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.