i49 Lowryder Auto: The 1st Grow

(6/23) This was a week of fuck-ups and a trip around the learning curve. Was initially worried about seed germination and which method to go with; chose Paper Towel Method and had success w/ both seeds popping. Just planted in soil today (Fox Farm Happy Frog). NOTE TO SELF FROM FUTURE: Water Glass Dancing Paper Towel Method is best of choice. Sprinkled Great White directly in hole made for taproots and around base of soil in area where planted. Using 2 x 2 x 4 grow tent; only watering w/ spring water throughout entire grow. FUCK-UPS: -Let taproots grow too long (1 in) before planting; this begets later problems -Grabbed one of the taproots w/ tweezers instead of by the seed shell, grabbed way too fucking hard and damaged a portion of taproot. It is now dead. -Did not moisten soil properly before planting, did not stir/loosen up soil; poured it right in like an asshat -MIsread depth of the hole needed for the seedling and planted 4 in. down -Overwatered seedlings when compensating for not properly moisturizing soil earlier THINGS LEARNED: -Happy Frog soil is thick ass shit; not fluffy garden soil w/ just perlite, but twigs and shit too. Must mix thoroughly. -Resist the urge to water daily -A complete mixing (dry and again after moistening) of the soil is necessary to break up the chunks and create more airflow -RESIST THE URGE TO WATER DAILY -Do not plant seedling either too far down or too close to surface; "the rule of thumb" says plant to 1st thumb knuckle or 1/4" to 1/2"...NO DEEPER

(6/30) Disaster narrowly avoided! A seedling has survived my madness and is slowly but surely making its way toward the light. I have been successful at resisting the urge to water; waiting until soil dries well & good, and then will only be using a spray bottle to moisten the area around the seedling. I've planted a new seedling using the lessons learned from the previous week and am awaiting it to break surface. Have introduced green coconut water diluted w/ spring water and mixed w/ 1 TSP of Great White administered through a spray bottle to Max's hydration regimen. Hoping my ventilation system (intake duct fan + 6" clip fan) will help exhaust the heat in the grow tent and provide fresh air to keep the warmer summer temp. in check. The RH in the tent is low for seedlings (40-70%), however perfect for the flowering stage (20-40%). Will try adding a bowl of water to the grow tent to add some humidity during these early weeks.

(7/7) Growth is slow for both Max (weaker) & Furiosa (stronger). Both plants are top-heavy and not filling out underneath. Max is slowly but surely catching up to her younger sister as her roots break out of soil-lock and in to new territory in the pot; hoping this is the result of the Great White root booster. REMEMBER: mycorrhizae turns in to a fungal blob when exposed to water so must only use w/ measuring cups; DO NOT use Great White w/ spray bottle, becomes clogged. On Furiosa, noticing the development of secondary growth sites under the main leaves; also occurring w/ Max but much slower. Time to start Low Stress Training (LST)? Bowl of water trick provides only a minor bump in humidity level, though there is still an increase; average RH inside grow tent now up to 40%. Reduced watering to once a week using a spray bottle to moisten (not soak!) the roots and surrounding soil. However, I now feel that wasn't nearly enough; should have been giving them .5 litres (4 cups) daily once the top layer of soil had dried completely. This is my guess as to why they weren't achieving the growth I had anticipated.

(7/14) Started low-stress training late in to Week 4; should have begun in Week 3. However, both plants have responded well. The secondary bud sites have grown considerably in the short time I used LST. Height of plants slightly lower due to the training. Furiosa's stem became top-heavy and fell over during watering; repacked the soil around her and used LST to provide light to the stem to strengthen it. This is most likely due to not beginning LST sooner, so the stem remained weak as the top of the plant continued to grow and add weight to the bottom. Max is chugging along well and really took to the training. It feels as though a 2 gal. pot is too big for these plants as the surrounding soil doesn't pack in enough to support the plant as it grows. Next time I'll be going down to 1 gal. to see if this improves growth and adds stability. Nutrients play a much larger role than I'd previously thought. Unfortunately, current budget does not allow for purchase of the full spectrum required.

***Flash on camera not working*** (7/21) Raised LED lamp to accommodate plant height; took out D-ring and strung wires over grow tent cross bar. Will move light closer to canopy when buds develop a bit more. Caused some minor nutrient burn when attempting to introduce Bud Candy to the soil; just the leaf tips got a little singed. Flushed the soil and have seen no further leaf burn. LESSON LEARNED: when using nutrients w/ autoflowers, reduce to 1/4 of recommended dose. Plants could have used another week of LST here. Not watering every day as I do not want to overwater the plants. Waiting 2-3 days between hydration to let top of soil dry out.

(7/27) Cut the Bud Candy to 1/8 tsp in 1 liter and so far no nute burn. Defoliated bottom 1/4 of plants, those sections that weren't receiving light any longer. I think it was more lollipopping (stripping bottom of plant)/pruning (removing branches) as I removed all the lower foliage. Max has really stretched this week. Once the runt, now she's taller than her little sister by about 2 in. Hoping that this late growth spurt is normal & good. Many sites are developing bud.

(8/3) Increased Bud Candy dosage to 1/4 tsp to see if plants could take it; no nute burn from the increase, great success! Reintroduced green coconut water (Vita Coco/200 ml per liter of water) to the hydration (will incorporate this much more efficiently on next grow). Hoping the coconut water combines w/ Great White to make the roots super strong and provide the "natural" nutes to contrast Bud Candy's chemical cocktail.

(8/11) Had major drama w/ Furiosa this week; dropped an empty box of Vita Coco on her like a clown and bent 2 stems. Used Scotch tape to mend them and one branch has continued growing virtually without interruption and the other is slowly but surely growing back to life! Furiosa had a growth spurt this week (hopefully the last!) and has topped out very close to the LED light. Max had a similar spurt previously, but was not nearly as tall as Furiosa grew; fingers crossed that she's done w/ the vertical growth and will now focus on bud development. I defoliated Furiosa, trimmed the leaves on the bottom branches that aren't receiving much light and will most likely not be major bud sites. Debating on pruning those lower branches entirely, but am adopting a less is more strategy in regard to cutting things and stressing the plant.

***Will have better camera for next grow!*** (8/18) Running in to some trouble w/ LED light being too close to the plant tops. Furiosa has surpassed the light and Max topped out right below it. I can see the leaves starting to shrivel but cannot think of a light-raising solution. Watering every other day now. Increased Bud Candy to 1/2 tsp this week, however with light burn starting to show on the leaves and no remedy I'm going to reduce it back to 1/4 or maybe even 1/8 tsp for Week 10.

(8/25) CONFOUND IT! I still cannot devise a way to raise my LED light. I have to take a trip to the hardware store to try and find a solution or I don't know what I'm going to do. Both plants are too close to the light, w/ Furiosa now having surpassed it in height and Max getting light burn at the canopy and main cola bud site. Also it's hotter than the rancid teat of a fanged cow outside. This is not good. :( FUUUCCDDGGGE! THING I LEARNED: Been using WAY too much coconut water. Quantity to use is 15-50 ml per liter of water; I've decided on 2 TBSP per liter (about 30 ml). I don't notice any harm in the plants from the increased use, however I wonder about excess sugar buildup in the buds. I plan to flush and am hoping this will remove anything extra. Light burn apparent on many of the leaves of both plants, but since this occurred towards the end of the grow I am hoping it will not be as catastrophic as I previously thought. With the yellowing leaves it also looks like I've got some nitrogen deficiency going on, but I've read this is normal towards the end of flowering as the plant sucks all remaining energy from the fan leaves to power bud growth.

(9/01) GREAT SUCCESS!!! A trip to Ace Hardware inspired me to use zip ties to secure the LED light to the very top of the tent, as close to the crossbars as possible. Luckily, there was an extra bar included w/ tent, so I was able to secure two of the light attachments to one bar and the third to the other as the hanging attachments were in a triangular design. I could feel my inner Macgyver tear through my own body screaming at the Ace checkout lady. BONUS: I also discovered that there is indeed a way to create shorter hanging wires for the LED light. Hardware stores have the wire and, more importantly, the tiny loop-close attachments that have to be sledge hammered on to the wires; an employee can do this for you! In summary, my grow was saved this week through some hard sought knowledge and ingenuity. Ran out of Great White root powder and went to pick up more at the hydro store, but they were out. They had Plant Success Orca (basically the liquid form of Great White). Grabbed a bottle and only got to use it twice before I started flushing, but am looking forward to using it for next grow. Both plants are recovering from their 2 week nightmare of light burn hell. I think I may have stunted Furiosa's bud development slightly, but she looks like she's bouncing back. Gave them a few days outside in the sun to help boost their healing w/ some solar love. LESSON LEARNED: Started to flush at the tail end of this week, but kept feeding both plants the above nutes in all waterings prior. Proper flushing takes about 10 days, and while I think I am still close to the sweet spot of flush to harvest, I think I could have started the flush at the beginning of this week.

(9/8) Flush Time has begun. Like everything on this grow, I am probably a week, maybe 2, late for this process to have started. Nevertheless, I have been watering daily w/ 1L of only spring water. The drainage from each plant is about 500 ml; have been doing this for over a week and am still seeing cloudy water from the nutes. I don't want to wait too much longer to harvest Max as she looks very frosty & dense now. Her younger sister, Furiosa, is still developing her bud and about 2 weeks behind from the Light Burn Debacle and planting later. The water daily w/ just H2O flush method recommended by 420 Fast Buds that I've been using would be great if I had more time on my hands and had initiated 2 weeks ago. I now must turn to the Royal Queen method of intense soil cleansing by using 2L of water to flush twice daily for Max. Thank the Seven I've been gifted an additional wrong-sized grow tent to be able to harvest and dry Max when I decide to pull the trigger. SOON.

(9/15) Gave both girls an 11-day flush; still seeing brown, cloudy water in Max, but Furiosa's drainage is gradually becoming clearer. HARVEST TIME FOR MAX! Busted out the new pruning sheers for her big day. I haven't input the harvest data yet as Furiosa is still developing and I want to include the bud weight totals of both plants together next week. I set up the extra grow tent I have to act as a drying space (bud rickhouse!); so far so good, the humidity range is around 50% (suggested RH 45-55%) and the temps. are between 70-75 F, perfect for drying bud from what I've read. Furiosa still needs some development time, I think. Letting her continue to flower for another week and will prob. harvest her this upcoming Tues. ***I'm no longer using nutes, but had to include something for the week, so I listed I am still flushing but have ceased this. Now am watering only when soil has dried (once every 2-3 days) w/ only spring water***

Max: 1.6 oz (wet) / 16.2 g (dry) Furiosa: 2.7 oz (wet) / 12.9 g (dry) Shout-Outs: Royal Queen Seeds Cannabis Blog /