zSkittlez - Only One Left

Day 16 from germination and we are full speed ahead. Lost the side starter seedling, i didnt really feel like nursing a runt during this run either. So we will have 3 Hydro Plants on this run, I will likely TOP 2 of the plants and leave one with the single cola. Clusters of root straws exist already and the plants stem are thickening, these could be some monster plants.

And just like that... here we are 3 weeks from Germination and 2 weeks into Vegetation. All 3 plants are doing wonderful, starting to drink close to a full gallon of water daily (between the 3). Will keep them in Veggie mode another week and start the Flowering at 30-days. Topped 2 of the 3 plants on Day 21, will wait for recovery and top again in a couple weeks. Currently keeping TDS around 1300 and it dipped to 900 between feedings with no negative signs or deficiencies apparent. Hit them with a first dose of Hydra Guard early in the week as well, to maintain those Roots.

Impressive growth as we hit the 30-day mark and move them to 12/12 cycles and Flowering mode. Went a little harder out of the gates with feeding during the veggie mode and my 30-day results are better. So instead of tapering up on the TDS (from 600ish upward to 1300); I have tried to stay around the 1300 mark and the plants have responded with many flowering spots, whereas the lesser TDS ramp produced huge broad and thick foliage. Was a topping fool this week, topped the main crowns late last week and this week i topped 6 of the growing crowns. Still only topping 2 of the plants, one of which we will use as a control. Going to break out the netting this week,.... time to create that sea of buds Ive always wanted. And lastly, humidity was on the high side after a recent warm front... temp is okay, thus I have now fired up the exhaust fan to clear. Update Day 32... started flowering on Day 28 so we are 4 days in. The topped plants are showing many flowering sites and seem to be bigger overall plants, after only topping a week. Humidity came down around 60, maintaining temperatures 60n/76d . Lastly, topped off the buckets, measured PH to around 5.8 and fed TigerBloom and HydroGuard.

All 3 plants are levelling off now and I will attempt to deploy a net over the next week. Had an earlier PH scare on plant3 and the after effects are some burnt leaves and brown root, already starting to improve and at the time of the pictures, you can barely tell the plant was impacted (closest to camera). Started feeding with TigerBloom this week, keeping TDS between 1000-1300 for now and will start to gradually increase to 1800 over the next 2 weeks. Plants are tall with many flower spots, great foliage growth and structure. Expecting 5 foot tops and filling this tent up.

Day 45 since germination; Day 18 of Flowering. We are essentially half way done and have 6 solid weeks of flowering left. They all have many nice starts for flowering spots, ironically the Untopped plant appears to have more flower spots right away then the topped plants. The topped plants are taller and very reminiscent of the last grow, with the incredible growth from "Monster", which yielded 3 oz dry. Not ruling anything out at this point, but I have made some changes to the way I am catering to them. Keeping the buckets topped with water just at the basket bottom to slow the vertical growth, and checking vitals at start and end of every light cycle. Let's talk more about the plants, I have some names now. Butterbean = Untopped Plant; going to be shorter and plumper then the topped plants Stringbean = Topped 6 branches or so; tall and skinny to where the side branches intertwined and grew upward; dang thing looks like a bean plant. Jellybean = Topped 6 branches or so; Similar to above in looking like a bean plant, but without the intertwining and a bigger footprint Plants have been stable all week with no notable exceptions; feeding twice a week and keeping TDS in the 1300s; PH around 5.8. Tent temp gets low but have not seen it below 50 and it typically stays in the 60s since I turned the heater off to let humidity rise. Plants are doing great, will be working on the SCROG Pseudo-net to see how I can increase yield, probably do some lolli popping and top bending over the next couple weeks. Mid-week update +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ So Jellybean is showing signs of over-watering, which started shortly as I was steadily keeping the water level right to the basket. Going to drop it down a couple inches on each of the plants and here is a valuable tip I have learned: When going from Seedling all the way through start of flower, keeping the water levels high to the basket bottom will produce a shorter, fuller start. When you want the plants to stretch a bit, you would lower the water levels and raise your lamp. This will induce some stretching to get a taller plant, and a taller plant could produce more branches = more flower sites. Full speed ahead, PH Levels hovering around 5.8 ... temp 70d/62n... 5 more weeks!

Day 52 since Germination and 25 days of flowering. So in response to the overwatering symptoms observed last week with JellyBean.... lowering the water line in the buckets has cured. This would indicate the roots are not getting properly oxygenated when fully submerged. Eh, Im not going to throw another bubbler into the mix, so backing the water down right at 2 inches provides the same effect. All of the plants have stablized PH... between 5.6-5.9 fluctuations, I dial it back to 5.8 every 12 hour check. So we have flowering spots popping everywhere and the branches are starting to fill out. Although these are much taller plants then i've had previously, the SCROG will be leveraged to keep the height down during flowering. Actually starting to see a little frosting on ButterBean (untopped). The Zskittlez smell has settled in now as well,.... somewhat unique to me. Will do a mid-week individual plant update, enjoy! ******************************************************************************* Mid-Week Update ************************************************** LimaBean and StringBean went Hermie, both with multiple clusters of pollen sacks.,... removed both of them. Wow, left me with a single plant (JellyBean) which came from the same seed lot, will need to watch her closely. So to summarize, started with 4 and and ugly 8 weeks in.... we have only 1 plant remaining. Worse grow ever!!!!! Updates on JellyBean as she grows.

After the disappointing loss of the remaining 2/3 of the grow, I am able to increase attention on the remaining topped plant, JellyBean. I have been scanning JellyBean every day for any signs of maleness, as all 4 of the seeds came from the same lot. What a great time to talk about what happened. So I discovered male pollen sacks forming on the inner joints, unfortunately a couple already opened with flowers. on the initial find, I sacrificed a couple major branches on StringBean and kept monitoring. The following day, more spots were cited and I determined we needed to pull the plant immediately to prevent further pollination. This gave me a good time to inspect LimaBean, the untopped plant, which was really going well. LimaBean also was full of male pollen sack and I pulled that plant as well. Those plants were very stable since day 1, with the only adversity that may have stressed being some lower then expected temps, but I have seen worse in other grows with no adverse impact. We will continue to push JellyBean to her limit to save the yield, and I have nervously been checking her daily and fear the worse over this next month. JellyBean is doing great, beautiful white root ball, and a sizeable plant with 8 decent branches, that are starting to fill in at the top. Very easy to maintain, drinking about 2 gal/ week... ph stays around 5.8 ... TDS 1450, gonna start taking it up to 2000. No real concerns, have plenty of space to spread her out and grow some great branches and pick up some lower popcorn, boost that yield. Been doing some clearing off the lower stalks, to emphasize growth on the flowers. And we also have frosting now on the main buds, these guys are going to explode over the next 3 weeks. Days since germination 59 and Day 32 of Flowering (Target 90 Days)... one month left! ******************************************** Midweek update at 9 weeks since germination, with 4 weeks left (target 90 days) -- Pure Flowering Mode Flowers continue to fill and fatten, lower leaves are sagging a bit and im sure it is due to high water level in the bucket. I added another bubbler to the bucket and intentionally keeping the levels high to slow upward growth and it has worked. Will back away from the water level, leaving an inch below basket for a week to see if leaves look a little better. Biggest change in 4 days in the FROSTING and smell. Wonderful citrus/fruity smell, no escaping the chamber, but the tops are becoming very frosty and pungent.

And yes,... that is sugar leaves turning purp on most of the big flowers. Some of that Grape Ape coming out in it! Days since germination 66 and Day 39 of Flowering, the tops are growing daily if just slightly upwards, they are filling in and fattening up nicely. Frosting starting to get thick on some tops, covering the sugar leaves. Took a look at the root ball, they are still nicely white with no real concerns. Shes got some yellowing going on in the middle and growing upwards, which i dont typically mind, but a little later in the grow (last 2 weeks). She is probably running 7-10 days the way its going, so i either ride it out or water change. I am going to do a full bucket water change with fresh water and nutrients,... very close PH and same temp (keeping in tent all day). Would only get 1/4 yield if this goes wrong, but I will try and make it a low risk gamble. Need to try and keep this plant online as long as possible as the sole yielder. *************** Total Bucket change completed on Day 67/41 ..... went from 5.78 to 5.82 on the PH scale, and started light on the nutes (1083 vs 1880); This will be do or die!! Next morning results.... PH moving up after overnight, about a half a point, but enough to make me push it back down to range. Hoping to stabilize in the next 24 hours or this will get ugly for the plant. *************** Midweek update on Day 70/43 ... we are 48 hours post bucket change and things are stabilizing. Adding nearly a liter/day keeping the water topped, slight ph drift downward but bringing it back to range at dusk/dawn and variances have tightened down to 5.65 - 5.9 and should close more in the following days. For the results, NO Negative signs post change, however we still are dealing with some yellowing. There are a few leaves with spots indicating magnesium deficiency, which i may re-add the CalMag which i left out on the change over. So a little less then 3 weeks to finish, my earlier prediction of 7-10 days early says we may have 10-days to 2 weeks left.... target would be 90 days, we are at day 70. Yield.... right, thats why we do this. She has 3 major cola sites and 8 minor branch cola sites, eyeball says we will likely end with right around 2 ounces of dried/cured top shelf flower from this plant, along with probably .75 oz of popcorn/shake type materials, which i usually infuse in some sort of oil and use in edibles.

Made it through a full bucket change, Day 73 since Germination and 17 days for target, she is still growing. Some subsidiary branches are now starting to crown nicely which will help build the yield. Plenty of trichrome frosting, wonderful fruity smell, right here is one of the reasons I have enjoyed the zkittles strain.... beautiful flowers. Still seeing some yellowing on the larger sucker leafs, it has slowed down a bit post water change. PH still running 5.6ish to 5.8ish,... with adjustments at dusk and dawn to tighten towards 5.75. Turned on the AC to lower the humidity a bit and drop the temps as it was getting a little warm/sticky in the garden. Full steam ahead, another couple weeks and we will be ready to harvest!

And we are coasting to a finish at this point, just topping off the bucket sun up/down.... keeping PH at 5.8ish and managing temp between 65-80. How much longer will she last? So the leaves are turning/dying,.. interesting they seem to be turning a dark red before a yellowing sets in, some darker then others. Dark sugar leaves on a few of the top are purplish, likely the grapefruit coming out. It has lost close to 60% of the sucker leaves at this point, basically defoliating itself for me. In the next week, I expect that 60 to half... and only 30% left. The buds are bulging and on the last 2 grows, when this stage sets in, flowers will follow. So I am watching the big main colas for low hanging pollen sacks that will pop as a sign of last desperation in the plants life cycle. Could be anytime with this strain and environment, based on past grows. Didnt see a whole lot of amber through the scope will continue to look daily. Do see waves of milky trichomes, with edges of clear. We also see that pistils are turning dark red as expected, but very small percent at this time. Imma keep pushing her, will go ahead and hold back from nutes for flushing reasons, topping off with plain water from here out. Options could be to take any branches that seem ripe if pollen sacks break, rather then take the plant. The bottom flowers are just now getting going and we can likely double that yield going a full 10-days more with them; we could realistically get to the 3 oz. dry mark. Gameplan is full speed ahead, pull back on feedings, watch for pollen sacks and lets take this bad lady out another week. *************************************************************************** Mid week update D84/F57 The purple is real and likely induced due to low temps, which I believe also induced the 2 foxtail plants. Lots of new white pistils, continued plumping of the flower and trichomes are still milky/clear. But the biggest thing going is the underbelly growth below the net. Typically I am looking at the lower part of the plant as a scrub and use it for infusions, however since I have the space to spread things out a bit, I am now looking at a sea of nice popcorn buds that are just starting to flourish, fatten and frost. Need to get these developed to boost the yield.... full speed ahead!

D87/F60, marveling at the colors as we finish up the grow. Have not observed amber trichrome, all still clear with some milky and still see a few new pistils popping. Scanning for pollen sack evidence every 12 hours and letting this baby ride. Now flushed for 2 weeks, at this point we are ready to harvest, however there is no reason why we should not leave her online. Only about 30% of the sucker leaves remain, basically defoliating itself. The leaves seems to be turning a dark reddish purple, then fade to yellow while others in the lower plant have just faded to yellow as normal.

And we are done, harvest out at 91 days and 64 days of flowering. I did not harvest the tops to see if the bottoms would grow out further, some personal reasons gave me limited windows to properly process the harvest, so I took her down with opportunity. Latest scope look showed a heavy mix of milky/clear trichomes with a few ambers.. the last of the new pistils had reddened on the main colas, it was time. (9 weeks seems to be the sweet spot for flowering on zSkittlez and my runs have all been 90-days or less (hydro). So we dried a week and now curing;... and the total is: 60grams of fully manicured top shelf zSkittlez flowers! Probably another 20 or so grams of sugar leaf/scrub that I will transform to edible. I will do one more post to shut this grown down. Tough run, starting with 4 plants and ending with 1.... gonna pull back the rig for a couple months for tuning then I will back for a late Fall run.

Tent dark dried with temp at 75f and humidity between 40-60, hung dried in 9 days. Second trimmed and then jarred for curing. 60 grams dried trim flower to cure 14 grams dried scrub (sugarleaf/cuttings)