Clementine the Cream Mandarine (1stGrow)

pinkdragon (DAY 7) Switched to the Mars-Hydro TS600 this week and have been keeping it 40cm above since. (DAY 9) Got a fan! Been keeping it on her just enough to make her dance the tiniest bit :) (DAY 10) Watered for the first time today in a circle around the little gal, going from the outer edges of the leaves to the rim, let drain all the way. I pHed it to about 6.1 with fresh lemon juice (~80 drops). I've had an issue with fungus gnats in my other plants but I applied Diatomaceous Earth and neem oil on those and have just the yellow stickers on this girl as a precaution.

pinkdragon (DAY 16) Big update this week was moving the lil gal to a 40x40cm grow box. The light was annoying me and I couldn't regulate humidity well so it was a must. Furthermore, the fungus gnats have invaded (just a few), so I lightly covered the soil with some washed coarse aquarium sand and a little diatomaceous earth on top. I put the pot in a humidity tray (same sand with water level below the pot so it doesn't soak in) and sprayed the drain holes with neem oil. I think that'll be it for the gnats as there weren't that many to begin with. (DAY 17) Despite the box, I've been having issues keeping my humidity up, it's been consistently at 40% even though I've put in a mini humidifier, a wet towel, and a cup of water. I think this is due to me only having an intake fan (that has a bit too high of a speed), but that will be remedied in a couple of days when two new fans get here. Until then we'll make do. Will be updating the week's entry as I go. (DAY 19) Still having issues keeping humidity up... I put wet sponges, towels, and cups of water in the little tent and it still stays around 30% relative humidity. If anyone has any tips please let me know! The intake fan is at the lowest setting. Other than the twisted new growths, presumably where the original two leaves were, and the sliiight clawing, things are looking great! She's really exploding. Will start LST today as she looks ready. :) (DAY 21) She's really exploding now, can't even keep up with the new growth. She doesn't seem particularly upset by the 30% humidity (still actively trying to keep it up, oh well), and I've still only watered her twice total - once on Day 0, and once again on Day 10. I figure she'll tell me when she's thirsty. :) I did end up doing LST on Day 19, readjusted today. Did a bit of leaf tucking too to get more light to the other developing branches. Also, another positive note, fungus gnats are all gone. Woohoo! Cheers to the end of week 3!

pinkdragon (DAY 24) Well, she didn't look particularly thirsty, but she was not growing very vigorously anymore, so today I gave her 2L water (pHed to 6.1 with Biobizz pH down) with some food. I also LSTed and branch tucked a lot so that the developing branches could get as much light as possible. As usual, will update the week as I go :) (DAY 25) Wow! She really loved her little energy drink! She's happier than ever 😍 I redid the LST today and tucked some more leaves. Had to cut off one big leaf that was blocking too much and couldn't be tucked, but I think it should be fine. I did see one fungus gnat today so I sprayed the drainage holes with neem oil, will add more DE on top of the sand later when I'm sure it's completely dry. (DAY 27) Found the first signs of deficiency today! The affected leaves were down at the bottom, and they were the very first and second set of leaves she shot up, so I guess it's to be expected. Looked like calcium deficiency, so I pHed 4 total liters of water containing 4mL of Biobizz Grow and 4mL of Biobizz Bloom. I also washed and crushed up an eggshell to sprinkle on top of the soil before I watered. We'll see how she looks tomorrow. (DAY 28) Well we're into flower now. She's still growing, shall we say, like a weed! Been another lovely week 😊

pinkdragon (DAY 29) Been leaf tucking and plucking off blooms that for sure won't get enough light, as well as fan leaves that are blocking bud sites that can't be tucked. Minimal pruning! (DAY 30) She seemed a little dry so I just gave her 2L of water pHed to 6.5 with 4mL total of Biobizz Bloom. (DAY 31) Found a spot on one of the leaves today, she maybe looks a bit overwatered but good overall. Perhaps a bit too neon though? Maybe a N deficiency? Also, some of the uppermost leaf tips are bleached, but I think that's just a tiny bit of light burn from them growing too close to the light. Correct me if I'm wrong though! (DAY 33) The leaves, especially the new ones, have gone yellow. On SweetSeeds recommendation, I went out and bought CalMag and mixed 0.5mL in 750mL water, pHed to 6.5. Hopefully she looks better tomorrow. (DAY 34) Alright well yesterday was a big day! Well she looked worse today, and judging by the Biobizz feeding schedule, she was suuuper hungry. So I mixed the recommended amount of 6mL BioGrow, 4mL of BioBloom, 2mL of Topmax, and 2mL of CalMag into 2L water. The pH of that was naturally 6.25. I also tested the runoff, which was between 5.5 and 5.7 (after nutes), so I'm not sure whether or not to be alarmed by that. Later update: my friend the weed guru came by with his nice pH meter and EC/PPM meter. We tested the ppm of the older runoff in my humidity drip tray (which collects a lot since it's filled with sand) and even the most concentrated reading gave 795 PPM (my regular tap is 396). So I first made a sort of tea consisting of spinach (for iron), banana peel (potassium, etc), and coffee grounds (nitrogen) and boiled that for about 15-20 min. I cooled it, added about 0.5L into another 1.5L of regular water with another dose of BioBloom, TopMax, BioGrow, and CalMag with the same measurements as the above, and pHed to about 6.4. I took the risk of her being a bit overwatered and fed her with that, but the runoff was still 5.8-5.9. Will water with slightly raised pH over the next few waterings. My friend also gave her a serious haircut! (DAY 35) Ok well she's still a bit pale but she looks good today! Apparently BioBizz products take a little bit longer to work since they feed the soil and not the plant directly, so I hope she'll continue to improve. :)

pinkdragon Like always, will update the week as I go! (DAY 38) Fed today again! Just with 2L of water pHed to 6.5. Since the mix of the above nutrients are naturally pHed to 6.2, I added diatomaceous earth to bring the pH up. (DAY 39) Always impressed by this plant - she absolutely loved her feeding once again. Exploding with growth. (DAY 40) Well, not much to say the last few days! With feeding regularly, I haven't run into any more issues, and she's retained her beautiful green color! At first I was super careful not to overfeed, but now I know that I was nowhere near that issue haha. Will be sure to carry this knowledge to my next grow. I'm also trimming off any leaves that block light to the buds :) (DAY 41) Fed again today, pHed to 6.4 (close as I could get it to 6.5) with DE. Added the same nutes as above, using 3L of water, except I added an extra mL per L of BioBloom. (DAY 42) She always loves her feeding <3 Defol'ed a little today but other than that, just watching!

pinkdragon Will update as the week goes on! (DAY 43) She's really starting to smell heavenly now - "cream mandarine" is an excellent name for the strain based on the scent, though maybe I'd call it "cream mango" instead. 😇 Though surprisingly, the smell doesn't reach outside of the tent, which I am thankful for. (DAY 46) Treated with some beneficial nematodes along with a normal watering/fert with 2L water. Those little fungus gnats are hardcore 😅 still aren't so many in total though so I'm not very worried. (DAY 47) Little bit of nute burn perhaps, some of the leaves are clawed a bit upwards with the tips a tiny bit burnt. But she looks happy overall, buds keep growing!

pinkdragon Will update the week as I go! (DAY 52) Watered today with the increased nutes! Water was pHed to 6.5 with pH+, and she got 2L. She got some burnt tips last time but it's alright overall. She's also showing some canoe-ing of her leaves presumably due to excess heat, so I've opened a window to let some cool air in. Hopefully this helps some! (DAY 54) Well I'm starting to see why people need filters for smell hahaha. She's really starting to stink! But pistils are starting to turn brown so I'm excited :) Hoping the burnt edges of the leaves aren't a big issue. Watered a bit, 2L with only 2mL of CalMag. (DAY 56) I'm not sure if I'm inexperienced or what, but it seems that she's growing hermie features? But the 'sacs' all have pistols.. maybe they're just buds and I'm paranoid 😅

pinkdragon Will update the week as I go! (DAY 57) I switched the day-night cycle to bring down temperatures during the 'day' since it was so hot in the box. It's a lot more stable now! (DAY 58) Watered again with nutes, just 2L. Leaves are not looking so hot but the buds look great. It's hard to see whether trichomes are clear or cloudy... but I'm hoping more cloudy than not cause I'm itching to harvest. (DAY 60) She seems to be drying out more often now so I watered 2L again with half nutes. Trying not to burn/overload her in the final stretch~ (DAY 64) Fed again today, doubled the amount of CalMag as she keeps getting spots on her leaves. Found a couple of little white bugs crawling around the topsoil, so I naturally freaked out, but they turned out to be hyposasis miles (a good guy!) so we're alright. On to week 10!

pinkdragon Will as always update the week as I go! (DAY 65) Starting to see some amber trichomes on the leaves, so that gives me hope that her life is coming to an end. Still got a little while for the buds themselves, but I'm hoping to chop in a week or so. On another note, while she does smell a bit, I'm still not having to use a filter for the smell. (DAY 67) Well I just learned today about foxtailing haha. Looks like we might have a little bit of that going on, but not too much. since my canopy is slanted I slanted my light to accompany it 😁 (DAY 68) Fed again today at 'sunrise,' the usual 2L with nutes, pHed to 6.5. She's really starting to stink now, I take back what I said a few days ago 😅

pinkdragon (DAY 73) Well, I will be leaving town soon for a week, so I will have to harvest in 4 days. Very much hoping it's ready by then! The buds closest to the light are throwing out new pistils, so I raised the light and will try to keep the tent cooler to speed up the ripening. Trichs are looking pretty good though I must say! If the trichs are not great on the lower buds by the time I leave town, I will just harvest the large ones, water the remaining, and harvest the rest directly when I am back 7 days later. Also, fed for the last time last night. hoping for the best! (DAY 76) Sugar leaves are starting to turn yellow and foxtailing is setting in, beginning to see some amber, but it looks like most of the trichomes are still clear. Quite confused on what to do: I can either harvest entirely tomorrow, partial harvest tomorrow and leave the rest to fend for itself while I'm gone for 7 days, or just leave the whole plant without monitoring for 7 days and harvest when I'm back. It's quite hard to tell... I did take off a small foxtail from the bottom of the main cola 6 days ago, quick dried it, and got such a pleasant, happy high. However, my partner smoked the same amount and he barely felt anything, so I'm not sure what that means. Perhaps I got a more potent part? Or maybe I was just very glad to be smoking my first home-grow! (DAY 78) So with the help of the community and SweetSeeds, I decided to water one last time (half nutes, 4L) and I will leave her to fend for herself over the next 7 days. My normal watering schedule is every 4 days so I guess she'll be okay. That being said, no more pics before the harvest I think!

pinkdragon (DAY 85) Well she's still alive! Got back into town today and she looks frosty. Leaving her in the dark for 24 hours and then I'll go ahead and harvest! Absolutely thrilled.

pinkdragon So the buds came out a bit airy, but I think it's because this strain likes temps to be a bit cooler overall (never above 28C), and I couldn't provide that for her many times. Still got a LOT off this, so I'm really proud of my first grow! It was sticky as all hell and took me and my partner nearly 3 hours to trim it all - but smoking the scissor hash was an amazing reward. I dried for 7 days, but it turned out to be a bit too long, so I'm not sure if the cure will provide that much more potency/taste. But to be honest, it doesn't need it so much - the smoke is already very smooth. Tastes incredible!