First Time Grower: BF Acapulco Gold

(1.11.22) Seedlings have both grown their first set of true leaves. Moved a larger Vick's humidifier into tent during the day. RH approx 75, Tem approx. 70. Water by spray bottle (distilled water, aprrox 6.5ph) once a day or less, depending on how moist the soil is. Have to remove Vick humidifier @ night as it gets too high (RH 80/90%) Add small personal humidifier @ night for approx. 40rh and approx. 65f temp. (1.15.22) Seedlings have both grown second set of leaves. I think I watered on Wednesday. Went 2 days before watering again. Temp avg. 70f, RH avg. 70% Both fluctuate to 60/80f, 60/80% RH Possible yellowing coming from inside leaves? IDK, looks like a lighter green. Possible hot soil from FFOF.

(1.17.22) Removed from Solo cups and transplanted into 3-gallon pots. Sprayed around plant with water bottle a good amount, but not enough to displace the freshly planted plants. (1.18.22) Replaced stationary fan with oscillating tower fan. Works for now but will not have space in future. (1.19.22) Gave both plants half a liter of great value purified drinking water (bottled water). (1.21.22) Gave both plants 1L of bottled water.

(1.24.22) Gave plants 1L of water each. Used the Nestle Pure Life water. Approx 6.1/6.2ph and 22ppm. 1 week in 3 gallon pots. (1.27.22) Gave plants 1.5L of water each. (1.28.22) Topped today, waited 'till 6th node came in, and topped down to the 4th. (1.29.22) Began LST today, secured top of main stem to side and reinforced bottom of stem to opposite side of fabric pot. (1.30.22) Gave plants 1.5L of water each.

(2.2.22) Gave both plants 1.5L of water. Trained out branches as best I could to evenly distribute around the edge of the pots. When training out the second plant, I accidentally halfway-broke one of the bottom branches from the main stem. I tapped it back up as best I could to maintain original connection. Fearful that I might have done this to the first plant without realizing it, I checked. Sure enough it was slightly disconnected, so I applied tape here as well. I've read that once tape is applied, you don't really have to worry about removing it, so I'm not going to mess with it to ensure healthy healing. (2.3.22) With increasing size and LST, plants are big enough to take up a 2ftx2ft tent on their own. Moved one plant to a second separate 2ftx2ft tent. (2.5.22) Gave both plants 2L of water. Tested runoff water, approx 1500-1700ppm (this soil is hot, so no nutes needed, will continue to give just water) Defoliated for first time, taking off original 3, 5, 7 leaves from main stem.

(2.7.22) Installed scrog in tents, may need to move higher (2.8.22) FIVE WEEKS FROM SEED 2L water each, defoliated slightly, removing leaves that touched the soil or directly rested on other leaves. (2.10.22) Waters today @ 8:00pm. First time using nutrients. Still 2L for each plant. To start, I used 1/2 the recommended does of calmag and 1/4 the recommended dose of Grow Big and Big Bloom. 1 Gallon @ approx 6.5 ph and 300-325ppm. Low doses to see how they react to first feeding. Soil probably still has nutrients in it but likely running low now. Usually water every third day, plants seem to need more water more often, may need to water every other day going forward. We'll see. (2.13.22) Watered 2L for each plant. Used a mix of 1L of nutrient mix left over and 1L regular water.

(2.14.22) Defoliated fan leaves from larger plant. (2.15.22) *STARTED 12/12 TONIGHT* - old schedule 6am-10pm (16/8) - new schedule 6am-6pm (12/12) 6 weeks from seed, flipped to flower tonight (2.16.22) Fed plants 2.5L at half recommended dose. Added Tiger Bloom to mix. (2.19.22) Watered both plants 2.5L at 1/2 strength nutes at 6.5ph

(2.22.22) 1 WEEK IN FLOWER Watered both plants 2.5L of just water, PH'd around 6.5 (2.23.22) Did some defoliation, focused on removing small growth at bottom of plant. (2.24.22) Followed up with more defoliation, focused on removing any leaves that were not directly connected to a bud site. Will probably avoid further defoliation, at least as it's not a problem. (2.25.22) Watered at full strength nutes, 3L. Was low on PH, closer to 6.2-6.4, need to raise up. The Tiger Bloom lowers the PH significantly. Have to use a lot of PH up to raise it back to normal levels. (2.27.22) Had to water early, did it @5pm, just plain water 3L PH'd at 6.5. (3L may be too much, getting excessive runoff)

(3.1.22) 2 WEEKS IN FLOWER, START OF WEEK 3 (3.2.22) Fed both plants full strength nutes @ 6.5 ph 2.5L each, (3L was a bit much) (3.3.22) Did some more defoliation today, cleared out bottom growth some more. Still hesitant about removing leaves up top. EVERYTHING remaining looks like it's connected directly to a budsite. (3.5.22) Watered plain PH'd water at 6.5. 2.5L each Measuring runoff water post feed: PLANT 1: 1615ppm, 6.6ph PLANT 2: 1134ppm, 6.4ph (plant 1 has a bit more soil in the pot, this may account for higher PPM level compared to plant 2)

(3.8.22) Day 21 of flower. Watered each plant 2.5L of nutrient mix. POST NUTE FEED RUNOFF LEVELS: Plant 1: 1605ppm, 6.2ph Plant 2: 1367, 6.6ph Apprehensive/not sure how to go about further defoliation. I’ve removed everything from below the net, and taken away every fan leaf that looks like it’s not directly connected to a bud site. Everything that remains appears to be connected to a bud site. Do I need to remove more? On one hand, I’m afraid that I’ll end up stressing out the plant this far into flower. On the other, I’m afraid of possibly running into PM at some point. RH is increasing with the warmer weather (between 45-55, 65 on a rainy day). Lots of little leaves laying on each other. Thinking about getting a small dehumidifier to put into the tent. Also, just going forward with future grows, should I have removed every branch that grew out of one of my mains? If you look at the photo below the net, I’ve got my main branches and all those little stems that branched out seem to be what’s really causing the crowding. I thought the point of LST was to have it do exactly that, but looking at everyone else’s grow it looks like they just limit themselves to the big main branches and clean up everything else. (VIDEO) I've got two 6" fans. One at the bottom right under the net blowing up, one at the back left above the plant (but slowly being taken over) blowing down. Everything in between seems to be dancing around with air. It being my first grow, I'm not sure if I'm not doing enough or overdoing it lol (post script): For plant 1, the scrog net is only 8 inches above the soil. With plant 2, it's only 5 inches above the soil. I was so concerned about the plant "possibly doubling or tripling in flower" that I really LST'd my plant early on and did my best to level her out. As a result, I was able to fill out the perimeter of my tent easily, but there was not much vertical growth to speak of. This meant that when I put my scrog up, it was barely above the rim of each pot. Next time/grow, I may experiment with letting the plant get a little more height before leveling her out? Idk/not sure. Also, my light placement was close enough that my node spacing was VERY tight. I've read that this is a good "problem" to have, but I can't help but thinking if my plants had a bit more verticality to them they'd be easier to work with. (3.10.22) Watered both plants with 2.5L of ph'd water. Was a bit lower than I would have liked at approx 6.2ph, ppm was 83 Post water runoff: Plant 1 - 6.2ph/1248ppm Plant 2 - 6.3ph/776ppm

(3.13.22) Watered each plant 2.75L of Nutrient Mix @ 6.7ph and 1263ppm Plant 1 runoff water measured at 6.5ph and 1426ppm Plant 2 runoff water measured at 6.6ph and 1296ppm Had to cut on the heat in the house again, as a result humidity levels decreased pretty significantly. Plant 1 temp between 63-70f, RH between 35-56% Plant 2 temp between 63-70f, RH between 37-62% (3.16.22) Watered each plant 2.75L of PH'd water @ 6.6ph Plant 1 runoff @ 6.1ph - 1177ppm Plant 2 runoff @ 6.3ph - 940ppm Today, 10 minutes before lights out, I sprayed the bottom of both plants with Doctor Zymes. I've been sporadically spraying a leaf here or there for the last couple of weeks to test how the plant would react. Everything seems to be alright, but I've still been hesitant about drenching my plant with a spray. However, I have noticed some bottom leaves with shiny spots on them, looks almost like dried spit. Doing research, some people say this is thrips, others say you're just helicopter parenting your plants. Looking at thrip damage pictures, I don't think that's what I have. Haven't really done any IPM up until this point, so I might as well begin sometime. Will spray elsewhere on the plant after seeing how this first large spray on the underside goes. (3.17.22) Now that it's getting warmer I'm no longer running heat in the house. Combined with the fact it was raining today, the RH in the tents are approaching 60%. Moved little dehumidifier into the tents. Close to lights out I found some concerning bottom leaves. Not sure if the Doctor Zymes affected these leaves, or if I had just not noticed them. Tomorrow I will defoliate underneath some more, removing any more concerning leaves and any sucker buds. Will try to defol. mid and larger top leaves that are blocking, but I'm super hesitant about defol. in general and this late into flower I'm nervous. But it's something I probably should have done sooner, and I'm hoping it will help limit RH. (3.18.22) Watered each plant 2.75L of nutrient mix @ 6.7ph, 1147ppm Plant 1 runoff @ 6.6ph - 1727ppm Plant 2 runoff @ 6.6ph - 1270ppm Did defol. Mostly focused on bottom growth that was never going to get ANY light. There's still some a bit higher up that I didn't take off, still look like suckers but I don't want to take everything off. Took some upper fans here and there that were obviously blocking budsites or laying DIRECTLY on other leaves. There's still so much in this tent, lots touching, but if I attempted to remove everything that was touching I would probably stress or stunt the plant at this point. I guess I'm in for the ride at this point.

(3.21.22) Watered with normal PH'd water. (3.22.22) 5 WEEKS IN FLOWER (3.23.22) I ordered a legit dehumidifier and it arrived today. Moved it into the lung room and it's doing a great job of lowering the humidity. I have it set to 45%, and it's averaging between that and 50%. (3.24.22) Watered with nutrient mix. This time I used water from the tap that was filtered with my small brita pitcher. Following the FF nutrient guide, I lowered Grow Big from 2tps to 1tps. The next time I feed I will remove Grow Big entirely. IN: Ph'd @ 6.5, 1248ppm OUT1: PH @ 6.3, 1490ppm OUT2: PH @ 6.1, 1341ppm (3.26.22) I usually water every third day. This means letting the pot get completely dry before watering again. However, on the 24th when I went to water, it was the first time this whole grow where I could noticeably see wilting of the plant. I think with it's size now, and the dehumidifier in the lung room, it may be best to go every other day from now on. I'll let it get moderately dry, but not dry to the bone as I have been doing. I feel like the buds are actually fattening up now. I've been kind of paranoid they were small for week 5, but it looks like they're finally fattening up. Hope that'll continue going forward. Watered with plain PH'd water at approx 6.6ph. OUT1: PH @ 6.2, 945ppm OUT2: PH @ 6.2, 909ppm HUMIDITY: 47%/70f, 50%/70f (tent 1 and 2 respectively.)

(3.28.22) Watered with nutrient mix. Used filtered water from Brita pitcher. Following the FF guide, I removed Grow Big from the nutrient mix. I let this runoff sit longer in the drip tray than usual. The RH in the tent is fairly low right now. We had another cold front come through, so I have to run the heat in the house again, which lowers the humidity drastically. Humidity is a bit lower than where I would want it to be, however, it's not bad enough to justify running a humidifier this late into flower, especially with how crowded my tent is. I'll continue to keep an eye on it. IN: 6.5ph/883ppm OUT1: 5.9ph/1508ppm OUT2: 6.1ph/1160ppm HUMIDITY LEVELS: Approx 40rh/68f in tent 1 Approx 42rh/68f in tent 2 (3.29.22) 6 WEEKS IN FLOWER I wish the buds were bigger, hopefully they'll continue to grow going into week 7. Comparing the pictures here to the previous week, there is growth, so that's good. This being my first grow though, I don't really have any personal reference as to how long they continue to grow leading up to harvest week. We'll find out! There are some things I definitely think I will try to improve upon next go around. I don't think I will allow as many tiny stems to grow next time around. All my mains are the ones with the biggest buds, and everything that's in the even canopy is mostly popcorn. I followed the advice with scrogging, to remove anything that isn't up to the net before flipping. However, when tucking my scrog, all my mains kept growing and I tucked them down and all the way to the edges of the net/tent. By this point all my side shoot branches, even though they were little, were able to reach the net. However, once I flipped, the main branches along the edges grew faster and higher than everything in the middle, and basically created a shadow over the center of my tent. It's way too dense, and as a result mostly just popcorn down there. I think next time I'd be better off just really focusing on the 8 main branches I had, and cutting off all the small side growth. This would really open her up and allow the biggest buds to get even bigger. I do think I need to get a better light, at some point. There's a spiderfarmer that's around 150, made for veg 3x3 and flower 2x2. My light is listed at like, 2x2 veg and 1.5x1.5 flower. It's alright, and I'll continue to use it in the future, but I'll definitely phase them out as I go on and acquire new and better equipment. I would also like to try using some of those CO2 bags I've seen before. These are all just little thoughts and ideas I've had as I come closer to the end of this first grow. I'm learning a lot and excited to improve going forward. One final note: When I first popped these 2 seeds out, one was noticeably smaller than the other. It germinated slower, and grew slower. I had a bit of a mix up when transplanting to larger tents and installing the scrog, but I still believe this to be Plant 2. It's always been smaller and has smaller buds. Maybe this is what people mean when they say "genetics, genetics, genetics." It's kind of the runt of the litter I suppose. (3.30.22) Today was rather hectic. ugh... I checked on the plants a bit past noon, the top soil felt dry, but about a knuckle down I could feel moisture. However, RH has still been pretty low because of the heat running. I cut it off around the same time I checked but RH was still hovering around 39-41% in each tent. By about 6:30pm (half an hour before lights out) I decided to check on them once again before bedtime, where I found the soil felt very dry up to a knuckle down. I didn't want them to go that long without water, because I usually water around noon on watering days, so I decided to water before bed. I don't like to do this, but I'd rather do this than to have them drooping tomorrow at noon, especially this late into flower. IN: plain water 6.5ph, 75ppm OUT1: 5.9ph, 1010ppm OUT2: 6.0ph, 917ppm I'm still not sure if there's a point in measuring runoff water in soil, but I'm doing it anyway. I'm not really adjusting anything based on this, just kind of collecting data not knowing if it's of any use. F it lol. Trying to figure out when's the best time to start using only water, flushing the last two weeks. I know I'll probably use nute mix again the next watering, but after that I might cut it off. I will review other grows and figure it out. (3.31.22) My loupe came in today! I'm not gonna lie, I've been wanting to take pictures like these since I first saw them. Looking at it all close up, makes me feel like a little kid geeking out with a magnifying glass. Trichomes look mostly clearish/starting to get white. I'm only at day 45, so two more weeks until I enter the 60-70 days listed by the seed breeder. Will be cool to observe with a closer eye now! (4.1.22) Felt the soil about 45 minutes before lights out, and it was getting pretty dry. With the plant being this big and the dehumidifier, it's definitely needing to be watered more often. Was doing every third day, now that I've done it twice now, it seems I'm required to water every other day. I used nutes today, but I'm not sure I'll be able to give it that often. Read that you should limit nutes to once a week. I feed nutes on Monday, did it again today (Friday), so that's twice in a week. First time I've done that, so I'll keep an eye out to see how they react. I may have to do a Nute, Water, Water, Nute etc... regimen. We'll see... IN: 6.6ph/1046ppm OUT1: 5.9ph/1645ppm OUT2: 6.0ph/1235ppm HUMIDITY LEVELS: Approx 40rh/75f in tent 1 Approx 42rh/77f in tent 2

(4.3.22) Watered with plain PH'd water. The soil is basically dry after 48 hours, so no longer every third day at this point. Still haven't seen any radical change from feeding closer together last week. May continue going forward, not 100% sure yet. We'll see how it goes going forward. Also, still not sure whether to flush or not. Been reading a lot, kind of seems to be no clear cut consensus on the practice. I'd like to see my buds get bigger, so I think I'll just continue rather than starve them out. I'm also not entirely sure about the recommended flower time suggested by the breeder (60-70 days) I'm still a few weeks out of that range, but Plant 2 definitely seems stunted compared to Plant 1. It's always been a smaller plant, it was even a smaller seed (the smallest out of the pack actually). They've been treated almost exactly the same way, so IDK it might just be genetics. I'm really hoping to see better growth out of each plant before harvest, but hey, I'm learning. There's certainly room for improvement going forward, and I've already learned so much. The process continues... Plain PH Water In: 6.6ph - 73ppm Tent 1 out: 5.9ph - 1349ppm Tent 2 out: 6.1ph - 909ppm (4.5.22) 7 WEEKS IN FLOWER I let the day get by me, and didn't realize it was about half an hour until lights out before I had a chance to check on the moisture level of the pots. Sure enough, they felt very dry. I had premixed nutes the day before, but I'm learning the hard way, that PH up will continue to work long after you put it in. 2 gallons now have too high of a PH, so I'm going to have to mix it in to future batches with low levels from the bloom nutes. I quickly mixed up about a gallon and 1/4 to 1/2 of calmag with filtered water, gave plant 2 about 2.75l, and plant 1 only got 2.25ish. I had to do all of this rushing with the lights clicking out about halfway through watering plant 1. I quickly finished, and sucked the runoff as quickly as I could and zipped the tents up for the night. I doubt anything would stress them out, cause it was only a minute or so past lights out, I just didn't need the stress myself! IN: 6.6, 347 Calmag w/ Water OUT1: 6.1ph, 1166ppm OUT2: 5.9ph, 976ppm (4.7.22) Throughout this grow, I've noticed some leaf damage, particularly on leaves that are on the bottom of the tent and directly in the path of my stationary fans. Because of this, I've kept a close eye on them, looking for pests/eggs/anything out of the ordinary. However, I've never seen anything. I read somewhere that wind burn damage can often look like pest damage, so I assume because these leaves are only the ones at the bottom and in the path of my stationary fans, that was the issue. Today I found a leaf that looks a lot like spider mite damage (from photos I've seen online). However, again, I took the loupe to it to see up close and I see nothing. This leaf was right up against the front of my tent, and around the areas that looks like mite damage, there's just a big splotch of discoloration. I'm beginning to wonder if I had spilt some of the calmag water on the leaf the other night when I was in a hurry, and that's what I'm seeing here. IDK. I'll continue to keep an eye on it, but I don't see anything beyond these particular leaves at the bottom. I'm going to continue to assume it's wind damage. IN: 6.5ph, 886ppm OUT1: 6.2ph, 1517ppm OUT2: 6.3ph, 1360ppm HUMIDITY LEVELS: TENT1: 43rh/75f TENT2: 44rh/77f (4/9/22) Watered w/ plain PH'd water, 2.75L per plant IN: 6.8ph, 83ppm OUT1: 6.1ph, 1241ppm OUT2: 6.2ph, 1066ppm HUMIDITY LEVELS TENT1: 42/73-42/68 TENT2: 46/73-45/68

(4.11.22) Watered with nute mix. Tomorrow is the first day of Week 8, and I'm thinking/seeing/been advised that this a 10 week strain. I believe this may be the last time that I feed with nutrient mix. I may just do plain PH'd water until harvest at this point. Soil was fairly moist today compared to how it's been lately after 2 days. I probably could have gone another day, but trying to mix these nutes and keep their PH levels steady, I've wasted mix by altering the PH and then coming back to it days later to find it drastically changed. I just said f-it and watered today. I don't believe one close watering will be all that terrible. That being said, I may need to go back to how I started, with every third day. It really depends on how hard my dehumidifier is working to remove moisture from the room, and consequently, the pots. IN: 6.6ph, 704ppm OUT1: 6.3ph, 1483ppm OUT2: 6.2ph, 1686ppm Again, I'm not sure if there's a point to reading runoff water from soil. I've been told that it's not an accurate way to read. (I'll get a soil ph pen when I have money to spend.) But looking at this, I'm wondering if there's a buildup of minerals at the bottom of the pots. It will be interesting to read the levels as I continue with just PH'd water for the last 2 weeks. Trichomes all appear to be cloudy at this point. No amber that I can see. Will continue to monitor. Wish the buds were bigger, but again, I'm fairly sure I've identified the mistake I made in that regard. Hopefully I'll be able to get a decent amount to smoke outright, a good amount of popcorn that's still smokeable, and anything else I can learn how to make butter with. I'm excited for the learning process to continue. (4.12.22) 8 WEEKS IN FLOWER (4.13.22) Watered with plain PH'd water today. 3L per plant. IN: 6.5ph, 83ppm OUT1: 6.0ph, 1177ppm OUT2: 6.1ph, 1320ppm HUMIDITY/TEMP: TENT1: 39rh/77f TENT2: 40rd/79f The last two days are starting to finally feel like Spring, and with that, a rise in temperatures. The central air in my house doesn't work, so I've had to use a AC window unit. The lung room with the tent I have sectioned off so that my humidifier can focus only on that room. As a result, that humidifier puts out a lot of heat, and I've had to put the AC window unit in the same area today to combat that. These rh/temp ranges aren't great, looking at a VPD chart. Hopefully that AC can bring the temp back down. Controlling the environment has been the most difficult aspect of growing so far. I didn't think too much about it at first, mostly focusing on training, nutes, etc..., but now it seems I'm focused on that more than any other variable. Adding some close up pictures of the trichomes. Everything looks fairly cloudy to me at this point. No real sign of any amber, maybe a little bit of clear here or there still left. I think I'm probably about 2 weeks out at this point. May stick to just water from here on out. I'm still getting fairly high PPM readings from the runoff, so that may be a good idea. (4.15.22) Day 60 in flower. Barney's says the harvest time of this strain is 60-70 days in flower, so going off of that I've just entered that range. I figure it'll probably take closer to the 70+ range. All of my trichomes are cloudy at this point. I feel like I can see one or two ambers on the sunleafs, and I've read those turn first/quicker than those on the flower. Will continue to keep a close eye on any developments. This homestretch part of the grow is the most agonizing, being this close to the finish line, but still feeling so far away. I'm learning to grow, but I'm learning radical-patience as well. Just watered PH'd water today. 3L per plant. IN: 6.5ph, 67ppm OUT1: 6.0ph, 843ppm OUT2: 6.2ph, 938ppm HUMIDITY TEMP LEVELS: TENT1: 38rh/72f TENT2: 38rh/73f AC might be bringing the humidity down further. Learning how to balance everything is tricky.

(4.18.22) Today marks 63 days in flower. Been giving nothing but water for the last week. Both plants are showing signs of leaf discoloration now. I assume this is nothing to worry about this late into the game now. Just hoping to see some amber popping up shortly. Hope I haven't stopped feeding too soon, but it's a learning process with each strain I guess. One week from now would mark 70 days, the end of the range given by Barney's for harvest time. That would be the last day of week 9 and entering week 10, so hopefully I've hit the mark on that one. Other than the leaf discoloration, the one major noticeable change I've taken note of is the smell. Earlier in flower it had that typical smell, but just this past week it's gotten REALLY sweet smelling. If you bump your hand into one of the buds by accident, if you smell your hand afterwards it's like you dipped it into a sugary peach lemonade and let the juice dry on your hand. It's WILD. I honestly cannot wait, but I will, because patience is KEY! Watered with plain PH'd water today. 3L each plant. IN: 6.5ph, 66ppm OUT1: 6.3ph, 647ppm OUT2: 6.4ph, 772ppm HUMIDITY AND TEMP TENT1: 37rh/70f TENT2: 38rh/72f Again, not sure if the humidity should be that low, but I'd rather it be lower than too high. It's raining today, so I'll keep an eye on it. Lower temperatures over the last 24 hours too, hopefully that'll bring down the night temp a bit more and work on those terps. (4.20.22) Happy 420 everybody. Another 420 I've gone without. Hopefully that'll end rather shortly! Today is day 65 of flower. Still just cloudy terps. Getting a little worried I might have started flushing too soon, but I'm committed now. Watered with plain PH water today. IN: 6.6ph, 60ppm OUT1: 6.0ph, 809ppm OUT2: 6.2ph, 729ppm HUMIDITY/TEMP: TENT1: 38rh/70f TENT2: 39rh/72f