First Grow - Time To Learn

I went a bit overboard with the bucket I think - using about 4 gal. of a 5 gal bucket with holes put in bottom for drainage. Growing medium is 50/50 mix of basic potting soil (didn't realise this soil had no added nutrients until after I opened the bag - next time will probo buy promix) and coco coir (expanded from brick) with a couple handfuls of perlite mixed in. When I realised there were no base nutes in the soil I watered the soil down with maybe 2 litres of water with GO Bio Thrive Grow (4-3-3) and GO Bio Weed [seaweed] (0.2-0-0.3). That was about 2 days before seed went into soil. Nutes used again on day 7. All feeds are PH'd to 6.5 using white vinegar as PH down. Seed was germinated in wet paper towel for 2 days and then planted with 1/4 inch tap root. Broke soil 2 days later. Day count is from breaking soil. In 2x2x4 grow tent with 150w 2700K CFL and reflector in horizontal position about 6 to 7 inches above plant. Aprox. 180w worth of small CFLs (13-23w) are also in tent over a couple of bag seeds, so may be giving of some more light to RD. As RD grows, the bagseeders will be removed from the tent - I am just experimenting with them. Large floor fan currently sits in front of open tent door blowing in (otherwise temp goes up to 34 Celsius). Small out-take fan got set to wrong amps or whatever and died. Will try and have more appropriate air setup next month. Any advice is well appreciated. I am keeping this cheap, want to stick with CFLs.

There hasn't been much vertical growth (only 1/4 inch), but it is looking healthy and seems to be on track with other Royal Dwarfs I see journaled here. I am using a water/water/feed schedule and bucket lifting now as advised by several of you (thanks!). I have marked on this journal that I am going to LST, but so far I am gonna wait and see how much she stretches when she hits her growth spurt. If it doesn't get very tall I might just do leaf tucking. Though short, she does have the straightest, sturdiest looking stem I have seen. On day 13 I added a bottom reflector cut from a spare strip of material that came with my tent. I figure it doesn't hurt to bounce back as much light as possible even if it is difused at that point, and it might help the lower side branches develop. Here is my thinking for down the road if anyone sees fit to correct me. When I see the first pre-flowers I am going to give her a dose of Canna PK 13/14 and then switch from veg to bloom nutes when she properly begins to flower. Sorry for the differences in colour in the photos...different light sources. Anyway, that is all to report for now. BTW, does anyone else like to sit in front of their tent and just watch the plants like a fishtank?

Bought a more appropriate fan, but day time temps are still fluctuating between 28 and 30 Celsius. I raised the light a wee bit which helps. There is some yellowing on the first true leaves (the single-fingered ones), but the rest of the leaves and new growth seems good. I have Cal/Mag and bloom nutrients being delivered tomorrow. I removed the bottom reflector I added last week as I agreed with advice in comments (thanks!) that it would probably just cause mold, She has grown a whole half inch in height since day 14 and I am quite sure she added that since yesterday, so maybe we are coming into the stretch. Overall, I am feeling pretty good thus far 😊 I decided to start my Canuck Cheese Auto, so will be starting a diary for that once she breaks soil.....

Week 4 has gone well, I think. She is stretching and blooming, and her colour and form seem good. At the beginning of the week I gave a dose of Canna PK 13/14 and cal/mag. Day 25 I saw the first few flowers and did some minor LST to bring her down a bit and expose the lower side branches to the light. This seems to have gone well and I love how quickly the top of the plant can turn upwards towards the light. End of the week I fed with a slightly light dose of Jungle Juice Bloom (I want to switch to the complete JJ line-up for future grows).

Week 5 and flowering is in effect. On day 29 I removed a couple of bottom shade leaves and tied down a couple of others. She is currently 6 inches tall, but the main stem is actually 8 inches, with 2 in the horizontal where I originally tied it down. Last weeks height from soil was actually 4 (5 with horizontal), so she has grown 2 inches on the main stem. I flushed the bucket near the beginning of the week because I honestly have been getting almost no runoff from the bottom while feeding her thus far and I was reading about salt build ups, so figured it wouldn't hurt, and I don't think it did. The past few days have been adding 46 true watts cfl (2 x 23w) aimed at the lower buds. End of week fed with bloom and cal/mag. On a side note, my cheese seed didn't germinate. Oh well...

Much more growth this week. On day 40 I tied down 2 lateral branches growing off the horizontal portion of stem from the original LST. I also removed 2 or 3 bottom shade leaves and have been tucking and re-tucking additional leaves daily. Temperature has become stable as the plant has grown above the rim of the bucket and the light has been raised. I certainly made a mistake using too big of a bucket and not filling it all the way. Along with the horizontal 150w cfl with reflector above, I have added 86 watts (2 x 23w cfl and 1 x 40w cfl) around the sides. There are a few burnt tips from putting the side bulbs too close, but I think that is the only problem I have seen this past week. According to the breeder there should be only 2 to 3 weeks left, so I am hoping the buds will really start to fatten up. Any advice on what might help this along or even boost the result (other than adding more lights) is appreciated 😊

This week the growth surge oddly switched from the main stem to one of the side branches which stretched up taller than the main stem. On day 46 I tied the side branch over a bit. I burnt off half a leaf finger with a bulb and there are burnt tips which I assume has something to do with nutrients. I am not going to worry about the tips now as the trichomes appear to be almost 100% cloudy and I am starting to see brown pistils here and there. I will just use water from this point and keep checking the trichomes over the next week. When I start to see a scattering of amber trichomes I will harvest.

Week 8 showed no real growth. Pistils began to curl and amber trichomes to appear, and the shade leaves began to turn yellow. I used no nutrients at all this week, but flushed at beginning of week and then let the soil dry through the week.

Overall, it was fun to grow and seemed to go fairly well. My next grow will be using my new LED light, so I am excited to see how that goes. My humble thanks to every one who offered advice, left comments, or just took the time to have a look. I hope you will all check out my next diary 😊