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Happy new year, all!
Kicking the year off in my little Mars Hydro tent with a couple of intriguing new autoflowering selections from the Niagara Seed Bank - oddly enough, it will be cake vs. pie. This diary will chart my adventures growing Cake Stomper 🎂 , a strain that features some Mephisto genetics - a breeder who's offerings I've become very much a fan.
"Up to 1m. We took a beautiful Forum stomper mother and hit her with our wedding cake pollen donor. A compact flowering structure is to be expected. Coated with carpets of resin. She will be a great producer of gassy and creamy nuggets even in smaller grow spaces. A great strain for extracts."
Carpets of resin! 😍
I took a different approach to germination this time around and skipped the soaked paper towel method. I soaked the seed overnight in distilled water as usual and then popped the seed directly into a pete plug the next day. I placed the plug into a grow tray containing some PH balanced, filtered water. I placed the tray on top of a seedling heat mat and placed a humidity dome on top of the tray. Seed sprouted within 48 hours and the first root broke through the pete plug about 48 hours after that. I transplanted the seedling into a 4" net pot containing clay pellets yesterday, 6 days after soaking the seed. Light dose of nutes in the rez - EC .3 (180 PPM).
Off we go again!
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Fantastic start for the Cake Stomper. I only had to do one top feeding before her roots broke through the net pot, approximately 3 days after being transplanted.
Very dry in my house this time of year so I've been much more vigilant about running the humidifier in the tent. Both plants seems to be relishing the extra moisture.
I haven't changed the rez since putting her into the bucket a week ago and I'll likely let her go another few days before doing so and increasing her feed.
Once she's a little bigger the plan is to FIM her and get her into a ScrOG.
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The Cake Stomper is cruising along nicely.
She got her first rez change this week. EC has been running steady at .4 with PH ranging from 5.9- 6.0.
FIMed her a few days ago, on day 17 from seed.
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An action packed week for the Cake Stomper. I gave her a pretty good defoliation on day 22 and she hasn't skipped a beat and is filling out again nicely.
It won't be long before she goes into flower so I setup the ScrOG net today.
She got a slight bump in nutes with last weeks rez change. EC has been right around .6 (300 PPM) and PH has been very stable, between 5.9 - 6.1. I've been super cautious about not letting PH run high (≥6.2) and so far I'm seeing none of the deficiencies I've too often encountered previous grows.
I've doubled up the lighting in this tent as I suddenly had a couple of surplus TS1000s as a consequence of doing a lighting upgrade in my other tent. Really hoping to see some better end results.🤞 I'm running both lights at about 75% right now and will gradually increase the intensity.
Super happy with this girl's progress.
Thanks for tuning in ✌️
The Cake Stomper be stomping . She went into flower last week, on about day 27 from seed.
I stretched her out slightly more and she's well settled into the ScrOG with a nice, lush even canopy and a good number of bud sites.
I started her on flowering nutes with the rez change 4 days ago. EC has running around .8 (400 PPM) and PH has been between 5.8-6.2 (I'm trying to keep it between 5.9-6.1, ideally). Over the past few days she's gone from sipping to guzzling and I've been topping her up with 2-2.5 litres of water with 1/4 - 1/2 strength nutes daily. I only supplement with the core nutes during topups - Micro, Magnifical, Bloom, and AstroFlower.
The extra light in the tent seems to really be paying dividends. Both plants are growing vigorously. 💪 I'm thrilled with their progress!
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The Cake Stomper is looking fabulous for the most part.
I took a picture of the roots during a rez top-up last week and noticed that some of the roots were actually green coloured; almost certainly due to light leak - I usually have a cover fashioned for my bucket lids to block light from the entering the rez and low and behold I'd forgotten to add the topper to this bucket. Doh! I've since added a cover and am hoping this doesn't cause any issues down the road. Everything else looks pretty good currently. 🤞
She grew another 9" through the stretch this week and is about 24" tall now.
Rez change today - it's been about 10 days since the last one. No big changes. Pretty much following Remo's feed chart. EC is running right around 1 and PH has been between 6 - 6.2 all week.
I did a bit of pruning this week, cutting out a few branches and bud sites beneath the canopy. Thankfully I've not had to put in the amount of work as I do on her tent mate, the Strawberry Dawg Pie. So far it's been easier to bake a cake than a pie 😉
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The Cake Stomper is doing great and growing to a respectable and workable size- unlike the behemoth next to her. Curse your sativa legs, Strawberry Dawg Pie! 🤬
The Stomper put on another 5" this week and is 29" tall now. Buds are already starting to fatten with the first signs of frost appearing.
I did a little light pruning and defoliation this week to keep airflow and light penetration optimal.
The VeloKelp and Nature's Candy are now out of the mix. Visited my local hydro supply store to pick up a few things last week and had a great discussion with the owner about nutrients. She highly discouraged the use of VeloKelp in DWC, stating it had the potential to cause more harm than good given that not everything in the product can be easily absorbed, and further, had the potential to attract gnats, promote mould/fungus and rot. She also said to use a light hand with Nature's Candy because complex carbohydrates can't be broken down in DWC and can attract some pretty nasty microbes. I've introduced Sensizym into the mix to help keep the root zone healthy and aid in the uptake of nutes.
She drinks and feeds pretty consistently, about 2 litres/day. I give her 1/2 dose top-ups. EC has been running between .7-.8 and PH between 6 - 6.3. Her PH goes up a little every day and I balance her out to about 5.9/6.0. Rinse, lather, repeat.
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The Cake Stomper is doing great.
She finished her stretch, topping out at about 30" tall - the perfect size for this tent (Strawberry Dawg Pie, I'm looking at you 👀) Buds are starting to fatten up and the foundation for the "carpets of resin" promised in the breeders notes is starting to appear. Getting some smells now, a nice sour tang emerging.
She got a rez change a couple of days ago, 10 days since her previous. She got a modest increase in nutes and is seems to be enjoying the addition of the Sensizym into her mix.
I'm looking forward to the rest of this show.
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Despite growing in the shadow of the unruly Strawberry Dawg Pie, the Cake Stomper is stomping.
Buds are getting fatter and frostier every day. The main cola looks like she'll be impressive. She also reeks. Like sour, dirty dish rags - but in a good way 😉
About 4 more weeks til the finish me thinks. Looking forward to the finish line.
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The Cake Stomper is doing well. Buds are continuing to plump and ripen.
EC has been around 1 - 1.1 and PH has been running between 5.9 - 6.1. Pretty heavy drinker, about 3 litres/day.
The tent absolutely reeks (like a pile of sour dish rags) between the Cake Stomper and the Strawberry Dawg Pie growing beside her. The Cake Stomper smells like sour cherries when you brush against her.
Still a few more weeks to go.
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The Cake Stomper is doing good. A little bit of light stress on some of the leaves but nothing like her lanky neighbour.
Breeders notes say this should finish 80-90 days from sprout. We're around day 70 now, so still a couple of more weeks to go. A quick peak at the trichs with my digital microscope showed them to be 'partly cloudy' 🌤️
She continues to get plumper and she's very stinky; the scent of sour cherries and skunk when you rub against her. Can't wait to taste her 💨
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The Cake Stomper is filling her boots.
I took old lanky, the Strawberry Dawg Pie, out of the tent today, giving me a chance to move the Stomper to the middle of the tent and redistribute things a little bit. There's still some ripening up to do beneath the top of the canopy and on buds who's branches were smushed up against the tent walls, but now that she has the place to herself I think she should finish nicely.
Near the finish line. Another week or so.
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The Cake Stomper was a really easy grow compared to the Strawberry Dawg Pie that was growing beside her. Really trouble-free and relatively low maintenance. Her compact structure was really well suited for this small tent.
She produced some nice frosty and chunky buds. I can really smell the Wedding Cake in her, she has a nice sour cherry fragrance. Can't wait til she dries and I can give her a sample.
Dry weight and smoke report to come.
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StunFlower
