Very first grow: Herbies Gelato Auto Indoors

Still waiting for grow tent and LED - still using 50 W CFL lamp (4000 K color temperature) and moving into Ikea furniture. Despite the non-optimal conditions, veg is going ok but rather slowly. - Increased lighting to ~ 250 PPFD (my max with the CFL lamp) - No nutrients (sowing soil in use is surprisingly stuffed with minerals - see week 3) - 22°C day temperature (Captain Hindisght speaking; too low)

Day 16: First fertilization: Water: pH 5.6, TDS 0.2 mS/cm Drain: pH 7.0 (!!); TDS 1.4 mS/cm (!!) - really heavy earth, will keep water at very low pH and low TDS... Day 17: The Greenception GC4X PWR arrived and is in use now - jump from 250 PPFD to 500 PPFD (~ 30 DLI). The crazy results can be seen starting on day 19. She starts to grow rapidly (finally)! Other than that: - Jumped to 25°C - instantly more rapid growth. Will not be able to go much higher...

Day 22: Water 1 liter pH 5.8, 0.2 mS/cm drain pH 7.4, 4.2 (in words: four point f***g two) mS/cm Will water for more drain next time and still hold back on further nutrients; Day 24: Water 1.2 liter pH 5.6, 0.2 mS/cm drain pH 7.1, 3.4 mS/cm Slowly getting better... aiming for 1.x mS/cm. Day 25: First (bad) try of LST to keep height under control - I am *still* inside an Ikea cabinet after all... I think she needs to get a lil bigger for efficient LST. Day 28: Final move into final grow tent (Secret Jardin Dark Street). Fiiiiinally.

Day 30 & 31: Further LST of main stem and light defoliation of shaded leaves. Getting a lot of side branches already. Drank 1 liter of water (pH 5.8; 1.2 mS/cm) with no drain at all. Day 34: Further LST & defoliation (very bushy...). Watered 1.6 liters (pH 6.2; 1.1 mS/cm). Still no drain! Getting very thirsty... still looks healthy, but soil is rather dry-ish. Will shorten the pauses in between waterings until there is drain again...

D36: Watered with 2.0 liters (pH 6.1, 1.5 mS/cm) and there is finally a drop of drain again: 100 ml (pH 7.5; 1.9 mS/cm). WIll keep water pH&EC at this level and continue to water every two days until drain is getting more and better. Same day: Ouchie... LST went wrong. Seems like I have been a little harsh to the lady. Fun fact: The effect seems to be similar to fimming: The main branch continued and there are two extra branches left and right from that fracture. Despite looking horrible, she seems to do fine and still prosper without hesitation! I think she will enter flower this week. Waiting for the first pistils to show... upped light to 45 DLI. D37: Watered right away again for drain: Water 1.6l pH 5.9 1.4 mS/cm; drain 0,1l pH 7.5 3.2 mS/cm. Final veg defoliation & very light LST. Decided to go for hard pH adjusment after next dry-out. D41: Pistils are there! Watered: 3.0l pH 4.7 (!!); 1.4 mS/cm; drain 0.35l pH 6.7; 2.9 mS/cm; fiiiinally the pH needle moves and salts are washed out! That soil was HEAVY.

This week, I let her go on her own alone and stretch tremendously (~ 1-2 cm per day). Still issues with pH and (I think) to many nutrients in the soil. But she takes it like a champ. Day 45: Water 3l pH 5.7; 1400 µS/cm; Drain 0,5l pH 7,0 (!); 2000 µS/cm Day 48: Water 3l pH 5.1; 1600 µS/cm; Drain 0,3l pH 7.1; 2200 µS/cm; Will do a flush next week to pH adapt the soil and refill with nutrients.

She stretched tremendously (2 cm per day) and finally stopped stretching this week at 41 cm and day 55. Directly after the stretch on day 55, I lightly lollypopped, defoliated a little bit and removed any under-developed or shaded mini colas. Very bushy! Due to ongoing pH problems I decided to flush the soil on day 52 with pH adapted water of pH ... drumroll ... 3.5 (phosphorous acid) !!! Hold on tight: drain stayed at 7.3! I finally gave up on adapting the pH within this run. Lesson learned, do not use this soil again... or at least pH adapt / buffer before the grow. D50 water 2,0l pH 4,5 700 µS/cm; drain 0,15l pH 7,2 2200 µS/cm; D52 water 4 Liter 3,5 200 (flush) drain 2,0l 7,3 900 D55 water 2.4 Liter 4,9 1400; drain 0,1l 7,2 1400 So yeah... this soil is heavy on the pH+ side. Will not be able to adapt anymore, I think. She takes it like a champ though.

Nothing spectacular has been happening this week. I added a lot more CalMag to get rid of the supposed Calcium deficiency and that seems to have helped. New leaves look healthy. Bulking up slowely and nicely. Will probably defoliate the leaves showing calcium deficiency... D57 water 3.0 Liter pH 4,8 EC 1650 µS/cm; drain 0,4l pH 7,5 EC 1500 µS/cm; fertilizer crazy hills week IV D59 water 3.1 Liter pH 3.8 EC 1100 µS/cm; drain 0,5l pH 7.1 EC 1600 µS/cm; no ferti, 100 mg/l Calcium, 40 mg/l Mag + 2 ml phosphoric acid D61 water 3.0 Liter pH 4,4 EC 1800 µS/cm; drain 0.5l pH 6.9 EC 1800 µS/cm; fertilizer crazy hills week VI + 25 mg/l Calcium D63 water 3.1 Liter pH 4.9 EC 1000 µS/cm; drain 0,3l pH 7.1 EC 1300 µS/cm; no ferti, 100 mg/l Calcium, 40 mg/l Mag +1 ml phosphoric acid

Well, I made a small booboo this week: I thought she shows deficiencies, but it turns out, she was thirsty as hell. I upped the watering to appr. 2 liters per day and she is just pulling up every bit of water she can get. I do think I stabilized her. To go a bit more sure about that I opted to remove further mini-colas, which would not have seen the light anyhow. She is way more airy now and all colas are well underway I think. I probably did loose out on a bit of yield, but I do prefer thick and heady buds over overall yield tbh. D65 water 3.0 Liter pH 6.1 EC 2400 µS/cm; drain 0,2l (only!!) pH 7,5 EC 2500 µS/cm; fertilizer crazy hills week VI + CalMag + pH- D67 water 3.2 Liter pH 6.5 EC 2100 µS/cm; drain 0,2l pH 7.7 EC 2700 µS/cm; fertilizer crazy hills week V + CalMag + pH- - this is the day I realized she was thirsty as f**k D68 water 2.0 Liter pH 6.0 EC 500 µS/cm; drain 0.3l pH 7.0 EC 2400 µS/cm; no ferti, just CalMag + pH+ D69 water 2.6 Liter pH 6.5 EC 300 µS/cm; drain 0.6l pH 6.8 EC 1900 µS/cm; no ferti, just CalMag + pH+ - finally some drain again, seems to be ok again...

Buds are getting thicker nicely and consistenly despite some of the leafs not looking to healthy. BUT at least new leaves are all dark green and strong. Very nice! :) Bulking phase 100%. Crazy hills ferti: I switched to feeding once per week and only 75% of recommended values and am still landing at an EC of 1.8 mS/cm. So the original values in the recommended feeding schedule is way above what is necessary and will actually hurt the plant imho... (especially as the tell you to feed EVERY WATERING...). D71 water 4.0 Liter pH 6.4 EC 2000 µS/cm; drain 0,5l pH 7,3 EC 2600 µS/cm; fertilizer 75% crazy hills bloom week VI + CalMag + pH- D73 water 4.2 Liter pH 6.3 EC 400 µS/cm; drain 0,4l pH 7.2 EC 3400 µS/cm (!); no ferti + CalMag + pH+ D75 water 4.4 Liter pH 5.9 EC 800 µS/cm; drain 0.7l pH 6.9 EC 2200 µS/cm; no ferti, just CalMag + pH+ D77 water 4.0 Liter pH 6.2 EC 1800 µS/cm; drain 0.7l pH 7.3 EC 2400 µS/cm; fertilizer 75% crazy hills bloom week VI + CalMag + pH-

No big news, buds are getting heavier and some side colas bend under the weight already. I am kind of confident that this will be somewhere in the ballpark of 100g of yield in the end, lets see. Crazy hills ferti: Still feeding once per week and 75% of recommended values. Still landing at an EC of 1.8 mS/cm. D77 water 4.0 Liter pH 6.2 EC 1800 µS/cm; drain 0.7l pH 7.3 EC 2400 µS/cm; fertilizer 75% crazy hills bloom week VI + CalMag + pH- D79, 81, 83: water 4.0 Liter pH 6.0ish EC 600 µS/cm; drain 0,6l pH 7.0ish EC 1700 ... 2200 µS/cm; no ferti + CalMag + pH+

It's getting autumn! At least according to the color of the leaves and overall appearance. She is definitely getting ready and trichromes are in the ballpark of 70% foggy and 10% amber. 1 or 2 weeks until harvest! :) Just for funsies I installed a automated watering system to give her water every day instead of every second day. She is very thirsty and dries up the pot quite quickly. Crazy hills ferti: Still feeding once per week and 75% of recommended values. Still landing at an EC of 1.8 mS/cm. D84 water 4.0 Liter pH 6.3 EC 1800 µS/cm; drain 0.6l pH 7.0 EC 2300 µS/cm; fertilizer 75% crazy hills bloom week VII + CalMag + pH- D86 ... 91: 1.6 Liter pH 6.4 EC 300 µS/cm; no drain; just CalMag + pH+

She is getting very ready! Trichromes show ~30% amber with some less developed spots on the outer/lower colas. Definitely will take better care in regards to topping / LST with the next grow! Not 100% sure, but I think I will harvest within the next few days. Will wait for 40%-50% amber so that the lower buds still have a chance to ripe. Crazy hills ferti: She received her last feeding with omly 50% of the scheduled values. Lowered DLI to 36ish. D93 water 4.0 Liter pH 6.3 EC 1400 µS/cm; drain 0.7l pH 7.0 EC 2000 µS/cm; fertilizer 50% crazy hills bloom week VIII + CalMag + pH- D92 + 94 ... 98: 1.5 Liter pH 6.3 EC 300 µS/cm; no drain; just CalMag + pH+

Since day 93 she only received water plus a little bit of CalMag to ready her up for harvest. On the harvest day (day 103) she had ~ 50/50 amber/foggy trichromes and I harvested the same day. Also, she became to heavy for her own good. A few colas started to bend downward due to the weight on top. :) Prior to harvest: 3 days of darkness and no water

Prior to cutting her down I always give 3 days of no water and darkness still in pot to suck out the rest of "life". During that time, colas bent downwards due to the weight on top plus reduced stiffness as it starts to withering. Right after cutdown she shows 1140 g of wet weight, which was WAY above my expectation. For drying, I do some light "wet trim" if you want to call it that - i.e. I remove all *fan* leaves with no sugar. The suggary leaves are allowed to stay and will be removed during dry trim. I.e. I tend to trim two times - combination of wet + dry trim. Works best for me. ___ Update after drying/curing: Drying/curing temperatures were not ideal (~ 20.5 °C @ 60%) so I certainly lost a few terps here and there. But holy moley: 132 gram of buds after dry trim! I knew I was in the ballpark of 100 grams, but that really surprised me. Unfortunately I could not hold on to every gram, as it is only legal to own 50g per person here in Germany. Oh well. No more 15 liter pots for me! :) Very potent, very much body high. Very good sleep aid! Like it!