The Garden 2026-2-MSNL Pineapple Express

00110001001001111O Total days - 6 to 8 depending on seedling. In future weeks, this will be based on 'today' being day 7. It will make a difference early on but no discernable difference later on. Pineapple express is on its way. They all look strong and viable. Not much else to say at this stage. Climate is less than optimal. Humidifier is struggling to maintain 40% and is often less than that. The reusable wick is not as effective as the throw-away wicks, so i'll see if that helps. Second humidifier will be used in drying room, so I may just have to suffer through a less than ideal growth rate.

00110001001001111O Totdal days (avg): 14 Potted up to 1 gallon on day 13. Some plants were begging for it and a couple were lagging behind pace. Because of the excellent outcome in 2026-1, yield is irrelevant beyond principle. Only potted up 9 and a couple of those are on the smaller side. There are 2 factors related - RH% wasn't well-controlled the first few days and onyl 1 of 6 HSC seeds produced a viable plant.. possibly 2 if the other grows out of its mutation. So, cutting down to 8 plants will not be much of a decision in 10-12 days. Since production is irrelevant, I'll favor variety a bit more. Pineapple Express looks great. Of these 3 strains, PE has been the most consitent and vigorous, so far. The sprouted the fastest and grew the fastest. This only correlates to future growth, but is a good omen, nonetheless. No transplant shock for the 431st time, lol. Just kidding on the precise number but it's a fairly accurate estimate, too. Hopefully at least one of these is respectable by day 24-25. I'll take both to flower for variety, if possible. Not much to type out. Things are boring. Temperatures are warmer under the FC4800, so that should help. Humidifier is keeping things 52-55% RH. 2026-1 harvests should be out of the way by the time these need to be potted up into 5 gallons. ----------------------------- Forgot to write out some goals for this grow in germination week: -Further streamline incorporation of 0-12-26 No-N Part A -Adjust 12-cola training -- Be more flexible about it. Some may be better off with 10 or 11 colas. There was enough room for 12 colas on the more ideally growing plants, but anything on the small side is better off with fewer. Most goals/changes from 2026-1 went well, so it's more a matter smoothing things out.

00110001001001111O Total Days - 21 Pruned off lowest pair of axilla. Topped all but one Vanilla Creme Pie. I'll let them recover a minimum five days before potting up to final 5-gallon pots and moving to the big tent. All four Pineapple Express are healthy. Two are displaying ideal structure and height. Nothing wrong with the other two, but for the sake of an even canopy, the smaller ones may be excluded. One of the smaller ones is having trouble with upper 30s DLI, too. It's droopy long before lights out. I've pulled it out from the light a bit, but that's not a trait I'll send to flower if it continues. I'm not 100% sure how many of these plants I will flower. I may drop down to six plants instead of eight. I can box up one of the 226w DIY lights, If I do. All strains will be represented, but may take three Blue Cookies, one vanilla creme pie, and the two best pineapple express. Not much else to say. Early vege is a bore. Just waiting around... filling humidifier reservoir... fertigating to runoff. Same shit; different day (SSDD).

00110001001001111O Total days above ground: 28 Well, these have been delayed by a very slowly developing Mountaintop Mint from 2026-1 grow. They are showing a little stress lately. Drooping and less than ideal pigmentation. They should have been transplanted day 21-24, ideally. Intend to harvest MM and pot these up to 5 gallons tonight. While growth up top has slowed, I'm confident the roots will be thick, so they should improve quickly after potting up. I'll give a minimum 10 days before flip to flower after that point. If i need to go to 40 days of vege phase, that's tenable, too. Whatever I choose to do, next week will show marked improvement across the canopy and they'll be days away from starting flower phase. I'm about a week behind compared to 2026-1, but I expect to make up some of that ground after potting up.

00110001001001111O - Total days above ground: 35 Lazy update this week. Procrastination mode is on. No individual plant photos this week. I don't even have a plant map, So, I'm not sure what each plant is by location at this moment. I need to do some canopy management tonight, but fuck it. I'll put it off until tomorrow because I like to self-sabotage. They'll get a little less time to recover than normal heading into flower. They are healthy and happy, so I doubt there will be any repercussions. Second humidifier is still tied up in the drying area, so VPD continues to be less-than-ideal. By the time I flip to flower, the climate will be in a much better place. I'll have to cut some corners and get a little creative to mitigate the effects of a suboptimal vege phase. Things will turn out fine, but inevitably fall a bit short of expectations. I'll selectively prune lower axilla and top tomorrow but leave a couple opportunities for cuttings. Hopefully, there's enough growth for a proper clone by flip to flower (day 40). A second breeding cycle may or may not happen.

00110001001001111O - Total days above ground: 42 Total flower nights: 2 We'll call this a vegetative week, but it's now on a 12/12 schedule the last couple nights. VPD has been an ongoing struggle, but now that previous drying cycle is done, two beefy humidifiers should maintain a proper RH until the canopy produces enough moisture on its own. So, the less than ideal climate and delayed potting up to 5 gallons has added 3-5 days to the vegetative cycle. I took cuttings from 3 of the stronger plants. The look healthy, but a bit under-sized, so we'll see if enough root for a 2nd fem breeding cycle. Three Pineapple Express plants pictured - 1st and 4th in front row and 1st in back row.

00110001001001111O - Total days above ground: 49 Total flower nights: 9 Procrastinating on some training. I will bend the primary branches into a more distributed pattern, which will also improve light absorption and penetration, so sooner is better than later. Pineapple Express are some fine plants. Excellent strcutre and easy to work with. Enough branching but not so much you have to do a bunch of extra work thinning it out. Once again, the consistent growth pattern of MSNL plants is clearly something they select for in the breeding process. Progression of canopy is shown from day 28 - 49. The Pineapple Express plants are shown in the same order each week (while in the big tent), if you want to compare individual growth of plants over time.

00110001001001111O - Total days above ground: 56 Total flower nights: 16 Got a little more stretch than I prefer. If i had to guess, I'd attirbute it to maintaining a proper RH. As stated in earlier weeks, i was not able to maintain RH as one of the humidifiers was used in the drying area. Growth improved immediately, but obvioulsy the plants could handle more light per day than previous and they reached higher for more intense light. The node spacing is good at the top, now, so I'll just maintain the current light distance going forward. I spread the plants out with wire and stretched out the 2nd trellis net. Another 7-10 days of vege growth remains. Anything that doesn't reach it probably doesn't need additional support. A few plants already have a few nodes above it. I wasn't certain it would fill in fully given vege vpd and less-than-ideal growth rate, but the remaining vege growth should fill in at least 99% of the space. It just took an extra vege time and starting flower a bit sooner than I would normally relative to plant size. Ended up being a good guesstimate to fill in the space and reduced pruning needs. I only took 1 set of axilla off above first net on most branches. Think one was a bit bushier than the others, but don't recall which strain it was.

00110001001001111O - Total Days: 63 Total Flower Nights: 23 All the extra stretchy plants are coincidentally under the light with greater proportion of blue wavelengths. Just shows what a minimal effect it has. I think the vast majority of this stretch is related to a better climate causing plants to want more light than previously capable and not reacting quickly enough to it. Node spacing is better at the top and I've kept a shorter distance to the lights since then. These will still do fine as far as yield and nothing truly detrimental to the outcome. Thay are all about done with vege growth. I hestitate to comment on size differences because of the suboptimal VPD for a long period of time. What matters most is they are all healthy and happy. This is about when i had to give plain water for 17 days in the previous grow. So far, that has been avoided with previous tweak to process. I'll probably drop the concentration another 10-15% as vege growth ends. We'll see if the timing of that jives with plant health or not and adjust accordingly, next time... which will be ~9 months from now, lol. Notes help. Probably won't fill in all the gaps of canopy, but sometime this week as vege growth ends I'll do some final work spreading out plants with wire and trellis. As is, it's mostly there. I like the extra airflow and light penetration. It mitigates some of the loss. The production of the second grow isn't too important for me, so I stuck to a schedule to avoid seasonal humidity - 40 day vege was already 3-5 days late. Progression pics probably end next week. I'll take more pictures of developing colas at that point, too. Something worth looking at isn't too far away.

00110001001001111O : Total days - 70 Flower nights - 30 Just beyond 4 weeks into flower and vege growth has been done for a few days. Lights have been adjusted to final height. Bud sites will continue to fill in and will see some ripening by next update. Pineapple Express has some very fruity smells based on stem rub. These plants look dynamite. they are definitely a moderately lanky plant, but filling in well. Continuing to refine fertilization in mid to late flower. I should have dropped to 500ppm a bit sooner. Leaves are a bit lush, so I've topped off 20gallon of plain water and that should come out to ~300-330ppm for the next 4 irrigations. I'll re-assess at that point and adjust as needed. I have already deviated in significant ways compared to 2026-1. I gave plain water for over 2 weeks at this juncture last cycle. I do not expect it to take as long to reduce lushness in canopy this time. I had already started to drop on last rez refill (FD26), but decided today to topoff the rez and dilute futher. It's borderline. So, next time I'll drop to ~500ppm around FD21 and see how that goes. 500ppm should be a level of nutes that causes a very slow degredation based on past experience. I want to consistently avoid overfed plants late in flower, so that's the goal.... find a level that maintains or allows a very slow degredation over time from this point forward.

00110001001001111O : Total days - 77 Total flower nights - 37 The Pineapple Express are looking and smelling nice. Definitely a fruity aroma from stem rubs and some of the more aromatic of all 8 in the garden. I probably should have lollipopped PE1 a bit more, but i'll just add some of the lowers to the bubble hash pile and call it square. Nugs above might be slightly less substantial, but I'll have plenty from 3 plants. Hopefully, these exhibit a good amount of plump by FD44 update next week. I'd like to avoid the 70+ day flower lengths or humidity is going to be a problem, again.. Had a heat wave of sorts which made controlling humidity difficult. I removed the lowest couple sets of leaves out of necessity, which mitigated some of the problem as well as colder ambient temperatures returning to the area. I'd much rather have kept them, but VPD was starting to drop just below 1 kPa based on atmospheric temps, so it was dropping entirely too low at leaf surface. The leaves already look better in that regrad. Some lowers were curling in due to the high RH. Plants were looking a bit too lush, so I've been topping off reservoir with plain water. The last 6 irrigations have been 150-300 ppm or less of fertilizer. The next 4 irrigaitons will be around 50ppm or less. Once I see a hint of a symptom or confidently see the canopy draw back to a healthier green, I'll jump back up to ~500ppm of a similar ratio I always provide. Still trying to smooth the process out. The plants are mostly healthy, so this isn't anything major or pending doom. I'll dial back a bit before flower in the Fall and try to avoid water-only irrigations mid flower. I'd assume it's more efficient for the plant to get building blocks from the roots rather than anything being stored in leaves... though it's possible that's irrelevant, too.

00110001001001111O : Total Days - 84 Flower Nights - 44 The Pineapple Express are definitely fruity. I like the aroma and structure. Glad I left a bit extra under-growth but may have diminished the top colas a bit by doing so. These girls were easy to work with. May have to harvest some top cols on the taller PE as they are a bit too close to the light and ripening at an advanced pace compared to lower buds. Trying to avoid HST, but if i see any bleaching, it'll force my hand. After dropping fertilizer concentration for ~7 days, some fade was seen in BC2. The rest are fairly lush, still. As i top off 66-75% of rez, I'm adding ~500ppm of a simialr balance I always provide. This week has been 400-460ppm. Next refill will basically get it back up to what I mix at. Plants are healthy. BC2 as stated has some fade, but that'll slow or stop, now. It only has 14-18 days remaining, so some further degredation is tolerable. Baed on how this grow played, shouldn't be long to amend fertilization to avoid any extra dilution in mid-to-late flower.

00110001001001111O : Total Days 91 Total Flower Nights 51 Well, I left a few too many 'suckers' on Pineapple Express plants. Even so, i think they'll do fine. One developed pretty small buds but the other two turned out okay. PE1 and PE2 are on the slower side of this crop, but shouldn't take longer than 65 long nights. PE3 is quite a bit ahead of the other two at this stage. They are all similarly tall/stretch structure. I played around with leaving a bit more undergrowth and probably got a bit carried away. I don't think that's the only factor for PE1, though. Unless working with clones, I expect a couple plants out of eight that fall on the lower half of the median. Culling the weak helps err on the high side but is not perfect. How much did the poor climate impact it? How much did the excess 'suckers' hold it back? I can only worry about what I have control over and continually improve the process. Nit-picking... The plants are healthy and that's the important part. I do want to err on the side of a little extra at the bottom. It ensures maximizing yield as well as some plant material to add to the hash bin. After a long hiatus, making hash will be incorporated into the yearly routine going forward. Having repeated the cycle a few times now, I have a better idea of meeting yearly flower need and safely relegating all the lower buds and larf to ice-water hash. General notes - HST'd three plants. I prefer to avoid this and accept some minor damage, but I saw some bleaching on a cola and that's beyond what is tolerable in that regard. I should have done it a few days earlier, but was living in denial, lol. I'll probably start topping off the rez with plain water. Time to be a little lazy and let the plant use up some of those nutrients I paid for that are stored in the leaves. BC2 already showed some fade last time i was giving diluted fertigations, but it's close enough at this point that it'll be fine. Reservoir will drop to 40% of 500ppm on next refill, give or take. That won't hit the pots until FD53 and should sustain themelves comfortably for ~14 days. I don't expect any of these plants to last beyond FD65.

00110001001001111O : Total days - 98 Total flower nights - 58 Can't put lipstick on a pig (re: yield). One of the three is turning out within normal expectation but still on light side. The buds still look frosty and more importantly is how they taste when I smoke them. Yield is no concern in the second grow, and I expect to run into some less-than-idea climate variables while first grow dries. The drying area steals one of the humidifiers each year. ** Update/correction - only 1 of three formed small buds up and down the stem. One phen had smaller top colas than the buds just below. The slowest one is beefing up and should surprise. So, I was definitely mistaken about these plants, despite some unusual distribution of buds. The yield turned out okay. In the case of PE1, i left WAY too many suckers down below. Lots of self-inflicted larf. My bad. Even so, since i didn't lollipop as much, which contributed to the more distributed and smaller buds, the yield is probably better than my gloomy prediction. At the very least, the trim looks very simple and fast. Snip around base and done. Four plants are imminent and the last two plants are not far behind that. Ceased fertiization on day 54 of flower phase. The only plant showing advanced degredation is BC2, and that's getting the chop within 1-2 days. Do see some hints of deficiency creeping in elsewhere, but mostly lush. This canopy is plenty strong enough to save a little effort and pollute the water table a bit less.

00110001001001111O : Total days 105 Total flower nights 65 Still waiting on Pineapple Express #2. I'm ignoring the spatterings of white pistil growth. I won't sacrifice the rest of the yield for 5% new growth and then have a vast majority over-ripen. Still see too much glass in the trichomes, but it's days away and I'll add some pictures to the harvest week for PE#2. Been providing plain water for a while now, but starting yesterday, trying to minimize runoff. Already have some degredation in canopy, so I know for certain there's a deficit of what the medium is providing and what is used over time. The canopy is strong so it's irrelevant, but it ensures the plant won't starve needlessly before harvest. Bugbee's video about the potential (not a gaurantee) of an increase in potency coinciding with a decrease in yield by restricting N as you approach harvest doesn't ask one important question... do the two correlated effects offset each other? At least to some extent it does, indisputably. If the increase in percent of mass THCa is mathematically caused by the lower yield, then starving the plant of N before harvest doesn't really accomplish anything useful - even for extracts. Even if it's not 1:1 proportional, some amount of that so-called increase is due to the coinciding reduced flower mass, either way. (dividing by a smaller denominator, a smaller flower mass, is not necessarily an increase in total THCa mass) Also, as a smoker, you can't tell the difference between 22% and 22.5%, so it's a very viable argument to say that the minimal increase in potency is irrelevant, but losing yield is noticeable. Who knows what other negative ramifications might results from depriving a plant of a necessary building block.

00110001001001111O PE #1 and PE #3 chopped after 62 nights of flower. These smell awesome. They were a super easy trim. Had some unusual bud distribution, but the overall proportions of dense nugs to larf was appropriate, nonetheless. Definitely looking forward to smoking some of this. -- PE#2 finally finished, or finished enough, after 69 days. Humidity is rising and I'm ready to pack things up. Think the HST caused some backbuilding and made ripening a bit wonky compared to a normal progression, but overall very happy and a bit surprised with this plant. It turned out to be quite a monster despite the sub-optimal vege VPD for 2 weeks and flipping to flower 2-3 days early to avoid spring humidity. The entire canopy still filled in 95% and this plant probably covered a bit more than it's share of 32sq ft. This PE2 plant will conservatively clear 200g. 1/8th of total watts in flower is 137.5w. Far, far exceeding a shitty threshold of 1g per watt. I guess if you always want to be mediocre, that's a great target. I reasonably expect 250g+ based on how it filled nearly 2 36" mesh drying racks. So i guess this plant's health was 150% to 180%? LOL, the moron's psuedo math says it's a super yield above what is possible, but the moron also says it's an epic fail. Weird.... Almost as if it's not really about facts but rather some irrational bias on a personal level. Also, 1g/watt with 100% plant health is just a really low bar. If i had 25% of my crop hermie and get thrown out, I'd consider 1g/w a success. In all fairness, despite this 1 plant and a few others of the eight, the yield of the 2nd cycle is probably a bit lighter than my personal expectation of a 'good' yield, but that was thoroughly explained throughout the diary, for those that aren't reading-averse. The second cycle will always be hindered mid vege phase by losing 1 of 2 humidifiers to the drying room. Relative to that, the yield is well within expectation and still far above 1g/w. Glad to be done. This is about the time my patience for growing is exhausted. I'll start back up in Autumn with rejuvenated motivation and champing at the bit.