Raspberry Cough 2021

Crazy week. So ladies are 6 days old. It's been a rough first week for them. I had to be away for two days, and they didn't get the attention they needed in those first few days as they were unattended and just sitting by the window. And of course, when I'm around, I talk to them, share funny videos, and try to keep them spiritually fulfilled - all important things I believe, that they missed out on! So they lost a little momentum in the first critical week - but it got worse. When I returned, I was getting them moved to their comfy place, and - I kid you not - I dropped the grow light on them. Straight dropped it and crushed the 4 day old girls. Perhaps I'm not ready to be a real parent. Anyhow, luckily minimal damage as just bent them down and these two seem to be physically OK, although they may be emotionally scarred. (A bit worse for the other 2 on my other diary....). Anyhow... I'm glad this strain is photoperiod and not auto, as losing a few days shouldn't matter. Overall they seem to be doing well, albeit a few days slow in their development. Added a little soil to take care of a bit of stretch from those first few days. 2nd set of real leaves coming in nicely. Just watered so soil looks a bit damp but they looking good and praying up happily towards the light. ... Humidity is a real challenge right now. Outside temps have been well below 0F here so dewpoints are -20F. When you heat it inside, you end up with humidity around 15%. Even with the humidifier running constantly, I haven't been able to get it above 40%. Not much more I can do unless I want to bring them into the shower with me. On to week 2....

Good grief. Talk about a tough life. These ladies were looking splendid two days ago and was excited to post. Then, the thermostat on the heater failed!! (It's been incredibly cold here and had been warming them up a bit) I opened the door to find them at a toasty 132degrees F. :( They looked absolutely terrible and thought for sure they were dead. I can tell you for sure that seedlings do not like being at 132degrees. Over last two days, they have recovered a bit. The stem has stayed strong which is encouraging as they haven't gone limp. Most of the first two node leaves are completely fried and I don't think will recover. Growth has stopped, however, the top growth has stayed green and seems to be OK. They need to go into bigger pots this week as roots are at the bottom. Planning on transplanting and seeing if they can fight through the week. I was going to top them next week so, will be OK if those bottom leaves don't recover, but they need to strengthen up a bit. Holding off on adding nutes so far... Will start this week. Between dropping the light on them in week 1 and now the heater failure, they have sure lived a tough life so far...

Goodbye seedling, hello veg - Week 3 - Beginning of week - replanted to their 5gallon home - soil roughly 70% OF, 10% HF, and 20% perlite. (The HF primarily because I had some left). pH tested the mix and it tests right at 7.0. Girls moved into the tent now as well. They are still recovering from being dropped (week 1) and cooked (Week 2) (sigh), but new growth looking good, healthy, praying up nicely. The leaf damage is from the cooking. I'll cut off those damaged leaves next week, but given I just transplanted and plan to top tonight, will wait a few days to make sure all is OK. Node spacing looks good. I'm topping above the 3rd node - removed the 1st node, and haven't decided yet if I'll remove the 2nd node. Mycorrhizae added to the soil during transplant. Starting nutes at 1/4 strength (Big Bloom, Cal-Mag) yesterday. Water at 6.5 pH, TDS 300. Things seem back on track....

Doing well; Finally recovered from incidents in week 1 and 2 - I trimmed off the lower growth that was damaged. Plants worked through the stress of being repotted and topped last week and starting to grow nicely. Their tent mates showed need for mag so did a leaf spray of cal-mag this past week and keeping it in the water. Nutes at regular strength; Soil seems dry but they seem happy so going with it. Will start to LST them now to spread them out.

Starting week 5. Love these plants so far. Very resilient and friendly to grow up so far - I like. LST last two weeks and I topped again this morning for the 2nd and final cut. Will try to let them grow out now until about 12" high and change to flower. This first time with photoperiod rather than auto's, and have to admit I really like the additional flexibility to train/let them grow out to desired size - vs auto's seemed just like a race with no time to waste. Scent is starting up too as I can smell them (delicious). Plants seem very hungry and I've been nutes every watering this week and they taking it. Also spraying w/ water w/ cal-mag daily to help.

Day40 update/ The tent is out of room and ladies are 12" tall. Need to move to flower or going to outgrow I fear.... Good time to flip though as everything seems good/stable... Leaves all look good, growing fast, the dark green/rough leaves noted last week has mostly gone away. Veg ended up being faster than I expected! .... Week 6 begins. Ladies doing well overall and really starting to fill out. They do seem to be a shade of pretty dark green, and their texture feels a little... rough..... but not seeing tips burnt or curling or anything. Something isn't quite right, but seems minor at this point. I would think maybe nitrogen or phosphorous heavy, but I've been using Bloom nutes (0-0.5 ) which I wouldn't think is too much. Although also started two weeks ago with the Flower Fuel which is 1-34-2. Water is already mixed for next feeding with 1/8/tsp, but I think I'll stop that one after this next water. Planning to defoliate/clean up a bit this week,, and refresh the LST to keep her spaced out. They up t0 10" and have nice sturdy stem. Hopefully I can keep them low and bushy for a few more weeks to fill out the tent. Day 39 update : They really filled out nicely last two days after I defoliated a bit of the leave blocking others. The very dark shading has lightened up a bit as well.

All is well. Day 47 update: Growth is just incredible. I'm in trouble. I'm going to have to take them out of their home and build something for them. There is no way I'm going to make it 9 more weeks..... They do seem happy. One of them stretched a bit this week as you can see in last picture. Not sure why as I was rotating around the light. Day 42: Plants are growing quickly (too quickly) and have filled out the space. Moved to 12/12 at end of week6. Plants seem healthy - no leaf issues. Biggest worry now is just about them overgrowing their space - but not much I can do now.

Day 50, start of week 8, flower A bit of stretch last ten days but otherwise they doing well. My big issue is I'm going to run out of space - the tent is full with these 2 and their 2 friends. It's still only around 50f outside, so have to stay inside for a few more weeks. After that, I'm either going to have to find a new space in a few weeks inside, or put them on the patio to finish up. Buds are starting to show and all plants are female. (yea!) Ran out of foxfarm bloom nutrients, so trying the TPS BaseA/B starting this week. Not doing anything other than watering and rotating at this point.

Week 9; Wasn't able to give them much attention last week so they were on autopilot. These are growing well with no leaf issues at all. All looks good. Plants have grown up to 29" but still relatively compact and easy to manage. Beginning to smell really good. Trying to get them some natural light over next few weeks to help them start to build buds.

Completely out of room for these ladies but they doing well. Needed to add a second light given the size of them and their cousins. (400W actual LED, so about 30w/foot) Leaves look good- just a very very faint brown at end of leaves, and a few rust spots. Going to give just a bit extra cal/mag but overall no changes Smell is becoming quite a bit stronger. Been too cold this week to be outside but hoping to get them some outside time next week for some space to breath. Doing good. Just need to keep them happy for another month here! .... Day 70, end to 10th week. Getting some outside sun.

Not much to update, as all is well. Flowers are starting to put on some weight. Leaves look good so continuing on with same nutrients. They seem very happy as leaves pray upwards to the light beautifully during the day. Keeping the humidity down and trying to get them some colder night temperatures now. Adding a few stakes/ties to support some of the heavier flowers. Haven't taken very many good pictures but will in next week or so. ---End of week update Showing some signs of phosphorus deficiency so changing watering to 6.6ph instead of 6.3 (runoff is coming out about 0.6 lower so I think ph's getting a bit low in the soil). Ensuring I'm adding the FlowerFuel (1-34-32) as well for the next few waterings ...

Plants started to show signs of phosphorus deficiency mid last week, and it accelerated very quickly! (You can see in the 3rd picture) I've been adding flower fuel which is like (1-32-34) ; Did a flush as I hadn't done before, thinking ph was getting low in the soil (Been watering at 6.3, but runoff around 5.9.) perhaps locking out as read phosphorus uptake needs a little higher ph than the overall plant. Flushed, and then watered with the flower fuel. Looks like it worked as it hasn't gotten any worse and they seem overall OK. Didn't have to trim too many leaves and these plants have plenty to spare anyways.... Thinking another 3 or 4 weeks for these. Starting to fatten up nicely I think, and really happy how they've stayed bushy and same size. Trying to defoliate a bit as we go to get some light to the lower buds.

Day 90 for the Raspberry cough twins. Recovering from a ph/phosphorus issue last week.. Some affected leaves that won't recover, but they got enough left that look good. All in, these plants stayed quite compact and bushy. Never really stretched and at 36" are pretty manageable! Praying up to the light and seems happy. Seems like they have a few weeks to go though (and not as fast as their tent Gelato pals).... The colas are getting bigger. Going to keep watering with nutrients for another week to 10 days then cut if off...

Just 6.5ph water last 2 weeks; They are at the end of the road and ready to harvest. I liked these girls. Easy grow, a gentle smell (not overpowering like the Gelatos!), stayed pretty compact and manageable. Will dry them and see what comes of it!

Into the jars for curing..... Will try to update a few post harvest pics and effects in a month or so... 110 days sprout to harvest, 70 in flower. Good plants. Grew with relatively few problems. Got a bit hungry for phosphorous near the end but recovered quickly. All seeds sprouted and were girls. Happy w/ Nirvana seeds. Good plants. They stayed bushy and not too much stretch. Scent wasn't too strong along the way so unlike their tent mates, would have been able to mask if I was concerned. Waiting for the cure to try... Buds aren't as dense as I was hoping for, especially the ones further down. Seems like they wanted a bit more light - even though I was within standards for what I provided. Took about 10 weeks in flower, so a bit longer than their friends. I harvested a bit early as I like the head high, so probably could have let them go another week or two to get more weight if one wanetd. Overall, good grow for the pandemic. Peace/