Green Gelato

Week 1 Veg Apologies for posting a little bit late, but nonetheless here's one of the 2 BRAND NEW strains by Royal Queen Seeds; Green Gelato 🍧 a very exciting release from RQS that I can't wait to try! If you've had any of the Gelato cuts then you'll know exactly how dank this girl can be. I think RQS worked with #33 (Lary Bird), but even with fem seeds there can be many more than one phenotype. I started this girl in a wet paper towel as usual, and then placed her inside an open freezer bag and popped her in a dark drawer (my seed vault). I accidentally left her in there a little longer than I normally would, causing her to completely sprout from out of her seed case. This isn't an issue and shouldn't be anything to worry about. Some people even prefer to leave them until they're this far. I prefer not to, as once the tap root produces a lot of fuzzy hairs it can cause it to stick to the paper towel, making it difficult to pull away without damage. No damage was caused to this girl though, as the paper towel was pretty wet rather than damp. When transplanting a seedling like this into the coco/medium, you still want to completely cover her and let her reach further out of the coco herself. After she was transplanted the coco was given a spraying with 5.8pH water (I currently use tap water, but RO is best). I don't soak the whole cup, only enough to dampen at least half the cup. This is so she dries quicker and shoots her little roots further. I also spray inside her germination bag and place it over her cup until she's had her first day above the coco. This is to act as a humidity dome to stop her from drying while she's so young. She was then given only water with EM1 until day 6, where she was started on a light nutrient feed (listed above). Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 2 Veg The Green Gelato is a very happy and healthy little seedling. By the end of the week her base nutrients were gradually increased to full strength, along with Cal-Mag. Silicon has also been included at full strength for veg. This will ensure she grows nice thick stems as it thickens cell walls. It also makes her nice and bendy, which is helpful if LST'ing a bit later on. It's also an advantage if doing a SCROG as she can be easily tucked under the net. Molasses is added to feed the microbes in the soil. Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 3 Veg This week she was transplanted into a 3ltr plastic pot. I usually do this around day 20, but she was transplanted on Day 16 as I knew I would be busy. She still had a good amount of healthy white roots when transplanting. Once transplanted, she was topped to her 3rd node. Doing this will create a nice bush. The aim is to eventually have a perfectly even canopy before going into flower, and then maintaining the perfect canopy shape throughout flower until harvest (of course, "perfect" isn't always the case). This is very important for me as my flower tent has varying size plants that are each at a different stage of their cycle, so a completely uneven canopy isn't ideal. Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 4 Veg A bit of a funny one this week. At the start of the week, her main stem was given a good bending with the string. Nothing changed nutrient wise, but at the end of the week I managed to accidently snap one of her main branches off! 😣 I wasn't being careful when taking out another plant and completely took her out with the bottom of the pot 😂😭 I taped her up and left it until the next day, as this can be a great way to save it, but it was too much damage and in a bad place so it was hard to tape up well enough. It was clearly dead the next morning so I pinched it off. She'll be given another round of LST to compensate for the loss. I'm not overly bothered as I know she'll get over it and she'll still have a nice full canopy before going into flower. Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 5 Veg Due to the recent loss of a main branch, I gave her a good LST on each remaining branch. Doing this will fill the canopy more and make it nice and even. Nothing has changed nutrient wise. She's recovered well by the end of the week and is looking in better shape. Next week she'll be transplanted into her final pot. Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 6 Veg This week she was given a good maintenance flush to remove any excess build up of salts in her pot and around her roots. I think this is an important step to take throughout her cycle in order to keep her roots growing well and being able to uptake the optimum amount of nutrients she needs. Without doing this, it will lead to a build up around the roots and root tips, which can/will stop them from growing, and create a lockout completely. A maintenance flush is also a good way to keep on top of the coco's pH. Towards the end of the week she was transplanted into a 5gal Root Pouch. She has nice healthy white roots. Just like before, I lower the nutrient strength slightly to avoid burning the root tips and shocking her any more than necessary. I got her tied down again to carry on her LST. I simply slit little holes where needed into the fabric pot and thread the string through to tie. She's taken a very good shape now, considering the early loss. A few big fan leaves that were shading the centre of her are plucked off in order to keep direct light within her internodes, to promote quicker sidebranching. Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 7 Veg She's been left to grow and fill her pot with roots after being transplanted last week. She's looking thick, strong and completely unfazed by the loss of one of her main tops a few weeks ago, now that she's formed a full and even canopy. I'm just gonna leave her to get bigger and stronger before she goes into flower. Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 8 Veg Her last week in veg, she was thrown in the flower tent on Day 57 veg/0 flower. She's really took off this week and out grown the veg tent! Because she's so big, I'll definitely be flattening her down more than I usually do, under the makeshift scrog net in the flower tent. If she stretches too much then she'll be supercropped. I normally pinch the stems of the tallest branches anyway, so this may be enough to stop her getting too tall but we'll see when we get to it. Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 1 Flower The Green Gelato is finally in the flower tent! After overcrowding the veg tent for 56 days, she was thrown into the flower tent on Day 57 (Day 0 flower) for her first full night's sleep. I say thrown, but more like squeezed in under the net because she was so big! Her canopy has been completely flattened and stretched out ScrOG style. I'm definitely thankful for using silicon as it made the task a whole lot easier, as she was nice and flexible, like every girl should be ;) I gave her a bit of a clean up the next day jist to make watering easier and to get rid of the thick of it. Liquid Silicon and Cal-Mag and Epsom salts were increased, as she'll need it for her faster growth during stretch. Her base nutrients were levelled at a 1:1:1 (G:M:B) ratio to transition her to flower. The pH of her feedings are now 5.9, and will then be changed to 6.0 after her second week. This is because these ranges are more suitable for the nutrients she needs the most in flower, although it's not crucial. On day 7 she was given her first proper lollipop and leaf strip. I didnt hold back much because she's a big girl that'll want to stretch bigger than the average canopy height of the tent. I usually have to prop them up and lower them as they grow, but this girl's a beast. I've also been pinching each branch to slow them down as much as possible. I know this girl can get tall so I'm doing all I can to stop her getting too tall. Overall she's coping with her torture well and looking happy and healthy. Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 2 Flower This week I changed her base nutrients very slightly towards bloom, but not too much as she's still well into her stretch. She was supercropped later in the week as I'm expecting her to get pretty tall. For those who've never attempted, to do this I simply pinched gently around 2 thumb widths at the points I wanted to bend. Then kept pinching them gently, going up and down and twisting slightly too. It doesn't take much to do and soon flops over as you can see. This will keep an even canopy whilst slowing her stretch and spreading her out a bit. (The branch that's taped was half supercropped by mistake. I didn't want to bend her so I kept her up to give help her recover quicker). At the end of the week she was given another lollipop and defoliation to further slow her down and also give better light penetration. I've found this to be a must with the 315w CMH. She's looking happy and healthy and soon bounced back after the supercrop. She's starting to shoot out plenty of pistils but I think she'll carry on stretching for another week. Her side branching has been crazy, even considering the supercrop they've shot out and kept growing. I'll definitely be keeping her smaller next time she comes through to the flower tent. Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 3 Flower She's looking very happy and healthy, with a nice green to her. She's building her flowers and trichomes but still stretching well. She isn't stopping for anyone, even after slowing her down with the supercrop and defoliation she's still pushing on. She looks like she'll carry on going through next week too. At the start of the week she was given her routine maintenance flush 💦 then topped up with a fresh new feeding straight after. It's very important to give a nutrient feeding straight after flushing, to top her back up to optimal levels and to give a fresh new feeding for her. Otherwise you'll see deficiencies due to being starved. Her base nutrients have changed slightly, increasing PK for bloom and decreasing N. I've started adding a small amount of Green Leaf Nutrients Bud Explosion too, to further increase the PK value. This will hopefully kick her into full flower and increase bud sites and shorten node spacing. Velokelp is now being added too, which is a great kelp extract that promotes healthy root growth. It's best used in veg and when transplanting, but it won't hurt in flower and can only benefit. The biggest change in the garden was the change in light cycle. A complete flip from the lights being on in the day, to now being on at night, to keep temps down. This meant that they had a 24hr dark period instead of 12, for one day. It's not ideal, but when growing multiple plants in the same flower tent which are all at different stages of their cycle, the best way for me to do it was to wait until a plant was harvested (the Fat Banana) because it's one less plant that will be affected. Some of you that follow me on IG may have noticed me posting later than usual; that's why! No immediate signs of any plants in the garden turning hermaphrodite, but we'll know for sure in a week or so. There would more than likely be balls all over the place if they was given a 24hr light period instead of darkness. I wouldn't ever give more than 12hr for flower for. I'm not gonna lie, I haven't seen a temp drop at all, and have actually seen a slight increase so that's very interesting. Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 4 Flower This girl is soon outgrowing her space! The height isn't the issue, it's her side branching that's caused her to spread out a bit too much and at least double the amount of tops she had before going into flower. This would have been encouraged a bit more from the super cropping and trying to stunt her height. It can help encourage it, but this girl has took it to the extreme! She looks to be finally slowing down to concentrate on her flowers, so hopefully she doesn't spread out more as there's other plants in the tent that need direct light. I've increased florabloom a bit more now she's flowering well and to see how she's takes to it. Her clone that'll replace her will be kept smaller and be given a higher lollipop in flower, probably slightly later on than I did with this girl too. If this girl gets too big and floppy I'll tie a string around her and pull her back. That should keep her from covering her tent mates. She's growing a thick coat of trichomes and starting to smell very sweet. I can already tell she's gonna be a dank one 🔥 Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 5 Flower This week I've reduced calmag slightly and cut out FloraGrow and Micro completely, as she's looking a bit toxic in N. Micro was still fed at at a lower strength until mid week. She's looking a little light stressed too, with being so close to the CMH. They can be very intense for the girls when they're this close. You can see how big this girl is this week, if she starts to shadow over the surf purp then she'll be tied back. Bud Explosion and Sweet Candy have been increased. Her flowers are slowly getting there. The stress could have stunted her growth but she's stacked well and will soon fatten up. Calmag and Epsom Salts were stopped by day 35 to ensure they're completely flushed from the plant by the end of her cycle. Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 6 Flower With her being so big, dense and floppy, she's a bit toxic in Nitrogen from slightly overfeeding and some parts of her not getting the most intense light. The furthest parts from the light/shaded parts will require less nutrients and effectively eat slower than any branches directly under the light. With that being the case it's left the outer branches and shaded parts to become a bit toxic, although not a great deal as she isn't burnt anywhere. I've stopped all N and always cut out Cal-Mag by day 35 to ensure a proper flush by the end of her cycle. Sugars have been kept at the same level but the overall PK has been reduced a bit, ready to start a 3+ week flush from next week. She's a big floppy girl so to support her, and to stop her from covering the other plants in the tent, I tied a string around her to the top of the tent pole on the left side of the tent. It's worked a treat and has pulled her back from the centre of the tent. It's not perfect, but it'll get her through til harvest! She's quickly building her flowers and getting thick. Most of the plant is completely covered in trichomes, even her fans. This is helped by the previous defoliations too. She's smelling very sweet at the min too. She's a beast! Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 7 Flower My favourite part; Flussshhhhh! 💦 Because we get to see the stunning winter colours and watch her fatten up. I'm going for a nice long 3 week flush. You may be thinking it looks too early, but she'll be nicely faded and ripened by the time she's pulled. I flush up to 30ltr through the pot, but before doing so I pour just enough for a run off to fill the catch tray below. I then take a reading of its ppm/EC and pH. Doing this tells me how she's been performing down below; whether she has a good pH and if she's been feeding well or not. If the numbers are too far out of the norm (with also allowing some tolerance), then something was wrong and can be figured out and then corrected/prevented next time. This girl had a perfect pH of 5.98 and didn't have too high of a ppm/EC either, so I know she's been happy in her shoes. After flushing the rest of the water I take one more reading of the ppm/EC with the last bit of run off she leaves in a clean catch tray. This is to see how much we've flushed out of the coco but it will rise a little bit by the next time she's flushed. This will be done until the run off reads the same, or very close to the ppm of the water going in. Be sure not to overwater; by this I mean don't flush again until the pot is starting to dry on top. Don't water when wet. All is looking good. Now to watch her fade! Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 8 Flower 2nd week of flush for this girl now. Super frosty and fading well, she's still pushing on and getting fatter each day but she's showing signs that she'll soon be finished. Through the loupe I can see about 5-10% amber trichomes. I can't wait to chop her down because she's flopping all over the place and the cycle of the garden needs to continue! Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 9 Flower 3rd week of flush and were still going with this girl! She's still getting fatter and is a super frosty girl, with a silver coat of trichomes covering all of her flowers and even most of her fans and petioles. She's ripening up beautifully. She'll be harvested in two halves in order to let the half that's further from the light to fade more. Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Week 10 Flower After 4 whole weeks of flush this girl has finally met the scissors ✂️ It took her quite some time to fade out, but after cutting down the most faded half of the plant that was closest to the light on Day 65, and then the rest on Day 70 it was long enough. I'm very impressed with how fat and chunky this girl has become. I wasn't expecting quite this size from first look at her thinner stems and branchy structure earlier in flower, but her buds have swelled up nonetheless and she's stacked well. I always cut my girls down around half an hour (or a bit more) before the lights are due to turn on. This prevents her from starting any chlorophyll production in order to maintain the best flavour and burn. Only a few fans were taken off before being left to hang dry as she's absolutely covered in trichomes! Don't throw away your sugar trim (leaves with trichomes) as this can later be used for dry sift, which can then be pressed for some dank rosin. Harvest update coming soon! Thanks for following and happy growing! 🐺

Thanks again to RQS for providing the genetics for another diary! It's been another fun run. Thanks to all that follow, like and comment. I appreciate every one of you 👊✌️🤙 Once she was down, her fan leaves were cut off and each branch was hung in the drying box and left to dry for 8 days. It was left in a cool dark place to slow drying time. Once the outer leaves were dry her buds were given a close trim and jarred for curing. I put a 62% boveda pack inside to ensure the humidity is stable during curing, although it's not crucial. The jar is burped once a day for a few days and then left approx a week inbetween the next couple of openings. After 3 weeks or so, you don't have to worry about burping if you wish to store for a while, or you can tuck right in like I do! Because I have 4 seperate quarters for other plants/strains in one tent, under one light, I've had to calculate these by dividing the conditions by 4 (4 sections in total sharing same conditions). This is the fairest and only way to work it out on average as a full tent. If you multiply by 4, it gives you the average amount for a full tent worth. Happy growing! 🦊