Real Growers Challenge 2022

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WARNING: This is a STUNTED Grow. Do not use these pictures to gauge your own grow. They were: Overwatered Burned the hell out of them with too much light As I write this it is Week 5 and they are healing and now growing normally, but they are behind at least 2 weeks. Expect growth to be closer to normal by Week 7. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We'll make July the official Week 1 Beginning. It's a bit confusing because the Double Grape is about a week behind Super Skunk. Double Grape is supposed to be a hair faster, so it should catch up and experience similar growth issues in a week or 2.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WARNING: This is a STUNTED Grow. Do not use these pictures to gauge your own grow. They were: Overwatered Burned the hell out of them with too much light As I write this it is Week 5 and they are healing and now growing normally, but they are behind at least 2 weeks. Expect growth to be closer to normal by Week 7. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WARNING: This is a STUNTED Grow. Do not use these pictures to gauge your own grow. They were: Overwatered Burned the hell out of them with too much light As I write this it is Week 5 and they are healing and now growing normally, but they are behind at least 2 weeks. Expect growth to be closer to normal by Week 7. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WARNING: This is a STUNTED Grow. Do not use these pictures to gauge your own grow. They were: Overwatered Burned the hell out of them with too much light As I write this it is Week 5 and they are healing and now growing normally, but they are behind at least 2 weeks. Expect growth to be closer to normal by Week 7. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day 22 - Photos & Notes: • Added Mosquito Bits as a "Cover" to Fend Off Future Fungus Gnats. • Re-Calibrated my Apera pH pen and set the Reservoir to 5.8 pH. • Used a 20 ml Syringe and gave each plant some very light nutrients and other bio-stimulants to encourage growth into the Grow Dot zone. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day 23 & 18 - Photos & Notes: Double Grape is starting to add to biomass. That's comforting. Super Skunk has the funniest Pheno with the split leaf. Photographer Note: No more Foliar with Recharge or Kelp & Seaweed. Those really made the leaves look horrible. I did put 8 oz of light nutrients and bio-stimulants around the outer perimeter and about 4 oz circle within 3 inches of the base of the stem. Hopefully, this can be the last outside nutrients before the roots find the Grow Dot laced coco. After that, I intend to do a Sunday top drench of Recharge (once a week). Most likely, I will make a cocktail of Recharge, Kelp & Seaweed with some Humboldt Enzymes. The coco is already bottom feeding SLF-100 enzymes. I'm also toying with the idea of shutting off the water valves from the reservoir and having the AutoPot valve chambers begin to lower, add in a Recharge mix from the bottom. Once that fluid volume drops then turn back on the water valve to the reservoir. I'll certainly try it once. The pictures tonight are not that great, but I did want to document the sizes. I won't continue size monitor after they are out of the seedling stage. Height might be more important during full-on veg. ------------------------------------------- Day 23 & 18 - Photos & Notes: Double Grape is starting to add to biomass. That's comforting. Super Skunk has the funniest Pheno with the split leaf. Photographer Note: No more Foliar with Recharge or Kelp & Seaweed. Those really made the leaves look horrible. I did put 8 oz of light nutrients and bio-stimulants around the outer perimeter and about 4 oz circle within 3 inches of the base of the stem. Hopefully, this can be the last outside nutrients before the roots find the Grow Dot laced coco. After that, I intend to do a Sunday top drench of Recharge (once a week). Most likely, I will make a cocktail of Recharge, Kelp & Seaweed with some Humboldt Enzymes. The coco is already bottom feeding SLF-100 enzymes. I'm also toying with the idea of shutting off the water valves from the reservoir and having the AutoPot valve chambers begin to lower, add in a Recharge mix from the bottom. Once that fluid volume drops then turn back on the water valve to the reservoir. I'll certainly try it once. The pictures tonight are not that great, but I did want to document the sizes. I won't continue size monitor after they are out of the seedling stage. Height might be more important during full-on veg. --------------------------------- Day 26 & Day 21: Nice growth. It looks like any problems from the start are continuing to fade into the distance. Plants are shut off from the reservoir, while I load up Recharge and some enzymes from the AutoPot valve chamber. Note how the Double Grape's initial light damaged leaves are not really noticeable anymore. Plus, Super Skunk is now growing in normal leaves. --------------------------------------------------------- Day 27 -- Stats VPD is better. Mainly, because I added a Swamp Cooler. They may not really cool all that well, but they do add extra humidity to help with my purpose-built humidifier. --------------------------------------------------------- Day 28 - Stats & Notes Last day of Week 4 Notes: • Raised the DLI to 32 • New Macro Lens Arrives today, pictures to follow. - This new lens is meant for trichome photography, but I'll give it whirl on the young plants as well. • Started logging reservoir temp. - Turned of Rez Agitator to see if its motor adds to increased temps.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WARNING: This is a STUNTED Grow. Do not use these pictures to gauge your own grow. They were: Overwatered Burned the hell out of them with too much light As I write this it is Week 5 and they are healing and now growing normally, but they are behind at least 2 weeks. Expect growth to be closer to normal by Week 7. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day 29 - Week 5 Begins Today was Recharge Day. I made up a batch of about 1.5 liters of the following goodies: • Recharge • SLF-100 (enzymes) • Front Row SI (mono-silicic acid) • Fulvic Acid (90% before dilution) • Calcium EDTA 9.7% (approx. 100ppm) • Humboldt Plant Enzymes • Natural Wet (Yucca Sufactant) • pH'd to 6.02 • I was going to let the valve area of the AutoPots dry down and then add the mixture for bottom uptake. • However, I decided to apply from the top in 2 circles, one far edge and one about 3 inches from the stem base. • My guess is that each plant got around 650 ml in the top, and the balance was split into the valve chambers. ------------------------------------------------------------ Day 30 - See Day 30 Notes Graphic

Day 36 - Today's highlights: Both plants have exposed pistils. It's on! -------------------------------------------------------- Day 36 & 30 Notes (from late last night):​ •. I wasn't comfortable feeding back the runoff water into the AquaValve compartment. •. E.C. became too high. •. I diluted one-gallon of Run Off water to 0.836 E.C. • Added 3 more gallons of RO water with the following additions: (a) SLF-100 Enzymes (b) Mono-silicic Acid (c) Mr. Fulvic • New E.C. -- 0.336 (more inline to what was in Rez) • pH'd to 6.00 • 4 gallons total to Rez • New Depth: 17.25 inches -------------------------------------------------------- Day 37 & 31 Notes:​ Nothing of significance. -------------------------------------------------------- Day 40 (SS) & Day 35 (DG)​ Notable: (1) Day 40 - Super Skunk is Topped (2) Day 35 - Double Grape is sort of Topped. Closer to FIM (unintentional) (3) Drained AquaValve Chamber after CA/MG treatment. • Measured 4.39 pH & 2.19 EC • Corrected to: 6.00 pH & new EC of 2.285 • Turned Reservoir Back On - let valves stabilize. -------------------------------------------------------- More Day 40 & 35 Photos Potential Bud Sites ​ These ladies are not happy with me. They just started learning about "tucking." The rest are just showing you potential bud sites from the angle I was shooting. It's not a comprehensive photo shoot. There were flower locations not seen. -------------------------------------------------------- Day 41 - A New Day​ Follow up to: Operation Raise My Damn pH • This morning my ACV pH was 5.18. At least it is out of the 4's. • After recycling and treating (adjusting pH & EC) the Runoff Water, my 12-gallon reservoir is almost full and measures 19" deep. • The Reservoir now has an EC of 1.16 (3x the usual 0.350 EC) -- 6.00 pH • As mentioned last night, I wasn't going to waste the dissolved Grow Dot nutrients by dumping runoff water • The fluid was reused over & over during the runoff exercise • Then pH raised and dilluted to keep under 1.5 EC (because there are still nutrients suspended in the soil) • The water was filtered of Coco debris and the ocassional Fungus Gnat - There was surprising little coco to filter. I must have washed it well to start Now it is Day 41 for the Super Skunk and 36 for the Double Grape ​ Notable: At Day 41 there is almost no sign of impending flowering for the Super Skunk. Not gonna sweat it for now It better not turn out to be a Regular On the other hand: The Double Grape is sprouting pistils all over, just no organize cluster yet. -------------------------------------------------------- Day 42 & 37 More Spots Thursday Last Day of Week 6 Overall​ Still getting leaf issues. My guess is that they were in the process (but not as visible) when I discovered the others yesterday. Recap on my choices for corrections. From Before: Coco was super "hot" and very acidic (pH on average about 4.2) in the AquaValve Compartment (AVC). I started siphoning out liquid from the (AVC). Then I raised pH of siphoned liquid back to 6.4 (ish) and pour back through coco. Once the mixture settled back in AVC, I would raise pH to about 6.2. Re-open valves, replace cover and call it a night. Thoughts: I'm not ready to throw blame on the Grow Dot nutrients. For now, I am going to blame very low pH Coco. Still perplexed as to how I can pour RO water that is pH'd almost to 7.00 through multiple times and still get pH in the 4.xx range Maybe I didn't charge the Coco enough. Next time I'll do an overnight soak with Ca/Mg at 1.5 bottle rate for gallon My new technique is working at bringing the AVC fluids to the higher 5.xx's.

Day 47 (SS) & Day 42 (DG) Grow Dot Drama - Sort Of​ AquaValve Compartment Dropped Back into 4.xx range This happened even after removing water, then replacing with higher pH pour through. Pour Through was Recharge pH'd to 6.4 About 500 ml total I checked pH once the fluid passed through the coco (6.2). By overnight, that stagnant fluid had dropped back down. Solution: Emptied the compartment and placed that fluid in the master reservoir. Opened AutoPot valves and filled the chambers from master reservoir. Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch Otherwise, the plants look great. The branches are comfortable in their initial LST positions. I've done some light defoliating, mostly underneath. Some leaf-tucking Most solar panels are still in place. ----------------------------------------------------- Day 48 (Super Skunk) & Day 43 (Double Grape) I let the AquaValve Chamber go dry. Put 1300 ml of a Recharge mix through the Coco. The main Reservoir Valves Are Still Off, while plants take up the over pour. Applied a little more LST to the main stem (you can see leaning more to the left (plant to right). ----------------------------------------------------- Day 49 - Last Day of Week 7 Notes: Enough Pistils are now clustering. Starting tomorrow, switch to "Flower" for VPD purposes. Made batch of Mosquito Bits solution to water-in over next week.

Day 50 - Begin Week 8 Enough Tiny Pistils to call this the first week of flower ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day 52 (SS) & Day 47 (DG) Nothing Special to Report Looking good ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day 54 (SS) & Day 49 (DG) I'm A Big Fat Liar ​ Why am I a liar? Because I am pretty sure I have posted before that, I was going to stop at Topping & some light LST. Throw that claim out the window. I just went medieval on my Super Skunk. There were so many minor bud sites trying their best to see the light. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day 55 (SS) & Day 50 (DG) From August 31, 2022​ I'm still recovering from flu, so I'm not going to create much commentary, but I do have a few photos to share. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Week 8

Day 60 (SS) & Day 55 (DG) COVID is leaving my body. The worst is behind me (fingers crossed). Still no real hungery, and I am super tired most of the time. Onward and upward. Observations: Super Skunk should be renamed Honey Badger. From a stunted little twiglett to the largest "bush" I've grown. I trained it last week and it is still shooting upward. Double Grape, on the other hand, is more like the the sickly little runt of the litter. Ok, I'm being a little dramatic, but it constantly displays evidence of some slight deficiency (or toxicity). About Photos: Day 60 & 55 was yesterday. These pictures are "over" processed for my enjoyment. Meaning, don't take the coloring and try to diagnose anything. Enjoy them for the texture and filling out of each plant. P-K Boost: Yesterday, I decided to do a little P-K boost, using Flower Fuel. This morning (Day 61 & 55) I swear the pistils were whiter and more abundant. Real Growers Challenge: Because of all the issues along the way, I am no longer posting photos for the Real Growers Challenge with the appropriate hashtag on Instagram. I don't think my experience with Grow Dots truly reflects the potential for this method of nutrition application. My reasoning: I like and respect Mr. Real and the Real Growers Community too much to present my (most likely) growing errors into the mix. I've been open and honest this whole grow on this Journal, so it's not like I am glossing over anything. I hope most people have a much more positive experience with Grow Dots. However, for me, this has not be a set it and forget it grow ... just add water, etc. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day 68 - Update • Tonight, I ran about a gallon of RO water through each pot to lower any concentrated EC. • I salvaged any washed out EC, I filtered it and returned it to the 12-gallon reservoir. • The EC in the Rez is under 1.0 EC, so hopefully there are plenty of Grow Dots still in the pots. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day 70 for Super Skunk & Day 65 for Double Grape It Ain't Pretty Edition​ • The Damage Seems to Be Done • Now it comes down to do I have enough green leaves to support flower production? • Will the Flowers Create Enough THC after this Hell-ish Grow? • In the end, it doesn't matter ... I am growing these plants to 10% amber if they get there.

Day 72 - Photos and Updates Recharge Day​ I made 2L of Recharge and added in a little molasses to split between 2 plants. Kept repouring it back through the Coco. Left the Valves to the 12-gallon closed to ensure the mixture is taken up through coco. Will turn back on RO water in the AM and leave these girls alone to keep flowering. Turned back DLI to closer to 35 on the wannabe colas. 30 DLI on the main canopy. I will make these sick looking girls look great again! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day 75 (SS) & Day 70 (DG) - Update (1) Drained, filtered, and returned the AquaValve compartment (AVC) water to the main reservoir (2) In that water's place I made a 1 liter each "Recharge" batch that included: • Recharge • SLF-100 Enzymes • Mr. Fulvic • Mono-Silicic Acid (3) After 1 liter drained through, I passed it back through Coco one more time (4) Adjust pH in the AVC to 6.00 (5) Left off Main Reservoir valves, so that plants would take-up all of the Recharge Mix throughout the day (6) This evening, I'll turn on reservoir water, which is lowly charged with an EC of 0.580 (7) "Low" Charge is only from flush-water passed through Grow Dot media recycled and returned to Main Reservoir Good News: • Double Grape is really stacking up the flowers • Super Skunk is slower to the flower-making party, but coming along • Pictures This Evening Future News: • Not going to look at trichomes until the 29th • That's when I leave for 9 days • Sister-in-law will only be in charge of water in main Reservoir and Humidifier • They are drinking like crazy now - but by then may be only sipping from the trough. • May not even run humidifer for the 9 days ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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If you have been reading this Journal, you know it has been a disaster since the beginning (all my fault). There were so many Bracts that formed, but never developed. The genetics of this plant are top notch. I've grown it before and it makes amazing buds. I learned lots of lessons.

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