[T5/Coco/Seedlingz!] First Grow - [OG Diesel x Durple] (Durban Poison x Mendo Purps)

Hey hey, RIU! Welcome to my first personal grow/journal.

Over the past several months I’ve been assisting in caring for a relatively large number of plants in a MMED*-recognized grow facility for a dispensary here in Colorado. I’m super fortunate in that I have a friend/mentor that I have been working alongside who has been sharing his knowledge with me along the way... and I’m pretty sure he has a journal on here as well, so if you see this- yo!!
*Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division

I figure I need an outlet for my own journey on this horticultural path, so thus begins the documentation of me raising my first plants from start to finish(I hope). It’s worth mentioning I’m a registered MMJ patient with the state of Colorado as well.


Now, what am I growing? Exciting stuff! I discovered a few choice seeds in the “Durple” (Durban Poison x Mendocino Purps) that I was trimming up a little while ago. The consensus is that it must’ve gotten impregnated by the slightly herm’d OG Diesel towering above it. You could say it was like a Rottweiler mounting a Chihuahua… the OGD’s were 7+ feet tall and the Durples never became more than 3 feet tall. That’s pretttttty awesome because basically anything that OG Kush x Sour Diesel x Durban Poison x Mendo Purps might create sounds right up my alley. As you will see, the varieties produced by this combination will seem to express themselves very early on. SO! Let’s see what these bangin’ genetics have in store for us…

I’ve popped four seeds into some canna coco’d party cups, taken the knowledge my bud has been so graciously dumping into my brain, and McGuyver’d-up whatever equipment I can find to make this first attempt worthwhile.

Next, how and where am I growing? Inside my tiny, trippy 3[SUP]rd[/SUP]-floor room of fun:


I might as well show you what else goes on up here, and what makes it the ‘fun’ room -


So yeah, it’s not white/mylar , a grow tent, nor is it a convenient closet. It’s the carpeted 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] and top floor of a townhouse with a large, hinged skylight.


The skylight is pretty key in that I can control some humidity and air flow in the room but it’ll ruin everything light-wise when it’s time to go to 12/12. Luckily I plan on getting a tent by that time as well as upgrading my lighting equipment from the 4-foot 4-bulb T5 I’m currently vegging under to something a little more powerful. It’s going to be really fun upgrading my ghetto rig so I can properly care for these plants.

The seedlings are currently at about day 22, so I figure now would be a good time to start publishing things as they happen. I DO have a bunch of pictures of the babies’ growth up through today that I’ll be posting right abouuuuuuut now-

Day 1 – Four seeds in Canna coco under a 4-foot 4-bulb T5 fluorescent light.



I plan on flowering the two best/most desirable seedlings. I knowww it’s going to be hard getting rid of candidates.
Not much to do here…

Day 2 – Rise! Rise!



Yep, looks about right. I’m misting these like a madman because there’s NO humidity here. I’m taking paper towel and very very delicately letting the droplets on the cotyledons absorb off as to not let em burn via light magnification. I’ve been blasting them with 2 out of 4 bulbs in the T5, doing 24/0.

Day 3: Reach for the T5!



Well, it’s obviously too early to say much about anything, except I realized I should be putting the T5 3” or so from the seedlings to shorten node length, they seem tall enough as is.



The babies look like they don’t mind that T5 much at all. They might even like it!

Day 5: Looks like they like it BUT!!!



Disaster! As you might expect, solo cups sitting in a long floppy tray don’t balance that well. The seedling all the way to the left completely ate it while I was moving the tray after watering. The seedling completely fell out of the cup with all the coco. I figured it was a pretty good time to see what was going on with the innards of the other cups, so I checked out the naked seedling to get an idea. It had roots reaching all the way to the bottom already, interesting!

Well, I wanted to see what else I could find out so I placed the girl back in her cup as sort of a Frankenstein experiment. Will the shock kill it, stunt it, and can it subsequently recover despite that? We’ll see! Either way, I’ll be pretty focused on the 3 on the right from now on as flowering candidates down the road.

Day 6: Axilla, Funky Bitch, Suzy Greenberg



Yep. I had to name em, so here are their names- from left to right.. Axilla, Funky Bitch, and Suzy Greenberg.
-Axilla looks strong, it’s the frontrunner at the moment.
-FunkyB. already seems to be of different design from Axilla, I can’t quite figure out why.
-SuzyG. Is interesting… healthier than FunkyB. but seems to be just a weak-Axilla.
I know I should wait, but these cups are getting bone dry on a daily basis and honestly the seedlings are looking pretttty yellow. I think they want some nitrogen! I’ve also been feeding with just plain tap water thus far so my pH may not be as low as the girls would like. I’ll have to buy a cheap bottle of pH down. With all of that said...I thiiiiink I’m gonna transplant two of the remaining three viable seedlings and then feed them their first nutrients tomorrow.

Day 7: Oh, fuck it. I’m going for it. My first two seedling transplants-

Well, I went out and purchased some Canna coco and some 1 gallon smartpots but then decided I want to go straight into 3-gallon pots from the cups so I exchanged ‘em. Why? These seedlings and their roots seem vigorous. The garden in which these seeds manifested is filled with stunningly beautiful genetics. I also got the smallest amounts available of the Canna coco nutes we use in the garden in veg and was pretty surprised at how affordable they were considering my meager needs ($60 or so total).

My oh-so-wise girlfriend says Suzy Greenberg looks the healthiest despite being the unexciting choice.. and because Axilla is looking the most robust despite its current pale hue I’ll be transplanting that as well. Funky Bitch would’ve been my choice over SuzyG. because its leaves are much broader than the other two and I’d love variety, but it looks stressed. I can always buy another pot and use the rest of my coco if I decide I want to veg that one alongside Axilla and FunkyB.
SO! here we goooooo; let’s split a couple of cups-
First up, Suzy Greenberg-

One couldn’t ask for much more after a week I can only assume-



Axilla follows suit- lookin’ good.
P.S. anyone else lovin’ Hop Czar? It’s pretty much all I drink while chillin’ at home at the moment – an inexpensive but worthy IPA from Bridgeport

Well, the transplants went.. sloppily. I have basically zero experience with seedlings in general, much less transferring such un-established plants into such large pots. I basically destroyed the root system of Axilla, while mildly keeping SuzyG’s intact. I’m very interested to see how they respond tomorrow.

From Left to Right: Suzy Greenberg, Funky Bitch (far solo cup), Frankenstein (near solo cup), Axilla.


I fed them 4 mLs A+B, 6 mL Rhizo per gallon of H20, of which I split a single gallon between both 3-gallon pots and both solo cups. All plants got their first taste of food. I dropped just a few pH down crystals in because I know rhizo spikes the pH when used at a higher proportion than A+B. I really need to get a pH meter…

Day 8: I’ve been bit by the bug!

I shouldn’t say that, no spider mites… yet . Welp, coupled with my lack of fulfillment with yesterday’s transplant as well as my uncontrollable interest in growing tha dankness personally, I’m going to transplant Funky Bitch today. BUT FIRST! Let’s check out Axilla after yesterday’s transplant/feed.





Axilla, lookin’ A-OK. I don’t seem to have a pic of SuzyG but she looks A-OK as well. You’ll see how Axilla and FunkyB’s first sets of leaves seem to exhibit different types of growth, as it’s already apparent to me after just 8 days. SuzyG still seems to take after Axilla in plant-structure, but leans very slightly toward FunkyB in wider leaf-structure.

Ok! Let’s crack open FunkyB for transplant:



Niiiiiiiiiice. This transplant was the most successful by far. The coco and roots stayed together, and even allowed me to massage it up a little to help it integrate into its 3-gallon. It’s started showing signs of lightening up at the tips since yesterday’s feed in the solo cup. seems it might’ve taken up too much or something. After transplant I gave the whole 3-gallon pot a very light feed, so as not to further the burn which I might’ve caused FunkyB. I still feel like I’m doing more harm than good by not just giving her water, but we’ll see! That’s what makes this fun.



Funky Bitch after transplant.

Day 12: Must’ve been establishing roots, not much goin’ on on-top!

I've been pretty focused on Axilla and Funky Bitch lately, as they are exhibiting very different traits early on.

Funky Bitch, indica-nessss



Axilla, sativa-nesssss

Day 14: The seedlings have seem to adjusted into their very large homes

Axilla - Still looking strong



Suzy Greenberg - she's actually started to catch up to Axilla, but is expressing a little more of a wider leaf-trait than Axilla. Definitely seems to be the hybrid between Axilla and FunkyB



Funky Bitch- Yep, definitely burned her Lookin' robust, tho.




Day 15: Not much new to report, just pics~

Axilla-



Suzy Greenberg-



Funky Bitch-



All three-

Day 16: Pictures!

Axilla-




SuzyG-




FunkyB-




All Three-



Day 17: Pictures!

Axilla-




SuzyG-




FunkyB-

Day 18: Everything in its right place

Axilla and SuzyG seem to be catching up to each other, but both are pretty far behind FunkyB.

Axilla -




SuzyG-




FunkyB-

Day 20: Here comes the sun, doo do doo do

Sunshine was pouring through the skylight today, so I took some pictures of the girls in the light that i wish i could be growing them in, sadly the sun is just so WEAK

Axilla- still goin strong, still looking super sativa-y compared to FunkyB




Suzy Greenberg - She's really starting to come into her own, funny how things change so quickly with seedlings.


Funky Bitch - check out my tight nodez- and indica leaves




All 3, Axilla, SuzyG, FunkyB, top down



All 3 back under the T5, in the same order from here on out

Day 21: Three weeks with the ladies!

This must be when the fun really begins. The new daily growth is a pleasure to wake up and see, it's like christmas morning! Especially since I get to do the same thing with the plants at the warehouse every day

I definitely fed the plants too much last feeding. Not gonna flush, just gonna let them ride out the burn and see what happens. Axilla isn't showing signs of burnage (yet), but FunkyB and SuzyG to a lesser extent, are already browning

Axilla -



Suzy Greenberg - She's really starting to twist, weird! Anyone know why? Was it just the overfeeding?




Funky Bitch -

Day 22

So, my hygrometer has been reading 75-85 degrees F the whole time which has been awesome, but its barely able to pick up a humidity reading. So, I just placed 4 solo cups filled with water under the light, and i've been achieving 25% RH. Not toooo shabby.

Axilla continues to express sativa vibes while FunkyB is expressing indica vibes. SuzyG continues to fall in between both, yet ALSO continues to grow nodes spiraling up the stalk instead of symmetrically. If anything it's fun to watch.

The Burn is progressing up FunkyB and SuzyG's leaves, but I hope that it'll stop soon. I know I could've flushed, but I'm trying to give these babies a dry cycle, and I didn't want to interrupt that. Axilla is still showing no signs of burn, but the again seems to beat eating nutes the slowest.

Axilla- I'm absolutely loving how she's turning out




SuzyG- Twisting! But healthy growth despite a bit o burning




FunkyB-




All 3, w/ water cups for humidity-

Day 23: Seed mania

So, if you'll remember my original post where I mentioned that the Durple (Durban Poison x Mendo Purps) was next to an OG Diesel, resulting in the seeds you see growing.

BUT there was ALSO a Purple Island (Island Sweet Skunk x Mendo Purps) plant sitting next to it as well... seeing as how fun, low maintenance, and educational this has all been thus far, I decided to pop 4 PI x OGD seeds just for funsies. I feel like I've already learned a lot from these first few, why not start this relatively long process now? Besides... I've got an absolute assload of these PI x OGD seeds. An assload.



Good luck, little ones! My other little girl Stella Blue just turned one year old the other day, i'll let you enjoy her before i show ya the new growth on Axilla, Suzy G, and Funky B.



Happy Bday!

Alright, on to the plants:

Axilla- Lookin' really healthy. I can't wait for this thing to explode like FunkyB!




Suzy Greenberg- I'm really enjoying watching what this one does. I'm still thinkin' I'll flower Axilla and Funky B, it'll be hard to let this one go But who knows this one might be the frontrunner in a week! A lot can change..




Funky Bitch- The burning seems to have stopped progressing, but I'm noticing a little bit of that twisted growth that SuzyG is exhibiting. I promise not to burn them again I'm sure they'll grow straight from now on.




Family shot-



Lookin' good, girls (and possible girl-boys)!

Day 25: Roots!



So, all three smart pots have roots pokin' out from under 'em. Glad to see that they're filling up the 3 gallon pots nicely, now I just need to see some along the bottom rim of the pot and I'll know we're cookin'.

I woke up yesterday and Axilla was lying on her side! It looks like I had accordian-folded its stem when I sloppily transferred it from the solo cup to the 3-gallon smart pot. I remember that Axilla was my worst transplant by far, so this is expected. Another culprit I believe is how tightly I packed the coco down, forcing the stem to grow vertically up. I buried Axilla with a little coco from the other pots and hope she'll set. The growth looks nice on all three plants, and the burning seems to have stopped. Diggin' it all!

Axilla - Seems to be getting back on track after being completely horizontal yesterday. All the leaves had grown up to the light so nothing got crushed. Quite cool! This plant is definitely more Durban/Sour Diesel than Mendo Purp/OG Kush.




Suzy Greenberg - Well, the twisting seems to have stopped, and all nodes are going back to being symmetric. Weird! She's really a beauty, I'm diggin' her a lot. I'm making a way-too-early prediction now and saying she'll turn out to be Durple-y. Durban/Mendo Purps, like her mom .




Funky Bitch - Still explodin'! It's really fun as its second wave of leaves have been exploding out of its original nodes, and the main stalk is way fatter than Axilla and SuzyG! It just started hulking out of its epidermis about 10 days ago, while Axilla and SuzyG have just now finally shed theirs gradually. The tight nodes are so sick, I love the T5. We'll see what happens during flower though




That's it for today!

diggin the "fun" room looks a bit like mine with the guitar rig ..

haha yeah, i usually flip the power strip with the lights/fans off and flip the one with the pedals/amp on when I play. pretty smooth

Day 26: Hangin' with Stella.

Stella's going to be joining us for today's entry- I hope you're all good with that!



Not much new to report today- mainly just pics. I did have luck with two of the Purple Island x OG Diesel seeds that I popped, and put 'em into clear cups inside solo cups inside a 1 gallon plastic bag. Seems to be workin great. The condensation from all the water sitting in the bottom of the bag is probably blockign a good portion of light from the seedlings, yet the proximity will cause them not to stretch. Let's see if it works!

It's been about a week since I've fed/watered, and the smart pots are feelin pretttty light. I'll have to change that!

The sun was blazing through the skylight, so today we've got some T5-less pictures. I love 'em in this natural light. They're starting to smell like ganj!

Axilla - She's been very unstable due to my stem screw up, so next time I feed I am going to bury her with more coco, she's the tallest anyways and will probaby love it.




Suzy Greenberg - Lookin' beautiful! And honestly the most balanced between the two polarities of Axilla and FunkyB.





Funky Bitch - Her growth is just ridiculous, it's so so tight. I can't wait for the stems to develop and push the leaves out of the main stalk, the T5s have made the nodes so tight, they need to stretch horizontally now! But as you'll see, it's happening rapidly with the first sets of fan leaves.





Group shot, Axilla, SuzyG, the two Purple Island / OG Diesel seedlings, and Funky Bitch.-



They'll be a month old on Monday

Day 31: Growth!


All plants are responding as I would expect given what has happened to them/how they've been transplanted/how they got going out of the gate. While I'm not sure ANY amount of burning is okay for seedlings, my last feeding seems to have juuuuuuuust been a little much, which is OK! The tips of the new growth on all 3 plants are juuuuust a little burnt. Just the tips, after several days. I'll note this feeding and dial it down just a little for the perfect amount at 4 weeks given similar plant health, and scale it down in reverse as to not burn like I did in my previous feedings, because it turns out my last one was the smallest feed yet. I must've been ROCKING them before! Sorry girls!

Axilla is slowly creepin' along, but she also had the absolute worst transplant by far in addition to having to deal with all the issues that went along with that along the way. It's been the slowest to fill the 3-gallon pot with roots. She remains to be skinnier than the others, but at what point is that weak-growth and not a sativa characteristic? Pretty soon I bet




SuzyG is HEALTHY. Diggin' her a bunch. Like I said before I'm really hoping she exhibits traits close to the original Durple plant-




And of course, Funky Bitch is truckin' right along. Way fatter than all the others and way more developed. This had the BEST transplant by far, and seemed to take hold of the entire 3-gallon pot with roots the earliest. I am definitely going to ensure smoother transplants from now on. Not to mention, I'm putting my two new Purple Island x OG Diesel seedlings in 1-gallons this time after leaving them in the solo cups for probably twice as long as before.... which may negate the need for the 1-gallon, but we'll see! experimentation is fun.




Can't expect too much more from these seedlings, it's nice to have other plants growing so I don't really need to watch the ever-so-slow growth of baby seedlings I'll name 'em once they start showing personality.




Everyone chillin' together:

Man, I wish that side-shot of Funky Bitch captured the base of its stem, it's about twice as thick as Axilla's. Like a #2 pencil I can just imagine the water/nutes flowing through it.

how goes it man? how they doin?