Winter 2021 grow

While I'm sure this looks messy and unprofessional everything on the floor of the tent will be removed next week when I switch over to 5gal pots. Also I know a few may wonder why I'm letting the 1 plant hang like that instead of using a stake or something to prop it up....and quite frankly I'm interested to see what it will do if I just leave it, so far its growing sideways which is pretty neat. If anybody read my last grow I was using a cheap blurple led, then added a 400watt hps for flowering. I used a very basic potting soil with perlite mixture, in conjunction with a basic nutrient additive. This grow I'm kicking things up several notches, I've invested in a Marshydro LED which should be sufficient for both veg and flower, while giving off way less heat. I've also decided to use a mixture of fox farms "happyfrog" and "ocean mist" soils and green planets medi one kit. I've also gotten a decent ph meter (and more importantly learned how to properly use it) and some ph up/down so I can ensure my plants are getting the most out of the nutrients. I'm hoping that with this significant reinvestment (which I justified to myself by smoking that awesome pink lemonade from my last grow) that I can now get just as good, if not better quality than the last grow, while considerably increasing yield and reducing growth time.

So I planned originally to have transferred these to the 5 gallon pots you can see in the tent. However I clearly used too much nutrient too early and caused some nutrient burn in all 3 pineapple Express (although only one plant seems to be seriously affected) I decided to do a flush of my soil to make sure they didnt all become too badly damaged. This was done thursday morning so I've had to delay the transplantation until the soil is dry enough and to give the plants some time to recover from their ordeal, hopefully tomorrow they should be ready as I'm concerned waiting any longer could result in some of the pineapple Express becoming root bound. I'll be sticking to plain old h20 for the first 2+ weeks of plant life from now on though, I'll consider adding some liquid nutes again a week or 2 before switching them to flower which is what I probably should have done in the first place.

The girls are looking pretty healthy again, I think they made it through the disaster I caused. Things were pretty touch and go but they've been standing up straight with their leaves held high and the yellowing has stopped getting worse. When I was filling the 5gal pots I used a mix of fox farms happyfrog and ocean mist, I've read from a few people that the ocean mist can be a little harsh on seedlings or plants in early veg so I tried to keep it at the bottom of the pots and mix it well with the happy frog, the top half I just used happy Frog. The strawberry cough (bottom left) is taking on a very different size and shape to the 3 pineapple Express, I believe it may be mostly indica where the others are hybrids. While being almost a week younger its caught up to its sisters in number of nodes, its growing larger leaves further out from the main stalk as well, and while its nodes appear to be further developed the plant is not any taller then its sisters (yet) I'm hoping to top them later this week (probably before my next update) I spent too long in veg last time and don't want to repeat that error.

After giving the girls a week in their new pots to establish a decent root system it's time to start topping and pruning them. You can see 2 pictures taken on the 5th of February right before I topped them, shortly before making this I did some more pruning and snapped the other 2 pictures above. Also had to raise my light about 3 inches this week, decided to turn up the brightness from 50% to 75% they aren't stretching by any means as their upwards growth isn't really outpacing its outward growth, just seem to be making the most of their space. Just sticking with straight water this week and quite frankly they've been doing rather well in terms of growth. I may start adding a few liquid nutes in the coming week as I'm hoping to switch to flower in about 2 weeks from now, I will of course be using very small amounts at first as I clearly used way too much last time. The next couple weeks will be pretty interesting as I love watching plants respond to topping and pruning, so far I haven't ever encountered any problems in the past with doing it but I believe it's due to my "better to prune too little then too much" approach. Also side note I just remembered while smoking a bowl before hitting save.... I'm going to be looking into filtering my intake, as currently I have a very basic dryer vent style intake which for some reason doesn't stop dust from getting sucked into my tent, I may need to spring for a carbon filter however I'm fairly sure that would constrict airflow to the point that I might need to add an intake fan....

Going to keep this one short as I may abandon this website if they don't get their act together, between the constant glitches and errors I get while trying to do updates, to the 20+ times I've tried to confirm my email so I can respond to comments I've basically had enough with grow diaries to the point where I'm looking at their competitors. All the plants have been topped now, and seem to have recovered nicely, the 2 on the left were heavily trimmed as I removed the lower branches, I decided to try leaving them on the 2 on the right to see if the bud production is worth it. I'd planned to add liquid nutes this week but it looks like my plants are getting too much phosphorus, which is actually what my liquid nute chart says I should be adding right now....so I'm not gonna do that.... Im worried my ph may be too low which is causing other nutrients to get locked out, I'll try using a bit of ph up next watering maybe bring the levels closer to 6.5 and see if things improve.

After investing in a decent ph meter this week I was able to determine the root cause of my persistent yellow, burned and droopy leaves, this was likely caused by my water having a ph level of 7.20 which I've begun correcting and monitoring. I also added a small amount of green planet nutrients "Rezin" which mainly helps with sugar production in preparation for bloom. While the strawberry cough appears ready to start flowering (and I believe there is a slight smell coming off it already) the pineapple express are still a little short so I'd like to give them another couple days, a week at the most as any longer could lead to the strawberry cough becoming too large.

Not much to add this week, I just switched the light cycle so they're going to be moving into flower over the next few days. I've gotten the ph levels and burning under control as it hasn't increased and the pale looking pineapple express is getting its color back especially in its newer leaves. The strawberry cough appears to have begun moving into flower or at the very least its developing its reproductive parts already, which given that all I know is that the seed came from a bag of strawberry cough, could be a result of the strain being an auto flower. I've been watching it like a hawk over the past 2-3 days as there is always the chance it will turn out male but all signs so far point to female. Yesterday I gave them a good trimming and got rid of the lower branches on the 2 pineapple express which I determined was definitely a waste of growth, something I plan to do earlier on all plants in the future.

First week of flower and not a lot of changes, the plants are just starting to enter the "stretch" phase and i'll likely see them shoot up over the next 2 weeks. I had to change the hangers on my light so I could raise it higher. The hanger i was using previously had the light hanging about 14 inches from the roof of my tent, while obviously you need to give it a bit of space for airflow that's too much wasted space, especially with this strawberry cough already over 2 feet tall. I also gave them another trimming this morning as a bunch of the fan leaves were turning yellow. I swapped the 2 plants positions on the right as I felt having the 2 bigger plants across from each other instead of beside each other, i felt it made more sense for space, I've also propped up the one pineapple express as its almost 10 inches shorter then the rest of the plants.

The girls have had a great week. All 4 seem to have entered flower with gusto, stretching and growing bud sites everywhere. The stunted pineapple express has started to play catch-up, and while it will never be as big as the strawberry cough looming over it, i can sa that its more closely resembling its 2 siblings in height. The strawberry cough which i was fairly certain was female is 100% certified as I'm seeing bud sights everywhere and none of them have the typical "balls" At the beginning of the week I started upping the nutes and next week I'll be upping them again, I'm having to start small however as there could still be a lot of excess nitrogen in the soil and I don't want to stress them at this point. I gave my tent a quick once over with a damp cloth to get most of the dust however id really like to give the whole tent another cleaning then add a new oscillating fan since my old one broke and add a filter to my intake so less dust gets pulled into the tent but I don't really have a place to put the plants for an hour in total darkness or under a proper light for the hour or so id need to properly clean it and set that up. Also concerned if I add a carbon filter to my intake that it may cause a lack of airflow, or that ill have to crank my fans to get decent circulation. Hopefully I'll think of something by next week.

This week flew by, I feel like I've barely checked on the girls but I have been keeping an eye on Temps as the weather in my area has been fluctuating allot making it difficult to keep things stable. Also the tallest cola on the strawberry cough seems to have stopped growing enough for the other 3 to catch up in terms of height, now they are all starting to fatten which is a sign that 'stretch' period is coming to an end. Next watering I'll be using twice as much ocean magic and medi-one and if the plants take to it well I'll leave my nutes at those levels until flushing. The next 3-4 weeks is going to be all about that bud growth and I look forward to watching them fatten out.

Another easy week of watching the girls grow. Going to keep the nutrients and watering at the same levels until week 7 of flower so this grow is basically on auto-pilot from here on out. Looks like the strawberry cough could easily end up being the largest yield but from the amount of trichomes I'm seeing on these pineapple express they are going to be some potent buds.

Been keeping an eye on the strawberry cough as its leaves have all turned yellow likely from nitrogen issues which is ironic as i was giving it too much before, now I may be giving it too little. The one pineapple express is looking Alitalia pale as well, perhaps all the nitrogen from the original soil feed has been used up and what they're getting from the liquid nutes isn't enough. I may try adding a few scoops of ocean forest to each pot and see if that helps. We're more then halfway through flower though (assuming this will be 8-9 weeks) and I can't wait for the finish!

Its starting to get pretty stinky in the tent (in a good way) trichs everywhere. I didn't think the budz would get that much bigger but they are really filling out nicely. Starting to see the orange hairs in the pineapple express as well.

Buds are looking beautiful, smells great and they are absolutely covered in trichomes. I plan to water with nutrients later today and that will likely be my last feeding before I start to flush as they will be entering the 8th week of flower. I believe these plants will all require 9-10 weeks of flower and not 8 as all the bud sites are still filling out and getting fatter. I will however begin checking the trichomes under a microscope late next week.

As you can see, the poor strawberry cough has fallen and can't get up. I already had been trying to string it up someway when the first cola fell against the wall of the tent but the branches are simply too long and thin, I would need a stake (which I've ordered) but likely it won't be here in time. When I first opened the tent she has collapsed onto the pineapple express in the far left corner so I picked up the branches and tried tying them up, but in the end I had to leave them leaning against the corner of the tent, I'm debating whether to just start 48 hours of darkness and call this grow done but I feel like the pineapple express plants would really benefit from at least a few more days, the tricks are starting to get that milky white color but none are amber yet and allot are still clear entirely. We'll see! But either way my next update will likely be harvest!

I cut the girls down and hang dried for 9 days total (I left the fan leaves on for the first couple days) then did a final trim before putting them in jars to cure. I was very picky about what buds I kept, leading to at least an ounce of popcorn buds getting thrown into my trim bin for hash. This led to a lower overall yield of only 70 grams, incredibly low but all the bud was top quality stuff and I ended up with 2 fat bags of trimmings and larf for making hash. After 1 month of curing in jars I threw the stuff in bags as the flavor profile seems perfect now, very fruity with a signature pineapple taste which is so strong I can actually still taste it in the hash. The buzz is strong, but doesn't cause total couch lock, mainly a light and floaty feeling, ironically it has less of the signature aspects of a indica buzz then the strawberry cough. That being said the hash is a heavy hitter, it comes on strong and can put you to sleep if you smoke enough, the 2 strains complimenting each other in a near perfect hash blend. Of the highest grades I have, 25 and 73, I ended up with just under 12 grams once dried and pressed into pucks. The lesser grade of 120 yielded another 5 grams which looks like kief now that its dry but I'd rather press Rozin out of it then smoke it as is. Overall I'm very pleased with this strain and it's my finest grown smoke to date, topping the pink lemonade by a hair.

When one of the 4 pineapple express I germinated never popped I quickly germinated and planted this seed I got out of a bag of strawberry cough and ended up getting lucky with how well it did. It's growth suggested that it has some sativa genes however the buzz feels like more of an indica high. Due to the way it grew and the way I trimmed and topped the plan, it had most of its bud growth concentrated in the upper colas, leading to a higher yield then any of the pineapple express. The flavor profile isn't overly pleasant, and I don't know where the strawberry name comes in as it has more of a sour diesel taste. It actually tastes pretty good in a joint but it's not a sweet taste at all and the buzz creeps up on you but once it hits your ready for a nap.