Snaab's KC 45 & THC Bomb Indoor/Outdoor Grow

[Snaab]

Hello everyone,

I wish that I would have gotten around to this sooner, but no better time than now to kick this off. I've never grown indoors before, and though this is my third year with a few plants outdoors I really didn't appreciate the specialized care and sheer variety of the cannabis plant until this year. Without further ado let's join this grow in progress!


What strain is it? THC BOMB and KC 45
Is it Indica, Sativa or Hybrid? Hybrid
Is it in Veg or Flower stage? Flower
If in Flower stage... For how long? 8 Weeks
Indoor or outdoor? Indoor
Soil or Hydro? Soil
If soil... what is in your mix? Happy Frog - 75%, pearlite 20%, vermiculite 5%
If soil... What size pot? 5 gallon smart pot
Size of light? 450 watt LED
Is it air-cooled? 6" in-line fan, passive intake
Temp of Room/cab? 80
RH of Room/cab? 62
Any Pests ? Green leafhoppers in late veg stage (adult and larva) taken care of with neem oil. Some fungus gnats currently, but no big infestation.
How often are you watering? As needed (by weight of pot)
Type and strength of ferts used? Foxfarm liquids and supplements, around 75% strength

These seeds were germinated May 15th, along with the two other strains, 5 of each. All 5 THC bomb seeds germinated and thrived. After about six weeks of vegging (during which time the seedlings were transplanted into 3 and 5 gallon smart pots) I moved 3 plants (in the larger 5 gallon pots) into the flowering tent, reserving the other two plants as mothers (since I still haven't quite gotten a hold of cloning).

So, these 3 plants are in a Secret Jardin Darkstreet 2 4x4 tent, under a Mars II 900 LED. That netting is a lazy attempt at SCROG, sold by Secret Jardin to hook directly into their tents. Don't buy it - far too elastic to effectively train the plants.

They have been abused a bit, I'm afraid. Being a first time indoor grower, I've had problems so far with temperature, humidity, pests (easy ones, at least), nutrients, and even under watering. If I would have gotten this journal going sooner I'm sure some folks in the community would have pointed out those issues before I learned them the hard way. Still, things are coming along nicely and I estimate another 7-10 days on these plants.

Next up is the KC 45, growing outdoors. These plants were germinated at the same time as the THC Bomb and have come along pretty well. Deer have ripped off some branches here and there, but have been leaving them alone for the most part.

These were supposed to be auto flowering, but as Relaxed Lester pointed out that just isn't the case. It might be a bit of a race against the first frost with these plants, but let's hope for the best.

The tallest of the 3, but also the slowest to flower.

Very little bud development in the past couple of weeks

The other girls are a little better off

As you can see these are both a little more mature at this point

And there you have it - let me know what you think!

 

[Lester Freeman]

re: Snaab's KC 45 & THC Bomb Indoor/Outdoor Grow

I'm loving it! I am so happy you started a grow journal. Thanks for posting the link.

Your plants look fantastic, race against time now!

 

[Snaab]

re: Snaab's KC 45 & THC Bomb Indoor/Outdoor Grow

Thanks Lester!

Today I have some closeup pics of the THC Bomb. It looks like she still has a little ways to go, right?

Looking at the trichs is new to me, as in the past I just basically had to hope the plants were close to ripe before the frost came. I'm not sure yet if they should get one more round of ferts before the flush, guess I'll have to decide in the next day.

 

[Lester Freeman]

re: Snaab's KC 45 & THC Bomb Indoor/Outdoor Grow

Yea still got some time on there to completely plump up, may want to start flushing soon like you said.

Real interested in that KC so keep me posted

 

[Snaab]

re: Snaab's KC 45 & THC Bomb Indoor/Outdoor Grow

The two KC 45 shortie girls continue to pack on the flowers.

Even the tall one has thrown out a few more hairs in the last couple of days.

I've only got another 5 weeks to go before I have to start worrying about frost, so it's safe to say that it will be down to the wire on these three. They'll be getting Big Bloom, Tiger Bloom, and Boomerang at full strength next watering along with a quarter-strength dose of Cal-Mag. One of my indoor THC Bomb developed what I believe was a calcium deficiency around 3 weeks ago, as shown in the picture below (calcium deficiency can look a lot like spider mite leaf damage, but haven't seen any of them around) so I'm going to start using it regularly around the third week of flowering.

 

[Snaab]

re: Snaab's KC 45 & THC Bomb Indoor/Outdoor Grow

There are a few leaves on one of the plants that look a little troubling - hoping it's just insect damage and not some nutrient deficiency.

Lastly is my sole Critical Kush plant. These seeds didn't germinate very readily - only one of the five made it (as opposed to 5/5 on the THC Bomb and 4/5 on the KC 45). However, the one that did make it has been a total joy to work with, and I have high hopes for it. Maybe it's because I've never worked with a pure indica strain in the past and don't know the difference, but this one is coming up on its 3 month birthday in the veg chamber and hasn't given me any problems at all - even the leaf hoppers stayed away from this plant while they chowed down on the THC bombs. Now that I've figured out how to clone without too much problem I'll be sending this one into the flowering tent once the 3 THC bombs are ready in another few days.

 

[Snaab]

re: Snaab's KC 45 & THC Bomb Indoor/Outdoor Grow

I had to chop my 3 THC Bomb gals a few days earlier than I would have liked. About a week prior to harvest I noticed that the main cola on one of the plants had the start of bud rot. I cut it out and kept a close eye on everything for the next week with no signs of it spreading. Then it returned, taking out the main cola on a second plant.

The moral of the story is to keep your humidity in check late in flowering. I struggled to keep it down in the low 60s in that space, but really it should have been in the 40s. As I clean out and set up for the next grow in my indoor space I'll have to address this issue - something that should be easier in the colder months when I'm not dealing with 90% humidity outdoors most days.

The 3 plants took about 6 days to dry at 75 degrees and 45% humidity and went into the curing jars the day before yesterday. Total weight after drying and trimming was 170 grams. Had those colas not gone in the hash pile the yield would have been closer to 200.

Speaking of hash pile, I made my first batch of bubble hash. I wouldn't call it a rousing success in terms of quantity, but it sure is nice quality. Very heady, and very nice for outdoor activity. I ended up with 5.3 grams from the 3 plants over 2 runs. The lower quality stuff went into some cannabutter, leaving about 3 grams of high quality hash.

I'll have some photos up of my KC 45s soon.

 

[Lester Freeman]

re: Snaab's KC 45 & THC Bomb Indoor/Outdoor Grow

Gratz on the pull, and yeah, absolutely, as an ocean grower I can say for certainty that I pray for dry days during late flower.

Can't wait to see the KC-45s man

 

[Snaab]

re: Snaab's KC 45 & THC Bomb Indoor/Outdoor Grow

Ok, here is the long awaited update on the KC 45s. It's been significantly cooler this past week and all three plants have been packing on the flowers.

First up is my late bloomer.

Comparing photos, she is 18-21 days behind the other two in terms of flowering maturity.

I'm not confident that this one will get to full maturity before a first freeze, but maybe this will be a lucky year for me.

My other two have really fattened up in these last couple of weeks.

The 3 are all roughly the same height at this point, 5 ft from stem to tip, and they have branched out nicely with no training and only a couple of FIMs earlier in the season.

Stray observations so far on this grow:
-I think I might go with 7 gallon smart pots next year with my outdoor plants, if only to reduce the need for watering. As it is 3 days between waterings is really pushing it with 5 gallon bags.
-This stuff smells FANTASTIC! Very flowery/sweet citrusy, with a little bit of spicy undertone. Far and away the best smelling weed plants I've come across (which isn't many).
-Bugs haven't been a big issue. Perhaps 10% of the leaves show any sign of insect damage, just small holes here and there.
-No problems with nutrients at this point. Full strength Foxfarm basic 3, along with Open Sesame. Half-strength Cal-Mag+ and Hygrozyme every other fertilization.

Hope you like!

 

[Lester Freeman]

re: Snaab's KC 45 & THC Bomb Indoor/Outdoor Grow

Looking very nice and healthy!

Great Photos

 

[David Bowman]

How did this grow turn out?

We would love to be updated with some pictures and info.

How about posting a 420 Strain Review?

If you need any help with posting photos, please read the photo gallery tutorial: Photo Gallery Guide: How to Resize, Upload & Post Photos

I am moving this to Abandoned Journals until we get updates.

Thanks and hope all is well in your world.

Love and respect from all of us here at 420 Magazine.

 

[Snaab]

Hello again, and very sorry for the significant delay in updates.

Unfortunately, when you grow outdoors in a state where cannabis is still criminalized, you run the risk of a helicopter hovering over the grow that you thought was carefully concealed. Such was the fate of these plants one morning several weeks ago. As best as I can figure, my grow was spotted by chance while they raided a much larger grow nearby. Luckily I was out for a run when the police showed up, but it was hard to miss a police helicopter hovering overhead in the relatively rural area that I live in.

Unable to find a good vantage point to see what might be going on, I figured that it was time to go back and face the music. Fortunately I live in a state where three plants is a misdemeanor at best. Making my way back up the street I expected to find police cars waiting outside of my house. Indeed, I saw a patrol car heading down the street in the opposite direction as my house. They didn't pay any attention to me, and I later deduced that my three plants were in the trunk of that car, bundled up in trash bags.

When I arrived at home there was no one there. None of the neighbors were home at this hour, so I didn't have any witnesses to what happened. All told, it was less than 30 minutes from the time that I first saw the helicopter until the time that I returned to my house. There was no sign that anyone had been here at all, actually. For a moment I thought that they could have missed the plants, or busted a neighbor instead of me. However, looking out my back window I could see the three empty pots sitting at the edge of the clearing near where my plants had been.

Thinking now that the police would surely return at some later time I quickly got rid of my indoor grow and equipment and then waited. The next day I talked with a lawyer who assured me that I would most likely face no further action. So far that has held true, but just in case I will not be posting any more grow updates from this account. I will continue to respond from this account for a time, but this experience has really made me rethink some significant things in my life, regardless of the outcome. My wife and I are both medical users of cannabis, and for her in particular it has become a significant component of her treatment regimen for fibromyalgia. Although neither of us were facing any sort of jail time over the small amounts that we grew it still seemed like a senseless and cruel waste of resources on the part of law enforcement.
To make a long story short I have accepted a job in a state where MMJ is legal. Although the move is still a couple of months away I look forward to growing once again, only this time legally. Meanwhile, my backwards state, where there is frequent hand-wringing over the "brain drain" of professionals leaving the region, can tally two more gone, off to a more reasonable state. I was also able to find homes for the THC Bomb and Chronic Kush clones that I took. While I never flowered any Kush I have been very pleased with the THC Bomb. After about two months in a quart mason jar with a Boveda 62% pack it has turned into some wonderful smoke.
Thanks again for being such a great resource, 420! I'll be around for a bit to answer any questions...