I started the grow with a cheap light that wasn't putting out the light the plants wanted, and I changed to the proper light in week 2. The new light was a little too powerful at the initial setting, and it looks like it had a negative effect on the early leaves on the plants. They both recovered over the second week, and started to really look happy towards the end of the second week. I used a PAR meter to measure the light at various settings and positions in my tent to get a better idea of where the light is strongest, so when I get to flowering I'll hopefully give them the right amount of light.
I repotted the plants around day 11 from their small starter pots to their 3 gallon, final homes.
The Wedding Cake plant has what appear to be pistils sprouting at one of the nodes, but we'll see if those are pistils or just very young growth.
No training, topping, or tripping has been done yet.
This log is on the 15th day.
@bongbong, I ended up using a product called Recharge after visiting the local hydroponic store, and that seemed to help the Northern Lights plant a lot. Not much could be done about the one that went straight into flower. It's mostly a stick with a bud on top. These plants had a very stressful start between a transplant and changing from a cheap Chinese light to a proper one, and then they weren't watered properly while I was gone for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
I'd agree that a root problem was likely my issue. The Northern Lights plant is an auto, but it's just now starting to flower after 2 months. I'm hoping I can give it proper care over its flower cycle and get a reasonable harvest from it.
