Dream Queen Glue

6/2/20: First night of first week of first grow! I'm super excited. I planted 12 Romulawi Glue and 12 Dream Queen Glue (both regular seeds) in small, domed germination containers. I used 30mm peat pellets for half of each strain and Root Riot germination cubes for the other half, so it will be interesting to see which does better. I have them out in my garage, where the temp is a cooling 80 after the warm day today. I ordered a heat mat; it will be here the day after tomorrow, but I doubt I'll really need it. Temps will be warm the next few days. The plan is to plant two to three plants in 3 gallon fabric buckets using Ocean Forest soil in a small indoor grow tent and grow another three to four plants outdoors in 25 gallon fabric buckets, also using Ocean Forest. Haven't decided what to go with for nutrients as yet, but am leaning toward Advanced Nutrients triple formula based on reviews. 6/3/20: 24 hrs. No green in the germinators yet (I knew there wouldn't be yet, but still). The waiting's going to be the hardest part, maybe? 6/4/20: Heat mat arrived! My little greenhouses are looking very humid and greenhouse-y. Still no action yet, though. 6/5/20: Shoots!!! We have shoots!!! They're breaking out and have really gained traction today; tiny little nubs this morning, actual shoots this evening. One is even a recognizable seedling! (Bet it's a male.) I've realized, sadly, that all this commentary is actually PRE-Week 1, since Week 1 doesn't technically begin until after the seedlings have been transplanted. But I'm having fun writing about the experience, so it is what it is. 6/6/20: Morning of Day 4 and looking good. More shoots have broken ground, others are starting to unfurl, and the early risers are straightening up into proper seedlings. They got lots of light yesterday and spent six hours under the dark box last night. 6/7/20: Midday of Day 5. Early shoots are still looking great with straight stems, fully unfurled cotyledons, first set of true leaves, and shed seed husks. The second wave of sprouters is right behind them. Lastly, some I thought wouldn't germinate are struggling mightily to poke their heads up. Judging by their seed-husk hats, most of these seem to be the biggest, hardiest-looking seeds, so maybe the extra time it took them to sprout reflects an especially tough seed husk to crack? Maybe they'll be tough, hardy plants -- hopefully females! Weather is a perfect 75 and 30% humidity today (maybe just a titch dry, but the seedlings are looking good and have water in the bottoms of their trays). 6/8/20: Morning of Day 6. Weather continues to be knock-out amazing; 72 and 33%RH right now. I have the seedling trays on a table under a light next to my desk with the windows open. Romulawi Glue is looking like it's going to hit 100% germination -- the last holdout must have been a beefy seed buried deep in a peat pellet (so 3/3 on the slow-germ checklist)! Seedlings look strong and healthy across the board. Dream Queen Glue tray is 10 of 12 for germination so far (looks like I messed up and planted two seeds in one rooting cube). No sign of germination in two of the rooting cubes. Otherwise, seedlings are standing straight and proud. I'm using a CFL bulb with a MacGuyvered aluminum-foil reflecting hood, as Amazon has dropped the ball on my One-Day (it's been four) desk grow light delivery. The seedlings are doing well under it so far, but I'm eager to get them under stronger blue light; some of the early poppers look like they might already be getting a bit stretchy.

6/10/20 (8 days from seed): Just finished culling duds and potting up the seedlings into Solo cups. Roots had worked down and out of the rooting plugs in a number of the first sprouters, so it seemed like it was time. I used a mix of 70% Fox Farm Happy Frog and 30% perlite. Gave them a nice, thorough watering (with no nutrients, as everything I've read says no nutrients for the first several weeks of growth). There are a total of 16 definitely viable plants, with 2 plants on the bubble. I plan on potting up to 1-gallon fabric pots (probably into an Ocean Forest/Happy Frog/perlite mix), then to 3-gallon. After sexing, I'll grow the three hardiest plants indoors in 3-gallon pots and the remainder outdoors in 5-gallon and 25-gallon pots. I'm going to go with Dyna-Gro "Grow" nutes for the vegetative stage and DG "Bloom" nutes for the flowering stage. 6/11/20: Day 9. One of the strongest-looking seedlings was keeled over on its side this morning. It didn't look like a resurrection was possible, so I autopsied it. Turned out the root was a stunted little nub! It never really worked its way down the germination medium and didn't develop. It's weird that that seedling got to look so robust with a tiny little malformed root. It's got me keeping a close eye on the others, that's for sure. 6/12/20: Day 10. Eventful day. Lost another bubble seedling, an RG. I didn't think it would make it when I transplanted it; it was undersized and its fan leaves were kind of shriveled, both pointed straight up. It also had a small, single root, a bit more developed than the one from yesterday. (These were both germinated in peat pellets, fwiw.) There are a few more runty-looking seedlings yet, but we're getting down to mostly healthy-looking plants now. The Mars Hydro SP 250 came today. I got it up and running and when I plugged it into the timer the surge of white light was so violent it almost scared me. It's like flashbang-bright! I was like, see ya later Yintatech blurples ... and then the SP 250 kicked the temperature of my tent up about six degrees over the rest of the night. I killed the lights an hour early because the temp was at 86 and it was starting to make me nervous. I'm running a 4" 150 CFM exhaust fan, no filter, two clip-on 6" fans, and I added a Vornado tilt fan on the floor pointed up at the light. Barely able to keep the heat from running away, and I wouldn't call it in check. I'm going to add a humidifier tomorrow and see if that helps. I may consider going to a "lights at night" schedule, too, for the triple whammy of electricity cost savings, lower nighttime temps, and not being able to obsessively peek my head into the tent all day and not get anything productive done. If all that fails, I've already set up another, smaller tent -- a 2x2x4 -- that now houses the 600w LED, so that just may be the "juniors" tent. Then I'll shift them to the larger "seniors" tent a bit later in the vegetative stage when they're hardier. Once the 2x2x4 is vacant, I can then start germinating in it all over again. Perpetual grow! 6/15/20: Day 13. Since the last post, I followed through with the plan to move the babies to the smaller tent. I'm also running an off-peak light schedule of a 4PM-10PM dark period. The big tent is dark for now; as the babies get bigger, some will move into it (and under the Mars Hydro SP 250) and the others outside, freeing up space in the "juniors" tent for a new round of germination. The plants are responding well to the changes, although there may be one more bubble seedling; one DQG's fan leaves are looking weirdly twisted. A couple of the later germinators are growing a bit on the slow side. Other than that, plants are coming along quite nicely. I watered the day before yesterday on Day 11 after having corrected the water's pH to the appropriate range and chilling it to 69 degrees F. I've been wanting to boost the humidity in the tent, since seedlings need higher humidity, and I had been having trouble getting it above 40% (although it briefly hovered around 44% after watering). So I ordered a TaoTronics 5L humidifier, set it up inside the tent, and fired it up (after having pH-corrected the filtered tapwater I filled it with, which is a bit basic). I'm playing with it to try to get a good balance between humidifier output and exhaust fan speed/cycling in order to maintain about 60%. So far, so good, although I may end up needing to cycle the fan on/off in increments using a mechanical timer. 6/16/20: Day 14. Last day of Week 2! The humidifier is working perfectly. I woke up to plants that had grown noticeably since yesterday. The morning's routine: pH corrected my water, refilled the humi reservoir and emptied the base, wiped down the walls and floor of the tent as well as the light to get rid of excess condensation, and let the tent stand open for a bit to air out and get some good oxygen exchange while I did that stuff and got the plants' water ready. Chilled the water to 64.6 degrees, pH corrected it, watered everyone, did two rounds of "drain the bottom cups," rotated the plants' positions under the light, restarted the humi, and zipped up. A quick check of the hygrometer shows 55% RH and 73.2 degrees temp. Feels like I might have hit the glide path for this particular growth stage ...

6/17/20: 15 days from seed. 11 plants look absolutely fantastic. 2 are a bit undersized, although they're probably the second wave of sprouters and are expected to be a bit behind schedule. 1 has twisted leaves and doesn't seem to be growing as well as the others. I moved one of the 6" clip-on fans into the tent yesterday to increase airflow. Discovered this morning that shutting the window of the grow room and sealing the tent completely with the humi set to midway results in a quite humid grow tent/room the next morning; RH was at 82% when I checked in! 6/19/20: Day 17. Watering day. I'm going to add 0.25 tsp of Dyna-Gro Grow to the mix. Maybe too early, but a little bell in my mind is saying "It's time!" Every plant is popping new growth, even the weird twisty ones. I think that means the conditions are dialed in and they're happy. I probably shouldn't upset the apple cart, and maybe this will end up being the place when I look back on this diary that will make me say "And that's where it all started to go wrong," but ... I just want to give them a tiny little kick. We'll see how they like it! 6/21/20: Day 19. Watered/fed again. Plants are crushing it since I started adding the DG! 6/23/20: Day 21. Conditions are getting a bit cramped in the Solo cups for a couple of the kids. I think a couple might get potted up today. Exciting!

6/24/20: 22 days from seed. I potted up the five biggest seedlings to 1-gallon fabric pots yesterday; several others are right behind them. Definitely running out of room in the 2x2. I ran the ducting in the 2x4 tent and it's all ready to go, so as soon as the rest of the kids are potted up, they'll all be moving into it. Watered yesterday -- no fertilizer for the newly repotted, as they went into a 33/33/33 mix of Ocean Forest, Happy Frog, and perlite. Switched the ones still in Solo cups to DG Foliage Pro. My DG ProTekt finally came in, so I'll be adding that to the next mix for all. 6/25/20: Day 23. All but three plants are now in their 1-gallon smart pots and all have been transferred to the 2x4 tent. I ended up having to take the driver off the MH SP 250 and mount it to a piece of two-by-four outside the tent, as I was having a hard time keeping the heat under 86. Added the humidifier back into the tent, and now we're holding steady between 80-82 degrees and 57-60% RH. I'm not excited about the 80+ temp, but there doesn't seem to be a lot else I can do about it other than dimming the light a bit and I want to avoid that if I can. The plants don't seem to be showing any signs of heat stress, but they've only been in there about 24 hrs. Glad I'm going to be adding the Pro-TeKt starting with today's watering! I'm thinking about doing a light foliar spray with DG Pro-TeKt and Foliage Pro in it, too. 6/26/20: Day 24. Didn't end up watering/feeding yesterday, so did it today. Reduced DGFP to 1/8 tsp. (to account for repot to 1/3 Ocean Forest mix) and added 1/4 tsp. of DGP-T. Also mixed up a foliar spray solution with 1/4 tsp. DGFP, 1/4 tsp. DG Bloom, and 1/4 tsp. DGP-T, and gave the babies a light spritz with it. I've discovered that if I leave the tent door open, I can hold the temp at about 78 and the RH at about 50% (humidifier on low) through the hottest part of the day. This is great news, as I was concerned that the 80+ temps were going to make more of the plants develop into males and/or induce other issues. 6/28/20: Day 26. Watering/feeding today. All plants now potted into 1-gallon smart pots. Only one plant left on the bubble -- it's pretty scraggly and definitely undersized, so we'll see. Every other plant is thriving. 13 plants total, so likely looking at somewhere between five and seven females, which is perfect. I've been giving the plants the foliar spray in the mornings and they're responding well. We've had some crazy hot weather over the last few days, but it broke today -- it's 20 degrees cooler than it was yesterday -- so it's a little easier to keep conditions where the plants like them since it's not as much of a struggle to keep the house (and tent) cool.

7/1/20: 29 days from seed. Topped all plants today; they're absolutely blowing up, and they all had at least four nodes, so I went for it. They're getting the foliar spray regularly (1-2 times per day) and the usual feeding regimen. I may bump up the nutes dosage, as they seem to be handling everything I'm throwing at them really well. Hoping this continues! 7/6/20: Day 34. Just got back from a five-day vacay during which a good friend of mine took care of the babies for me (and complained about the anal precision of the regimen instructions I left, ha!), and she did a stellar job; they've recovered from the topping with an explosion of new cola sites and riotous growth. I'm thinking repotting into their permahomes is happening soon, as they're starting to crowd one another for light. I'm about to feed them and then I'll take a couple shots to post.

7/8/20: 36 days from seed. Plants are really rocking now. Might be repotting this week. 7/9/20: Day 37. Watering/feeding tonight. Adding DG Mag-Pro to the solution. Thinking I might repot larger plants to 5-gallon pots tomorrow. 7/10/20: Day 38. Repotted six plants (4 RG, 2 DQG) into 3-gallon pots and moved them outside. The other six are still in their 1-gallons for now, and they now have twice as much room in the tent. I need to run to the hydro store tomorrow and grab some Happy Frog and some perlite, then I'll repot the indoor six into 3s also. I decided to go the 3-gallons over 5s so as to save on potting mix, especially since I'm still losing half of these plants once they show their sex. Once I know for sure that they're female I can repot the outsiders into larger pots -- I have 10s and 25s -- and keep the insiders in 3s or 5s. 7/12/20: Day 40. Repotted the remainder. Ran out of 3-gal. pots, so I transplanted two into 5-gal. pots and brought two of the 3-gals. back inside. (I know, I know, you're REALLY not supposed to do that, but they'd only been outside for a couple days. I went over all of them with my loupe to check for spider mites and didn't find any or any eggs, so I'm crossing my fingers.) Strains are now evenly divided between inside and outside. All inside plants are in 3-gal. pots; four outside plants are in 3-gals. and the other two are in 5-gals. In other news, I started another grow (and another grow diary) this week with some ILGM fems, which just popped about a day and a half ago. The perpetual grow is real! 7/13/20: Day 41. Throwing a lot at the plants this week, but I think they can take it. Last night I topped the two 3s that had come in from outside, and this morning I topped yesterday's transplants (the rest of the current indoors). I lightly defoliated lower/yellow and small interior growth near the soil on the two imports. I'm going to give the transplants some time to recover from transplant/topping before I do any defoliating on them. I also lightly defoliated the outdoor plants, but didn't top them. I backed off the nutes to only the ProTeKt until they have some time to recover from the recent ops; I don't want to stress them any further. On top of everything, we're in the midst of a brutal heat wave right now, so I'm trying to manage the temps and sunlight exposure for the outdoors as best I can. 7/14/20: Day 42. Note to self: STOP OVERWATERING.

7/15/20: 43 days from seed. Gonad watch begins in earnest. Checked over all the indoors and I think I have one definite male. Going to check the outdoors tonight. I FIMed all indoor plants at primary and secondary growth sites this morning. Outdoor plants are drinking the sun and loving it -- no FIMing for them yet, although I'm considering it. 7/16/20: Day 44. Watered and reintroduced nutes at a lower concentration. Boosted the ProTeKt for the outdoors because of the current heat wave (100+ daytime temps). Will probably LST some of the indoors today or tomorrow. 7/18/20: Day 46. Watered the outdoors again last night; they were dry already. I might need to back off nutes considering how much they're drinking, maybe go to every-other-watering, at least until the temps fall a bit. But they're doing great out there. Going to water the indoors, which I just LSTed, in a bit.

7/23/20: 51 days from seed. I removed my original Week 8, which I had set up as a veg week, in order to start flowering. (Itchy trigger finger!) I moved three plants out of the tent to my outdoor grow, which I'll be starting a new diary for today or tomorrow. 12/12 initiated! Here we go! 7/26/20: Day 54/Flower day 4. Ol' Lefty showed as a male this morning -- sticks and balls at every Y. I was sad to see him go, as he was a beautiful plant. Down to two in the tent. My ScrOG netting is supposed to be delivered today, and none too soon, as Lefty II and Righty are starting to stretch.

7/31/20: 59 days from seed/Flower day 9. Pistils! Both plants remaining in the tent are confirmed fems. Pistils at multiple locations on both. Plants look green and happy. Exciting stuff!

8/7/20: 66 days from seed/Flower day 16. Still looking good. Budlets are forming nicely. Righty has a little bit of yellowing to the very bottom fan leaves, but I think that's probably because they're no longer getting any light. Going to keep an eye on it, though. 8/11/20: Day 70/Flower day 20. Chugging right along. Budlets are getting beefier. I flushed with plain water today and will again tomorrow prior to adding some Recharge and some CalMag on Thursday. Did some defoliating/light pruning of the underScrOG, mostly fan leaves, popcorn sites, and yellowed leaves. I want to get the undercanopy cleaned up prior to the swing into flowering proper.

8/12/20: 71 days from seed/Flower day 21. Sugar leaves all over the place, just dusted in trichomes. Budlets have almost graduated to buds; a few hairs here and there have turned red and curled in, but the vast majority are still white and sticking straight out. I reached over a cola to adjust the back corner of the net and brushed my inner arm right by the ditch of my elbow against it, and it left a smear of sticky icky that legit wouldn't wash off. I had to use rubbing alcohol. I am giddy with excitement. I've been flushing the plants with plain water for the last two days, and tomorrow I'm going to give them the usual Dyna-Gro Pro-TeKt and Bloom and add Real Growers Recharge and CalMag to the solution.

8/22/20: 81 days from seed/31 days in flower. Rolling right along toward harvest. I added an Exhale 365 bag and a dehumidifier to the tent. The pics are actually from the end of last week; I keep forgetting to take better ones.

8/29/20: 88 days from seed/38 days in flower. Lots of yellowing on Righty. I feel like it's too early for this much yellow. Flushing to try to arrest it. Buds look great, smell dank, feel sticky and firm, and are getting fatter every day.

9/5/20: 96 days from seed/46 days in flower. Moving right along. Flushing continues, but Righty seems to be getting worse. Might be looking at an early harvest, although of course I'm going to hold out as long as I can. Trichomes are still clear.