Next of KIN - Super Strains

GrowerBaal Day 2 - 3 cm Finally, a seedling has shown up. This wasn't really an experiment, but the hydrogen peroxide definitely doesn't seem to have harmed it. Maybe I should always do it this way. Day 3 - 4.5 cm Today I measured 4.5 cm in height. Since I won't have time tomorrow, I gave it 100 ml of tap water today. I left the plastic dome on for now. Day 5 - 6 cm Today it reached 6 cm in height. I removed the dome today. Day 7 - 6.5 cm The next pair of leaves isn't really forming. Maybe it was too dry without the dome? Anyway, I put the dome back on for now. Additionally, I gave it 150 ml of tap water today.

GrowerBaal Day 9 The second pair of leaves has developed a bit, but it's a little stunted. It seems it was really too dry. I gave it 50 ml of tap water today and removed the plastic dome since the first pair of leaves got too big for it. Day 10 - 6.5 The second pair of leaves has grown a bit. I gave it another 50 ml of tap water today. Day 12 - 7cm The second pair of leaves is slowly developing. We'll see how it goes from here. Day 14 - 7 cm It seems to be slowly turning around. Yesterday (Day 13) I gave it about 50 ml of tap water.

GrowerBaal Tag 17 - 8 cm The third pair of leaves has formed, but it's very uneven. I hope it sorts itself out. Otherwise, I gave her about 100 ml of tap water yesterday (Day 16) and today. I haven't quite decided when I'll repot her. Tag 20 - 9 cm She's slowly picking up speed, but she's still a bit stunted. 😂 The third pair of leaves isn't a pair but just a single leaf. She'll probably get water tomorrow. Tag 21 - 10 cm Today she got 100 ml of lukewarm tap water. I think I'll repot her the day after tomorrow.

GrowerBaal Tag 23 - 11 cm Today she was repotted. She went into a 15L fabric pot with Plagron Light Mix. I decided to try an organic solid fertilizer from Neudorff this time, after it was recommended to me by a friend. According to the instructions, you should use 25 to 50g per pepper plant, so I just tried 60g and mixed it into the soil (so 4g/l), plus I added some extra mycorrhiza. Once she was in her new pot, she needed to be watered. I gave her 2.5L of tap water at 23.4 degrees from the bowl and 2.5L from above onto the soil. Additionally, she got a new home; she’s now in a 150x80x220 Vivosun tent with Vivosun lighting and control. She will stay on 18/6 for a few more days, then she will be switched to flowering. Tag 26 - 15 cm She handled the repotting well and is now 15 cm tall. Today I switched the lighting to 12/12.

GrowerBaal Day 30 - 22 cm Actually, I wanted to continue the diary yesterday, but the site was unusable last night, and later I just lost interest. Yesterday, she received 4.4 liters of tap water, which I lowered the pH to 6.6. She got 2.4 liters from a bowl and 2 liters poured directly onto the soil. Overall, she looks fit and so far proves that you don't have to throw away photos if there are problems at the beginning. Autos would probably look completely different in that regard. She may be a bit behind compared to normal growth, but not significantly. Day 33 - 28 cm The day before yesterday, I found some spots and initially suspected thrips. However, I couldn't find any thrips, but I did see droppings on the underside of the leaves. I distributed blue and yellow sticky traps and ordered predatory mites and lacewing larvae, even though I'm not sure what I'm dealing with. Additionally, the tunnels from leaf miners are now starting to appear on her as well. I discovered a few small, metallic yellow flies and managed to squash a couple on a leaf. I'm also not sure if both are related, but the flies are on the upper side while the droppings were on the underside. Day 35 - 32 cm Now the infestation of leaf miners is clearly visible. Almost all the older leaves are showing tunnels from the larvae. I will release the predatory mites and lacewing larvae today, which I ordered due to the suspected thrips. Two specific types of parasitic wasps are said to be effective against leaf miners, but I couldn't find those two types and I'm not sure if the species really helps against moths and butterflies. I can't just remove the leaves at this stage either, as she is in the early flowering phase and I'm afraid she might suffer more damage from that than from the tunnels of the flies. I know them from outdoor grows as well; they weren't pretty, but they still had natural predators. Indoors, I'm worried about a real infestation. If nothing works, I might have to let the grow rest a bit to get rid of the pests. However, I haven't been able to identify the cause of the droppings or feeding spots so far.

GrowerBaal Tag 38 - 41 cm I gave her 4.5 liters of tap water at 25 degrees Celsius the day before yesterday, on day 46. That day, I also removed some lower leaves that had already been heavily tunneled by the leaf miner larvae and squeezed the tunnels in other leaves together, hoping that would provide some relief. However, today there are just more tunnels. I give up and will just let the run continue. Either the beneficials will help, or she'll have to fight through it unfortunately. I suspect I brought the leaf miners into the house by drying outdoor plants and will take a break after the current plants. Tag 42 - 53 cm Despite the leaf miners, she seems to be developing quite normally. She's slowly starting to bloom. I will probably water her again tomorrow.

GrowerBaal Day 45 - 66 Yesterday (Day 44 - 61 cm) I gave her 4.8 liters of tap water, which I adjusted to 6.6 pH. The leaf miners are still giving me headaches, but she seems to be less bothered by them; from yesterday to today, she grew a whole 5 cm. 💪 Day 48 - 80 cm She's really shooting up right now. 14 cm of growth in three days is pretty drastic, and all of this despite the leaf miners. Otherwise, I’ll probably water her tomorrow. Day 49 - 84 cm As promised, she got 5 liters of tap water today with 3.5 ml of Silic Rock from Plagron and about 0.5 ml of pH-. The solution ended up at 6.6 pH and 23.5 degrees; this time she absorbed all 5 liters, or better said, her pot did. I find it interesting that she has started forming air roots; I've never noticed that to this extent before.

GrowerBaal Day 53 - 103 cm And she kept growing. I'm not quite sure where she's headed, I still have a bit of space above, but not much. The leaf miners don't seem to bother her. I defoliated her a bit at the bottom to get rid of some leaf miner larvae. Today she got 5 liters of tap water with 4ml Slic Rock and 0.5 ml pH - from Plagron. She drank 4.6 liters of the solution, which had a pH of 6.5 and a temperature of 24.3 degrees. Day 55 - 108 cm By now she has reached 108 cm and she was growing another two to three centimeters per day recently. Since it will get tight up top eventually, I'm trying to guide the main stem a bit in curves to save at least a few centimeters. I have to reposition the clip every few days. This way, you can lead the stem in a bit of a circle without stressing the plant too much through supercropping. I tried it once and it worked quite well with another plant.

GrowerBaal Day 57 - 109 cm With the clips, I was able to somewhat limit the height growth. It might look a bit strange, but it's better than light burn. Recently, the miners' fly tunnels haven't developed as quickly; I can hardly find any new ones. Today, I gave 4.7 liters of tap water with a pH of 6.4 and a temperature of 23.7 degrees Celsius. Day 60 - 111 cm The growth has clearly slowed down. The temperatures have also dropped recently, 24 degrees during the day and around 20 degrees at night in the tent. No water today, maybe tomorrow. Day 61 - 111.5 cm Today, she got her tap water again, this time with a bit less pH-, so the pH was at 6.8, and the temperature was 21.0 degrees Celsius. She received 2 liters from above and 2.7 liters from a bowl.

GrowerBaal Day 65 - 112.5 cm She's hardly growing anymore, but her buds are. Overall, she looks healthy, even though I think I've spotted new leaf miner tunnels. I actually thought she needed water today, but she'll get that tomorrow instead. Day 66 - 112.5 cm Today she got 4.8 liters of tap water with Silic Rock and a few drops of pH-. The water was 23.6 degrees and 6.7 pH. She developed a few new spots with leaf miner tunnels, which I removed by cutting them out. In the meantime, she's developed some frost and has a slightly sour-sweet smell, very pleasant.