Strawberry Pie

I moved the seedlings a couple of times now. They went from pellets to pint bags to 1 gallon containers. One of the ladies had a little shock because I slipped while up-potting her and broke up the packed coco a bit in the process. She looks a little stressed still but she's recovering. Otherwise, things are going according to plan.

I'm 23 days into this auto grow so I topped the girls at the 3rd node even though the 6th node had only just started forming. I want to get one more topping in so I can manifold them but this strain takes 8 - 9 weeks to start flowering, so I'm a bit pressed on time. I think it will work out, though. Day 28: Nute burn or K deficiency showed up within a day of topping. I reduced the EC at the same nute ratios but added a small amount of extra K supplement too. A bit of damage done but they seem stable now. I also transferred the plants to their final air-pots and reconnected the auto-drip and runoff recirculation system. Feeding 3 times a day for 5 minutes each with a substantial amount of runoff to keep salts from accumulating in the coco. The air-pots drain exceptionally well and let a lot of oxygen in, so I feed heavily each time to flush a bit. Hoping to nip the tips and dying leaves in the bud so to speak ;-)

Day 29 : Nute burn or K deficiency showed up within a or so day of topping late last week. I reduced the EC from 1.2 to .85 with the same nute ratios but also added a small amount of the KoolBloom supplement to add a bit more K too. I think the issues were a combination a factors, topping stress, transplant shock (the root balls fell apart a bit, increasing EC in the nutes, maybe some salt build-ups (manual feeding was a bit irregular) and the LEDs being a bit too close. The girls suffered a bit of damage to the older fan leaves but they seem stable now and new growth is fine. I also transferred the plants to their final air-pots and reconnected the auto-drip and runoff recirculation system. Feeding 3 times a day now for 5 minutes each feed, with a substantial amount of runoff to keep salts from building up in the coco. The air-pots drain exceptionally well and let a lot of oxygen in, so I feed heavily each time to flush salts a bit and then recycle back to the reservoir and then track pH and EC there, as well. The plan it to refresh the nute reservoir once a week. Early LST will begin at some point later this week.

I managed to get a second topping in at the end of last week and started some low stress training on the main stems in preparation for manifolding. More updates to follow later in the week.

End of Week 5: I had an accident with the recirculating reservoir that caused a hose to become disconnected late last week. It was 2 days before I realized that it was pumping runoff on my closet carpet and it took 2 days longer to dry it all out again. Doh! I also began LST last week and began to manifold the plants. The branches are staying relatively short, so it's been difficult to tie them down and open op space for airflow and light to the inner areas. Starting Week 6 - Day 40: Plant 1: I decided to trim some leaves on plant 1 since it's the more compact plant right now. This opened up more space for light and airflow at the expense of several large fan leaves. Plant 2: This plant is more spread out so I'm keeping as much foliage as possible, though I did trim a few leaves that were obstructing light. I'm curious to see how the different levels of defoliation affect the plants' developments.

Did some some minor defoliation at the end of last week to keep airflow and light penetration high. Continuing to manifold with LST but I moved the plant around a bit to get more consistent coverage. A couple of colas are taller than the others so I may so some super-cropping to bring them in line soon. The girls are growing like crazy now that they've entered flowering. Everything seems good so far but I can't raise the light much higher. Just bought a new LED that should come in later this week. That will allow closer placement to plants and it should have much high penetration and PPFD. Very excited to try this thing out!

Started off the new week by screwing up the nutrient ratio, though the EC and pH were on target. Had to dump a 3 gallon reservoir and start again when I realized what I did. Doh! All good now, though. I really wanted to minimize defoliation in this grow but the tent is too small for 2 robust plants. So, I decided to start with some of the old, giant fans, and worked my way up to smaller fans and even some lower branches that congesting things. I think it's good now but I have a tendency to overdo it, so we'll see. The new grow light is outstanding! So much better than my first one. The girls have grown a ton in the last week and they seem to be eating up all the light I can throw at them. More updates later this week. Cheers!

Getting down on my hands and knees in the tent has been killing my back for a while so I finally converted a full closet to the cause. It sooo much better now! I have way more room to operate and I can control the climate better now too. And, best of all, I can work mostly from a standing position. Yay! So, I think it's clear at this point that Gertrude and Charlene are step sisters. There's no way these are both the same strain. At first I thought they were just maturing at a different pace but now you can really see that they are different strains. I wish I knew which (if either is actually Strawberry Pie) and what the other one even is. Oh well, I still love them like my own ;-) Gertrude is budding rapidly now while Charlene is filling out a bit still. I defoliated quite a bit to allow the light to penetrate fully. Hopefully this time I didn't overdo it. But, so far so good. The girls are really growing up.

It's beyond doubt now that these 2 plants are NOT the same strain even though the seeds came in the same pouch from same the reseller and were started and maintained on the same schedule from the beginning. Someone screwed up! It's all good though. CORRECTION: The community consensus appears to be that this is just a variation in phenotype expression due to the seeds being an auto. Since the is my first auto, that really caught me by surprise :-) Gertrude is shorter and the more mature of the two, and I believe she fits the description for Strawberry Pie, an indica-dominant hybrid. Charlene, is much taller with narrower leaves and a lighter shade of green, and she is maturing much more slowly. She looks to be sativa-dominant. The only issue I have is the fact that they are different heights and development levels, so it's hard to maintain proper light distance and nutrient ratios. So, I added a second reservoir with its own pump and separated the drip halos so each plant can now maintain an appropriate nutrition schedule based on her own development level. The light is harder to manage but I'm splitting the difference a bit. For the sake of this diary, I am only recording the attributes for the 'Strawberry Pie' plant, if that's what she even is. In any case, the girls seem happy and continue to progress at their own paces. Enjoying the process!

The ladies are on their own tracks at this point. These girls started from the same seed under the same conditions but they're about 1.5 weeks apart in maturity and a 7 - 8" difference in height. I've managed to get the shorter one propped up to be roughly the same distance from the light now and I've put them on separate nutrient schedules. The smell in my room is intense now. Filtering does little to mask it. Major skunk! I love it but it does permeate the house a bit too much. Oh well :-)

I was on the road for 5 days but the ladies help up well on their own. Now I have to go on the road for another 5 days :-( The lady on the left is just a couple of weeks away from harvest now I think. I'll do one more week of ripening and then a full week of flush starting when I get back The lady on the right is really maturing now but still a week or two behind her sister. I'm going to start here on the ripening schedule this week and then flush in 2- 3 weeks.

I was away again for several days but the girls held up well. The smell is overwhelming now and it fills up the whole house to the extent that I need to run a fan out a window to keep it under control. So, it's time to begin the flush for my lady on the left. The girl on the right needs another week or two. I filled the reservoir on the left with just pH-treated water, hydroguard, hydrogen peroxide and some molasses for a last minute sweetening. More updates later this week...

I harvested the larger plant on 4/30 after 94 days. That will be posted in a separate entry. The late bloomer is still growing though it's entering its final push. I figure I will begin the flush for that over the coming weekend and harvest the following week. The smell from both of these plants is very strong and it permeates the house unless I set a window fan to blow out :-)

I'll post a lot more about this harvest once the other plant is harvested and both are dried and cured. It's been a fun grow!

4 days into the flush and righty is starting to fade. A few more days and she'll be on the chopping block. She fattened up pretty nicely :-)