Eel's 1st indoor grow-Meph 4AssedMonkey

So after not growing anything for over 10 years(moved away from my home country, back then I had grown twice outdoors) I gave it a shot because the opportunity arose to do so this past summer(2018). Did so outdoors and fell in love with it even though I made so many mistakes. Learned from them though. After the season passed I knew I wanted to continue so here we are! First time ever trying this indoor growing! So far so good, Had to lower the light from 90 cm to 63cm to stop the seedlings from stretching on Day 1. First time indoor grow so first ime using a grow light, have to get used to it. But so far so good on day 3. Soil is Biobizz Light mix all the way through, will start adding some BioCanna Rhizotonic(seaweed extract for stimulating root growth) and maybe some Aptus Regulator(has a bit of magnesium and helps regulate the uptake of nutrients) around days 7-10. I'm using the regulator as my tap water has some calcium but is pretty high with PH at 7.7; but the soil has a PH of 6.2 and acts as a buffer. The BioCanna product line later down the line should also regulate the PH of the watering solution. I'm not sure but I think this should be enough not to warrant the use of a PH down solution. Going to be adding a tiny layer more of soil sooner or later(realized it was a bit too low around the edges and the water easily leaks out the first few holes(actually realized that when I wet the soil before planting the seeds, but failed to add more soil(I was high)). Summary Week 1: Not as much growth as I had hoped for, the White Crack seem to be doing a little better but only time will tell. Am getting a small heater to up the temperature a few degrees, hoping to get a stable 25 celcius. Also added first bit of Nutrients on Day 7: a few drops of Aptus Regulator and about 2.5ml/liter BioCanna Rhizotonic. Will see how they react to it tomorrow.

Day 11 update: Came back from being away for 2 days(days 9 and 10) and had some awesome new growth, but I noticed 2 very peculiar things about two of my 4 Assed Monkeys. Besides the twisting first set of true leaves(which I think is because my PH was off for the first feeding and general tap water), I noticed 4AM #2 has some very strange new growth coming in, looks likes it's missing something, not sure if this plant is in the process of topping itself? Anyway, will observe and see what happens. Second thing I noticed was a weirdly coloured spot on the second set of true leaves on my 4AM #3, just a mild discolouration, will ask what this is. Other than that I'm very pleased with the grow so far, looking forward to the next 3 weeks! Day 14 Update: Gave the girls their first feed of veg nutes yesturday, seem to be taking it well, no signs of tox or deficienes. Lowered the lights today by a few inches at a time and waiting 2 hours to see how they react. Right now I'm happy with the way they are looking at 50cm(20 inches). Might lower it again in a few days to 45cm(18 inches). Other than the wierd growth on 4AM #2 I like the way this is going, a bit smaller than the White Crack I have going next to these. I'm even thinking I might be surprised by 4AM #2, who knows? Oh I also noticed one of the leaves on the 3rd set of true leaves on 4AM #1 coming in looks to be forked 😅 wierd mutation but cool?

Day 19 update: Week 3 has been going good so far. 4AM #2 is growing very strangely, pictures above showing it's wierd growth mutation. Gona go with it! watered em today with a little bit of CaMg and water Ph'd to 6.5. Looking forward to see how my first shot at LST will turn out, i'm quite stoked about week 4 :D If anyone has any pointers regarding my first try at LST I'm all ears! Next update day 21! Day 21 update: End of week 3; been 2 days since I started to LST these gals, #1 and #3 and coming along quite nicely I think? Not sure if the growth rate is on track, I hope they get a bit bigger before they go full flower. All plants shown their sex today. All are ladies! yay! Decided to top 4AM #2 as the new growth seems lopsidedand hasn't recovered from the growth mutation. Gona see where this plant goes lol. Quite curious how this will turn out! Can't wait and hope to get some good growth over the next week so I can LST and continue to spread them out more before they flower.

Week 4 Update: Recap: Day 22-24: Noticed some slight nute burn? on one of the plants' new growth. Decided to give them just regulator+CalMg+rhiz for this week, hasn't seemed to get better after the feeding on day 24. Day 25-28: Fed the plant that was showing signs of nute burn plain PH'd water and the rest a milder mix of the reg+calmg+rhiz mix. Also did some defoliation on day 27. However I also noticed after I defoliated and fed them that they were showing slight signs of nitrogen toxicity. So since they are showing signs of going into full flower next feed will be regulator+pk booster. so no N whatsoever, hope that should do the trick. Will also be a very mild mix with the PK booster. Other than that nothing to report, happy with the growth and hope to get some nice tops forming within the next few weeks 😁

Week 5 Summary: Days 29-32: I normally watered every 2 days but I noticed the girls were getting thirstier and alot faster. Had to up my watering volume to 15%(1.5l) pot volume once with a Calmg+Ph water, as it says on the bottle of the Calmg I shouldn't mix it with K boosters, So I'm doing a Calmg only Ph'd watering and then a bloom nutes feed at 1/4 strength so far.(biocanna bloom nutes still contain enough nitrogen and so does the Calmg). Last feeding on day 30 was with 2l. Hoped they would stay happy longer. They did but not as long as I'd hoped lol. Day 33-35: I was actually going to wait one more day to feed them after feeding them the most they have gotten yet(volume wise), but 3 days later they actually unexpectedly showed signs of underwatering so I had to feed em on the 24th...(day 33). Gave em another 2l. Noticed signs of deficiencies today. Plants were showings signs of underwatering, and temps were at 28 celsius and 45% RH. Heat stress? But the leaves affacted(see pictures) were toward the bottom and old. Oh well, will add Calmg next feed. Fast forward to day 35 and the pots are already feeling light again, so I finally decide to water till I get a significant amount of runoff(hard to judge with these air pots cuz they sometimes leak out the sides). Gave em all a nice kind of flush(only Calmg) of with 3l each. Going to stay at 3l from now on, seems to be the right amount of runoff. Soil is a bit acidic atm judging by the runoff PH(strange as it was really alkeline last time). Not really sure what to do with the soil runoff PH lol. Also I have been defoliating every time I water them as well. I think I'll start to go easy on them now after doing what I did to them last night lol. But checked today(day 36) and they are doing great, already starting to recover, even saw a slight increase in height from last night(like 1cm). Since this is my first grow I'm not really sure if they are on track but comparing it to other grows of the same strain I seem to be doing ok :D

Week 6 Summary: First off, Happy New Year!! Ciao 2018, may 2019 be filled with peace, love, joy and dank buds 😄😉 Day 36-39: Started off nice well this week, considering the amount of defoliation I did on day 35. Some more stretching going on here but not too much, except 4AM3 has a central shoot I couldn't find a spot to LST that just started to shoot right up lol. Starting to show some nice frost on Day 36 too. 4AM2 is already starting to plump up a bit, don't think will get much more stretch on that one, seems like it will probably harvest the least. I might have overdone the defoliation on it on Day 35 lol. 4AM2 is the one I decided to top for the hell of it anyway because it had a really wierd growth mutation. Still, with less main tops to produce it might be the best bud of them all 😅 Day 37-42: Day 37 is when I started seeing a deficiency I thought might have been magnesium on 4AM1. Pictures to show up top. Since their next feeding wasn't scheduled until day 42 I waited. Day 38 and it had spread a little on the same plant, and typical calmag deficiencies started slowly showing up on a few other plants(really tiny amounts). I posted on reddit and pretty much confirmed my suspiscion of a calmag deficiency. Since I am watering twice a week, once with calmag ph'd to 6.8-6,9 and once with blume nutes ph'd at 6.3-6,5. The calmag feeding was done on day 42( as scheduled at full strength this time so hopefully the problem will go away. 4AM2 hasn't been watered yet, pot didn't feel completely light yet(plus she had the most runoff last feed), will get her dose tomorrow. P.S. Really starting to smell like sweet berries! Mmm.. 😍 On to week 7!

Week 7: Day 43-46: Going pretty good here, deficiences seemed to have stop spreading. Buds are noticabley getting fatter, and the smell is getting intense. I've been testing my soil runoff for the past week or so, and it has been around 5.9ph. That seemed low to me as I've had a Nutrient ph uptake chart onhand and thought my constant signs of calmg deficiences have been because of too low soil ph, hence the lockout. So this weeked I upped my PH for the feedings to 7, seemed ok for the first half of the week, and then on Sunday the deficiencies started to spread very slowly but noticabley. Day 47-49: So I once again watered them with their scheduled calmg(this time also PH'd to 7), and thought they would catch themselves again(only the 4 AM are showing these problems, the white crack are doing better, the white crack also didn't have that low of a runoff, between 6.2-6,6, the one with 6.6 looks the healthiest). I watered on tuesday(day 48), and they don't seem to be doing any better... I asked if I should flush the 4 assed monkey, and I'm told I should just continue but feed at a normal PH(6.2-6,5), apparently it's the fluctuations of PH that I'm causing by PH'ing the feed high at 7 that's causing the problems. They have their next feed on friday, so will try PH'ing the feed at 6.2 and see what happens. If it does get worse i might just flush the plants affected with 7PH water, not really sure what else I could do... Aside from their overall frostiness there is more good news! I FINALLY got my new 150w COB yesturday so spent a few hours setting that up last night, which is why my update is a day late :D Much love, I'm on the home stretch now! Wish me luck!

Week 8: Day 50-53: Things are looking ok here, could be better. Still assuming my soil is too acidic certain nutrients to lock out. I now believe what I thought was a calmg deficiency on 4AM#1 was actually a phosphorous lockout in combination with the aforementioned calmg. Day 50 I watered with PH 6.5 and got runoff around 5.5 PH. 4AM#3 was visibly worse off, and no real improvements to the other 2 either(both had signs of calmg deficiency in combination with various other small deficiencies it seemed like). Day 54-56: Seeing no real improvements in any of the 3 plants I decided I would flush them on with 6.5 PH'd water only with regulator until runoff read atleast 6PH. After about 4-5L the runoff was 6+PH, seemed to me like there was a slight build up in the bottom so the first 3L cleared that up quite nicely(runoff was around 5.7). I then fed them 2-2.5L feeding of calmg and regulator with some Biocanna Boost PD'd to 6.5 immediately after flushing. Runoff was pretty much 6.3-6.5 on all plants at this point. I think I am happy with the results of the small flush, this IS my first time indoors(last summer first time was outdoor and I never really dealt with deficiences), so not sure if what I did was correct, I just went with my gut feeling here. Anyway on day 56 now and they haven't gotten any worse, and the leaves feel healthier to the touch. Also seem to be liking the addition of the 150W COB, also decided to lower the lights and see if they could take it(they could). End of Week 8: I don't think I will get more much bulk on 4AM#1 but daaamn is she frosty as hell. 4AM#2 on the other hand is bulking up real nice, those are going to be some fat buds! And 4AM#3 seems to be a slower finishing pheno and seems like she will bulk up loads more, going to be a beast I reckon if the deficiencies didn't stunt her from the last 2 weeks(leaves felt dry and showed yellowing and spots, but are doing better and feel better after the flush).

Week 9: Day 57-60: Seemed to have gotten the deficiencies(rather PH fluctuations causing them) under control. 4AM#3 took a while to recover but it has stopped progressing for the time being and the buds have continued to bulk up while the pistols start to orange out. 4#1 and #2 are doing good. They recovered faster and started to really bulk up. I'd say 4AM#1 has about 50-70% orange pistils while 4AM#2 and #3 are at about 10% by day 60. Damn like I said last week 4AM#2's buds are gona get huge! One of them tipped over on day 60, had to add support, but quite hard to find a spot when half the branch is the bud... Day 61-63: Continuing to bulk up, the 1.25x Calmg dose on day 60 seemed to do them well! 4AM#3 hasn't been showing any new signs of deficiencies, so that's good! Hoping she won't be too premature when I chop the plants(I am chopping days 73-74, only days I have time), but the pistils are starting to go crazy! Around 50% orange pistols now on 4AM#2 and #3! And 4AM#1 has about 90-95% orange pistils. When I used the handheld microscope, which is hard, the trichomes are almost all milky and some 5% amber on 4AM#1 and about 30-50% milky and a few amber on #2 and #3, seems like it will be just right! Can't wait! Gave em their last big feed of blume nutes on Dy 63, will be giving them plain PH'd water with Regulator till harvest. 10 Days left! almost there! 4AM#3 might look ugly but she still frosty and thicc as hell! Oh and they smell delicious!!! 😵 EDIT: Oh and just wanted to say thank you for all the help you all have given me so far! Oh and shout out to FastBuds, which sent me a message last week saying they were interested in me growing their genetics! They're sending me some free seeds for my next grow! How awesome is that!

Week 10: This will be the final update before Harvest: I will update post harvest after the dry and weigh. Day 64-66: Hmm these 4AM are a strange bunch lol. I seemed to have been wrong about 4AM#3 getting better in last week's update, after reviewing the pictures. After realizing this I decided to continue feeding the plants till the end albeit only Calmg and Boost(micro). I decided to give 4AM#3 a 125% dose of Calmg on Day 66. I was worried about root rot because even though she was a bigger plant she drank noticeably less water than the rest. I actually forgot to mention I have had a few fungus gnats during the grow starting at around day 35. I always let the plants completely dry out even until some leaves were really drooping from thirst, so I though I had them under control. I never noticed more than 1 or 2 at a time, which is also why I thought I had it out of control. Maybe they have something to do with 4AM#3's state, but I doubt it. Anyway, 4AM#1 and #2 are doing well. #1 has fully ripened with almost 95% cloudy trichomes, and some amber. #2 on the other hand could still use 7-10 days extra, but regretfully I cannot harvest then... #3 is at about the same stage as #2. Day 67-70: Sadly I noticed too late, but that extra strong dose of Calmg seemed to confirm my suspisions... 4AM#3 had a heavy calmg deficiency... It really is noticeably improving this time! Leaves are regaining some slight saturation! And she drank her water very quickly this time! So bummed about having to harvest this weekend... Day 73... Oh well next time I will be able to harvest more freely and at different times for each plant if needed. She still has a good bit of cloudy trichomes on her calyxes though, around 40-60%, and very very few ambers, but her sugar leaves are already full of them. As for 4AM#1, looking great! gona be the smallest buds but definately the most dank! 4#2's massive buds are still having trouble staying upright, but looking forward to those for sure! RED ALERT: Shiiiit... So as I was watering 4AM#3 on day 69, I noticed, what I'm pretty sure is, BUD ROT! Damn, I'll have a picture as part of this update. I had very bad experience with bud rot last fall(planted my autos too late in the summer, lost over half my plants and had to harvest early), but that was with 10C temps and 80%+ RH. I have FOUR fucking fans in this damn tent, and it's always over 20C! But I'll be honest, I knew if it was going to happen, it would be THAT part of the plant positioned closest to that oscillating fan I have on the peace of wood... The bud closest to it(in the corner) is in it's blind spot, doesn't get direct breeze on it. And that's the bud, and the ONLY bud that seems to have been affected. Strangely though, this bud rot feels different to the touch than the one I had last summer. Very dry, and like I said, very isolated to that ONE little part. I cut it out and have the rest of the bud drying as a tester in my room. And my entire room STINKS. I seemed to have been wrong about that last week also; The 4AM smells so much stronger than the White Cracks. See you after the Harvest!! ;) It's been awesome and a fun learning experience!

These were definately tougher to grow than the White Cracks! But it paid off! These are some hard hitting plants! And I even managed to reach my goal of 50g per plant! Reaching 161g in total! Couldn't be happier. These girls definately needed more calmg earlier on especially #3. Next time though! To those curious as to how I got to 179W(with 113w grow and 220w flowering) overall consumption. Here's how: I used 90w for these 3 plants from Day 1-21 180w from Day 22-49 255w from Day 50-73 Worked out the average Watt/Day for the entire grow using those values. I am overall very pleased with this being my first grow. I have learned alot for next time: 1 - I will mix in some extra perlite with the biobizz light mix next time. Just a little. 2 - I will water to runoff once before week 3 is over to try and take advantage of the whole pot(although I still need to check my roots, but I suspect they could have been more developed if this measure was taken). 3 - Calmg! Definately underestimated how much they would need! 4 - Defoliating: Not sure if I would do this differently, as I am happy with the results! But I butchered these autos with heavy defoliation week 4 through 7-8. I lolipoped early week 2-3 of flower too while I was defoliating. Any experts care to give their input here? Was it the right thing to do? 5 - Do not have a fixed harvest time, 4AM 2 and 3 could have gone another week easy. Next time I will have a second tent to dry in. 6 - I am going to be getting a large resevoir next time around and an air stone(or 2). I think my tap water being hard water didn't help and made it unnecassarily tedious even with correcting the PH. Should improve. Overall I am very happy with the results! 0.89g / Watt! for these 4AM!(Using the Watt avg over the entire grow)