Mandala Satori in Hempy Buckets

A little background:

The Box
is in the garage;
Veg area: 1 sq foot;
Flower area: 29" x 17" = 3.4 sq feet.

The box is 6 feet tall.

The Lights
Veg: 2 26w blue CFLS, approx 3000 lumens;
Flower: Dual 150w HPS in a Hemp Goddess DIY cool tube, approx 30,000 lumens.

The CFLs are running 18/6 and currently peaking at temps close to (but below) 90F at noon when they shut off;
The HPS is running 12/12 and hitting very low 90s at 9AM when it shuts off.
These temps are taken with the lights shining directly on the therm, so I figure they're a little high.

The box is cooled by outside air sucked in through a small screened window. Hot air is also vented through the window.

This is my setup, such as it is. Summer tropical temps, no a/c (for the box). Our summer temps rarely go above 94F during the hottest part of the day, and it will be 94 every day for the next 4 months. The high temps here during summer are one reason I wanted to try satori; according to Mandala they fare well in tropical climates. We shall see :hubba:.

My Water
ph of 6, for what it's worth;
chlorine free; I have a whole house 3 stage activated carbon water filter system. The final stage removes sediments greater than 5 microns.

The Grow Plan
Mandala Satori in 2 gallon hempy buckets;
Hydroton medium;
GH 3 part Flora nutes;

Progress to Date
4 seedlings sprouted in 1 inch rockwool and now in 16 oz solo cup "mini-hempy" buckets; I love that rockwool stuff - I sprouted 2 watermelon seeds in them in 24 hours ;
watered daily, straight water;
Grow Coach GrowinGreen has gotten me this far and I'm greatly indebted to him.

I'll get some pics of the seedlings up once there's something worth seeing.

The general plan is to veg in the veg area until... they outgrow the veg area, I guess. I have a ww clone flowering, but it should be done in a few weeks. Then I'm planning to transplant into the 2 gal buckets and continue veging in the flower area under one HPS (I'm not going to be able to cool both bulbs for 18 hours/day).

The only reason I want to do this GJ is to get (ie; smoke) everyone's expertise. Selfish, huh? I've been called worse than selfish.

Really, guys and girls. Comment, make suggestions, call me names. For example, I've thought about growing single colas. Maybe satori isn't the best strain for single colas? I don't know. You tell me, let's talk about it! If you think a SCROG is the way to go, I have a screen. You tell me. Let's talk about it!

Just don't tell me to buy a portable a/c (not in the budget nor is it stealthy enough) or to drill a 4 inch hole in the laundry room wall (I still have a bump on my head from that discussion). My environmental conditions are what they are. Lest you feel bad for me, starting in mid October, I have 5 months of perfect growing weather (Querkle!).

Let the expertise flow and thank you in advance .

Hey man everything sounds good. I'm glad you're giving the buckets a go- I will definitely be following along.

If I remember right ..I read that satori basically grows single cola style on its own- stays narrow not real branchy. Looking forward to seeing some pictures

Oh and I listened to Art Vandolay- good stuff

Thanks GG. Here they are at 7 days. As you can see, 2 are having trouble shedding their husks. I poked at them a little and couldn't get them off. The other 2 are on their 3rd set of leaves.

Questions for the Experts:

- about when would you start giving them some nutes?

- do you think the 2 runts will come around or should I sprout 2 more?

I would not worry about the ones lagging behind yet. Everything does not grow at the same rate. In addition, Satori likes to grow. I found Satori way more suited to scrog than sog. However, Speed Queen would make an excellent sog plant.

Here is what to do when the see shell does not come off (from Mandala's site):

Sometimes the seed hull and the inside skin is still attached to or enclosing the leaves. This happens if the seed was not planted deeply enough. Usually the seed hull is detached as the seedling emerges through the substrate. Spray the seed hull with mineral water and wait 1/2 hour for the moisture to soften the dry skin and soil residues. Then gently and slowly pull it off from the leaves. If it does not move easily spray more water. It is very important to remove it carefully because if you tear off the leaves the seedling dies.

hey art,

those hempy buckets gonna rock. my local hydro guy is selling some on ebay for $50 a pop.lol low tech cutting edge, yeah. you doin' coco or something else?

umbra said:

hey art,

those hempy buckets gonna rock. my local hydro guy is selling some on ebay for $50 a pop.lol low tech cutting edge, yeah. you doin' coco or something else?

Click to expand...

Lol Umbra. Yeah, a couple of buckets and a drill . I'm doing hydroton for my first time. Growingreen has had pretty good experience with it .

The Hemp Goddess said:

...Spray the seed hull with mineral water and wait 1/2 hour for the moisture to soften the dry skin and soil residues. Then gently and slowly pull it off from the leaves. If it does not move easily spray more water. It is very important to remove it carefully because if you tear off the leaves the seedling dies.

Click to expand...

Hemp Goddess - thanks for your tip!! Half hour after you posted it, I pulled the husks off . What a great place!

Art, good luck with the Hempy Buckets. i too am thinking about doing them b/c of summer temps in my DWC res are killing me. ill probably do DWC during the winter.

GREEN MOJO

hey art,, hope you don't mind if I sit in on this one.
I've got 4 satori beans just sprouted in soil
so I'm quite interested to see your grow.
I also had two sprouts that were struggling to shed there shell
as soon as I gently removed them they started perking up

lordhighlama said:

hey art,, hope you don't mind if I sit in on this one.
I've got 4 satori beans just sprouted in soil
so I'm quite interested to see your grow.
I also had two sprouts that were struggling to shed there shell
as soon as I gently removed them they started perking up

Click to expand...

Hi ya, LHlama! Do you have a gj? I would enjoy watching your grow in soil . Yep, I wet them yesterday just like THG said and pulled the husks off. They look good today . It's a great little bit of info.

ya I do have a journal going
now that I look at it I need to update my sig
it's the link to the ak gj
I've actually got ak, satori, and NL going in that journal
check it out!

FYI: I'm getting some nute info here because I know absolutely nothing about hydro nutes :

http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42673

Based on NCH's advice, I've decided to go with GH's recommended nutes for seedlings (1/4 tsp of each part to 1 gallon), except at half strength (so 2 gallons). I haven't decided when to start, though. They're 8 days old today. They will be ok for a few weeks in plain water, right?

Pullin up a chair on this one, Art.
Just got a 150w hps in today.
Later.

Gb

4-6 wks IMO for nutes. Satori is an exceptionally easy to grow sativa. She has shown impressive hardiness against spider mites and other pests, and she possesses a good measure of mold resistance. her slim appearance makes it possible to plant in narrow rows, or in SOG, to maximize her typical record yields even more. The firm side shoots provide highest quality cuttings. As with all our sativas she is heat resistant - an added bonus for small indoor environments and hot summer grows. The mainly sweet & fruity-spicy aroma is a real treat for the senses. Satori grows a long head bud with chunky flowers and does not require much feeding on soil; you can almost do without feeding provided you use quality soil and sufficient pot size (approx. 2 gallon pots for adult plants under 250-600W lamps). Keep EC levels low in hydroponics for best results. All Mandala strains are extremely efficient in nutrient uptake due to their hybrid vigor and require only low EC levels/feeding to develop huge leaf, stem and bud structure. Satori is a high yielding, powerful plant with an exceptional sativa high. The heavy buds are easy to manicure, and from the resinous bud leaves you can produce finest grade hash, comparable in quality to the famous Nepalese “temple balls”. This seed yields a maximum of 550-600 grams/m2.

yeah Art, I would definitely go just water for the first couple week- my AIs didn't need any nutrients until about the 4th week- it was crazy. So I would wait a little while, and then feed them half strength when you think the time is right. Plus a little burn on the tips never hurts-

I transplanted everyone into 2 gallon pots (1 in 1 gallon pot due to lack of space) this morning. All had nice root systems except the last one. I also moved them to the (larger) flower area and unplugged 1 of the 150 watt hps. So they're veging under 150 watt hps. I left the hps a couple of feet above the plants to let them get used to it. Temp in the box at noon/lights out was 91 . I'm very pleased about that, not bad .

They've all been getting "seedling nutes" = 2.5 ml of each in 2 gals of water for the past 4 days. You can see the yellowing on the 2 larger ones. I don't think I'm going to worry about it, yet?

At this point, I'm going to assume the 2 runts are going to be ok...

Good luck on the grow, I saw this strain in a review of Mandala seeds in a High Times mag looks like your in for a treat.

cool art,, mine after moving them into the cooler climate under the tubes are starting to take off a bit now and look very close to yours! I'm in soil so no nutes for me yet.

hey art! :ciao:
i coulda sworn i was suscribed to this :confused2:
i cant wait to see how your plants turn out
ive always wanted to try some hempy buckets.
maybe if i get some of these darn clones to root
ill put one or two in a bucket (im guessin i can do that haha)
but yeah i wish you good luck man :watchplant:
thedonofchronic

thedonofchronic said:

hey art! :ciao:
i coulda sworn i was suscribed to this :confused2:
i cant wait to see how your plants turn out
ive always wanted to try some hempy buckets.
maybe if i get some of these darn clones to root
ill put one or two in a bucket (im guessin i can do that haha)
but yeah i wish you good luck man :watchplant:
thedonofchronic

Click to expand...

Thanks, I'm pretty excited, too! I'm a hydro guy now !

All the best with your Satori grow ArtVandolay

I've grown Mandala Mike's Satori before really enjoyed both growing and smoking her.