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Secret Garden

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a year ago
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Captain Red Beard Seeds - Surprise Mix
Indoor
Room Type
Defoliation
weeks 4-10
Topping
weeks 4, 9
LST
weeks 6-7
Compost
Grow medium
Peat
Grow medium
Perlite
Grow medium
11 L
Pot Size
3
Week 3. Vegetation
a year ago
12.7 cm
19 hrs
24 °C
No Smell
60 %
11 L
55.88 cm
Nutrients 6
Kelp meal 0.43 mll
Plant Success Organics Granular - Plant Success (Plant Revolution)
Plant Success Organics Granular 0.43 mll
Rose & Flower Mix 4-8-4 - Down To Earth
Rose & Flower Mix 4-8-4 23.437 mll
Heya, I'm excited for this one. This is the first indoor grow of mine from seeds that I bought myself, from a breeder I've been looking forward to trying for months. We are growing 3 mystery seeds from Captain Red Beard Seeds: https://captainredbeardseeds.com/shop/ols/products/smpf-consult-fee I started them a couple weeks ago, and didn't get to document them until now. Sorry about that, but it's all for the better. I finally got my temperature and humidity under control in my grow room, and we now have a dedicated vegetating tent for these plants. They were transplanted from small peat cups into 3-gallon fabric pots 2 days ago on day 16. They grew about twice the size in that time. Let's see what they can do! Day 20 - November 12, 2023 They are growing pretty good in their new pots in their new tent. We can see there is yellowing of the first set of leaves on a couple of these. That is expected. These were in tiny peat cups for over 2 weeks, and we're approaching 3 weeks old now. They didn't have any nutrition for a long time, just the peat they were growing in providing an infinitesimal value. That changed 4 days ago though when they entered their new pots. I made sure to add some dolomite lime this time to help with calcium yellowing in later vegetative stage. I expect them to adjust and pick up the nutrients available in my custom soil blend soon.
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4
Week 4. Vegetation
a year ago
20.32 cm
19 hrs
24 °C
No Smell
60 %
23 °C
11 L
55.88 cm
Nutrients 6
Kelp meal 0.43 mll
Plant Success Organics Granular - Plant Success (Plant Revolution)
Plant Success Organics Granular 0.43 mll
Rose & Flower Mix 4-8-4 - Down To Earth
Rose & Flower Mix 4-8-4 23.437 mll
Day 22 - November 14, 2023 The 2nd and 3rd weeks are always like watching paint dry for me. They're doing just fine. While we wait for them to get ready, I'll show what I'm using for my nutrition this grow, which was all mixed into my soil before they were transplanted, and I do not plan on giving them anything else except water for life. I added a bunch of product pictures to show what I actually mixed into my soil, on top of the triple base of compost, peat, and perlite. Enjoy, and happy to answer any questions. Day 23 - November 15, 2023 Heya, I'm really liking the new tent cam. I just had to inspect the last few days to see if they were growing at an acceptable rate. It looks like that yellowing is nothing to be alarmed about now, as they are exploding in my new soil blend over the last 2 days. Check out the animation video I uploaded today. It shows the last 2 days of growth in a loop. I'm sure you'll agree they like the new environment much better than the open room I've tortured my veg plants with for the last 6 months. Day 26 - November 18, 2023 I topped them all last night, and the day before I removed their first set of yellow leaves and cotyledon below. In less than a week, just as soon as the new tops grow, we'll begin training them for a particular shape. Random tip of the day: I use a craft knife to do my fine detailed defoliation only, a product like this I mean: https://a.co/d/4n4V3jh I find that, especially when extending it with a dowel or the like, it is very easy to get in the thick of the brush to sever exactly what you want from afar without disturbing them, avoiding a bad accident. I still recommend you have an arsenal of tools though: craft knife, pruning shears (bud trimmers you know them as), bypass shears, anvil shears, precision long-tip scissors, various bonsai knives, etc. I use all of these, and it is not because I have the money, believe me. I am quite poor, and these tools are cheap, and help more than anything. One does not simply paint a work of art with a pencil... We will be training all 3 of these plants a particular way using LST and HST. These 3 plants are serving an important purpose for me. They mark the start of a transitional period of my indoor learning experiences, where I have corrected the 3 key elements that have been hindering my work: environment, soil, and genetics. It is because I am finally happy with those 3 key elements to success, I want to push them. This to me means that I want these 3 plants' roots to bask in their soil for a long time, documenting any noteworthy observations of stress. The tentative plan is, around 12 weeks of growth, they will be removed from the vegetating tent and enter the flowering chamber. Because of the longer vegetation time, we will be keeping them bound to the point where we might need a safe word. Almost 1 year ago, I began my indoor journey. When I started, I played with a lot of older genetics I had, vegetating dozens and dozens of plants in small 1L pots. I was able to eventually pick 3 of them, move them to a 5 gallon, and continue veging them under a small CFL tube light for 15 weeks, and I was actually quite impressed at what they did in flower compared to my usual 4 to 8 week vegetation period. So, this is another reason I want these plants to grow longer. One thing I can say from experience, there comes a time when a plant will just stop growing larger. This will come when the roots cannot expand any further for the size of pot, or, simply genetics. When that time comes, you will know, as your plant will be sprouting pre-flowers all over the place, and begging you to flip the light. Anyway, have fun watching the surprise party for the next 2-3 months.
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Used techniques
Topping
Technique
Defoliation
Technique
5
Week 5. Vegetation
a year ago
30.48 cm
19 hrs
24 °C
No Smell
56 %
23 °C
11 L
50.8 cm
Nutrients 6
Kelp meal 0.43 mll
Plant Success Organics Granular - Plant Success (Plant Revolution)
Plant Success Organics Granular 0.43 mll
Rose & Flower Mix 4-8-4 - Down To Earth
Rose & Flower Mix 4-8-4 23.437 mll
Day 30 - November 22, 2023 I mulched them. Thanks to love_2_grow for reminding me. Day 31 - November 23, 2023 I defoliated the next lowest set of leaves that were not getting any light. I also lowered the light and corrected the humidity a bit, to encourage faster growth. I noticed them slowing down, and it was because my humidity sensor for my automation was in the wrong location for a couple days. Soon, I will start training them. Day 32 - November 24, 2023 When it gets cold out, mites come out to play around here. They usually are very few in numbers and do minimal damage, with maybe a small hole or yellow spot on a fan leaf here and there. Regardless, I don't like them. I started seeing small yellow damaged spots on the plant with the wide leaves today. Nothing major at all. To combat them, I misted them with a diluted neem oil and hydrogen peroxide solution. Day 33 - November 25, 2023 I cut off the next lowest fan leaves, and some small secondary growth coming out of that node's shoots. Day 34 - November 26, 2023 All is going great. I applied a new IPM today to help protect against mold. I have been busy adjusting the ventilation and overall environment of my grow room, so I didn't get to do any LST yet. From the growth, I should have began yesterday, but we will be beginning tomorrow at lights on. I'll be talking more about all of this work, and the new IPM, in next week's update.
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Used techniques
Defoliation
Technique
6
Week 6. Vegetation
a year ago
35.56 cm
19 hrs
24 °C
No Smell
59 %
22 °C
11 L
45.72 cm
Nutrients 7
Kelp meal 0.43 mll
Roadside Organics Backyard Blooms 3.255 mll
Plant Success Organics Granular - Plant Success (Plant Revolution)
Plant Success Organics Granular 0.43 mll
Day 36 - Novemember, 27, 2023 It's a new week and these girls are about to have some fun. They got moved in to my other tent, under the 300W FC3000. We'll veg them out here for another 6 weeks or so. As mentioned in a previous week, this diary is special to me for a few reasons. The big one though, is because I made huge improvements to my environment and techniques recently, that I am sure are what I need to succeed. Their new tent feels much cooler than it did yesterday, for example, with 4x 6" EC motor fans spinning at a variable rate to simulate natural wind. Last month, we wrote a bunch of code to switch on and off heaters and other appliances if the VPD or other parameters fall out of range, and we are able to see graphs of how well it does, which is very well. Yesterday, they got to try a new IPM product I'm testing out, that looks promising: https://growersally.com/product/growers-ally-1-quart-20-gallons-fungicide-concentrate/ I previously made my own solution similar to this, but I have gotten the ratio wrong many times, and burned or killed plants. It's not the easiest to measure, and both citrus and neem oil burn leaves pretty easily. I like that this stuff is meant to be applied until the leaves are dripping wet, and as often throughout the grow cycle as wanted. I will be sticking to giving them a foliar spray once or twice per week. Yesterday I also started LST on the plant with the wide leaves on the right. She also got a bit of a defoliation. Day 38 - Novemember, 29, 2023 Wide leaf girl is starting to bush out from my training. These girls are pretty tight in their small 3-gallons, so growth is going to be slow for a bit. That's ok! Far left girl got a defoliation and the full bondage treatment today. Close left girl had 2 large fans removed in preparation for a couple more and the full lockdown in a couple days. Later that day... After a lot of thought over the last week and reviewing growth rate footage, I decided this diary is not the right one to veg out as long as the original plan. This will be the last couple of days of veg, and then we'll flip them. I never grew a photoperiod in a 3-gallon pot before. I did grow a few in 5-gallon pots for more than twice as long before, without issue. But...I also don't have anything flowering right now after mistakes in the last round. So, we will get to see some Captain Red Beard buds sooner rather than later. I guess I can't complain about that. And later... I added a picture of my secret weapon. This kills fungus gnat larvae before they even stand a chance. 1 drop. Per week. Gone. And even later... Okay, I just defoliated and adjusted the ties on the two plants I am training. I decided two things. 1, the plant that wasn't topped -- the short one, is growing natural. She has all the height she needs (I hope). I will introduce additional lighting if need be. I don't ever expect to have an even canopy here. These are mystery seeds from a good breeder, so anything can come out of this. I am not even going to bother training that short plant, because honestly, I want to see what it does with the minimal defoliation I did, and a bit more lollipopping into flower. 2, we are flipping to flower tonight, at about 6 1/2 weeks old. I don't want to wait any longer because I am growing with my own organic soil blend, and I do not know what each plant will demand throughout the entire flower cycle, so better to start earlier than later. I want to study my soil and note where it needs improving. That was the main goal for this round -- my first round with good genetics in with a consistent soil across the board I made myself from mostly raw inputs, with ratios modified from successes and failures over the last...approximately 6 months. It's time to make magic! And even later... I just had a real close look at the leaves of all 3 plants. Some old, large fan leaves are slightly discolored, and have been for a couple weeks, and is not any nutrient symptom. It is just a side effect of slightly too much neem oil to combat some ocassional house pests that leave small yellow spots on my plants. It's usually harmless and doesn't cause an outbreak, but I tried some neem oil this year a few times, and I'm still messing with the ratio and other ingredients. However, the slight bit of yellowing and the slight discoloration from my treatment made me overlook a more serious problem. Looking closer at the two plants with thinner leaves, I can see a clear Phosphorus (P) deficiency. Additionally, some of the yellowing is striated, and it could be a Magnesium deficiency, which makes complete sense, because if my soil had a Mg deficiency, it would have showed up around now. It takes about 4-6 weeks before you can see this deficiency. So, let's try to fix this a tad. Considering we already decided that this will be their last full day before blooming, we can top-dress with some flower boosting amendments. Also, since I know we do not have a sulfur deficiency, we can also water with a bit of Epsom salt (Magnesium Sulfate), or top dress with some kind of lime. I have dolomite lime, but it is prilled, so that's out. I want something soluble and readily available. These prilled pellets should have been more in quantity in my soil to begin with, perhaps. So, I think what we will do is, since I just watered them today, and they are mulched and will be full for a couple days, we'll hold off on both the dolomite lime and the magnesium supplement. Instead, we'll top-dress them, using the scratch and cover method, some inputs to balance things out for bloom. I probably should have done this 1-2 weeks ago, but I didn't know we were flipping to flower until today. For the top dressing, we'll be using a product that I actually didn't get to try in bloom yet. Roadside Organics' Backyard Blooms. It's a powder that contains a few things. We'll scratch that into the soil, and cover it back up with mulch. We'll play the magnesium deficiency by ear. This top dressing is good I heard, so we'll give it a go and see what happens. I previously had only used their veg top-dressing, which I didn't really get to finish that grow to decide if I liked it or not. Day 42 - December 3, 2023 Not much to report today - they are doing fine. I lopped off a couple large fan leaves from the 2 on the left when I watered them.
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Used techniques
LST
Technique
Defoliation
Technique
7
Week 7. Flowering
a year ago
50.8 cm
12 hrs
24 °C
No Smell
53 %
22 °C
11 L
35.56 cm
Nutrients 7
Kelp meal 0.43 mll
Roadside Organics Backyard Blooms 3.255 mll
Plant Success Organics Granular - Plant Success (Plant Revolution)
Plant Success Organics Granular 0.43 mll
Day 44 - December 5, 2023 They're getting ready to push out flowers now. Day 46 - December 7, 2023 I did some light defoliation today on all 3 plants. I also did some HST on the main stem of the indica-looking plant. I messed up the FIM on this plant and it has been growing too apical, shadowing lower branches I had trained, expecting the FIM to work out. Well we'll just bend her in half. Plants are easy :)
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13 comments
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Used techniques
LST
Technique
Defoliation
Technique
8
Week 8. Flowering
a year ago
60.96 cm
12 hrs
24 °C
No Smell
53 %
22 °C
11 L
30.48 cm
Nutrients 7
Kelp meal 0.43 mll
Roadside Organics Backyard Blooms 3.255 mll
Plant Success Organics Granular - Plant Success (Plant Revolution)
Plant Success Organics Granular 0.43 mll
Day 52 - December 13, 2023 After 13 days of flowering, we finally see little hedgehogs forming. Day 53 - December 14, 2023 Unfortunately, I made a little mistake. I was stupid and stoned, and for some reason, I decided to mix up my next batch of soil in my lung room (the room with my tents). I have been fungus gnat-free for a few months now, but today I saw many adults when I opened the tent. None of them were on the plants really, and there are no real flowers -- just pistils, and no real trichomes yet, so I need to correct this fast. Luckily, I always water with a highly-concentrated BT strain, that eliminates all larvae. I don't think the outbreak will last more than 2 weeks, about as long as a gnat will live. I put up yellow sticky traps to start, hoping that would wipe out most of them. We'll see. Day 54 - December 15, 2023 Well, I see less of the fungus gnats flying around. But, I notice that I see a lot more of them crawling on the ground. It is dry on the floor, and even the sides of my pots have been dry for days, as I have been trying to water in the middle to prevent moisture persisting in the fabric for too long, to discourage them from hanging out there, like I usually see them do. Because they are on the floor, and if I move pots around I see 1 or 2 scurry away, I am altering my setup for future grows a little, going back to how I used to do things. I was told it was okay to leave fabric pots on the floor of a tent, because, with a good soil and the proper amount of feeding, there should not be any runoff. Well, indeed, I do never have any runoff. However, I personally believe the problem is that, fabric pots are...fabric. In nature, soil doesn't sit on a flat surface underground. There are always slopes and cracks for water to travel. The fact that my soil is cooler than the tent air, because of evaporative cooling, and the bottom of the pot has no airflow, is not ideal. The temperature differential may be causing pockets of moisture from condensation forming, or from water eventually seeping downward from the input watering. With this in mind, I am now going back to my original setup that I used to have when I frequently fertigated. I'm just raising the fabric pots off of the floor with little plant stands, and letting any possible drippage catch in a shallow plant saucer below. I never let my plants get super tall, and I also installed my exhaust fan outside of the tent, so I have plenty of room to work with, with the additional 5 inches or so in height. Before I did that though, I removed everything from the tent, cleaned it with isopropyl alcohol, and then I wiped the bottom of the fabric pots with an isopropyl alcohol cloth to discourage any growth. Day 55 - December 16, 2023 We see hardly any fungus gnats today. If they come back in numbers, I know something is wrong. If they go away, it is just the originals lasting their lifespan. The concentrated BT israelensis solution I mix for my water kills all small insect larvae pretty fast. My only other thought is some of the ductwork in my grow room which is not moving air, may be letting them in. (My A/C is off this time of year). I guess we'll see.
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Used techniques
Defoliation
Technique
9
Week 9. Flowering
a year ago
60.96 cm
12 hrs
28 °C
No Smell
56 %
23 °C
11 L
30.48 cm
Nutrients 7
Kelp meal 0.43 mll
Roadside Organics Backyard Blooms 3.255 mll
Plant Success Organics Granular - Plant Success (Plant Revolution)
Plant Success Organics Granular 0.43 mll
Day 57 - December 18, 2023 I accidentally topped the tall girl. Her last node stretched too much, I knocked it just right with my elbow...clean off. Oh well, maybe it'll help the bud sites develop better if it doesn't stress her out too much. Day 59 - December 20, 2023 Flowers are starting to take shape (and color). Took some pics today. Day 60 - December 21, 2023 Well, last week I tried to combat fungus gnats after finding a couple flying around. If you remember, I thought it was because I was being me and dumb as usual, by mixing a new batch of soil in my grow room. I don't think that was the reason at all anymore. Here are the facts: - I saw a couple adults flying around in my flower tent about two weeks ago, and immediately took action to get rid of them, knowing my soil is fungus gnat proof with the solution I water my plants with. - A couple days later, I saw the same amount of them. Mostly crawling around on the floor. That is when I decided to empty the tent, clean it good with isopropyl alcohol, and wipe down their fabric pots with isopropyl alcohol too. I also misted the plants down 2 nights in a row before lights out with a citrus-based fungicidal and insecticidal organic product. - A few days later, yesterday, they were pretty much swarming my tent. - I inspected the soil closely, especially after watering, by digging around and looking really close. If you know what to look for, you can see fungus gnat larvae if there is an infestation from hatching eggs. They look like very tiny maggots with a black head and white body wriggling through the soil. Very hard to see and have to know where to look, but it's possible. I did not see a single one in any of these three pots. - I waited until today to let the soil dry out completely from the last watering, and then I knuckled the soil to test moisture, before covering the top with about an inch of diatomaceous earth, using a paint brush to cover it evenly, and also the inside and outside rims of the fabric pots. Normally, you don't want to use this stuff in flower, but I have a plan, and this is only a temporary preventative measure for the existing adults. Considering that the soil seems to be fungus gnat free, except for the adults dancing around on the top, and nothing like previous outbreaks, where I could clearly see where they were coming from (hatching larvae in the soil), this is new to me. But, I have a pretty good idea what is wrong. My theory, is, on the other side of the basement where my grow room exhausts into, is a covered 20gal tote of compost and a covered 20gal tote of peat. I am willing to bet, the recent colder temperatures caused them to evacuate and look for moisture. Well my exhaust hose is fairly far away, but it's not sealed with pantyhose or anything, so I will need to fix that. Additionally, I learned that I was running my tent a little too cold in the daytime, which doesn't help matters. I have since corrected that as well, while keeping the same optimal VPD levels. The last watering I did, was with an insecticidal solution of neem oil and citrus ferment, as when I inspected the soil, I did find some tiny bugs that looked like soil ticks. I am going to kill off some microbiology with this, but I am doing everything I can here. Since we have D.E. on top, and D.E. is worthless when wet, we now must bottom feed. I think a final measure is going to be to move my soil totes into my garage, where it is freezing, unless I am "cooking" a new batch, in which I will probably allocate a new sealed space for, somewhere. If you have any other suggestions, let me know in the comments!
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Used techniques
Topping
Technique
Defoliation
Technique
10
Week 10. Flowering
a year ago
60.96 cm
12 hrs
28 °C
Weak
55 %
24 °C
11 L
30.48 cm
Nutrients 7
Kelp meal 0.43 mll
Roadside Organics Backyard Blooms 3.26 mll
Plant Success Organics Granular - Plant Success (Plant Revolution)
Plant Success Organics Granular 0.43 mll
Day 66 - December 27, 2023 It's been a while since the last update. Holidays and all. They are looking very very well. This is by far the best indoor grow of mine to date, but we can't celebrate until after the cure. Still though, I have never made it this far into a grow without even the slightest problem with their health. There has never been a single leaf that has shown any signs of stress, nutrient, heat, light, pest, or otherwise. Every plant is a happy shade of green consistently throughout. This week we started to see stigmas change color to red on all three plants. They all have fairly small colas, but nice looking ones so far. The fungus gnat problem is solved. Yesterday I removed any residual diatomaceous earth from the top of the pots, and then I sprayed them all down good with a foliar spray of my fungicidal/bactericidal IPM. Then, I removed them all from the tent, and I sprayed the tent down, too. I wiped it all down good, and made sure any white dust on any equipment or in any cracks was wiped down good with a damp cloth. Then, I moved all plants in the tent, and I sprayed them down for a good half hour with a gallon of IPM in a fine mist, from all angles, at a safe distance as to not damage them. That may have seemed like overkill, but I don't like diatomaceous earth at all, and it is not good to use in flower. Yesterday I started seeing some frost appear on leaves, so we are getting into sticky times. Additionally, I used my IPM instead of plain water, because I do so at least once per week on the plants anyway, as it has significantly helped my tent stay mold-free so far. Yesterday I also performed a major pruning of all three plants. We removed lower buds, branches, and leaves, as well as some large or in the way leaves in the middle. All bud sites are unobstructed now. All three plants look much cleaner today and very happy. Every bud site has buds that are roughly the same size and at the same level of maturity. Things are just overall good. Day 68 - December 29, 2023 Today they are looking even better. I couldn't help to cool them off a little bit with another small IPM misting shower. I watered them a small amount today, not a full watering as usual. This is because the VPD tells me the transpiration rate, and over the last day they don't need more water, looking at the downward trend in humidity and VPD. I have been paying closer attention to this, because it isn't always obvious with my constantly changing soil mixes as far as retention goes. I do lift them up and feel the weight, but I get kind of scared when they are bone dry and very light. I previously gave them a very good watering when they were completely dried out, but, ever since removing the mulch, they just didn't like to drink fast like that. They are drinking and making energy good still according to my graphs, and they look good, so that is what I care about. That and making sure not to overwater. I actually use very little water, but, with my soil changing all the time, I am trying to learn how to use less water while simultaneously having an efficient soil blend. I am actually reading a book right now specifically about using less water in an organic gardening scenario, and learning a few neat things. There is a balance with some tradeoffs to be made, and I am still tweaking things, so I don't quite understand my own soil yet. I do know, that this current mix has worked the best so far, even though I see a lot of room for improvement in future mixes.
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Used techniques
Defoliation
Technique
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