Dark Star Diary

06 Jun 2021 Today I’m starting the flush! Fresh, chilled, and properly pH’ed water and nothing else. Hoping for a good start to the home stretch before harvest! Her buds are of good size, and covered in trichomes. Some of her leaves are still looking bad, but from my understanding, most of what I’m seeing is to be expected at this stage. The water was chilled to 59.2 degrees F, and the initial pH was 8.4. I know that pH DOWN is a whole lot stronger than pH UP so I added it in by drops (gtts). I added a total of 15 gtts which equals 0.75ml. That lowered the pH to 6.6. I did it in 5 drop increments until it was right. She took the whole gallon easily with very little runoff. Maybe just 250ml’s. I was rushing to prepare another gallon to give her about a half more, but time ran out in my tent and lights out. 🤷‍♂️ I’ll probably feed her again tomorrow and keep it quite consistent during the next week or so. The runoff pH was 6.1, and TDS runoff was 2615 ppm. This is it! I only want to give her time to freshen up, clear out the nutrients and then harvest this Lady! Tent temp was 81 degrees F, and humidity was 51%. 07 Jun 2021 I’ve decided that the best way to do the flush is to feed a little more often. The plant requires water less than every 2 days, but every day feeding seems to be a little much. However, in my current situation I will lean toward more, rather than less. I fed clean water chilled to 50.1 degrees F, with nothing but pH DOWN inside. Initial pH was 8.2. I added 20 drops (gtts), or 1ml of pH ⬇️ which adjusted the pH to 6.3. The TDS going in was 81 ppm. The runoff pH was 6.1, and TDS runoff was 2615 ppm (the same as yesterday). I need this to start falling! The heat has been creeping up to summer temps and the tent was 84 degrees F, and humidity was 46%. I took pics of the trichomes with my mini-microscope from buds all over the plant to check and compare them. In reality, they are the only thing I need to pay attention to for the harvest. Check to see that they are turning from clear to milky, and check for any amber colored ones. I’m looking for 50-75% cloudy with some clear or amber ones spread about. Time will tell. 08 Jun 2021 Continuing the daily flush! The top soil is actually dry enough for watering today, so no worry about over watering today. I fed a gallon of water chilled to 58.1 degrees F, and the initial pH was 8.2. I added 1 ml of pH DOWN which adjusted the pH to 6.6. TDS going in was 92 ppm. Tent temperature was 82 degrees F, and humidity was 44%. The runoff pH was 6.2, and TDS runoff was 1977 ppm. That’s a decrease of 638 ppm from yesterday to today. Runoff water is still colored from all the previous nutrients given over the last 5 months, but hopefully it will start to clear up when the TDS starts to significantly decline. She’s still looks good, and some of her leaves are showing some purple coloring. If I could get my tent about 20 degrees cooler it would probably show its colors better, but short of getting a mobile AC unit I don’t see it happening. And besides, as long as the buds are good, color is a distant second. The buds are looking great though! Lots of trichomes and greens, yellows, purples and golden colors. Look at the trichome pics from 6/7/21 for examples of the colors in the buds. I didn’t take any pics today, because there isn’t anything new to add. Mostly just more of the same, and that’s not bad. 10 Jun 2021 I skipped watering yesterday because I was feeling bad and just not in the mood. Today is more of the same, but I needed to give water if I ever want to finish the flush. Simply giving a gallon of properly pH’ed water, chilled to a frigid 43.2 degrees F. The initial pH was 8.4, so I added pH DOWN 1ml (20 gtts) to reduce it. The final pH was 6.4. TDS going in was 65 ppm. Runoff pH was 6.3, and TDS runoff was 1698 ppm. I’m only uploading trichome pics today since they are what I need to see to determine my harvest time. The TDS ppm is falling, but still a ways away from being done, but the trichomes are looking pretty good. Most are cloudy/milky in appearance with some mild amber ones mixed in. I truly can’t wait to smoke my very own, homegrown weed! 12 Jun 2021 Today, SHOULD be the last full day of this grow, but it’s not going to be. Sadly; I’ve been too busy this past week to be a good grower. My flush has not been every day as I had intended, and as of today there is still too much desolved solids in the soil. My TDS levels have been decreasing each time, but due to my infrequent attentiveness due to other tasks needing my attention, the runoff is still colored and the TDS still at 1462 ppm. The plant looks more and more ready for harvest each day! Many of the leaves now are showing colors of purples, yellows, and green. Some are beginning to shrivel up and fall off, and otherwise look like it’s at its end. The smell is lovely though! Today I gave a gallon of water that WAS chilled to about 47 degrees, but after adding the pH down, it was too low to give to the plant and I had to pour it out and try again. The gallon I gave was only 73 degrees F, and its initial pH was 8.2. I added 20 drops (gtts) and not just a measured ml like I did the first time. The 20 gtts lowered it to 6.2, and the TDS going in was 101 ppm. Runoff pH was actually higher than it was going in, but just by .1 at 6.3. The TDS runoff was as I wrote above, 1462 ppm. The tent temperature was 77 degrees F, and humidity was 50%. I’m going to keep going for another week, and hopefully be ready to harvest very soon!