Day 28: Last night I had a real scare, I watered and by the end of the day she was drooping and looking very sick, there was no runoff at water so I feel I overwatered the little thing, thankfully this morning she has bounced back with great strength and this morning is looking healthier than ever!
I'm noticing a few holes in leaves, a few spots on the leaves and a few very fine silk trails on the leaves, so I'm thinking she's got thrips 😣 next to impossible to get any pictures of the damage I'm talking about because I think I've caught the infection incredibly early, so today I'm picking up some Neem oil and I'll spray her completely at lights out , hopefully it is thrips and not spider mites because thrips this late in the grow wouldn't be too bad! If it's spidermites I'll be in a bit more trouble, thankfully flower has only JUST begun so I'm not so worried about a neem oil application at this time
I'm going to let the soil dry out completely before watering again, I was dubious whether it was needed yesterday but the top inch was dry, I think I'll just wait until it's a couple of inches moving forwards
Day 29: last night I drenched the leaves in diluted neem oil, I'm not seeing a lot of pest activity but there is some level, so since we're just starting to flower I decided now was the time just to blast anything that might be floating around, In ten days I'll do it again, maybe sooner if the buds are really getting going in that time
Because of my overwatering scare the other day, I'm giving her another 24 hours to dry out deep into the pot, there's still a level of moisture in there and as of this morning the plant looks really healthy, really happy with how shes looking today, got 5 exposed tops which I believe will become the colas, 2 are the apex and on the same level and 3 lower ones are all on the same level. There are other potential Colas but they're hidden under the plant, I'll probable defoliate that side once the times right, unless they can break through in the next couple of days, which would be nice
Day 29 update: (7 hours after lights on) opened the cabinet to find temps of 29 degrees c wasn't running extraction, soil is dry, but most importantly I noticed the top leaves praying for rain, I gave the soil a small amount (300ml) of distilled water and tap water , just to wet the soil enough to give another reason for the roots to spread through the pot, tomorrow I'll give another small water with feed and Humic acid just to top up her nutes and give her one last big hit of growth before she starts flowering properly, if we can trigger another growth spurt whilst she's still inbetween veg and flower, this is looking like a good first harvest!
Day 29 Update (6 hours until lights off) following the water the plant has done her best to expose every inch of her leaves in light, she's bushier than ever and presumably getting ready to have a serious growth spurt, I watered around the far edge of the pot and let this pull through the soil, no run off because it was so little but, possibly a small feed of 1:1:1 tomorrow to top up nitrogen for any growth spurts planned ;)
Day 29 Update (lights out) Today was an exceptional day for this girl, over the course of the day there's been some real developments! This evening she was foliar fed a mixture of 1:1:1 nutes and fulvic acid, a single drop in around 400ml of water, she should bounce back with an extra growth spurt with the extra nitrogen, on day 31 I will most likely be watering again with the same mixture to help push one last growth spurt before a flip to flower occurs and we move onto bloom nutes for the rest of the grow
In 24 hours the fulvic acid should kick in and give one last growth spurt hopefully adding another node or two to the plant at the vest last moment, next photos i'm hoping will be a significant growth period if todays behaviour was anything to go by
Day 31: Yesterday I squeezed in one last round of LST, the main stem cola was rising quite high above the rest of the canopy, I pulled that down out of the way and by the end of the day It had sorted itself out, I also spread out some of the other new cola sites to expose deeper into the plant to more light
Yesterday I also watered with NPK 1:1:1 and Humic acid solution, as well as foliar fed with Bloom nutes and Humic acid again, this should help the plant through it's last growth spurt whilst allowing it to start creating flowers, today the soil will be left without water, possibly the next day too but I think it is ready for flowering to begin so I'm looking forwards to watering her with Bloom Nutes to get that process started well! Now that she's turning to flower i'm noticing the stems of each top are quite thin, I have a small fan on them constantly keeping them moving but I'm expecting to have to SCROG to provide all the support she needs, even if the stems thicken up in flower like I'm expecting, this will support the big buds I'm hoping for!
Lot's a vertical growth starting the insides of the plant are starting to open up and there's very little leaf growth below the main canopy
Day 31 - Whilst I watered yesterday with Nutes and Humic Acid, I'm spotting some very early signs of some flowering deficiencies, this isn't really a surprise as there has been hardly any nutrients added to the soil over the whole grow, so I've sprayed with the nutrient solution listed a move, the top of the soil was getting dry but not ready for a full water yet, just wet the topsoil through to help her transition to a higher quality nutrient, should start seeing some fairly decent growth from here on out!
Day 32 - Today the soil was getting pretty dry, I diluted down my foliar feed mix a little and watered around 400ml of water with Humic, Fulvic, Bio Bloom and a few drops of 1:1:1, may have been a little too early but she's slightly showing some signs of deficiencies, foliar feeding has helped a little to keep these back but today I gave her the first feeding of specific bloom nutrients, should see her return to a healthy colour soon! She's starting to get quite tall as well, I think next few days we'll have some serious growth ongoing (as has become tradition)
You can see from the images how her colour has gotten a bit lighter over the past few days, Foliar feeding has definitely slowed this and hopefully prepared her for a bigger dose of Nutrients, in 48 hours I'll be ready to water again this time with a heavier balance of nutes to really get things started for a healthy harvest
Today or tomorrow she needs respraying with insecticides just to make sure nothing survived the early infestations and do ensure a pest free grow until the very end!
Day 32 update: Today the flowers on what I expect will be the main 2 Colas have started forming, There's around 7 potential colas but 2 will be substantial if they're left long enough, hopefully tonight the nutrients kick in, but I'm considering another decent hit of nitrogen and bloom fert together, then water till flush, I think that will be 2-3 days off though,
day 33: today she's looking all round healthier, the colours were good yesterday but today she's a much healthier shade of green for sure :D giving a decent feeding regime of flower nutes seems to have balanced her out nicely, I'm gonna leave watering today and let her dry out to give the roots another big push to grow, the other day I was digging down into the soil on the opposite side of the pot to the plant and found roots there, I'm really excited to see this girls root ball! Flowering is well on the way, HOPING for a Christmas harvest but I think it's going to be more new year when she's fully ready to be chopped, can't wait!
I have pulled off 2 leaves today, they were starting to turn brown, I think the plant has cannibalised them, not because of a nutrient issue, because of a light issue, these leaves were completely shaded by the whole plant