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Week 1 of veg.
Welcome all to a new run. The wife unit wants a pure sativa strain so, once again, I’m growing Eva Seeds High Level. Breeders all, please give us more 100% sativa strains, even a 90% or 95% sativa strain does not have that full of energy high that sativas do.
What’s new? For starters, I’m giving coco a try and so, I got a bag of Biobizz coco. Hardware wise, I got a new thermo hygrometer with a probe, to measure the temperature at the middle of the grow box and at the bottom. Currently, with the probe, I’m measuring the temperature in the media, which tends to be on the lower range of acceptable (15°C to 20°C / 59°F to 68°F). I also got a heat mat for several reasons, germinating for one, to keep the media a few degrees warmer (20°C to 25°C) and to help me keep the grow box warmer during lights out, since I tend to have low temperatures (and high humidity in consequence). To prevent over heating the media, I’m using a few layers of corrugated cardboard; the air pockets help prevent hot spots. I have some more stuff on the way, four small fans for air circulation. I’ve come to realize that although the top of the top of the grow box is warm, and sometime a little too warm, the bottom can be several degrees colder; this I expect to help me keep a healthy air circulation and keep a more uniform temperature in the whole grow space.
Germination
Day 00 of germination: I soaked the seed for 24 hours in warm water pH’ed to 6.0
Day 01 of germination: I planted the seed in coco and gave the media a watering at 0.5EC @ pH 5.8 (0.75 cc/lt of Solotek Grow)
Day 04 of germination: seed has broken soil. I watered again with the same concentration.
Veg stage.
Day 01 of veg: First true leaves have opened.
Day 03 of veg: I’m not using the heat mat all day long anymore; now I’m trying 90 minutes on and 30 minutes off to help me keep the media warm without over heating it. Watered again since the top of the media was a little dry (0.5 EC @pH 5.8)
Day 06 of veg: Watered / fed again (0.8 EC @pH 5.8)
Week 2 of veg
Finally, my new fans arrived, 4 Noctua A4x20, this fans are tiny, only 4 cm (1.5 inches), they move 9.4 m³h (5.5 CFM) with a noise rating of 14.9 dB, which make them completely silent even standing next to the grow box. I placed 2 at each side; 1 pair at light level facing down and the other close to the bottom facing up.
I’ve continued to water feed at the same strength as before and the seedling looks very healthy.
Water / feed schedule
Day 09: 3 days after last watering
Day 10: Water again. Roots are rapidly populating the cup.
Day 11: Water again.
Day 13: Transplanted to 4 liter (1 gallon) pot. Watered 300 cc, not nearly enough to soak all the media, but I do not want to over water.
Day 14: Water fed at 1.2 EC, this time soaking all the media.
Week 3 of veg
Plant seems to be growing out instead of up, developing a lot of side shots, meanwhile staying at 3 inches tall; nothing wrong with that, since this plant been pure sativa really stretches. I have some plant bends on the way, which I hope get here in time to help me train the canopy during the flower stretch.
Daily news
Day 16: Watered again at 1.2 EC. I will let a few days pass before watering again so to promote some root development.
Day 20: Root tips can be seen poking out of the fabric pot. I finally topped the plant, removing nodes 8 and 9, I had to wait to do this, since the nodes were so tight I was afraid to damage the side shots. Plant is 3 inches tall. Watered again until a good run off.
Week 4 of veg
I expected this week to be slower due to the topping, but boy was I wrong, usually it takes a whole week for a plant that was topped to take off (at least when I grow in soil). Ever since the transplant on day 13 the humidity sky rocketed to 90% and above, probably since the roots had not populated the whole media yet. As of day 26, humidity is in a reasonable range again around 60% overnight. I have not covered the whole surface yet and that’s because the inter nodal space is really tight, I even changed to 2700K flowering light to promote some stretching. I will give it 1 more week before switching to 12/12.
Daily news
Day 21: Watered again at 1.35 EC. Run off came out at 1.85 EC.
Day 22: Watered again at 1.25 EC. Run off came out at 1.72 EC.
Day 23: Watered again at 1.25 EC. Run off came out at 1.64 EC.
Day 24: Watered again at 1.29 EC. Run off came out at 1.60 EC. Lots of new roots poking out of the fabric pot; the plant seems to be drinking more water, since I need more than before to make run off come out.
Day 25: Watered again at 1.29 EC. Run off came out at 1.46 EC
Day 26: Watered again at 1.29 EC. Run off came out at 1.42 EC. Plant is 5 inches tall.
Day 27: Watered again at 1.59 EC. Run off came out at 1.41 EC. I noticed what seems to be a very early sign of calcium deficiency and that’s why I upped the feed strength.
Day 28: Watered again at 1.59 EC. Run off came out at 1.52 EC
Week 5 of veg
Not even half a week, since after 30 days of veg I decided to switch to 12/12, after the plant reached 8 inches tall (20 cm). At the beginning of the week I suppressed the cal-max, suspecting both an overdose of calcium and lack of nitrogen, due the leaves color been a little on the lime green.
Daily news
Day 29: watered at 1.55 EC with Solotek Grow only. Run off came out at 1.58 EC
Day 30: watered at 1.55 EC with Solotek Grow only. Run off came out at 1.45 EC. Due to the run off been lower to what I’m putting in, I’ll up the dose to 1.8 EC (3 ml per liter). The plant height took a jump form 6 inches to 8 inches, so it’s flowering time.
Week 1 of flower
When using soil, I usually continue with the grow nutes until week 3, when I start seen P deficiency in the lower leaves, then switch; this time I’m already seeing P deficiency 3 days into 12/12. Also, the run off has consistently been lower than the feeds. Stretch has been slow to start, I expect it to really take off during next week.
I've been upping the feeds until the deficiency signs stopped and the run off rised to at least the feed level. 2.15 EC has proven the limit, since for the last 3 days the run off has risen around 0.1 EC each day. As of day 07, the run off is 2.4 EC. Next week I will go easier, probably 1.8 to 1.9 EC.
Week 2 of flower
Did some tying down of the tallest flower sites and removed some of the lower smaller shots that would not reach canopy level and to improve the lower air circulation.
One of the drawbacks of growing in coco and having to water every day is that the humidity is really high. Fortunately, the added fans for air circulation has kept the foliage dry.
Week 3 of flower
Stretch has really taken off this week. I also cut all the lower shots that usually end up been larf buds. As of day 19 of flower the plant is 13 inches tall and 8 inches away from the light (keep in mind that the plant has suffered LST).
Stretch went bonkers and flowers are starting to develop faster. Some lower leaves show signs of phosphorous (P) deficiency; time for some PK. As of day 28 the plant is 21 inches tall and 1 inch away from the lights. I did some more lollipoping and super cropping.
Need advise on mini dehumidifiers
Week 5 of flower
At the beginning of day 29, my grow space was soaked with a humidity of 99%; I’ve been having a lights on humidity of 90% and 99% during lights out, probably a downsize of using coco and watering daily. I picked out a small peltier dehumidifier and it has kept the humidity between 60% and 70% during lights on and between 70% and 74% during lights out.
As of day 32, the daily watering is not enough, so I’ll start a 2nd watering, as soon as I wake up (4 hours before lights out). Stretch seems to be over and all of the bud formation is in full swing.
I've really had to push the feeding strength, since P deficiency symptoms kept appearing in the lower leaves.
Four more weeks to go I hope.
Week 6 of flower.
Not much to report. Plant is focusing all its time and energy into bud formation. I keep getting rid of the lower bud sites, so the plant can focus on the canopy buds. Smell is sweet and becoming more notorious by the day. My run off EC was increasing daily reaching 3.0, so as a precaution I flushed the media and decreased the feeding strength.
There seems to be some symptoms of calcium deficiency.
Next week should see the buds increasing their volume.
Week 7 of flower
Grotek Solotek Bloom is very complete stand alone fertilizer, but it seems it still needs a bit of cal mag, since I have some minor symptoms of calcium deficiency. Other than that, it’s a boring week, the plant is in cruise control and I still have 2 weeks to go before chop day.
Calyxes have started to swell and hairs are becoming reddish brown. Other than that, nothing to report. Smell is really strong, fruity and sweet. I expect 1 week to go, perhaps two? It is hard to say, last time this strain matured almost over night during the 9th week.
Feeding water only the whole week.
Buds are looking great, compact and solid.
Smell is amazing and very fragant.
I harvested at day 62 with most of the thrics cloudy, a few clear and a couple amber.
Buds were dried at 20°C at 50% to 55% rH. Time for them to go into jars.
I took a couple of samples, they were real smooth, no coughing whatsoever and the high was a very nice cerebral and active. I’m looking forward for when they are cured for at least a month.
Let’s see, first time using coco. On the plus side, the root zone was amazing, not root circling whatsoever and the coco was a fantastic media for root development. On the down side watering everyday and the last month more than once was a pain in the ass and for a stealth operation, opening the grow box everyday was problematic; also watering everyday made my humidity skyrocket. Good that this strain is great for high humidity environments.
I expected a better result with coco. Statistically speaking it did no better than soil it's much more of a hassle
Athos
