Grow #1 - White Crack & Stilton Special

Howdy. This is my first attempt at growing. Advice and comments will be welcomed and possibly needed. I have a 5' x 5' tent, carbon filter, 6" exhaust fan, and 2x 1500 watt LED lamps. My first upgrade will be lights. I am using Pro Mix HP in 3 gal equivalent air pots. Maybe 2nd upgrade could be 5 gal pots. R/O filter online now. Used rainwater for first watering. Also have plenty of fans for circulation and humidifiers. I soaked the medium before I transplanted the seedlings into the air pots. I watered each plant 60 mL of water every few days when the top inch of medium felt dry. I have been doing a pretty good job of keeping the RH around 60-70%. Will keep an eye out for when to start nutrients. As far as the plants go, I am very happy so far. They all appear to be healthy and growing well from what I know. Stilton Special #3 is leading the way. The 2nd set of leaves has 3 distinct blades and the 3rd set of leaves are beginning to show. Excited to see what they look like at the end of next week. Thanks for having a look.

Had a pretty good week keeping temps and humidity stable. Have only watered with plain pH adjusted water about every other day. First watering this week was 60 mL, then 100 mL, and then 500 mL two days ago. Top of soil is still slightly moist. Stilton Special #2 is clearly the largest so far at nearly 4 inches tall. 5th node is starting to grow out on that one. Most of the other plants are about 2.5 inches tall. There doesn't seem to be any stretching on any of the plants. Starting to wonder if maybe I should have raised the lights a little in the beginning. 36 inches seemed like plenty of room. The only issues that I know of this week were some "wavy" leaves early in the week. A few plants had a one or two of them. I was going to post pictures of them, but they went away after a few days before I was able to snap some pics. Also, I believe I ended up with some wind burnt leaves on Stilton #1. The damage is visible in this weeks pic. No fans were pointed directly at the plants, but there was one I had oscillating. I decided to take some advice and turned that fan to face the corner of the tent. No more issues. Still happy with how things are going. I plan on starting LST next week on some plants. I'm not seeing any deficiencies, but I would rather be more on the proactive side. So will probably water with 1/4 strength nutes next time.

Another week down. Still excited. These things are growing fast now. They are short and stout which is making my first LST a little LST on me. I was being a little too cautious the first couple of days, but then pushed and pulled enough to really expose the new growth sites. It is kind of fun getting in there and working the stems. I'm getting more comfortable with it, so I will need to make the most out of the next week or two. A problem did arise that I think I have resolved. Early in the week I noticed a few small brown spots and a couple of leaves on a Stilton. Some searches and some reading led me to believe a calcium deficiency. I had just watered with 1/4 strength cal mag and 1/4 strength grow big 2 days prior. It was still too early to water again, but I was really wanting to give her some cal mag. The next day the top of the soil was dry, but still a little moist just underneath. They probably didn't need watering, but I felt they did need calcium. So all of them got some water with 3/4 strength cal mag. Then, the following day, I noticed a couple of tiny brown spots on a couple of leaves on the other 2 Stiltons. Ugh. Luckily, no other spots appeared and the ones that are there don't seem to be getting bigger. I think I have caught up and just need to keep it under control now. The only other thing worth nothing is the smell. I just started to notice a feint smell when returning home from being away for a while. I turned up the exhaust and have been trying to get the RH and temp dialed in. I'll keep working on that and LST this week. Next watering will have grow big with the cal mag.

An odor had started to come from the tent at the start of the week. I needed to turn the exhaust fan up and close some vents. There have been more adjustments to the humidifiers and ventilation of the tent than I anticipated. Luckily, I have been able to keep the temps and humidity within optimal ranges for the most part. I did have a couple of problems with the Stiltons. One of them began turning a lighter shade of green early in the week. I waited to water them until the next day because the soil was still a tad moist. At that point, another Stilton had started to look a little pale also and a couple of them started to show calcium deficiency again. I went ahead and watered with a little extra cal mag and grow big. The nutrient issue seemed to stabilize and then one evening I returned home and some of the Stiltons looked a little dehydrated. The initial soaking of the Pro Mix had held up for a long time, but it was done. I'll need to be watering more. They got a nice soaking with some more nutrients and looked better today. While I was trying to get the Stiltons under control, the White Cracks plugged right along. Their only issue has been looking a little over watered. I've been keeping the same watering and nutrient schedule for both strains. That will be coming to an end soon. The Stiltons have started to flower and the White Cracks are about a week behind. The differences between the strains aren't just visual anymore. I ordered a new light for flowering. I would regret thinking I could have done better after this grow if I had better lights. Knowing I was going to be upgrading at some point anyway, I pulled the trigger now. Hopefully next week I will have a HLG-600H Quantum Board LED running. I think the White Cracks may be starting to flower and the Stiltons should be full into flowering when it arrives.

It was a great week. The plants have been doing well and I haven't run into any big issues. Other than watering, I've been keeping busy trying to adjust ventilation and humidity to keep up with the changing stages. Glad to be at flowering now and can keep things set for a while. I have been watering with nutrients every other day now. 75% strength cal mag, 50% Grow Big, and I started using about 15% strength Tiger Bloom. I'll keep using veg nutes for the first couple weeks of flower while they stretch, and then make the switch to full flowering nutes when they stop growing. I think it is about time to start lowering lights and maybe switch to 20/4 schedule. Still waiting on the new light to arrive. Then I will probably make the switch when I get it going. According to the gentleman I talked to yesterday, it was going to ship either today or Monday. Looks like Monday. The White Cracks may be starting to flower when it arrives. The Stiltons are stretching which is making LST much easier. The White Cracks are like little pot bushes. Since this is my first grow, I want to avoid a lot of defoliation. With the exception of a couple of leaves that were blocking multiple bud sites, I've only taken the few dead or dying leaves each plant has had. If I were more experienced, I would probably be taking some leaves from the White Cracks.

It was a little busier than normal this week. I had limited time the last couple of days and last night the plants needed watering, so the update had to wait until today. I also did not receive the new light until yesterday. Old lights were replaced and new light was installed this morning. There were some issues with the Stiltons again. I had flushed with plain pH water early in the week, and after a couple of days it appeared like a calcium deficiency was popping up again. I bumped up the cal mag a bit, and then it then started to look like a phosphorus deficiency. After attempting to correct that, I noticed this morning what appears to be the very beginning of nute burn at the end of some tips on Stilton #1. They are having a rough week, but at least they had a good one last week. The White Crack are just rolling right along taking whatever the Stiltons get and keep getting bushy. Bud sites are forming and the plants are looking healthy. I will probably need to mix separate water this week. The White Crack will probably still stretch some, but the Stiltons seem to have stopped and are now just plumping up those buds. I will be making adjustments to the new light as well. I have them starting at 26" away at about 75% power. I will increase the power to the 600w max over the week. If the plants don't get burned or stressed, I may lower the light a bit too. I've been getting a little concerned with the heat, so I will be keeping an eye on that. The temps got up to 85 degrees for a little while the last couple of days. But the new light is putting out less heat as it is set-up than the two lights that were running previously. Also, thinking the advice I read suggesting to keep nutrients simple as a beginner was good, I had intended on just using Cal Mag and the Fox Farms trio for nutrients during my first grow. The phosphorus deficiency and heat changed that. I read that Canna PK 13/14 was a good solution for the phosphorus problem and that it wasn't uncommon for some plants to need a boost during week 5-6. So that may be good to have around. I then read that Silica could potentially help with any stress caused by heat and could help strengthen stems and stalks for big, fat buds. That sounds good too. I will be adding more nutrients to the mix, ramping up the lighting, and switching to 20/4 light schedule. Keeping my fingers crossed that this is a smooth week.

I think I was fighting deficiencies during the week. Pretty sure there was, or maybe still is, a calcium deficiency. It has spread to about all of the plants now. I was keeping steady at a little under full strength cal mag and I think it caught up to me. I'm using full strength now and will see how that goes. What appeared to be phosphorus deficiency in the Stiltons is staying about the same. The stems on some of the White Cracks are starting to turn purple, so I added another dose of PK 13/14 last watering for all of the plants. Lastly, some of the lower and mid fan leaves are yellowing on the Stiltons. I am not sure if it is nitrogen deficiency or just something that should be occurring. I've been reading yellowing/dying on fan leaves can occur about this time of flower. They were looking a little pale too, so I went ahead and added a boost of veg nutes for some nitrogen. I haven't seen any nute burn yet, so I hope I have some room for error. I am liking the new light. It is pretty bright and it has not been putting out as much heat as the two lights I was using previously I adjusted the power of the new light higher throughout the week and it is now at max power. It is about 26" above the canopy now. I will start working it down to around 18" or so during the week. It could be about time to start the next grow. We can grow 12 plants here. Six can be in flower and six in veg. I am thinking the Stiltons could be about a month away. If so, I could probably get started on a few plants this week or next. Will decide on what to do while monitoring the ones going now this week. Would like to feel comfortable and know these are doing well before I start jumping into something new.

The strains are separating themselves more this week. I think the Stiltons are close to being done while the White Cracks are just starting to get dense and frosty. The Stiltons look like they are starting to reach the end with the leaves starting to die off, the pistils are about half orange, and most of the trichomes are milky. I think I am starting to see amber trichomes. The light is 20" above the canopy now. The plants seem to like it. I do. I've been watering every other day. The pots are dry and light each time. The odor is picking up mainly due to the Stiltons. One smells like something between mocha and chocolate. Two smells a little bit like blueberries. Three smells strongly of pungent blueberries. I've started some Orange Diesel for the next grow. 3 sprouted a couple of days ago and if things go well I will start a diary for them next week. Excited to get another grow started.

It has been a busy week. Will probably be that way for the next week or so at least. Such is life. Because of that, and for other reasons, I went ahead and harvested a couple of the Stiltons that looked most ready (#1 and #2). It may have been on the early side, but there are amber trichomes and plenty of orange/brown pistils. The plants are all starting to turn into their fall colors. They are looking even cooler. I've started to flush them. I may have them harvested by next week's update. I've started the next plants. There are 3 Orange Diesels and 3 White Chems. All of these plants are part of why I have been busy. It is a watering night, so I need to get to them. I hope to have more time for a better update next week.

It came faster than I thought, but the last week of the grow went well. I've been flushing the remaining plants that weren't harvested last week and chopped them down. Now they are hanging in the dark at about 70 degrees and 55% RH. The buds aren't super dense, so hopefully it won't take real long to dry. I'm gonna keep this short and give a nice final update next time when everything is trimmed and tested.