One Milky Way F1

drakkon The Milky Way F1 seedling is growing and appears healthy. It resides in my office under an Iongrid S22 LED lamp that hangs from the underside of a motorized height-adjustable desk. The light intensity is currently set to 6 of 10. The motorized desk makes it convenient to adjust the lamp's height. Air circulation is provided by a tiny USB-powered electric fan and the room's HVAC registers. The plant, light and desk are not in a tent, so the plant simply exists in the room's ambient temperature and humidity. Other than my typical HVAC settings, I don't plan to control the room's temperature and humidity for the plant specifically. So far, the plant has received water only, without any fertilizer.

drakkon The Milky Way F1 has received no additional nutrients yet, beyond what is already in the FoxFarm Happy Frog soil. It continues to grow nicely and will soon be ready for transplanting and training. I plan to put it in Happy Frog soil in a "yellow" size air pot (~2.2 gal), but haven't decided yet whether I'll top it or not. Light intensity remains at 6 out of 10, and the plant has grown just a little closer to the lamp.

drakkon On day 19, the Milky Way F1 was transplanted into a "yellow" size air pot with FoxFarm Happy Frog soil amended with a little pumice. The transplant hole and her roots were sprinkled with mycorrhizae granules. She suffered no transplant shock whatsoever, so I went ahead and topped her and removed the lowest pair of branches and leaves the next day (day 20). Light intensity remains at 6 out of 10.

drakkon The Milky Way F1 continues to grow, and a few pre-flowers have appeared. I think this is the last week of her vegetative phase. She now has eight main branches, two each sprouting from nodes 2, 3, 4, and 5. This week, I started to train the upper four branches and the main stem to achieve an even canopy and radial distribution. My goal is to arrange the bottom four branches as a cross-shape (+), and the upper four branches to form a cross-shape, too, but rotated 45 degrees in relation to the lower cross (see top-view photo). I also removed a few leaves, tucked a few others, and snipped a handful of the lowest secondary shoots. Her thirst is increasing compared to last week, and she received half-strength vegetative nutrients with each watering.

drakkon The Milky Way F1 is definitely in the flowering stage now, with many stigmas emerging from the growing tips. I performed light defoliation and mild LST training to encourage a few additional tops beyond her eight main branches. She's undergoing a growth spurt as shown by the photos from days 33 and 37, but remains very compact in stature overall. Lamp-to-plant distance maintained by adjusting the height of the lamp or raising the plant. Over the course of the week, I began notching up the light intensity setting for short periods (from 6 to 7 or 8). Waterings now include both vegetative and bloom nutrients, and this where I admit that my watering volume entries are estimates only. I mix nutrients in a jug, from which I usually pour directly while manually top-watering several different plants, making exact volumes difficult to measure. The ambient indoor temps and humidity are creeping up as summer sets in, but I don't expect them to become a problem as long as I keep my eye on it and run the AC sufficiently.

drakkon The Milky Way F1 continues to grow and bloom. A few trichomes are starting to appear on and around the flowers. Gentle training and light defoliation continued.

drakkon The Milky Way F1 is doing well as of day 50. I removed the LST tie-downs and her branches sprung up just a tiny bit. Light defoliation continued. The trichomes are increasing, but the buds are not truly frosty...yet. There's a faint skunky smell, but only when handled or disturbed. I took a pH reading and it came in right at 7.0, which is fine with me.

drakkon My Milky Way F1 is looking great as of day 57. Her buds are enlarging rapidly and they're covered in trichomes. For the past week, she's been getting Organics Alive bloom nutrients at full strength and vegetative nutrients at reduced strength (approximately every other watering). To help maintain an even canopy, I re-tied down a few of the branches that I untied last week. The phone snapshots include the whole plant to show her progress of growth. To help illustrate scale, I included a 24" x 18" cutting mat (with a 1" grid) in some of the pics. The remaining photos are closeups of buds from the same day.

drakkon The Milky Way F1 is doing mostly ok, but a few leaves are beginning to exhibit mild lightening with browning tips and edges. It's not too bad, so I'm not overly concerned. I think it's mild nutrient burn but am not 100% certain. The soil pH is 7.0, which is not alarming, and I doubt it's a deficiency in any of the big three because I have been feeding consistently. I watered and flushed a little with with plain water today, and will keep my eye on it. (Reduced nutrients will be reflected in next week's entry.) In case it's not nutrient burn and is instead minor light burn, I removed the 1.5" riser on which she normally rests to increase the distance to the lamp. Before removing the riser, she and an adjacent Medusa F1 were receiving approximately 500 PPFD and a DLI of 36 (with a lamp-setting of 7 out of 10). The Milky Way F1 is now a little father from the lamp than the Medusa, which is not showing the same symptom. Photos this week are limited to phone snapshots to show progress. I will include more closeup glamour shots in the coming weeks.

drakkon I watered the Milky Way F1 with plain water this week, in an attempt to address what I suspected was minor nutrient and/or light burn. There are still some leaves with yellowed edges and brown tips, but they're disappearing bit by bit as I defoliate here and there. The buds are still gaining size, but not as fast as those of her Medusa F1 neighbor. I'll start checking trichomes and watching for signs of ripening and fading in the coming week(s). Photos include snapshots to show progress, as well as some close-up trichomes and glamour shots.

drakkon As of day 78, the Milky Way F1 is getting close to harvest, but not quite. It's possible the next update will be a harvest entry, but we shall see. She's had only water for a week or more, but isn't fading much yet. Her lower fan leaves are starting to yellow and turn pale, but barely. There are not very many amber trichomes on her buds, but lots of cloudy ones. I will continue to monitor for ripeness and will harvest according to my best judgment.

drakkon The Milky Way F1 is almost ready to harvest. There are tons of trichomes covering the buds, some of which are starting to turn amber. However, I'd like to see her colors fade a little more before I pull the trigger. I think today, or any day in the next week or two would be fine to do it. Recently, I've been removing some leaves to get a head start on trimming and manicuring. At this point, she looks nice, smells nice, and I'm happy with the size and density of her buds.

drakkon Except for drying, curing, and smoking, this concludes my Milky Way F1 adventure. I harvested the plant on day 92. Overall, the plant was a pleasure to grow. It thrived from the get-go, and I am more than happy with a wet yield of 198 grams given my setup. The buds are attractive, dense, and laden with trichomes. I discovered a few mites toward the end, so I decided to wash this harvest. The final proof of my efforts will be in the dry yield and quality of smoke. Photos show the plant before harvest, the trimmed buds, and my bud-washing process and setup. I will return in due time with a dry weight and smoke report.