A Mindful Grow: Mental Rainbow

PPFDaddy Hey everyone, fellow growers! 🌱 This week, the Mental Rainbow seedlings finally seem to be finding their rhythm. Now that we’re in week 2, my goal is to keep the VPD between 0.6 and 0.8 kPa, with average temperatures around 24–25°C. For the past three days, I’ve been watering once a day with about 250 ml of nutrient solution at roughly 0.8 EC (800 µS/cm). I’m also using a lux meter to keep the light levels under control. During the first week, the seedlings were getting around 10,000 lux, but I noticed the stems were still stretching a bit too much. So I gradually increased the light up to around 20,000 lux, and now things seem much more stable. So far, everything is going smoothly. Happy growing everyone!

PPFDaddy Week two of veg is in the books, and I come with a confession to make. 🙃 I've been running coco + aquatic perlite, assuming it was pre-buffered straight out of the bag. Spoiler: it wasn't. Even with a 0.3 EC Cal-Mag base alongside Advanced Nutrients, the coco's CEC was quietly swapping out calcium and magnesium for potassium and sodium. Runoff EC was fine, but runoff pH was sitting at 6.8–7.0, and that's where all the trouble was hiding. Thanks to the advice from this community, I was finally able to connect the dots and understand how coco's cation exchange capacity actually works. Two days ago I ran a flush at 0.9 EC total (0.6 EC Cal-Mag base + light base nutrients) at pH 5.6 to start resetting the substrate. Now we wait and watch.

PPFDaddy Hey Growers! The girls have officially packed their bags and moved into a much fancier place. The new setup comes loaded with perks: an automated controller that keeps the environment dialed in 24/7, managing every device so the VPD stays exactly where it should be (because apparently plants are picky like that). Drainage? Automated. Irrigation? Also automated. Basically, the grow room is now smarter than most of us on a Monday morning. Thanks to multi-frequency fertirrigation, the girls are getting up to 6 daily watering cycles, keeping the substrate pH stable and nutrient-ready at all times. Less babysitting for me, more thriving for them: a deal I'm very happy to sign. Now, onto the Mental Rainbows, and things are finally looking up. After slightly bumping up the Calmag base to 0.6 EC and doubling the daily watering frequency, something seems to have clicked. The new growth is no longer twisted and curled, and honestly, that's enough to give me hope. Now that I'm pushing irrigation up to 6 times a day, I can only expect things to keep improving. A few of the smaller, slimmer plants don't seem to have developed a main cola: their internodes are all growing at roughly the same pace. So while I'll be topping the bigger, more advanced girls that do have a clear main shoot, I might skip the topping on the slimmer ones and let them take their time catching up in height instead. No point rushing what doesn't need rushing. That said, even though these plants had a bit of a rocky start (likely due to a slightly more delicate genetics), I'm still very confident in them. As proven in my last run, plants that struggled early on ended up delivering even better results than the ones that looked bulletproof from day one. So, as they say: never judge a book by its cover, or in this case, by its baby seedling! 🌱 Tips, tricks, and roasts are always welcome. Happy growing everyone!

PPFDaddy Hey everyone! I have to say, since moving into the new box with a perfectly balanced VPD and multi-frequency irrigation (6 times a day), things have improved significantly. Among the four, the two that struggled the most early on ended up smaller than the others, but they're noticeably denser. The vegetation on those two is incredibly tight, which is exactly why at the start of next week I'll be doing a proper cleanup: clearing out leaves blocking airflow between the internodes, and removing the smallest internodes on the bottom row closest to the stem, which barely saw any light thanks to the thick canopy above. That said, despite everything, I'm genuinely satisfied. I believe this week the Rainbows will kick into a solid veg boom, enough that I'm already thinking this will likely be the last week of vegetative. And once I flip to flower, based on my previous run with this coco fiber system, I'm fully expecting each plant to at least double in volume. For now, that's all. Happy growing everyone, good luck to all, and as always, critiques and advice are more than welcome! 🙌

PPFDaddy Hey everyone! Another week has gone by smoothly for the Mental Rainbows, and as you can see from the photos, they're in absolutely great shape. They'd better be, because tomorrow we flip to flower. This week I kept both nutritional and environmental parameters identical to last week. The girls were already loving it, no signs of deficiencies or any particular needs, so I saw no reason to change a thing. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The main update this week is that two of the Rainbows have genuinely taken off. They've been stacking layer after layer of vegetation, requiring multiple defoliation sessions along the way, and have built an incredibly solid structure that will definitely support some serious colas down the line. The other two, on the other hand, haven't lacked in vegetation as such, but have stayed smaller and more slender overall. They're doing fine though. They're most likely still paying the price for the early issues they ran into at the start of the grow. Either way, I can't wait to see how all four of them behave once flowering kicks in. Stay tuned, good luck to everyone, and as always critiques and advice are more than welcome! 🙌

PPFDaddy Hey everyone! As you can see from the photos, the girls are looking great overall and have already gained significant volume since the flip. The only note this week is that two out of four plants are still lagging slightly behind in growth. No surprises there, as they're the same ones that ran into some issues early on. At this point there's not much more I can do about it, so the plan is to LST the bigger ones a little wider to open up space and light, while leaving the smaller two untouched, giving them every chance to catch up and even out the canopy. Fingers crossed. On the environmental side, both temperature and humidity are starting to creep up, which is becoming something to actively manage. I'll most likely be adding a proper air conditioning unit soon, one that helps keep temps in check while also giving a hand with dehumidification. The dehumidifier I currently have inside simply isn't keeping up anymore given the density of the canopy. On the nutrient side, I added Bud Ignitor to the stack this week. It's a product that's consistently delivered in previous runs and I have no reason to think this time will be any different. That's all for now. Happy growing everyone, and as always critiques and advice are more than welcome! 🙌

PPFDaddy Hey everyone! Another week down for the Mental Rainbows, and the two that have always shown that extra gear have absolutely exploded in terms of height and volume. What excites me most is that their stems have thickened up proportionally. They look invincible and ready to produce some seriously impressive colas. The other two, the ones that struggled from the very beginning, simply haven't kept pace. They're in good health overall, no complaints there, but they haven't grown like their sisters and inside the box they're clearly the underdogs. It is what it is. On the feeding side, EC has been nudged up by 0.1 as runoff was consistently reading below input values. On the environmental front, VPD is still something I'm actively managing as humidity keeps climbing beyond what the dehumidifier can handle alone. If it stays above 65% heading into the final weeks, a second unit will be joining the setup to protect bud quality and density at harvest. First pistils have started showing up, so bud formation is officially underway and Big Bud is now part of the stack to support it. Can't wait to update you all next week. Happy growing everyone, and as always critiques and advice are more than welcome! 🙌

PPFDaddy Hey everyone, how are you all doing? Hope all is well! Here's the week 3 flowering update for the Mental Rainbows. Visually, the plants are performing well. All four have maintained their indica phenotype nicely, and one thing that really stands out is how far ahead they are in terms of bud formation and terpene development compared to their roommates in the box. That's the rapid flowering characteristic of this strain showing itself clearly. My only concern is that they don't finish too early ahead of the others, since all the girls in the box share the same nutrient schedule and the same automated irrigation system. There's only so much I can do to adjust individually. On the environmental side, we're still running at the limit. Humidity is sitting around 65%, and at this point the best I can do is crank up the fan intensity to ensure every flowering site gets a decent airflow, minimizing any humidity pockets that could cause issues down the line. One more thing worth mentioning: I dealt with a small fungus gnat infestation, larvae included. It's been addressed by adding a dedicated product to the nutrient stack to eliminate them at the root, literally. As always, critiques and advice are more than welcome. Good luck to everyone! 🙌

PPFDaddy Hey everyone! Here we are again, another week down for the fabulous Mental Rainbows. This week they've noticeably bulked up in volume. The clearest sign? The main stems are starting to bend under their own weight. Tomorrow I'll be staking a few of them with some simple wire to keep them upright and supported. The real highlight of the week though is the trichomes. They've literally exploded, nearly tripling in quantity and spreading all the way to the larger fan leaves I left in place. The strain is starting to show its true character in terms of terpenes and aroma, and I have to say I'm very confident about where this is heading. Some seriously tasty colas are in the making. On the feeding side, this week I replaced Big Bud with Green Sensation by Plagron. Could that switch be behind the significant trichome boost? Quite possibly. Either way, all I can do now is sit back, watch and see how things progress next week. Happy growing everyone, and as always critiques and advice are more than welcome! 🙌

PPFDaddy Hey everyone! Volume hasn't increased dramatically this week, but trichome production has gone into overdrive. And honestly, that makes me just as happy. Pistils are still almost entirely white, so the colas haven't fully expressed their potential yet. There's more to come. Temperatures hit 31°C during the day and 28-29°C at night, yet the Rainbows have maintained solid vigor throughout. Runoff EC came in only 0.2 points above input, so the nutrient solution stays unchanged. Plants are clearly in a good place. One thought though: could the trichome explosion be a natural defense response to the heat? What do you all think? 🤔 Good luck to everyone and as always critiques and advice are more than welcome! 🙌

PPFDaddy Hey everyone! I'll be honest: this week didn't go smoothly. The heat spike pushed temperatures inside the box past 32°C, most likely causing the plants to shut their stomata and halt transpiration. The result? Substrate EC climbed two points above input, buds stopped swelling and terpene intensity dropped noticeably. Not what you want to see at this stage. So I turned the AC on 24/7 and increased irrigation session duration to flush the excess salts out. Two days later the substrate was back in range, and the plants responded almost immediately: terpene production picked back up and resin started building again, with the aromatic profile improving significantly. I'm estimating another week to a week and a half before the buds reach full maturity. Fingers crossed everything runs smoothly from here to the finish line. Good luck to everyone and as always critiques and advice are more than welcome! 🙌

PPFDaddy Hey everyone! Nothing dramatically new to report this week, and honestly, after last week's heat chaos, that's exactly what I needed. Ever since locking the AC in 24/7, the girls have bounced back beautifully. And the terpenes? They've really started to come through. Some people find the smell overwhelming. For me it's pure symphony. Every time I open the box I can't help but bury my nose in a well-formed bud. No regrets. Climate stable, plants thriving. I'm thinking next week will be the final one, so I'll be starting to taper down the nutrient solution in preparation, even though the EC wasn't running particularly high to begin with. See you next week for the final update. Good luck to everyone! 🙌