2024-01-04 Start of Week 3!
Today I decided to cut or rather to FIM – no clue what it stands for – the ladies again. Well I am a bloody beginner, but from what I can tell FIMing is superior to get real bushy plants. I think the plant pushes the growth of all nodes below far more, than with regular topping. I now it's quite naive to make such claims without ever having finished a grow, but for now that's my hypothesis.
Anyway... I also cleared a few low hanging and old leaves and some small shoots with little to no chances to develop.
My reasoning behind it was:
- small branches which won't have decent changes to develop a big bud, might steal energy for better buds
- the old leaves were slightly damaged due to having the lamp to far down to early and because of the cutting process. I think "ugly" leaves with brown spots and so on are prone to illness, so I removed them as precaution
- removing a few leaves and branches might push plant hormones to stimulate growth, as a defense to "being eaten"
- due to training the canopy already is so dense that it also serves as a precaution for mildew, which I sadly already had, due to far from optimal ventilation at the beginning.
Probably I will top them in about 5-7 days for the last time before starting the flower period, which should take round about 8-9 Weeks.
The mourning gnats seem to have peaked in population, at least I think the nematodes are already doing their job. Every now and then I spray the top soil with plain water to keep it moist for the nematodes.
From now on on I will water with 500 ml of water every morning, so they have plenty of water to photosynthesize during the day. Around 100-200ml goes to drain. I will keep the water at 500ml, until there is no drainage anymore, then I will increase again.
I also adjusted the lamp to hang approximately 30cm away.
| Plant | Stem Diameter | Training
| Luna | 7.2mm| FIM |
| Sunny| 7.3mm| FIM |
Growrate: ~3.6%
I am ditching height, because it's flawed anyway due to LST.
Excited for tomorrows first measurement after 24h, especially after the FIMing today.
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2024-01-05 Optimizing air
| Plant | Stem Diameter | Training
| Luna | 7.7mm| LST |
| Sunny| 7.6mm| HST |
Growth rate: 7.5%
The girls seem to love their new haircut.
Funnily enough I started buying equipment for increasing CO2 levels, even before installing a proper air exchange.
Yesterday I rerouted the exhaust, to go outside. Beforehand the air was just blown back into the grow room, which is big and had an open window, but it's already noticeable colder and the plants now have an ambient temperature of 20°C, with the lights hanging as low as always.
Also the inline fan wasn't running during the night until now, which obviously was non optimal, if not blatantly stupid.
I am really really excited for tomorrow, when the girls had a full day after the cut. I estimate a growth rate of around 10% possibly even higher, because as far as I can tell most environmental factors seem pretty dialed in now and close to optimal.
I nearly forgot the pests! Well the mourning gnat population seems to diminish. Today I at least have not seen a single one, for now.
Regarding the watering, I decided to water twice with 250ml, to minimize drainage and optimize nutrient and water availability.
That's it for today :)
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2024-01-06
| Plant | Stem Diameter | Training
| Luna | 8.1mm| LST |
| Sunny| 8.25mm| LST |
Growth rate: ~7.5%