CBD Blueberry and White Widow

Still using just water (tap water actually), things seemed to be going well. Moved the seedlings into the grow tent and subjected them to 24 hours of daylight, but with the lamp at 50%. They were sharing the grow tent with some common herbs and a tomato plant.

Growing like weeds. Nutrients in the water has certainly helped. Had a problem with the spray valves getting clogged. cleaned them out and installed an inline filter to prevent debris from getting pumped into the system.

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I continue to trim out the little "suckers" that grow out between the main stalk and the branches. They're actually called suckers. The suckers, I'm using for early propagation of new plants. They are small, but it's worth trying. A couple of them are working. I also trim off the lower branches ad the leave start to brown. The plants are concentrating on growing up toward the light. Early this next week, I will Top off the plants to get them to start spreading out a bit. Trimming suckers also applies to tomatoes and most other plants. Our tomato plant didn't make it by the way - cheap weak bastard. And the herbs have been moved out of the grow tent as well. I have vented the grow tent to the outdoors as the smell was starting to bother the wife. I didn't mind it. The fan and tent - all from AC Infinity are working great. Glad I did my research.

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Well, Using 12 gauge electrical wire to help shape the plants may not have been a great idea. I ended up bending one of the CBD plants a bit too much - but it seems to be surviving. When the plants get bigger and I switch to the net for support, I will cut out the wire. The wire isn't tight around the branches. I also think I trimmed out a few too many bits. I topped a couple of the plants and that seems to have helped with the spreading and branching out. When I move the starts to bigger spots, I'll probably (hopefully) not make similar mistakes. Luckily these plants are basically weeds and quite hardy. But what's a weed? A dandelion? When they invade your yard and turn your green lawn to spotty yellow and broad leaved plants? A weed is a plant that grows where you don't want it to grow. So let's not call Mary Jane a weed - but thank-goodness she grows like one. I'm not going to trim out the suckers immediately when they sprout - let them get a bit bigger for use in propagation of new plants. I'm going to use one of the stronger White Widow starts as a "Mother" Plant and try to keep her growth controlled and take starts from her. It will be a bit like having a bonsai tree. I'm a bit new to all of this - it's a science experiment. And like many science experiments - especially those in controlled environments, it's costly. I'm hoping it will all pay off. Except for the legal implications, I sometimes wonder if I would have been better just throwing the seeds ($10-$12 each) into the ditch behind my house and let them grow naturally.

This week there was a lot of change going on. The plants have started to fill in and I've moved the clones into pots with potting soil. When they fill the smaller pots I'll move them to Coconut coir.

I haven't been doing too well with keeping track of water changes, added water, etc. Between consumption by the plants and evaporation (and some spray/ leakage, I'm adding probably between 6 and 10 gallons of water to the tank each week. This makes calculating the nutrients a bit difficult since there is always some residue of nutrients left in the tank as the water level decreases. Overall, I'd say that I add 80% of the required nutrients for every gallon added to the tank. Because the plants are getting so big and they tip over easily when not supported, and due to the size of their root structure, I don't want to completely drain and refill the tank. It's not really set-up properly for that at this time. (this whole venture has been a learning experience). Science experiment - with very little regulation, record keeping. Not great science - but it's working anyway. I added the netting to help support the plants. They are growing out of 3 inch cups and their root systems are huge, in the tank below. I plan to let them vegetate for a couple more weeks to maximize their growth. There has been a lot of growing happening this week. I also did some FIMing and trimming this week. It seems to have made a big difference in the volume and growth. I'm almost wishing I had a bigger tent now. I do have another tent to move my clones into when I change over to Flowering mode with these four big plants.

For some odd reason, I didn't take a lot of pictures as in past weeks. Everything has remained fairly consistent. I've had to start adding additional water to the tank twice a week - a combination of consumption, slight leaks and evaporation. I trim out some of the suckers, cut back some of the bigger leaves that are blocking the smaller leaves coming up through the canopy. I also remove anything that appears to be wilting - why let the plant continue to push nutrients in that direction. Overall, they are getting bigger and stronger. I've moved the clones to a second smaller tent, where they will continue to get 100% light when the main tent switches over to flower mode - perhaps in a week or two. It depends on their growth - I don't want to run out of space in the tent, though moving the exhaust fan to the outside is an option that would create more space. I'm trying not to rush things. My plan during the flowering stage is to only harvest what is matured completely - I don't want to do that too soon. I also don't want o take down the entire plant at one time. Getting the larger growth out of the way will hopefully allow for more growth with some of the newer branches. Not including a mother plant, which should never get to the flowering stage, how long can you keep a plant producing? Can you harvest and then switch it back to a vegetative state and let it grow again? Why chop down the entire plant? We'll see how it works - it's my plan.