EarthBox [LOS] - Seedsman - Black Sugar

Introduction - Week 12 Summary - Ensign's log, stardate 100143.34, This week was yet another good week of growth! Decided to go back to normal feeding and stopped pH checking and adjusting. This made the week even easier! Trying to get the DLI right first to see what improves and or gets worse. This will help to isolate issues by reducing the grow variables down to one change instead of two. I can always adjust pH again if growth gets worse. Out of pure beginner’s curiosity, plan on checking the trichomes soon. But wow! Adjusting the light made a huge difference for overall growth! She generally looks less stressed with far less yellowing. Buds have started to merge into colas and some of her pistil hairs are turning orange too! Also the frost from the trichomes are just coating her sugar leaves. As far as odor, nothing too loud, but definitely getting there! She's still giving off a lemony-fuel terp profile. Defoliated again before feeding (Week2 of Full Bloom, Week 5 under 12/12). Notably, for the first time, my scissors got a bit sticky from the defoliation. Towards the end of the week I discovered that the ideal pH range for living soil is not the same as hydro. Really glad I stopped pH checking and adjusting. Going to continue feeding as per BAS’ schedule. Waterings have been a combination of microbes or coconut water. Not much else to report. She’s just growing along beautifully! [START OF WEEK 12] Day 01 - Monday - 07/18/22 - Total Days: 075 ----------------------------------- Daily Averages - Temps: 78.1°F - Humidity: 64.1% - VPD: 1.14kPa ----------------------------------- - [09:31]: Looking good! --- Bud growth is looking a lot more healthier too! --- Amazing what a somewhat proper DLI can do. - [23:16]: Bud growth is thickening! Trichomes are just coating the sugar leaves. Hyped! --- Okay, since I’m pretty sure DLI was the major issue, going to reduce the variables down a bit. Plan to stop checking my pH and will see how she reacts to the modified DLI under the original soil conditions. --- If thing get worse, I’ll go back to adjusting my pH. --- Also, in terms of accuracy, I am using a proper light meter (Apogee MQ-500)whereas my pH testing methods may not be as accurate (pH tester drops and basic soil probe). --- I’ve been down the trauma of using cheap pH meters back when I was trying to grow in hydro(lesson, don’t rely on cheap pH and PPM meters). - [23:17]: Checked the reservoir. --- There was still water in the reservoir. --- Hmm. Well the lower light levels may have caused this, but not a bad thing. --- I’ll simply reduce the water by another 2 cups. --- So will water 4 cups tonight. Also just straight distilled water again. - [23:35]: Filled a pitcher with 4 cups of distilled water. --- Did not pH adjust. --- Poured the distilled water into the EarthBox’s fill tube. --- Growth is looking great! A few burnt leaf tips which could be nutrient burn. Going to continue to check. Day 02 - Tuesday - 07/19/22 - Total Days: 076 ----------------------------------- Daily Averages - Temps: 79.2°F - Humidity: 64.4% - VPD: 1.18kPa ----------------------------------- - [10:03]: Oops! A bit late. Had to leave the lights for a bit longer. --- Growth is looking good! --- Can really tell that the buds are looking fuller. --- Top growth just looks less stressed too. --- Nice! The reservoir was dry again. - [10:05]: Water time! --- Filled a pitcher with 3 cups of distilled water and poured it straight into the EarthBox’s fill tube. - [23:17]: Looking good! --- There are still leaves with burnt tips curling upwards. But I feel like the damage has slowed down. --- Reservoir was dry! Good. Going to increase the watering up a bit. - [23:00]: Water time! --- Filled a pitcher with 6 cups of distilled water. --- Added 1/64tsp of Quillaja Saponaria Extract --- Added 1/16tsp of Bio-Phos --- Mixed the solution and poured it into the EarthBox’s fill tube. --- Bud growth is just stacking. --- Her sugar leaves are just getting frosty. Terps are smelling great! Nothing loud yet, but still has a good citrus fuel profile. Ooowee! Day 03 - Wednesday - 07/20/22 - Total Days: 077 ----------------------------------- Daily Averages - Temps: 79.1°F - Humidity: 63.4% - VPD: 1.21kPa ----------------------------------- - [09:33]: Growing along nicely! --- More leaf tip damage, but still seems less than last week. --- Nonetheless, I am very happy with the bud development! - [22:09]: Top growth is starting to really stack up! --- Bud growth is just everywhere! Wow! --- I can't stop rubbing and smelling her lemony gas stank! The odor is quite incredible! - [22:19]: Water time! Increasing the watering again by another 2 cups. --- Filled a pitcher with 8 cups of distilled water. --- Added 1/64tsp of Quillaja Saponaria Extract --- Added 1/16tsp of Bio-Phos --- Mixed the solution and poured it straight into the EarthBox’s fill tube. --- Wow! Bud growth is raging! --- Bud growth is continuing to stack and are now turning into bud colas! --- Wow! Her main stalk just looks covered in bud growth! --- Throughout several buds, there are also signs of some of her white pistil hairs turning orange! --- I hope this is normal, I’ve smoked buds with orange hairs so I’m just going to let her grow. --- As a grower going through flowering for the first time, it brings me so much joy to watch her grow from day to day! --- I hope this feeling does not diminish with each grow! --- Plus there are at least another 4-5 weeks of growth to go! I can’t wait to see how she stacks ups! --- Just overly stoked and hyped! --- [Damnit please, don’t frack this up Ensign!] Day 04 - Thursday - 07/21/22 - Total Days: 078 ----------------------------------- Daily Averages - Temps: 78.8°F - Humidity: 62.7% - VPD: 1.22kPa ----------------------------------- - [09:43]: Wow! She’s stacking up! ---Her buds are continuing to merge and more colas are forming! --- All this while the top buds are thickening up. --- Stoked! --- Selected the answer as DLI (Thanks again my fellow grower! Truly appreciated). - [10:07]: Understanding VPD is very important for growth and was reminded to check it out again (thanks again growmie!). --- [*smokes a bowl] --- Now I understand that in order for proper plant growth, there has to be proper transpiration (or water movement throughout the entire plant). Both surface leaf temperature (usually a degree or 2 below the ambient room temp)along with the local relative humidity affect this process and have to be set properly in relation to each other for proper growth and nutrient metabolism (for every temp value, there’s a recommend RH value, vice versa is also true). --- There are ways to calculate this temp to RH relationship, but thankfully, similar to DLI, there are handy charts! --- Unfortunately, currently I can’t fully control my temps and RH. So going to have to settle for the current environment (Summer weather doesn’t help either). ---I understand that to preserve the terpenes, daily temp averages should remain below 80°F (apparently, certain terpenes go volatile and evaporate at temps above this average). --- As for RH, I may need a dehumidifier soon, but due to power limitations (damn circuit breaker keeps cutting out), I can only use the exhaust fan(I really don’t want bud rot, but also can’t run a dehumidifier, so it is what it is). --- For now, all I can do is maintain constant air circulation and ventilation (don’t want any stagnant pockets of humid air). - [14:29]: Checked on the worm bin! --- It’s been 13 days since the last feeding. --- I fed pretty heavily last time so I figure it’s about time for another feeding. --- Wow! Upon first opening the bin, worms were visible in the center of the soil. Nice! --- Digging in revealed a huge ball of worms! --- Seems the population is starting to boom again! --- There was still bits of carrot and mango peels at the bottom (maybe have a mango peel), but the rest of the food seemed completely decomposed. Mangoes, the worms seem to love it! --- May have to consider refreshing the bin with fresh coco and soil soon. --- Anyways, I flattened the soil and made a new hole in the lower left quadrant. - [15:24]: Time to feed the worms! --- Feeding some lettuce and spinach along with a frozen strawberry and bits of carrots and mushrooms. --- Also added 1tsp of Kashi Blend. --- I layered everything in the hole I dug. --- Then replaced the old paper on top and covered everything with some of the surrounding soil. - [15:45]: Covered the soil with a mulch of shredded brown paper. --- Covered that with a sheet of brown paper. --- Finally cleaned and replaced the lid. --- Done! - [22:05]: Beautiful growth! --- Bud colas are just filling! --- Air odor is still minimal, but stem rubs are giving off a noticeably louder citrus profile than before! --- She has not really grown much so pretty safe to say that she is in full bud production right now. - [10:07]: Took some height readings. --- Checked her height and she was 31” tall. --- She was also about 10” from the light. --- Some of her sugar leaves are completely frosty and resin railed out! --- Also more orange pistil hairs! - [22:18]: Feeding time! This will be week 2 of Full Bloom. --- Going to feed very similar to last week. Not going pH adjust. Also not top dressing or adding any additional CalMag. Just sticking to BAS’ recommend feeding chart (under the ‘Flowering Fruiting’ column). --- Filled a pitcher with 8 cups of distilled water. --- Added 1/32tsp of Quillaja Saponaria Extract --- Added 1/8tsp of each of the following: ----- Big 6 Micronutrients [+ Humic Acid] ----- BuildABloom ----- Bio-Phos --- Added 1/2tsp of Pure Protein Dry [Organic Fish Aminos] --- Added 1tsp of Horticultural Coconut --- Added 8 drops of Bio-Catalyst Enzyme Elixer --- Mixed the solution and set it aside. - [22:41]: Before watering, I gave her a defoliation. --- Cleaned up most of her yellow-edged fan leaves. --- Wow she is sticky! This week my scissors started to get a bit sticky with trichomes. Also some of the removed fan leaves had a sugary glisten to them (gave those leaves a rub and they were loud with odor). --- I’m loving her terpene profile too! Very citrus with a bit of fuel! Been constantly stem rubbing and sniffing my fingers. Just wow! --- I’d rather not have to scrub the smell from the tent with a carbon filter so I could smell these terpenes all day! It really is unfortunate about the stigma around cannabis. But anyways, I digress. - [23:27]: Top watering time! --- Using a spray bottle, I misted the top soil of the EarthBox with 5 cups of the nutrient solution. - [23:36]: Mulched the leaves that were trimmed earlier. --- After misting, I layered the trimmed leaves from earlier across the top of the soil. - [23:38]: Now bottom watering time! --- Poured the remaining 3 cups of the solution straight into the EarthBox’s fill tube. --- Done! --- Wow she looks look beautiful! --- Can’t believe that I am finally succeeding (I think). --- Again, she may not be the healthiest, but I am still very pleased with the growth! - [23:49]: Took a PPFD reading. --- This is week 5 of 12/12 lighting. --- This week’s target DLI range is 36-45 mol/m2/d (using elevated CO2) --- This week’s target PPFD range is 833-1042 μmol/m2/s --- The top canopy was at 913 μmol/m2/s --- Under 12/12 lighting, this gives a DLI of 39.4 mol/m2/d --- Great! --- Did not need to adjust the light. Day 05 - Friday - 07/22/22 - Total Days: 079 ----------------------------------- Daily Averages - Temps: 78.3°F - Humidity: 62.9% - VPD: 1.20kPa ----------------------------------- - [09:22]: She’s looking great! --- Bud growth is still noticeable with frosting on the leaves. --- Her terpene profile is starting to get a bit of a piney too. - [16:54]: Wait so ‘ideal’ pH varies depending what substrate the plant is growing in? --- [*smokes a bowl] --- “Living soil does best in a pH of 6.5, however it is fairly tolerant and can handle a range between 6.2 and 7.0.” --- Back in the hydro attempt days (5gal bubble bucket using Advanced Nutrients), I learned cannabis grew at a pH range of 5.5-6.2 with an ideal value of 5.8 pH. --- Well glad I decided to stop lowering the soil down to 6 pH. --- This could also be the reason for less water uptake after a week of acidic watering (damnit Ensign). --- Whelp enforces that DLI was the main issue (also perhaps a bit of overwatering/feeding too). --- I hope I didn’t harm the soil microbes. --- The distilled water I am watering is pretty much at a 6.2 pH so will just continue to water and feed without any adjustments.. --- So unless she gets worse, I am no longer checking or adjusting the soil pH. Going to let the microbes and the worms regulate the pH (damn I hope I didn’t harm the worms in the EarthBox). - [22:04]: Growing along great! --- Wow! This is just incredible! --- Buds are just stacking while some of her sugar leaves getting sticky with trichomes. Stoked! - [22:07]: Upon checking, the reservoir a tiny bit of water in it. --- The reservoir was pretty much empty, just a few drops of water at the bottom (reservoir was not bone dry). - [22:21]: Water time! --- Going to lower the watering a bit more. --- Filled a pitcher with 7 cups of distilled water. --- Added 1/64tsp of Quillaja Saponaria Extract --- Added 1/16tsp of Bio-Phos --- Mixed the solution and poured it straight into the EarthBox’s fill tube. Day 06 - Saturday - 07/23/22 - Total Days: 080 ----------------------------------- Daily Averages - Temps: 77.9°F - Humidity: 64.7% - VPD: 1.13kPa ----------------------------------- - [07:27]: Growth is looking pretty good! --- Ooo Nice! Upon opening the tent, I smelled a bit of lemony terps in the air! --- Still nothing too loud, but I am glad I have the carbon filter connected. - [22:02]: Buds are continuing to frost up! --- Just brings a smile and an overall feeling of grower’s satisfaction. She might not be the prettiest, but damn I love her! --- Plus everything I’ve learned from this run I can use for the next one and will try to improve as I grow. - [22:10]: Water time! --- Going to feed the microbes with a bit of added coconut. --- Filled a pitcher with 7 cups of distilled water. --- Added 1/2tsp of Horticultural Coconut --- Gave the solution a mix and poured it into the EarthBox’s fill tube. --- Wow! I can stare at her all day! --- Stoked! --- There are several main colas all with buds just filling in! Wow! Day 07 - Sunday - 07/24/22 - Total Days: 081 ----------------------------------- Daily Averages - Temps: 78.5°F - Humidity: 65.2% - VPD: 1.13kPa ----------------------------------- - [07:40]: Growth is looking great! --- She still has some burnt leaf tips, but the yellowing has definitely slowed! --- Incredible how she is just covered with trichomes! - [22:10]: Ooowee! Got a bit of a whiff of terps as I opened the tent! --- Her terpene profile is now a subtle lemon-pine with a hint of fuel or gas. --- Hyped! --- Was not really expecting anything from this particular strain (free ‘learning seeds’ that I received through a seed sale). --- But now that she is starting to give off an odor profile, makes me even more stoked for this grow! - [22:26]: Water time! --- The reservoir was nice and dry so increasing the watering by a bit. --- Also going to micro inoculate with more microbes and enzymes. --- Filled a pitcher with 8 cups of distilled water. --- Added 1/64tsp of Quillaja Saponaria Extract --- Added 1/16tsp of Bio-Phos --- Added 3 drops of Bio-Catalyst Enzyme Elixer - [22:36]: Mixed the solution and poured all 8 cups straight into the EarthBox’s fill tube. --- Buds are just frosting up! --- Surprisingly, it’s been a really easy week of growing! --- Now that she is not getting overly irradiated and stressed by the light (damnit Ensign). --- From what little I understand about trichome development, trichome heads go through 3 stages of visual color changes which starts at clear, then cloudy white, until finally amber. --- Checking the trichomes is from I understand is the best way to determine when to harvest. --- Looks like there is still a ways to go before harvest, but plan to check the trichomes soon (mainly beginner grower’s curiosity). --- Most likely the trichome heads will all be clear (doubt I’ll find any cloudy ones). --- Hopefully, in about 3 weeks to a month or so, I’ll start seeing more amber trichomes before harvest time. Not critical, but if I can, I’m going for a goal of 40/60 ratio of amber to cloudy (30/70 would be great too). [END OF WEEK 12]