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UK Cheese - First Grow

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628
3 years ago
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Germination
3 years ago
I'd been spending the past few months learning deeply about Bonsai when a friend tossed me a dozen or so UK Cheese seeds from a past grow they did. Thinking not much of it, I tossed a handful into small germination pods and watered them here and there. They sprouted so I went and bought a 2 bulb CFL light (40 watts) and ran them for roughly 14-18hrs a day. No tent, no dark dark periods as they were in my living room. I did toss another seed (i think from that collection) into a pot on the window sill and lo and behold that sprouted too so I transplanted to 3" by 3" herb pot. No attention made to Ph, soil type etc.
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Used method
Directly In Substrate
Germination Method
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1
Week 1. Vegetation
3 years ago
7.62 cm
16 hrs
26 °C
No Smell
21 °C
15.24 cm
Just letting these grow a bit and watering every day, sometimes twice a day if it was getting hot in the room. The room is south facing so gets pummelled with light and heats up, a lot. No special care taken regarding soil, ph, water at this time.
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2
Week 2. Vegetation
3 years ago
7.62 cm
19 hrs
28 °C
No Smell
65 %
21 °C
8 L
45.72 cm
Ok so week two is when things got serious. I decided I wanted to see this grow through and like most things I dive into, I went head first. Did some research then showed up at my local grow store and left with a killer 3x3 setup: Lighthouse grow tent ROI E420 Light AC Infinity 6" exhaust fan Phat carbon filter etc I repotted all of the plants into 2 gallon pots. I didn't realize that the soil I used was NOT for containers and was SUPER thick. It took a few days to realize I messed up so I had to emergency repot everything into the same buckets with new, good soil. Can't remember the brand but it was Gucci soil. I put the plants under a 19/5 cycle. I have a few extra seedlings that were sprouted a week after the first ones. Most got cooked by the light and died so we'll just disregard those for now and pretend there are 7 main ladies.
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3
Week 3. Vegetation
3 years ago
10.16 cm
19 hrs
28 °C
No Smell
65 %
21 °C
8 L
45.72 cm
I hadn't been checking water ph level nor feeding any nutes nor had any nutrients in the soil so the plants were looking a little sad, overwatered (shitty soil still) and lacking Nitrogen. I realized this may be the case around this time so started paying attention.
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4
Week 4. Vegetation
3 years ago
10.16 cm
19 hrs
28 °C
No Smell
65 %
21 °C
8 L
45.72 cm
They started growing nicely despite the double repot and not ph'ing the water and whatnot. Decided I'd be trying a handful of LST/HST techniques on these to see what I liked and what worked. Started growing a few other things in the tent for the interim, tomatoes and some herbs.
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LST
Technique
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5
Week 5. Vegetation
3 years ago
15.24 cm
19 hrs
29 °C
No Smell
65 %
21 °C
8 L
45.72 cm
This past week is when the ladies really started bushing up so I repotted into their final 3 gallon fabric pots (5 gal equiv) with some heady soil from the grow shop. I started Ph'ing the water to roughly 6 and letting it sit out overnight to burn off any chlorine etc. My LST methods, in hindsight, kept the plants very low and bushy. I would adjust more frequently for the next go-around. I was growing a bit impatient so wanted to give a week of recovery in the new pots then flip to flower.
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6
Week 6. Vegetation
3 years ago
20.32 cm
19 hrs
28 °C
6
Weak
65 %
21 °C
11 L
45.72 cm
Bushing out nicely! I probably should have adjusted the LST to allow them to grow taller but they were responding nicely so I kept them pinned and adjusted every few days. Finally started ph’ing the water to around 6. Water is tap, not measuring TDS or adding liquid nutes at this point. The soils transplant was done with 50/50 mix of Natures Living Soil and soil, botto 1/3 of pot and remaining 2/3 soil.
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7
Week 7. Vegetation
3 years ago
25.4 cm
19 hrs
28 °C
6
Weak
65 %
21 °C
11 L
45.72 cm
So I think this was the 7th week or so but I flipped to flower with a 48 hour dark period around day 53ish. I opened the tent to neon budsites!
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8
Week 8. Flowering
3 years ago
30.48 cm
12 hrs
28 °C
6
Normal
55 %
21 °C
11 L
3 L
35.56 cm
First week of flower! After the 48 hour dark period, the budsites turned bright green. This faded a bit over the next week to become green like the rest of the plants. I'm starting to see repro signs and looks like I've a few males so I'll be keeping a close eye on them! A few days later I decided to quarantine the males so I chucked them outside on my back porch to decide if i wanted to chop completely or maybe finish growing on my roof? My concern was that pollen would float fro mthe roof right into my windows, making its way into the tent and pollinating the ladies... By the end of the week the largest plant was showing it would be overpowering the others, heightwise, so I decided to supercrop it, despite being in the beginning of stretch, now was the time to. Water ph'd to roughly 6, no additional nutes added at this time.
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9
Week 9. Flowering
3 years ago
35.56 cm
12 hrs
28 °C
6
Strong
50 %
21 °C
11 L
3 L
30.48 cm
We enter the second full week of flower. I went and got some nutes to start adding in sparingly to the watering sessions. Mild mix from Foxfarms of their Tiger Bloom formula. I didn't catch that the large plant's leaves were curling pretty tellingly so I didn't realize I was about to overload the nutes for that plant when I should have been flushing for a week. I had supercropped this large plant as it was 6" taller than the others but it bounced back so quickly. Five colas snapped and turned 90 degrees, bounced back in a day or two. It did allow the others to catch up a bit. I find that the one potential male I removed was 100 a male as it now had well developed pollen sacs. I had this plant outside alonside the other two potential herm/males. I put the two questionable ones on the roof and chopped the male down.
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10
Week 10. Flowering
3 years ago
45.72 cm
12 hrs
28 °C
6
Strong
50 %
21 °C
11 L
4 L
30.48 cm
Third week of flower. Plants were getting decently bushy and I (mistakenly) diagnose the large plant as being too close to the light as the leaves were canoeing downward with bent tips (hindsight 2020, nute toxicity). They started showing pistols and I was getting excited. I don't believe I was using nutes at this point but if I was, it was Fox Farms flower nutes (tiger bloom). I'd planted a lady in a 3 gallon fabric pot along with a cherry tomato plant to see how they grew together. I'd read that they are good companion plants and with the fabric pot, shouldn't have too much in the way of root binding if they both grow good root structures. I realize that the bottom half of the lady had grown pollen sacs so again, as an experiment, I chopped everything except for the main top cola which still was showing female preflowers. This plant kinda became the disregarded stephchild and would spend the rest of its time bouncing between the window sill, my rear deck (little light) and my roofdeck (lots of light, high winds). Sneak Peek: I'm still growing this plan two months later! I planted a random bagseed from some heady nuggs and lo and behold it sprouted! I've had nearly 100% success with just plopping seeds into dirt and letting them sprout.
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11
Week 11. Flowering
3 years ago
45.72 cm
12 hrs
28 °C
6
Strong
50 %
21 °C
11 L
4 L
30.48 cm
Fourthish week of flower and they have begun to pray 🙏🏼 well, most of them anyways. The largest still is suffering from an untreated overwatering and over nuteing condition but the others are looking nice! The ones on the roof were in full prayer and loved the hot afternoon direct sun. At this point, giving the flowers a squeeze rewarded you with sticky fingertips and a smell of stinky gouda cheese or similar. Crystals were starting to form on the sugar leaves which was exciting to watch for the first time. I was thoroughly impressed with the prayer formation that these plants assumed when conditions were prime. Very cool! You could see how the plant was able to maximize leaf surface area exposure while blocking the least amount of light from the leaves below. The light was being run on 100% and temps would be between 83 and 85 degrees. I was OK running it a bit hotter as it's an LED light. I like the light a lot - especially it's precision. Each 25% dim increment correlated to 2 degrees temp change. Nice!
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12
Week 12. Flowering
3 years ago
55.88 cm
12 hrs
28 °C
6
Strong
45 %
21 °C
11 L
4 L
30.48 cm
Fifth week of flower and it was time to defoliate the indoor units as they were starting to get bushy and block exposure to the lower bud sites. Quick work with the bonsai shears and they were ready to soak in the sun. I left the rooftop plants alone as I believe having additional leaf mass enables them to withstand temp and environmental fluctuations better. Whether or not this is the case, it was an experiment.
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13
Week 13. Flowering
3 years ago
55.88 cm
12 hrs
28 °C
6
Strong
40 %
21 °C
11 L
4 L
30.48 cm
Nutrients 1
Tiger Bloom - Fox Farm
Tiger Bloom 2 mll
So, I was going away for a week. Given that I'd been babying these on the daily, I had some trepidations about leaving them for a week through at least two if not three, watering cycles. I engaged the help of a trusted friend to stop by and make sure they were watered and cared for. As I'd been running the tent pretty hot, I wanted to increase the margin of error so I dropped the power down to 75% and raised the light about 6". Once I came back, the plants were very healthy for the most part. I did begin to get PM on one of the plants as you can see in the photo. So began treating that (defoliation, cleaning, spraying w water, obsessively searching for new spots). I was very pleased with the way they were crystalizing. The one plant with the super fat colas wasn't as resinated as the others at this point yet she was THICC and dense.
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14
Week 14. Flowering
3 years ago
55.88 cm
12 hrs
28 °C
6
Strong
40 %
21 °C
11 L
5 L
30.48 cm
The trics have arrived :D Super frosty for a few of these ladies. The smell is not quite as strong as it was a few weeks ago... but they glands are sticky and the aroma is very distinct. Still fending off minor PM on one of the plants. It'll rear it's head through harvest. I got a proper fan to help keep airflow appropriate. I realize i was under aired for the majority of the grow with only having one small dinky pole fan that didn't even oscillate. I also got a microscope to start checking trics. THe hairs were mostly turning at this point and trics were predominately clear. Over the past week, it was becoming apparent that the three outdoor plants were going to need some additional help if they were to reach fruition prior to temps getting too low. There were a few nights with 45 degrees and I began to start planning to bring them indoors. My plan was to having them in the same room albeit not in the same tent, for about a week to make sure no pets or disesases came in with them. They turned out OK so I moved them back home in the tent with the others and cranked the power to 100%.
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15
Week 15. Flowering
3 years ago
63.5 cm
12 hrs
28 °C
6
Normal
40 %
21 °C
11 L
4 L
30.48 cm
So I left for a week and had a trusted friend take over watering duties. A few things of note: I was concerned over overheating the grow so I turned the power down to 75% and ran the light up another 6 inches. This had the unfortunate effect of less airflow and cooler temps so I got powdery mildew that I would be fighting for the remainder of the grow. That aside, the plants looked way more mature when I returned home, with nice trichome development and density.
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16
Week 16. Flowering
3 years ago
76.2 cm
12 hrs
28 °C
6
Strong
40 %
21 °C
19 L
4 L
30.48 cm
Nutrients 1
Tiger Bloom - Fox Farm
Tiger Bloom 4 mll
Pretty much on cruise control at this point. Combating small amounts of pm on one plant, maybe two. The outdoor ladies are soaking up what cool sun is left. The temps outside were cold. It was Oct 31st when these were taken. I figured I’d be harvesting in the next 2-4 weeks so started planning accordingly: Ran a few extra gallons through each pot to slowly lower the nutrient level.
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17
Week 17. Flowering
3 years ago
76.2 cm
12 hrs
28 °C
6
Normal
40 %
21 °C
19 L
4 L
30.48 cm
Nutrients 1
Tiger Bloom - Fox Farm
Tiger Bloom 4 mll
Back from a short trip and they’re looking great! Looking ahead to my schedule, it became apparent I was going to need to harvest sooner rather than later if I wanted to be at my house for the first week or drying. Trichs were about 50% milky and maybe 5% amber on average. I decided I’d be staging th harvest over a few days. I was going to try washing them prior to drying to make sure the pm is neutralized and because two of the outdoor ones are probably covered in city soot 🙃.
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17
Week 17. Harvest
3 years ago
Happy Harvest Day!
uk cheese - Custom Breeder & Strain
Spent 121 days
Ger Veg Flo Har
8/10
Rated
Easy
Difficulty

Height
Day air temperature
Air humidity
PH
Light schedule
Night air temperature
Pot size
Lamp distance
Ok so I put a significant amount of time into this grow. Learned a ton (everything lol) as it was my first. After the final week, I decided to harvest when the trichs were milky and clear. Few amber here and there but time constraints meant I had to chop a bit earlier than I’d have preferred. I do prefer a more uplifting cerebral effect yet realize with an indica leaning strain, having all cloudy and maybe 25% amber would have been 👌🏼. My drying process began by chopping a plant at a time, I washed the buds to get the PM or traces off (also grime from outdoor city air). I used a big bucket and did hydrogen peroxide. In heindsight I would have used baking soda as well and did a two step wash. After washing them, I hung to dry with a fan until they stopped dripping then into the tent they went for drying at roughly 68 degrees and 55% humidity. I staggered the harvest and wet trimmed about 70% of the time with the latter 30% dry trimmed. This was done for convenience and to try both ways. I dried everything for about 12-13 days until the smallest stems snapped and the larger ones were borderline cracking. I started jarring everything with humidity meters, about a half oz per smaller widemiuth jam jar. The smell was never hay-like but did vary in strength and scent from plant to plant. Almost no seeds which was pretty great to see. One of the outdoor plants had quite a few seeds so I kept that separate. It ironically had the stinkiest floral smell. So what’s the total!! After curing in jars for about a month, I weighted everything and came out with 10.5oz of cured trimmed flower and about 2 oz of sugar leaf trim which I am making canna butter with and cooking. Made some reduculously strong cookies: 11 cookies from about 10 grams of trim. Ate two and was medicated for about 24hrs 😂. Some of the buds were super dense and cured down to 58 RH easily. There were a few of the large big buds that had mass but less density and fewer trichomes. These were more red-hair visually than the others. The smoke: surprisingly smooth. The effect is energizing and uplifting at first, with a nice sedative body feeling on the second half of things. Overall, I’m super happy with the result. Learned a TON and will be modifying my approach a bit next go-around this spring. Stay tuned!!!
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