Sensi Seeds Afghani #1

Seeds were started on 5/18 directly in a commercial grow mix with peat, fine bark, and perlite. I added Espoma Garden-Tone 3-4-4 at 1/4 strength as a starter charge. Seeds broke ground on 5/20. The pots were watered with distilled water the first few days and are now being watered with dechlorinated tap water pH'd down to 6.0-6.5. Tent has two 6" fans for air circulation, a humidifier to maintain RH in the low 40's during the day, a Vivosun 4" carbon filter, and an AC Infinity 4" fan mounted outside the tent venting to the attic. Performed a pour-thru pH & ec test on 5/26. EC was at 1.9 ms/cm in plant A and 1.8 ms/cm in plant B. pH for both plants measured at 5.6. I added 1/3 tsp garden lime to plant B's substrate to see if that would bring the pH up to a better level.

Week 2 since seeds broke ground starts today on 5/28. I'm expecting to leave both plants in their 4" pots during this week. Right now it's taking about 3 days for the pots to dry between watering, and growth looks to be on track with growth I've seen in a couple other Afghani #1 grow journals. Plant B has noticeably more developed secondary growth at the first internode a few days into week 2. I lowered the light to 24" above the canopy on 5/30. Pour-thru test on Plant A on 5/31 resulted in a pH of 6.0 and ec of 1.1 ms/cm. I top dressed with half strength Garden-tone 3-4-4. Pour-thru test on Plant B on 5/31 resulted in a pH of 5.9 and ec of 1.2 ms/cm. I top dressed with half strength Dr. Earth All Purpose 2-2-2. I'll try to note any differences that may pop up from the different top dressing. On 6/2 I transplanted both plants into 3 gal pots. The mix consists of 1 part coir, 1 part Black Kow composted manure, 1 part perlite, and 6 tbsp each of a mix of Garden-tone 3-4-4 and Dr. Earth All Purpose 2-2-2.

6/5: Plant B is showing what looks like a nitrogen deficiency through yellowing of the lower leaves. I'm not going to fertilize immediately because I just transplanted into a mix with heavier fertility. The yellowing may be because Plant B was top dressed in the 4" pot later than Plant A. I'll do a pour-thru test as soon as I can water the medium thoroughly to make sure pH and ec levels are good. Otherwise, the plants are growing well. Plant B's secondary growth is much farther along than A's, but A's main growth is ahead.

I ended up a day behind on here somehow. 6/10 marks day one of week 4 since seeds broke ground. Pour-thru pH on the custom mix is coming in very high at 8.0. It looks like the composted manure is the cause of the high pH. I confirmed this with a pour-thru test on the coir and compost separately. I'm watering with 5.0 water for the next week or two to drop the pH to a better level. Using equal parts pro-mix, Black Kow, and perlite led to a pour-thru pH of 7.3. The Black Kow would probably work well with a peat based mix dialed back a little below equal parts. I probably won't use Black Kow in my mix again. Plants are recovering from being topped and are growing well again. Plant B looks stressed, with leaves curling down. I'm not sure if this has to do with the mix pH or fertility. 6/16 Last day of week 4.

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The custom mix using Black Kow compost was causing problems. The pH of runoff was at 8.0 when using neutral water, and the ec was almost too high for my meter to read. On the 27th, I carefully transplanted from the mix to coco coir amended with a little perlite and 1 TBS/gal of Dr. Earth Vegetable fertilizer. I foliar fed with liquid seaweed at half strength the next day. When I pulled the plants from the old mix, it was obvious the roots hadn't grown far into the mix. Root growth was very stunted. So far the plants aren't showing any big signs of stress from the transplant. I'm still hoping to flip to 12/12 on July 15th. I'm sure the plants have been stunted because of my mistake, but hopefully they put on some decent growth over the next 2ish weeks.

Week 7 of veg started on 7/1. On 7/2, I watered with a Dr. Earth Veg and Liquid Seaweed (1/2 strength) fertilizer tea. I also noticed the first roots growing down to the drainage holes on both plants. I'm really happy to see signs of new root growth. 7/3: even more root growth showing up at the drainage holes. Shoot growth seems strong, too. I'm adjusting the LST every day to keep the canopy as even as possible. I've been watering with plain de-chlorinated tap water wince 7/2. I'm adjusting the pH of the water down to a 6.2-6.8 range. Last day of veg week 7 ends on 7/7. Couldn't have planned it! I'm really happy with the turn around of this grow after transplanting out of that terrible grow mix. Roots are showing up at all the drainage holes and top growth is looking good. Tomorrow starts week 8 of veg, then I'll flip to 12/12.

I watered with fertilizer team made from two parts Dr. Earth Vegetable, one part Dr. Earth All Purpose 2-2-2, and half strength Maxicrop Liquid Seaweed on 7/8. Growth has been great in the canopy and in the root zone. As of 7/9, the plants could use a transplant. I'm expecting 3 gallon fabric pots to arrive on 7/11, then I'll transplant up. Fabric pots came in, so the plants are now in 3 gal pots. I sprinkled Great White mycorrhizae on the roots and watered in with Dr. Earth + Liquid Seaweed fertilizer tea. I didn't add any dry amendments since I'm going to amend with fertilizer for flower in a few days.

Started the 12/12 cycle on 7/15/. Both plants were top dressed with 4 Tbs Dr. Earth Veg and 2 Tbs Dr. Earth Flower Girl. I'm excited to see how flowering goes. The switch to coco coir has gone well, so I'm hopeful the flowering cycle will go smoothly.

As of 7/22, both plants are developing female flowers. I raised the plant on the right up so that it would be at the same height as the plant on the left.

Buds are developing nicely. Plant A has stretched a noticeable bit more than plant B. Smell isn't too strong when I open the tent, which is good. Humidity levels in the tent spiked after transplanting into fabric pots. I recorded a high of 75.6% after getting a bluetooth thermometer/hygrometer. The hygrometer data showed the humidity levels were climbing during the day. Partly this was because I have the AC in the house set to be off most of the day to save electricity. After adjusting the day temp on the AC down a degree to increase run time and putting a Vivosun dehumidifier in the tent humidity levels are much better. The max since making those changes is 63.6%.

I started off week 12 with feeding the girls a fertilizer tea made from 90% Dr. Earth Flower Girl, 10% Dr. Earth All Purpose 2-2-2, and almost full strength liquid seaweed. Bud growth seems to be on track with a lot of other grow diaries I've checked out. 8/11 is the last day of week 12. Tomorrow, first day of week 13, I'll top dress the plants. This should be roughly halfway through flowering.

Topdressed with 80% Dr. Earth Flower Girl/20% Dr. Earth 2-2-2 All Purpose at a rate of 2 Tbs per gallon on 8/12. Also raised the plant on the right a bit higher so the two plants would have a more even canopy. One of the phenos definitely stretches more than the other. 8/15: There's a little bit of chlorosis showing up on the older fan leaves. I think next round I could top dress a week earlier. I started a fertilizer tea tonight for watering tomorrow. Since the fertilizer I'm using is organic, I guess the yellowing I'm continuing to see is because the top dressed fertilizer isn't available to the plants yet. Hopefully the fertilizer tea will give them a quick boost.

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Started off week 7 of flower with a light Dr. Earth fertilizer tea consisting of 7 Tbs Flower Girl and 1 Tbs All Purpose in 3.5 L of dechlorinated tap water.

I expect this to be either the last week or second to last week of flower. Trichomes are still mostly clear, but we'll see how they look towards the end of week 16.

I'll come back to this once the bud is dried and cured. So far I'm happy with how the grow went. Being my first real grow I was expecting to have some problems, and I did hit a couple snags. My choice of soil at the second round of transplanting caused a stunt in growth that lasted about two weeks, and I saw some yellowing in the fifth week of flowering after top dressing, so I could have top dressed a week earlier. The Afghani #1 was very forgiving and easy to grow. I expect to do even better with the seeds I have left.