dirtyOLsouth's Mazar Bagseed grow...

[dirtyolsouth]

Hello fellow Ganja lovers...

I have four girls flowering right now... One Mazar plant and the other three that I grew from bagseed out of a killer sack that I had years ago. I've wanted to pursue getting a nice mother for this strain and it's looking pretty good so far with 4 pheno's to choose from. I have two 10 gallon pots with two plants per pot and I've been taking some pic's so I'll try to catch up to where things are now. The earliest pics I have are from Day 7 when I had 5 plants total... #5 was too tall and lanky... very Sativa pheno... so I put her outdoors and developed the four indoors that were similar in height with fat Indica leaves.

First, an overview... I'm flowering in a 2 x 4 x 8 closet. I have a 1000w Quantum digital ballast with a Solar Max Dual Arc bulb for my main light. I also have a 6-lamp, 4 foot T5 fluorescent fixture mounted on the back wall for a side fill light source and for some added stress I have a two lamp T12 fixture with two UVB lamps although I'm only running one lamp in it currently as it seems to stress them plenty...

I'm growing in soil with a combination of roughly 30% FFOF, 25% Roots Organic soil, 20% FF Light Warrior, 10% worm castings and 15% chunky perlite. I also added some Azomite for trace minerals and dolomite limestone for ph control. For nutes I'm alternating between the full Botanicare Pure Blend Pro organic lineup plus Bloombastic and Bio Biz Bloom with Top Max and Dark Energy. For the first couple of weeks I also gave them some AN Voodoo Juice and Piranha beneficials.

For temp control I have a window A/C unit in the bedroom where the closet is. My 1K bulb is in a Cool Tube reflector and I'm using 6" ventilation with a 630cfm Osterberg fan. For odor control I have a 40 lb. Can Filter mounted in my closet and attached to my cool tube. I route the output of the cool tube up through my closet into the attic where I run my Ostberg inline fan. The fan is inside a large cardboard box lined with sound absorption foam and the box is suspended by rubber straps from my roof joists to un-couple any vibrations and reduce noise transfer from the attic and I exhaust the scrubbed air into the attic.

As long as I keep the temps in the bedroom around 72, the closet stays around 76-78 degrees and the humidity stays around 45-55%. Here are some pics of girls on Day 7 of flowering... It's before I mounted my T5 fixture to the back wall too...

Mazar Bagseed Grow Journal... Day 7

 

[dirtyolsouth]

Hello again...

Skip ahead about a week to Day 12... I have the T5 fixture mounted but the canopy on my plants is so big that the leaves are reaching into the bulbs and getting *scorched* .

For a little background on my plants... I topped them at the 7th node early in vegging and then cut off the lowest two nodes for clones and developed the four remaining grow tip branches. I kept all the leaves but I "lollipop" trained them as the tips grew by removing any side branching periodically until I was about two weeks into flowering when I did the last pruning. For me it's all about giving the girls maximum energy with a nice canopy and then concentrating the flowering so I can keep it close to the HID light. These were grown from bagseed and originally intended for a friend's grow but when he had to shut down I fired up my bloom closet after a nearly 4 year hiatus. They vegged about 6 weeks under T5's and I switched to 12/12 when they were around 12-15" tall.

About the time I did the last pruning of branches - two weeks into flowering, I pinched the mainstems and FIM'ed the tallest branches' buds to give the shorter branches a chance to catch up. It's all about control and trying to get the nicest bud mass developing close to the lights.


Mazar Bagseed Grow Journal... Day 12

 

[dirtyolsouth]

Onward to 12/12 Day 16... Flowers are starting to look pretty nice... I went out and bought a piece of plexiglass to put over the T5 fixture and now the girls can press their noses up to the glass for lots of lumen love without any more scorching!

No UVB lamp yet... I think I put that in around day 18...


Mazar Bagseed Grow Journal... Day 16

 

[I Want Buds]

Ay what's that black and silver thing you have covering your light fixture?

 

[dirtyolsouth]

Here we are all caught up to the current state of things... The girls are flowering nicely and I'm very impressed with the trich development on a couple of the pheno's in particular since I'm less than half way through my target 8-9 week flowering run.

You can see some of the UVB stress on the fan leaves if you look closely... Some leaves develop a rough, weathered look that I call 'alligator leaves' and some of the leaf tips do some strange twisting and hooking near the top. I've been giving them two hours exposure since I got them for the past 8 days. I used a different T12 bulb years ago and I'm still trying to gauge the strength of my current T12 UVB lamp. Once new leaves stop showing visible stress I'll probably increase exposure slightly.

One note about UVB lighting... It's VERY dangerous if you don't pay attention to what you're doing and respect the dangers. Although this bulb is manufactured for medical use and skin phototherapy, prolonged skin exposure can cause cancer and exposure to the eyes is very harmful and can cause blindness! imho UVB lighting should only be used by experienced gardners who have their grow optimized. If you use UVB lighting make sure you use protective clothing and eyewear. I mounted my UVB fixture on the front wall of my closet facing inward so that I can't expose myself without getting in the closet which isn't going to happen with those big girls!

Any-hoo... I've done A/B comparisons of the same strains grown with and without UVB and the increased trich production and resulting improvement in flavor and potency make it worthwhile to me. Is is necessary to use UVB to grow great pot? Nah... but it does help!

So here is some promising trich development for this early in my grow... You can also see further stress on some fan leaves...

More Later Ganja lovers...


Mazar Bagseed Grow Journal... Day 26

 

[dirtyolsouth]

Here are two more pic's from Day 26... Glisten my little pretties! F.Y.I... They are around 28 - 30" tall from the soil surface and I only have 6" that I can lower them so I might have to do some bending if they keep going up much more... We'll see...

I'll post another update next week...

Happy Growing!


Mazar Bagseed Grow Journal... Day 26, more pic's

 

[dirtyolsouth]

Ay what's that black and silver thing you have covering your light fixture?

Hello,

That's a cover for HID reflectors... It keeps the reflector from having the heat build up... check out this from the manufacturer on YouTube:

hXXp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTMuMu04i6Y

 

[BBFan]

Looks good DOS- so the uvb increases trich production? I've not heard that. Are those bulbs readily available?

 

[dirtyolsouth]

Looks good DOS- so the uvb increases trich production? I've not heard that. Are those bulbs readily available?

Thanks BBfan... Yes UVB does stress the plants into more goo production... Just like UVB from the sun, UVB lighting causes the plant to manufacture more "sunscreen" to protect the plant from the harmful radiation. I find it particularly effective with strains like Afghani which have their origins in mountainous areas with increased levels of UVB exposure in their native environment. I've also found that UVB lighting enhances the flavor and essential oil production of culinary herbs like Rosemary, Thyme, Basil, etc. although it has to be applied in small doses so as to not affect the aesthetics and appearance of the harvested herbs. With mj it tends to stress the foliage but the flowers handle it very well and they produce their own protection (oh that gooey goodness !) to cope with the radiation. The bulbs I've had success with have a peak in their spectrum around the wavelength of 300-325nm (nano meters)...

As far as availability goes, there are many UVB bulbs available for zoo use, mainly reptile health and they are readily available at pet stores. If you do some searching on the forums as well as Googling "UVB Marijuana" you'll find links to growers using some of these bulbs. On YouTube there's even an interesting Marijuana Man show with UVB as the topic of MM's baked rant... The Philips T12 medical lamp I have is a bit more difficult to track down than the reptile bulbs as it has to be purchased from a medical supply company. These bulbs are for skin phototherapy, for treatment of skin conditions like psoriasys and you need to have a prescription for their use and purchase. I have found med supply companies willing to sell these if you can convince them that they won't be used around humans or animals. I work for a nursery that grows culinary herbs for local restaurants and I was able to convince the med supplier that they were only for industrial garden use. But even after I did this they required me to fax a signed disclaimer stating that they wouldn't be used around people or animals... The reptile bulbs are quite affordable but the Philips T12 we use is a bit pricey at $75 each and that's before shipping which is expensive because they ship them in a special shipping container. I was able to buy them through where I work for a bit less and I also didn't have to pay for shipping so it wasn't so bad.

Any-hoo. As I stated before... it's not necessary but does add something to the final product but you really have to be VERY careful when using the UVB spectrum....

Here's the notice that came with my Philips T12 UVB bulb:

 

[nvthis]

You can see some of the UVB stress on the fan leaves if you look closely... Some leaves develop a rough, weathered look that I call 'alligator leaves' and some of the leaf tips do some strange twisting and hooking near the top. I've been giving them two hours exposure since I got them for the past 8 days. I used a different T12 bulb years ago and I'm still trying to gauge the strength of my current T12 UVB lamp. Once new leaves stop showing visible stress I'll probably increase exposure slightly.

Hey hey DOS, looks nice. I have the same seeds (freebies from M_S.nl). I am pushing through week seven. Yeah, everyone is a diff pheno. One leafy, one way purple with lots of foxtails, one huge buds, etc.

Even though these are said to be 'mazar afghani' (or mazarxafghani according to m_s, well, mazar IS afghani afterall so make of that what you will ) I am pretty sure they are a skunk(#1?) cross, thus the crazy growth in flower (and plexi on your lights). Some seed companies don't try to mix words, but I think that there is a bit of play involved. The Real Seed Company calls it 'a pure landrace' and an 'indica giant' that 'grows to three meters' or some strange crap. There were quite a few of these around here last winter and a lot of guys said they wouldn't be growing them again. Personally I am dealing with the growth fairly well and if they smoke good, I would do it again, no prob.

As far as the 'leathery' leaves and the rams horn you are seeing, mine did the exact same thing under hps. I have about 5 strains going right now and I think it is just something this plant is sensitive to or likes doing on it's own. I have tried and tried to correct it with little success. No big. They are dense and not too strong smelling. Very earthy like a rich soil with molassis, coffee grounds, burnt sugar and charcoal in it. Not a bad smell, but not the best. So far anyway. How does that compare to yours?

These were an unintended grow for me so I hit them with pollen and will put them back away for a while, but I am glad I found this thread as I can compare them a little to yours These are for my 'personal smoke', so I don't get too awfully offended at an occasional seed

Keep the updates coming bro!

 

[dirtyolsouth]

Hi nvthis...

Thanx for your input...

Since I live where there are still archaic pot laws and there are few growers using top strains/clones and even fewer selling weed with names, I'm going more on my knowledge of bud smoking when I labelled this strain and grew these seeds than on any info from a seedbank. I lived in Cali in the late 80's - early 90's and I had a Deadhead connection that had some of the best Mazar from the Bay Area and it was available for several years. He always got it from Humboldt and it was Diggity Dank... bud that would make Jerry Garcia want some of his Ice Cream, R.I.P... Fast forward to a few years ago and when I smoked buds from a sack that I bought I was hit upside my head with "Deja Vu Budwarp"... which means that the flavor and buzz conjured up images and feelings from when I lived in Cali and had ready access to the Deadhead's Mazar... This stuff looked, smelled, tasted and hit me just like the Cali Mazar... And I could hear Jerry and the guys kicking off "Sugar Magnolia, Casey Jones and Truckin" in my head!

So... the lineage isn't tracable but I'm confident that I have a Mazar or Afghani strain and 4 plants that are similar but with a couple that are taking the lead in trich production. I'll take some pic's of the more bizarre twisted and pissed off leaves for you to check out... One of the plant has always had a droopy look to the leaves since day one and it has had very purple veins too... With limited femaile seedlings I went ahead and flowered it. One interesting thing is a clone I took from it for potential mother stock isn't droopy at all and it looks like it has shaken whatever ailed the mother seedling throughout vegging. I only had 12 seeds from this sack that I'd saved, 11 of them sprouted and four turned out to show male. Of the remaining seven, three were very long leaved and had wide spacing between their nodes... I almost wonder if seeds from another sack got mixed up they looked so different than the other four but the three tall ones looked very similar so I'm not sure but I pursued the shorter pheno's for indoor crops as I'm looking for a shorter, quick strain for my first bloom in quite a while.

These are just starting to get more pungent but overall they don't put off tons of odor but it's a very pleasant smell... I'll have to do some more sniffing and see what it evokes... Do yours look like an 8 week variety? These seem to be shifting into another gear earlier than most other strains I've grown so I'm guessing they'll be an 8 week bloom but only time will tell. I'll update things within another week so drop by and let me know how things are finishing up for you. I'd love to see a few pic's of how they end up!

Happy Growing!

 

[nvthis]

Yeah, the pheno thing is a dead giveaway to being crossed out, right?. Mazar itself is afghani (from the Mazar Sharif region of Afghanistan) and is about as stable as it gets (while pure). This is no big as it should increase the overall benefits, and unless you are an incredibley anal pot snob than it's all good

I am in week seven and I checked them out today. Not one single amber that I could find. So, I guess it all depends on what you are looking for. I really would like to take her close to 50%. Right now I am about 50% clear/cloudy so it might be ok by week 8 if that is what you are looking for. I am guessing at least 9, if not 10 full weeks (and more if need be) for myself. lol, I am much to jittery naturally to take them any sooner

Also, I hit my afgooey, bubba kush, and green crack with a brush of mazar pollen. Rainy day seed...

 

[dirtyolsouth]

I've been out of the hobby much too long to be any kind of weed snob... I've got a sack of half decent brown right now as I refuse to pay too much for too little quantity or quality anymore and the brown will get me by... But the anticipation may kill me! Well since this is my first mj grow in a few years I probably won't be quite as patient for this to finish as I would be if I had been growing for awhile and had plenty from my last batch around to hold me over... I'll probably do a selective harvest as soon as I see any amber and let the rest take longer to finish up. I'm going to start dialing back the daylight 15 minutes per day around day 48 to see if this strain ripens better with progressively shorter days. The last year or so of my previous grows I got into giving my girls 3 days in the dark before harvest and that helped most strains to amber up and gave things a bit more dankness and flavor imho...

Thanks again...
dOLs

 

[zipflip]

That's a cover for HID reflectors... It keeps the reflector from having the heat build up... check out this from the manufacturer on YouTube:

i watched that video an it all sounds gravy only im wondering if a person would really wanna make sure they got the actual proper rated ventillation dialed in correctly as wouldnt it also keep more heet under it thus makin it more hot on ya lighting equipment an fans etc... as well? just my thoughts.
also ya know them emergency thermal blankets... not the cheap dollar ones at wal mart but the heavier duty ones in the big first aid kits. isnt that the exact ssame thing really. and if a guy has a wifey who sews then viola ya got ya own diy one. but really i thinkk thats the exact same stuff material an all as them hevier duty thermal blankets.. im a look em up n check see

 

[zipflip]

heres one im talkin bout. they sure look alot similar as in the video. only cut an stitch ya own and save maybe 50 bux or more .
or is it not same thing an im seein wrong. my eyes have been known to decieve me in the past lol
or actually after checkin ya pic out above of yours it looks more liek one them flame retardent cargo blanket like material. so, next time ya rent a u haul keep a few blankets. i have before lol. tehy work for all sorts of stuff and handy too. if i ever come cross one these first aid blankets i'll have to fire up the sewin machine in storage an try an concoct one when i do get an hps light. looks pretty dandy tho./


hxxp://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=&id=0006243510214a&navCount=0&podId=0006243&parentId=&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=XJ&rid=&parentType=&indexId=&cmCat=netcon&cm_ven=netcon&cm_cat=Yahoo&cm_pla=emergency%20blankets&cm_ite=netcon&hasJS=true

 

[dirtyolsouth]

heres one im talkin bout. they sure look alot similar as in the video. only cut an stitch ya own and save maybe 50 bux or more .
or is it not same thing an im seein wrong. my eyes have been known to decieve me in the past lol
or actually after checkin ya pic out above of yours it looks more liek one them flame retardent cargo blanket like material. so, next time ya rent a u haul keep a few blankets. i have before lol. tehy work for all sorts of stuff and handy too. if i ever come cross one these first aid blankets i'll have to fire up the sewin machine in storage an try an concoct one when i do get an hps light. looks pretty dandy tho./

Hey Zip!

Howzit going up yonder? Yeah... you're right, this cover is basically a packing style blanket with a IR blocking material either applied or sprayed on it... I've made the mistake of taping some plastic with duct tape to it and when you try to remove the tape the silver coating pulls off... drag! I didn't get it for the IR feature as much as their ability to keep the hood outer surface from building up heat and radiating it into my closet. Sometime I may take it off to see what kind of difference it makes but I'll probably do that between grows as my timers and such are all on top of my hood. I'm sure if you had one made of a packing blanket that was built for your hood's dimensions it would work fine.

Yeah it works with ventilation well and may even help without as the heat on the outer surface of hood isn't allowed to radiate into the grow space. I use a cool tube model that's built into a standard style reflector and it doesn't get warm above my hood anywhere like it used to.

Peace!

 

[zipflip]

i used them cheap thin blankets from wal mart at first to line my grow for reflectant but realized it was actually keepin heat in my grow an my temps were bout 5-8 degrees hotter than they are now when i used it. i use flat white now tho and steady 77-81 depend on room outside temp etc..
i was thinkin of usin that cheap stuff i saved when i took it down and at least wrap around teh drier duct tubing for exhaust.

 

[dirtyolsouth]

Here are some pic's of how the girls are progressing... I'm pretty blown away by how far along a couple of the tops of buds are... They seem to be the pheno's that are more sensitive to the UVB lamp. Their leaves really look banged up on top but all their other fan leaves and new leaves around the buds show no significant signs of stress although their trich production is much greater and I even see a few amber trich's on top! Day 32! All the flowering under the top is still very white and aggressively flowering but the tops on a couple plants make these look like some buds will be ready by week 7 or so... We'll see!

Peace!

 

[dirtyolsouth]

A few photos of some very nice and cloudy trich's...

 

[dirtyolsouth]

day 32...