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The little plant grew too long very quick during the first week. Only had very little bright sunshine during April ‘24. On warmer days I brought it outside on my balcony.
I gave the too long stem some structural support, as I feared it might bend too much and get damaged. Supporting structure made of a single wooden chop stick and some wired packing ribbon.It didn‘t hurt the little plant.
Moved the plant to a bigger pot. Spending some more time outside with warmer and more sunny days. Structural support is no longer needed. The stem is still quite thin but very flexible and stable.
Still growing quite slowly, but the plant looks healthy. Probably slow due to lack of sun and warm temperatures in this year‘s bavarian spring. I also minimized watering due to this. I was afraid that I might give it too much water and drown the roots.
The stem feels a bit woody, which is good. The 6th node of leaves is growing out. I will tackle topping the plant after returning from a few days vacation. I’ll leave the plant indoors in front if a sunny window. The nights are still too cold for leaving the plants out.
I went on a few days vacation and had to leave the plant alone. I left it inside in front of a window towards the sun, as the bavarian spring still has cold nights. That also meant less hours of direct sun light than before.
Before leaving, I was a bit brave and gave it a topping trim right above the 5th node of leaves as the 6th was starting to grow out. When I came back to it a few days later, I was surprised of how well it developed. The plant had grown taller about 3-4 cm. Top leaves branching out nicely, and a double node starting to grow where I did the cut.
Only bad news was the many fungus gnats that had stuck to the yellow sticky trap I had placed to next to the plant. I saw this coming. Before leaving, I brought in some predatory mites. But that didn‘t help too much, obviously. Alright, I‘ll bring more mites and come out victorious, I‘m sure. Had to fight these vermin for some years when I was growing chili plants.
Weather was really shitty and I kept the plant inside. But that didn’t stop it from developing quite good. Fungus gnats are gone, thanks to the predatory mites and me keeping the soil completely dry. Only watering I did was due to brining out those mites against gnat larvae. Also added a bit of fertilizer and citric acid.
There was some good growth in height and bushyness. I removed some of the lower small leafs as a first defoliation treatment.
I reduced watering and will continue watering very little until I see first signs of the plant being too dry.
End of this week I began with some LST. Bending the trunk a bit as a base for bending the two top branches later. Let‘s see how it will turn out later.
First 5-fingered leaves are growing out on top! Was waiting for this.
Finally warmer days. I let the plant outside even during nighttime. Good growth overall. It seems like I’m getting a nice, bushy plant. It is still quite small for its age, but that‘s OK. Could not notice too much growth in height, as I am bending the top shoots.
I was playing around with different diy LST techniques and ended up with these plastic clips that I found on Amazon.
Fungus gnats sre back and some vermin munched on one of my leaves. This means war.
Also first dose of Mama Grow fertilizers. Minding the small size of a plant for its age, I gave it a smaller dosage.
Nothing unusual this week. Some colder nights had me taking the plant inside again. Trying to keep it in direct sunlight as much as i could, shifting it around on the balcony and between other appartment windows.
There was not much growth in height, but in width. Thanks to LST the plant is now a few cm wider than high. The leaf canopy is nicely ball shaped. Can‘t wait to see some fat buds growing out of that bushy ball.
No signs of vermin related damage. The stupid gnats had been killed off successfully. Now they are busy with my little autoflower plants (see my other grow report)
Some more warm and sunny days ahead, I thought it would good to remove some leaves. There was a lot of tangling and shadow casting going on with too many leaves in a dense canopy. I did some light lollipop cutting. Turned out good.
Additionally I‘m still working with LST clips to get some more air between the main shoots. Plus I also use it as a way to make the plant add some strenght to weaker shoots. Also turned out good.
The plant looks healthy and is still wider than tall (around 2:1 ratio). No sign of illness or pests.
The warm summer days were great for the plant. It grew in height and width. Still a 2:1 ratio (30cm hight, 60cm wide), which I was aiming for with the LST clips.
On top of the soil, I added a layer of clay balls serving two reasons: keeping fungus gnats at check and keeping the top soil from evaporating too much water.
This week I also removed some foliage from lower areas that would not get much direct sunlight and were tangling into each other. All in preparation for the flowering that will start in a few weeks. I want the plant to focus energy on apical buds by removing some lower secondary buds.
I also removed some of the older LST clips, as they plant keeps its shape without them in those places now.
We had some hot and Sunny days during the week. Overall great growth. The plant now measures 40cm in height and 60cm in width.
A bit worrisome: the newly grown leaves at the top of each shoot are curled up sideways along the length axis (see third picture). I take it as a sign of stress. Too much fertilizer/acidity or too little water are my major suspects. Other than that, the plant seems to be in very good health. No pests or sickness.
A lot happened this week.
Temperatures were high and some days had very high humidity.
The Critical lady was developing nicely. I was bending down the bigger shoots with LST clips, which looked quite hurtful at first. Thus the reduction in overall heigth (35cm). But it turned out great. The width is now at 80cm. In between I also removed some leaves that were too close to each other, especially in the lower central part of the plant.
Earlier this week I was baffled with inward curling of the top leaves (see pic #3). After doing some research I concluded that I might have overfed the plants in combination with too few water during the hot and sunny days. My approach was then to flush the soil with several litres of fresh water (PH ~6.0). After a first flush, the leaves started uncurling slowly. I did another flush just today. Let‘s see if the plant recovers completely from the overfeeding/underwatering. Overall, she looks quite healthy.
Not so much happened this week. The plant is still showing some signs of heat/light stress, so I kept her in a shady corner of my balcony. That seemed to help a bit with stress relief. It‘s a give and take. Soon she will help me with the stress relief :D
It grew 5 cm in height, which is amazing considering the circumstances. It is growing 6 main shoots and some side shoots, all at the same time ;)
The plant is also more thirsty again. I‘m back to adding sone tiny amounts of Madame Grown Algae soil fertilizer.
Hot and sunny days during the week. Tremendous growth in heigth: gained about 12cm. The new young leaves are still showing signs of stress (probably heat&light), but they are unfolding slowly, so i don‘t guess it is too serious (see the two last pictures).The plant is also quite thirsty, which I think is a good sign. I also went back to add small amounts of Madame Grow fertilizers.
I recon the plant is entering the early bloom phase soon. There are more and more small pistils visible here and there.
The plant still shows signs of the heat stress that started in july. But it was growing well in the last two weeks. I guess flowering will start soon, as it is already sporting some small blossoms. I hope all that heat stress hasn‘t killed the plants desire to develop fat female buds.
The plant never really recovered from the (supposedly) heat stress from mid summer. But after a week and a half of pre-blooming, some actual blossoms are finally popping up. Let‘s see how it develops from here on.
Pleased to see the plant in bloom after 5 months or so and after all that mid summer heat stress. Looking forward to an autumnal harvest. Hope for fat, smelly and sticky buds.