Mace Windu (Double Grape x Skywalker)

After my last grow, decided to stick with Mephisto, as they sent me some freebies with my the sees I used on my last grow :) This is 'Mace Windu', Double Grape x Skywalker. Seeds were soaked overnight in water then germinated using the paper towel method. Both seeds had a good sprout in 24 hours, then were planted straight into final containers (15 liter autopots). Both broke ground the following day, which is day 1 of this diary. I have purchased a new light for this grow - Kingbrite 480w (the one with the CREEs). Someone told me they were too much for a 3x3, but we will see. Currently have them at around 30 inches on half power. One of the plants has 3 sets of leaves - 3 cotyledons, and 3 true leaves on the first and second nodes. Not sure what this mutation is called, but it'll be cool to watch it grow side by side with a 'normal' one and see which yields the most :) I couldn't get any of my usual nutes that I've been using (Canna range), so made a decision to try a new line. Will be using solely Megacrop (1 part) and Bud Explosion when flowering time comes along with my autopot / coco setup. This one gonna be a fun grow :)

The difference between the 2 plants is clear. The normal plant has grown exceedingly well, responding well to the nutes and pushing out new growth all over the place. The 3 leafed mutant seemed to struggle to get the next node up an over the bulging caused by the 2 stems of the leaves from the previous node. They were obstructing it for a good few days, and the plants are too small to cut anything away, so had to let it grow out by itself. Hoping it will pick up, but think it will still be a lot smaller than her sister. Upped the MC to 2.75g per gallon over the course of the week. They seem to be liking it so far. Hoping to switch on the autopots at the end of next week. Nudged the light power up a touch too. I'm turning it up just enough each week so that by the time it get gets to 35 days we should be at full power ready for flowering. It's super cold here, temps in the garage are dropping below freezing at night, so I have a tube heater in the tent with the plants. It turns on once the temp drops below 20C in the tent, and does a good job at keeping it around 20-22, which is fine for night time. Not sure how the mutant will turn out, if it's struggle now is indicative of further problems down the line, but we'll so how she goes :)

First, some sad news. You may notice there is no pics of the little mutey this week - Sadly, she did not make it :( She was not growing well at all and was very stunted anyway, but then she went downhill fast - In 24 hours, she shriveled up all her leaves into herself. Checked all conditions, PH, EC etc, all was fine, but she wouldn't respond. 1 day later, she was going brown and kinda mushy in the stem and the leaves were splitting apart. 2 days later she was proper dead. I dug her up and the roots were weird - the taproot had gone down a couple of inches and then ballooned into a plum sized tumor. Instead of the hairy roots coming out from the taproot, they were just wrapped around it like a knot. RIP. But from death, comes life. I've started 2 new autos and a photo in her place. I'll do separate diaries for all next week :) Anyway, back to this grow and the one that lives. She is absolutely thriving and the megacrop is doing wonders it seems. The new Kingbrite lights are probably helping :) She has grown loads this week, was topped at day 20 and then LST'd. She was a breeze to train cause the undershoots are already so big and quite uniform. One of the roots partially resurfaced and has now become a big knuckle sticking up from the dirt. I switched on the auto pots on day 19 and she is drinking from them well, plants seem to love the consistency auto pots provide. Upped EC to 1.4 (around 2.75g/gal), she is taking them well and I will keep upping gradually until I notice the first hint of burn. She is quite capable of being pushed I feel. She will do her fallen sister proud :)

Well, I fucked up this week. After such a strong start, I switched on the autopots and let her do her thing. It's been really cold recently, so I got an aquarium heater to keep my tank at around 18C. This worked well, but I hadn't counted on so much evaporation. Over a couple of days my EC in the tank went from 1.4 to around 2.2. The plant was looking like it had N deficiency, which I guess is because she wasn't taking up any nutes due to being locked out. I had to do something, so I untied her and flushed. Then manually fed for a day or 2 to get the feeding levels back to where they should be. She pulled through and recovered, but definitely lost some growth there. Need to keep a better eye on the EC levels in the tank..... I tend to just check pH as that is usually the thing that changes. My bad. Fingers crossed for a better week!

She stretched and well and truly went into flower this week! Think she may be quite a fast finisher, the process is happening very quickly. Added Bud Explosion for P&K into the mix at around 0.75g / gal. I will gradually increase this and decrease the N over the next week or so. Had to defoliate quite aggressively during stretch. Have to say, she isn't looking completely happy, but still seems to be growing fine and all vital signs (ppm, runoff, pH) are fine. Will be moving the smaller plants out of this tent later this week and cranking the lights up full, she will have the space to herself. I do love the autopots, but they somehow make me feel a little disconnected from the grow, if that makes sense - There's more sense of involvement when manually watering and monitoring everything! Anyway, it's all go for flowering with this one, so in short - cutting back N, shoving in PK and cranking up the lights.

Not much to do once they get to this stage, just sit back and wait as it starts to ripen up. It's been a good second week in flower, kicked out the smaller plants this one was sharing a tent with and then spread her out and cranked up the lights. She fills the space out nicely. A few signs of calmag deficiency this week - brown spots on the lower leaves and that dark / light stripey effect in the leaves. Added calmag to the tank and will see how it goes. Buds are stacking nicely, this one is going quite quick - My guess is another 3 weeks at this rate, but will see how she fattens up. First signs of the smell coming through this week... bubblegum and wine it reminds me of. Continuing to drop back the MegaCrop and up the Bud Explosion. Also, just for this week added some PK 13/14 for a little extra boost, but from now on, the EC will only be going down. See ya next week folks.

Another week done for this beauty and she really is in her stride. Fattening up, frosting up and starting to stink. The smell isn't quite as strong as the White Crack I grew last time - the White Crack was almost offensively pungent, this one is sweeter, like red wine wine and bubblegum. And she is sticky as hell! The fade is starting to come in, so she is in her last weeks. I think 2, maybe 3 more weeks at most before she gets chopped. Trichomes are just starting to cloud over. I have dropped EC down to 1.5, which is just a reduction in Mega Crop. The Bud explosion is being fed at 1.5g a gallon. Hard work has all been done with this one really, just need to watch her ripen up over the next couple of weeks. Based on my previous grows, this is probably going to be my biggest yielding auto yet - prev best for a single auto was 150g dry from one of the White Crack plants, and this is bigger with firmer buds :) Until next week folks!

Coming up to the end now, only about a week, maybe 10 days left before she gets chopped. With the autopot, there's very little to do with her other than watch her fatten up, which she is doing nicely. Looks on course to be my biggest single plant yet :) EC has come down a little further, she already using up stored nutes in the leaves and fading. Smell is there, but not as strong as others. Pleasant and sweet... fruity but hard to be specific...blackberry / grape spring to mind. The harvest is in sight! Can't wait to try this one!

Well, this has been her last week. This will be the last weekly update as she will be getting the chop in the next day or two as soon as I have the time. Time is right, trichs have been popping amber all week and are about 10-20%. Buds have fattened up well, and firm all the way down, very little larf on this one. Smells of strong summer fruits and wine. Mega sticky, trimming is going to be hell (but worth it)! Finished her up on just 1.2 EC, she seemed to appreciate the drop in nutes at the end. Pretty straightforward grow, had some deficiency issues as she came into flower which may have set her back a little, but happy with how it's turned out. Catch you in about 2 weeks with the harvest details when this stuff has been dried, trimmed and weighed :)

Lovely plant to grow. As a freebie, this was an awesome plant! There were a few problems, but they were of my own making - ran out of CalMag half way through and took 2 weeks to get more shipped, had some deficiencies, but they got worked out. Drying conditions weren't optimal - I had to make a cardboard chamber, as both my tents have grows going on currently, and the humidity was quite low, leading to a much quicker dry than I would have liked (7-8 days). The buds also shrank a lot more than I had expected, losing a fair bit of size as the moisture came out. But what remains are dense but small buds. Frost levels are very high, Double Grape heritage is strong is this one! I did plant 2 of these, but sadly one did not make it. It had a mutation from the time it sprouted above soil, and found it very difficult to grow. She survived a few weeks, but was very stunted compared to her sister. All vital signs were checked and rechecked, pH, EC, runoff... all looked fine, but she just would not respond. She eventually just shriveled up, went brown and died. When I dug her up, the roots were... interesting. The taproot had ballooned into what looked like a tumor, and the roots were growing around it, almost like it was constricting itself. Not sure what I could have done. But such is life. Would have been nice to have had another one of these to chop down! The smell is very pleasant, summer berries and trees.... reminds me of playing in the woods as a kid. The smoke is very flavorful, creamy and sweet. Nowhere near as hard hitting as the White Crack, but that's a good thing here, it's something you can smoke during the day. Still very much an indica vibe, certainly relaxing, but uplifting enough for you to be active. Considering this was a freebie from my actual Double Grape purchase, I'm delighted with the results. And as I have 2 double grape coming up in the new few weeks, this will keep me going very nicely until then. Thanks Mephisto :)