Blue Dream - 1, Strawberry Cough - 2

sir_root 9/21/2026 - Got a late start with my last two girls. I was not planning on doing this next grow with two different strains, but germination was against me. So, here we go. At least this time they are similar, Sativa dominant plants. So excited to see what the new lights do for this run.

sir_root 9/26/2026 - Got the girls transplanted into pots today. Also, got the automation dialed in for VDP of .6, by letting the humidity get higher. This basement room runs warm. The Blue Dream girl seems a bit rough. Her leaves turned a bit yellow. I am hoping it is just because she was nutrient starved, waiting for the Strawberry Cough girls to catch up. It also could have been the lights, but I don't think so. I was very careful to do PAR readings with the new lights and they have not been under more than 160 PAR (PPFD) We will see how she recovers. Watered everyone in really well. Have some run off, but didn't have time to vac it out today. Will do that tomorrow morning. Here we go. 9/27/2026 - Solid recovery over night. Second set of new true leaves are coming in. The SC girls are also showing a new set. Increased PPFD to 200 this morning. There was not as much runoff as I thought with the watering yesterday. Environmental conditions are stable with my controller settings set for VPD as the priority (.6 kPa with +/- .2) and Humidity up to 80%. Also increased the circulation fan top speed to 4. I am running the simulated wind mode and in the pots, the distance is further and I wanted a bit more to get the regular "wiggle" I like to see, in the seedlings.

sir_root 10/4/2026 - The last week has been pretty hands off, because I was out of town for quite a bit of it. Just had to have someone top off the humidifier water. Didn't need to water or do anything else. Before I left I had increased the lamp PAR to 250 µmol/m²/s, before I left. The girls responded great to that, along with the steady warm temps and low VPD, which was maintained around .6 kPa. With them doing so well, I did tweak a few things today. First, I gave them a drink. Soil moisture was still around 40%, which I know is starting to get to the dry side of moist. I increased the lighting to 350 µmol/m²/s and increased the vpd to .7 kPa. Tent temps are getting pretty high, with the lights, so I have to think about some things. At this point, they are at about 40% and the tent is getting up to around 79F. I do not have the money for a Terraform, so I am thinking instead to get a portable air conditioner for the lung room off Facebook marketplace. I did open up the side vents and turn up the exhaust fan today, but I don't want to get too crazy with that, because I still need the humidity. Fingers cross the leaf temps should be a couple of degrees lower, but that said, 79F is not too out of line. Lamps are still high off the plants.

sir_root 10/13/2026 - Made several adjustments this last week. Changed humidity down, to increase VPD up to 1 +/- .2. Also, needing to increase watering a bit more than I had. PPF increased to 450. Girls are growing fast and I will be topping them this week and starting manifold. 10/13/2026 - I decided to manifold the Blue Dream and the more robust Strawberry Cough plants today. I will let the other Strawberry girl keep going a bit, until she gets a bit more robust. Happy with the result. Gave them a drink. Fingers Crossed. 10/14/2026 - Came home from a whirlwind business trip and decided to top the second SC girl. Also, applied LST clips to the BD girl. Will leave them all alone now for a while. The SC girls have to recover and get a bit longer, before I will apply the clips to them. Also, accidentally did the manifold on the 4th node. I know, it is unlikely to matter, but now I get why everyone talks about being careful. You don't check yourself and you cut the wrong thing. Fortunately, I could just go with it when I cut the first branch on the 3rd node. She had 7 nodes. 10/16/2026 - Removed the LST clips from the BD girl this morning. Branch is set, but getting bigger and I don't want it to pinch. Letting the other two girls keep going. I think I will end up using coated plant wire for LST in this early phase as the branches are getting big fast.

sir_root 10/19/2026 - Started LST on SC2 and moved the wires out on BD and SC1 girls today. SC1 still hasn't really bounced back after topping, but she has always been a bit behind the others. Speaking of the others, BD and SC1 are doing really well. The node spacing is very tight, compared to my first two runs and I do not think this is entirely genetics. I think the new lights are making a big difference. Each are just getting to 5 nodes on the manifold, so a few more days to go before I will do any more trimming. The lights are great, but the heat is starting to become an issue. Or at least I am concerned it will be an issue when I increase the light intensity later in flower. I have base vents open, but it is also getting cold here and I recently turned my furnace on. It is in the same room. Daytime temps with the lighting around 550 μmol/m²/s are getting up around 83F. While this is fine, I am a bit concerned about when I get into flower and want to turn the lights up more. I think I need to cool my lung room with a portable AC unit. It is about 71F, but I think I will need to bring that down and see if it helps give me more temp stability. I could also stand to get a bigger vent fan. My current one is just a 4" duct, so I don't think it is drawing enough through. Money I kind of don't want to spend, but if I am going to be reworking a whole bunch of venting, maybe now is the time to just do it all in one go. Then again, maybe I really bite the bullet and get an AC Infinity Terraform, cool the tent directly and change nothing else. Decisions, Decisions... 10/21/2026 - Topped BD girl today. She was more than ready. I am amazed at the density of the node spacing. These new lights certainly seem to be helping. Did a bit of LST adjustments on each of the plants, to keep them going out. SC1 is getting close to being ready for the second manifold, so I will keep an eye on her for a couple of days. SC2 is still behind, but she is catching up. Slight adjustment on LST, I think her roots are far less developed, but hoping that with more canopy, she will catch up quickly. I did decide to get the Terraform. It arrives today. I realized, if I am looking at a multi-hundred dollar AC unit for the lung room, which is 70F, why wouldn't I just spend a bit more on the thing that cools directly into the tent. So it is done. I have decided to keep the Hydrone Dehumidifier and maintain that function separately in a closed loop. I had it setup in a reverse of what it should have been, with regard to intake and exhaust, so moving it will also allow me to fix that. Also keeping the CloudForge T3, which is so essential for Veg. It is moving back over to the left of the tent. This is also where the Terraform 8 will go. It will connect to the top of the tent and exhaust out the new vent I installed in my basement window. I don't need the cooling function right now, but I figured I might was well get this reconfiguration finished, before the plants get too large. My AC infinity heater will get put back in the box and stored as a backup device, should something happen and I need heating. This will entirely blow up my cost per oz, which is how I "justify" my investments, but I think it will pay off in the long run. Just kidding, this is so much more than being just about the product that comes out of it. Now if only I can get my wife to move some of the stuff off that shelving on the left wall, so I can get rid of the shelves and get a bit more work space. 😁 10/22/2026 - The Terraform installation went pretty well. Space is really constrained, but i think I did okay with positioning it for the window exhaust as well as the cool air into the tent. I tried it out yesterday, by adding it into the automation with the AC Infinity controller. Honestly didn't expect it to turn on, because I thought I had things set okay for my high daytime temp of 81F and VPD of 1, but it had other ideas. This thing cools really fast and it certainly took the humidity with it. I know it will really pay off when I get to flower, which is what it is primarily for, but I have to think about those settings. I guess it will help that the lights will be turned up a bit more. SC1 was good to go for manifold trim #2 today, so I did it and used the opportunity to firm down the LST training for her. SC2 is probably another 3 days away from being ready. I know I am pushing her, but I want to get through this so she has time to recover, before I switch to Flower. Blue Dream is getting super strong. She bounced back nicely from the manifold. Looks great and I am looking forward to what she produces. Now the next question is when do I switch to flower? I know I need to let these new colas develop a bit. At least another 2 weeks, I figure and then I can decide. What I am most trying to avoid is running in Veg for so long, I eat up all the nutrients in the soil and leave little for late flower. I know I can supplement, but I prefer to avoid it if possible. 10/24/2026 - Performed the second manifold trip on SC2 this morning. I also noticed that she is started to show some of the potassium deficiency on her lower leaves. SC1 is also showing the same problem again. I retested my water supply today and the pH was way to high. 8-8.5. I think I got a little cavalier with my water prep. Rather than waiting for it to sit for a few days before adding pH down, I was treating it right away. This is now how I used to do it. I know, RTFM, I will do better going forward. I did a manual watering of SC2, after fixing the water pH. The other two plants still need to dry out. I am hoping that after a couple of waterings, this will be corrected.

sir_root 10/25/2026 - Well, I think BD and SC1 are pretty much at the point where I will just keep them in line, but otherwise let them grow. SC2 is getting there, but the 4 end colas are not developed enough for any sort of LST. Maybe I will just let her grow in her own way and not worry about shape as much. I am thinking 2 more weeks and I will be ready to flip to flower. I want them all to get a bit more structure and bulk, before I make the change. Part of what will influence this is the ongoing Potassium deficiency, which seems to be hitting the Strawberry Cough girls especially hard. I did correct the water treatment and I also read about how my irrigation reservoir could be gaining in pH, because of the aeration. I will have to start testing this weekly now to make sure I keep it in line and see if it helps. 10/27/2026 - Flipping SC2 and SC1 seems to have had some positive effect. SC2 seems to be filling out faster now. Ran irrigation yesterday, with double checked pH water and maybe I am just hopeful, but it does seem that the level of creep on the potassium deficiency has stopped. Plants are exploding. 10 more days of Veg and I will flip to flower. I want the branches to get a bit bigger and spread out. Everything that needs to be tied down, should be tied down now to keep the canopy level. My nighttime temp management is doing okay. Trying to bring up nighttime VPD to 1.1, but I am finding that it is bouncing a bit between .95 and 1.2. Better than it was, but I am trading off with temp fluctuations between 68 F and 72 F, while my dehumidifier/AC devices try to keep VPD where I want it. It does not seem to be hurting the plants, so I am not going to get too worried about it. Besides, once I am in flower, I will be starting to bring the tent temperature down a bit more anyway.