BCNL Bloombox - Barney's "Pineapple Chunk"

seedlings should be fine I wouldnt even use the dome from seed only clones as if you do you will have to worry about hardening them off later (getting them used to low humidity environment) just mist them once they start to come up about 2 times a day right at first, until you begin nutes. but yea you shouldnt need to dome seedlings, so no worries bro they will be fine.

Update

10/18

Day 24 Flowering

[week 4 nutrients: 94ml Sensi Bloom A&B, 46ml Vitaboost Pro, 30ml h202, 60ml Hygrozyme]


Sorry about the gap in posts, I've been super super busy this past week. Everything seems to be cleared up as far as root rot and res problems. I got some Hygrozyme to use in conjunction with my h202, and it's working out great. Got rid of all the dead matter and my roots are sparkling white yet again. I've given up on adding frozen bottles to the res, as I've read that pythium goes buck-wild mainly as a result of temperature fluctuation, not just temps being too high.. so something to keep in mind if you have any pythium problems.

Two of my plants have had a lot of vertical growth in the last couple days, which I attribute to the sativa pheno. Everyone else is going to be just fine height wise, but my beefiest may wind up against the glass; I have about 4" inches left. However, this plant was definitely almost twice the size of the others at the end of veg so I'm not too shocked or anything. I stand by my contention that PC can be grown short if you don't veg it forever. These 2 wouldn't get any taller than 35" by the end (I suspect), but unfortunately I only have about 32", so we shall see how it goes. The clones will be a better indication of just how short and stocky I can keep them, but that's for another day. Speaking of clones my mother is getting absolutely jacked, and will need to be trimmed back pretty soon.

I cut the T-5s several days ago; I think that the heat from being enclosed by T-5s on both sides (in combination with root problems) was stunting my smallest plant, and I don't want it to get crowded out, so we'll wait until she's a little taller and throw the T-5s back on. The plants are taking up the majority of my space with only 7/9 sites filled. Having 9 in here would be real crowded, so don't plan on using this type of system for something with a lot of side-branching.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that they are budding like crazy. Pics to follow:

10/20

Gaaah.


Spoke too soon on the root issues. I'm pretty peeved at how difficult my first DWC has been; so much effin micromanagement. Brown, slimy slimy super gross res; I think algae and pythium, just disgusting. My only theory is that when I added hygrozyme mid-week in my last week, the h202 levels were low enough for it to do crazy work. In three or four days time it had cleaned up my root systems, and new root growth was explosive. Then, when I changed res and added new h202 and hygrozyme, the h202 killed all the enzyme. I'm pulling an emergency res change (AGAIN) right now and only adding hygrozyme (and nutes of course).

Reasons I'm effin' confused:

1. my box is super clean and I scrub up every time I go inside it.
2. my res leaked some light before but I mostly patched it, real real minimal light now.
3. my DO levels have to be fine. 68 degree temp, decent air pump, 4 airstones spread evenly in the 6 gal res.
4. I've been using h202.

Update:

10/25


Went to the store today; I got some root organics "oregonism XL" for bacillis bacteria and trichoderma fungi. Also got some Aquashield and some EWC. Following EWC tea recipe from Heisenberg. After a lot of forum research on rollitup as well as various other sites, the problems for which Heisenberg calls this a, "magic bullet" fit my dilemma pretty exactly. If anyone wants to check out the recipe the thread is called "How to breed your own beneficial microbes". My basic plan is to grow a huge and diverse population of beneficial bacteria, and introduce them into my res to overwhelm my current problem.

This is an interesting learning experience for me, although it has been a huge pain in my ass. My camera is dead but tomorrow I plan to post pictures of my bubblin tea (it will be ready in 2 days), as well as new shots of the plants, which are still coming along really well. I haven't seen any stoppage of growth despite the res problems, and nugs are really swelling this week. It is odd to me that I haven't seen any stress above-ground yet, but that is also really great. Root growth has been nearly crippled, but with any luck my microbe tea will have them back to growing like crazy by the middle of next week. May have to add a week to my flowering schedule all things considered.

Another 2 plants have reached the glass, which is a bummer. I've been super-cropping anyone who reaches the glass... I wouldn't be doing this so late in the game if I didn't have to, so lets spare the "NO DON'T DO THAT!!!!!!" reactions. I'm really looking forward to this harvest, and even more so for my next round of PC. A. Starting anew without this problem which is most likely cyanobacterial will be really awesome, and I will be able to keep it from starting up again once I can completely sterilize my system. and B. Growing the PC from clone will allow me to grow them to a more appropriate height. I plan to prune to the main stem right before the beginning of flowering next time to focus their energies. Lots of side branching on this round which is just gonna yield me a ton of popcorn nuggets from the branches which are below the canopy level. First DWC is so spicy, luckily I've done a somewhat decent job of minding the learning curve.

check back in the next couple days for more updates.

Update:

10/27

Day 33 Flowering

[week 5 nutrients: 92ml sensi bloom A&B, 46ml Vitaboost Pro, 6 cups microbe tea pH: 5.6]

Microbe tea has been brewing for just about 48 hours. I drained my flowering res, filled with fresh water and nutes (a bit of a waste mid-week, but I have enough for at least 3 more runs after this so I'm not too worried); no hyox or Hygrozyme this time, although I will consider adding some Hygrozyme at my next res change (Saturday) after I look more into the enzyme's reaction w. the beneficial bacteria. Added 6 cups of the microbe tea (1 cup/gal) and will be adding another cup every three days or so.

With my res drained I was able to see that root growth has rebounded a bit in the last few days, and I'm getting some nice new growth. Good to see that the H202 bath and Hygrozyme did do at least some work on my weird sludge/algae/bacterial issues. I wouldn't be adding the tea except that I expect a hearty resurgence in the slime if I don't, as there is no way for me to fully sterilize at this point. The battle between H202/Hygrozyme and the slime would be much more expensive and detrimental to my root systems than tea so I'm gonna give it a shot.

Well, microbe tea has been introduced. So far so good as far as growth, buds still doing their thing; really excited to start overdrive on Saturday! I've been trimming down the mom a little bit, gonna start taking some cuttings in the next couple weeks for more cloning practice. I've included some shots of the tea as well as my newly horizontal girlfriends.

Update:

11/4

[Week 5 Nutrients: see above]


So I've been adding 1 cup of microbe tea every 3 days, and root growth is going GREAT. Huge increase in root mass and lots of new growth. Lots of bud development this week as well. Seriously anyone experiencing sludge problems should check out Heisenberg's beneficial microbe thread, this is not the only grow it has saved from nastiness.

I expect at least a week delayed finish on these, if not a bit more. I wasn't sure what my timing will be, however, so I went ahead and started overdrive last Saturday; it's supposed to be for the last two weeks of flowering, but I figured it would be better to have a 2 week flush than to run out of time and have a finished product that doesn't burn/taste as nice. Also forgot to use big bud this grow... oops.

This grow is a total mess, all things considered, but has been a great first round with the bloombox; I'm confident my next run will be much smoother. There are a few things that I totally failed to do which I will make sure to keep on top of next time:

1. Better sterilization / general cleanliness

2. Pruning - christ, my plants are all over right now. I'm lucky I have two t5 lamps on top of my res or else my light penetration would be nil. I have a couple plants where the side branches stayed close and short and are forming nice colas but for the most part they are allllll over the place and will yield me little more than popcorn nuggets. Next time I'm going to try to prune them to the main stem and try for a smaller number of larger colas.

3. Inhibiting vertical growth - I still chalk this up to growing from seed. I'm going to start taking some cuttings from my mom this weekend (as she needs to be trimmed back) and seeing how quickly they root. Current plan is to start flowering the next batch as quickly as humanly possible, hopefully within 3 days or so of cutting.

Camera is dead and I dunno where the charger is at. Pics to come soon.

Gettin fat.

Update

11/13

Day 50 Flowering

[week 8 nutrients: 46ml Final Phase pH: 5.6]

The update from 11/4 should read [week 6 nutrients: 92ml Sensi Bloom A&B, 46ml Vitaboost Pro, 46ml Overdrive, 6 cups microbe tea pH: 5.6].
Week 7 nutrients were the same.

Well, just started my flush today, which is undoubtedly premature, but I don't want to risk my most mature coming out less than perfectly flushed. I'm expecting an extra week or two on these babies. Still haven't found my camera charger, so looks like phone pics (such as the one above) are as close as we're gonna come. Not much time today, will try for a longer update w. pics tomorrow.

Tried to get a scope yesterday, but they were out of the nice ones. Soon enough. I've had to do some bending back of branches to keep them off the glass, and the resin on these girls smells surreal.

Pumped!

Update

Day 62 Flowering

Everyone is looking good. In my second week of flush, no final phase this week though, just straight water and more microbe tea.

I got that scope I wanted, been checking the trichromes on the most mature buds daily. Still crystal clear from what I can tell. When they start to cloud, I'm going to cold shock for three days with ice water.

Sorry this is sideways, hopefully it still looks as tasty as in person.

Hey man just wanted to say the girls look awesome, i've been following along for a while but hadn't seen a recent update. They look great though, i'm growing an early flowering strain and am on day 38 of flowering today and only have 11-18 days left. Feel free to check my journal in my sig if you want, i'm gonna post new pics later. Also you should try taking some pictures quick either before the light comes on or right after it goes off so we can see more of the color. The flash of the camera in the dark makes those trichs light right up!

Also how does the whole ice water shock thing work? I've heard of it before and I do flush my plants to a point but is the ice water better? Does it make them just instantly finish because they think winter is here? Also have you done it before and what were the results? I'm wondering because i'm on a bit of a schedule and might try it to help them finish up in the last few days. Thanks for any answers to my questions and keep up the good work dude. From the looks your gonna be sooo baked of those buds soon, peace.

Update

11/29

Day 66 Flowering

[week 10: Water and microbe tea, pH: 5.6]

What's up Wozz. Thanks for the kind words, I'll be sure to check out your log when I have a little bit more time. Shit has been so hectic around here, new job, old girlfriend; you know the drill, life gets fast just when you're ready to be slow. Luckily it's keeping my mind off these girls all day! I have a nice DSLR that is out of commission because I dunno where the charger is. I have a couple cell pics with the top off so you can see over the canopy, I will upload those.


I can't believe it's been 66 days already; It will probably wind up taking between another 2 to 3 weeks, judging by development thus far. Many stigmas have started to change color (from white to red or orange), and the ovaries behind them are swelling nicely. This is continuing, and none of my buds are completely engorged yet. I'm only expecting ideal density on my top buds, as my canopy is a total mess due to lack of topping/pruning. As I said before I'm going to try to control their height a lot more next time. For now though, I wait with lots and lots of still-fresh stigmas. The stalked capitate trichomes (the ones with the round head on them) are still completely clear on my most mature buds as well, so they aren't ready to be harvested.

In answer to your question about cold shocking, it is different and separate from your flush, although I assume some chemicals unwanted in your final smoke to continue to leech out or be consumed during the cold shock. Basically when my trichomes start to turn cloudy or begin to amber, I will fill my res with pH balanced ice water and cut the lights. I will leave them like this for probably 3 days. You're on track with the purpose here; it simulates the end of fall with a temperature drop and reduced light. This doesn't finish them early, but it does give one last boost to resin production and they darken up a lot.

Next time I will probably plan for 10 weeks instead of 8, with the exta just falling to flush. for those of you growing or planning to grow PC expect a longer flowering period than Barney's seems to advertise. This really is a new strain though. When I was in Amsterdam in July there weren't any shops, including Barney's, that had any ready to smoke; I'm sure Barney's will eventually update to accurately disclose a significantly longer flowering period.

Here are those cell phone pics (26th Nov.), sorry about the quality:

Forgot to note:

I accidentally broke a branch off maybe a week and a half ago or something. Dried it out for 3 days and cured it for 5. My flush is great, really really clean burn. The smoke is thick and smooth. The flavor was obviously pretty negligible after only 5 days of curing and being so premature. I did get a nice stone off it though. So excited for the final product, gonna be some fucking couch-lock.

Thanks for the info on the cold shock man, I think I will do the same thing once my babies make it close to their end. My trichs are really starting to mature and are looking a bit cloudy although i'm getting a better scope soon, my guess is I have just over a week left on one or two plants and the rest are a little more behind but i'm going to let them go an extra week or more to really darken up. Seems like your really on top of the grow and are gonna have a great harvest. Any idea what your looking at yield wise? Thinking about my yield is about all I do these days haha, drives me nuts.

I also had a test smoke a few days back, it was a little nug way at the bottom of the canopy. I quick dried it and then smoked it up, it has a nice finish taste of skunk same as the smell and gave me a very cerebral high like being in a daze and just the few hits I took of it got my girlfriend and me high. I was sweating like I coughed off hash/hash oil, except it was a smooth smoke with almost no cough. Pretty decent after 5 minutes in the oven and no cure, can't wait to try some fully cured. 8==)~~ LMAO

Yeah no problem man. I really don't expect to yield much on this at all; maybe 4oz if I'm lucky. This is my first grow in the bloombox, and I'm far from having everything dialed in right. It's been a great learning experience thus far though. I'll be much more prepared for DWC as well as using this box more effectively next round. From what I've heard, ideal yield on something like this is about 12oz/2 months if you're ready to flower clones or seedlings as soon as the others are cut down, and yer using an appropriate strain.

This grow is from seed, so my plants are somewhat inconsistent; this is why I don't necessarily plan to cold shock this time around, I think my lower buds are going to finish later than the canopy because it's such a cluster-fuck. I've been practicing taking cuttings and stuff so as soon as these ladies come down, 9 clones will be starting. Pineapple Chunk is not suited that well for this type of grow. Next round we'll see how well I can control their height and branching, but I expect it to be somewhat of a mess again; albeit a more... productive mess.

I also picked up some LSD seeds from Barney's, which I'm planning on using for my 3rd grow in this box; I'll get a nice mom going while the 2nd PC round is flowering. The LSD is Skunk #1 X Mazaar, and should be a much more appropriate height (50-60cm). Shorter, more compact strains would be gold for this thing. If you check out Medicine Man's Blogspot at growyourownmedicine.blogspot.com his archive has some incredible PK and MK grows with BCNL products.

I plan on switching over to these types of strains soon as I'm done with my next PC round, but to be honest yield isn't really much of a concern for me. The whole purpose of buying this box was to remove myself from the market, and save money on what is effectively my medication.

I wanted to get a bloombox but someone is selling a producer for 2000 dollar? do you guys think is a good deal?? if you guys bought a used one is that aout the right price? http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/for/2090456590.html

That's the old school one. But I'm sure it works fine. I hear the producers run a little cooler. I know for a fact I wouldn't bother getting a bloombox again, as I would just grow a mom in the closet or something.

Sorry to leave everyone hangin' for so long. Busy busy.

Here's a taste, more harvest pics and high-res bud pics soon.



Eventually I will wrap this thread with a review of the bloombox, my experiences, plans for the next grow, etc. Thanks so much for coming along for the ride.

Damn man looks great, awesome job! What was the final wet/dry weight of the harvest?

Nothing crazy. I'd say maybe I got 3oz or something. This round was some bs overall, and like I said you could get so so so much more out of one of these. But as I also said before, this is all for personals so yield isn't really much of an issue for me. Now that I own the box the only weed I'll ever need to buy will still be seeds.

Figured someone out there would get a shit-kick out of this...


I made some absolutely AMAZING hash oil out of the trim from the Pineapple Chunk. I got a lot more than I expected, and am really really pleased with the quality. This is the best oil I've smoked, hands down.

This oil allows for the full Pineapple Chunk experience, so even though my buds didn't turn out 100% this time (although they are still good, update soon) I can still enjoy the full potency. I've been smoking the oil off of a titanium pad as well; a flavor cleaner than any you can get from a vaporizer, IMHO.

The taste is surreal; definitely a sweet, full bodied fruit flavor on exhale. The high can be felt instantly behind the eyes but sets in to stay after about 15 minutes. Cerebral and visually stimulating. Great med properties for this strain as well. I have severe back problems from a car accident several years ago and this works for me both as a muscle relaxant as well as a pain killer.

I wish I had a better space to grow out Pineapple Chunk, this oil has really sold me on the full potential of this strain.

I have a nice mom going still and am considering trying one more crop of these from clone. I just question how short I could keep them under basically SOG conditions (extra short veg, trim to growing tip and shoot for giant main colas). If that won't work I'll need to find some more appropriate genetics... any recommendations would be appreciated.

Do I have pics, you ask? Yes, yes I do.

From left to right they are: yield day 1 (about 1.7g), yield day 2 (look for yourself!), vial with total yield (color is funky because of phone flash), spoon with day 2 oil (used to melt oil into vials)