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START OF WEEK
The Hawaiian Lion (right) and Tricho Jordan (left) are the two plants that dominate the face-on tent photos, and for good reason. Each of those plants is twice the mass of either Chimera. The HL is superior in bud sites, resin, and terp intensity, but the Tricho and the good Chimera #3 are both not too far off in resin production and aroma profiles. The weird runt is frosting up too, so we're looking at getting something unique and quality from each.
That is, if I don't muck this up.
I fed last night, and as part of that process, I mix my nutrients in a four gallon batch at a double(ish) strength. I then add that to my reservoir, which is shut off at that time. This allows me to work in the res, to both get the ppms right and the ph within range. I just use plain water to level off the ppms and then I adjust for ph.
What I didn't do last night is TURN back on the flow of water from the reservoir. However, you wouldn't have guessed it from how the plants woke up today (see first image). I normally check the bases of each plant daily, and in doing so today, I noticed that one felt slight dry. All tanks were empty, but all plant bases were somewhere between wet to moist. This is how I spot check, and it's worked in the past. This isn't the first time these tanks have had a catastrophic issue leading to an unexpected no flow sitch.
There's a filter that sits between the reservoir tank and the primary feed line. That has unexpectedly clogged on me in the past, but with no deleterious effect to the grow. That was caught within a day as well by testing the plant bases. I don't blame autopot for either event.
Obviously, last night I was a baked potato and just forgot a step. The clog is because I use yucca in my mix, which is an organic material that over time in the reservoir leads to build up. I'm afraid to introduce hydrogen peroxide into the set-up, so I'm just maintaining my reservoir by cleaning it fully every other week for now. I don't want to kill off the bacteria in the environment. I'm also using some fungus, too, so I'd rather promote coexistence of a microbiome than serialize it, especially considering the plants seem to be on pace.
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END OF WEEK
Shit! I've got a herm. I've found four nanner clusters this week, all on the lower third-ish of the Hawaiian Lion. Someone, thankfully, spotted it in the purple flower pics. Turns out, while super fun to look at, those sweet violet flowers turned into harbingers of mother fucking doooooommm.
I've never seen this before. I guess I've been fortunate, but I've also never had a camera this capable before either. I had no idea how small these pee pee's were. I guess I was expecting girth, but shame on me for not knowing. I rapidly learned as much as I could over the last two days, and I've come to the conclusion that I may or may not be screwed. The consensus on my situation ranges from either burn my tent down to thank ja for the blessings of feminized seeds. We're riding this baby out.
I think I have fifteen to twenty days left and I think these little nanners might have been in action for ten days, hopefully less. I don't know what kind of damage will be done in that time, but honestly, I'm not too worried. While disappointing, my use case is a personal supply of bubble hash and flower rosin. If it's seedy, I'll wash most of it.
I don't know what caused it, but I'm thinking a light leak or genetics. The environment is dialed and that plant hasn't shown one sign of anything less than vigor throughout. The spots that developed the purple flowers (lower bottom half to bottom quarter) are all in the vicinity of where I found the herms (four locations) and these locations are close to the edge of the tent along the zipper. I'm vigilant about keeping my tent and grow space in order, but a light leak can't be ruled out. I'll have to test that after the harvest.
The herm flowers are minuscule and I'm surprised I found them. The camera was a great tool in this case. I sprayed the areas that I removed the nanners and then dried it, but for what it's worth, I think the damage was already done. That water bit felt more like ritual, but I'm still feeling optimistic that I'm not totally hosed.
@Don_Vitamini, Thanks for pointing that out, but thankfully it's not. Just weird camera focus with quite a similar shape and color. Had me scared there for a minute ;) I'll post a follow-up of that same site.
You've got yourself a fantastic run man, Beleaf genetics can be rewarding if done right, and you got it right, rock on ,wish there was smellivision lol !!