Cream Auto 2 phenotypes

✋Wk 1: Germination, game plan, equipment, and prepping the room. 👉I began Germination Jan 1 2020 at midnight. I dropped one seed in water after 24 hrs placed in a small black plastic tub on a paper towel, and a little RO water. I placed a lid on it that has a small hole in the top and placed it on a temperature controlled seed germination mat set to 78F. By the next day it has started coming out of the shell. Unfortunately I hadn't snapped the lid back on fully and by the time I had gotten home from work that evening the little tub and the towel was almost completely dry. I re-moistened and then resealed the lid. I knew it was probably dead, so I placed another seed in water. It split a little by the next morning so I moved it to another little plastic container with a paper towel and placed on the seed map. The first seed showed no signs of coming back, but just in case it recovered I started another pot, but this one is a 1 gallon. My game plan is now to grow one normal sized and one small one. After another day THe second seed had split and was growing its tap root, so I placed it in the 3 gallon pot. The first seed still showed no signs. So I like the idea of trying to grow a big and a small plant, and decide to keep with that plan and placed another seed in water. It also split the shell by the next morning and was placed in the paper towel. Ive given up on the first seed by now. The second seed has emerged from the coco and is slowly beginning to build its initial food factory. The 3rd seed had a small tap root by the end of the next day and the next morning I placed it into the 1 gallon pot. As of now the seedling in the 3 gallon hasn't stood erect yet, and the 1 gallon hasn't emerged. ...or so I thought....the one gallon seedling emerged from the coco while I was making this page 😲 (about 2 hours because Im slow and high). 👉The game plan for this grow is to help one plant meet it potential, and one plant to be smaller. I will be doing frequent fertigation and giving nutrient solution 2 times a day, with enough solution to get 20% or more run-off at each event. I will determine total volume by the EC of the run-off and increase the volume as needed to keep the run-off close to the inflow EC. If EC is high enough in the run-off I will do no nutrient, pH'd waterings followed by nutrient solution (a basic quick rinse). The 3g pot will get full line General Hydroponics Flora series nutrients fed at full recommended EC based on the drain to waste feed chart. The 1g pot will be given the simple program and weakened to 1/3-1/2 strength recommended EC strength and may only get one fertigation event a day. Here is a link to the Feed chart I will be using: https://gh.growgh.com/docs/Feedcharts/GH_FloraSeries-DTW_03216am.pdf 👉I am curious to see the difference between the two plants, both structurally and final quality. 👉The set up: ✊4x4x80 cool grows tent. ✊2 marshydro TS 1000 LED lights. The second TS1000 will be installed in a week or so, for now I have a 300w cob as the second light to help keep the tent a nice 75-77F. This cob is the exact same Lumens as the ts1000 but puts out more heat. So its not very efficient at 2x the wattage. The TS 1000 does produce heat but its comparable to the phylzon 1200 I had been using, and I was able to control the heat I chose to change to the white lights and discontinue using the blurples even though my results have been fine. Its a hobby and if you dont throw money at it its not as much fun. ✊A 6" 400cfm exhaust fan vented to the outdoors. Its on a variable speed controller and on the lowest setting it out performs the 4" 190cfm fan I was using. Its almost too much. I will use two 4" 190cfm duct fans as input fans. I hope to be able to create a slightly negative pressure when the tent is closed. ✊One small oscillating fan and plan on getting one tall tower oscillating fan to replace it or adding another smaller oscillater just like it. ✊Two 6" clip on fans will be in the ceiling and pointed at the lights ✊3 gallon fabric pot, and a 1 gallon fabric pot, set on racks with a plastic tub underneath for the runoff. The mix is 2 parts coco coir, 1 part expanded clay pebbles. The mix is then rinsed with pHd 6.0 RO water till the runoff was approximately .2MS. (initial run-off was 3000MS). 👉I prepped the ten and the room before beginning anything. I cleaned and disinfected the entire interior of the tent. I cleaned the room up and applied household pesticides to the room, and sprayed the exterior of the tent with a neem oil solution. My cloned marigold is doing great and may start some herbs like oregano and dill. The marigold is for pest deterrent, but unfortunately is attractive to spidermites. Inspit of the increased risk for spider-mites that the marigold can bring, the marigold is also proven byt me to be effective against fungus gnats. Refer to my Hindu Kush diary for info on how these flowers proved to be very effective against fungus gnats. With cloth pots there is inevitably some green algae and those gnats love algae. I also have some no pest strips in the room the tent is in but not in the tent itself.

✋Wk 2: Germination progress, fertigation, and a new light. 👉Today is day 14 fro the 3gallon pot and day 10 for the 1 gallon. The one gallon has outpaced the 3 gallon plant in growth. It stretched a little and is 3times the relative size of the one in the 3 gallon. Im not sure how this will affect my plan to grow a smaller plant in the smaller pot. Both seedlings are looking good. There was a little yellow on the cotyledon of the 3 gallon seed. Up until 3 days ago, I was just moistening the area around the plant 2x a day with pH water that had a very small amount of Flora blend. The EC was .2ms. pH was 6.0. So 3 days ago I initiated fertigation to saturate the entire pot and get at least 30% runoff. This is to keep the pH coco as stable and in range (5.5-6.3Ph) as possible. The 1 gallon is getting the simple program of nutrients on the General Hydroponics drain to waste feed chart diluted to the low end of the recommended EC range and possibly lower. The 3 gallon will be getting the expert program of nutrients on the same chart mixed to be at the mid to upper end of the charts recommended EC. My pH target is to average 5.9. Both are on week one and will change to week two by midweek. I think that I probably have two different phenotypes at play here and I don't know If Ill stick to this plan for both plants. I dont plan on doing any topping, fimming, lst etc. I plan on just doing leaf tucking and providing support for the branches if they need it and shape the plant a little. 👉I got my second MarsHydro TS1000 led today and installed it. Each light is approx 150w draw and I have them at 75%. I remove the 300w COB and right away the temperature dropped from 78 in the tent to 76. The COB when compared to the MarsH has the same LUX output, at twice the wattage and lots more heat so its inefficient. 👉 I still haven't closed off the side vent window yet, which is allowing unrestricted air flow into the tent. I have the one 4" inflow, the 6"exhaust, one small oscillating fan and one 6" fan pointed at the lights. I will ad a second 4" inflow fan and a second ceiling pointed 6" fan pointed at the lights. When I do this I will close the vent window and hopefully have slight negative pressure in the tent. Too much negative will cause the sides to suck in and cause unnecessary stress on the ten. The 6" exhaust is on a variable controller and currently set at its lowest speed. I think I will have more control and create more stable temperatures when the plants are in the flower mode. When they are flowering the outdoor temperatures will be mild, and the house HVAC wont run as much. Last year it was a problem and contributed to bud rot on the critical purple. I do have a better understanding of how to set the HVAC to control the temps and I also will have far less wattage being used in the tent with the leds. Last year during spring I had 3 lights going for a total of 900w. My last plant was grown with just 300w total and that's what this one will use. The new lights are a little brighter than the phlyzons they replace. I may remove the ballast and mount them outside the tent but only if heat is an issue.

✋Wk 3: Two phenotypes. 👉The two plants are two different phenotypes. 1 gallon is day 17 and 3 gallon is day 21. My original plan was dependent upon the two seed being similar phenotypes, so moving forward its just a guessing game as to what happens. The one gallon plant is larger, and more vigorous. Its roots are already poking out the sides on the lower side of the pot. The one gallon pot is healthy and no abnormalities. The one gallon started reciving week 2 nutrients of the General Hydroponics Flora series drain to waste schedule mixed to the low end of the recommended EC range. The 3 gallon was in germinated 4 days earlier and has progressed very slowly. I was prepared to end it and just go with the one gallon pot, however it has started to grow, however at a slower pace and size compared to the one gallon. The 3 gallon also has some abnormality in its first leaf set. Im still concerned that it may be signs that this plant may not worth be taking to full term. I will continue to give it full strength nutrients per the General Hydroponics Flora series drain to waste schedule, and see how it progresses. I am not planning on topping either plant. 👉With the addition of the second Mars Hydro TS1000 the heat has dropped significantly. The outdoor temps have been in the 30s and the HVAC set to heat at 68F. The tent has been around 73F. I cut off the small fan in the ceiling, and closed the side vent window. I left the top of the access enclosure unzipped about 20". It leaves a small gap that is just enough too create a small negative pressure in the tent. The temperature went up to average 75F with outdoors temps at 40. Today the outdoors got to be 50 and the tent averaged 76F. I monitor the tent temperatures regularly during the day via the tents wifi cam looking at the thermometer. I have ordered a 6" to 4" reducer for the 6" exhaust fan to help give a little more flexibility while the outdoor temps are still cold. This is to help reduce the household HVAC energy use by reducing the volume of air I'm venting outside.

✋Wk 4: Woe and wonder, nutrients, and water source. 👉This week has been a week of woe and wonder. This phase of veg is a true wonder as each time I peer into the tent the plants are noticeably bigger. The woe part of the week was when I mixed a batch of nutrients and did the math in my head. I avoid getting high before mixing batches because I have made stoner errors in the past...but this time I was straight...just forgot that I don't do math in my head very well. So I had the ratios of the mix for the one gallon plant off. The pH was in range and the EC was weak, but for two ingredients I put too much, which altered the prescribed ratios. I fertigated in the evening with the new batch and checked on the plant 3 hours later. It was obvious it was in distress as it was drooped down not reaching for the light. I immediately checked my recently created batch notes and sure as shit...I still cant do math in my head. I also dont recheck my math. It was a batch of 2.5 gallons so...yeah...simple math and I have a super computer in my hands...I just wish I could have said that it was because I was high.😼 I immediately gave the plant a rinse. 1.5 liters of 6.0pH .44ms water (added armour si and cali-magic only), then another liter of the same rinse water. In the morning the plant was looking better, but not 'perked-up'. I fertigated with 1liter of low EC nutrient solution and a .5liter of normal strength. By the evening the plant was perking up almost all the way, so i gave it was normal strength solution. By next morning it was back to vigorous growth, except the fully formed leaves all looked slightly shriveled and deformed. New growth was back to vigorous. No discolorations in the leaves have appeared as of yet. I expected to see discoloration in damaged leaves by now, but this was a nutrient ratio thing, so now I have some research to do. I know what ratios were out of whack, so maybe I will find out why my plant reacted to it as it did. Or Ill get really bored and start watching videos on u-tube about dash cam crash compilations. 👉Week 3 nutrients for both plants. The 3 gallon plant is on day 28 today, and is 4 days older than the 1 gallon plant. the one gallon plant is on day 24. The one gallon is twice as big and 2 nodes ahead. The 3 gallon is short and its leaves are very pretty. Ive increased the 3 gallon nutrient strength to the mid-upper range of the EC recommendation of the growers choice flora series drain to waist chart and getting the full line of nutrients. The 1 gallon is getting the low end EC range of the nutrient mix recommendation of the same chart, but only getting the simple program of nutrients plus amour Si and Cali-magic. The 3 gallon has needed 1 rinse to drop the runoff ec, to range of the inflow. The one gallon has maintained an even run-off ec compared to the inflow. 👉I am using RO water made by an industrial grade RO machine. I mule the water from the facility to my home in 2, 6 gallon water storage containers. Currently I am using about 6 gallons a week (plus wife's coffee). The waters Ph is 7.4 and the EC is 4micro Siemens. The water is very reactive in this state, one drop of pH down will send the pH to 4.3. Even after adding Armour si and cali-magic the pH is very reactive to small amounts of pH buffer solution. A nutrient batch is easily adjusted for pH once all the ingredients are mixed in. I mix enough solution to last for 3-4 days. The pH usually drifts upwards as the days go by but not a lot. The nutrient tank is starting to get the funky smell by the time its empty. I disinfect and rinse the nutrient containers between each batch. I disinfect the water jugs once a month. 👉For the coming week I look for more wonderful surprises every time I open the tent and see they've gotten bigger! I will switch to week 4 nutrients. I will also start procuring all the things I need to make a one week automated fertigation system. I will have to go out of town for work for one week (2 weeks from now) and will have the nutrients delivered from a storage tank thru a timed valve and some soak-er tubing. Ive set up similar outdoors with pressurized water source. This will be gravity fed. I just need to keep the plants moist for the week without starving them. I will still get runoff and have a wet-vac on a timer with the suction hose in the run-off tray. I have a WiFi camera to monitor from anywhere and my wife has agreed she will help me if something simple is needed to be done. I should have it assembled by next week and start testing it then. My goal is to make sure if it leaks at any place it will be contained.

✋Wk 5: Growing like a weed, and max power. 👉2-8 Day 38 for the 3 gallon plant. The plant continues to show noticable growth every time I open the tent. The 1 gallon is 4 days behind total age wise, yet is physically one week ahead of the 3gallon. The pistols appeared 3 days ago on the 1 gallon 4 days ago. I haven't seen any on the 3 gallon yet, I anticipate them in the next 3-4 days. The 3 gallon trunk is getting stout and if the plant stays short I wont be doing much lolly popping and grow a nice little Christmas tree shaped plant. The 1 gallon has a very thick trunk and is actually two inches taller than the 3 gallon plant. Both plants are looking like they are more busy building branches than reaching for the lights, which is preferred, because I'm sure at least one of these plants will eventually challenge the height limits of the tent. I say that because I try to be prepared for the hard situations. What I hope for is they are 35-45" plants max. 👉The diary stats for nutrients on this page will be for the 3 gallon. I included a page from my fertigation log to see the difference in nutrient levels of EC.The 3 gallon plant has remained on the week 3 mix for the nutrients on the General Hydroponics drain to waste nutrient mix chart (late growth). The 1 gallon plant is on the week 4 mix (transition). I will switch 3 gallon to week 4 as soon as the first pistols appear. The 1 gallon will switch to week 5 in the next 2-3 days. The 3 gallon plant gets the EC of the upper end of the recommended nutrient strength. The 1 gallon gets the lowest (or just below) the low end of the recommended EC. THe week neither plant had EC run-off above 30+ of the inflow. Infact the run-off EC of the 3 gallon plant and the 1 gallon plant has been very stable and shows that the plants are really drinking it in! I use enough inflow volume to get 30% of the inflow (minimum), but sometimes I up it just a bit. 👉I have started the grow with the lights dimmed to 75%. 6 days ago I turned both lamps up to 100%. I try to maintain approximately 17" distance from lamp to plants. Both plants are the same height right now (the 1 gallon is in a shorter pot so its 2" taller). The lights have to be raised every 3-4 days now. The heat increased a little bit, but the outdoor temps have been in the low 30s so the overall temp in the tent is the same.

✋Wk 6: Soaking up rays and consuming the nutrients. Algae remediation and proactive pest control. 👉The noticeable growth every time I look into the tent continues. Today is day 47 total, Day 14 flower for the 1 gallon and Day 2 flower for the 3 gallon. The stats for the diary are for the 3 gallon plant. My main cola is my focus for both plants. I want the main colas to be really good big buds. The secondary branches are not being neglected however. I will be supporting each branch as it needs it for good light and later on for weight support when the bud hopefully are good and big. With two plants in the tent, things may get crowed as the are both touching in the center and touching the tent on the outside already(4x4 tent). I will move them into corner positions this week so they will have a little more elbow room. When I started the grow I was hoping the 1 gallon would be a miniature plant if I gave it weaker strength nutrient solution. But the plants genetics have decided my plan is stupid. The 3 gallon plant also decided to flip me the finger and be a different phenotype as its younger sibling. Maybe one day Ill learn to grow small 'cute' plants. 👉The one gallon is stretching and forming the colas. I haven't had to do much tucking to help the lower branches find light. I have taken some of the shaded, interior leaves, and a couple interior secondary branches. I will do small amount of selective pruning of secondary growth nodes or branches. The way it has stretched shows promise that I might not have to time any main branches. 👉The first pistols appeared on the 3 gallon yesterday. Its growth nodes are primed and ready to start forming colas. The structure of the 3 Gallon is a dense bush. I can hardly tell what is going on in the interior of the leaf dome. I have been tucking leaves to expose the lower branches reaching up to the light. I have taken some of the inner leaves that were totally shaded, small or malformed. I have also taken some small secondary branches from the interior. I have more to do with its interior to help reduce larf, but its so dense its really hard to get a great look at whats going on. When it starts stretching in the next couple of weeks I'll be able to get a better look. If the plant stays short enough I might not have to take any main branches, but its way to early to know that for certain. 👉During the week I switched the 1 gallon to week 5 of the General Hydroponics Flora series drain to waste schedule, and week 4 for the 3 gallon. I have had no issues with the EC rising above +30 of the inflow. Infact, the EC has been remaining below the inflow EC. You can see my fertigation log This is a little unusual, but nothing to worry about. It means the nutrients are being consumed. nothing is building up. Usually one or two low EC/high volume fertigations are needed per week to keep the build of nutrients in check. Part of the lack of build up is I probably don't have enough breeze blowing around the pots, so not as much evaporation. The lack of breeze is evident with the 3 gallon plant as the green algae has begun to build up. I have been hesitant to be cleaning the side much as the roots have been poking thru and didnt want to disturb them yet. I have started to clean one section at a time by using a washcloth and just wiping as much as I can off the side. Then I spray it with some H2O2 solution from a pressurized sprayer with a strong stream. This helps rinse off the algae. Then I do a small rinse just down the side of the section with low EC solution. The runoff pan is a green gloopy mess when done and a few of my white wash cloths are green too. I rinse the runoff trays out with the pressurized H2O2 spray tank, then wipe them dry with clean white cloths. I also wipe the floor of the tent with a wet wash cloth soaked withe the H2O2 solution. I pour the runoff into plastic water bottles and dispose of them by pouring them onto the lawn. In the warmer months I would pour the no algae laden runoff into my garden plants (basil, oregano, peppers and tomatoes) I never pour the runoff into the drains of my house. I feed the marigold with run off once a day. This marigold is a clone from my first marigold, and I will clone it very soon. 👉I have the marigold in the tent to combat fungus gnats and other pest...its rated as one of the best natural pest barriers for things like gnats, white flies, aphids etc...however it also attracts spider mites. The good part of that is that the spider mites would go to the marigold before they move on to the cannabis. I inspect the marigold routinely looking for pests. I haven't had spider mites...yet, but I have had fungus gnats when I didn't have marigolds and they disappeared almost immediately when the marigold was introduced to the tent. To combat the threat of spider mites I treat the room around the tent with normal household insecticides before I start growing. I spray the outside of the tent with neem oil also. Again I only treat the grow area between plants, never while they are growing. I also have No Pest Strips in the room the tent is in and replace them regularly. These no pest strips are barrier deterrents and not insecticides. If I ever do have pest issues I will never spray any chemicals or neem oil on my plants. There are plenty of microbial and naturally safe ways to remediate them. I am fully prepared to trash any plant than gets infested during flower. But I am taking almost every precaution I can think of to make sure this doesn't happen. But its really not a question of if it will happen...just when...and I have had a lot of practice with my outdoor herbs and veggies so I hope I can remedy any incursions and still get good big buds.

✋Wk 7: Will the size difference begin to fall in line with the predictions, and rearranging the wind. 👉 This week is Day 48 thru Day 54 total. (Feb 16 thru 22). Today (day 54ttl) the 1 gallon plant is at day 21 flower and the 3 gallon is at day 9 flower. 👉 This week has shown some interesting things. The 1 gallon plant is still ahead in the physical timeline, and has also started to demonstrate how the smaller pot is limiting its size. The 1 gallon has been ahead of the 3 gallon plant in size and stature, until this week. The 1 gallon has stopped stretching and is beginning to develop its flowers. I was worried it would continue to get bigger and may become an issue vertically as well as horizontally. The 3 gallon plant has grown a few inches and isn’t really stretching up yet, but it is growing overall in size. It’s a big dome of leaves right now. Its main cola is same height as a couple of the secondary branches. I doubt the main cola will remain the same but this plant hasn’t been typical from its germination so only time will tell. 👉 The other interesting thing has actually been trending this way for a couple of weeks…the run-off for both plants has been lower than the inflow and no low EC fertigation has been needed. The 1 gallons roots are undoubtedly densely packed in the pot. It takes several minutes to apply the nutrient solution. The volume needed has also increased. The 3 gallon still readily accepts the solution, but it takes more every day and the run off takes longer to start running out of the bottom. The saturation level of both pots has increased, and the 3 gallon especially. The EC for both has stayed below the inflow EC. This is unusual because part of the volume of water in the pot when saturated isn’t absorbed by the plant, it evaporates on all sides of the pot and the top of the media. This would leave the dried nutrients wich would rinse off at each fertigation adding to the TDS. The reduction of EC in the run-off means the nutrients are being utilized by the plant. I have dropped the inflow EC of the 3 gallon a little because I was worried about burn. I have kept the EC of the 1 gallon plant at the low end of the recommended EC range of the General Hydroponics drain to waste nutrient schedule chart for the Flora series of nutrients. I use the entire line of these nutrients. For the one gallon I had been giving it only the “simple program”, and the 3 gallon the “expert” (entire line). This week when I noted that the stretch has pretty much ended for the 1 gallon, and decided that I will go ahead and give it the expert mixture as well but given at the low end of the EC range still. Ive included the Fertigation log for the week. It shows the tent temps, the outdoor temps and HVAC setting. Also, I note when a fresh batch is made and what week on the schedule it is. Each pot has the recorded time of fertigation, volume, pH, and EC of the solution given and the corresponding run-off. I mix the solutions at full strength and use a solution with just silica and Cali-magic to reduce the EC to the desired EC. I mix that in at fertigation time. I also adjust the pH if necessary at this time. 👉 The structure of the 1 gallon is very stout main trunk, and each branch is very sturdy. The bigger fan leaf production has given way to smaller leaves. The structure of the 3 gallon also has a very stout main trunk and each branch is very sturdy. The 3 gallon has some very large fan leaves and it has lots of vegetation. Its very dense and hard to peer inside. For both plants I have begun to selectively remove branches that would not be producing anything but larf. The 1 gallon only needed the lowest main branches trimmed. I also removed some of its smaller shaded secondary branches and leaves inside the canopy. The trimming on the 3 gallon is similar, however its much harder to get inside. I just do a little at a time at each fertigation. Im not sure if the first set of branches on the 3 gallon will be tall enough to keep but I want to wait till the plant starts stretching to see what they will do. Ive left as many leaves as possible in the 3 gallon…a lot of really nice fat food factories. This plant may go very large, or it may stay somewhat stunted as it did during the early veg phase. 👉 I positioned the plants I closer to the back wall. I bought a oscillating tower fan and was hoping it would be a good addition to the tent. Alas, it had too strong of a wind current (on the lowest speed) and the 1 gallon was showing signs of wind stress after 2 days. So I removed the fan and re-positioned the smaller fans I had clipped up top of the tent. Both fans are now hanging lower on adjustable ropes and point toward the plants. They are working well like this and the air flow is good. I may modify the oscillating fan and install a variable resistor to the fan motor to reduce the flow. I have added the branch support to the legs of the stand the 1 gallon is on. These posts will be used to support the weight of buds or position them as needed. I will add the support posts to the 3 gallon plant after it has gone thru its stretch, maybe another 2 weeks for that.

✋Wk 8: Time slows down, as buds build and plants are thirsty. 👉One of the best part about growing cannabis, and actually fun plants of any variety, is that the anticipation of the final results seemingly makes time slow down. When I hit 40 it was like I had hit the top of the hill and everyday since then has seemed like it was getting shorter and time was going by much more quickly. I started growing herbs and peppers on the patio a few years ago the race towards the inevitable has seemed to mellow out. A year ago I started growing LEGAL cannabis! I had dreamed of this since I was in college. The risk was too great to get busted for growing even a small plant. Seeing the plants grow a little each day is amazing. Seeing the progress of just one month is amazing. The days seem to take longer as a pleasant side effect of my impatience for the finished product. I have grown lots of different plants, and cannabis is definitely the most magical to watch grow. 👉The 1 gallon is starting to build out its buds. The shape of the plant is amazing, all the secondary branches are almost the same height! The branches are very stout and have grown straight up. I have supports installed and may start by just making a simple hoop around the plant with some soft garden wire to keep them from spreading out. The frost is starting to form on the one gallon buds as well. The frost is extending out onto the leaves. I haven't removed any leaves or larf sites in a couple weeks. The leaves went from big and fat fans to smaller skinny fingers much like you'd expect from a Sativa dominant strain, yet this is an Indica dominant strain. Its making for much better light penetration so minimal larf and fatter colas perhaps. When fertigating it takes a few minutes to be able to get all the sulution to the plant. This is from the density of the roots. Its been soaking up the water and nutrients very well. Towards the end of the week I was getting less run-off and the run-off EC was climbing. I will probably do a good low EC fertigation next week. 👉The 3 gallon is a dense bush. I haven't taken any of the secondary branches. I have taken some interior shaded small branches from the big branches. I have also taken some of the interior leaves that were totally shaded. Ive have also removed almost all the large early growth leaves as they got more in the way of air circulation and access to the media for watering and observation. The main cola is barely indetifiable as the main cola so far. The symetry of the plant is very nice and I hope it stays this way. Its also behind the 1 gallon plant and will finish 2-3 weeks after it. I am guessing 6 more weeks max. Even if its not ready I will have to harvest it 6 weeks form now because I have to go out of town for business for a week. I will take it as far as it can go. The plant is drinking alot and I am giving it as much as 5 liters a day. The run-off has also gone down and as a result the run-off EC has been creeping upwards as well. The coming week I will be giving it a goof low EC fertigation and increase the volume of inflow. My target for inflow EC is mid range on the General Hydroponics Flora Series Drain to waste nutrient schedule. 👉 I have included pix of my fertigation log. The log show tents conditions, inflow stats and run-off stats. Both plants are soaking up the fluids. Both plants are getting the full line of the General Hydroponics Flora series nutrients/supplements and mixed full strength in RO water from an industrial RO water machine. This week I increased the amount of Cali-magic about 25%. There are some purple stems around and want to keep it from becoming a leaf issue if its form a slight lack of Ca/Mg. Next week I will continue the higher level of Calmag and also will do at least one low EC fertigation. When I do a low EC fertigation I only have Armor Si and Calimagic in the solution. I will follow the low EC event with a small dose of regular nutrient solution. 👉I am sure that the way I am doing this diary is probably pointless in terms of interest to others. I am doing it in the spirit of a true diary and for my own personal use as a record. I am trying to make it understandable and comprehensive for others. I'm sure that is folly in the long run but I do enjoy being able to review my work in a comprehensive way.

✋Wk 9: A cone shaped bush, and trichome hunting season begins. 👉This week the 3 gallon plant has gotten very bushy. I adjusted the plants to each corner to give the 3 gallon a little more room, and moved the lights to the corners as well. The outdoor temps have been mid 60's and I had to run the a/c in the house to keep the tent temps below 78F. I rotate the plants so they get more even exposure. As I have rotated the 3 gallon, a little each day, I have been trimming the shaded early leaves and some of the inner ones I can get to easily. I still may trim the two lowest branches because they are at a disadvantage light exposure wise. The 3 gallon had been getting lots of tucking to expose some of the bud sights trying to peak out at the top. The shape of the 3 gallon is like cone. The main cola has stretched a little bit but only 3 inches above the canopy. The 3 gallon is 30" from the base and making pretty, marble sized fuzzy pearls. There are lots of purple stems, I have increased the concentration of the calimagic added to the fertigation solution to help offset any mag deficiency. The run-off EC has started to climb this week, unlike last couple of weeks which saw the ec stay level. I have done a single large volume EC and have lowered the overall inflow EC. The run-off EC had remained within limits. The plant shows no other possible nutrient issues other than purple stems (which may be nothing to worry about). 👉 The 1 gallon plant definitely stopped growing and the plant is 35" tall. The buds are bulking up and looking very frosty. I have started doing a little trichome hunting. My phone sux for macro taking thru a magnifier, so Ill break out the DLSR and start hunting with it. I haven't taken anymore leaves from the 1 gallon. All the secondary branches are the same height and showing promise of making several long good big buds. The plant is showing some purple stems, with a few upper level leaves on the main cola have purple stems as well. The plants roots have packed the 1 gallon plant solid. I am curious if it may be causing some root issues such as suffocation, which can look like magnesium deficiency (per a small amount of research I have done (no forums only science articles). Some burned tips here and there around the plant. It takes a few minutes to apply all the solution at each fertigation due to the packed pot. Im hoping the compacted pot doesn't hinder the buds final development, but I fear it might, we will see. Its run-off has also started raising this week and had received lower EC fertigations. The run-off remains in limits. In the tent the aroma of the 1 gallon is the typical cannabis flower smell, and an up close sniff of a bud has hints of caramel. 👉The coming weeks focus will be controlling the tent temperatures. I have a wifi camera that shows the canopy temperature. I try to watch the forecast and set the HVAC accordingly. The daytime temps in the mid 60s are the toughest to deal with, the heat still needs to be on at night and if I forget to turn it off before I go to work the canopy approaches 78 by noon, and can possibly go over 80. (It did last year but that was a different set of lights). The volume of solution intake has increased as well so I will be making extra trips to get water for the industrial RO machine (98.8% rejection rate at 4 micro-Siemens). The water is medical grade quality and has zero calcium and magnesium and that's why I am adding a little more calimagic to the solution mix.

✋Wk10: Playing the guessing game and learning is doing. 👉I started the week knowing I needed to do more of a full low EC rinse. I have been noticing purple stems around both plants spreading. As the week started the stems also started spreading on to some of the veins. The upper leaves started looking lighter green colored and by mid-week some yellowing spots and some very small brown spots on some of the upper leaves of the 3 gallon. The one gallon was getting more burned leaf tips. Until the yellowing splotches and small brown specks I was suspecting low Magnesium. I was compensating by adding a little extra cali-magic to the low ec solution I use to adjust the ec of the solution I fertigate with. But as the yellowing spread I knew I was wrong about something, so a little more searching and I may have nitrogen toxicity AND Phosphorus deficiency. The upper leaves on the 3 gallon plant were also showing a bit of ‘clawing’ which was pointing at the Phosphorus shortfall. So I may be wrong, but Ill only know by doing. So I did a large low EC rinse that was pH’d with the regular dosage of liquid Koolbloom, on both plants at the end of the week. I’ll continue to fertigate with a lower EC solution that will have the Koolbloom mixed at full strength. I may discard the current solution batches and remix fresh with less of the Flora Micro, more of the Flora Bloom and Liquid Koolbloom. It may all stem from not doing low EC fertigations as a matter of routine. Perhaps the Nitrogen was building up because there wasn’t a regular higher volume rinse. The Low EC rinse dropped the EC of the run-off right away. I know the common practice is to have routine low EC rinses, but I wasn’t having high EC run-off and it was stable, so I was trying to keep the nutrient level in the media at optimum levels. Doing one plant at a time is a very slow way to learn. I do read lots of science related gardening articles as well as scientifically inclined cannabis articles. I don’t look at too many forums because most of these people must be high ;) 👉I finally got around to clearing out some of the lower leaves from the 3 gallon plant and removing some of the leaves and shaded buds sites under the dome. Its still a thick tangled jungle. But more manageable. Doing tucking to give cola sights light. The buds are bulking up. The first signs of frost have appeared as well. Hopefully I can level out the nutritional needs and the buds will be fine. The trunk of the 3 gallon has gotten very thick. Its a work of natural engineering to support the plant. The branches are also very stout and strong. 👉The 1 gallon is making some potentially nice colas. Each branch is a long cola covered with buds. Ive added a little support to some of the branches, even though the branches dont need the support yet. The aroma is creamy caramel. Its almost bizarre to me. The plant has the light skunkyness that is typical of cannabis in flower, but that aroma is the undertone of the dominant smell, which is creamy caramel. Such a strange and wonderful combination of smells is almost as intoxication as the gorilla glue I grew last spring. The trichomes are mostly clear with cloudy ones making a showing.

✋Wk11: Escaping from Distancing. 👉This week is the first full week of the government recommending “social distancing” to combat the spread of Covid19. My work schedule hasn’t changed due to the nature of my job, but everything else has been affected. Well, everything except this grow! Every visit to the tent is an escape to another reality. The magical funk, of flowering cannabis as I enter the room before I even open the tent, transports me instantly into a happy place. I unzip the access flap and another wave of sweet leaf flower fills my nose with that magical funk and I am living a Peter Max painting! This plant has a seemingly normal stanky cannabis funk aroma until you get close. It has a wonderful aroma that can only actually be described as creamy caramel. A light aroma that is very uplifting. I’m not taking a second for granted and I feel blessed for being able to grow this magic plant with no legal ramifications. I also feel so blessed that I have such a perfect escape. I am also very grateful that I can share my magic plants with those who happen upon it. I hope everyone and their plants stay safe and healthy! 👉This week has seen the building of excitement for the final stretch, and the increase of my anxiety of doing the right thing to maximize the plants potential. Seeing the buds of both plants bulk up, smelling the aroma get strong enough to smell outside when the winds are calm has increased the fun factor exponentially. It’s like being a kid a week or two before Christmas, its magical and exhilarating. The 3 gallon plants flowers are bulking up and promises to have plump buds. I think I have abated some of the possible nutrient issues that appeared last week. I have done some ultra-low EC rinsing and cleaned the exterior of the cloth pot. I also did some pruning of a few small interior small secondary branches. I also trimmed a few leaves from the canopy that were either not doing well due to the nutrient issue or were tangled in the mass of leaves forming the dome. I actually to a fair amount of leaves, I cringed with each leaf pinched off, hoping I was doing the right thing. I actually only took a small portion of all the leaves, and looking at the plant now I think I was judicious and took the right leaves in the right amount. The plant isn’t drinking quite as much fluid, which is probably partly due to the leaves removed and partly due to the stage it’s in of building buds and not leaves. 👉The one gallon plant is looking like it’s very close to finishing. The leaves are starting to fade evenly almost all around. The buds are still building, lots of new calix’s and pistols. The trichomes are mostly clear, but many cloudy ones can be seen. The Ec of the runoff rises quickly over a couple of days. I have given a couple of pH’d water only rinsing’s which are followed by a low EC nutrient solution. It’s drinking a little less but I maintain the same volume of solution at each fertigation event to aid in slowing the rise of the runoff EC. I give it 1.5 liters each time. The pot is so packed from the roots it takes a few minutes to give all the solution to the plant. I’m hoping that the plant is ok with its small home and will finish with some tasty good big buds, its looking promising.

✋Wk12:Trichome Hunting and Changes in diet. 👉The week has shown to be not just the usual fun of having cannabis in the flowerings stage, but also the frustration of having cannabis in the flowering stage. The fun is the funky stank that hits me in the face as I open the tent each time, then gazing at the magical flowers as they get plumper and fuzzier. The frustration comes from the seemingly slow motion pace the plants are taking as I dream of harvest day. 👉The 3 gallon plant has reduced its volume of liquid it consumes. However, I have only slightly reduced the total volume of solution given each time. I have kept the EC around 1.3. The run-off has climbed quickly between fertigations, and I have done a couple of H2Only irrigations. The runoff EC spiked on the last day of this week. I did another H2Only irrigation followed by regular nutrients. I have seen issues on the upper leaves that could be nutrient related, or maybe light stress, perhaps its moody and hates me for not spending more time with it. I have been keeping the lights at around 17” from the top of the main cola. The lights driver is turned fully on (light is rated at 150W). Its counter intuitive to me that the light would be causing light stress since its only 150w. I would think a much more intense light would cause that or one kept a lot closer. So I have pulled the light to its max height. I may dial back the driver a tad. The buds are getting very bulky and are very dense. I hope they stay that way and not foxtail like its tent mate is doing. 👉The one gallon plant is starting to fade. Its larger leaves are mostly yellow. I take the yellow leaves when they begin to dry up. Some just fall off when touched. I’ve done some extensive trichome hunting and have only spotted only scant few ambers. Most are still clear, but there are lots of cloudy ones too. Very hard to differentiate if they are in the direct light of one of the grow lights (or any led light). The led light makes them all look cloudy, but indirect light shows most are still clear. I will continue checking each day for the status of the trichomes. I will harvest when almost all are cloudy with only a few clears remain. I have kept its solution volume at 1.5l at the low range EC of nutrient solution. I have also given a couple of H2Only irrigations to lower the EC runoff. The buds are sort of fox tailing but look very much like the breeders picture on the product page. The cola are long and getting bulky, but probably not very dense. They are super frosty and the calix’s are getting very large, much like the gorilla glue I grew was. The aroma of the funky stank is strong enough to be smelled outside (I vent outside). The up close smell is different than the tent smell…still creamy sweet caramel…so weird to me…I can’t wait to try it…in like 8 more weeks…sigh. I will harvest the plant when it says its ready. Almost there.😷

✋Wk13:Lessons 👉The week has be a week of learning... learning that I have a lot to learn. Oh, I study, have a definite game plan and have been getting decent results, but the whole picture hasn’t come into focus for me…yet. The last couple weeks the plants have been showing signs of different nutrient issues. The 1 gallon pot medium is packed hard as a rock and I was aware that this could cause issues as it got to the flower stage. I just wasn’t sure how those issues would manifest themselves. The 3 gallon pot was looking like it was having nitrogen excess. It was suggested to me that perhaps the lights were causing or contributing to the issues. At first I didn’t think it was possible that the lights, even at full power (150weach) would be stressing out the plants. I have kept the lights at 17” minimum distance and they didn’t seem to radiate much heat onto the plants themselves. I’ve only had two different days in different weeks where I have let the temperature in the tent itself get to 81F. Average canopy temperature has been 77. I also had good circulation in the tent and both plants got direct light breeze from non-oscillating fans but it didn’t seem to be causing wind burn. I was addressing a nitrogen excess by slight adjustment to my mix, but unfortunately the issues seemed to start looking like magnesium deficiency, among other things, this week. 👉Well it all came together for me by the end of the week and I may have figured it out (or Im just high). The leaves on both plants kept looking worse and the EC run-off of the 3gallon plant was spiking really fast. I assumed the issues with the one gallon plant were mostly due to the undersized pot. It would take over 5 minutes to apply 1.5ml of solution the media was packed so dense. The 3 gallon seemed to soak up all the solution very quickly, the sides of the pot did feel tight, but I didn’t even try to see how tight. After a lot of searching for the issues I saw on the leaves I started adding in the small pot issue in my queries on the net. I avoid forum type advice and look for articles from both cannabis resources and hobby gardening of any type of plant. I believe my 3 gallon plant is suffering from an undersized pot just as the 1 gallon was. But its not that the size of the pot was the cause of all the issues, it was just part of it and was magnifying it all more than it would have been otherwise. So the light was stressing it out, making it look like nitrogen toxicity, then later cal/mag deficiency after I started making adjustments to lower overall nitrogen supplied, all of that was induced by the roots being too packed into the pot. The density of the media was probably also leaving areas that weren’t getting enough solution to them causing pockets of buildup. I didn’t have a scheduled routine of low EC fertigation’s and only gave low EC when I was seeing a increased runoff EC. 👉The solution may be that I should have had scheduled high volume/low EC fertigation events. I also should have been applying the solution to the 3 gallon plant in a slower more deliberate fashion. By not slowing down the solution was able to channel thru quickly and probably not rinsing the media properly at each fertigation. I have given both plants a couple low EC fertigations and will work on what is the most efficient schedule for them going forward. 👉 I have turned the power on the lights down, I didn’t measure the wattage to do this, I measured the Lux. The lux at 20” was 385kLux at full power (both lights very close to same). I then turned the power down to 300k lux at 20” for both lights. The lights were noticeably dimmer and cooler. The canpoy temp average had dropped about 6 degrees. I had to turn off the intake fan for the ten because it was 70 degrees with it on. It is 74 degrees at the canopy now. I know LUX doesn’t mean shit to the plant. However Lux is a method for measuring the lights output and the meter only cost 30$. I use the Lux meter routinely to get an idea of the footprint of the light and monitor the light performance (possibly know when a driver is failing before it fails). I also removed the mirror from the 3 gallon side since I was trying to lower overall light. I also didn’t want it to get a complex when it sees itself in the mirror and noticed how much I fucked up her good looks. 👉The one gallon is getting close but I don’t think it has even 50% cloudy trichomes yet. The calix’s are large super frosty and all the buds are fox tail-y. The picture on the growers choice site of the plant shows a fox tailed top, but I’m sure the small pot stress has added to it. The main cola is 17” long and very fat, but not very dense. The side colas are almost all about 12” long. There will be minimal ‘larf’ on due to the way I pruned it. The aroma is still amazing and getting stronger by the day. The Ive started a little trichome hunting on the 3 gallon, they are all clear. The calyx’s are small but the buds are all looking chunky and are very dense. I hope I have figured out the issues and haven’t screwed it up enough to cause the buds to become airy. 👉Both plants leaves look horrific right now to me. But the buds are looking great. I’m not gunna stress out about the leaves. They are what they are. At this point I can’t fix the leaves, I just have to make sure I don’t screw up the buds. The cell phone camera I use isn’t great. I have a dslr but it’s more of a hassle, I will be taking more pix with it next week. 👉My trichome pix are with a USB scope that connects to my camera. Its only 2meg resolution and it’s a bitch to get halfway decent pix. I have the scope hacked onto a tripod. Its not the best but it will suffice for now. I turn off all the fans so the plants don’t move. The slightest motion and its nothing but a blurr. Touching the scope to focus also make it blur so it takes a while to focus. It’s an exercise in patience. I am searching all over the buds for the trichome status, but mostly look in shadowed areas, the light makes them all look milky when most are clear. They still all look mostly clear and scant few amber.

✋Wk14:When will it be the ‘right’ time? 👉This is day 103 total, day 69 flower for the 1 gallon plant, and day 58 flower for the 3 gallon plant. The week has shown more changes with the run-off. Both plants are consuming less and the EC run-off spikes quickly. I will continue fertigations till the day of harvest. I’ve been watching the pH in the run-off. Its not a stat that is not supposed to matter. I accept that, but I recorded the stats anyways because its on the meter display anyway. I have noticed that when the EC goes high the pH also changes, but each plant changed its pH run-off in opposite directions. Normally I would aim for 5.7-5.9 for my solution pH. For the last 3 weeks or so I adjust the pH for the incoming solutions to the opposite end of the range that its been trending towards. The 1gallon pot pH would run-off would trend down and often would be as low as 5.2. The run-off pH would trend upwards noticeably if I fertigated with 6.0+ pH solution. The same happened with the 3gallon plant, except it was the opposite direction. What does it mean? It means that different conditions exist in each plants media. It could all be the result of many different factors, all of which I can only guess at. The temperatures have been all over the spectrum outdoors, but I have not run the heater since last week. This resulted in overall lower temps in the tent. From 62F, the lowest during dark period, to the high of 78F at the canopy. The average lights on temps by the end of the week were the low 70s at the canopy. The mild day time temps have been cool enough that the a/c barely ran at all during the week. 👉The smell of these plants is very strong. The 6” fan is still set to low speed and evacuates the aroma so none gets into the house (I know this because the wife hasn’t complained once). But outside (where it’s vented to)…well its AWSOME! It’s so strong now that even on day with moderate winds you can smell it all around the house if it blowing right. The 1 gallon plant has changed slightly. Not many fresh white calix. The plant isn’t consuming much fluid. The leaves look like shit but haven’t really changed. The trichomes have been slowly changing to cloudy. I will be doing an extensive search of the plant for the status of the trichomes. I am seeing at least 50/50 clear/cloudy with only a very few amber. I’m looking for 60%+ milky. It is very hard to differentiate the milky from the clear because the LED lights make all of them glow as if milky. Seeing them from indirect light (in the shade) is key. Being able to get good close up views is very frustrating. Focusing makes the image blurry and takes a couple second to stop shaking when release so it’s a lot of repetitious focusing on one spot. 👉The 3 gallon looks like it has multiple issues all at once. I believe they are all tied to one thing, the density of the roots and how they need a 5 gallon pot. They look light stressed, Nitrogen rich, cal-mag poor, wind stressed, and over watered. I have made adjustments to address each thing but they never seemed to subside. The latest to show is the curled lower fan leaves. They look like a plant that is over watered, curled in and droopy. While I do supply way more liquid than most, it would seem possible, but I don’t think u can over water coco, unless of course it’s not draining. I do think the root density may have caused areas to not drain or rinse. It’s the thing that makes most sense to me. The buds are looking great and super fat and mega dense. They are the densest buds Ive grown yet. I fear the curse of the grey death…botrytis. I have been doing a little trichome hunting also and most are looking cloudy! I hope to take the 1 gallon in the next day or two if it looks right so I can have more room to inspect this one to get a better idea where its at. The humidity has been good at 50% and I have had no dangerous episodes of heat so far (temps over 82F). 👉I'd be fooling myself if I thought anyone was actually still reading this, well maybe there is. I actually read everything in diaries that I follow, so I guess its possible someone has gotten this far down. I hope everyone is staying safe. Not much has changed for me with the CVD-19 shitstorm. I have an 'essential' job, but odly enough I want to work. Unsually when I take vacation I say I could do the whole no job thing and love it, now that people aren't allowed to work I am grateful I have the opportunity to work and that my world hasn't been shaken. I havent taken my liberty for granted and feel very blessed. I use the solace of my grow to escape the world issues. Its another world and one I never thought I would ever be able to do without the risk of severe consequences. Now I am without a care when I go into my grow room to open my tent. I escape the moment the aroma hits me in the face as I pull back the flap. A couple of hours seems to fly by in moments as I tend to the task of growing the sweet leaf. I hope everyone can find that escape as I have that they grow good big buds.

😼Wk15: Surprise! This is the right time. 👉This week’s journal is only the days that lead up to the harvest which happened mid to late in the week. Since the harvest process takes more than a couple days, and it happened late in the week, I will be making one more week with the harvest process after the buds are dried to 20-25% (hopefully) and in jars. I should have all the final specs for the grow. 👉The 1 gallon plan was not even absorbing much fluid. The saturation volume of the media was getting smaller each day it seemed. It would take over 5 minutes to be able to pour 1.5 liters of solution into the pot. The run-off would also end very quickly as compared to all other plants I grew. I surmise this is due to the roots packing the pot and compressing the media very tightly, not allowing it to absorb much solution. The light sweet caramel aroma is now replaced by what I would call the strong generic funky stank of weed. While there is nothing extraordinary about the aroma, it’s so strong that you can smell it outdoors (its vented outside from second story window). Even with, medium to strong winds you can catch whiffs of it. Smells like heaven to me! Super frosty buds. Only a couple buds had any fresh calyx’s with white pistols. During my trichome hunting expeditions I see very few amber. But those are not what Im hunting. Im looking for the majority of the trichomes to be cloudy. I believe by mid-week all the buds had mostly cloudy trichomes with a few clears left. Harvest came on day the 3rd day of the week. 👉The 3 gallon plant was consuming less fluid. It was easy to fertigate it with 3l of water. The EC was spiking very quickly and would not come down very much. The run off would fall back in range but be above target the next fertigation event. I figured it may just be the densely packed roots in the pot. With the pH runoff going in the opposite direction as the 1 gallon plants run-off and I was wondering what was causing the difference. Even though the lowest leaves look a little like the plant was over watered, I continued the high volume of fertigations. I did reduce the EC somewhat. I was giving it week 10 mix on the GHE mix chart for drain to waist mix. The leaves looked crappy, but the buds were looking awesome. The plant had the same light creamy caramel aroma when sniffed up close, but the strong aroma of stanky funk was the permeating odor that filled room. I had only done some light scouting for the trichomes on the plant and each time saw more cloudy tips. I wasn’t sure but by Tuesday the trichomes looked at least 50/50, which is a little further along than I thought it would be. After harvesting the 1 gallon plant I had room to pull the plant out and rotate it and give it an exhaustive scan for a more complete idea of how much time it had. When I rotated it, I didn’t notice it at first. Then I focused on it as the top of a cola was brown and the leaves around it were all dried. “Oh fuck!” I shouted. It was like someone had walked up behind me and jabbed me in the ribs and yelled "BOO"! I was startled and even jumped out of my chair. I then did a double and triple take to make sure my eyes weren’t being grizzled or bent. I then grabbed the branch cutters and took that branch. I searched the cola and it was isolated to the top 3 inches of this fat pine cone. I snipped it below that group of bud and removed it from the house, took it out back in the field and stabbed it, shot it and set it on fire (only in my imagination). I then washed and sanitized my hands, returned to the tent and inspected some of the larger colas, pulling them apart and looking to the center for nasty pestilence. Fortunately I didn’t see any. I didn’t have time to harvest it right then and there, but I did on Friday night. I knew I wasn’t out of danger yet though. These buds are pine cones and very dense. I was afraid Id see the same thing I saw in my Critical purple and lose all the best buds. I wouldn’t know until the harvest was complete, with the buds curing in the jars. 🙀

Cream Auto Summary Wk 1: Germination, game plan, equipment, and prepping the room. Wk 2: Germination progress, fertigation, and a new light. Wk 3: Two phenotypes. Wk 4: Woe and wonder, nutrients, and water source. Wk 5: Growing like a weed, and max power. Wk 6: Soaking up rays and consuming the nutrients. Algae remediation and proactive pest control. Wk 7: Will the size difference begin to fall in line with the predictions, and rearranging the wind. Wk 8: Time slows down, as buds build and plants are thirsty. Wk 9: A cone shaped bush, and trichome hunting season begins. Wk10: Playing the guessing game and learning is doing. Wk11: Escaping from Distancing. Wk12:Trichome Hunting and Changes in diet. Wk13:Lessons Wk14:When will it be the ‘right’ time? Wk15: This is the right time. Wk16: Harvest time and Summary. Final Weights: Cream 1gallon 157g (5.5oz); Cream 3gallon 299g (10.5oz); Combined 456g (16oz) ((Individual plant weight logs in pix)) New names for the Jars, 1 Cream for the 1 gallon plants buds and 2 Cream for the 3 gallon plants buds. 👉The 1 gallon plant was harvested the 3rd day of the week, It had only a couple of white pistols on each bud and wasn’t producing anymore fresh calixs. There was still very few amber trichomes, but the majority were definitely milky. Very frosty sugar leaves, and overall the buds are mega frosty and remind me of the Gorilla Glue I grew. However the buds are more airy. I started trimming from the top, and worked my way down. I recorded the wet weight for each bud and placed it on a clip with a number that corresponded to the order it was removed. I do this to monitor the % of weight loss due to moisture loss and aim for 20-25%. I did a partial dry trim and left all the frosty sugar leaves to be dry trimmed before going into jars. It had minimal actually larfy buds. I trimmed those not part of the main cola group for each branch and placed them on the rack for drying. The process went fairly easy and I might have spent 3hrs total. The sweet smell of sweet creamy citrus and the overwhelming funky stank was very fun. 👉After 2 1/2 days I placed the buds in paper bags, each cola in its own bag. The main cola was too long so reluctantly I cut it down so it would fit. After another 2 days I placed in jars, some with hygrometers and moisture packs. The overnight humidity in the jars was on average 52%. I added some damp paper towels hung off the lids to restore a bit of the humidity. This worked well and the humidity is now average 62%. I added moisture packs to some of the jars. The jar aroma is sweet cream orange zest and funky stank. 👉I had expected to harvest the one gallon plant during week 16. Given the way the 3 gallon was going, I figured the 3 gallon had another week or so. I assumed that because it had been so slow to develop in all of its phases. After I had harvested the 1 gallon I finally had a chance to really inspect the 3 gallon really closely. I couldn’t inspect it as closely as I had been the 1 gallon because it was further back in the tent and the 1 gallon hindered access. I didn’t think it was a big deal. I hadn’t rotated the 3gallon for two weeks I think. So during my close inspection, I was rotating the plant and it actually took me a while to notice…a dried up tip of a cola. This cola had been sitting on the far side. It hadn’t been against the tent wall. As soon as I saw it it was like a slap in the face…its what I feared would happen to this plant since the buds were so fat and dense….botrytis. Budrot. Nasty, grey fuzziness. My heart sunk as my fears were realized. How many more buds would be affected? Will it be like my Critical Purple and all the best big buds have this hidden scourge? I immediately inspected a few of the bigger buds. I didn’t see any. But there are over 20 colas. The only way to know for sure is to harvest. I didn’t have time to harvest the whole plant right then, so I had to wait for the next evening after work. 👉I took off work a little early to get a head start. The buds were full of sugar leaves still a lot of fan leaves so lots of trimming to do. It took a total of 6 hours from start to finish. I started doing a partial wet trim leaving the smaller frosty sugar leaves to be trimmed dry. I experimented with full wet trim on some of the smaller buds that ended up on the drying net and not left on the branch. I needed the buds to dry slow enough not to taste like hay, and fast enough the botrytis gremlin wouldn’t pay a visit. A close thorough wet trim seemed to look like it could be optimum for these buds. On the 7th branch I started giving the buds a meticulous wet trim. I took the liberty to enjoy some of my Tangerine Dream from a year ago. I listened to Physical Graffiti, Animals, Frank Marino Live, Foxtrot, and some dead air when the album ended and I needed to pick another one. I scrutinized each bud closely for any signs of the evil spores. But I saw none, such a relief after each buds inspection to see nothing but happiness. 👉I had 28 total branch end colas. Most were chunky pine cones. I recorded each branch in the order it was removed. I started at the bottom and labeled them alphabetically. 4 of the branches were smaller near the top in the middle of the canopy and one branch had the bud-rot. I trimmed the buds off the branches but left the bud group forming the cola intact. I put small larfy buds on a separate rack from the good buds trimmed of the branches, I didn’t weigh the larf, and had 72g of good chunky branch buds. The colas when dried to approx 22% weighed in at 227g. The total in the jars is 299g. Very happy! The chunky colas were slow to dry on the interior. I took special care to monitor the buds, not let them get too dry and would spread the buds open a bit to prevent wet spots that could turn into botrytis. When they got a little dry to the touch I would place them in paper bags. That slowed the drying down and allowed the moisture to equalize on the bud. I would weigh the buds and calculate the % of weigh left to help determine how dry they were. When they were below 25% of its wet weight I placed them in jars with many of them getting a hygrometer to monitor the humidity in the jars. I had to take them back out of the jars after one day and back into paper bags because the humidity climbed as high as 80% in some fo the jars. This meant the interiors were still moist. The bigger the buds the longer they needed to stay in the paper bags. The final weights on the buds were after they were dry enough to be at 62% or lower humidity in the jars wish was still around 20% of the wet weight. The jar aroma is not very strong. The aroma is a light sweet orange zest. It should improve over time. The buds are dense and sticky. Not all the colas got their own jars unless they were big enough. Some of the colas I separated from the branches and placed in smaller jars, even combining some of them. The intact colas got the large jars and some were combined in those as well. 👉I have one of those Trim-trays with the screen in the bottom with a tray underneath to catch keif. I trimmed off fans leaves and leaves with no fuzziness on them. I trim the fuzzy leaves over the tray. I did this for both plants. When doing the 3 gallon plants trimming I also snipped up some of the larf and small buds into small pieces to add to the pile. I let the trim sit in the tray till it was crispy dry. I then used my hands to grind the trim into smaller bits. I used a plastic card to scrape the pile back and forth across the screen. I continued to grind up the trim with my hands and alternately scrape the screen and sift the pile. It was hard to tell how much I had got till I used the plastic card to scrap the catch tray. I was pleasantly surprised to see a nice pile form. I made 4 pucks. 👉The bud is cured and stable humidity in jars. I’m doing the typical jar burping and inspection daily for another few days. I have tested both plants and am extremely pleased! Both have a sweet creamy orange zest like aroma (but not like an orange creamsicle). The 1gallon, now called 1Cream, is the strongest jar aroma. When hit on the bong both have a sweet creamy smooth after taste, and again the 1Cream is the strongest flavor. Both are very sticky when pinching off a bit for the bong, and the 1 gallon is the stickiest. Both pass the one hit test with flying colors! Hard to tell the difference between the two as far as the high goes, creeper buzz, with a nice uplifting energy, settling into couch lock and sleep-inducing trail-off. Perfect for night time use. I’m surprised at how nice it is already. The typical 6 week cure review will be updated in the review. If its anything like the other plants Ive grown so far 6 months is when it really hits its stride and is at its best flavor and effect. 👉Methodology Summation: I am really happy with the fruits of my labor. Its not perfect, and I believe I have learned a lot of knowledge and insight. All my grows so far have been in 3 gallon cloth pots with coco coir mixed with 30% total volume of expanded clay pebbles for hydro. The one gallon plant got bigger than I expected it could. I believe that’s due to frequent fertigation I the coco/cloth pot. The problems of being in an undersized pot were somewhat mitigated but not eliminated. The 3 gallon was also showing some of the issues of an undersized container but not as severe as the one gallon. Knowing this will help if I choose to grow in a smaller pot again. Obviously the draw backs to the under sized pots is the issues show up during flower when the plant is at its biggest. Maybe next time I wont exacerbate the issues by chasing my tail. But the drawbacks are not enough to say its bad news to grow good big buds in undersized pots. There is a drawback to frequent fertigation method, the amount of time spent tending to the plant. Two times a day, every day. That is actually the minimum recommended. If I could have automated it I would have done 3 times a day. I am curious what my results might be if I was able to fertigate 3xs a day. I chose this method so I would be spending a lot of time tending my plants anyway, and with coco I avoid the pitfalls of over watering soil when you’re an overzealous gardener. 👉Growing Summary: The 3gallon was actually the second seed to germinate. The first seed petered out, and the 1 gallon was put in four days after the 3gallon had germinated. The 3 gallon was slow to straighten and open its cotyledons up. The cotyledons had a yellow tinge to part of them. It was slow grow for the rest of the grow when compared to the 1 gallon plant which started flowering 12 days before the 3 gallon and seemingly was always almost 2 weeks ahead of the 3 gallon. The trunks of both plants became very stout. I was wondering if somehow I had been given mismatched seed pack, but in the end I think they are the same strain due to the similarities such as aroma and high. The leaves were identical. Both had fat stout trunks, and both had super sturdy branches. I didn’t use one support for the 3 gallon plant, a first for me, and the buds were very dense and heavy. I put some on the 1 gallon plant but that was for its protection from me since it was at the front of the tent. Both plants also smelled similar, sweet caramel cream when sniffed up close. But different in the natural canopy both made around its queen cola, and in the structure of the flowers. Its been very fun and interesting watching these plants grow and seeing two phenotypes of the same strain!😻