First Grow | Super Lemon Haze

Heandgog Everything seemed pretty much fine during this first week. I had read that the environment should be kept very humid during the seedling stage, and I did my best to make that happen. I didn’t really know what to do with my LEDs in those first weeks, so I kept the lights off for two full days and then switched to an 18/6 cycle. Needless to say, at that point I had no idea what PPFD even meant. I don’t know whether the low light intensity was the cause, or if it’s simply a characteristic of the strain, but the stem grew very long and thin at first. Apart from that, the tips of the leaves were quite yellow. I still don’t know the exact reason, but I strongly believe it was due to a lack of nutrients in the soil. Either way, that was something to address later, as I didn’t want to stress poor Clotilde.

Heandgog Having a cannabis plant with yellow tips is my equivalent of fathering that one child who can’t read until they’re seven. I’m fully aware that there are genetic factors and natural seedling physiology that could explain this. That said: I don’t care. My only reference for quality is those fully green, majestic plants you see in some grows out there. I know it’s unrealistic to achieve that with my current $$$ and level of experience, but nothing is stopping me from trying, right? At the same time, complex interventions are stressful for the plant, so I can’t keep poking around. I need to think in terms of a single intervention, broad enough to address my hypothesis. a. Clotilde was still using diapers (the jiffy). There was soil in there, physically separated from the rest of the pot. That, combined with my imprudent humidity management in the first few days, might have created a compacted dirt block that was hard for the roots to penetrate. That could explain some hydric stress and the difficult for water to reach the tips (then, the yellow comes) b. Lighting. Clotilde was also very stretched. Was she searching for light? Oh, you fool, you don’t have fingers to increase the dimmer. But I do. So I did some reading and estimated the ideal dimming level for both lamps based on their PPFD maps. I double checked with an iPhone PPFD meter app, and everything seemed fine. c. Nutrients? I don’t think she needs much at this age, but it wouldn’t hurt to prepare better soil. A transplant would also allow me to tear the jiffy apart and give Clotilde more opportunities (just like college). An early transplant might be ideal for my little genius. d. If the main branch was getting too long, maybe burying part of it in the new pot could help, right? There seems to be some theory behind that, and even if I got it wrong, at least it would have a psychological effect. The transplant allowed me to inspect the jiffy, which indeed looked very compacted. The roots seemed small (at least compared to my expectations), so a bit of root juice (1 ml per liter, the minimum recommended on the label) also felt like a reasonable call. In the following days, I repeated the root juice five days after the transplant. Other than that, there was only one additional watering (150 ml). I also adjusted the environment to be slightly drier. The logic is that more dryness would stimulate the roots to grow in search of water. Clotilde, you need to go after what you want girl!! Temp: 25°C RH: 75% VPD: 0.8 It seems to have worked. Clotilde seemed to start growing with more consistency and in a more natural way. The yellowing receded from the other leaves, and the stem thickened a bit. She’s still not the brightest kid on the block, but at least she managed to learn the colors. But I don’t know if it was the living soil, the PPFD adjustment, the root juice, or simply breaking up the jiffy. Next run, I’ll isolate variables. This one was about survival and momentum.