Mandala-Satori and Delta9-SuperStar Day1 bloom diary

Well, I've made it this far, and havent killed anything yet!

I have however, screwed up MANY MANY times and learned alot from all of the good folks here.

Here's where I'm at right now. I just built my flowering area, it is incomplete because I need an exhaust fan and a scrubber for it, but I will get that soon.



I am flowering with 3 - 150 watt HPS lights that I got from Amazon.com for 18 bucks each... shipped!




I know they arent the best lights.... but I've never grown anything before, and decided not to spend a fortune on equipment, just so I could kill valuable plants. If all goes well with these three plants that I am flowering, I will buy a 600 watt HPS/MH light.

The three plants I am flowering are..... TWO Satori, from Mandala Seed Co.

Here is the big one, sprouted on Dec. 5th "Tori"



Here is the small one that I call "Palm Tree" this one sprouted on Dec. 3rd, and I did something to seriously stunt it




and last but not least, my short bushy SuperStar (no name for hopefully 'her')




I'm undecided if I should trim these down and "lolipop" them, or just let them bush out. I welcome any advice (as always)

The roots are all nice and white, and filling up the rez nicely.

they are going to grow a lot so id lollipop them. saved space and lets your plants really use all that light for the main cola. nice setup though. way to use your head and wallet wisely.

a couple more specifics, this is an aero system... and I am using fox farm nutrients. (3 pack, grow big, big bloom, and tiger bloom) oh, and I also have CalMag and Clearex (thanks jcommerce!) for when I flush the system.

I've kept the PH in the desired range so far ... 5.5 - 6.2 - working hard to keep it at around 5.8 as much as possible to prevent nute lockout.

I've scaled back the PPM and am trying to watch the plants to learn what they like, but so far... I use about 1/4 to 1/3 strength.

My main issue right now on day 1 of flowering, is how to prune them.

MagusALL said:

they are going to grow a lot so id lollipop them. saved space and lets your plants really use all that light for the main cola. nice setup though. way to use your head and wallet wisely.

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Hi.. ...... ... Thanks!

I kind of want to, but it just breaks my heart to cut anything from them!

Is it just the bottom 3rd of the plant that should be trimmed back... should I concentrate on the smaller nodes and let the fatter ones rampage?


I think the palm tree is kind of pre-lollipopped I cant see any trimming that needs to be done on that little sucker.

The other two I had topped once about 1 month into veg, "Tori" (the satori) grew 3 new branches going up, and the SuperStar grew 2.


Is there a point in time when it is best to prune them back to reduce the stress? Should I wait a couple of weeks, or just hammer the bitches?

On a side note, I have GOT to get a freaking carbon scrubber... because when I walk in my house, these things stink to high heaven. smells good, but I dont want a neon sign in the neighborhood, even if I am growing legally.

i hear that. mine stink up my place even with the carbon scrubber. i need a bigger one thats a fact. im not sure what percentage to trim, i just look and see which ones arent getting any light and then trim those until the plant has just the one big cola. this way it gets all the light it can while still letting the right stuff get to the bud. just my personal theory on that. also how do you top your plants? ive never done it but plan to try some new stuff out my next grow. looking good

MagusALL said:

i hear that. mine stink up my place even with the carbon scrubber. i need a bigger one thats a fact. im not sure what percentage to trim, i just look and see which ones arent getting any light and then trim those until the plant has just the one big cola. this way it gets all the light it can while still letting the right stuff get to the bud. just my personal theory on that. also how do you top your plants? ive never done it but plan to try some new stuff out my next grow. looking good

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Well... at about 4 weeks, close to 5 weeks, I figured I'd top them. All I did was go to the top of the plant, and snip off the new growth at the stem.

I'd take pictures of the stumps that I cut at the top of the plant, but they are in darkness! so cool.

Anyway, from what I read, the theory is you cut the top off, and instead of having one top, TWO or more tops grow from the sides of where you cut. Sure enough, 3 grew from my Satori, and 2 grew from my SuperStar. I will try to get pictures tomorrow afternoon.

sounds good

I'm a fuckin horrible photographer, and actually, a horrible gardener. Thank god for simple steps to keep my stupid ass in line.

here are the best pictures I could conjure up. you may see a little dried nub around the center area of the photo. That is where I topped it, and you can see the stems that shot up on all sides of it.

the satori..








and the superstar:




I did not top the palm tree, because it was too small.

I also have what looks surely to be thrips on a clone plant that I bought from a med shop, I am SO bummed, I'm not sure if I should just ditch the plant to lessen the chances of contaminating my other vegging plants, or just treat it, and hope for the best on all the rest.

My clean environment contaminated by a shitty kush clone!!! FUCK.

daddychrisg said:

Is there a point in time when it is best to prune them back to reduce the stress? Should I wait a couple of weeks, or just hammer the bitches?

I like to trim @ the end of week one, and three of flower...At the second trim, 1/3 of the plant is trimmed up.

I also have what looks surely to be thrips on a clone plant that I bought from a med shop, I am SO bummed, I'm not sure if I should just ditch the plant to lessen the chances of contaminating my other vegging plants, or just treat it, and hope for the best on all the rest.

You need an area to quarantine your new cones so you can kill any little fucking thing that is crawling, flying, or squirming around on them...Don't forget that there can be bugs deep inside of rock wool!

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Hey, thanks for checkin in DCG.. I didnt get answers, and I basically did as you suggested. At the end of week 1, I started trimming from the bottom up nodes that I knew wouldnt get any light, but I didnt overdo it because I wasnt sure which would come up and make a good budsite.

I'm at the end of week two and just watching to see what branches may still need to be trimmed off, I will do as you suggest and wait until the end of the 3rd week to make the final cuts.


I'm wanting to really get good at the cloning gig, because buying clones from an outside source is too risky. I had another thread about that clone, and it turned out to be MITES.

good riddance plant AND mites!

You say you are gowing to look into a 600 watter after this grow? I think with the light setup you have now, you would be better off with. Being able to use the 3 lights at different heights and able to strecth them out is a nice option. I grow with one 150 watt HPS, and for a personal use grow, it works fine for me on up to 4 plants in a DWC. There is a DIY article somewhere in here that shows you how to break those light down so that the ballast is moved away from the bulb area so you can reduce the heat in your tent. If you havent done that allready, you should look into it. Plants look good. Good luck with the sexing.

papajock said:

You say you are gowing to look into a 600 watter after this grow? I think with the light setup you have now, you would be better off with. Being able to use the 3 lights at different heights and able to strecth them out is a nice option. I grow with one 150 watt HPS, and for a personal use grow, it works fine for me on up to 4 plants in a DWC. There is a DIY article somewhere in here that shows you how to break those light down so that the ballast is moved away from the bulb area so you can reduce the heat in your tent. If you havent done that allready, you should look into it. Plants look good. Good luck with the sexing.

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Thanks for that good info Papajock.... You only use 1 light for 4 plants? I started with 2 lights for 3 plants, but then thought that I could give them all individual lighting that could match the height of the plant (eg: different levels for the lights like you mentioned).

Maybe I'm overkilling it a bit on the lighting, but all 3 plants have white hairs everywhere and they're all growing like crazy, so I'm going with the ol' credo "if it aint broke... dont fix it" !

It's winter time in california, so the heat from the balasts isnt a problem right now, but I will search for that thread and eventually do that modification, because summer here will be a TOTALLY different story.

3 females, and I see roots poking out of two of the 10 clones that I took from them. HAPPY DAY!

Today I'm going to expand the grow tent, it's too tight for me to get in there, so I'll make it bigger, and look into a DIY carbon scrubber.

Sounding good! You cracked me up with the whole ritual style sacrifice! I think you did your self a big favor in the long run to nip that problem in the bud....Bugs Suck!
Have you started cloning yourself yet? I have alot of tips but it is very basic...as in, the more basic you can keep it, the higher chance of success....GL

daddychrisg said:

Sounding good! You cracked me up with the whole ritual style sacrifice! I think you did your self a big favor in the long run to nip that problem in the bud....Bugs Suck!
Have you started cloning yourself yet? I have alot of tips but it is very basic...as in, the more basic you can keep it, the higher chance of success....GL

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Hey DaddyChrisG...

Tips? I LOVE TIPS. fuck, this is my first grow, and i can use all of the tips you can spare.

I did take clones. I took 4 clones on 1-7, and all four of them have roots, sunday morning I will put them into their own system, so they can flourish.

A couple days after I put the 3 plants into flower, I decided I needed more clones, so I cut a bunch more, I think 8 in total. 5 of them have roots now! All of my Satori clones have rooted. I've yet to see roots on the Super-Star clones, I sure hope they root though, because it is a beautiful female plant.

here's a little update on the plants, they are starting week 3, and I flushed them today with clearex, and changed the res.

The plants look nice to me, but I dont have anything to compare them to. Also, I read a post here about supercropping and decided to try it on my tall plant, to let the others catch up to it.

here is what happened:

I bent the highest stem at about a 90 degree angle, the shit was pointing down, kind of scary, I began to wonder if i hurt my main bud site.

Next day, the plant turned back up and grew about an inch. Then the next day, it grew two more inches. Something interesting was happening with all that, though I dont know what. I decided to do it to two more stems. One stem that was bent almost in half, was back up straight again the next morning. mother FUCKING amazing.

Growing these plants has been a lot of fun, even through the agony of mites and root rot.

BSIv2.0 said:

Im diggin' your grow space.....How's the temps in there?

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The temps range from 65 to about 78. Which is pretty good because I have no exhaust in it yet, I'm shopping around right now for a good fan and a carbon filter setup. I've also made the grow space a bit bigger by moving the wall.

The fan in there blows almost constantly, I shut it off for about an hour and a half when I've sprayed my plants with seltzer water (my cheap ass way to get CO2 in there)

Thanks for stopping by BSI.

I woke up today to more issues from these plants...

sorry to change subject but I like the mandala seeds,and just dont know how too order them.meaning did you order straight threw mandala or did you have to go threw dr.chronic or ww or something like that.I live in us .I want satori kilickahara,sadhu.I would aprecciate any information.

the six site system that i have my plants in isnt even sufficient enough for the 3 plants that I have. I feel like I'm trying to grow a tree in a thimble.

Why dont netpots have a larger rim around the top edge? there's just a little tiny lip around the edge and they can fall through the hole if the hole isnt cut to the exact proper dimension by a fucking laser.

I picked up some 3" netpots a while back with 3 tabs on them, which would help, but transplanting them now with the roots ... no way.

The plants are otherwise healthy, which is very cool.

All of my veg plants have root rot, and everything I have done to try and save them has been to no avail.

I'll try to post some pictures.... after superbowl.

okay, day 32 and finally some bud sites.

I think the plants have slowed down the growth, and thank god because I only have 8' cielings.





Poor little SuperStar plant, the stems are kind of thin, and it's being overtaken by the Satori Plants. here's a bud site on it....



Here's one of the 3 main colas for the Giant Satori that's taking over everything...






It's pretty difficult to take pictures in that grow room, maybe it's the lights, maybe it's my camera... I just have difficulty taking good pictures.

The palm tree plant really amazes me, it has only one Cola, and very few offshoots that have little budsites. I didnt get a picture of it this time, maybe next time I'll roll the creeper to move it so I can get a better shot.

Also... I bought a carbon scrubber, a good exhaust fan, a 600 watt digital HPS light, and a dehumidifier. I guess if you're going to do something, may as well do it right. I need to get two or three more plants into this flower room also, everything is going to be TIGHT. Not to mention that I'd love to have CO2 in there. (damn, why couldnt I have been born rich, instead of supremely awesome?)

I've been having issues with these bad boys falling over too, damn netpots just dont have a big enough rim, they slip into the hole, which pisses me off.

This is my first grow, and there is a lot that I'll do different on the second round, but one good thing, is that I have clones that are doing well in veg, and I hope to grow them into nice big mother plants.



Okay... I've bored anyone who's read this far enough!

I just read through your whole journal and I'm def not bored! Your grow space is really cool. I love the massive plants just taking over that space! I would love to grow Satori, just couldnt get my hands on seeds. I'll be readin your journal, good luck!