First Nano Grow

Planning to grow these under window light conditions, which is 5 of direct light and then 9h of ambient light. Day 0: Germinating seeds right into the 30mm jiffy peat pellet and using local tap water (dechlorinated by air). Day 2: Purple Bud already has stem coming out whereas Black Light only has tap root going down. Day 3: Sprouts are coming up on both. Watering by the spoonful to rehydrate the pellet. Day 4: First set of true leaves on both. Day 5: Black Light racing to the sky with root outgrowing the pellet. Transplanting Black Light into a 7L smart pot and keeping her there, while setting Purple Bud into a small 4" pot. Soil is a home mix of coir, vermiculite, and worm castings. Added some perlite and a sprinkle of fragrant roobois tea leaves to the smart pot soil. And as for temperature for most of the day they are hitting over 28 degrees celsius, during the evening the temperature dips but I don't imagine it gets lower than 23 ambient in the home. Day 6: Sprouts seem to take fine to transplanting. Tiny amount of leaf growth. Since I am not using extra light, the vertical stretch occurs during the night time. Day 7: No visible leaf growth during the night. Today is an overcast day so no direct sunlight, just ambient. Possible that the growth has stunted to acclimatize to new soil as the roots leave the jiffy pellet. Excited for next week! I've been reading all the things and wondering if I can flower Purple Bud earlier. I'm in a locale that treats cannabis along the same lines as heroin, so growing is a no no, and I'm worried about the smell wafting to the neighbours or being spotted in the window if they are too big. Will play it by ear depending on circumstances.

This is a just for fun grow, not looking for big yields. Day 8: Both plants showing signs of 2nd set of true leaves coming in. Black Light (BL) is 7cm in height and Purple Bud (PB) is 2.5cm. BL is an auto which might explain why she is growing faster. Yesterday I tried to dig out BL's pellet to check the roots, little networks happening, but when I tried to remove the outside film of the pellet, I ended up dislodging some roots and pulling them out, oops. Today is another overcast and rainy day. No supplemental lights, working with nature here. Day 9: A bit of stretch from the cotyledons to the true leaves on both, more visible on BL. Leaves on BL are now at 2.5cm. Today has cloud coverage with sunny breaks. Day 10: Didn't learn from my mistake and ended up ripping out baby PB's roots too with the same pellet film removal procedure, so I decided to put her under light therapy. Set up a 9W 5500K light about 25cm away, with a reflector to bounce off light for 9h (1-10PM). Today there was full sunlight, so I opened the windows for the girls. Now PB's baby leaf has a tiny bit of light bleaching happening. No upward growth for PB, although her leaves look larger. BL is at 8.5cm in height. Day 11: BL is 9cm. Her growth is a little stunted, I suspect it's lack of light. Putting her under light therapy for the next 9h (1-10pm). She also got direct sunlight in the morning. I'm fine with small plants but since none of her leaves have grown to full shape I worry a little. PB I can leave in vegetative state for months and deal with later if necessary. Earlier I was worried about the smell, now I know with the size of these girls it'll be negligible. Day 12: I'm seeing the third set of true leaves come in on both! They are tiny little shadow nubs. Growth is definitely far behind compared to those on a grow light schedule or in full sunlight. I think I will keep supplementing BL's light schedule with the studio light I have. Possibly look into buying a new bulb. Day 13: Ordered a 68W full spectrum clip-on light. It's set to arrive in 4 days. So BL will stay small, but be sufficiently irradiated during her flower phase. I left her under the 9W studio light for 10.5h yesterday with frequent misting. Will start LST with her today using a twist tie into the soil. Neither plant has grown in height but their leaves are slowly become larger. Day 14: More leaf fingers are coming in. Supplemented BL for 5hrs while PB has been left just with natural light. PB has been developing at the same rate in terms of leaf structure yet she is just shorter and smaller. Her largest leaves are 1.5cm in length, and they are the same size as BL's 2nd set of leaves. Doing some companion planting. Planted a handful of basil seeds in paper towel in the 7L pot and then 3 seeds in the smaller pot. Looking forward to next week!

Height measurement from soil level. Started LST so BL went from 9cm to 6.5cm. PB staying slow and low at 3.5cm. Day 15: 68W lights arrived, wavelength 400nm-840nm. Planning on supplemental lighting from noon to midnight. Leaves on both slowly coming out nicely. Happy for this tiny grow 😁 Day 16: Lights are definitely helping the grow. They are now on their way. Day 17: They're starting to look like real girls! Lighting schedule is about 10-12hrs supplemental daily after the morning sun. Basil companions have sprouted in the pot. Hoping to have a nice cover, both visual and smell. If there is space I will transplant my mint cuttings in too. Since this is a nano grow and meant just for fun, I am unconcerned by the root inhibition or smaller yields. Day 18: BL's auto genetics is really coming through, her leaf growth is getting to be much bigger. If you get real close you can start to smell a fresh scent. PB is just going her sweet slow way. Today is an overcast day, but I will just supplement 12-12 later on. Day 19: PB's height from cotyledons is 4.5cm while BL is 6.5cm. The basils are coming up and BL is requiring more water now, her scent is getting stronger by the day. Curious as to when the auto will start flowering, hopefully by next week, this way she will stay micro 😁.

Day 21: Purple Bud is starting to smell sweet too. Black Light's first two leaves have moved toward the light, interesting to see the insane switch. Hard to measure height on BL now that I am using a bit of LST on her to keep her short. PB has definitely gotten taller. I've also planted a mint that is the same size as BL in her pot alongside the basil, both for cover and smell. Day 22: Instead of keeping the girls on the counter I'm going to lower them down which increases the lamp distance from 6cm to 25cm. I have added a photography reflector on one side, and the other side is a white wall. On sunny days I'll bring them up to the windowsill for natural light. The smell is still pretty mild. I need to get really close to catch the scent. Day 23: The mint and basil are working very well for BL, I can barely smell her without the freshness overpowering. PB on the other hand is starting to smell stronger, wondering why one set of her leaves are rounded, curious about whether it has to do with the roots being bound to a small pot. Also saw one small white spot on BL, I'm hoping it's not spider mite damage, so I sprayed the mint with a solution of water and neem in case the mint brought in some critters. The pistils will likely come in on BL shortly. Looking forward to the next few days!

Day 30: Just got back from vacation, left the girls on their own for 4 days. Watered before I left, came back and they look fine. BL is at 19cm and PB is 10cm. BL's stem is getting thicker, and stray spiders and ants are becoming more and more attracted to her. Odour is still weak and no signs of flowering. I may have to keep an eye out on her leaves starting from now and consider adding some liquid fertilizer. While I was on vacay I kept them at 12/12 artificial light. Usually I give them 3hrs of supplemental sunlight on the windowsill. Day 33: The foliage is starting to show signs of nutrient deficiency, spotting on the top leaves and yellowing on the bottom leaves on both plants. I'm adding a low dosage of orchid fertilizer and a bit of chamomile tea. Will also sprinkle some coffee grounds to the top layer of the soil. (7PM: I am seeing white pistils come out! Thinking it will start flowering very soon.) Day 34: Sprayed with a neem solution last night night and turned on the fan. Removed the yellowing leaf, looked like a powdered mold growth, and seeing if the spots are from bug meals. Hoping that the fan and the neem will reduce bugs. Day 35: The white spots definitely look like bugs taking bites out of the leaves. I'm going to spray her with neem daily and look out for critters now, and do all the rest of the household plants too. Started doing LST on PB as well. Looking forward to seeing BL enter her flowering phase as she is clearly pre-flowering now. Day 36: Might have been a bit too intense with PB's first LST session, she needs some recovery. Good thing I can just keep her in vegetative for a while. Neem spray went well, no new leaf damage. BL has done her pre-flower stretch. Will be able to keep these girls pretty small. Landlord may visit this week so I'll have to hide them.

Day 38: BL has very pronounced pistils and the first bud will show up any day now. She has stretched as I am slowly bringing her height down and down. PB is still in vegetative stage, since she is an auto I will likely flower her after BL is done. Keep them both small and the smell weak. Day 40: Took PB out of her pot (disturbed her roots), added some more coco coir in her potting soil since she wasn't draining as fast and packed it looser, then set her roots higher up so that she'd have more room to grow down. Is root training a thing? Day 41: PB showed some signs of clawing (upward) in the morning, she settled in once I watered her. BL is slowly going her way. I may have to give her leaves a rinse from the neem spray soon, her leaves are coated with a sheen which may not be good for light penetration. But since this is a nano grow, I am not worried about yields. Day 42: Doing a little bit more LST on BL, going to be super gentle as she is starting to flower. Way more pistils showing up right now. PB's new leaves are finally starting to grow again. Today's picture shows the clear difference in both genetics and pot size/type. It could be fun to clone PB and transplant her to the bigger pot next round and see how she does. Day 43: I've added two used teabags of dried powder to BL's soil. I can finally feel the soil in the pot become more firm, a sign that the root ball is taking. No signs of deficiencies yet on BL even with no real nutrient addition. PB's bottom leaf is fading. Will start feeding her a couple drops of orchid fertilizer when her soil dries out. PB is the same size as my potted mint. They even lean the same way.

Day 45: BL has got 7 spots where she is sending out flowers and is getting thirsty. PB on the other hand isn't absorbing water as readily, especially after the re-potting. The smell on this size doesn't seem significant, but I'm living here so it's hard to tell. They are still window sill babies and I am pretty happy with my first grow. Day 46: Starting to see that the yellow spots are from over watering. PB is struggling, I am not sure she will make it. Had to keep both in a cardboard box for an hour when the landlord came over today. Also read some articles on THCA that were interesting. Will possibly make some green juices from her leaves. Added some cut up mushrooms I've been growing into the soil for some extra nutrients. Day 48: Fighting the occasional aphid and silverfish, using a neem spray. PB is stabilizing and new leaf growth is happening. Training BL's main stem even more today. And at night was inspired by the r/CannaBonsai community posts to start training PB again and possibly turning her onto the canna bonsai ways.

Day 49: This set up keeps BL growing much slower than expected. While I am seeing more flowering sites pop up on her, and she's still looking fancy, I am not seeing any bud growth. On PB I decided to defoliate some of her lower leaves, especially the ones that messed with the flow of her shape, plus they were starting to yellow. I am starting to get a bit impatient and ordered some more seeds, so my next diary will be more videos and less text. Day 50: The guanokalog powder I ordered is on the way which is perfect for the flower stage. Day 51: Powder should come in later today and I will also ordered a 150W lamp for BL as she is flowering and needs some more light in her life. Day 52: The fruit fly? Or Aphid problem has become a really big nuisance. Spraying neem on the soil doesn't seem to work, so I just kill a handful everytime I go and check on them. They will overrun the place. The soil seems to be decreasing, is that a thing?? Finally tracked down the courier for the package and added a top layer of Guanokalog to the soil. 18g to BL and less than that to PB. I had ordered some BioBzz Bloom so I will add that to BL in a few days. Day 53: Fungus gnats!! That's what they are. So I am trying to spray a more concentrated neem spray and the guano powder to the soil hardened the top layer which makes it harder for the gnats to reproduce. And added a layer of perlite to the top. In the evening I am now noticing a little bit of nutrient burn on BL's leaves. I think she needs much less of a feeding based on her size. Will wait until mid next week to feed some BioBzz then. Day 54: The perlite seems to be working, although it does make watering a bit harder (since I can't figure out when the soil is dry). Will start to transition PB now, by wrapping her up in a large black pot and putting her in a cardboard box. Putting her into darkness at 8PM, and will take her out in the morning. I've also been making cannabis tea with some of the leaves and it's been a perfect night time drink :). All good things! Day 55: Ordered a 150W lamp for BL which should come next week as PB starts to flower. Tied down BL a little bit more so that the top flower sites start to get the same level of light. Smell is getting stronger now. I am pretty stoked about this beauty

Day 56: This morning when I went into the small bathroom, where I keep PB inside a cardboard box (for her dark phase), the whole room smelt intense. And she's still a tiny baby. BL on the other hand smells a bit grassier, I think it's her CBD genetics. There are still a couple of fungus gnats that fly around. They are getting harder and harder to kill by hand since they swerve intensely. I suppose this is natural selection at work. Day 57: Took PB out of her dark period and she had a fungus/mycelia growing which I found hilarious. And the 150W grow light came around 5PM. It's really bright without an auto time. Likely I will have it 11-11 daily + sun. And possibly just have PB in her own space with the 68W doing a 12/12. Used some leaves from both to make a cannabis infused garlic butter chicken and the buzz is elevating ✨. Day 58: Pill shaped tiny black bug? Day 60: Still putting PB to sleep at 6pm and waking her up at 8am. Gets at least 12hrs, possibly more. She is starting to pre-flower now. And BL's pistols are starting to mature.

Day 63: BL is smelling lush. A complex scent I can't quite pin down. I wonder if it's because of the mint and basil I have in with her. Also continually spraying neem since the gnats are back. PB is struggling for sure. Day 64: Bio-Bloom definitely encouraged the mint to start blooming. BL's foliage is much darker and she's getting more sugar leaves. PB is slowly making her way. Day 66: BL is getting a bit denser and her pistils are turning orange. I left PB out instead of putting her to sleep, hopefully it doesn't stress her out too much. I'll need to move soon, probably this month, so I may need to cut BL down early 😣. Day 68: The newer bud sites need light, may cut down the top two early. Can wait at most 3 weeks. Would like to start a new grow. Since at this point the fungus gnats are driving me crazy. Day 69: Checked the trichs and some are starting to turn cloudy. Cut off off the top bud and going to put her in water for 12hrs. Will count that as a flush. Tomorrow I'll hang her up to dry. This gives more room for the bottom flower sites to grow.. possibly? I'll be a bit more conscientious and thoughtful in the next grow, but right now I'm just getting impatient and want this one to finish up. In the past year I've smoked less than 3g of weed so I am not concerned for yield at all. Just interested in the process 🙃

Day 70: Cut off the 2nd bud site too. Friend mentioned that now my place doesn't smell as intense upon entry. The rest of the nano grow can continue on her own pace, I could possibly migrate her to my new place since now she is back to being tiny again. With the 2nd bud site I left it in a water container and visibly saw the water level going down throughout the day. It felt like a good way to do a flush. Fungus gnat infection is driving me nuts. So depending on how that goes, I may just call it quits earlier. Day 72: The dried top for BL is <1g, it's so cute and hilarious to me. Put the dried bud in a jar to cure, burped the jar for half a day, now she smells a bit orangey. Very lovely scent. Keeping the gnats under control now, barely. Fed PB + rest of BL 2ml/L of BioBizz. And getting the keys for my new apt tmrw! Also, the seeds for the new grow arrived at the post office so I can stop in to grab that too. Day 74: Tried to put a bottom layer of neem on PB's pot and ended up growing white mold. Poor girl she is suffering, but her leaves are coming out purple which has me stoked! On BL I'll see if I can wait until that top bud starts getting amber trichs.

Day 79: Fungus gnat infection is more manageable. PB is growing much fuller, I elevated her so she's closer to the light. The bottom of the pot is getting a bit moldy. I think fabric pots are much better for growth. The purple detailing is so nice. Night time temperatures are getting pretty cold.

Day 93: Purple is starting to smell lovely. She is slow and bushy and teetering on the edge of purple and not. Today is the last day she will be in this apt and I'm moving her over to the new place. Black is half harvested, waiting for her bottom to finish up. Will likely hide her here and use natural light because she is kind of heavy to carry (her pot that is). New grow has been transplanted into their final pots. I'll start that diary soon.

Harvested in 3 parts.

I put her under 24h lights near the end since it was too difficult for me to put her to sleep every night. And she was revegged and reharvested, second round gave about 1G too. Stunted by her pot size and Basil companion.