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DutchBarnacle Popped a bean into a mug with water, put the mug into the closet and I'll check in a few days.
Still busy with the curing process of last cycle.
Day G3: Germination!
I cleaned out the tent from the last cycle, adjusted the light distance and filled up a 20L grow bag with a fresh mix of prepared soil that I store in a herb container in the garden. The herb container holds left over soil from the previous outdoor cycle, fertilised with 4-4-4 pellets, some coffee grounds and whatever kitchen/garden waste that's easy to break down. To that I've added more perlite - to up the ratio - and some regular watering both manually and through rain. Every day or so, I take a rake and mix the soil to evenly distribute minerals and nutrients and to air the mix. After filling the grow bag, I emptied out the bag of the Sherbet Queen into the container to revitalise that soil too.
I planted the lil' sprout into the soil and watered her in, I don't expect to have to water her (edit: with nutrients, lol) until she blooms, but we'll see.
Day G4 / Day 1:
Popped off her humidity dome, removed her shell. Watered with 400ml tapwater (PH 6.6)
Day 2:
Nothing new yet, noticed about PPFD=200 at the soil - lowered light to achieve PPFD=300. Also, since germination is quite straight forward and I already have some pictures, I've decided to not take pictures every day unless something interesting happens. Watered again with 300ml tapwater (PH 6.6).
Day 3:
Current humidity in the tent is below 40%. The NL will have to deal with that until she starts vegging - I expect it to rise once sufficient water is added to the soil. Soil is still moist, so no water today to prevent her from damping off.
Day 4:
Watered with 350ml tapwater (PH6.6) - I'm using my trusty 2L milk jug as reservoir.
Day 5:
Soil still moist, no water.
Day 6:
Soil is damp, no water. She doesn't seem too thirsty yet. 30°C / RH48% first true leaves seem curled in a torsion manner.
Day 7:
Soil is dry enough, watered with 500ml (PH 6.6). I'm enjoying the ease of this grow. Unlike last time, I'm not concerned about her reaching veg, so visits take about a minute.
Day 8:
Briefly checked and realize the lights were still off. As AI did not want to disturb her I left her to be.
Day 9:
Soil still somewhat moist. She's growing her second set of true leaves. She's close to veg now, so I'll use the remaining Liter of water in my PH adjusted, and now dechlorinated milk jug reservoir to hopefully kickstart her growth. I'm not too afraid of her damping off now. 1L (6.5) distributed in a 15cm diameter around her stem, with a tiny bit close to her to encourage her to grow her roots wide.
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Used method
Glass Of Water
Germination Method
1
Week 1. Vegetation
1mo ago
1/13
5 cm
Height
18 hrs
Light Schedule
27 °C
Day Air Temp
6.5
pH
50 %
Air Humidity
25 °C
Solution Temp
20 liters
Pot Size
0.5 liters
Watering Volume
30 cm
Lamp Distance
DutchBarnacle Day 10: Welcome to veg!
It's clear she's in veg now, soil was dry enough to warrant watering her with 1L ( PH6.3) poured mostly outside of her current rootzone.
Day 11: Time for a boost!
She's picking up speed, so even though the soil was still quite damp, I watered her with another 1L (PH6.3) poured mostly outside of her current rootzone, to encourage her to start building those roots!
To boost her growth on the upper side, I've lowered the light with about 15cm to 40cm above the canopy. This has raised the PPFD to about 400 just above the canopy.
Added: I entertained the thought of starting the defoliation, but I decided to give her an extra day or so because I'd be taking off too much mass.
Day 12: Defoliation!!
Today is the day. As you can see from the first day 12 image, her main stem has grown exponentially, just like her top most leaves. I cut away the larger leaves, and decided to take away her newest leaves too since her internodal spacing was increasing too (her main stem was taking off too fast).
Watered with 1L PH6.3.
Day 13: Check-up
Not expecting any major growth, however she seems to have taken the defoliation well and somehow makes me feel she'll grow exponentially in the coming week. Even the smallest nodes on the stubs of leaves formerly attached to the main stem seem to be doing well.
Day 14: Another one
Soil was dry enough, watered with 2L (PH6.3). She's vigorous. And I hope her lowest nodes catch up to the apex.
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Used techniques
Defoliation
Technique
2
Week 2. Vegetation
25d ago
1/11
10 cm
Height
18 hrs
Light Schedule
25 °C
Day Air Temp
6.5
pH
55 %
Air Humidity
25 °C
Solution Temp
20 liters
Pot Size
1 liters
Watering Volume
30 cm
Lamp Distance
DutchBarnacle 🔥🔥
Day 17–18 summary (no watering)
The plant is showing vigorous growth, especially at the main apex, which required some intervention. I shifted from traditional staking to supercropping, pinching stems to lay them flatter without removing too much foliage. This helped open up the canopy, reduce shading, and guide growth without excessive defoliation.
Despite the stress of supercropping, she’s responded well and even accelerated growth within 24 hours. I’m keeping a close eye on potential stress effects (like early flowering), but so far she seems unfazed.
Compared to my last grow (Sherbet Queen), where topping led to four main branches and a constant struggle to keep the lower nodes on par with the uppers — eventually resulting in four dominant colas above a cluttered lower canopy — this grow is already showing more even development. All the smaller apexes are keeping pace with the top, giving me confidence that this canopy will grow much more uniformly. I’ll still try to keep the main stem in check, but overall this approach feels more balanced.
Alongside this, I’m letting the soil dry back further and applying a perimeter-focused watering strategy, aiming to push the roots outward and strengthen the overall plant.
Day 19-20: Watered with 2L PH5.8
Guess I won't be needing my PH- anymore: apple cider vinegar works just fine. Milkjug PH went from 8.3 down to 4.3 and I had to empty it out almost twice to raise PH back to 5.8 - with just a royal splash of vinegar. Watering around the perimeter is difficult with all the new growth, so I'm reverting back to alternating flooding and waiting for the water to be absorbed (you'll stop hearing crackling and popping). For the next watering, I'll move back to the PH-, simply to empty out the bottle.
She's had her share of training, and currently all that's left to do is to monitor her growth and tuck like she's preparing for a dragwalk. I'll probably share an update at the end of this week, because there's not much going on aside from new growth.
Day 21: No water
More tucking!
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Used techniques
Defoliation
Technique
Pinching
Technique
HST
Technique
LST
Technique
3
Week 3. Vegetation
18d ago
1/10
15 cm
Height
18 hrs
Light Schedule
23 °C
Day Air Temp
6.5
pH
Weak
Smell
53 %
Air Humidity
20 °C
Solution Temp
20 liters
Pot Size
1 liters
Watering Volume
35 cm
Lamp Distance
Nutrients 2
Veg feed 2.5-5 NK
1 mll
CalMag Pro
0.5 mll
DutchBarnacle Week 3
Day 24: 2L nutrient and calmag solution at 6.3PH
I reckon she's transitioning into bloom this week. Some of her nodes are showing new growth that looks suspiciously like pistils. For her upcoming stretch, I've provided her with a very light feed. After week 2 of bloom I'll start flower nutes.
Day 25-27: Out of town, had a homie give her 2L water (PH 6.3) on day 27.
Day 28: Explosive growth!
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Used techniques
Defoliation
Technique
4
Week 4. Flowering
12d ago
1/15
30 cm
Height
18 hrs
Light Schedule
22 °C
Day Air Temp
6.3
pH
Weak
Smell
53 %
Air Humidity
20 °C
Solution Temp
20 liters
Pot Size
1 liters
Watering Volume
35 cm
Lamp Distance
Nutrients 1
PK 13-14
1 mll
DutchBarnacle Day 31: 2L (PH6.3) with 1ml/L PK13-14
She's definitely well on her way to stretch, and some of the bud sites are already showing signs of consolidation and an increase of mass, not so much as to call it stacking or bulking, but a great early flower nonetheless.
To aid with bud forming, I've started mixing in some flower nutes. I'm starting at half dose and will probably follow up with a regular watering later this week.
Additionally, after taking the pictures, I removed the upper fan leaves of the main cola and the next highest too since it was outpacing the others. I'm trying to not agitate her too much to prevent stunting.
Since she's grown so much, the main cola was receiving 900 PPFD, and the lowest canopy budsite - in the front on the pictures - was receiving about 450 PPFD. Hence, I raised the light up to 30cm above the main cola. I haven't remeasured the PPFD afterwards.
Day 34: 2L (6.5PH) + 0.5mL/L CalMag
Day 36: 2L (6.3PH)
Discovered two her companion plants fostering an army of spider mites so I removed all of the companion plants. The citrus had to move out of the tent for a more natural day night cycle anyway, so that one will reside on the window sill for a few days. The affected pepper plants have received spider mite treatment and are currently outside until they recover.
I'll have to keep an eye out for any webbing on the Northern Light, although I think that the infestation wasn't too bad. Additionally, today was the planned defoliation day so I lollipopped her. Watering is a lot easier now and I hope the lollipop will not be detrimental to her overall yield - it hurt when I removed some branches I'd otherwise keep.
And that about sums up week 4, this week was all about the stretch and the lollipop. She received her first flower nutes and immediately told me she did not need them. She became a bit thirstier and is well on her way to become the biggest yielder I've grown!
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Used techniques
Defoliation
Technique
5
Week 5. Flowering
4d ago
1/7
40 cm
Height
18 hrs
Light Schedule
22 °C
Day Air Temp
6.3
pH
Weak
Smell
58 %
Air Humidity
20 °C
Solution Temp
20 liters
Pot Size
1 liters
Watering Volume
20 cm
Lamp Distance
Nutrients 1
PK 13-14
1 mll
DutchBarnacle Week 5!
Day 37: Did not check her today
Day 38: Still moist, no water.
Whoa! She grew to about 5cm from the light so I had to raise it again. She's a tall girl now and I hope she'll stop stretching soon and start bulking because I'm running out of vertical space.
Day 39: Still moist, no water.
Took a few pictures of her bud sites to future reference.
Day 40: 2L (PH6.4) + 1 ml/L Plagron PK 13-14
She's showing signs of nute burn. After feeding I discussed her symptoms (burnt serrated edges + clawing downwards) with ChatGPT. We concluded that the quarter strength (!) PK 13-14 feed of last week might have already been too much of a good thing because of her rich soil. Hence, I'll revert back to watering and we'll see when she starts asking for new nutrition.
She hasn't really started bulking her buds yet, which I assume she'll start doing next week.
@Aeromatics, I'm thrilled! Also, quite concerned that she'll crowd the entire tent. All of her tops now receive at least 400 PPFD, with the higher ones catching 900 PPFD. So, I'll maybe whip out the SCRoG net one of these days to properly spread her out.
It's amazing to see what she does with just water and very minimal nutes, her latest feed with a half dose of PK13-14 left her with burnt tips already. She's basically yelling at me "LEAVE ME ALONE, I GOT THIS!! when it comes to nutes.