Grow #1: Gelato + Unknowns

January 26, 2021 (Week 3, Day 22): Today ended up being an unexpectedly big day. This morning when I checked on the plants, they'd grown another 1.5" over the last 24 hours. They're basically growing out of control at this point. Every plant had a fully developed sixth node that was beginning to unfurl. So I decided to water the plants with 1000ml + 4ml pH Perfect Bloom + 4ml pH Perfect Grow + 1.5ml Cal-Mag Plus + 5 drops of pH down (6.5 pH solution). After that I took the plants out from the tent and began the topping process. I was pretty nervous about getting the snip in the right spot, but I think I've done it correctly. I topped each plant at the third node, then I cleaned all the growth below the node. After that I used rubber-coated garden wire to tie the growth sites to the fan leaves to promote lateral growth. Unknown 2 is definitely the runt of the group and my manipulation of the plant really pissed it off and it started to go kind of limp, so I decided to add a little extra support to the plant until it gets a bit hardier. I think it will take several days for it to recover from this process. The other plants however seem very strong and took the topping like a couple of champions. Gelato 1 and Unknown 1 seem to have great genetics and they haven't skipped a beat since germination. I decided to ditch Unknown 2's top but took clones of the other two plants. This process is flying by so far. Fingers crossed the plants continue to thrive even after my butchering. I've adjusted the humidity in the tent so were now averaging 65% rH and 77℉. Hopefully no other news today! January 27, 2021 (Week 3, Day 23): 24-hours post-top and all the plants have perked back up and I am already seeing growth from the two nodes I left on each plant. I added simple binder clips to the outside of my pot and redid the training on Unknown 2. Since topping, Unknown 2 went from pissed off to happier than ever. However, I have finally run into my first problem. The leaves on all three plants are starting to blotch. I touched one of the blotchy spots and it was crisp and began to crack. Soil is still moist from the watering yesterday. Other than irregular spots, I can't seem to find anything else wrong with the plants. I have a Vivosun pH meter which I've heard can be junk - so I am kind of suspecting my pH is too low. But I'm going to post up a grow question today to get a couple of other opinions. Plants still seem really healthy even with these blotchy patches on their leaves. Averaging 65% rH and 78℉. *Update: The damage on the leaves of the plants started to progress - so instead of waiting around watching my plants get crunchy, I decided to take action. I just flushed all three plants with 4 liters (1 gallon) each of filtered water pH'd to ~6.0. I am getting runoff of around ~6.5-6.6 which tells me the soil is too basic or alkaline. I had read this soil I am using is acidic, so I was feeding with a ~6.5pH solution. From now on I will feed with a ~6.0pH solution instead in an attempt to avoid these pH fluctuations. Before flushing with pH'd water, I tested the soil and all were sitting around ~7.1-7.2 pH. Obviously too high. Got tons of runoff by flushing. Here's to hoping we'll see a difference in leaf texture and color in the next 24-48 hours. This pH problem reared its head at an ugly time since I just decided to top the plants. I think I'll be sure to water with 10-20% runoff from now on so I can keep an eye on the pH regularly. January 28, 2021 (Week 3, Day 24): The last 24 hours were a little scary. As a new grower I wasn't really sure what to expect, and this was my first major challenge. All three plants are now scarred on the main fan leaves due to my inexperience. Gelato 1 looks like it took the worst of it. After flushing yesterday I noticed the progression of the leaf damage stopped almost immediately. Then the leaves began to fill in the crunchy green spots with bright orange around the edges with brown in the middle. It was really strange to watch. The leaves on all the plants are supple, they're just striped with ugly orange and brown scars. It also seems like even with the problems, the plants are continuing to thrive and grow at a surprising rate. Even with the fluctuation in pH and the flush I didn't see drooping from any of the plants. So they seem healthy despite their appearance. In fact, Unknown 1's fan leaves are so happy I've had to pin them down as I was getting too much vertical growth from the cola tips. I think I may have flushed at just the right time. I've never seen something progress on a plant so quickly before. The new growth on the plants seems perfectly healthy without any mottling or spotting. The second node of each growth tip on each plant is starting to unfurl already. All the stems are fattening up as well. It was the first night of 20/4 lighting schedule. Temperature dipped to 70℉ with the light off, but the humidity stayed constant. Average of 65% rH and 75℉. Hopefully we'll continue to see good progress with the new growth over the next several days. Once I top the second set of growth tips I'll most likely clip these ugly fan leaves so they'll stop taunting my inexperience every time I open my tent. 💀 January 29, 2021 (Week 3, Day 25): Seems like the plants are back to growing extremely fast. The scars are getting brighter and the brown parts in the middle have went from crispy to semi-supple. The new growth is bright green and even in color. I had to retrain every plant this morning to keep vertical growth from the growth sites tied against the fan leaf stem. I had to use a second set of ties to tie the second node down. So far my training seems to be working. All plants are working on their third nodes on both growth stems. I'll top once the fourth node begins to develop. The medium is still very moist from the flush two days ago. I don't anticipate having to water for two or three more days. I want the medium to dry out almost completely before I water again. I'll continue with light nutrients - but I'll make sure to run my pH down to 6.0 and I'll also be upping the feedings to 2.5-3l per plant to attain some testable runoff. My new Aperta pH meter showed up yesterday, so I hope to have more accurate readings going forward. Averaging 65% rH and 76℉. Nothing else for today. January 30, 2021 (Week 3, Day 26): Growth sites are stretching nicely along the fan leaf stem. Retrained in a few areas. Noticing slight blotching on Unknown 1's growth. Also seems very dark green with slight burn and dropping at the tips. Conducted soil slurry test and came back around ~6.8 pH. I am suspecting slight nitrogen excess. PPM was very high for this stage at around 1200. Next watering I will skip nutrients as I think the roots are beginning to expand through the pots extensively and may have access to too much nitrogen. Growth is still looking nice and fast. Plants are stretching a bit more with the 4 hours of darkness per night. Averaging 65% rH and 76℉. January 31, 2021 (Week 3, Day 27): The nodes on the main stem of every plant are beginning to swell considerably. Growth sites on all three plants are beginning to unfurl their third node. The nutrient burn on Unknown 1 isn't getting any better, but it also doesn't seem to be progressing. I'm hoping it's just a very slight excess, as it doesn't appear to be slowing down growth or causing any major issues. Gelato 1 and Unknown 2 are thriving and new growth looks perfect. I think the genetics on Unknown 1 may be a little more sensitive to nutrients. Unfortunately since I don't know what the plants are, it has made researching strain tips kind of difficult, so I've been treating every plant the same. The Gelato seems the healthiest of the three plants and is growing vigorously. Because of the training it's starting to look like a salad. I'll go for vertical growth after I perform the second topping. I don't plan on having these plants any taller than about 3 feet, so I anticipate having to switch to flower around week 6 or 7. If the growth keeps up, maybe even sooner. I retrained all the plants today and pinned down Unknown 1's fan leaves to encourage horizontal growth. The cola stems are getting huge and I was able to take off my first set of training braces. I also switched Unknown 1 and Unknown 2 in the tent to promote even growth. Medium is still moist from the flush several days ago. I'll water in a day or two. Averaging 65% rH and 75℉. February 1, 2021 (Week 3, Day 28): Medium was pretty dry this morning. Watered 6.0 pH 2 liters per plant with 2.5ml/l Cal-Mag + pH Down and without other nutrients. I think I'll hold off until flower to give nutrients to the plant again. I was getting very high PPM readouts during my flush, so I think the plants have plenty of food to get through the next three weeks. Just giving a small Cal-Mag supplement each feeding. Got about 10% runoff per plant. Runoff sitting around ~6.7-6.8 pH. Still pretty high, but I am hoping continually watering with a 6.0 pH solution will slowly lower the pH of the root-zone. Plants are growing quickly and I had to pin down the third node on each stem today. All of them are looking more like a salad every day. Fourth node is almost completely out - I'll wait for it to unfurl and top either tomorrow or the next day. Plants are looking good. Unknown 1 still looks to have a slight nitrogen toxicity, but doesn't seem to be affecting the plant's health much. Averaging 65% rH and 77℉ Nothing else to report. Looking forward to next week - the second and last topping will happen in the next few days. After the stems grow horizontally enough I'll switch to vertical growth. I'll aim for about 14" tall and then switch over to flower. Hoping that will be around week 6. Just picked up some awesome flowering powder I am excited to try in a few weeks. Plants are chugging right along! Happy growing everyone! 👽