Critical Mass & Black Rainbow SoG

RccBrhl Started quite nice with Cuts rooted in a aeroponic / rainforrest propagator. Was still building the setup while they develop roots in a regular 3x3" Tent. I added just a bit Rhizotonic and leveled the water. We have hard water at 7.5 and currently no RO System, but I might add one later.

RccBrhl Was pretty late on transplant but managed everything with like 3 days delay because "build a grow room" apparently takes more time then initially thought. Of course I was punished by "some" deficiencies but at least there were a lot of roots. In the next days plants really kept holding up.

RccBrhl Plants are looking quite good in spite of the bad start. I underestimated my new Lumatek Lights a bit and initially didnt measure my PAR. Thankfully there are apps like photone. I got some burning on the 2 Black Rainbow in the mid and increased the light distance after properly measuring. Black Rainbows were given me with the advice to manage CalMag so I added just a tat CalNag Pro, but to both strains to keep it simple at first. Also Im aware or lets say worried that since I had to use Royal Mix through some circumstances, and that its a quite harsh ec for mid veg. Black Rainbows especially are a bit angry.

RccBrhl So for this week plants really pushed ahead. I took 2-3 lower branches on each plant and Im planning to end at least with 7-8 Bud Branches in the end. I will take some here and there in FW2 I guess. Speaking of Flower, I think its time, I give them an additional week while I fix some "light holes" in the room to reduce light induced stress for the ladies in flower. All in all Veg was successful so far since I managed to get rid of deficiencies and such. I just gave them pH Water at 6.5 and let the royal mix do the magic for now. After 5 Weeks Im also in love with my Growbase Lite Controller fully managing Air / Climate through and Light through ethernet. Even that alone is just such a remedy. I couldnt be happier for now. Lets prepare for Flower I guess.

RccBrhl Took again some of the lower branches for minmax and gave just a little calmag again and enzymes every 3 waterings. I think we're ready for flower and in the next days, I will switch to flower photoperiod. All in all this was quite a healthy veg and Im really looking forward.💪

RccBrhl Alright guys it's sexy time! Plants were gving me clear signs already, that their body says let's go. But my heart was saying no. (Sorry xD) Nonetheless we managed to reach flower with some nice healthy plants. Still only giving mostly pH regulated Water and Pure Zyme every 3 - 4 waterings.

RccBrhl Ok so we clearly entered Flower territory and the girls made again a little stretch as expected. Given the brighter greens the Royal Mix seems also to weaken a bit, again as expected after 6 - 7 weeks. All in all I couldnt be happier right now. For the next week I prepare the first real feeding and will sorroughly watch out for deficiencies on leaves etc. to be able to make a good shot at that. I bought some nice pump and a "Watering Stick", like a handheld watering / shower head and my back starts to feel better now. Through the low ceiling it made no sense to put them on proper grow tables, which I normally prefer. So up till now, watering was bit of a hassle.

RccBrhl Ok first feeding is done. Plants were turning quite yellowish too early for my taste so I gave them just a tat Terra Grow in conjunction with Terra Bloom. the whole nutrients were like spreaded over 2 waterings, since I wanted to go easy on the ladies at first. All in all looking quite normal now. Critical Masses are really living up to their name and are just pumping buds now. Black Rainbows, given their 2 weeks longer flower period are a bit behind as fully expected. Whats next? I'll add another 550W Zeus, since they're clearly too stacked and thus enabling me to spread them more over the area. Also this will balance the PPFD a bit better over the whole area and I can avoid hotspots.

RccBrhl Alright guys, let's put some bigboy pants on. I just aquired an additional Apollo from Lumatek, so we're playing major league now with 1100W. :D Plants have now way more room to develop and light distribution and penetration is now also better. Coming from a world, growing in tents with bad light and so on, I got used to give them mostly half of the dosage of nutrition advised on the booklet etc. Otherwise they turned very angry. But as of now Im a bit too shy I guess. So for the next weeks I will feed them way more since Im doing a better job obviously. Flower Status: Critcal Masses are developing bud after bud, and start to frost already. I again cut some of the lower branches to minmax. Black Rainbows are now also in the bud game and have built some impressive fine leafed cola preparing for big chunky buds. Even though Im a sativa guy when it comes to growing, I do like me some got indica couch lock and first and foremost, those are real beauties. Nutrition: I started to switch to Plagron pH Min, mostly to stay totally on brand for now. :D But also the pH Min from Canna I used before was HCl, whereas the Plagron one is Phosphoric Acid. Also its way more potent then the other one. I also added now silic rock and gave the normal enzymes evry 2 waterings. Critical Masses still got some deficiencies mainly regarding nitrogen. I will add some Green Sensation for the next waterings. Pest Like everytime I discovered some fungus or root gnats (little black flys) down under and countered them with some yellow traps. But Everything under control. Climatic Conditions Spring is there and therefore it gets warmer these days, My Grow Base controller is managing everything like a champ. I had some humidity drops a couple of times, mostly the night nefore waterings, where you can literally read on the humidity that plants are thirsty. My climate ventilator is set to be at least at 10% all the time, to have propper underpressure and no odor exiting the room other then through the filter. But in some cases it just presses the humidity a bit too low. We are talking about 50% compared to the targeted 58% right now. I got some leaf tips as punishment, but nothing too serious. For the next weeks I will decrease target humidity step by step finally landing at 55% by 23°C for late stage flower.

RccBrhl So for this week I really tried to feed the plants properly and added some sugar royal. This won't totally get rid of the yellowing in my Critical Masses but plants are happy somehow. Cola Building, Bud Development, Trichomes and even the Terps seem fine. Black Rainbow also still thriving and in midst of bud development. I think Im gonna defoliate in the next week since there is a heck of leafs. CalMag Response was good so far. All in all for the next week the same. I had some temperature hikes given to the fact, that there are now 2 Appolos which led to lower humidity (around 45) since my growbase was venting against the target temp of 27.5°C. But nothing too serious, leaf tips also show no signs. This only happens the night before watering given to the dry soil and lower transpiration. Might consider buying a humidifier in the future to get rid of those flukes.

RccBrhl Alright guys, nearing the end, at least of the Critical Masses and with one week left, we already have achieved nice dense buds. Even Mr Ben Dover has visited us a couple of times. I hope for the last week that they increase in size a bit, but given the fact, that there are so many I think its ok. Terpenes are through the roof and one can surely smell how well they utilized the sugar. Although one plant is already extremely curled and seems like we overshot a bit on that one. But also here we have a nice cola sorrounded by smaller but very dense buds. Im amazed how fast these suckers are building flowers. Juts as it would be the truth what they claim on the seedpackage. :D As you can see, we are already in Jo-Jo Land as I have spun a strong fishing line through the room where I let my Jojos kinda "run", I still have to move those ladies at some point and given the light stretch of this contraption this is still somewhat possible. Im smort u know? :D Black Rainbows were given a proper Defoliating and are now showing us a bit what they were hiding the last weeks: already stacked buds with decent density. I normally avoid to touch the buds at all, so I mostly rely on "shaking the tree" (for real though :D) and feeling the weight or by accidentally touching them while watering or what else. Also the terps are developing and frost is building up. I just realized that those Black Rainbows made no problems throoughout the whole grow, so I got that going for me which is nice. Nutrition wise CMs were already given their last meal with Green Sensation and Sugar, which means that I have to water them independently at least for the last week, as BRs still need proper nutrition. After measuring my runoff I noticed a higher pH but I think thats were I want to be at least in the end. But this would also explain the slightly too early yellowing of the CMs, so thats like a good Learning for the next runs. Climatic Conditions are stable right now, so there were no flukes fortunately.

RccBrhl Phew, what a week huh :) Nearing the end for at least Critical Mass, we truely had some bud buildup in the last week. I just sad there for an hour sometimes and enjoyed the pungeant smell and watched out for mold. Critcal Masses are well known for bud mold, given to their highly dense bud structure and potentially huge buds. As for this grow, I should've done more cropping of lower branches / larva, so the main buds could be way bigger. Anyways I cannot remember growing such dense buds until now so Im quite happy regardless of that. And of course cross fingers as Im highly avoiding any source of mold etc. Feeding: Critical Masses just got some sugar and as for the last watering purely water. I now already stopped watering them at all, to lower the humidity inside the plants. Black Rainbows now swithing to late flowering feed, so they're now relying also mainly on sugar and a bit green sensation. They are now also starting to yellow, quite at the right point. Bud Status: Critical Masses are now wrapping their buds in a purple veil, which indicates that its time. I'll just give them additional 3 days to let them depart with dignity and having their last final blow. But still, we have "losses" to Mr. Ben Dover. I'd say, at this point, none of the CMs would be able to stand on their own if it weren't for all those yoyos. Black Rainbows have done a huge job recently "connecting the buds" to a main larger bud, also with a very decent density. I defoliated again some of the leaves surroundign the buds to give lower parts the chance to propperly develop. As I can surely say for now, this won't be a strain easily to trim, so Im not looking forward to that. But the smeeeeeeell. Climate As for now I dialed the room in at like 50% RH and 25°C - 27°C. Given the way too large fan and the controller, with which I fiddled around a bit and the settings to have it now being very stable. Which is pure luxury btw. Alright since this will be a short next week, we leave it at that for now but hitting right back when the first harvest happened. Boi am I pumped :D

RccBrhl After Harvesting Critical Masses, were in the last sprint before harvesting our Black Rainbows, and we are looking quite good. Bud stacking and buildup is quite decent, and density is right on point. Feeding: Today they were given their last light sugar meal and will be clear watered from now on if neccessary. There could be more frost anyhow, but lets wait till the trichomes are turning real milky. Light: I dialed the lights in at exactly 69% Dim and I think thats a nice value. :D Anyways Im really lookign forward to harvest those suckers as well, since their terpenes are still somewhat weird but nice at the same time. But as far as I can tell now, Black Rainbows were just running perfect. No Problems, No weirdness. Really a Strain I would always recommend (IF there is propper CalMag Management)!

RccBrhl Alright after nearly 8 weeks Critical Masses were ready, Been given at last only water, I let them run dry for some days in the pots. Now they are drying in the tent at 22/50, while lowering the RH from day to day. the Smell is already very sweet and honey like, so were right on track terpene wise. Depending on the temps outside, I ll let them hang for 1 additional week or so. There will be an update when it comes to curing.

RccBrhl Hey! Look at us! Who would've thought? Not me! We made it. I chopped the Black Rainbows and from what I smell, this is insane. The Nutrients I gave 2 weeks ago were fully utilized and the Buds made poof like twice. Plants had turned yellow exactly in the right moment. Whereas the Critical Masses were a just tiny bit underdeveloped due to the lack of nutrition in the end (7 weeks of flower leave little room for error), but as for the Rainbows I was spot on it seems. Plants are now drying And I will update some Nuggets of both strains later after curing :)