First Grow: XJ-13

On 8/18, placed two seeds in a sealed container of water for about 16 hours. Seeds began to split and a very small tap root was visible. Dumped water with seeds into a paper towel, covered and placed back into a dark cabinet. Next morning, roughly 8 hours later, there was little additional root development. Dropped each seed into starter pods on 8/19. 8/21 the seedlings are starting to show themselves. 8/22 seedlings breached ground and starting to take off, declaring this day 1. After day 2, seed #1 has notably thinner leaves than seed #2.

Growth is mostly in the leaves getting bushier and little stretching or expansion so far. Likely because the light is so close to the plants, but since I don’t have my grow box ready yet the seed starter is my only option. With only 10 Watts I figure it’s best to keep them close. Still a learning experience! I switched from the seed starter nutrients over to the Lotus grow nutrients on day 10. The light I have them under keeps them wanting more, I think that’s why they are bending themselves to catch more rays. After my nutrients came in the mail I switched them over from AeroGarden to Lotus. Got a tiny bit of nutrient burn on the smaller plant after the switch, so I need to keep that in mind what prepping the water with Lotus going forward. Moved the little ladies into the new grow box on 9/1. Plenty of room in there for an early flowering. I decided to switch my strategy to Scrog and forgo the cloning. My next grow will be SOG since I think my box is better for it and it looks fun. 24 hours after FIM’ing. Seed 2 continues to impress and has bounced back with 3 new colas forming in replace of the main cola. I may have taken too much off seed 1 as the growth looks dried, so it was more like a topping. Total of 7 colas between the 2 plants. Day 14, began training. Will gradually train the plant centers to the middle of the box and send off branching to fill the sides. Ended the day with minor pruning to speed up the growth of the new branching. Week 2 is a wrap.

This will be the last week before switching to 12/12 and I may make the switch mid week if the plants start to fill up the space. Seed 1 is barely hanging in there and has been on the chopping block for a while now, just waiting to see if it can become a productive veggie. Seed 2 has a lot of energy and is forgiving. It made 3 new tops after FIM and is now starting to branch in every direction. The plant from seed 1 is no longer, may she rest in peace in my trash can. After FIM, I thought 3 new branches were formed. However, now that a few days have passed I realized that it was really just a main branch and a leaf set. So I guess FIM didn’t work.

Switched to flower on day 21. This may be early but trying to error on the side of caution since XJ-13 grows tall and I don’t know what to expect during the flower period for my small grow space. Finally got my temperatures under control. Able to keep the day time temp under 80, holding steady around 74-77 now. Added a 6 inch output fan and carbon filter and I’m running it at half power. There is also a slight negative pressure in the grow box. After some googling I found some benefits to negative pressure such as better temp regulation and reduced pest/mold issues. I have noticed some minor leaf damage. I can’t yet tell if this is from my own actions or if I have some type of pest in there. Looking closely at it so determine if it persists.

Week 2 of flower. The plant is starting to grow faster and I am waiting for all five branches to grow up into the ScrOG net. There is a subtle smell but it is very weak still. By day 34 the smell is becoming more noticeable, especially if the vent is turned off for a few seconds. Added new side lights that have more power. They are much brighter and the plant seems to love them. Rotating the timing a bit, moving to daytime light/night time dark. They are going dark for 24 hours then back to 12/12 for the shift. I wanted there to be more temp difference between cycles with colder nights, so we will see if this helps.

Switched to general hydroponics nutrients after 2 weeks in to flower. The nutrients that came with the kit were not ideal for hydro and left particles in the water. She has rebounded from the switch and is stretching faster every day. She is starting to take up more of the space and new branches are forming quickly.

Flowers are finally starting to arrive. Last week I noticed how much light my grow cam was putting out and I started to turn it off during dark cycles as well. It seems to be making a difference but I'm too inexperienced to tell for sure. It is really starting to fill up the space and new bud sites arrive every day. The light time temps stay consistently around or below 77 and the side lights help to make sure there aren't any dark spots in the box. It feels like I have finally figured out the box so I'll enjoy that feeling while it lasts. I continue to tie the plant down as it grows since I am not sure how tall the plant wants to get. It is starting to feel a little crowded.

Growth rate is increasing so I folded some of the taller branches back down into the second ScrOG net. The canopy is even at the moment. Tiny buds are popping up all of the place and the plant has filled in most of her space. It seems like it’s going well. I had an incident with leaf curling. The leaves were all starting to curl down, especially the smaller and lower leaves. I determined the water level was too high (this was shortly after I had added ph’d water). I swapped the water out and kept the level lower. I pruned some leaves to allow for better air flow. After that the leaves flattened back out and the growth rate seemed to increase.

The smell is really starting to come in. Bought 2 sets of 80 mm internal fans to increase the airflow through the plant and in the box. Many of the lower leaves are curling down and I think it was a mixture of the high morning humidity and the lack of air flow. Now there are 5 internal fans and a large external fan, and it should be more than enough air flow. Growth is starting to slow finally, the height is perfect right now but I have a feeling it’s going to keep getting taller. I keep tying her down as best as I can.

The plant keeps getting darker green, and the curling leaves didn’t correct, so I am now thinking it has a case of nitrogen toxicity although not severe. To correct I am flushing the last few days of the week and going to add some Sensizym to the water. Hoping to get it back to normal and then will ease back into the nutrients. Hoping to figure out this clawing issue before too much more time passes.

After flushing multiple times, and checking the ppm of the removed water, I realized how much nutrient build up I was subjecting the plant to. Big lesson learned that I need to add ph’d water without nutrients more often and check the ppm after I mix it back in. Leaves are starting to lighten up from dark green and I noticed very slight deficiency on one or two leaves. Now I’m at 25% nutrient strength and it is starting to grow noticeably faster.

Finally got the nutrients on track. I have exposed my ignorance by not properly adjusting nitrogen levels during late flower. Next grow I’ll use a schedule instead of the 3 stage seedling, veg, flower. After the nutrients were corrected I started to notice great bud development. There are about 5% orange hairs with some not having any turning yet. Getting closer!

Started flushing a few days in to the week. The orange hairs started to come in more quickly and most of the trichomes are getting cloudy. My only concern is about the nitrogen levels, I have been flushing in hydro for a few days and it doesn’t seem to be running out of nitrogen yet. I may just keep flushing it until I am happy with the orange hair ratio. Hoping to harvest it in very early amber trichome levels.

Final week before harvest. Been flushing for 2 days by the beginning of this week. Each flush takes the ppm level down slightly but not yet to pure water in the reservoir. Orange hairs are popping up more rapidly and I noticed a few amber trichomes at the beginning of the week. Trying for a slightly early harvest for the effect.

This was my first ever grow and I am very pleased. The plant seemed easy to read, and although I still made lots of mistakes with the nutrients, it still seemed to thrive. The smell was strong during the grow, but it was a weird musty smell. I thought it could be mildew, but I had 5 fans in a very small grow space so I think that is unlikely. I kept the humidity around 45-55 during veg and targeted 40 during flower. The buds didn’t have enough time to grow as fat as they probably could have, and the nutrients during flower may have been low on some of the important budding nutrients. I also think there may have been borderline nitrogen toxicity during mid-flower. I dried her at 55% RH and around 70 degrees. After trimming and jarring, the true smell finally came out. I believe this is one of the best smelling strains I have had after also having the same strain from a medical dispensary. It smells wonderful! Going to cure for 2 weeks and then give it a taste. The total weight was 3.2 ounces of dry herb and 2.2 ounces of good looking shake.