Auroras Boring Alice

Wk1 10/18/21: Day 1. Seedling is up and doing fantastic. Over an inch already, and looking to spread it's leaves far and wide. 10/19/21: Day 2. Provided the proper dosage of Gaia Green All Purpose blend at 1 tbsp per gallon, which is 1 1/2 tbsp for the pot. Pictures provided. I watered it in thoroughly, but not enough to run out the bottom. 10/20/21: Day 3. Top layer of soil is still extremely moist. Plant is looking good. 10/22/21: Day 5. Pot is still heavy from the moisture, hopefully it will be dry by next week. Leaves are starting to get nice and big. 10/24/21: Day 7. Moisture level of the soil is still extremely high. I'm going to adjust the plants positions in the tent, putting the NL closer to the fan, hoping it draws out the moisture. Growth is looking fantastic though, similar to the last NL I grew at this stage.

Wk2 10/25/21: Day 8. Growth is much more noticeable since yesterday, I had to go back and compare, quite a remarkable change in size. Pot is a little lighter as well, since being moved in front of the fan. 10/27/21: Day 10. Plant is growing at a fantastic rate. Very little space between nodes should make for a nice looking plant. The leaf issue is even more prominent today, but that might just be because the leaf is nearly twice the size as yesterday. The pot is now finally dry enough to warrant a bit of a watering, which I will administer later today. 10/29/21: Day 12. I noticed that all the leaves that have damage to them, were at one point resting against the soil's surface. Perhaps the issue is from direct contact with a high level of nutrients. If the plant wasn't so short and tightly spaced, I would consider removing those damaged leaves. I will just have to wait until the plant moves into flowering stage and remove them when it stretches. Growth is still coming in strong. I have a feeling this one will be producing some nice buds in a few weeks. 10/31/21: Day 14. Now that the plant has gotten a smidge taller, I removed the lower damaged leaves. I also did my best at moving other higher leaves out of the way, to get light to lower buds, but that is impossible, without removing them completely. Pot is in the not quite dry enough for another watering, but it will be ready tomorrow. Growth is great, nice and short, but hasn't even hit the pre-flower stretch yet, so that will be exciting to see. I will tuck as many leaves as I can, and continue to remove what is needed.

Diary Legend: 💧- Watered 🌱- Seedling 🌲- Cut Down 🍃- Defoliation ✂️- Topping or FIM'ING 🚂- Training (LST) Wk3 11/1/21: Day 15. 💧Lower branches have grown out a little more, I think that it's going to start kicking into pre-flower mode any day now. I noticed a curling edge on one of the larger leaves, I will keep an eye on it, and remember to adjust the nutrient ratio down for this strain next time around. 11/3/21: Day 17. Starting to bush out a bit more than before, a sign I like to see. Tucked back as many large leaves as I could, to make room lower down. Lower shoots are extending a bit further out, hopefully producing a nice even level of colas. While the leaf tucking helps, the stems are strong and compact, so they popped up quite easily. To combat this issue, and instead of tying anything down, I used garden staples to hold down some leaves, and angled the lower shoots into the light. Absolutely cannot wait to try this one out, as I'm a huge lover of kush varieties, and all indicas in general. Eventually, I plan on running this one again, along with a few other breeders' Northern Lights strains, have a sea of Lights. Perhaps at some point, I will run several NL strains, both autos and photos, have a big supply of Aurora Borealis. 11/5/21: Day 19. 🚂+💧Hopefully the flowering stretch will help with the short node spacing, as I've read this strain is prone to mold, as it's a compact plant. I will do my best to keep it spread open, and remove any branches that may cause issues with cramping. It will suck, but if it needs to be done, it will. Gave it a thorough watering, as the pot was finally completely dry. I will be removing some more leaves in the next few days, as the ones getting tucked are now stuck nose down in the dirt. I filled the pot higher than usual for this one, in hopes that I would have more room for watering. Well, with this plants compact structure, it's a bit of an issue. Manageable, as it just gets the leaves wet, so it's not too bad. 11/6/21: Day 20. 🍃🚂💧 Late last night I decided I would just defoliate heavily, instead of tucking leaves back. Tucking helps, but it's so damned tightly spaced it's a pain in the ass. Since there is plenty of new growth, I knew removing a few leaves wouldn't be an issue at this stage. Removed 4 leaves for sure, but I think it might have been 6. Such a big difference. I know the next few days will see a lot of change, as the light is exposed to so many new areas. I also used the time to pull out some branches, allowing there to be more air flow between branches. I will have to keep a close eye on it, as they will need maintaining for another 2 weeks or so. A lot of moisture was used since yesterday, so I added in more today. I will wait for pot to fully dry out again before watering. Still not seeing signs of pre-flower, but I might just add the nutrients in soon anyhow, as it cannot be that far away. 11/7/21: Day 21. Plant looks amazing today, doesn't seem to have been phased at all by the defoliating yesterday. The top leaves that were tucked back, had popped up again, once more showing me it is a strong plant. The lower shoots are spread out nicely, and will continue to bush out. I'm glad I decided to defoliate, I just now wish I had done it sooner, as I'm sure the side shoots would be much better right now.

Diary Legend: 💧- Watered 🌱- Seedling 🌲- Cut Down 🍃- Defoliation ✂️- Topping or FIM'ING 🚂- Training (LST) Wk4 11/8/21: Day 22. The spreading of the nodes is a very nice sight to see. This looks like it might be one of my biggest harvests, even though it hasn't begun flowering yet. With the amount of side branching and the way the main stalk looks, it surely looks like it will be one big producer. More defoliation will need to take place throughout this grow, as I can already see some newer leaves that will be giving me issues soon enough. 11/9/21: Day 23. 🚂🍃As the plant became overbearingly bushy, I had to remove a bunch of more leaves. I'm starting to think defoliating is the key with some plants. I removed a bunch of leaves less than 5 days ago, and it's already needing another trimming. While I was at it, I used that time to also move the staples out further, to keep the growth spread out. The lower branches have quite a lot of bud sites, so this is going to be one bud packed little plant. I did a good check for pistils, still none visible yet, but they should be shooting out any time now, as it's now into the 4th week. Pot isn't exactly dry yet, but it will definitely need a watering tomorrow. After that, the next watering will be with Power Bloom nutrients. 11/10/21: Day 24. 💧Heavy dose of water, as it was very much needed. Plant is looking fantastic after yesterday's work. Unlike the previous defoliation, the plant is still spaced out the next day. I still don't see any pistils hiding anywhere, but I'm going to be ready for when they appear. 11/12/21: Day 26.💧Plant was looking a little droopy, and the pot was fairly light, so I gave it a thorough watering. A little more defoliation will be needed soon, along with the removal of the lowest branch, one that decided to join the party very late. It's just over an inch long, so it will never be worth keeping. Still no signs of pistils, but that is ok, I don't need it to be flowering right away, more growth is always accepted here. 11/13/21: Day 27. 💩💧I noticed some leaf spots and discolouration. While I'm not yet 100% sure what's going on, I'm going to go with my gut, and fed it some bloom nutrients. Unfortunately I was not thinking, and forgot to take the photos of me adding in the nutrients. I went with the recommended dosage again, as I didn't have any issue up until now. I feel the plant had just used up the small amount of nutrients that was there, and had caused the nutrient deficiencies that are present. Looking for answers myself, all I can find is a headache, as just about all deficiencies look the same to inexperienced boneheads like myself. As it was nearing the end of the 4th week, it was already near time to add the bloom nutrients anyhow. I was preoccupied with looking for pistils to add the nutrients, while I should have just been watching the plant. We will see how it reacts over the next week, when it slowly starts to absorb the nutrients. 11/14/21: Day 28. 💧💩🆕🏠Plant looks worse than yesterday, but it's not like they felt the nutrients yet. Upon advice received from my question, I'm going to go ahead and just transplant into a bigger pot, hoping it will ease out of its funk. It might not help, as it might be too late, oh well. In the words of Ivan Drago, if he dies, he dies. I'm not worried if he doesn't make it, though I would like him to. It's not the biggest loss to me, it will just be disappointing. 12:45pm: Watching Rick and Morty while I make this update, damn it's funny. I repotted the plant into a 3 gallon smart pot, and topped dressed with an additional 2tbsp of Gaia Green Power Bloom, to accommodate the additional space and soil. Let's see how it handles it all. Next week's update will definitely hold a new tale. It will either be dead, or thriving, I really don't see anything in between happening.

Diary Legend: 💧- Watered 🌱- Seedling 🌲- Cut Down 🍃- Defoliation ✂️- Topping or FIM'ING 🚂- Training (LST) Wk5 11/15/21: Day 29. Plant doesn't seem to be as droopy as before, but it might just be me. I don't expect to see much of any change until Thursday or so. If it decides to live, this plant will be treated very well after. Not that it was mistreated before, I'll just give it a few additional supplements along the flowering stage. Or maybe not. Only thing I'd give it, is some terpenoid booster. 11/17/21: Day 31. The plant does seem to be still growing, somehow. I'm not sure if I want it to live or die. It started off amazing, but then quickly went down hill. I have a few ideas of what the issue was, and I hope to correct that on the next run. The plant is definitely well on its way to flower, but it still seems to have done absolutely no additional stretching. If that remains the case, I will need to re staple those branches down, to keep the space free for air flow. As it is, they would definitely be too close for comfort. I know the RH is low in there, so that would help keep the mold away, but I'd rather be safe, than sorry. 11/19/21: Day 33. Plant is showing signs of flowering, among many other signs that it should be dying. I will probably go in an remove all the damaged leaves, which will likely leave the plant bald. 11/21/21: Day 35. Plant is looking much better, but that might just be due to the removal of all those ugly damaged leaves. Plant is still growing, and is definitely not dead, but I also can't say that it is thriving. Looks like I was wrong, and it was somewhere in the middle after all. Some leaves are getting darker, which I like to see, as I don't like pale leaves. I plan on running this strain again very soon, so I will refer back to this diary, and make adjustments early on, to avoid the issues present here.

Diary Legend: 💧- Watered 🌱- Seedling 🥦- Vegging 🌷- Flowering 🌲- Cut Down 🍃- Defoliation ✂️- Topping or FIM'ING 🚂- Training (LST) 💩- Fertilized 🆕🏠 - New Home (transplant) Wk6 11/22/21: Day 36. Plant is doing much better overall, even though it didn't stretch out at all after transplant. I'm sure the roots did a bit, but the upper portion remained the same. 11/23/21: Day 37. 💧Pot was feeling quite light, so I have it a good dose of water. It seems to be drinking quite heavily, so that tells me the roots are doing just fine. I don't see any signs that the bloom nutrients have taken affect, but I'm sure that they have. 11/24/21: Day 38. Pot already feels light again, but not enough to warrant a watering. Maybe tomorrow, while I go in and remove most of the leaves from the bud, hoping it forces them to bulk up, as there won't be much for it to do, except build up the buds. Strange how promising this plant was, the. All of a sudden it just dropped off. Maybe I'll start collecting rain water for the plants. The tap water may have had some additional particles that may have disrupted the plant. We have several rain barrels around the house anyhow, it will just be a matter of collecting it and storing it. I will start buying large bottled water for using, and then reuse the bottles for rain water feeding. 11/26/21: Day 40💧Gave it a thorough watering, as it definitely needed one. The spots on the leaves I believe are from a mag deficiencies, so I added in one liters worth of cal mag treated water. I doubt it will change anything, but hopefully it prevents more issues. I will administer another cal mag dose every three weeks, until nearing harvest. I still need to defoliate, which is something that should already be done. I will try to get to it tomorrow sometime. 11/28/21: Day 42. 🍃Plant looks very funny without all it's extra leaves, but it looks very similar to what I've seen other growers produce. I will be closely monitoring on how the bud production moves from here. Without leaves in the way, it will be clear to see it getting bigger. The smell is getting quite strong, but only when the nose is close. Can't wait to see what it will look like in another 4 weeks.