Training
This week was the start of the LST and, with that, a continuous gentle defoliation to ensure that the new shoots are getting a lot of direct light. Leaves (especially sun sails) growing over new shoots are either pressed down or, if necessary, removed. When LSTing, I always focus on gently bending the branches in the desired direction every day, without disregarding the natural structure of the plant. Once they reach a length of about 5 cm, I start to secure them with training stakes(*1). This way, the risk of damage (as well as overall stress for the plant) is kept to a minimum.
Setup
The lamp is now at max. intensity and min. distance (35 cm) at around 650 - 700 PPFD.
(*1) I built the training stakes myself to match my needs (enough length, natural material, no sharp edges, slightly downward facing angle).
Pests + Living Soil + Environment
The combination of nematodes and sand seemed to work immediately, because the number of Sciaridae quickly dropped to about 2 - 3 adult flies per day. Still, on day 40 (8 days after adding the sand) I removed it again, because:
- it was rather intended to support the nematodes (fewer new larvae),
- the Sciaridae had fallen to a level that seemed acceptable,
- it would keep the soil too anaerobic and moist in the long term.
The decision also had a positive effect on the RH(*2) (approx. 10% increase).
(*2) Relative humidity fluctuated slightly from day to day, but generally remained around 50%. Although removing the sand (at the end) of this week increased the RH, I only evaluated this ‘new average' RH from the following week onwards.
Environment + Plants
The stabilization of the environmental conditions and the increase in light, have allowed the plants to grow intensively this week. In the beginning, the relative humidity was still a little lower than I would like, but acceptable since the plants were still quite small and didn't need to be watered as often (large amount of substrate with corresponding buffering effect to keep the plants healthy.
*Gorilla Z Auto was 1 cm tall, Mimosa Cake Auto 1 cm.
(Pre-)Flower
I have also been able to observe pre-flowering, which is consistent with my other observations. [Autoflowering genetics in particular do most of their growing during this phase, which lasts just under two weeks, roughly starting from week 3 - 5.]