Chapter 3 : Orange Buddy

1st sign of side shoots starting, 3rd set of leaves didn't progress much in length, but praying up Healthy green, still droopy sometimes 5x11x10cm Light 13-16 DLI Temp 25°C/60% / night 20°C/75% fans on slow setting Water in circle every 2-3days, 250ml/day Super light fertigation with Dr. Earth Home Grown

3rd and 4th leaves in progress, not really spreading wide yet. Green and healthy, sonetimes droopy. 8x12x15cm Light 16-19 DLI Average temp 25/56%, some days close to 50%. Night time humidity high 70%+ watering 500ml from top every 3rd day + dunk 3L at end of week

First pistils shown on day 21. Start of LST and cut lowest 3 shoots and 3 leaves touching ground in shade. Nice growth, but still small. Light 22-28dli 19/5 chedule + side light Temp 25°C/58%, all vents on 24/7 Water with remains 0.7L + plain 1.4L Pyretrin spray 0.15% 2times on substrate surface

Heavy LST, removed 2 secondary sidehoots of lowest branches and 2 leaves. Medium smell, early flower boom, filling up the pot surface fully, plenty colas, pulled to side, secondary shoots (in middle) still tiny, more pistils, but not in full flower yet. Water Wormcastings / beet cooking water 2.6L BTK and neem drench, spray pyrethrin Dli 30-35 24°C/55%RH night 18°C/75%RH

BTK drench, dunk bottom half. Heavy watering on day 35-37 to prepare for travels. Pyretrin 0.1% 400ml sprayed. DLI 38-40 Heavy lst and defoliate 4 more shoots and 2 leaves from middle 23°C/65%RH / night time 18/80%+

Unattended for 9 days in a row, by day 47 it was super dry and withered. Dunk + watering + pyretrin spray. Day temp 20-22°C/ 65%RH. Night 16-18°C/83%RH Bringing down to 55%. DLI 40-45 Plenty of lower sideshoots did not reach the top, last heavy defoliation 10-15 small shoots + 3-4 fan leaves. Small LST to bend top cola.

Wilted leaves recovering by moistening the perimter of the pot. Humidity in control, looking happier, continuing to grow buds. Brown patches on few big fan leaves. By day 53 finally reached 13kg weight after daily watering 1-2 L. Day time 21°C/52%RH night time 17°C/60% Light schedule increased to 20/4. DLI 45-50 Buds fattening nicely Light feeding every 3rd watering with worm castings, molasses, epsom salt.

Buds growing nicely, starting to use reserves from fan leaves. Main stem is super thick.Strong sour smell. Watering every second day 2L. One time feeding with some molasses, worm castings & compost tea. 22°C/50%RH at daytime. 18°C/60-65% when lights off.

Week9 started with watering 3L with worm castings, molasses. She is drying quick. Trying 1.5L per day. Showing orange, yellow colors on leaves. Buds growing. Trychomes getting more visible. All good. Some defoliation for more airflow around stem, 120mm fan directly pushing air from bottom. Watering to 14.5kg then left to dry out.

More yellowing of leaves, pistils getting orange/brown, trychomes getting cloudy. Beautiful colors. Smell strong, turning into a bit more sweet, flowery, but the citrus still strong. Starting to lower light schedule, also raised lights by 5cm 3days later. Aiming for low temp, low humidity, decreased watering (every 3days). Only adding a bit of molasses to boost microbal activity.

Strong yellowing, trychomes getting cloudy. Maturing. Gradually removing dead leaves to let air and light penetrate.

Sucking out energy from fan leaves. Maturing. No amber trychomes yet. Taking off fully dead, crispy leaves every day. Lowering light schedule to 18/6. DLI 38-40 Low humidity, low temp.

Harvest on day 92 from breaking the surface, day 69 from first sign of flower. Trained about 20 distinct colas, out of which 2 over 50g each, 3 x 30-35g, 6 x 18-20g + the rest 7-13g (wet weight). Meaning it was a bit overcrowded, some center buds - with low surface area for light exposure - seem pretty leafy, but at least still covered in trychomes. Satisfied with the results 💚 10days of drying at 19°C 55-60%RH. Dried result 91 grams of trimmed bud + 20g trimmings for edibles.