Gold Leaf (Non-Auto) From Seed

I haven't been able to find much about this strain that isn't written by the guy who developed it (Robert Bergman) himself, but after a bad experience with GYO Seedbank wherein I sent a wire transfer that was supposedly never received, I figured I'd give this guy at ilovegrowingmarijuana.com and his beans a try. The seeds arrived 15 days from the day I placed the order and in perfectly discreet packaging. In the order confirmation email, I was directed to a PDF guide to germination instructing me to use Miracle Grow soil - which I DID NOT do. Started out soaking 5 seeds in Reverse Osmosis water ph 6.0 for 24 hours, then planted them in wet Happy Frog Potting Soil in holes 1/2" - 3/4" deep. I set a 54-Watt T5 2" above the soil as instructed. Only 2 of 5 seeds have sprouted first and secondary leaves 84 hours after planting. Just moved the light up a few inches (~ 6 inches above the soil) to allow airflow between seedlings and light to control temperature.

Day 8. Walked into the nursery today to find a switched breaker (F*%&!) so the A/C was off for nearly 48 hours, bringing the room temp up to 84.4F but these younglings are still looking great.

Babies are looking great. Raising the lights up to make space for air flow in the first week has caused these little ladies to reach high before leafing, but the base stalk should be nice and hardy as a result. Moved them up under a bigger T5 unit after taking these photos and they've corrected their growth to straight vertical overnight. Started on a tiny dose of the Superthrive (3 drops per gallon). All is well in the nursery!

Had some issues in the last week. Will describe in greater detail soon! Otherwise all good, the Gold Leaf babies are looking great, developing good roots, and got transplanted today. Moved from the T5's to the 600W HPS lights.

Its been so hot lately the green room is practically cooking these young ladies. Still going good, though. Working on some solutions that should turn things back around before too long.

Day 56. Temps are finally under control as of about 3 days ago, and these lovely ladies have another ~3 weeks of veg left before they flip to stay on schedule with the rest of the garden. Both plants were topped fairly heavy last week, and have responded beautifully. They are taking a gallon of water and nutes per plant every other day. RO water takes Cal-Mag Plus every time, and the BioThrive/FoxFarm/AgeOld are on a full cycle rotation. Planning to use these same nute lines into flower. With three weeks left to go before flower and these girls being as hearty as they are, training will begin in the next few days. This garden isn't scrog-net capable, so the Gold Leafs will get trained to tomato cages after some sucker-stripping. I've been really impressed by these plants' ability to thrive under such chaotic conditions. It's been over 90 degrees in the nursery on several occasions in the last few weeks, whole rooms have gotten fully reconfigured and shifted around, lights have moved, plants have moved, the water system has broken down and plants have gone without water when they were clearly very thirsty. Some slight asymmetric reaching and growing is present, but I'm sure it's a result of the chaos, and nothing a few weeks in the training room can't fix now that conditions have stabilized. This strain is impressively hearty. Stalks and branches are dense and strong.

Day 71 Babes are doing amazing. #1 is significantly taller than #2, though #2 has an almost perfect canopy. Stripped the undergrowth on both. Flipping to flower Sept. 1st.

Let's be honest. These should have gone to flower months ago. Nevertheless, they look amazing, and they're going to flower this week. Plants have to move around so much that SCROG isn't really practical, and headspace is such an issue that these girls need to be tied down for a few weeks, hence the tomato cage/chicken wire solution. Stripped 'em up, flipping to 12/12 light schedule in a day or two.

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