Second Grow: Photo Edition

This will be my second attempt growing, but my first grow with photos. I had bad luck with my autoflowers because I stressed them out and significantly stunted their growth, so I wanted to try photos where I could have more control over the plant. I used Ocean Forest in the first 3/4 of the pots, and used Happy Frog for the top 2 inches or so of soil in 5 gallon pots. I added a light dose of a rock dust and mycorrhizae to the Ocean Forest, and a good dose of mycorrhizae in the layer of Happy Frog. I didn't want to bother with transplanting this time around since I blame it for part of the stress on my previous autoflowers. Each plant was lightly watered for the first 6 days, mostly just keeping the dirt wet. On day 6 I gave them a better soaking further from the plant to help draw the roots out, and probably day 14 I'll start using the AC Infinity self-watering bases with some top watering. For this week, the seedlings were kept under 200-250 PAR, and I plan on increasing it closer to 300 soon. It depends on how the plants seem to handle it. Tent overview: Tent: 2'x4' AC Infinity Light: 400w 2'x4' custom light from China Exhaust: 4" AC Infinity exhaust fan with filter Fans: 1 6" AC Infinity oscillating fan Humidifier: AC Infinity T3 4.5L

This marks day 14 since these two plants have sprouted. I slowly increased the amount of water they've been receiving until today where they got almost a proper soaking. I started with tap water that had been bubbling for a day, and added a light dose of CalMag, worm tea extract, kelp, and some recharge, which came out to about 550ppm at 6.4ph. I watered around the plants until they started dripping from the bottom of the pots, and added the rest of what I had mixed into the self-watering bases. I plan on top watering a few more times at normal intervals until I trust the plants to make better use of the self-watering bases. I turned the lights up to about 300PAR at the current height of the leaves, and I'll probably creep it up towards the end of this week after the plants get some more true leaves. The Train Wreck plant is almost a full node ahead of the Royal Runtz, so I may end up topping only the Train Wreck if it gets too far ahead. We'll see how they grow up. If they stay close together in growth, I plan on topping the plants at the 5th or 6th node. I noticed both plants have some leaves that like to twist, and I'm not sure if that's from the fan, or something that'll become an issue. I'll keep an eye on those leaves over this next week and see if they change.

Today is day 21 since both plants sprouted, and they have been extremely happy over week 3. The Train Wreck plant has grown about 5 inches over the course of the week, and the Royal Runtz is a little behind in growth, but looking very happy. It may look like there's powdery mildew on the Royal Runtz, but it's just 4-4-4 that I spilled while feeding them today. I started using the self-watering bases last week for both plants, and they can't completely rely on them yet, but the smaller plant is drinking faster. Both plants are in 5g pots, and I fed them both with 4Tbsp of 4-4-4, 2Tbsp of Glacial Rock Dust, and 2Tbsp of Azomite. I've ran into problem with what appears to be a manganese deficiency with previous plants, so I'm trying to keep a light dose of mineral in the soil for this grow. Since I top-fed the plants, I went extra light on the CalMag, worm casting concentrate, and kelp, only using about 1tsp in 2.5g of water. I'll be top watering the plants regularly to break down the fertilizers I gave them today, but by the end of this week they should be able to rely on the self-watering bases more. The plants are at about 300-350 PAR with the light where it's at, and they don't seem to be bothered at all. There's one leaf on the Train Wreck that has a spot on it (see "Leaf spot" picture), and I haven't decided what it's cause could be yet. I noticed on previous plants I've grown that the tips of virtually all leaves have a slightly pale tip (see "Leaf tips" picture) that sometimes turns into a brown, curled tip. I haven't been able to figure out what I'm doing that causes that to happen, but I'm very open to ideas. I began some low stress training on the Train Wreck plant because its growth is getting far ahead of the Royal Runtz plant, and the lower branches on the Train Wreck are getting some great growth. I'll probably look to assassinate some fan leaves on the Train Wreck later this week, but I want to see if the training on the branches is enough to get around the fan leaves. I noticed a very small finger on one of the leaves (see "F leaf" picture). I have no idea what to make of it, so please give me your thoughts. Overall, things are going much better than my first grow with autos.

Today marks day 29 since both plants sprouted. Both plants have been growing great and in general they have a nice dark green color. I've been top watering with plain water every few days to help break down the top dressed nutrients from last week, and then watered both plants today with water amended with 1tsp of Recharge, kelp, worm tea concentrate, and calmag (at 350ppm). I did notice that Train Wreck plant has some spots forming on some leaves (see Train Wreck spots pic), and I can't imagine it's from a nutrient deficiency at 4 weeks. I'll try to keep an eye on them to see if they get any worse or discolored. Both plants are making significant growth each week, about 7 inches for Train Wreck and 6 inches for Royal Runtz. The Train Wreck however, has some freak growth on it. There are a handful of leaves that grow in a spiral pattern where the leaves twist or kink, and on some fan leaves without the spiral, they grow an extra finger on top of the leaf (see Train Wreck top). I topped the plants at 6 or 7 nodes (I may sacrifice the bottom nodes if they don't get tall enough), and I assume I'll need to put something under the Royal Runtz to raise it up to be level with the other plant. I want to scrog this out once I get to flower, but I may not have the patience to let the Royal Runtz grow out enough to get a nice full canopy. The plants are getting about 350-400 PAR, with the Train Wreck probably pushing just over 400 at the tip. Despite that, it still seems to stretch up like Hell and I can't imagine what it's going to do in flower. I'm looking to switch to flower at week 6 if things stay on track, and I'm very happy with the growth between both plants.

Today is day 36 since both plants have sprouted. I was out of town for a few days, and the self-watering bases were just about empty when I got back today. In general, the plants both looked very happy in terms of growth and development over this past week, but the Train Wreck plant started showing signs of some deficiency (I think). It has bright yellow edges around the fan leaves on the lower half of the plant, and the yellow tips on the leaves became much brighter and a little larger in area. Earlier this week, that plant also developed some spots on the leaves which I believe came from a calcium/magnesium deficiency. I've been giving the plants a light dose of worm tea, kelp, and calmag every week, usually around 600ppm, and I gave both plants some Gaia Green organic nutrients 2 weeks ago (4-4-4, rock dust, and azomite). I've heard that those organic nutrients usually take about 2 weeks to break down and get used by the plant, so I'm concerned adding another dose of nutrients to the plant could overdose something. I'd like others' thoughts on this, and if that 2 week thing for top dressing organic nutrients is true. From a growth perspective, both plants are growing great, especially the Train Wreck's height. The Train Wreck is exactly 2 feet, and the Royal Runtz is exactly 1 foot. I love how evenly the canopy has developed on the Royal Runtz with minimal training, and I look forward to seeing it flower. I'm hoping to switch the plants to flower next week, but I'd really like to sort out the yellow edges on the Train Wreck this week before switching it.

Today is day 42 since the plants have sprouted, and they've both been happy and healthy over this past week. I placed the scrog net about 20 inches from the soil for both plants after levelling out the shorter Royal Runtz plant with some 3D printed risers and boxes of filament. The stability is surprisingly good, but we'll see if I feel that way after knocking it over in a few weeks. I swear I ordered a net with 3.5 inch squares, but I got a net with 6 inch holes instead. I tried folding it into 2 layers, and while it didn't come out how I pictured, it's functional. I had to do some extreme bending to the Train Wreck plant to level it out with the Royal Runtz, but it handled it very well. The Train Wreck recovered from the nutrient issue I had last week thanks to some advice from someone answering a question I posted on here. I believe the nutrients were building up in the reservoir since the Train Wreck was drinking slower than the Royal Runtz. Every time I watered with nutrients I was slowly building them up in the reservoir causing some toxicity on the plant. I ripped out the wicks from the bottom of the pot since the roots had grown around them, and replaced them with some new ones. Now the plant seems to be drinking at about the same rate as the Royal Runtz. I'll be switching the lights to 12/12 after tonight, and I raised the light intensity to about 450 PAR. I'll also be top dressing the plants with some 4-8-4 tomorrow to get some nutrients going for the incoming buds. Overall the plants look super happy, and I'm super happy with how they look. I'm looking forward to seeing them flower.

Today is day 49 since the seeds have sprouted, and things are still going great. I top dressed the plants 4Tbsp of Gaia Green 2-8-4, and 1Tbsp of 4-4-4 about 6 days ago, and it looks like some of the green has returned to the new growth on both of the plants. Other than the top dressing, I've just been giving them the usual bubbled tap water with a ph between 6.2-6.5. The plants have filled the net pretty well with only a couple of spaces I wish I could populate, and I did a light lollipop to each plant to get rid of the extra small growth that was well beneath the canopy. The Train Wreck is stretching faster than the Royal Runtz, which I should have expected from their growth up to this point, but I'm hoping I can keep both plants well lit for the rest of flower. The canopy is getting between 500-525PAR with the light at it's current height, and I'll increase the intensity later this week. I have to give the self-watering bases a 5/5 for their performance. Both plants have grown significant roots into the reservoirs, and they drink about a half gallon of water each day.

Today is day 56 since the plants have sprouted, and 13 since I started the 12/12 schedule. The past week has seen explosive growth from the Train Wreck, and good growth/stretching on the Royal Runtz. The stretching on the Train Wreck has me a little concerned about it touching the light at some point, but hopefully I can creep the brightness up enough to keep it still. The plants are getting around 550PAR, except the Train Wreck's top-most buds which are probably close to 800 since they're only inches from the light. I've kept the nutrients light after giving them the 2-8-4 and 4-4-4 last week, so they've only been fed some CalMag and Recharge over this past week. Even with slightly increased doses of CalMag, I still notice a few faint brown spots forming on a few leaves on both plants, so I might start including CalMag with every watering if they persist. I haven't noticed any smells yet, and I can't even smell weed if I put my face into one of the buds. When I rub my fingers on the leaves I'll get some danker smells on my fingers, but we aren't at the point of Febreezing the house yet. In general, this week has pretty hands off other than top watering a couple times and refilling the reservoirs.

Today is day 63 since the plants have sprouted, and day 20 since they've been under a 12/12 schedule. The Train Wreck plant has been very demanding in terms of nutrients, and has had a handful of leaves yellow out and fall off. Up until this week I've kept the nutrients all Gaia Green organic nutrients, but the Train Wreck demanded more so I use the General Hydroponics 3 part kit to give them some stuff to use right now. I gave the Train Wreck the high feeding according to the chart, which came out to ~1350ppm, and gave the Royal Runtz a medium feeding which came out to ~700ppm. The Royal Runtz hasn't shown the same deficiencies that the Train Wreck has, but it still have some yellowing here and there. The root system on both plants has gone bananas, and is kinda taking over the reservoir in the self-watering base. I can't really move the plants off of the bases because of the scrog net, so I'm just letting it be until I finish the grow. Hopefully they don't grow so much that it takes away a lot of space for the water in there. The buds have made good progress over this week, bulking up a little bit and starting to grow more densely throughout both plants. Overall I'm expecting a very good yield from this grow. While the buds on the Train Wreck seem to be a few days ahead in their flower cycle compared to the Royal Runtz, the buds on the Royal Runtz are showing some signs of purple and I think they'll be very pretty buds. I expect the Train Wreck will yield a fair amount more, though. Air temperatures have been getting a little over 80 degrees F during the day, and I'd like with the light currently at about 90%, it could get a little higher in the next week or two. I have the ability to move my power supply for the light outside of the tent, and that will bring temperatures down to about 72 during the day. The lower temperature should make my humidifier relax and get the humidity below 60% when the flowers start getting fat, but I'll give it a try to see how it really affects the environment.

Today is day 70 since the plants have sprouted, and day 27 of 12/12 light schedule. The buds have gotten a little plumper this week, particularly on the Train Wreck, but that plant seems to be a few days ahead in the flower process. I've been trying to overcome the yellow leaves on the Train Wreck plant, and I keep feeding the plant according to the "aggressive" feed chart from General Hydroponics, but it just isn't enough. I was a little worried about the pH in the soil getting too low or something, but the meter I have says it's actually on the high side. This point represents about halfway through the flower stage since I plan on going about 5 more weeks. The Train Wreck is expected to flower for 9-10 weeks, and the Royal Runtz for 8-9 weeks. The purple color on the Royal Runtz seems to be growing on each of the buds, and has a clear correlation to the amount of light hitting the bud. I'm interested to see if the buds below the canopy get the same purple coloration as the top buds. Temperatures were getting a little high early this week when I turned the light up to 95%, getting to about 82F. I moved the power supply for my light outside of the tent hoping it would reduce temperatures, but it only brought the temperatures down to 80F. On the bright side, my controller is generally keeping the humidity at 60% or less, compared to when the temperatures were at 82F and the humidity was closer to 65% most of the time. I measured the PAR for the tallest bud in the tent, which is getting about ~1200PAR, compared to the ~650PAR the Royal Runtz is getting. I wish I could lift up the Royal Runtz more to get it closer to even with the Train Wreck, but I've already lifted it up and both plants are bound by the scrog net. I noticed powdery mildew on a few leaves on the Royal Runtz, which I've been worried about given how bushy it is. The fan in the tent also doesn't blow directly on the plant, so I added a fan from my other tent to blow directly through the plant from the bottom, and moved the original fan to blow more directly on the Royal Runtz. I'll be turning off the humidifier completely for a bit while keeping a close eye on the plant to see if any more PM develops. Edit: While looking closer at what I thought was white powdery mildew, I noticed there were pollen sacks dropping pollen on the Royal Runtz plant. I sprayed the areas I saw polled/sacks with water and removed any buds I thought may have been affected as well as anywhere I saw pollen sacks. I'm sure I missed plenty, but I'll be watching the plants extra close from now on and assassinating any potential sacks I see. We'll see how seedy the tent gets, I guess.

Today is day 78 since the plants have sprouted, and day 36 of flower. Things have gone south. Last week I noticed what I thought was white powdery mildew on some leaves, and in response to that I placed an extra fan making sure to blow directly on over that spot. The following day, I had purchased some IPM from Athena nutrients, and while applying it to the powder I noticed a pollen sack slightly above the powder. I started looking all around the Royal Runtz plant where I found the pollen sacks, and removed around a dozen opened sacks. I had unfortunately already placed the fan over that area, so I'm sure the pollen has spread all over the tent. I've been closely watching the buds on the Royal Runtz over this week to see how they've been affected, and It looks like the bud structure on the RR is different from the Train Wreck. I feel like the buds have what appear to be seed pods forming, but the currently don't contain anything (I dissected one). The Train Wreck buds still appear to be growing normally, perhaps with some fox-tailing beginning on the really tall buds. Over the past week, I had the light very high in an attempt to satisfy the shorter Royal Runtz plant, and it looks like the temperatures being above 80F bothered the Train Wreck in particular, causing it to lose a considerable number of fan leaves. I turned the light down a hair, which might bring the intensity below 600PAR for the Royal Runtz, and I was worried that it might reduce yield on the RR, but I no longer care because of the pollen sacks. The Royal Runtz has a flower time of 8-9 weeks, and it's starting to show a good fade on some of the leaves, but I don't know how much the pollination will effect that. Both plants have been getting healthy doses of nutrients all week, except for the most recent feeding where I gave them regular water to prevent salt build up.