01/31/2026
This week is all about training. There won't be much due to the size, but once she starts to stretch a little bit, I'll get some bud clips in there. She's already showing her sex. AND she has 9 finger fan leaves. Hell yeah! Very healthy plant. Nothing wrong with her at all except her height. Just short.
And the only reason short is bad for me is training. It's much harder to train a shorter plant, unless I cut off the big fan leaves. Which of course will be done probably next week when the side branches have some good leaves as well. Then I can work some training. Also the branches will be longer and much easier to manipulate.
I was going to change the water out today because we are dropping 3 nutrients for the next 2 weeks. But the reserve bucket is really cold. I'm warming it up by the heater, but it's gonna take the majority of the day to get it up to a reasonable temp. Right now it's at 56° f. Much too cold for a possible 20 minute dip. I have to add the nutrients in the actual bucket instead of the gallon jugs. It's much easier to dump 10 ml of nutrients into 1 bucket vs 2.5 ml each in 4 jugs. It's just 4 times faster doing it in the reservoir.
Of course when I can't lift the plant out of the water, I'll have to start pumping. No big deal, but still I don't like the fact that I won't be able to at least wipe the bucket out before refilling it. Ya know? Oh well. Frankly, in my opinion, it's a recipe for disaster. But I'll manage. And then I'll have to load the jugs up first. Or the reserve bucket and pump the mix in from there.
The environment looks a little wonky today. But seems to be sitting in a good spot when it finally levels out for a bit. Not that it hasn't been wonky the whole run, but it seems to be leveling out now that the plants are starting to contribute to the environmental conditions. Temp still isn't getting high enough for long enough. It hits 77° for a bit then drops down to 72° for a bit then back up. Mostly because the humidity is either high or super low and it's messing with the temp. They can't mesh well. It's because of the lung room. Too cold by the tent and much too dry.
I will note though that the heater hasn't overheated since I put it in the tent. Shame my tent isn't big enough to hold it. Especially when the scrog net goes up. Maybe I'll be able to use the heater outside the tent again with the hose. I'd much like to have my space back. Lol. I mean, it fits, but it takes up a lot of space in the back. The cool part is it's level with the buckets, so the hot air doesn't seem to be hitting them that much. Definitely keeping the buckets cooler.
I didn't need to add an ice bottle today. Yet anyway. I don't think I'll need to. Maybe tonight as I won't be changing nutrients out today. Not with the reserve bucket so cold. And by the time it warms up, it'll be too late to change the nutrients. I prefer to change them in the morning and do the trimming at night. Just seems like a good routine to have. The trimming before bed will help the plant recover from the stress and to heal. During the day with a new bucket of fresh nutrients, the plant can focus on those and growth and energy uptake instead of spending the day healing. At least that's the theory I'm working with. If I'm wrong please someone tell me.
02/01/2026
Today is water swap day. The reserve bucket is in temp range and pHed ready to go.
I checked the water temp earlier and it was perfectly fine from last night at 67.9°. Glad I figured out the water heating problem. Now it should be much easier to manage the water quality. Also, the pH is still perfectly in range sitting stable at 6.1. I'd like it down to 5.8, but that's not how this nutrient blend works. It sits at 6.1. of course, I'll pH to 5.8 when I mix the new batch, but it's going to hit 6.1 and stay there.
Maybe I'll bring it back down to 5.8 every couple of days. That might be a pretty good idea. That way we get the swing a bit and more nutrients can be unlocked easier. Or I'll just leave it alone as one should. It's pH perfect, so I should let it do the pH perfect thing and not mess with it. I dunno.
Plant... She is beautiful. Huge green leaves. 9 finger leaves still coming out. Amazing color. Still short though. Not the most exciting news. I'd like her to be close to a foot tall by now. But as I said yesterday, she is already showing her sex, so the pre flower stretch should begin shortly. Like in the next few days maybe? Maybe a week? Either way, flowering is fast approaching. That's for sure.
I should be all prepped for it. I have my trellis net in the tent ready to be hooked up in case I need it. Indeed, I may need it. This is an extremely healthy plant. I can see the potential super growth coming on. The leaves are HUGE. and if the leaf size signifies the potential size of the plant, then the plant will be huge. At least if that be the case. Which it might be. Probably not?
Readings:
pH: 6.45
EC: 1004
TDS: 502
Temp: 64.5°
02/02/2026
pH was way off this morning. I don't know what happened. But if I remember correctly, I read that the pH Perfect part of the name only works best when it's on the 700 to 1000 range. Mine is 500. Lol. Not sure how to fix that considering the fact it would be way too much for this little lady. Maybe when she hits flower. Then I think we should be good with 700 or so. She's gotta get up to size. That's all. Funny how she isn't having issues, but the bigger Apple Strudel has some pretty knarly nitrogen toxicity.
Anyway, she seems Perfectly fine. Great color. Super strong branches. But also flexible. Too short use the bud clips though, shame that. This is the training week and she's not cooperating. Lol. Branches are barely long enough to get a clip in. But only 2 can get it. So I'm going to have to wait and see. Maybe with her height, I'll get a naturally even canopy and won't have to do much training. It's kind of a bummer that I can't tie her down like I normally would. No anchors. Otherwise she would probably be a bit bigger. Maybe.
I find that they tend to grow a bit faster when tying down the top. Gets the blood pumping. Lol. For the most part, that is. The branches get more energy and flgrow faster in turn making the plant bigger. Maybe not tall, but wide. I almost want to top her, but I think it's too late now. It's week 3 of veg and there's already white pistils. Hopefully I'll get another week of full veg before the preflower stretch starts. I really need to train this lady out. I don't want to snip the leaves. We'll see how it goes. Maybe I won't have to snip all of them. Just a few would be fine.
Oh and the water temp was fine. 68.7° but I added an ice bottle anyway. I'd like that temp to stay around 67°.
In a bad note, I think I screwed up and contaminated this bucket. The Apple Strudel has an algae bloom and I accidentally used the same stirring stick for both buckets when I was pHing them.
We shall see if it causes an issue. Also isn't hydrogaurd supposed to prevent this from happening? I'll have to look into that.
Anyway, the environment is still messy, but I think it's artificial. The humidity seems to bounce with the heat as it has been. Both units turn off though, so that's good. I just need them to turn off at the right readings. Lol.
That's all for the day. We'll see what tomorrow brings.
02/03/2026
She looks great! STRONG branches. No training available. I did however hand press the top down. I really wish I could tie her down. Hand training takes a lot of work. Not that I mind, but like damn. I gotta be in the tent like 12 times a day and I don't want to do that.
The heater started overheating AGAIN. It seems to be fine now, but I wonder how it did it. It's not hot in the tent. The water didn't even get hot. However I do think I need to add an ice bottle just in case.
Her pH was high. 6.7. while the EC and TDS stayed the same. EC 1000 and TDS 506.
That's all for now.
02/04/2026
So I haven't recorded the light in a bit. We are currently at:
DLI: 34.6
PPFD: 530
I had to pH her yet again. It was like 6.7 today. I don't know what to do here. Except to continue pHing daily. Personally, I think it's the algae I can't get rid of. But also, there's less plant food in the bucket. I recorded 502 I believe and now it's at 492. Not much of a dip, but the EC also dipped to 973.
So she looks amazing. Her branches are thick and strong. There will be no taming this little lady. I'm thinking she hopefully will take to a clip or 2 when she starts to stretch. I dunno though. At this rate she's gonna have a trunk and arms for branches. Lol.
Now that there's plants in the tent that have some mass to them, the environment is now adjusting itself accordingly. And it looks good. However, the damned air filter is clogged again. So I'm gonna have to replace the charcoal in it. Then everything will be fine.
I also increased the light intensity slightly and raised the light back up to about 23" it's not much of an increase, but she started to reach pretty good last night, so I figured today was a good day to adjust the light. She should continue growing into it. Next week, I'll increase the intensity again. Probably to 40 mol. Maybe a little lower.
She needed no pHing. Everything else in the water looks good. This plant is extremely healthy and happy. I did replace the ice bottle though. The water was around 69°. Now it's down to 66°.
02/05/2026
She got a half gallon top off today. Looking fantastic! Beautiful green. Vibrant. Very healthy.
Nothing else to say really. pH is on point. Environment is actually doing good finally. I'm not worried about the EC or TDS at the moment. It's stable. However, when flowering starts, I'll definitely be keeping a close eye on it. For now, it's just the training. Which looks great! Kinda slow going as I'm unable to tie branches down. Too thick and stiff to clip. So I'm kinda stuck waiting for the first couple days of the stretch.
02/06/2026
Last day of the week. We'll start next week with a bump in light intensity and see what happens there.
I'm leaving the nutrients alone for the week. I believe the preflower stretch should be starting any day now. I'll change the nutrients after that I think. I think that's how the feeding schedule goes. Anyway, I can't sleait to see some stretch with this one. She's so compact and short.
So a thing I thought of with training, or lack there of. This plant could only be tied down or scrogged. The branches are too thick and stiff from day one. It's good and bad. Good because I know the plant is super healthy. Bad because I can't train them. Lol. Oh well. Alone she should be a pretty good producer. And her branches are all close together in height, so the stretch should provide a fairly level canopy. I think I'll snip the big fan leaves off tomorrow. Start of a new week and new access to the plant. She'll be super compact.
The big leaves are starting to become a hinderance to the growth of the plant I think. They are blocking branches and possible bud sites. I'll also clean up the bottom of the plant. I don't want any larf or popcorn buds. Should t be too much to clean up. Maybe a few leaves and tiny branch sites. It'll pay off in the end. That's for sure.
The environment is good. Yay! Well, so far it's good. And has been for a couple days now. I'm definitely gonna have to change out the charcoal in the air filter. It's clogged and I don't think it'll be beneficial in the flowering stage. The pre-filter is completely white now. I have to take it off and replace it with another one. SMH. I really wish I could get rid of the dust, but alas, I'm not using distilled water for my humidifier. The water costs too much for that. Although, now that the environment is finally manageable, I don't think I'll be needing the humidifier soon anyway.
I replaced the ice bottle this morning. The water definitely wasn't warm, so it should be all good. Everything is going good.