Royal Runtz

All made it through to the surface, but one was having a hard time losing its shell, so I like to give them a helping hand to avoid them falling a few days behind the rest or even potentially dying. Be extremely careful when removing the seed as its easy to pull the whole thing out the coco or break its head off! Open up the seed casing the way its already opening, then carefully pinch off the skin that's sometimes left on the seedling. This allows it to open up, breathe and finally start its journey without dying right away! 🦊

Now into their second week of life. Starting light on the nutrients. All was going well until something unexpected came up, meaning I had to be away from this grow for a couple of weeks. Unfortunately a couple of Runtz were lost due to over watering. I take full blame for not fully explaining the details to the person I left in charge, as my leave was not intended or expected. So, in a rush I obviously wasn't too clear.. But oh well, we still have 8 left and some back up bagseed that was germinated in case the numbers are short. Plus, check out my other diary on the RQS Skunk XL regular seeds that are ran with these, as you'll also see pictured throughout 🦊

Not a very pretty sight 💀😂 I'm still away during this week, so the poor plants have been suffering in their solo cups, desperate for some new shoes! This results in stunted growth, smaller leaves and bigger spacing between nodes (stretchy). Most been topped to prevent them from shooting too high and to create 2 main branches for now, until more training is done. The ones that haven't been topped were left because they were either stunted more or are generally the "runts" of the Runtz 👀🙄😂 Hang in there girls, daddy will be home soon 😘😅 I also haven't yet mentioned that my light schedule is currently at 24hr due to having flowering clones taking root. Once these show roots, have been potted into solo cups and showing normal veg growth (out of their funk phase) then the veg light schedule will be 18/6.

I'm finally back and ready to get these girls back on track. First things first: transplant them into their new shoes - 2gal root pouches - and give them some more space and a better light in the 315w CMH and 250w HPS. Second was to up the strength of thier nutrients (not until after the first watering when being transplanted, to not burn the already shocked root tips). Not too worried about their uneven shape/size/structure at the moment, as they can always be trained later or supercropped during flower to calm em down/even the canopy. For now I just want them to get healthy and grow as they want. As you can see, they're showing improvements later in the week 🦊

Not much change this week apart from the nutrient strength has been increased slightly. Still waiting for them to get back to full health before doing anything else. A few of these Runtz are getting lanky, but as mentioned before this isn't anything to worry about as they can always be supercropped in early flower. There's also 3 small runts Runtz (😂) which haven't been topped. These will be left to grow naturally without any training to give em the best chance of catching up with the rest. 🦊

Last week of veg before flipping to flower. All looking healthy (some plants pictured in the trays are Skunk XL and bagseed strains). Still not much training other than the odd fan leaf being removed here and there, to allow the lights to penetrate deeper and uncover some side branches from the shade. The goal was to get them as big and healthy as possible before flipping to flower, after the carnage of their first weeks of life 🦊

First week of flower! They've come a long way since their troubles in early Veg. Nutrients have been increased overall, with the addition of Remo Bloom now we've flipped to 12/12. The remo feed chart says swap remo grow for bloom right away, but I find that halving the strength I feed of each and including both gives an easier transition and healthier growth during the first week. Most of the Runtz have been gently super cropped and trained a bit to slow them down, so they don't go crazy during their stretch. I'll more than likely have to supercrop 'em again in a week or two if they grow as quickly as expected. Most of the Runtz are bigger than the rest of the plants in here, so just need a bit of maintaining 😅 🦊

Flowers starting to form towards the end of the week, but first they were lollipopped at the beginning of the week. This was just the first of 2 leaf strips from under the canopy, to allow better air flow and to remove the lower, unwanted flowering sites. These would only grow into fluffy nothingness if left throughout the whole cycle, and would probably even shoot some nuts due to stress from lack of light/airflow, especially as im not using the most powerful lights 😅 Nutes increased with the adition of sugars and a slight pk boost to promote healthy growth now they're getting hungrier. All looking healthy and filling out nicely 🦊

Flowers coming along well, with frost now developing. Nutrient strength increased now they're gonna be eating a lot more. Remo grow reduced slightly now they're slowing their growth, but Bloom and AstroFlower have been increased to favour PK for flower development. Day 28 will be the last day feeding Growth Tech Liquid Silicone as it takes the longest to completely flush out of the plant. I never feed silicone later than this in flower otherwise you risk hard, black ash with a horrible burn in the end.. More leaves have been stripped here and there to slow growth and to allow the light to penetrate deeper, uncovering flower sites. Leaf stripping is a great technique to stunt the growth of selected branches, allowing the others around to catch up and meet the top of the canopy more evenly 🦊

The Runtz are in full flower mode now. A couple of em didn't stretch much but are still producing good size flower's, just not as big of a canopy as their sisters! As mentioned in the last update, the last day feeding liquid silicone was Day 28, to guarantee it'll be flushed from the plants by the time they're chopped. Day 28 was also the last feeding with Remo Grow, as they won't be needing any added N for the rest of the cycle. I only feed this in a small amount up to this point as I've found the plants sometimes start to show N deficiencies a bit too soon later on. But you've gotta be careful not to give too much, otherwise the growth can get funky and stunt flower production. Looking very healthy - they should start to bulk up now in the coming weeks 🦊

Now they're starting to bulk up I've increased the PK and added Vitalink Turbo+, as I was given it free with an order with one of the growshops I frequently order from (Cheers guys!).. The Runtz doesn't have the strongest smell atm, but I can tell they're all gonna produce some huge flowers. Nature's candy has also been increased slightly, as this helps with resin production. Day 35 was the last day feeding Magne-Cal+, to ensure it's completely flushed from the plants by the end of their cycle. 🦊

Still building and bulking up. Most nutrients have been dropped apart from PK, sugars, and a weaker feed of Micro. I stopped feeding micro mid week apart from for those that look like they'll go an extra week or so more than the rest. 🦊

Flush time! I don't pump loads of water through each pot any more, now they're sitting on a tray without drainage. I've found feeding non ph'd water in the same amounts I've been giving them throughout still allows them to cannibalise, locking out any nutrients immediately now they're being given non ph'd water. I've done this for long enough to be able to confirm no difference in the overall flush, the taste or smell, or a negative impact on the plants. Personally I find it a waste of time and ph down when the goal is to stop them feeding on the nutrients in the medium, but rather the nutrients stored in the plant. I always feed only water for 2-3 weeks, never less. The Runtz are swelling, with huge cola's on some of them. Even the little Runtz runts have stacked well and getting thick! Unfortunately only getting an earthy, piney smell from all of them. Was expecting a nice strong fruity profile, so a bit disappointed. The huge flowers make up for it a bit, but I do prefer a more tastier smoke, I can't deny! 🦊

Still only non ph'd water until normal run-off. As you can see, they're really starting to fade well and show some colour, with some leaves completely dying off. No matter what method you use to grow, they should always come to the same ending. If there's still an abundance of green foliage - organic/living soil or not - there's still nutrients left in the plant that shouldn't be. No matter the method, a plant at the end of its cycle should look like a plant at the end of its cycle. Sounds obvious but I still see many people chopping entirely green plants. Look at your plants, go an extra week or so and you'll see they go through a late bulking stage and become even more dense. Some nice spears on these Runtz 🦊

Last week (plus a couple days). Most of the RQS Runtz were chopped by day 65, but a couple that hadn't faded enough were left for another week. They all faded to satisfaction before being cut down and hung up to dry for 14 days. Happy with the size of these, considering the early veg troubles, but disappointed about the smell coming from all of them. Earthy pine isn't my thing unless it's an intense, gassy pine. Unfortunately that's not the case with these so I wont be keeping any of them. Maybe another 10 beans would find a good keeper, as a pheno hunt of only 10 still isn't many. Sometimes it takes hundreds of phenos to find a real cup winner, but I'm just a bit disappointed I didnt get one pheno that hits the pallete well considering the time, space and effort spent growing em 🦊