ETHOS - Mandarin Zkittlez F1

Topped both plants combined with my first attempt at LST. I was being too stingy with plant ties and should have cut enough length to tie to anchor to the pot. Instead I anchored to the soil which would prove to be ineffective. I also only LST'd the lower two branches, when I should have done ALL of them. Nitrogen toxicity stunted the growth of the plants and left leaves curled and brittle. Ocean Forest apparently runs hot, so I should have done more research. Back to MiracleGro soil next grow! A worm / caterpillar issue began as well. It started eating my leaves. I sprayed the plants with an organic pesticide but it proved useless.

Again, I was being lazy and have been resorting to bending as my LST. It just takes too much time and effort, I also wound up splitting a branch by doing it improperly, which was healed by applying blue painters tape around it. You can see the effects of LST with the plant ties in the soil opposed to the pot. I began LST by tying down the branches properly this time. I anchored them to the pot and got almost all of branches. I also flipped to a 12-12 light schedule this week. Did some very light defoliation and aggressively tucked a lot of fan leaves blocking light into the lower branches.

Male and female preflowers showed this week. I waited a few extra days just to make sure the balls on the male were indeed balls. I chopped the male but did keep the female and defoliated her and continued LST. I increased the tension on the plant ties, pulling them further to the sides so that the inner plant would be exposed, getting those nodes in the air and light. I removed about 10% of the leaves, started at the bottom then worked up to the upper canopy, only removing fan leaves that were blocking the light to nodes that need it. I began feeding some FF Big Bloom.

Continued to defoliate lightly, I know I probably should have done it sooner but I just get nervous I will shock the plant too much, please feel free to give feedback on this. Started using Cold War Organics' Bud Bread. Gave it one feeding so far and noticed positive growth soon after. I accidentally bent a branch and had to apply blue painter's tape to heal it. I keep using LST to pull those branches back and expose more and more of the center of the plant. I keep knocking down new growth lower down as I see it.

Noticed the tiniest bit of nute burn.

Stems are getting top heavy, more weight packed on and they are starting to lean, I don't have room for a scrog net. Pistils are turning amber, only about 10% so far on day one. I hand plucked off the small larfy, sucker buds. I let some go too long and the large majority are worth keeping. Next time I will have the courage to defoliate properly! I get so scared after weeks or months of growing and then removing growth. Final day of week and these colas are stacking on so much weight they are bending over. Noticed nutrient deficiencies and tried to adjust accordingly. Hoping the problem doesn't get exacerbated.

Colas are gaining more weight and are really having a hard time staying up on their own. I need to add more bamboo stick supports. Noticing cal, manganese, magnesium, and sulfur deficiencies. Adding more cal mag into the feeds. The colas are getting so fat that it's bending and in one instance, snapping a stem. I had to tape up another branch and install two more bamboo sticks to hold up this plant. She's getting so fat she's buckling under her own weight. I desperately need more space for a trellis net!

Colas are packing on serious weight, added garden poles to support them, not pictured. I lost a branch due to weight snapping the branch. I cut it off at the site it snapped and started curing it.

She's drinking a gallon a day! Although I'm feeding mostly every other day, the soil is bone dry by the second day. Took some photos as preparation for the final photos.

I wanted to go a few more weeks but I noticed botrytis on ALL of the main colas. I lost a decent amount of weight due to that. I discarded all colas as soon as this was spotted and caught it in time to save some. I went through all buds and inspected thoroughly for mold. I dried the uninfected buds in an airconditioned room at 65F for about 7 days.