First Time Grower, Longer Term Toker

This week had its challenges. The grow pod I used was too solid for the roots to take so they kind of pushed themselves out. 2 of the 4 had to be placed directly into the clay pebbled filled basket. Have bee watering the plant with a dropper a couple time a day to make sure it stays moisturized. The plants have been moved into 2 gallon buckets a little earlier than expected but its ok.

This was the first official week we started the nutrients. Wanted the roots to grow a little more before adding the food since they didn't take to the grow sponges we started them in. We are using General Hydroponics Flora Series. Nutrients calibrated for 4 gallons of water: Flora Micro (1tsp), Flora Gro (1/2tsp), and Flora Bloom (1/2tsp). All 4 plants are doing great so far and are rooting nicely.

Plant 4 isn't doing too well. I think some bacteria started growing within the pebbles when they were exposed to the light. Had a funny smell. So I dumped the water and covered all the plants. Hope it recovers. Plant 2 seems to be doing the best. General Hydroponics nutrients for this week calibrated for 4 gallons of water: Flora Micro (2 tsp), FloraGro (2 tsp), Flora Bloom (1/2 tsp). Water pH is around 5.6-5.8. I have been checking the pH levels every other day and that seems to be right at the point where it needs to be adjusted to a lower pH to around 5.5. Nothing below that.

This week we have implemented the topping technique to stimulate growth outwards more. Snipped just above the 3rd node on Plants 1-3. Plant 2 is doing amazing, really spreading out and the roots have grown super long. Plants 1 and 3 are doing great too, not as much growth as 2, but they're very healthy. I did manage to save plant 4! Covering all the pebbles did wonders for the plants health as well as keeping the water at a decent temp. No topping was done to plant 4, but She's doing beautifully. Had a little bit of a scare, it was doing awful with yellowing leaves and stunted growth. Its a real survivor. For this week's nutrients levels I repeated last weeks nutrient levels for Plant 4 for since it's roots aren't as long as it should be and it's only half the size of the other plants. I don't want to chance having nutrient burn in any form. For the other three plants, Nutrients calibrated for 4 gallons of water: Flora Micro (2tsp), Flora Gro (2tsp), Flora Bloom (1tsp). Water pH: 5.6-5.7

Plant 3 had some pH issues. Otherwise the plants are doing great. Plant 4 has been topped. And the other plants have been steadily growing outwards. I've managed to keep the plants under 6 inches thus far. Plant 2 is extremely sturdy in its branches. I have very little work wiggle room to manipulate the branches in the direction I want them to grow in. Water pH is around 5.6-5.7. I have been re-tying the branches about every other day.

This week was rough. Had everything going smoothly only to find out that I had tied some of the branches too tight and wound up losing 3 main branches on plant 2 and 1 on plant 3. Plant 2 has been extremely stiff in its branches. It's been hard to manipulate them like the other plants. Fortunately, I am still smack dab in the middle of the vegetation period. So, I adjusted the unexpected pruning so that each branch I lost will just split into 2 main branches instead. Topping to an extreme bit, but I am confident the plants will bounce back just fine. Plants 1-3 I have managed to keep at 6in. Plant 4 (the runt) is slowly, but surely coming along nicely. Plant 2 has also has a steady pH level in its bucket. The other plants have raised the pH as they use up the nutrients, but plant 2 has not been in that group. Still doing the best out of the other plants. Now that I have ingrained monitoring the pH levels correctly, I have started to add monitoring the PPM levels of nutrients in the water. This will be the third week in with the same ratio of nutrients, I have only added one more set each week to prolong the vegetative period before going into the transition period for flowering. PPM levels for this week are around 430.

This week went smoother. Plant 2 has recovered beautifully from the unexpected topping of two of it's branches last week. All plants except for Plant 4 are about 15-16in. wide and are now around 7in tall. Plant 4 is our "runt" of the litter. It had some issues early on in it's growth and has been a steady come back. We have some beautiful roots growing in this bunch. Plant 2 has the longest/largest root system out of all of them. They're aroma is really starting to come in nicely. We don't have that much height space for them to grow into. They can reach about 4ft height MAX before they're too close to the light (1200W) in our tent. We'll be transitioning them to Flowering stage next week since the plants double their height during the Stretch. I like to give them a good pruning the day before I change out the water each week to help them use up any nutrients left over before I dump it. So I have kept the same Nutrient ratio as above for the past 4 weeks, I only added another round per gallon per week to keep up nutrient needs as the plants grow. The next nutrient ratio level is for transitioning, which I wasn't ready for as of yet. I have started monitoring PPM levels (finally). Making sure the level are not too high. This week they are around 550.

We have officially changed the light to a 12-12 schedule! All plants are doing great, even our little runt. The plants are now just shy of half their max height allowance. With the exception of Plant #4, the other 3 have a width of about 16 inches and are about 9 inches TALL. Nutrients are now equal parts per gallon. The Before and After trim pics don't look very different, but I did manage to trim about a tray full of leaves off. I'm going a little conservative with my trimming this round. The last batch (my cherry popping batch), I trimmed way too much too early because I wasn't sure what I was looking at with it's growth, even with pictures to help guide me. This time, I'm going to let it grow a tad bit more than last time. It'll help me to get to the know the plant more. There's a nice aroma coming off the plant more. I'm also noticing that the pH levels haven't really needed to be adjusted as they get bigger. I think I used too much nutrients last time because the PPM went up instead of down as expected it would. So, I lowered it this week.

First full week of in FLOWERING phase and the plants went full bush! They grew 2inches in height. At the widest, the plants are around 24in. and the average height for them are 12in. We have some good branches sprouting up. We should get around 6 colas per plant. Right now they are only under a single light. 2 lights at 1200W was too much for the plants (too much heat and too much light intensity). The next batch we grow, we are planning on dropping the light strength down to 600W-650W so we can have 2 lights in our grow tent (hopefully those lights wont generate as much heat). At 5x5 with only 1 light and 4 plants, we are not utilizing the space properly. The pH levels have seemed to level out now with plants. I don't have to adjust the levels as much throughout the week. I toned down the nutrients just a bit. The plants were taking in water more than nutrients, so it was becoming a tad bit concentrated by the end of the week. They look great! I've trimmed them down just a tad bit.

Plants were looking great until I realized that Plant #3 was male. Thought about keeping to breed more seeds, but decided not to on the count we already have enough seeds to last the rest of the year. One day we'll take on breeding. Of course the male plant was doing the best in terms of flowering sites. First time having a male and I wasn't sure I would recognize it when time came. Hopefully I didn't find it too late. The other 3 plants looking great. At least the Runt will get more light. Flowering spots are starting to just come in.

They seem to be reaching the end of the stretch period. A couple of the colas on Plant 1 have grown a little taller than the other plants. They look great. Some good flowering spots are coming in nicely. Plant 1 is 18in at its tallest. Plant 3 is 16in tall. The Runt is doing quite well at 12in. tall. No issues going on. Getting excited for these plants to grow their buds. The white pistils are now starting to come in.

Plants are looking good. I kind of lost that canopy look to the plants, but I think that's just because the bud are coming in now. White pistils are really coming in. Plant #2's pistils are starting to turn orange. Nutrients are being taken nicely. No build up in Nutes when adding more water to the buckets. Plant #4 is taken water slower than the other 2. In general I am replenishing 6.5 qts of water every other day. Still figuring out the nutrient levels.

Flowering sites coming nicely. Plant #3's pistils is turning orange a little early I think. The other plants have not done that yet. They are healthy green and looking good. The runt is has some healthy flower spots as well. They are drinking up the water very nicely. I have to replenish about 10qts of water every other day. The runt is taking the water slowly so I haven't increased the nutrients quite as much for her because I don't want to overwhelm her with nutes. This is the late bloom period. The buds haven't really grown in yet, but they are starting to. I feel like they should be more developed by this time.

Plants are doing great. Smell is coming in nicely. I feel like these buds should be bigger by this time. I'll get a handle on the nutrients on the next round. I think I'm starting to understand it. The plants are starting to look like powdered sugar has been sprinkled on top of them. Still rotating them a quarter turn every day. They really are beautiful plants. Plant 3's pistils are all turning orange. Trichomes are still are not ripe yet. Looks like another couple weeks before harvest. Looking at the plants under the microscope is pretty neat. Holding it steady will take some time to get used to. Feeling a little impatient/excited as we get closer to harvest time.

Buds are fattening up. There's a real sweet fruity aroma that fills the air. The pistil on the top part of the plant have mostly turned orange and only about half of the pistils have started turning towards the middle/lower part of the plant. The trichomes are still pretty clear and light. Say have about another week or so before they start turning amber in color. Shooting for only about maybe 10 percent of the trichomes to turn amber before harvest. They are really drinking up the water now. I am refilling 12 quarts minimum for plants 1 and 3, while plant 4 is only getting about 1.5 gallons every other day. I may repeat this weeks nutrients levels if the trichomes are still looking strong next week before I start the flushing. The website says flowering time is 56-63 days. We are currently at 42 days into flowering.

The plants are not quite ready to be flushed yet, but they're getting close. So I'm repeating last weeks nutrient levels for this week. Plants are looking great. Nice little popcorn buds are forming. The the plants seem to be bulky in the center of the plant rather than the top part. Probably has to do with how low I trim the bottom part of the plant. Can definitely trim a tad higher next time. Smells like bubble gum and cotton candy. Very sweet smelling and the plants are looking very frosty. The plants have been maintaining a 6.0-6.2 pH throughout the week. When I changed out the water I lowered it down to 5.8. Trichomes are looking very nice. Keeping an eye on any changes.

Ok, the time has come to flush the plants out. Trichomes are nice and milky and most of the pistils have turned orange, curling in. Buds on top are a decent size for first time growing. The bushiness of the plants is more at the center of the plants instead of top. Smells very fruity now almost like cotton candy. Very frosty plants.

This overall growth cycle was easier than expected. As a first time grower this plant was absolutely beautiful to grow from veg to flower. The aromas are so sweet and pleasant with a hint of gasoline. The buds were pretty small and the main bushiness of the plants remained towards the lower center of the plant. Having 3 plants under one 1200 light was bound to have some lighting issues. I was also having a hard time with the PPM/EC levels. They were at the very most, half of what the nutes were suppose to be. So it make sense the buds would be smaller. There was lots of milky trichomes all over the plants, it looked like powdered sugar over the plants. Took a bit to really trim the plants down. We also ended up with 1.5 oz. of sugar leaves. Overall, the plants were a success. The plants grown hydroponically were easy to take care of and any stress seen on the plants were managed immediately. I have some ideas I would like to try on the next batch of seeds that are going to be grown next.