First Grow - Sweet Zenzation

I was pleasantly surprised this first week, I've never grown any plant from seed so it's fun to watch. Watered once this week, I will be using reverse osmosis water throughout the whole grow.

I've been genuinely surprised with how fast this plant grows, but I hear they can grow faster? No nutrients yet. All photos uploaded will be current status at the end of each week, I transplanted her a day after these photos were taken, on day 15. I'm letting the soil dry back before each watering, and judging by weight, but mostly waiting for the plant to tell me what to do. 270PPFD

It’s been an exciting third week, abundant growth and I transplanted her into her final home. I’ve watered her once since (excluding the transplant day) and have raised the lights to 320PPFD. She definitely communicates her needs, I was late that first full watering and woke up to droopy stems and leaves. Later that night it had bounced back nicely. One development I noticed after the watering was downward pointed leaf tips. Some light research led me to believe it was a slight Nitrogen toxicity due to the fresh set of soil and a bit of under watering. I think I might have been correct, as over the past couple of days that seems to have mostly resolved itself as she stretched a bit more. I suspect she’ll need more water tomorrow morning as the soils surface seems to have dried back, still a bit damp beneath but I’ll see. I raised my humidity to 73% to keep a more stable VPD, I was erring towards 1.1kPa and now I sit closer to 0.8kPa. I’m keeping a close eye on any potential mold but I think the ventilation in this tent is pretty good. I also think I’m starting to smell a little something nice :)

It’s been a really busy week in this little 2x2! I topped her about three days ago at the fifth node, counting the first set of fan leaves as the first node. She seems to be bouncing back very nicely. I audibly said “wtf” when I had checked on her the day after that, those top fan leaves had grown immensely over night. Any advice is always welcomed. Thanks for looking! Maybe I’m doing too much but I stripped her bottom most node, leaving 4 mains to train out. I’d like to try mainlining someday, as it seems to make a neat; more manageable arrangement. But I’m trying not to experiment too much given this is my first grow, I’d like to make it to harvest. I have also lowered the lights to around 19” while maintaining a PPFD of 450 in order to counterbalance the warmth coming from the light. This week I dosed 3 drops of MicrobeLift Mosquito Control into 2L of water, as I had seen a fungus gnat earlier in the week. I did try to starve the fly of moisture since the plant didn’t need water for around 7 days this cycle. I forgot to PH this time around however. I anticipate she will need a feeding soon given the topping, as well as the few wires I added to stimulate horizontal growth. So, a few days before the next watering I will top dress with some Roots Organics - Terp Tea (grow) at 1/3 strength to get a jump on those amendments breaking down. edit: I just realized I should be training the branches and not the fan leaves, so I took off the wiring for now.

Really robust growth following the topping, I’ve been watering roughly once every 7 days - I kind of think that’s a stretch but she seems to be doing well. I corrected my wiring since last post and I’ve been training the new branches hoping for a full canopy. I’m really just following what her leaves and stems are telling me. Top dressed Roots Organic Grow (Terp Tea) and Microbe Charge at 1/3 strength on day 32 in anticipation of new growth. I also added one more drop of that MicrobeLift Mosquito Control, haven’t seen a fly since. Been pretty chill so far, just keeping a close eye each day.

Sorry for the late update, been a busy week at work. I had two waterings this week and one feeding, bumped the strength up to 2/3, I think I’ll have one more feeding her (full strength) before we consider flipping to flower. There’s been quite a lot of growth following topping, and to encourage that growth I defoliated a few select fan leaves to promote air circulation and light penetration. I do think I could use a bit more defoliation to help get the side branches up toward that canopy. But I don’t know how much is too much, beneficial versus going overboard. She’s getting a bit stinky too. The aromas floating around the tent remind me of McDonalds breakfast funny enough, there’s a bit of a meaty smell accenting the traditional vegging scent. The scents that stick to your fingers when handling the plant are more earthy and veggie smelling, but there is a nice hint of Guava that I placed my nose on as well.