+Speed Auto mini soil grow

Off to a slow start. I made some errors in the beginning. I used a humidity dome for the first 10 days or so, and this caused some deformation of the first set of leaves. I had the light running a bit too low, which I think may have further slowed growth a bit. Also caused some stretchiness in the plant but not too worried about that. Began application of plant magic evolution spray at the end of this week.

Week 3 - I added 1.5x biotabs to the soil on day 17 and gave 1.5L water, and have been applying Plant Magic Evolution Spray since week 2, once a week. I fed the plant with Orgatrex on day 21

Week 4 - began LST this week by bending the main stem down and securing to tent pole with twine. I gave her another drink on day 27 of about 1.5L plain tap water.

Week 5 - really taking off now. The light has been slowly getting cranked up and the plant really loves it. Changed light schedule from 24/0 to 20/4. Been tucking leaves and LSTing as necessary. Rough light calculations: 35k lux, ~500PPFD for DLI of 36 Some signs of what I think is nutrient burn on some of the tips of leaves near the top of the plant. It's possible the light has caused this damage as it doesn't seem to have affected the plant's development.

Week 6 - explosive growth this week, turning into a bit of a mini jungle in there! No longer LSTing as I'm happy with the shape of the plant and I think the stretching phase is mostly over now. Some pom pom buds beginning to form. I applied some mild defoliation this week to increase the light penetration to lower budsites. Burned tips still developing near the top of the plant, but growth seems normal to excellent. Any ideas on what this damage is? I assume the biotabs are a bit too hot for this plant, but could it be light damage? As I understand it LEDs can't really cause this type of damage, but if anyone has experience with this problem I'd love to hear it. Holding off on additional application of Orgatrex until next week, just to see if the burnt tips develop into anything worse. She is getting thirstier and is drinking about 2L water now, every 4 days or so.. Rough light calcuations: blasting about 45k lux, ~650PPFD for a DLI of ~47. Will bump this up a tad more next week as flowering will be in full swing.

D42 - beginning of week 7. All looking good except the shape of my plant is a bit wonky. My LST regime was not as effective as I hoped, and some tops at the back of the tent didn't quite reach the canopy. I rotated it around to try and give the lower budsites a chance to bulk up. NOOB ERROR ALERT: I realised an error I made throughout this grow, probably resulting in the yellowing of the tips and possibly slowed growth... I never used the Bactrex component of the Biotabs starter kit. D'oh! Tomorrow I will apply 1g/L of water and 5ml Orgatrex per L, and give her about 2L as she is getting really thirsty now. Hopefully this will give her the extra juice she needs to bulk up during flowering. I feel so silly but better late than never. Even without the Bactrex she seems to be growing ok, just the min/max part of me is a bit disappointed in myself. D43 - applied bactrex and orgatrex as outlined above, 1G/L and 5ml/L, just shy of 2L total. Plant a little bit droopy today but not too worried. Will keep an eye over the next few days and see. D44 - still trucking along, perked up after a bit of a droopy day yesterday. I will take her out for a trim tomorrow, it's getting a bit too bushy in there now, and the need for light at the lower budsites is increasing. D45 - took her out for a trim, cleaned up some of the lower canopy and made a bit more space in the middle to allow more buds to get light. also gave her a nice big drink of about 2L plain water. Increased the power of the light slightly. Tips of leaves looking pretty ragged, but I don't think it's anything to worry too much about. Hoping the bactrex will get to work in the next few days and allow the bloom to continue as is. Apart from the gnarly tips the plant looks pretty healthy overall. Biotabs really impressing me - so easy.. once you follow the instructions correctly! D46 - looking ok today after a trim and a watering, tops developing nicely and the lower budsites have a bit more light hitting them now. Quite a tall plant now, much larger than my first run of the same strain. Glad I utilised LST as it would have been too much to manage in my tiny tent otherwise. The uneven nature of my LST regime will probably result in a mix of quality, but I don't mind. If I had more space I would be looking to harvest the tops first and let the lower buds run a bit more but that won't be an option this run. Getting ahead of myself a bit, still got at least 5 weeks left on this I think. May not get to update the next few days so posting week to date now. Impressive growth in the last 14 days. D47 - nothing major to report. some possible signs of deficiency but not going to address until at least next week, when my bactrex application will hopefully be in full swing. plant seems happy enough overall, but will keep an eye on damaged leaves (not caring about tips at the moment, just some brown spotting on some leaves) and see what develops.

Week 8 - lots of pics and words this week, as we are at the most interesting point of the grow in my opinion. Well, second maybe to harvest day. Okay, maybe third next to the first sample of dried and cured buds and also harvest day. :D D49 - plant was looking a bit stressed out today. I think now, at long last, my light is causing some ill effects. There were some tacoing leaves near the top of the plant, nothing too concerning. I had it running pretttty hard, in the 6-700 PPFD range. This was obviously a tad too much, though I will aim to be there next week or so. Backed it off about 10% to give her a break. I gave her a nice big drink of ~2.2L tap water pHd to 6.5. I'm not sure how I feel about this Airpot, it's only my second time growing and first time using Airpot but it seems to go from "she needs a drink" to "way too dry" in the space of a couple of hours. I checked after lights came back on and was considering leaving the water til tomorrow, checked again not long after and it was Sahara dry. I had to give her a very slow drip to break the hydrophobic barrier which formed on the top of the soil. Maybe it's my fault and I'm watering too infrequently. I think I will try a fabric pot next time and see how I get on. Also the airpot creates issues when watering too quickly - such as water pouring out the airholes. The eco warrior in me isn't a fan of this much plastic either. Some spotting and discoloured leaves evident on various sites of the plant, a few near the top but mostly in the lower canopy. I'm not gonna panic and rush to rectify this as I'm fairly sure this legacy damage from my previous errors, and not the onset of new deficiencies or problems. I trust in the Bactrex and Biotabs to take her to the finish line. If necessary I have some Biobizz bloom nutes I can add to the soil, I'll make a decision on this in at the weekend. If applied it will be a very small application, just that extra lil oomph. I am especially not worried about the leaves lowest in the canopy, it's their time to die now no matter what as the light just can't penetrate that well in a tiny space like this. They will wilt and die themselves over the next few days and I'll just pluck 'em off. D50 - looking better already. Still some tacoing leaves near the top but not nearly as severe. I think a combination of too much light plus her being thirsty is the root cause. I'll keep a close eye over the next few days but I'm confident she'll pull through just fine. I actually increased my fan speed a little bit too, hoping more airflow will do her good. Apart from the issues mentioned the plant looks pretty healthy to me. She's not gonna be winning any beauty pageants at this rate, but she is beautiful to me. :) In spite of her gnarly tips and some nasty looking leaves, the overall appearance looks alright I think, however I welcome any contrary opinions and advice! Flowers starting to do their thing now, getting a slight stink when I open the tent but nothing too overwhelming. Could potentially defoliate a bit more but with the stresses of this week piling up I think I'll give her a few more days before taking the snips out. Gonna just throw this up prematurely and update daily, in case someone sees it and spots something I haven't. Would rather be proactive with solving any issues. D51 - ok, she was looking pretty stressed again today when I checked on her so turned the light down another 10% or so. A little concerned now. Pretty confident it's light damage and not a nutrient problem, but I know they can all get rolled into one. It's definitely not a heat issue, my temps are between 21 and 24 consistently. So with the light backed off a bit it's currently sitting at DLI of ~45. About 600PPFD at the very middle and then dropping off considerably. I've rotated the plant so the lowest top is in the middle and the larger ones around the perimeter where the light isn't as intense. I'll leave it like this for a few days and see what develops, might even back it off a touch more. I'll probably trim some of the nastiest looking leaves in a couple of days to prevent vectors for mold and diseases as she progresses into flower. Buds developing fine it seems, noticeably chunkier from yesterday. Hopefully she can recover from the overload of light and maybe I can crank it up again in a week or so once the flowers are a bit more established. D52 - didn't do much, pot getting a bit dry so water and trim tomorrow D53 - gave her about 2.5L water pHd, no nutes. took her out for a decent trim, cleaned up some of the worst looking leaves and culprits blocking bud sites. Looking ok in natural light, definitely signs of too intense light near the top buds, some of the leaves faded out and bleached looking. I have the light dialed down a bit more and it doesn't seem to be getting toooo much worse, but we'll see what develops. Will probably give another feed of Orgatrex next watering, or possibly just Biobizz bloom nutes in water. D54 - looking good to me D55 - end of week 8, we are getting somewhere. Pleased with how the plant is looking all things considered. The reduced light seems to be working well. I completely underestimated the power of this tiny light in my tiny space, but it's all good experience for the next run. I was running the lamp at high power to try and increase the ambient temps in the tent, but obviously I didn't consider the trade off well enough. I look forward to the next week and seeing how things pan out - the buds are starting to fill out now and the smell is getting lovely and.. well, weedy. Hard to put my finger on it. Sort of like sweet dirt. Thanks for reading, looking forward to you joining me in another week for the update.

Week 9 D56 - seems to be doing ok, buds doing their thing still and getting a bit of a chunk, a bit of a frost and a bit of a tang on the nose. Pleased that she seems to be pulling through my mistreatments relatively unscathed. Light damage seems to have halted, or at least slowed way down. Even if she limps to the finish I won't mind. I love my plant. D57 - every day I open the tent the flowers seem to have gotten bigger, hell, every few hours when I can't help but check on her they look bigger. Will give her some water and food today, I think I'm gonna give her a little boost of flowering nutes in the form of Biobizz bloom, in addition to a dose of Bactrex. I'm hesitant to add more N at this stage and I believe the Orgatrex component of the Biotabs kit is 5-1-5, so the Biobizz bloom (2-7-4) is probably better suited to this stage of growth. All organics so not too concerned. Biotabs seem to keeping everything mostly in check. Can't hurt to add some more beneficial microbes from Bactrex... I think. D58 - 2.2L water with 5ml Orgatrex, 1g Bactrex per litre. Seemed to enjoy it! Didn't bother using my Biobizz nutes, they're fairly old and smelled a bit off, so would probably do more harm than good. in the bin they go. Probably won't feed her again, maybe once more in a week depending on progress but I think the biotabs in the soil will take her to the finish line D59 - looking nice today, still lots of new pistils growing and some beginning to curl up into the buds. been plucking some of the dying lower fan leaves off as I peek in, accidentally tore a little bit of stem away with one of them so hopefully that won't cause too many problems. pleased with the development! getting nice n stanky D60 - added pics. nice development! buds starting to get nice and fat. will begin checking trichomes with a loupe probably next week, don't want to get too ahead of myself. D61 - pics D62 - 2.2L plain water. looking real nice today, the buds are still developing nicely. I'm considering harvesting the top buds first and letting the rest of the plant run a bit longer, just need to figure out logistics of that. the lower buds could really do with a bit more time. happy to have had a problem free week anyway, coming up to the home stretch and I'm delighted with the progress

WEEK 10 D63 - all ok, chugging along nicely D64 - more inspection and some pics. Looking good. Buds taking on some purple colouring, likely from the cool night temps of ~18c, I don't mind the look of it. Smells lovely now. Tropical papaya fruit punch with a hint of yeast. Very frosty. Cursory trichome inspection shows mostly clear still with some milky. From my limited experience this plant ripens pretty quickly so will be checking daily from now on but still feel like another 10 to 14 days are in order. D65 - Buds look amazing today. Began removing some fan leaves and superfluous foliage. I think I may have been a bit conservative with defoling this run, should've hacked away a lot more a lot sooner. live and learn! I have backtracked on my plan of cutting the tops off first - the whole plant seems to be developing nicely so I think I'll probably just chop and dry the whole plant together. I'll end up with a fair amount of popcorn but I ain't too fussy. Trichs looking good, seeing more milky today but mostly clear still, I think. Pretty hard to get a clear shot. D66 - Gave a nice drink of water, about 3L total. Everything looks to be finishing up nicely. Could probably chop as early as next week but I'm in no rush, I'd rather give the lower buds some time to catch up. D67 - Chugging and chunking along nicely. D68 - looking great again today. definitely approaching the end phase, could likely chop today and end up with decent smoke, but I'm after a heavier effect so happy to leave it run for another week or two. my trichome checks are proving inconclusive, definitely gonna invest in a usb microscope as the hand loupe is just too fiddly to get a clear view of things. D69 - nice. not much in the way of new pistil development that I can see. will have her out later for more trich inspection and a watering, possibly her last or second last. i think harvest is ~10-14 days out. pleased with this week of progression. wish my LST had been a bit more effective as the canopy is quite uneven, but what can ya do. not gonna complain (too much) about a tent full of buds not being full of enough buds. Thanks for reading

Week 11 D70 - gave her about 3L of plain water and removed some large fan leaves and some small gnarly leaves, as I am concerned about mould as we approach the finish line. Plant looks excellent, buds swollen and maturing. Haven't seen much in the way of amber trichomes yet but it might be my method. Letting her live a bit longer anyway D71 - all looking good, not much to say at the moment. buds still shaping up nicely. trichome checks continue to be inconclusive, will keep looking D72 - I think she's done! gave a thorough inspection of all large buds today and there is unmistakable amber, probably 5-10%. gonna let the pot dry out for another few days, let her finish up the ripening and then she'll meet her maker. excited for harvest, hoping for an ounce but really I'm just happy to be here. :) i have turned the light down a fair bit, i read on another diary here that lower light in the final week is beneficial to the ripening process. D73 - yup, any minute now. probably take her down friday or saturday, d75/76 D74 - harvest day! As good a time as any. I have been thinking about my reasons for letting the pot dry before harvest, following a discussion with another growdiaries member, and I have decided to cut it down while there's still some moisture to the pot. This should slow my drying time down a bit, producing a nicer end product. she was coming down today, tomorrow or the next day, so doubt it will make a huge difference either way. got my dry room set up, it is my grow tent minus light, heat mat, everything except extraction and carbon filter. added a circulation fan which will be placed at the bottom of the tent facing the walls to deflect the air movment. it will run 15 mins per hour unless it needs more, in which case ill increase to 15 mins on 15 mins off. its a pretty simple drying setup with some twine drawn across diagonally within the tent, where i can hang branches mostly whole. i have trimmed a lot of large fan leaves in the last 10 days, and taking off anything gnarly as I harvest - bud rot is my greatest fear, and im doing everything i can to mitigate it in this final stage. i am aiming for a 7ish day main dry, plus another 2-3 days in paper bags before jarring for cure. usual humidity is on the high side, around 60%, and due to the stealthy nature of my setup i can't have a dehumidifier in the dry area. we'll see how it goes, but i am optimistic. buds look amazing. the last week really put the icing on the cake, so to speak. got some significant purpling on the tops, most of the buds at the top are big and dense. lots of smaller/popcorn nugs in the lower canopy but will know to trim them off next time. ill update next week with drying progress and a weigh in, with a smoke report to follow. at the moment i have most of the plant hanging in the tent. there are also two brown paper bags with popcorn in em that i'm trying a different drying method, that is, straight into bags. will see how that goes. thanks for reading!

HARVEST & DRYING: I cut the plant down from the main stem and removed large branches to hang dry in my tent with about 18c temp and 55%ish humidity, a tad higher. Extraction fan running all the time, circulating fan 15 mins every 4 hours as it's a tiny space. The main branches were hung to dry and then I was left with a lot of popcorn. I decided to try something different with them and immediately put them in brown paper bags, no trimming, no drying, just fresh, wet buds into the bag. This worked AMAZINGLY well. The popcorn was almost completely dry within 5 days, with an aroma like a long cure. Really impressed with this method. After 7 days of hanging, the main buds were dry trimmed and also paper bagged for another 2 days. I transferred them to cure jars today with Boveda 62s. They already smell and look amazing. There is something magical about brown paper bags. I was worried I'd open the popcorn bags after a few days to find moldy, mushy buds. The only downside is that the popcorn buds did take on a flattened shape, so if aesthetics is your thing maybe this isn't the way to go. For quick dried, lovely tasting and smelling but not so visually appealing buds, brown paper bags are the way to go, IMO. Ended up with about 36g dried, plus maybe another 2g of testers. About 1/3rd of that is "popcorn", but that "popcorn" is about 10x better than the crappy, street quality stuff available to me, so I am counting it in the final weight. Thanks all for reading, thanks to @Sweet_seeds for the genetics, thanks for all your help and advice folks. I am getting prepared for my next run now, open to suggestions for breeders/strains to try next.