Critical Times 3

First time growing 3 plants at once, exciting! Germinated using the paper towel method. Using up some old seeds before I order some more. "Terra Zilla" soil with about 30% added coco coir. I didn't like how sandy the soil is by itself. Trying out transplanting Autos, I know it's usually frowned upon but I don't have the space to do otherwise. Small pots, maybe 0.5litre? then into 11litre/3gallon once I've harvested whats in the tent, probably 2 weeks. The bigger one is about 5 days old, the other two are 2 days old. I'm planning on topping at least one of them. Oh, I have little DIY humidity domes over them, plastic bottles cut in half - it's way too dry for them otherwise, as there are 2 plants in heavy flower. EDIT 28/10/2022 Transplanted all of the seedlings into their final pots. using 2 x 10litre/2.6gallon pots and 1 x 3gallon air pot. Will be the last time I transplant autos... the first I did went fine and there hasn't been any stunted growth, the 2 smaller ones though... they broke apart in my hands, despite the soil being dry. I imagine they'll be stunted a bit. Ah well. I'm having to use DIY humidity domes, at least until I've harvested the 1 left. Hopefully that will be in a couple of weeks.. realistically probably 3 though. Really hoping these 3 wont take forever like the one thats still going... from what I've seen in other diaries, theres a couple different phenotypes - one that finishes up in around 75 days and another that is 90-95, which gets into the "why am I even growing autos" territory. Oh yeah, I germinated a random bag seed for the hell of it, thats what the little tiny one is. Most likely a male but maybe it'll surprise me. I'm already surprised it germinated, the seed looked quite old. Temperature is starting to rise, due to summer being around the corner. Lights on is around 24-27degrees celcius and lights off is around 15.

Coming along nicely, slight over watering I think, as per usual. Bigger one as the beginnings of side branches. MIDWEEK EDIT: I had a 45watt LED panel laying around so decided to use it for some side lighting, no idea if it'll do any good... no harm in trying though right? The bigger seedling is growing taller nicely, bought 4-4.5inches now, would be nice if the new leaves would come out though 2ND EDIT: Decided to go down the LST route on one of them, and topped the biggest one. I also found a seedling coming out the side of the biggest one... how it got there I have no idea, I only planted 1 seed... even if I had planted 2 it wouldn't have grown out the side like this... I'm baffled. I kinda wanted to keep it there but I've ripped it out, could be why the big one is growing slowly, we'll see. Fed each plant an extremely low amount of nutrients, just to give them something. 0.5ml of both bottles between 3 seedlings.

I'm a little early but whatever. Day 15 for the smaller ones Day 18 for the bigger one. I'm going to 'name' them A - Natural, no training B - LST C - Topped Something rather annoying happened just before as I was getting ready to take photos. The smoke alarm went off for no reason and gave me a fright, I was holding one of the yellow sticky pest traps you see in the photos and dropped it on B :( which is why I had to cut a good leaf off, it ripped as I carefully peeled the sticky trap off. Luckily that was the only damage, and to be honest it's not so bad (I hope) as it makes room for light to shine on new growth. I thought B was going to be a bit of a runt anyway so I'm not too worried. A is trucking along nicely, pretty on point for 15 days I reckon. C is going pretty well too, and has responded okay to being topped - no severe stunting from what I can see. This is my first successfully topped plant so I'm pretty excited. I've started doing a bit of training with the lower growth. They are all going to be pretty short plants, I honestly don't know what I'm doing wrong lol, maybe over-watering? I'm really hoping I get at least 1 decently tall one. At least bigger than 12-14" anyway. A is around 3-3.5" tall, B is short obviously and C is around 4.5-5" tall. No watering for 2-3 days, takes a long time to dry out. Oh, my oscillating fan has stopped turning, I've ordered a new one which should arrive tomorrow. I think it's making a difference to the heat of the tent, having no moving air and just pointing in one direction. The temp has risen to around 28degrees Celsius lights on, 16 degrees lights off. The random bag seed is doing pretty well too, not quite sure what I'm going to do with it yet. Well, i'll obviously grow it out if it's female. Actuially... fingers crossed that happens, I'll just veg until these 3 are done then flower. Cool.

A - Day 22 B - Day 22 C - Day 25 I've got the weeks a bit messed up, more like week 3 and 3.5 but oh well. A bit has changed since last week. I decided to do some LST on A, which is the middle sized one back left. It's healthy and was at a good height to do actual LST - unlike my failed attempt at B. I reckon it's going pretty well, still getting good growth... the 2 bigger ones, A and C are at that awkward messy stage, C has some preflowers and A looks like it's just about to. So hopefully in a week or so they'll look a bit better. I'm not sure how, but C looks to have Nitrogen toxicity, they've only been fed minimal nutrients - barely 0.5ml at around week 2 and 1ml at week 3. They're all the same strain but maybe the Indica pheno is more sensitive to Nitrogen? I have been told that the soil, "Terra Zilla" is quite hot (Nitrogen rich) too, so that probably didn't help. I did a small flush a few days ago, just on C, hopefully that helps. I'm sure once it's more into flower it'll help. As you can tell from the pictures, I broke a couple of the stems... they aren't snapped, just a small split, 90% of the stem was still on, it'll be fine. B is stunted, I'm a little annoyed just cause it's in the good pot lol. I thought about scrapping it but may as well keep it going. It also has some weird markings on it's leaves, looks a bit like leafminers but I checked under my microscope phone attachment and it kinda looks like burns. I'll keep an eye on it. Bag seed is going well, but also looks like it has Nitrogen toxicity :-/ Good news though, I am upgrading my tent in a few days. Going from a 90x90x160 to a 120x120x200. MIDWEEK UPDATE: I got a new tent :) 4 x 4 x 6.5 or 120x120x200 Very happy with it, it's huge compared to my last one, strange how just 1 extra foot feels like such a difference. It's especially nice being able to stand up in it, no more hunching over. I'm thinking about getting a wooden pallet or something to raise the floor a bit, feels odd having such a tall tent and everything on the ground. Thought about swapping back to LED's but tbh I think I'm going to stay with HID. I'd need to spend a lot to get a big enough LED to heat this tent in the winter, no way am I going to use a small heater in the tent like I've heard some do, feels like too much of a fire hazard to me. One slightly annoying thing is keeping the humidity down. My old tent was pretty consistently 40-45% with extractor fan at low medium, while this new one is around 59% with the extractor fan at slightly over medium. As long as I can keep it under 60% I'll be fine, I've heard over 60 is when the risk of but rot gets higher. I don't want to run the fan any higher than medium because it's way too loud, that and it's been going almost non stop for a year lol. Next purchase will be (instead of a new light setup) an AC INFINITY T-6 Inline fan, according to the specs it's literally half as loud - 32db VS 65db (my current fan). I only got the one i'm using because I got a good deal on a display model (with a speed controller). I'll need to get a new carbon filter though, as it's a 150mm fan, mines 100mm. Anyways, happy!

A - Day 29 B - Day 29 C - Day 32 More like week 4.5 but whatever. All 3 have exploded with growth :) I'm very happy with how things are going, 'C' is 13 inches at the tallest point! 'A' and 'B' are around 8-9 inches, which is still pretty good considering they've got a bit of LST going on. Both A and B have very thin branches though, which I'm a bit worried about - I'll most likely need to brace them up somehow once they start budding. C is properly in flower, starting buds, I think it's had preflowers for at least a week. While the other 2 are just entering the flowering stage now, another few days and they'll start stretching even more I reckon. Exciting! This will probably turn out to be my tallest grow, which I know isn't always a good thing but I'm pretty over having small 12-14" grows that's for sure. I think my tallest was probably 18" (no diary for that, it was my first grow) C has grown out of its Nitrogen toxicity which is great :) I've started feeding it light flower nutes, and the other 2 are getting even lighter doses for now. Not much else to report, new tent is going great though. It's nice having higher humidity, plants are liking it. Oh, the bag seed is going pretty well, I topped it and have had to train it a bit as it was becoming a bit of a mess. I'm probably gonna put a box over it to do 12/12 for a while until it shows it's sex.

A - Day 37 B - Day 37 C - Day 40 Had some problems recently. all plants have what looks like Spider Mite damage... yet there is zero mites. I thought I found some eggs under my Habanero leaves but under a microscope they just look like white lumps, no moving bits, nothing. They also dont wipe off the leaf at all. Very weird. Regardless, I did a big Neem oil spraying - which was fine on the 2 that had only just started flowering, but "C" had a lot of pistils, and the spray has burned most of them :( they seem to be growing new ones but the yield will be significantly less I imagine. The other 2 are taking their time flowering, wondering if it has anything to do with the Neem. They look way more Sativa like though so probably just the slow as pheno. Other than that, not much has been going on. Think they've stopped stretching, C has at least. A + B are around 14" and C is around 17" Day time temps have been getting lower because the weather here has been as well. From constant 28-30degrees Celsius (in the tent) to around 24-25. Not holding my breath for a good harvest, but 1 oz per plant would be nice. I'm feeding every 2nd watering, 1.5ml of Cali Pro Bloom A + B. Had some slight nute burn on one plant, nothing to worry about though. Starting to notice the smell a bit more too. EDIT: Added some natural light photos :)

A - Day 45 B - Day 45 C - Day 48 Oof, what a week. The spidermite problem got worse. I did a neem oil spray which burned the pistils of "C" (they've grown back all good) and didn't seem to fix the problem. After a lot of research I found that a home made "pepper spray" works really well, my own concoction was 2tsp cayenne pepper soaked in about 400ml of water, 30-40ml of isopropyl alcohol, a drop of liquid detergent and a random amount of neem oil. After drenching the plants I watered them with the same solution. I couldn't drench C as she is in proper flower... so I used a paintbrush lol. Found 1 mite after doing all of this. Haven't seen one since. Fingers crossed. "B" is still stretching, she's at 24"/2 foot tall now, easily my biggest so far. "C" is flowering really nice... her smell is amazing, very candy-like. I think she'll turn out really nicely. "A" is looking really healthy, seems to have stopped stretching. While C is flowering nicely, the other 2 are flowering very weirdly... theres literally no sign of any trichomes, the flowers almost look like it's hermi'd (but no sign of male). I asked the forum "Grass City" and a few people there said they look good and healthy but could use more light, so I'm now running 600watt HPS instead of 400watt. I'm not convinced they'll produce anything good... surely by now they should be producing trichomes, or at least a smell? who knows, not much I can do. I'm feeding between 1 and 1.5ml of both nutes every second watering. They are going through 1litre of water every 2-3 days.

I've been sick with covid so been a bit slack with the diary. I ended up chucking "B" out, it looked sick and wasn't going to yield anything due to shitty genetics, "A" is much the same but its a bit better... i'm kinda just keeping it going to see wtf will happen. A = Day 58 C = Day 61 They've grown a lot, or at least C has... buds are looking really nice, super frosty and smell great. Not a big plant though, but quality is gonna be nice. Haven't had any more spidermite damage, the spray I made did the trick :) No idea whats going on with "A", i suspect maybe the Ruderalis genes have come out too much. Airy, weird buds that have only just started producing trichomes... kind of. Gonna keep it going just out of curiosity. Was running 600watt HPS for a week or so, turned it back down to 400, no point, plants aren't good/big enough to warrant the extra power usage.

Week 9 A = Day 63 C = Day 66 Changed light schedule to 20/4 "C" is looking and smelling amazing, carbon filter is working overtime heh. Harvest window has just opened and i'm getting itchy waiting lol, going to wait until at least day 70, preferably 75 but we'll see how I go. I've taken some small popcorn samples which we're great, strong with a distinct taste. I forgot about flushing and have been pretty heavily feeding it flower nutes most times i've watered her... in an attempt to bulk it up some more, it seems to be working pretty well, with no sign of nutrient burn. "A" is actually starting to produce a lot of Trichomes and is making actual buds... yay! honestly didn't think it would do much, probably gonna be shitty weed but whatever. The colas are pretty big too (see photo). If anything it'll be good for making edibles :) I've also been feeding it a lot with the hope that it'll bulk up. Seems to be working. I reckon there's still 2-3 weeks to go. Gave her a big haircut, semi-lollipop. Bonus picture of the miniature bagseed plant. Not really sure what I'm gonna do with it :-/ looks pretty cool though lol. I repotted it into a slightly bigger pot with better drainage. No point putting it in a big pot, no idea how I'm going to flower it... might try put a box over it for a few days until it shows its gender, then decide what to do with it. Have planted 2 new strains - Fastbuds Big Bud Auto and Sweet Seeds Sweet Pure Auto CBD, Big Bud has sprouted but still waiting on the other. Will start a new diary when that happens. MIDWEEK UPDATE DAY 69: Took some new photos so thought I'd add them, 10 weeks/70 days tomorrow... photos don't do it justice, there's some nice purple hues coming through on the fan leaves. Most likely going to harvest tomorrow, shocked at how quickly its matured! definitely the nicest result I've had, as well as the worst result (the other one). "A" is probably gonna take another 2-3 weeks, should be interesting.

Day 69 Just "A" left now Sure is an interesting plant. Starting to bulk up a little bit, 2 of the main colas are 6-7inches tall. Trichomes are coming out more, it's actually starting to look halfway decent lol. Perfect plant for edibles so I'm not really complaining. Like I said in the harvest update - I won't be growing this strain again. Barely any smell to this one. Gave it a bit of a haircut, cutting off older leaves. Another 2 weeks, at least.

Harvesting "C" today, "A" has another couple weeks or so to go. 71 Days from seed/ The smell is intoxicating, very sweet... no citrus this time which is a nice change. Smells almost like candy or frosting... hard to describe. Buds are nice and firm, probably could have let it go another 5 days, as there was still a bunch of white hairs that appeared over night. Trichomes are milky and the purple hues are beautiful. Overall a nice harvest, definitely quality over quantity. I won't be growing this strain again though... way too unpredictable. Not doing a wet weigh, it's always disappointing lol. I'd say I'll get about an ounce.

Day 75 Chugging along. Cleaned up the tent and got a new extractor fan - AC Infinity T4. It's great, super quiet. Maybe a little under-powered but not enough to worry. I've stopped using nutrients, I reckon she's about 10 days away. A strange plant, is what it is though. Still not much of a smell, barely sticky. Ah well. Considered cutting it down now because it's shit, but I'm keen to see where it goes.

77 Days seed to harvest What a weird grow hahah. Honestly didn't think it would produce buds at all, what it did produce is terrible. No smell, small trichomes, airy etc etc. Good for edibles but that's about it. There's maybe 4? okay buds, which are the tops of the main colas. Won't be growing this strain again. 3/10 Didn't weigh it wet, I think it's kinda silly to. Plus I hang my buds to dry, what's the point in weighing them with heavy stems still attached?