Doc’s first grow

Welcome to my first grow! The first week was really exciting, everything got off without a hitch. Seeds germinated within 48 hours, seedlings sprouted within 48 hours of planting, lab notebook going, life is good. Grower bio: Just a scientist trying her first grow during COVID-19.

Gals are still growing and growing - doesn’t look like much right now but don’t appear to have any problems. All sprouted within 48 hours (Maybe ~60 hours for the one I planted the deepest; happened overnight). No issues. Plants are outside while greenhouse construction is underway; but May in hardiness zone 9 seems to make them happy. Finally thinking they’re big enough to handle a light lunch; going to fertilize for the first time, was previously worried about burning the seedlings so just gave bottled water (working on rainwater collection system/water filtration system). 1tsp Grow (1/2 a dose) in 1 gal rainwater; pH to 6.7ish. Went slightly under neutral to help absorption, worried about something as drastic as 6.2 right away; honestly this is arbitrary, in my head, and probably didn’t make a difference. But that’s what I did nonetheless.

Let’s tie these babies down! It is hard to believe only 3 weeks has gone by because these gals are growing fast. Going to start tying them down right away to increase light to lower parts of the plant. I’m currently working with 1 light and space underneath is cramped. Trying to maximize the available light until the second light arrives. 1 light seems ideal for 4-5 plants given you have relatively small pots (12”). Plastic pots have shown their first big advantage to clay pots - I was able to drill holes along the outside of the plastic pots to anchor the twist ties and wire that I’m using to tie down the gals. In the clay pots, I couldn’t drill without cracking the pot and now I need to tie it down to a surrounding pot or anchor it to something else - not a huge deal, but plastics make it possible y’all... The gals have made their way into my greenhouse (will attach some pics). They’re under a LED light and seeming to do really well. The greenhouse has an exhaust fan and as much ventilation as possible, but even so it gets hot. Temperature probe (near ceiling of greenhouse) indicated 112F at the hottest part of the day. Temperature at plant level will be considerably cooler, but it was not very comfortable to work inside for long. Will likely add at least a powerful fan to help keep the gals happy. Gave a full dose of nutrients this week and added a 1/2 dose of Ca-Mg. No real rationale for dosing with Ca-Mg besides curiosity and needing to water with filtered water due to lack of rain. CalMg made it suuupppeeerrr acidic - much more than Grow alone, adjusted pH to ~6.4 White dots at base of stem A1_5.21.20 - these are apparently common, especially in high humidity areas. They are places where it is possible for additional roots to grow. I decided to add a little more soil to the base below the bottom set of leaves to give the opportunity for more roots to grow - if that’s true, I want to take advantage of it. Plants continued to do well and several of them developed similar spots and I added more soil.

Gals got relocated today because, bless y’all’s hearts - I live in a subdivision. I had a mishap with G1 and the grow light (read: the grow light fell onto G1) (pics). Amazingly, both G1 and grow light are doing fine; doc expects a full return to normal activities. I know it is not recommended to transplant autoflowers but I think things worked out here. The initial pot I chose was likely way too small and it was cool to get a look at the roots of G1! The way the pot broke when the grow light fell on top of it (geesh.) was fortuitous because the plant was unharmed (pics). Repotted her in a bigger pot and back off to the races. Everyone else is still growing right along! I finally got the memo for natural light pictures - so from weeks here on out I’ll be sure to have plenty of useful ones on my camera roll - the theme of this week is “facepalm”, but learning all the time and things seem to be relatively fine! I removed some unhealthy looking leaves from the bottom of the plant, didn’t seem to have any negative impact.

I wanted to start phasing in bloom nutrients so badly, but “the literature” indicated that was a rookie mistake. So we stayed with a full dose of Grow in pH6.5 rain water, definitely missing my stir plate and pH meter from lab. Also missing my students - cats are shit lab assistants. Anyways - turns out HERE is where I actually learned to take useful pictures; I also learned to get my shit together and update in real time. So things get real in week 6. If you’re reading this (anyone besides dad. Thanks, pops.) Removed a few more bottom leaves that weren’t looking pristine. Biggest update is final resting place - after mishap from hanging, this is the next iteration. Tallest setting of the shelf, all bottom portions removed and plants on the GH floor. It also keeps them cooler and makes the lights less noticeable. Easy peasy and working well!

Finally some useable pics, doc! (I think... any feedback?) The gals continue to grow - bad news first G3 is trying to die. Earlier in the week G3 started to show signs of overwatering or temperature/humidity stress. Temp/humid stress seems like a no-brainer to me because it is f’ing hot and humid. G3’s leaves started to claw and turn a more glossy texture. I laid off the watering and at her next watering gave some H2O2 in the water. I also moved G3 out of the GH and outside to see if some fresh air and natural light might do some good. Overall, this is a big learning experience so if I lose a plant, not the end of the world. I’m going to continue to grow G3 and see what I can learn. Good news: everyone else seems to be doing well! Growing right along - this week I did not apply a “one-size-fits-all” approach to fertilizing, instead: 1tsp Bloom; 1tsp Grow in 1gal pH6.4 rainwater to: A1, A2, G1, G2, N1, N2 2tsp Grow; 2mL H2O2 in 1gal pH6 rainwater to: B1, B2, G3 The plants appear to my naive eye to be in different phases of life, so I fertilized according to my judgment. I started incorporating Bloom nutrients into the regimen finally, with a split dose Bloom/Grow so as not to shock the gals (is that a real thing?). Everyone got a good tie-down and tuck-in and I’m looking forward to seeing changes! I realized I should probably be tying down more branches rather than just fan leaves (G2 ex) so I started incorporating ties like pictured. Smell is starting to come but very mild - in the air though. I have a Levoit air filter from Amazon in our “recreation room” and it works great, going to add 1-2 in the GH and will report how it goes.