Project Carnal Sage Bloom

(10/13-10/19) (DAY 1-7) In the beginning of this grow I knew less than I do now and started in seedling started pods, heated with seedling heat mats, misted occasionally throughout the day to keep RH up w.r.t. temp. Later I would figure out about Transpiration and measuring leaf temp vs air temp for optimal RH levels relative to temp.

(10/20-10/26) (DAY 8 - 14) This week things came along nicely. We saw a lot of development with GSC. We have two dud seeds out of the batch. Some minor twisting and turning of leaves began to occur with the sprouts showing that they began to get hungry and root bound. Darlene was the one to both start showing signs and showed the worst signs out of the GSC. Thoughts of transplanting hadnt occurred to me yet, but should have. I thought this was heat or water related.

(11/5 [DAY 18/24]): LST for all of the plants. Bending back the fan leaves, opening up tops. (11/6 [DAY 19/25]): Transplanted Blue Dream x2 and Elephant Bud x1. Gave a healthy dose of nutrients because of a deficiency: -----Nutrients for {EB/BD} --BASE - 167ppm --FINAL ppm - 1100ppm (FINAL) --FINALL pH - 5.94pH (FINAL) Topped Billos/Annabeth/Darlene (11/7 [DAY 20/26]): -----Nutrients for {GSC} --BASE - 167ppm --FINAL ppm - 1687ppm (FINAL) --FINALL pH - 6.00pH (FINAL) *****As I look back on how much I was nuting my plants, I was going way* overboard. Especially considering I have precharged Fox Farm soil.

(11/12 [DAY 25/31]): -----Nutrients for {EB/BD} --BASE - 167ppm --MICRO - 299ppm (total) --BLOOM - 432ppm (total) --GRO - 487ppm (total) --FINAL ppm - 487ppm (FINAL) --FINALL pH - 6.05pH (FINAL) --HYDROGUARD - 1ml (NEGLIGIBLE PPM INCREASE) -----Nutrients for {GSC} --BASE - 167ppm --MICRO - 451ppm (total) --BLOOM - 950ppm (total) --GRO - 1113ppm (total) --FINAL ppm - 1113ppm (FINAL) --FINALL pH - 5.93pH (FINAL) --HYDROGUARD - 1ml (NEGLIGIBLE PPM INCREASE) Top watered modestly, then bottom water/wicked with water pH balanced to 6.20 until the bottom was empty. At night one hour before lights out I gave all the plants a thorough Organic Neem oil spray with kitchen soap and water as the base as a way to fight off thrips. ***Considering they have been transplanted for less than a month I should not have given nutes. Toxicity is obvious by day 36. Adjust schedule. (11/14 [DAY 27/33]): Topped some of the EB/BD. (SPOT/TONY THE TIGER/ NIGHTMAN)

(11/18 Day 31/37) Toxicity apparent in almost all plants. Their roots had just gotten to the living soil at the bottom of their pots. which means my feed was not only unnecessary, but horribly timed. Consider revising future feeding schedules to match each plants needs. (11/20 Day 33/39) Inspected one of the solo cup plants (EB/BD) and found that the roots had reached the end of their container just that week. Roots looking healthy and secondary roots looking fuzzy! Multiple plants have shown the signs for transplant. Minor leaf curling, reddening of some stems slightly, quickly running out of water. Planning on ordering more soil, building my mixture up and then up-sizing all current plants and starting a new round of seeds in the next couple of days! (11/21 Day 34/40) Watered today after letting soil thoroughly dry over the course of 5 days to increase mineral salt concentrations so the microflora in the living soil can break them down after the excess the plants experienced. This does increase signs of excess for the first few days, but they have started the rebound! Multiple plants have already responded to the previous watering, and the colour of the leaves is returning to normal. Will transplant in 2-3 days if soil arrives on time. **FINAL pH: 6.25** Gave a thorough neem oil/soap/water misting to the tops and bottoms of the leaves as well as the soil to combat thrips in the garden, 30 min before lights out, Will do more research on how to combat thrips effectively. Highest plant (Annabeth) measured at 5.4". (11/22 Day 35/41) I went on vacation, had my buddy Matt plantsit. Plants looking wonderful. (11/23 Day 36/42) Still on vacation. Plants baking hot for some reason an had a crazy low humidity. Sad but this is most likely where the problem occurred. Average temp for those 24 hrs was 84 and avg humidity was 40. The plants havent been watered in 5 days by this point.

(11/24 Day 37/43) Still on vacation, the plants look nutrient def in like half a dozen different nutrients. I dont know about this while on vacation. (11/25 Day 38/44) Still on vacation. The plants have progressed to the point to where the plants are in serious trouble. The grow just increased in length because of this, and hopefully the grow isnt jeopardized. (11/26 Day 39/45) Still on vacation. Plants dying and I figured out about it right now. Will be home tonight. (11/27 Day 40/46) Came home at like 1am. Transplanted all of the plants late in the night, fed them, watered them, etc. The plants get living soil compost for the bottom couple of inches depending on the size of the pot, and then Fox Farm Happy Frog (this time) soil with a 50/50 mix of Perlite. Began LST training by bending back all the tops on each of the plants until the canopy was even. ppm_final: 750 pH_final: 6.1 (11/28 Day 41/47) Got a bunch of new genetics in today and planted them. Will start a new journal tomorrow or something. (11/29 Day 42/48) LST training on __________________________ (11/30 Day 43/49) LST recovery day, got in acouple goodies for the girls. Will use in following feeding.

(12/1 Day 44/50) Lolipoped all the plants and trimmed off the burned foliage from my vacation. Also, trimmed off the tips of any foliage that was severely affected by the nute def so as to encourage the plant to use the nutrients from those leaves since they still had life left. Ill take a picture of it soon to show. (12/3 Day 46/52) Just fed all of the girls. They got 900ppm /// 5.95pH solution bottom fed to them. EarthJuice Natural Down - Negligible EarthJuice Natural Up - Negligible (12/7 Day 50/56) Bottom watered with a pH of 5.95. Will start pre-flower prep soon. Upsizing of all the pots but Darlene whenever I get enough soil, and will get a second vent/carbon filter for air intake. Will get a second 1200Watt LED as well for more even coverage of the tent.

(12/9 Day 52/58) Nutrient ratio is almost perfect, there is a little less Nitrogen than some plants are asking for though and I need to figure out how to dissolve both RTI Xtreme products more efficiently. Will premix my nutrient solution and let soak until ready for the next feeding in 3 days or so to see if that helps. (12/11 Day 54/60) LST'd the plants (all but Darlene and Billos) and defoliated. [In retrospect I should have LST''d first, waited a few days for them to recover, and then defoliated them. This was my first defoliation (on Cannabis) so at first I went a little too far. Most likely im expecting some more top heavy colas in my first two girls I experimented on.] I have made delicious protein shakes with the foliage too. Updated the feeding plan, got in my Bud Factor X, Rhino Skin, and Bud Ignitor. Working on phasing in more foliators for flower. Took a few cuttings from some of the girls as well. Will post pictures soon. (12/12 Day 55/61) Fed all of the girls except for Darlene and Billos because I havent defoliated them yet. Im also aggressively treating for thrips using neem oil, soap (as a surfactant), and pH'd water. SUGGESTIONS WELCOME. (12/13 Day 56/62) Defoliated Darlene and Billos, then fed them. Switching from Carboload to Bud Candy since it's the updated version lol. The canopy looks almost perfect, Darlene has 4 new clones.

(12/17 Day 60/66) Aggressive thrips treatment started: foliar spray/top soil soak of 10ml/gal Neem oil, 5ml/gal of Safer Brand 5118 Insect Killing Soap, (forgot to pH!!!!!!!!!!!!) before lights out. Started to notice some odd def/excess signs and wanted to get to the bottom of it so I flushed. My second carbon filter came in and is now being used as an intake. Performed cable management in the room as well. Will discontinue use of Carboload/bud candy. Adding sugar to a solution with microbes lowers the pH of solutions by almost 1 whole point over 24hrs (at rec ammount) due to increasing microbial life processes with an abundance of food. Microbes produce acidic compounds as a natural part of their life cycle, which is accounted for in most typical solutions, but adding in the carboload without a system tuned to having that drop effects plants severely (plus theres really no benefit even at that....) Mag def spotted today. Will get a CalMg Supplement asap. (12/18 Day 61/67) Second night of aggressive Thrips treatments of: foliar spray/top soil soak of 10ml/gal Neem oil, 5ml/gal of Safer Brand 5118 Insect Killing Soap, (forgot to pH!!!!!!!!!!!!) before lights out. (12/19 Day 62/68) Updated feeding chart with my new nute schedule (FloraKleen obviously for the flush ONLY). The Bud Factor X is nontraditional to add at this point since im not in flower yet, but they were showing a Mag def and my Cal-Mag Xtra wont get in until the 26th. Desperate times. I also bathed (heavy foliar spray) all of the girls in pH'd to 6.55 water. I washed them because I didnt want the pest control interfering with their respiration/transpiration process which can be a major concern. . **A further anecdote on the use of sugars as an additive in growing.** https://cropwatch.unl.edu/research-sugar-application-crops TL;DR: "In conclusion, research has shown no statistical difference among sugar sources when applied to corn or soybeans with no statistical yield increases. Numerous research studies have documented the increase of beneficial insects in fields and plots treated with a sugar-water solution, suggesting application of this solution as a biocontrol method for reducing pest populations. While there is yet much research to be done, sugar does play an important role in inducing plant defense responses and recent studies have shown reduced disease levels in rice after application of sugar prior to pathogen infection." ****Sugar might be a great soil amendment if growing with living soil. Might be a nice experiment to run sometime?**** (12/20 Day 63/69) Foliar spray of 2ml/gal CarboLoad, 2ml/gal Rhino Skin, 5ml/gal Rose Gold Biosurfactant, pH'd to 5.80 applied with 30 min of darkness following application right at lights on.

(12/22 Day 65/71) Transplanted the 3 rooted clones of Darlene into solo cups of FoxFarm Happy Frog soil so I can start them on their AN nute program ASAP. They are looking relatively good and Darlene was pretty resistant to high nutes so im hoping for alot from these three! Will probably flush the soil a little before using it next time. (12/24 Day 67/73) They appear to almost be ready for flower, frankly im going to have some monsters on my hands at this point. Ive just been nervous about flowering them with any defs or when theyre not perfect! Im going to take off some more clones and then transplanting the rest of the girls into 5 gallon and 3 gallon pots tomorrow.

(12/29 Day 1 of Flower) Been a hard past week for the girls, havent been able to spend as much time with them considering the holidays! Decided it was time to take them into flower, they can take the switch at this point, plus I want to upsize them, get rid of the males, and clean the tent up a bit! Their flowering schedule will be much more strict than their veg schedule! Stay tuned! They got a little defoliation today too just to keep them trimmed up and proper. Accidentally did 14/10 today due to working late in the garden! (12/31 Day 3 of Flower) Went ahead and fed them, can hardly believe how much theyve grown in three days. Almost completely recovered from their def's, now I just desperately need to upsize them, but want to wait until I know which ones are female! They got a feed today, reduced the connoisseur dosses to 2mL/L! (1/1) Their first day of flower with a correct VPD has begun! I realized I was such a dummy! For the past 3 weeks my humidifier has been off, and I havent been measuring the VPD at all. Will correct that considering I have the tech, and should fix up the defs and excess' quick now that the nute side is done! VPD is the difference between the water pressure inside of the plants leaves and the water pressure contained in the air! Essentially, it measures how much your plants take water from their roots and expel it through their Stomata to both cool themselves and also reach a state of water pressure equilibrium! *****TL;DR: MEASURE RH, MEASURE AMBIENT ROOM TEMP, MEASURE LEAF TEMP WITH AN INFRARED TEMP GUN, THEN USE THIS CALCULATOR TO KNOW WHICH RH TO HAVE YOUR ROOM AT AT ANY GIVEN TIME FOR IDEAL TRANSPIRATION! http://opennlabs.com/vpd/VPD_calculator.php

(1/5 Day 8) Been an amazing start thus far! Ive also trimmed and trained them twice this past week (just because time got in the way and I couldnt do all 9 at the start). Got rid of all of the males in the bunch, we have 4 remaining! Considering im on AN's prescribed diet for the gals I havent been monitoring the ppm. Leaf temp was high today at 84/85 def F. Might have lost some Terpene content, but its just simply because their substrate dries up so quickly. They need to be repotted, but the soil I want to use is still freezing cold since its been stored outside!! Girl Scout Cookies - Billos Blue Dream - Tony The Tiger Blue Dream - Blue Elephant Bud - Spot Ended the day with a 1/2 gal foliar spray of: Rhino Skin - 2mL/L Bud Factor X - 2mL/L Sensi-Cal-Mag-Xtra - 1mL/L Revive - 1.5mL/L Carboload - 1mL/L Organic Neem Oil - 4tsp/gal Bio Surfactant - 2tsp/gal (1/6 Day 9) Did some real training on every one of the girls but the one in the 5 gallon pot. Ended up splitting one of the gals down the middle, had to tape her up. Sad. But the canopy is lower and so hopefully the leaf temp on the tops will lower a bit. Light foliar spray (same recipe as above) an hr before bed, done to fight the thrips and lower leaf temp. Mite damage (very recent) is still visible in some of the lower foliage, especially the GSC, PK excess which led to CaMgMnMbFe lockout still visible in lower leaves (two week old problem, mostly visible in the GSC and EB). This was due to having a high VPD. Ive been dialing in the VPD over the past two days. In the future when I have a high VPD I should lower the nutrient solution accordingly! (1/9 Day 12) Been out of town since Sunday. The gals are still looking great though! (1/10 Day 13) Girls got a regular feeding today while still out of town. Looking wonderful! Will update height when I get home friday, but they should be about 26 inches tall now.

(1/13 Day 16) Got a few more fans for the girls, just got home! Severe Cal/Mag def spotted on two plants, another (Blue) is showing odd signs overall. Will probably flush the one showing odd signs and then ill see if I can combat the Cal/Mag with individual feed charts if necessary. Ill decide tomorrow. Transplanted Blue and Spot into 5 gallon containers. To do this (and not disturb the roots) I cut the fabric pot right off of the rootball and then transplanted. This last feed I did from Wedn. I reduced the potency by exactly 20%. It seemed to work out perfectly for the girls, and I will most likely repeat this in the future. Especially for the BD who seem to need less nutrients overall. (1/14 Day 17) They got their first dose of their first all natural Insecticide approved by the state of California for ALL stages of Cannabis production (from seed to harvest). SNS-203 is being used at this point preventatively, but whenever I get SNS-217 ill begin aggressive Spider Mite treatment (and preventative with the 203 once a week or two). Might foliar spray them tomorrow depending on how they react to the nutrients today! (1/15 Day 18) SNS-217 Foliar spray tonight at lights out. I was generous in my application, and I tried to get as many(/much) budsites, leaves, stalks, and soil as possible. Ended up using a quarter of the quart bottle, which should be round about the prescribed amount for a 4x4 tent. Will update in the morning. (1/17 Day 19) All the top colas are still turning quite red, fed today, and then foliar spray as well. Foliar Spray: CarboLoad 1mL/L Revive 3mL/L Sensi Cal/Mag Xtra 2mL/L Bud Factor X 2mL/L

(1/22 Day 25) The GSC have slowly died over the past 3 days essentially, not literally. I'm kinda sick of talking about it since she was my gal, but she existed in a 1 gallon pot for like 3 months and I believe eventually got a Phosphorous excess ---> iron/zinc lockout general rootlocked fuckery. It's been a big issue of mine, upsizing I mean. One thing to improve upon in the future forsure!! Will cut her down, harvest her, and then her into concentrate. Do you think she'll produce good concentrate at all...?

(1/26 Day 29) Im not sure if the screen will aid in budrot (crossing fingers it doesnt), but the tops were too heavy and they kept falling over on me. I planned on doing it earlier on in the grow but just didnt get around to it. Applied SNS-217 before bed last night, and have been using a new Chitosan foliar spray for the gals as well! Will probably try getting them on a more consistent feed with more dilution in the future! The smell is strong and delicious, ill start measuriing trichomes next week probably!