Acapulco Gold & Red Dragon - feminized

Welcome to my Acapulco Gold & Red Dragon grow!

This grow is already a good ways in, and will be coming to the end of their 3rd week of flowering this weekend. I've got 5 AG plants and 1 Red Dragon plant in 2-3 gallon grow buckets, currently under 2x 600w HPS lights in a grow tent. I wasn't planning to document too much of this grow but I thought I'd at least start a thread to post some pictures - I haven't been able to find any journals on here for AG yet so I thought some peeps out there might appreciate it.

I'm really happy with this strain so far. I had an early water pH issue that was taken care of at about 4 weeks into veg. Since then I've had no more yellowing leaves although a few didn't completely recover and have either fallen off or will soon - not much though, maybe 4-5 low-level leaves in total. The AG plants were all LST'd one time at about 3 weeks into veg - I've used this method now in my last 3 grows and have found that it saves me about 5-6 inches of height towards the end of the grow. I left the Red Dragon (no LST) do it's thing and i've found that it really stretched out a lot in the past week. I've had to use my styrofoam blocks to raise my other plants up in order to keep the top canopy more even under the lights.

I'm taking some fresh pics later this evening and will post them up shortly!

Enjoy the pics!! A nice start as they finish up week 3 of flowering. I'm quite happy with how green everything is looking - had some major issues with my water pH for a while but since bringing it down more I haven't seen any yellowing.

A few more notes here for my own reference...

- Watered this past Wednesday evening and gave them their first dose of flowering nutrients - approx 4 ml of Iguana Juice 'bloom' per 4 liters of water. I'm not as ignorant towards my water pH now though, that's for sure! Everything is looking nice and green now!
- The Red Dragon plant has stretched a TON and (as mentioned above) has forced me to raise the light higher than I wanted to at this point, so the other two plants that are sharing a light with it have been boosted up on styrofoam blocks to bring them up closer to the light. They're probably mostly done stretching at this point, but I don't want them too far from the light as the lower bud sites then don't get as much lumens...
- I'm also partly convinced that the 'TLC' there girls have been given has also helped - spending more time in the tent and having the side open gives them extra CO2 (fresh air and my breath on them) and seems to be helping.
- Adding the water stone to my water tub has also allowed me to keep the water supply 'fresher' as it's always moving and is better oxygenated.
- Again, i've applied the 'twisting' technique to most of the plant tops, which has helped a ton in the past - it forces the plants to send more nutrients and energy to the twisted stem areas from which the buds take advantage and show a thicker, fuller yield. As long as there are no signs of 'stress' on the plants using this technique, i've found it's helped and is simple to do, so it's now a regular method I use.
- I'm waiting until the 5-6th week to start using molasses with the feedings - another method i've seen help with bud development, thickness and probably mostly with resin and crystal density.

Wow, not many updates here for everyone...sorry 'bout dat!

I took some snaps this evening as they're really starting to look nice - at the rate they're at right now, I'm likely looking at a good 10 weeks of flowering time, as they don't look much more that half-way done...

...haven't seen any other pics like this online yet for Barney's Acapulco Gold - these girls are smelling really great so far and comparing them to other grows, I can tell these are going to be a real treat once it's ready to roll!!!

Enjoy the pics! Some of them are really bad, I apologize - but most are okay.

Group shots



Acapulco Gold


Red Dragon

Here's another pic update - everything is looking good! One of my AG girls is a bit heavier on the sativa side and is showing much stringier buds and narrower leaves...it also looks like will have a smaller yield than the other 4 AG plants.

Enjoy the bud shots!


Acapulco Gold:




Red Dragon:

Notes:

- noticed some hairs are starting to turn yellow, or dare I say 'gold'...we'll see.
- most buds are bulking up nicely now, showing more thickness beneath all those long white hairs.
- very powdery looking leaves and buds - gave them their first feeding of molasses this past week so we should see even more 'crystal build-up' in the next while. Since we're now at the end of week 6 of flowering, these girls are most likely only going to see one more nute/molasses feeding. I've been alternating between straight water and nutes about every 4 days so they have a chance to dry out nicely between each water/nute.
- looks like we're still on schedule for about a 9.5-10 week total of flowering before harvest. The Red Dragon may go a week longer though, and one of the AG plants is looking sativa dom so it may wait it out together with the RD past the 10 week mark.
- The RD plant is much taller than the AG plants and is really covered in bright-white hairs right now - I recall from my last RD grow that after this stage there's probably about 5 more weeks left, so I think this girl will be looking at 11 weeks at least...
- with the extra fans I installed, temps in the tent now are steady at about 83 degrees with the lights on and 63 with the lights off. When I start running waterfarms, I may just cut back to 1 light to bring those 'lights on' temps down below 80. The plan is try try out a single waterfarm, possilbly along side 2-3 other soil plants under one 600 w light and compare the growth. I've done some reading on the waterfarm and I want to see if I can get a 10+ oz plant using one - that will change everything...no more soil if I can obtain that amount in a small hydro setup.

Very happy with how things are looking - enjoy the pics everyone!

Red Dragon




Acapulco Gold

Ordered myself a Waterfarm last night (see below image) online - can't wait to try it out! Also got me a good deal on 2 water testers - 1 for pH and 1 for PPM - found the pair on eBay for about $90...



Got my next round in the ground yesterday - I'm trying to germinate right in the soil this time as suggested by the Mandala Seeds website. I have 4 of G13 Labs' 'Blue Venom' and 2 of DNA Genetics' 'Rocklock' - both feminized.

7 weeks of flowering and things are looking up! The AG plants are looking like they will need only a few more weeks before they can start getting flushed. A few more than others but we'll see how they look. The RD is ripening more now but looks like it will go a week or more longer than the AG.

Enjoy the pics!!

dam its looking hella bomb great job

jfa916 said:

dam its looking hella bomb great job

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Thanks man - these girls smell incredible. I never did try any of the old-school AG since I wasn't around back then... but comparing it's smell right now to other grows of mine, I can already tell this will be one of the best results I've had so far! The Vanilla Kush I grew this past summer was (and is) amazing, and this compares easily to the way it smelled at this point in flower. I put a few of those last pics on my photobucket account...here's a repost of one of those previous ones..nice and close up!!

im so happy i found this. i have the barneys acapulco as well...just one seed though. was your seed kind of a light brown and not too healthy looking? it's got me a bit worried.

epicseeds said:

im so happy i found this. i have the barneys acapulco as well...just one seed though. was your seed kind of a light brown and not too healthy looking? it's got me a bit worried.

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Hey epic... from what I can remember, these seeds were a brownish color - yes. Not super-light but a light-brown i suppose... One thing I remember about these seeds is that they were all fairly large in size, and germination was quick - less than 48 hours. I germ'd them in wet paper-towl placed in a sandwich bag and wrapped in a towel, placed on my computer sub speaker for just a small amount of warmth. I leave a bit of air in the sandwich bag which seems to help as well.

Hope that helps!

Great job man! can't wait for the taste test.....

Nice grow man! I'm on week 6 on my AG too, can't wait to chop her down

transcendence said:

Great job man! can't wait for the taste test.....

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Thanks! We're really looking forward to trying out the AG as well. I've used very limited amounts of nutes on these plants and only organic nutes when used plus a little molasses. I plan to flush all of them again with the 'Final Phase' solution to try and get all the un-naturals out of it and squeeze out all the great taste! I'll be sure to post up a smoke report sometime mid-December once it's dried and had a chance to cure a bit.

bajafox said:

Nice grow man! I'm on week 6 on my AG too, can't wait to chop her down

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Sweet - do you have any pictures you can put up? Did you grow soil or hydro? I've found that the AG can finish anywhere from 9 to 11 weeks of flower. The phenos I got were varied from a 'ropey' budded plant (more sativa dom than the others) to a thick stocky budded plant. One is greener and bushier than the others as well. It's obvioius that this strain isn't that stable yet but I suppose I could have cloned the best one out of the 5 - I just prefer to start all my plants from seed.

Dayzt said:

Sweet - do you have any pictures you can put up? Did you grow soil or hydro? I've found that the AG can finish anywhere from 9 to 11 weeks of flower. The phenos I got were varied from a 'ropey' budded plant (more sativa dom than the others) to a thick stocky budded plant. One is greener and bushier than the others as well. It's obvioius that this strain isn't that stable yet but I suppose I could have cloned the best one out of the 5 - I just prefer to start all my plants from seed.

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I ordered my seed through Attitude and the breeder was Barneys Farm. I only ordered a single seed and she turned out to be a great mother and has already given me 5 clones. I'm growing her in a 2 gallon pot (about 23" tall) using FFOF soil, very mild Botanicare nutes and 5.0 - 6.0 ph balanced water. There's a link to my grow on my sig if you want more details on her but here are some pics. Good luck with your girl, hope she turns out to be a nice harvest

bajafox said:

I ordered my seed through Attitude and the breeder was Barneys Farm. I only ordered a single seed and she turned out to be a great mother and has already given me 5 clones. I'm growing her in a 2 gallon pot (about 23" tall) using FFOF soil, very mild Botanicare nutes and 5.0 - 6.0 ph balanced water. There's a link to my grow on my sig if you want more details on her but here are some pics. Good luck with your girl, hope she turns out to be a nice harvest

View attachment 1289396View attachment 1289397

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Kewl Baja - I wish my AG had been topped - looks like you're gonna have a few nice tops there! My next grow (which is started) will def get more LST and topping on them to see if I can generate more tops from each plant - I want to try and setup a big screen in my tent as well and get them to really spread out... I have a Waterfarm coming in the mail as well which will be the next 'experiment'. =) Cheers!

Dayzt said:

Ordered myself a Waterfarm last night (see below image) online - can't wait to try it out! Also got me a good deal on 2 water testers - 1 for pH and 1 for PPM - found the pair on eBay for about $90...

View attachment 1281684

Got my next round in the ground yesterday - I'm trying to germinate right in the soil this time as suggested by the Mandala Seeds website. I have 4 of G13 Labs' 'Blue Venom' and 2 of DNA Genetics' 'Rocklock' - both feminized.

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Damn I wish I had known that. I have two for sale at $50 for both. Only used once...

Dayzt said:

Thanks man - these girls smell incredible. I never did try any of the old-school AG since I wasn't around back then... but comparing it's smell right now to other grows of mine, I can already tell this will be one of the best results I've had so far! The Vanilla Kush I grew this past summer was (and is) amazing, and this compares easily to the way it smelled at this point in flower. I put a few of those last pics on my photobucket account...here's a repost of one of those previous ones..nice and close up!!

Click to expand...

Im sold I have to try this!!! I remember AG from the 70s...oh shit tellin my age lol