+Speed Auto mini soil grow

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.