RedHot CheeseCake

BearBuds A little late on this diary, the first few weeks were challenging until I figured out how to better regulate the temperature in my little grow room downstairs. This is week 4 of veg and they are starting to find their legs, going to send them into flower this Saturday Sept 5th. Using Cana nutrients again, which I didn't want to because they are more expensive and I don't know if they are worth the price, but the ease of use and good results last time made me go back to them.

BearBuds First week of flowering went off without a hitch and they are stretching nicely. My last grow was over winter and with the cold temps I had to water much less often and my plants didn't stretch at all. With a little warmer temps in the room now these girls are already drinking every other day, and have stretched almost 10 centimeters in the first week. I am going to lollipop and defoliate in the middle of week 2 so that I can slow down the stretch a little and most likely going to need to begin watering once per day.

BearBuds These girls are really finding their groove! My last grow was over winter and there was almost no stretch at all. I kind of though this would be similar because it stays cool in the basement, but these gals are loving it. The stretch is fully on, the canopy is evening out nicely, they don't seem to have been bothered by the lollipop and defoliation, so far I have no notes. Everything is going smoothly for now. I am hoping to do a big defoliation on Monday and really expose all bud areas to light before they get too far into bud production. As of right now though I am still getting great penetration from the light and even at just 16 inches away they don't seem to be bothered by it at all.

BearBuds Huge stretch in week 3 again, put a stronger light in for greater penetration and it seemed to stop the stretch a little which is nice. Probably could have lollipopped better but the structure is not great. The big stretch really made things uneven, but I am hoping my 350 light at 3/4 power will penetrate the canopy better and bring more light to the lower buds. I am not too worried because I have have structures like this before with this light, the outside buds are very tall, while the center canopy stays shorter and it has worked out just fine. In fact, the first time I got a structure like this I pulled my largest grow ever. This light is well designed for this because the PAR scores falls off significantly towards the outside, so a little closer to the light is good. Right now the central, lower canopy is about 17 inches from the light and the outer ring is about 10 inches from the light. I did a little defoliation again at the end of this week and I feel like the penetration is about as good as it will get. Lets see how it goes!

BearBuds The stretch has finally stopped, thank goodness, and they are starting to put on a little density. I lollipopped them thinking they would would reach a little more than double where they started, about 26 inches, but they blew right past that and are sitting at 31 inches for the tallest branches. Going to end up with a little fluff, but that's OK, i'll make some strong olive oil out of it. The light is about 9 inches from the tallest branches, but they are all to the outside edge and will be fine. Main buds in the center are at about 13 inches and even the lower buds are a max of 18 which is still a great position. As long as I can keep the light penetrating to the lower buds they should turn out fine. I started at ROCK resinator this week and am pulling back on Canna Part A; after week 6 I will stop it completely and just use the CalMag, Part B, Boost and ROCK. Week 7 and 8 and I will Mendicino Avalanche again, I have always had good results with that. No signs of color yet on the RHC but breeder notes say it comes the last weeks of flower. Its going to start getting colder during the day so I am hoping night time temps in the high 60s and daytime temps staying below 75 will bring out some color regardless. I put a plant outside as a throw away to see what happens and wouldn't ya know it, that fucker is turning purple lol. Hoping they start to bulk up in the coming week.

BearBuds And the bulk has started! Both plants are starting to put on some mass. I have cut Part A to only 2 ml/g and I will cut it out starting next week. The RHC has more bulk right now, but the BCC is has SO MUCH sugar right now its crazy; this early! The tents temps have been great with 78 during the day and 68 at night. No signs of deficiences, imbalances, or stress at all even with the light so close. I am pumped! Next week should be the first big bulking week for them. Can't wait!

BearBuds The first week of the chunkathon is going well! Week 6 has seen these gals starting to put on some noticable mass and I am getting very excited. The smell coming out of the tent every time I open it is amazing and the amount of sugar on the bubba cheesecake is wild. They are showing no signs of deficiencies or nute burn, no stress, just good clean livin. There is still good light penetration all the way to the mid-level canopy despite not having the best structure. Hoping a little bit of selective defoliation over the next few weeks will keep going because right now I have light getting all the way to about 15 inches into the canopy. From how they look now I am thinking they will get the chop somewhere around week 9. Can't wait to see how much they chunk over the next 2.5 weeks

BearBuds Week 7 has come to a close and these gals are putting on a show. When flower initiated I thought the yield would be crazy judging by their initial size. Unfortunelaty it doesn't feel at this time like that is going to be the case. Internodal space is large meaning less bud sites and even buds that are on closer nodes are still not really bulking enough to come together and create larger conglomerate buds. I may have gone a little light on the nutrients in week 4 and 5 and a few days ago I realized my pH was creaping around 6.5 or just above over a few days, but the plants never looked hungry and showed no signs of stress so I don't think that was too big of a deal. I think a more realistic estimate now would be around 6-7 ounces in this tent while as before I was hoping for 8-10. Regardless of total yield, this buds are beautiful. The BCC is taking on this incredible lime green color, calyx are becoming very pronounced on buds giving each a distinct shape. It has about 15 primary branches and the amount of sugar all over this plant is CRAZY! The RHC has started to turn purple! The pistils rapidly fading to orange even with new ones forming constantly, and the calyx below are taking on a deep purple. I have been intentionally leaving the basement window open during the day to help promote a temperature drop with the cool first days of autum here. Its been around 70 outside and the tent in the cold basement has been locked in at around 65 degrees with lights off which I think is helping bring out the color on this RHC. I will start checking the trichomes this Sunday and will add Sugaree nutrients as the grow winds down this week. Without having looked at the trichomes with my microscope yet, I think I will be choping these around day 62 which would be next Sunday. FINGERS CROSSED!!