Grape Ape: DWC Small Batch

Excited to try out some new genetics this time around and will be growing Niagara's Own Seed's version of Grape Ape: Grape Ape is a three-way hybrid strain, the product of a cross between an Afghani Indica, Mendocino Purps and Skunk #1. It is a very productive strain which is capable of producing very high THC levels. 🍇🦍🍇🦍🍇🦍🍇🦍🍇🦍 Dropped the seed 10 days ago in a glass half filled with carbon-filtered tap water. After 24 hours moved the seed to a pete plug and put her in the root farm seed starter with about 1/4" of filtered tap water. The seed cracked within 36-48 hours of being dropped in the plug. Today I moved the seedling into her net pot in a 5 gallon bucket. She's a little smaller and took longer to show her roots than the Wedding Cake I also started at the same time but hopefully she'll beef up as we go. Setup -------- Tent: 32 x 32 x 63 Light: Mars Hydro TS1000 Pump: VIVOSUN 332 GPH Air Pump 14W 6" inline fan and carbon filter 5 gallon bucket

Day 1 of week 2: She's coming along. Roots started showing through the bottom the basket today. Been giving her top feedings throughout the week. RH has been terribly low (30%) so have added a little misting humidifier to the tent. So far its working great. Today I noticed the temperature in the tent was about 80 F - normally its 72 F during the day. Discovered my exhaust fan wasn't moving any air out the tent. Fan turned out to be working ok but the outer pre-filter on the outside of the carbon filter looked a bit dirty. Removed it, vacuumed it off, put it back on and air is moving again. Hopefully that's the end of it - not sure if a replacement of the larger carbon filter is imminent at this point or not. Can anyone speak to the life expectancy of these things? I would have thought I'd get at least 2 years out of it - the one I have is only a year old. ----------- Day 10: We may have a mutant on our hands. No sign of any new growth above the top leaves and the top leaves seem to be fused together. One of the top leaves is deformed and looks like a ducks foot. Some little side branches have spouted above the first node but I don't know that they're doing anything. I'll keep an eye on her but she may need to be evicted from the tent. 🤞

We've got a bit of a naughty monkey on our hands. She stopped growing at the top with no new growth in sight. In an attempt to salvage the situation, I've bent her over with the hope that the side branches growing above the first node will take over and grow up. Finger crossed 🤞Shout out to @GreenMachine for the suggestion. The air filter issues I was having earlier were are related to the ultrasonic humidifier I introduced to the tent. Stupid me ran it with tap water and as a result it was throwing off white dust which quickly clogged my carbon filter. Another le$$on learned. I replaced the filter and air is moving as it should again. Will use demineralized water in the humidifier from here on in but I have it shut down for the moment. ------ Day 19: the new growth looks normal and now developing as expected but with two distinct stalks growing now - it looks like this plant has topped itself! She seems happy - feeding well and growing.

Day 1 of week four and the early troubles for this monkey have turned out to be a bit a blessing in disguise as the plant seems to have topped itself. The two little side branches have definitely taken over, each of them a distinct stalk forming new growth as expected now. Will likely give each of these stalks a topping after they form their 3rd nodes. Reservoir change today; brought the strength of her feed down slightly - the 1/2 strength regime I've been following has been a bit much with PPMs always seeming to run a bit high. Now just giving her a 1 gallon dose of nutes in 3.5 gallon of filtered water. Her roots are really forming nicely and are healthy and white. Keen to see what this ape does next. 🦍 ---------- Day 24: haircut day. Took out some of the mutant lower growth and cleaned her up a bit. Topped up the rez - about 1/3 gallon filtered water with nutes. Day 27: topped her

D. 29 - Start of week 5: After her slow start the ape has really bounced back and has pretty much caught up to the other plant in my tent. I topped each of her two stems a few days ago and cleared out some of the lower growth today. She's been drinking/feeding pretty steadily throughout the week with no big spikes in PH or PPMs. We'll flip the lights in 2 weeks me thinks.🍇 🦍👊 ---- Day 33: recovering nicely from defoliation and topping. Lots of tops ready to pop on the twin towers. Noticed some light spotting/rusting on the lower leaves - added extra CaliMagic into the mix. She seems to be loving life in her bucket.

A relatively smooth week for the Ape. PH/PPMs have been pretty consistent - PH has been 6.1 - 6.3 and PPMs have been steadily around 400. I got a little careless with my defoliation and ended up peeling a good chunk off one of the stems and damaged a new top trying to pinch/pull a fan leaf off. Ended up having to top the affected area to fix my mistake. I don't think there will be any shortage of tops on this girl. She'll get another trim in a few days and then I think it's time for a change in the light schedule. Bring on the flowers. ---------- D38: some light defoliation to get more light to all those new tops that are shooting up and flipped the light to 12/12. Gave her a rez change today for the transition to flowering. Still giving her 1/3 of the nutes the GH feed chart recommends (other than CaliMagic - giving a 1/2 dose) - seems to be working out just fine and I'm not having to constantly adjust nutrient mixes or water things down to keep things in balance. Really excited to see how the twin towers develop when she starts her stretch.

D43 - Start of Week 7: Flipped the light to 12/12 a few days ago (D38). Gave her a little trim prior to the light change to let all those new tops a chance to soak up the beams. She's been getting hungrier throughout the last week so I've upped her feed dosage slightly with the rez change today. I've got her on a transitional diet at the moment and will feed her some bloom boosters this time around once she goes into flower - I didn't used any sort of boosters with my previous grows so keen to see how this pans out. Also did some more light defoliation and LST to get things a little more balanced. She's growing really well and put on about 2.5 more inches since last week - I expect to see more stretching soon. Thanks for checking in! Comments/suggestions are always appreciated. 🍇 🦍

🍇🦍 D50 - Beginning of week 8 Pretty easy week for the Ape, growing strong and she started showing signs of flower this week. She's developed quite the appetite and has been feeding and drinking pretty steadily. Her PPMs at the start of the week were about 550 and she was running down as low as about 378 when I did the rez change today. Ive increased her feed dose today and added some KoolBloom into the mix. The tops look to be shaping up great for the stretch and the run into flower. I hope everyone is keeping well in these difficult times. Be good to one another. Thanks for checking in.✌️☮️

🍇🦍 D57 - Beginning of week 9 It was all about stretching this week for the ape as she put on about 9" in the past week. I'm hoping she slows her roll soon as I don't have a lot of overhead space to work with. She was pretty hungry and thirsty throughout the week - fed her about 3/4 gallon water every other day with progressively stronger doses of nutes. She's very full and lush and I'll thin her out a bit again once she's finished stretching. Thanks for checking in. ✌️

🍇🦍 D64: Start of Week 10 The Ape is a beast. She grew almost another 8 inches this week. I've taken my lights up almost as high as I can go - I have a few inches to play with if I get creative but I pray she has stopped stretching now. The other plant in my tent, Wedding Cake, has stretched hardly at all by comparison and I've had to raise her bucket off the floor to get her canopy even with the Ape. Buds are forming really nicely and she's getting quite fragrant - more to the skunky side at this point. Time for this monkey to grow fatter instead of taller. Thanks for checking in. ✌️

🍇🦍 D71 - Start of Week 11 I think the beast has finally stopped stretching and has topped out at 35" - as tall as I want to see her in my current setup. Most of her canopy is about 12" away from the light but the tallest stem is a little closer. I've moved the light towards the other side of the tent and away from it a bit to compensate. No signs of heat stress or other ill effects I can see at this point. I did some significant defoliation a few days ago - removed some lower bud sites/branches and a few leaves to open things up the stacks to the light. She's been drinking and feeding really well - EC has been around 1.1 (600-700PPMs) and PH has been pretty stable - in the 6-6.3 range. Looking forward to seeing buds plumping and stacking over the next couple of weeks. Starting to take on a bit of a more fruity smell to go along with the skunk funk. All in all, very happy with how the Ape is coming along. Thanks for stopping by ✌️

🍇🦍 D78 - Start of Week 12 The ape is starting to flex; her buds are growing a little fatter by the day. She's super fragrant; like grapes oddly enough - more like grape candy I would say. Gave her a light trim - removed some of the big inner leaves - lots of light pouring through the canopy and things seem to be spaced out pretty well. I'm incredibly happy with her progress. Should be about 3 weeks til harvest me thinks. Can't wait. Thanks for checking in ✌️

🍇🦍 Day 85 - Start of Week 13 Another solid, issue-free week for the Ape. She's getting more sticky and fragrant by the day; smelling like grape candy and pine resin. Buds are continuing to pack on weight and some of the outer branches are starting to bend down as a result. Employed a couple of pipe cleaners to anchor these branches to the main stem and pull them back up towards the light. I've done a little pinching and plucking to keep things tidy. Nothing drastic. She got a rez change yesterday - cut out the Grow and Diamond Nectar. She's getting a little more Bloom and KoolBloom now. Looking like harvest could be the end of week 14 or there about. We'll see how things shape up over the next couple of weeks. Thanks for checking in ✌️

🍇🦍 Day 92- Start of Week 14 Steady week for the Ape. Ripening up and slowly building some mass - Id sure like to see more. Lots of red hairs running through the buds - the lower buds sites still have a ways to go, as expected. I was hoping to start the flush at the end of this week but I think she's going to need a bit more time. She's got a powerful thirst, drinking lots, but her appetite has been steadily decreasing - I've been dialling back the nutes in her topups as a result. Rez change today and i dialled things back slightly again. Getting close - waiting sucks. 😉 Thanks for checking in. ✌️

🍇🦍 Day 99 - Start of Week 8 of Flower In the final days for the Ape. She put on a decent amount of mass this week and her colours are becoming more pronounced with lots of purple hues developing throughout the buds and leaves. Trichomes are cloudy for the most part with just the odd bit of amber. The lower buds still have some ripening to do. I've been lowering/diluting her feed throughout the week as her PPMs continue to slightly rise and the PH drops. She was at a high of 479 earlier in the week and I lowered it to 360 today. PH has been as low as 5.4, taking drastic drops over night. Plain water top-ups from here on in until the flush begins; hopefully later this week. The fragrance in the tent is intoxicating with the grapey goodness of the Ape and the scent of cherry-vanilla from the Wedding Cake. Can't wait to dig in. Thanks for checking in. 👍

🍇🦍 Day 106 - Start of Week 9 of Flower The end is finally near for the ape. I just let her go this week, keeping her balanced with near daily doses of PH up and water. Her PH stabilized towards the end of the week as her PPMs dropped. She was running mid to high 300s early in the week; tapered her down to around 300 PPM by the end of the week. Started the flush today, water and Dutch Nutrients Clear. I'll likely let her go a few days and continue to watch her change to those gorgeous purple colours and let those lower buds ripen up some more. A good amount of amber trichomes showing on the top buds now - much less lower down, as expected. Hopefully we can strike a better balance over the final days. So looking forward to the harvest. Thanks for checking in. ✌️

🍇🦍 Start of Week 17 - Day 113 Pulled the Ape from the tent yesterday on day 112 after a 6 day flush. Since the Wedding Cake is not quite finished using the tent yet, I've hung the Ape to dry in a cardboard wardrobe moving box. I've put a small fan in there to circulate the air. So far, humidity in the box is near ideal at about 53%. I gave her a rough plucking before hanging to dry and even managed to garnish enough finger hash to throw into a joint afterwards - she's a pretty sticky girl. She's also stinky. The downside of drying her in the box as opposed to the tent is the lack of an exhaust fan and filter. Thank goodness my wife is patient - the laundry room reeks. Love you honey 😘 I wish she hadn't stretched quite so much and would have like to have seen some tighter node spacing (and fatter buds, of course), but all in all, I'm pretty happy with how she turned out. I was especially happy with how clean and healthy her roots stayed throughout this grow. She should be dried, weighed and sampled by this time next week. Stay tuned for the final update. Thanks for checking in. ✌️

Overall, the Grape Ape was really easy to grow. She had an interesting start and I almost evicted her from the tent early on when she stopped growing at the top. Following the advice of @GreenMachine I pulled her over and let the tiny side branches that were forming lower down take over. Things took off from that point on - it was like she topped herself and started growing with two main stems. I topped each of those once in week 4. I maintained a relatively light feeding schedule throughout and she was just fine with it. No signs of deficiencies or any kind of lockout throughout the grow. Her roots ended up looking whiter and healthier than anything I've seen on any of my previous grows - I think this could be attributed to the addition of the Diamond Nectar. It seemed to work really well. I was really surprised how much she stretched and wish her nodes were spaced more tightly togetherI I was disappointed the buds were so light, and was frankly hoping for a bit more weight out of this harvest. I ended up with nearly 3 ozs. (my average haul) of dried and trimmed bud, and some nice trim for the butter machine. On the plus side, the buds are quite coated in crystals and the smoke is top-notch. I've seen other example of this strain grown where the buds looked much tighter so not sure what I can do to improve on that. I'm also wondering if my heavy defoliation may also have something to do with my flowering periods running much longer than expected. I'll definitely drop another bean in the future and grow her again. I'd love to try to see if there is something I can do to improve on the bud structure and the yield of this monkey. I've been challenged by @NuggetPawn to put my scissors away and try my next grow without defoliating. I'm going to take up the challenge and see if that doesn't help improve things. I can't argue with NP's results - his grows are spectacular. Until next time. The next batch is germinating and will be starting up soon. Thanks for riding along. ✌️