Humboldt Seed Co. Photoperiod Grow

Honestly, both of the babies scared the tar out of me right away. Although they both sprouted very quickly using the paper towel method (Blueberry had the longer root) Blueberry was the first above the media less than 24 hours after planting but looked laid over and was showing the bottom of one of her cotyledon leaves which appeared pale and dead. Looked great the next morning. Next morning, Cali Octane was above the surface of the media but looked terrible like she was rotted at the cotyledon. Upon closer inspection with a jewelers loupe, she had a thin membrane from inside the seed shell still encasing her first leaves. I carefully removed this membrane and her little leaves popped right open. Not a great start for barely a day grow but I do expect great things from these genetics. I am giving these babies a little higher light level than I normally would at 250 PPFD as read by a Spot-On PAR meter from Innoquest. I know that the blueberry will stretch a ton and I want to try, even at this stage to keep her node spacing as close as possible. Still, I fully expect to use a double scrog to keep her out of the light and at a canopy level similar to the Cali Octane which I likely will not be able to do. I certainly will try. LOL. This Blueberry cultivar is well known for bolting 3-4 times its veg height when switched to flower. This is the reason why there are only two plants in this tent. Why do I keep doing this to myself? Who knows.

California Octane (Day 11) - This one is looking very happy and growing nicely. Responded well to a light top feeding of NPK RAW Grow at .04 EC. Nothing else to say really. Blueberry Cupcake (Day 11) - This one is looking a touch angry after a light feeding of NPK RAW at .04 EC. Edges of new growth looking yellow and one leaf has what looks like nute burn at its tip. She will be getting PH'd water only for the next few days. Just in case, I also turned the light down to 250ish PPFD as read by a Spot-on PAR meter.

(Day 18) - Plants are looking happy and healthy. I topped the Blueberry Cupcake this morning. I will not be topping the Cali Octane plant. I also turned on the airstone pucks in the bottoms of the pots today and set the pump to its lowest setting. Autopots were turned on at day 14. Nothing much more to say than that. Looking good! (Day 26) - Added scrog net. All plants doing well. Decided to top the Cali Octane in two places. Also topped the Blueberry Cupcake a few more places as well. The BC is really beginning to take off. Long internodes. She will be a handful for sure.

(Day 30) - Blueberry Cupcake - Scrog is going well. From left to right in the pic, California Octane and Blueberry Cupcake. PPFD is averaging around 400 as read by an Innoquest Spot-On PAR meter. Both plants are looking very happy and have responded well to the topping. It is very apparent that Blueberry Cupcake is going to be a monster. I think it would be unwise to let this one veg for too long. I will likely flip in another 7-10 days. Very long internodal distance. She is a touch finicky with the nutes. I am only using 1 tsp/gallon in the res which translates to only .4 EC not counting my .4 EC water from the tap. So a total of .8 (NPK Industries all-in-one "Grow") and 1ml/gal of cal/mag yet she is showing very slight yellowing on the tips of her leaves in a few places. Both plants are exhibiting purple streaks on the main stalk which is really nothing to worry about and is almost certainly the genetics. BC loves to be scroged so far and she is going to need it or she will be in my light in a hurry once flipped. I expect she will need to be double scroged at some point. Both plants are already giving off a slight funk smell which is very apparent when opening the tent. (Day 30) - California Octane - This girl is very stout and wants to bush up. scrogging her is a bit more of a challenge and she really does not need it. The net in this tent is 100% there for the Blueberry Cupcake. Cali Octane complains about nothing and is an absolute pleasure to grow thus far. Very tight internodal spacing. Almost too tight. Her older leaves are absolutely huge. They feel very thick and are quite wide. She needs a lot of air movement both under the canopy and above or will have pools of water on the leaves where they touch one another. She is quite a beauty. I think it would be interesting to x her with TK NL5 Haze to try to give her some stretch. The NL5 is very friendly with fruit and gas terps.

(Day 37) - I reduced the light cycle for these girls from 18 to 16 hours as I want to ease the ladies into a flowering state. I will continue to decrease by 2 hours every other day until we hit 12 hours total light cycle. Switched the plants to bloom nutes, (NPK RAW All-in-one "Bloom" at 1 tsp/gal. I will raise the light another 4 inches or so and bump the PPFD slightly tomorrow morning. Spotted a very early onset of potassium deficiency showing only on the BC. In hind sight, would bump the grow nutes to 1.5 tsp/gal next time around week 3 Blueberry Cupcake (Day 37) - Even though we are scrogging, I feel like the blueberry wants to get out-of-hand. As mentioned in previous diary entries, I feel like the Blueberry cupcake wants to bolt hard once flipped. I feel like she will be a handful and thus the scrog net comes in to play. I counted the tops on her this evening and she is at 32 already. I am hoping that I did not top her too many times but she really needed to be slowed down. Again as stated previously, she is finicky with the nutes thus far. I am hoping she will find her glide into the flowering cycle and level out. At times, I can't decide if she is hungry or just a little bitchy. I am leaning toward the latter when seeing the data from EC and PH. As of this point I say that this particular pheno is not a newbie friendly cultivar and will require some proper measurement tools and a "give a shit, and am paying attention" mentality to grow her out properly. California Octane (Day 37) - While the Blueberry may not be a totally beginner friendly cultivar, I find the Cali Octane to be the very opposite. Topping her is not necessary. Just LST her and you will have about a dozen tops. The only down-side on this girl is that she grows extremely densely with very tight internodal spacing. As was mentioned in previous diary entries, almost too close of internodal distance. If you are thinking of planting multiples of this girls in a tent, don't crowd them too much and you will need to pay special attention to airflow to avoid potential powdery mildew problems. Other than that, she is a pleasure to grow and is very beautiful with extremely large and wide palms. So far, she complains about nothing. Seems like she will be a very low and bushy lady. Mine has been stinking up the tent since day 20ish. Her leaves are very thick and robust. This is going to be one gassy girl and, at this point will tag her has being very beginner friendly. Good luck Growmies!

(Day 42) - As stated in the previous weeks entry, I have been slowly decreasing the light cycle from 18 to 12 hours over the last several days. Yesterday was the first day that these ladies reached their 12 hour cycle. As a result Blueberry Cupcake has really began to bolt hard. I have decided to raise the light up nearer the ceiling of the grow tent and crank her to 100%. Before I did this, I took a PPFD reading with an Innoquest Spot-on PAR meter which was reading 450-550 at the canopy. I then cranked the light to 100% power and began raising it until I saw numbers only slightly higher than the plants were getting before the raising. This leaves me with about six inches higher I can go up with it and if need be can move the exhaust toward the rear of the tent and can get perhaps another 8 inches. I want these girls to grow into the light rather than forcing it upon them. I also increased their feeding from .8 to 1.1 EC (which INCLUDES my .4 EC tap water) The plants are praying almost constantly at this point and are showing zero signs of stress. Their fertigation uptake from the res has increased and I expect it to increase even more over the coming weeks. I added another 4" intake to the bottom of the tent as the humidity in the lung room is significantly lower then it is inside the tent. This should drop the % in the tent closer to the sub-sixties that I want to hit. It is very apparent that these plants have filled out nicely in the last five days since my previous post. Just a reminder that this grow can be seen in video format on our YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKLDLoL6zXF3Z8OHPMojYXg or find our YT link above or in the profile Blueberry Cupcake - (Day 42) - She is indicating a very strong tendency to bolt pre-flower. I can tell that she will fill her side of the tent, and possibly more, pretty quickly. All signs of her finicky feeding are gone. I predict she will very soon become quite a heavy feeder. She is looking very vigorous and healthy. California Octane - (Day 42) - Once again, she is showing me that she is an easy plant to grow and is asking for nothing. Her mature leaves are a dark almost blue/green color to the eye. I know that cameras can be shifty with colors. She looks great. I bent her main top down as can be seen in the pics by the gaping hole it left behind in the center of the canopy. Her internodal spacing is very short. She needs lots of air movement. Happy lady. (Day - 46) Scrog pic for this day shows the result of continued tucking of tops under the net. Almost all filled out. From this point on, we will let her go I think. Still may have to add another net if the Blueberry takes off like I think it will. We shall see.

(Day 55) - Day 55 is 14 days since these plants have gotten a full 12/12 light schedule. If you remember, I had been walking them back a couple hours/day from 18/6 and gave them a day. Rinse and repeat until 12/12 was reached. Needless to say, the scrog attempt to keep Blueberry Cupcake in control has failed. The ladies are drinking 3-4 gallons of fertilized water from the res per day and that number is steadily climbing for now. Blueberry Cupcake (Day 55) - I expected this plant to potentially get out of hand in this tent and of course it did. I have raised the light a couple times and was measuring from BCs highest point to the light and was checking the following day to monitor growth. Yesterday I had 16" to the light and measured again today when I got home from work and she had grown close to four more inches. She was praying into the light while getting over 1100 PPFD. The second scrog net is going to have to go in the tent. I cannot continue to rob Cali Octane of PPFD by constantly raising the LED. It is time to get serious with the BC. She is a beast and I am looking forward to trying her outdoors next season in organics. Tomorrow, the second scrog goes in. It is early enough in flower that it should have minimal impact on her by harvest time. Aside from the ridiculous vigor, this plant is not complaining about anything and it would be very easy to keep bumping her nutes. I won't be making this mistake. I will keep her at 1.1 EC. I know I could go higher and she would not complain but, I have fallen into that trap before and your yields will suffer. Trust me. Stem rub on BC is more sweet than gas. California Octane (Day 55) - She is looking beautiful and is constantly praying just like the BC. I know she wants more light and so I need to add the second scrog net into the tent to keep BC under control. Stem rub is already giving notable gas on Cali Octane. Almost menthol. Very nice.

(Day 56) - First day of week 8 and BC has grown another 2 inches further into the light over night. So on goes the second net. Hated to do it but I had to do something. BC is nuts. (Day 59) - All plants are looking great. No signs of deficiencies or other issues. Blueberry Cupcake (Day 59) - We are still waiting for this amazing plant to stop its pre-flower bolt. We have tucked and turned and twisted her back and forth quite extensively. Just taking a closer look at her and I think she would be near 6' already if we had just let her go without training. She wants all the nutrients that we can give her but we know better. Over-feeding would be very easy. California Octane (Day 59) - This lady has stretched some as well. She is however, a much lower, bushier plant than the BC. She complains about nothing ever and is very happy/healthy.

(Day 68) - Everything is looking good. It is quite a chore keeping the bottom of the plants clear. Both are constantly sending new shoots up from under the canopy. Blueberry Cupcake (Day 68) - This plant has been focusing a lot of energy to stretching and a little less than the Cali Octane on building flowers. The stretch on this one is not to be underestimated. Some upper leaves are showing signs of tacoing from light stress. I will not be growing this one indoors again. California Octane (Day 68) - This one has been focusing more on bud development rather than stretching. As a result, its buds are much further along than the BC. This plant is a pleasure to grow.