Grow #1: Gelato + Unknowns

February 9, 2021 (Week 5, Day 36): Start of week 5 of veg begins with more adjustments to the LST. Tons of stem growth, had to tie down Unknown 1 and Unknown 2's growth. The plants are almost to the outside of their pots, then I'll begin upward growth. Probably in the next few days. Gelato 1 is bushy as hell and just won't stop growing. The stems are massive. The minor nitrogen toxicity in the plants has completely subsided - no more drooping tips. Medium is still wet from yesterday. Lightly tilled the topsoil. Adjusted tent's passive intake and blocked out a heat vent in my grow room to help lower temperatures a bit; last night temperatures dipped another 2℉ further than average during lights out to 68℉. I'm now getting the 10℉ (68℉-78℉) swing I was looking for. Averaging 60% rH and 75℉. No other news today. February 10, 2021 (Week 5, Day 37): Temperature dipped another 2℉ last night to 66℉. I think this new passive intake setup is working great so far. Plants are growing like mad and look perfectly healthy. Last night I went to change the humidifier water and noticed the pre-lights out droop, so they're definitely in the rhythm now. Adjusted LST and further lowered canopy to promote flat and lateral growth. Unknown 1 is already to the outside perimeter of its pot, so it will start growing vertically now. Gelato 1 isn't far behind Unknown 1, another day or so and it will be ready to stretch. Unknown 2 is a little shorter than the other two plants but I think that's just due to the difference in strain at this point. Since it's a little more squat I will let it grow vertically as soon as I let Gelato 1 go. I'll just have to make sure its bud sites are getting appropriate light and air through flower. Medium is still moist - lightly tilled topsoil. Averaging 60% rH and 74℉. Happy hump day, friends! 🐫 *PM Update: While changing the humidifier this evening I noticed a tragedy unfolding. Unknown 2's main stem has split in half. It has always been the runt out of the three plants, but this seems bad. I have added a grow question asking for advice and seeing if what I've done is adequate. I tied the stem back together in a cross-hatch with garden tie and then used a zip-tie to cinch the stem back together. I don't know what I've done wrong, but I am guessing this strain doesn't take well to high stress training like I've been doing. The other plants are much hardier. I will try to find a good veg stage vitamin-B supplement for my next grow to aid with stem growth. What a sad day. February 11, 2021 (Week 5, Day 38): 12-hours after Unknown 2's stem split in half and it appears my repair is working. The plant looks just as healthy as it was without any drooping or shock, so it still seems to be thriving. I'm glad the split happened on the runt and not on one of the other plants. The other plants look great and are plugging right along. Gelato 1 is so damn leafy it just doesn't quit. Starting to notice staggered node development on Unknown 1 and Gelato 1, so these plants are definitely at maturity now. I think another week in veg will do. Didn't adjust any LST this morning as I am going to start transitioning to vertical growth now (and I'm also now terrified of splitting another main stem). Medium is still slightly moist. Tilled half-inch of top soil. It's pretty cold here right now and the tent dipped to 64℉ last night. That's about as low as I want to go, so hopefully it will stay between 64℉ and 68℉ nightly. Averaging 60% rH and 73℉. Nothing else for today. February 12, 2021 (Week 5, Day 39): Watered with nutrients today; 4 liters per plant 5.7 pH + 2ml/l pH Perfect Grow + 2ml/l pH Perfect Bloom + 1ml/l Cal-Mag Plus. Plants are looking perfectly healthy. Time to juice and see what happens. Unknown 2 doesn't seem to be affected at all by the stem splitting. My repair seems to be holding for now. Starting to see the growth sites pop up vertical on all the plants. Hopefully we'll see plenty of vertical growth over the next several days. Averaging 60% rH and 74℉. February 13, 2021 (Week 5, Day 40): Plants are looking good this morning. Vertical growth looks good and the growth sites are becoming more obvious. Soil is still wet this morning. Haven't adjusted LST in two days now. Hopefully this growth keeps up and we can switch to flower in the next week or so. Averaging 60% rH and 72℉. Nothing else to report today. February 14, 2021 (Week 5, Day 41): Medium is still wet this morning. Tilled half inch of top soil. Saw about another half inch of vertical growth overnight. Unknown 1 is leaving the other plants in the dust now. It's lanky and wants to stretch. It's also starting to get interesting coloration on its main stem near the base; like purple-red veins. Gelato 1 is just a mess of leaves. The base has the diameter of a quarter, it's huge. Interestingly, it is also starting to smell very sweet and creamy already. I have a feeling it's going to reek. I'm trying not to defoliate until I get more vertical growth. All these leaves seem to have air and light so I don't see any reason to get rid of them yet. Averaging 60% rH and 74℉. Happy Valentine's day, everyone! 😍 February 15, 2021 (Week 5, Day 42): Plants were starting to stack leaves so I defoliated each plant today by taking the second nodes on the top and bottom sets of growth stems, leaving the left and right growth stems with all their nodes. After the haircut the plants look great. Medium is partly-dry. I'll let it go for another day and water tomorrow. I readjusted the LST by removing the first set of braces and adjusted each branch so it produces a completely flat canopy. So far Unknown 1 is the lankiest plant and is about half an inch ahead of the others. The growth I am seeing is amazing. The stems are very healthy as are the leaves. Seems to be growing about half and inch or so of stem per 24 hour period. This should mean one more week of veg and then I will switch to a 12/12 lighting cycle. Next week I'll let these plants grow vertically and Monday night (February 22) will be its first night of 12/12. I'll only change this plan if I don't see enough vertical growth. I am dealing with relatively limited space, so I have to make sure I keep these plants under control in anticipation for the flowering stretch. Gelato 1 is seriously starting to smell amazing - it is throwing 4-5 pre-flowers at every single node and it is filling my grow room with a sweet creamy scent. The other plants have pre-flowers as well but nothing to the extent of Gelato 1. Averaging 60% rH and 72℉. Because I am seeing drastically lower temperatures, I'll lower the humidity to 55% next week and keep it there until mid to late flower. One more week of veg and onto the next adventure: flowering! So excited! See you next week! 👽