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Bucket setup -
5 gallon plastic buckets - 4, 1/2" holes drilled in bottom, 1/8" holes drilled around top perimeter, for LST tie-down points.
20 oz. soda bottles at bottom of each, for drainage. Used double layer of weed fabric, to keep soil away from bottles.
Cylindrical shape, should make it easy for excess water to drain immediately, out of the bottom.
Soil - Black Gold All Purpose potting soil, mixed with Kelp meal, 3/4 cup/gallon. Noticed no perlite in soil, but will continue to use soil as is. Will note whether I suffer from soil compaction, during the grow.
Water - Will use tap water only, with 24-48hr evaporation to remove chlorine. Since a lot of minerals will be in the water, I do not plan to feed during vegetative state, due to the soil being loaded with compost/castings and Kelp meal. Will see if my predictions run true.
Germination - Just germinated 2 seeds, that are in 8oz. cardboard cups. These newbies are in my small grow box, under 30W of LED light. This will kick off my grow.
Once they are 14-21 days old, I will forklift the whole thing to the buckets, ensuring that the rim of the cups are below soil surface. -> To eliminate soil wicking.
Due to cool Spring temps, I will have to bring in these plants every night, until about 3rd week of May. Low 60's, high 50's are predicted, then. Cindys will just have to adapt to the extreme temp swings we have here. Strong genetics will be important here.
Week 1 - - > I have been spraying RO water over the cups, 2-3 times a day, during germination, and initial growth. Now I will be watering about 2 oz of water for each plant, every 3 days, going forward.
Removed underlying heating pad, and raised cups to 14" from LED bar lights.
Watered enough each time to completely soak cardboard cup, to where a slight drain occurred.
Unfortunately, I have no pics for this week after transferring them to the grow buckets, as I had to leave town for a week, for an emergency property issue.
Not much vertical growth at this time, as it is assumed that it is gaining strength in its root and stem systems.
The internodes are tight, and I count 2 with a third one coming out on both plants. They have been spending their nights in my garden shed, as the low temps are a cool spring 45F. The days have been a roller coaster, between 55-90F, with anywhere from 30-70% humidity levels, outside.
It has been another roller coaster week, with wind, threat of hail, and large raindrops, when it did shower/sprinkle. Temps have been between 77 & 94. Humidity levels have been between 22 & 55%, between sprinkles. Just had to rescue once, under the deck. Growth for both have still been stagnant, but both have strong, springy stems, passing the finger test. It may be the roots are still using the seedling soil, that was buried cup-whole. They still are actively growing new internodes though. VERY tight.
As a side note, and "knock-on-wood", no six-legged creatures have shown any interest in them. Excluding our dragon fly buddies.
Another unstable week, as temps were still 77-96F (a record for this time of year). We are still getting the unusual windy days, with a major thunder/windstorm (50 mph) last week.
Makes for nice strong stems.
They survived that one in the shed, but I got caught with them outside, as a cool front dropped the temps to the low 40s. They looked ok, after the day warmed up nicely.
I noticed a web across one bucket, so the 8 legged creatures are now aware of them.
Cindy I looks like she will be ready to top soon, so the boring days of just watching them grow will get a reprieve.
The week was hot (92-97F) and windy. Humidity levels fell to a low of 17%, to a high of 35% They definitely needed water every three days, to stay ahead of the dryness in the air. The consistent hot temps, and maybe the roots finally breaking through the buried cardboard seedling cups, were what the girls needed, as they exhibited fast vertical growth during the week. Kept spinning the buckets 180 degrees, due to wind bending my plants.
The weather this week was more stable, so less TLC with monitoring.
The sisters gained a lot of height, especially Cindy I, even though I had to top Her twice.
The first one, did not create a symmetrical opposite branch. Just the fan leaf. The little node, looks like it shriveled up.
So, chopped her again, one inter-node, below that. She now has more distinctive symmetrical new branches.
Another week of heat, wind, and occasional showers.
Topped Cindy II, as she appears ready to take on the trimming. Since she is growing slow, the resulting pair of new branches are still in the process of unfolding.
She went from 5" back down to 4.5", due to topping.
Cindy I is now taking off, and has dwarfed her anemic sister, by double in height. I am contemplating LST for Her, but maybe I just let he grow out, with a couple more topping sessions down the road. I have my plant stakes awaiting any leggy growth, if so.
This week was much like the last. Temps in the low to mid 90s, with hot afternoon breezes, but not much rain activity. Have been watering 1 gal of dechlor'd water between the two buckets, every 3-4 days. Evaporation is an enemy, during this hot, low humidity time. Cindy II is getting a white dust on its leaves, but color and texture of leaves are still good. She is starting to grow at a faster rate now. Yellowing mature leaves are fewer now. Cindy I looks great all over, and I went and topped her once again. She is still growing like a weed😄. We are headed into the teeth of our summer swelter this week, with 100s being forcasted. Will have to somehow shade my buckets, so they do not heat up the soil, anymore than they are now.
Another hot/dry/breezy week. The Cindy's are doing well, with Cindy I now getting the yellowing leaves, and Cindy II not experiencing that anymore..........currently.
Cindy II is now getting her feet(roots) underneath her and is now exhibiting vertical growth. The only worry so far, is the grass hoppers, as there has been insect damage to leaves, most notably in the yellow leaves that were removed. I don't believe the symptoms are related, and just trimmed them off.
I am late this week, for updating, as my laptop went belly up, and spent all week playing IT Specialist, now I am all set with brand new machine.
The past week was more of the same, weather-wise, except now, we are getting cloudy afternoons with occasional showers. I seem to lose 2-3 hrs of direct sunlight every day, due to general cloudiness and/or storm fronts. Indoor growing really shows its benefits, as far as rate of growth.
Cindy I is getting a lot of premature yellowing of leaves, but I just trim them off, to keep her looking good. Nothing to worry about, as long as it is just a few leaves.
Cindy II on the other hand, has not gotten anymore yellowing leaves, in the last two weeks.
The last week was cooler and more monsoon-like, so available sunlight was still lacking by 2-3 hours because of cloud cover.
Had to save the girls from a hailstorm, yesterday. Speaking of the girls, vertical growth was in full force, this week.
Cindy I is still getting yellow leaves, but again just few and new leaves continue to look great. Not so much insect damage for this week, which makes me more at ease.
Cindy II is getting bushier, and has passed Cindy I in that regard, even though she had one less topping.
Weather forecast says, high pressure pushing out monsoon pattern, so the upcoming week says, little rain, breezy, and temps around 90. CAIO!
Well, had to leave town for a week for property maintenance, so I left plants with Wifey.
Temps were in low 90s with some rain I heard. The Cindys slowed their growth down for some reason, no real vertical height gains, just a little more bushiness.
Cindy II really has bushed up, compared to Cindy I, that has had more topping.
Trimmed off more old yellow leaves from both plants, and didn't see any increase of leaf damage, which I confirmed was from grasshoppers.
Wifey sprayed the plants with the garden hose, on a daily basis, while I was gone, which discouraged the return of the hoppers, throughout the day.
I now give them a shake when I am around them, to check on more infestation. Praying for Mantis' now.😄
Now start the dog days of August. No, to little rain, plus breezy conditions at times, and warm nights.
There has been very little vertical growth. Lots of tightly spaced nodes, so wonder how they'll stretch in flower.
Still trimming the yellow leaves from both plants, but just letting the soil provide what it needs for now, as new growth still has lush green color.
Cloud cover and shade from a decreasing horizon, have made getting direct sunlight a challenge, beyond 12 hours.
Until next week....CAIO!
I am late with this report, as the days got away from me.
Another week of the same-o. Dry, breezy, hazy, and warm nights.
The Sun has been a challenge, with consistent dry overcast, and incessant haze from multi state wildfires. I even had ash on my plants.
No real vertical growth for both plants, and they both had an abundance of yellowing leaves.
So I am thinking between the lack of direct sunlight, the hot temps on the soil, because of being in standalone buckets, and the unknown vitality of my concocted soil mix, it
has suppressed the growth of the plants. Since this is my first outdoor grow by any means, this is currently my SWAG.
Can't wait for flower, to see if any kind of stretch will occur.
Another groundhog week, with even less sun, due to dry storm fronts, and wildfires.
Plants really doing nothing of any significant change.
Trying to keep the buckets mostly out of the sun, to hopefully keep the soil from getting too warm.
No real damage from insects as I write this. All grasshoppers seen, will die on sight., even away from plant area.
Well, where do I start? The weather took a big turn, as far as temps and precipitation this week.
We went into a mini cool down, with low 80's temps in the day, and BAM, went down as low as 50F, one night.
I also noticed earlier in the week, that Cindy II showed her pistils, and started her flower period. Another big discovery, she is Bi-Sexual 😪
Hoping to salvage her, I started to nip off the pollen sacs(with exacto knife), that were developed enough, to not disturb branches or bud sites, that they grew out of.
If I stay in front of this, hopefully she will not produce many seeds. This predicament did not surprise me, because she looked anemic from day one, and I am sure this was a precursor to that.
I guess I will have to keep separated the twins, from here on out. So sad.
There are no pics, as this week was upset by severe cold front that moved in, with snow.
Stuffed the Cindys in my winter room, with existing T45 lights I have hanging, for my other houseplants.
I had to blow town during this time, so kudos to my Wifey, for keeping them alive, while I was away.
FYI, saw hints of flower on Cindy I, so better pics for start of Flower cycle.
This week was back on schedule, after outdoor temps turned back to normal, after 4 days of gradual warmup from the low thirties.
We still have the haze from the multi wildfires, so I am growing in suppressed conditions, and I think this is a one (big) reason for short stature.
Cindy I is in full flower now, but really has not stretched at this point. Cindy II, now considered a hermie and dangerous to Cindy I, has not grown at all
They have been keeping social distancing, with Cindy I always upwind from her bisexual sister.
Well, looks like the sisters have stopped stretching, and will be focusing on bud development.
Removed more yellowing fan leaves from both plants, and a few more pollen sacs from Cindy II. Hopefully I can salvage some seed free buds from her, at harvest.
I am toying with feeding bloom nutes, since the soil is almost 6 months old, but she is still developing deep green bud leaves, and the buds are thickening up.
Maybe on next watering, I will feed 33% strength, to try and avoid any overfeeding, since I have no clue how rich/depleted my new soil mix is doing.