Sweet Seeds Femme Fatales

Flowering (update 28 February) The plants are continuing to flourish safely in the tent. They are no longer going upwards. Instead, they are getting fatter, stickier and more smelly. Leaving the tent open for half an hour to water or take pictures, the room fills with an odour which starts to drift down the stairs – fortunately not a problem with my living situation. The three older ones reached seven weeks from sprouting, so they are entering the final furlong. Ice Cool Auto is being a model plant, and I’ve very glad to see is growing very like the previous one I harvested. It has strong thick stems and vigorous lime green leaves. The calyxes are very large, with a covering of trichomes which extends across the adjacent leaves. I hope it has the same powerful effect and taste as before. I am really excited seeing this in the tent. Ice Cool Auto is being a model plant, and I’ve very glad to see is growing very like the previous one I harvested. It has strong thick stems and vigorous lime green leaves. The calyxes are very large, with a covering of trichomes which extends across the adjacent leaves. I hope it has the same powerful effect and taste as before. I am really excited seeing this in the tent. The Dark Devil Auto has stretched more than the others, and has a more open structure, with less foliage. She has a notably thinner stem at the base, but the buds are already looking large. Her colour is just stunning, just what I was hoping for when I picked this strain: Gorilla Girl XL Auto seems very promising. She is looking very productive, both in terms of general yield, and in trichome coverage and therefore hopefully potency. As with the Ice Cool Auto, the crystal-coated calyxes are starting to swell very large. It looks like she is becoming the potent, sticky powerhouse I am hoping for. There’s even a hint of ripeness, the first pistils starting to turn orange, and trichomes starting to amber on the sugar leaves, but there’s a good couple of weeks to get fat before harvest. Cream Caramel Auto has a dense mass of leaves which the sidestems stretched above, giving a thick canopy which the flowers float on top. The calyxes are not so big here, but they are very numerous giving the flowers this hairy look. The oldest pistils are just beginning to turn orange, but many new ones are still being produced. There are plenty of trichomes visible on the calyxes, however the leaves are not frosty in the same way as the others. The plants generally are looking very healthy. Down at the bottom, they have all lost their first single-finger true leaves, and the fan leaves at the second and third nodes have started to become brown and crispy at the edges, particularly the Ice Cool Auto. I expect this, and by this point in recent grows my plants have usually lost a few more of their lower leaves. I think the feeding schedule ramped up quickly, which has helped to avoid the plants feeling hungry and harvesting those lower leaves for mobile nutrients, and the Epsom salts spraying helped early on. However, I have noticed some unhappiness on the Cream Caramel Auto, where brown spots are showing on younger leaves higher up in the light. Dark Devil Auto is also showing similar damage but it’s not as advanced. I’m not sure but I think perhaps it looks like a sign of calcium deficiency? I don't know what to do about it and I don’t want to react too quickly, especially with the finish line almost in sight, but if I could work it out and avoid it in future grows I would be very happy. The environment has been steady, and very similar to the last update. The past four days have remained between 20°C and 24°C with humidity between 40% and 56%, it's roughly in the middle of those figures most of the time. Humidity has stabilized. When, in previous grows in spring and autumn, I have needed to add a dehumidifier towards the end, I don’t think it is going to be needed this time. The winter air is cooler and dryer. The tent has a more relaxed feel this time, I think the yield might be a little lower as a result, but I am less worried about budrot. Deficiencies (response to @jadenugs 1 March) Thank you very very much @jadenugs :yep: You are absolutely right, a deficiency in the leaves doesn't mean a deficiency in the medium, often it indicates a problem with uptake. I'm fairly sure I have plenty of calcium in my 0.4 EC tapwater. My water report (which must be years out of date since the figures never change) shows I do, in fact the ratio of calcium:magnesium is a little higher than ideal, hence the Epsom salts spray. I tend to have the pH on the higher side for hydro, so I don't think lockout due to low pH is an issue. You encouraged me to examine and think more about the environment, and what I saw today makes me think you are right to consider transpiration. Today I was periodically checking humidity, air and leaf temperature to keep an eye on VPD. I found that most of the time, the air was around 22-23°C, with the humidity hanging around the low 40's -slightly drier than other recent days maybe. Leaf temperatures across most of the tent were around 20-21°C. This is a good place to be for VPD, perhaps a bit dry, so transpiration would be high, but within reasonable limits. However some leaves were equal to air temperature, and the highest on the Cream Caramel Auto (taking a turn directly under the lamp) were a degree or two above it. I swapped her place with the Dark Devil Auto, which had been at the edge, and I saw the leaf temperatures swap over as you might expect. I think the tops of those taller two have been too close to the lamp, and picking up excessive radiant heat. The leaves are warming up, and evaporation would increase in those conditions. I like the VPD chart at opennlabs: http://opennlabs.com/vpd/VPD_calculator.php. Redrawing the chart with a leaf temperature 1°C above the air temperature shows the air is too dry for this, VPD is too high - plants will close stomata to limit water loss and transpiration in these conditions. I believe that's what's been happening, the Cream Caramel Auto and Dark Devil Auto are both the tallest. I said 30cm was almost too close, I should re-evaluate that and say it is too close. I've taken some steps to try and make things better. I raised the light ever so slightly - I said I couldn't, but I gained an extra inch by replacing one of the adjustable hangers with an S hook and piece of green plant tie. I thought this was not much but the best I could do, until I stood back and realised I could lower the plants too. They are on racks on large tupperware boxes, ready to catch the runoff. This way I only have to move them once each day to remove the runoff, and I can place them back in the tent ready for the next watering. It's slightly more work, but I can place plants in the tupperware boxes without the racks, then take them out during lights-off to water them, water them outside the tent and allow the runoff to drain freely, before I put them back. I've lowered the Dark Devil Auto and Cream Caramel Auto in this way. Ice Cool Auto and Gorilla Girl XL Auto are both still raised. There's at least 40cm between the reflector and the tops of the plants everywhere. Things seem a lot more equal in the tent now, the Ice Cool Auto doesn't look like it is drowning under the others, and the light is better spread across the plants. Supercropping was supposed to be an easy, low hassle alternative to training but it's not working out that way exactly. Next time I think I will just tie them down! Tent Rearrangement & Video Update (update 2 March) As I mentioned yesterday I have rearranged things slightly in the tent. To solve height issues I've managed to raise the light a final inch higher, and placed the Dark Devil Auto and Cream Caramel Auto directly in the boxes on the floor of the tent, instead of keeping them on the racks like Ice Cool Auto and Gorilla Girl XL Auto still are. I need to take them out and raise them up to water with runoff now. Also, I have added a third USB fan, below the canopy, in the corner next to the Gorilla Girl XL Auto, to move the air around lower down in the tent. The other change I have made is to move to twice-daily watering from today. The pots were not exactly light this morning, but they were getting lighter and starting to look slightly dry around the edges. Their main watering is now in the evening, when I give them each two to three full watering cans during lights off, getting plenty of runoff (the can holds about 650ml). I will also give them one can full each in the morning when they are 12 hours into the light cycle - not enough to give runoff but enough to keep the coco moist from top to bottom. Over the past couple of days temperature has been between 21°C and 25°C with humidity between 37% and 56%. Leaf temperatures have been better with the extra distance, and I've not spotted any above the above the surrounding air temperature since making the changes. I’ve put together a video of the past two and a bit weeks with images I took from the timelapse camera during yesterday’s dark period. Again this is at a slower more relaxed 25 frames a second, each shot 10 minutes apart, when I plan to make a final video showing the complete grow at twice the speed. This is Gorilla Girl XL Auto from day 35 to day 51: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0BTfJ4xsFY I hope you enjoyed it – thanks for looking!