Nain Rouge

The first week has passed without much fuss. Normally, I transplant the plug into a pot as soon as I see germination, but I've been so busy lately that I took a few days. I transplanted her into a one-liter pot, adding mycorrhiza to both the pot and to the plug. I kept a humidity dome (fancy talk for a clear plastic cup) over her for a couple of days before putting in my tiny humidifier in the tent. It is ridiculously small but gets the job done, considering how small the tent is. It has a timer, though, so I must remember to turn it on now and then. It’s a bit wonky, but whatever.

The second week of veg was even more uneventful than the first. All I did was install a couple of small fans and replace the tiny humidifier since it broke down, even though it's less than two months old. I guess it wasn't meant to run constantly. No matter, Amazon gave me a full refund. I installed another humidifier controlled by an Inkbird controller. It's a bit large for the space, but I need something to increase the humidity. The plants are still too small to transpire significantly, and the ambient humidity is relatively low in winter. The tent is a bit cramped, but it'll work until I can move the plants into my big tent in a week or so.

Another week has passed without much fuss. The plants sure are low maintenance when they are young. However, I found the telltale silver spots on a couple of leaves on another plant, and sure enough, I found a few thrips, although it's not a massive infestation. Yet. It's been a couple of years since I last had thrips, so I have no clue where they came from. I suspect some coriander I brought home from and am now trying to grow hydroponically. In any case, I sprayed down all plants several times with neem oil and ordered predatory mites, which should arrive today. She should get transplanted in a few days as she slowly outgrows her tiny pot. I'm fighting with the humidifier and Inkbird to maintain a reasonable humidity, but that will improve as I move the plants into my big tent after the transplant.

It was time to transplant and move into the big tent this week. I sprinkled the roots with myco during the transplant and placed the plant in a double pot inside the big final pot. The flexibility of using double pots is great, as I can easily take out the plant or move it around when I need it. I haven't seen any signs of thrips damage on her leaves. However, I'm still adding predatory mites and nematodes to ensure all critters are dealt with. I started sprouting some alfalfa, barley, and corn seeds, which I will turn into a sprouted seed tea in a few days. Plant - Height: 14 cm, Width: 30 cm Environment: DLI: 25, Temp: 27C, RH: 75%

She's been having a good week. The new soil and the sprouted seed tea I gave to her early in the week had her raging with growth It was clear that she had outgrown her pot and I had to transplant her again, only a week after the last time, but hey, having your plant love life is a good problem. The transplant went according to the regular drill of adding myco to the hole in the pot and the root ball. One new thing is that I'm trying out using coco coir mats for soil cover. It's a wee bit small for the pot but seems to work reasonably well so far. Only a couple of days after the transplant, I cut off her head! It's all a bit stressed with the second transplant and then topping, but some future travel plans have changed, so I'm aligning the grow to them.

I left her alone for most of this week, considering all the trauma she endured the previous week with transplanting and topping. However, I worked on the tent, adding another circulation fan, a 3D-printed camera mount, and an additional power strip. Finally, I rewired half of the tent. Towards the end of the week, it was time to start training her to even out the canopy in preparation for the flip. She is the runt in the tent and needs a while longer before I can flip. Before the training, I installed a drip watering system, as it would have been a hassle to do it afterward. I haven't turned it on yet, but I will in the next few days to give myself enough time to dial it in before my travels. I stretched her out using binder clips and wire. Typically, I use soil anchors as well, but I couldn't this time due to the coco coir discs. This girl has thin, spindly branches. Perfect for training, but I am concerned that she will need support in flower. I saw some light interveinal chlorosis earlier in the week, which looked like a Magnesium deficiency, so I gave her an epsom salt drench, and she looked much perkier the next day.

This week has been a week of brutality, as I managed to break a branch on every plant in the tent. I plan to flip the girls next week, so I was a bit too overzealous in my eagerness to spread out and flat the canopy in this final week of veg. I didn't notice when I broke the branch, and fortunately, it wasn't a bad break, so I just let her do her thing without my help. It has been four days, and the branch looks fine, although it hasn't stretched out as much as I'd like. I also started changing the light schedule to transition the girls from veg to flower. I changed from 24/0 to 20/4 for a couple of days, and for the last couple of days, I changed it to 16/8. Tomorrow, I will change it to 12/12 to finish the flip.

This first week of flower was entirely uneventful.

This week was only marginally more exciting than last week. I brewed compost tea with worm castings, insect frass, alfalfa meal, basalt, rock dust, kelp meal, malted barley, and molasses. To make feeding her easier, I took some cuts and defoliated her lower canopy very lightly before applying the tea. The tea solids were applied as a top dressing. Later in the week, she got an epsom salt foliar feed. She had slight chlorosis in a few leaves, so I figured it couldn't hurt. I'm delighted with the performance of my latest soil recipe. Although the plant is the pickiest in the tent, and it has a few yellow leaf tips, overall, it is very healthy and vibrant.

I was planning to clean up the lower canopy this week, but I hurt my back while biking, so that didn't happen. Hopefully, next week.