Micro CFL Blue Himalaya Diesel First in a while...

¡Hola! RIU!

This is my first run in almost a decade and I wanted to share with you all.

Hopefully you’ll enjoy watching my progress; and god forbid should I eff anything up, we’ll have a good laugh together ay?

Feel free to jump in with comments or questions! It would please me.

I don’t smoke much and I’m really only growing for the love of the hobby & plant. That being said here’s where we start!

The Setup:

For this grow stealth is the primary objective. I needed a setup that was as inconspicuous as possible.
Double stacked Rubbermaids and CFL’s in the back corner of the garage should do.

Ghetto. I know. Oh well.

Where I live, it gets REALLY hot in the summer and REALLY cold in the winter. The garage is not ideal but we’ll make it work.

I threw things together as simply as possible and this is the result.



I lined the bins with 5/8” reflective rigid board and filled the gaps with spray foam for temp and sound insulation as well as light proofing. By doing this I lost a few square inches of grow space but gained oh so much in terms of fortification.

A power strip with socket plugs and Y splitters equipped with DIY pop can reflectors are being used for lights and I have a bunch of 23w CFL’s in 5500k and 2300k spectrums. I love the DIY stuff BTW.

Container is ~ 2 gallons filled with a mix of Jiffy seed starter mix, a handful of MG potting soil, regular black potting soil and perlite. The soil tends to hold water a bit longer than I’d like and I did have to pick out the occasional MG fertilizer beads when they surfaced.

I’m using a 120mm speed controlled fan for exhaust and there’s a 3” desk fan within for circulation as well.

I’ll be using Dyna Gro’s line of nutes; Grow, Bloom, KLN and Protekt.

Water runs 7.1 PH and 250ppm out of the faucet.

The Gear:

I’ve been muy intrigued by Autoflowers since researching and browsing forums more recently. When I last checked Ruderalis was a big joke, but it seems like as of late Auto genetics could have some potential given the right attention. I have a nice variety of seeds collected (photoperiods) for when we step things up next year, but for this grow an Auto fit perfectly. I ended up choosing Blue Himalaya Diesel by Short Stuff.

Short Stuff describes the strain as so:

“Himalaya Blue diesel is a cross of our Blue Himalaya strain and New york city diesel. Blue Himalaya is an indica dominant auto which was the result of crossing the fattest, most resinous Nepalese kush plant we could find with our auto line and then introducing a complex blueberry hybrid. The result was a highly resinous strain which stayed very short and gave off a wonderful blueberry aroma. We took this awesome blue kush strain and then crossed it with new york city diesel to add spiciness and extra potency and the result blew us away.”

“The plant has very chunky, compact buds that often turn blue or purple at the end of the flowering period. It can get a fair bit taller than the Blue Himalaya, sometimes reaching 70 or 80cm but most examples with be 50-60 cm and can easily yield an ounce. The strain gives off fruity and spicy scents and has wonderful medicinal qualities borne out of its indica heritage.”

I’ll be completely honest and admit I was initially drawn to the BHD because of the sexy breeder’s pics, but after skimming through a few journals it seemed this could be a good strain overall.

So that’s that! You’re up to speed.

Seeds started germinating in a wet paper towel on September 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] and planted in the dirt on September 6[SUP]th[/SUP].

Boop シ

The Grow:

Started seedling under two 23w CFLs @ 24/0.



For the first week Dyna Gro KLN and Protekt were used at the recommended doses.

I’m hoping the Protekt will assist with the potentially extreme temps we may encounter, as well as protection from bugs.



Temps average about 85º ranging from 70 to 100 and RH averages 38% fluctuating quite a bit from 25 – 50%. As I mentioned the soil likes to hold water for a long time so it is pretty much constantly ‘moist’.

Two 23w CFLs added for a total of 92w now. Still @ 24/0 light schedule.

As often as possible, I try to open up the box and bring in fresh air with a fan. This helps a lot with reducing temps too.

PH in the soil has remained neutral and from my modest experience she’s starting off like a champ.



At this point she’s stacked her nodes quite closely on top of each other. I’m not sure if it’s the environment, lights or genetics (probably a mix) but I expect this plant to be bushy-ushy in stature. That's good!

My goal this run = get my sh!t on lock.

Boop シ

At this point growth is vigorous but smell has become a serious issue. This is one stinky facker for being a small plant without flowers. Ona Gel, Ozium, a carbon filter and air fresheners are being used to mask the smell. Not all at once folks… I think this issue is due to poor ventilation in the garage. The addition of an air filter causes an issue with heat though, allowing temps to rise to 100º + for one day.

On day 17 work was performed necessitating the shut off of power, so our girl was in the dark for about 6 hours. Also I began Low Stress Training by pulling the top growth shoot laterally and tucking fan leaves.



The good news: Increased light penetration by use of LST has definitely aided the growth of lower nodes.

The bad news: Temps are too high to be sustained much longer – if the outside temp doesn’t fall to help out with this issue additional ventilation or an adjusted light schedule will have to be considered.

More good news:

Lady parts


So far so good.

Boop シ

Leaf tips exhibit a slight burn, some minor curling and overall a slightly unhealthy appearance. I assume this is due to temps being in the high 90’s for the last few days. However an overabundance of nutes could be to blame as well. A 20/4 light schedule has been implemented and outside temps appear to be dropping over the next week. I’ve also cut back on feeding dosages (350 ppm).

Some additional training has been done and lower growth shoots have much available light.

After this I’ll be away for almost a week. I hope that lower outside temps and the reduced light schedule will prevent further burning & when I come back we’ll see some more preflowers

Boop シ

Aaaand finally this is where we are currently...

Back from my trip and after 5 days away this is what was waiting.



The plant grew at least 3-4 inches and added a bunch of new nodes. Bud sites have appeared everywhere. The lowest fan leaves are yellowing as you can see, a slight increase in nutrients will be given at the next feeding.

Some more LST was done and another two 23w CFL’s were added. At this point there is a total of 138 actual watts, half of which is 2700k and the other half 5500k.



The top of the plant growth is about 4 inches from the CFL’s. Some minor pruning of large fan leaves was done.

Boop シ

After such amazingly smooth sailing, we encounter our first fck up. Added lights (4 x 23w) on day 31 increased temps about 30º and the plant was subject to 110º for a whole day. Leaves wilted, new growth appears literally scorched and bleached or brown, and white hairs shriveled/burned. The fan leaves shrunk considerably from only one day before. She does appear to be mostly green still so I do have hopes that there can be a recovery.

I removed the added lights and watered/fed and left the box open to refresh as well.

What a difference one day can make huh? I’ll be improving ventilation before adding lights back for damn sure.

After about two hours at regular temps and with fresh water and nutes available it looks like she’s a LITTLE bit happier.



I’m curious to see if and how fast she can spring back from this. I’ve read that autoflowers will stall growth completely if stressed too considerably, hopefully that is not the case here.

Two days after the barbeque things have slowed down a lot L I really killed our momentum on this one.



And four days later at day 35 we still are not moving along very well. My hope is that she is trying to recover and we’ll see new bud sites appear. I’m giving up on some of the older ones that got scorched. White hair development is almost invisible at this point.



The top is looking alright though.



Until the heat stress this was running absolutely great. When I added the CFL’s I did so ignorantly because everything looked good and it seemed like the right time to step things up (without any consideration). Noob move there. Although I am a little surprised at how drastic the temp change was. I have additional ventilation plans and should be updating next week.

I’m really just looking for a sample of this strain so hopefully a few grams when all is said and done. We’ll see.

Boop シ

As of day 38 we’re still growing! Lots of progress over the last day or so after being fried on day 31. Main top is really shooting off and lower sites are coming in as well. Three or four prominent growth sites were destroyed completely by the heat but the rest seem to be recovering. She’s not nearly as pretty looking as she could be but I think she’ll finish alright. Definitely added about 10 days to my grow but that’s not a big deal.



Temps have really dropped outside in the last week. I’ve upgraded my ventilation to accommodate adding more lights again but the drop in temp will also assist. Night time temps are getting a little chilly though in the mid 50’s but average is around 65º and high 70’s on the upper end. Four more 23w CFL’s have been added making the new total for CFL wattage 184. Half 2700k half 5500k spectrum and each is advertised at 1,600 lumens. That’s a total of 12,800 lumens from all of the lights and with the great deal of training I’ve done I don’t think having ‘enough light’ will be an issue. My hope is that now with adequate circulation and venting and additional heat from the lights that we can remain consistent between 60 and 80.

I’ve noticed some odd symptoms, of what cause I’m not sure. It doesn’t seem to be taking over or inhibiting growth so I’ll just keep an eye out. Looks like a few things; some yellowing between veins, lower growth has marbled tint to leaves and slightly greyer and more saturated looking leaves. The greyish colored parts look like they have dust on the leaves, so I researched PM but it doesn’t seem to be the issue. Kind of cleared up for the most part after a couple days.



However at day 42 the majority of tops are looking healthy and overall vigor has returned.




Boop シ

Very Nice DIY work. I like the ideas.
Keep it going and let us know how it goes.

nice grow!! sub'd!!

Thanks!

This plant is definitely a feisty beetch. Seriously. Recently lots of fast, stretching growth helpled her to bush out quite a bit. I did a lot of LST too.



Lots of flowering sites have appeared.

She definitely turned around from a few weeks ago. Very pretty plant.



From day 50 on I’ve seen less and less vertical growth but not much in regard to adding mass. The flowers are getting slightly frosted but not really filling in yet.



Today is day 59 and really no changes have occurred since day 55.



I did make a few changes since last posting; light schedule is 20/4 and there is a total of 193 watts of CFL’s – 6 x 23w (mixed 50/50 warm and day spectrum) and 1 x 55w 2700k. Temps have settled in to about 55-60 low and 80 high.

I’ve also recently transitioned to more Bloom than Grow nutes & at last feeding the solution was ~ 650 ppm.

Boop シ

duuuude stop watering her sooo hard ! she looks great but very very sad you want those leaves pointing to the sky ! plus as your getting nearer harvest you dont what to start with some damp as fuck buds !

Great job, im really enjoying your progress. Cant wait to see the end result