Original Sour Diesel - coco grow

Light power consumption: 82 watt Hi there fellow growers! As stated in the previous update, Monday October 10 2022 is day 1. On day 2 I removed the humidity dome and installed the LED light, about 85 centimeter above the seedlings and fully dimmed. Also, I fertigated for the first time, with a light seedling mix (at a little under 0,6 mS/cm, while tap water is around 0,45 mS/cm). I skipped fertigating on day 3, to dry out the medium a bit and stimulate root grow. Since day 4, I’m fertigating daily and increased EC little by little and at the end of the first week, I was fertigating at 0,7 mS/cm. At that point I dropped the light 10 centimeters down to 75 centimeter, as they looked a little bit leggy to me. Also, I buffered another coco brick. The procedure takes a few days and I plan on transferring them to 2 L AirRap pots in the beginning of the second week. The ‘recipe’ I used is as follows: 1. Rehydrate coco brick as instructed on package; 2. Rinse the coco thoroughly, about 1 L at a time in a colander with smaller than average holes. This way, the smallest particles will be flushed away; 3. Put the rinsed coco in a fabric pot and place it in a bucket with tap water mixed with a high nitrogen calcium supplement at 1,5 mS/cm. My tap water is pH 8,2 so I lower it to 7,0, but I don’t think that’s necessary. The coco should be fully submerged in the water; 4. After 24 hours, renew the solution, but this time I use a low nitrogen calmag supplement. I let the coco soak for another 24 hours; 5. Next up, I take the fabric pot out of the bucket and put it on a rack above another bucket, so it can drip out. I let the coco rest for 24 to 48 hours; 6. Next, I rinse the coco while in the fabric pot. I use tap water pH’ed down to 6,2 and slowly pour in the water. I monitor the EC of the run off and it usually gets from above 1,0 mS/cm to around 6,0 mS/cm after a few liters. The coco is now ready to use; 7. During all the waiting, I also rinse the perlite, using the same colander. There’s a lot of white dust and the water running through is white at first, but after rinsing it, the run off water becomes clear. As is tradition, I named the girls: Roxanne, Sophia, Tiffany, Ulrika and Vivian. One sister does indeed not have a name. Even after a week, she still has her helmet firmly attached to her cotyledons and I’m unable to remove it without severely damaging her. She still grows (very slowly) though, so as an experiment, I’m going to keep her a while longer. Anyway, she will not make it to flower, hence, I didn’t giver her a name. Today (day 8) I transferred the five sisters to 2L AirRap pots, but this will be covered in the following entry in this diary next week. Also in next week’s report: a proper individual introduction of the five ladies. Thanks for stopping by and happy growing!

Light power consumption: 102 watt Hello fellow growers! The girls are progressing nicely. Not the fastest growth rate, but they are looking healthy and they are getting bigger every day. I started this week by transplanting them into AirRap pots. I had only three 2 L pots, bought another three, but it turned out those were 1,5 L and had a different shape. Hence, three girls are now in 2 L pots and two girls in 1.5 L pots. The sixth seedling was never able to shake off her shelf and stopped growing. I removed her shelf by force, but it became clear that the cotyledons never fully developed. I tossed her on day 12. From the five girls that are left, only three will be selected to flower. And as it looks now, it will be the three in the 2 L pots. The bigger pots caused RH to rise, hence, on day 9 I installed the exhaust fan. Currently, it’s running at almost the slowest setting. The day after I increased the power of the light to 102 watts (while 320 watts is the maximum). Due to the repotting to higher pots on day 8, they were already a bit closer to the light. During this week, I increased EC slowly to the current 1,0 mS/cm. I’m fertigating once a day and on day 10 and day 14 I gave the young plants a ‘maximum CalMag mix’ at target EC (so no other nutrients, just CalMag water at pH 6,2), to prevent any CalMag issues. The girls have been growing very similar until now. Roxanne, Sophia and Tiffany are pretty much similar size and they are in the 2 L pots. Ulrika and Vivian are a tad bit smaller, but they seem to grow at the same rate, they’re just 2 days behind. Tiffany seems a little bit lighter green than the others. Besides that, the plants look very similar, in fact, this is the fifth strain I’m growing and I haven’t seen such similarity between plants from seeds of the same strain before. The five girls are introduced in the pictures individually (my camera has a hard time setting the correct white balance, therefor, in the pictures colors might differ, but in reality, the plants are pretty much the same color). Well, this is the end of the seedling stage, the girls are now in early veg. Next week I’ll start to make some preparations for the automated fertigation system and I’ll prepare a large load of coco, because they will be transferred to their final pots in week 4. Thanks for visiting my diary and happy growing!

Light power consumption: 102 watt Hello fellow growers! The biggest challenge this week was fertigating the plants enough times per day. The girls started to drink significantly more and after 24 hours without fertigating, the pots felt really light. Hence, I needed to fertigate at least twice a day, preferably three times a day. I tried to do it twice a day, but unfortunately, between day 20 and 21, I failed to do this and there was about 30 hours between the fertigation events. Immediately a magnesium deficiency became manifest, with interveinal chlorosis in the older leaves as a telltale sign. To be honest, earlier in the week I already noticed - ever so slightly - the same symptoms, but it seemed under control. Missing that second fertigation late in the week just escalated it to a real deficiency. Ulrika en Vivian (the ones in the smaller pots) are struggling even more with my failure to fertigate frequently enough. They grew slower than the others and became droopy. No problem, as I planned to flower only the three best plants and those are in the bigger pots. To temporarily mitigate the magnesium problems, I fertigated with just CalMag and Terra Aquatica Silicate, which also contains magnesium, at EC 1,1 mS/cm and pH 6,2 on day 18 and off course again on day 21. However, the real solution is to fertigate more often per day and/or transfer to bigger pots and today, day 22, I did both and hooked the girls up to my automated fertigation system. This will be covered in the following update. Besides trying to fertigate often enough, I also pruned the shoots from the first and second nodes on day 18, as I’m going to manifold/main-line. Next week, shortly after transplant, the girls will be topped. And last: the girls are starting to smell a lot, especially for their young age. That’s promising! Thanks for visiting and happy growing!

Light power consumption: 142 watt Hi there fellow growers! As already mentioned in my previous update, I transplanted the girls to their final 15 L AirRap pots on day 22. As expected, Roxanne, Sophia and Tiffany were selected, as they were the best performers. Ulrika and Vivian were tossed. Transplant went smoothly, but I had to remove the lowest two sets of leaves, as they were lying on the coco. the same day I also hooked up the filter for odor control and the automated fertigation and drain removal system. This was necessary, as I’m leaving on day 26 for nine days to another country; hence I had to make sure that the whole system is dialed in correctly. Also, I have a 50 L vessel for the fertigation mix, which doesn’t really leave any room for errors. Fertigating too little and the plants might suffer from water shortage and rising EC in the coco, fertigating too much, and the vessel would be empty before I return home. I landed on 3 fertigation events: 15 seconds at lights on, 10 seconds after 7 hours lights on and another 10 seconds 4 hours before lights off. This results in a little over a liter per plant per day. Because of that prolonged absence, I decided to postpone topping a few days and top them just before my departure. However, the lateral shoots in the third node were already quite big, hence I decided to prune them on day 23. On day 24, I topped them back to the fourth node and those side shoots from the fourth node are now the main branches of each plant. On day 23 I also increased the power usage of the light, but I also raised it a bit. This way, the plants can grow into it during my absence. On day 26 I left home and currently (day 29) I’m 1000 kilometers away from the girls. I installed a security cam in the tent and with it I can see two plants completely and the third for about one-third. I can rotate the camera with an app on my phone and it also contains sound. Until now, everything seems to be going smoothly: the plants are looking good and seem to be growing in a fast pace. The fertigation events have been on schedule until now and there are no visible problems. Temperature has come down a bit, probably because the house isn’t heated, but nothing to be worried about. Hopefully, they’ll be ok without me for a few more days. I’ll report back next week and also have the second topping planned for when I’m back. Thanks for stopping by and happy growing!

Light power consumption: 142 watt Hi there fellow growers! After nine long days of absence, I came back home today and was finally able to care for my girls again. I already knew they were ok, since I was able to keep an eye on them via the security cam inside the tent. The configuration of the automatic fertigation system was close to perfect: the vessel that holds the fertigation mix was almost empty and the drain bucket was filled for 75%. This means every fertigation event resulted in some drain. Still, EC went on the rise in the coco. The fan leaves turned dark green and Sophia was showing some typical N-excess ‘clawing’. Roxanne had some burned tips. There are definitely some hot spots in the coco and a good hand watering, drenching all the coco, was urgently needed. Also, Sophia had dark red stems and was praying extremely high with some fan leaves. See looked a bit stretchy, which was actually expected as I left them in a slightly low light conditions to slow down growth a bit. Last, temperature was quite low during my absence, as the house wasn’t heated during that time. Although not in perfect health, the plants endured my long absence quite good. They grew nicely (although not spectacular) and their stems became sturdy and thick. Today I started with a good hand watering with just tap water pH’ed down to 6 and Terra Aquatica FlashClean. This products contains enzymes that break down salts in the medium. I know it works, as my sprinklers always work a lot better after treatment. I watered every plant abundantly with a lot of drain, making sure that any hot spots in the medium were eliminated. Next, the second topping, pruning and training. Sophia was already working on the fifth node of both main stems. I topped both back to the third node and pruned the sideshoots of the second node and left the sideshoots of the first and third node, so she now has eight main shoots. Both Roxanne and Tiffany were working on the fourth node and it was impossible to safely top back to the third node, hence, I topped them down to the second node and left the sideshoots in the first and second node. Let’s see if it makes a difference. I LST’ed both main stems apart to keep them low and open up the plants a bit. I also removed those inside leaves you get after mainlining this way and block the light from the growth tips. A few hours later, I gave them another hand watering, but this time a full dose of CalMag at target EC (1,1 mS/cm) and 0,2 gram per liter of TA Silicate at pH 6,2. I gave them two liter per plant, resulting in a lot of drain. Later tonight I will resume the normal fertigation schedule. Hopefully, this will solve most of the problems that arose during my absence. If they look good tomorrow, I’ll start increasing light intensity and later this week some more LST. Thanks for reading and happy growing!

Light power consumption: 182,5 watt Hi there fellow growers! I’m terrible late with updating my diary, but here it is. This update covers week 6 from Nov. 14 to Nov. 20 2022. The first few days of the week I fertigated by hand most of the times, to make sure all the hot spots in the medium were cleared (see the previous week for more info on that). Also, on day 36 I increased the light power to 182,5 watt (320 watt is the maximum). Other than that, this week was mainly waiting for the plants to recover from my long absence and the topping of all four shoots on day 35. At the end of the week, the plants started to grow a lot faster and also drink a lot more. I took the time to enhance the automated fertigation system a bit: I cleaned the whole drain removal system, as there were algae growing and I improved the self-made ‘hydro-ring’. In preparation of that, I removed a few of the lower fanleaves, as they were in the way of the hydro-rings. In the pictures of this update, you’ll find an explanation of how the automated drain removal system works. In a later update, I’ll elaborate on the automated fertigation. At the end of the week, the plants had grown quite a bit and they looked better. They smell strong for their age and those lower fan leaves became huge. Thanks for stopping by and happy growing!

Light power consumption: 182,5 watt Hi there fellow growers! Still running far behind on the updates of my diary, but I’m going to post multiple updates today to catch up. This update covers the week from 21 to 27 November. This week, the plants grew nicely and no problems manifested themselves. They’ve fully recovered from my long absence in week 4 and 5 and the topping at the end of week 5. As they are getting ready for flower, most of my efforts this week were focused on training the plants. On day 45, I trained them quite aggressively and pulled the 8 main branches on every plant apart. I also defoliated a bit to open them up further, so those little shoots get a chance to make it to the top of the canopy. The plants recovered the same day and grew fast. On day 48 I removed some big fan leaves at the bottom. The canopy filled already 75% of the tent on day 49 and the plants looked healthy and vibrant, so I switched to 12/12 to induce flowering. Hopefully the timing was right, as I am a bit worried for the heavy stretch from this sativa dominant strain. That’s all for this week. Thanks for stopping by and happy growing!

Light power consumption: 230 watt Hi there fellow growers! This update covers the week from 28 November to 4 December. This is the first week the plants are on a 12/12 light schedule. It was another good week of growing without any complications. On day 50 I did another LST session, to spread out the branches and open up the plants. I also increased the light power consumption to 230 watt. During the week, the girls increased their growth rate significantly: the flowering stretch has commenced! The whole system is now in full swing: the automated fertigation system delivers a fresh batch of nutes five times a day with ~15% run off. Consequently, the coco is >95% saturated all the time. Due to this frequent fertigation, an EC of 1,1 mS/cm is still more than sufficient, as all the nutrients are delivered five times a day in the correct ratio’s. I’m still using the growth formula, as the plants need a lot of nitrogen during the stretch. Nevertheless, at the end of the week, I noticed run off EC dropped to 0,6 mS/cm, which is 0,5 mS/cm below inflow. This indicated two things: the nutrient ratios of the fertigation mix are spot on, but there is also room to increase the EC. I’m aiming for a run off EC that’s no more than 0,3 mS/cm under the inflow EC. One or two times this week, I also fertigated by hand and gave them a full CalMag dose at target EC with a bit of Terra Aquatica’s Silicate. On day 56, the last day of the week, I did another aggressive training session to flat out the canopy. I also defoliated quite a bit, to make sure that light penetrated to all those side shoots. And last, I also pruned some sideshoots from which it was already clear they are not going to make it to the top of the canopy. That’s all for this week. Thanks for stopping by and happy growing!

Light power consumption: 260 watt Hi there fellow growers! Finally, with this update I’m no longer lagging behind on updating this diary. After the LST, defoliating and pruning on day 56, I was out of town for a few days. When I came back on day 60, the plants were doing great. It is the second week of 12/12 and the plants are currently at their peak growth rate. They’ll still have some considerable flower stretch left in them, but I don’t expect the pace at which they’re growing to increase anymore and the growth rate will probably start decreasing by the end of next week. Hence, just 5 days after the previous training and defoliation session, another session was necessary to spread out the branches. On day 61 I did another LST session, defoliated a lot and pruned a lot of underdeveloped shoots under the canopy, because they won’t get enough light to produce good quality buds. I also raised the light a bit, but at the same time increased its power. This week, the plants were still fertigated with the vegetation mix, but today I refilled the reservoir with the pre-flowering mix, as more and more pistils are popping up. I also increased EC again, as run off EC is still 0,4 mS/cm below inflow. I think at the end of the upcoming week, another LST and defo session is necessary, but it’s probably going to be the last one. From there on, bud setting will take off (hopefully). Thanks for stopping by and happy growing!

Light power consumption: 260 watt Hi fellow growers! Three weeks into the flowering stage and everything is going well. The plants are looking healthy and the buds are starting to develop. On day 68, the first small trichomes became visible to the naked eye. The plants still stretched quite a bit this week, but it looks like most of the growth happened at the beginning of the week and the growth rate is now slowing down. Tiffany (the one on the right) is a bit stretchier. At the beginning, she received a little less light because the panel on the Mars Hydro TSL 2000 on the right seemed to be a bit weaker. I increased the light intensity on that panel and Tiffany's condition improved a lot; she looks much better compared to last week. I'm using a coco/perlite mix (60/40) that has excellent drainage. However, this week I noticed that it takes quite some time for the water to be absorbed by the medium, especially with Sophia. This isn't because the medium is bad, but because the entire pot is completely colonized by roots. There are a lot of small roots at the top of the medium, and when I look through one of the holes at the bottom of the AirRap pots, I can see a large number of roots growing through the holes. In short, there are so many roots that it's impeding drainage. Despite this, the plants look great, so I don't think it will be a problem. On day 67, I did another quite extensive defoliation session. I also pruned away a few side shoots that hadn't made it to the top of the canopy. I also did some low stress training (LST) and some high stress training (HST) on some of the larger shoots of stretchy Tiffany. I did the same thing on day 69, but from this day forward, I don't expect to do much more LST. On day 71, I removed a few leaves that were blocking bud sites. The plants are transitioning to the 'bulking phase', so I will be more reserved with defoliation from now on. Most of the training and shaping is done! At the beginning of the week, I switched to the preflower mix: 0.35 ml/l of each component of Terra Aquatica's FloraTrio. On day 69, I changed the reservoir again and adjusted the nutrient mix once more: the flower component is now the main component. In the coming weeks, I will reduce the nitrogen supply even further. I really love those alien-like grow hairs and this is the fun part of the growth: there isn't much to do except watch the buds develop. Thanks for stopping by and happy growing!

Light power consumption: 310 watt Hi there fellow growers! This week, my plants made the switch to full flower. They grew a few more centimeters during the beginning of the week, but by the end of the week, it looked like most of their energy went into developing buds. I raised the light by about 5 centimeters at the beginning of the week and another 2 centimeters later on. I also increased the power of the light to its maximum. Every now and then, I removed a leaf if it was blocking a bud site. Overall, it was a relatively uneventful week, which is fine by me 😊. Thank you for following along and happy growing.

Light power consumption: 310 watt Hi there fellow growers! First, I wish you all a very green and frosty new year! Once again, I've fallen behind on updating my diary. This entry covers the last week of 2022, which was week 5 of the flowering stage. The plants have stopped stretching and are now fully focused on developing buds. Other than regularly checking on them, changing the nutrient solution in the irrigation system once a week, and occasionally removing a leaf that was blocking a bud site, there wasn't much to do or report. Thank you for following along and happy growing.

Light power consumption: 310 watt Hi there fellow growers! Really nothing to report about this week . Everything looks fine, the buds are developing nicely. At the end of the week, I noticed runoff EC was creeping up slightly, despite five fertigation events per day. Hence, I reduced inflow EC by 0,1 mS/cm. I removed a few leaves here and there, to free up some buds. Other than that, there was not much to do. Thank you for following along and happy growing.