Royal Gorilla Automatic

D1 Boom! We have a lift-off. After 2.5 days, the Gorilla germinated just fine. The Purplematic also germinated, but the two Imperium X ladies are still shy. I keep the coco pellets on a small propagation tray, standing on a heat mat under a fluorescent tube light that I usually use for my tomatoes and peppers. ------------------------------ D2 She is a vigorous one and shot up 4 centimeters in a day. ------------------------------ D3 She had already outgrown the small propagation tray, so it was time to transplant her. Usually, I don't bother with up-potting several times, so she went directly into her final pot. I placed her off-center for two reasons: I have a Blumat carrot in the center of the pot, and by placing the plant off-center, I gain a bit more room when I start the low-stress training in a couple of weeks. As usual, I added myco in the hole before putting in the whole coco pellet. Finally, I turned on the humidifier and set the Inkbird controller to 80% RH (+/- 2%). That way, the humidity is nice and high without using a humidity dome. ------------------------------ D7 It's been a few days since the last update, but I'm sick with Covid and haven't really been up to posting. Also, there isn't much to report, really. ------------------------------

D8. The first day in the second week of veg. Nothing to report, really. ------------------------------ D10. I mixed up and gave the girl some nematode water as part of my IPM. Usually, I do that before I transplant, but it got delayed due to covid. ------------------------------ D12. Uneventful. Basically, we're in waiting mode until she is big enough to start training. ------------------------------ D14. Today was the last day in the second week of veg. She is still too young to start training, so it's pretty hands-off at this stage. I foliar fed for the first time today. I mixed up some pure fulvic acid with a drop of soap to act as a surfactant and sprayed her just before lights out to avoid any burn-in issues. I plan on foliar feeding like this, once per week, up until the start of flower. My first grow with fulvic acid, so I am curious to see the results. Another thing I'll be testing for the first time is watering with humic acid once per week. However, the soil still has a lot of moisture (30 mbar), so it'll be a while until I water next time. However, I put some alfalfa seeds in water, and in a few days, I will turn that into a sprouted-seed tea and give her. The light is dimmed to 25% (no IR or UV), and the measured DLI is around 22. I should slowly ramp that up now that she's out of the seedlings stage. She has some growing to do in the following weeks and will love getting more light. ------------------------------

D15. The third week of veg starts, and all is well in the tent. She is 11 cm tall and 17 cm across so she is definitely out of the seedling stage. I turned up the light to read around 350 PPFD at canopy level, which translates to a DLI of 25. I also decreased the Inkbird controller to 75% RH (+/- 2%.) ------------------------------ D17. There isn't much to report as I'm still waiting until she is big enough to start training. I adjusted the Inbird and dropped the humidity in the tent to 66% (+/- 2%.) I also fed the worms yesterday with some leftover lettuce that I chopped up really fine and tucked under the straw mulch. Gotta keep my worm buddies happy and well-fed. ------------------------------ D19. It's been five days since I put the alfalfa seeds in water; today, they had sprouted enough. I threw the sprouts into a blender with some water and blitzed everything into a slurry. I added humic acid at half-strength to the slurry and then gave her around 500 ml slurry @ pH 6.9. A bit higher than I would prefer, but good enough when you're lazy like me. I also turned up the light to a DLI around 32. I already notice a smell when I open the tent, even though we still are far from flower. I'm not sure if it's the Gorilla or the Purplematic, but based on my experience in growing CBD strains, my money is on the Purplematic girl. ------------------------------ D21. We're at the end of the third week of veg, and everything is rocking along in the tent. Today, I decided that she was old enough to be tied down, so I started the LST. She also got a fulvic acid foliar spray just before lights out. ------------------------------

D22. Starting the fourth week of veg, and everything is just trucking along in the tent. All I did today was tighten the LST wire. ------------------------------ D23. Another day, more LST, but nothing major; I only tightened the wires a bit, as it will still be a while until I can start spreading her out. I brewed some compost tea for my other plants and decided to give her some as well. My old set-up had gunked up, so today, I replaced it with a much more powerful system I built. The good news is that it is plenty powerful, and the bad news is that the pump is too noisy to leave running overnight. Not a massive deal as I can start brewing in the morning and then use the tea before bedtime. I mixed worm castings, rock dust, biochar, lime, bentonite, kelp, and neem meal, put that mixture in large tea bags, and let them steep for 10 hours in water with a bit of molasses as food for the microbes. Finally, I added a bit of humic acid and adjusted the pH to 6.3 before giving her 1 liter of tea, which works out to around 5% of the container volume. I also diluted some of the tea and used it as a foliar spray just before lights out. ------------------------------ D25. She is a slow grower and very compact without much internodal spacing. Structure-wise, she reminds me of the Chocodope I grew. That one turned out stunted, and I hope that isn't the case here. She looks very healthy, though, with a rich green color. We'll see what happens. I moved up the light to increase the spread and also increased it to a DLI of 36. Hopefully, some more photons will get her going. Increasing the light means a hotter tent, so I installed the old fan controller I built. More exhaust should bring the temp a bit. ------------------------------ D26. Additional LST to spread her out and a fulvic foliar spray just before lights out. ------------------------------ D28. We're at the end of week four of veg, and she looks great. Small but great. I suspect she may be stunted (for some reason), but I hope she is only slow and will veg for another week as the White Widows did, before going into flower. (The Purplematic CBD Auto in the same tent started flowering today.) I've been adding and tightening LST wires, trying to open her up a bit since she is so compact. It's working, but it is slow. So yeah, another week of veg would be great (fingers crossed). ------------------------------

D29. We're at the start of the fifth week of veg, and all is well in the tent. I did some more LST to spread her out as much as possible before she goes into flower. ------------------------------ D31. I'm fairly confident that she is stunted since she is extremely compact and doesn't seem to grow much. She will go into flower any day now, but she is still pretty small. I'm adjusting the LST wires daily and today, I did some minor defoliation by removing a few low branches and leaves. Maybe that will redirect some energy and help her stretch out. ------------------------------ D32. Alright, she is now officially in flower. I was hoping for a few more days in veg, but she wouldn't have it. I brewed up a quick compost tea using oat flour as the food source. Some people claim that that will result in a fungally dominant tea, so I thought I'd try it out. I also added humic acid and a teaspoon of myco because why not? Honestly, I'm not sure it is even possible to create a fungally dominant AACT, as the constant water movement will most likely tear the fungal hyphae apart as they form. In any case, a different food source should promote other bacteria than the molasses I usually use. Diversity is the name of the game in living soil. Well, in life in general. I gave her around 1 liter (5% of container volume) of tea @ pH 6.1. ------------------------------ D35. We're on the last day in the fifth and final week of veg, as she is now in flower. All is well in the tent, and there isn't much to report. One thing I did was buy a mushroom grow kit to keep in the tent. I figured I'd test it out and see how it works. The mushrooms produce CO2 that the plants love, and hopefully, I'll get some tasty Oyster mushrooms to eat — two birds with one stone and all that. ------------------------------

D36. The first day in the first week of flower, and everything is moving along in the tent. She is still tiny, so I guess I stunted her somehow, or maybe she will grow up eventually. Kinda doubt it, but one can always hope. ------------------------------ D38. It's only been three days since I put the mushroom-growing kit in the tent, and it has already exploded with mushrooms. I will do the first harvest tomorrow and enjoy fresh and yummy oyster shrooms. Other than that, there's not much to report, although I did some additional LST yesterday to spread her out more since she is sooo compact. ------------------------------ D39. I defoliated her by removing some branches and leaves down low and some leaves that were blocking bud sites. Nothing extreme, a simple trim to increase light penetration and air circulation. All material got cut up and added back into the pot as mulch/worm food. More LST. ------------------------------ D40. I brewed a simple compost tea (worm castings, rock dust, molasses) and gave her 1 liter @ pH 6.4. ------------------------------ D42. The last day in the first week of flower, and all is well. I did minor defoliation to open her up and get some light on those hidden buds. ------------------------------

D43. The first day in the second week of flower, everything is good in the tent. She might be small and stunted, but she looks healthy, vibrant, and strong. ------------------------------ D45. There's nothing to report, really. She is quietly doing her thing, and there isn't much for me to do at this point. The mushroom kit seems to have just died after harvest, and today, I noticed some mold and removed it immediately. It was a fun experiment that didn't work out as I'd hoped. Oh, well :) ------------------------------ D47. Zzzzzzzz... flower is so dull as there's nothing to do but wait. ------------------------------ D49. There's not much to report at the end of the second week of flower. Yesterday, the entire tent was without power, so there was no light or exhaust for five hours. Ugh! Fortunately, I was making some compost tea and discovered the lack of power when watering. I gave the girl 2.5 liters of compost tea and humic acid @ pH 6.6. ------------------------------

D50. The start of the third week of flower, and all is well in the tent. She is very dense and super compact, and I think I need to defoliate her soon to increase airflow and prevent budrot. ------------------------------ D51. I removed a few leaves to increase light penetration and airflow. I also calibrated my Hygrometer since I've noticed lately that it seemed a bit off. Sure enough, it was off by 7%. ------------------------------ D54. There's nothing to report as she is just doing her thing without any help from me. I'm going out of town for a week, and she will be left to her own devices. ------------------------------

D60. I'm back again after being out of town for six days. Not much has changed, to be honest. The flowers have fattened up a bit, and I see the first signs of senescence. ------------------------------ D63. We're at the end of the fourth week of flower, and all is well. The Gorilla girl will soon be alone in the tent as the Purplematic will get chopped in a day or two. I will also change the lights, moving the Kingbrite light into the photo tent, and I'll put my trusted Viparspectra P600 in this tent instead. That will save quite a bit of energy, which is good considering the insane electricity prices we're having right now. ------------------------------

D64. We're at the start of the fifth week of flower, and today, the Purplematic moved out, and now the Gorilla girl is all alone in the tent. I also switched out her light from the big Kingbrite to the much smaller Viparspectra P600. I need the bigger light in my other tent, and even though the Viparspectra is a low-power light, I believe it should be enough, considering how small the Gorilla girl is. I could have put in one of the Greenception lights from my other tent, but it honestly was too much of a bother. ------------------------------ D66. Yesterday, I gave her 2.5 liters of water @ pH 6.5 with humic acid and calmag. Today, the green lacewing larvae (Chrysoperla Carnea) for combatting the thrips in my photo tent arrived, and I also dispersed a few of them in this tent. I haven't seen any thrips damage on the Gorilla girl, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to be proactive. I also did minor defoliation to increase light penetration and air circulation. ------------------------------ D68. Not much to report besides that this is one STINKY girl. She stinks up the entire lungroom, and I have ordered a new carbon filter. Her senescence is slowly increasing, and I suspect she will be done soon-ish, although I haven't even looked at her trichomes yet. ------------------------------ D70. We're at the end of the fifth week of flower, and chop day is getting close. Her senescence is progressing nicely, and today, I checked her trichomes for the first time and already found quite a few amber ones. She is coming down in a few days, but it won't be a large harvest due to her stunting. However, she smells fantastic, so I'm counting on a great smoke. I went to WAR today against the spider mites we have in our ornamental plants in the apartment. I sprayed all plants with my homemade pesticide (capsaicin, alcohol, horticultural soap.) since I had it at hand. If that fails to knock the spider mites back, I'll bring out the neem oil instead. The infestations aren't bad (yet), but it would suck to get mites into my tents, so better to be proactive. ------------------------------

D71. We're at the start of week six of flower, and this grow is just about over. I had another look at her trichomes, and she is ready. I see a fair amount of amber, so I decided to chop her tomorrow. I'm sure she could go longer, but there's little to gain by pushing her, especially considering the electricity prices currently. ------------------------------ D72. Chop day! Due to her stout stature, I decided to wet trim. I usually prefer to leave the plants intact to ensure a long slow dry, but in this case, I'm concerned with budrot, considering how compact she is. It's better to dry a bit too fast than to lose the entire harvest to rot. It won't be a big harvest, but I can see the potential in her structure. I just have to avoid stunting the plant next time I grow this strain, lol. Autos sure can be finicky at times. ------------------------------

I let her dry for 12 days before I trimmed her. I wanted to let her dry a while longer but had problems with increasing ambient humidity so I decided to cut the dry short. The trim was done in a flash due to the wet trim, and now the buds are curing.