Breaking Teeth & Banging Heads 🤘⚗️

ChillSpace Week 1 — Straight Into the 4×4 A great first week for all three! Walter White BX1, Toof Decay × Walter White, and Headbanger’s Ball all got started together. At just one day old I moved them straight into the flowering 4×4 alongside the older plants lol Definitely not the gentlest introduction to life 😂 but all three handled the transition extremely well. They spent the week establishing themselves and steadily picking up speed. By the end of Week 1 they’re all showing healthy new growth, good color, tight structure, and noticeably more leaf mass compared with where they started. Headbanger’s Ball is looking great, just behind Toof Decay × Walter White who is developing a nice compact structure with strong new growth. Walter White BX1 is currently the smallest of the three, but she looks healthy and continues moving forward. I’m especially excited about this group because the original Walter White and Toof Decay × Walter White are already genetics I’ve really enjoyed growing, while Headbanger’s Ball is completely new territory. One week down. They survived being tossed into the deep end on Day 1 — now we get to see which one really starts running. 🌱

ChillSpace Week 2 and these three are officially starting to earn the name Breaking Teeth & Banging Heads. 🤘 Headbangers Ball, Walter White BX1, and Toof Decay × Walter White started the week as little seedlings tucked into the 4×4 flowering tent, almost forgotten underneath the big girls. Once they had some room, they took off. Training started as soon as they gave me something to work with, with small adjustments throughout the week rather than one big beatdown. TD×WW is especially acting like she was born for it, while Headbangers Ball and Walter White BX1 are coming along nicely in their own ways. They’ve got some big shoes to fill after the last run, but they’re already starting to fill them. I actually moved all the flowering ladies out into the 2x4’s and moved the Platinum Lantz project into the 4x4. Now they’ve got more room, a 20/4 schedule, and plenty of light from the EVO6. Week 2 was basically about getting them spread out, building structure, and setting the foundation for what comes next. Slowly but surely… then a little faster. 🤘⚗️

ChillSpace Week 3 and all three ladies are getting a final training session. I spread everyone out pretty aggressively and I’m basically training them in place now so they grow into the space I actually want them to fill. They definitely look a little beat up right after I mess with them lol, but they’ve been responding really well and I’m happy with how much structure I’m getting this early. I just bumped the lights from 30% to 40% now that they’re getting established and spreading out. These three are also sharing the 4x4 with my Platinum Lantz photoperiod project right now. They’ll eventually move into their own finishing space as the older autos ahead of them get harvested.

ChillSpace Week 4 was a pretty major cleanup and transition week for these three. Up until now I did one real session of LST and then mostly watched as they built out as many strong branches as possible. At this point the structure is there, and it was time to decide what was actually worth carrying through flower. I pulled each plant out individually, put them on a rotating base and gave them their final real lollipop. I removed a pretty ridiculous amount of lower and interior growth — weak shoots, buried bud sites and anything else that looked destined to become annoying little popcorn buds later. I wasn’t trying to strip the plants bare or remove productive branches. The goal was simply to remove all the bullshit now that I already know I won’t want to deal with at harvest. Headbangers Ball was easily the densest of the three and needed the cleanup the most. There was an incredible amount of growth hiding inside that plant. Once it was opened up, the structure underneath looked great, with a ton of strong branches already reaching the canopy. Walter White BX1 also cleaned up extremely well and has developed a really nice framework from that early training. Afterward, all three still have very full canopies and plenty of healthy leaf area, but underneath is completely different. There’s actual airflow through the plants now, and they can put their resources toward the established tops instead of maintaining a jungle of shaded lower growth. I also rearranged the 4×4 while I had everything out. The three autos now have the prime positions through the center of the tent, with four Platinum Lantz photoperiods arranged around the outside in a diamond. Since the autos are on a clock and the photos aren’t, I’m prioritizing the autos for space and light while they finish. Once they’re gone, all of that space becomes available to the Platinum Lantz project. Lighting was raised and redistributed now that the seedlings and clones have their own dedicated tent. The canopy is currently sitting around 600+ PPFD pretty much everywhere, which is exactly where I want it. I have more than enough lighting capacity, so I’m focusing on even coverage rather than blasting one part of the tent. At this point the hard training on these autos is basically finished. They’ve been spread, trained and cleaned up, and now I’m ready to mostly leave them alone and see what all that work turns into. Week 4 feels like the point where they stopped being plants I’m trying to build and became plants I’m trying to finish. Now it’s time to let them stretch, stack and do their thing.

ChillSpace Week 5 was a big transition for these three autos in the center row. They’re all officially flowering now and really starting to show their differences. Walter White BX1 is absolutely showing off lol. She stretched hard and is easily the tallest, while Headbangers Ball and TD×WW have stayed shorter and bushy with a ton of flower sites. I moved some 660nm bars into the 4x4 this week and mounted them along the sides, which worked ridiculously well for filling the weaker areas around the EVOs. I added two more oscillating fans underneath the lights too, so now I’ve got two above and two below. While watering I cleaned out some unhealthy leaves trapped in the middle, but otherwise I’m still leaving healthy foliage alone. I even slapped them around a little today to see how sturdy they’ve gotten 😂. Turns out the autos are already built pretty damn solid. My photos were definitely easier to slap around and were still bent over slightly afterward lol. Five weeks down and now the fun part starts.

ChillSpace Pretty damn good week! The girls are settling into flower nicely, stretch is mostly wrapping up, and they’re starting to bulk. I’m really happy with where all three are heading. This was also a big week for the whole grow because I finally got to move this trio into their own 2×4 after my recent harvest. Quick harvest recap: Rainbow Road, Lime Light, and Princess Cake finished at 556 g dry total, averaging just over 185 g per plant — my highest three-plant average so far. I also trimmed all three in around four hours, which was a huge personal record for me in time spent in trim jail. Back to these three. A few weeks ago I lollipopped these a little further than some of my earlier plants. Fuck larf! I did some selective defoliation today. It’s crazy how much difference removing only 10–15 well-chosen fan leaves per plant can make. I also moved the whole grow to 18/6. At this point, it’s mostly about efficiency. Two extra hours per day across four separate tents adds up fast, and I’m already getting plenty of DLI. At some point, those extra hours start giving diminishing returns compared with the electricity it takes to run everything longer. Let the bulking begin.

ChillSpace This is a pretty damn exciting week. The plants are continuing to stack and fill out nicely, but the biggest change by far was finally adding proper under-canopy lighting. After looking at a bunch of different systems at wildly different price points and styles, I ended up going with the FARMLITE 240W under-canopy lights off Amazon. I just couldn’t bring myself to spend around 800, or more dollars outfitting both tents with something like Faven lighting, or even more for Grand Master LEDs under-canopy lighting. Each 2×4 gets four separate 60W bars now that I can place however I want, and I’m only about 250 dollars all-in for both tents. I was also genuinely surprised by the quality when they showed up. One thing that could be a pro or a con depending on how you look at it is that they basically took the bars from one of their upper-canopy fixtures, removed the frame, connected the individual bars with cords, and called it under-canopy lighting. And goddamnit, I love that. 😂 I can’t tell you how many times I’ve considered flipping an EVO3 upside down and figuring out some ridiculous way to grow through it just so I could use it as under-canopy lighting. The bars feel solid, everything is well protected, the wiring and connections are straightforward, and they’re using Samsung diodes. I was concerned that four 60W bars firing upward underneath the plants might get pretty damn hot, and I was prepared to deal with that, but with the driver mounted separately, the bars themselves stay much cooler than I expected. They definitely get warm, but nothing that concerns me having them down around the plants. For what I paid, they feel considerably less “budget” than I expected. I arranged the four bars roughly in a rectangle, with two along the outside edges and two running through the center. Holy shit, what a difference. 😂 The entire lower half of the tent is illuminated now. Areas that used to be legitimately dark are receiving meaningful light, and there’s so much light bouncing around the tent that even spots I considered dead zones are surprisingly bright. And I’m only running the under-canopy lights at 80% right now. I spent quite a while taking measurements and dialing everything in. I’m sitting around 50 DLI across the upper canopy and roughly 30 DLI through a lot of the productive lower canopy, obviously with plenty of variation depending on distance, angle, plant structure, and overlapping fixtures. That’s exactly what I wanted. I’m not trying to turn the bottom of the plant into another top canopy; I just don’t want half the plant surviving on scraps of light anymore. Adding the lights also immediately showed me which fan leaves weren’t doing me any favors, so everybody got another pretty substantial cleanup. I removed leaves that were blocking productive sites, opened up the interiors, and improved airflow. Another unexpected win has been the environment. The extra lighting adds just enough useful heat that I’ve finally gotten the tent sitting where I want it without having to run everything excessively hot. Production has been hanging around the upper 70s to roughly 80°F, and VPD is finally landing around 1.5 kPa. During the colder months especially, I think having that additional light and heat underneath the canopy is going to help keep the whole plant actively developing instead of having mature tops while colder, shaded lowers drag behind for another week or two. I’ve also settled on 20/4 for the light schedule. I considered going 24/0, but I like giving them a consistent four-hour dark period every day while still having plenty of time to deliver the DLI I want. At this point I have enough light everywhere that I can fuck around with intensity and schedules as needed instead of constantly trying to squeeze more light into the tent. I’m still alternating feedings with plain RO water as needed, mostly by filling the self-watering bases, although I’ll add some from the top here and there too. Obviously harvest is going to be the real test of whether the under-canopy lighting earns its keep, but seeing the whole plant illuminated instead of just a bright roof over a dark interior genuinely warms my heart. I can’t believe I waited this long to add under-canopy lighting!

ChillSpace These three ladies—Headbangers Ball, Walter White BX1, and Toof Decay × Walter White—have been doing fantastic, and I’m really starting to feel like I’ve got everything dialed in exactly where I want it. It’s only been about a week since I installed the new FARMLITE 240W under-canopy lighting, but I’m already loving the results. Obviously, it’s still early to make any definitive conclusions about the impact on final yields, but visually, it’s been really satisfying watching the flowers develop throughout the entire canopy instead of primarily focusing on what’s happening up top. Hopes are high! 😎 I had previously been experimenting with AC Infinity’s S16 supplemental lighting bars, and while they definitely contributed something, I always considered them weak AF for what I was trying to accomplish. Honestly, I felt a little duped after getting them. They’re pretty basic lights that seem better suited for keeping smaller plants happy in smaller spaces rather than providing serious supplemental lighting beneath a mature canopy. To achieve anything close to the wattage, coverage, and intensity I’m getting down below from the FARMLITE 240W setup, I would need eight sets of those 60W AC Infinity bars, and even then, I’m not convinced they’d compare. Not to mention the additional heat I’d be introducing trying to accomplish the same thing! And man, seeing all those flowers developing from top to bottom is satisfying! The three plants are also showing off some pretty different personalities. Headbangers Ball has a beautiful, bushy structure with plenty of flowering sites, Walter White BX1 is stacking some impressive colas, and Toof Decay × Walter White is showing off some absolutely gorgeous purple coloration. It’s been a fun trio to watch develop! These ladies will eventually be moving into my dedicated 2×4 finishing tent, where they’ll have another Grand Master LEDs Tarantula Ultimate 2×4 overhead and an identical FARMLITE under-canopy setup waiting for them. Based on how they’re progressing, I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if some of them are ready closer to Week 11. Knowing myself, though, I’ll probably let them ride until Week 12 anyway, because fuck it! I’ve got plenty of flower, and I’m in no rush. More than anything, I’m just enjoying how well the entire system is coming together. Between the lighting, airflow, environmental control, and the ability to move plants through different tents as they mature, everything is starting to feel much more intentional and a whole lot less stressful. It’s a pretty awesome feeling when you can finally stop worrying so much about whether everything is working and just enjoy watching the plants grow.

ChillSpace It’s been good really, they are starting to fade slightly, which is what I would expect. One of the biggest developments this week was moving Toof Decay × Walter White, Walter White BX1, and Headbangers Ball out of my 2×4 Production tent and into the 2×4 Finishing tent! On another exciting note, prior to that move, I finished trimming my previous trio! Jungle Juice, Jelly Donutz, and Apple Strudel RF3 brought in a combined 489 grams of dried flower :) These three officially entered the final stage of my rotation, freeing up Production for the next group while these ladies continue maturing! The colors are probably my favorite part right now! Toof Decay × Walter White has developed some gorgeous dark purple tones, which is especially exciting since this is the first time I’ve had a purple phenotype of this cross! Walter White BX1 is stacking some seriously impressive, frosty colas, while Headbangers Ball is showing off a much brighter green appearance with some beautiful flower development of its own. The contrast between all three is pretty wild! I’ve been really impressed with how much the lower portions of the canopy have filled out since adding the under-canopy lighting. Watching those lower buds develop alongside the upper colas has been one of the most interesting parts of this run! This is the part of the grow I look forward to most—when all the weeks of work start coming together and each plant really shows what makes her special.

ChillSpace Week 10 — The Final Stretch! ? Well, what can I say? These ladies were absolutely thriving before I moved them into the finishing tent, and apparently they decided that meant it was time to start wrapping things up! 😂 Since the move, they’ve experienced a pretty dramatic fade. The new environment is approximately 5–10°F cooler with lower humidity, and I also let them dry out a little more than intended while focusing on my other projects. Between the environmental changes, a little water stress, and their natural maturity, they’ve definitely started showing their age! The transformation has been crazy to watch. Toof Decay × Walter White has developed some absolutely gorgeous dark purple flowers, Walter White BX1 is carrying some massive, frosty colas, and Headbangers Ball is still showing off plenty of beautiful green flowers despite the yellowing foliage. Interestingly, they’re still developing! I’m seeing continued flower growth, plenty of white pistils, and some impressive trichome coverage, so I’m not quite ready to call it quits. This week’s feeding was a little different! I’ve primarily been using Athena Pro throughout this grow, but decided to switch things up and pull out my Advanced Nutrients lineup for one of their final feedings. I mixed up a pretty comprehensive batch with Sensi Bloom A+B, Big Bud, Overdrive, Bud Candy, Bud Factor X, B-52, Sensizym, Tasty Terpenes, Revive, Ancient Earth, Voodoo Juice Plus, and Growers Recharge, along with a little Athena Balance for my RO water. I’ve been enjoying the simplicity of Athena Pro, especially when I don’t have an hour to spend mixing nutrients. Advanced Nutrients has plenty of interesting products, but pulling out a dozen bottles every feeding gets old fast! 😂 I may end up alternating between the two depending on the situation. Unfortunately, the leaves that were already deteriorating continued to die off after feeding, so there’s clearly no reversing some of that damage. For now, I’m watching the flowers closely and letting them continue maturing as long as conditions allow. This is actually the first time I’ve experienced such an abrupt decline across an entire group of autoflowers. It’s been an interesting reminder of just how quickly things can change toward the end of a grow. Despite the rough-looking foliage, I’m genuinely excited about these flowers. The colors, frost, and overall development have been incredible, and I’m especially looking forward to seeing how these three genetics compare once they’re dried and cured.

ChillSpace We’re officially getting down to the final days with these three! After dealing with some supposed nutrient stress, lockout, or whatever the fuck caused them to basically die in a week lol, I initially went in the completely wrong direction. I had whipped up a whole bunch of nutrients thinking it would help the plants recover, or at least help the leaves hang on a little longer. And maybe it did to some extent, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going on in the soil or root zone. I’ve had plants handle colder and drier conditions just fine after moving into the finishing tent, so the environment alone wasn’t making sense to me. Something else seemed off. Then I had one of those moments where I caught myself thinking, “Plants are having nutrient issues? PUT MORON!” 🤦‍♂️ Basically, my solution to what might have been a nutrient problem was to throw even more nutrients at it. Eventually, I decided that probably wasn’t the smartest direction to keep heading. So I ended up flushing them with about 2 gallons of pure RO water each. I don’t normally flush at the end, especially not like this, but my intention wasn’t to perform some traditional pre-harvest flush. I just wanted to reset whatever was happening in the root zone as best I could and hopefully give them a chance to finish without making things worse. Absolutely flooded the tent in the process lol. Had to break out the towels and soak everything up! Since then, I’ve mostly left them alone to finish. And watched as they slowly bulked up the last few days :) I started doing some cleanup and defoliation, but a lot of the outer leaves have become completely dry and crispy. Even touching them causes little flakes to break off everywhere, which honestly stresses me out more than just seeing the dying leaves. What’s interesting is that some of those seemingly “dead” leaves are still surprisingly firmly attached. Removing them requires quite a bit more force than I’d like, especially this close to harvest. Rather than aggressively pulling them off, potentially damaging branches, disturbing the flowers, spreading debris everywhere, or creating a bunch of unnecessary wounds in their final days, I’ve decided to leave most of them alone. At this point, a little crispy foliage seems like a better trade-off than creating more problems trying to make the plants look prettier. Despite the rough finish, the flowers have developed some absolutely beautiful colors, impressive frost, and seriously chunky colas! Each of these three has shown a completely different personality throughout the grow, and it’s been fascinating watching those differences develop. Not exactly the flawless finish I would’ve liked, and definitely not how I expected their final week to go, but another grow full of lessons. Sometimes the biggest lesson isn’t figuring out what else you can do for your plants, but recognizing when you might be doing too much. I’m excited to see what these girls deliver at harvest!

ChillSpace Well, here we are! Week 12 it was already harvest time! What an incredible run this has been. All three ladies have been chopped and are currently hanging in the 2×4 Finishing tent, and I couldn’t be happier with how they turned out! This round featured three different Mephisto Genetics strains: Toof Decay × Walter White, Walter White BX1, and Headbangers Ball. Three seeds, three strains, and three completely different personalities. That’s one of the things I love about running a mixed tent. You never quite know what you’re going to get, and watching each plant develop its own structure, colors, aromas, and flowers has been a blast! These plants did great throughout most of the grow, but holy shit, moving them into the Finishing 2×4 turned into quite the experience! Initially, they weren’t particularly happy with the transition. The foliage started shriveling, and I suspect the colder root temperatures played a role in that. I was also dealing with some nutrient availability issues that I’ve since been working through. Once I made a few adjustments, including bringing my nutrient solution closer to 6.5 pH, things really started turning around. And damn, did they turn around! Those final days of flowering were incredible. The buds started swelling, the plants continued packing on weight, and the frost and colors just kept getting better. Watching them respond after that initial setback was honestly one of the most exciting parts of the entire run! However, it also presented an interesting decision when it came to harvest timing. Although the flowers were continuing to develop beautifully, the plants were holding onto quite a bit of dead, crispy foliage from their earlier struggles. The longer I let them go, the more concerned I became about the potential for that damaged material to cause problems, especially around the dense flowers. I could have gone through and meticulously removed everything, but that would have meant handling the plants quite a bit more during their final days. More opportunities to disturb the flowers, knock off trichomes, or accidentally damage something while trying to improve the situation. On the other hand, leaving all that dead material in place indefinitely didn’t seem particularly appealing either. Eventually, I decided there was a balance between allowing the flowers to continue maturing and avoiding unnecessary risks. I found a point where I was comfortable with their development and decided to harvest rather than push everything another week. Of course, running three different strains together adds another layer to that decision because they don’t necessarily mature at the same rate! Toof Decay × Walter White was already looking ready the week before harvest! This was actually the first phenotype of this cross I’ve grown that developed any significant purple coloration, and damn, she turned out beautiful! Interestingly enough, her aroma is noticeably different from the previous plants I’ve grown. She’s leaning more toward the Walter White BX1 this time rather than that incredible lemon grease aroma I’ve enjoyed so much from this cross. I’m not sure whether having them together influenced how I was perceiving their aromas or if this particular phenotype is simply expressing something different. Either way, it’s been interesting watching her develop. Although I do miss that lemon grease! Lol, dammit. Walter White BX1 turned into an absolute beast! She was the biggest of the three, with beautiful flower development, impressive resin production, and some seriously chunky buds. She really packed on the weight toward the end, and I’m especially excited to see what she brings to the table once everything is dried and cured. Headbangers Ball, on the other hand, probably could have used another week to finish developing. She was still looking a little greener and less mature than the others, but that’s the gamble you take when you’re running multiple strains on the same schedule. Sometimes you have to make a decision that works for the group rather than every individual plant. And honestly, I don’t regret it. I love having the variety! There’s something incredibly satisfying about opening a tent and seeing three completely different expressions growing side by side. Different aromas, different colors, different structures, and eventually three different jars to enjoy! Not to mention all the combinations I can make when I start mixing them together in my grinder lol. The plants have now been drying whole for about six days, and so far, everything has been progressing nicely. I’ll be completing the harvest portion of this diary once everything has been trimmed and weighed, hopefully in another 3–4 days. One thing worth mentioning is that GrowDiaries asks for wet weight when completing the harvest report, but I never weigh my plants wet. I’ve always preferred recording the final dried and trimmed flower weight because that’s the number that actually matters to me. I’ll be entering my dry weight in that field instead, so just keep in mind that those numbers will represent finished dry flower, not wet harvest weight! This run has been especially enjoyable because it’s also part of a bigger transition in my growing journey. I’ve been shifting more of my attention toward photoperiods and breeding projects lately, so these are some of my last autoflowers for a little while. It’s honestly a little bittersweet. I’ve spent so much time growing and enjoying Mephisto genetics, and these plants have reminded me exactly why I fell in love with autoflowers in the first place. There’s something awesome about dropping a few seeds, watching three completely different plants develop, and having a beautiful harvest just a few months later. But I’m excited about what’s coming next, too! My photoperiod projects have opened up an entirely different side of growing for me, and I’m looking forward to exploring that world a little more deeply. I’m certainly not done with autos forever, just making room for something new. Looking back, I think one of the biggest lessons from this run has been learning when to intervene and when to leave things alone. Those final weeks really demonstrated how much these plants can accomplish when their conditions improve, even after experiencing some fairly significant stress. But they also reminded me that there’s a point where chasing a little more development might not be worth the additional risk. I’m happy with the decision I made, and judging by how much flower is hanging in that tent, I think I’m going to be pretty happy with the final numbers too! Three beautiful strains, plenty of frosty flowers, a few unexpected lessons, and one hell of a way to wrap up this chapter! I’ll be back with the final dry weights and harvest results once everything is finished. 🤙