Runtz - Eternity Grow Cup 2025

love_2_grow The first week has passed without much fuss but with some new experiences. I have only grown in organic living soil, so when this contest came along, I decided to try the Dark Side to see how their cookies are by leaning fully into bottled nutrients. I decided to go with the Plagron range because why not? I will use Green Sensation anyway, so it made sense to use a unified system. I'll also use an AutoPot for the first time. I've wanted to try one as I need a system that allows me to travel for extended periods. Plus, handwatering is too much of a mission for someone as lazy as I am. As the substrate, I'll use coco, which is another thing I've wanted to try. I mixed the coco with perlite (another first) and some pumice I had lying around to increase aeration. 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 have NO CLUE if myco is even helpful in a synthetic grow, but I didn't feel like googling it, so I just added it anyway. (Did I mention that I'm lazy?) I kept a humidity dome (fancy talk for a clear plastic cup) over her for a couple of days before putting 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, so I must remember to turn it on now and then. It’s a bit wonky, but whatever.

love_2_grow 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. She is significantly smaller than the other plants in the tent, although that might be because of genetics or nutrients. However, I suspect it's more because I do not know what I'm doing. I have many years of experience growing in living soil, and this is my first time growing in coco/perlite using bottled nutrients. There's bound to be some learning curve. It's still early in growth, so I'm not overly concerned. I'm a bit surprised, though, as I have always heard about the explosive growth using Coco, but so far, I'm seeing the opposite.

love_2_grow 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 is still the smallest in the tent, showing some nutrient burns on several leaves. I started her feeding at 1/3 strength, but it still looks to be a bit too hot for her. I'll back off a bit more and will monitor how she reacts. It is all part of the learning curve when you start a new way of growing :) I'm fighting with the humidifier and Inkbird to maintain a reasonable humidity, but that is always a challenge growing in small tents.

love_2_grow Another week has passed, and she looks much better. She is healthy and has started to spread out, and there are no new nutrient burns after I dialed back the feeding. I've given up on maintaining good humidity in the tent as my Inkbird controller is acting up. Oh well, it'll improve as she grows. I haven't seen any signs of thrips damage on her leaves. However, I'm still adding predatory mites and nematodes to ensure any potential critters are dealt with. I will transplant her into her final pot in a day or two and then start planning the mainline. Plant - Height: 12 cm, Width: 27 cm Environment: DLI: 28, Temp: 25C, RH: 50%

love_2_grow She is a stout girl with tight internodal spacing, and this week, she had finally grown large enough to transplant into her final pot - a 15-liter AutoPot. The transplant itself was a piece of cake; I just plopped her down off-center in the pot to compensate for the fact that the pot itself wasn't in the tent's center due to the shape of the base. #JustTinyTentProblems This is my first time using AutoPots, but I will let her establish in her pot for a couple of weeks before turning on the system. Only a couple of days after the transplant, I cut off her head! It's a bit stressful to be so close to transplanting, but some future travel plans have changed, so I'm aligning the growth with them.

love_2_grow This week, she had grown large enough that it was time to start training her. Usually, I grow in fabric pots and simply use binder clips as anchors for the training wires, but this time, I'm using a plastic pot, so I needed another solution. I considered drilling holes in the pot itself, but instead, I 3D-printed a few LST anchors to attach directly to the AutoPot. She is a very chunky girl with thick, inflexible branches, but I was able to spread her out a bit. A couple of days later, I wanted to tighten the wires and managed to break off one of the branches. It was not a massive deal, as I initially kept three nodes (six branches). So, I cut off the top node with its remaining branch and am now left with four main branches, which was my initial plan anyway.

love_2_grow This week has been a week of leaf-tucking as she is very compact, with short, stubby branches. I hoped she would stretch out a bit, but no such luck. So, I have been tucking leaves several times daily to bring more light to different branches since I plan to flip her next week. On the other hand, her canopy is as flat as they come, so no complaint there. I turned on the AutoPot earlier in the week, so now she is on her own, with an occasional refill of the reservoir. A photo on auto. I also started changing the light schedule to transition her 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.

love_2_grow This first week of flower was entirely uneventful.

love_2_grow I’m an idiot. (Something I doubt comes as a surprise to my girlfriend.) It was time to add another nutrient to the feeding, so I had to empty and refill the reservoir with new nutes. Lately, I’ve noticed how fast the bottles have emptied. I found it a bit surprising, but as I’m a clueless noob when it comes to bottled nutes, I figured it was down to being new to me. Fortunately, I studied the feeding chart more closely this time when I suddenly noticed that the recommended amount was per 10 liters of water, not per liter, as I had thought for the last two months. DOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Luckily, I’ve been feeding her at 1/3 strength, so in reality, she “only” got 3X. To make matters even worse. I even bought an EC meter specially for this grow, but I hadn’t even bothered to unpack it. Did I mention that I’m an idiot? The fact that the plant isn’t a shriveled, burned mess is nothing short of a miracle. The only visible sign is a light discoloration of her leaves in the upper canopy.

love_2_grow The most exciting thing this week is that I gave her a shave. I cleaned the lower canopy to promote better airflow and reduce annoying popcorn buds. I also have a couple of small fans below the canopy to keep the air moving.

love_2_grow Another uneventful week has passed. Flower is always boring. The only thing worth mentioning is the side lighting I installed. It's a simple LED strip x4, one for each corner. I've used them in the past, and they seem to work well in the tiny tent. She has a funky look, with light colored edges on her old leaves due to severe overfeeding. Her newer leaves look better, but still have slightly burnt tips, so I think I need to feed even less.

love_2_grow It turned out that pimping the tent last week was pretty pointless. I had a plant in my larger tent herm on me, leaving an empty spot in the tent. It felt wasteful to run my big light without plants under it, so I decided to move this girl into the vacant spot. The trade-off is that I'll have to hand-water her as I had to elevate her to even out the canopy. She doesn't smell much yet, but she is visually striking with the leaves' yellow edges. Several (non-growing) friends have remarked how pretty they think she is. Meanwhile, I'm just amazed she pulled through, considering how severely I overfed her.

love_2_grow Zzzzzzzzzz. This week was entirely uneventful, as late flower usually is. It’s only a waiting game at this point. A few more weeks to go.

love_2_grow There's not much to report this week, as I ignored the plants most of the week due to travel and having guests. The only thing I did was rearrange the tent to fit a dehumidifier.

love_2_grow Another week has passed—nothing to report. We're on the home stretch now.

love_2_grow There's not long to go now, and we're getting really close to chop day. I have stopped feeding her, and I'm only giving her plain water. I should look at the trichomes, but I have been too busy/lazy to take out the microscope. She doesn't smell much, but there is an evident pine smell, and the buds are rock-hard and sticky to the touch. Her buds are an ideal size for washing, and I might turn her into fresh-frozen rosin, but it depends on whether I have enough freezer space. Otherwise, I'll dry her before washing for rosin.