1st time Photoperiods

After two grows with autoflower strains, I thought i'd make the transition to Photoperiod. A friend supplied me with some clones, and so far they all look very healthy. I have them in a 70/30 coco coir/perlite mix, and with all my previous experience being with soil, I really notice the difference in growth rate using coco, they are speedy! I feed them once daily, and water until I see some runoff. For lighting I have a Black Diamond Perfect Sun Dwarf Star led light - supposedly 400w output with 230w power usage. I have given them a bit more Rhizotonic than usual for this first week to help them establish some healthy roots. This is my first time growing under something other than H.P.S, so combining that fact along with a new growing medium, I am expecting a lot of changes in outcome from my last grow! Lets see how this goes

These plants have now made it to the end of their second week. I repotted them from their small 1/2 litre pots into some slightly larger ones, I think around 2 litres in size. I have ordered some fabric 10l (3 gal) pots which have now arrived, and that will be the next and final transition for them. Not much information seems to exist online about some of these strains, but I was told firsthand a little about them; Red Devil - is a strain created by someone local to where I live. I don't know what to expect from her in the slightest. Misty Mack - was warned about the weighty, dense colas that can appear, taking a long time to finish and the only danger being mold if proper ventilation isn't established. Hopefully that shouldn't be a problem for me, but large colas, hey, I think I can handle that 😉 Pineapple Express - Need I say more, a favourite strain of mine, so I only fear that I could end up with something not up to the standard I have grown to associate with this plant. Fingers crossed! In this second week all the plants have grown a little in height, and all have the beginnings of some lateral branches. I am thinking at the end of the third week I will top them, and allow to veg for one or two more weeks after that before making the transition to flowering.

Another week, same feeding schedule, I topped the Misty Mack and she has two nice even heads. She is the tallest at 20cm, Red Devil sits at 16cm and Pineapple Express at 14. The are all looking a very healthy shade of green, and lateral branch growth continues. It is getting quite cold at night here where I live (2 degrees celsius at the worst) and it is my one worry, so considering getting a small heater if they seem effected in any way. I finally purchased an EC meter today, and my nutrient water sits at 1.1 EC value; according to the chart I am following, right where it should be. *Mid Week Update* My tap water has an EC value of .2, which is great! That means the amount of nutrients I am adding should be fine with my girls. Today I repotted into 11 litre fabric pots. I lay down a base layer of perlite for drainage followed by 60/40 coco/perlite mix with Canna Pro Coco. Each drank 2 litres of water following the move into their new homes. I also defoliated the lowest 2 or 3 nodes on each plant to give me a little space for watering and keep the amount of scraggly buds I end up with to a minimum. The biggest two factors I was facing were unknown EC value and my nighttime temps. I bought and added a panel heater into their tent which takes up more space than i'd like but keeps the temperature at a constant 14 degrees celsius. For now, all my problems seem to be solved! But stay tuned to see what happens, these things seem to find new ways to go awry... 😉

Another week has elapsed and the girls are looking quite happy. Yesterday I topped Red Devil and Pineapple, and i'll monitor how their new heads develop. Today I attempted to low stress train the Misty Mack, who had already developed two main growths from her topping, and when positioning one of the heads it sadly snapped off rather abruptly. She is left with a gap in her foliage so I will see what occurs naturally but some more topping may be required to work things out now. Red Devil maybe requires a little less nutrients from what she's showing me (a slight bit of clawing on some mature fan leaves) so I am feeding her less and seeing how she goes. I also added a fan today to keep them rustling nicely. In terms of how each of these plants grow differently, I notice that Red Devil has faster growth but also thinner stems, I worry that it isn't the strongest plant. Pineapple is very bushy and i'm really happy with how she looks. Misty Mack takes it up a notch with thickness and bushiness but I am really mad at myself for breaking off a branch. Who knows what nug it could have brought into fruition! I am intrigued to see how all these characteristics translate into the flowering period. The plan is to keep vegging another week or two, set up my scrog netting and let em do their thing. You might notice the two lil plants in the tent there too, they are bagseed and I am leaving them in as an experiment. I won't repot so they don't have much space at all but I figured it would be fun to see if they could do anything at all. That being said they could well be male. *Update* The ever helpful B4RNS told me that the purple stems I am seeing could be a magnesium deficiency - not wanting this to potentially develop any further, I today purchased some FlairForm CMX, a trace element additive to stabilise deficiencies. I took an EC reading of my water after adding this and my nutrient solution sits at 1.6, with a PH of 6.5. Hopefully the girls thank me for it in the weeks to come :) Their heights are currently Pineapple Express 👉 24 cm Red Devil 👉 23cm Misty Mack 👉 27cm

Another week elapsed, time for another update! Halfway through these plant's fourth week I made the switch to flowering. I did this when they were starting to overlap into each other's space, as I read that this is a good indicator for when to begin flowering and not end up with plants too large for the space available to them. Since then their branches have stretched as they prepare for flowering. I continued with my vegetative nutrients and will make the switch next feeding, when it's been a week since the change. I had a problem with purple stems last week, the cause of which could be attributed to either lack of magnesium or overwatering, or both! But I have scaled back my watering to 1.5l per plant every other day or as needed, as well as supplementing their Magnesium with Flairform CMX. It is definitely lessening due to either or both of these changes which I am happy to see. My one new concern is a few leaves on top of the Pineapple Express, as you can see in the photo something is awry, even if only slightly. I am unsure what the culprit is so I'd love some advice sent my way. Red Devil also has slightly weaker looking stems than the other two but she could just be needing to play catch up. Time will tell. Thanks for stopping by

Today, I opened the zips to my grow and shook my head. all my space was used up, the plants were still stretching and there was no space for them to expand in any direction. It really felt like I had lost control, and I didn't know how I would see this grow through to completion without running into a whole host of problems. In my dismay I took a forlorn look around and happened to glance at an unused clothes rack in the garage and my Macgyver instinct kicked in... About half an hour later, the sight before my eyes was completely transformed. A clothing rack component turned out to be a perfect fit, and I carefully spent a while bending and contorting my girls into their new home. I also heavily defoliated their lower branches and the undercarriage is now in a relatively neat and orderly state. One or two leaves which grew over the top of the heater seemed dried out, so I have made an effort to confine their growth in the space not overlapping with it. I also repositioned my fan and it is now properly oscillating. I have continued to feed them vegetative nutrients while they stretch but will wean them off and soon switch to flowering. Excited to see how they conform to their new space. Happy growing to you all :)

Better pics soon to come - The girl's upward growth seems to have slowed down, and small buds are beginning to appear. The canopy is quite crowded and I am hoping there will be enough room for them all. I have switched over to my flowering nutrients, my main one, Super Bloom being a 1-9-1 natural guano product for coco. Other than some slight leaf damage caused by close proximity to the heater, these plants are looking happy, and are starting to drink more. They also have pleasant and unique smells about each of them now. I just hope the buds don't stop growing any time soon!

This past week, the girls have undergone the foundation of their bud growth. Young trichromes are to be found all over these 3, and these last couple days the bud size seems to be increasing too. I have phased out my vegetative nutrients and have them on my flowering ones, tomorrow I plan to buy some more trace elements to keep up with everything they will be needing. Opening up my tent I am heralded by a gorgeous smell combination every time. Misty Mack has a very strong dank smell about it which I find hard to place my finger on, Red Devil has pine notes, and Pineapple Express is living up to her name and smelling just like all the pineapple i've ever smoked. My mouth is watering! I have continued to keep an eye on things below the hood, and every day I trim a few undesirable growths. Now i'll say a bit more about each of them individually. Misty Mack - Her upward growth is continuing on a little longer than her roommates. It finally seems to have ceased, and her buds area little less developed than the other two as a result. I was told she is a late bloomer, so I am expecting that the other girls will come down and she will have a bit of time on her own. She also is developing BEAUTIFUL pink pistils, something i've only ever seen online! Red Devil - Previously, I was worried that this girls stems appeared too thin. That problem has dissipated, and I think that too early on I classified her as the runt of the litter because of this. I've actually paid her the least attention, but she is budding beautifully. No problems! Pineapple Express - My favourite child. The only reason she may not make it to the end is if I succumb to my desire to eat her, she literally smells soooo good. I WISH pineapples tasted how this smells. Sticky icky buds already. Thanks for reading my stupid rants and raves people, and happy growing 😊

Another week has elapsed, and everything seems to be going well! Yesterday I completed some defoliation on all 3 girls to expose some more bud sites to direct light. The size of all buds continues to increase, and they are all getting trichromed up. Pineapple Express seems especially resinous, and leaves my fingers sticky from even a glance encounter. Currently feeding 2.5 Litres of water every other day between the three of them, which equates to .88 l per feeding per plant. By the end of their day without water, their pots are already dry. The smell is very strong now, and I am really excited to see how big these buds will get, Misty Mack definitely appears to be putting on the framework for some hefty weight! Thanks everyone, and happy growing 😊

Buds continue to develop, and all three of these girls are both smelling beautiful and sparkling like precious jewels! I found out a bit about Misty Mack too; apparently she is a cross of Misty Kush and Big Mac, which can be found on leafly, a website that has good strain information. Both these strains are predominantly Indica, and I look forward to seeing how she comes out. Red Devil also won the 2006 High Times cup :) I have been most excited about the Pineapple Express, so it is nice to have some reasons to look forward to the others too. I will upload some more photos this week, my camera died mid session just before 😩 Happy growing everyone

So these girls are now 11 weeks old, and they are well through their flowering now. Buds are starting to swell and mature (for Red Devil and Pineapple Express more than Misty Mack), and their smells are pretty powerful. The end is approaching, and as a guideline my plan is to harvest Pineapple Express @ 13 weeks Red Devil @ 14 weeks Misty Mack @ 15.5 weeks So that means Pineapple Express' two week flush begins today.

No problems to report, other than the fact my lil air circulation fan has given up. So limited ventilation, something I will amend this week. Pineapple begins her second week of flushing today, and the last week of her short life. Red Devil flush begins now. Leaves are starting to yellow now, which I take as a good sign with that stored energy being put to good use. Pineapple's trichromes just keep frosting up, and I await next week in eager anticipation. I'll let my photos do the rest of the talking for now - thanks for stopping by, and happy growing! 😊

Week 13 has come up, and today I took down the Red Devil. Pineapple is due tomorrow and she is looking really great in my opinion! She is fully frosted up, much more so than the Red Devil which I harvested. I took her down due to the yellowing on her leaves almost spreading to the buds. When trimming I noticed some purple-red pistils which may be where she gets the name from. Misty Mack is starting to look more mature now, and the pink colour is really prominent. I'll update soon with some harvest reports once RD has dried!

The effect is quite strong, I just smoked a joint to write a description and suddenly the day ahead of me is feeling quite difficult! I feel flowing with ideas, and very happy. The taste has still yet to develop, as I am only now going into curing. I'll update this once the flavour is a bit more developed :)

Smoke report - this bud has yet to cure and as such the flavour was compromised. Even then I found the taste remarkably smooth already! In terms of the stone she definitely strikes me as an evening smoke, as it left me sleepy, relaxed and content. The worst aspect of this grow is only having an ounce, it is going to be so hard saving it til cured, and I could burn through this in a week if I was left to it! Time to reign in the self control until my growing skill can match my ravenous appetite :D