Hello growers and welcome to week 6. I expect Queen Citronella to gain a lot of height this week.
I will be doing the measurements shortly, but first I wanted to share some news! Queen Citronella has a new home, she hasn't moved in yet, but I'm working on it today. I will also be rearranging all the other grows and starting some new things off! I am not sure if I have mentioned it anywhere but I am using a 1.2m x 1.2.m x 1.8m tent.. I have just got a 60cm x 60cm x 140cm tent and a 300w LED. Her Majesty I hope will enjoy her new quarters.
Day 36: I have lowered the light to 30cm above the tallest plants.
Day 37: It is done! Queen Citronella resides in her own palace, while the rest of the plebs squat together in the communal living area. I have reorganised and moved my 4x4, mounting the carbon filter and duct fan properly in the center. Setup a 2 x 2 with a 300w LED and put the lights for both tents on the same timer (for now). I will measure and photograph Her Majesty a little later, including photos of her new home.
Day 37: Added media. Height: 31cm. Fertigated 2l.
Day 37.5: Alright she is really stretching fast, she grew almost 5cm in a little over 30 hours, A thought has just occurred to me; I could, if I chose to, put the Queen on a flower cycle at this point. Now I did want to do a full grow of clones, however we're talking something like another 2 weeks of veg then 2 weeks for cuttings to root, then I'd want to veg them for a few more weeks, maybe 2, 3 or 4? So that's 6-10 weeks before I start flowering. Then at least ten weeks of flowering, A week to dry, and at least a fortnight to cure. We're talking 20-25 weeks before I get to smoke it, that's six months! I probably wont be able to grow in the summer due to the heat. Now I already have the one cutting which I am hoping will root soon, which I can take forward, but I also have two more seeds. So, regretfully, I think I will change my plans. I will flower queen Citronella, starting on day 43. I still intend to do a full tent of Super Lemon Haze clones, but I think I will postpone that adventure until September.
So this is now the final week or final five days of veg, she will spend the bulk of her last week of veg under a different light. We wont get much data on vegging (unless there is a significant change this week) but it'll be a nice trial run flowering with an LED light for the first time.
Exciting!
I am still waiting for the Epislon F1 seeds from RQS. I set their pot up today, inoculated, fed, and sowed some Dark Opal (Purple) Greek Basil and a liberal sprinkling of chamomile. I am going to germinate all five seeds in jiffy pellets and then put them all in the same 40l
Day 38: I have realised Her Majesty was too tall to flower in this little tent so I snapped her neck a bit.
I installed a photometer app yesterday and discovered I was blasting Citronella with 75 DLI so I raised to light up until canopy level was 40 DLI. The LED is pretty good. The HPS Dual Spectrum bulb in the main tent must be on its last legs as output was around 40 DLI for optimally positioned plants and 30 least optionally positioned. I could do to buy a new bulb. Identical replacement is about fifteen bucks, best one is about fifty. For that I could get another one of those LEDs which seems like better value. At the moment though I really need the heat. So I am thinking identical replacement.
4 days to flower cycle!
Day 38.5: Replaced crappy old Dutch barn reflector with a much nicer angel wing model. Installed a significantly larger carbon filter into the main tent which has significantly increased air flow. The main tent vents into the bottom of Queen Citronella's tent, and from there and unfiltered duct fan in the far top corner exhausts it out. The exhaust pipe goes up the chimney. Why have I reorganised and moved the tents again so soon is because I was wasting power heating the little tent with the LED light, but the main tent has excess heat. Well this setup is working a treat. Citronella is sitting in a balmy 23-24 degree wind tunnel.
Check out the little video of the changes.
Day 39: I think her majesty likes her new quarters. It's going to be weird seeing her square in a few more days. We are 2 days into a "dry spell" I'm simulating for all my plants.
Day 40: Dry spell ended. Fertigated 6l.
Day 41: Fertigated 3l. Citronella's penultimate day of veg, she is going 12/12 from lights out after next. Photos taken 10:00 9/2/23. Current lights out is Citronella's last 6 hour night!
Day 42: Start: Have performed pre-flower LST, HST, and defoliation. 24 hours to flower cycle.
Day 42: End: photographed immediately before first 12h night.
End of week summary: Huge week for Citronella. I think this LED light is pretty good. Change of plans regarding the grow and preparing her for flower. Let's see how she does.