Quick Critical Plus

I used the wet tissue method on 3 seeds, 2 Quick critical and 1 Quick Kush (both from Dinafem), Both Critical popped within 2 days. Unfortunately, the Kush didn't make it. During this diary i'm going to focus on the stronger of the critical plants. I transported the seed to a 1L pot. The soil medium used is biobizz light mix, with added perlite and mammoth P. Within a week the seedling reached 4inch in height. I avoided stretching by carefully bending the stem between my fingers every other day, i was careful not to damage the internal structure too much. I used Nitrozyme as a folair feed every other day, i reduced the mix to 2ml per 1L of water. By the end of the week the roots had started to poke through the bottom of the pot. and the plant had produced its first 2 nodes.

During the second week, nodes 2-4 were formed. I did notice a few issues with the older leaves (this can be seen in the pictures), If anyone could comment ideas or hypothesis on the reason for these issues it would be greatly appreciated. The constant stress from manual bending of the stems kept her short. I unfolded plastic coated paperclips and used them to hook and hold down each of the fan leaves, i did this to expose the new growth shoots to light.

I completely forgot to take photos during week 3. so I shall resume from Week 4. At the start of Week 4 the plant was topped just above the 6th node. I restricted the plants height through LST and topping, this allowed each of the growth shoots bellow the topping site to catch up in height with the newest growth shoots, creating a larger surface area coverage. on Day 25 i began to tie down the growth shoots and fold fan leaves bellow the new growth sites. Growth continues to be very fast even though the 250 Watt LED is spread over 2 plants.

On the 9th i decided to defoliate, i did this to expose the growth shoots to light and air. I was concerned that too many large fan leaves were sitting on top of each other, defoliation reduces the risk of mold. During the defoliation i removed all large fan leaves and new growth shoot below the 3rd node on each stem. By the 12th, the plant had fully recovered and little light passed through the top layer of foliage. many new growth shoots can be seen, i'm hoping to increase the number of bud sites.

16th Jan, Day 38. I decided to loosen up the wires holding the colas down. I then placed a fan in front of the plant and turned it on full, i did this so the constant movement of the stems would encourage the plant to grow thicker stronger colas as an adaptation to stress. I did notice considerable more uptake of water during this time as the movement of fresh air increased the rate of transpiration. This in turn allowed considerable growth. 18th Jan, Day 40. Once my plant adapted to the conditions i observed increases in the average girth of each stem and a shortening in distance between new nodes. The Critical plant consistently responds fast and effectively to all stress, due to this i had to tie back down each cola on day 40 to preemptively avoid stretching.

Early in week 7 i noticed bloody fungus gnats!! little buggers were hiding in some house plants and found their way onto my plant. they hit hard and the effects were instantly seen on my plants (i forgot to take photos). I believe the larvae caused considerable root damage as i was late to diagnose this issue. Anyway i went straight down to the local and got myself some liquid oxygen, the hydrogen peroxide kills the larvae on contact. the solution was 12% meaning a ratio of 1:16 is needed to kill fungus gnats. Smaller amounts can be added to hydro or soil when watering to increase the oxygen availability to the roots. This stuff worked straight away and with a little help from a folair pesticide i rid my grown room of all gnats. I am interested to see the effects a 1:16 ratio of liquid oxygen has on the bacteria and biotic life within the soil. i am concerned that the culture which has been built up within the soil had been destroyed. Because of this i have decided to stop using mammoth P at the end of this week. I plan to carry on using liquid oxygen throughout the remainder of the grow. Day 47. growth was slower due to the gnats. whilst i tied over each cola i noticed some issues on the leaves, after researching it looked like a phosphorous deficiency. I headed back to the local to grab a pH test kit. I tested the pH 3 times and found the average. Control water (bottled water with balanced pH)- 7.2 Tap water- 8.2 Runnoff from soil- 8.5 The result show that the pH of both the tap water and the runoff is considerably more alkali than it should be. From this i concluded that, due to the pH, my plant was suffering from Phosphorous def due to lockout. Furthermore, it is highly possible a build up of salts and other material has occurred due to a lack of flushes. To tackle this issue, i first flushed with pH neutral water. The next day i sprinkled ground coffee around the base of my plant to increase the acidity of the soil, i added a little water to help the grounds permeate through the soil. On the third day i mixed 1/4 dosage of veg fertilizer, 1/4 bloom fertilizer (increased phosphorous) with 2L of water and fed my plants. I tested the pH of the runoff again. the results were pH 7.2. I aim to lower the pH to between 6.2-6.7.

Originally, i was meant to switch her over to flowering at the end of week 6, however, due to unforeseen reasons i have waited. I believe this has been beneficial for my plant, i am looking to add a scrog and switch her at the start of next week. Since correcting pH and adjusting the nutrients huge amounts of growth has been observed. I was quite vigorous with the LST, i wrapped coated wire around the end of the stems to manipulate the direction of growth. By doing this, the end result should appear similar to topping (Birds nest look). This training encourages equal growth between multiple cola on each stem, therefor creating even bud sites which are ready for a scrog. Day 52/3. Due to previous root damage from the fungus gnats, i have decided to focus on root development. I mixed a solution of 5ml nitrozyme and 1 litre of water. I sprayed the undersides of the leaves with this solutions multiple times over a 48 Hour period. Furthermore, I have slightly increased the dose of liquid oxygen to 1.5ml per Litre of water to really increase the oxygen during heavy watering periods. I have continued to use the fan set on full to increase transpiration. Every other day i manually bend each stem to keep the plant short and stocky. Jan 31, Day 54, do i give her one last little defoliation? I'm considering taking a couple fan leaves from each stem around bud sites. Feb 1st, Day 55. I decided to defoliate her one last time before switching. I focused on removing any fan leaves which covered new growth shoots and the older large fan leaves from lower down on the plant. Unfortunately i identified another fungus gnat on the plant, i have wasted no time in drenching the soil in a liquid oxygen solution. These final few days before switching i will focus on the plants recovery, i shall not be introducing anymore stresses into the environment. Feb 1st Day 55. Above i have posted a few pictures of my second critical plant, i shall call her plant2 . Here is a little background info on plant2. From the start she was slower than my main plant by approximately 2 days, the growth was still very impressive and in comparison with other strains and was in fact much faster. Due to the lower wattage LED the light was not powerful enough to evenly grow both plants. Because of this Plant2 received less light and space throughout the veg stage. Despite not having favorable conditions she has grown to approx 3/4 the size of my main plant. I have removed 3 stems from her as they were not receiving sufficient light, i have tried to clone those three stems for fun, rather unsuccessfully. It looks as if i may have to remove one more stem from her, but i shall wait a couple weeks to try a monster crop method.

Day 58 (Feb 5th), The last day in veg. Today i checked the runoff pH, the test indicated a pH of 6.5 which is ideal as i was dealing with a pH of 8 and above a couple weeks back. I also added the screen to my plant, i gently applied pressure to the screen whilst bending the colas without damaging them. The plant has all but filled up the grow tent, Because of this, i will restrain from further training of my second plant and just let her grow tall. Day 60 (Feb 7th). Within two days of the switch, calyx's and pistils have developed. Compared with other strains, this is far faster at revealing its sex. This is the first time i have used a screen, lower branches and bud sites have responded well. The benefits and ease of use makes it ideal for creating an even canopy. I shall use this method much earlier on in the veg stage of my next grow. I am, however concerned that the stress of the screen make split branches near to the stem, therefor i am checking the plant for physical stress multiple times a day and raising the screen accordingly. pH runoff is still fluctuating between 6.2-6.6. I have increased the Bloom to 2ml/Lt, once the buds start to develop i shall increase the dose. Light burn is an issue in my grow tent, Currently my plants are 40 inches away from a 400 watt HPS bulb. During the flowering stretch i shall in sure to keep folding the main colas back under the screen until i have a desired number of bud sites. Once this is achieved i shall allow the growth tips (of the main 12 colas) to create large buds at the end of the screen in the final stretching period. Plant2, On Day 56, i decided to Schwazz her, as she recovered way to fast from the "final" defoliation. I have not tried this method before, however i gave it a go. I removed 90% of fan leaves from the medium/large growth tips, i left fan leaves on the top of the main colas and small fan leaves on the lower growth tips. I allowed 48 hours recovery before the switch. As i was placing her back in the tent i caught the 3rd main stem on something and tore it half off the main stem. I quickly used half an aloe leaf as a bandage and held it in place with gardening wire. Day 58 (Day of the switch), observable development of the bud sites, The fan leaves which remain have grown fast. Day 60, I am yet to remover the aloe, However the cola seems to be growing very fast, If she recovers i am hoping for a large bud site. Fan leaves have doubled in size and growth tips are shooting for the sky, larger pistils are being produced than my other plant, i believe this is due to less colas and stronger vertical growth of each cola, Schwazzing her may also be the reason she is producing long pistils. This is the first time that Plant2 has shown any development faster than my first plant. Extra environmental control measures- DIY CO2 enhancer. Materials/ingredients; 2 litre bottle, black tape, 2 cups of sugar, 1 tablespoon of yeast, 1 tablespoon of baking soda and 1lite of warm water. Method- Use black tape to cover the bottle to stop light penetration (a bin liner could also be used for this). Pierce a small hole in the bottle lid. Add sugar, yeast, baking soda then warm water into the bottle. Shake, whilst holding your thumb over the hole. Leave in the grow tent and shake daily. Within a couple days you shall hear fizzing coming from within the bottles, this is the release of CO2. This grow is the first time i have used this, i guess any rise in CO2 levels would be beneficial to the plants, especially when a change in a few PPM would be considerable environmental change.

Day 64, Feb 11th. Strong growth has been observed all week, small growth tips have grown very fast. Pistils continue to sprout from the growth tips, within a few days i believe they will resemble buds. Today, the first distinct cannabis smell was noticed, time to buy a carbon filter. The heavy screen has pushed the branches down to 10 inches, This has put an enormous amount of stress on the plant, However, the response was quick and effective. Nodule growth and increased girth of the branches have strengthened the plant enough to cope with the weight, this should promote better nutrient and water supply to the foliage, thus, bigger buds. Some growth tips have been super-cropped, this was both intention and non-intentional. Despite this high stress on small growth tips the recovery has been impressive. This method is currently being used to control the height of the plant. The plant has showed small signs of nutrient burn, so i have reduced the nutrients and fed only water today allowing substantial runoff. The morphology of this plant is most certainly sativa dominant, this has been characterized by thinner leaves and a tenancy to stretch (once i stop using HST), i hope that this plant is still able to supply the newly exposed bud sights with enough nutrients to produce solid buds, despite having the sativa appearance. In summary, the plant has continued to grow fast despite responding to constant multiple stresses. Plant2 Day 64. The morphology of Plant2 is indica dominant, fan leaves which were left after the last defoliation have grown very large and thick, i am having to use LST to allow adequate space between colas. There have been signs of nutrient burn on leaf tips so only water shall be fed over the next few days, I am hoping for very large buds on Plant2. Day 65, Feb 12th. Central heating decided to go bust last night, i woke up to the grow room being at 14c. Until this is sorted i shall have an electronic heater coming on on a 15/45 min timer in the dark. I really hope that my plants don't react badly to this. I would normally not be concerned, however, day time temperatures can reach up too 29c with the HPS light in use, so a range of 15c is crazy. Day 66, Feb 13th. Older leaves on both plants seem to have died back a little, this is only minor, however i shall keep an eye on that. leaf tips appear slightly burnt still so i shall continue to water with 6.7pH water. I shall test the pH from the runoff tomorrow morning to see if the leaf issues are attributed to that. I have spotted yet another bloody fungus gnat, started to get a little frustrated with them now, towards the afternoon i shall treat the soil with 1/16th part liquid oxygen to rid my soil of them, i want to keep my roots as healthy as possible. Unfortunately it looks like i am going to have to find a treatment for the entire house as there was an infestation of house plants and in a couple of damp areas sometime before i moved in. Despite all this going on today shes continuing to stretch and develop pistils and calyx's. Day 67, Feb 14th. I took decisive action today to rid my grow tent of any fungus gnats. I purchased more liquid oxygen and a Venus fly trap. I placed the fly trap under the canopy of my main plant, I then prepared the water/liquid oxygen (16:1) solution. Upon returning to the tent i noticed 70% of the fly traps had closed, all had fungus gnats in them. I applied the solution to the soil which revealed some more adult fungus gnats. I also aim to pick up some sticky bug tape and hang that up too. The fly trap is a very small plant (2 inch diameter).

Day 71, 18th Feb. Foremost, the Venus is dead, i discovered that the soil in which Homebase had potted the plant, was riddled with fungus gnat larvae are multitude of other root destroying grubs. So, i tried to re-pot the plant into new biobizz soil. However, the roots were bound in wet tissue and mud, whilst trying to remove the contaminated material, i damaged the roots beyond recovery. Because of this i have treated the soil (YET AGAIN!) with liquid oxygen and covered the top soil with 1 inch of horticultural sharp sand. I am currently waiting for the plants to uptake the available water so i can start feeding light nutrients again. Buds are developing fast, due to the screen i am achieving approx 60-70 current developing bud sites, with more to develop throughout the stretch. I aim to defoliate within the next few days, I aim to expose more bud sites and clear the messy overlay of leaves around the screen. Plant2, Bud sites are developing fast, the buds are considerably larger on this plant, I aim to conduct the final Shwazz in 3 days.

Day 81, Thur 28th Feb, Day 22 of flowering. I previously grew platinum cookies, when i switched to the flowering stage the HPS lamp was between 30-40 inch from the canopy, this caused significant light burn, i assume this was because of weak genetics (i got the seed from a private breeder). Therefor, this time around i have kept the lamp at between 37-40inch away from the canopy throughout flowering of the quick criticals. Today i have dropped it to 19inch from the canopy, this was advised to me from an experienced grower, i also believe the genetics of this plant will cope, i shall keep a close eye on the buds. I have been slightly concerned with the size of the buds, which prompted me to ask questions. i have also added bio-heaven (strongly advised by an experienced grower), magne-cal plus (to act as a pH buffer), and liquid silicon (to raise the pH of the nutrient solution). I added this solution yesterday, this morning the buds seem to have swollen, so first impressions of the bio-heaven are positive.

Day 85, Monday 4th March. I have further lowered the bulb to approx, 14inch from the top buds, they have seemed to really flourish with the increased light. The smell is increasing each day, so far i am noticing fresh sharp lemon aromas with a musky skunk undertone. I am slightly concerned with the screened plant as a few too many leaves are turning yellow, I shall keep an eye on this. I pH tested the runoff and it was sitting around 6.4 which is ideal. Plant2 seems to be growing much faster, the buds are much thicker and more developed. Day 87, Wed 6th March. Day 28 of flower. I am slightly concerned of the bud size, however i am hoping they will stack on some weight in the final couple weeks of flower. Plant2's buds seems a few days ahead in development. Trichome production is very impressive, the screened plant seems to be excelling at this despite the smaller bud sites, Plant2 is very impressive too with significant trichomes on the largest buds. Pretty much all the trichomes are still clear. pH seems to be stable. To maximize the light intensity in the grow tent i have decided to tie the top bud sites down on plant2. This has opened up smaller less developed buds to light, furthermore, this has allowed me to drop the lamp height, so it is closer to the screened plants canopy.

Steady growth through week 5 in both plants. I have not been on top of the photos so unfortunately i don't have much upload. After reading a few other reviews of this strain i am hoping for a big push in the final week of flowering as the bud sizes are still slightly smaller than expected, the smell however, is super strong, scents of lemon and subtle pine are mixed with that strong skunky aroma, i am super thankful that the filter is doing it's job. The trichome production is impressive too, especially on the screened plant.

Week 6 Calyxes on both plants are swelling up, this has really increased the size of the buds. Interesting differences between the two plant is most certainly smelt and observed. The screened plant has a sativa like profile/structure, the leaves are thin and long, the aroma from this plant is strong earthy pine, with a fuel undertone. Resin production is exceptional. Plant2 has shown Indica properties, its leaves are thick and dark, much of the plant is compact. Strong lemon crossed with pine aromas can me smelt from this plant. The resin production is exceptional, however visually is less than the screened plant, upon inspection the trichomes are 2/3 days ahead of the screened plant. I started flushing on the 19th of March. I am expecting to harvest between 28-31st.

Day 49. Screened plant. The flush went well, the fan leaves are starting to really pull back and turn now. Trichomes are still turning cloudy, a few ambers can be seen but most certainly needs up to a week to mature. The aroma is very pleasant, throughout the the flush the smell turned from gassy to sweet, the buds are now smelling like lemon sherbets. Buds are medium in size, but has increased each day. A few minor fox tails are starting to form on the buds. Plant2. The flush has been rather difficult, i have spent hours this week continuously flushing to try and achieve clear runoff, the water did clear up eventually, the leaves on this plant are noticeably more green than the screened. I hope that enough nutrients has been flushed out. The trichomes are mostly cloudy with some amber, i am thinking the harvest will start within 3-5 days. The aromas are still pine and lemon with skunky undertone. The buds are most certainly larger on this plant and many are foxtailing, having done some research i came to the conclusion that some phenos of this plant naturally foxtail, so i'm not concerned.

Day 53. 32st March. Screened plant. not much has changed, the trichomes are not clouding as fast as hoped. Plant2. After checking with hand lens i thought the plant was pretty much ready. I took 2/3rd of the plant down (i will post dry weight soon). I then realized that the lower buds were not quite done on the stems i have harvested, some of the main buds were not fully ripe either. so i stopped and bent the stems round so the lower bud sites can ripen fast. Day 56 of flowering. 3rd April Screened plant, is still not showing signs of fully finishing, the trichomes are too clear for my liking. I'm going to continue to flush as normal and wait for the trichomes to be ready. The smell is amazing, very similar to lemon sweets/sherbet, the smoke from this plant should be pleasant. Plant2, the trichomes are changing, just very slowly, i think i will take the rest of the plant down within 2/3 days. So far the 2/3rds i have taken from plant2 is curing nicely, the buds seem in good condition.