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-3/18/22 Start of Diary
--Germination Week
-3/18/23 (Day 0)
--Intro: this seed was given to me by a friend who won it from a contest. They were planting one for another competition and asked if I wanted to do one as well. I hope that it comes out as good as what the show case photos that are on Fast Buds website for the auto flower version. Seeds didn't come in the normal 420 Fast Bud packaging, came in loose packs inside a DVD case. Will try to get photos of the case and pack from friend, should be added in a day or two.
--Setup: the soil is the same as what was used for the last plant that was grown. Starter cup with humidity dome is being used to germinate seed, will transplant to one gallon pot when it is ready. Light is a IMVsincere 200w LED (full spectrum), intensity adjuster is at about 65% of max capacity.
--Grow Style: as a man of science, experimentation is something that is done on a regular basis. Why should growing cannabis be any different, so once again I am going to try something new. I am a fan of bonsai and the way that it can be used to manipulate the size, shape, and growth of plants. I have concocted a hypothesis for an experimental cannabis bonsai style modeled after a ancient japanese forestry bonsai style called daisugi. Daisugi makes the trees creat multiple perfectly vertical branches that eventually look like full trees growing off another tree. My hypothesis is that something similar could be done with cannabis through a mixture of Low Stress and High Stress Training. The resulting vertical branches would then be pruned in a way that removes the lower growth and focuses on the upper growth, this process is commonly known as "lollipopping" and is known to boost quantity of usable flower.
--Diary Entry: seed looks good, no obvious imperfections. seed inserted into soil about 1 or 2 centimeters under surface, sprayed surface and humidity dome with water and should sprout in a few days. Unfortunately I still have other plants in flower cycle and they won't finish for a few more weeks, thus this plant will receive 12 hour of light and 12 hours if night for the first few weeks of its life. This light cycle shouldn't cause any major problems but I will be watching.
-3/20/23 (Day 2)
--Note: received photos of the DVD case and the pack the seeds came in. I don't know why contest rewards from this site don't come in official packing but it's not the first time they have showed up this way.
--Diary Entry: started sprouting and only has the bend coming out of the soil but that's enough for confirmation. Excited for this one because I live in hardiness zone 5 (5a/5b) and natural 12/12 light/night cycle doesn't start until late september which causes problems for some outdoor growers in the area, so if there really is a cultivar that flowers from start to finish in a shorter time span then it could help local growers.
-3/21/23 (Day 3)
--Observations: seedling is standing straight up but the cotyledon are vertical, should straighten out by the end of tomorrow and be horizontal. This plant is starting out dark purple with light green cotyledon tops, may be a sign that it might get darker colors during flower. Stretching quickly could be caused by 12/12 light/night cycle, being surrounded by other plants that give it light shade, or that the light is relatively far from the seedling because of other plants restricting how close the light can be. Could also be a combination of the suspected causes, either way it shouldn't be a problem.
-3/22/23 (Day 4)
--Observations: seedling growing faster than expected, found it had grown to the top of the humidity dome and started growing across the surface. Stem now has a curve, should straighten out tomorrow and have the start of its first spade leaves.
--Changes: removed dome from cup.
--Diary Entry: sprayed seedling with water. Already looking like a great start, should make for some good looking flowers.
-3/23/23 (Day 5)
--Observations: corrected its stem before the lights came back on, and has the beginning of the spade leaves forming.
--Diary Entry: If this seedling keeps stretching at the rate it has been I may transplant to a one gallon pot at the end of germination week.
-3/25/23 (Day 7)
--Observations: still growing its main stem at an alarming rate, far faster than the rest of the plant.
--Changes: transplanted from starter cup into a one gallon plastic nursery pot.
--Diary Entry: decided that a transplant was a good option but during the process the soil it was originally in fell apart, will most likely cause some transplant shock. roots looked good, the tap root had already reached the bottom of the soil and started spiraling around the cup. the new pot should give it enough space to spread its roots for a few weeks, hopefully by then i can shange the light/night cycle to 18/6.
-3/25/23 End of Germination Week
-3/26/23 Start of Week
--Week 1
-3/28/23 (day 10)
--Observations: spade leaves looking healthy and first set of shade leaver are coming in. has stopped growing vertically and has started focusing on leaf growth, leaves growing at a good speed.
--changes: sprayed with Miracle-Gro performance organics all purpose plant nutrients at a concentration of 1/4 Tsp to 10 oz of water.
--Diary Entry: still growing at a good rate, doesn't seem like much transplant shock if any at all. sprayed with nutrient water twice, the second time was just for the photograph. will wait two days before spraying again, will be looking for signs of nutrient burn.
-3/30/23 (day 12)
--Observations: has slowed down on vertical growth.
--Diary Entry: took the picture for today with a different lens than the last photo. watered without the nutrients, sprayed with the nutrient water.
-4/1/23 (Day 14)
--Observations: seems to have slowed down on growth rate, could have just been explosive early growth. firsty set of shade leaves are looking good, still seems to not be having problems with the nutrient spray given once to twice a day.
--Diary Entry: several close up photos this week and im glad that fast Buds made a comment on the fast flower contest about needing a video every week. would have been upset if I would have been disqualified at the end because of something as silly as not having any videos of the plant.
-4/1/23 End of Week
-4/2/23 Start of Week
--Week 2
-4/4/23 (Day 17)
--Observations: still not having problems with daily nutrient spray, looks as if it has lost the explosive growth that it had in the first week.
--Changes: lowered RH to 50%, also started spraying soil with nutrient water
--Diary Entry: the HR was lowered because of other plants being in the last weeks before harvest, so it will be going back up in two weeks. the light cycle will change to 18/ 6 light/night once the other plants get harvested. the light will be lowered at the beginning of next week but the intensity will not be lowered unless problems arise. will be checking soil for PH and temperature at the end of the week, may take photo of the soil probe readings.
-4/5/23 (Day 18)
--Diary Entry: full watering without nutrients and sprayed with nutrients. Still working on first shade leaves, no second set yet.
--Post-Note: still trying find good settings on my new Fujifilm X-H2 for the two lenses that I have, Fujifilm 16mm-80mm zoom and 30mm macro. Photos are only going to get better, also still having problems with focus stacking but that could be staking program. May start adding what lens is being used in the caption for each photo.
-4/6/23 (Day 19)
--Observations: second set of shade leaves are forming
--Diary Entry: photo makes it hard to see the second set of shade leaves but they are there. will be taking end of the week photos and video with macro lens.
-4/8/23 (day 21)
--Observations: second set of shade leaves are growing quick
--Diary Entry: quickly making progress now, should start forming branch nodes soon. one more week of 12/12 light/night cycle then it will get 18/6 light/night until it is required to start flower cycle, trying to line up harvest with the fast flower competition. will start training when branch nodes start forming, should be sometime late next week or the falowing week.
-4/8/23 End of Week
-4/9/23 Start of Week
--Week 3
-4/9/23 (Day 22)
--Changes: lowered the light and move the pot about 6 inches closer to the middle of the light (light intensity not changed).
--Diary Enter; harvested half of the other plant that is in the same space, allowing me to drop the height of the light. will be watching for problems because light intensity was not changed (about 60%).
-4/12/23 (Day 25)
--Observations: Branch node are forming at the spade leaves at the first level shade leaves, also the third set of shade leaves are forming. growing quicker now that the light was lowered, also looks darker than at the beginning of the week.
--Diary Entry: started growing faster after lowering the light and looks like it has increased chlorophyll production. will be changing the light cycle at the beginning of next week to 18/6 light/night, it will get that light cycle for 3 weeks then change back to 12/12 because of the fast flower competition. Fast Buds information on this cultivar clams that the flowering cycle takes 7-8 weeks so that's what I'm accounting for, leaving 1-2 weeks for hang dry and the start of curing.
-4/15/23 (Day 28)
--Observations: branch nodes doing very good, growing at good rate.
--Diary Entry: will be changing to 18/6 light/night cycle beginning tomorrow, will also be transplanting and starting training soon.
-4/15/23 End of Week
-4/16/23 Start of week
--Week 4
-4/16/23 (Day 29)
--Observations: roots around the outside of soil, branches growing quickly
--Changes: transplanted from one gallon pot into a three gallon pot, increased light cycle duration to 18 hours, distance from light slightly changed
--Comments: forgot to take photo after transplant
-4/18/23 (Day 31)
--Observations: still not having problems with nutrient spray multiple times every day.
--Comments: first photos in new pot, will start training tomorrow near the end of the light cycle (less than 6h light left). will be trying an experimental grow training where the plant is forced to create multiple vertical branches coming off the main stem that will be forced to grow horizontally. should end with more symmetrical and uniform colas.
-4/19/23 (Day 32)
--Observations: branches are big enough to start training
--Changes: started LST today. removed one spade leaf and the branch node it had, also removed one shade leaf from the second set.
--Comments: today is the day to start training, had to remove some parts so that they would not be toughing the soil. should recover and start having branches grow vertically. was thinking about trying the FIMing technique, looks like it may be the perfect time for it. will decide tomorrow after it tries to correct itself, if all goes well it shouldn't be able to pull the tie downs up.
-4/20/23 (Day 33)
--Observations: slightly pulling up tie downs, branches correcting direction and growing vertically.
--Changes: removed another shade leaf that was covering several branch nodes, pushed tie downs back into soil.
--Comments: may need to find a better way to tie down or find a new way because it seems like they keep pulling up and not holding where I want them to.
-4/21/23 (Day 34)
--Changes: removed shade leave on both second level branches, tried FIMing the top. also changed placement of tie downs.
--Comments: doing good with training, removed some shade leaves to open up space for other growth. tried to do the FIMing technique but I'm not sure if it was done right, if not them I may just top this plant.
-4/22/23 (Day 35)
--Observations: still trying to pull out tie downs, branches growing quickly
--Changes: started watering with nutrients
--Comments: continues to fight the tie downs but is still taking to training. giving nutrients in the watering now and not just spraying with them, may start adding molasses to future waterings. still not sure if I did FIMing properly but if it isn't right then I will be topping this plant.
-4/22/23 End of Week
-4/23/23 Start of Week
--Week 5
-4/24/23 (day 37)
--Observations: FIMed top recovering slowly
--Comments: may top this plant because the recovery time on the FIM attempt is taking to much time.
-4/25/23 (day 38)
--Changes: topped main stem, also added some other plants to the pot (cilantro, lemon balm, lemon basil)
--Comments: today I topped the main stem because I didn't like the way it was recovering from FIMing. decided to remove the top in a way that left one branch node and not the normal two, should give all the branches space to grow during flower. also gave this girl some friends so that she is not alone.
-4/26/23 (day 39)
--Observations: topped location healing good, underside branch doing good
--Comments: recovering quickly from the topping. also I will be removing the underside branch before I flip to flower along with the lowest branch on the main stem, will be using them for clones.
-4/29/23 (day 42)
--Observations: almost fully recovered from the topping, getting a little clustered near the center
--Comments: this experimental grow style is not working the way I thought that it would, but it is still doing really well. excited to see what this plant will look like when it starts flowering. I continue to spray with nutrients every day, will stop halfway through week one flower cycle and switch to spraying with Build-a-Soil's Build-a-Bloom until the end of week 4. also will switch watering nutrients at the end of week one flower.
-4/29/23 End of Week
-4/30/23 Start of week
--Week 6
-5/1/23 (Day 44)
--Observations: getting clustered in the middle, still growing at a good rate
--Changes: removes some shade leaves
-5/2/23 (Day 45)
--Changes: added new guiders
--Comments: some new guiders were added to first set of side branches, should help lengthen branches and make some space for the other ones.
-5/3/23 (Day 46)
--Changes: removed two of the branches (used for clones), added new guiders
--Comments: to free up space two branches were removed, the remaining spade leaf branch and the branch on the bottom side of the main stem. these branches were used as potential clones, one might not survive because the stem is short and curved but the other will most likely take root. after branch removal new guiders were added to pull down the remaining vertical branch, also guiders were placed to influence second set of side branches.
-5/6/34 (Day 49)
--Observations: starting to get clustered again
--Changes: defoliation, added new guiders
--Comments: removed several shade leaves to free up space, also added some guiders to secondary branches to try and keep them from growing into each other during the pre-flower stretch. tomorrow will be the start of flower cycle, the light is getting set to 12/12 light/night at the end of today. will not be removing any leaves or branches during the first three weeks of flower cycle, at the end of week three a defoliation will be done if needed.
-5/6/23 End of Week
-5/7/23 Start of Week
--Week 7/Flower 1
-5/9/23 (Day 52/Flower 3)
--Observations: large quaintly of three-point leaves, some nutrient burn
--Changes: stopped giving Miracle-Gro nutrients, stared spraying with filtered water
--Comments: the LST being use may be more stressful that originally thought, evident in the formation of several three-point shade leaves. some nutrient burn has started killing the tips of some shade leaves, stopped giving nutrients and stared spraying with filtered water. lemon balm is still small and not growing very fast, lemon basil is getting burst of growth and has a light lemon sent.
-5/13/23 (Day 56/Flower 7)
--Observations: starting to get clustered with leaves again, still not much stigma growth
--Comments: can only see a few spots that were damaged by the nutrient burn now because of how clustered the shade leaves are getting. stigma have started forming but are not in abundance, also it is still hard to see the ones that did form. expecting growth of branches and stigma to boost within the next two weeks, still not going to remove anything until the end of week three flower. will start giving low doses of Build-a-Soil's Build-a-Bloom as a foliar spray sometime next week, may also give some in watering as well.
-5/13/23 End of Week
-Post Note: noticed that the amount of nutrients being given was not accurate, thought it was in tbs and not in tsb. amount of nutrient per gallon has been updated for this week and prior weeks and will be added correctly in future weeks.
-5/14/23 Start of Week
--Week 8/Flower 2
-5/17/23 (Day 60/Flower 11)
--Observations: still getting clustered with shade leaves, Stigmas are growing in number and gaining size.
--Changes: started spraying with Build-a-Bloom once a day
--Comments: nutrient spray should help with pre-flower creation, still not putting nutrients in watering. still not removing anything until the end of next week, then defoliation of shade leaved will be done to open up space for all the branched to do their best.
-5/20/23 (Day 63/Flower 14)
--Observations: pre-flower is coming in nicely, sent is starting to change
--Changes: started spraying twice a day with Build-a-Bloom, moved closer to light (26 in)
--Comments: starting to get a sent but it is faint, noticed when I was manipulating for photos. The sent is like foliage and lemons, could also partially be do to the lemon basil. changed location under the light making it more in the middle and lowered the distance to the light. got some WWE action figures and what I think is a G.I. Joe action figure from a friend to use for a photo contest, also took video for this week with them.
-5/20/23 End of Week
-5/21//23 Start of Week
--Week 9/Flower 3
-5/21/23 (Day 64/Flower 15)
--Observations: still clustered, hard to see under the shade leaves
--Changes: started giving nutrients in waterings, added molasses to watering (today only)
--Comments: don't really know what it looks like under the canopy because of how clustered everything is. started giving nutrients in watering along with spraying twice daily, will stop spraying at the end of flower week 4. doing heavy defoliation at the end of this week, excited to see what it looks like under the canopy.
-5/27/23 (Day 70/Flower 21)
--Observations: large quantity of bud nodes revealed by defoliation
--Changes: heavy defoliation, repositioned some guiders
--Comments: this experimental grow style is doing far better than I expected. heavy defoliation revealed a sea of pre-flower beneath the canopy, far exceeding my expectations of what could not be seen before. moved some of the guiders to help with spacing of smaller branches so that everything get good lighting. sent is still mild and hard to distinguish from the lemon basil, should get stronger within the next few weeks.
-5/27/23 End of Week
-5/28/23 Start of Week
--Week 10/Flower 4
-5/31/23 (Day 74/flower 25)
--Observations: temperature is rising during the day and the night isn't dropping as low as I would like. Already starting to get clustered again.
--Comments: seems to be okay with the increasing heat, don't see any problems yet and hopefully wont. shade leaves are starting to push their way into the middle area again, will try not to remove unless the become a problem.
-6/3/23 (Day 77/Flower 28)
--Observations: shade leaves still pushing their way into center, buds still growing and starting to form calxes.
--Changes: will no longer be spraying after today, will also start giving more water
--Comments: today is the last day for spraying this plant, watering will be increased to compensate. may have to remove some of the shade leaves pushing into the center area next week, will be extremely selective if I have to remove anything from this point on. lemon basil is starting to tower over the cannabis, will be removing some to give space between them.
-6/3/23 End of Week
-6/4/23 Start of Week
--Week 11/Flower 5
-6/10/23 (Day 84/Flower 35)
--Observations: starting to form calyxes, sent intensifying,
--Changes: started giving water every other day
--Comments: buds are starting to form calyxes and sent is getting stronger. still smells of lemons, it's hard to tell the difference between scent of the purple lemonade and the lemon basil. realized that not enough water was being given so now giving water every other day, may still not be enough water for all the plants in this pot.
-6/10/23 End of Week
-6/11/23 Start of Week
--Week 12/Flower 6
-6/17/23 (Day 91/Flower 43)
--Observations: starting to get the classic cannabis scent, there is a lot going on under what is seeable from the top, leaf tips nutrient burnt
--Changes: increased amount of water per day, stopped giving nutrients during the week, removed more of the lemon basil, upped the intensity of the light (62%)
--Comments: started giving more water at the beginning of this week (about 22 oz daily) but had to stop adding nutrients every time because leaf tips started getting burnt. removed more of the lemon basil because it had started growing over the purple lemonade, the basil is growing like crazy. finally got a closer look at the inner growth of the purple lemonade and there is far more going on than I originally thought, looking like this might be the best grow I have done so far. purple lemonade scent is starting to intensify and gain the classic cannabis smell but still has the lemon citrus scent. decided to increase light intensity instead of lowering height from plant, light is now at about 62%.
-6/17/23 End of Week
-Post-Week note: decided to put the actual height of the top of the colas instead of the distance from the base to the top of the main stem, past weeks have also been updated.
-6/18/23 Start of Week
--Week 13/Flower 7
-6/24/23 (Day 98/Flower 50)
--Observations: getting vary resinous, smells of skunk/earthy with sweet lemon citrus. under buds are filling in and starting to merge with the upper buds
--Changes: heat and humidity changed, selective defoliation and burnt tip removal, removed some of the basil, no nutrients for this entire week
--Comments: preformed a selective defoliation to open up space so that the lower growth can receive more light during the last few days of its life, also removed some of the burnt leaf tips. removed more of the lemon basil because it was hanging over the purple lemonade again. did not give nutrients this week because the end of the competition is coming up and there were signs of nutrient burn, might as well be week 1 flush. the sent keeps getting stronger and now has more of a skunk/earthy dominance with sweet lemon citrus undertones, hoping that the lemon carries over to the smoke after curing.
-6/24/23 End of Week
-post-note: will be harvesting sometime next week, would like to have at least 5 days for hang dry before the @Fast_Buds Fast Flowering contest ends.
-6/25/23 Start of week
--Week 14 /Flower8
-7/1/23 (Day 108/Flower57)
--Observations: still has burnt tips
--Comments: still going strong, may not finish in time for the @Fast_Buds Fast Flower contest. will be harvesting 5 days before the end of the contest, even if its not ready.
-7/1/23 End of Week
-7/2/23 Start of Week
--Week 15/Flower 9
-7/5/23 (Day 112/Flower 61}
--Observations: not really ready for harvest
--Comments: will be harvesting tomorrow for the @Fast_Buds Fast Flower competition, even though it could use another 2-3 weeks to fatten up.
-7/5/23 Week ended early because of harvesting
-7/6/23 harvested today, cutting the week short so Ican try some of the buds before the @Fast_Buds Fast Flower competition ends. smells like lemons and has a sweet earthy scent, hoping that the lemon stays the dominant scent.
Doctor_Gonzo
