Grow #6: Gorilla Glue #4 pt. 3

Survived into week one gracefully. All 5 seeds have germinated and have just been transferred into their 5 gallon buckets. Even though they are small, I am simply too lazy to gradually increase their bucket size. I have also added nutrients to their water for the first time. We are on week one of the nutrient levels provided off of General Hydroponics website. We light fixture that we built around our tent is helping us to maximize the height space within the tent as we have been have losing out on about a 18in of grow space because we can't get our lights high enough. We are adding in the second light fixture this week. We just cut holes at the top of the tent and hang the lights through that way.

We experienced a littel stress with the plants early in the week. 4 of the plants started wilting and losing their green. We ended up adding in a second air stone to each bucket after everything else was cleared (pH level check, PPM/EC check, temp check...). We have single fan going on and the 5th plant stunted out. Down to 4 plants. No other issues reported.

The plants have been very slow to grow. At this point last time with this cultivar we were already switching over to flowering. They are not even half way there yet. Then they started looking like there was too much water in the buckets. After removing some water and no improvement, I started doing some digging around on what may be the issue. Turned out to be Nitrogen Toxicity. I removed half the nutrient rich water and replaced it with regular pH'd water. The plants bounced right back and are looking lively again.

Ok so I though the plants recovered, then I changed out the nutrient water for this weeks ratios and 2 of the plants started showing signs of stress again. It looked like the same kind of stress as before, Nitrogen Toxicity. So I removed a gallon and a half of the nutrient rich water and replaced it with regular 6.0 pH'd water. They all are pretty small at weeks only being between 5-6in in height. The root systems aren't where they are suppose to be. The nutrients aren't too high, water pH is fine. I have two 4-port air pumps going for extra oxygenation. I'm starting to think that I didn't clean the clay pebbles correctly and it's leading to these problems. They are up and down in how happy these plants are. I topped the plants and lightly clipped off the bigger leaves through out the week. They are supposed to be switched to flowering next week, but am a little worried about their health. I'd say 2 or 3 out of 4 are doing pretty good. So that's something. At least they went out grow the tents this time!

We noticed that the plants root system has not developed properly. So we ordered General Hydroponics Rapid Start that is a root supplement that can be given throughout the growth cycle. They have recovered beautifully. I know they are a bit small at only about 8-9 inches tall, we want to extend a different part of the feeding schedule this time around. We like to have every plant have their own light. I brought out a third 600W Viparspectra Full Spectrum LED grow light along with a 1200W of the same brand. There is no particular reason for different Ws other than it was from an earlier grow. I use what I got haha. I have some cannabender LST going on with a few of the plants help open the plant to get some more flowering sites open. We have about 7-8 colas per plant so far. Lets see if we can some fat buds. Can't believe we're Flowering already but these ladies LOVE to stretch. Also trying another technique called "Perpetual Thinning" where you cut less than 20% of leaves so as not to stress it out too much that major defoliation can have. Having fun training these plant.

This week was great with the plants. They are finally starting to have some kind of aroma. The roots have really taken off and the plants are looking very happy. We did some more LST for the plants to open up more flowering site. Still trying that perpetual defoliation method. Just a couple leaves here and there. The cannabenders have been doing most of the work. Pretty happy with where things are at right now.

The plants are doing pretty good. Added some more cannabenders to the plants to help keep the height down. Not really sure where I'm going with the training. Just trying to curb the stretch and open up more flowering spots. We are at Mid Bloom 1/3 on the Hydroponics Medium Feeding Schedule. The meter is reading about 50ppms less than what the target goal is. I may increase the ratio up to 6 gallons instead to get the PPMs up. The bottom of the plants look like they need to be trimmed more. I know we're in flowering, but I have been clipping a leaf here and there. Rapid Start has the roots growing healthy. The aroma is just ok with this round. I say average strength.

We have opted to upgrade the nutrient schedule to Aggressive to make up the lack of nutes earlier. We are on Mid Bloom 2/3 and the PPM levels are right where they should be. The plants really shot up, but the cannabenders are doing a great job at curbing the stretch. One plant in the back left corner has become the runt of the litter. Its a little smaller than the others, but I haven't really used any cannabenders on it except for the beginning. So, there are a bunch of branches that I wish I could prune because they are obviously suckers. Going to try snipping one here and there along the way. However, I am noticing that anything under the 7th node of the plant can be snipped (for future reference). One of the plants seems to have a few to many "colas" and I am not sure how to maneuver them but we'll see.

The pre flower white pistils are starting to grow in. We are on "Mid Bloom 3/3" on General Hydroponics feeding schedule. I have just clipped a leaf hear or there that was getting in the way. Cant help but feel that the plants may be too bushy for flowering? Any way, they look great. The stretch is under control and we built our second light fixture to take the last two light off the tent poles and allows us to raise the lights higher to utilize that 2.5ft. of wasted space above. Added some more cannabenders for here and there but it's all going well. Man, compared to the last round of plants we grew, this plant doesn't really smell like anything to brag about. It's still early though. Roots are very healthy and white. Added a couple more stakes into the pots to help the lower branches stay upright, keeping the plants from getting too wide.

We are going into week 6 of flowering strong. The pre flowers are really starting to come in nicely. We have repeated Mid Bloom nute ratios for an extra week. Usually we are extending the last one or two nute levels because the the plants are just not ready to cut down yet and they really could have used the nutes earlier in their cycle. So we are trying earlier now. As you can tell, they still have some time to mature. Overall the plants have basically reached the end of their stretch period. They have stabilized at around 25in. in height. I have only clipped off dead or dying leaves from the lower level. They may not be very stinky, but these girls are super sticky already and there's plenty of trichomes all over the plants. Very nicely done. The roots are doing amazing since we added the rapid rooter nutrients. Added a few more stakes to some of the plants to help keep the lower branches upright. I have some new ideas for pruning next cycle to make sure that I can maximize the yield. I have had some issues keeping the bottom cleaned up enough in flowering.

Plants are looking healthy with the white pistils starting to recede as the buds are fattening up. Some stakes have been placed into the pots to help keep the branches upright. No issues this week. Looks like we're going to have as much sugar leaves as we are bud! The trichs are just building up on the leaves. There's a pungent scent starting to come through. We have started on the Late Bloom 1/2 nute levels this week. By the looks of the plants we may be extending these levels an extra week. They look like they still have about 4 weeks min. to finish up and we only have 3 weeks left of nutrient schedule. Experimenting to see which type of extension is working best to get the most out of the plants. Also looks like anything from the 6th or 7th node down should be cut down/cleared out. Little side note for how to prune next cycle. The bottom is pretty messy with suckers all over the place. Not too bad, but definitely can be improved.

We added a few more stakes into the pots as the branches are starting to get heavy with some sticky flower. The girls have been very well behaved. We have repeated the final week of late bloom nutrients on the general hydroponics feeding schedule with only the single ripe week left. Looks like the plants still have a couple weeks left in them before we're ready for those levels. We may repeat the late bloom nute levels for a third week to give the plants some more time to mature. The aromas are really coming through at night.

We are repeating Late Bloom for a third week as the plants still have a ways to go before they are mature enough to harvest. White hairs are still sticking straight out. The smell is strongest at night when the exhaust fan is off and they smell sweet. Starting to notice that certain spots in the tent have different growth habits than other spots even though were using the same lights except for one of the four. Will know more next week.

The girls are fattening up nicely and they are finally nearing the end of the cycle. The hairs have mostly receded and the aromas are really kicking in now. The trichomes are mostly milky. We have now repeated the Late Bloom nute levels for a 4th week. That's 2 week past their original recommended weekly nute levels from General Hydroponics feeding schedule. This cycle I am really listening to the plants rather than strictly adhering to the schedule. Going well so far. Some branches are getting heavy with flower that we had to add in a few more stakes to keep them upright. The buds are now about a few inches in diameter and height. Very happy with this grow. They are really sticky too. One plant is starting to show sign of some fading on a couple of her leaves but trichs are still mostly cloudy with a few clear ones. This may be the last time we repeat the Late Bloom nute levels before we finally reach the single Ripen levels before harvest. This has been the best run so far with this cultivar.