Code name: Detroit Red

Sirius_Appleleaf Just started. My young king, Detroit Red, got sprouted in a Jiffy pop up germination pod. I then transplanted him into a fabric pot. It is currently Day 5(including germination), but since he's in de 'erd, this is Day 0. Part of the seed is stuck to one of the initial leaves, but I'm hoping it'll come off naturally, or at least not cause any problems. I'm not using any nutrients yet, but I plan to add them at the end of the week. I watered when I put the plant in, and I don't want to over it so in the mean time I'm spraying my guy until I start feeding

Sirius_Appleleaf Seen some impressive growth from my young King over the course of the second week. I had a couple mishaps, but I hope that they don't affect the growth too much. First, I tried to raise the platform that the pot sits on, but it fell. When I'd come back there was a bend in Detroit Red from the plant orienting itself towards the light. The slight bend persist but growing isn't halted. Then when I was adjusting one of my lights it fell onto my little homie, and I feared the worst. Yet, Detroit Red persisted✊. Through the second week I still haven't used nutes. Watering every other day, and some days the pot seems to dry out quick, others not so much. I'm still trying to get the balance right. Sometimes I allow the fan to blow more directly on the plant to build stem strength. It keeps getting taller, which I like because I want it to reach as far as possible to get to the light. Some new leaves have come through. DR is growing fast (I think) and I really don't know what to expect. I'm excited though.

Sirius_Appleleaf Week 3 was a doozy. Upfront, This is my first time actually growing and I didn't know things could be so hard😆 The week started off with me figuring out that the humidity wasn't high enough and the temperature was entirely too high for young Detroit Red. Immediately I scoured ways to lower the temperature and some ways to increase humidity. I invested in a LED (honestly I had already been planning to do this, but I seen that now things were dire.) light instead of a run of the mill plant light and that did wonders for the temp. Another suggestion I found was to put bowls of water around your plant to naturally increase the humidity. Eventually, I took it one step further and clipped my fan across one of the bowls blowing outward, and i must say that things have gone well in response, I can feel a difference in the humidity in the room. Overall the the temperature feels much better. So, that ended up a win. Next problem, I also figured out I grabbed GARDEN soil instead of POTTING soil, which apparently can make a big difference. Water wasn't draining well, and the roots weren't penetrating too well. This may have had an effect on how the young King was growing, a lean and a bend developed. This lean got serious when I misted one day and Detroit Red fell over. I knew then that the support wasn't there. I went to my local [REDACTED] and picked up some coco coir and earthworm casing potting mix. I re-potted the plant in this mix along with some seedling feed at the top. However, Detroit Red hadn't made it through the woods yet! The young king continued to lean and wouldn't support himself. So I used a plastic knife to provide support until he could stand on his own. As we go into week 4, the young King DR has put his roots down and is supporting himself! A couple more waterings so he can get his bearings and then we will introduce nutrients next week! Stay tuned...

Sirius_Appleleaf All in all I think this was one of the less eventful weeks for Detroit Red, drama wise, which is honestly a blessing. I installed another light and raised the plant to about 8 inches or so from the light. I probably need to get some more lights. I've watched closely and monitored the water that I've given it. I'm watering about every 3-4 days depending on how dry the soil is. I still haven't used any nutrients as I wanted to give the DR some time to settle after last week's re-pot. Towards the end of the week a lot of the beginning of what I would presume to be arms started to sprout. I think that many people would begin topping their plant at this point, but I'm scared to cut the plant or do that yet. Particularly because I'm not quite sure of what I'm doing at this point. I do have a leaf rolling technique that I plan to try when things get bigger. This will help get light to the areas where the bud grows when it starts flowering. I'm going to do this in addition to low stress training techniques like tying the cola producing arms down. I'm excited about the possibilities! I'd be very open to any advice on what nutes to use and how. Also any topping or LST advice (I know it's not quite there yet) would be greatly appreciated.

Sirius_Appleleaf Got into some kinky, bondage, shit with Detroit Red this week. Finally started to LST! Apparently I started right on time because the plat started to harden by mid week. I tied down all the fan leaves to try to expose as many node sights as possible. This has proven to be more difficult than I thought just in trying to wrangle the leaves. They keep slipping out. I didn't start nutes this week due to a mailing error, so it's still all water, but training has resulted in some impressive growth from the leaves and stems.

Sirius_Appleleaf Another good week for Detroit Red. The LST is going well. It is going so well in fact, that I cant even keep up. The leaves are growing like crazy so i consistently have to tie them down to ensure all of the plant is getting good light. The main stem is persistent and keeps raising despite my best efforts to keep it even with the rest of the arms, but overall it isn't too bad and more bud sights are raising and sprouting by the day. Every couple days or so I spray the leaves with an optic foliar solution. An earthy smell has enveloped the tent and I think it may be the beginning of the flowering phase. To help ensure maximum light, I have cut some of the leaves that died or were blocking lower sites. I also have been tucking leaves underneath one another and tying them down. Things remain steady as I prepare to add nutes for the flowering phase. Of concern, some of the leaves and stems are growing in twisted ways but I think this is because of the LST. They mostly self correct.

Sirius_Appleleaf Decent week for the Young King Detroit Red. LST is going well and I also started to defoliate as well. Some of the leaves were blocking sites, some growing in weird ways, and others still, I deemed useless otherwise so they had to go. I have been careful in how many I remove though as not to cause too much damage or shock. I've added Cal-MG to the diet. I'm looking at other nutrients to add that will help ensure a plentiful harvest. I've also considered adding a CO2 pad to the tent. I've considered cutting the light time to a 18-6 to encourage flowering, though I am satisfied with the number of what I think are bud sites. Is this smart to do? Are there other ways to encourage flowering without reducing yield? Or just be patient?

Sirius_Appleleaf Another pretty good week for the young one, flowers started to bloom! When you get close enough, like nose to bud, you can get an almost piney scent. I've been pruning leaves and continuing LST techniques to what I think are encouraging results. Most of the leaves I trim are in the middle to allow light to penetrate. Leaves on the outside I tuck under one another. Additionally I attempt to position the stems so that lights gets to the buds. I'm switching to flowering lights now that I see buds are beginning to form. Some nutrients aside from Cal-Mg will be added, but I don't want to over do it or end up with PH problems, so it's been just water and Cal-Mg.