By continuing to use the website or clicking Accept you consent to our cookies and personal data policy and confirm that you are at least 18 year old. For details please see Privacy Policy and Terms
I popped 4 seeds in 70/30 coco coir to perlite on June 1st and 2nd.
I forgot Worm Castings (WC) when building soil, though amended each fabric pot at week 3 with WC.
Seedlings Sprouted on June 5th and 6th.
Watered too close to stem for this week which I think caused stunting.
Watered too close to stem this week and the girls seem to be suffering for it.
Noticed one seedling hadn't grown at all - I remove this and plant another in place next week.
Had some storms, and some cold temps overnight which might've given a bit of root shock, as the greenhouse (tent outside) is sitting on folded cardboard boxes and it's insulation is very DIY.
After no growth, I decided to replace the most stunted seedling after no growth.
Inspected the roots, and although white, there was a slightly rancid smell at its base. I've reused this substrate and planted another (likely not a good choice considering root rot may still exist).
Other girls are growing new leaves, though I've noticed some very faint yellowing on the first true leaves from the tips. Hopefully this is due to the addition of Worm Castings as water PH is at a good range.
Started experimenting with some very slight LST - for half an hour or so before deciding to wait another week.
Started LST this week. Excluding the newly planted seed things seem normal, slow if anything.
The yellowing of the first true leaves is concerning - I'm hesitant to add more to the mix, as less is more. I'm perplexed though, and open to suggestions!
Reduced how much I'm watering the girls as I'm starting to notice drooping leaves.
I now water with a spray every other day, being careful not to focus on the stem.
Lots of changes this week. Kept going with LST, though stopped 'pony-tailing' so that the new growth can get more light exposure. This now shadows lower potential colas, but maybe worth it for now. Watering every other day approximately 800 ml.
Pros:
. White Hair pairs emerge! Thus we must be at least at pre-flower.
. Subtle smell of artificial Watermelon around mid-day when close. Otherwise the worm casting fertilizer odor masks any cannabis aroma.
. LST seems to be working great on 1 of the plants with lots of light exposure - hoping to get even height with all colas similar in size.
. New Oscillating Fan!
Cons:
. Deficiency (Yellow Leaves started last week) - Nitrogen (resolved with top dress and helpful GD member)
. Deficiency (Lime Borders on new growth) - Guessing due to having missed amending the soil during veg. After feeding, no further spreading has occured.
. LST on yellow leaves was going great, I forgot to restrain the first bend from last week, so she corrected this instead of maintaining shape.
. Third plant seems stuck in time, not much growth happening here.
. Checked soil PH (coco + perlite + dry amendments), which seems high (5.8, 6.9, 7.6)
. High temperatures incoming this week
Another eventful week.
Calibrated PH pen (It was off by .2 which I assume was causing nute-lockout)
Deficiency on plant #1 stopped spreading after calibrated PH watering.
Reduced how much I'm watering even further - at this stage it's every 3 -4 days as the pots seem to be retaining more water. Either that or I'm becoming more aware of how the plants intake water.
Dug up the GG which had opened from seed shell, but no taproot. I germinated another in towel, transplanted to a 3 gallon pot and now waiting for it to break soil.
Aroma is quite pleasant at the moment.
The girls are taking off - with practically no water! Lots of changes including:
I've got a moisture/PH/light gauge I'm using for soil PH and moisture, it seems all plants are retaining a tonne of water. I water approximately .8L every 5 days.
As of 18th July, last plant has started flower. This girl is still undergoing LST and is exploding with hopefully new cola sites!
Largest has been trimmed - I'm only removing brown sections - as I assume there's still chlorophyll (?) in the leaves to be utilised.
I've lowered the PH after re-calibrating and things seem to be stable-ish.
Also changed the yellow insect trap.
I'll be feeding organic amendments with their next water.
Lots of growth this week.
I've fed the two flowering plants their last amendments which I hope should result in a fade in time for Harvest.
The largest plant is about 2 weeks behind the stunted plants (Yellow and Stunted), which means I've continued LST and will feed in approx. 1 week from now.
Main stem on large plant is resilient to stress, which means I might need to raise the light soon, but I'm hoping this means the Bud sites I've exposed will grow nicely.
The PH of the soil is really high - I must need to calibrate my PH pen again, because I've been watering with PH of 6.2 instead of 6.4-6.6.
My best guess is this has caused PH imbalance, thus nute-lockout. Though the stretch doesn't seem affected.
Plant 1 - Stunted (Thickest bud development)
A slight fade is appearing, the colours are just like Rock-Melon!
Seeing some trichomes glisten in the sun at the base of buds, but nothing on the sugar-leaves (to be).
PH of Soil is bouncing around 7, though watering with water at PH 6 seems not low enough for the change I want to see in substrate PH.
Distance from light - 16"
Plant 2 - 'Borders' (Bushy, largest plant with most deficiencies)
More bud sites have popped up, I'm tucking leaves where I can to ensure as much light and air flow to these areas to promote as many 'mai'n colas as possible.
Very light LST on Bushy, 'Border' plant, maintaining roughly 14" from 100W grow-light.
Will top-dress last organic amendment on August 4 (approximately two weeks after other plants).
PH of Soil is bouncing around 7, though watering with water at PH 6 seems not low enough for the change I want to see in substrate PH.
Smells like GAS! If I were to describe it, it's more like natural gas than petrol. The fruit aroma is still strong, but noticed the gas only yesterday.
Distance from light - 14"
Plant 3 - Stunted (with small developing bud sites)
PH of Soil is bouncing around 7, though watering with water at PH 6 seems not low enough for the change I want to see in substrate PH.
A bit thirstier than the other girls, the Moist meter showed her dry out a day earlier than her flowering counterpart.
A slight fade is appearing, the colours are just like Rock-Melon!
Seeing some trichomes glisten in the sun at the base of buds, but nothing on the sugar-leaves (to be).
Distance from light - 15.5"
Removed LST ties from Stunted plants.
Heat stress on all plants, with varying severity after a few scorchers.
Added extra light - Output is now 190W (previously 95W). I removed this after what I surmise is light burn - though likely Nitrogen toxicity.
Added mini cooler
Trichomes are developing on sugar leaves
Watering at most every 5 days (as moist meter says they're still wet and don't want to overwater). This was changed on August 8 to daily watering.
A friendly GD member is assisting with nailing the culprits of the stress!
Started watering every day, though reduced the amount by 100ml. This is perhaps too little a decrease in water volume for daily watering's.
Coming up to the end of flower for a couple of these girls.
Aroma is still very sweet, been maintaining RH although had a couple hours of 60% due to rainstorms throughout the week.
Hoping the largest plant starts filling out this week.
Yellowing leaves seem to have slowed progression with more frequent watering.
Starting to develop some frostiness on the top colas for two of the girls!
Aroma is still sweet, though a few hot days and high humidity might have killed some of those terps.
Currently switching to colder weather, so bud-rot is my main concern.
Open to suggestions as to harvest window - I suspect 1-2 weeks for the smaller plants.
Ensuring the top colas are no closer than 18" from light.
Might have overwatered all the girls throughout the week with drooped leaves. Perhaps this was okay considering I've increased the light hours to 24 hours. Hoping this will fatten up the buds and keep temps high enough to avoid bud rot..
August 25 - It's been difficult to keep humidity at bay overnight, but with a heater I've been able to keep it below 55 for 21/24 hours. This I'm sure will result in heat stress.
Judging from other diaries, perhaps these have another 2 - 4 weeks. Let's see!
These girls are fattening up. Getting some nice trichome development on the two early flowering plants. Due to Humidity and temperature levels, I've kept the light on 24 hours (while portable heater is delivered).
I'm noticing some bleaching / light burn on the largest plant - so I've ensured it's no closer than 18" from light. Typically I'm waiting about 8-10 days between watering, perhaps I'll reduce the amount of water further, as this seems too long.
I've noticed some wilting leaves which I'm not pruning until 50% dead. I suspect one more round of defoliation before late harvest occurs for the largest plant.
September 1 - Clear and cloudy trichomes, on closer inspection - I think they might have another week at least. Structurally the lower colas don't seem as dense as those above. Also removed some of the wilting leaves to allow more light penetration and airflow.
September 2 - Showed a stronger fade on each of the stunted plants.
September 2 - Plants are drinking much more now, finally.
September 3 - Battled a heatwave today with high humidity - tried to keep RH under 55% with some spikes to 62%. Watered again today, now they're drinking daily.
There's an incoming heatwave with high humidity, so I've taken the girls inside.
I've been battling some really high RH of 70% due to watering late at night. Also been struggling to keep temps under 85F so yields will likely be affected.
Watering daily with PH of 5.8 (as medium PH is too high).
Think I'll move 2 of the girls to 48 hrs of darkness tonight (Sep. 5) as there's some amber trichomes - however more concerningly there's what I suspect to be gray mold developing.
Decided to chop the next day without the darkness period as the heat and humidity was too high ~ 70%
Hopefully not too far away now.
Another heat wave caused some high temps with high humidity this past week - they're barely hanging on!
Chopped off a few buds this past week out of panic (I confused leaf septoria with bud-rot I think)
I'll be happy if I can get 1/4 oz dry as these girls have been through a lot!
The largest plant seemed to be wasting away, reducing volume as the days passed - so I chopped her at 5.8g wet (total 8.8g wet) with a quick wet trim. Currently drying (aiming for under 70F with humidity). Inspecting the roots quickly seems she only filled half the pot with roots - I'll need to investigate this further.
September 14 - Two remaining girls are in darkness for 48 hours while monitoring RH and temp. Will chop this weekend.
September 16 - Harvested, and set to dry after a quick wet trim.
Learned a bunch this round, and although I'm likely not to yield more than a few joints - I'm happy for the experience and grateful to the helpful community members of GD.
Longer grow than expected, but thankful for lessons learned. I wanted a faster auto-flower plant, though my beginner mistakes definitely stunted growth and yield, but also likely delayed harvest date. The buds aren't as airy as I was expecting, though there's much room for improvement in size, trichome development. structure and overall end product. Drying was done in improper environment, with above optimal temp and below preferred relative humidity (60%).
Drying / Curing Environment has been optimised for the next run where I'm excited to implement what I've learned.
@Hou_Stone, Thanks very much! I like the way you've hung your towels in your diary. I tend to just wrap my towels around the supporting frame/chassis of the tent, but having a line setup like yours is much easier!
Hi mate, if you find a way how to help the yellowing leaves let me know, I had the same thing just managed to stop it for a bit with PK but it was not a long term solution.
@Metatronix, You're welcome - I'll help in any way I can!
Interesting, I'll keep an eye on it and see how things progress. I defoliated the most offending leaves this morning, so any new yellowing should be easy to spot. I'm very intrigued, I just hope it's not a consistent problem.
Curious to see if the quality of smoke is greatly affected come cure.
@MMSC16, Thank you for the sum up bro 🙏 I also see delicate signs of lights stress, just that it's nothing rough, the edges of the leaves just barely go up...the main thing has to be something else 🤔
curious thing about overwatering could be, em not from that department but in my case as I wrote, my plants had very similar damage but it's hard not to overwater in DeepWaterCoulture 😅
I observe a growmie here who grows for years (uses the same nutes as me) Has similar trouble, he also can't put a finger on it...
@Metatronix, Hello! I certainly will - From what I understand from the community here, it's been a result of light stress and underwatering. I'm a complete novice - so take what I've learned with a grain of salt.
The cause in my case is likely as follows:
. Added an extra grow light in the same, very small environment
. Distance from light was ~13"
. Was watering every 2-5 days - coco requires more frequent watering.
. I also exposed my plants to direct sunlight in addition to the 2 grow lights.
. They're likely more resilient in vegetative stage to light burn, so symptoms only really arose as flowering progressed with final stretch.
As for the solution, in my case I've just been flushing with clean PH water and increasing freq. of water. Too early to see if it's working but I'll let you know as soon as I know more!
MMSC16
