A Particular Orion F1

drakkon This particular Orion F1 is off to a decent start in the Pro-Mix. I've been watering the medium lightly in expanding circles, and have begun feeding with dilute base nutrients (FloraMicro, FloraBloom) plus a root enhancer (RapidStart). The plant appears healthy overall and I'm satisfied with its early growth. It has outgrown its humidity dome and resides in the open air now. The humidity is lower than I'd like for its stage of growth, but I have other plants in full flower in the same area, so I'm not humidifying the air at this time.

drakkon The Orion F1 is doing well as of day 21. During the past week, I increased the nutrient concentration a little, continued administering a root enhancer, and topped the plant above the 4th node (on day 19). The 1st-node branches were removed the previous week, so it now has six branches, two each sprouting from nodes #2-4. I decided to go with six branches to comport with the number of grommets on the fabric pot the Orion is growing in. I typically aim for eight branches, but let's see what happens with six. Up until now, the self-watering tray the plant rests on serves only to catch run-off during top watering. Going by the above-ground growth, some roots should be starting to reach the bottom portion of the fabric pot, meaning it's ready for sub-irrigation. I'll fill the reservoir and set up the wicks in the next day or two.

drakkon As of day 28, the Orion F1 continues to grow and sprout new branches. It receives nutrients via top-watering, and has just recently begun to absorb plain water from the self-watering tray on which it rests. There are no signs of flowering yet, so I will continue fertilizing with base nutrients and a root enhancer. Training-wise, all 6 branches (nodes 2-4) are routinely tied down in a horizontal position in an attempt to increase branching. I removed the ties for today's photos since the ties were due for adjustment anyway. The internode span on the plant's main stem is somewhat spacious, so achieving a perfectly even canopy height will be challenging. If it turns out to be not-so-even, I'll still be satisfied as long as there are a decent number of nice branches.

drakkon The Orion F1 looks stellar on day 35. Growth is accelerating, and though a few stigmas have appeared, I'll call this the last week of the vegetative stage. I'm almost certain it will be flowering in full by next week. The environment is drier than I'd like for this plant (~37% RH), but some other plants in the same area have sizable buds and are close to finishing, so I will not intervene by humidifying. Every now and then, the plant gets 6-8 hours of sun instead of the LED lamp. I put a large (flat) furniture slider under the self-watering tray and plant, so I can just slide it across the room to the windows without having to lift the pot and tray (separately or as one). All six of its main branches have been trained to varying degrees by pulling them down and securing them with flex-ties. As a result, many secondary branches have grown substantially. The plant receives nutrients (base + root enhancer) and water via top-watering, and it also takes up plain water via the wicks in the self-watering tray. A few roots have pushed through the bottom of the fabric pot, but they have not attached themselves to the wicks since I rotate the pot occasionally to address just that issue. So far, so good, with my first time using ProMix HP.