First Grow - Gorilla Cookies

Added a little Fox Farm BigBloom to the mixture in case the seedlings needed a little more nutes. Was not sure of the amount the nutrition that was in the Espoma Organic Seed Starter. I don't think there is much. 1TBSP for 32oz in spray bottle. Sprayed the seedlings lightly. Only used a few ounces of water/nutes per plant.

Sprayed plants with Fox Farm BigBloom mixture. Plants were not growing much. I figured they were putting down roots. Gorilla Cookies was slightly larger than Purple Lemonade.

Seedlings are getting larger. Purple Lemonade grew with a bit of a deformed leaf, but otherwise looks fine. Gorilla Cookies is definitely growing faster and is a lighter green color. Stopped giving them fertilizer half-way through the week. Didn't want to give them too much food or water.

This was a great week. Transplanted the seedlings from 1 gallon bags in Espoma Organic Seed Starter to 5 gallon bags with Fox Farm Happy Frog potting soil. Seedlings seem to have had no stress from the transplant, which is fantastic. I was a little concerned there would be but they seemed to not miss a step. Watered them well with some BigBloom and GrowBig mixed after the transplant, but no too much nutes were added because I'm sure the soil has plenty of nutes right now in it already. Water meter says the soil was wet right from the bag. Not sure how accurate that is, but I do not want to over-water them. After a few days of allowing them to get acclimated to their new digs, I started some LST on them. Plants were very flexible and there seemed to be no issue of breaking stems. Plants are still growing well, seem to have very good color, do not see any issues with leaf coloring from too much/little nutrients. Have been using exhaust fan plus a fan in-tent so the air circulates nicely. Everything seems to be working well. Please let me know if I am doing the LST incorrectly since this is my first time growing. 😁

Performed more LST this week. Broke a stem off of the Gorilla Glue when trying to bend it. Bent it too much apparently. Started to use a little Fox Farm Tiger Bloom this week because flowering should start soon. Besides the snapping of the branch, everything seems OK. Really started to grow nicely towards the end of the week. Stopped using the humidifier.

This was a big week. The plants exploded in growth. In the beginning of the week, they were in vegetative, and by the end of the week they were clearly flowering. Used a bit more Tiger Bloom this week. Was feeding with 2 days of fertilizer and water solution, then one day of just water. Then I might skip a day. Watered them with 32 oz water or water/fertilizer each per day. All were pH balanced between 6.2 - 6.6. Grow Big is acidic, but Tiger Bloom is even more acidic, so I needed to balance out everything using pH up and pH down solutions. Bought a digital pH meter a week ago, and it is a huge help. Was a bit disappointed in the wire I bough for the LST because it is really flimsy and I'm having a hard time just having it stick into the soil without bending an curling up. Need to get something a little more sturdy for the next grow. 😁

A very good week overall. Now I can tell why it's called Purple Lemonade! Nice purple leaves started showing up towards the end of the week. Can easily tell the difference between the two plants now. The may just be starting to smell a bit. Began to use all Tiger Bloom in the fertilizer mix. Watered each with 32 oz. of fertilizer/water mix for two days, then on day of plain water. All were pH corrected to approximately 6.2 - 6.7 pH. Did not skip a day when watering. Not sure if I am watering them too little, but they look good to me? Started using a dehumidifier this week. I seem to be having a bit of a hard time keeping the humidity down. I'm using a dehumidifier now, but it doesn't seem to help as much as I was hoping it would. Probably because of too much airflow because I'm trying to keep the temperature from getting too high. Might need a larger one.

Plants are continuing to make larger buds. Purple Lemonade has a much stronger smell than Gorilla Cookies, and also seems to be growing/developing faster. I'm hoping this is due to the different plant genetics and not because of something I'm doing wrong. Might have started to get some nutrient burn on the tips of the leaves, so I will just be watering with pH balanced water for the next several days. Water pH is approximately 6.3. Cut some more fan leaves off because I wanted to get a bit more airflow to the plants. especially the Purple Lemonade which seems to have larger leaves in general. Loving the colors on the Purple Lemonade! Whenever I touch the plant my hands smell like lemons afterwards. My wife was impressed with the distinctive smell also. I wonder if the pistils are going to change a bit orange, because I see a few with some orange on them. The Gorilla Cookies stems are definitely more level than the Purple Lemonade. Lemonade seems to have some taller stems and some lower ones. Not sure if this is an issue or not. I do not know how long I have to wait for the flowering to be good. I'm thinking a few more weeks? It doesn't seem to be mature buds, but I'm not sure since this is my first time growing. Will be getting a larger tent soon. I hope this will help with the temperature issues, and I'm hoping to grow more plants next time as well. Also gonna try to take some better pictures soon with a better camera.