Cherry Popper :)

Carl_Lauberbach Plants are watered once a day with plain tap water. The lamp was set to the lowest setting for the first five days. For the first day, the lowest setting is fine. After that, the intensity should be increased (10000-15000 lux). Humidity is set to 70% RH. The plants will be transplanted into larger pots, since the roots are starting to emerge from the pellets. After transplanting, humidity will be decreased to ~60% RH.

Carl_Lauberbach Plants are watered daily with a minimum of 10% runoff. After transplanting, the plants initially received a low fertilizer dose; the base fertilizer and CalMag were ramped up over three days until the target level was reached. Fertilizers are dosed according to the Canna feeding schedule. Temperature is maintained at 23 °C using a heater. After one plant was exposed to the humidifier’s mist stream, it began to droop. The mist stream was adjusted, and RH is now set to 60–65%.

Carl_Lauberbach Plants were topped on 13.02.26 and transplanted on 16.02.26. The light in the small box seemed too intense after topping, which resulted in slight yellowing and drooping leaves. Reducing the light to around 16,000 lux led to recovery Plants are now fertigated four times a day via an automated system: the first event occurs when the lights turn on, and the last event occurs when the lights turn off. The AC controller (AI) is set to maintain the target parameters (26 °C / 60% RH during the day and 22 °C / 58% RH at night). The water tank will be cleaned and refilled every sixth day. A cloth is wrapped around the tank for insulation. The solution is cooled via a metal spiral connected to a cooling system. A second container is used to collect runoff. Runoff will be around 10–20%. Moisture in the pots is measured using a probe. Fertilizer is dosed according to the fertigation plan from canna. Concentrations might be reduced regarding the runoff EC.

Carl_Lauberbach Light cycle was switched on 25.02.26. On that date, plants had a height of around 30 cm. Light intensity was raised to the second of four levels. Plants are watered five times per day. The first watering pulse starts when the lights turn on; the last occurs 3 hours before the lights turn off. Runoff is 10–20%. Runoff volume is calculated using a probe that measures moisture in the pot.

Carl_Lauberbach Plants were lollipopped 7 days after switching the photoperiod to 12/12. Everything below the 4th node was removed, along with any branches not part of the four main stems. The plants recovered well, with no signs of stress. Three days later, the lights were increased to the third of four intensity levels. RH was set to 58% and temperature to 27 °C (currently reaching only 26.5 °C due to technical limitations). Plants are fertigated at 75% of the vendor’s recommended concentration. The first fertigation pulse lasts 20 minutes and stops when the lights turn on. The other four pulses last 13 minutes each.

Carl_Lauberbach Unfortunately, one plant turned out to be male and was immediately removed. Other than that, the plants have stretched extremely over the last four days (started 14 days after period switch) The lamps were switched to the maximum level just before flower development started. The humidity threshold has been set to 55% RH. Water uptake has almost doubled since last week. The concentration of the fertilizer solution is back to 100% according to the vendor’s specifications. It seemed that 75% was not enough, since the runoff EC was low and the plants responded negatively to the increase in light intensity. This negative response appears to have disappeared after the increase in fertigation.

Carl_Lauberbach The plants were defoliated on 16.03.26. In addition to defoliation, further branches were removed to reduce crowding. Five days later, an additional minor defoliation was performed. The plants recovered extremely well from the training. The pictures show the plants directly after defoliation and again five days later. Despite initial concern that too many leaves had been removed, the plants already appear slightly too leafy again. The plants have almost stopped stretching. Next time, flowering should be initiated slightly earlier, as plant height is starting to cause minor problems. One plant did not show such strong upward growth and was therefore slightly overgrown by the neighboring plants. The plants are already developing a fruity smell.

Carl_Lauberbach Plants’ height growth has stopped. The flowers are developing well. Some leaves show slight bending and minor tip burn. These symptoms are likely caused by wind stress and light stress, respectively. The top fan has been lowered to the first of three settings. The lights cannot be raised any further. Some tops are slightly too close to the lights (25 cm), but this should not lead to major problems. Apart from that, the plants were defoliated once again to allow proper light penetration and ventilation.

Carl_Lauberbach Flower volume is increasing. Apart from adding PK 13/14 this week, nothing has changed. Fertilizer is currently being applied at 55% of the concentration recommended in the CANNA feeding schedule. Approximately 25 L of nutrient solution is applied per day.

Carl_Lauberbach In this later phase, regarding the setup not much is changing anymore. The buds are developing nicely. Three buds seem to be ahead of the others, judging by their brown hairs. One of the buds was checked for mold, but nothing appeared. They will be checked again in a few days. These buds are also starting to develop some pink coloration. A few other buds are foxtailing due to their proximity to the lamps. The majority of the buds are developing normally. No significant change in color can be observed yet. Some stems are also starting to change color from green to purple. The flowers have a pleasant diesel-fruity smell.

Carl_Lauberbach The grow is coming to a close, and transpiration is decreasing. At this stage, the trichomes still appear mostly clear, and there is only very little visible color change in the buds. Harvest is expected in approximately two weeks. Although all plants come from the same strain, they show strong phenotypic differences. One plant shows a tendency to foxtail. Meanwhile, two plants still have a large number of white pistils that have not changed color yet, whereas on another plant the pistils have already turned brown. In terms of aroma, the plants show a complex scent profile with notes of cherry, cola, diesel, and a slight hint of peanut butter. Temp and RH are still unchanged: Day: 26-27 °C / 55-57 % Nicht: 22-23 °C / 52-55 %

Carl_Lauberbach Lights were dimmed, and the devices were set to maintain 24 °C during the daytime. The plants were watered only with plain water supplemented with Canna Boost and Mg. Mg was added to maintain the calcium–magnesium balance, as the local water contains almost no Mg. (Mg is just too keep the balance to Calcium since the water here has almost 0 Mg dont know if this makes sence in the last week since nutrient uptake is not really desired) The plants will grow under these conditions for seven days before harvest. Unfortunately, lowering the device temperature did not work on the first day. Therefore, the plants will not be kept under these conditions for a full week. So far, only limited purple coloration has developed.

Carl_Lauberbach Plants will be harvested today. After nutrients were removed, the plants started wilting. The temperature was reduced to 24 °C to promote purple coloring, but the desired effect did not really develop. Some buds turned purple, while the majority stayed green. Keeping the temperature stable at 24 °C was difficult because the AI controller was not able to adjust the devices properly. Manual control did lead to the desired temperature, but it was inconvenient, since the settings had to be changed depending on the outside temperature, which fluctuates strongly at this time of year. The grow was also prolonged by one week. Based on the trichomes, the plants could possibly have gone for another week, since none of the trichomes had turned amber. Most were still clear, while some were milky. The length of the grow period is somewhat surprising. The seller states nine weeks of flowering, but even when counting from the first visible signs of flower development, the flowering period was already around ten weeks. Maybe the plants developed more slowly due to the low-stress environment, which might not be a bad thing for the overall harvest. For the next grow, the temperature should not be lowered to 24 °C again. Instead, 26 °C seems more reasonable during the final flowering phase. The fertigation period should also be extended, and plain water should only be used once a visible change has occurred in the majority of the trichomes.