CBD Nordle

D4 - YES! We have lift-off!!! Today both seeds poked up. BOOM! Yesterday, I also put in my new humidifier in the tent, and man, this little thing is a BEAST. The amount of water vapor it is able to push out is insane. I use an Inkbird controller to... ummm... control the humidifier so that the humidity in the tent is 80% plus/minus 5%. I'm planning on running this high humidity for the first week or so and then dropping it down. D5 - I adjusted the light to 80 cm (about 31") above the canopy, resulting in 300 μmol/m2/s at canopy level. A bit high as I usually keep it around 250, but it should be alright, I think. D6 - The left girl, #1, seems to have died. Her leaves never fully emerged from the seed, and now she is entirely wilted, laying on the soil. So yeah, she is a gonner, I think. No idea what happened since she looked okay yesterday, and the other girl is already 5 cm (2") tall. Strange, but there's a first for everything, I guess. I already have a new seed soaking in water to be planted tomorrow. She'll then be six days after the other girl, and while probably noticeable at first, I don't expect any real problems during the grow. Hopefully, it'll germinate, but if not, c'est la vie. D7 - After soaking the seed for 24 hours, I rolled it in myco, and planted it in the first pot. However, I removed and replaced some soil in the center of the pot before planting, just in case something was wrong with the soil. Fingers crossed that this one will germinate just fine. On the other hand, the second girl is doing her thing just fine. I removed her humidity dome, though, as the RH in the tent should be high enough. D11 - End of the first week of veg and the third seedling popped up. BOOM! Now let's hope this girl survives, considering that the first girl in that pot died. On the other hand, the second girl is thriving; already 9 cm tall and 6 cm wide. Her first set of true leaves is slightly twisted but not too severely, and the second set looks fine. She is a bit leggy, so I added a couple of toothpicks for support. I have been asked in DM why I have Avocados on top of the soil. The reason is simply for feeding my worms and encouraging breeding. Happy worms = happy soil = happy plants. For anyone interested in learning more about Avocado Tek: https://youtu.be/JFRtNU6W9i8?t=400

D14 - The new #1 is looking way better than her predecessor, although she still has her seed helmet on. I've tried oh so carefully to remove it but no luck so far, and I'm afraid of using excessive force, so for now, it stays on. #2 is just trucking along, doing her thing. She is now 11 cm tall and 10 cm wide. I also removed her support as she is strong enough without it. I also cut back the cover crop as it was getting a bit wild and partly overshadowed the girls. Since starting the grow, I have yet to water the girls properly, but they did get a little bit a couple of days ago when I had some extra after watering nematodes (against fungus gnats) to our regular houseplants. Better to be proactive than reactive ;) D15 - Today, #1 popped out of her seed. Well, mostly as it is still stuck on one of the cotyledons. It's been over two weeks without proper watering, so the girls are getting a bit thirsty. The blumat digitals show around 115-120 mbar. I started a simple compost tea consisting of worm casting, rock dust, algal limestone, bentonite, biochar, and molasses. I'll leave it brewing overnight, and then it's watering/feeding time tomorrow. D17 - Not much to report as the girls are simply doing their thing. Yesterday, I gave each around 2 liters of the compost tea I started a couple of days ago. As always, I completely forgot to check the pH of the tea. I have no idea why I keep forgetting that with my teas when I have no problem checking the pH when I use plain water. Oh well. Not the end of the world but something I need to keep in mind for the next tea in a couple of weeks. D20 - The last day in week two of veg. Nothing to report, really. The girls are getting bigger day by day, and both are looking healthy and well. The second girl already has purple leaf stems which I don't think is stress since she looks lush and vibrant otherwise. I guess it is her genes as this strain can turn purple. I have never grown any purple cannabis, so my fingers are crossed!

D21 - Start of week three of veg for the second girl, while it is only the start of week two for the first girl as I had to replant her. I will probably do the first topping on the second girl this week but I'll see in a few days where she's at. I gave both girls around one liter of water @ pH 5.9. A bit on the low side as I used too much pH down but it'll be fine for one watering. D24 - Yesterday I switched my light from the seedlings program to the veg program, and I'm now reading around 500-600 PPFD across the canopy. On the high end for sure, so let's see how the girls handle it. However, the daytime temp in the tent jumped up to around 30 degrees C after I switched the lights. #tinytentproblems I also added some support to #1 as she has a relatively thin stem but large leaves, so the oscillating fan keeps knocking her around. The second girl also initially had a slender stem, so I guess it is their genetics. (#1 is 12 cm tall and 15 cm wide, while #2 is 20 cm tall and 35 cm wide.) I will need to top the second girl this week as she grows a lot each day. I'm considering mainlining her but haven't made up my mind yet. I gave both girls around one liter of water @ pH 6.5. D25 - A couple of days ago, switching the lights to the veg program made the cover crop explode and turn into a jungle. I decided to trim down the red clover to increase the airflow around the girls and reduce water use. I watered the girls only yesterday, but they were already thirsty again, so I think that the clover was drinking quite a bit as well. After cutting back the clover, I gave each girl around 1.2-liters of water @ pH 6.5. D27- Today was the last day in week three of veg for the second girl and the last day in week two for the first girl. I really should have topped the second girl already, so that will need to be done as soon as possible. She is 26 cm tall and 38 cm wide, while the first girl is 13 cm tall and 27 cm wide. Yesterday, I removed the support from the first girl as her stem had gotten more robust, so it was no longer necessary. Today, I started brewing compost tea (worm castings, neem meal, kelp meal, biochar, rock dust, algal limestone, bentonite, and molasses) which I will leave overnight and feed to the girls tomorrow.

D28 - The first day in the fourth week of veg for Nordle #2 and the start of the third week for #1. I gave both girls around 2.5-liters of the compost tea I started brewing yesterday, and for once, I remembered to check the pH and adjust it to 6.5. Yay, progress! D29 - Today, it was finally time to top the second girl. She was already seven nodes tall, around 30 cm. First, I got everything together as I prefer to have what I need before starting instead of running around looking for something mid-process: Snips, a couple of glasses with water to put cuttings in, bonsai wire and soil staples, clone-gel and a new razor blade, dwc cloner, peppermint oil and Q-tip. After cleaning the snips thoroughly with alcohol, I topped her just above her fourth node. I'm going to mainline her, so I removed everything below the fourth as well. She went from a lush lady to a stick figure! I secured her remaining two branches using staples and wire. The final touch in the tent was to put some peppermint oil on a Q-tip. Bugs and pests are attracted to the scent of injured plants. On the other hand, they hate the smell of peppermint oil, and it should deter the critters even though the girl smells like a buffet. I bought this tiny DWC system for a few bucks off Amazon a while back and want to try it as a cloner. (The primary purpose of this cloning project is to practice taking clones, plus see how well this hydro system works.) I trimmed each cutting before lightly scraping the stalk, making a fresh cut with the razor blade, and finally into a net-pot. I had planned to put some clone-gel into the water, but it turned out that the bottle had gone bad since last time. Oh well, pure water for this test run then. Finally, I cut up all the removed leaves and stalks into small pieces and distributed them on top of the soil in the pot. Have to keep that nutrition cycle going. Plus, like this, I don't have to worry about safely disposing those telltale leaves. Win-win in my book. D34 - The final day in the fourth week of veg for Nordle #2 and the end of the third week for #1. #2 has recovered great after her first topping, and I'm planning on doing her second topping tomorrow, six days after the first. #1 is a week behind so I'm planning on topping her in a couple of days as I want to make sure that her fourth node is at the same height as the fourth node on the second girl. The clones are looking really healthy but no roots yet but maybe that is to be expected considering that I'm using no rooting hormones.

D35 - The first day in the fifth week of veg for #2 and the fourth for #1. I gave both girls around 1.2-liters of water @ pH 6.3. I topped the second girl for the second time today, six days after her first topping, and I will top the first girl for the first time tomorrow. I also removed the large fan leaves from her fourth node as they have served their purpose. D36 - Today, it was time to top the first girl for the first time. Exactly one week after the second girl. She had grown a lot in four weeks to a height of 33 cm and a massive 50 cm wide, looking luscious and very healthy. I topped her the same way as the second girl, just above the fourth node, and removed everything below it. I stripped her down to the bare essentials and honestly felt a bit bad for doing that to her. I didn't keep any clones this time, as I still have the clones from the second girl. I might take a cut from her later, though, considering how vigorous she grew. Finally, I gave her around 1.5-liters of water @ pH 6.5. D40 - The first girl has recovered well from her abuse a few days ago, and I should be able to top her again in a couple of days. The second girl is still a few days out from her third topping. D41 - The end of the fourth week of veg for the first girl and the fifth week for the second girl. Sorry about the porno-light pics. I was a bit late, and my lights had already gone into sunset mode.

D42 - Today is the first day in the sixth week of veg for #2 and the fifth for #1. It has been six days since the first topping for the first girl, so I went ahead and topped her for the second time. I kept a couple of clones from her this time since she is so vigorous. I also had planned to do the third and final topping on the second girl but knew that I had to buy some more soil staples first. However, this morning a red warning showed up in my Corona warn app. It's the first warning I have ever gotten, but I'm triple vaccinated, of course, and I was wearing my N95 mask for this five-minute exposure, but I want to act responsibly and quarantine for a few days, just in case. So I improvised with BBQ skewers and some electrical tape. The skewers won't hold that well, but the branches are still small, so it shouldn't be a problem until I can venture out again. The cover crop was getting a bit unruly again, so I cut it back again. Finally, I gave both girls around 1.2-liters of water @ pH 6.3 and added a couple of qtips with peppermint oil to deter pests. D43 - I gave each girl about two liters of compost tea that I started brewing yesterday. A bit soon, possibly since I watered them only yesterday, but I needed to feed the girls in the other tent, so these girls got some as well. D45 - Aaaaaaaaaarrrrrgggghhhh! Thrips have found their way into the tent. Lately, I've noticed some discoloration on the older leaves but haven't thought much about it. Today though, it was much more pronounced. I took out my loupe and microscope, and sure enough, I could see thrips larvae. Ugh. I ordered some predatory mites immediately to help with the problem, but they won't get here until a few days, and I want to start fighting the infestation as soon as possible. So, I went out shopping and picked up some pure alcohol, chili flakes, and a spray bottle. After soaking the flakes for a couple of hours, I strained the mixture and prepared a 1:10 solution with distilled water in the spray bottle. I removed all older leaves that were affected most and then sprayed all the remaining leaves, taking care to get them soaked on both sides. This chili tincture is nasty stuff, though, and I was coughing like mad, and the snot was flowing like a spring-river. Next time I'll wear a mask! I also sprayed the clones outside the tent and the Chocodope girl in my other tent, just in case. The Colorado Cookies girl is in flower, though, so I couldn't spray her. She has no sign of infestation, but I'll treat her as well with the mites when they get here. D47 - I resprayed the girls yesterday with the chili tincture to ensure I got to all the little critters, and today, the predatory mites arrived. I hung one sachet on each plant, and I hope that's the end of the little buggers. D48 - The end of another week of veg. The second girl thrives after her third topping, and I will do the third and final topping on the first girl in a couple of days. Once that is done, I can install the scrog net. As for the thrips, I can still see larvae, but they are far and few in between. Hopefully, the predatory mites will soon make short work of them. I haven't even flipped yet, but there are already flowers in the tent!!! Alfalfa flowers that is :D

D49 - Today is the first day in the seventh week of veg for #2 and the sixth for #1. It has been a week since I topped the first girl, so I went ahead and topped her for the third and final time. #2 is thriving, and I'm using LST to spread her out while keeping her flat. With the toppings now done, I can install the scrog net soon-ish. As for the thrips, I haven't noticed any additional damage, and hopefully, the mites are doing their thing. I realized, though, that I had one extra package of mites. Instead of waiting for slow release, I went full Rambo by cutting up the package and sprinkling the mites/sawdust all over the girls and soil. I also redirected the airflow to not blow directly on the plants. I'll leave the sawdust there until tomorrow and then brush it off. The slow-release bags are still on the plants, so there isn't much to lose with additional shock-and-awe tactics. DIE THRIPS!!! Finally, I started a compost tea heavy with neem meal, which should help create an inhospitable environment for the thrips. Worst case, I have neem oil, but I don't want to go down that route unless I have to. D53 - I did some additional LST to both girls and removed a few leaves and branches on the underside of #2. I also cut back the cover crop and gave each girl 2.5-liters of water @ pH 6.3. D55 - I gave both girls around 2.5-liters of compost tea @ pH 6.5. The first girl has bounced back strong after her final topping, and in a few days, it will be time to flip, but I need to do one last defoliation before that. Sorry about the porn-light pics. I was a bit late, and my lights had already gone into sunset mode.

D56 - Today is the first day in the eighth week of veg for #2 and the seventh for #1. This will be the final week of veg for the girl as I'm ready to flip in a few days. I did the last heavy defoliation by removing most leaves and branches except the tops. I aim to get the girl to put all the flowering energy into the tops and hopefully result in big colas without popcorn nugs or larf. I did keep a few clones from each girl, though. After defoliation, I sprayed down the girl with my chili tincture to combat the thrips. I took great care to hit all leaves on both sides. This tincture is harsh to work with, and I was coughing like mad, and I damn near filled my N95 mask with snot (yummy!). After all this snot, drool and coughing, I just wanted to be done for the day, so I stressed checking out how my new scrog frame fits. The frame, of course, fell and broke one of the tops clean off. Ugh! I tried to fix it with some tape but the break was in a weird spot and it didn't work. Not a massive deal as it was a corner top, and there will be 15 other tops. Still annoying, but hey, it's my damn fault for stressing. D57 - The girls have bounced back nicely from their heavy defoliation. I just snapped a couple of pics as I hung a blue sticky trap in the tent. I always have regular yellow sticky traps in my tent to monitor pest pressure. However, thrips aren't that interested in yellow but are attracted to blue. D59 - I flipped my lights today from the veg mode to the flower-inducing mode. I have no idea how much these girls will stretch, so better sooner than later. Also, I finally got around to start training one of the tops toward the middle of each girl. (About damn time!) I've thought about it for quite a while but have been ignoring it. The lights are flipped now, so we are almost out of veg time. Now or never! D62 - The girls look healthy, and I can't see any thrip damage on the newer leaves. Fingers crossed that the buggers are gone! I gave each girl around 2.5-liters of water @ pH 6.3.

D63 - The start of another week. I completely forgot to take any pics in time so grabbed a quick one right after the lights were out. I'll post better pics tomorrow. D64 - I watered each girl with 2.5-liters of water @ pH 6.5, and snapped some better pics. ;) D68 - All is well in the tent. I gave each girl 2.5-liters of compost tea @ pH 6.5. I also did some additional defoliation. D69 - The end of the final week of veg. The girls are healthy and vibrant. #1 is starting to get bigger than #2, even though she is one week younger. She is also more thirsty so I gave her around 1.2-liters of water @ pH 6.5 while #2 didn't need any.

Flower Day 1 (FD1) -It's been 11 days since I flipped my lights, and I'm starting to see flowers forming, so today is officially the first day of flower. I switched the lights from flower-induction mode to flower mode and snapped a few pics. FD3 - My tent is slowly starting to get full. It will be interesting to see how much these girls will stretch before they're done. #1 continues to outgrow #2, even though she is one week younger. She is also more thirsty, and I have to water her every day to keep a good soil moisture level. #2, on the other hand, I only have to water every other day. FD4 - We have pompoms and I'm starting to detect a very faint smell when I open the tent. FD6 - The tent is getting crowded. The first girl is thirsty and requires daily watering now.

FD8 - Today was the start of the second week of flowering and the girls look vibrant, healthy, and strong. I gave each 2.5-liters of water @ pH 6.7. FD11 - I gave each girl 2.5-liters of water @ pH 6.6. FD13 - I staggered the lights to ensure equal light distribution across the canopy since #1 has outgrown #2. I gave each girl 2.5-liters of compost tea @ pH 6.5. FD14 - At the end of the second week of flowering, I forgot to take a video, and now the girls are asleep. Oh well.

FD15 - Today was the start of the third week of flowering. I gave #1 2.5-liters of water @ pH 6.1. FD18 - I gave #2 2-liters of water @ pH 6.6.

FD22 - So...ummm... I forgot to update this diary for days. I even forgot to take pics today before the lights were out, so I quickly opened the tent and snapped a terrible picture. lol We're off into the fourth week of flower, and the girls are rocking it in the tent. They. Smell. AMAZING! They are the best smelling plants that I have ever grown. It's a pure joy to open the tent. FD23 - Took a bunch of pics FD24 - Watered each girl with 2.5-liters of water @ pH 6.3, with 50 ml of EM-1. FD28 - The end of yet another week and not much to report. I did deploy Green Lacewing larvae to combat the thrips since the predatory mites weren't up to the task.

FD29 - Lmao. Similar to last week I (almost) forgot to snap some pics. When I finally remembered it, the lights were in sunset mode and almost turned off. Hence the weird color in the terrible pics. I will upload better pics tomorrow. FD30 - Pics! FD35 - We're at the end of yet another week. It's been uneventful, as it mostly is in flower. I prefer veg, while flower can be a bit ZzzZzzzt at times, where it's mostly a waiting game. However, in my lazy approach, I missed that the second girl stretched lately and got close to the light. I noticed that her leaves were taco-ing in, and I measured 1300 PPFD in the center. Holy smokes, Batman! I raised the light to around 1000, and I will observe her in the next few days.

FD36 - True to form I completely forgot to take any pics before the lights were out. The third week in a row. I'm detecting a pattern... lol FD37 - Pics! FD38 - Today, I was proactive in trying to prevent botrytis (budrot) since I have had problems in the past when temperatures and humidity get too high in late flower. I started with defoliating hard by removing fan leaves. That should lower the humidity in the tent as there are fewer leaves to transpire moisture, and also increase the airflow around the buds. Finally, I put my small humidifier in the tent to further lower the humidity. FD41 - The anti-humidity measures are working. The tent went from an average RH in the high 60s to the high 40s. (The average RH in the last 24 hours was 48.9%.) I'm happy with that, which should be enough to avoid budrot. Better safe than sorry, so I did additional LST to open up the plants and thus increase the airflow around the buds. It's also helpful to increase light penetration, so win-win. FD42 - We're at the end of the sixth week of flower, and things are chugging along in the tent. The buds are slowly fattening up, but it will take some time before they are done. There isn't much to do in the tent this late in flower besides watering. Today, each girl got 2.5-liters of water @ pH 6.5.

FD43 - We're off into the seventh week of flower and we're in the homestretch. There's amber in the trichomes but I'm still seeing quite a bit clear so it will take a little while before the girls are done. FD45 - Pics FD47 - Pics FD49 - The end of another week and we're getting closer to chop.

D53 - It's been a few days since my last entry, but I had the opportunity to spend a long weekend in Amsterdam, and who can say no to that? It's a mission to hook up the automatic drip irrigation for only a few days of travel, so I watered the girls thoroughly before leaving. Sure, they were thirsty when I came back but weren't drooping. The trichomes still show a bunch of clear, so chop day is still a bit off. The girls STINK! Or rather, they smell amazing but smell A LOT. It's that bad that I'm replacing the old carbon filter tomorrow. I was initially planning on replacing the filter after this grow, but my girlfriend starts to grumble a bit, so I better get to it... D56 - We're at the end of the eighth week of flower, and it is all a waiting game. I still see many clear trichomes, so that it will be another week or two before the chop. I'm a bit concerned, though, as we have had a lot of rain lately, and the general humidity is relatively high. This increases the humidity in the tent as well, and it is currently in the low 60s even though I have a small dehumidifier running. That is high this late in flower, and I'm worried about botrytis.

FD57 - We're at the start of the ninth week of flower. Everything is just coasting along this late in flower, and there isn't much to do except check trichomes. I'm seeing less clear and more cloudy and amber, and I estimate that chop day is one, mayyyyyybe two weeks away. The RH is the tent has dropped somewhat to mid-high 50s. It is still higher than what I prefer at the end of flower but should hopefully be ok. I turned up the circulation fan to increase air movement and make it more difficult for botrytis to take root. D63 - End of the ninth week of flower and I'm debating whether to chop tomorrow or wait another week until I get home from a trip. Decisions, decisions...

FD64 - CHOP DAY! Cut down each girl, trimmed off the fan leaves, and hung each branch. I set the inkbird controller to 58% RH (+/- 2%). Now we wait 10-14 days.

I let the girls alone for two weeks solid and didn't even check on them as I wanted them to have an optimal drying environment. The humidifier ran out of water after ten days, though, so I had to fill it up, but I only opened a small flap on the tent to access and fill the humidifier. The average temperature during the dry was 21.4 degrees Centigrade and 59.7% RH. I spread out the trim over a couple of days, so it wasn't bad. The final result was 285 grams: 238 grams of trimmed bud and 47 grams of larf and sugar leaf trim (I will use that for tincture). I'm happy with that. Overall, this grow was a success and my first step into mainlining but certainly not the last, as it was so much fun to train and shape the plants. Now, however, I will have a summer break, and I have already cleaned out the tent thoroughly in anticipation of new plants in September. I will enjoy my time off, but at the same time, I can hardly wait until the next growing season!