Blueberry Feminized

End of the first week and all is well! She’s still little, but working on the second set of leaves. The peat pellet is in a pot of Fox Farms Happy Frog mixed with some worm castings from my worm bin with additional mycorrhizae sprinkled in. There’s a fan in the tent for extra circulation. The light is still at 75%

Week 2 and she’s still here! Not growing very fast at all, but the tent has been very cold with low humidity. I’ve brought a heater back in the room. I lowered the lights to 24 inches above the canopy with plans to lower it to 20 by the end of the week.

I am happy to say that she’s still growing stronger! Definitely a shorter plant than some I’ve grown, but she’s finally looking like she’s going. The petioles are already starting to show some purple, I can’t wait to see her final colors! I’m still struggling with temps, but better with a heater in the room. I was hoping these lights would allow me to not use a heater, but without it, the temps are just too cold. We had a few warm days outside, but now back to cold again. She’s looking almost ready for a potting on, probably the next few days. There’s lots of secondary growth started and she’s working on leaf node number 5, so I’ll be wanting to top soon as well. I thought I saw a single fungus gnat flying in the tent. I crushed mosquito dunks and sprinkled some on top.

She’s doing ok, growing decently. I decided she was ready for potting on into a 2.5 quart nursery pot. Her roots looked healthy. I also topped the plant since she was working on leaf set 6. I am a little concerned about some of her leaves. They are starting to show yellowing between the veins with a bit of burning on the tips. It may be that the soil mix is too rich or it could be a slight overwatering. I’m going to slow down on the watering and hope she improves. Next time I pot her on, I will add extra perlite to the mix and possibly extra peat to lessen the amount of nutrients in the mix. This is my first time growing blueberry and I have read that they can be finicky.

She’s growing slowly, but still growing. I definitely think the soil I potted her into was a little too rich. I’ve been watching the leaf tips and edges get more and more crispy. The ph is still fine though, so I’m expecting her to grow out of it. The new secondary growth seems unburnt, so I’m optimistic that things will improve from here. I would like to put her in her final pot next week. The light is at 100% now. I should be able to tie down the new growth in a couple of days, even though I’m not using a screen, I still want to keep her flat. I finally got some more Sea90, so I’ve started with that. All those sea minerals help!

She’s doing pretty good, all things considered. I started the tying down process, I want to keep her nice and flat. She seems to be recovering from the excess nutrients, new leaves look much better. I will pot her on next week into a better soil mix. I’ve started adding silica along with Sea90 Humidity and temperatures have been better.

Blueberry is doing better this week! She seems to be getting past the over fertilization. She has started alternate node growth, just waiting for pistils for confirmation. Time for potting on, she went into a 6 gallon pot with 1 gallon super soil mixed with 2 cups worm castings on the bottom and lighter soil mix on the top. I also added mycorrhizae. I line a milk crate with landscaping fabric, this allows air pruning of the roots. The crate then sits in a tray of perlite. I will top water for the first week or 2 to ensure the soil is evenly moist, then I will water the perlite. The water will wick up into the soil and the plant will grow roots all the way down. Since most of the nutrients are already in the super soil, I will only top water once a week or as needed to add any extras. I wasn’t originally planning it, but I much prefer to grow under a screen. Since there are 3 different varieties in the tent, they will each get their own screens. I just need to figure out how to get the fan back in there.

Not much changed this week. I attempted to top for a second time and she didn’t seem happy with it, just stalled out. I’m hoping I haven’t stressed her out too much with everything that’s happened. Fingers crossed that next week is better. Still top watering every 2 days, the soil is drying out quickly. I’m thinking I’m not giving enough water each time and the soil isn’t quite wetted through. I’m not used to the temps that I’m getting with these lights, it’s usually way cooler in the tent.

This week has been very up and down as far as temps are concerned. We had several overnights in the negative numbers which made for 58 F in the tent. Didn’t seem to stress her much, but she’s still growing slowly. I noticed pistils on several branches, she’s finally matured. I removed the bottom 2 branches and will try to root them in my aero garden, but I’m reluctant to do much defoliation as she’s been so stressed.. I’m concerned about possible magnesium deficiency related to the earlier fertilization issues, so I’ve added some Langbeinite. This will also address the potassium needs as I plan to flip to flower in the next week or so. I will also topdress with some super soil to help her get through the pre flower stretch.

This has been a great week. She is past the nutrient issues and has decided to grow, so I started 12/12 in hopes of not running out of space! I’m happy to say it appears as though the soil is fully moistened and she’s drinking from the bottom. I will continue to top water once a week with the added nutrients, but only water in the bottom tray. I did a very minor defoliation just before the switch and topdressed with some worm castings and more super soil. I sprinkled crushed mosquito dunks in hopes of avoiding an issue with fungus gnats. Her growth is definitely more than I’ve experienced with the smaller leds. I plan on doing another defoliation around day 18-21 and will swap out the metal halide bulb for the Hps at that point.

After a week and a half of 12/12 lighting, she is definitely starting to flower. I love seeing the start of little buds 😁 She has stretched 5 inches this week and filled the screen quickly. Now I’m hoping she doesn’t stretch too much more. There are a few leaf tips that look burned, but it seems minor. I’ve cleaned up some under the screen to improve airflow, I will pull a few more leaves in a couple of days. I don’t want to stress her by taking too much at once. Did the once weekly top watering, bottom watering otherwise. She’s drinking good amounts of water, no surprise with that much growth! I’ll change the metal halide bulb out for the Hps in the next day or 2, that should keep things trucking along! I just wanted to be past the bulk of the stretch.

There was lots of growth this week, 5 inches in fact! It seems as though she’s slowing down, I had to move the light daily at the beginning of last week, but haven’t moved it for 4 days. I did a minor defoliation, under the screen mostly, but some of the large fan leaves as well. My main goal is to increase light to the buds, some leaves I was able to just tuck. She’s drinking a decent amount, around a gallon in just over 2 days. Before I was letting her dry out more, but from here on out I don’t want her to dry out too much. I’ve turned off the humidifier and would like to keep the humidity around 40. Lights on it is good, but lights off it jumps into the mid 50s. I have started running a heater during lights off, but I may need the dehumidifier. I’ve swapped bulbs now and they seem to be very happy. I’m struggling to get good pictures though, I’ll work on that. I plan on one more topdress next week. Historically I struggle with yellowing leaves after week 5, I’d like to avoid that. The tent is beginning to smell quite lovely now, nothing loud yet, just the subtle beginnings of the wonders to come, I can’t wait! I installed the carbon filter at the same time as I swapped the bulbs.

It’s been a good week! The buds are starting to look really nice, covered in some nice sparkle. The smell is growing and I’m quite glad about that! She’s starting to show a bit more purple in the sugar leaves near the buds and it’s beautiful 🤩 She’s started drinking more, a full gallon in the bottom tub has been absorbed after 24 hours. The humidity has been stable in the low 40s during lights on and I’m sure that helps. Lights off is still in the low 50s with the heater on and I think it’ll work for now. I’m not finding any more wet leaves and that’s the important part. I was waiting for a delivery, so I have not done the top-dress, I will do it next time I water. I got a Method Seven filter for my camera that seems to get better pictures, but I’m going to try to get more natural light pictures. I love what this light is doing for the plants, just not happy about not being able to see the true leaf colors.

It’s been a good week 👍 I got my delivery and was able to do the needed top-dress. I mixed the nutrients with some plain peat and perlite and covered the top of the soil, then top watered. This method has worked well in the past🤞 Water consumption is about the same. The buds are definitely getting bigger and smellier with loads of sparkle! We had a power outage last night, it was out for 4 hours during lights on. Thankfully we heat with a woodstove so the house temperature didn’t drop too much. I am optimistic that there will be no ill effects. Now we just wait to see if the top-dress is enough to keep her going for the next month.

It’s been another great week! This blueberry is seeming quite happy! Some slight tip burn on a few leaves, but otherwise no issues with the nutrients. The buds are getting plump and sparkly! A few pistils have turned orange, I think I let her dry out a bit too much. One of my fans broke, so the circulation isn’t as much as I want, I should have a new one soon. Today is day 42 of 12/12 lighting. The seed packet said 7 to 9 weeks, so only a few more weeks 🤩🤩🤩

Today is day 49 of 12/12 lighting. Not much changed this week, just a little more fattening of the buds. The smell is getting strong! Sweet and fruity with hints of spice🤩 I think my last top-dress has finally activated, I noticed a slight tip burn moving up the leaves. I won’t be adding anything else, just water with molasses and silica. My oscillating fan arrived and I feel much better about the circulation in the tent. I also had to replace my dehumidifier, it was heating the room but not drying things out. Just in a holding pattern now, waiting for the buds to finish maturing 👍👍👍

Not much changed this week. I’ve decided that she needed one more dose of Langbeinite since the leaves are still more yellow than I would like, watered in mid week. I’m not really happy about the picture quality, it makes them look much more yellow than they are. I think that’s my only complaint about this light. The buds are plumping up nicely and the plants seem pretty happy. I did move the light up a bit, the buds in the center are seeming a bit stressed, but overall ok. The temperatures have been higher than I want this week. I’ve redone the exhaust and it’s now venting outside again. This should allow for much better temps and humidity. The smell is definitely ramping up, I’m worried about my carbon filter being enough! There’s still too many white pistils to worry about checking trichomes. We’re at 56 days of 12/12 and probably have another week, I’ll clip a small bud off next week to check. Hopefully by then the pistils will be more matured. She’s definitely getting close to being done 🤩 See you next week 👍👍👍

Another week and still going strong! The buds are getting fatter and more sparkly while the leaves are yellowing quickly. I’m rethinking my base mix, I don’t know that there’s enough nutrients to last, time to rework the basic recipe. Temps and humidity have been a little easier to control this week, I was worried about the heat last week. The pistils are definitely browning, all the way down thru the plant, there’s not very many white pistils left. Looking at the trichomes and there’s many going milky, but still too many clear. The purpling is quite lovely, it’s nice to see her fading. We are at day 63 of 12/12, so I’m hoping she’ll finish up soon 🤞🤞🤞 The smell from the tent is unbelievable! See you next week 🤩

This week has been quite nerve-wracking with a mini heat wave and high humidity from thunderstorms. Had both the dehumidifier and air conditioning going, but still struggling to keep environmental conditions in check. Thankfully all 3 plants in the tent are maturing quickly. Most of the pistils have darkened and the trichomes are mostly milky with only a few clear and a few ambers. The smell from the tent is super strong as well. Today is day 70 of 12/12, day 65 of actual flower, so I think it's time! I'll chop them down in the next 48 hours. I watered them for the last time last night, I'm just waiting for the pots to dry out a bit. Next update will be a harvest report. See you then!

I took her down on day 70. She was definitely done, pistils all curled in and trichomes were mostly milky with some ambers. I cut the plant at the base and hung her up whole, removing only the largest fan leaves. Then it was 4 days hanging in the tent at 65 degrees and 60% humidity. Then into a cardboard box with brown paper for 3 days, then into a plastic tote with brown paper for another 2 days. At that point, I separated the branches and did a more thorough trim and jarred her up. I found several male anthers and 2 fully formed seeds. I’m not sure how many seeds I will find. It’s odd since there was no evidence during the grow. I’ve been struggling to stabilize the jars, that makes me think that there’s more sneaky seeds hiding away. I guess I’ll find out as I break it up to smoke lol I’ve sampled a bit and it’s just a bit rough yet, hopefully after a proper cure she’ll smoke better. I’ll be back with a proper smoke report after some more curing time. Thanks for following along 😘