Bubble Gum

Veg is upon us! I noticed a good amount of roots coming out from the starter cube so I moved it into a small container with fox farms ocean forest soil. I watered with the last of the clonex I'm using for this grow and then with plain tap water run through my pur filter. After a week in soil, she has grown quite a bit and now has several sets of leaves. I will be moving it out from under my T5 light and into the tent in a day or so, I like to give them some extra time to get used to the soil before putting it under the LED.

Starting this past week, I moved into the grow tent and an 18 hrs on 6 hrs off light schedule. I started with the LED all the way up so I didn't burn it but the leaves were reaching a bit so I have moved the light a bit closer. I did have to add some garden wire as it was getting a bit top heavy and leaning. It is only the second week in the ocean forest soil so I will give it another week or two before feeding it so that I don't over do it, still plenty of nutrients in the soil to pull from. I love this point early in veg since the changes are quite noticeable from day to day with the new growth!

For this week not much changed other than some leaf growth. There are some new leaves forming and another node on the stem. Once it gets to about six nodes, I'll start manifolding the branches. I will probably transplant to the bigger and final 5 gal pot next week.

Several changes this past week. I transplanted to a 5 gal fabric pot which I'll use for the remainder of my grow. I let it grow up to 6 nodes and then topped down to the third and cleared everything below the third node. It is already recovering and producing new nodes on the remaining two branches. I will let that get to 4 nodes and then top some more while using some garden wire to keep the branches growing horizontal.

This week I waited until the two main branches had four nodes on them. I then topped down to the third node and removed the second. With this method I am left with eight main branches that are being trained horizontally towards the sides of the tent. Since the branches are still relatively new and smaller, I am using garden wire tied to clips on the side of the pot to train them. From this point on, I will be training them outward until I get the length I want, then I will let them grow vertically to fill in the space before flower. Starting this next week, I will begin adding nutrients to the watering. I usually let the plants grow in the soil for about three to four weeks without adding anything since the soil is pretty nutrient rich.

The branches are growing nicely! This week it was mostly checking every few days to bend the branches back down with garden wire to keep them growing horizontally. This is my slow period of training the branches bit by bit so not a ton of changes. I reached bout the 4 week mark in the soil so I gave a small feeding since I am still only using about half a gallon of water. My schedule is usually feed > water > water > water > feed (sometimes only two waters in between if it is showing deficiencies).

Lots of growth this week. Still training the branches outward a bit but they are much closer. I am thinking another week or so until I get them to the right length and then have them start growing vertically.

Lots of green growth this week which makes me pretty happy. Still not quite as grown out to the sides as I'd like so going to keep tying the branches down with some garden wire and check it every few days. I noticed the main stem was leaning to the side quite a bit so I added in a metal post and tied it to the stem to keep it more upright and keep it from tipping over.

Some more of the same this week. Adjusting the garden wire on the branches to keep the growing outward. The space is filling up nicely now so maybe another week and then I'll untie them and let them grow vertically for a little before flower.

I finally go the horizontal growth I was looking for in the tent so the following week will be letting it grow vertically for a bit. After that I will most likely switch to flowering but we'll see once we get there. For now it is just watching and waiting.

Last week of veg! Well we finally got here. The branches grew to the shape I wanted so I defoliated a bit to clean up the lower branches that were not getting any light. I will be switching to flowering schedule after this. Not sure how high this one will grow so I am starting while I still have plenty of room.

After getting the branches in the shape I wanted them, this week I switched to the flowering light schedule, 12 hr on/off. After a few days, the bud sites are starting to show some development!

I removed some of the dead or yellowing leaves from the lower canopy and moved any buds there were covered so they could get some direct light. I also switched to the flowering feeding schedule for the GH nutrients. I had a little purple color on the smaller branches so I added in some cal mag for the feeding this week.

This post is a little late as I was out of town but here we are. The bud sites were are developing nicely and there is a really light but great smell coming out now when I open the tent. The canopy is getting a little thick so I will be removing some of the lower fan leaves soon to help with air flow.

The buds are starting to get heavier and leaning so I added some bamboo stakes and garden wire to hold them up (great problem to have!). There is definitely a fruity smell now when I open the tent but it is still pretty light. So far so good, just removing some yellowing fan leaves and new growth from the bottom branches and lower canopy.

The buds are growing much faster than I expected! I have added several more bamboo stakes for support and had to tie off more branches that were falling over from the weight, again not a bad problem to have. I can now smell it very noticeably even though I have my filter fans running constantly. Hoping to have my usb microscope setup soon so I can get a better look and some pictures of the trichomes as they develop.

Getting ever closer. Most of the buds have been attached to the stakes for support. I was able to get a few close up pictures with a usb microscope, although a little blurry from my shakey hands. A lot of the trichomes are looking looking more cloudy so we're getting closer. I plan to keep an eye on them so they don't go mostly amber before I harvest.

Almost there! I took a closer look at the trichomes with a usb microscope and they are still mostly clear with some just starting to cloud. I plan to give it another week or two for them to get more cloudy but I'll be checking them every few days. I did one last feeding so that should carry them this last two weeks. I also removed some new growth that had come in in the bottom of the canopy and got rid of some large fan leaves that were yellowing a little and blocking other buds.

Getting closer. The trichomes are almost all cloudy so keeping an eye on it day by day. At the rate it is going, I will most likely harvest next week at some point depending on where it is at. It smells amazing every time I open the tent!

Overall great experience. From start to finish I did not encounter any diseases or negative effects other than a little nutrient deficiency but that part was my fault for accidentally mixing wrong. It responded very well to the manifold and LST that I performed and I was able to harvest 3.7 oz after it had been dried. It dried for about two weeks which was a bit over dried since I was out of the country for that period and humidity is very low in my grow area but still cured fine and tastes/feels amazing when put through my dry herb vaporizer. Overall I would recommend this strain as it was very easy to grow and did not require any heavy maintenance.