STOP THE CLOCK

Happy Spring everyone. I was fortunate to get a package from Exotic Seeds and decided I'd try and do a time limit grow. I began this diary with 81 days on the clock for the Exotic grow giveaway and have never tried doing a grow under specific time restrictions. I saw that the Gypsy Widow has a flowering time of 8-9 weeks and figured that would be my best bet. Originally I had thought about doing a 12/12 technique but after reading that plants couldn't really flower sooner than 3 weeks i decided to use the couple weeks veg time under an 18/6 to let it get as big as it's able before flipping it. I soaked the seed for about 12 hours and then transferred to the paper towel method and then into a small cup of fox farm soil. I'm realizing that I have better success with their soil vs the local brand i had a attempted recently. That first 24 hours of growth after the seed breaks soil is so exciting, i love watching it do so much growth in a short time. Hopefully the plant will be as healthy and strong as this first week through the whole grow. Happy growing and harvesting to everyone. ✌️

Week 2 has been good. Other than a bit of stretching probably due to using CFL bulbs as the initial lighting isn't perfect but it works for me because i can keep a closer eye on the plant. I spray the plant and the homemade humidity dome several times a day. The overall health is seeming good. It's at least green and growing. I found an unusual plant growing in the cup and eventually just plucked it out. There was also a bit of algae looking rocks on top of tne soil, perhaps from using clear cups like many have mentioned. Approximately 67 days left after the first 2 weeks. Based on the original 81 days, I figure l could veg for a little over 3 weeks and then flip to flowering. Happy growing ✌️

Week 3- Transplant week. This has been a great week, she hasn't put so much height on but her leaves are much more full and stronger looking. She's maintaining a nice healthy green color which is always a great thing to see. I started noticing that the cup was filling with roots and didn't want to risk any root bound as I've heard it's hard for them to break this pattern once established (the circular roots that is), if this is true I can't say for sure. However a transplant was needed soon. I chose a 1 gallon smart pot (because i don't plan on a large plant with such a short grow planned), filled with Fox Farm soil which is my most successful so far, a tablespoon of Xtreme Gardening Mykos to help build up some root health and regular ph'd water. The transplant went very well and I didn't notice any negative delays or side effects. The new environment is a 5x5x4 tent with a 300 watt LED, with a 4 inch intake fan and one clip fan. I've tried to slowly introduce the plant to the 300 during some of the daytime hours, in an attempt to ease her into new lighting.

Week 4- Lots of changes made this week. Firstly she is permanently in the tent with a "300" watt led and some residual light from another "300" led that's about 2 ft away. Her humidity and times being misted have gone down. I debated about training and landed on topping 1 time, and she's handled it well. Very successful transplant and she's filling in nicely. Im going to flip her to the 12/12 schedule which will put her at 4 weeks of vegetative growth. It may seem fairly early on for the plant to get switched into flowering but I'm still attempting to follow a time schedule that would need her complete by July. It's definitely going to be close and perhaps unaccomplishable, however trying is fun. I'll be watching eagerly for what flowering stretch she's capable of in the next couple weeks, although with her dominantly indica structure it may not be much. This plant has stayed a beautiful green color over the last few weeks and I've only encountered one real problem, which was finding a very tiny tomato worm having lunch on one of the leaves. Hopefully it didn't get the opportunity to reproduce and I'm constantly on the lookout.

This has been a nice week for the Gypsy. Her color remains as gorgeous as ever, with the exception of one small bottom leaf with a minuscule amount of edge discoloration. I've kept her feeding low and only about once a week if that, all other watering has been with plain PH'd water. When I thought about how small this plant could potentially be given it's small pot and short veg time. I figured it'd be a good idea to get in and take a clone. I managed to clip a decent size cutting from the bottom of the plant (I heard low cuttings have higher growth or rooting hormones, I don't know for sure if this is true or just speculation. ) The end of the 1st flowering week and there aren't any signs of pistils or any other changes. Just a few inches growth after flipping it to flowering schedule. The plant is now 12 inches tall. I attempted a very basic LST by tying down the top over to the side. It seemed to work and i hoped it could at least open up some areas to more light, but the next day it had kicked off the plant tie and was standing straight again. I decided the plant seems very healthy and happy regardless of any training being done. Happy growing everyone ✌️

Second week of flowering. Things are going good, the plant is healthy and I believe she's showing her first itty bitty pistils...which seems pretty good for the 2nd week of flowering. I took a clone clipping from her very bottom most branches, and I'm hopeful it'll be a good one. It isn't too long but it has a nice bit of leaves on it and seems healthy. I used a peat pod, some cloning powder, and tiny cup, and then 2 larger cups to act as the humidity dome. She's under 1 CFL clip light at 18 hours and being misted daily with some ph'd water. I've been so happy by the health of the mother plant, I couldn't let her go without making at least the 1 clone. Happy growing everyone, thanks for the love on this very short but fun diary. 💚

It's been a great week for the Gypsy Widow. She is proving to be one strong plant. I'm only finding a couple minor problems along the way, some of which i should have already knew. 1st using a 1 gallon smart pot is very convenient for its compact size if you're planning a small grow/plant but they just dry so fast, so you have to be vigilant about watering twice as often. 2nd the plant has some minor color problems on the tips of maybe 5 leaves. It looks like nutrient burn, but i thought I'd been going pretty easy on nutrients. The feeding this week was only once. 3rd I had pinched the top just before the flowering flip and it seemed clean, but now I've noticed not only a nice split into 2 new branches but in the middle there's 3 tiny pieces growing out of the center and knots from the dominant branches. I guess we'll maybe need to mark this one down as my first FIM. Her flowers are starting, and had it's small stretch of several inches. I'm not positive its finished growing but it's slowing down. Since flowering is so early still I thought about a quick transplant into a 3 gallon pot but uncertain if it'll be a good thing or bad. The 1 clone i took is doing great. It made decent roots after about 4-5 days of being in a very moist, warm, low light area. I just put some soil into it's cup and will watch for progress. Happy growing everyone ✌️

It's been a good week. I don't think we'll be making it anywhere close to the attempt at the Exotic challenge but I'm very happy with the plant so far nonetheless. Flowers are looking great, the pistils are swelling nicely and the overall shape of the plant is good for the 1 gallon pot. The only small concerns or mess ups would be letting the soil dry out a little too much and then the several discolored leaves. I'm leaning towards them not getting enough nutrients and am going to try to stay up on a good wet dry cycle and give them more feedings each week. I noticed there is some red stems on the plant and hopefully an increase in some PK nutrients will solve this little problem. Happy growing everyone, and happy July. ✌️

Hey everyone so we've had a good but difficult week. While the plants buds continue to develop beautifully, they're slowly having pistils start to changes colors and that's always a pretty sight. Unfortunately the leaves that have has their discoloration happening naturally didn't heal and still seem to be targeting other leaves. So clearly i haven't found the source yet. This plant was put back into soil i trust and understand and still are having problems, I've been checking ph and we're always in the 6-7 range, i feed them lightly and perhaps thats the problem they need more phosphorus or cal-mag. I've started thinking of other possibilities like bad lights, or something in my starting water like chlorine. If anyone knows how to check for an abundance of chlorine I'm all ears, at least to rule it out. I'll continue attempting to process of elimination this problem until i find my source. Happy growing everyone. ✌️

Every week seems to have some positives and negatives lately. I think I need to step back and begin at the beginning after my current grows are over and attempt to relearn and be extremely accurate and thorough to try finding where my problems are. The single clone from the Gypsy is doing beautifully, she needed a bigger cup so we did a nice smooth transplant using a butter knife, Xtreme Gardening Mycos, 20 oz cup with happy frog soil, and some PH'd water. She's had no signs of transplant shock. She's currently under 2 CFL bulbs for 18 hours. The mother plant is the problem. Her buds are growing and they're looking beautiful, slowly sparkling and have nice pistil color changes. However she's getting more and more discolored leaves. I've tried to modify the feedings, recalibrate my ph pen, and now I've started letting my water sit to let out excess chlorine. She has red stems which makes me think of a phosphorus deficiency, but then some of the leaves seem like a cal/mag deficiency. I expect we've got only a couple weeks to go until harvest. So I'll just be patient and reset/clean the tent afterwards. Happy growing all.✌️

So much problem solving...... What would affect upper and older leaves? Lights? Chlorine? Cal/mag? Do LEDs demand a higher level of nutrients? I don't believe these leaves can bounce back after this degree of damage...only prevent more damage.

End of flowering: Been a decent week. A lot of testing, trial and error, and learning from mistakes in this grow. This plant has an abundance of orange pistils, and the trichromes seem to be making their changes from clear into the milky zone slowly. Seeing as the end is upon us I'm removing the majority of any nutrients from here on. We're down to about a week until the Exotic grow challenge is over and it looks like we're not going to make it. I don't want to chop before it's time and I would still need to at least dry, and preferably cure a bit. I think if i had started the grow just 1 week earlier I might have made it, but it's been fun to race the clock and problem solve at the same time. I talked with some growers about chlorinated water and how i hadn't been leaving the water out to evaporate out. I also have a bad habit of misting my plants with water that hasn't had the chlorine removed or PH'd. Huge mistake on my part but one done out of living in very dry conditions. Perhaps I'll wise up and use a humidifier next time. The last possible thought was the lights we chose to use and their benefits and downfalls. I heard that some LEDs can make plants needs for certain nutrients rise, like cal/mag/potassium. I'll continue to test these possibilities on healthy plants and watch for changes and confirmation of the cause of the discolored leaves. Happy growing everyone ✌️

It's been a good week. We're down to the end with this Gypsy. It's been a hard journey but, i started discovering several important things that hopefully will help future grows. Transitioning from outdoor to indoor has been a difficult process for me. I'm sure it can be very simple at times, but sorting through all the various problems has been exhausting. The buds have came along well though, beautiful orange pistils everywhere, and the trichromes have taken on a decent milky quality. It took a while for the plant to build up its smell, but lately it's gotten much stronger, personally I love that green and growing smell even more than the dried or burning smell. The one clone i took off the plant is still doing amazingly well, and I'll be happy to try growing this strain again under some different conditions. Hopefully with some minor changes I'll be able to grow a plant that stays green and healthy through till the end. Happy growing ✌️

I tried to make this grow under a time limit to reach the of the Exotic grow off. However I ended up being about 1 week off. If i had cut or initiated flower sooner it may have been able to harvest a week sooner and reach the timeline. I let the plant flower for roughly 9.5 weeks and i think i could've brought it down at 8 or 8.5, and I'm going to start using better lighting when getting my bud photos to help judge but also because they turn out so much more detailed and visible. The plant was small being only a 1 gallon pot and short veg time. But the buds turned out crazy hairy, and smelled great. Exotic was definitely accurate about the Gypsy Widow being a fast flowering plant, I'll definitely try Exotic again but on a regular schedule. It was definitely a fun run trying to race the clock. #1 lessons for this grow: use a calmag supplement regularly and always double check your ph pen is accurate. *The single clone from this plant is alive and healthy, I'll try to grow that one out successfully soon. ✌️ Happy Growing and Harvesting everyone.