Sour Diesel (Part 1 of 2)

Background: This is a small grow in a 20" x 36"x 63" tent. Growing 2 sour diesel from seed in coco/perlite medium using General Hydroponic nutrients and primarily following feeding schedule as listed here http://gh.growgh.com/docs/Feedcharts/GH_FloraSeries-DTW_03216am.pdf . I'll be substituting "h3ad formula," i.e. 6 ml GH FloraMicro : 9 ml GH FloraBloom per gallon, for the first 3 rows in the pdf and also be skipping Diamond Nectar, FloraBlend, and FloraNectar. See pic above for nutrient list. Note: Second time attempting to grow this strain. Bud rot destroyed majority of previous grow so this is a redemption grow, hopefully. Lesson learned from previous failure - two circulation fans do not counter high humidity especially for the big buds over 3" wide. On chop day, after vegging for 3 months and flowering for 100 days, the insides of the buds closest to the stems were full of white cotton candy. Couldn't spot it from the outside at all. So lesson learned, and this time end of flower will coincide with low-humidity winter as opposed to the summer. Week 1 - Nutrient regimen: 6 ml GH FloraMicro + 9 ml GH FloraBloom per gallon. Used at 1/3 strength diluted with dechlorinated water. Solution ph'd to 5.8. 9/5/2019 (V1) - Sprouted yesterday and moved under 273 watts of vero 29 LED today, dimmed to lowest setting. Used rapid rooters for germination but would have preferred peat pellets since they stay can stay upright without support. 9/10/2019 (V6) - Fungus gnat larvae infestation! Transplanted to solo cups on 9/6 (V2) using ready mix bag of coco and perlite. Using 1/3 strength "h3ad formula" for first week and fed every other day. Growth appears stunted compared to previous grows and stems needed additional support to stay upright with circulation fan on. Feeding until runoff showed major infestation (see video #1). Can only guess coco mix bag was contaminated, since no adult gnats are visible in tent and yellow sticky card is empty. This has got to be my record for early fuckups! Attempting to treat with neem extract mix (dosed used 5 ml neem oil extract : 500 ml water) and a layer of diatomaceous earth on top (see V6 pic). Hopefully this treatment is better than not doing anything and letting those squirmy baby bastards take over. For a plant this young and without adequate root support this is a gamble. Also bumped up light a bit to 13000 lux as read on Light Meter v3.1 app by Trajkovski Labs using Samsung S6.

Week 2 - Nutrient regimen: 0.5 ml Armor Si + 1.5 ml CalMag + 6 ml FloraMicro + 9 ml FloraBloom + 2.5 ml RapidStart + 1 ml Floralicious Plus. Used at 2/3 strength diluted with decholorinated water and ph'd to 5.8. 9/14/2019 (V10) - Neem oil extract treatment seemed to have worked! Runoff from nutrient feeding presented no more bugs, but will probably give an additional neem dose prior to 1 gallon transplant. Growth appears stagnant possibly stemming from previous larvae contamination, but root growth is evident in above picture and stems no longer need support. 9/18/2019 (V14) - Seems to be growing at glacial pace. Leaves getting broader, but no third node visible yet, and no apparent vertical growth. Humidity in upper 40's and temperature at 74F. Tiny runoff in red cup seemed to spur the root growth out bottom of transparent cup.

Week 3 - Nutrient regimen: 0.5 ml Armor Si + 2.5 ml CalMag + 6 ml FloraMicro + 9 ml FloraBloom + 2.5 ml RapidStart + 1 ml Floralicious Plus. Solution ph'd to 5.8. 9/21/2019 (V17) - Fourth node reached, but not yet topping time. No nutrient burn after feeding full nutrient dose for first time without water dilution. Also, increased light intensity from 15000 to 30000 lux. Tent climate: 79F and 42% humidity. 9/25/2019 (V21) - Plants getting bushier, however, fungus gnat larvae are back. Runoff showed a few still wiggling about in the cups. Going to increase strength of neem dose tomorrow. Have to tackle this problem before transplant into 1 gallon. Tent: 80F and 41% humidity.

Week 4 - Nutrient regimen: 1 ml Armor Si + 2.5 ml CalMag + 6 ml FloraMicro + 9 ml FloraBloom + 2.5 ml RapidStart + 1 ml Floralicious Plus. Solution ph'd to 5.8. 9/26/2019 - 9/30/2019 (V26) - Treated plants with another neem oil extract dose (2 oz neem : 1 gallon water) for the fungus gnat larvae infestation. Transplanted from solo cups to 1 gallon smart pots. Topped both plants. Used Real Grower's Recharge today instead of regular nutes. Bottom leaves appear paler than new growth perhaps suggesting they were either nitrogen starved in first couple weeks or poor light penetration. Unknown source of leaf damage on left plant, possibly from nutrient contact. Tent: 80F and 50% humidity. 10/1/2019 (V27) - Upgraded previous scrog with improved version. Cross-strings are now knotted together instead of being simply tucked underneath like in previous version. Seems to offer stronger support and stability, and it looks great. Still some room for improvement since the sides are bowed inward slightly. Note: This scrog was adapted from this extremely helpful trellis netting video guide https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdq_vuYyLo0 .

Week 5 - Nutrient regimen: 1 ml Armor Si + 2.5 ml CalMag + 6 ml FloraMicro + 9 ml FloraBloom + 2.5 ml RapidStart + 1 ml Floralicious Plus. Solution ph'd to 5.8. 10/4/2019 (V30) - Increased light intensity to 35000 lux. Internode spacing still tight on these plants so LST not really feasible yet. Plants appear healthy aside from bottom node, growing bushier and leaves getting broader. Ideally would prefer 8-10 bud sites per plant so one more topping before flip. Culinary herbs growing in same tent don't appear well suited for 18/6 light cycle and 3500k light. Veg light (6500k) definitely more appropriate for these guys at the moment. 10/7/2019 (V33) - Added rubber coated soft-ties to 4 main stems on each plant secured to binder clips on smart pots. Attempting to ensure similar height across all nodes in addition to plant symmetry. Will probably remove bottom 2 nodes of both plants tomorrow. Should have topped 2-3 nodes instead of just the the one. Tent: 78F and 52% humidity.

Week 6 - Nutrient regimen: 1 ml Armor Si + 2.5 ml CalMag + 6 ml FloraMicro + 9 ml FloraBloom + 2.5 ml RapidStart + 1 ml Floralicious Plus. Solution ph'd to 5.8. 10/10/2019 (V36) - Transplanted from 1 gallon to 3 gallon smart pots, their final home. Also, did some pruning and took some undergrowth out that fell below the canopy for cloning. Used both Clonex Rooting Gel and TakeRoot Rooting Hormone. Increased light intensity to 45000 lux. Tent: 78F and 52% humidity. 10/13/2019 (V39) - Second and last topping for all nodes on both plants. Removed all lower growth from plants, i.e. lolipopping, and performed some LST with soft-ties and binder clips. Now 6 main stems per plant and, after topping, 2 nodes per stem. Might have been too aggressive with the lolipopping as plants seem bare. Now going to be harder to water since soft-ties are blocking rims of smart pots, but hopefully plants won't need them in few weeks. Additionally, 24 bud sites may be too many for this size tent (20" x 36" -> 5 square feet), especially considering how large these buds gets, so may have to chop some branches before flip. Tent climate: 82F and 42% humidity.

Week 7 - Nutrient regimen: 1.5* ml Armor Si + 2.5 ml CalMag + 6 ml FloraMicro + 9 ml FloraBloom + 2.5 ml RapidStart + 1 ml Floralicious Plus. Solution ph'd to 5.8. * bumped armor si dose up from 1 ml to 1.5 ml ** oopsie. Forgot to update the Grow Conditions section from week 1 up until now. 10/17/2019 (V43) - Tops are mostly even height though plants are a bit asymmetric. Still have more pruning to do so will make some additional clones, also have to adjust the soft-ties so everything properly spaced out. Cranked up light intensity to around 60000 lux. Turning pots 180 degrees daily and watering/feeding about 2 quarts each. Plants were in a "praying" position yesterday but don't appear as happy today for whatever reason. Parsley may soon take over tent. Going to move culinary herbs to new wire shelf home in next couple weeks, though haven't got light source for that space yet. Bug alert - yellow sticky card still empty but did see possible gnat crawling around in the chives, so thinking about using some mosquito bits for treatment in next couple days. Tent climate: 81F and 41% humidity. 10/21/2019 (V47) - More pruning completed and made some minor adjustments to the soft-ties. After inspection, had to do second topping on left plant that was overlooked last time. The tops are ready now to be tucked in their respective squares in the scrog, however, going to try to do some supercropping on all the branches soon and have to build second scrog. Hopefully, supercropping will cut down on height of plant and help build a stronger stem for support of the massive buds expected in coming months. Last grow, scrog was omitted and had to use yo-yo hangers on all the big buds (see pics). Tent climate: 84F and 44$ humidity.

Week 8 - Nutrient regimen: 1.5 ml Armor Si + 2.0 ml CalMag + 6 ml FloraMicro + 9 ml FloraBloom + 2.0 ml RapidStart + 1 ml Floralicious Plus. Solution ph'd to 5.8. 10/24/2019 (V50) - Opted against using the traditional 90 degree bending technique of supercropping since it would promote more bud sites, and chose to do the twisting/cracking technique shown here https://youtu.be/XdfW2p-lHN0?t=1159 on each stem of both plants. Hopefully, this will result in the bulbous supercropping knot reportedly allowing more nutrients flowing to the bud sites, and add more structural support to growing hefty buds in the future. However, might have totally fucked this up because didn't hear any snapping even though stems were twisted seemingly to the point of breaking. Going to repeat this procedure again soon and inspect stem sites for the desired knotting. Going to use the scrog netting as more of a trellis support for the buds instead of its traditional scrog use of promoting lateral growth, and for even spacing between stems. Would prefer to have 12 big donkey dick buds per plant compared to the many but smaller buds resulting from conventional scrogging. 12/12 flip is coming in next few days. Current canopy coverage maybe 65% now and only waiting for the recently topped forgotten stem to catch up with the others. Moved culinary herbs from tent to window spot, and also moved circulation fan beneath netting, pointed slightly upwards towards the canopy. Somehow changing fan location reduced tent temperature. Tent climate: 77F and 52% humidity. 10/27/2018 (V53) - Dosed with Recharge yesterday (1 tsp/gallon). Raised lights few inches up for better spread and to decrease the light intensity which may be causing the taco-ing. Also, turned on second circulation fan, angled it slightly upwards across the canopy. Both fans on low position. Yesterday, also repeated the supercropping/twisting technique a second time. For this, a firm twist was applied to the middle spot between nodes on all stems. Each stem had 2-3 spots between nodes twisted in alternating directions. Still might be too early to see the desired effect, i.e. knot/knuckle formation, but will repeat this procedure again tomorrow, ideally at same supercropping location. Drooping is occurring few hours before lights out, perhaps caused by overwatering, but, suspect this may be cyclical (diurnal?) pattern. Hard to overwater in coco, right? Changed light cycle to 18/6. Perhaps adding couple hours sleep will cause less drooping? Tent temperature averaged around 84F in preceding weeks and now has dropped few degrees. Still unsure what cause is, but in prior growths, mid-80s temp only reached when lights were running at max, however, intensity is currently probably below 75% max. Turning off circulation fans only raised temperature 2 degrees over an hour. Seemingly only difference that would account for decrease in temps over last few days was removal of the culinary herbs from below the canopy. Tent climate: 80F and 52% humidity. 10/29/2019 (V55) - Last day of vegetation! Performed major trimming ensuring all growth now directed at top few nodes only. Also, spaced out stems to their own squares with some breathing room. Six main stems on each plant with 2 bud sites per stem, hopefully, especially after the combined LST, supercrop twisting, armor si doses, and 2 oscillation fans, each secondary stem can support a healthy size bud. Will consider this a failure if any topple over. Going to continue the internode twisting tomorrow and next couple weeks, can see and feel minor bumps in previously twisted locations. Light intensity increased slightly to 70000 lux. Light cycle changing to 12.5 hours light/11.5 hours dark. So excited for flower! Tent climate: 79F and 55% humidity.

Flower week 1 - Nutrient regimen: 1.75 ml Armor Si + 2.0 ml CalMag + 6 ml FloraMicro + 9 ml FloraBloom + 1 ml RapidStart + 1 ml Floralicious Plus. Solution ph'd to 5.8. 11/1/2019 (F3) - Supercrop twisting appears to have resulted in some stem bruises with discoloration and some cuts along the stems. More importantly, the supercrop knuckles/knot seem to be growing in size giving the appearance of biceps on the stems. Top nodes above the canopy line still have to be twisting, but the bottom nodes don't look like they could take more abuse. Besides unven canopy and stem recovery from the twisting, plants look great. Tomorrow another round of pruning and will attempt to correct the canopy symmetry. Tent climate: 79F and 54% humidity. 11/4/2019 (F6) - Chopped up more under the canopy, maybe excessive pruning, regretting some of it. Had to attach more binders and soft-ties to few unwieldy branches which were bending their scrog squares a bit. Supertwisted internodes above the canopy, but will wait more than 2 days before repeating since they are a bit more fragile than the ones below. Canopy is still uneven, center sites growing taller than sides, probably due to unequal light distribution from the 3 vero 29 COB leds.

Flower week 2 - Nutrient regimen: 1.75 ml Armor Si + 2.0 ml CalMag + 6 ml FloraMicro + 9 ml FloraBloom + 1 ml RapidStart + 1 ml Floralicious Plus + 1 ml Liquid KoolBloom. Solution ph'd to 5.8. ** BUILD LOG FOR VESTA STRIPS: https://imgur.com/a/EgMgnCE 11/7/2019 (F9) - Untouched since last update. More trimming needed soon. More than 6" disparity between tallest and shortest bud sites, corresponding to lux measurements 80000 lux and 50000 lux respectively. Most growing sites recommend max 80000 lux, so may bump up light intensity a bit for the lower buds. 11/11/2019 (F13) - Moderate defoliation completed couple days ago. Flower stretch almost complete, bud sites about 18" now except for the 3 problematic ones up front on the left plant, but that's due to topping them over a week after the rest. Plants are growing hairy with pistils and it'll be fun documenting them for 10 more weeks of flower. 😔 Tent climate: 82F and 42% humidity. Started building new LED strip light for the herbs, clones, and whatever else that'll fit on the shelf space. It's a 14" x 36" shelf (3.5 square feet), and these plants don't need the light intensity of flowering marijuana plants, so this build's original objective was only 20 watts per square foot. Using Bridgelux Vesta Tunable strips for two main reasons: 1) each strip has both a 2700k and 5000k color temperature channel allowing you to effectively select your own CCT target between those 2 values, and 2) 90 CRI. With 2 75W drivers for each color (warm/cold), the build will have 150W of power, but the heat generated by maximum output would be of major concern. Strips should also provide a much more even light coverage compared to the vero 29 COBs in the grow tent. More information on this build and a build log coming soon after assembly and testing.

Flower week 3 - Nutrient regimen: 1.75 ml Armor Si + 2.0 ml CalMag + 6 ml FloraMicro + 9 ml FloraBloom + 1 ml RapidStart + 1 ml Floralicious Plus + 2 ml Liquid KoolBloom. Solution ph'd to 5.8. ** LINK FOR VESTA STRIP BUILD: https://imgur.com/a/EgMgnCE 11/14/2019 (F16) - Another trim job performed yesterday, clearing some big fan leaves blocking some bud sites, and added some soft-ties to keep stems from bending their squares too much. In hindsight, should have added soft-ties to each of the 12 secondary stems instead of the 6 mains stems. Maybe this would have more flexibility to guide/train the stems to their proper squares. Spacing is not ideal at the moment as apparent in the top down pic, and the sites at the front of the tent appear shorter than even the ones in the back. Attempting to provide more light to front sites by moving COBs couple inches toward front of tent. Humidity dropping just in time for this grow! Tent climate: 81F and 35% humidity. 11/18/2019 (F20) - Chopped off top 4" of tallest bud to even out canopy and to be able to lower light a bit. Increased light intensity to 85000 lux for the top of the canopy according to the light meter app. Discontinuing GH RapidStart from nutrient regimen because it seems pointless this far out into flower, it's expensive and probably more geared for vegetation, and the bottle is pain to open. Hope to install second level of scrog netting soon. First level scrog dimensions in 20" by 36" tent were 6 squares by 11 squares and new one will be 5 squares by 9 squares. Plants are approximately 24" tall now and lights 10" from canopy. Tent climate: 79F and 44% humidity.

Flower week 4 - Nutrient regimen: 1.75 ml Armor Si + 2.0 ml CalMag + 6 ml FloraMicro + 9 ml FloraBloom + 1 ml Floralicious Plus + 2 ml Liquid KoolBloom. Solution ph'd to 5.8. ** LINK FOR VESTA STRIP BUILD: https://imgur.com/a/EgMgnCE 11/21/2019 (F23) - Installed additional scrog netting for support of upper stems. Two problematic bud sites on left plant (the late-topped ones) failed to reach new scrog level, and their stems appear noticeably thinner than the rest. Defoliated a little where necessary but noticed a lot of bud offshoots that need to be clipped under canopy. (Tent climate: 79F and 43% humidity) Transplanted herb into 5.5"x5.5"x6" square containers filled with soil recipe of potting mix, compost, perlite, vermiculite, and some worm castings. Also, transplanted clones into same soil mix after getting rid of few clones that wouldn't fit on shelf. Vesta light manually tuned to 4000k for short and bushy plants and light intensity set to 20000 lux at 9" from canopy. 11/25/2019 (F27) - Trimmed the unwanted bud sites barely poking through canopy and some large fan leaves blocking the buds from light. Lowered COB leds to 6" above canopy in attempt to improve light penetration lower on stems. Light intensity measured at 100000 lux for top of canopy directly under COBS but decrease dramatically to <50000 at front, back and sides of tent. Now considering upgrading COBS to bridgelux eb strips for more even spread. Tent climate: 77F and 45% humidity.

Flower week 5 - Nutrient regimen(per gallon): 1.75 ml Armor Si + 2.0 ml CalMag + 6 ml FloraMicro + 9 ml FloraBloom + 1 ml Floralicious Plus + 2 ml Liquid KoolBloom. Solution ph'd to 5.8. 11/29/2019 (F31) - Colas getting quite hairy now with length around 8-10 inches. In coming weeks they'll pack on some mass and will have to watch out for drooping. Sites in front row still appreciably shorter than back row and even the sides of tent, and some scrog square space is wasted sitting empty. Now blasting them with 200w out of max 273w from the vero COBs for 100000 lux 6" under lights. Changed flow of top fan to blow directly across top of buds, previously had it blowing against wall to prevent wind burn. (Tent climate: 77F and 41% humidity) 12/3/2019 (F35) - Clones started flowering due to 14/10 light schedule. Oopsies. Clipped top 3 nodes of clones and switched to 16/8 to see if they'll reveg. Wonder if tent light duration should be increased?

Flower week 6 - Nutrient regimen(per gallon): 1.75 ml Armor Si + 2.0 ml CalMag + 6 ml FloraMicro + 9 ml FloraBloom + 1 ml Floralicious Plus + 2.25 ml Liquid KoolBloom. Solution ph'd to 5.8. 12/6/2019 (F38) - First pistil hairs started turning color from white to orange/brown. (Tent climate: 75F and 45% humidity) ** Reached grow diary limit of 14 weeks? Please refer to Sour Diesel (Part 2 of 2) in profile for continuation of this grow diary. Thanks.