Sensi Star 63W/100W run 5

This run I'm having 4 different strains and so I'm dedicating a diary to each, in this case PARADISE SEED's Sensi Star. The seed was put in water for 24 hours and then planted in soil. After 3 days it broke soil and 1 day later it opened its first pair of true leaves. Water wise the party cup wasn't watered except when the seed was planted, at which time the soil was thoroughly soaked. I'll water with a first dose of cal-max in a day or two.

I started with cal mag additive this week, for a total of 100 PPM; also at the end of this week it was transplanted to a 1 gallon pot and it was topped to the 3d node.

This plant was root bound on the party cup and it was looking very sad. It is loving its new home. Unfortunately, it looks like cal max feeding was a bit too much and there are signs of too much calcium.

Of the 4 plants, this is the more compact, node wise, but it looks great anyway. The damage due over feeding did not spread beyond the 1st pair of leaves. Next feeding I'll resume the cal max.

I was away for a couple of days with my family and so I could not take the usual pictures that signal the end of the week. I changed the lights to the 100 watts strips and increased the light distance to 16 inches, with the increased light distance I have noticed a few thing: (i) the leaves are real big, (ii) There's no purpling of the stems. I also increased the EC to 0.4 (cal-max only); next feeding I will start some grow nutes to power the stretch and maybe some bloom nutes. The previous damage did not spread and all new growth is healthy. Of the 4 strains I'm growing this is the most compact

For a minute I thought that this plant was going to be a runt, but this week it catched to the others in height (well LST'ing the more unruly of the other strains helped too). On the other hand, this one has the most tight inter node bud sites in each cola. Very healthy colored leaves and stems. Some signs of been hungry for more bloom nutrients.

Stretch is slowing down and flowers are starting to form. This is the shortest of the four strains I'm growing, with the more tight internode structure. You can tell that this a more indica strain than the rest since it is the shortest.

Stretch is done, now the flower are starting to take shape. This week sported a moderate magnesium deficiency and so as this week ends, I'm changing cal max for epsom salts and bio-bloom for Grotek Solotek Bloom. We will see how it goes. This is the first time I have a magnesium deficiency. I'm following a tip I read somewhere that at this stage I should change from cal mag to epsom salts due the increased need of magnesium to form buds and decreased need for calcium. I also plucked a couple of leaves.

No more stretch whatsoever. Flowers are forming nicely. This is one of the 2 plants that I'm having issues with mg deficiencies, although it is not getting worse now that I'm using epsom salts and solotek Bloom. I think the nute doses that I'm used to feed are to low with the new lights, so back to dialing the feedings.

Last week ended with a rather strong feeding of 2.26 EC and there were signs of over feeding; since I do not know this line, I need to dial my feedings, I believe I'm seeing potassium (K) excess, which in turn resulted in calcium / magnesium deficiency. At day 40 of flowering I gave the plant plain pH'ed water, since at this point I prefer to let the plant consume the excess nutrients in the last 3 weeks that I expect are left to go. I've plucked 1 or 2 leaves in order to open the path for the light to reach lower buds along with some more LST as needed.

The plant has been receiving only water since day 40, much sooner than what I usually do, but then again, most of the times my harvest are much too green when the time to harvest comes, so this time I decided to start early. This is no flushing mind you, I just started giving the plant plain pH'ed water and letting the plant slowly consume every nutrient in the soil and stored in its foliage. As you can see this plant looks worse than the other 4 strains. On day 34 of flower the feeding was a bit too high, which I think caused potassium excess, which in turn seems to have caused calcium and magnesium lockout; actually all 4 plants seems affected, this one looking the worst of the lot, The buds have fattened quite a lot this week. I expect to be done in 1 week, 2 at most. Having less tops per sq ft has allowed the plants to develop big fat colas, which is something I had not been able to accomplish before in my previous grows, currently I have 1 ft long (30 cm) colas which is something I'm really proud of. I don't know on which diary I saw this, but thanks to whoever mentioned using binder clips with fabric pots to do LST.

Sorry for the lone picture, I was planning to harvest at the 56 flowering day mark, but at day 53, I spotted a tiny bit of bud rot in the atomic and so I took everything down and is currently hanging to dry. I have a ceramic lamp heater (25 watts) to keep the temperatures warm and so prevent RH from rising. Fortunately the loss is minimal, although I'll have to look into a way to heat the grow box during lights out next time I grow regular strains. Once everything is dry, I'll post pictures of the whole buds.

Considering this strain suffered a nute burn, I consider the harvest a miracle in itself. I really liked the fabric pots; no root circling whatsoever, none at all. Downsizing from 3 gallons to 1 gallon pots, really helped to keep the plant size in check. Aiming for 4 tops per square feet, finally allowed me to get those big colas everyone else seems to get except me. The less dense canopy also helped keep the moisture in check (somewhat). I do not know if I mentioned this in the diary earlier or not, but binder clips are awesome to use with fabric pots to support twist ties. I got a 25-watt ceramic bulb, which emits pure heat in order to keep the grow box dark, but warm enough to safely dry the hanging buds, it worked like a charm.