Tropicana Cookies Autoflower

March 15, 2024 Day 29 Welcome to week 4 of veg. Based on showing their sex to be female, pre-flower should be starting in just a few days. That being said, I need to comment about the growth of these two plants. Despite the lighter green color, they have responded very well to the ample watering and begin training. Both have long branches that are already growing over the bent tops. I'll definitely be pulling them down in a matter of a day or two. Also, my concern with the height difference is now over. They are both nice and level now. I watered them both 1 liter with the new nutrient regimen. Things I didn't do today. I didn't change the light. I don't think I need to quite yet. They are both still in veg and may still be for a few days to a week. I'll change the light when pre-flower begins. I also didn't activate the bottom feed system yet. After watering the plants the full liter, I wanted to see if it would stress them out at all. It didn't, so I'll activate tomorrow. Honestly, I was actually distracted all day. But I still managed to get the watering in. The bottom feed system isn't needed quite yet anyway. I'm just trying to prepare for the rest of the grow. Anyway, that's all for now. Grow System Environment: Temp: 73.7° RH: 60.9% VPD: 1.08 kPa March 16, 2024 A lot to do today. I had to do everything I didn't do yesterday, then do some training. The bottom feed systems were activated today. The roots aren't quite there yet, but it should be fine. The wicks won't soak the soil or anything. What will happen is that eventually the roots will grow to the bottom of the containers and then they will start to really pull water from the bottom. These are only 1 gallon reservoirs, so I don't need to empty them or anything. I just clean the basins every other week. As for lighting, I didn't change anything today. The distance is now 24" and the PAR is 600 ppfd. I may check later today and I crease the power to 80%. If the reading is around 650, I'll leave it there. If it's higher than that, I'll drop it back down until pre-flower. Speaking of pre-flower, now that the plants have shown their sex, they have definitely started to take off. That being said, they both got a full training today. Every branch was tied down to make an open and level canopy. If these grow as I expect they will, I should get a couple 24" to 36" plants. And if I play my cards right and don't make any mistakes, maybe I'll get a good 8 oz out of each. Maybe even more. As FastBuds describes it, this strain grows super dense buds with massive yields without getting too big. I'm going to try to get the most I can. Afterall, I now have to grow plants that yield 20 oz from what I've done with my last run. However, I don't expect them to get as big or take as long as that one did. Anyway, the environment is a bit off. Kind of low temp at 75° with kind of high humidity at 61% . It's definitely messing with the VPD. I'll definitely have to work with it a bit today. Grow System Environment: Temp: 73.3° RH: 59.9% VPD: 1.09 kPa March 17, 2024 Not a lot to do today. The bottom feeding systems are now completely active and working wonders. The soil moisture level is perfectly set at 30%. I've found with using these for a few runs, the best moisture level is around 30% to 35% for veg and 40% to 50% for flower. I raised the light 2" today. I'll increase the intensity in a day or 2. It's doesn't quite need it yet. Currently it's hanging out around 575 ppfd. I'd like to see 600 ppfd to 650 ppfd for the rest of the week. I'll definitely be increasing the light power when they get a bit more established. I am concerned with the lack of praying leaves. Hopefully raising the light will cause some praying. Although, I wonder if it's a matter of brightness or lack there of. Like is a brighter light going to induce praying leaves? Doesn't seem like it, but if the light is higher and the praying isn't working, then it has to be more intensity to induce praying. I'll check back later today to see if the praying has been induced. The environment is still doing well. The temp is a bit low, but the humidity is still a bit too high at 60%. I think that if I increase the power of the light, the temp will increase and the humidity will drop down a bit. Update: I decided to increase the power to 80%. That should help with the temp and humidity. The DLI is 41.5 mol/m²/d. This should be perfect for this stage in the grow. Grow System Environment: Temp: 74.0° RH: 59.2% VPD: 1.14 kPa March 17, 2024 Both ladies look great today. They are definitely the same phenome and have been treated the exact same. All branches were adjusted today with a couple new ones tied down. They are definitely doing much better with the proper amount of nutrients. Starting to get a darker green. Still lightish, but definitely not as bad as before. The bottom feed system couldn't be any better. The soil is now 36% throughout with a tiny bit more on the bottom of the container. The initial setup pulled in a half gallon and now it should be the rest of the week for it to drain. However, from my experience, never let the reservoir dry out. It will cause blockage in the wicks. Always keep water in the reservoir. As for lighting, nothing changed today. Both plants have a slight pray going. So this is definitely the sweet spot. I may have to raise the light tomorrow as these plants are growing quite quickly now. I'll make the adjustment to see better praying. The environment is finally back to normal for this week in growth. That being said, the temp is perfect at 76.5° and the humidity is at a wonderful 56%. That's all for today. I'll update with any changes. Grow System Environment: Temp: 74.8° RH: 59.8% VPD: 1.16 kPa March 18, 2024 Both ladies had some adjustments done today. Not much, but enough to keep the canopy level. The bottom feed systems are completely active now. They took in about 1/2 gallon initially. It will slow down of course to match what the plants and soil needs. I'm not changing the light today. Maybe a day or two. But when I do, I think I'll leave the 80% and just match the DLI I need for the next week. I may have to increase the power to 90% to keep the footprint I have. As for the plants, they look great. Taking well to the training. I expect I'll be doing more adjustments tomorrow. March 19, 2024 Well, as I said yesterday, the tie downs needed a decent adjustment. I also pulled a branch down. I'd also like to note that the main stem is nice and thick. Hardened off and ready to hold the weight of a promising yield. The basins are at about 1/4 full now. They should last the next couple of days without issue. Lighting hasn't been changed. I'll raise the light tomorrow and increase the power to 90% next week. Environmentally, everything is sound. The temp is around 76° and the humidity is just at 56%. A well balanced place of happiness. Note to self: do not get rip roaring stoned before writing in my diary. Grow System Environment: Temp: 73.8° RH: 56.7% VPD: 1.21 kPa March 20, 2024 Today was a bit busy. So far I tied down some new branches that were finally long enough to tie down. Very happy with the growth so far. Both plants look great now. But they are funnily enough suffering from nitrogen toxicity. Roots aren't showing totally yet, so I can only imagine what the root balls look like. Maybe they will get big, following big plants. Neither plant has shown any roots yet, but I expect roots to pop out any day now. The closest is Tropicana Cookies with a couple little roots popping out. We aren't in pre-flower yet, so there's still plenty of room to grow and plenty of time for me to shape my ladies. So far, the way things are going promises a bountiful yield and a full tent. The reservoirs are nearly empty. They will be refilled starting next week. In regards to nutrients, funnily enough, Tropicana Cookies has nitrogen toxicity. It's definitely from the huge boost in nutrients. I'll drop the nutes back down to around 8 ml instead of 12 ml. This next watering will have to be with Cal/Mag. Just to get rid of the toxicity. Then back to 8 ml of base nutrients. As for lighting, I raised the light an inch to keep it at 24" from the canopy. The PAR is around 625 ppfd. I don't need to increase the power level yet, but soon I think. The environment is back to being spot on. The temp is back around 76° to 77° and the humidity is hovering around 56%. The VPD is right where it needs to be. I'm quite happy. Grow System Environment: Temp: 73.7° RH: 56.6% VPD: 1.20 kPa March 21, 2024 Not much going on today. Both basins were refilled today with 10 ml instead of 12 ml. I probably should have run the plain water as I originally thought, but then I don't want to lose out on precious nutrients. The nitrogen toxicity should go away. Hell, it might even go away when the plant gets bigger. Speaking of getting bigger, they are taking off now. Both plants are nearly impossible to tell apart. The training is the same, the leaves are the same. The growth is the same. No difference whatsoever. Speaking of training, neither plant needed an adjustment today. Both are looking proper and ready to grow more. Auxiliary branches are starting to stretch and will be tied down when they get a bit longer. The light needed to be raised a half inches today. Just to get that DLI at 40 mol/m²/d. Tomorrow I'll probably increase the power to 90%. The goal is to bring the DLI to 42 mol/m²/d and gradually let the plants grow into a DLI of 45 mol/m²/d. I will try to keep the light at 24" for the whole grow. As I said weeks ago, I'll go as low as 22", but any lower than that and my footprint gets too small. I may have to increase the power to 100% in 2 weeks. And keep the light at 24" or higher. Unless of course I run out of height space, then I have to remove the exhaust fan and left the light to the ceiling of the tent.etd hope it doesn't get to that point. Plants that tall are really difficult to manage in a 3x3 tent. The environment. The effing environment. It's freezing today. Around 21° f. My room has trouble getting over 72° in turn the temp of the tent is suffering at 74°. However, the humidity is still great at 56% to 57% all day. Sometimes it pops up to 58%, but that will change when it gets warmer and I can get my heater to work properly. I like to keep the bedroom at 74° during the day, so the tent hovers around 76° to 77°. Hopefully it will fix in a day or two. Grow System Environment: Temp: 73.0° RH: 56.3% VPD: 1.18 kPa