Grand Daddy Purple (Fast) / CBD

Some tragedy this week. Not only lost a plant, but lost what probably would have been the strongest one. Overall the sprouts are way taller and stretchier than I want for their flimsy stalks. Adds a lot of risk which obviously CBD01 fell victim to. A word of advice to any other newbie growers out there, don't fill the cup only half way... it seems to make a lot of things more difficult. I should've taken the soil level to just below the lip. Week 01: not without it's challenges. Cheers.

Another unintentional death to start off week 2. :-( Some more hard lessons learned: mainly, don't f&*! around so much! My propagation skills definitely need a little work still. Excited for a much more hands off approach to the rest of the grow. I intend to top the 3 GDPs once only and to do a small amount of LST for symmetry. The CBD plant I intend to veg a lot longer; I might need to split it off into it's own diary for the end? There is 1 experiment I intend to do for the GDP starting from week 3 (though I am still kinda hoping for at least 1 male for pollen). That being that one will get just water, one will get my Advanced Nutrients regimen, and one will get AN AS WELL as some organic supplement, mostly top-dressed (egg shells, molasses, banana tea, kelp powder...) while not ideal experimental conditions, I'm interested to see the variation and which one comes out healthiest! Transplant into 2 gallons are 25% reclaimed soil at the bottom and 75% Ocean Forest Soil at the top.

A little disappointed still but unlike weeks 1 & 2 at least I expect that all of these three are going to make it. I intend to transplant into bigger pots and move the GDP downstairs into flower... but it will likely take a little longer than I initially expected. Finally busted into these new nutes and I don't think I overdid it. I'm also working on my first organic supplement, a homemade auxin root stimulator made with lentil juice. Now I just have to remember NOT to stray from the plan. GDP01 - AN Nutes & Supplements GDP02 & CBD02 - AN Nutes Only GDP04 - Supplements Only

Confidence is returning. I think everything will be ok for these plants at this point. Just gotta follow the plan and pray for no grief from PM (was a big problem last summer) or insects (there's already been a spider in the tent). I can always just keep vegging them until the light/space doesn't work which will still take a while. I'm also testing my downstairs flower tent that I will be transferring to once ready. At full blast, the light raises the temp about 6 degrees. It took a cold temp of 11C and brought it up to 17C after 2 hours. I'm thrilled. I know it will take some adjusting to but I'm glad I should only need to raise it ~6 degrees and not ~12. Much more doable for my drafty basement! Looking forward to the big sex reveals of the GDP too! Best case scenario is 1 is male from either the strongest or weakest, I find a way to harvest that pollen, the other two female and go the distance. Second worst case scenario is that all are male and I have to hold off on fresh flower for several months. I suppose the worst case scenario is that none survive. Then I don't get flower OR pollen.

Interesting week. A few other observations of note: some of the stems are looking very red. But only some. Could just be genetic variation. I still marked this week as no smell but GDP02 (and only GDP02) has a touch of new growth smell when you put your face right in her. Also worth noting that you can see in the last pic. GDP01 is 8" and the other two are 6", but GDP02 & 04 both have a lot more new growth up the stem. Safe bet that growing 3 top cola spots is harder than 2! I'm making sure to probe the soils with my finger to make sure I'm not watering unless dry, but they're all setting their own pace. It's frustrating since I'm feeding all 4 differently. I really have to check what I did the previous days each time. I want to keep a rhythm for all of the plants of one water with nutes (chemical, natural, or both), one without. Due to the slower growth I'm going to veg them all a little longer than planned. Probably 7 weeks as I get the flower space ready.

Continued excitement as things stabilize. This is only my second ever grow and I feel like I'm continuing to learn SO MUCH. I'm having a great time. It's so easy to fall in love all over again every time I open the closet. Really hoping pests aren't going to be an issue, and I hope to be ready to move the GDPs down by the end of next week!

Slow but steady veg growth. Very excited to see how things go in the basement for flower. Switching to 12/12 down there. I definitely want to optimize things in the veg closet for the future in ways I haven't even figured out yet.

GD wouldn't let me opt for 0 nutrients. I didn't feed Advanced Nutrients at all this week. I want to make sure I'm not overfeeding since they're in really nutritious soil already. I've been topping almost every time I see an opportunity. I want to make sure to do some HST as well. Really psyched for the next couple of weeks. Also these are regular seeds! Haven't seen any male expression yet but it could happen any day now and the plan COMPLETELY changes based on that.

Rough week with some difficult sex reveals. I really would have preferred full male over full hermaphrodite. I'm happy everything seems to be growing sturdily, though it's a bit scary growing regulars and there's definitely imperfections. Oh well... when life hands you lemons...

Ok... now this experiment is getting interesting. While I'm discouraged that I didn't get any male GDP pollen, I am thrilled that I have some more experience under my belt and a great comparison of AN vs. DIY upcoming. BTW; if you're on FB check out my group Green R&D Fans. I plan on running LOTS of experiments.

My only other grow from the summer had a yield of 84g of larfy outdoor bud. Part of the experiment of this grow was to learn the differences of indoor vs. outdoor, the behavioral challenges, and how to put a crop through asap. At the end of the day, the lack of SoG, the lack of veg time, the weaker roots... it's all leading up to, I assume, a pretty modest yield. I'm anticipating being WAY under optimal and yield closer to 50g for both plants. While I'm disappointed, the nutritional difference is more apparent, the bud to plant ratio is decent, and I know I've grown both of these plants pretty identically. I'm learning constantly and I can still take some pride in this grow. Indoors is a completely different beast, and I'm learning how much higher temp, and a giant sun contributes.

Slow and interesting progress this week. Interesting split in the aroma & bud development. I'm thinking the end yield is going to be < 100g which is a bit disappointing, but this is all very educational for me for the future. One mistake I know I've made is that the soil isn't draining well enough. I know this is due to me substituting vermiculite for perlite... and while both aid with soil aeration, vermiculite aids in water retention and perlite aids in drainage. That plus I made sure to use more ocean forest soil and I'm definitely stuck with wet soil for 3-4 days. I wonder how much the roots are struggling. If I had realized this sooner I might've adjusted things sooner. But at this stage I'm just going to ride it out. I intend to harvest with ~30% amber trichomes because I want more CBN and would like to make this weed more sedating. I also wish I vegged longer. Lesson learned: getting them in to flower is not as important as ensuring health overall. I'm predicting a harvest ~day 60 of flower. (Way later than the 49 days the site suggests...)

Coming up on the end. Slowly lowering the temperature, I want to harvest with a temp ~14 degrees Celsius. I'm not going to do a full flush, but I will try the ice cubes instead of just water for the last week. It's definitely becoming obvious to me that I'm being too extreme with my nutrition. The worse drainage means worse water absorption, the pH being off means worse nutrient uptake. I'm learning a lot about the repercussions of these tiny mistakes and how they get exaggerated. I'm confident I'm over-thinking a lot of things, but I know I'm learning with every step. Next week I do a bit of cleanup and get ready for the home stretch. Probably some microscope pics too. I'll be aiming for 30% amber trichs as I'm aiming for a higher amount of CBN.