Mexican Airlines

The girls got their first time out in the sun. Note, height is approximate for the time the photo was taken (if one) or at a specific time of the week. I began including nutrients this week - nitrogen, cal mag and silica all by TPS. Roughly five days between waterings.

Mexican Airlines is about 6 1/2" at day 19. Grow setup has been moved to garage where she can chill with some CBD and auto friends. Temp generally 70 or below indoors.66 The girls all got recess a couple days at the end of the week, outdoor temps were low 80s. Two waterings this week.

Mexican Airlines has really taken off even though early part of the week has been indoor due to cold/damp outdoor weather. She did get about six hours in the afternoon two days so far. I'm quite impressed by the rapid growth. Second watering this week will be at day 28 and will be the last with extra nitrogen. Will dial it back to 1ml/gallon as well as I expect she's headed quickly towards flowering stage. Weather is prone to thunder the next few days so will end the week indoors. So the big question is ... how tall a girl will she be? At this point, 30" looks easy but I'm thinking in the 40s after stretch phase, maybe more! The rapid growth of Mexican Airlines (and Whiskey Zulu) creates the need to put risers underneath the other auto and my CBDs to maintain a roughly 14-16" gap between top of plant and the lights. Even though they are independently adjustable, I don't like to have too big a difference between lights. This weekend the entire garment rack will be raised by placing on milk crates or cinder blocks. I did not mention earlier, but I do not bother with LST. At some point I expect I'll need to add support once she flowers. I also have two smaller lights which can be mounted vertically to provide side lighting to make sure her interior gets enough light.

Well we are nearing the end of the week but not quite. Photos are at day 29 and 31. Growth has been fairly close to 2" per day. Last night (day 32) she was just shy of 27". This is crazy fast growth and I am worried that any big stretch is going to push my lighting setup! The girls have gotten some outside time, 6-8 hours a few days but rain has them back inside a few days too. They were watered once so far (Sunday) and will be check again today (Thursday). Indoors is a little easier on the water uptake. WZ is showing signs of flowers but not quite yet. Her auto-cousin Mexian Airlines is blooming and was germinated at the same time. For that reason I stopped the TPS N-Primer and moved on to the Bloom which still does include some nitrogen. MexAir seems fine with it which is good as sativa's generally don't like a lot of extra N. Makes watering easier!

Been a busy week for this young lady! She's grown up into quite the svelte hotness at 29" on 6/3. Buds continue to develop as does growth generally. Definitely can smell her perfume in the room ;) Taking a few days break so raised the lighting up to 20" to leave room to grow. That might slow growth a tiny bit the first few days, speeding up again as she gets closer.

Was away on vacation nearly two weeks, had a friend checking in on her and her auto sister Whiskey Zulu. This girl only grew a moderate amount, about 6", but put out a lot of buds. For comparison, Whiskey Zulu grew 19" (!) but not as tight a structure. Now that I'm back she'll be getting some time outside again and a bit more attention to indoor lighting. *update: added a few outdoor photos from day 49. Looks like she is near her max height unless there is a final stretch.

She's been stable at about 34" for two weeks now so it is really all about bud development/maturity now. Fastbuds estimates 10 weeks until maturity so looking at another two to three weeks before chop. Expect to put her outside if we get some solid clear sunny days. She only gets watered about once a week.

Starting week 9 on the Fourth of July holiday weekend! I think this girl is getting close to done, perhaps another 7 to 10 days? Been trying to get her as much outdoor sunshine time as possible to plump up her buds Update: Added some dslr macro photos

We are now in week 10! Some sign that leaves are starting to turn yellow and I expect harvest time will be sometime in week 11. Weather looks good the next few days and the majority of the upcoming week so lots of real sunshine to fatten up those buds. She still goes inside as night time temps remain in the low/mid 50s and besides she can get another five or six hours under the indoor lights. She's a very frosty girl so will save those sugar leaves for hash. fyi - the original images are much higher resolution than displayed here but you can download/view them offsite too Day 73 Update: Starting to see a few leaves go yellow, remain on schedule for harvest early next week

So a near disaster at the finish line. Girl picked up aphids sometime in the last 72 hours, unseen until night before harvest. Normally I move into dark room for 48 hours prior to chop but in this case I defoliated as much as possible immediately and then moved her away from another plant that was also nearing havest. While the worst of the aphids were on the major leaves, they were also on the lower part of many of the buds :( The only solution was a water wash from the spray setting of the garden hose. While that did the trick, it also expanded the buds a bit and left the decision of whether to wait for them to dry out again before trimming or to continue a wet trim and then start the regular dry process. I chose the latter as the local weather had become warm and very humid and didn't want to risk a return of more aphids. A wet trim was done and the result hung up in a cool room (just under 70F) with a dehumidifier running set at 45% the first 24 hours, 50% the next two days and 60% subsequently. Normally would have run at 60% RH but was concerned the buds were still damp from the water wash and wanted to avoid any chance of mold/mildew getting a chance. The end result after a week of dry time is shown in the photos. The buds are not as tight as they were prior to the aphid cleanup but happy they are usable. Slightly disappointed in the yield, though in truth these buds are perhaps a bit less than 11% dry so might have come in a touch heavier a day earlier. Edit: I didn't realized it but this page has no place for the dry (uncured) weight. It is 31.27g slightly overdry weight. I wet trim fairly agressively, more so than some reports I've read. Besides a few more very small sugar leaves coming off I try to minimize stems - as this is only for my use presentation is less of a concern so not afraid to split a bud up if it is clear wear to do so.