Blue Monkey

WOW! IF THERE WAS EVER A MORE EPIC FUCK UP OF A 1ST WEEK! AAAGGGGHHHH! Anywho.... day 1 the seed put out it's root in 21 hours! AMAZING! I was so happy by this. The next 2 days it took it's time popping out of the soil though. I gave her warm sunny windows and CFL bulbs when it got dark. She was growing beautifully...not stretching, and even gave me a cling on shell for fun photos. Well then i had to just go and ruin this incredibly, amazing, strong, and fabulous seedling. I was moving her just now, trying to grab a couple photos and adjust the lights and OOPS...i tipped her cup over and out she spilled! I gently put her back in the soil and now we'll just pray she's as strong as the 1st 6 days and kick this injuries ass! * if she survives, it's sheer luck and destiny....so I will grant her a place in the outdoor garden. ? If you drop a seedling at this age, do we get to call it High Stress Training? The newest growing technique: drop the pot technique.

Bless the garden goddess she survived! Got some decent growth and progress out of her this week so I think she'll get over the fall from the 1st week. Some wavy leaves but other than that she seems strong and resilient.

Things are looking great! Amazing growth this week. If i wanted to i could probably top this plant right now but in spite of her injury....i will wait to cause more stress. She is growing dominantly on the one side of the cup because of being repositioned but I don't think it's causing anything more than odd positioning and maybe a different root zone. I love seeing how strong plants are...it's incredible what they can survive.

It's been a nice healthy and strong week. She's growing perfectly and isn't showing any negative results from being dropped in the first week. She hasn't needed any nutrients yet and now that she's been transplanted into a bigger pot it'll still be a couple weeks before will give her some. The transplant went nice and smooth and she didn't show any obvious signs of stress afterwards. The only large change this week was with humidity. Once the plants get too big to have a cup over them my plants usually get a big surprise with the drop from 70-80% down to 35-45%. My local humidity rarely gets above 35% on a normal day.

Busy busy busy. Gave her the first top. Tried to keep up on some Lst. She took the topping well, and it healed up very quickly. I'm hoping the combination will be enough to keep her short and flat. The bad part is I'm not too good at maintaining Lst yet, it usually breaks free of the tie or it just pulls up to where it ends up growing upwards instead of out. All in all a good week though. Happy and healthy.

A healthy week..but with some quirks... She started getting some twisty looking leaves. Can this be from all the lst adjustments and leaf tucking? Or could it be humidity? I haven't seen any more fungus gnats in the indoor plants but maybe they're just hiding. Hey "top" site is healed up perfectly and her new two main shoots have gotten longer and longer. I haven't seen any evidence of a FIM so I'm assuming that the Top went right. I had to keep tying down her main stem for lst and it keeps straightening out...but then I finally went and tied down any branch I could and now it seems to look more open and level. With the recent Corona situation around...well everywhere I debated about cloning her and sending this plant through flowering just to keep the garden turn over up. But I'll decide soon. Hoping everyone's families, friends and businesses are doing well, happy and healthy. Big love to everyone. Stay busy. Stay safe. Plant something. ✌️💚🌱

It's been a great week for growth and health. Did a small defoliation of 4 gigantic leaves that were blocking a lot of light. I made my 1st clone this week and it should have roots any day now, I just need to remember to let the pod dry out and keep it slightly warmer. My only concern this week is I wish I could put her in the tent with stronger lights, but it's on a flowering schedule right now for the next 4+ weeks so I'll have to think of something else. Happy growing everyone, hope all are healthy and doing good in their various parts of the world. 💚

I was a bad girl this week and didn't take many pictures. But she's alive and well, clone #1 still in the root making process, but looks pretty rough. I have started to try looking at pre-flowers which is something I haven't done much since I've always grown feminized seeds...but I thought I was due to start recognizing them and when they show up. Other than wishing I could have this plant under stronger lights, I'm happy with her progress this week. Happy growing. ✌️

What an excellent week! She started to get a little taller than I wanted and LST is getting more difficult as the branches get stiffer. I've always loved the idea of HST and am always excited to practice more. So i went ahead and bent ever branch that was getting too tall...4 branches currently. They all handled it beautifully and none of them snapped and needed repair....so I'd call that a success. Started to give mild nutrient doses and will continue. Clone #1 looks awful! But is still growing so I'll give it a chance to pull through. Happy growing. ✌️

It's been a learning week. I have to remember to watch my HST branches closely or they will want to grow straight again, or they need their ties adjusted periodically. She's had some leaves changing colors so I'll need to increase the frequency of nutrient feedings to 3 times a week, and possibly up the dose slightly. I still have this plant under cfl lighting and I'm amazed that she's grown this well so far...it could be low light levels discoloring her leaves, but unfortunately there just isn't room in the LED tent for it at the moment. So I'll continue to try keeping her happy until I can move her over. Clone #1 has finally got roots popping out of the peat pod which is great but it definitely took a lot of energy and time to get this far. Possibly this strain isn't a fan of cloning....cause usually it goes much smoother for me. I'll make some small adjustments and try keeping them both happy. Happy growing and flowering to everyone.✌️

To clone or not to clone? This plant has already shown some amazing things....strong, resilient, beautiful leaves, good structure. Should you clone every plant...or just the ones you see good things out of? Personally I'd clone every plant if i could because sometimes you don't know they're great until it's too late to take a clone. But with this plant I'm already interested, so I decided to clean up the bottoms a bit and use those for 3 more clones. I've heard taking from the bottom can help root faster, but I don't know if that's always true. I have noticed with this plant, cloning seemed to take longer than other strains I've cloned. * a quick lesson for any one who might need it. 1 take clippings from the mother. 2 cut the bottom at an angle and then split the end a few times, then shave a little off the outside of the stem. 3 dip in rooting hormone (gel or powder, even honey or aloe vera). 4 put into a wet pod or cube. 5 place in a moist humidity container or cloning dome (i use a tall plastic cereal container with a pop lid). 6 keep moist and closed for the first 1-3 days, then open for ventilation, continue to mist the leaves. 7 keep under a mild light CFL or other. And wait for roots. The mother plant is doing good this week, still growing and still trying to escape out of the LST and HST. Lol She definitely needed some higher nutrients to be fed and at a more consistent level. She'll be due for a new bigger pot here soon. Happy growing everyone. ✌️

It's been a good week over all. Great growth, the pistils are starting to show up which is great for any fears of having males in the garden. I'm still waiting for another grow to finish up so she'll be able to get some stronger light. Unfortunately for me, without having the reflective environment of mylar she's not benefitting from the cfl bulbs as much as she would from the stronger LEDs in my tent. I could try adding more bulbs but I am sure the space will open up soon. It's still fairly cold outdoors and my ability to take my grows outside this year is a little uncertain. So we'll just keep growing along and see what possibilities open up.

I love transplant day! It's easily one of my favorite days in a plants life. This blue monkey was definitely ready to be put into a larger container and has handled the transition beautifully. The second round of clones are doing alright this week, still alive at least, but no roots. Will keep giving them a good atmosphere and hope for the best. Continued tying down all the LST branches and the HST sites so they won't pull out and straighten out. Happy growing everyone. ✌️

what an excellent week! She handled the transplant beautifully, just as i hoped she would. Had some amazing growth and healthy gorgeous green leaves. However....my current ability to make this girl part of the outdoor garden has gotten difficult. I am not sure if I'll be able to do an outdoor garden or not. So with that in mind i decided to let this girl go into flowering, while i continue to attempt to get a decent clone from her. If I'm able to get a successful clone in time and my outdoor grow becomes possible I'll give her a place in the garden. Either way this is going to be one beautiful plant if she continues her growth pattern. The high stress training went great with her and I'm excited to see how it looks and works when she's weighed down with heavy buds. Happy flowering everyone.✌️

Week 2 of flowering has gone great...small hiccups that i didn't necessarily plan ahead for like several tall branches that had wiggled out of their LST. However it all turned out for the positive because it gave me a good opportunity to practice more HST and super crop another 3 branches. I'm slowly learning to love super cropping. Normally when a plant gets into flowering your training options get less and less, but even my slightly woody, stiff stems were able to be pinched and bent without any breakages. The plant is really trying to put on pistils now and grew several inches this week. Hopefully she will able to maintain this shorter height and the HST sites not grow back straight. Happy growing everyone, Thanks for all the support. ✌️

Here we are, the 3rd week of flowering. She's done an amazing job letting her budsites be known in these last 3 weeks, they're already looking very pretty and filling out with white swollen pistils. Did some good defoliation since were in the 3rd week of flowering. All the branches that were bent over during super cropping have healed nicely...no breaks...but these branches are sneaky, if you don't maintain the ties they want to pull out of them and straighten out like they were never bent. I added in some sticks to help support but also keep pulled down. I've had the occasional discolored leaf here and there, but nothing too severe that worries me. I'll keep watching and decide whether to increase things a bit here and there. Otherwise I'm ok with running her on a slightly low feeding schedule. *started 4 more pod clones and 2 clippings in plain water...lets hope we get lucky, she has been hard to clone. Words to live by: Less is More. Happy growing everyone, thanks for the support.

This has been a pretty great week so far. The buds have been building up steadily over the 4 weeks and are already getting heavy enough to need some extra support. I used a few tomato stakes and some wooden stakes then tied some string between them all just to keep those uppermost branches from trying to droop down with their growing weight. I think with the tallest branches being super cropped they'll continually need support we've done and then some. With all the recently discoloring leaves i decided I better double check the accuracy of the ph pen, so i mixed a 6.8 solution and realized that pen was off by an entire point. Once i saw that i did an entire recalibration and it seems to be working correctly now. I tend to have not the best luck with ph testing, so for me, double checking with calibration powder is handy to keep around. Happy growing everyone. ✌️

Another great week.... it's been nice to watch a plant do so well on it's own with minimal attention, but it's been bad in the aspect that I get in a bad habit of not pulling her out of the tent. Sometimes when I have a plant that gets fairly large and in a big pot I hate having to maneuver it out, then my photo sessions suffer because of those awful purple/ red lights. I think there's a lot to be said about "A good diary versus a good grow." Right now I'd say this plant is definitely a great grow....but muddling the line about whether it's a good diary. The 4 new clones I had made are still staying strong, slowly the yellowing low leaves, from it feeding off them but I think they have a good chance of making it. The 2 clippings put into the plain water are also doing well...staying more green than those in peat pods, why that is I'm not sure. My goal is to have at least 1 thriving clone by the end of this grow. I got the ph back on track to the best of my knowledge...but I still am feeding her moderately low levels of nutrients. I got a bit low on my Greenbuzz nutrients and am trying to use them sparingly as we've got at least another 5 weeks or so to go for this plant. Let's just hope i can keep her reasonably happy and comfortable and that the results turn out good. Happy growing everyone. ✌️

So... I was a bad girl this week in regards to photos. Sometimes I get lazy with these big girls in tents and don't want to drag them out every time to water, mainly because they get heavy and messy and it's just so simple to water them in the tent and then suck out at runoff. However laziness does not a good diary make. Regardless.....she's bulking and changing colors more and more every day. Shes still got a few weeks to mature before the cut, but can I just say wow what a strong smelling plant and a nice steady flowering period this has been. I went and cut away all these little itty bitty buds away from the bottoms and insides. I think that should be the last of defoliation until i want to pluck fan leaves at the end before harvest. Happy growing everyone.💚

Wow week 7 she's really making some progress! Not only is she changing pistils more every day, and her trichromes are gorgeously sparkly....but wow does this plant smell! It easily smells outside of the house. I'm realizing a little late that this plant probably could use a carbon filter. So for anyone thinking about growing Blue Monkey inside, have your carbon filter set up ahead of time. This week was full of trying to find out the best way to support the buds, as they're getting heavy and want to fall over. Also with using HST on so many of the tallest branches, all of the super cropped branches need additional support too. I've had the plant stakes in and added the taller bamboo, tied string around the whole plant for general support and then I added more plant ties to support the rest. When I stretch out her branches she's bigger than the yard stick, maybe about 37 inches at its tallest height. Over all I'm so happy with this grow and we're not even finished yet.

Aaahhh these final weeks always kill me! Is it done or isn't it? And if not, HURRY UP!? I've started to lower her nutrient levels to prepare for a flush that must be close...Definitely within two weeks she'll be ready to chop. She keeps bulking up, the buds are already rock hard and smelly as all hell! She's had nearly full orange pistils for a little while now... so we're just waiting on the trichromes to catch up. They seem to want to stay glassy, but maybe that's just the Blue Monkey strains way of maturing. Regardless, it can't be long now. Her 4 clones i managed to get are absolutely hideous! I'm pretty positive one will die, because even though it had roots, it lost too many of its available leaves. As for the other 3, they'll survive and do the ugly revegging period and then hopefully be smooth sailing. Thanks for everyone's support and @exoticseed for the gift of these seeds, what an amazing strain they've created.

Whooo hooo what a week! I'm completely torn on whether she's ready or not quite ready. On the one hand almost all her pistils are orange and shriveled, her buds are hard and very aromatic; on the other... her trichromes aren't quite looking as changed as I'd like, lots of glassy still there and the few ambers seem to be on sugar leaves not right on the buds. However by the end of the week she was definitely looking fully matured. I started to remove the nutrients from the watering and continued to get a decent fade in the leaves and that ever darkening red stems! Once the end of the week started showing more maturity I began adding a low dose of Green Buzz Clean Fruits. She's supported as much as she can be, bamboo sticks, tomato stakes, string, and plant ties. I did accidentally tie a plant tie too tight on one top bud and it crimped the stem to where it was falling over about to snap! I resupported that branch and it seemed to hold up. But after a couple days the weight was so much that I decided to harvest that branch early. That branch has so many trichromes, I think concentrates are going to be a good fit with this plant. When I stretched out a top branch to measure what it's true height would have been, it was easily 36+ inches. What a beauty this plant turned out to be. 💚 Happy harvesting to everyone.✌️

What an incredible grow this has been! It's definitely up there with my best and favorite indoor grows I've done on Grow Diaries so far. It had a strong, resilient and beautiful growth from the first week when it fell all the way to harvest. Definitely an easy plant to grow that had an amazing pay off in the end. I think it's safe to say that anyone could grow this strain with mid level supplies and minimal experience and get good results. If I ran more powerful lights and kept a more comfortable environment (humidity etc) I don't see why my yields couldn't get even better with each grow. Even at the 4 ounces of good smokeable buds and 1 and 1/2 of trim and larf I was very satisfied . After drying and curing the plant had a strong smell with hints of flowers and sweet fruit. The taste was subtle fruity and sweet too. Where the Blue Monkey really shines is with making concentrates. I was able to do a few different projects with it. First I did some rosin pressing where the return rate was just barely under a 20%, which is very good. A 4 gram squish giving .8 gram back, that's the best return I've gotten off just bud, no kief or hash pressing. Then I decided to make some rick simpson oil. Ground buds and trim, decarb it, put it into the jars with high proof alcohol 150+, let it sit and shake overnight and then strain into a dark tincture, then use double boiler with no open flames to evaporate all of the alcohol out, and suck up into some syringes. I got 12 ml total...which is equal to 12 grams of RSO. It was awesome, you can smoke it, use it for edibles, a good diverse concentrate. * Don't forget to make your mom a care package, she'll be happy.💚 All in all this was the most productive, and educational grow I've had all year. Not to mention the plant and buds were just gorgeous! Thank you @exoticseed this was an amazing seed you created.