Purple Marmalade & Purple Zkittlez

Substrate Mix: 1/3 Coco Coir 1/3 Worm Castings 1/3 Perlite 2 tbsp/gallon DTE 3-3-3 starting mix Watering has been with Rainwater, 10 mL/L LAB serum 5 mL/L Fish Hydrolysate Currently vegging through seedling phase with 2 20W/each Dommia LED’s, will be transferred to Mars Hydro once outgrown. Purple Marmalade was topped Week 4 Purple Zkittlez was a bit stunted, not yet topped.

Both plants were transplanted into a gallon pot, mix was amended with dry fertilizer ratios listed above. 26 gallons total mix was made, coco coir/perlite mix (2:1) and then amendments added, cooked for about 1 month in plastic totes. Still watering with rainwater + a light dose of Fish Hydrolysate+LAB serum when dry. Root development has been extremely rapid, Purple Zkittlez is catching up in height but still has relatively large internodes. Both plants have been moved underneath a Mars Hydro TSL 2000W set to the lowest setting, initial distance ~6 inches from the tops.

This was an eventful week, repotted the Purple Marmalade into a 3 gallon pot with the same amended substrate. I’ve begun LST on these girls to make it easier to SCROG when they moved to the tent. I’m not yet sure if I’ll flower in 5 or 10 gallon plastic pots. My current thinking is that l’ll veg these to fill out the surface area of the pot before I transplant into the 2x4 and SCROG, where I’ll attempt to let these girls fill out the entire canopy. I may flower them in the 4x4, I’m not sure yet. I feel like it will be easier to totally fill out the 2x4 with these 2 plants but we’ll see what they look like in a couple of weeks. All-in-all, the plants are doing great under the TSL 2000. I’ve turned up the intensity just slightly from the lowest setting. The newly exposed top sites are a little more lightly colored than I’d like, but I’m attributing that to being recently being exposed to this brighter light than suspecting any deficiencies or light stress at this time. The plants are looking great so far and I’m just letting the tops dry out between waterings. Still rainwater with 5-15 mL of LAB serum/Fish hydrolysate, also occasionally a LIGHT application of FPJ LAB fermented Tithonia rotundifolia.

We’re kinda cruising for now. Both girlies are just feeding off the organic nutrients amended into the medium, I fed a couple days ago with a Earthworm Casting compost tea to give the roots a real kick and reduce some of the transplant shock. Purple Marmalade is cruising, I moved both girls away from the LED’s a bit and she’s starting to stretch out those nodes, I still wanna see a little more height out of her before I think about starting to SCROG. Purple Zkittlez is still playing catch-up, there’s like 10 exposed bud sites right now so growth FEELS slow but I’m sure they’ll start taking off soon.

Canopy size is really ramping up now on both plants. Currently running the MH TSL 2000 at 25%. Both girls are filling out nicely, I’m tempted to push it a little higher but I’m really looking for a little more vertical growth before I think about that. Currently rocking 9 top sites on the Marmalade, some people were nice enough to let me know that she’s a little darker than the ideal green so we’re just really keeping a close eye on pH and not adding any Fish Hydrolysate to the waterings for now. Purple Zkittlez has many exposed top sites but currently seems to be mainly growing out about 6/7, I’ll keep training her to maximize the canopy. I did repot Purple Zkittlez into a 3 gal a couple days ago. The larger fan leaves are a pretty dark shade but the new growth is coming in a more normal looking green, so I’m hopeful it was just a little too much too soon. Definitely starting to think more about when we’re gonna flip and what setup would be best for flower. I plan on using my 2 MH TSW 2000s, I was originally thinking in a 2x4 but now I’m thinking maybe I’ll fill out the 4x4. If it seems a little lacking on light power I could always toss the TSL in too. We’ll see what it’s looking like when we get there.

Not much has changed, I find myself watering the Purple Marmalade every 3 days or so now which tells me she’s filling her 3 gallon out nicely. I did put a humidifier on the girls this week as the baseboard heat has been kicking on as the temps drop and it’s drying everything out more. I also bumped up the MH TSL 2000 up a little more because they’re growing faster. I am worried about how light the tops are coming in on the Purple Marmalade, I figured maybe it was just depleting the medium a little more, but if it keeps progressing I may look into why a bit more. I think I’ll do the next couple of waterings with rainwater and LAB serum to see if that helps a bit. Purple Zkittlez is putting on some vertical growth, I chopped a couple lower sites that weren’t getting much light to try and clone and clean up the lower a bit. She’s still playing catch-up and not taking as much water as the Purple Marmalade.

Really ramped up the LST to increase the number of top sites on both girls in preparation of needing to fill out the tent. Thankfully, the Purple Marmalade’s tops are starting to darken, I think it was mainly light stress coupled with the high PPM from my tap water, as I’ve reduced the light intensity and started watering again with rainwater which seems to have remedied it a great deal. The Purple Zkittlez is REALLY catching up now, she’s putting on massive gains. I top-dressed Purple Marmalade at some point this week with about a cup of worm castings and 3 tbsp/gal of the Vegan Mix again, and she seems to have appreciated it. The Purple Zkittlez will likely be getting the same treatment soon. All-in-all, things are looking a little better and I’m happy with growth right now, I’m going to continue taking my time with these girls until I think they’re ready to go into the grow tent, and then fill that space out and flip.

Potted up Purple Marm to a 5 gal, same mix with 1 tbsp of Roots Organic Bloom per gallon for flowering and some additional worm castings. Top dressed 3 tbsp/gal Vegan mix on Zkittlez.

Both girls are now in 5 gallon plastic pots with the same mix (see last week for details). I did bump up the light intensity slightly this week, but not much else has changed. Growth has felt slow but they’re putting on a LOT of leaf mass distributed over all the new top sites. Nothing else major to note.

Not much has changed, I did a selective defoliation because I had a really high density on both girls of super small top sites all competing for nutrients and light, so I made it a little more even. Both girls (Zkittlez especially) are kind of going through a growth spurt and putting on some vertical gains, which I’m really hoping I don’t stunt by defoliating.

Wow, what a stellar week of growth it has been. The girls must really be cutting into the castings and amendments from their pot-up because they are cranking out leaves like it’s their full time job. My only complaint is that I would really love to see some more vertical growth from the Marmalade, but she’s pushing out a lot of top sites right now. I definitely want her to be a little longer before flower so I don’t end up with stubs. I’m pretty happy with the top site density after defoliation, I may cut out a few more before flipping but I want to see how we look in another week or so.

Another problem-free week on the books for the girls. They’ve been getting thirstier and I think a bit hungrier as the roots are filling out their pots, watering has increased and they’ve been top dressed with castings and more amendments. They’re both putting on some major biomass daily and I’m really happy with the way they’re going so far.