21.07.2025 Defoliation, Lollypopping, and LST/HST.

Dia 22 - Flora - 16/08. Inverti o foto período. Vou testar luzes ligando às 18:30 e desligando às 6:30 Dia 23 - Flora - 16/08. Dryback muito grande. Somente uma das plantas tinha folhas murchas. Deixei de regar por falta de tempo. E mesmo assim suportaram um calor de 37 graus hoje. Impressionante a resistência ao calor delas. Fiz a desfolha grande dos 21 dias atrasado. Quase um lolipop. REGA 2.2lts água com um FPJ que eu fiz com folhas delas próprias. Todas elas ramificaram muito bem. Ficaria perfeita num scrog. Mas no meu caso, por falta de espaço acabei tirando vários ramos. A planta 4 tem uma ramificação realmente especial. Dia 24 - Flora - 18/08. Como ontem os vasos estavam secos demais, reguei mais 1.5 lts por vaso com 1.5 ml de FPJ. Dia 25 - Flora - 19/08 - 30 Graus C no grow. Bud com fasciação na planta 3 e galho completamente achatado deste bud. Dia 26 - Flora - 20/08 rega 2.5 lts com easy coco receita meio de flora. Dia 27 - Flora - 21/08. Dia 28 - Flora - 22/08. Rega 2.5lts com FPE de babosa. Tirei algumas folhas fan

6th week of veg. Is finally in the books and all systems are go for the flower show. As they’re revegged clones, their branching structure is just ridiculous. Sucker branches everywhere pulling nutrient flow away from the winners. Right before we flipped and as per videos - we gutted every single plant and crushed it down to no more than about 7 tops max per plant. The whole goal is only to flower select, top shelf bud with every opportunity (and space) to grow to its fullest potential. So far, Druid nutrients has fit the bill for every one of em and they’re all extremely happy on this system👍. We also couldn’t resist and snipped another run of clones off each one but the Skywalker. Not sure if the boogie nights or blueberrys will make it but u never really know do you🤷. That said, the diy aerocloner has been a beast for us and minus an aphid issue last round - she puts out a 100% success rate😉. We’ll use the best of these as complimentary to reg. Run of some spicy bitch we’ve got coming up. Even if the pollen chuck is a failure - we won’t be losing any of the elite white widow or blueberry genetics🤞🤞🤞🤞. Other than that - it’s all wait’n on the buds now👍👌👍. Until next week. Background This ones tied to part 2 of the pollen chuck. They were supposed to be a clone run for pollination but the mothers all reveg’d due to a timer incident and high stupidity. These will be the inaugural flowering run of the revamped dutchy system. Growing made easy😉. Shit ton of finagling and setup but once she’s ready - sit back, relax and watch em grow😍😎. Thanks for take’n a look.

After topping last week we've just been watching them grow. Bending down the branches to help them spread out. Over this next week I'll start my lst ties to help pull them down and out.

🚂 Cash Express – Pheno B Week 9 | My Sister Has Her Own Story 🌿🔥 Welcome back to another week of the 8×8 Adventure! 💚🌱 And once again, this room is reminding me why growing different phenotypes side by side is so fascinating. Because sometimes you can look at two plants and think: "These two are sisters." You can see the family resemblance. The general structure. The flowering behaviour. The way they develop. But then you look a little closer... And you realize: they are absolutely writing their own stories. Cash Express Pheno B is one of those girls. She's growing in the same room as her sister, under essentially the same conditions, with the same general feeding strategy, lighting philosophy and irrigation system. And yet... she has her own personality. She's beautiful. She's lush. She's developing an impressive flowering structure. And she's becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. So this week, let's put the spotlight where it belongs. On her. 🚂🌿🌸 🌱 Week 9 – She's Finding Her Shape Cash Express Pheno B has continued developing beautifully this week, reaching approximately 93 cm. And while height isn't everything, that number does tell us something interesting when we compare her with her sister. Pheno A has remained the smaller, more compact expression. Pheno B has taken a different route. She's taller. She's more extended through the structure. Her branches are distributed differently. And the flowering sites are developing along that architecture in their own unique way. But what's really interesting is that despite those differences... there is still a recognizable family resemblance. You look at her and know you're looking at Cash Express. But this is her version of Cash Express. And I absolutely love that. 🌿 Lush Green & Full of Life The first thing that catches my eye this week is her colour. She's green. Beautifully, deeply and consistently green. The foliage is looking lush and healthy, and the plant has that unmistakable appearance of a girl with plenty of energy left to put into flowering. This is one of those plants where you can almost feel the vigor when you're standing next to her. She's not looking tired. She's not looking like she's struggling. She's not trying to tell us that something is wrong. She's simply growing. And growing beautifully. That makes my job much easier. Instead of trying to fix something that isn't broken, I can simply observe, support and allow her to continue doing what she's already doing so well. 🌸 The Flowers Are Getting Serious And then we get to the real stars of the show. The flowers. Wow. The developing buds are becoming increasingly defined, and the pistils are absolutely beautiful. We're seeing those long, bright hairs emerging from the flowers in all directions. They're still predominantly fresh and light in colour, with some of the warmer tones we've been noticing in this phenotype. And the flower structures themselves are becoming much more substantial. This is no longer just a collection of early flowering sites. We're starting to see actual bud architecture developing. The individual flowers are beginning to connect and build their shape. There's still a long way to go before we see the finished product, of course. But this is exactly the stage where the potential starts becoming easier to appreciate. And Cash Express Pheno B is giving us plenty to look at. 🚂 Same Sister. Different Personality. This is probably the biggest story of this week's update. Pheno A and Pheno B are sisters. Same cultivar. Same room. Same basic environment. Same irrigation. Same overall nutrition. Same 12/12-from-seed approach. And yet... look at them. Pheno A has her own compact and efficient architecture. Pheno B has developed a different structure, with more height and a different distribution of flowering sites. Neither one is better. Neither one is worse. They're simply different. And that's the whole reason I'm documenting them separately. I don't want to reduce the story to: "Cash Express did well this week." I want to know how each phenotype does well. What does she naturally want to become? How does she build flowers? How does she use the available space? How does she respond to the same environment? What characteristics remain consistent between sisters? And what characteristics separate them? That's where the real fun is. ✂️ A Little Cleaning – Nothing Dramatic We've also continued doing a little selective cleaning around the room. And, as always, this isn't about following a calendar. There isn't a rule saying: "Week 9 = remove X amount of leaves." That's not how I want to grow this project. We're reading the plants. For Cash Express Pheno B, we've removed a few leaves here and there where they weren't contributing much anymore or where opening a little space made sense. Nothing aggressive. Nothing dramatic. We're not trying to strip this beautiful green girl. Quite the opposite. She has plenty of healthy foliage, and I want to keep it working for her. The objective is simply to maintain a sensible canopy, allow light and air to move through the plant, and keep the developing flowers visible and accessible. Sometimes a single leaf in exactly the wrong place can block an entire flowering site. Remove that one leaf? Perfect. Remove twenty more just because you're already holding the scissors? Not necessarily. 😂✂️ Selective beats automatic. 💨 Airflow Becomes More Important As these flowers continue developing, maintaining good airflow becomes increasingly important. We're now dealing with larger and denser flowering structures than we were a few weeks ago. That means I want to avoid unnecessary pockets of stagnant air inside the canopy. The small amount of selective cleaning helps open things up without compromising the plant's overall ability to photosynthesize. And because we're working with a room containing twelve different plants, keeping the canopy reasonably open also helps the environment itself. Better air movement. Better exchange around the foliage. Fewer overly crowded areas. And a little more breathing room for everybody. We're not trying to create a sterile environment. We're simply trying to give the plants the conditions they need to remain healthy while the flowers continue developing. 💡 Light From Above – And Inside One of the things I really enjoy about this particular setup is that we're not relying entirely on light from directly above. The main Future of Grow Black Series lighting provides the primary canopy intensity, while the additional inner and under-canopy lighting helps bring usable light into areas that would otherwise receive considerably less. And Cash Express Pheno B's structure makes that especially interesting. She's not a completely flat wall of foliage. Her branches occupy different levels and angles throughout the plant. That creates opportunities for light to reach different flowering sites. At the same time, we're still paying attention to canopy density and selectively opening areas where appropriate. It's a combination of lighting and plant architecture. And once again, the plant itself changes how the lighting system behaves. ⚗️ Feeding – Consistency Is the Name of the Game The nutrition programme remains unchanged this week. We're continuing with: Plagron Terra Bloom – 2.2 ml/L Plagron Power Buds – 1 ml/L Plagron Sugar Royal – 1 ml/L Plagron Pure Zym – 1 ml/L pH adjustment as required Current solution: ⚗️ pH – approximately 6.0 ⚡ EC – approximately 2.0 mS/cm And this girl certainly doesn't look like she's complaining. That beautiful green colour, active flowering and continued development are all telling me that she's comfortable with the current strategy. So why change it? We don't need to keep adjusting things simply because we're moving through the calendar. She's responding. We're observing. And for now, stability wins. The plants get the final vote. 🌡️ Current Environment The room continues running with a stable flowering environment: 🌡️ Day temperature – 29°C 🌙 Night temperature – 25°C 💧 Relative humidity – 60% 🥥 Substrate temperature – 26°C 💦 Solution temperature – 25°C ⚗️ pH – ~6.0 ⚡ EC – ~2.0 mS/cm 💨 CO₂ – ~639 ppm 💡 Light schedule – 12/12 ? Pot size – 15 L 💧 Watering – approximately 1.3 L/plant/24h The interesting part is that the room conditions are shared across the plants, but their responses remain very individual. That's exactly what we wanted from this experiment. The environment gives us the baseline. The genetics provide the differences. 🔬 Reading the Plant Instead of Reading the Calendar One of the biggest lessons this run continues teaching me is that the calendar is useful... but the plant is more useful. Week numbers help us document development. They help us compare one update with another. But they don't tell us exactly what every plant needs on a particular day. Cash Express Pheno B doesn't care that another plant is ready for something. She doesn't care what Pheno A is doing. She has her own root system. Her own structure. Her own metabolism. Her own genetic expression. And that's what I'm trying to respect. If she needs a little cleaning, we clean. If she doesn't... we leave her alone. If she responds well to the current feeding... we keep it stable. If something changes... we adapt. Simple. 📸 Behind the Lens And once again, this girl is making my job behind the camera very easy. The close-ups show just how much the flowers have developed. Those pistils are becoming one of the most recognizable characteristics of this phenotype. Long. Bright. Abundant. Almost exploding from the developing flowers. Then you step back and see the whole plant... and the story changes again. Now you see the structure. The height. The branch distribution. The amount of flowering happening throughout the plant. And that beautiful green canopy surrounding everything. This is why I love documenting individual phenotypes. A wide photograph tells you what the plant looks like. A macro photograph starts telling you who she is. 🌿 My Little Jungle Is Getting Better Every Week And I have to say... I'm having so much fun with this run. Sometimes I walk into the room and genuinely feel like I'm stepping into my own little jungle. 😂🌿 I'm moving between plants. Checking underneath leaves. Looking at flowers. Looking at the structure. Taking photographs. Finding something new. Then moving to the next plant and discovering that she's doing something completely different. It's almost like visiting twelve little worlds inside one room. And that's probably one of the biggest reasons I'm enjoying this project so much. I'm learning constantly. I'm adapting constantly. And I'm getting better at understanding that sometimes the best thing a grower can do is simply slow down and observe. 🔮 Looking Ahead The next stage should become increasingly exciting. The foundation is there. The flowering sites are established. The plant is healthy. And now we want to see those flowers continue developing their size, density and character. Over the next week I'll be watching for: 🌸 Continued flower swelling ? Further pistil development 💎 Increasing resin production 🌿 Continued healthy foliage 💨 Good airflow through the canopy 📈 More definition and density in the flowers And most importantly... I'll continue letting her tell me what she needs. No unnecessary changes. No chasing numbers. No forcing her to become something she's not. Just observation, consistency and adaptation. 💭 Final Thoughts – Let This Sister Shine Cash Express Pheno B has reached a really beautiful point in her journey. She's standing around 93 cm. She's lush. She's green. She's flowering strongly. Her structure is becoming increasingly impressive. And her flowers are developing their own unmistakable character. She's similar to her sister. But she's not her sister. And that's what makes her special. When I look at the two Cash Express phenotypes together, I don't see competition. I see two different interpretations of the same genetic potential. One sister chose one path. This girl chose another. And I'm absolutely happy to let her walk that path. Because she's doing something beautiful. She deserves the spotlight. She deserves the camera. She deserves her own story. So let's give it to her. 🚂🌿🌸 Cash Express Pheno B is not trying to be anybody else. She's simply becoming herself. And honestly... that's exactly what I want to see. 🙏 Thank You As always, a huge thank you to everyone following the 8×8 Adventure. Every week, this project becomes more interesting. Twelve cultivars. One shared environment. Different structures. Different colours. Different flowering patterns. Different personalities. And an incredible amount to learn. Thank you to GrowDiaries for giving us a place to document this journey, compare experiences and share what we're learning with growers around the world. Thank you to Zamnesia for the Cash Express genetics and for giving us the opportunity to explore these different phenotypes side by side. Thank you to Plagron for the growing media and nutrition supporting the plants throughout the adventure. Thank you to Future of Grow for the Black Series lighting helping power the room from above. Thank you to AutoPot for the irrigation system keeping the plants consistently supplied. And a special thank you to LumiFlora for helping bring additional light into the inner and lower canopy. And finally... thank you to everyone following along. Every comment. Every question. Every conversation. Every person who stops by to look at the plants. It genuinely makes this journey more enjoyable. I'm learning. I'm experimenting. I'm adapting. And sometimes I'm walking around the tent feeling like Tarzan in his jungle. 😂🌿 But honestly? I'm loving every minute of it. And Cash Express Pheno B is giving me another very good reason to stop, look and appreciate what's happening in front of me. She's beautiful. She's healthy. She's developing beautifully. And she's writing her own story. So let's keep watching. Let's keep learning. And most importantly... let's let this beautiful sister shine. 🚂🌸🔥 Growers Love, my friends. 💚🌱 See you next week in the 8×8 jungle. 🌿

Ok, week started with the 2 freshly potted plants growing a lot, from 20 to 38 cm despite the reduced sunlight due to rain here. Smallest plant was still in the minor pot until Saturday 11 June when I swapped the pot with the 17L one, repeating the same steps I did last week for the other 2, including mycorrhizas rubbing and the rabbit poo fertilizer. Yesterday I removed the lowest level of leaves and small growing that was starting very close to the ground. Personal choice related also to what I have seen in past growing. As of today, June 14, I register the following: plant 1 = 39cm tall, wider (more chubby) leaves up to 8-9 points leaves plant 2 = 38cm tall, slightly narrow leaves, up to 7 points max plant 3 = 19cm tall (?) Are plants 1 and 2 showing 2 different phenotypes for the different width of the leaves and the 7 vs up to 8-9 pointed leaves?

So I have decided too pot up the 3 toronjaz girls into bigger pots, 1 because the older girl needed it but 2 also because I feel they needed space and a new home too stretch their roots out 🌱 The above blend will hopefully help these girls soldier through these first crucial weeks, let's keep our fingers crossed 🤞 I'll be doing light lst over the next week for the older girl, maybe top her end of week 3 maybe 4 depending on how she grows 🌱 Light feeds slow and steady will do as new too aptus buy I hope I can do well with them as they seem really simple too use and also their website has lots of usefull info incase I'm in need 🙏👏👊 These will be tidied up and given this space too their selves once my fastbuds testers in the back there are ready for new pots and their new space I have waiting 🌱

unterschiedliche trainings somit unterschiedlicher wuchs... aber alle so wie gewünscht ohne stress oder probleme. später kommen bilder der einzelnen...😄 critical kush auto mit hst und enlauung schöne ud verteilung... riecht streng/schwer...gute trichomen ... stabil und unkomplizierert...

not sure where the dry weight thing went but i dont fill in wet weight. who even weighs there whole plant? dry yield is 269gram of pure bud. Grown in a 22liter pot with biobizz lightmix soil and greenhousefeeding bio line this smells so hard that my neigbor called the cops. she even smelled it in her apartment so its game over for me because off this plant. never came across such a weed smelling strain in the 8 years that im growing. hope to be back in 6 months or so.

Well, here we are. 12 weeks of training, topping and pruning, she is filling the net and and in good shape for flowering. I will be making the switch to 12/12 today, so this was the last week of veg for this girl. Since going into the larger tent, she has had much better light, and she has responded with lots of new growth. She has been screaming for more nutes. Currently feeding Megacrop at 6g a gallon. I use R.O. water, and total EC of the Megacrop along with Cal Mag is 2.0, which is quite high (I think it is anyway, I've only grown autos before), but the solution in the Autopot trays is still reading 0.3 EC lower than the res, and there is not a trace of burn on her. I really have no idea how far I can push a plant of this size, so I'll let someone else tell me if this is too high. I estimate that by the time I've added Bud Explosion into the mix, the max EC at peak is going to be somewhere around 2.2-2.3, at which point I will be starting to lower N levels and will be dropping from there on. I'd love to hear input from anyone who has some experience with plants that have had longer veg times as to whether these levels are considered 'OK'. She certainly seems happy enough and is thriving for now, and I've been letting her guide the nute levels from the color of the leaves rather than sticking to a feeding calculator. I'm estimating a flowering period of 10-12 weeks, which goes well into UK summertime, which means it going to be super hot in the daytime, so I'll be doing the lights off period during the day, and lights on overnight when it's cooler and I can max out the Kingbrite without overheating the tent. Also, having only grown autos before, I've never had to worry about light intrusion as I just keep them 24/0. I never appreciated how much of the shit in the tent has little bloody lights on it. Had to go round taping up LED's on a few things to make it completely dark. I've also put the monitoring cam on the same timer as the lights, as it has an infrared sensor, so the power to the cam is cut at lights out. I've kept a fairly detailed feeding summary on a spreadsheet. As this grow seems to be going fairly well (so far) I may go back and update previous weeks with a bit more detail in case anyone is interested. tl;dr Flipping to 12/12 this week, growth good, girl hungry, Bud Explosion gonna be added to the mix this week, starting around 0.5g a gallon. Happy days :)

A sad week, I found bud rot and had to take my plants out and do a big check and remove all dense underdeveloped growth. It will be a pretty big hit on the yield I guess but the most important thing is learning and that I did. The bud rot could spread due to my RH being 65/70 at nights and it used to be +80 before, + bad airflow. I got new fans in the tent and my dehumidifier was ordered already but its not in yet. On the other side, the plants are looking pretty damn good, they smell amazing and 3 of the 4 plants is getting a very dense nug structure.

Week 10 is probably my last nutrient feeding. One of these plants looks like she is less than two weeks away.

Sorprendido por la noticia de mi primera colaboracion con MarsHydro 😊🙏 y muy sorprendido tambien por el envio de las semillas por parte de 420FastBuds. La marca numero uno en focos 💡, carpas de cultivo ⛺️, extractores 🌬️ y demás aparatos que necesitas para tu cultivo. Para esta aventura arrancaremos con 💡Mars Hydro TS 1000 Full Spectrum LED Grow Light 150W Regulable y 1 semilla autofloreciente a un ciclo de 20/4. Verdaderos 150w con este TS1000, la mejor luz de cultivo LED para principiantes. Ofrece una luz adecuada para 2-4 plantas 🌱. Su precio razonable, la marcada mejora del rendimiento y el control variable de la producción la hacen amigable para los nuevos cultivadores. Todo un tesoro para cualquier cultivador que este comenzando. Usaremos para esta aventura una carpa de 60x60x90, MarsHydro una carpa para los más exigentes.Con una solapa de cremallera mejorada, dobles cremalleras de metal con forro,reflectante diamante tipo Mylar, postes de metal para una estructura mas solida, no se puede pedir nada mas. Garantizando una respuesta en solo 24 horas tanto si has usado antes la marca como si no. Que decir de 420FastBuds, uno de los mejores bancos de semillas a nivel muendial. Si quieres una Auto de verdad, esta es tu cepa. Wedding Glue auto: Perfecta para concentrados. Una enorme cantidad de resina la hace ideal para aquellos que buscan los mayores rendimientos en extracciones. Auto súper productiva. ¡Esta variedad puede producir hasta 550gr/m2 en 70 días! ¡Entre las más fuertes del 2022! Una autofloreciente potente con un 26% de THC. Terpenos ideales para los golosos. Un delicioso sabor a vainilla dulce que te deja la boca agua. Perfectamente equilibrado. Un efecto bien equilibrado adecuado para uso diurno y nocturno. 💡 MarsHydro TS1000: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PLY1WKK ⛺️ 60 x 60 x 90 MarsHydro: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081PN2QDN/ 🌻 Wedding Glue Auto: https://2fast4buds.com/es/seeds/wedding-glue-auto Solo le aplique en la estapa de crecimiento agua con un PH6.5 y humus de lombriz. Octava semana de floracion. Es una planta que ha requirido mas nutrientes que el resto, se han formado los cogollos y han engordado como locos, se han cargado además hasta las hojas de resina. Comienzo a disminuir la cantidad de nutrientes. 📆 Día 71: Riego con nutrientes EC 850. 📆 Día 72: Descanso 📆 Día 73: Riego con agua + flawless finish. Comienza el lavado de raíces. Ha quedado una planta sorprendente. 📆 Día 74: Descanso 📆 Día 75: Riego con agua 📆 Día 76: Descanso 📆 Día 77: Riego con agua

Boas growmies. Foi alimentada dia 12 Dezembro. Nutrientes misturados com 2l de água. Runoff pH: 6.3/ EC: 2.0 Esta strain está a virar roxa, muito linda 😍

💎 Black Diamond Auto by Zamnesia – Pheno A Week 9 | Beast Mode Activated 💎🔥 Welcome back to another chapter of the 8×8 Adventure! Okay... I think we're officially allowed to say it now. This girl is a beast. Not just a beast. One of the bestiest in the room. Is bestiest a real word? Probably not. Do I care? Absolutely not. 😂💎 Because Black Diamond Auto Pheno A has entered another level of flower development, and every time I look at her, I find myself thinking the same thing: What the hell are you building? She's big. She's loaded. She's stacking flowers everywhere. And now she's getting cleaned up a little because even a beast needs a little grooming. Let's make her shine. Because she absolutely deserves the spotlight. 🌱 One Room. Twelve Personalities. For anyone discovering the diary for the first time, welcome to the 8×8 Adventure. This project is about something I absolutely love about growing: genetics reveal themselves when you give them the opportunity. Twelve different plants. One room. One general environment. One 12/12-from-seed approach. The same lighting strategy. The same nutritional program. The same irrigation philosophy. The same grower. And yet... completely different plants. Some stretch. Some stay compact. Some build huge central flowers. Some spread themselves across the canopy. And then there's Black Diamond Pheno A. She seems to have decided: "Why choose?" Tall? Yes. Branchy? Yes. Flower everywhere? Yes. Big flowers? Yes. Lower flowers developing properly? Apparently yes. And now... beast mode. 💎🔥 💎 The Beast Is Still Building At around 169 cm, she remains one of the larger plants in the room. But by now, her height isn't what catches my attention first. It's the amount of flower she's carrying. This girl has continued doing exactly what she showed us last week: building substantial flowering structures throughout the plant. The central flower is impressive. But then you look down the branches... and there's another one. And another. And another. This is what makes her so fascinating. She's not simply relying on one enormous top flower. She's distributing her production throughout her architecture. And some of those lower flowers are becoming seriously substantial. The word "popcorn" is becoming increasingly difficult to justify when the flowers down there are starting to look like proper little colas themselves. 😂 ✂️ Even the Beast Needed a Cleanup This week, we did give her a little attention. We defoliated her. Not because she was unhealthy. Not because she was desperately asking to be stripped. And certainly not because I suddenly believe every plant needs the same treatment. It's because we're growing in a full room. That's an important distinction. If Black Diamond were growing completely by herself, I might have left considerably more of that beautiful foliage exactly where it was. But she isn't alone. She's sharing the room. She's sharing the available space. She's sharing the airflow. She's sharing the light. And when a plant becomes this dense, sometimes you have to make some decisions based on the entire ecosystem rather than the individual plant alone. So we opened her up. We removed selected leaves. We created a little more breathing room. We cleaned some areas that had become crowded. And honestly? She looks fantastic. 🍃 Goodbye to Some Beautiful Leaves And this is the part that always makes me hesitate. Because there were some beautiful leaves in there. Healthy. Large. Green. Perfectly capable of doing their job. But sometimes even a beautiful leaf has reached the point where removing it makes sense for the overall structure. There were also a few older leaves that were naturally ready to come out. So this wasn't about removing foliage for the sake of removing foliage. It was about looking at the plant as she exists today and deciding: Where does this leaf still contribute most? And where is it simply adding another layer of congestion? That's the kind of defoliation I like. Selective. Purposeful. And respectful of the plant. We're not trying to turn a Black Diamond into a skeleton. We're simply giving the beast a little room to breathe. 👀 A Few Little Imperfections And while we're showing the beautiful side of this girl, I also want to document the little imperfections. There are a few minor burned tips and some small spots appearing on some leaves. Nothing that takes away from the overall picture. The plant remains outstanding. But I'm keeping an eye on them. Could it be related to the intensity of the feeding? Could some of the damage be associated with environmental or mechanical stress, including airflow? There isn't enough evidence from the photographs alone for me to confidently blame one specific cause. And that's okay. Sometimes the correct answer in a diary is: "I'm watching it." That's exactly where I am with this. The important thing is the overall plant. And overall? She's absolutely crushing it. 💎🌿 🌸 The Flowers Are Becoming Serious The flower development is probably the most exciting part of this week's update. The flowers are getting increasingly established. Calyxes are stacking. Pistils are still showing prominently. The structure is becoming denser. And the resin coverage is becoming increasingly visible. Those close-up photographs really show the progression. This isn't early flower anymore. We're watching flowers become flowers. The architecture we've been observing for weeks is now turning into something much more substantial. And because there are so many flowering sites distributed throughout this plant, every week makes the overall picture more impressive. The central cola is beautiful. But honestly... I keep getting distracted by everything else. 😂 ❄️ And That Frost... Another thing that continues to catch my eye is the increasing frost. The sugar leaves are becoming visibly coated. The developing flowers are carrying more and more resin. And the whole plant is starting to take on that increasingly frosty appearance that makes you want to get the macro lens out immediately. This is one of those stages where the plant seems to change almost every time you photograph her. One week you notice the flower structure. The next week you notice the resin. Then suddenly you realize the flowers have become considerably larger. That's why documenting these plants week after week is so much fun. You don't just see the final result. You get to see the transformation. 💡 Light From Above and Below And Black Diamond remains a fascinating plant for observing the relationship between canopy structure and light distribution. The main Future of Grow lighting provides the primary illumination from above. And the Lumiflora under-canopy lighting gives us another layer of illumination lower in the plant. With a phenotype like this, that becomes particularly interesting. Because there are flowers everywhere. Not just at the top. Not just around the main stem. Throughout the branches. And after the selective defoliation, we've opened some additional space through the canopy. So now I'm even more curious to see how those different levels continue developing as flowering progresses. We're not trying to predict the result. We're watching it happen. That's the experiment. 💧 Feeding the Beast The nutritional strategy remains consistent with the flowering program. Current feeding: 🌸 Terra Bloom — 2.2 ml/L 🌱 Power Buds — 1 ml/L ✨ Green Sensation — 1 ml/L 🍯 Sugar Royal — 1 ml/L ⚗️ pH Plus — 0.03 ml/L 🍋 Lemon Kick — 0.03 ml/L The nutrient solution is maintained around pH 6.0, with the recorded EC around 2.0 mS/cm. Watering remains around 1.3 L per plant per 24 hours. And looking at this girl... she certainly isn't complaining about having something to eat. 😂💎 The important part remains consistency. The same nutritional strategy is being used across the experiment. Black Diamond simply happens to be one of the phenotypes making particularly good use of the opportunity. 🌡️ The Environment Current conditions for this update: 🌸 Flowering: Week 9 📏 Height: 169 cm 💡 Light schedule: 12/12 🌡️ Day temperature: 29°C 🌙 Night temperature: 25°C 💧 Relative humidity: 60% ⚗️ pH: 6.0 ⚡ EC: ~2.0 mS/cm 🌡️ Solution temperature: 25°C 🌱 Substrate temperature: 26°C 🌬️ CO₂: 639 ppm ? Pot size: 15 L 💦 Watering: ~1.3 L per plant / 24h The room stays consistent. The plant keeps changing. And that contrast is exactly what makes the phenotype experiment so interesting. 📸 This Week's Gallery The photographs this week tell a beautiful story. The wider shots show just how much this girl has developed. The flowers are distributed throughout her structure, and even after the cleanup, she remains incredibly full. The close-ups are where things get really interesting. You can see the flower structure becoming more defined. You can see the increasing resin coverage. You can see the fresh pistils. You can see the calyxes stacking. And then you notice those little imperfections. A couple of tips. A few spots. Nothing dramatic. Just part of the plant's story. And I actually like documenting that. Because a real grow isn't a catalogue photograph. Plants aren't manufactured. They're alive. They respond. They adapt. They occasionally complain. And sometimes they simply say: "I'm going to be amazing anyway." 😂💎 💎 Beast Mode I think this is officially the right name for her current chapter. Beast Mode. Because she's not just large. She's not just flowering. She's not just producing a nice central cola. She's building an entire network of substantial flowers. She's filling her vertical structure. She's developing frost. She's carrying an enormous amount of plant material. And even after getting cleaned up... she still looks like a beast. One of the bestiest beasts in the room. There. I said it again. 😂💎🌿 🧠 What She Keeps Teaching Me Black Diamond Pheno A has been one of those plants that repeatedly reminds me not to underestimate what genetics can do. From the beginning, she didn't need much manipulation. She developed her own architecture. She distributed flowers throughout the plant. She maintained a strong, lush canopy. And now she's showing us what that architecture can become as flowering progresses. The lesson isn't: "Do exactly what I did." The lesson is: Watch the plant. Understand the structure. Understand the environment. Understand the room. And then make decisions based on what is actually happening. That's what I love about this project. The plants are constantly giving us information. We just have to pay attention. 🔮 Looking Ahead We're moving deeper into the flowering cycle now, and this is where I'm going to be watching several things very closely. 🌸 Flower swelling ❄️ Resin development 🌿 Overall canopy health 💎 Development of the lower flowers 🍃 Response to the selective defoliation 👀 Those minor leaf imperfections 🌱 Overall plant maturity The most exciting question remains: How much more can those flowers build? Because if the current trajectory continues... we could be looking at something very impressive. And I absolutely want to see where this beast takes us. 💎 Let the Beast Shine There are plants that you grow. There are plants that you admire. And then there are plants that make you stop in front of the tent and just stare for a minute. Black Diamond Pheno A is becoming one of those. She's big. She's powerful. She's loaded with flowers. She's getting frostier. She's developing beautifully. And yes... she needed a little cleanup. We removed some beautiful leaves. We removed some older leaves. We opened some space. We gave her a little more breathing room. And she's still standing there looking at me like: "Was that all?" 😂💎 Yes, girl. That was all. Now keep doing your thing. Because you're doing it exceptionally well. 💚 Final Thoughts Week 9 has given us another chapter in the story of this incredible phenotype. Black Diamond Pheno A continues to show why phenotype hunting is so fascinating. She's not simply growing. She's expressing. She's developing her own architecture. Her own flower distribution. Her own personality. And now we're watching that personality turn into serious flower production. A few minor imperfections don't change the bigger picture. They're simply something to observe. Because overall... she's outstanding. She's one of the strongest personalities in this room. One of the most impressive plants to photograph. And definitely one of the ones I'm most curious to see at the finish line. So let's not overcomplicate it. Let's give her what she needs. Let's keep watching. Let's keep learning. And most importantly... let's make this beast shine. 💎🔥🌿 🙏 Thank You A huge thank you to everyone following the 8×8 Adventure week after week. Thank you to GrowDiaries for giving growers a place to document these journeys and learn from one another. Thank you to Zamnesia for the genetics that gave us this incredible Black Diamond phenotype. Thank you to Plagron for the nutrition supporting the plants throughout this adventure. Thank you to Future of Grow LED for providing the main lighting driving the room. Thank you to Lumiflora for bringing the under-canopy lighting into the experiment and giving us another dimension to observe. And thank you to TrolMaster for helping maintain the stable environment behind the scenes. And finally... thank you for following, commenting, asking questions and sharing this adventure with me. Every plant has a story. Every phenotype has a personality. And Black Diamond Pheno A? She's writing hers in capital letters. 💎 BEAST MODE. One of the bestiest in the room. 😂💚 Let's make her shine. Growers Love! 💚🌿💎

Can't complain with another good week! More pistils are starting to turn orange and buds are looking good and healthy, I've got no burnt tips and so im guessing the nutrient mix is balance nicely after removing the silica after it kept reacting with the mix. Done another defoliation to get that light where it's needed, im very happy with these two plants as they are only my 2nd and 3rd plants I've ever grown. Thanks for stopping by✌️

How RQS Compares to Your Standouts Brothers Grimm (your "otherworldly" stars: Montel Iced Tea, Body Count, Bubbles Blueberry F4, Ricky’s Hash Plant, Black Tangi Tea) These are landrace-influenced, heirloom-style genetics with exceptional resin, unique flavors, and structure. They outperform RQS in quality, potency, and "wow" factor in your tents. RQS tends to be more commercial/hybridized for ease and yield, while Brothers Grimm prioritizes distinctive traits and consistency in experienced hands. Humboldt Seed Company autos (your top autos for resin, especially OG Triploid) Humboldt focuses on West Coast legacy genetics with heavy resin production. Clearly superior to RQS autos in trichome density and overall quality. RQS autos are faster and easier for beginners but often lack the resin "frost" and depth you get from Humboldt. Fast Buds (fast, flavorful, reliable autos — you like them a lot) Excellent speed and flavor profiles. You noted they're in a "different class" — fair point. Fast Buds emphasizes quick cycles and modern hybrids with nice terps, while RQS autos can feel more generic or require more coaxing. Quick Thoughts on Your Observations Brothers Grimm (Montel Iced Tea, Bubbles Blueberry F4, etc.): These are clearly the stars in your current setup. The strong smell, unique leaf morphology, and overall vigor in small pots show they're expressing well under your conditions. They reward careful growing with quality that feels special — resin, flavor complexity, and effects that fit your low-dose, functional style better than most commercial lines. Your homemade cross (Gelato 44 × Bubbles Blueberry F4 pollen = "Blueberry Knockout"): Nice work on your first intentional cross-pollination! Getting viable seeds and decent plants from a garage-level cross is a real win. It’s not "pretend breeding" — it’s exactly how many great lines started. The fact that it turned out "pretty nice" is encouraging. However, as you noted, combining a Royal Queen Seeds Gelato 44 (solid but commercial) with Brothers Grimm Bubbles Blueberry F4 (higher-quality, more unique genetics) creates a hybrid that can show the best of both, but also some inconsistency. If the RQS side brings easier growth but less depth, while the Brothers Grimm side brings the special traits, the offspring can be hit-or-miss depending on which phenos you kept. RQS Gelato 44 / Mike Tyson 2.0 vs. Brothers Grimm: Your experience matches what many growers report. RQS lines are generally more "user-friendly" and higher-yielding for beginners or volume grows, but they often lack the resin density, terpene complexity, and unique expressions you get from Brothers Grimm. The Tyson 2.0 collaboration added hype, but in your tents it landed at 7/10 while Brothers Grimm hit "otherworldly." That gap in quality is why you're leaning toward sticking with the professional, boutique genetics going forward. 3/30 11:17PM Gelato 44 & Punch Pie were nice right off the tree the little buds put me right to sleep last night!! The Autos are 7-10 but the Photos are 8/10