Solo Gaia F1

drakkon The Gaia F1 is doing well on day seven. It's working on its third set of leaves and shows no signs of trouble. Calculating the watering volume is difficult, because I watered it by briefly submerging it and letting it absorb water from the bottom and sides.

drakkon The Gaia F1 grew quite vigorously this past week, and looks pretty good to me at 14 days. Her leaf-area increased substantially, and side branches are well underway. She got a plain-water misting several times per day, and transplantation and topping are on the near horizon. She's a little ahead of her Watermelon Automatic neighbor in growth and stature.

drakkon It was an eventful week for the Gaia F1. She was topped on day 17 and transplanted on day 18 without suffering even the slightest shock or slowdown. At the time of topping, I also pruned the two branches from her first node, which now leaves her with nodes #2, #3, #4 and #5, for a total of eight main branches. She is currently growing vigorously and branching profusely. Each day, I mist her with water a few times. I have not given her any extra nutrients beyond what's in the Happy Frog soil, other than some mycorrhizae I added during transplant. Training will commence in the upcoming week.

drakkon The Gaia F1 underwent training this past week, and she continues to grow vigorously. I fed her once with half-strength grow nutrients and once with diluted cal-mag. I am very satisfied with the plant's size and development as of day 28.

drakkon The Gaia F1 started flowering this week on approximately day 33. She continues to grow and thrive as of day 35. Training and light defoliation continues, to keep the canopy even and growing tips exposed to plenty of light. I have been misting her with water occasionally, but will phase that out now that flowers are developing. Dilute nutrients were applied every second or third watering.

drakkon As of day 42, the Gaia F1 is looking good, growing quickly, and producing plenty of flowers. Training is mostly done now, but light defoliation continues. A few mid-to-older leaves have faint rust-colored blotches, but they're very slight. I also see a few dots here and there that look like mite-bites. I've been removing affected leaves as I see them, and unless it gets worse, it'll be just part of my ongoing defoliation. There's no odor to speak of yet. Bloom nutrients increased, but still less than full strength. Now that she's outgrown the 18" x 24" backdrop I've been using, I want a new, larger one.

drakkon The past week was not fantastic for the Gaia F1, but not disastrous either. Some leaves showed signs of stress, and I suspect the culprit is nutrient burn. I went back to giving her plain water, and the issue seems to be under control. I also spotted a couple mites and mite-bites, but nothing widespread. Aside from those issues, she's coming along pretty good. Buds are filling in, and I'm starting to see trichomes, too. I think I also overfed her neighbor, a Watermelon Automatic, and the same with my Epsilon F1s in a recent grow. I guess I'll call it a learning opportunity and be careful not to overfeed going forward. I included a photo showing a few of the leaves I removed. Please speak up if you think I'm wrong about it being nutrient burn.

drakkon As of day 56, the Gaia F1 is doing fine but not excellent. After showing what I think were signs of nutrient burn the prior week, I administered a plain water flush, and then re-introduced nutrients at a lower concentration for one watering. She has recovered to a degree, but a little leaf browning and curling continues. I removed and trimmed some of the worst affected leaves. Her symptoms are similar to, but less severe than, those of the same-aged Watermelon Automatic which shares the same lamp and water and feeding schedule. Despite any issues, the buds are looking and filling out pretty nicely, and they are just starting to emit a faint citrus and pine scent. Leaf-charts and AI diagnostic tools point to nutrient burn, P or Ca deficiency, or a PH issue, but I really don't think it's PH given my soil and setup (tested at 7). I'll continue to monitor her and we'll see what next week brings. For now, I think I'll stick with administering very dilute nutrients every second or third watering.

drakkon The Gaia F1 is doing ok, and the buds are starting to fill in and plump up a little. Whether it was due to burn, a deficiency, or something else, a fair number of leaves looked unhealthy, so I removed them. I hope she's past the worst of it and finishes strong. At this point, I'm feeding her very dilute bloom nutrients every other watering. I'll start checking trichomes soon. I've seen a few mites, but no webs, and recently, I've spotted a handful of fungus gnats. It's possible she's suffering from the gnats, but I haven't seen more than one gnat in the air at a time so I think the larvae are few in number. However, since I've spotted even one gnat, I will take measures with this plant and all others going forward. Those measures will include paying closer attention to letting the soil dry out more between waterings, adding a layer of pumice to the top of the soil, possibly using DE, and trying out fabric pots for the first time instead of using air pots. The Gaia F1 appears to be in better condition than her same-aged Watermelon Automatic grow-neighbor, which is on a similar watering and feeding schedule. No bud closeups this week, but I did try out the blue, metric side of my photo backdrop.

drakkon The Gaia F1 is getting close to harvest time. The buds could use a little time to plump up more, but I'm starting to see some amber trichomes here and there. She has been through a little adversity, but has weathered it better than the Watermelon Automatic that grows next to her and which was cared for essentially the same (environment, food, watering, etc.). I don't expect this Gaia will yield as much as my recent Medusa or Milky Way, but I think I'll still get a worthwhile harvest. Reviewing the weeks in the diary, you can see that something went wrong around week 7, because in weeks 4, 5, and 6, she appeared to be on a great trajectory. I made some modest efforts to diagnose and intervene, but in the end I must have got it wrong, as she never fully bounced back. With more analysis, I think I underfed her as flowering initiated, and may have overwatered, too. What I originally thought was burn I now think was a P deficiency. I understand autos can be finicky, so I'm taking it in stride. It's a good learning experience and I'll just buckle down on subsequent plants to address any of the issues it might have been. 1) Go back to aerating my Happy Frog significantly with pumice or similar. 2) Avoid overwatering and let the soil dry more between waterings. 3) Inhibit gnats by covering top of soil with pumice and trying out fabric pots in lieu of air pots. 4) Inhibit mites with companion peppermint and basil plants (already sown). 5) Increase food, especially bloom nutrients when the time comes, while still being cautious about overfeeding. The same-aged Gaia F1 that grows next to the Watermelon Automatic has a similar story, but it withstood the adversity much better and I think it will produce some nice buds. Both plants were cared for almost identically, so it's an interesting comparison.