By continuing to use the website or clicking Accept you consent to our cookies and personal data policy and confirm that you are at least 18 year old. For details please see Privacy Policy and Terms
1st node peaking through by the end of week 1, healthy seedling for sure. Room humidity was very stable also making for good growth. Applied some compost tea mixed with 2 aloe leaves worth of gel, and 2.5ml of molasses. Date started 14th March 2019 10pm. Date of germination 16th march 2019 11am. Date of sprouting 19th March 2019.
Applied 2.3L of mulch consisting of Compost, lava soil, Bio terra, Hemp bedding & wormcastings, then covered mulch with 1” of hemp bedding. Also applied EM-1 Lactobacillus bacteria. Applied some Eco thrive charge also on this week. 5th node showing through on this week, very impressed by growth looking really healthy. Removed lowest leaves to hopefully increase vertical growth. 6th node showing on day 7 of week 4. Applying the mulch obvs impacts the height of the plant when measured, so I’ve accounted for that also.
On Week 5 day 1 I sprinkled some organic flax seed on to the soil surface. Chopped and dropped some living mulch (Red Basil) scattered leaves on to top soil surface. 7th node showing on that day also which was day 4 of week 5. On April 20th so 420 I gave the soil a cheeky treat of molasses fyi I hope everyone had a great 420 this year, I smoked 9g of some mids on 420 and went on a spiritual walk about shin rin yoku (forest bathing) Very healing day for me indeed. Preflowers started to show on day 7 of week 5.
Week 6 day 1 applied 1/4 tsp of molasses, looking nice a bushy on day 2. On day 7 I was thinking to LST the plant, but then I thought nah I’m guna let her grow naturally and see how she looks normally. Stem nice and thick.
Cut and dropped 50% of the living mulch around plant. Lower leaf starting to yellow, fixed with compost tea that week on day 5. Growth also slowed, entering flowing phase. Day 6 buds looking bigger. Fungus gnats always flying about btw whole way through grow. Purchased some nematodes to tackle fungus gnat problem.
Applied the nematodes on day 2 of week 8, also applied 8 earth worms to help living soil function more efficiently, also applied some more molasses 1/4tsp per 500ml.(2.5ml=1/4tsp.) Flowering allot more now.
Applied 40ml of ecothrive charge mixed with 1.6L of water, day 1 of week 9, comment-“smells earthy lemony” Growth and flowering coming along really nicely right now, amended some mealworm castings on day 7 of week 9 also watered in some more EM-1 lactobacillus. “Buds looking nice and frosty still small though”
Week 10, Wow I think she looks beautiful right now, really happy with the structure of the plant and the development of the buds/racemes, the bracts are coated in trichomes. Chop and dropped living mulch alfalfa and oxe eye daisy leaves. Moved light distance down to 1ft.
Day 1 of week 11 I watered the soil using a mix of water and kombucha 10:100. Day 2 noted that the top crown bud was developing nicely but fox tailing slightly because of light distance and I assume the amount of nitrogen my plant had been up taking. Fed a compost tea brew mixed with some molasses, on day 3, also did a chop n drop on some living mulch. Day 4 noted that 10% of stigmas have turned amber to brown. Lower buds coming along nicely also now. Moved the light LED 600W to a final distance of around 20” the reason I did this is because of something I came across in one of my books, and I also thought that I had them to close for my liking at the wattage that they are. Jorge Cervantes rule of thumb-“Always have a 600w at least 20 inch away from top of plant”
On day 1 of week 12 I accidentally overwhelmed the grow bed with feeding to much water at once the result of this incident later goes on to reveal itself. It’s not good news! I ended up causing bud rot which if anyone knows anything about bud rot and mould growing on your buds, you’ll know how destructive it is, quick tip never let your humidity levels climb above 70% especially in a closed system with not much air flow. Very upset with the choice I made on that day, I thought it might of helped but I was wrong...anyway despite that I also applied some more mulch which consisted of Organic compost, hemp bedding, worm castings, pea gravel. Also chopped and dropped some living mulch.Day 2 40% of stigmas have turned amber to brown. Planted some Organic alfalfa the day before which sprouted 2 days later. Top crown bud really well developed lots of bracts. Day 7 beautiful stinky buds “lemony earth” Applied some EM-1 this day also.
On day 1 of week 13 I watered using 400ml molasses Em-1, the later watered again using 300ml of water spayed. Now I reckon that it is that day and the day 1 on week 12 which actually dealt the most damage to the grow, really need to get better with my irrigation skills, I’m allot better at judging the soil when I’m not recovering from smoking to much bud “I’m on top of that now” We all have those moments where we smash a few oz in less than a month. I learnt my lesson and I didn’t bitch or cry about it, I just got on with it and understood where I had messed up. Life has many lessons to teach us, I lost 2/3 or my Lemon AK harvest from being slack and not taking into consideration certain things such as crazy humidity climbs during the night towards 85%, which is optimal conditions for growing fungi, which is not the plan :P. The bud I did end up with though was incredible quality wise, never seen bud like it before. And I honestly hate blowing my own trumpet, I’m only telling the truth. On day 4 of week 13, I had to do the Emergency harvest. “I was angry and confused and upset”-first reaction. At least the stigmas were at 75% amber to brown, so close to harvest. I went on to then purchase a UV-C light and scan the rest of the buds which weren’t contaminated with the UV-C light, this caused me to save the rest of my crop. I also dried them for 7 days in a dark closet with minimal light and not much air flow, but the humidity was stable at around 50% and temp was at 19 degrees c. I then cured the buds for a week in mason jar (extremely sterile) When I finally got to see the end expression of the beautifully developed top crown bud I couldn’t believe that it was I who had grown it. Best looking Strain I have seen in a long time. Very very pleased with the genetics by 420FastBuds.
You know as soon as I noticed the bud rot/mold problem I heard a voice in my head “Sativa’s aren’t as pathogen resistant as Indica’s. Essentially Indicas are less prone to fungal attack’s or bacterial attacks. “Indica has more of it’s natural cannabis vibe intact, where as sativa which has been cultivated over and over and over for a long long time has obvs become weaker along the way in some ways but stronger in other ways”
My tip from experience, (destroy all fungus gnats)(don’t let humidity climb above 70%)(Don’t over water)(Air flow)
Looking forward to running some Lemon AK in another year, unless I can get another grow tent setup soon.
Fatnugs
