Soil Test: Epsilon F1 & Royal Gorilla

D1. Boom! We have a lift-off. Well, at least partial lift-off. After 2 days, the Epsilon girl has germinated fully, but the Gorilla lady is still shy. I'll pop another seed in a day or two if she doesn't show soon. I removed the humidity dome and instead put in a small humidifier in the tent and set the humidity to 70% on the Inkbird. This way, they get proper airflow from the small fan, while still having a high enough humidity to keep young plants happy. ------------------------------ D4. Transplant time! The Epsilon lady is still small but I wanted to move her into her forever home. The Gorilla girl still hasn't showed up so I dropped a second seed a couple of days ago. No signs from the second girl either. Hmmmm... The soil had been maturing for a bit over a week since I mixed it and showed a healthy amount of mycelium growing on it. I filled up each pot with about 25 liters of soil and used myco during transplant. I put both an Ecowitt sensor and a Blumat sensor in each pot to measure the soil moisture as I want to track as much soil data as possible during this grow. DLI increased to 13. ------------------------------ D7. The second gorilla girl only fully germinated today (took her sweet time), but her taproot is already visible. I'll transplant her in a day or two. The first gorilla girl has... maybe (?)... germinated as well. It sort of looks like something is growing but in snail pace. We'll see what happens. The Epsilon lady, on the other hand, is growing much faster. I see some burnt leaf tips on her so it looks like the soil is a bit too hot for her. I'm not too concerned about it right now. (Famous last words?) Besides, there's not much I can do about it anyway, so yet again, we're back to let's see what happens :D ------------------------------

D8. We're at the start of the second week and the second Gorilla girl has finally germinated properly so I transplanted her into her final pot. It looks funny, though, with that tiny seedling in a huge pot :D The first Gorilla girl is still shy, and I'm curious to see if she will ever show herself. Increased DLI to 16. ------------------------------ D11. The first set of leaves on the Epsilon lady are burnt af, but the second set looks fine so far, although shows some internodal chlorosis. It seems like she didn't really like the soil from the start, but is now settling in. On the other hand, the Gorilla girl looks great as does the LSD in my other tent. It's interesting to see how different cultivars react to this soil. DLI increased to around 18 due to the plants growing closer to the light. ------------------------------ D14. We're at the end of the second week for the Epsilon lady. She is growing and getting bigger but her leaves could look better. On the other hand, the gorilla girl, LOVES the soil and have grown a lot in this week. Its funny how the same soil affect different plants differently. Added a thick layer of rice hulls as mulch and increased DLI to 20. This is quite high for such young plants, so I won't raise the DLI for the next week, and instead let the plants settle in. ------------------------------

D15. The new week starts and all is well in the tent. The Epsilon lady still looks a bit crappy due to burnt leaves but I think she is starting to look better. The Royal Gorilla girl on the other hand looks great, and is growing like, well, weed. I finally called it on the first Gorilla girl. It's been over two weeks and there is no further germination. I removed the seed from the peat plug and could see that she never sent out a taproot. Oh well, no big loss. ------------------------------ D18. There isn't much to report, except that both girls are growing along nicely, but the Royal Gorilla girl is now also showing necrotic spots on a couple of leaves. Clearly something is off with this soil blend. Considering how young the plants are and that the soil is fresh, it stands to reason that it's a nutrient excess in the soil and not a deficiency. With that in mind, it looks like I'm dealing with an excess of potassium. There are two main sources of potassium in this soil blend, worm castings and insect frass. This is the first time I'm using frass in a blend so naturally that was my prime suspect, and sure enough, when I look into the NPK values of the frass, it's really high in potassium. I believe I've found the problem, but will make a soil test to verify my suspicions. My bad for not checking that properly prior to making the soil. In any case, there isn't much I can do about it except learn from it and adjust the soil blend accordingly for future grows. ------------------------------ ------------------------------ D21. We're at the end of the week and the girls are just quietly doing their thing. They are both looking better, with no necrotic spots on newer leaves. Hopefully, they have gotten big enough to deal with the amount of nutrients in the soil. ------------------------------

D22. New week and the girls are looking better by each passing day. They have finally started drinking enough to register on the blumat tensiometer, but no need to water them yet. ------------------------------ D25. Yesterday, I watered with SF Nematodes against fungus gnats, since the Epsilon lady has got an infestation. I noticed them a few days ago, but wanted the soil to dry out a bit more before adding more water. I also treated the LSD girl in my other tent, since the pots in both tent are filled with soil from the same batch. Finally, I added another couple of yellow sticky traps just to deal with the adults, as the nematodes only attack the fungus gnat larvae and eggs. This is my biggest infestation in years, so I suspect that I will need to do a second round with nemos in a couple of weeks. There are more gnats on the sticky traps right now, than what I have had in total in my last 3-4 grows. lol Today, I decided it was time to start training the plants. First, I removed a few necrotic leaves: the first set of true leaves on both plants, and one more leaf from the Gorilla girl, that was on the underside. I bent over both plants with low stress training (LST) by using plant wire and binder clips. Finally, I foliar sprayed the girls with fulvic acid, bokashi juice, and a drop of horticultural soap as surfactant. ------------------------------ D28. We're at the end of the fourth and final week of vegetation, as the Epsilon lady is starting to show her flowers and the Gorilla girl is almost there as well. Both plants look so much better, especially the Gorilla girl. Sure, there are still necrotic spot on her lower leaves (I suspect a potassium toxicity in the soil) but otherwise she looks phenomenal. Huge difference to the LSD girl in my other tent, even though they have the same soil. The fungus gnats are driving me nuts. I have never had an infestation this bad, although I have to admit it's my own fault for waiting too long to add nematodes to the soil. It's next to impossible to completely avoid fungus gnats when you grow in living soil. New compost/castings almost always comes with some gnats. Usually, I'm pro-active and add nemos from the start, which works great – in my latest grows I usually had less than 10 gnats during an entire grow. However, this time I wet the soil too much from the start, so had to wait for the pots to dry out before being able to water in the nemos. This gave the gnats the opportunity to go nuts. Oh well, they should decrease soon now after the application of nemos, and I added a few more sticky traps to deal with the adults. Still annoying, though. ------------------------------

D29. We're in the first week of flower, and the girls are just humming along. I did some more LST to spread them out; otherwise, they are just doing their thing. The humidity is still a bit high, throwing off the VPD, so I turned up the exhaust fan, controlled by a homemade controller that allows complete control of on and off times. ------------------------------ D31. I think the gnat infestation is slowly getting under control. There are significantly fewer gnats buzzing around when I open the tent, and the ones that do, I suck up with a vacuum cleaner. The nematodes seem to have decimated the larvae and eggs, while the sticky traps and vacuum cleaner have dealt with the adults. I'm going out of town for a few days, so I decided to change all sticky traps to judge the infestation better when I return. In any case, I'll do a second round with nemos in a week or so. Just to make sure the gnats are gone and stay gone! As for the plants, they are looking pretty good. The Epsilon lady is a bit small, but the Gorilla girl looks great. I'm adjusting LST wires and tucking leaves daily to ensure each plant spreads out and gets as much light as possible to bud sites. Speaking of LST, I finally picked up a small plastic tool chest to keep all my training supplies in. Having everything I need to train my plants in one place is a lot more convenient. Another benefit is that the tool chest is sturdy enough to sit on as I work on my plants. I meant to get a small stool for this purpose, but now I don't need to. Win-win. ------------------------------ D35. I was away a few days on a business trip and the girls have filled out while I've been gone. Especially the gorilla girl looks great, although the Epsilon lady has a few yellow leaf tips and the Gorilla girl has a few light colored tips. We'll see how it progresses. I applied more LST to both plants to open them up and maximize bud sites, although the Epsilon lady will stay relatively small. It's clear from the sticky traps that the gnats are still around, but it's also obvious that there are far fewer of them. I'll order another batch of nematodes and apply them next week. That should be the end of the gnat infestation. Finally, I bumped up the DLI to 35. ------------------------------

D36. New week but no news. ------------------------------ D39. Overnight, the gorilla girl developed a bunch of necrotic spots, that to me, looks like a potassium toxicity. I really have to get around to send off a soil test, as I suspect that the frass I added pushed the potassium level way up. Another issue might be that the soil pH. The soil for the gorilla is at 7.5, which is a bit high. The soil for the epsilon is at a perfect 6.5 even though the soil is the same. (The LSD soil is at 7.2.) Overall, it is utterly fascinating to see how my three plants all react completely different to the same soil blend. The epsilon looks better, but is much smaller. She also lacks any scent so far. ------------------------------ D42. I brewed compost tea (worm castings, kelp, rock dust, molasses) and gave both girls about 2,5 liters @ pH 6.2. ------------------------------

D43. New week and the girls are just humming along. The Epsilon lady looks pretty nice, while the Gorilla girl looks a bit wonky with necrotic spots and interveinal chlorosis. Besides that she seems to be doing fine and have now started stretching. I dropped from 24/0 to 23/1 hours of light, and will continue to to drop down one hour per week. ------------------------------ D46. I did a light defoliation low down on the plants to increase air flow. I watered mostly the gorilla girl with humic and fulvic acid, homemade fermented fruit juice, and some Epsom salt (in case it's a magnesium deficiency, although I think the interveinal chlorosis is a result of a potassium toxicity.) ------------------------------ D49. We're at the end of the week and there's not much to report. The girls are just doing their thing, and I check in on them once per day. I "believe" the Gorilla girl is looking happier. I mean, she still has tons of interveinal chlorosis and necrotic spots, but her leaves are less droopy and are praying more towards the light. Maybe the light change was good for her, or maybe she can deal better with the potassium excess now that she is in flower. I don't know, but I'm happy that she is looking better. I dropped down to a 22/2 light schedule and bumped up the light to compensate. ------------------------------

D50. We're now in the fourth week of flower and the girls are simply doing their thing, while I only check in on them. ------------------------------ D53. I raised the pot of the epsilon to even out the canopy. ------------------------------ D56. We’re at the end of the week and we’re getting closer to harvest. The hairs are turning dark on the Epsilon lady and I should start looking at her trichomes soon. She looks healthy, though, and far from being at her end. The Gorilla girl on the other hand is as yellow as Simpson character and now some purple leaves have started to creep in. She might not look healthy, but she sure has some pretty colors. (Image upload is acting up. Will update as soon as it it is working again.) ------------------------------

D57. It's a new week, and we are slowly on the homestretch, at least for the Epsilon lady. The Gorilla girl still has a way to go, but she is getting pretty. The drop in temps and longer nights bring out the purple in her. ------------------------------ D60. Not much to report, as the girls are just doing their thing. ------------------------------ D63. Today, I discovered some aphids on the Epsilon lady as well. Aaaaaaaarrrggghh! The aphids might have won the battle over the LSD girl, but I'm going to win the war! I took the epsilon out of the tent, put her high up on a pedestal so I can view her from below, and used a headlight to inspect the leaves' undersides. Luckily, only a few leaves had bugs, so I used a vacuum cleaner with a narrow nozzle and sucked them straight off the plant. Fortunately, there weren't many and I could find none on the gorilla girl. I've ordered green lacewing larvae, which will be here tomorrow or the day after. I ordered 300, which is a complete overkill, but I'm not taking any chances. Until then, I'll keep scouting and removing whatever aphids I can. I will be victorious in the Great Aphid War of '23! ------------------------------

D64. I found some more aphids on the Epsilon lady, which I vacuumed right off her. It was only a few, and I still couldn't find any on the gorilla girl. Hopefully, the lacewing larvae will arrive tomorrow. The Epsilon lady is almost done, and she has started her senescence, which is noticeable in a few leaves. The Gorilla girl on the other hand probably has at least two-three weeks to go. ------------------------------ D67. I didn't check on the girls for several days as I had guests. The plants got a bit thirsty but were otherwise fine. I put in 300 lacewing larvae in the tent a few hours ago to deal with the aphids, although I didn't spot any. The Epsilon lady is very close to the end. She is frosty, and I'm starting to see a fade in her leaves, but I want to give the lacewings a few days to deal with the aphids before the chop. The Gorilla girl is slowly bulking up, but has a way to go still. ------------------------------ D70. Chop day! The Epsilon lady showed me that she was done. The buds were getting frosty, her leaves were senescing into many beautiful colors, and the trichomes were at a reasonable level. A quick snip removed the most prominent fan leaves and then hung her whole in the drying tent. She has a lovely grapefruit aroma, which I hope she will retain after drying and curing. Absolutely delicious! I guess the gorilla girl still has another couple of weeks, meaning she will move into the drying tent as the Epsilon lady is done. ------------------------------

D64. The gorilla girl is now alone in the tent, but she is on the homestretch so she will also be done in a week or two. ------------------------------ D67. There is nothing to report, really. ------------------------------ D70. We're at the end of the week and getting really close to the finish. She is starting to look "done" and has slowed down drinking. The trichomes are nearly there, so I reckon that I'll chop her in the coming week. ------------------------------

D71. The final week starts! Woohoo! Not much longer to go now, and I turned down the light a bit to let her ripen in these last few days. ------------------------------ D74. So close now. Technically, she is ready for the chop, but I'll wait a few days until the Epsilon lady is done drying so that I can take her out of the drying tent before I chop and hang the Gorilla girl. The only thing I'm doing is dropping the light intensity each day. My "bro-science" reason is that the lower intensity may cause fewer terpenes to be burnt off in the last few days. I have no idea if it is correct or not. Please HMU if anyone has research on this :) ------------------------------ D77. Boom! Touchdown!!! Chop day was finally here so I removed the largest fan leaves before cutting her down and hanging her whole in the drying tent, where she will stay for the next 14-16 days. ------------------------------

This cultivar was so easy to grow that it was almost boring, and training her was a breeze. She took a couple of weeks longer than estimated by RQS but she was still done in ten weeks. She remained compact throughout the grow and had very little smell, although toward the end she had a wonderful grapefruit aroma. No "weed" smell as such but instead pure grapefruit. Due to her small size and low smell, it's a great option for those who live in prohibition land and need stealthy grows. Considering her size, the yield was a surprise at 59.2 grams. Due to her rock-hard and very dense buds. I'm taking a break from growing autos and I'll focus on developing the soil recipe. I need to grow from clones to do that properly, and clones means photos.

I let her dry for two weeks before trimming. It was a breeze to trim her as she wasn't all that big, and her buds were hard and dense. The yield was 79 grams of trimmed bud, with only a few grams of trim, which I didn't even bother to weigh. The trim went into a big trim jar, which I later use for making edibles. This was my second time growing this cultivar, and each time, I was impressed by the quality, although not by the quantity. I'm sure that the yield can be a lot better, and I'll grow this cultivar again in the future, as I still have a few seeds, but that will have to wait.