrated leaves. This way it’s much less stressful for them compared to doing it when they are already became real branches. And they must better use the energy for the lateral growth for now. I’ll keep doing this until I’d reach the first set of 7 fingered leaf. Then, after the second set of 7 or 9 fingered leaf it’s time to start topping. But I guess where past the transplant into 11 liter pots by then. But I hope it’s going so well I can combine it with transplanting, that would be great! Please feel free (don’t forget) to push like and start following me during this new project, I’m looking forward to see you back and check on the Larry Bird’s progress next week! Grtz, Budcrack ;-)

Week 3, concluding the third week of vegetating: Hi(gh) Guys, Nice to come (back) here for week three of Zamnesia’s Larry Bird Kush growing on soil with nutrients coming from Green Buzz Liquids, what is actually a complete bio-organical nutrients program for the entire plant cycle. Enrico, the very helpful owner of this company in Germany, send me the professional starterset which is the most extensive set. Enrico told me it shouldn’t take long before I’ll start noticing the differences, and for me growing on Mills products at least the last three years, there’s a lot to notice indeed! You know, I heard all the buzz regarding growing bio-organical, and all the benefits to the plants health and development, but when you’ve already invested in a good nutrient program you don’t switch that easy because it also simply means needing an complete new nutrient program and a good bio-organical soil, and that’s a big investment. Winning the starterset certainly helps in that case, and that gives other people the chance to see what this nutrients do for themselves. This is only the end of week 3, but there is a lot too show, so let’s get started quick, The current overview of the project is that end of week three, in the schedule (see week 1) it say’s I now should transplant them into the 11 liter pots, and starting them up in 1 literpots and developing like they do, I should transplant them now. This last week, on Wednesday I’d started to notice they depleted the light-mix they started in, and started to look on the pale side. I mixed a new jerrycan of MR1+HAP1+Ph- but added 0,5ml OGL also. I figured they already need grow nutrients, but wanted to dose mildly. I was already giving small amounts of water every day instead of every other day, but reaching the end of the week the plants where increasingly drinking more and more every day, and the green wasn’t keeping up. So I’d chose to give them more, and I’d already made another can with now 1ml of OGL/liter inside. Hope they turn nice and green again! I’d started last Sunday pinching the little branch beginnings from the first three nodes. Now all plants have cleared nodes, at least the first three. This helps benefit from my theory greatly because the plants don’t have to put energy in growing branches I don’t need. I wanted branches from the first nodes with 7 fingered leaves, but a couple of plants actually skipped 5 fingered leaves, and I’m thus continuing with branches from 7 or even 9-fingered leaved nodes. So, pinching them retards growth a bit, which I’d experience beginning the week. The plants where an average of 5cm high. But growth kicked in fast and by Wednesday they were 5,5cm, Thursday 6,5cm, Friday 7,5cm, Saturday 8,5cm and today already 10,5cm. So the first day it’d grow 2 cm’s! What you have now, is a plant with a lot of spare leave, little solar-collectors ready for delivering enough energy to grow a nice and strong manifolds for supporting all of the heavy flowers I’m planning on harvesting. So, it’s now my duty to keep the leave healthy and stress free! Easy peasy, right? I’m planning on transplanting them upcoming Thursday, after the Moonwalkers leave the tent. So you’ll be reading about that next Sunday. I hope they be ready to top by then, so I can combine both events. But by the look of it I shouldn’t worry about that! I’m looking forward to see you back and check on the Larry Bird’s progress next week! Grtz, Budcrack ;-)

Week 4, concluding the fourth week of vegetating: Hi(gh) Guys, I have 11 fingers. That is, not personally, but plant G has 11 fingered leaf. That’s a big positive sign. Secretly I hope for a polyploïd plant, but I guess that’s not the case. I think the kudos in this case go to Green Buzz Liquids, because there outstanding nutrients get the plants into top condition. The leaves from all plants are really big and beautiful healthy, that promises possibly some great results in the end. The first thing this past week was figuring out what I’d wanted, go on with 4 branches or 6. But I’m going with the plan, and I’d removed also the 4th nodes branches from most plants. Topped them all and saved 4 branches per plant that are going to deliver the final shape. And I’ll be topping them at least two times more, and mainlining the 4 branches to the sides of the pot. I wanted to combine topping and transplanting, but since I delayed transplanting them, on Wednesday I’d decided to top them in advance anyway. Leading to some recovering time the next day. But they recovered fine and grew a couple of cm’s Today, on Sunday I’d finally transplanted them into the Homebox S. There still underneath the blue grow lights. I did some experimenting with extending the time underneath blue light while transferring into flowering, and I guess the bud becomes more compact that way. So this will be the first time I’ll apply it on an entire grow. I did however also put the sidebars into duty shining on top of the canopy from the top corners. While transplanting I’d added two layers of Neem-granulate which I’m using for a while now, it kills the larvae from those pesky little flies, and doing this way lasts an entire cycle. They also got the nutrients stated in the schedule. Only the spray will be starting this week. Last thing’s concerning the schedule entirely. If I would transfer into flowering right now I would not be able to get to the desired final shape of the plant, it would be too soon. So, I decided to extent vegetating another week and see by the end of it how far they are. I’m looking forward to see you back and check on the Larry Bird’s progress next week! Grtz, Budcrack ;-)

Week 5, concluding the fifth week of vegetating: Hi(gh) Guys, It’s not easy and kind of scary to continue with only 4 branches. Before, with eight it’s less of an issue if you’d lose one or two. And since I’m still tweaking the way I can tie the branches that leads to some accidents. If you’d look closely to the pictures, and you see pieces of plastic-straw around branches? That branches broke. If they come loose entirely, then it’s usually over. But with a steady hand you can manage to get a piece of straw around, then you can relieve the tension for the branch and get it to heal over time. On the other hand, with these techniques it’s high risk, high reward. Leading the branches to the edge of the pots makes the light reach the inner nodes, that start growing branches and fill the surface of the canopy evenly with offshoots. I’ll hope by next update the four branches are topped into 8, but after that I’m going to think long and hard if I want to top another time. I have no experience on this so I have to figure it out as I go along. I try to keep the entire cycle within 18 weeks, so I’ll decide later on how to continue. Mainlining this way costed me a lot of hours adjusting plant-tie. But it’s looks great, the fan leaves from each of the plant’s cleared internodes see that every bit of light is absorbed into the plant, and the four branches on top have unhindered access to the light because the top fan leaves are tied underneath the sticks. And those leaves look beautiful, super large and healthy. I’m very impressed with working with Green Buzz Liquids so far. Compared to using Mills, the mixing ratios are very evenly. I’m still on 1ml OGL, 1ml MR and 1ml HAP per liter, giving 500ml any other day, and the plants love it. When they are maybe two weeks further along the branches won’t be so fragile anymore, and I can start looking forward to flowering. That’s always the fun part, right? I can permit myself this upcoming week to see how everything goes along and I’m looking forward to see you back and check on the Larry Bird’s progress next week! Grtz, Budcrack ;-)

Week 6, concluding the sixth week of vegetating: Hi(gh) Guys, Great week! Sometimes the answers come by themselves in time. Last week I was in doubt how long I would need before topping, now there’s pheno ‘D’. The first plant that reaches the shape I had in mind before the second topping. And it’s a beautiful plant. I topped all of the main nodes, and 4 offshoots. The rest of the plants are measured by this one. Plant C lost a branch, but replaced it with an offshoot. Plant’s A, B and C are not quite there yet and need to pick up some height this upcoming week. Plant E is also really nice, one node needs to stretch a bit before topping. Plant F has got one node topped, the other 3 need to pick up some height first. Plant G lost a piece of a branch, that was the nice pheno, so bummer. But there where offshoots so in the end replaced. Plant H nice but needs some time. So this next week will be the last before switching to 12/12 next Sunday, calling in the good part. So, Enrico from Green Buzz Liquids assured me to prepare a special spray, applied exactly 5 days before switching to 12/12. The contents of this spray are FB 20ml, MR 2ml, HAP 2ml, OGL 0,5ml to one liter of water, and needs to be applied 5 days before switching to 12/12, and then every other 5 days for two weeks. This approach would shorten the time to go into flowering, and I’m used to 2 weeks before little crowns have formed and flowering is off. Preparing to switch, next Thursday I’ll switch from 18/6 to 15/9 and next Sunday it’s time. This week I’d had a little last minute holiday, and since the plants are in a phase that’s demanding a lot of attention AND because giving thing’s out of my hand is a little difficult for me, I’m happy to say that my mother-in-law did an terrific job tending to my daily goings during my absence. So, thank you! Much appreciated. I made her a 2 sided pdf but she worked through it greatly! I felt like a plant-executioner when I got back and needed one last tie-down, risking some casualties made by me! I’m looking forward to see you back and check on the Larry Bird’s progress next week! Grtz, Budcrack ;-)

Week 7, concluding the seventh week of vegetating: Hi(gh) Guys, Another great week! I’d made all the adjustments in time, only the spray I’d applied the next day on Thursday, on which I’d also switched from 18/6 to 15/9. Today I’m switching finally to 12/12, and switching the light to the Scroggmaster 450 also. At first I was wandering if extending the blue growlight during transition into flowering affected the final product in a positive way, I now realized this is not the case so I better stick to what works best. And during a plant’s lifecycle in nature not only the length of the day initiates transition into flowering, also the color leaning more towards the red as the summer progresses. So in essence the plants need the red light to kickstart flowering, so along with switching to 12/12 the flowering lights are up. On Monday I’d rotated the pots so that the plants that are still a bit behind have a chance to get the most intense light this week. Last Sunday I’d topped all of the branches that where high enough, during this week I’d continue to do that on branches that reached the desired height. But today also started to pinch those branches that did not manage to reach proper height. Removing these gives some retarding at first, but eventually boosts the last branches to grow up to height. From today there will be one month of growing left so this will help focus growth to the desired places, and hopefully end up with a nice even canopy. There are some pretty nice pheno’s, plant G to start with. That’s the one with 11 fingered fan leaves. Also with two problems, the first one is that I broke of one branch earlier, but that’s replaced with an offshoot that’s growing into a new branch already. The second one is that it stretches way more than the rest of the plants. That’s going to be a problem later on I’m afraid. Maybe it needs some extra training. Plant D is the prettiest pheno. The branches all growing on a nice height, and standing wide around the main stem. If the bud from it tastes as good as it looks, then this would be a desired pheno to take clones from. Maybe in the future I will be experimenting with clones but I wouldn’t want to right now because I would need more space to keep them, space I don’t have right now. But if you look close there are those special pheno’s standing far above the average. What makes me want to establish a fact: Everyone wants to grow top shelf quality bud, and tries as many strains in search of the ultimate buzz. Only, when you grow only one or two seeds from a single strain, how good of an impression gives that to you from that strain? My experience is that there is a big chance you don’t find the best pheno’s within a strain. I find it very interesting to grow entire batches of one strain to get a broader view on that. But doing so makes me realize that I’ll only be going to grow entire batches of top shelf product if I’ll try to save those pheno’s as a mother plant. I’d made a few different photo moments during this week. The last set from today show’s some nice pictures from all of the individual plants. Next week I’ll continue applying the spray that speeds up the process of transitioning into flowering. I’m looking forward to see you back and check on the Larry Bird’s progress next week! Grtz, Budcrack ;-)

Week 8, concluding the eight week of vegetating, transition into flowering week 1: Hi(gh) Guys, That was another interesting week. It’s amazing to see the amount of branches filling up the tent. Five days before switching to 12/12 last Sunday I’d apply the first 0,5 liter of foliage spray between the eight plants. Currently I’d applied the spray for three times, next week it will be the last time. But it did the job already! Everywhere I can notice the hairs and that started just 3 days after switching to 12/12. Next week I’ll still consider to be transitioning because for me the little crowns of hairs are the starting point to call in the flowering period. What I’d forgot to mention, both this spray and the ‘Fast Plant Spray’ I’d use in the early days of this grow are a bit of a problem to include in the weekly nutrient-diagram. I did mention the ingredients for making this spray last week, so feel free to read back if you’re looking for it. This is the first time to top multiple times, and currently I’m at the second round of topping. First the branches and offshoots must reach the desired height before I can top the second time, and just like every time some skyrocket to that point, while others stay low. Last Sunday I’d started pinching the slowest ones to reroute more energy to the branches that do grow. And as soon as they reach that level top them because that changes the plants priority again. Today the branches that reached that level can be counted by the little tops on the last picture. Then, when they reach the desired level, the idea is that they keep growing for the upcoming weeks. One week of transition is left, plus three weeks before stretching comes to a halt entirely, that makes about a month eft of growing. Later when the bud is becoming heavy I want to prevent this branches from breaking. So the next thing was to come up with a plan to prevent that. I don’t like to work with nets or rosters because it’s a big advantage to be able to just pick up the plant and take it somewhere to work on in a normal position. I’m having enough back pain as it is ;-) This time I’d tie a cross directly to the four branches I wanted to mainline, and the main stem from the plant itself supports it entirely. So no supporting sticks. This actually goes so well that I’d opted to use the same plant-sticks and plant-tie to make the plants an exo-skeleton. Look at the pictures, this works great! Every branch that’s high enough, after being topped and growing two new branches, now I can make a new mainlining point for this second layer. This way I keep individual plants and support them anyway. Pretty cool! During growing the branches stretch and are soft and flexible. Later I’ll expect to be able to remove some again, after branches harden out as stretching stops. There is one disadvantage though, it’s a lot of work, but hey: no pain, no gain ;-) Next is more topping, more supporting branches, and more mainlining. When moving into the first week of flowering I can start defoliating since a lot of fan-leaves become obsolete. I’m planning on leaving the fan-leaves underneath the main branching, these can prevent light from going to waste on the top of the soil and function as nutrient buffer. I’ll defoliate the part above entirely, and only selective up from the second topping-level. The idea is that I’ll end up with a beautiful canopy, so we’ll see! I’m looking forward to see you back and check on the Larry Bird’s progress next week! Grtz, Budcrack ;-)

Week 9, concluding the ninth week of vegetating, transition into flowering week 2: Hi(gh) Guys, Flowering has officially started! Always a bit of a magical moment. When you start up your grow your high on anticipation for that grow, and watching every progression during the early weeks. Around this time it’s always a bit underwhelming. Your halfway through the cycle, but all you have is a bunch of stick with leaves! Then seeing all those little crowns promises something great in the end. Now I can again check the growing bud with high anticipation, feeling you getting somewhere again. This week I spend a lot of time adjusting, trimming and caring for the ladies. I must say, that chandelier topping plan takes a lot of time. The V8 in that sense is easier to manage, only less suitable for stretchy strains. The last one is the plateau, I’d added both figures in the pictures. What’s a bit difficult about the Chandelier first is the timing. In the figure from the chandelier there are 4 layers of topping. I now just barely had two layers. But growing the 4 layers like the figure shows takes at least a couple of weeks of vegetating more. Weeks I don’t have. But the good news is I have half of my tent evenly filled with a lot of sticks, and leaves! So, landing in the first week of flowering, and with at least 9 weeks of flowering to go, next up is defoliating. I’d made a good start with that, removing all the fan leaves from branches that have grown high enough. So the lower part of the plant is now cleared. Because this grow I’d choose to continue with branches from the fifth node, all the lower fan leaves developed to big leaves, catching all the light before it reaches the soil, while not being in the way of the bud. Saturday I’d apply the last dose of foliage spray. The little crowns are everywhere. Green Buzz Liquids is going to show me the potential of growing bio-organic bud, and I can’t wait to see. Up until now it all looks great and I’m very pleased with the results. I’m looking forward to the end result now. I’m looking forward to see you back and check on the Larry Bird’s progress next week! Grtz, Budcrack ;-)

Week 10, concluding the first week of flowering: Hi(gh) Guys, Flowering, finally. First week was interesting again. I’m reaching the point where the training is almost done, and I’m beginning to draw conclusions about this ‘Chandelier’ topping-plan. I thought it would be a good idea to main-line two pairs of branches away from the core and let the space fill out with offshoots. Only, the lower pair of branches doesn’t get enough energy to properly grow offshoots, so I’d ended up removing a lot off underdeveloped offshoots, and for half the plants remove the mainline and straighten out the branches again, pointing up under 45 degrees angle. Bummer it didn’t work out, fixed what needed fixing, so that’s that. So, what about the other half? Well with plant B, D, E, G and H it kind of did work pretty ok since they filled up nicely, only this wasn’t the most efficient way of growing this way. Next time I think I name it ‘Plateau+’, plus because if I let the lower pair just grow up, and mainline the upper pair away from the core again, then I think I can manage the same in much less time and effort in training. The plus is for the extra lower pair of branches. Then, no second topping needed anyway. The chandelier as seen in the figure has 4 topping moments, I barely got to the second layer of topping. I’m not entirely sure how this topping plan looks when properly applied, and I think I can use examples for the next time I try this. I’ll be putting this up as question, so feel free to share your idea’s. I’ll add the figure with the photos. The things above doesn’t mean that this grow is a bust, the plants are very nice and the tent is completely filled with branches and little baby buds! Only, the second layer of topping doesn’t make much sense this way. Following the Green Buzz Liquids Professional growing schedule, the first two weeks of flowering are about switching to OBL (Organic Bloom Liquid), slowly reducing the OGL. Then from the third week on the plants will get an increasing amount of OMP (Organic More PK), BF (Big Fruits) and OBL, until flushing starts beginning week 9. I think adding the 10th week in my plan anyway is better for the end product, so week 9 and 10 are all about the finish. There is also something new added to the plan. Enrico from Green Buzz Liquids asked me to do a test during this flowering phase. At GBL they are close to releasing a brand new additive into the collection of GBL products. This is the by many growers much appreciated brown algae extract (Ascophyllum nodosum), named Green Buzz Liquids Growzyme (‘Gz’), containing a plethora of amino acids, minerals, trace elements, vitamins and other nutrients that are not present in this variety in terrestrial plants, forming the ideal additive for supporting the plant’s general health, resistance and metabolism. It can be added during the entire cycle, just like Humic Acid Plus. This plant aid is, in line of the rest of GBL products, very highly concentrated. So 1ml/L during vegetative phase is enough, and a maximum of 2ml during flowering. We agreed to test on half the plants 4/8 from the first feeding during flowering up until flushing. I chose to apply ‘Gz’ on plants A, D,E and F, and I’ll add ‘Gz’ to corresponding pictures. Also, plant A, F and D are on the left side of the tent. Plant E is behind plant B in the middle. Now, they have a week of flowering behind, and while writing this update it’s already Monday, so it’s week two. This last week, as the pictures show, was about defoliating. And doing so you’re also retarding the plants a bit. And since that happened three times, I think I was retarding this entire week. Defoliating plants to many people is a controversial method, but without doing this there is no way to be able to grow so much big plants inside a small tent (Homebox S), because the light would not penetrate enough. This is shown within the pictures, showing the light penetrating the canopy from the lower bars. At this moment all of the fan leaves are removed, leaving enough room for the light to come ;-) Looking at the differences at this point, the amount of white hairs on the Gz side is larger. Also these plants beginning to smell stronger, and they seem to bounce back faster from all of my defoliating. Still, it’s a bit early to see the difference from the pictures now, but I hope the differences become more pronounced next update. This first week they got 1ml, but Enrico already told me better to give 2ml from next time on because the plants are very big. I’m looking forward to see you back and check on the Larry Bird’s progress next week! Grtz, Budcrack ;-)

Week 11, concluding the second week of flowering: Hi(gh) Guys, Flowering, and finally a little less work on the ladies. Tuesday I’d took some pictures after they recovered from the defoliating last Sunday. Then I’d run a short once-over yesterday, removing the last few fan leaves, and again made some pictures today for finishing the second week of flowering. Also, I’d made a little smell test to better distinguish between the pheno’s. That was fun because it confirms what’s previously only visual, D and G are the biggest pheno’s growing in a similar fashion and also the smell is very similar. And after D and G the plants B, E, F and H are the best growers and also smell their part. Only A and C are different. I’d try to pick the best description for the smell, resulting in the following list: A. Skunky (+Growzyme) B. Sweet, Honey C. Lemon D. Sweet, Honey Melon (+Gz.) E. Sweet, Lemon (+Gz.) F. Sweet, Peach (+Gz.) G. Sweet, Honey Melon H. Sweet, Kiwi A and C don’t have that sweetness, don’t know why. The rest differs in specific smell and all have a very sweet undertone, what’s expected from a Gelato based strain. However, I’m very much looking forward to the end results. This promises to be a very nice strain. The last strain I’d grow smelling this fruity was the Bruce Banner, which up until now for me the best strain both in smell, taste and effect. Let’s not forget this this is also my first grow using a complete bio-organic nutrient line. And the differences between the plants receiving Growzyme and the other plants can become more distinguished later in flowering. The Growzyme plants bounce back faster from the defoliating, resulting in more leave development compared to the others. Also, there are more white hairs in the buds on their side. The smell is stronger too. But I find it still difficult at this point to see differences on the pictures. Next weekend they have had the whole week to recover, and after the third week into flowering stretching is also done. By the I’ll expect the canopy to have filled up all the space, so I’m going to remove the big fan leaves at the bottom and then it’s done. I’d learned the hard way yesterday that I now better stop tweaking the bud sites anyway, because I’d broke off two buds trying to adjust something. Better leave them alone now. Later I can maybe remove some of the sticks supporting the branches when they’re strong enough to support themselves again. This usually is when the branches harden out and turn into wood when stretching is done. What’s next? By the end of week 5 it’s time to start with the new round. I’ll decided to grow another Spliff strain, this time the Gold Bar Kush. This strain is very suitable to grow in a similar way as the Bruce Banner, using the V8 topping plan and the mainline-adapters. Also this time I’m going to select the best pheno out of three and try to duplicate it by making feminized seed from it. If this works, then I’ll have a method to save that special pheno’s for another round. And I’m planning on saving a very special pheno so let’s hope this works. I’m looking forward to see you back and check on the Larry Bird’s progress next week! Grtz, Budcrack ;-)

Week 12, concluding the third week of flowering: Hi(gh) Guys, The third week now also on the counter, seven more weeks to go. Earlier, and probably because all of the defoliation, it was difficult to see the difference on the pictures. Now the plants had some time to recover and continue growing. The differences are easy to see on the pictures, but to make it even better visible, last Friday (11-10) I’d removed the middle two plants and made some pictures. To summarize the differences; Plants recover much faster from any training and show much more abundant growth, best seen by the lower popcorn-buds on the (+Gz)-side. Here the leaves grow much faster, resulting in a much denser canopy. The bud sites are thicker, containing much more white hairs, producing more resin and smelling much stronger than the non-(+Gz)-side. And it also shows on the pictures now! To conclude into this: plants are much better off with the Green Buzz Liquids Growzyme brown algae-extract. What was also interesting this week, a local homegrow website posted an article about defoliating stating the best window to start with it is about 4 weeks into flowering, and should be done in its entirety in one shaving. My method actually is a bit different, the stretching of the branches continues up until the third week of flowering, but can be slowed down earlier by cutting the big fan-leave that goes together with it. This way you can actually focus the plants priority onto growing bud earlier this way, by cutting leaves at the right moment. So the title of the article stated the possibility to harvest 30% more this way, only they told later that this technique doesn’t combine well with other techniques like topping and pinching the lower buds. Again I think I must disagree because every right timed technique can be combined, as long as you apply techniques dosed so that you don’t retard to much or stun the plant altogether. The other benefits from defoliating are improvement of light penetration into the canopy, what also combines well together with the mainline-adapters, because they ensure you can always pick one plant at the time out of tent and work on it. Improving this also sees to it that you can put much more plants inside a small area, and maintaining an even canopy. Also less leave to trap the water vapor, allowing fresh air and Co2 to ventilate through the canopy and thus stimulating the production of trichomes and reducing the chance of mold and rot. I’m happy that I can now sit a little bit more back, not having to work so much on the plants anymore. At the end of week 5 I’m going to start a new minor round up (3x Spliff’s Gold Bar Kush), then again three weeks later I’ll start another major project. This time I’d decided to grow 9x Hempire Seeds - Nicole’s Kush. Both photoperiod strains. So busy-busy! I’m looking forward to see you back and check on the Larry Bird’s progress next week! Grtz, Budcrack ;-)

Week 13, concluding the fourth week of flowering: Hi(gh) Guys, Everything inside the tent is going great, not so much outside though. It’s been a bit of a rough week. Luckily these ladies don’t worry about anything and are growing bud like there’s no tomorrow. I’m very impressed thus far with the Green Buzz Liquids Bio-organic nutrient program. I’m going to continue working with it next grow, and very curious what the effect of applying the new Green Buzz Liquids Growzyme from the start to an entire grow. The benefits of brown-algae extract on our favorite plants are already well-known to most of the senior growers on GD, so I don’t have to say anything. But I do want to see for myself. Ok, last week I’d referred to an article about defoliation, so according to that right now would be the best time to remove all the desired leaves. I did removed the big lower fan leaves, and pointed the sidebars upwards to help develop those lower buds. I can imagine how the tent must have looked if I would have waited with removing all of the leave I did since the first week of flowering. I dare to argue that the bud development wouldn’t be as far as it is now. And then there’s the difference between the plants receiving Growzyme and the ones who receive the normal program. I’d made a couple of photo’s again without the middle plants to better compare between the two. Also made some photos from both middle plants to compare. With another six weeks to go I’ll look forward to another great harvest. Next week I’ll sniff around all the plants to see how the smell develops compared to last time. The smell is very strong, and since the filter is in need of replacing the active carbon, the smell is also outside the tent. Need to tackle that soon. I’m looking forward to see you back and check on the Larry Bird’s progress next week! Grtz, Budcrack ;-)

Week 14, concluding the fifth week of flowering: Hi(gh) Guys, Everything’s moving along steady, with five weeks of flowering passed and another five weeks to go we’re going towards the finish. The last two weeks the’re going to get the by Green Buzz Liquids recommended finish, with flushing the first week with clean fruits until the sugarleaf lost 50% color, then during the following weekend and the beginning of the next week they get a high dose of water with both 5ml Big Fruits and 5ml Humic Acid Plus to get a super smelly and sticky finish. The last three days they can dry out entirely. But that’s not for now, this week I promised another smell test: Last time: A. Skunky (+Growzyme) B. Sweet, Honey C. Lemon D. Sweet, Honey Melon (+Gz.) E. Sweet, Lemon (+Gz.) F. Sweet, Peach (+Gz.) G. Sweet, Honey Melon H. Sweet, Kiwi This time: A. Skunky + earthy muskous (+Gz.) B. Sweet, Lime Caramel C. Skunky + Bitter Lemon D. Candy, Honey Caramel (+Gz.) E. Candy, Pineapple (+Gz.) F. Candy, Mango Passionfruit (+Gz.) G. Sweet, Honey Caramel H. Candy, Pineapple All the plant’s smell developed into a much deeper smell. The buds feel very dense and compact and glisten with resin. The amount of buds is impressive, I’m really curious how they’re going to fatten up at the last legs. Other than that I didn’t manage to top according to schedule everything is going great. The plants show extreme good health. The plants that receive Growzyme do even better, and that’s at this point easy to see within the pictures. Go Green Buzz Liquids! I’m looking forward to see you back and check on the Larry Bird’s progress next week! Grtz, Budcrack ;-)

Week 15, concluding the sixth week of flowering: Hi(gh) Guys, Really not much different from last week, so not much news to tell. From Thursday to Friday I had a little crisis at home. From when I started growing in 2015 until today I’d used 4 Prima-Klima mini carbonfilters, and started thinking it would be more efficient to just refill them with new active carbon, I started looking where to order it on the internet. Only, what I got where pellets much smaller than what came out. In fact, the pellets came through the metal roster. Only, when completely filled and with the cover back on top, the pellets are clamped by the cover so I thought it would work. Only Thursday evening the smell in house became stronger and stronger to the point that my wife started worrying. So at night I got out of bed and filled another empty filter and installed it in line with the other filter, hoping the smell would stop. In the morning it was acceptable, only during the day it became stronger and stronger again. When I got the kids back from school, my son stood waiting by the backdoor and asked me why it was smelling so bad, at that point the smell had become very strong even in the garden. So I freaked out, closing the window to stop from smelling outside, and contacted my supplier to see if he had a new filter. Luckily I managed to fix it before the evening, and my neighbors where not home the entire day. But it was a close call! It’s such a difference now, so you understand how much a filter actually does. The buds are extremely resinous and odorous, I think this is the strongest weed ever grown by myself. I’m sure this is all on the nutrient system that sees to perfect health and productivity, so kudos to you people at Green Buzz Liquids. My new round was started also again using Green Buzz Liquids, this time growing 3 plants of Spliff’s Gold Bar Kush, and also one Hempire’s Nicole Kush. Both strains inside 18 liter fabric pots, and this time trying to grow big bushy and low plants. After the upcoming week I can start thinking about the harvest, because then it’s only another 3 weeks before they’re ready. I’m looking forward to see you back and check on the Larry Bird’s progress next week! Grtz, Budcrack ;-)

Week 16, concluding the seventh week of flowering: Hi(gh) Guys, Really I’ve been a little sick this last week, luckily nothing bad I only been through one day of fever. But it is the reason that I’m late with my update, sorry! I’m still gaining on strength. But it’s the season for it. Also the reason why I didn’t went all out with my photo report, but I promise next week to show some proper budporn. The next week (that at this point already started) they get there last feedings before flushing starts. And then it’s another two weeks before there ready to cut, shave and hang drying, so that’s quick already, time flies! Sorry again for the shorty this time, I’m looking forward to see you back and check on the Larry Bird’s progress next week! Grtz, Budcrack ;-)

Week 17, concluding the eight week of flowering: Hi(gh) Guys, This week flushing started on Friday. Tuesday the last nutrient solution was administered. This was actually the last bit of the week before, week 16. So the plants where already using less solution towards the end. Also started a couple of days earlier with flushing but I think their ready for it now. One big downside from my poor timing during that second round of topping is that it left me with irregular looking plants that are not really photogenic. I’d try to make the most out of the pictures anyway. On the plus side, the quality is great judging by the amount of resin and the smell, if the harvest weight is any good then this potentially can be a winner! Next week I’ll try and make even better pictures together with some trichomes to see how long they need. I’m looking forward to see you back and check on the Larry Bird’s progress next week! Grtz, Budcrack ;-)

Week 18, concluding the ninth week of flowering: Hi(gh) Guys, This was the second last week before harvest. About half of the plants are ready at this point, and the other half will be ready this upcoming last week. I’d make some trichome photo’s per plant, showing lots of resin. The pheno’s like D, E and G are the best and heaviest producing plants, with the sweetest and strongest smell. The buds from these pheno’s are hard and heavy. The other plants that maybe don’t all have such heavy compact buds, but do however show a lot of resin on the buds. I’m going to harvest and show the difference in yield from the plants that received Green Buzz Liquids Growzyme during flowering and the ones that got the normal program. Then I’m going to shift between the best quality buds and the rest, and I’m going to let the top quality cure for a few months this time. From the second quality bud I’m sure it’s going to taste great anyway, so I’m going to vape them right after drying. And then there’s the underdeveloped leftovers and the sugar leaf to make oil from. Friday it’s harvest day because I don’t have time during the weekend. The lights are down to 10 hours from today on. This week I’ll let the plants dry out, and Tuesday the lights go off until harvest Friday. I’m looking forward to see you back and check on the Larry Bird’s harvest next week! Grtz, Budcrack ;-)

Week 19, concluding the tenth week of flowering (harvest time): Hi(gh) Guys, The difference between the plants who do receive Growzyme and the ones who don’t are also clear at this point, only it’s the end product that decides what gets my personal preference. Objectively, the plants that didn’t receive Growzyme but that did receive the rest of the complete Green Buzz Liquids program ripened a bit faster, making them a bit further with losing color and drying out. The bud structure from this group also was a bit more dense, although resinous. The Plants who did receive Growzyme jump out in the sheer amount of resin. Also what jumps out is that the stems, both mainstems and leavestems where much thicker, supporting big healthy leaves. And also the total amount sticks out, because just the first rough trimming yielded only 43 grams wet sugar leaves, and 108 grams on the +Gz side. Remember that after drying there will be another round of trimming so this is not a final number. The plants from the +Gz side could have had another week, but that didn’t fit my schedule these busy holidaymonths. And they were ripe enough anyway, hooray! I won’t spoil the rest of the harvest, but what’s also important to remember, I’d only applied the Growzyme the period from switching to 12/12. From what I’d understand the potential when growing from the very start with this additive could leave you with big trees. All in all this was a very fun grow, although intensive with making those ‘exo’s’ for the plants the technique works great and can be very efficient to grow more big plants safely on a small surface, without worrying to brake a branch. Now with Growzyme at least I now know I don’t need to make supporting because those stems where al thick and stiff, and that saves me time which is good. Please see my next grow for the results adding Growzyme from the start. Also this round didn’t give me a clear idea how that chandelier topping plan works. I didn’t barely passed the second round of topping, and ended up with what’s best to describe as a ‘Plateau+’. For the future I will hunt after how exactly a plant ends up looking after three different layers of topping, or best how they should look. Because the little drawing from the figure makes no sense! The next round is already in week 5, so please visit me again with the Spliff’s Gold Bar Kush to see what Growzyme does when added the entire cycle. Ok also please check on the harvest report following shortly after! Thanks, and until next time, Grtz, Budcrack ;-)

Harvest took quite some time, with lots of branches to work through. Even got me in trouble with updating the other diary. But now that it’s finished I’m very happy with the result. That the excellent nutrients from Green Buzz also made the lower buds so sticky means a lot because now this bud can also be vaped. When there is just not enough resin in lower buds it doesn’t taste well, and you’ll end up making oil or brownies from it. Here the quality is dripping of the buds! Working with Growzyme this round was my first time using any brown-algae extract. It certainly has a positive effect on the amount of resin in the bud, only the bud itself, specifically the small size and weight, and the large amount of leaf around them, makes me prefer the regular program at this point. Also seen by the end weight, the +Gz side delivered less. But I think that only using it from switch to 12/12 like I did this round makes a difference, please read my experiences with applying it during the whole cycle with the next Gold Bar grow! The side that didn’t receive Gz produced more dense and larger bud, more sugarleaf and a larger end weight. Plant H was a bit of a strange one, at this point I have already found about 30 seeds in this pheno, the rest of the pheno’s don’t have any seeds. Plant A produced a lot of very fluffy buds, breaking up when trying to trim them because of the brittleness because it actually does contain a lot of resin. That’s why I’d added it to the small bud’s total. A and H where the bad pheno’s I think.