Humboldt Indoor (Organic Grow)

Seeds have all germinated (Bubba x3, Black D.O.G. x2, The New x1, Cream Caramel CBD x1 and Chemdawg x1 which will go outdoors). Looking great so far, very pleased. Yesterday I prepped 5 gallon pots with coco coir, about a cup and a half of worm castings and clay pellets mixed with Gaia Green 4-4-4. The plan is to LST & Top these babies and get them ready for the outdoors (I'll be keeping my favourite three in the tent to flower). I decided to run this Veg with a new budget Mars Hydro TS 1000 light. They'll be outdoors to flower for the most part & I've had great success with their LEDs in the past.

They’re all coming along nicely. No issues. Similar size & colour across the board. Only exception is Black D.O.G. #2 didn’t produce a 4th leaf.

Weekly Notes: No training, no topping yet. Same original Gaia Green 4-4-4 mixed with Coco and 1.5 Cups of Worm castings per 5 gallon fabric pot (1" of clay pellets across the bottom of each pot). I will add more Coco and top dress with more 4-4-4 about Mid-April (a month before outdoor transplanting). Just letting the little babies grow for the moment. I did a large watering this week (the first good soak). I bottom-fed each pot by letting it sit in 2 inches of water while I watered the top of the soil completely for the first time. Give them a reason to move into every bit of that pot as they grow in the next week. I also wanted to give the worm castings & 4-4-4 Gaia that I placed slightly above the pellets a soaking. It's helped me stabilize the tent conditions in doing so. I've been struggling to boost the humidity above 50% in there with my humidifier consistently. However, I'm nervous about fungus gnats being enticed by the organic matter that's just been moistened & an inviting moist top layer of soil. I have my eyes peeled. Also, I definitely light burned one of my Bubba's (the one most under the light). I watered the soil surface this week & quickly misted the plant leaves, only to find a solid burn and droplet stain as evidence of my error. It's recovered with new growth in the past day or so, thankfully. So...as a result I raised the lights a little since this Mars LED actually has the juice to affect seedlings (even from 2ft+ away). I should be thankful for that ability for less than $200? Bubba as a whole suffice to say is the only one prone to that thus far (the 2 gallon is quite modest in size & the other 5 gallon girl is a little more pale than any other strain). They're really delicate in Veg and look it, if you look closely. They're also very slow in Veg (with a quick burst but mostly focus on flower production in about 50 days once triggered).

Tried to understand/investigate why I wasn’t seeing the normal growth I would for these plants most of this week, and since committing to dialling in to VPD I am seeing ridiculous changes (and for the better)! So much to learn with these plants and their indoor & outdoor cultivation it’s insane.

More lessons learned. Temps in the tent were hard to keep below 26-27, so I followed the VPD chart to see that early vegging plants can thrive in the 70-75% RH range under those temperatures. They did quite well for a while, and I was seeing some very very promising growth vs. what I had going on in previous weeks. However, they continued to grow closer and closer to my new (and more powerful than my past) LEDs. I was gone for 36hrs and by the time I came back to my plants I noticed widespread light burn on the leaf tips of ALL my plants (helping me eliminate a lot of possibilities).

Recovery from light/heat burn & the beginning of HST, Topping and Main-Lining this week. In some ways a difficult process (I don't know why I do this to myself) with half my plants headed outdoors at the end of May (thus not wanting to Top or mess with them much at this point), and the other half switching to flower once the others do head outdoors (and thus wanting to Main-Line, Top, etc. now). First time trying Main-Lining, so I've gone full at it with Chemdawg and Black D.O.G. #2, but cautiously with The New (I left extra nodes). I top dressed with more Gaia 4-4-4-, I did a Kelp Meal tea, and SST with Alfalfa this past week. Update 4/20. Lots has changed! All doing pretty well. A few gnats around so trying to act quickly. HST/Mainlining continues. Some stem casualties but taped up and moving along since. Topped indoor Bubba. I’m removing a lot of top fan leaves (after seeing how quickly HST plants fill in the gap) on my Bubba’s and they’re responding amazingly well. They seem to enjoy adapting to light improving defoliation. Black Dog is starting to speed up growth (on both at the same time, even with one Main-lining). It’s been slow and steady so far. Slower in Veg than Bubba even. The New is a thing of beauty. I’m feeling it out re: HST, and the decision to “Main-line” two sets of nodes has been good. It’s all even mostly, and it’s allowed me to design a 16-cola plan (so far...in time we’ll see if this was smart). Either way, it responds quickly and the spacing/lateral branching is balanced. Definitely enjoying this plant a lot. Cream Caramel is thicccc. Another Main-line with two sets of nodes. It’s an outdoor. But it was so squat I decided to give the idea of 4 main branches a go. I’m trying to do as little as possible before it goes outside end of May.

Traps are working for gnats. I only see one here and there. Added diatomaceous earth around base of plants to be safe. Still bottom feeding. Need to top dress more 4-4-4 however, so a big feed with compost tea and that is upcoming. Couple stem breaks this past week. One devastating one on Chemdawg. Took off one of my four on the Mainline. Cannot be saved. One on the New, but I’m over 16 “tops” so it’s not a big deal.

Compost tea today, Day 59. Gaia Green 4-4-4 top up for most of the plants, ensuring all the ones headed outdoors at the end of May have what they need until then. As for the others, I gave them a pre-amended mix of HP Organic soil & 4-4-4 as well (but I left more room for Gaia Bloom to top dress when I switch them the flower May 25th or so. I also tied down a lot of branches and defoliated. Growth has been steady and the general humidity in the Toronto air has been increasing nicely so I can hover around 50% easily. Still seeing fungus gnats here and there. Keeping my sticky traps out. Bottom feeding when I can (today was a bit of a gamble since adding 4-4-4 and compost tea combined with coco/peat/perlite/mycorrhizae soil as a top dress definitely would be appetizing to them). I will keep an eye out the next 24hrs and arm myself with Mosquito dunks if need be. I also raised and turned up my Mars LED to full power. I should now get better coverage on the perimeter and by raising my light the centre HST indoor-only plants should thrive/be ok.

All over the place a little with two different tents with different start dates. We’re now at Day 64 for Tent #1. I took some pictures of The New and Chemdawg today while training & defoliating a little. The New has very plentiful branching and fast growth. Responds well to LST and HST. Excited to flip the switch on this girl soon. Chemdawg was a plant I busted up pretty well while Mainlining. Lost one of four branches. But...she has recovered and pushed her growth elsewhere. She’s going to put out a good amount of bud, I can tell. Glad to have what I do left.

Getting closer! Weather here is finally starting to turn warm including and after this weekend. That means I’ll be taking Cream Caramel, Bubba’s Gift #1 & #2 and Black D.O.G. outside to be transplanted in 45 gallon pots. Bit of a crazy week after taking my loupe to my soil and spotting a LOT of bulb mites in my soil. Nematodes surprised me with their presence too. Explains the issues I have been having with Jack Herer in my other tent. Thankfully despite them both existing in this tent the plants are doing quite well. Just a little LST and defoliation this week. They’re doing well and I just want to leave them be until they’re outside or remain in the tent with more space. I can’t wait to tie down Bubba’s Gift #3, Chemdawg’91, The New and Black D.OG. Plan is to give them about a week more and then flip them to 12hrs. Still just watering with dechlorinated water. Top dressed with 4-4-4, worm castings and insect Frass. Before that a Soil Drench one day with Neem oil and Dr. Bronner’s Castile soap mixed into Mosquito Dunk water for pest control. My mycorrhizae shipment won’t be arriving until May 20th so even if the plants go up this weekend I will leave them in their existing pots until I return next weekend.

Switched to Flower on Day 77. A few white pistols now visible (The New and Chemdawg mostly so far). Wish I only had 3 in this tent as I suspect stretching to occur with a couple of these in the coming weeks (definitely Black Dog), but I’ve prepared for that one at least. Bubba’s Gift doesn’t stretch much and is definitely huge so I’m glad. Chemdawg has grown like crazy the last 3 weeks and if it stretches a lot I’m in shit. The New I need to look up as well. Plants are healthy. No pest issues of late which is why I was confident about switching to 12-12. Very excited for the next 50-75 days. All outdoor ladies were transplanted into their 30 gallon pots (one Bubba went into a 65 gallon fabric pot 😉). Mycorrhizae, Insect Frass, Fish Hydrosylate, Humic & Fulvic Acid, Malted Barley, Aloe Vera powder all mixed into pots at different stages over the week in preparation. I’ll include some pics.

Great week! Happy with the pistil development. The New and Chemdawg are my longest flowering plant of the four, yet interestingly they’re fastest out of the gate. Bubba’s Gift and Black Dog are taking their time but tight little buds are starting to show and they’re all stretching (The New the most so far). I also added an old spare blurple light, positioned right above Bubba so she’s gets plenty of LED

Well they definitely made progress in the flowering dept over the weekend! I came back home to find a nice amount of bud sites and pistil growth all around. Bubba ya gotten so big it can’t fit under my lights in the tent with fan & filter, so it’s now been moved to the other tent. Kind of fucks with my auto grow I had planned, but not much I can do

They’re all hitting their stride in terms of flower. Chemdawg easily the most impressive bud development/size wise, but Bubba is massive and has a TON of bud sites. No leaf discolouration at all so I’m guessing the ladies have switched to flower smoothly with the right amount of food in the soil. I top dressed with Gaia Bloom to give them a little extra for the next few weeks as they push forward. Crazy to believe Bubba might only have 25 days left which means I don’t know if she’ll get fed anything other than water from here on out

No training, no defoliation. Just water again this week. Growth is steady but not rapid. Chemdawg still appears to be front runner for yield, with Black Dog definitely looking like the runt winner. Scent on it is nice though. Bubba smells fantastic in the back there but she’s not fattening up and I know she’s only got another 25 days left or so. Something tells me I may have forgotten she did the exact thing last year haha. The topping and training I did definitely changed bud site formation. Last year her shape was essentially “natural” with a main cola but the veg time this year made me change that. I definitely know even with this year’s 5-gallon vs last’s 7-gallon that I’m still likely to beat her 70grams in dry weight. The New was steady and impressive in Veg, especially when I did HST. However after a decent start to flower she’s slowed a little. Resin production is impressive, Bud size, not yet. She has possibly 50 more days so I’m being patient with my full feedback Slight tip burn visible on some plants that showed up soon after my last Gaia / Insect Frass / Kelp / Alfalfa / Aloe / Humic Acid feed a few weeks ago, ideally their last feed so I should have gone a tiny bit lighter. It’s not increasing though so I’m content. Also! Sorry for the shitty blurple pics. I’m adding an old Mars as supplemental lighting for Chemdawg. She’s earned it and doesn’t seem to mind the extra attention.

Just water again this week. No signs of deficiency. Not putting on weight like I’d hope, but the scent is increasing each day. Still good looking, healthy plants. I need to remember most of these girls will Flower for another month or more!

Just water again this week. No signs of pests or nutrient deficiencies. Crazy to think Bubba will be done in a week or two. Best smell, Black Dog, best bud growth, Chemdawg. The New and Black Dog will not yield what I hoped for. Bubba has a LOT of bud sites, but they’re not filling in the way I hoped (didn’t leave the typical main cola structure like last year and I’ll wait until harvest/smoke before I fully comment).

Amazing progress across the board in the tent the last week. Development has been positive for The New and Black Dog, Bubba has swollen up bud wise, and it’s still another week away or so (flowering is supposed to be 50-55 and we’re at 50 today). Chemdawg smell is getting stronger but not too aggressive, and it’s fate king nicely on most colas. Even at the bottom of the plant the buds look nice. It’s an amazing strain, can’t wait to smoke it.

Just waiting it out now. No added nutrients, just water. Bubba and Black Dog have exceeded their expected flowering time, and both are at 95% cloudy with 5% or so still clear. Chemdawg and The New can take up to 70 days or more so we’ll see if they’re late too. Bubba is a foxtailing machine. It was one weekend in early Flower when heat/humidity got out of hand while I was away for 3 days. She hermied a bit and I’ve had my eye out for bananas ever since (find a few every so often). Taking a risk to keep her in the tent with the others but if I catch them early enough the others should be ok. Interestingly I found a YouTube video of a guy that ran bubba and had the same foxtail development (also the same scent description and look overall). Nothing like the gorgeous fat purple budded girl I had last year but the citrus smell on this lime green bud pheno/version is impressive. Curious to see how the smoke compares. Scent combo from all four plants is amazing!