Red Hot Weather? Red Hot Cookies!

Day 1, 29/07/21 - Got the girls in their Big Girl house now. New additions for this grow: Geeklight Geekbeast Pro 630W 3500K (Currently running at 40DLI - 18"@65% Brightness Hailea AC308 Air Pump - As you can see from the bubbles with the Aquaburst, she blows!!! :P InvisibleSun FR8 Far Red Supplementation (For EOD Flower Initiating) Migro UVB 310 (For the Trikes) Have a (New to Me) Hailea 300A - waiting to see tank temps before I go there but currently at 19C so should be good there Need a couple of new Oscillating fans but will sort that for a wee bit later. New 3Gal Smart pots and again using Vitalink Clay Pebbles. Running this grow on a conventional 18/6 again. the previous 6/2 was great in veg (I think - had big leaves but with the stretch in grow and a lower than expected yield; I either had a light issue or they were stressed...big leaves in veg can be a sign of Shade Avoidance Syndrome - roots were poor too compared to 1st grow under 18/6 so will see...) but as you can see, I had problems. I don't know if it was from the seedling stress where the grow plugs dried and they took a bit to rebound or the schedule so going conventional again. Need to remember, 1mL/L of Aquaburst is not the way to go unless I want a foam party...better go back to the 0.5mL/L i was using last time...thin the water but not too foamy!!! 😂 All I need to do is work out my app for my light and set my timers. Will get the Time Lapse video up and running this grow again as that was fun last time!!! 😀 Feed is a bit stronger than I would like too (EC1.2 including water base of 0.2), but going with the Kind Expert feed chart ratio's this time rather than the calculated values I made from their now gone Feed Calc! Apart from that, just need to ensure they bed in now and get to growing. Hope you enjoy. Happy growing all! 💪

Day 8 - Girls starting to come on now. Looks like their roots have settled and starting to see some pokies coming out of the bottom of the root pouches so hopefully start to see some good growth beginning soon. Get them ready for training and the likes. Not changed the water this week (really should have as temp has been up a bit...into the 25's in the tank but plenty of Great White in there and no roots in water yet but...) - topping up with plain water to keep the EC level and just pH adjusting. Last weeks solution was a bit hot for my liking but no burn signs so should be good for a couple more days yet. Got some iceline procured so been cleaning/flushing/sterilising the Hailea for getting it installed (That's when the water change will happen...likely to last weeks strength & recipe). Cant wait to get that in to get tank temps down (as roots will be in the water in about 5 days by the looks of things...tops!!! Also have the Torus Hydro pH Perfect Inline run through for a couple of days so it will be ready to go in to keep the pH good for me (A grow off and my pH skills are out the window!!! 😜). Just waiting on a Sicce Syncra 3.0 to pump the chiller and the pH Perfect (Bit overkill @ 2700LpH but looking something for the URDWC I am building for next year...thought the extra pressure would help with the inline pH adjuster too). Apart from that, will download the stills for the time lapse video and upload tomorrow. Happy Growing all!!! 💪

Day 15 - Fresh tank and not much new to report. pH was remaining incredibly stable through last week so skipped a fresh feed week. 300A doing its job keeping the water at a nice 19C. As noted, girls got topped a couple of days ago. They're rebounding nicely. Will start some LST on the branches now through the week. Will be the usual balance pH at the start of the week and hopefully stabilise quickly. Using the Botanicare kind ratios (Expert Recipe) if not the same volumes so base to grow is 2 to 3 ratio this week. Thats about it for now (Will add some pics and last week time lapse in a bit when lights are on). Happy growing all!!! 💪

Day 22 - All ticking along nicely...apart from a smart timer issue the last 2 days!!! :/ At least it was light stuck on rather than off so no early flower initiation!!! Got everything reset and all looks good so far. Will be using programmable timers for flower, JIC!!! Funny thing I noted while making the time lapse, the plants still "Went to sleep" at the time they should...even with the lights on and woke up when they should! Was quite interesting to see! Apart from that, just LST and plucking some bud covering leaves. Dropping the SCROG screen tonight and this will most likely be the last week of veg. As EC was dropping slightly by end of last week, have upped the EC by 0.1 Happy Growing all!!! 💪

Day 29 - So today's the day the girlie girls go to 12/12. Effed up my time lapse this week...turned the camera off by mistake so missing the joys of watching the scrog fill!!! Got the timers reset for the new schedule; the timer installed for the Flower initiator and the light set to around 800PPFD (Averaging between 35-40 DLI across the nodes) - working out at 90% brightness at 18 inches. Running a bit more of a height for the flower initiator to ensure coverage (Covers a 4x4, but manufacturer doesn't say at which height so trying science to work it out!!!). LS351H 730nm LED's have a beam throw of 120° which *should* allow me to go as close as 14" (Cheers Pythagoras!!! 🙌) but want to ensure every thing in the plants see the lights and not rely wholly on the LED tech specs which doesn't give margin of error on beam angle (plus allows for slight off-centering, bad alignment on my part, etc.). Have changed to bloom nutes (But heavy on the base). Going against another growers advice (whom as a person, and their opinion, I highly respect and admire on here) and not running a "transition feed" (ramp down grow, ramp up bloom) - hopefully not to my detriment!!! I did this transition feed thing last run with these nutes and got 'not great' results from the flower stage (again, could have be my conditions and all) but I think it allowed the plants to store up too much N impacting final bud volume (and gave them a crapton of N to allow for stretch) even though quality was still up there. Even after running the plants in plain water for 10 days with a flush, the leaves were still Vibrant green at harvest time!!! Doing the "2 part, A+B style, grow/bloom flip". Basically, Base and grow is 1 part, base and bloom as the other - granted in unequal measures. Apart from that, just need to monitor my light...make sure the smart/remote timer doesn't do something stupid and set to a different timezone, etc. and basically train and monitor the girls for the next few weeks...hopefully to a successful completion!!! Happy Growing all! 💪

Day 36/Flower Day 8 - Starting to get them girle bits showing now. Stretch is still unreal but the smaller nodes that have crept up to the top are thickening their branches so thats a good sign they'll hold something and if not, have a spare elasticated SCROG net for support, which will DEFINATELY be needed by the looks of things!!! The main branches are sitting near as thick as 1 of the stems of my last grow so these girls are definitely sturdy and strong growers! If only they didn't push for the roof!!! When I start to see a few more flower sets/bud buttons proper actually forming, I'll start inching up the lights to 13/11 over the week...still tempted to start it now but thinking best to wait til the bloom nutes get upped drastically (which is next week - will be upping them by about 50-60% volume). Feared a bit right now that the extra light may fuel some stretch rather than fuel the flowers...but then again, having the plants acclimatise to 13/11 by the time the buttons are forming may not be bad...but then again, that 13/11 may slow down their formation!!! Choices and Choices!!! Was expecting the flower initiator would have knocked some time of the pre-flowers showing (can't think now if nodes were asymmetrical before flip...honestly couldnt have vegged any more though...or could I???) but nope, hopefully the buttons start to set quickly now though. Apart from that, all going well so far. Been a bit of a drop in the temps outside and clearer nights so hopefully that helps bring day temps and night temps down a bit - bringing down humidity some too. Need to restart my CO2 Jug now for the flowers and keep on watching them grow! Happy growing all! 💪

Day 43/Flower Day 15 - Stretch, stretch and more stretch. Literally have all my headspace taken up and that’s using flat LED Bars! It’s not for want of light, these things HAVE to be getting a DLI over 45 now if not near 50 (I need to do a test)!!! Defs going to invest in 2 Royal Blue LED Bars for next grow. As soon as I bend over/tie down one set of big pushers, another pair start up that were not being shaded/shadowed by the previous set. Worried too with the stretch being as severe, the yield will suffer! As noted in comments, will be venting the building the grow tent is in better very soon but when I can get that done is another thing!!! Looks like I am going to have to pull my extraction out of the tent and run a blow through the carbon filter and get some more ratchet hangers to give me an extra 9"!!! Has to be Heat/Humidity and then the feed from the lights giving them what they need. Luckily, I am due to be receiving a 6" AC Infinity Setup tomorrow so may be the way to set it up just for the last 8 weeks of the grow. Also had 2 brand new RAM 7" Oscillating fans pack up within a few hours of each other...not 4 weeks old and they're done! The Sweet Cherry Pie defs not setting buds as quick as the Red-Hot Cookies...they look a few days to a week behind. This also probably means the last of growing different strains in the same tent! I don't have the space/means to set up a drying tent and need to use the grow space for that so need them to finish the same time. Both these are supposed to be a same week finisher but with the slower budset, I don't know - I could over-ripen the RHC or take the SCP when a bit under. Basically, that's it though. Nothing more to report other than things I have to engineer to get around! From the looks of it, I'll have no room to get my UVB tube in when the time comes but, dunno...we'll see. Have upped the Bloom Nutes now to be higher than the base to fuel the initial flower set. Have a bit of lower leaf fall off from lack of light/plants using the reserves and probs going to have to do a bit of a defoliate by the end of the week to settle humidity and have them top buds concentrated on. Apart from that, Happy Growing all!!! 💪

D50/FD22 - Right, water change day (Evening). Right and proper f**ked off with the light doing me over (See D49/FD21 Comment for that epic story!!!). Where stretch had stopped (I thought), plants are back in the lights AGAIN!!! Blaming the light giving a near 24hour session and some other broken sessions of light over the last 48 hours!!! So had to pull out the extraction as getting LED burn on leaves that are touching! Blowing through the Carbon Filter and can't really smell anything so that's not bad. Everything a wee bit noisier with the fan not being muffled in the tent but need the space and got around a foot. Not prefiltering the fan as I have the new Cloudline to go in for next grow. Hopefully they grow no more and its all thickening buds from here so as I have space for the UVB in there in a week or 2! Slight change in feed. Dropped the roots booster as Wilma can't take any more...its full!!! Dunno how I am still getting 50L of water in there!!! Added PK9/18 (At half strength). Should probs drop the calmag (Or Kind Base down a bit) to drop nitrogen but am still seeing some copper spots here and there that looks like wee calcium deficiencies (Not much, but its there) - I do have some BioBizz CalMag (Which is Nitrogen Free) but it leaves the tank stinking with precipitate and dirties the roots. Think this is the 1st grow I have had where all the stems staying green so plants generally healthy. Cherry Pie still not budding up as quickly or as thickly as the Red hot Cookies but looks like its maybe running only a couple of days behind in growth so no biggie. Few weeks left for it to catch up and surprise me at the end! 😁 Red Hot Cookies is at the races for budding...even seeing pistils colouring a bit already (Dunno if thats good or bad!!!). Now just to make sure I see no signs of re-veg...as per the D49/FD21 comment, I'll be scowling at GeekLight this week. Digital Timer in there now to ensure no bleed through - power gets hard cut like old times. Unfortunately though, when the light comes on via power-on (and not app timer mode), UV & IR comes on too so have a timer set to stop it after 1 min (Its about all the app being used for now!!! Apart from turning on my IV at midnight for 4 hours - which is, I have just seen, still working). Think that's all the s**te I have to talk for now! Happy Growing all!!! 💪

D57/FD29 - Thing going grand with the Cookies so far (enjoying growing these Cookie Based Strains). Smell from it is divine! Touch a stem and its a lovely citrus smell left on you for ages! Noted in a previous comment, like a perfect sweetness, fresh lemonade. You'd wear it as an aftershave alright even!!! :P They're drinking a ton but not taking on as much feed (as I've come to expect now in flower) so dropped the base and bloom by 10% (same recommended ratio of 1:1) and kept the PK9/18 booster in there at what would be recommended strength for this week...its the same as last week but week 1 (week 4 of flower) of PK9/18 should have been double...didn't want to overdo it as when I used recommended strength 1st time I got it, it created some serious root zone acidification (Which could have been all the K getting used up but was a mare getting the pH up from 4.something every day!!!). Did my usual root flush/wash before adding feed as the EC had crept up to 2.2 (and I know from experience, that starts messing with your numbers if you don't wash that out right) and took about 50L-60L to get the tank to 0.3EC (base is 0.2) was was a lot of salt sitting on/in the roots. Had a ton of underscreen dead leaf to pick up and just cut some wee straggly offshoots (I know, bad idea this late in flower but they were basically dead/no nutritional value left so basically a bug magnet). Still waiting on Bluelab to send me the RMA approved pH pen...been 2 weeks now since the RMA was approved and still no postage - using an "essentials" pH meter and just dipping in Calibration Fluids between each feed add to ensure some accuracy (As you can see from my recipe page, I like to know what the feed does to the pH - also gives an idea on what they're feeding on when you see pH swings in a different direction that expected). Geeklight also got back to me. In all fairness, I've been dealing with them direct (Got the light fixture from Alibaba, direct from China - big gamble, right???) and they have been more than helpful. I have been telling them about the light randomly coming on at 5% (lowest brightness) and provided evidence; turns out someone else now noticed the same issue with the Remote App controlled variant too and they believed it was a loose control board/wire. They said they did some stuff and that fixed it but I also thought mine was fixed by forcing the dimmer to 0% and it still randomly happened (even though it didn't do it for weeks) so the other person may still get a surprise!! 😋 So, I took out the driver today, pulled out the control board and all wires seemed good and no looseness in the control board (although it does look slightly bent as the Spade for the IR/UV switch isn't fully bedded in). But, like I say, in all fairness to Geeklight, they're posing me a new control board tomorrow from China AND giving me the longer driver cables so as I can put the driver outside of the tent! Give me a bit more room for my Flower Initiator (and hopefully UVB Tube) and great to see them honouring the Warranty. RHC Seems to be flowering nicely as can been seen from the pics. Stacking well, buds coming along. Slight pinkish tip to the pistils on some buds but not the shocking pink as you'd see in the sales pics...hopefully it goes there though! Also noticing a bit of an early frost on a few flowers...like real good frost! And this is only day 1 of week 5 (I know, I do this diary arse about face)!!! Hoping Geeklight get this driver control board and longer cables to me quick so as I can get the driver out of the tent as I'd really like to get the UVB in there to frost them up in a week or 2!!! May only be getting about 9" clearance though so dunno, could be dangerous!!! 12" is the lowest recommended...but then, I could do the 15 min burst lighting (On 15, off 45 min every hour) so lower the risk of burn but get them more exposure (but lowers the lifetime of the tube). They get UVA from the LED's on the light at the moment for a 1/3 of the day and have been since early veg so should be hardened to it by now!!! Anyway, think that's enough s**te chatted by me!!! Happy growing all!!! 💪

D64/FD36 - Not much to really talk about this week. Things still ticking along. Cookies are baking nicely! 😋 SCP in the same tent on the other hand, bit of a slow goer!!! Defs going forward, only 1 strain per res and I think "Cookies" based breeds will be it for me as they're so easy worked with. RAM Oscillating Fans...again, barely 10 days running and it has died!!! WTF! Hydro place will be willing to change again but its a joke, the batch is useless!!! Not the Hydro Shops fault though! They're bending over backwards as I do a good bit of business with them! :) Apart from that, dropped my EC by 0.2 this week (Pulled back on the base and bloom by 10-15%) just because they're drinking but not taking on food at any big rate - rather not poison the roots with a rising EC when they have a wee swallie to themselves!!! Changed the CalMag to Biobizz calmag as no nitrogen in it (it is a lot dirtier in a tank though which is the down side!!!). Apart from that, no real big changes. Happy Growing all!!! 💪

D71/FD43 - Sooo...its all gone a bit to dick this week! So, as noted before, Oscillating RAM fans keep blowing on me. Just stop dead and haven't got a chance to get down the 90miles to get them replaced again. Well, noticed a few leaves that looked like they may be a bit light coloured...only 1 or 2, at the top buds which is strange and not really an N deficiency...so I looked more closely....4 buds with the dreaded fur on them!!! Fucking Bud Rot!!! Ones closest to the door that would get the biggest temp differential (So the weirdest humidity) and no air really getting round them!!! Talk about a SICKNER! This grow just seems to be blighted (literally) with something new every 3 weeks!!! So, had to chop a few tops and now going to be on the defensive for the next few weeks. We're not yet ripe and *hoping* as these had the least air movement round them, the spores didn't get about the place!!! Worst as well is the height of all the plants...cant get the UVB bulb in there for fear of burning them but that would potentially sterilise the fungus (I'd usually be using a 10K finisher this week but with the change to LED...) so now to work out what to do. Also didn't help that I didn't put the lid on my tank right last night doing a check and think i pumped about 10L of water about the place!!! Yip, today was a disaster!!! So, apart from that, I've dropped the Silicon and changed to TNC bactorr for my root inoculant (Out of great white). Apart from that, happy growing all!!! 💪

D78/FD50 - Apologies, a week late on my report. So, the Cookies are being a bit of a dick really!!! The Cheese is striking them and trying to take a few wee bits here and there to save the crop but dont know if I am being agressive enough...Time will tell!!! Tried a bit of Cinnamon around the affected buds and it does appear to stop the rot on contact but don't know how it will impact them. Will continue to monitor... **Update** D84/FD56 - Cookies have become a real problem...Partial harvest time!!! Taking what looks to be "ripe enough" off the girls and leaving some lower buds to mature...hopefully they've not been too impacted. Had some real obvious ones that had to go and though I had some nice keepers, until I started trimming them down for the box to dry and random buds in the bunch had wee bits of grey mold at the stem!! Mild but just not doing it!!! Total bastard!!! Lost about 3-4oz (expected dry weight) easy!!! So no trim kept, all binned or burnt! All a bit of a ballache but, what can you do!!! Anyway, happy growing all!!! 💪

D85/FD57 - Should probably put this week down as a "Harvest Week" but hopefully some more to save, even though it will be smaller stuff - right now with the dead loss, everything counts! Really sad too as the plant was looking great!!! Some nice pink flowers in there, just a real pity about its mold resistance!!! :/ Would maybe consider this one more time for a grow when I get the new extraction in but yeah, disappointed is not the word! On the plus side, tent humidity has dropped a fair bit!!! With the work last night culling the Cookies, I was lazy tonight, just did an add back (Didnt clean the Wilma out like I do every week). Put in at normal ratio's but as the base water was EC0.7 (Rather than 0.2), the same recipe took me up to 1.5 (I should have adjusted but seeing as I dont know whats out, i'd rather give enough of whats needed and just dilute through the week (even if daily!!!). Expecting water consumption to drop now with the cookies halved in size and now just waiting on the rest ripening! Lets hope this is the last pain til I get this tent emptied out and cleaned down for a winter run!!! Anyway, happy growing all!!! 💪

D92/FD64 - Now the humidity down from the cull, showing no real signs of the rot...did take 1 or 2 more smaller buds and a few from the drying box that was getting the "Grey Beard" but <touch wood>, seems to have settled. The Lower buds appear to be ripening now and are a deep purple. This plant looks soo amazing, pity it was just not so strong against the rot (again, it was done no favours by out of whack temps [i let it get a bit low at night for colour] and humidity). Have bought a Hotbox Sulfume now for a preventative going forward so would risk this strain again now that I know it needs that bit more protection; 'cause it smells so different and looks so different, its a winner - as long as I can get it over the line safely!!! May hit this a blast with the sulfur for a couple of 2 hour sessions over the next week to ensure it remains without mold!!!! Apart from that, nothing else to report. Happy growing all!!! 💪

D99/FD73 - Think the cookies has to be well past done now...Very deep purple on the buds but want as much of the lower stuff to mature as I lost so much of this plant to rot! 😭Thankfully, won some more seeds and I HAVE requested this again and I WILL go with it again as it smells and looks so amazing. I just know I have to be a crapton more careful with the environmentals now. Plus, now have all the preventatives in place (Bigger air flow, Sulfur, Potassium Bicarbonate, TricorrP5, etc.). May invest in a couple of supplemntal Royal Blue bars for veg and 1st 10 days of flower to keep them low but thats for next time, not for now. Have moved to Dragon Force in the tank as I want this all chopped by next week to start next run (Dont know if going to go Cream Caramel or Cookies Kush for the shortness - or maybe some Ice Cool as never run a diesel strain before!!!). Apart from that, Happy growing all!!! 💪