Target Vapor Pressure Deficit (VPD): 1.0kPa
This girl is a bit of a slow grower and still has little mutations here and there. Unless the terps and flavor are phenomenal I probably won’t grow this strain again. According to the breeders one of its main purposes is for outdoor growers in latitudes that are closer to the poles and/or in more humid areas because of its fungal resistance, but this isn’t too much of a factor that I need to deal with in my tent. So it has its purposes, but doesn’t really fit my own purposes. My main reason for growing it was that it was supposed to be a social smoke, but we’ll see if that factor outweighs the slow growth and mutations during the grow.
Sorry about the lighting, I have to turn off my LEDs and use a shop drop light because I’m not really sure what type of lighting to use to take better pictures (see my Grow Question).
The Autopots are doing their job. It is nice being able to take time off of watering to focus on other things.
I fimmed early on in the week. The recovery is going well, and there is more bushy-ness now.
Unfortunately, unless I figure out ways to make my schedule at the end of this summer more accomodating for this round of growing, this might be my last week of veg. I might be ok though if we get one more really good week of recovery after this fim.
RECAP OF THE GROW SO FAR:
Target VPD for the week 1-2 seedling cycle was 0.7kPa.
Target VPD for the week 3+ veg cycle is 1.0kPa.
I am using KIS Organics Water Only Soil with Biochar. This is a living organic compost soil that theoretically should be enough nutrients for the plant through the whole grow. The Nutrient Pack will be used on weeks 4 (was going to be weeks 4 & 6, but don’t need to now with the shorter veg cycle), Recharge will only be used if growth slows down too much, and Mammoth P will be used one week before and during flowering (was going to be 2 weeks before, but couldn’t also because of the shorter veg cycle).
The Autopot is a bottom watering unit that uses a float system to turn the water flow on and off, and I won’t need to manually water the plant, but you do need to top-water for the first 7-10 days until the roots get low enough to reach the Autopot tub. Also the supplements mentioned above need to be top-watered on because you cannot run organic supplements through the Autopot lines.
Every light cycle stage is/will be programmed with a sunrise and sunset mode where the light intensity starts low and increases, peaks, and then gradually dims before shut off. During week 1 and 2 I ran with a lower intensity and bluer color, and the actual watt average during the light cycle was only at 238W. For week 3+ I changed my light to autorun mode, which is a stronger intensity but still has more blue during the light cycle, and the average light wattage in this cycle is 451W. Autorun mode is the Kind LED K5 XL1000’s default factory setting for a standard sunrise to sunset veg cycle.
I really like the Pulse One monitor. It really helps me to keep everything dialed in at all times. The graphing feature is a really great addition because I can now see how bad the environment of the tent would have been without some fine tuning.
GROW SETUP (For extended explanations of why I went these routes see my Week 1 entry):
GROWING MEDIUM:
- Kis Organics: Water Only Soil with Biochar (50%)
- Espoma: Organic Perlite (50%)
TENT:
- Gorilla Grow Tent: Lite Line, 4’x4’
WATERING SYSTEM:
- Autopots: Smart Pot XL
SUPPLEMENTS:
- General Hydroponics: CaMg+ (just a little bit)
- KIS Organics: Nutrient Pack (4th week top dressing)
- Real Growers: Recharge (only if needed)
- Growcentia: Mammoth P (1 week before & during flower)
LIGHTING:
- Kind LED: K5 XL1000
HUMIDITY CONTROL (I usually run dry):
- Elechomes: UC5501 Ultrasonic Humidifier
VENTILATION:
- AC Infinity: Cloudline T6
CO2:
- 2x Exhale: The XL
MONITORING:
- Pulse One: Temp, RH, and VPD monitor over WiFi
- Hydrofarm: CO2 Monitor
Please also check out my other journal, Holy Grail Kush, by DNA Genetics:
https://growdiaries.com/diaries/29541-holy-agnostic-grail-kush-01
Wow looks great, we have been a busy 'gangsta' bee 😎...he he, got some nice grows under your belt. Green House Seeds can't go wrong. My first ever GH seed was from a shop / coffee house in amsterdam, i daringly smuggled it back to the uk in the 90's, had no idea what i was doing and ended up leaving it in my dads greenhouse, it got quite big until he figured out it was drugs and illegal big time and then it was gone. It's still illegal here big time..omg what am i doing 😱
@MicrowGrow420, yes, even though the plant started as a mutant, after a good cure the flavor has become top notch. It is very strong too, I can only use this strain for special occasions... special occasions like locking myself up for a day playing video games.
Good to hear your automations on point dude👍. And regarding nutrient loss - wouldn’t really surprise me either if the soils been sucked dry of nutes. have you considered a compost tea? It can be added at any point in the growth cycle and is perfect for a little additional charge on weeks 4/5 of flower. Or is that what the mammoth microbes is for?
@TheBudWhisperer, yes, exactly. But what I mean is my mistake was not using a large enough container for the living soil. KIS Organics recommends a 7 gallon pot for a full run. So if I did a 50/50 split, then I would potentially need up to a 14 gallon pot, but I was majorly dumb and basically only used 2.5 gallons of living soil, which is probably not even half of what I needed.
This being said, I assume that their 7gal recommendation does account for some drainage supplementing, but probably not up to a 50/50 split. So I'm actually guessing I needed at least a 10gal pot. Unfortunately, the Autopots' largest size of smart pot is 5gal, so I don't think I can use them on my next run if I want to get the full intended effect from my soil and amendment mixture. I am thinking that on my next run I will do a larger pot.
@MovingOn, well - yes and no IMO. I’m a huge fan of amendments because what it lacks in nutrients it makes up for with better drainage and a more porous root environment. That’s two huge benefits you don’t get with soil alone. Enough people on here run into all sorts of issues when the roots get choked out and water logged. Think it might’ve been a good choice if your partially automated👍
@TheBudWhisperer, I am considering some sort of supplement at least. My girlfriend has some nitrogen fertilizer, and I'm pretty sure that is the deficiency I am having. I should probably look into a compost tea as well. The Mammoth P is more phosphorous focused. I think I probably have 3 weeks at least to go, so I might need to supplement for at least a week and a half. Just been so busy lately it has unfortunately not been my primary focus as of late.
When I think about it, it was pretty dumb of me to do a 50/50 mix of living soil and perlite in a 5 gallon container, because that only makes 2.5 gallons of living soil, argh, nowhere near enough for a full grow.
@MovingOn, we’ll as long as there’s some value to it what more can u ask for right, end of the day it’s a living thing u gotta take care of. And f*%# yeah it can be a bitch of a chore! Lol
@TheBudWhisperer, thanks, bud! I had started only using the Autopots for days when I'm away. I just couldn't trust them enough to let the roots soak the whole time 24/7. I know that kind of defeats the purpose of my original intention, but alternating back and forth seems to be the safest route. The girls were doing so well I just couldn't risk it completely.
But for what I am using them for, they are freaking awesome and takes some of the worry away.
Dude these are super cool. Interested to see how it turns out with the fim too. I’ve found this to be unreliable in terms of uniformity (when compared to topping) but if your lst is on point then the result (ie. Multiple colas and breaking apical dominance) is the same. Lookn forward to it bud!👍😎👊
@MovingOn, don’t be reluctant at all dude. I just fimmed my cheese grow and that plants an auto. With fimming you really don’t see much of a slowing in growth, if any at all. It’s wayyy less high stress than topping and you will get similar results just less uniform. I think you’ll be surprised and you might be able to shave down your veg. Time even further (assuming you’re only fimming once of course). There’s a few different ways u can do it too - all with varying levels of stress obviously.
@TheBudWhisperer, yeah, honestly I'm a little reluctant to do it, but I might only have 6 weeks of veg available and want to keep my plant shock to a minimum. I would rather do the manifold again and see how my current grows compare to my last two, but alas, summer is here and I won't be able to be able to put as much focus and time into it. If some personal and familial scheduling gets more solidified and open though, I might be able to do a manifold again (which is what I'm hoping for).
@green_leaf, hey, buddy! I didn't do any cuttings, because the three phenotypes I got from the seed pack were not the greatest plants. The quality is wonderful, but I would probably need to get new seeds to find a phenotype as robust as yours. I am remembering this strain as one to try again maybe in the next few years, but for the time being I am going to experiment with some other strains first.
@Welovephattrees420uk, excellent! I think that if I hadn't messed this one up so bad during flower, I probably could have had almost 3oz. Oh well, at least it was a learning experience.
@TheBudWhisperer, thank you, dude. My goal is to get as close as I can to "set it and forget it". Well, that being said, it still takes a lot of attention, but when I turn those Autopots on after 7-10 days, that will be the true test of the system.