We're 84 days from sprout today. I plan to harvest tomorrow morning.
Recapping my thoughts on this grow method:
Most noticeably different from the first grow was that these two plants, including the buds, were much larger. In my first grow I used the "fertigation" technique, and while pleased with the results I decided to abandon that technique for this grow (mainly due to the time and hassle involved). For this grow I prepared a soil similar to that used by YT grower "Mr. Canuck"; a blend of coco, perlite, worm castings, azomite and time release fertilizer (444 and 284). Based on the size of these plants (and buds) I'll probably continue using this grow method, but have to see the harvest results first.
Mistakes made during this grow:
1. After preparing the soil I let the mixture "cook" in the hot sun for a month or so. The soil was in a plastic container on my patio which flooded, soaking the soil a few days before I needed to use it. I ended up having to supplement with addition coco to dry it out enough to use. I'm not sure this mattered much in the end, though I did experience what appeared to be a Mag deficiency early on (which was easily corrected). Lesson learned: be more careful when preparing (and cooking) the soil.
2. Both the fan and sugar leaves on one of the plants are showing what I'm pretty sure is severe light/heat stress. It's been a miserably hot summer here so it's been difficult to control conditions in my FROG lung room where the daily temps are in the low 80's. I'm doing what I can (redirecting AC vents, etc...) to keep the temp down in the tent but most days it still approached 80 degrees. Also, as these plants moved into flower they stretched quite a bit, and quickly, which had me scrambling to put up the SCROG net sooner than expected. Even with the net the buds evidently got too close to the light, at least as far as one plant was concerned. The damaged leaves appeared quickly and didn't seem to get worse once I turned the light down (I did have the DLI two or three stops too high, not adjusting quickly enough for the growth spurt). Lesson learned - pay attention to the girls when they start to flower!