Purple Lemonade by FB

So far so good, although I do have to keep reminding myself to keep checking her. Everything is so automated that I think I could just leave it for, start to finish just filling the res and it’d b fine…these grow dots are weird. Ikeep forgetting iv added hem and nearly add irrigation instead of just watering! As I say- so far, so good though.

The biosys is once a week when I cut off the res and can see the tray starting to empty out at the bottom. I then hand water some Ecothrive Biosys to aid the Ecothrive life-cycle in that second to top layer as well as the grow dots in general (it’s just basically a cheaper UK version of recharge, in that it has a lot of the same ingredients) only I figure they are more likely to be suited to my weather conditions if they are grown here. It’s also all REALLY GREAT stuff to add onto my cactus collection - works great! I just going to carry on - this has been the easiest grow iv ever done so far. All you need to do is PH the water and fill the res - all the microbe shit is optional - although IME boosts plant health and therefore yields. My last grow I got 1.8g/w and half of my grow space was taken up with the actual res! I didn’t think to put it outside my 3x3 (ish) tent! Still tho, that’s respectable numbers. Think it worked out to about 3z in total

I took off the two original fan leaves to encourage the bottom nodes to grow bigger quicker. Other than that iv done fuck all - I will switch out the fan system soon for an actual in-line but the RAM one sounds like a jet engine! Putting it off or was hoping to get another. Update - I did end up taking off another fan leaf, there were three on top so I took one as it was growing from a different node and was shadowing light from the bottom side branches - which I want to get almost as large as the main cola I made myself NOT top this one because iv never done it before and with an auto I figured I should probably at least try it without topping. Loads of auto seed manufacturers or breeders (duh, English not good there lol) say not to top autos and when I tried the ‘planting into the final pot’ technique, I got much better results so why not try it. Last time I grew this I was no-where near as ‘tuned into’ the plant as it was one I grew quite early - it was actually one of the first ones I got a good yield from. I remember it being weak though because I think I grew it under. 50w or 100w cob (probably the same one I’m using as well for flowering for a few weeks - a month. I am aware I need to switch out the fans for a proper inline one soon but it’s growing really well atm and I figured i would just let it keep going. If she gets too tall when she stretches I can do some bending of cola stems to make it all fit but I’m looking way too far ahead of that right now. The genetics of this one is less indica and more sati an anyway so I think it’ll be more useful medically ;y for me tbh - I remember it being. a good day time strain before but then THC levels were lower (I’d imagine) from the fact I used so little light last time. Aaanyway, enough babbling - did a watering with ecothrive biosys yesterday - will start with the Mammoth P when flowering starts and she starts stretching and stuff, because I do definitely feel like it boosted my yields last grow, I had like 10-20% more yield than I’m used t- getting from a plant - sometimes that does just happen naturally though so this grow will be a bit of a test for that because ITS EXPENSIVE! It may make more sense to take that money and just buy medical prescribed weed with it - it depends how much it improves my yields over the course of the rest of the bottle. Oh I also bought some Mephisto! Iv been wanting to grow some of their stuff since I started seriously with auto’s but they always used to be out of stock at the time (this was a few years ago now). I got 3x of their Double Grape, then I got one of their Alien VS Triangle. I also got a free SODK x super orange haze, which sounds really nice but iv not looked it up yet.

This week I removed a couple of side branches and did a little defoliation. Annoyingly I noticed fungus gnats but not too bad and iv grown monstors with them before - they don’t seem to go for the buds and I’ll wash anyway. Iv started using the COB either 50w or 100w I can’t remember but I dimmed the Mars hydro one in compensation. Iv also turned off the water and will probably leave it off for a good few days until it may kill them? Who knows… I must admit I am tempted to just chop it now and start again but it’s actually nearly time for the first flower update as I added this one late. We are getting some stretch now. I pinched the top side branches and tucked one of the fan leaves to give more light to the side node at the bottom. I noticed the one on the side of the extra light was bigger so I turned the pot 180 degrees also. This was the first one iv not LST’d yet and tbh, at this stage I’m not sure why they tell you not to. Don’t think I’ll get as big of a yield from this than my smoothie but then I have a while to go yet.

I have been removing certain fan leaves the whole way through this grow, so that the light will actually get to the bottom two nodes I have left on - I’m thinking I should have chopped those ones and kept the ones I cut but I know that for the next time. I do remember the way the plant grows though, really long leaf stems and branches - you can definitely see the saliva way more in this breed than the smoothie, simply by morphology alone. I WOULD have topped it again also - although having said that we don’t know if there will be a huge main cola yet - it’s certainly showing some pistols and those bunches of smaller thinner leaves you get when it just starts flowering. I also raised the height a little because the plant had grown and I wanted to keep them 30cm (ish) from the plant and it has grown. I am tempted to really fill it out next time and do a ‘solo’ cup grow as well to make use of the spare (although a REALLY small amount!) Over here they are just party cups (but the same thing and size - you can also get them in clear, which is more common or SOMETIMES opaque ones but tbh it wouldn’t take much to wrap so,e Gorilla tape around the outer one. (I love that stuff, none of their products have ever failed me!) Anyway, enjoy the pics - next time I will most likely do one of the Mephisto seeds as I have with these last two grows as iv been itching to grow Mephisto for a LONG time but back before I took my break it was really hard to get seeds from them - they would just sell out immediately! I may have to do another run of the apricot fast buds depending on time, heat, humidity etc as I don’t want to be drying my bud at like 24degrees c again - that sucked, especially having grown it before and dried it in winter where the ambient temps are perfect for drying! I am thinking of adding a few more grow dots - maybe 3G because the colour of the leaves is a little light for my liking….ahhhh shit I just realised they are timed release and so would be releasing N when i need them to release P+K. I think I will actually add a small amount of hydrobloom (my normal hydro nute), just to darken them leaves as we head into flowering - for stretch.

This weeks been hectic! Iv had a lot of training to do and a fair amount of defoliation - all only done until my plant had no feed left. Iv signed up to a couple of patreon accounts : ‘Willymyco’ and ‘DGC - dude grows podcast’s. Another great podcast. However, over the past week there’s been a heatwave and I accidentally pulled the red on/off plastic valve from the res for a second , it’s all good and just went on insulated wires…so I just mopped it up. I changed it to a mars hydro ts-1000w, and then the ts-600. Glad the dimmer works though or temps will be insane! I am still thinking of putting in the fc-e3000 but if I do that I’m going to have to take out the stoppers from the ends and hacksaw some off. It’s only cheap aluminium and then I’m going to think about removing one of the light strips if I can. Then I’ll just keep it low. It’s still weird working with a plant they suggested, un-topped— this is the first time i have done this in my life - I have literally always - HST’d, using the early veg stage and making used of the time for it to heal.

So iv been continually tying branches down and opening it up, it’s a bit stretchy but then iv not tried this light combo before. Looks like a V only upside down. I don’t think I used enough of the grow dots and so had to add some hydrosol to it, sure I scan push it somehow… Update : I accidentally leaned on one of the smaller nodes and took it off. Which is annoying but hey, more space for the rest and better light access.

Well well week 8 - I’m hoping itl start to bush out in the side I havn’t accidentally got rid of the nodes anyway, unfortunately. I actually employed the squeeze the stem and bend technique because it was getting too tall. She’s looking okay, I think I need to either add 5L to the res and add some phosphorus and potassium, rather than the mix atm is too much nitrogen. I’ll probably add 5L and add a little bottle b

It’s really fattened up over the past week or so and the colour has come in… Other than that the plant is just dying so the leaves are droopy - the fan leaves at least are slightly droopy. I’ll be harvesting as soon as the last of the pistols have turned and iv taken d-slr, macro photos checking the trich’s. I checked yesterday but they were about 80% of where I want it…

Major disappointment really. I wish I had realised it was a single use packet of grow dots so I could of then added hydro solution. I’m just going to stick with what I know and what’s easy with this grow I think. So far as taste, it’s lemony smelling yeah, but it doesn’t really translate to taste that well. Also now that I get medical cannabis and am aware of what different strengths feel like, I feel like they lie about their % numbers because this feels like a 20%’er, as did the last! I’m hoping mephisto can push the THC numbers up a bit. Honestly, I could probably clear out my cupboard and put a tent in their again now. As long as I’m stealth about it - I would need to vent up into the attic and there is no hole for that and I don’t have the skills to fix it if I did it. I just want to be able to use my fce-3000 it kills me that it’s just sat there. Same with the ts-1000. Trouble is I do need to be a bit carrful about heat because the dude from the housing association had a heat camera on his phone that they give him for work. Obviously 1 plant using 150-200 ish watts isn’t the same as plugging in the 300. Honestly, if I was willing to use a hack saw To trim it down I could use it where I am but it would take some modding to do. I dunno, iv plenty of time to decide - oh also I will def be topping and training pretty hard. Not topping the last one gave me less yield but then it had no nutrition (hardly) and grew without any visible symptoms. The bud is larfy and a bit loose on some of it though