Pink Kush 1st Grow Ever

I feel like I narrowly avoided an issue. First, I realized that my water was about ph 8-9, which is absolutely a problem. I used some ph down to get to a neutral 7. Secondly, I feel like the plant wasn't getting nutrients either due to the regular potting mix I was originally using (i.e., NOT fox farm) or because the roots were able to penetrate the cube completely. Either the soil or the cube was keeping it from absorbing many nutrients, in my opinion. Once I starting using neutral water and removed the cube from the root system, it started to perk up a lot! At this point, I started to feel a little more confident this grow was going to end in something worthwhile :D

EDIT: Adding in some more detail. The strain is Pink Kush from Growers Choice Seeds. When I searched for the strain, that wasn't an option, which is why it says it's a custom strain. It's my first ever grow, so I'm constantly learning. Any feedback or tips in the comments are more than welcome :) I'm working in a pretty small space. From what I've read, the plant could get somewhat tall, so I've already started training the plant into more-horizontal growth by slight bending and twisting of the stem and branches. I will most likely utilize a ScrOG net (or two) in the coming weeks, as opposed to actually tying it down. I'm reading through The Cannabis Grow Bible (3rd Ed.) by Greg Green. Most of what I'm doing stems from the information found therein. I think things are going pretty well. I started twirling the stems a bit and starting to bend the stems in prep for LST.

This week was pretty straightforward. Lots of green new growth. I watered twice, each time using 2C of ph neutral water. While that does seem a little low, I haven't yet noticed any adverse affects, so I'll keep using that regiment until I notice any issues. The environment (both temp and humidity) is fairly stable, so there's not a ton to do at the moment other than to wait and watch it continue to grow! I'm expecting another ~4 weeks of veg growth, but because all this is new to me, I don't really know for sure. I'm basing the 6-7 week veg duration from other awesome grow diaries. Plans for the next week include another round of Grow Big feeding, along with watering with CalMag on the second watering day of the week. I may also top next week or the week following. Based on other diaries of this strain, topping in week 4-5 is common. Thank you all for reading and for your awesome and positive comments!

I look forward to updating this journal each week! The past week has featured a lot of growth, expressing sex, and a little troubleshooting. The plant is really looking bushy now, especially after I topped it. I had read a bunch of different articles and sources and just decided to go for it. I accidentally FIM'ed it by pinching off a little of the new growth. More on that in a sec. Also over the past week, I realized that my Grow Big nutrients were at 1/4 "Seedling" strength and upped those to 1/2 strength for vegetative state. I'm hoping that will address the slight yellowing and curling that I was seeing. I also watered with CalMag too twice over the last week to see if that would address the issue. I noticed something that could be problematic: some damage of leaves (see pictures). All the damage is near where I topped/FIM'ed it, so it could be due to that. However, I've noticed some holes in the leaves as well, and I don't think that's related. Anyone have any clue what might be causing that? I don't see any bugs or webs. Ending on a positive note, since I'll need several more veg weeks for the topping to result in beneficial growth, I decided to germinate some auto white widow seeds and intend to put them in the tent alongside the pink Kush. The timing should work out just right. Has anyone ever done something like that - adding in plants into the same tent for flowering?

This week went well. I think whatever was causing the holes in the leaves has been addressed. It could have been just stress and damage from me pinching off the top previously, but I used some AzaMax just to be safe. After a bit of research and venturing out to a local grow store, it seemed easy enough to use. It's also preventative, so I don't feel bad about using it at all. I also officially tied it down this week. Until now, I only had been manually bending it over each time I checked on it. But now it's tied down. I didn't plan ahead because I didn't have anything to tie it down to apart from the handles, which aren't a great fixture. I ended up also gently pushing the green ties down into the soil to help keep some branches lower too, which seemed to work well enough. I noticed a little new growth around where I topped it, so that's exciting. I'm guessing it'll take a couple of weeks for that to flesh out, which will give the two auto white widow seedlings time to catch up before they all go into flower. Check my other diary to see how those are doing, and why I decided to add them in late in the game. 21 Watered 3C of 1/2 strength Grow Big 18 Watered 2C of 1/2 strength Grow Big 1C of 1/4 CalMag 16 Mixed 1/2 Tbs (0.25Oz) of AzaMax from Gen. Hydro in spray bottle to use on plant Applied spray then turned down like to 40% to reduce chance of burn After about 3 hours I turned light back up to 75% Tried to tie down the plant but didn’t have a good method so tried to tie to the pot handle. Not great.

This week is another good one. I changed over the green plant ties to metal clips/prongs which I like a lot better for keeping the branches down. I increased the strength of Grow Big to 1/2 the recommended dose for the vegetative stage. I will give it one more week of veg growth then switch to flowering. September 29 Watered 0.75L with the mixed nutrients of: 3tsp/gal Grow Big 1tsp/gal CalMag Some additional defoliation to help with the airflow. I've got a fan above it pointed down to make sure the air is moving. September 26 Figured out how to measure par on my phone with the Photone app. It is amazing and a game-changer. Seriously, give it a shot. Par was at 200 for kush at distance, so much lower than the 400-600 band that Google told me was appropriate for Veg. Moved light down to get ~480-500 in center of plant at height. New distance is 12", using the dimmer to obtain the desired PAR. Slight defoliation today to remove any large leaves that were blocking bud sites. Accidentally removed a small bud site -_- Also watered today since I dropped the light and defoliated - I wanted to make sure she could handle all of that. 3C 1/2 strength Grow Big (1tsp/gal) 1C 1/4 strength CalMag (1/4 tsp/gal) September 24 Watered: 2C grow big At 1/2 strength 1C cal mag at 1/4 strength Ph runoff was at 6.5

6 Watered with new mixture. 3tsp/gal Grow Big 1tsp/gal CalMag 3 Watered with new mixture. Adjusted fan and light Par is now 580-760 Initiated 12/12 October 1 Watered 0.75L with the mixed nutrients of: 3tsp/gal Grow Big 1tsp/gal CalMag 29 Watered 0.75L with the mixed nutrients of: 3tsp/gal Grow Big 1tsp/gal CalMag

Disaster. I ended up giving her a nutrient burn. I think I wasn't watering enough to get 15-20% runoff (didn't know this was a thing). This could have resulted in a buildup of nutrients for a while that ultimately led to too much. After a flush, I think we're headed back on track. October 12 Suspected nutrient burn, so flushed with 1.5L of neutral water Runoff was 6000 EC and 5.8 ph Flushed with another 1L and runoff was down to 4000 Flushed again with another 0.5L and still at 4000 Kept flushing until the runoff was around 1800. 11 Watered 0.75 L of new mixture 8 Watered just 0.5 liters of new mixture

18 Watered 2L and had about 15% runoff at 2250 16 Watered 2L had about 25% runoff at 1940 ppm Starting to not worsen 14 Watered 2L of 3tsp big bloom 2tsp grow big 2tsp tiger bloom 75/25 nutrients to regular water for about 900ppm About .4L runoff at 1800ppm

27 Watered 3.5L to get about 15% runoff at 1700ppm 24 Watered 2.5l to get about 15-20% runoff at 2000ppm Removed some more crispy bits Smell is amazing. 21 Fed with PK mixture 2L and 0.5L regular water Removed some crispy tips PPM of runoff was at 2600 so water d another L Then runoff was around 1900 One more 0.5L then ppm was 1750-1800

She is rebounding well after the nutrient overdose. At this point, I think I need to get back to feeding at every water, and just making sure I water enough to get a good 15-25% runoff. November 1 Watered 3L of PK for 0.5L runoff at 1800ppm 27 Watered 3.5L to get about 15% runoff at 1700ppm

November 10 3L of PK for 0.75L runoff at 1950 November 7 Watered 3L of PK mix for 0.75L runoff at 2300ppm Light distance about 11” for 600-750 PAR November 4 Fed with PL mix for 15% runoff at around 1500ppm

I'm wondering if it's nutrient deficient. I'll start the nutrient regiment from week 1 next time I grow this strain, but in the meantime, I'll keep doing what I'm doing. November 17 2.75L of PK for .4L runoff at 1900 November 14 3L of PK for .4L runoff at 2800

November 23 3L of PK for 0.5L runoff at 1750 Removed some crispy leaves. Smell is changing a bit. A few amber trichomes visible with magnification. November 21 3L of PK for about 0.4L runoff but didn’t measure ppm I think it might need more nutrients based on the ppm of the white widow runoff. But that’ll be something to explore on the next grow.

I'm getting SO close. It's hard for me to use the jewlers loupe to see all the details of the trichomes. I can see that some are definitely amber, but it's hard to judge the overall percentage of amber trichomes or to tell what percentage are cloudy versus clear. Per the breeder's timeline, the harvest window is 70-80 days after initiating flowering, and I'll hit Day 70 on December 8th. November 29 2.5L of PK, for 0.5L at 1475ppm, this will be my last feeding. It's all flushing from here. November 26 3L of PK, didn’t measure runoff and left it to reabsorb. Some amber trichomes. All the pistils are dark.

This Pink Kush was ideal to use for my first grow. It was forgiving and ended up giving me exactly what I was after: a strong high that helps me relax and wind down for bed. It's not so strong that I get couchlock though, which is good. The harvest itself went well using a hanging netted bag in a dark closet. Next time I'd like to try and dry it in the tent so that I can better control the humidity, but that wasn't possible this time since I have a white widow plant in there still. I did decently enough with the wet trim and would replicate that again next time.