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Here we go again! 👍 Another Freakshow run, but this time it's going to be a little different. My goal here is to try my luck at hydroponics. My partner, who is the man who got me into this, does mainly organic mediums and I thought it would be nice for me to take a little corner out of the bedroom to run a small hydro set up.
This set up is going to be very make-shift. Something anyone could do on a budget. I am using a small trash can from the Dollarama that I have cut a hole into the lid to fit my hydro basket, 1 regular fish air pump, and 1 three arm LED 75W light bulb purchased from Amazon.
Nutrients are going to be mainly Root Farms Base Part 1 (1-5-7) & Root Farms Veggie Part 2 (4-0-1), along with additives of soluable seaweed, silica, thrive alive b-1 green, and plant-prod MJ Boost (15-30-15)
I really wasn't happy with the way my other Freakshow diary panned out, and I am still in a "not-so-ideal" situation to be growing at my full potential, but I will make due with what I have, and I hope all of you who join along can enjoy it too! 💚
***Jan 21
Picked 4 seeds that stood out the most for me, and let them sit overnight in a water solution with solvable seaweed (just a crumb worth). All seeds got engorged, but only 3 of them sank to the bottom of the jar by morning.
***Jan 22
Seeds now go in papertowel with the liquid they were soaking in. I will check back in on them tonight, but if I see no changes then I will update tomorrow!
***Jan 23
One seed has cracked! Going to the plant store later today to pick up a TDS/PPM meter to prepare my hydro bucket for when the tap root is ready. Also need to grab a rock wool cube and whatever else I'm missing for this grow. Only one seed cracked yet, but 2 others look hopeful, and 1 just looks the same. I am only looking for the fastest/strongest seed out of the bunch, so whichever decides to give me their tap root sooner, gets to be plugged in. I'll do another check later tonight and see if there are any more changes~
*Update
Another seed cracked, and one looks like it has a crack line, the last one is dark and not showing any signs of opening. I managed to get the set up prepared, and rockwool soaking. Here is my hydro mix;
1 gallon of water (well water)
1tsp Root Farms Part 1 (4-0-1)
1tsp Riot Farms Veggie (1-5-7)
1tsp Plant Prod MJ Boost ( 15-30-15)
1tsp Technaflora MagiCal (2-0-0)
PPM of well water read 400-500, total solution read at 2223ppm, added 2 more cups of water, PPM now reads as 2000, take the 500ppm away from the water, and I'm left with *about* 1500ppm.
Water PH read 5.7 after adding everything, so no need for adjustment.
I also soaked the rock wool cube with 2 cups water mixed with 1tsp soluable seaweed (it was very concentrated so I threw another 2 cups of clear water over it after) and now leaving it rest to absorb and drain any access water out.
*Update 2
Darker seed that didn't look like anything was happening was actually the 3rd one to crack!
***Jan 24
Comparing the 2 seeds with the longest roots at the moment, and the one of the left seems a tad longer but thinner than the one on the right. I'll leave them go for now to see if one takes off more than the other. I added just a few drops of water to the paper towel, and will check in on them again tomorrow.
1 seed still no signs of anything, so I'm not worried about that one unless it explodes out of no where.
***Jan 25
Big difference since last night, they must have liked the water. Clear winner here, the one with the thicker root came out with fuzz on it, so I picked that one to put in the plug.
The last seed also cracked, so 100% germination rate on these! Not sure what to do with the other 3 now, I hate throwing away good plants... maybe I will throw them all in a pot and give them to my partner to play with lol.
Rockwool cube didn't drain as much as I wanted it too, so the bottom is literally soaked with seaweed water, the plant will just have to get past it I guess, I don't want to squeeze and ruin my cube, I will definitely not just dump water through the cube next time!!
Now is the great wait, so I will check in with ya'll once I see some changes~
EXTRA UPDATES
***Jan 27
I took a little peek on how they're doing, and the shell casing as been removed, so I uncovered the rockwool a little bit so the leaves can see the light, it has been sitting under there for at least 24 hours with no help, but I don't want it to suffocate the leaves and rott on me, so I am just going to say that I opened the path for it to shoot up into the "sun". Looks great so far, I mean, it doesn't seem like my overly wet, overly seaweeded cube is making it upset in any way so far! 😂
***Jan 30
Looking super good! Lifted the light up about an inch (it's reading at 195 ppfd) because it just looked like it wanted a little less light (I don't know how to explain thus, but a lot of my rhyme and reason while gardening is purely gut feeling, but it seems to work)
Here's what happened: the leaves were opening up, then out of nowhere it looked like it reverted back closed a tad, I raised the lights, and now it's growing at a fantastic rate.
***Feb 1
It's still a little early for "veg" but it's definitely done germinating. We will call this week 1 "Seedling week".
All the plants in the room got transfered out to the 3x5 this little freak is now finding its home in the 2x2. Added one extra light of the same type for a little extra coverage, but its only receiving 225 PPFD (18 DLI).
No sign of roots coming out of the bottom yet, but the plant is still very small and the rock wool is still dripping soaked with seaweed water. It has dripped into my reservoir enough to say I added seaweed to the water, so I will continue doing so with my water changes.
No water change yet, and probably won't until I see some roots. PPM lowered to 1500 from 2000 over the 3 weeks, which looks better for the younger plant in the long run.
***Feb 3
No sign of roots yet, but the leaves are growing quite a bit, and the second set of true leaves just started to form.
***Feb 4
Water PH was reading 6.5 so I lowered it back down to 5.5 (it went a tad lower but it will reach back up from the dripping again).
New leaves are easy to see and plant is looking happy! 😊 I also took a hand full of water and sprinkled it down where the root would be, to give a bit of phosphorus for root development.
Fan is pointed directly on the plant to give it some strength, but not enough wind to stress it out. It's getting a nice breeze.
***Feb 5
Looking very good! It must have gotten taller today because it got a little top heavy. Took a peek at the root (split the rockwool near the bottom) and the root is about 1/2 inch away from breaking through the bottom of the rockwool! 💪
I am also adjusting the light dependant on the VPD (the closer to perfect VPD, the less I push the light stress on the plant). The plant seems to be reaching its leaves towards the light when in this state (Clawing?)
Not much growth noticed on the leaves, but hope to see a root show in a couple days.
***Feb 6
Looking great. Not much to report today.
***Feb 8
Topped the reservoir up with 1L well water. Still no root showing, but I have been messing with it a lot the past few days (tearing the rockwool and peeking) and the root wad just growing side to side searching for the nutrient water, because I failed to realize my reservoir was too low to make the bottom of the rockwool cube moist. It seems like this made the plant a little confused, not knowing which way the nutrients are, and just searching around for it.
It does look like it picked up a bit and the leaves are coming in nicely. Hoping for a big growth spurt this week and finally roots popping down. Still using the same nutrient mix from the very start, and still not planning on changing the whole reservoir until I see roots.
***Feb 9
Starting to take off, looks like they're enjoying the nutes now that they can reach them bahaha!
***Feb 10
Still growing, and getting bigger every day!
***Feb 12
Roots are finally showing in the bottom of the basket! This is great news because now we will see a big surge of growth. A little longer and I will refresh my reservoir and have a few more things added (like silica, and wetting agent, etc (I will have it all listed when I do it)).
You can already tell how happy it is by how fast it's growing, the difference between today and yesterday is stunning, and I can't wait to see more!
***Feb 13
Changed the reservoir, here are the nutrients I added this time around:
1tsp Root Farm part 1 Base
1tsp Root Farm part 2 Veggie
1tsp Technaflora MagiCal
1/4 tsp Plant-Prod MJ Boost
1/4 tsp RAW Silica Powder
1/8 tsp Fulvic Acid
1/8 tsp Humic Acid
1/8 tsp Gaia Green Soluble Seaweed
Well water is 450ppm for a total of 1500ppm in the reservoir, PH is 5.8, also adjusted the light back to 250 ppfd (23-24VPD). Temp is resting at a steady 22-24 degrees Celsius, and humidity around 47% with the tent closed.
***Feb 14
Happy Valentine's day, all! 💚
Growth is great! Going into week 2 of veg, if you take off my seedling week in "week 1". Glad to see nore roots starting to peek their way out of the bottom.
Looking forward to another great week, see you all there!
***Feb 15
Saw some calcium uptake issues, so I checked my reservoir, and there were some big changes. PPM was 1000, and ph was 6.3
I added 1 tsp of Fish Head Farms Fish Shit, and fixed my ph to 5.0, making my ppm around 1600 (take away 460 from well water).
I also lifted my plant up onto a platform, because the floor is quite chilly. My lights are now delivering 500ppfd, and I will be increasing this over the next couple days to 1000ppfd.
**later
Ph raised to 5.8 after a few hours, going to check it again tomorrow to make sure it's not rising like crazy again!
***Feb 16
Had a little accident when I flipped over the top to check the roots, the whole rockwool cube flipped out and broke in 3 pieces 😅🙄 I only broke 1 root tip, but its okay. Put back together, and it's a little taller now (so don't think it grew over night bahahah).
Tested the ph at 6.4, and lowered it down to a nice 5.6 (it'll probably just rise again though...) I am only using Fish Shit because I was recommended to introduce bacteria to my reservoir for the roots (Fish Shit packaging tells you its okay to use it in hydro) but I'm not liking it so far because my water keeps splitting and the ppm isn't very stable (constantly lowers, I think the nutrients are binding) so I will keep an eye on it for now, but next reservoir swap, I am thinking to stick with 100% "hydro" nutes to avoid having to stir the bottom sediment every day or more.
I noticed more brown spotting starting on the second set of leaves, not very happy about it, but I am keeping my ph monitored to stay around 5.5, and I dipped my cube into the reservoir to rule out a ph balance issue in the cube itself.
It did end up growing a bit overnight, and the new leave growth looks nice. Staying hopeful things will fix now with the ph, and if not then I will start considering refreshing the reservoir!
***Feb 17
Ph was up to 6.3 again, lowered to 5.9 ish. I'm going to be redoing my reservoir in the next couple days using RO water instead of the well water for a better ppm reading this time. PPM is sitting at 1600 right now (-400 for well water). There are also new roots out of the net again already, and they look a lot healthier this time around! (Root pictures coming soon).
I am making sure the ph stays between 5.5-6.5 but holding it around 5.6-5.8 as much as I can, while the ph is constantly rising and fighting against me haha. All in all, looking hopeful and hasn't stopped growing.
***Feb 19
Reservoir is finally a stable 5.9-6.0
All I can say is explosion!
No new issues popping up, I would say we're looking good.
***Feb 20
Roots took off again, going to refresh my reservoir tomorrow to make sure it's getting enough nitrogen. Inner branches aren't growing much, but I figure it's working on root development right now.
***Feb 21
Refreshed the reservoir, I'll add nutrient list in tomorrow's update in the new week information. Roots are still developing very fast and are getting fuzzy! 😀
***Feb 22
Happy 02-22-2022 everybody!
This is looking like it's going to be a good week, now that I have my Ph under control and stable around 5.8-6.1 ...I have no idea why it was constantly fluctuating, but now it's staying stable, which is a big relief.
The roots are developing impressingly fast, and the branches are starting to get bigger. I tried to give a little extra calmag, and base nutrient for a tiny more nitrogen. PPM is sitting at 1478 and ph is at 6.1 right now. I also left out the fish shit, mainly because I don't have any left, and I do not plan on mixing setimemt together this week and see if it's nessisary. The only thing I've recorded it doing is; makes the ppm lowered (strange right?) And keeps the Ph the same so it seems like a wasted step.
I've noticed some leaf tips are kind of droopy, I was told it was a over or under watering issue normally in soil, but this is hydro, so I'm letting it go. All else looks great!! 👌
Going to be adding a few more small lights to increase the light intensity in the tent, my veggies aren't getting enough light sharing with the little freak! Bahaha
***Feb 23
Lowered ph from 6.4 to 6.1, PPM sitting at 2200 (I'm not really looking too close at the ppm where I am using well water, until I see an issue).
Inner branches are growing and space between the nodes as well. Roots look the same, if not a little bushier.
***Feb 24
Not much to report, all looks great. Did a little photoshoot today. Really feel like I could take pictures of cannabis all day long 😅 Such a beautiful plant! ❤️
***Feb 25
Fixed ph from 6.4 to 5.8
Ppm sitting around 2000
Inner growth doing really good, and roots look healthy. A little sludge on the top where the water was, but isn't causing an issue.
***Mar 1
Did a little bit of root pruning, also scrubbed out my reservoir and rinsed the scum off the roots.
I didn't add the humic acids or the soluble seaweed this time around, to avoid bacteria.
Took 2 leaves that had calcium lockout damage on them from previous, and that's about it! Ppm is at 1500, ph is at 5.9-6
***Mar 2
Did a small defoliation of the big leaves blocking most of the branches. Already new root growth coming through the net! 💪
***Mar 4
All the branches are growing out and making it a nice Christmas tree shape. Probably going to wait 1 more week then send it into flower if I don't do that this coming week.
***Mar 6
Reservoir will need a top up, but aiming to wait for next week's diary to do a big overhaul. I need to prep the next reservoir for flower.
We *might* have a male on our hands, but even if so, I will be following this diary all the way through. End is going to be either flower collection or pollen collection! (Not going to lie, kind of more excited to have pollen than flower.)
Root growth is going mad since the pruning! The plant itself is hard to tell if there has been much happening with it, because it's been growing at such an even pace, but the branches are reaching for the light, and that's what I wanted!
Tis smol, but cute! That's all from me this week, so I'll see you all next week's update!
***Mar 8
I decided against going into flower right yet because I am too excited about the growth haha. This pheno has been bushing out really nicely, and I wanted to see what one more week will bring. Roots are almost at the same point of where I pruned them the first time, so I'll do some research into how often it's recommended to prune roots.
Starting to smell a little sweet when I'm looking in at it, can't wait to see what this week will bring!
***Mar 10
Ended up drawing a little logo last night in anticipation for future work I do with this strain. I really like the way freakshow grows, and want this to be a strain I hold close to my heart (I hope the flowers don't let me down!!!) ...speaking of flowers, it looks like pistils are coming out at the upper nodes, but I'm not holding my breath yet because I know how well sexing this strain worked out last time, so I'm not going to predict the sex at all this time. Pictures will be added later!
***Mar 11
Did another root pruning this morning, and already roots are growing down! 💪
When I opened up the tent tonight to peek on how things were going, found the humidity at 82% (my tomatoes are to blame) so will need to be conscious about leaving the tent open a little more during the day. Freakshow seems to be happy as all heck though. Looks like it had a small growth spurt, and the leaves are praying to the light.
Added 1L plain well water to top up the reservoir after the root prune. Everything is going really well!
***Mar 12
Took top two leaves off, and it's looking like it's going to stretch really nicely when I send it into flower, the canopy is very flat and all the branches and reaching the light. Not many changes to the roots.
***Mar 15
Sending her into flower!! The roots look crazy thick, and new growth coming down once again! All of the branches have been growing very evenly, with the help of me rotating it every once in a while (one side closer to the wall than the other) and let me tell you, the stem rub is DANK.
I am looking so forward to the end results to this grow, and to see how it takes the stretch.
I added a tad more nutrients than normal, in preparation for the surge in growth hormones. My plan is to remove the Root Farm Base nutrient by the time stretch is finished, because the Plant-Prod has more than enough nitrogen in it. May also start adding more soluble seaweed after stretch as long as the little bit extra I added doesn't make my roots black and slimy.
Node spacing is pretty good, not too tight, but not too far apart either. This is the best pheno I've run for the freaks thus far, and so happy with everything so far. (Maybe it's just the grow style, and the environment, but still lol)
Still not sure about the sex, but still secretly hoping it's a male. You can smell the plant even when just simply plucking the top 2 fan leaves as they become sun blockers, and if smell correlates in any way to potency, then these is going to be some exciting results!
***Mar 19
This girl is really plugging along, the roots are a massive heavy knot, and the leaves at the tops are starting to fold upwards and look like bud sites.
I feel, where this pheno didn't get super lanky like I see most freakshows, that I may actually get some "nugs" off this one. Instead of what I normally see, which is a ton of thrichomes loosely spread around the fan leaves.
Smells of piney fresh lemon cleaner, with lavender undertones. I get a nice smell everytime I even just brush my hand against some of the leaves. The stem rub is where the smell really shines, though.
***Mar 20
I had a ton of stuff written here...but updating on mobile has been the bane of my existence, and it randomly decides to delete everything I've jotted down...
ANYWAY.
She has been sending herself into flower very nicely. There's a lot of growth happening on the inside which I will need to clean up, but I don't want to stress it out while it's stretching, so I will take care of the clean up after stretch has finished.
She is one thirsty girl, I've been needing to top up the reservoir almost every day. She's been drinking about 4 cups of water each time. The PPM went down to around 990-1000 from the starting point of around 1500. I don't want to add any more nutes at this moment because I will be refreshing the reservoir in a day or two anyway. I would like to add a little extra Root Farm Veggie next time because she has been showing great signs and I feel like she can handle it. I won't touch the nitrogen content until after another week and I can confirm stretch is finished, and then I will start to lower to nitrogen content I put into the water.
PH went up to 6.4/6.3 so I lowered it back down a tad to 6.
The humidity has been a little high during the night, or at least by the time I wake up and check on things (80%) but mind you that it's most likely from all the vegetables growing in the same tent. I keep the tent door open wide during the day to bring the humidity back down to around 40-50% (it's already down to 68% in less than an hour) and none of the plants seem to mind, except for the spinach, which I removed to a less humid spot.
The lid is getting very heavy when I am trying to peek on the roots and reservoir, I will need to get another set up after this run is finished, because I know for a fact I will be trying hydro again. I just love how this is turning out, and it's a lot more fun for me personally to be in total control, unlike soil, where you kind of monitor it and make sure the ecosystem is happy for your plant to thrive in it.
This is it from me til next week! Thank you all for following along! 💚
***Mar 22
Week 2 of flower, looking really good. I made sure to give the reservoir a little extra ppm this time around, because last week the plant ended the week hungry. I put a little extra Plant-Prod in this week, hopefully the extra 300 ppm will be enough this week!
I went in and took off some leaves that were blocking the inner nodes, but I didn't take off any small bud sites on the inside *YET* ...I want to wait til stretch is done before taking anything major off, just in case it catches up by then. I will say that it is looking a lot more open now that I took a handful of leaves off. Most of them were overlapping other leaves, or just straight up too big. Others that didn't seem like much of a threat, just got tucked under other branches or leaves. I'm trying to be as hands-off with this grow as I can. Freakshow doesn't seem to like being played with too much.
PPM is at 1850 and PH is at 6
Lots of pictures to start this week off, and also a small video to better detail how to plant is growing. I may have to switch CalMag brands by the end of the grow, unless the bottle will last me (I'm sharing my nutrients with my partner), but I don't think that would make too much of a difference, but it's worth noting.
I also would like to note that I have not topped, LST'd, or any other training method to be precise, other than taking the top two leaves off as they get too big, I have not done anything else to make this girl get so wide. The canopy has been doing it' all on its own. The roots have been growing around and over the bubbles in the water, making them spread out almost like a cup (my partner has a theory that may be why the plant has been getting wide instead of tall... He believes the plant tends to take on the shape of the container it is it; aka the shape of the roots).
I can now confirm that she is a female, as shown in the picture, you can see 2 long pistils coming out! ✊
I think I have the smallest amount of powdery mildew starting, because of the humidity being so high, BUT I have taken all other plants out of the tent, so this freak is all on her lonesome inside the tent now. I have seen an immediate improvement this morning, so I am not concerned over it.
Beautiful start of the week, and can't wait to see how it goes the rest of the week! Should expect to see a lot of bushing and hopefully some trichome production by the end of it. Have a wonderful week everyone! 😻
***Mar 24
Already drank 2 full cups of water (around 2L) and down from 1850ppm to 1600ppm ... oh boy!!! She's so hungry I wonder if I'll be able to keep up hahaha. She's looking really happy and healthy. Roots are still growing like mad. I wanted to trim them, but going to hold off a bit so I don't stress it out.
***Mar 26
...The amount of water she is drinking is outrageous. I actually had to feed a little bit more nutrients (Plant-prod 15-30-15 about 0.3 tsp to bring the ppm from 1200 to next to 1500 to get through til monday/tuesday) and a sprinkle more of soluble seaweed.
I did a little lollipopping tonight as well! Looking much more open and I took out a lot of the small bottom bud sites and leaves that weren't really getting any light. Everything is looking super good, and still no health issues. Doesn't seem to be missing any nutrients, but also doesn't seem to be bothered by having extra nutrients either.
***Mar 28
Had to redo the reservoir a day early, she is drinking way too fast. I am going to need to make sure to top up the water level every single day now, to prevent it from drying out so fast (2 days, and its half empty!!!)
I took away the Root Farms Base and doubled basically everything else. I did this because I feel like the stretch is finished, so I wanted to remove some of the nitrogen. PPM is at 2100 and Ph is at 6.
She's starting to get little nugs!
Not much of an ambient air smell yet, but the stem rub is very fragrant. The smell reminds me of a warm summer day by the pool, the smell of the fresh air mixed with bright flowers and lemon cut grass. A very beautiful, light, and energetic smell. Can't wait for it to finish, and wondering how the smell will evolve as flower continues.
Did a root trim today as well, because it was getting a little crowded in the reservoir, now we are nice and tidy! (Hopefully wont need to do another until the end of flower but we will wait and see how it goes lol). She's filling out the tent a lot, I would say she at least doubled in size since the beginning of flower.
***Mar 30
No sign in trichomes yet, but she's starting to bulk up a little bit! Mostly just the top sites are bulking, but there is some development on some of the upper inner branches as well.
***Mar 31
2 full cups of water added to the reservoir today...! ._. Also down from 2100 to 1800 PPM, like what? I cannot get it to slow down, and I am almost worried I am not giving it enough, but, I mean, it's growing incredibly fast. Just from yesterday to today, the pistils are POPPING like mad, and I even had to do some leaf tucking (and take the top 2 fan leaves covering the inside, it's been a while since I've needed to do that!)
All I can do is wait and monitor the PPM, and if it gets too close to 1000 before monday, I will add more nutes. She really acts like the more I give, the more she uses 😅 What an impressive strain.
***April 2
Topped up the reservoir, and made sure PPM and Ph were alright (1600ppm and 6.1ph). It almost looks like it stretched over night, and I had to raise the light up (it went from over 700-1000ppfd for the branches and tops, respectively, to around 500-700). I was going to add more nutrients, but it seems okay at 1600 for now, and now that it wont be getting such intense light, it wont be forced to drink more.
I ended up cleaning out some more leafage around some over-layering spots, and also some inner nodes that weren't going to develop into anything other than shake.
Got some close ups of the inner nodes, and a quick video showing the layout of the plant! It's amazing how big it's getting, it's already taking up the whole tent, and its only been 2 1/2 weeks since I threw her into flower! 😂 💪😁👌
***April 4
Fixed up the reservoir with no more of the Prod-Pro (15-30-15) because I wont be needing as much nitrogen anymore (stretch is over I think).
I cut the bottom 4 branches clean off, because they weren't getting much light, and I want the energy to be put into the nodes closer to the tops. My partner put them in clone gel and is attempting to root them, but I am not expecting them to root (you never know though!)
The nugs are filling out super nicely, and are really shooting pistils. I even can see the tiniest bit of frost beginning to form! 😍
Everything is looking super happy & healthy! The roots are looking a little thick, but I promise they are just a giant root balloon, eating up the oxygen from the bubbler underneath.
This is my first time using Holland Secret nutrients, so if anyone has experience with them, feel free to comment what you thought about their other products! I might end up switching completely over to them from Root Farm if I like the results of the Bloom. 😁
***April 6
Seeing more and more frost every day, might not be major, but its the beginning!
She's also not drinking like mad anymore, which confirms for me, that the stretch is over for sure.
Thinking about doing a supercrop HST towards the later weeks of flower to stress the plant last minute into bulking up the buds, but I haven't decided for sure yet.
All in all, things are going amazing!!
***April 10
Haven't check the ppm, but had to add 2 glasses of water (about 8 cups) to the reservoir.
Top was getting a whopping 1300ppfd (59 DLI) so I raised the light for the last time. Now it's hitting around 900-1000ppfd which is a bit more comfortable. The plant wasn't showing any signs of stress, but I wanted to catch it before it could accidentally burn itself. All the leaves are praying towards the light, and they are really stacking on the trichomes now.
I can smell sweet vanilla in the air when I enter the same room as this girl, and I am loving it.
Pistils haven't changed much, but the nugs look like they are starting to fatten up a tiny bit. I'll make sure my reservoir PPM isn't too low tomorrow when I refresh the reservoir. It seems to be loving the bloom. If the PPM dropped too low, then I may consider adding another tsp.
Thanks for another great week, see you guys in the next one!
***April 11
First things first, she is looking sexy as hell. Trichomes are spreading down the leaves, they are fattening up super nicely, it's been handling the nutrients really well, and has been drinking a decent amount. I get a nice vanilla bean, sweet, pine smell coming off of her, and it's been getting stronger every day.
I haven't been needing to take too much off of her, just a few fan leaves here and there, but she has been taking care of herself pretty good in the long run. I have been taking off some of the teenie-tiny buds as I see them, because I want the main focus on the top nugs and the middle branch.
Roots are growing like nuts, but I'm going to leave them go for now, until they get more out of hand (probably the end of this week).
I gave 1tsp extra of the Bloom, since it seems to be handling things well, and not showing any signs of burn.
😍
Very happy with things so far!!
***April 13
Wasn't around to open my tent when the lights turned on, so it spent 6 hours in max humidity, but it seemed to like the stress, because it's literally coated to the tips of the top fan leaves with trichomes.
***April 15
WELLP.... I had to raise the light again 😂 She is growing vigorously, and is showing no signs of wanting to slow down. Still stretching just a tad, but mostly just packing on the weight and getting dense. Even the nugs down at the bottom are big enough so show they are worth keeping.
I am so impressed with this grow, and I can't get over how happy I am to see it loving everything I can think to throw at it!
Hard to believe just how big this filled out compared to before flower. Definitely 5x the size she started from, that's just my estimate. She started 1/4 the tent, and had enough room for all those veggies along with her, and now looking at her, I am thinking "wow... it's a good thing I got everything out of there when I did." 😂😅😍
***April 18
Another great week for this freaky girl. The buds are getting fat and trichomes are producing everywhere! My fingers were coated in a sticky sweet pine coat just from removing a few fan leaves around the inside. You can really smell this girl when she is out of the tent. I also did a proper measure with a tape measure, and we're coming in a a whopping 22 inches!!
Changed the reservoir, same as always. I think I have a good amount of nutrients getting into her, so I will leave it at the levels I have right now. (Tips are just BARELY burning, which is a perfect sign I'm at the limit).
Looking forward to how much she changes this week! Only a few more weeks to go! 😀
***April 20
You can really see the nugs stacking now. The smell is so intense, and no matter where I touch, my hands are sticky 😍
Happy 4/20 y'all!!
***April 30
Sorry guys, I know I'm super late for this week's update. Things have been busy with my pregnancy so I didn't have much time to sit down and document.
Reservoir has been changed Monday as per usual, same amount of nutrients.
The main top branch was getting some light stress because it wouldn't stop growing upwards, so I supercropped it over. It's been 2-3 days since I've done that, and it doesn't seem to mind. It also opens up the middle of the plant so now some of the lower bits can get a lot more light access!
Trimmed the roots pretty good as well when I did the reservoir change.
The pistils are starting to brown, and the nugs are absolutely solid. A nice amount of trichomes found on the fan leaves also!
Freakshow is said to be a 9-12 week flowering strain, so I think it's still got a few weeks to push through, and I might really push on the nutrients as it gets to the end, but so far so good!
It's dank as all darkness, and the smell waves over you every time you enter the same room or open the tent in the morning.
This girl still manages to impress me every time I look at her. Very happy with 7east genetics so far!
Also changed brands of calmag, to future harvest calnesium!
***May 2
The plant looks like it's either a little deficient or it's starting to go through some senescence.
I added 1 tsp. extra of both calnesium and the Bloom, to give it one last push for the last going off. The nugs are all solid as rocks, and the smell is still just as strong.
When touching the plant, my hands are left with a very sticky feeling.
It responded very well to the supercropping last week, and hasn't shown any issues.
Still a few fresh pistils coming in, so I think it's finishing off stacking and then next week I can cut the nutes back down and let it finish itself off.
***May 13
No reservoir change any more until the end of flower. I'm just filling it up with water as it goes, I'll let the plant flush itself out for anything it needs. Mainly because it's gotten too big and heavy to take out of the tent comfortably. The branches are all leaning over, and the buds are starting to finish up now. I have to take the loop to it to check the trichomes, but I think in another week or a little longer I'll be able to chop her down.
Man I'm so excited to see what she brings to smoke!!
I've never seen a freakshow with big nugs and not looking like a wiry mess, so I am a little proud of myself for a first hydro hahaha.
Still dank as hell when I open the tent.
Sorry for all the late updates, things are getting busy!
***May 21
I pulled the plug, shutting off the lights for 24 hours and letting her sit in darkness before the big chop!
I would say it just started to amber slightly, but mostly cloudy trichomes. More will amber as it dries and cures, but I'm looking for it to be a pretty heady high.
I had a lot of fun with this strain, and recommend it to any new growers because it is super resiliant and doesn't require much if any training at all. It really liked to be left alone without being Topped, which I found out in comparison to my other bunch ("phenohunt grow") which were pretty stunted from the training.
Colors started to come in as it ran out of food, a light purpling on the inner leaves.
Will update more tomorrow with the chop, and start the Harvest week!
Thank you all for following along, it has been an amazing experience!
***May 22
Finally harvest day! Thank you all for following along if you have made it this far.
A few things to say about this strain;
I had a wonderful experience with freakshow by 7east genetics. It was easy to grow, and very forgiving. It seemed like it didn't care what I threw at it.
It is very stress resistant and powdered mildew resistant.
There were days that the reservoir wasn't filled as high as it should have been, days where I forgot to open the tent up (so it sat at 100% humidity a couple times, for a day at a time), and not bothered one bit.
I didn't do any training on this girl whatsoever other than picking a few fan leaves off here and there.
It is a very airy strain with the leaves being very light penetrating, so not much worry about light blockage.
I would 100% recommend this strain for anyone who is new to growing or lives in a humid climate.
The plant finished off with some nice purple hues on the leaves, not too much on the buds themselves.
Smells of vanilla coffee, a very sweet and warm aroma.
Will update more as it dries and will post smoke review once finished!
***May 26
Throwing more color as it dries. Trying to dry it nice and slow.
***May 29
Nugs were a little wet and squishy on the 26th, now they are hardening up!
WishiFishi
