DWC M-L Strawberry Lemonade Second Grow

With a full grows experience let’s see how much I can improve on my last grow. I am going for glory and want to achieve as close to 1g/watt as possible. With 630w lights for flowering that means I want 630g! Last grow I achieved 388g (with some burping still left so expect that to be more like 320g once fully dry). Biggest killer last time was head space, going from 1.8m to 2.5m, I hope burnt buds will be a thing of the past. Seeded 3, 2 popped within 3 days, the other doesn’t seem to want to say hi, so seeded another one today (D7). I am going with 3 mainlined ladies with 5-6 weeks veg time. But... I am going to bin one just before I flip the lights to 12/12 and finishing with two girls - purely based on overall health and appearance. And covers me if I kill one again like last time half way through veg.

Nutrients remain the same as week 1. Can see some slight PH issues due to slightly warped growth of leaves but nothing to worry about at this stage, swilled rockwool with some RO water PH'd t 6.2 incase of nutrient lock out. Will monitor over next few days.

Looking healthier this week, figured my PH meter was not working properly even after calibration so bought a new one. PH is stable now the EC of the water is higher. Roots look nice and healthy, however my seedlings aren't growing as fast as last time, might be the lower reservoir temperatures compared to last time, but am not sure.

Nutrients are the same as the week before, as they seem to be happy and healthy, changing out the res didn’t seem like an efficient use of nutrients. I have added 15ml of tea and 10ml of CaMg+ into the 55l res over this past week. As I could see the slightest touch of chlorosis on the biggest girl of the bunch. This has naturally raised my EC from 0.72 to 0.89. Both plants either side of centre were topped on D25. They were both working on their sixth node at the time and I cut them both down to their third node, but just below the forth (so it has a stump). Middle will probs be topped in a couple of days time, it still has some catching to do. I will be changing the res out on D27, but I will post that nutrient mix on next weeks journal.

Left and right have both been topped for the second time on D31. Increased the EC and the plants seem to be growing very well! Have started to train the plant in the middle out, the other two I am not going to train until D33.

Howdy, So it’s day 40 today, left and right have been topped for the last time a few days ago, I think the middle bush has another 3/4 days before she’s ready for her last topping. So far I have done 3 complete res changes averaging about 12 days between each change. There has been some signs of deficiency on the largest of the group. I think it could be down to two things, she is the closest to the water filling cap where I add PH down and nutrients to, so her roots are getting hit with it before it mixes in the rest of the res. Second it could just be that the water was depleted of certain nutrients as I stretched it for 2 weeks and as she’s the biggest, she felt it the most... Main thing is there is no signs of it getting worse. I’m having to add about 6-10 litres of water per day. Some HST again on day 39 with some cling film over the bends just in case of any splits. I think I’m going to veg for another 5-10 days, they’re about 1ft 2 inches tall at the moment... I installed the second light on day 39, so everything is ready for flip day. Both are 4200k bulbs and will remain so until week 3/4 after flip day. I will then change them out for 3200k bulbs when the stretch is complete. A 30w UVB bulb will be added to the grow in the final 2 weeks of flower.

Bonjour, So it’s flip day today, got some really good growth between them all, working past their first and second nodes on the 8 mains, now they’re flying it was a good time to change to 12/12. Now the excitement starts. Have had some issues trying to keep humidity up, so some leaves look a bit brittle and waxy. Might invest in a larger humidifier, but something for after Christmas I am sure. C H E E R S & Merry Christmas!

Continuing to use nutrients from 9 days ago. Mostly added back water to the tank to reduce the EC, as it was too high in my opinion. Going to try and milk another week out of the nutrients in the tank at the moment, as there are no obvious signs of deficiencies to note. As you can see, I have opted not to defoliate at all for this grow. So far I have only cut off two leaves just so I can get to my filler cap easily. I am doing a little supercropping here and there to level up the canopy. In just over a week they have grown from 51 cm to 93 cm. So a good 80% increase in height. An average of 2 inches of growth per day. If they grow similarly to my last crop, they should have just under 2 weeks stretching left to do. Happy new year!

So they’re still stretching, I thought they were slowing down a couple days ago, but then I walked in today and realised shit, they’re still going, must have grown another 3 inches since yesterday. They have almost filled out the whole 6x4ft space, a little space by the door and in the corners, the floor is looking well shaded which I am happy about, as that means I am not wasting too many photons. I have an maybe another 10/15cm of spare vertical capacity before I’m going to have to start some emergency super-cropping. Starting to get a little anxious I still haven’t changed out the reservoir from 16 days ago, although my top ups have been the same composition as noted above. I think I will drain her out tomorrow which has a drastically lower ratio of nitrogen. I have to say, this Botanicare range is incredibly stable and forgiving once you get past mid veg. As for the genetics, she knows how to grow without little fuss. Maybe I have been very lucky, time will tell once I finish my next grow with a different strain. The plant at the back of the room is a little squat compared to the other two but maybe she will catch up. Waffled on a bit here, thanks for stopping by, have fun all!

Growing a little too tall for my room, but I think the stretch is pretty much done now. I super cropped 3 of the largest colas. Probably spoke too soon last week, PH dropped like a stone down to 4.5 a few days back. They had K and Mg lock out for maybe half a day. Stripped most of the lowest 10 leaves of nutrients. This is why defoliation is not the way to go, keep your leaves. They act as storage for nutrients and give you a buffer if PH lets you down 😁 It’s also pretty difficult to get a decent photo of the whole plants anymore 😕

Nothing major to report, plants are growing just fine, girl at the back has been bullied out by the one in the middle, I guess it’s survival of the fittest! Not much I can do now as it’s seriously difficult to get down the back. Still keeping the same nutrients and water added around 2 weeks ago, will probs change the reservoir out in a few days time. Only an ‘broservation’, but I feel like they’re more comfortable with less changes, the PH remains stable after a day or two and maybe that has a positive affect on them. I’m usually just topping up with RO water, only adding nutrients back in every 3-4 days once EC drops below 1.5. Final note is they smell incredible, really sweet sour lemony smell, the stalks smell amazing! 🍋 Happy growing guys!

No reservoir change this week in the end, just top ups and nutrient top ups - If I stop being lazy, I might do a complete change out tomorrow (D85). They're getting really frosty now. Can't wait to make some leafy THC snow in a few weeks time after I install my 24w UV-B tube above the canopy. Starting to pack on some lateral buds as well, pretty much mirroring last grow in terms of growth so far, without hacked off tops this time :) Can't really do anything about the wind burn, just got to accept it, otherwise the fan is on too low and doesn't move air properly. Solid argument against excessive leaf removal here: https://www.cocoforcannabis.com/community/photons_corner/to-defoliate-or-not-to-defoliate/ --UPDATE D89-- After the reservoir change on D85, I upped the pure blend tea to 10ml/US gallon, by god she's exploded. I think as a whole, the bud mass is almost on par with my last grow when it was chopped and there is still another 40-45 days left in her... Fingers crossed I don't fuck this one up 🤐 Thanks for stopping by!

Mostly going well this week, I think mass has reached the same level as my last grow now with 5 weeks left to go... I am hoping to cut them down on the 13th of March 2020 which is 37 days from today... As long as the trichomes play ball and show me what I want to see - mostly cloudy, with 10 - 20% amber 🤞 One big issue I have, I realised today I must have accidentally pressed the 'random' button on one of my light timers. So one of the lights were on when I came in just before lights on today... I hope it won't screw things up :( Happy growing everyone!

This past week has gone without a hitch. Touch wood but my light timer blunder last week hasn't punished me... Yet... The girls are still bulking up, the lady at the back must be in the dark almost, those large colas at the back are actually from the middle plant... Proper bully! Unfortunately as I have to go under the lights to take some photos, all of the exposures and colours look a bit different from photo to photo. Exactly 4 weeks until the planned chop now :P I'll be making dry ice hash from fresh trim also, and will post some pics when the big day comes... P.s - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n765oOU_MMo - compelling evidence for adding UVB to your grows :)

Nutrients remain the same, and will continue so until ripening. Bulking has slowed down over the last week, as expected. I am hoping she will give me one last growth spurt, but maybe I am being wishful! Res was changed on D100, because well, yano, it was its hundredth birthday :) Pistols are slowly starting to curl, but it appears new ones are still coming through. A few days ago I managed to climb to the back, there are some heavy nuggets at the back of the canopy that I can't take a picture of, from the door. I have a feeling I need to buy some more jars 🤞

They still seem to be growing, although going in the room twice a day, it is difficult to notice unless I look closely or compare photos with previous weeks. Going to cut off a couple small pieces of calyx's shortly and will post a couple pictures from my scope. Speaking of those, they're starting to give me some nice colours, slight purples, neon greens and yellows, the photos don't really do them justice under the warm lighting but I will try and take a couple pics in some white light when I chop her down in a couple weeks time. It is also quite difficult to illustrate the size of some of these colas, the one near the back on the right, is about 19 inches long, and about 4 inches wide. Looks like 2 ounces of bud hanging on her and I have had to lasso some string around it and a couple other colas as they were falling down. Bringing EC slowly down to around 1.2 - I think I will cut nutrient strength down to about 0.8 EC in a few days time to try and hurry her along a bit. I will only be flushing for 3 days at the end of this grow, they will also be in the dark for 2 days at the end with low temps (mid teens in ºC) to preserve terpenes, oils and other cannabinoids. Thanks for stopping by!

So... It's that time again, I was planning on keeping her going for another 11 days but the trichomes are telling me differently, they are around 10% amber, with 70% cloudy and 20% clear. Personally, I like slightly speedy highs, and not such a fan of couch lock. So, she will be chopped in 4 days time (D121 - F74). I have cut back the nutrients, water is around 500ppm now, leaves on the top of the canopy are yellowing. The pistols have turned a pinky brown, and there is a real difference in smell these past few days, proper heavy dank smell. I will be swapping out the water for a final flush on D118 - F71. She will be in the dark for for the last 48 hours and temps will stay at 16ºc. She will be wet trimmed, a cola at a time, and then hung in my grow room in the dark at 55% RH and approx 14 - 16ºc. I will post one last flowering week once she is hung up in 6 days time or so, and then will post harvest details once she's dry enough to go into jars. Happy growing all!

So she was chopped (wet trimmed) yesterday (F74) and is now hanging up to dry at 55% RH and temps between 15 and 18ºc. I made fresh frozen dry ice hash today using a 160 micron bubble bag, a flat surface, 8kg of dry ice and a couple 5 gal buckets. I already have the weights for that, which far exceeded my expectations. Those figures I will post once she is dried and in 1 quart screw top glass jars. People suppose dry ice hash is inferior quality vs bubble hash. I am not experienced enough to comment on that but must say it is extremely easy to make hash with dry ice, it took 40 mins to process 995g of trim which included sugar leaves, some stems and popcorn buds. I then pressed it into 3.5g briquettes for storage using a pollen press. As you can see from videos, this stuff is all blonde - and after already trying some today with some friends, it knocked our boots off! Will be back in 5-7 days with harvest figures, smoke analysis and other details! Happy growing all! P.s I ticked defoliation this week - the only week I intentionally cut any leaves off for the entire grow 😉

Each 1L jar has exactly 28g, it took a long time to sort through this. I think I left them hanging for maybe 6-12 hours too long as the RH in a lot of the jars are below 55% (target is 62%). Some remedial action was taken, and I cut off small pieces of the main stem or trunk from the left over carcasses which has successfully brought the RH back up over 60%. The hash I made from dry ice and 160 micron bubble bags is on a whole other level, I have added a video close up of the pucks I made with a pollen press, almost 0 leaf matter! - This actually might be my new favourite way of smoking weed, hash on the common market is low quality and full of plant matter. I ran her low on EC for the entire grow, using the Botanicare KIND range. Max EC was about 1.8 - but averaged between 1.2 and 1.6 throughout most of the flowering cycle. This grow beats the hell out of my first, and I hope it wasn't just a lucky fluke! I ran the same lights, 2 x 315w Euro Style CMH fixtures. Royal Gorilla from RQS is next up, will be posting a new diary very soon 😊 Happy growing all and thanks for stopping by! 1.26 g/w this grow, or a more accurate way of looking at it: 1.07g/umol 😊