Living Soil, Fastbuds-Tropicana Cookies FF & Gorilla Cookies FF

After popping these seeds in condensed water and Ecothrive Flourish for 20 hours, they went into the 20l fabric pots with living soil. I used a little Ecothrive Biosys in their first watering. Gorilla Cookies seems to be a day ahead, but they'll even out. Tropicana Cookies looks a little whacky with some fancy curved leaf edges. Leaves looking much wider than those of the Gorilla Cookies. I went away for a few days after they popped, and opted to leave the covers on for humidity, so they wouldn't dry out. I got back just in time! The condensation was drowning the Tropicana Cookies in droplets and the leaves looked like they'd been over boiled and a bit yellow. Luckily they were fine after I dabbed the droplets off. First run in a few years, so it's a nice reminder to be patient, and fix slowly. Man, this plant heals in so many ways. Wish me luck 🍀

They're coming along nicely. Gorilla Cookies was showing signs of leaf claw or drooping at the start of the week, but looked healthy the next day. Internodal spacing much further than the Tropicana Cookies which is really showing indica traits being a little shorter and having much broader leaves. Just been giving them rain water which is a little pH high. So I bring this down to about 6.5 with organic apple cider vinegar. The last day of the week (Day 14) I decided to top dress with 2 Tbsp of Soil food and about 10 Tbsp of worm castings for each plant, and scratched it into the surface of the soil. It's probably too soon, but it's slow release nutrients, so it may not affect the plants for a couple of weeks.

Three weeks in, and they seem to be doing alright. I've brought the humidity up to 60%-65% which they're enjoying. I've done a bit of adjustment of the grow room, which gives the plants more horizontal space, but you'll see pipes in the pictures. Makes me wish I'd popped 4 beans now I can fit them side by side, but I'd be pushing it under 100w. I've also added reflective "mulch" onto the soil to give the side branches more light, and to protect the soil. This way, they get more light and I can easily remove them to top dress feed. Watering with pH upped rainwater, once with Ecothrive Flourish, Biosys, and Trace. Gorilla Cookies 🦍🍪 Growing fast at 20cm at day 21, but slightly more yellow than I'd like. Also showing blotchy patches on 1st true leaves, to remind me to be more precise with pH. Unusually, she's got little branches growing under the cotyledons which I'm just leaving for now out of curiosity. What do you think should I do? Side branches are growing fast too. All in all, I'm happy with her progress and her sativa appearance, although she'd benefit from more nitrogen. I'll include a top dress feed with the next watering. Tropicana Cookies 🍹🍪 Absolutely stunning looking plant. Dark green and broad leaves look healthy and feel like a cats tongue, occasionally praying to the light. She's 5cm shorter than the Gorilla, and has shorter side branches too. I'm going to have a challenge keeping the canopy even. But I don't care, so long as I've got a purple pheno 💜

Week 4 Environment getting dialled in, with little spikes of humidity. Lifted the light up and brightened it to 75%, and the plants are enjoying it. A little foliar feed with Ecothrive Flourish too. Oh, I noticed a worm in the soil when top dress feeding too! Gorilla Cookies 🦍🍪 She's been growing pretty quickly, letting in lots of light to side branches between fan leaves. Fed with Ecothrive Soil food Grow and Bloom on day 22, and shades of deep green now flush the leaves. Topped at day 26 to slow down her vertical growth. She's gonna be a stretcher! Tropicana Cookies 🍹🍪 Fat leaves! Literally three fingers wide! Again, a beautiful lush green vegetation from her. She's not in a rush to keep up with the Gorilla, but steadily pushing out her side branches, the lowest of which I've tied down to reach past the shade of the leaves above. Fed at 22 days the same as the Gorilla. She's got more than a grassy smell now, I swear it's not in my head. When I touch her she's giving off faint fruity ganja fragrance. She's gonna be smelly!

Week 5 Environment is good. As the plants grow (which was close to 10cm this week), I'm raising the light up. Which means I'm slowly bringing it's brightness up to 100% to compensate, imitating the summer as they approach flower. Tropicana Cookies 🍹 🍪 These are the darkest and leatheriest leaves I've known! I wonder if she'll turn purple or black. Some interesting variegation in one of the growth tips. Defoliation needed for week 6. No feeding this week, just water. Both filtered and rain water. The Biotabs are doing a great job, of keeping the plants healthy! Topped at day 32 🥥 Gorilla Cookies 🦍🍪 What can I say, she's growing strong. Bushing out since the topping last week. Going to need to defoliate this beast too. Started tying down the tops to make a level plateau canopy once the bottoms catch up.

Week 6 Temperature hasn't been too consistent, as it's cold here and warms up with the heating of the lung room. No feeding this week, just rain water and a sprinkle of worm castings on one of the days. I found a springtail in the soil, no idea where it came from, but it's all good in the living soil. Approaching flower, within the next week or two I hope, depending on the Tropicana. What do you think? 🍹🍪 Tropicana Cookies She's so dense! As I'm prying the branches away from the centre, she's only getting shorter. I went a bit mad in the week and trimmed the middle fan leaves to let light in below, and she looked scruffy. So as the week went on, I tied up (ponytailed) the top fan leaves to let in more light in the hope those side branches will catch up to the top. Eventually, I just cut the top fan leaves off. Leaving only the lower original fan leaves, which I'll remove before flower. I'm happy with how she looks, but she needs to fill out just a bit more before flower, she has more potential. Raising her up a little might help her compete with the Gorilla. 🦍🍪 Gorilla Cookies Growing like a beast, despite me pulling her out, bending and snapping branches. I perhaps should have thought more about the differences in phenotypes when selecting two different strains to grow together. These two really aren't an easy pair to grow side by side, as they appear at different ends of the indica-sativa spectrum. She's absolutely ready to flower, but she needs to wait while the Tropicana catches up.

Week 7 As they approach flower, I've done a bit of defoliation of the bottom half of the plants, and taken clones to clear out some space, and for the plants to focus their energy where needed. They both had a feed of Ecothrive Soil food Grow and Bloom teased into the soil with worm castings, and watered with rain water. Both showing signs of slight nutrient burn. Gorilla Cookies 🦍🍪 As I'm not letting her get any taller, she's growing outwards and dominating the room. I hope for a good yield from her though. I just hope she can hold the potentially heavy buds to come. Tropicana Cookies 🍹🍪 This last week has been great for the Tropicana Cookies. She's spreading out nicely, and about ready to go into flower. The defoliation has opened her up and defined growth sites. The LST on one of the top branches has kind of weakened one of the top cola sites, so I've made a little wire crutch to help support it and prevent it from snapping. *Lesson* When topping, leave a good nub of fan leaves under the new growth to support new tops. Maybe better still, is to leave the fan leaves on under the new tops.

Week 8 I've done a bit of an adjustment to the garden, to free up more space and access to light, it'll also allow me to raise the light even higher during the stretch of flower. No feed this week, just filtered water with a drop of Trace and Flourish. That was the last week of veg! If I let them get much bigger, they'll begin to be problematic during flower. So I'm flipping them to flower! Gorilla Cookies 🦍🍪 The plateau is forever growing outwards with LST and HST training, and side branches accelerating upwards. She's letting in lots of light and air now I've defoliated and removed lower growth sites. Giving off a slight chemical smell. Tropicana Cookies 🍹🍪 She's so dense! I removed all the LST ties and reapplied them to really pull out the branches and let the light and air in before flower. Defoliation has helped with her density, and she's looking ready for flower. She's got a hot funky smell when rubbed.