Silky Smooth's Solo Cup Challenge - NOT

I've never grown anything that I intentionally deprived of space to grow, so I'm not sure how well I'll do, but I'm gonna give it a go. MONDAY 6/24: I floated 5 x Candesia beans tonight..I'll let as many of them that germinate and sprout successfully grow for a week, and the leader will become my contest entry. TUESDAY 6/25: All 5 seeds sunk, but still no sprouts. I poked holes in my cups and readied my soil today. I don't want to have to calculate nutes for such a small container, and my Biotabs are all going to be used for my outdoor grow, so I'll be using Osmocote Plus in the solo cups....never tried it before with cannabis, but it works great with my houseplants and flower beds in the lawn. It's a little higher in N than I like, but for this challenge, it may be just the thing... SUNDAY 7/1: Finally, one of them emerged..albeit with a single cotyledon...damnit...😟 I floated 10 more of them tonight... SUNDAY 7/7: The first seedling that popped (with one cotyledon) is still tiny, but it actually has started to make a weird leaf...I'll keep it alive just out of curiosity.. I had 3 strong seedlings emerge from the last batch of 10 x Candesia seeds, and a couple others that may or may not make it..I also floated 6 more Candy Cane x C4 beans and another Candy Cane (S1)..of which 4 x CC x C4's emerged and the one CC (S1)..also, one of the Candy Cane x C4 (purple pheno) beans has finally emerged. I'm still not sure which one will be the solo cup challenge contestant and which will go into the stealthy outdoor hybrid diary.

SUNDAY 7/14: I'll either grow the original weird-looking stunted Candesia or the other pictured one. It's a week younger and the same size, so I'm leaning towards calling it my contestant. TUESDAY: I decided to just enter the weird little stunted Candesia in the contest because I just couldn't bear to leave either of the stronger/healthier ones in a tiny little cup..they have such potential... WEDNESDAY: She's perfect for this challenge I think...so short I could fit a 100w CXB3590 or my 1500w blurple above her...but I suspect her yield will hardly be worth the electricity cost... Sooper-runt 😐 I sprayed her about a dozen times with Boom Boom Spray and Kelp Me Kelp You today..maybe that will help. I also took her outdoors to get some direct sunshine for a few hours...I hope she's still alive when I get out of bed..

THURSDAY 7/18: She really perked up in the sunshine with the boom boom spray and kelp dosing, so I put her outdoors again at first light today. I also re-planted her in the same cup, but I put about 2 centimeters of coarse perlite in the bottom along with another handful of soil. Her tiny lower branches are finally getting some light! I'll start training her a bit now, and I should be able to FIM her tomorrow or the next day. She's in direct scorching sunlight for 8 hours a day and about 8 inches below a 40w Sansi 4000k LED and a 75w LED panel (6500k/460nm 1:1 ratio) for 16 hours a day, I'll dial it back to 22-hour days at the first sign of flowering and swap out the blue/white panel for an all 660nm red panel(or two), and continue to gradually decrease her nighttime until harvest I've also got a little 20w spotlight with a Cree chip that's tuned to 3000k that I'll probably hammer her "massive" cola with as she starts to ripen up.😎 SUNDAY: She was looking a little bit haggard after yesterday...I think the sun is beating her up too badly. With such a tiny amount of soil, I think the roots are getting way too hot, even being in a cup within a cup wrapped with duct tape. Today, I'm leaving her indoors under the LEDs, but considering putting her cup inside another solo cup without any drainage holes, and setting that cup into pot of water with a fresh "blue ice" pack so as to keep the root temperature down...and replacing the blue ice pack every couple of hours while she's outdoors...or maybe I'll just take a pot and fill it with some of the orange-red clay that I find when I dig down a couple of feet..create a solo cup sized hole in it so that she has a surrounding layer of clay to keep her cooler during the day...not sure.. I foliar fed her and mixed about 4 grams of Bactrex into a jug with 3/4 gallon of bottled water and douched all my plants with about 2 pints each, except her...she got about 6 oz. of solution. That should really get the beneficial bacteria and fungus kicked into overdrive. I started brewing a 4 gallon batch of compost tea today. Since I don't have any Orgatrex, I am using a little Big Bloom, Kelp Me Kelp You, and Grow Big in the tea in addition to the PK Compost Booster tea from Bio Tabs. I'll add Mycotrex to it about 2 hours before it finishes and thoroughly dowse them all tomorrow morning. MONDAY: Today, after I FIM'd her, I decided to move her outdoors into a semi-shaded spot, with the rest of the girls during the day. To deal with the heat on her roots, I decided to just bury the larger solo cup (no drainage holes or soil in it) up to the rim in a 3 gallon pot full of soil. This will allow me to easily bring her indoors every (or every other) night to soak up more light in my cabinet. The plant's roots will never have any access to the other soil, but I'm hoping that if I keep that outer soil wet it will hold the root temperatures down in the soil inside the cup. If it turns out that her roots are so strong that they "break through" the plastic to get to the outer soil, I'll either remove the plastic and drop out of the contest, or just bring her indoors permanently.😁 She got some freshly brewed compost tea this morning along with a foliar feeding...a major pain in the ass to lug a 5-gallon pail down to the site...maybe I'll invest in a small solar panel and 12 volt battery and inverter so I can do the brewing on site...

TUESDAY 7/23: The FIM'ing seems to have only doubled her main, but that's okay. She's going from Hawaii conditions to Arizona conditions every day...8-10 hour of 72f/70+%RH to 12-14 hours of 96f/35%RH and taking it like a champ. I foliar fed her after taking her outside today and started training her a little bit. Gonna try to get those tiny lower branches to think they have a shot at "primary cola" status. I had no wire with me, so I just used a pliable length of dead-ish vine that was lying on the ground. I'll use some wire and binder clips when I can find it.. Evening...same day: She broke the vine I was using to hold her down, so I dug around and found some clips and wire. WEDNESDAY: She was just about 4 inches beneath 120w of LED last night with tons of blue spectra, 69f temperature and 80% RH. Those lower branches gained another half inch each and the top colas have turned to face the sun. I foliar fed her and gave her a little douche of Bactrex this morning when I took her outside. Had a cool front come through today, so the high will just be 87f and it's dropping to the mid to low 60's tonight..hooray! They're forecasting another day or two like this before the return to "oven-like" conditions.👍 I carried my pole saw down to the site at daybreak and removed a few smaller branches above them and to the West. I'll see if it is allowing some evening sun to reach her when I go down there to fetch her home to the LED's for the evening. THURSDAY: I was somewhat successful with getting a little bit more direct sunlight to her while outside during the day..about another 20-25 extra minutes. She got a sip of compost tea today with a little kelp me kelp you and big bloom. I tweaked her indoor domain a bit..she's now got 2 x 12w Miracle LED veg bulbs (cool white with 475nm peak), 1 x 75w cool white/460nm 225LED panel, 1 x 40w Sansi daylight grow bulb, 1 x 50w 460nm/cool white flood, and 1 x 18w 18" pinkish grow light bar. None of the lights are more than 5 inches from her, so she's incredibly well lit. I'm estimating that it's about 5,000 micromoles an hour, but I'm keeping the temp at her canopy under 80f with 90+% RH. It's not direct sunlight, but I think she's happy. I'm still undecided as to whether I'll keep her on a 24/0 schedule or if I'll cut it back to 20/4 when she starts flowering. Since I can provide her with a cool and humid environment for a third of the day, I'm leaning towards running 24/0 the whole grow. FRIDAY: I accidentally burnt her up a little bit today..one of the overhead LED's slipped and was about an inch from her top leaves...oops..I put her outside and misted her with some boom boom spray and kelp me kelp you.. SATURDAY: She's got a few crispy leaves, but she perked up and is growing again...whew...😓 SUNDAY: I tweaked her indoor environment today. She's now got a 120w quantum board (3500k) overhead, a 24w panel with 225 x 660nm red LEDs, the 40w Sansi light, one 9w 2' bar grow light, and one 12w Miracle LED blue.

TUESDAY 7/30: I gave her a little drink of 6.0 ph'd water with kelp me kelp you, great white, and open sesame. I'll give her a little drink of bactrex tomorrow, and a big drink of compost tea the next day, then I'll let her dry all the way out again. WEDNESDAY: I gave her a big drink of Bactrex today and put her in a spot where she'll get another hour or so of direct sunlight. It was a total pain in the ass. I had to squeeze through a bunch of briars. I ripped my shirt and I'm all scratched up now.. so this is not likely to be repeated often. I still have to climb back into the bushes again this evening to retrieve her..😒 I'll take some photos when I bring her indoors tonight. I put a timer on the indoor rig and she's getting a 4 hour nap every night now. THURSDAY: Being out in the 100f heat, she's drying out daily, so I gave her a few sips of freshly brewed compost tea today. In addition to the PK Booster, I brewed in some Big Bloom and Kelp Me Kelp You along with some Great White for the mycorrhizae, and I've started adding Bembe for the carbs and sugars and the extra earthworm castings, and bat + seabird guano that it contains. Normal tie-down training her was proving to be almost impossible in this sized container because as they grow outwards beyond the lip of the cup, you can't get enough leverage on them to train the furthest reaches of the plant....so.... I decided to start my lady on a weight training regimen tonight using some standard and metric deep sockets. I'll just add on smaller sockets to increase the weight as they strengthen and become erect again.💪 She looks like a stoner mechanic's Christmas Tree😂 FRIDAY: I gave her some more compost tea today..she dries out in about 4-5 hours at these temperatures.

TUESDAY 8/6: This past weekend she started showing signs of unhappiness. Paling lower leaves and droopy new growth. I poked some more holes in her cup and tried loosening up the soil...I think I should have used a lighter mix. I'm giving her nothing to eat or drink for a couple of days, and plan to leave her outdoors so that she has an extended nighttime and more gradually intensifying light for at least a day. I'll just foliar feed her if she looks like she's thirsty. I want her to be really dry before she gets her next batch of compost tea. WEDNESDAY: This morning she was "bone-dry", so I gave her about a pint of water with big bloom, kelp me kelp you, bembe, open sesame, great white, and terpinator. I've decided to just leave her outdoors for a few days and see if she recovers. If not, then I'll probably bail on the contest and transplant her into an actual pot..I just can't bare to sit by and watch her die because she's rootbound in a tiny little cup.😟 THURSDAY: She looks shittier every day... FRIDAY: I'm respectfully bowing out of the contest. 😕 But...since it's now extended through December, I've still got time to try again...😃 This morning I was gonna try to remove her rootball from the cup and loosen it up a little bit, but when I did, the entire contents of the cup was just a solid rock-hard mass of roots and soil...ridiculously compacted. I scratched the outer edges of the cup-shaped mass, but it wasn't gonna help, so I went ahead and transplanted her into a 3 gallon pot and douched her with a half gallon of water including big bloom, bembe, kelp me kelp you, great white, terpinator, and open sesame. I also foliar fed her with boom boom spray and big bloom. She was looking happier within an hour!👍 SATURDAY: I plucked off some dead and yellowed leaves and sniffed her little buds..😋 SUNDAY: She's looking healthier by the day. I gave her about a half-gallon of very frothy compost tea with pk booster, bembe, big bloom, kelp me kelp you, terpinator, beastie bloomz, and great white. MONDAY: I think I waited too long to transplant her and any opportunity at stretching she might have done was missed. She'll be a precious little dwarf, but hopefully with some thick and heavy flowers.

TUESDAY 8/13: I fed her about a half-gallon with big bloom, bembe, kelp me kelp you, terpinator, and beastie bloomz. WEDNESDAY: She got a little rain last night and the temperatures are about 10 degrees cooler than usual today. THURSDAY: Temperatures are back to 100f+ today. I wasn't able to get down to the site at all..hopefully she wont miss me as badly as I miss seeing her...😟 FRIDAY: I sprinkled some bat guano and silicium flash on her soil and douched her with about a half gallon of water including some beastie bloomz, terpinator, and bembe.

TUESDAY 8/20: She's only stretched an inch in the past week, so I think she's finished. I need to open her up and get better light penetration into the lower parts of the plant..maybe tomorrow. WEDNESDAY: Wow, she may be diminutive, but she stinks like a much bigger plant!😵 THURSDAY: I spread her branches apart and tied them down to get more light into her nether-regions. I ran the soaker hose for about 10 minutes, but didn't want to fully water her Tomorrow morning she'll get a dose of bactrex along with terpinator and bembe. FRIDAY: I fed her a half gallon of bactrex, bembe, terpinator, and armor si, then it rained about a half-inch a few hours later. SATURDAY: Hot and sunny day...too busy to check her. SUNDAY: She's looking good.

TUESDAY 8/27: It rained on and off all day today, so I didn't make it down to check on her. WEDNESDAY: It rained early this morning, but was sunny the rest of the day. She's really short, so I looked around and found a new place to put her where she gets an extra couple hours of direct sunshine per day.👍 THURSDAY: She's cute😉 FRIDAY: I'm so glad I decided not to finish her in the solo cup..she got more of the Amnesia/Sativa genetics and is gonna take a while yet to finish... SATURDAY: Did nothing... SUNDAY: Did nothing again.. MONDAY: I cleaned my aquarium filters today and used that water along with all the normal feed..gave her about a half gallon of it.

TUESDAY 9/3: She's slow, but steadily putting on the pistils. Looks happy...👍 WEDNESDAY: I fed her about a half-gallon of water with bembe, big bloom, tiger bloom, beastie bloomz, armor si, and terpinator. I was at the site for several hours today, so I was able to move her into direct sunshine for an extra couple hours.😎 THURSDAY, FRIDAY, SATURDAY, SUNDAY: I was sick as a dog . 2-day stomach virus, followed by an acute pancreatitis attack... 😷 MONDAY: I gave her about a half-gallon of aquarium water with some bembe, beastie bloomz, and tiger bloom. I ordered a little grow light that should arrive tomorrow. It just pulls 210w at the wall, but is 3500k with a lot of extra 660nm diodes and gets pretty good PPFD numbers. I'm gonna finish her in my closet as close to that new light as I can..along with maybe 2 of my shortest stealthy outdoor hybrid girls...maybe increasing the PAR a bunch will hurry them the f!#$k up..

TUESDAY 9/10: She's looking a little bit calcium and nitrogen deficient.. WEDNESDAY-FRIDAY: I had company in from out of town and just set the soaker hose on a timer for about 10 minutes per day to keep her alive. SATURDAY: I moved her and the two runts from my outdoor grow into a closet that I'm getting ready for a Fall crop. She's about 10 inches under a little 1000w (200w actual) 3500k+660nm light I got for $85 on Amazon. It's a good little light...great value. I fed her about a half-gallon of frothy compost tea that I brewed up for 3 days...compost with biochar, fox farms cave culture bat and seabird guano, kelp me kelp you, soluble dolomite, bembe, humates, liquid molasses, terpinator, and a good blend of endomycorrhizae, trichoderma fungi, and beneficial bacteria...yummm...

9/21: She spent the first 5 1/2 weeks of her life in a solo cup, so she was severely stunted. But on top of that she was very leafy for a Candesia..disappointing to say the least. She smells great and got plenty frosty, but I doubt she weighs in at much more than .25 oz. I brought her home in the back of my truck about 10 days before I killed her on Saturday night. I flushed her several days earlier and put her under 200w of 3500k + 660nm until I killed her to try and beef her up a little...to no avail....