Sundae Driver by Royal Queen Seeds #1

SpaceCadet3000 Day 8: Top dressed about 1/4 TSP of Great White Mycorrhizae around the base of each plant before watering. They still look like they are stretching a bit, but now the cups are removed and I've pointed fans at them, so hopefully they'll get a bit sturdier to compensate. Day 9: Covered top of soil with activated EM-1 spray. Continued spraying with plain water until all dry spots were damp and the myco was blended well with the soil. I'll assume the fungi are the fruiting bodies of something in the Great White mix, although I was led to believe that the types of myco used in living soil don't typically produce fruiting bodies like this and it's more likely from one of the substrate ingredients. Either way, neglecting them for a day lets them shrivel up and die under the heat of the LED lamp. I was spraying the top of the soil with water whenever it dried, which probably caused over-increase in humidity and encouraged growth. Not sure the best method for managing moisture levels when watering by hand in living soil, so I was just lightly misting whenever the top layer was dry. Apparently this is too much. I'll just use the same approach as I would with outdoor plants and water it when it looks like it needs water, instead of sticking to any kind of routine. Day 10: Since yesterday morning I've been waiting for the top layer to dry entirely before misting and I haven't seen any more mushrooms popping up, so they must have been appearing because I kept the soil too moist. Can still see the mycellium spreading out through the soil after misting, so it seems like I've found a good practice. Day 12: Replaced ceramic heater with tube heater. Temperature is much more stable. Been struggling to lower temp/humidity at night. Removed the dehumidifier and changed the exhaust fan settings, so it still runs constantly during the day and also runs at night whenever humidity is above 55%. No more humidity issues, but temperatures are still too high at night. So now I need to find something to replace the tower fan I'm using for cooling.

SpaceCadet3000 Day 14: Sprinkled ~1 TSP of Great White Mycorrhizae around each plant, spread out 2 - 3 inches from the base of the plant, then misted with plain water until the myco was fully mixed into the soil. The pots are definitely lighter since the first proper watering, but still contain plenty of moisture. I guess it'll be at least a few days before they need to be re-watered. Day 15: Applied a generous amount of activated EM-1 with a spray bottle. Day 17: Was originally going to leave these plants to do their own thing, but this morning I decided to start some HST. Just bending/pinching the stems a little until they felt loose. Will wait until all plants are fully in veg (7-pointed leaves) before tying them down. Probably in 2 - 3 days. Leaf stems are turning purple. Could be genetics, but I suspect a lack of available phosphorus because I only let the inoculant work for 1 day before planting. I'll let the soil cook for a week or two next time and see if the leaf stems still turn purple. Day 18: New growth doesn't have purple stems, so maybe the myco helped, or the roots weren't developed enough.. or something. Plants have recovered well from LST, but the leaves look a bit droopy today. Could be too much light because of all the new foliage, or just recovering from stress. It could also be overwatering, but I've only been using a spray bottle, the soil has been drying out regularly and the moisture level wasn't too high to begin with, so probably not. I've raised the light to around 20" and bumped up the power 2-3%. Will continue playing with it over the next couple of days to make sure the distance is optimal. Already leaves are looking a bit perkier.. I think. Also couldn't resist removing the growth from the lowest nodes. Was going to leave them, too.. but my tomato grower instincts kicked in. The front left plant has 7 blades on the 3rd node, the others only have 5. I'll wait for them to catch up before I tie them down. Hopefully by then it'll be obvious whether the front left one needs topping to keep them all level.

SpaceCadet3000 Feeding with all supplements except molasses - I want to make sure that the ecology is dependent upon carbohydrates from the roots. Day 21: Did some more bending today in all of their places. Had to water the soil properly for the first time a couple of days ago and it's drying out slowly, so they probably won't need anything at least a few days... leaves look very full. Day 22: Decided to tie them down for a little while and let the canopy spread out.

SpaceCadet3000 Decided to untie them as I've seen the growth I wanted. Will continue HST until flower. Genetics seem really strong. Haven't noticed any major variance. The plants respond well to training and seem to handle slightly excessive lighting without showing signs of stress.

SpaceCadet3000 Continued with feed schedule, training etc. Had to tie down some of the branches so that they'd spread out a bit. Aiming to avoid any major pruning - only happy accidents whilst supercropping are allowed. Nothing major to report. Lots of new, rapid growth. All looks pretty healthy. Introduced an FM radio to the environment, so the plants are now bathed in the soothing sounds of Classic FM. I'm over-watering slightly because I didn't plan my living soil recipe well enough... will be more stable next grow. Managed to avoid defoliating so far, but the leaves are starting to lay flat on each other so I need to begin clearing room for more growth. Day 40: First time I noticed a definitive fresh weed smell when I opened the tent. I'm not the best judge, of course,

SpaceCadet3000 Continued bending the girls over whenever I got the chance this week. I've been defoliating more aggressively this week. I know people say it's 'safe' to keep manipulating the plant for the first 3 weeks of flower, but in weeks 2 and 3 I only want to be tucking - if there is any monstrous growth then I'll consider folding stems. The tent is getting a bit crowded. Next time I'll either train them more aggressively in early veg, to keep the canopy under control, or I'll just grow 2 plants instead of 3 and veg them for an extra week. From now until cropping I mainly want to see even distribution of 'tops' throughout the canopy (light-seeking behaviour) and I want to see if the branches can support their buds, with as little manipulation as possible. I prefer to manipulate plants more during veg and then leave them alone during flower (I guess everyone does?) - so I want genetics which complement this behavior. Day 48: Some of the new growth looks like it could have either Iron, Manganese or Zinc deficiency/lockout, but it could just be the expected lighter colour of new growth, appearing more prominent because of its vigor. Or I suppose it could be the plant failing to metabolise those nutrients properly, whilst trying to switch to flower and dealing with the stress of defoliation.. but I doubt that. Will add some veg + bloom if it continues.

SpaceCadet3000 Don't want to train/crop/defoliate now unless absolutely necessary. Reduced feed to just keep the myco alive during flower. I want to make sure the soil requires as little amendment with mobile nutrients as possible for the next grow - I will assume that the living soil is doing its job and that there will be plenty of immobile nutrients available by the time the next seeds are planted.. unless this yellowing becomes more of a concern.