Sugar Black Rose

Day 1 Success! Both seeds germinated after 4 days although considering how tall they already are (2,5 cm / 1 inch) I guess they popped out of the soil yesterday already but I didn't check on them until today. Both seedlings had a piece of the seed shell still attached so I used a qtip and gently removed those shells. Overall humidity in the tent is low but I'm not overly concerned considering the humidity domes, which help to increase the humidity around each seedling. Day 2 Not much to report except that each plant grew 2 cm since yesterday. Day 3 Each plant added another cm of growth. The Blumat Digitals showed that the soil moisture was still in a good range (100-120 mbar) but the topsoil was a bit dry so I sprayed each plant with 1 liter of water (pH 6.5). Day 4 No noticeable vertical growth in either plant but the leaves are getting bigger. Day 5 Leaves are getting larger and another half centimeter of vertical growth. Day 6 Each plant added another half cm of growth. The Blumat Digitals showed that the soil moisture was still in a good range (102-115 mbar) but the topsoil was a bit dry so I sprayed each plant with 1 liter of water (pH 6.5). Day 7 Some additional growth, both vertically and leaf size.

Day 8 Another day, another cm of vertical growth. The Blumat Digitals showed that the soil moisture was still in an ok range (115-131 mbar) but the topsoil was a bit dry so I sprayed each plant with 1 liter of water (pH 6.3). Day 9 The leaves are getting wider with no additional vertical growth. The right plant is noticeably larger but both look healthy. Day 10 Plants are a bit wider but all in all pretty uneventful. Day 11 Another day of the plants are getting wider but no vertical growth. The cover crop on the other hand has been growing quite a bit so I trimmed it down a bit. Day 12 The Blumat Digitals showed that the soil moisture was in the 114-162 mbar range so I gave each plant around 1.3 liters of water. Dumb as I am I forgot to pH the water though so I guess it was around 8.0 as that is where my water normally is. Oh well, gotta remember it next time. I also removed the humidity domes as the leaves of both plants started to touch the side of the domes. Day 13 The right plant is clearly larger than the left plant, being both 25% taller and 40% wider. Let's see how it progresses from here, maybe one plant is simply slower or maybe it's a different phenotype. Day 14 Not much to report except that the right plant is still growing at a fast rate while the left plant is creeping along. My girlfriend was transplanting our tomato plants today so I put a few in the tent as there was some extra space. I sure hope though I didn't bring in any silly bugs into the tent. Oh well, let's see... We keep the rest of the tomatoes and chilies under a ViparSpectra light in our front room until the weather finally gets good enough to move all the peppers and tomatoes outside.

Day 15 Today I switched the lights from the Seedling program to the Growth program. I measured around 640 PPFD at the canopy level so a bit high for early veg but I will leave it where it is now and keep an eye out for light stress, and raise the lights if I have to. I also added a second USB fan for increased circulation. USB fans are great when the plants are small and you don't want the stronger winds that the regular clip fan generates. I also started the clip fan but directed it towards the lights to help keep them a bit cooler. I adjusted the extractor fan from 60 secs Off/30 secs On to 30 secs Off/30 secs On in order to remove more hot air. This will have to be tweaked further and I'll monitor my temps to figure out a suitable setting. It becomes a balance between temp and humidity. I really wish I had a system where I could set a target VPD and then the system would automatically adjust temps and humidity to follow that target. Not practical in my small setup though but maybe one day... Temps are always an issue in my setup as I have two powerful lights inside one small tent without AC. I have set the light cycle so that the lights are on during the night but off during the day to help to balance the temp a bit. I'm also considering getting some extension cables and put the LED drivers outside the tent to see if that helps to bring down the temps a bit further. Later in the grow I will use CO2 so that will help a bit against higher temps. Finally, I watered the plants as they were getting a bit dry. The left plant got 1 liter and the right plant 1.5 liters as the sensor reported that that pot was a bit drier. I reckon it has to do with the plant being larger (almost double the size of the other plant!) I should also really get my ass in gear and hook up the Blumat system so I don't need to worry about hand watering. Day 16 Nothing to report really except some additional growth, both vertical and horizontal. Day 17 Watering time again. Gave them 6.2 pH water this time and once again more to the right plant as it drinks more. I guess around 1.3 liters for the left plant and 2 liters for the right one. I tried putting in my small USB humidifier into the tent but I soon realized that it can't share the USB power that the fans are running on so will have to get another USB power cable in there. Didn't expect that small humidifier to use that much power. Oh well, that's a job for another day. Day 18 The girls are thirsty it seems as I had to water again today according to the Blumat sensors (I really, really need to install my Blumat system as soon as possible but should get the last bits that I need in a day or two). I gave them 2.5 liters of water (pH 6.7) and once again a bit more to the right plant. I also was able to squeeze in my tiny humidifier into the tent even though the tomatoes are still in there. Turns out that all I had to do was to switch the USB power adapter from the old Samsung one that I used to a more powerful iPad charger. Now it works just fine to run the fan and the humidifier on the same power. The reason why I'm using a small USB humidifier instead of a proper one is simply due to the lack of space in my small tent. This (very basic) humidifier is the smallest one I could find yet have a decent size tank so I don't need to fill it up all the time. Day 19 The cover crop EXPLODED since yesterday so the first thing I had to do today was to cut that back a bit. I also started brewing some compost tea (AACT). I mixed together worm castings, rock dust, biochar, lime, bentonite, neem meal, kelp meal, and molasses and will leave it brewing for 24 hours and then feed it to the plants tomorrow. Would have liked to add alfalfa meal as well but haven't been able to find any. I usually put my seed starter warming mat under and taped to the brewing bucket to increase the tea temperature and microbial activity. The plants are doing their thing, a little bit taller and a little bit wider. I will probably top the right plant next week but not sure about the left one as it is smaller so might need another week. Day 20 The compost tea was ready today after 24 hours of brewing. I fed each girl with around 3 liters of tea (pH 6.8) and as I wasn't planning any foliar feeding this time around I kept the tea unfiltered. So that everything that went into making the tea ended up as a top dressing. I guess I don't have to water for a couple of days after this. Not much change is plant size but the leaves are filling out. Day 21 Today was completely uneventful so not much to report except that I probably will top the right plant tomorrow as it is up to 5 nodes.

Day 22 First day of the 4th week of veg and time to start training. Today I lightly defoliated the girls for the first time. I simply removed the first node from each plant and the second node on the left plant. I watered the plants with 2 liters of water (pH 6.4) right after pruning to minimize any shock. I'll give them a couple of days and then I'll top the right girl for sure but I'll see about the left one considering how much smaller she is. Last night I spotted one single fungus gnat in the tent. The first one I've seen so maybe the tomatoes did bring in something after all. I inspected the girls for any other infestation but I couldn't spot anything. I put up a couple of small sticky traps to check if the gnats are there and if they are, then out with the nematodes. I've had great success with nemos in the past so they are my go-to when it comes to fungus gnats. Day 23 So... I fucked up yesterday. I moved around some of the power plugs and forgot to start the extractor fan again after I was done. DOH! I noticed my mistake as soon as opened the tent today and was hit by a wall of heat and humidity. It felt like stepping into a jungle, hot and wet. I guess I need to regularly check the App which monitors my temps and RH. Gotten a bit lazy about it so yeah, that's when fuckups happen. After all, what is the point of having a remote monitoring system if you don't monitor it? As for the plants they are doing their thing. Not much to report. I found one gnat stuck to the left sticky trap. Hardly a huge problem at the moment but need to stay on top of it. I am hoping that the weather improves soon so I can move out the tomatoes and then hit the plants with nematodes. Day 24 Today was a busy day in the tent. I started with cutting back the cover crops as they were getting a bit unruly. I then topped and did some low-stress training to the right girl but am holding off a few days for the left one as she is a bit smaller. My girlfriend suggested that I'd save the top and try to turn it into a clone. I never considered it as I don't have any space really for a third plant but hey, since it was her idea I'll give it a go. This is the first time I ever try to clone so I'm kinda clueless and am just winging it as I go along. I'm not too worried though as this is more an experiment in seeing if I can turn the top into a clone with the means I have at hand. I cut some aloe vera and put the top directly into it. I then blended the aloe with some water in my mixer and now the top is sitting in that aloe tea. I have no idea what to plant the top in next. Maybe some peat moss (as I have some) and continue feeding it aloe tea until root appears...?  It's all an experiment. lol For the low-stress training, I used some wire that I gently put around each branch and then attached the wire to a binder clip that is clipped onto the edge of the fabric pots. I also moved out some tomatoes out of the tent but swapped in some Bishop's Crown and Saltillo hot peppers instead. Finally, I watered everything with nematodes as I today found another four gnats stuck to the right sticky trap. Still, not a huge problem, and I was planning on waiting until the tomatoes and peppers are out of the tent but better to be proactive and nip the problem in the bud than letting it fester. I used 10 million Steinernema feltiae nematodes and I know that 10 million is maybe overkilling it but hey, as they said in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Anything worth doing, is worth overdoing. Besides, I already had those nemos at hand. I gave each girl around 2.5 liters of water (ph 6.7). Day 25 Alright, so I almost died in a heart attack today as I opened my tent and saw several spots of white residue on the leaves - "Fuuuuuuuuu... Did I get Powdery Mildew now after that one day of high humidity?!" After checking more thoroughly it certainly didn't look like PM and then it finally dawned on me. It was simply dried nematodes as I yesterday had spilled a bit of water on a few leaves. Phew! Other than that, not much to report. The right plant looks strong after topping and I re-tightened a couple of the LST wires. The left plant is coming along nicely so I will top her in a couple of days I think. The top is chilling in a glass of aloe vera tea and later today I will put it in a peat tab which will go under a humidity dome. Day 26 Pretty uneventful as all I really did was to water the girls, each got about 2 liters of ph 6.5 water. The right girl is bouncing back strong after topping and the top itself is doing pretty ok, nestled between the girls, in a propagation tray at the back of the tent. It's quite cramped in my small tray but hey, that's all I can fit so let's see if it works out anyway. I also prepared some fresh aloe vera tea by blending an aloe very filet with a bit of water and then fed the tea to the top. I haven’t seen any more gnats, not flying around nor in the sticky traps so let’s hope that they are gone. Day 27 Nothing too exciting today. I gave the top a little more aloe tea, cut back the cover crop a bit to increase air circulation around the plants, and tweaked the LST wires a bit. That's it. Day 28 Today it was time to top and train the left girl. I also put this top in aloe tea together with the other top in the propagation tray. I figured that I might as well try to clone this one as well even though I have NO clue what to do with them in case cloning is successful. lol. I also started brewing some compost tea using the same ingredients as last time (worm castings, rock dust, biochar, lime, bentonite, neem meal, kelp meal) but as I'm planning to foliar feed this round I put all the ingredients in a large teabag. Helps to avoid clogging up the spray nozzle. I was hoping to put off watering until tomorrow as they are getting tea then but the girls were really thirsty so I gave each around 2 liters of ph 6.2 water. Oh, I saw another 3 gnats stuck to the right sticky trap so obviously, there are some still around but that isn't unexpected as the nematodes don't help against already adult gnats. In any case, the population seems small considering how few have been stuck to the traps and I haven't seen any flying around.

Day 29 Overall I have no big plans for the girls this week. Just letting them recover from topping last week, and I'll continue to adjust the LST wires as needed. Also, I have decided to stop measuring the plant size every day as it is a bit pointless this far into veg. Instead, I will measure the girls at the end of each week. I started this week by feeding the plants' compost tea as well as foliar feed them. I have a small hand sprayer which works well as I only have a couple of plants. The bendable nozzle is convenient as it allows me to feed all sides of the plants easily. I just need to be careful when I do the underside of the leaves with the nozzle pointing upwards so I don't get my face full of wormpoop juice. I gave each girl around 2 liters of tea, and I completely forgot to check the pH. Sigh. Also, it is worth noting that I gave the tea to the plants just after the lights out so that the tea didn't burn on the leaves.  I noticed some light green/yellow tips on the new growth at the very top of the right girl. New growth further down doesn't show any yellow tips, so I suspect that I might be dealing with light bleaching. I checked the light level at the canopy, and it was up around 850 PPFD which is relatively high. (I completely forgot to raise the lights as the plants grew. DOH!) I moved up the light around 10 cm and then measured around 640 PPFD at canopy level. Hopefully, that will sort out those yellow tips but I'll keep my eyes on it. Day 30 All I did today was to once again cut back the cover crop a bit and tighten the LST wires. I did pull a bit too much on the left girl and heard a "crack". Turn out that the branch broke just right by the main stem but I think it will heal just fine as it was a really small break. Time will tell. Day 31 Today was moving day and I finally moved out all tomatoes and pepper plants. Good to have a bit more space again considering how cramped my tent is. I also did some more cover crop trimming and it is insane how much it grows. I removed a couple more leaves from the right girl as they weren't getting any light that far down on the plant. The branch on the left girl that I broke yesterday looks like a lost cause at this point but I'll give it another day or two to see if it heals. Kinda doubt it but let's see. I also tightened all the LST wires further and gave each girl around 2.5 liters of pH 6.0 water. The tops are looking good in the propagation tray but no visible roots yet. I gave them a bit more aloe tea. Finally, I hung up a CO2 bag in the tent. One of the problems with my setup is that the tent gets quite hot due to the powerful lights and since the tent is so small I can't fit an AC in there. Hopefully, the CO2 will help with the heat problem now when the weather is getting better which means that the tent will become even warmer. Day 32 Today I went on a field trip to a nearby horse ranch to hunt down and gather compost worms. I gathered around 50 red wrigglers, cleaned them up, and added them to my pots. Even though I watered the girls yesterday, the right one was dry today, so I gave her around 2 liters of pH 6.5 water. Thirsty girl but then she is also large and bushy, making sense that she drinks more than the other plant. Yesterday, I hung up a CO2 bag in the tent, and unfortunately, it really smells like shit. Literally. I hope the smell will decrease with time because right now, it stinks pretty bad when I open the tent. Ugh. Finally, I removed that broken branch as it was clear it wouldn't make it. Day 33 Ahhhhh, the wonderful feeling of opening up the tent and get hit by a wall of shit smell. My girlfriend even bitched me out that the entire apartment stinks. This was the first time I bought this brand of CO2 bags and I seriously doubt that I will repurchase it... More watering today, and I gave each girl 2.5 liters of pH 6.5 water. At least all this watering keeps the humidity at a reasonable level, but I really should get around to hooking up the Blumat system, so I don't need to hand-water all the time. I'm way too lazy to have to water every day. I did some additional defoliation on the left girl. Nothing crazy. It was just removing a few leaves that weren't getting any lights at the bottom of the plant. I also installed a scrog net but am not thrilled about how it fits. I'll leave it for now but think I will have to make my own in the future. Finally, I managed to put up a plastic pocket on the wall of the tent. Something that I have considered since getting the tent but never gotten around to doing. It is just a place where I can put the tools that I use most - scissors for cutting back cover crop and defoliation, PAR meter to check light levels, pH meter to make sure that my water is ok, and glasses for inspecting the plants. Day 34 Today my girlfriend was hiding in bed, under the cover, as I opened the tent. Just in case... Sure, enough. It still stinks. No big mission today. Just a quick maintenance mission where I cut down the cover crops a bit and removed another few leaves to increase air circulation. I also repositioned and tightened the LST wires. That was it. Day 35 End of week 5 of vegetation and another fairly easy day. I gave each girl 3liters of pH 6.2 water, tightened up a couple of LST wires, tucked in a few branches into the net, and super-cropped a couple of branches on the right girl. The left girl is 24 cm tall and the right one 34 cm tall. I also moved the tops out of the tent as very little light reaches the floor of the tent now when the girls are getting bushy. I put them under a ViparSpectra light together with my tomatoes and chilis. I still have no exact plan what to do with the clones if they survive but maybe I'll plant them outdoors and see what happens.

Day 36 First day of the final week of vegetation. Originally I was planning on vegging another few weeks but since the right girl already has a bigger bush than a 70s pornstar I'll flip soon, before space will be an issue. Preferably I'd veg the left girl longer as she is still lagging in size but it's too big of a mission to set up my second tent and move her over there. Super easy day today, all I did was to give the right girl 3 liters of pH 6.1 water as well as tightening a few LST wires. Day 37 All I did today was to tighten some LST wires, removing some more leaves down low on the plants, and watered the girls with pH 6.6 water. The left girl got around 2 liters and the right one only got a liter since she wasn't all that dry considering that she was watered yesterday. I also started brewing some compost tea to feed to the girls tomorrow. I used the same recipe as previously: worm castings, rock dust, biochar, lime, bentonite, neem meal, kelp meal, and some molasses. Day 38 Open the tent today and was met by a surprise - one of the tops on the left girl had broken off. I tightened the LST wires yesterday and all was ok when I closed up the tent but I guess that I had tightened a bit too much so the top eventually broke. Sigh. Wasn't planning on topping again this week but yeah, gotta roll with it. Maybe I move one of the girls to the second tent after all. We'll see. All I did in the tent today was to feed the girls some compost tea. Each girl got around 0.5-liter tea as a foliar spray and then an additional 2.5 liters in the pot. True to form I naturally forgot to pH the tea. No idea why I always seem to forget to pH my compost tea but I really should make an effort to remember it next time. Day 39 All I did today was to give the right girl 3 liters of pH 6.6 water. She is so much bigger than the small plant so she drinks a lot more. Currently, I'm watering around 10% of the pot volume per day. I'm pretty sure I will move out the petite girl and put her in my small drying tent and keep the right beast in my main tent as I'm kinda curious to see the yield I will get from her when she can spread out properly. I have already ordered another grow light and it should arrive tomorrow. Day 40 Today was a busy day in the tent as one of the girls moved out to her new home. Before I go into details, I should take a step back and explain my setup. I have this tiny tent that is 40x40x120 cm big (16x16x48 inches) that I use as a drying tent. It has a circulation fan, an extraction fan, a carbon filter, a temp/humidity monitor, and an inkbird humidity controller to control everything. I have been considering turning it into a small grow tent to fool around and see what I can grow in such a small space. I've always been fascinated by small challenges, to see what you can accomplish within strictly set (and small!) boundaries — both in size and in budget. I was planning on setting up this tent after the summer, but as I'm running out of space in my main tent, it seems like a good idea to do it now instead. The only thing the tent lacks to start growing is a light, and I already have a ViparSpectra P600 light, but it is currently used for my chilis and tomatoes while they are waiting to move outside. So I bought a new low-budget light to use with the veggies and move in the ViparSpectra light into the tent. The P600 is also a budget light, but I'm hopeful that it will still work well in such a small space. After putting in the light in the tent and measuring the PAR level, it looks like the ViparSpectra is more than up to the challenge as I had to dim the light not to fry the canopy below. The entire build with everything in it (tent, light, fans, carbon filter, etc.) is well below 250 euros. So about half of what one of the lights in my main tent costs. lol. Once the light was installed in the tent, it was time to move the left girl. First, I carefully removed the scrog net, and it was pretty easy as the plants hadn't grown into the net yet. The small tent has a tiny door that it was a challenge to get the girl in but with some help from my girlfriend and some brute force; the plant went in. It is very tight in there, and I will have to do some selective pruning for sure, but I'll do that over the weekend. In the main tent, I moved the girl into the center and put back the scrog net. I will have to train her further to fill up the space entirely, so maybe I do another week of veg after all. I'll work on her over the weekend as well and see where I'm at on Monday. I adjusted the lights to read similar PAR levels at canopy level in both tents, but once I go into flower, I'll bump up the main tent as I have CO2 in there, so the girl should be able to handle more light and heat. Finally, I gave each girl 3 liters of pH 6.1 water. I had to use the ultrawide lens on my phone to capture each plant in the photos. Fun to finally use that lens :) Day 41 Today I moved the small tent back into its stealth location, another IKEA wardrobe. There's no real risk that anyone would discover my grow but I still prefer to keep everything as hidden as possible. Watered the girls, each one with 3 liters of pH 6.5 water. I also removed all LST wires from both plants but attached some new ones for the right girl. (I'm going to keep calling them left and right even though they aren't in the same tent anymore.) Finally, I defoliated the bottom of the left girl. That's it. All in all, a really chilled day. Day 42 Today was the last day of week 6 of vegetation. I know I said earlier this week that this would be the last week of vegetation, but I might veg the right girl another week. To give her a bit more time to fill out the tent. I'll decide that tomorrow, but in any case, I'll flip the left girl as her tent is so tiny, and I don't want her to get any larger. The left girl is now 38 cm tall, and the right girl is 46 cm tall. The right girl got 4 liters of pH 6.1 water today as she is sooo thirsty right now, but the left girl didn't need any today, so I left her alone. I started brewing some compost tea (worm castings, rock dust, biochar, lime, bentonite, neem meal, kelp meal, and molasses) as I want to do one final foliar feed tomorrow before sending the girls into flower.

Day 1 Flower (Day 43) Wooohoooo! First day of flower! I decided to flip both plants after all. The thing is that I will be fully vaccinated against Corona by mid-July, and when that is done, I'm off on vacation. After 1,5 years of this pandemic crap, I'm more than ready to travel again, to see the world, meet new people, and have new experiences. So yeah, this strain is supposed to be a fast flowering strain (45 days!), so mid-July should do it. I switched to the Flower Induction light recipe in my main tent, and I will let that recipe run for some days before I switch over to the regular Flower recipe. The tiny tent has nothing so fancy and was switched to a regular 12/12 schedule. Speaking about lights. That cheap budget light that I bought for my veggies when I moved in my ViparSpectra light into the tiny tent broke down after only two days. So much for trying to save a bit by buying something cheap. I've already sent it back and won't get another light as I think the tomatoes and chilis are ready to move outside. I'll wait and buy this fall instead, but I won't go for the cheapest light I can find then. lol I was foliar feeding the girls with filtered compost tea while they were still sleeping. I only spray when the lights are out to avoid any leaf burns. A few hours later, after the girls woke up, I gave them each around 3 liters of unfiltered pH 6.2 compost tea. I FINALLY remembered to pH the compost tea. Woooooo!!! That was all today. Day 2 Flower (Day 44) Today was a really busy day. I opened the tents, took pics, closed up the tents. Phew! Exhausting. Day 3 Flower (Day 45) Alright, today was a bit more work than yesterday but still fairly relaxed. I watered the girls; the left one got 3 liters, and the right one got 4.5 liters of pH 6.0 water. I noticed a bit of light bleaching on the girl in the small tent, so I turned down the light a bit and increased the distance to the canopy. It is very tight in there, but that is expected with such a small tent. I will need to raise the light more in the future, and I'll probably have to resort to a bit of MacGyver-ism to make it work but that's a problem for a later day. The girl in the main tent has a bit of an uneven canopy where the left side is taller, so I raised the left light as the light level was around 1300 PPFD. I also super-cropped half a dozen branches to slow them down and let the rest of the canopy catch up. It's probably the last training I do before the girls go into flower. Finally, I did a bit of defoliating by removing a few leaves that weren't getting any light low down on the girls. Day 4 Flower (Day 46) Fuck. Disaster struck. I opened the main tent today and found that the CO2 bag had fallen down and broken one of the main branches. That one branch is responsible for about a quarter of the canopy, so losing it would suck. I got busy right away taping the broken branch and used some old chili stalks to support the branch further. I also watered it with around 1.5 liters of pH 6.5 water hoping that it will be beneficial. Now, all I can do is wait and hope for the best. For those of you who have been following this diary, you already know that I dislike this CO2 bag because it smells like shit. Literally. Now though, I really hate this friggin shit bag and its weird hanging contraption that is as shitty as the smell from the bag. Day 5 Flower (Day 47) So far so good. Last night, I checked in on her a couple of hours after I taped the broken branch and the left side of the canopy was already back up with no drooping leaves or branches. YES! However, it was still nerve-wracking to open the tent today but she looked just fine. Fingers crossed that it holds. Naturally, I don't want to disturb her much right now so all I did today was to water her and carefully LST a couple of branches that got messed up yesterday. I gave her 2 liters of pH 6-0 water and 1 liter of water to the girl in the small tent. Speaking of the small tent. There's some light bleaching on the tips of the leaves closest to the light so I turned down the dimmer even further down to 40%. I need to try to raise the light but can only gain another 5-7 cm. The tent is soo tiny lol. Will be interesting to see if she will even fit in there after the stretch is done. I also raised the lights in the main tent as the canopy was getting a bit close. That was it for today. Day 6 Flower (Day 48) Chill day today. All I did today was to water the girls 3 liters each of pH 6.5 water. Day 7 Flower (Day 49) Today was the end of a rather tumultuous first week of flower. It looks like I got lucky, though, and that the branch on the right girl will survive. She is growing strong and loving life. I am hopeful. She is a big girl and drinks a lot, so I'm watering her every day (around 10% of pot volume), and I gave her 3 liters of pH 6.4 water today. The left girl didn't need any, so I just measured both girls, snapped some pics and videos before zipping up both tents. The left girl is 50 cm tall (12 cm increase in a week), and the right girl is 77 cm tall (31 cm increase in a week!)

Day 8 Flower (Day 50) The first day of the second week of flower and the strech is real. The right girl is getting pretty damn big and keeps on drinking a lot. I gave her another 3 liters of pH 6.4 water today. On the other hand, the left girl drinks hardly anything, so I didn't need to water her. I also did some lollipopping today and got rid of a whole bunch of undergrowth. I saved some clones off the big girl but no clue what to do with them. We'll see what happens. Day 9 Flower (Day 51) Chill day today. All I did was to give each girl 3 liters of pH 6.5 water and snap a few pics. Day 10 Flower (Day 52) Today I finally got around to re-organize the small tent to move the light as high up as possible to give the canopy some additional space. I moved the exhaust fan to outside the tent, so it was out of the way for the light, and then put the circulation fan below the canopy, blowing upward. Finally, I adjusted the light so it was reading about 900 PPFD in the center of the canopy. The left girl didn't need any water today, but the right girl got 3 liters of pH 6.2 water. Day 11 Flower (Day 53) They're back! The fungus gnats are back in the tent, although I'm not surprised, and let me tell you why. When the light for my tomatoes and peppers broke down, I had to move them so that they get some daylight. It is still cold here (the coldest May around these parts ever, I think), so they have to stay inside even though they usually would have moved outside long ago. The best place to keep them in my apartment is by the window in the same room as my grow tents. The last time I had gnats, I only had enough nematodes to treat my girls, but I didn't do the rest of the apartment even though I should have. So currently, my peppers and tomatoes all have a ton of gnats. Put plants with gnats in the same room as your grow, and it is only a matter of time before the gnats find their way into the tents. So yeah, it wasn't a surprise at all when I noticed the gnats in my tents some days ago. I put up some yellow sticky traps to deal with the adults and ordered more nematodes, enough to treat my girls, plus all other plants in my entire apartment. Twice. The nematodes arrived today, and I mixed up 10 million of them into 6 liters of water and gave each girl half at pH 6.5. That was it for today. Day 12 Flower (Day 54) Exhausting day today. I opened the tents, took pics, closed the tents. Phew! I think I need to lay down for a bit. Day 13 Flower (Day 55) Late last night I decided to supercrop the right girl to slow her down and get the canopy to even out. We're almost at the end of the second week of flower so this is the last training I will do besides some defoliation later on. I think I cropped around 10 branches or so. Today, most of the branches were already standing up again and she was VERY thirsty so I gave her 4.5 liters of pH 6.4 water. The left girl on the other hand didn't need any water. Day 14 Flower (Day 56) The last day of the second week of flower and the right girl is in flower. Early yet so still small and no smell, but they are there. The left girl is in flower as well but isn't as far along, but that isn't unexpected considering the different lights. The left girl is 68 cm tall (18 cm increase in a week), and the right girl is 100 cm tall (23 cm increase in a week) but would have been even taller without super-cropping. I gave each girl three liters of pH 6.3 water and removed the tape from the right girl's broken branch. She looks fully healed, so I removed the supports as well, and she was looking great. However, thinking about it for a second, I put back one of the supports, just in case.

Day 15 Flower (Day 57) The first day of week 3 of flower. I switched the light recipe in my main tent from the Flower Induction program to the Flower program now when the right girl is in flower. I also gave her 3 liters of pH 6.1 water. The left girl didn't need any water though. That was all today. Day 16 Flower (Day 58) All I did today was to give each girl 3 liters of pH 6.5 water. Day 17 Flower (Day 59) I gave the right girl 3 liters of pH 5.9 water today. It's a bit low maybe (added too much pH down and was too lazy to fix it) but should be alright. My pH is different each watering anyway, as I aim to optimize nutrient uptake by covering a broader pH range. The left girl didn't need any today as she drinks a lot less due to being smaller. That being said, she is now hitting the light :/ It was never my intention to grow her in such a confined space, but here we are. She should have been trained differently and vegged shorter to grow correctly in such a small space. I have ordered a new, taller tent which will arrive next week. Until then, she'll be snug, and I don't think I can take any canopy pics for a few days. I started brewing some compost tea following the same recipe as previously (worm castings, rock dust, biochar, lime, bentonite, neem meal, kelp meal, and molasses), but I upped the castings, the neem, and the kelp. Long overdue as it was over two weeks since last time. I will feed this tea (unfiltered) tomorrow after 24 hrs of brewing. Day 18 Flower (Day 60) Today I gave each girl 3 liters of pH 6.3 compost tea that brewed for 26 hours. I also added a few tablespoons worth of alfalfa seeds that I ran through a blender first to beat up into a powder. I didn't filter the tea, so all ingredients ended up as a top dressing that will get watered in as time goes. The small tent is packed, and the girl is pressing up against the light. It got to hold out until next week, so it is what it is. It is getting a bit cramped in the main tent as well, so I moved up the lights as far as I could without going full McGyver. It's the first time I grow this strain, but she sure is a stretcher. The weather has gotten warm here (finally!), but of course, now my tent is getting even hotter. I'm trying to combat it to some extent by running the extractor fan more. That will get the temp down a bit, but unfortunately, it will also cause the humidity to drop. I put in my small humidifier to help with that, so the VPD is still in a reasonable range. Day 19 Flower (Day 61) I defoliated the right girl today by removing some leaves and branches low down where the lights don't reach. The left girl must also be done, but I'll work on her when she is between tents next week. I also gave the right girl 3 liters of pH 6.5 water. That was it for today. Day 20 Flower (Day 62) All I did today was to water each girl with 3 liters of pH 6.7 water. I hope that my new tent arrives sooner rather than later since the left girl is pushing up so much against the light that the top flowers are starting to get burnt. Wonderful... :( I've turned down the light as low as it goes (15%), that's pretty much all I can do except turning off the light completely. Day 21 Flower (Day 63) The last day of the third week of flower and things are moving along nicely except for the crowded tent, but hopefully, the new tent will solve that in a day or two. The left girl is 85 cm tall (17 cm increase in a week), and the right girl is 117 cm tall (also a 17 cm increase in a week). There wasn't much to do today. I gave the right girl 3 liters of pH 6.5 water and snapped a few pics. That's all.

Day 22 Flower (Day 64) Today is the first day of week four of flower. I gave the right girl 3 liters of pH 6.2 water, but the left girl didn't need any. She doesn't drink much since the light is turned way down not to fry her canopy more than it already has. Unfortunately, her new tent didn't show up today — hopefully, tomorrow. I also put half of an avocado on top of the soil in each pot to feed my worms. It should be a nice little treat for my worm buddies. Most of my cover crop has died now when the girls are blocking out all the lights, and I really should cover the soil in mulch, but as I'm changing to larger pots next run, I would have to remove it again in about a month, so I haven't bothered. Day 23 Flower (Day 65) Yay! The new tent finally arrived today. It is still a tiny 40x40 cm tent as that is all I can fit inside the wardrobe, but the new tent is 40 cm taller. The plant really needed the extra height since she was pressing against the light and roasting the top buds. It was a bit tricky to get the left girl out of the old tent, but by combining some McGyverism with a bit of brute force, I got her out in mostly one piece. The damage from the light wasn't as bad as a feared, although three tops were fried and a few fan leaves. Not great, but it could have been worse. I took the opportunity when she was between tents and did some defoliation/lollipopping before moving her into her new space and giving her 1.5 liters of ph 6.7 water to help her deal with the shock of being manhandled. It is lovely to have some space again, and I was finally able to turn up the light to 100%. Now those buds can start to fatten up! All I did with the right girl today was to give her 3 liters of pH 6.5 water. Day 24 Flower (Day 66) The left girl loves her new home and looks to be bouncing back nicely. She didn't need any water today, but it was the first time a tiny weed smell came out of the tent as I opened it. The right girl in my main tent is further along in flower and technically should smell more than the small tent, but the CO2 bag still overpowers everything with its sh*t smell. lol I gave the right girl 3 liters of pH 6.4 water today, and I also "shaved her legs" by removing some pointless leaves and branches low down on her. Finally, I started brewing some compost tea with the same recipe as last week (worm castings, rock dust, biochar, lime, bentonite, neem meal, kelp meal, alfalfa meal, and molasses). Still, this time it will be filtered as it is too soon for additional topdressing. The tea will brew for 24 hours, and I'll feed it tomorrow. Day 25 Flower (Day 67) All I did today was to feed each girl 3 liters of pH 6.6 compost tea as well as rearranging the main tent (moved the CO2 bag so I could move the clip fan, attached the ratchet hangers to the lights differently, and did some LST to get a branch out of the way) so I could raise the lights another 5 cm. Day 26 Flower (Day 68) Today was a really easy day. I just gave the right girl 3 liters of pH 6.1 water. That was it. Day 27 Flower (Day 69) I gave each girl 3 liters of pH 6.6 water today. I also took out my proper camera and tried a few quick bud shots. Just as an experiment though - handheld, no tripod, just the grow lights so no proper lighting, etc. Would love some feedback on these photos though as I'm completely new to bud photography and am looking to improve. Day 28 Flower (Day 70) The last day of the fourth week of flower and all is well in the tents. The left girl is 97 cm tall (12 cm increase in a week), and the right girl is 120 cm tall (a 3 cm increase in a week). The left girl has been stretching this week since she got her new tent (which allowed me to turn up the light.) She certainly is loving those extra photons! On the other hand, the right girl seems done with stretching and is working on fattening up the buds. All I did today was to snap some pics and videos and give the right girl 3 liters of pH 6.2 water.

Day 29 Flower (Day 71) Woohoo! First day of week five of flower and an easy day at that. I just gave the right girl 3 liters of pH 6.2 water and took some pics. I'm still experimenting with bud photography. This time with a tripod but still no additional lights. I also need to take the pics when the lights are off as the flowers look funky under the LEDs. The right girl is slowly starting to bulk up, but the left girl is lagging. That is no wonder, though, considering that she has had much less light due to those space issues. Also, there's a huge quality difference between the lights in each tent. So I'm looking forward to comparing the bud quality that each tent will generate. Day 30 Flower (Day 72) It slipped my mind, but it's been over two weeks since I gave the girls nematodes to get rid of the gnats. As always, the nemos did their job quickly and effectively, and I haven't seen any gnats since. However, to ensure that they stayed gone, I did a second treatment today, mixed up 10 million nemos into 6 liters of water, and gave each girl half at pH 6.6. Day 31 Flower (Day 73) Chill day. I just gave the right girl 3 liters of pH 6.5 water and cut some clones from her. She is deep in flower so I'll try to monster-crop her. Never tried that before but have heard that it creates some really bushy plants. As she already is bushy I'm curious to see how bushy a monster-cropped clone of her will be. She had a few low branches that I left during lollipopping for this reason and I cut four of them with a sterile razor blade, then scraped the lower part of the stem and dipped them in Clonex. They're now sitting in the window with a small LED spot to make sure that they have enough light to re-veg. Day 32 Flower (Day 74) I know that I got a new tent for my left girl only a few days ago, but I decided to upgrade to give her a bit more space. I went to my local grow store today and picked up a tent made by the same company as my main tent (UndrCovrLab). This new tent is also made specifically for my wardrobe, maximizing the available space. I went from a tiny 40x40 cm tent to a "massive" 75x45 cm tent. Still very small but almost 2x bigger. Woohoo! The left girl was squeezed into the 40x40 tent for so long that I had to use some LST to spread her out and increase light penetration now when she has some more breathing room. Speaking of lights, my small ViparSpectra is a bit underpowered now in this larger space, so now I have to consider upgrading that as well. The simplest solution would be to get another ViparSpectra, and while this little light has been performing well, it lacks UV diodes. I'll look around for options. We have gotten hit by a heatwave here, so now my tents are sweltering. The main tent reached 36 degrees C today at one point :/ Oh well, I cannot do much about it except hope that the heat doesn't stress out the girls too severely. The girls are very thirsty in this heat though, and I gave each 4.5 liters of pH 6.5 water. Day 33 Flower (Day 75) All I did today was to give the right girl 3 liters of pH 5.9 water. A bit low as I used too much pH down and then was too lazy to fix it. Day 34 Flower (Day 76) No idea what happened, but an army of fungus gnats invaded my right girl. It's only four days ago since I watered her with Nematodes against gnats, and there were no gnats at all then. A few days later, it is gnat central in my main tent (the left girl in the other tent has no gnats). It's almost like I didn't give nemos to the plant but instead gave her gnats. Weird as the nemos have always worked great in the past. Now I need to start fighting these annoying little shits. Sigh. I'll give nemos another go, and if they don't work, then I'll use some sand. Worst case scenario, I'll use Neem oil, but I really don't want to go that far. I gave each girl 3 liters of pH 6.5 water, and that was it for today. Day 35 Flower (Day 77) The last day of the fifth week of flower and all is (pretty well) well in the tents. The left girl is 103 cm tall (6 cm increase in a week), and she is lagging quite a bit behind the right girl. She is healthy and quite sticky to the touch, but the flowers still have a lot of fattening up to do. I hope that will speed up now when she has a bit more room to spread out so the light can penetrate the canopy deeper. Getting a more powerful light would also help. When in doubt, add more photons! Someone who doesn't need more photons, though, is the right girl. The top bud has been burnt slightly, and there's light bleaching on a couple of colas as well as on a few fan leaves. I removed the driver from one of the lights and raised the light a bit higher. Every centimeter counts when you're running out of space! The right girl increased another 3 cm this week and is now 123 cm tall. I hope that is it as I'm now completely out of room. The gnat army in my main tent is still going strong. So strong that they have now sent out a small expeditionary force to my small tent and started to colonize the area. Sigh. I Will hit the girls in a day or two with nemos, but today I just put up some yellow sticky traps and gave the right girl 3 liters of pH 6.5 water.

Day 36 Flower (Day 78) Today is the first day of week six of flower and on this glorious day, I went to war against the fungus gnats. By war, I mean watering each girl with 5 million Nematodes in 3 liters of pH 6.5 water. That should hopefully do the trick and get rid of the annoying little shits. I also experimented a bit more with bud photography and this time I used an LED ring flash. The next step is to shoot during the dark period so I don't get any supplemental light from the grow lights. That was pretty much it today as it is mostly just coasting along at this point in the grow. Day 37 Flower (Day 79) The left girl got pampered with a new light today. Let's see if those extra photons can help her fatten up. She also got a CO2 bag to help her to soak up all those juicy photons. The right girl on the other hand just got her daily watering. Today with 3 liters at pH 6.6. Day 38 Flower (Day 80) All I did today was to give the right girl 3 liters of pH 6.5 water and started brewing some compost tea to feed tomorrow. I used a simple recipe this time with just some worm castings and molasses to increase the microbial activity, as well as a bit of neem meal for some additional nutrition but also to help against pests. The fungus gnats in the tents are almost gone. The nematodes took care of the gnat larvae and the yellow sticky traps have been catching the adults. Day 39 Flower (Day 81) Super chill day. I just gave each girl 3 liters of compost tea at pH 6.2. Done. Day 40 Flower (Day 82) I gave 3 liters of pH 6.5 water to the right girl and supported some of her branches as they're getting heavy with buds. Boom! Day 41 Flower (Day 83) Today I gave each girl 3 liters of pH 6.5 water. The gnats look to be defeated for now. I can't see any in the tents and the yellow sticky traps are empty. Day 42 Flower (Day 84) The last day of the sixth week of flower and all is going great in the tents. The heatwave we were having went away, which kind of sucks on a personal and social level, but it's great for the girls as the tents were swelteringly hot. The left girl is 103 cm tall and didn't grow anything this week. She has started to fatten up a bit now since I installed a more powerful light, but she is still lagging far behind the right girl. I'm interested to see if she is only lagging behind in time and will fatten up eventually, or if her ordeal has stunted her flowers, resulting in a bunch of larf. Time will tell. Either way, it will be a learning experience. The right girl also didn't grow vertically this week (thankfully!). Her 123 cm is tall enough to be dangerously close to the lights. She is fattening up nicely but still some time to go before she is done. I haven't checked any trichomes yet but should probably start checking next week. Today was another chill late-flower day, I just gave the left girl 2 liters of pH 6.7 water, and the right got 3 liters at pH 6.5.

Day 43 Flower (Day 85) Today is the first day of week seven of flower, and this is supposed to be the last week of flower for this fast strain, but I doubt that either of the girls will be done this week. That being said, it's pretty much a waiting game at this point since we're on the home stretch. The right girl should be done soon-ish, but the left girl will probably take a few more weeks. I just got my second Corona vaccine shot a couple of days ago, and as soon as it is entirely up and running, I'm off on vacation. After 1.5 years of this pandemic crap, I'm SO ready to go traveling again. To prepare for my travels, I installed a drip irrigation system in the left girl's tent. It's a simple system with a 10-liter water bag, some hose, and a few drip emitters, but once dialed in, it should be enough to provide the left girl with water for around a week. The system was a piece of cake to install, and I wrapped the water bag with some white mylar to avoid the water getting heated and also to reflect the light better. It's a bit ghetto still, but I'll make it prettier once I see that the system works as intended. I installed the system now already to give me time to dial it in. I'm hoping that the right girl will be done before I travel, but if she isn't, then I'll hook her up to the automated drip irrigation system that I use for our tomatoes. Come hell or high water. I'm going on that vacation, dammit! Lastly, I gave the right girl 3 liters of pH 6.5 water. Day 44 Flower (Day 86) I think those extra photons from the new light are starting to work their magic in the left tent, and the left girl is slowly starting to fatten up. In the right tent, everything is just cruising along and I gave the right girl 3 liters of pH 6.6 water today. Day 45 Flower (Day 87) The drip irrigation system in the left tent is working out great so far. Only been a couple of days though but yeah, so far so good. The right girl is packing on some weight into her buds and some of the thinner branches are starting to fall over. I've ordered some plant yoyos for support but they won't arrive until next week so I'll make do until then. Lastly, I gave the right girl 3 liters of pH 6.3 water. Day 46 Flower (Day 88) Not much is happening on a day-by-day basis this late in flower. I hope those plant yoyos get here asap as the right girl is struggling to keep some of her branches up under the weight of the buds. I want to go in and tuck some fan leaves in her canopy to allow better light penetration. Still, I can only tuck a couple without starting to knock over branches as other branches precariously support them. (Note to self: use a second scrog next photo grow to give support after the stretch.) I gave the right girl 3 liters of pH 6.5 water, and that was all for today. Day 47 Flower (Day 89) Woooo! The yoyos arrived today even though they weren't due until next week. It was a breeze to put up; attach the yoyo at the roof of the tent with a zip tie, pull down the hook and attach it to the branch, done. I ended up using only three since the other branches are standing quite well once those three worst offenders are supported. A fourth branch could also use support, but the branch is way in the back, and I can't get to it without getting my arms and hands all covered in resin as just about everything in the tent is super sticky now. The buds on the right girl are very resinous and have a strong smell. I should bring out the microscope soon and start to check the trichomes to see where she's at. I also gave the right girl 3 liters of pH 6.6 water. The left girl is just hanging out in her tent, doing her thing, and slowly fattening up. The drip system is working great so far. After four days, the water bag is about half empty, so it looks promising that it will last a week. I've been monitoring the soil humidity, and it has slowly been dropping these four days, but the drop is so slow that it is next to negligible. Day 48 Flower (Day 90) Today, the left girl's soil humidity did a small drop, but it is still in a great range. I guess it is because as the water in the bag gets less, the water pressure is reduced, resulting in the water flowing more slowly out of the drip emitters. Not a huge deal, though, as it is now five days since the last time I hand-watered the left girl, so this irrigation system will work just fine when I go on vacation for a few days. I filled up another 3 liters of pH 6.1 water in the bag, and I'll keep an eye on it to see if the soil humidity increases. Speaking of watering, I treated myself today to a new, better pH pen. As a living soil grower, I don't use any nutes, so I thought I might as well make sure I have a quality pH pen to make sure the water is on point. My old Dr. Meter pen has served me just fine, but this bluelab pen is a lot faster, and it has a backlit display which makes it easier to use in low light situations. A friend of mine recently started growing, so I'll gift my old pen to him as well as my old tiny, drying tent, and the ViparSpectra P600 light as I don't need that now when I have a much more powerful light for the small tent. The right girl got 3 liters of pH 6.1 water as I haven't hooked up the automated drip irrigation system to her yet but will do that in the next few days as I suspect that she won't be finished either before vacation. Lastly, I started to brew some compost tea to give the girls one final boost of microbes and nutrients. I used a similar recipe as previously: worm castings, rock dust, biochar, lime, bentonite, neem meal, kelp meal, and molasses. I upped the castings and neem, though and I'll leave this tea brewing for 24 hours and feed it to the girls tomorrow. Day 49 Flower (Day 91) The last day of the seventh week of flower, and all is well in the tents. According to the breeder, this week is supposed to be the final week of flower, but none of my girls are near ready. I took out the microscope today and checked the trichomes on the right girl, and I would guess she has at least another week, if not two, to go as her trichomes are still clear. I might even end up running her longer as I'm looking for a decent amount of amber this harvest. This strain is supposed to be a heavy, almost narcotic Indica, and I'm aiming to make her as potent as possible. A "last-smoke-of-the-night" kind of smoke. Lately, there has been a noticeable cannabis smell in my lung room, and last night I tracked down the cause. It turned out that there was a leak between the carbon filter and the fan, so the fan blew out partly unfiltered air. Nothing that some duct tape couldn't fix, and this morning the smell was gone. The right girl is sticky af and has a strong smell. Initially, there's a strong citrus fragrance with hints of lime and grapefruit, but once those terps have started to evaporate, there's an underlying fragrance of pine. The left girl has even longer to go, and it wouldn't surprise me if she takes another month. We made some guacamole last night, but a couple of the avocados had gone bad, so I put them on my pots. My loss is my worms' gain. All I did today was to feed the compost tea I started yesterday to the girls. Each one got 3 liters of unfiltered tea at pH 6.7.

Day 50 Flower (Day 92) Today is the first day of week eight of flower, and we're in overtime. According to the breeder, last week was supposed to be the final week of flower since this is a fast strain with Ruderalis in it, but the girls are still far from done. The right girl is still mostly clear, and the left girl has a bunch of fattening up to do before I'll even look at her trichomes. All I did today was to give the right girl 3 liters of pH 6.3 water. I did some bud photography as well, but I haven't processed those images yet. Day 51 Flower (Day 93) I'm starting to see a fade in some of the right girl leaves but nothing major yet. I gave her 3 liters of pH 6.1 water and called it a day. Tomorrow I have to hook up her drip irrigation system so I have a few days to tweak it before I'm off on vacation. Day 52 Flower (Day 94) Today, I finally got around to hooking up the drip irrigation system to the right girl. Setting it up was straightforward - put four drip emitters around the plant, run a hose from the emitters to a 120 l water barrel, connect the hose to a pump, set up how much water you want per day, done. For a long time, the right girl has been drinking 3 liters of water per day. One filling in my small 3-liter watering can. I figured, though, that I should first check if the can is 3 liters in the first place, so I filled it up and then measured how much water there was in it. It turns out that the can only contain 2.5 liters. Chinese quality... Anyway, no big deal when I've been hand-watering, but great to know now, as the system would have overwatered otherwise. I set up the system to irrigate 2.4 liters per day, slightly less than currently, but I think she will soon start to drink less as she matures and starts fading. In any case, I rather come home to a slightly thirsty plant than to one that has drowned. It's a bit clunky to use a timer-based drip system as it doesn't adapt to the plant. That's why I'm currently designing and building my own system, based on a Raspberry Pi, which irrigates based on moisture levels in the soil. The aim is to maintain the perfect soil moisture in each pot, no matter how much each girl drinks. This concept s precisely how a low-tech Blumat system work, and I even have one of those, but I can't use it for practical reasons, so I'm "stuck" at building my own hi-tech solution instead ;) The left girl in the small tent is just doing her thing, slowly fattening up. She is foxtailing hard, though, but I'm not surprised, considering all the stress she went through. No big deal, I'll turn those buds into a tincture instead. The flower that got burned a bit in my main tent is also foxtailing but way less. I also got delivered and installed a fire extinguisher ball in my small tent. Now each of the tents should be protected from accidental fire. I have to admit that the thought of leaving my tents up and running alone for a week makes me a wee bit nervous, so I'm taking the precautions I can. I never had any problems in the past, and I like to keep it that way. Day 53 Flower (Day 95) There isn't much to do this late in flower now when I don't even have to water anymore. Although, I am monitoring the soil moisture levels to ensure the irrigation systems work as they should. Today I also changed my Bluetooth Thermo/Hygrometers to WiFi versions since they allow me to remote monitor the tents when I'm off on vacation next week. They are currently showing the temps as high, but since I put them all the way up in the tent, it makes sense that it is hot up there. I will move them down to canopy level before I leave. I could also finalize our travel plans today after going back and forth, making plans, and changing them again for days. Next week, we're off to Iceland, where we will pick up a motorhome at the airport and then drive around as the wind and mood take us. We have been to Iceland before, but the place is so unique that we can't wait to return. It will be interesting (and a bit scary) to see how the girls will manage while I'm gone, but I believe that I've done enough to keep them safe and sound in my absence. A friend of mine can drop by our apartment and look at the girls should it be necessary, but I think they'll be alright. Day 54 Flower (Day 96) Last night, just before heading to bed, I checked the girls to ensure that the irrigation systems worked correctly. A good decision as there was a big puddle of water in the right girl's tent. Fuuuuuuu... So at 4 in the morning, I had to remove that water. Great. It turned out to be around 2.5 liters, and I guessed that the system wasn't working correctly by watering too much. Oh well, it was late, and I decided to deal with that the next day. When I opened the tent today, there was a new puddle even though I had turned off the system the night before. Huh??? I soon found the problem, though. Each drip emitter has a rubber membrane that keeps the emitter closed whenever the pump isn't running. That's in theory. In practice, however, the membrane doesn't close up properly, and water can flow through. I filled up my big 120-liter water barrel yesterday, which caused the water level to be above the level of the emitters. Considering the leaky emitters, we now had a water siphon system running, pulling water from the barrel and continuously dripping even though the pump wasn't running. Luckily I already had a low and squat 50-liter reservoir at hand, so I put the pump in that one instead, as it is lower than the emitters. That should solve that problem. I hope. (Yes, I know it is terrible with a white reservoir as it enables algae growth but it is all that I have right now and I'll throw a blanket over the reservoir before we leave.) However, from this experience, I decided to turn on the system for 24 hours, collect all water, and measure the exact amount. Honestly, I should have done that from the start already. Oh well, we live and learn. Anyway, I removed the system and taped it to the inside of a bucket, which collects the water, and tomorrow I'll measure it. Besides all this fun irrigation action, I didn't do anything else with the girls today. Day 55 Flower (Day 97) Things are looking better in the tent today. I left the irrigation system running for 24 hours, and there was no more siphoning happening after I switched to the lower water reservoir, so that's good. However, the system was still overwatering by half a liter. Not too bad on a daily basis, but as I'm gone for a week, I need it to perform better. I dialed it in by adding one more dripper but decreasing the frequency. I'm currently using five drip emitters, and they run for six minutes every 12 hours. I did three test runs (simulating a full 24 hours run cycle), and the average water volume is 2.43 liters per 24 hours. Spot on. Day 56 Flower (Day 98) The last day of the eighth week of flower, and everything is moving along nicely. A bit slow since the girls were supposed to be done already, but I'm in no real hurry. I'm off tomorrow for a week of vacation, and I hope I have taken all precautions to keep the girls safe and sound. They should be alright, but a friend will drop by in a few days to make sure. I haven't checked the trichomes in a few days, but that can wait until I return. All I did today was to check that the irrigation systems are running correctly. The cheap system for the small girl is a bit finicky to adjust, but the other system is running just fine now when I have the other water reservoir.

Day 63 Flower (Day 105) I'm back! Iceland was breathtakingly beautiful as usual, and I even managed to see an active volcano. Amazing! I have good news and bad news regarding my girls. The good news is that they are both still alive and are overall looking pretty good. The bad news for the left girl is that the cheap irrigation system failed and only watered around 1 liter of water during the entire week. She was extremely thirsty, although still looking pretty good without any drooping. A couple of her leaves turned purple from the stress, though. I recorded a video just as I opened the tent for the first time after coming back a couple of hours ago. The news is worse for the right girl, though. The irrigation system worked flawlessly, so that wasn't the problem. Instead, I detected bud rot in three buds, and of course, it was in the three most significant colas. Fuuuuuuuu... I also shot a video as I opened the tent, and the affected buds are visible if you are paying attention. I have never had bud rot before, so I will need to do additional research on what to do next. I immediately cut off the affected buds and disposed of them outside. I hope I got all the affected areas, but I will inspect all the buds more closely tomorrow. Been traveling most of the day today and need some rest before scouting her buds. I looked at her trichomes quickly and still couldn't see much amber, but I will have a better look tomorrow. The worms have been busy while gone, though, and they were crawling all over when I lifted the old avocados. They aren't the only ones who have been busy as the fungus gnats are back, Sigh. Only a few so far, but yeah, another thing to sort out. The fun just never ends...

Day 64 Flower (Day 106) Today is the first day of the 10th week of flower and I put on a powerful headlight and some magnifying glasses and closely inspected the right girl during the dark period, so the colors from the grow lights didn't fool me. Unfortunately, I found another couple of buds with bud rot. Soon I'll have to decide to harvest the plant now and cut my losses even though she isn't done, or I'll take my chances and let her go a while longer. I turned up my extraction fan, installed another circulation fan, and ordered a dehumidifier that will arrive tomorrow. I'm hoping that all those measures will bring down the humidity in the tent (unfortunately, I can't do anything about the temps) and prevent further rot. I will let her go another few days and see if any additional rot pops up. Fingers crossed that it won't. The left girl is just doing her thing, but it doesn't look like she will fatten her buds. I guess all that stress in the tiny tent was too much for her. No matter what the result of this grow will be, it certainly has been a great learning experience. Day 65 Flower (Day 107) Things are looking good for the right girl as I haven't found any more bud rot yet. Turning up the extraction fan certainly helped, not only with the humidity but also the temperature dropped. Not by a huge amount, but I'll take whatever improvement I can get. Today the dehumidifier arrived as well, and I put it in the tent right away. The humidity in the tent has now dropped from the high 60s to a much more suitable mid-40s, and I hope this will be enough together with additional air circulation to prevent any further rot. I looked a bit closer at the trichomes today and found that most have gone cloudy, and I finally found some amber ones (about damn time!). I'm aiming for around 20-25% amber in this harvest as I'm hoping for a relatively "heavy" smoke - one of those frying-pan-to-the-head kinds of smokes suitable for late nights. Day 66 Flower (Day 108) Still no signs of more bud rot. Fingers crossed All I did today was to mix up some more nematodes in water and then feed each girl with 3 liters of it at ph 6.4. I'm not sure it was necessary for my main tent as the fungus gnats seem to have died out by themselves. I put in a new yellow sticky trap yesterday, but it was still empty today, and many dead gnats were lying on the tent floor. I have no real idea why, as I don't use any pesticides, but maybe the gnats really don't like this new low humidity in the tent. In any case, I'm just happy that the little buggers are gone. Day 67 Flower (Day 109) The bud rot is still staying away, and I'm getting hopeful that it will stay gone. All I did today was to give the right girl 3 liters of pH 6.4 water. She was a bit thirsty as I had the irrigation turned off for a couple of days due to the nematodes I gave them yesterday. I've now turned on the system in each tent and will just cruise along until harvest. The girls are already way over time, but most trichomes are cloudy, and I've started to see some amber here and there. Although, not much of a fade so far. Day 68 Flower (Day 110) All I did today was snap a couple of pics. It's all just a waiting game at this point, and I hope it won't take that much longer. I'm ready to cut the girls down and have some time off before the next season is here. I plan to grow a couple of photo CBD girls in my main tent and maybe an auto in my smaller tent. We'll see. But yeah, first, the current grow must come to an end. It looks like the left girl is starting to get her fade on, so there's that at least. I didn't bother looking at the trichomes today, but I'll have another look in a day or two. Day 69 Flower (Day 111) I didn't do a single thing with the girls today except snapping a couple of pics. What I did, though, was to make a smoke test of the right girl. Let me explain: Earlier this week, I had to cut off four buds due to bud rot. Out of those four buds, I saved two small tops after trimming off all rot (as well as plenty more just to be safe). I left those tops on the tent floor, where they dried in only a few days, and yesterday I decided to try a smoke. Naturally, I can't say anything about taste as this weed is dried the worst way possible: fast, hot, and in the light. On top of that, it's not cured either. That being said, holy smokes, batman! This stuff kicks like a mule, which is why I didn't post this last night already. I was too stoned to care. Precisely the effect I was hoping for from this harvest: properly stoned and incredibly lazy. Boom! Day 70 Flower (Day 112) Today was the last day of week 10 of flower. Not much exciting is happening this late in flower, so it is primarily a waiting game at this point. I did remove the irrigation system from the left girl and will hand water her instead. That cheap system I had was too erratic, and I'm better off without it. Plus, I hope that she will be done soon-ish. She will never win a beauty contest due to her scraggly foxtail flowers, but I'm still happy to get something from her considering all the stress she went through. The right girl has been doing fine all week, and no other bud rot has been seen since I fixed her environment. I rechecked the trichomes today, and still hardly any amber in either girl. I'll let them go for another week, but then it is time for the chopping block. This grow already went a lot longer than planned initially, and it is time to bring it to a close soon.

Day 71 Flower (Day 113) Today was the first day of week 11 of flower and another uneventful day. I took a couple of pics and gave the right girl 2.5 liters of pH 6.3 water. That was it. Day 72 Flower (Day 114) Yet another exciting day - open the tent, look at the trichomes, snap a pic, close the tent, repeat. The left girl is fading, but her trichomes are all cloudy. On the other hand, the right girl is hardly fading at all but shows some amber here and there. Day 73 Flower (Day 115) Today, all I did was to give each girl 2.5 liters of pH 6.3 water. Done Day 74 Flower (Day 116) Didn't do fuckall today. I'm so ready to harvest these girls. Already a solid month of overtime. I will cut in a few days I think. Amber trichomes be damned. 11 weeks of flower is enough! Day 75 Flower (Day 117) I gave the left girl 2.5 liters of pH 6.5 water today and checked the trichomes on both girls (again). That was it. Day 76 Flower (Day 118) Woohoo! I'm finally starting to see some amber trichomes here and there. The end is near! Day 77 Flower (Day 119) Today was the last day of week 11 of flower, and the grow is drawing to an end. I had a closer look at the trichomes, and they are showing enough amber to satisfy me. I think I will chop tomorrow on day 120. It's been a fun grow, and I have learned a bunch, but after over a month of overtime, I'm also ready to close down shop and have a bit of break.

Day 78 Flower (Day 120) Woohoo! Chop day!!! It was straightforward enough to harvest the girls, I cut off and hung each branch separately, and they all are now drying in my main tent. Unfortunately, I found some more bud rot on the right girl, on a single bud way in the back of the tent. It wasn't too bad, so I didn't have to remove that much, but I will keep a close eye on the humidity during the drying period. Maybe I keep the RH lower than 55-60% that I usually use for drying. I might lose some terps and some flavor, but rather that than lose more buds to rot. Besides the buds, I also got one little bucket full of larf and smaller fan/sugar leaves which I will use for edibles/tinctures. The larger fan leaves and stalks went into another bucket, and all that will be composted back into the soil. Now it is just a waiting game until the buds have dried enough to be jarred. It's been a fun journey, but I'm also happy that the end of the grow has come. I still have a few things to do as I'm upgrading to larger pots for the next run, so I will mix up some more soil this week and let it "cook" until I start my next grow in October.

Touch Down! The trim is finally done, and this grow is now at an end. Woohoo! I let the buds dry in my tent for 11 days at an average RH of 54% before I started trimming. Trimming wasn't too bad this time. Partially because some of the buds will be used for making edibles, so no need for a perfect trim on those, and partly because I bought a Trim-Bin a few weeks ago, and it made trimming a lot easier. It was such a difference to be able to sit comfortably and trim. I also took my time and spread out the trim over a couple of days. The final result was 143 grams from the left girl and another 231 grams from the right girl. In total, 374 grams of trimmed buds and another 64 grams of larf/trim, which I will use to make some tincture. Not bad, especially considering that I lost four of the largest colas and two partial colas to bud rot. In fact, the result was so good that I now have a problem - I have no idea what to do with it all. A luxury problem, to be sure, but a problem nonetheless. I only grow for personal use, and I'm not a heavy consumer, so it will take me a long time to go through this harvest. I planned to start the next grow in about a month, but now I will take an extended break instead. It kind of sucks, though, as I thoroughly enjoy the process of cultivation. The buds are now curing, and the final smoke test will have to wait a few weeks. I did sample it, though, and while it's too early to speak about how it tastes, I can say this: it kicks like a mule. A potent Indica kick to the head. BLAM! Just what I was hoping for out of this strain. Overall, a huge success. Not without faults, there were plenty of those, but I'm more than happy with the results. I learned A TON during this grow, and I can hardly wait until the next grow makes me fail in new and spectacular ways.