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To be clear: I post the week's info at the end of the week. So I'm writing this a full 8 days after actual germination, and now have seedlings (2"and 3") showing true leaves forming.
1 each: Fastbuds Gorilla Zkittlez Auto, Orange Sherbet Auto seeds, plunked into water 6.5pH (well water amended with calcium carbonate and winemaker's acid blend) with some 3% Hydrogen Peroxide. Soaked only overnight and saw the seeds had split the next day.
I planted the seeds 1 knuckle down in a seedling mix I made (by gosh and golly) at approximately 75F-80F. Maintain humidity up 50-70%RH Yes, I labelled them this time!!! The seedling mix consisted of a small amount of Happy Frog mixed with some Black Gold potting mix,a bit more vermiculite and some perlite ... steamed in a colander in my 15 gallon brew kettle. (to eliminate pathogens). THe mix was drained and dried to a "no drip" when compressed by hand.
I planted them in homemade cardboard seedling cups. (Note: I've already made bigger ones, and transplanted, albeit prematurely). I don't think the seedlings' roots would penetrate through this cardboard, so next time I'll make cardboard or carbon filter "dividers" to lift straight up, so as not to disturb the plants, but still have control over the watering.
The transplant was not great, in that the root ball had not developed so it was easy to screw it up, trying to keep it all together. The Gorilla Zkittles was too high, so I've "coned" additional soil to help support it.
A repurposed freezer icemaker fan blows a breeze into the incubator, which is kept at approx. 77F during "day". Spider Farmer light hanging lower now (it was at 24"/50%, but now it is lower as I felt I was needing to combat stretchy legginess).
Temp and humidity monitored by a Bluetooth sensor, as well as monitored/controlled by Inkbird. There is a heat mat at the base of the incubator. There is a fish tank air bubbler pump with hose connecting to two small jars of water ... this is sufficient to help keep the humidity around 52%. It raises to 60% approx when I have the damp towel hung over the side of the incubator.
Currently also sharing the incubator with other seedlings (kale, lettuce, cabbage) so they can benefit from the warmth and light.
Soil temps seem to be fairly stable at 70-72F
I turn the light down at night, so mornings and evenings (18/6 cycle) are less intense than midday .. .which I set to approx 65%. I also tun the Inkbird temp controller to 72 (from 77) at night. I have no idea if this helps autos or not.
In the meantime I've boiled the infested (fungus gnats) Ocean and Forest soil from my last grow. It's been spread on tables drying over the last week. I'm amending it with all sorts of things, various amounts of the following: Moose poop, vermiculite, perlite, rice hulls, coco coir, Epson salt, Grow Big, Big Bloom, coffee grounds water, biochar (from my wood stove), diatomaceous earth, will be adding in Big Foot Mycorrhyzae Gold, and likely other things? Oh yeah, spent grains from the last beer I made, will be adding some of the trub from that beer when it's done fermenting. I've got an outdated soil test kit and will be using that to analyze my soil, to make sure nothing is too hot, but trying to make sure it's got what the plants need, but no, or very little time-release Nitrogen! Should be interesting, huh?
I'll transplant sooner than later, so the roots are not affected (too much). I don't want these girls to know they are being transplanted. The current larger cardboard pots I made have a layered soil: Pure Black Gold potting soil at the top, arranged in a "v" shaped cross section, so the roots will have easy time going through that, gently, then into the surrounding later of less potting soil and some of my new build soil (with minimal nutes added) and finally into yet another layer with straight new soil mix, a slight bit more nutes, mainly the worm castings/bat guano one from Fox Farm. When I transplant they will get the mycorrhyzae as well as another layer of pure potting soil to ease the transition.
This is the start of Week 3 (today, 26March). Here's what happened in Week 2:
I told you already I was "building soil" ... and mentioned I had already transplanted the seedlings from Stage 1 cardboard to Stage 2 cardboard pots. Yesterday the plants went into their pots .. using Smart Pots a friend gave me, but I modified them to suit my needs (sewed them smaller, so approx. 4-5 gallons each). I "think" the transplant went well .. that is, the roots had no yet reached the outer part of the cardboard pots, and the soil/root mass was mostly intact/undisturbed ... hoping they don't even know they were transplanted.
Big Foot Gold Mycorrhyzae mixed with soil and also sprinkled in where I transplanted.
I injected water infused with sprouted lentils (hormone/auxin tea?) after transplanting. The pH of that water is about 6.3, based on colorimetric strips.
The light is at 14"; I increase intensity to around 75% in day, and down to approx. 55% at night.
The unsightly towels help keep the humidity up. The Inkbird is set to activate the bubblers if it dips below 52%RH. They help, but cannot do the whole job. Having kale, lettuce and cabbage starts in the enclosure also helps and of course they love that environment, so why not?
The freezer icemaker fan sitting atop the light blows a breeze during day. The plants wiggle. I shut it off at night.
Thought I saw a fungus gnat last night just before bed. Diatomaceous earth is sprinkled atop the soil now. Will add more if needed.
Not sure I like these pots. If I want or need to move the plants, I feel the lack of structure will compress the soil and loosen it from the roots, disturbing the plants. So I hope I don't have to, at least until I need to flush. I had intended to pull them out of the incubator, and I have drip trays with rods to elevate the bags so I can collect/test runoff. We'll see.
Compared to my last grow these are doing much much better.
Looking carefully at the possibility of some very gentle LST. Not sure yet. But not quite yet .. they need to be a tad bigger according to Fast_Buds' information online. The Orange Sherbet is much smaller, and is leaning (happened during transplanting fumbles) so that's already begun, in a way. Not quite sure how to achieve the upside down triangle I see in so many harvest pics. Not sure I can accomplish that with just one light though.
On this first day of Week 4, (since germination) I look back on Week 3.
GZ (Gorilla Zkittlez) was just over 3" last week, now is about 5" (some LST performed, so the height measurement is compromised anyway). The OS (Orange Sherbet) was just over 2.5" and now is just over 4" ... same deal with LST.
I raised the light to 18", and again a few days later, but recently brought it back down a tad. The leaves are all very rich even green, and no signs of light burning or nutrient burn.
Got my new pH meter in, calibrated it, and found my soil pH was high. Acidified some myco and molasses tea and chucked that in there for now.
Received a new Rapitest kit a day or two later ... pH test confirmed very high. So ... I watered the plants with about a quart of pH 3.12.
Today I will do a full feeding/watering with pH 6.2 (Foxfarm nutes will be added .... apparently my soil is very high in Nitrogen, but low in both Potassium and Phosphorus ... I'll be needing those soon!
Created a CO2 generator ... distilled water jug with a bung and piping to the bubbler tubes I already had in place. Used a combination of table sugar, dextrose, EC1118 wine yeast, and some bread yeast. Also added some yeast nutrient and orange peel. I'm a homebrewer and frankly I'm surprised this concoction isn't blasting the CO2 out the tubes (and foaming all over the place) but at least it's bubbling a bit. No CO2 meter, so I have no idea.
Wish me luck concocting the correct brew for today's watering. The plants look happy, but I think they should be growing more. Am I high? No, not right now I'm not. But I really don't know. Yes, I will measure before/after ppm and pH. Gonna be a big deal, as I have to take the bags out of the incubator to do this. I will put them back in, but rotated so that they have more room. Might be time to take the kale and stuff out. Some of it is getting light burn and I'm gonna need the room to work. I liked those plants in there though, as they helped keep the humidity up in the 55% range.
LST wire cut into, almost severed Orange Sherbet main stalk upper area, some leaves died back, but main stalk recovered. Seems more delicate! Did a pH adjustment flush/feeding on Day 22.
Fungus gnats persist, so now soil topped with 3/4" of rice hulls mixed with diatomaceous earth. Now watering with a plastic tube poked into soil, injected with syringe. Last couple days watered with nutes, but seeing some signs of nute burn, will chill out. Each probe/insertion of tube I feed 10ml at a time, so easy to keep track of. Doing 5 locations around plant, and 10-20ml swuirted with needle near base, directing onto roots (for mycorrhysae).
The CO2 generator not really doing much, still. I reconfigured it and have reset it but can't seem to get a good fizz going.
Thinking I'm seeing the beginning of the pre-flowering stretch.
Note on nutes: I hate re-entering info, and the website simply decided all the info I put was too much, and it's just gone. So I'm not gonna bother entering that again.
Increasing amount of nutes/water each day. Less to the smaller plant, but same mix. Mixing ratio currently approx 4:3 custom nutes to pH'd water. Injection via tube. Fungus gnats are MIA.
Added a box underneath the bags, to raise them about 7". This keeps them in the incubator so I can add heat, and contain humidity, but have some access as well as give the plants room to grow. Cuz they are. Growing, that is.
Day after I last posted I noticed stigmas. Flowering started! More activity and stretch on the Gorilla Zkittles. The Orange Sherbet has very dense foliage, but I'm reluctant to defoliate. Lots of leaf tucking going on.
Noticing twisted leaf tips, especially on upper sugar leaves. Found out today that it's basically that my VPD is too high. Taking steps to balance this. Not easy. I've moved the light up a tad more, allowing more airflow, and also adding caps of water on soil, as well as putting the tube from the air pump into the liquid in the CO2 generator, which is about due for a refresh anyway. The forced hydrated air then gets dispersed into the plant chamber. It's good for about 0.4% in a minute, so it helps. I'd rather tend to drier than humid, but the twisted leaves bother me a bit.
This Gorilla Zkittles seems to be stretching awfully much. Also, of more concern, the small leaves are twisting, as if too hot/dry. 78F, light is about 14" up, RH% setpoint 56%, leaf temps seems to max out at 76.5F. Should I worry? Or what? Thanks! VPD is 1.2-1.6 depending.
1.2-1.6 is fine.. this is based on atmospheric temperature readings? VPD is supposed to be calculated with leaf temperature readings (averaged throughout canopy). So, leaf temps are about 3-5F cooler than the air due to evaporation that takes place (an endothermic reaction that absorbs heat from local environment). You vpd is lower than what you atmospheric temp caclulations are.
Make sure atmospheric temp -5F is not less than 1 kPa on the VPD reference table. In flower some suggestions i;ve seen are anywhere from 1.2-1.5 anyway. And, you shouldn't have more than a 0.4 swing from day to night, if possible. Stomata are mostly closed at night, but if you can avoid big deviations, do so.
There will be am optimal vpd in regard to maximizing co2 intake, but without a lab, that's pretty hard to dial in. So, if vpd gets a bit high and you cannot do much about it, be prepared to reduce overall concentration of your fertilization, if needed. High vpd means an increased rate of drinking... which will increase the supply of building blocks given while growth remains relatively the same = potential for tox buildup in the plant, all other factors remaining the same. Low vpd may require a higher concnetration. These two factors are linked in this way many other relative factors.
if you don't tightly control climate, don't worry about things you cannot control. Use it to ensure you avoid extremes as best you can given the tools you have or choose to use. For instance, to help temps and rh in winter, i sometimes have a fan blowing cold air toward the thermostat. It can raise the temps ~3F or more and reduce RH 1-3% or more due to furnace turning on more*. I just try to avoid the extremes, but i still keep track of vpd. it can help inform on choosing a course of action for a toxicity or deficiency.. due to the direct correlations spoken of above.
*it's a tri level with thermostat on top level. This works better than changing the dial on thermostate because it more evenly distributes the heat in the house at each level. Otherwise the mid level gets really cold and top level gets really hot, while the lowest floor is barely impacted.
A little wireless temp/rh probe that monitores this stuff constantly is well worth the ~10 usd cost. Do remember the VPD shown on these probes is likely lower than the calculation given. A "good" one might allow you to choose an offset to use. - 3-5F is wise.
I noticed these brown splotches and leaf edges on one area bud and pistils of my Orange Sherbet last night. Based on what I can find online, this might be potassium deficiency?
This is mostly on one spot near darkest edge when tent closed. Thanks!
Using less nutrients ... just adding pH'd water mostly. Soil pH still tests too high, but the water I'm using is 6.2, or thereabouts. OK? I dunno. "Flushing" is a crazy thing to do .. makes the soil too wet for too long. Then I get gnats. So I'm still watering with 12ml syringe into feeding tube. I should get a horse syringe .. would make this go a lot faster!
I found my ultrasonic mister rig, and re-tested it, and it works. So I configured that to blow misty humid air to the intake of the icemaker fan on top of the light, blowing air down onto the plants. Works well. Got a small fan coming next week, to offer cross-flow. In the meantime I blow on them. Huff and puff. I've removed the CO2 generator.
The Gorilla Zkittlez is definitely getting tall. Since I'm moving the light up ... it's freaking FOLLOWING it. Go away! Egad! So today or tomorrow I remove the tent and incubator. I will have issues with humidity I fear, and I've not figured out how to control the environment of that closet .. we have curved walls, so it's funny/funky. Tallest cola is 20", the rest are 16-18" from the soil.
Not knowing what the hell is keeping the Orange Sherbet so compact/bushy. I really tried to open it up with LST, but it stayed tight. Very hard to tend as result. I'm fearful of doing any defoliation. This is the plant also that has the spots/area of apparent nute burn or deficiency of some type. Very hard to figure out what it is when it could be a deficiency caused by too much of something else. Like balancing a manhole cover on a toothpick. It's staying about 10" high from the soil. Very stiff branches.
So I had to remove the incubator and small tent. It's so much easier to work in there now! My closet partition now has a ceiling with cardboard and foil and it's all so very sexy, don't you think?
I'm seriously wondering whether I should be defoliating the Orange Sherbet. Or is it too late? It's such a very dense bushy thing, as opposed to the Gorilla Zkittlez, which is the opposite.
Both plants do seem to be doing OK. I've stopped worrying too much about the VPD, or the leaf twist. I'd have to up the humidity more again, or reduce the light ... I might reduce the light some, or at least raise it again for more coverage. Should have had two of the SF1000 for this grow, really.
Trying to maintain 45-50% RH, day temps of 78 max, nighttime gets down to whatever my house determines ... seems to be a low of 62, but generally about 65F.
I'm rotating the plants' positions and orientation. Kinda random, but also trying to make sure to spread the light love evenly, or to compensate for lesser areas. This also gives me opportunity to observe and inspect.
Beginning Week 8, autoflower: Should I defoliate?
Seems pretty dense and bushy! This is the Fastbuds Orange Sherbet. She's the short bushy one in the second photo. Thankee!
Note to self: DO NOT invite baby tomatoes to share in the warmth and light of your grow tent before checking them for aphids! Got away with it this time, but that was DUMB.
Now switched from trying to maintain RH% 50 with a humidifier to fighting to maintain less than 50% with added fans and vents, whilst retaining temps of 77F in day, 62-65F at night. In addition to the small oscillating fan I have two exhaust fans, one at the floor, one up near the top. They are small computer fan things. Then I had to add a heat mat back in as the fans made it colder in day than I wanted .. I've got that set to come on at 75F in day, and 62F at night (manually switching setpoints). Last night was the best ... instead of a spike after lights out to 56%, I got it down to 52%.
The Orange Sherbet had a little growth spurt and is no longer so dense. Buds are set well, as are those of the Gorilla Zkittles. Both are showing trichomes forming.
Both plants seem to be happy with approx. 260ml pH H20 injected twice a day. I inject in a pattern around the base ... 30ml, 20ml, alternating. Every other day I add a bit of nute mix into this water, but tend to keep it lower ratio.
Rotating both plants regularly (twice a day) left to right, adn also orientation. I believe this will really help more buds develop more fully, and it's easier than rigging side lights around them.
Trichomes forming, buds fattening. Leaves starting to yellow. Had to open a couple intake vents in the rear lower area of tent, in order that humidity correction via the two exhaust fans is more effective.
I'm keeping the smaller bushier Orange Sherbet on the left now instead of rotating them back and forth. Still rotating the plants on their axis each day though.
Got 60ml syringe and using a stainless chopstick epoxied to it, liquid injection is much faster. Yesterday was the last injection of nutrients ... from now on pH water only. Expecting to begin harvest in 2 weeks.
Tending to let the nighttime temps get lower, as well as lowering the daytime temps a tad. The light was raised up a bit more. I'm lowering the light intensity a tad in the evenings, so when they come on in the morning it's lower as well ... I manually turn it back up when I get out of bed. Simulating autumn? If I had more red LED's I would do that too, but I don't.
Getting closer! Just using Water Ph'd with winemaker's acid blend and maybe some potassium carbonate and epsom salt and calcium carbonate. Probably enough with that, and whatever is in the leaves and soil? Having to tie up branches here and there as they are sagging outward on the Gorilla Zkittlez.
Not much to report. Waiting for trichomes to indicate maturity. Currently still very clear. Buds getting fatter/solidifying, trichomes getting more crystally/snowy looking. Rotating plants once or twice a day, watering a lot less. I'll probably start harvesting the Orange Sherbet first, looking at how things are.
Taking a little more work to keep the humidity at or below 50%, due to warming temps outside, rainy days, and less wood stove operation. I still turn off the LED strip before bed each night and lower the main light to about 75%. I have no idea if this is doing anything.
I can't tell you how many times I've looked up info about trichomes, clear/cloudy/amber, pistils, general maturity, calyxes, and all that. The buds are pretty dense, and hard, as far as I know. I did harvest the top buds off the Orange Sherbet. 42.647g wet trimmed. Sticky, terpene-rich, and a nice high (for me and her) but I still suspect that I harvested too early. That was on the 3rd of June. Today is the 11th. In the meantime I've reduced the temps and allowed the RH to creep up to 52%.
The Gorilla Zkittlez is losing a large amount of sugar leaves, but there are still lots of white pistils and the trichomes are not turning.
I decided to add a dose of nutes at one point. In the meantime my pH water has a few other things in it that should give a balance of trace amounts of calcium, magnesium, potassium.
The Orange Sherbet has a clear indicator, at least I can see at a glance which buds are even close ... they are purple. The immature ones are still green.
I do see some amber trichomes on the outer bits here and there, but to date have not seen a single cloudy trichome.
I'll give them one more week, I guess.
Aleatoric
