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I tried to start germinating the first seedling by letting it sink in water overnight. That never happened. It just stayed floating. So I went ahead and put it in the rooting medium.
I decided also to try starting a second seed, in case the first one was bad. The second one I just directly put into a jiffy pod.
Both of the seeds have now germinated, so the "if it sinks it's good" concept, seems to be a myth.
I'm doing a Haze sort because I don't constantly desire the couch-lock effects from indicas. Prefer something that won't make me a piece of jello.
Also this sort is supposed to be done really fast, between 7-10 weeks from seed to harvest.
Have a charcoal filter I will later attach to the fan to help with any smell.
Grow light is something I bought from aliexpress. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32848708311.html
Actual draw is 200W, supposed 'equivalent' is 1000W, although I'm sure it's probably not quite that high in reality.
The LEDs are 250W COB LEDs Epistar.
Not really bothering with PPFD at the moment, will do so next week if the plants continue to develop ok.
For now no nutrients, will just put them in pot with a sandy mix soil which is already fertilized if they continue to grow.
Put both seedlings into small containers last week, with a bit of regular hardware store sandyish soil.
They seem to be doing fine for the most part, enough so that I will probably transplant them to final containers on 28-11 or 29-11.
There has been an early thrips problem, although I've been using a spray combined with harassing and squashing any thrips I see on the plants. Got some spinosad and will be applying it tomorrow.
My approach to this grow has been more laid-back. I'm not wanting to neglect the plants, but I'm also not too worried in the beginning about things like PH of water etc. The soil is well fertilized, so I haven't been applying anything extra for nutrients and they seem pretty healthy.
One of the plants is kind of leaning over, so I'm just letting it do that. Some early LST basically.
The leaves smell a little bit. I set up a charcoal filter today as flowering will probably start in a couple of weeks.
Seems like a good start overall.
Last week transplanted the plants to their final containers. Approx 12L and 17L fabric pots.
Did my best to transplant without disturbing the roots, by first placing the small container in the new container to make an hole in the dirt. And then cutting apart the small container instead of pulling out the plant. Then just fitting the root-ball into the already made hole.
Root development looked pretty good when I did the transplant.
Transplanted into a rather well-fertilized soil. Don't plan on fertilizing these plants during the whole grow unless I otherwise see a reason to.
Also started LST last week, bending the plants somewhat extreme, but they're taking it just fine.
Water here is rather alkaline, so I'm starting to control the PH of the water now.
There's a clear skunk smell that started last week as well, but only when the tent has been opened. Still, it doesn't take much time to notice if you stick your head in the tent. And this is already starting in Week 2 of veg! So the charcoal filter is set up.
Pretty happy with the development so far, although I've still been seeing some thrips. If they're not completely gone by next week, might end up mixing some of the spinosad into the water so the plants absorb it.
Day 16 - Cut off one of the lower fan leaves on both plants. It was blocking the other nodes from receiving much light. I am already able to start noticing mandarin/tangerine undertones in the smell when I've handled the plants.
Day 22 - Plant is really starting to explode in growth now, all the nodes are stretching out. Stem has gotten really thick. Will need to start more training tomorrow.
Had to cut off some fan leaves because they were blocking light to the nodes. Smell is getting stronger though still not extreme. But I'm wondering how strong it will be once it starts to flower...
Day 38 - I think the plants have been being underwatered the last week or so. Combined with light burn on the most central leaves and a possible potassium deficiency. However not sure of it's really a nutrient deficiency or just due to the light burn + underwatering. In any case I'm adding some nutrients to the water for the next couple of days.
I should add that the light's actual draw is only about 250W, "equivalent" being 1000W.
I think underwatering combined with the light being close has caused my issue. However older leaves have also dried up and died (but staying green).
The way the leaf looks with yellowing though, and because a couple of leaf stems are turning reddish, maybe it's K deficiency?
To me it looks like a calcium deficiency or a cal n mag deficiency. The yellowing of the leaves outside to in and the brown/ burnt looking tips and splotches are all its trademark signs! I'd say give her a decent size feed of cal mag supplement and u should be able to mend her health and prevent the deficiency from spreading and worsening! Happy growing and stay lit fam
Day 47 - The cal-mag solution I gave last week seemed to have stopped the leaf deterioration, but at the cost of burning some of the leaves to a crisp pretty badly. I won't be using the Aptus Cal-Mag solution again as it also burned my last grow a bit.
Will just stick with feeding Atami Growth-C since it has some cal / mag in it.
Did some defoliation to get rid of some of the weaker burned leaves and provide more overall light.
The plants are otherwise doing rather well, some huge growth in the buds the last few days. Trichomes are showing up now too, has a great classic lemony haze smell. Definitely wouldn't call it at this moment a Mandarin or tangerine though.
Day 51 - Deficiencies have gotten a bit out of hand the previous few days.
Looking at the leaves I was thinking maybe calcium and magnesium deficiency, but it doesn't really make sense to me because I had:
1. Given a decent feeding with the Aptus cal-mag solution.
2. Calcium was already in the soil (pre-fertilized)
3. There is more often too much calcium in soil than too little.
4. There is a not insignificant amount of calcium in the water I use (causes limescale in a lot of things)
So my guess is instead of calcium deficiency, I'm seeing next to some magnesium deficiency, a deficiency of phosphorus.
So a couple of days ago I gave the plant FloraBloom which has both phosphorus and magnesium but no nitrogen or calcium. Today (two days later), the leaves are now feeling a lot less dry / crunchy, which was a supposed symptom of phosphorus deficiency.
I expect to need to wait about two more weeks before harvesting. Maybe around 10 days. The trichomes are still fairly glassy although there's some cloudiness. Pistils are still mainly white though, so I'm expecting some fattening to happen. I don't really like feeding the plants at this point (short before harvest), but the deficiencies were severe enough to me that I'll keep giving FloraBloom this week. Next week I might stop depending on where the trichomes are at.
Smell is excellent, I definitely now understand where the 'mandarin' name comes from. Very similar to a mandarin smell now.
Other than the phosphorus / magnesium issue, the plants seems to be doing well.
Day 58 - The plants continues to show signs of calcium deficiency. I will be adding some calcium in a couple of days and then will not fertilize with calcium again. Harvest time is getting close, but some of the buds are developing more than others. Trichomes are noticeable more cloudy than last week, but next to no amber trichomes are there, so the plants could still go another week or two I think.
Day 63 - The trichomes have spoken. It is time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olLxrojmvMg
Today I cut off most of the fan leaves / sugar leaves during midday and let the plants get in their last drink of light. I'm now going to leave them in darkness for 48hrs, and then harvest. Pretty satisfied with what I have on those plants right now, especially considering my issues with nutrient deficiencies.
She got kind of skunky in the last week suddenly, the smell has spiked considerably.
I also accidentally harvested a little bit a few days ago during some defoliation. I dried that piece and tried it out in a bong.
What a great high, my favorite kind. I will try again the finished plant once it's had time to dry, and then put my review in a week or so 😃
Dried for 6 days.
These plants were slow to initially germinate, something to expect with sativa's.
The plants responded very well to LST and defoliation.
This strain seems to need a decent amount of nutrients after the end of vegetation. I think my yield was negatively impacted because of some nutrient deficiencies my plants had. If there were no deficiencies, buds would have likely been denser and I could easily see reaching 75g dry per plant with some more LST and more aggressive defoliation.
Eryan
