White Truffle - My First Grow

verdant Important little update (01.03.): I am convinced my phone sensor is way off in regards to DLI measurement. A calibration measurement with the PAR-map of the manufacturer was way off - so don't take any values as a given. 40% power in the lamp was too much and caused burnt tips. Also, the entries in this diary are made at the start of each week, not at the end of each week as it should be done... (08.02.) WEEK 1: Topping, binding the four branches to an even height with LST, giving fertiliser twice a week. The lamp is set at around 40% (40W) averaging roughly 400 umol/m2s and a DLI of 23.5 mol/m2d This is an unusual grow and I would normally not do it like this. Background: I got a sapling (White Truffle from seedsupplier.de) and planted it in my tent, so it doesn't go to waste. Those last two months were very busy for me, and the plant was heavily neglected, not topped or low-stress-trained, underwatered and underfed. As a result, she grew as a thin, straight line all the way up until it squished against the lamp. I decided to top 90% of the plant and start anew with the lowest four branches. Plan: While I have successfully grown a plant before with a good yield, that first grow was fairly unorganised and the plant was able to grow as it wanted. This is the first time am trying proper LST and keeping the canopy flat. For this, the four initial branches are at a nice 90 degree angle and I will try to get four even colas out of this. Setup: The point behind this setup was to create a cheap, viable and low effort setup. The tent is a generic, cheap 40x40x120 tent from ebay for 25 euros. The lamp, Viparspectra P600, was B-Stock and came at a great price of 43 Euros. The felt pot, filled with a mix of generic coco coir and flower soil plus some depot fertiliser, sits atop a plastic container which acts as the water reservoir and which is continuously wateringthe pot via two wicks. This works great as the soil is evenly moist basically all the time. Ventilation is done with two Arctic P120 PST (B-Stock as well) fans for silent operation that have a light trap (designed by myself) between them and are powered by a DIY fan controller I put together. No filtration beside a dust mesh, as I have a small ventilated room I can use for the grow. Fertiliser is the BioBizz Indoor Try set. Notes: I do not adjust pH or actively control humidity. While these may be recommended, the humidity generally falls in the green area in most VPD-charts, and pH was not a problem for my last grow. This is where I personally drew the line to keep the effort low and it's by no means a recommendation. Things I would do differently: 1. The tent. The footprint is great but I would like a bit of extra headroom and I would go for a 40x40x160 if I did this new. 2. The reservoir. I cheaped out and got a generic transparent box from Action. It has holes for handles and thus reduced water capacity, also being transparent bears the risk for algae growth. Spending more money on a eurobox (40x30x12) would have been the better move. The setup, specifically the self-watering system, was inspired by my friend who helped me a lot along the way. If you want any details, specifics or photos, or have suggestions and improvements, feel free to post them in the comments. 😊

verdant (15.02.) WEEK 2: Keeping the canopy flat with LST. Slight yellow tips could indicate light burn so I turned down the lamp to around 30 Watts. In the second picture you can notice that the lower two branches (top and bottom in the image) currently still have smaller/less leaves. Maybe I should trim some from the bigger ones so they are getting less light to even it out? 😊

verdant (22.02.) Week 3 of the grow. Some of the threads holding down the four branches were tied down. Im very limited by the low height of my tent so I want to keep them down as much as possible. The leaves are continuing to darken and becoming more lush and bigger, as well as not getting any burnt tips. Lowering the light last week was the right decision. continuing with giving one ml of BioBizz Grow twice a week (diluted with some top water) The water reservoir is sadly starting to grow algae, finally. I will upgrade to a eurocrate in due time.

verdant (05.03) Small update: The Eurocrate arrived. Drilled four holes into the lid for the wicks and we are looking sleek and clean. Very happy with this upgrade😇 (01.03.) I changed the light cycle to 12/12. The lamp was raised and the intensity increased slightly. I will increase it week by week according to the general idea (maxing out at around week 6) The keen eye will also notice some malformed leaves with only 3 lobes or even as low as 2 or 1. I suspect this is late stress due to the hars cut at the start of the grow. Still those leaves look healthy, so I'm not worried. The euroboxes to replace the reservoir are on the way, and arrive tomorrow. Let's see how much she stretches and if the tent and method are sufficient for a decent harvest! 😊

verdant (08.03.) We are now one full week into flower and going into the second. She's made some odd leaves which almost look like re-vegging: single- and two- or three-bladed leaves, some with missing serrations. She has never been in a flowering stage. My guess is this is delayed stress from the initial extreme cutting or from the sudden fast growth described in the first week. My friend's White Truffle which was grown properly from seed to bud did not show this, and in fact I am amazed at the resilience the strain has shown so far. 😊 I will need to defoliate soon as the lower parts of the branches have a very bushy appearance with many small leaves. It's stretching less than I thought and I think this will be a harvest on the smaller side. The new reservoir is amazing - Looks super clean and tidy, and of course it doesn't show any signs of algae as it's completely dark in there. The soil is always moist even at the top, so it's wicking up the water all the way. Once a week I check below the pot for roots that try to pass through the felt pot and trim them. Other than that: no signs of light stress, upping the light intensity piece by piece as long as it looks healthy. What an odd Grow! 😅 What I would do differently next time: regardless of the fact I would never grow a plant like this, I would have let it veg a good bit longer. I was afraid of the stretch being too much and didn't want to risk it so I put her into flower with plenty, plenty of space to spare.

verdant (15.03.) We are going into week 3 of Flower. No big changes, stretching less than I expected. Could have waited a bit longer in Veg. The stalks of the leaves are now a vibrant red/purple though. Giving 1 ml each BioBizz Grow, Bloom and Top Max according to schedule, twice a week. Will be done top fed on monday and Tuesday as I will be away for the rest of the week. Watering wont be a problem due to the reservoir 😉 Very bushy with small leaves at the lower levels. Gonna have to defoliate I think. Lamp is now at 50% - showing no light stress but I will slow it with the increase.

verdant (22.03.) We are going into week 7 of the grow. The leaves are super lush and dark. Almost worried it might have nitrogen excess, even though I only give it 1 ml of BioBizz Bio-Grow per feeding, twice a week, Might reduce it to 1 feeding per week as it is not showing any signs of deficiency. Slightly defoliated the plant to let the lower leaves get more light. Removed the ties from LST as it is strong enough to stay down on its own. There is no noticeable stretch and the plant could have easily fit 20-30 cm more through a longer veg, was too scared of it growing too tall - I'm still a beginner after all! 😄

verdant (29.03.) going into week 8. plant looks solid, buds thickening. Just a question of time, light and nutes now. Light is at 50%/50W buz fairly close to the plant - doesnt look too stressed. 1 ml of grow, 1 ml of top max and 2 ml of bloom given today and once more this week. I keep doing light defoliation by pulling individual leaves - I try to keep the plant well lit, but I am not sure if it's enough.

verdant (05.04.) going into week 9. 4 ml of Bloom and Top Max each, and bit by bit defoliating for better light coverage

verdant (12.04.) trichomes are looking good and plentiful.

verdant (20.04.) not much to say - next week will be paused as I won't be there. she is getting 4 ml of Bloom and Top-Max per week. 1 ml of grow is enough.

verdant (03.05.) As previously mentioned I was away for a bit. Thanks to the automatic watering system the plant is just fine. Minor foxtailing on one cola. Same nutes as previous weeks, 4 ml Top Max, 4 ml Bloom, 1 ml Grow. Amber trichomes are starting to appear but still less than 1 %. The flowering period suggested by @SeedSupplier is 9-10 weeks - this will be her 10th week of flowering, let's see how it looks on the weekend.

verdant Harvested on 18.05. Buds are dense and very close to each other. This, and likely a lack of circulation (not exchange) of air inside the tent have caused a a big portion of one cola to develop bud rot. You can see it clearly in one picture, the buds were soft and came off easily. The other three were fine. Very icy. The second problem: Microseeds. I kept watch for bananas always - I know what they look like and I have even seen them in person at a friend's plant, but I never saw any throughout the whole grow - no idea why or how she developed microseeds. The herb will still be good for baking, vaping will probably be not so nice. I haven't smoked weed with microseeds yet but we will see. Lessons have been learned and I will install a circulation fan to improve circulation. I will also monitor humidity more closely with the next grow. Conclusion for the setup: The water reservoir, felt pot, soil mixture, and feeding method (once a week organic fertilizer into the soil) has worked wonderfully. There were no signs of deficiencies, beside the light stress symptoms in the beginning, when the lamp was set too bright. Conclusion for the seed: The strain showed great growth potential from the seed right away. Flowering stretch was absolutely minimal for me, not even really measurable, but then again it might be because of the heavy initial cut. I will measure the weight once dry and trimmed. :)