Purple Urkle Clones

I was given a couple of plants that were already 4 weeks into veg. They are supposed to be "Purple Urkle" strain. They were in 1 gallon pots (Miracle Grow soil) when I got them. I transplanted them into 7 gallon pots with pro-mix and put them in my tent on Sunday (10/25). No issues and the plants don't seem stressed at all. This year I have a new 3x3 tent to replace the 2x2 tent from last year's grow. I'm not planning on any training and plan to see what happens. Since these are indica strain, I expect them to fill out rather than up but so far, they are just getting taller it seems. I will let these stay in veg cycle for a couple weeks and if they do fill out, I'll switch them to flower.

Seems to be progressing well.. One plant is definitely getting bigger than other. Not sure why. I alternate position in tent and rotate plants occasionally. So far, humidity has been in check without humidifier. I have both vents open on sides of tent slightly (tented at bottom to minimize light leaks). I've been having to water most every day. This weekend, I skipped a day and woke up to slightly droopy plants. I won't do that again. I've also been trimming damaged and irregular leaves, and leaves that touch the soil. I'm thinking another week at least before I can switch these to flower. My last grow was an auto and I got about 4 oz yield from the one plant. I have much bigger expectations for these. 😏

Started flowering light schedule yesterday. Plants really filled out last week. I probably waited just a tad too long since the tent is really crowded. I should be trimming I think but am unsure how and where. This plant is much different than the last plant... This is much bushier and crowded inside the bush. It looks like there are potential bud sites at bottom of plant well inside the canopy. I trimmed one such limb off because it was getting into the dirt. With my previous plant, it was much more obvious what to trim. I need to do more research I guess. I also noted that the top growth has a little yellowing of the very tips of the leaves. I don't know if this is an issue? See picture. Does anyone reading this (if anyone does) know? I also seem to have a small infestation of little black gnats (fungus gnats?) I saw one a few days ago and I bought some of the little yellow sticky cards to put in soil. I put one card in each plant. Since yesterday, I see about a dozen gnats on each card. Is this bad? Is there a safe insecticide I can use? I might try some Diatomaceous Earth powder on the soil.

Really stretched the last week. For being indica, these are tall. Way taller than my last auto grow. The tent is pretty much completely full. I noticed some leaves are falling off at the lower levels...probably from lack of light through the thick canopy? I've tried a little trimming but these plants seem to be making a lot of new growth at very bottom of plant making it's a little confusing for me. Should I chop off new growth at bottom since it can't really develop anyway? No buds have appeared yet. I'm hoping it will be easier trimming when the limbs supporting buds can be identified more easily. It looks like the fungus gnat crisis is over. Not seeing anymore bugs. No chemicals were used. I put the yellow sticky cards in and turned the fan on the soil so it oscillates over both pots. The idea being that since the gnats thrive in wet topsoil, I will dry out the top most layer of soil so they wont lay breed there. I also assume that they wont be able to fly very well with the fan blowing. I also started watering on a different schedule. Instead of everyday like I was doing, I'm now watering every three days.. Same amount of water, just less often. Seems to have worked. Waiting for flowers to appear.

A good week I think. Buds are starting to show up! One of plants has almost grown into light. They grew a lot in first and second week of flowering. Gnats are still visible but not near as bad as it was (which wasn't very bad) The powdery mildew problem has also not gotten any worse. I suppose this is because of my new watering schedule; once every three days. The top inch or two of soil is now drying out between watering. Also, the weather has taken a turn towards winter with cooler temps and lower ambient humidity. This means furnace running more which also lowers humidity in house and subsequently, the grow tent. I trimmed a ton yesterday. No idea what 'm doing but I did watch a video on the subject and the presenter was showing his technique of removing most of the big fan leaves with purple stems. I sort of did the same thing and the plant is much more open now with more light getting in center growth. It's also easier to water as the very bottom of plants are completely opened up. I'm thinking these are not Purple Urkle as Purple Urkle is an Indica strain. My understanding is that Indica grows out, remaining relatively short. These have grown mostly straight up and from the floor, are over 5 feet tall. Doesn't this make them Sativa?

Buds developing. Looking good. I think stretching is done. Did more trimming and used green cleaner on remaining leaves to get rid of powdery mildew. It appears to be working. Only a few leaves this morning with slight evidence of PM. I will keep up the spraying. Gnats are still around. Even though top layer of soil is really drying out between watering, the little bugs are still showing up on my yellow sticky cards. Waiting for diatomaceous earth to show up so I can be rid of them once and for all. Still concerned about my trimming and not knowing what I'm doing but so far, plants seem happy. My biggest problem I feel, is that both plants have grown within millimeters of the grow light. The light is all the way to top and I have resorted to bending (LST style) one of the main branches to keep it below light level.

Coming along.. Buds growing. I tried the Green Cleaner for the PM and it worked! The PM washes right off the leaves and doesn't appear to come back. I wish I could say the same for the gnats. The yellow sticky paper keeps collecting the little bugs. I even tried the diatomaceous earth in the soil. I learned that putting this on the soil within a day or two of watering will net you a white mud on top of your soil. After a couple days the soil is dry enough on top to keep the fresh layer of DE dry. Right away, I noticed the little black gnats crawling on the white DE so I was hopeful. After another couple days, I had to water which rendered the white DE to mud again. I also replaced the yellow sticky traps. Today is the day after watering and I noted there are a few bugs stuck to the traps. So, a few days with the DE on the soil did not kill all of them. I'll try again. I think I mitigated the problems from the plant growing into the light; I simply bent over the main stem from the tallest plant and have been sort of training it to bend over a bit. This has resulted in some clearance between the plant and the light. Plants do not seem to suffer from it so I think I'm good.

Still struggling a little with the PM and the fungus gnats. Every once in a while, I'll see the white powder on a leaf/leaves and have to douse it with the Green Cleaner solution. Some spots seem to be stubborn to go away. Likewise with the damn gnats. They are reduced dramatically but still there. I'm not sure on the effectiveness of the diatomaceous earth. The gnats breed in the soil. So you put the DE on top of the soil...except.. there's no point in putting it on moist soil as it turns into white mud. The top of soil is dry for only a day or two between waterings and the next watering washes it away. So... Maybe.. You can get it on there for a day or or two between waterings. Is this going to be effective? I'm keeping up with the sticky cards but they keep showing insects in the tent. Not pleased about this. I trimmed the hell out of them yesterday. All major fan leaves are gone. I can see progress in bud growth but it just seems slow. Plants are using a little less water also. I can go at least 4 days between watering now. Every watering, I'm using about 2.5 gallons for both plants. I'm using nutes for every other watering. Not sure if this is correct or not. Directions from Fox Farms say to "feed twice a week". I water about twice a week. Should I use the nutes every watering?

Still plugging along... Seems like things are slowing down with not a lot of development in the buds the last week. I'm still seeing a few gnats despite using the diatomaceous earth. I'm also seeing what appears to be breakout spots of the PM on leaves or under buds. I spray the affected spots with my Green cleaner solution when I do. Leaves and buds seem dark but that's probably just the strain. My watering is stretching out to about a 4 day interval and I use just over 2.5 gallons on both plants. Sometimes I see a little runoff but most of the time not. Seem like I should be closer to harvest but these need to fatten up quite a bit yet I think.

Still plugging along. I have to admit...I'm a little disappointed with how these buds are developing. I expected them to fill in a lot more I guess. For all practical purposes, it looks like these will be ready for harvest soon and the buds are about as big as they're going to get. I'm sure some of my problems are from poor lighting and that's because these plants have grown so tall they are almost in the light fixture. If you bend the close branches away, they are no longer in direct light. Trying to keep moving plants around to keep them more uniformly illuminated. Not seeing any gnats buzzing around anymore -- maybe I got them all. The PM still seems to be a mild problem. Every day, I'm finding this crap on a few leaves here and there. I took some pictures with the microscope and can see the trichomes. They are well developed and starting to get milky. I'm guessing this puts my optimal harvest about 1-2 weeks away?

Hopefully, this is last week of flower and by next week at this time, plants will be harvested and drying in tent. The tallest plant is having issues staying straight up.. It wants to bend over from the weight of all the buds. ..I think this is good problem to have. The tops of both plants are getting dark and a little crispy. Haven't seen any gnats in a couple weeks but still seeing the occasional leaves with the dreaded white PM on them. I dowse them with my green cleaner when I see them. I can't wait to get these harvested and the next grow going. Next time it will be Critical Purple Autos. Seeds on the way.

Finally done with this one. Just started drying on Saturday the 9th. These were partially grown clones that were gifted to me. This is only my second grow and first photo plants; my first grow was an auto. My Next grow is just starting as I germinate 2 new auto seeds: Critical Purple. I'll update this diary when drying complete. Update 1/14/21: I think I let it flower a week too long and let it dry too long. Total yield was about 8oz but 1/3 of that was larf. Buds were a bit airy ,dry and crumbly also. I'm disappointed that I let this dry too long. It was only 3 days but the humidity was very low (~35-40%). Oh well. I'll use the larf for concentrate and butter.