First ever grow

So this is a complete beginners experiment for me and I am praying this diary doesn’t make me look stupid at the end! Hubby grew years ago and spent an absolute bomb on all his equipment and has little to no hope this will be successful! I want to see if I can use a small tent with a couple of LED grow bulbs and some simple nutrients. I chose these two strains as they’re advertised as compact, easy to grow with a chance of an XXL yield (although I’d be very happy with a small one!) I have no idea what my grow technique will be so any ideas for a clumsy, heavy handed beginner will be appreciated! (Terrified at the thought of breaking one of my babies!) Using a small 60x60x150cm tent with fingers and toes crossed it’s going to be big enough. These pictures are both plants exactly 7 days after they sprouted. I was a bit worried that one was very thin and long and the other had a couple of leaves that had curled. But this seems to have resolved now. Only watered once so far. No nutrients as I bought a special soil mix that states none required for the first few weeks.

These are the plants at 2 weeks old. Not really sure what to report. I check on them each morning and night and find myself thinking about how they’re doing whilst I am at work! Comparing with other grow diaries, I think they seem to be doing ok. The temperature and humidity levels in the tent fluctuate but i don’t think this is causing a problem.. yet! Still just a bit of water. We live in a hard water area so just boiled, cooled water to remove a bit of the hardness.

These are the babies on week 3. Exactly 3 weeks old today. I used nutrients for the first time this week (day 18) and gave them a litre each with 3ml each of Dutch Pro Autoflower A & B (soil) I had read on other diaries that when you use nutrients, it’s best to ensure you water until you can see water running off. So on day 19 I gave another litre, mixed exactly the same. No signs of nutrient burn, yellowing or leaves curling and because of the growth rate this week, I think they’re happy. Only thing I am worrying about is the humidity level. It seems to rise to the 70s after watering. I may be naive but I feel like I don’t need to worry too much about that just yet (maybe in the flowering stage?) I have been opening up the tent periodically to let some of the moisture out and keeping the windows open to keep air flowing through the room the tent is in. As I am experimenting, I haven’t bought a filter or dehumidifier and I am just using a desk fan to keep the air flowing.

So these are the girls at 28 days old. Lots and lots of growth this week and I think there are some little pistils growing at the base of each stem. The sticky orange is tallest and the stems much longer so it seems the lower stems are able to get a lot more light than the purple skunk. The purple skunk seems shorter and thicker with a lot of overlapping leaves so any advice on training techniques welcome! I have only watered once since I gave their first dose of nutrients last week as they didnt seem to need any. But the sticky orange is now showing signs of nutrient burn so disappointed myself this week. There are only 2 leaves yellowing at the tip and it doesn’t seem to have affected any others. Thinking of giving her a flush tonight to avoid it getting any worse. I think I might have overestimated the space in my tent to grow 2 plants as they are both now touching each other. I will have to sit and read up on whether it’s a good idea to de-foliate some of the larger bottom leaves this early on or to just let them overlap for now. Hopefully next week we’ll be in flowering mode and the fun will really start!

So today we are 5 weeks old. Lots of growth again this week and sticky orange seems to be recovering from the nutrient burn. She is still quite thin (branches and leaves) but she is growing and is a nice healthy colour. Hopefully she will thicken out this week. Gave purple skunk another feed as she seems to tolerate way more than sticky orange. SO is still on a water only diet until next week! I think we have the first proper signs of flowering on both plants so today I added a dehumidifier. Only a small one as we are very low on space but it’s been impossible to control the humidity recently so hopefully this will make a difference. It also has an air filter built in so wondered if anyone has used one of these to try and control the smell? Did it work? I’ve defoliated a little bit today too (just started with 3 leaves per plant as they were overlapping anyway) I also tried my hand at a little bit of LST on sticky orange last week as she was growing a fair bit taller than purple skunk and I’m still worried about running out of space completely! The LST went better than I expected to a point... I was so worried about snapping anything so went extra careful and slow. I was pretty proud of my work so took my phone out to take a picture and promptly dropped my phone on her! Luckily it was just a fan leaf that snapped but made a note to myself to hold the damn phone properly from now on 😂 On the next grow, I’m thinking of topping to try and control the height more and LST a lot earlier. And will stick to just 1 plant in this tent unless I am allowed to buy a bigger one!

So today marks the start of week 6! Pictures from day 42. This has been my favourite week so far. Not a lot to report other than FLOWERING! We had signs of flowering last week but now the bud sites are clear to see and I’m so happy that there seems to be a lot of them! Sticky orange seems to be about a week behind purple skunk in terms of flowering. They’ve both continued to grow and we have how reached height capacity in the tent. So I’ve had to LST the main stem and hopefully this will give them more room to grow a couple of inches. Never thought I’d say this but I hope they don’t grow too much more. Also defoliated them really gradually this week.. just a few leaves every few days to not stress them too much. They’ve taken it well. I’ve only been watering once a week and up to now, this has been plenty. But today when I lifted the pots they felt completely dry and I noticed a couple of the bottom branches had started to go a little bit limp. So from now on I’ll keep a much closer eye on their water levels and figure how much extra they’re going to need. Possibly dried out quicker due to the dehumidifier I added last week.. who knows! I’ve switched from grow to bloom nutrients today to fatten the buds up as much as possible! Smell is manageable atm. The filter in the dehumidifier and leaving the window wide open in the lung room is doing the trick for now. Other than defoliating and a bit of LST I’ve just really let them do their thing again this week. Things are still going way better than expected for my first try.

Today we are 7 weeks old. Pictures from day 49. I am afraid pictures just don’t do justice. Lots and lots of buds forming from top to bottom. Purple skunk still seems to be ahead of sticky orange but this week, although the buds are smaller on S/O, there now seems to be a lot more of them. They are taking on a lot more water and bloom nutrients now. Watering between 1 and 1.5 litres every other day with bloom nutrients in every water. No signs that they’re getting too much (in my amateur opinion!) They still seem to be growing so I am really hoping this slows/stops this week as we have no more space! A bit reluctant to LST any more because I had a mishap last week and purple skunks main branch got a bend in it. Seems to have recovered well though but don’t want to cause any lasting damage. Some signs of light stress recently on fan leaf stems. They’re turning a little bit red but because I can’t increase the distance to the light, and because I can’t dim them at all - I just have to roll with it. Added a new light this week. Mainly because of how tall they have grown. It seemed like all the light was hitting the top of the plants and the lower branches weren’t getting enough. So I’ve added a new light and lowered the other 2 bulbs to get more light to the lower side branches. After reading for hours on end about defoliation I’ve decided not to do anymore for at least a few weeks til these buds start to get fat. With the addition of a new light I don’t feel it’s too necessary to stress them to get the light through. Just keeping an eye on any that start to overlap for now. I’m learning so much as I go along with this practice run and a lot of it is down to the amazing community here ready to answer my questions and give me advice. I have already learned from mistakes and know exactly what techniques to try next time.

8 weeks / 56 days today. Growth has slowed down a lot this week luckily. Smell is getting really hard to contain now. Sticky orange buds still nowhere near as big as purple skunk but definitely a bit fatter than last week. Purple skunk buds are getting a lot fatter. Both are really sticky to the touch, looking a bit frosty close up and can see plenty of trichomes. Little bit of leaf burn but not a lot I can do because of the space issue so just tucking the branches and leaves as best I can and moving the lights around a bit to minimise it. Watering between 1 and 1.5 litres every other day and they are soaking it all up. Increased to 3ml per litre of nutrients too. Humidity has been a lot easier to keep under control this week and hasn’t risen above 60 all week so I am happy with that. it’s been a worry for a few weeks. I had a real panic this week when I thought I saw seed sacks forming at the base of each branch. But after hours and hours of reading, I am pretty sure they’re calyxes. No intentional defoliation this week but I’ve accidentally snapped a couple of fan leaves whilst watering. I really need a bigger tent! Would love opinions on when you all think they might be ready for the chop. Comparing to other diaries I still think I’ve probably got another 6+ weeks but I’m daring to think about how/where I’m going to dry them out. I’m pretty sure purple skunk will be ready first so drying in the tent will be a no go.

Week 9 / pictures at 63 days old. So everything has been pretty much the same as last week. No vertical growth but everything looking fatter and frostier! Still soaking up lots of water - 1.5litres every other day with 3ml of bloom nutrients in each. Removed a fair few leaves today - the unhealthy old ones from round the bottom and the ones getting in the way and touching the buds. Purple skunk buds still looking fatter than sticky orange. Sticky orange pistils started turning orange last week so I think she is going to be ready first but with a smaller yield. Purple skunk pistils have started turning orange today. Temperatures are higher this week and have reached 30 in the tent but spring is here so temps in general are higher outside. Was hoping it would stay lower as I really wanted the purple skunk buds to turn purple! They apparently prefer it cold before the purple comes out. But we’ll see what next week brings. I feel like we’re on the home stretch now. Each week gets more and more exciting and I just want them to get FAT! Again, pictures and videos just don’t do them justice - they look so much better in the flesh!

10 weeks / 70 days old today. Buds are all a bit fatter and a bit frostier this week! They glisten in the light and and are well and truly coated. Noticed a few leaves with brown spots this week and after reading up I decided it could be a calcium deficiency. Gave a cal mag feed and monitored and no more brown spots have appeared. We’re pretty close to the finish line now so not sure I’ve done the right thing or whether I should just let it be. Few more old leaves at the bottom started to yellow so chopped them. Some trichomes are starting to turn milky but majority are still clear. Haven’t bothered with a picture because it’s so hard to get a clear one. Still taking up lots of water and giving 3ml of bloom nutrients in every water. Been reading lots about flushing and I’m not sure whether to do it. Read lots that say if it’s cured properly then there isn’t any difference to the taste. I think half the battle is knowing when to do it. How does a beginner know when you’ve got 2 weeks left?! Been tempted to chop off the popcorn buds and so glad I didn’t. I put some bulbs lower down to give them plenty of light and they’re fattening up pretty well. Bit worried again about the space issue. Lots of new pistils have sprouted and most are around the top buds. Read that it could be foxtailing due to light stress but could also just be buds fattening out and having a last try at pollinating 🤷🏻‍♀️ who knows! Overall another exciting week getting closer to the finish. Booked our summer holiday for August and trying to decide whether to start a new grow when these finish. there’s a risk they might not be done in time but I’m desperate to try again and improve on this one. I have well and truly got the grow bug!!

11 weeks / 77 days old today. They’ve definitely fattened up more this week. We got to a point where we were 50% amber pistils but then both plants sprouted a load of new ones so hoping for another week of bulking up! We have a few more milky looking trichomes too. I’m hoping they’ll be partially done in the next couple of weeks. Inspected all the buds and I’m pretty sure I’m gonna have to harvest in 2 or 3 steps and give the lower buds a bit more time to ripen up. I don’t know what I’ve done to piss her off so much but purple skunk is now covered in brown spots on quite a lot of leaves. I dosed her up with some calmag and since then I’ve switched to water only. I’ve noticed she’s slowed down drinking isn’t taking as much as sticky orange now. Chopped more yellowing leaves from around the bottom. Hoping this is another sign they’re coming towards the end. My patience got the better of me this week and I chopped a little bud off sticky orange to try. I haven’t smoked for months and even though they’re not there yet it almost sent me straight to sleep. So very excited to try the finished product! See you in week 12!

12 weeks / 84 days old today. So my first grow journey is coming to an end! Not a lot to report this week. Been using my jewellers loupe daily to keep an eye on the trichomes and can definitely see a big difference. (Sorry, pictures are crap - don’t have enough hands to get a good one!) Still watering with plain water but they’re taking a lot less and only been watered every 4 days or so. Sticky orange has lots of cloudy trichomes and starting to get a few Amber. Her leaves are drying off so she is getting harvested before the weekend. Purple skunk is a bit behind so I think I will wait and see how she goes for another week or so. I always thought she’d be the one to finish first too. I think I will be drying in the garage. We are consistently getting 18 degrees outside now but with the temperature drops at night, I am not sure whether to bring the buds inside overnight. I’ll be drying in a hanging ‘herb’ dryer and I have my curing jars all labelled and ready to go. Thinking of wet trimming roughly then going in for a final dry trim later once dry to neaten them up. Drying advice welcome! I did think I’d have to harvest in stages and chop the lower buds later on. But even the bottom buds look like they’ve caught up this week. I have honestly enjoyed every second of this grow and I’m almost disappointed it’s nearly finished. But at the same time, I can not wait to see (and taste) the final result!

Sticky orange got chopped on day 85. I hoped to get 1oz when I first started out so I am over the moon with this result. I wet trimmed because I don’t think I’ll be able to keep conditions in my drying space consistent. I am using the loft to dry and a tiered herb drier. But temperatures outside are between 14-20 and drop lower on a night - may need to add a heater Will add more pictures once they’ve had a chance to dry out.

Harvested purple skunk on day 88. Could have probably let her go for another week or so but circumstances forced me to harvest a bit early. More than happy with the wet weight and very excited to try it! Wet trimmed roughly and will tidy up once dry and ready to cure. Drying in a tiered herb dryer in the loft and will rotate every day to try and keep it drying evenly. Will update again once dry :)