12/02/2025 Week 10! And we have some revelations. I think I figured out a problem. No idea if it's related to the pH fluctuations, but I'm almost 100% certain that these ladies have been experiencing light stress. At least Lemon Cherry Cookies is. But she's taller, so she got the brunt of the light. I turned it down to 50% from 70% to see if that fixes things. Of course the pH was off. But now the swing for both plants is going down. It seems Papaya Cookies is leveling off her nutrient intake finally. Lemon Cherry Cookies isn't far behind. But today is water change day. We'll be dropping the nutrients down a bit to hopefully clear out the nutrient lockout. Or whatever is happening. I'm definitely slowing them down. And not in a good way. Buds are kinda on the small side right now. But I'm hoping with the next 2 weeks to go, and everything fixed, we'll get some glorious buds. Next run will be different. Next run, I'll know what to look for. In my defense, the light is topped out and the DLI is pretty bouncy. So I can't get a solid reading anywhere on either plant. Speaking of either plant, each one is showing completely different stresses. While Lemon Cherry Cookies is getting really yellow leaves close to the buds, Papaya Cookies has brown spots. Indicative of a nutrient lockout. But the lockout is clearing up. I'm afraid the damage is already done though. Plants stunted, or slowed in growth. Maybe they'll both recover quickly. As for potency, hands down Papaya Cookies is the most potent. She smells so strong, I have to ease the tent open or get blown away by weed smell. She has a super thick layer of frost all over each bud. Some have more. But it's pretty crazy. Lemon Cherry Cookies doesn't have as much, but she is certainly sticky and smelly. Maybe I can't see as much because the buds are darker and not as developed as her compadre. The base readings for this week. Papaya Cookies: pH: 5.8 EC: 1.639 TDS: 792 ppm Lemon Cherry Cookies: pH: 5.8 EC: 1.502 TDS: 749 ppm I know they aren't the same, but close enough. Let's hope they start to take in the nutrients and not reject them. I also made sure to use a clean fresh reserve bucket for each plant. I think it helped to clear out some of the loose root fibers. We shall see. So from here on out, it's just water and observe. Well, keep the pH in check too, but that's part of the observation. I know the damage is done on the yellow leaves, so I think I'm just looking for the leaves to stop turning yellow. Ultimately it's the water I have to keep a very close eye on. Fluctuations with these ladies is definitely causing more havoc than the light stress. So it's about 4 hours after I made the new mix. Both are at the exact same pH. 6.6 and I honestly have no idea what to do. Take the plants back out and pH it again? Or let them sit in it and see if it swings back down. I think it has to do with the water temp. It's gone up 6° f. Not much but enough to mess with the pH. Any suggestions? Comment down below if you have an idea. 12/03/2025 Some changes today. Both ladies had a 6 6 pH this morning. Each also drank just about a half gallon. So I added about 3 ml of pH Down and mixed it up. Added to the reservoirs. Morning: Papaya Cookies: pH: 6.59?! Wtf EC: 1.718 TDS: 847 ppm Lemon Cherry Cookies: pH: 6.8?!!!!!!!!! What in the actual fuck is happening?! EC: 1.510 TDS: 751 ppm I put in 3ml of pH down in my top off. Why did it go up?! How?! Evening: lights on: Lemon Cherry Cookies: Got a fresh mix. I took out the silica. pH: 5.8 EC: 1398 TDS: 699 Papaya Cookies: pH: 5.8 EC: 1776 TDS: 863 I want to see what happens when I take the silica out. I read that it's not really necessary in late flower. Maybe it'll help with the pH swings, not having it in there. I also dropped the mix. Just a little bit. If Papaya Cookies has any issues tomorrow, I'll give her a new mix as well. It could also be the water. I don't have anymore water money, so I had to go to filtered tap water. It's not terrible, but it's hard. Well, kinda hard. I think. Lol. It's like a pH of 7.9 Anyway, both plants have swelling buds. The timing for most charts couldn't be too perfect with these two. I still have to figure out how to keep the EC and TDS from spiking. No clue how to do that. Hopefully the 2 days in a row where I use plain water as the backup reservoir. For when I'm changing the water out. Just pHed to 5.8. it seems to also be slowing down on the "shedding". Lol. I probably made it worse. For Lemon Cherry Cookies that is. But yah, getting big and plump. I can't wait for the end result. I'm kinda skeptical of my original estimate of 6 oz. per plant or something like that. But now I'm thinking 3 to 4 per plant. Not terrible, but not great. A plant this size should put out 8 oz if the buds bulk up enough. So there still could be hope for the 6 oz. We shall see. On a different note, I dropped the temp to 73° f. I'd like a nice purple plant. And Lemon Cherry Cookies is the perfect purple plant for it. Papaya Cookies is an all green sativa. Lime green. Very nice. The humidity stays the same. Now, I'm having trouble getting a legitimate explanation as to why the VPD should be 1.2 to 1.6 kPa when the recommended temp is like 73 and the RH between 40 and 50%? It's too high according to VPD charts. Am I looking at the right charts? Is there a difference between the VPD from veg to flower? I wonder. 12/04/2025 So I attempted to pH the water today for both plants. It was pretty much a fail. However I did get one of them within range. Not that'll last very long. Papaya Cookies: pH: 5.6 EC: 1728 TDS: 846 Lemon Cherry Cookies: pH: 5.70 EC: 1492 TDS: 760 So while I managed to get Papaya Cookies in range, it's still not where she needs to be. Lemon Cherry Cookies was over 7. I don't know how. And I am trying to keep from disturbing the roots, but I needed to pH that plant immediately. I was gonna wait for after lights out, but I really couldn't. The pH was way too high. Even topping off with water pHed at 5.5 only moved it to 6.9. So I did the thing. And now it's done. I also think I figured out the source of the high pH. It's the roots. Definitely something in the roots. The holdover bucket was lHed to 5.8 exactly. Less than 15 minutes late and I have her back in her normal bucket. The holdover was already at 5.95. How do I clean the roots without hydrogaurd or whatever. I have sensizyme, but not much and it calls for a whole lot of it for a single gallon. It calls for 8 ml for a single gallon of water. Slightly more. I will never use that much. That's insane. Anyway, I'm not 100% sure what it does, and the description is pretty vague. I don't even know if it's the same stuff. Anyway, the yellowing seems to be getting worse. It's almost on every sugar leaf on the top buds. Like there's still light burn, but I checked. The DLI is below 40 mol. So it has to be this lockout I can't get rid of. I'll be honest, I think if the tent were bigger, it would be easier to handle everything and I might be able to lift the roots without touching them. Alas. I'm in a 3x3 and there is no clearance folfeom the light. And just not enough space in general. One of these plants with a trellis would have filled the whole tent. Both of them take up a ton of space. Flat against the side walls and flat against each other. Nearly touching the front and back. Both plants did this. Plenty of back and front space. Just no room for a trellis that low. So let's talk plant health. Because these ladies are not doing all that fantastic. I honestly have no idea what's wrong. I've been doing everything you're supposed to do. Keep the pH in check, drop the EC and TDS to keep that in check. Which it's not in check at all. It keeps going up. And I know it's the roots. And the water level. Because they aren't taking in any nutrients, they drink away the water and leave a high concentration of nutes. The problem I'm having is that I can't get whatever is in the roots to come out completely. How do I do that? I know they spike the pH, but what is holding them back from eating the nutrients? It's obviously not the size of the roots preventing them from absorbing, but like what is it? Should I just tough it out, do what I can and in a week or so start flushing? I don't think they'll be ready in a week. Well, maybe. It all depends on the lowers and mids. I don't base doneness on top buds. Those will always look done first. But the middle buds, at least for me, are a good sign the plant is done. Lowers should be ready as well, but always end up being larf. I should really try to clean up the bottom of my plants before the stretch. Or is it after? I don't know. I can't remember and I should know this for next run. Lol. Back to the issue at hand. On a plus side, both ladies are starting to really fatten up their buds. Papaya Cookies is covered in trichomes. Lemon Cherry Cookies is kind of lacking to be honest. But maybe that's because of the color. Purple. Maybe it hides it, but I don't think so. Just lacking. Disappointing. We'll see how she turns out in the end. There's still time. 12/05/2025 Morning numbers: Lemon Cherry Cookies: pH: 6.59 EC: 1686 TDS: 839 Papaya Cookies: pH: 4.65 EC: 1819 TDS: 911 After adding pHed water. High or low. Based on the plant. Lemon Cherry Cookies: pH: 6.6 EC: 1535 TDS: 766 Papaya Cookies: pH: 5.6 EC: 1650 TDS: 818 It looks like things are leveling out with EC and TDS. A little bit. But the pH is still way off. Maybe that'll adjust naturally when the plants start to feed again... For like the last week and a half before flush hahaha. I'll be checking trichomes tonight. I figure it's time we take a look. I'm pretty sure Papaya Cookies is nearly done. Maybe the next week. Lemon Cherry Cookies on the other hand does not look done at all. Maybe she's closer than I realize. But there's still quite a bit of white pistils all over the plant. I like to wait for the lowers to start getting orange pistils. As I said before, I like to judge by the middle of the plant. With the middle, I like to see nearly all cloudy. Maybe a few amber and next to no clear. From my experience, it seems to work best for me. But that could also be plant height based as well. Still middle of the plant makes sense to me. You know the mids will be done and smokable. Where as the lowers, because I'm stupid and never cut them off, will end up being popcorn or larf. Good for pressing though. I also check the uppers, of course. Anyway, I have been observing the yellowing on the plant from what I think is light burn. It was still going for a few days, but I think it's done now. Now all I need to worry about is the other deficiencies and lockouts and all that. Mid-day: I was just thinking about defoliation and how much I just didn't do it this run. I mean, I did, but it was just a little bit here and there. Anyway, I was thinking about the leaves and how the older ones pop off verses the younger ones that obviously don't. Wouldn't it make sense to just take the leaves that pop off when defoliating and then the new growth that may be in the way? Like old growth while still pulling in light, is now starting to use more energy than producing. Just a thought. 12/06/2025 Morning numbers AFTER Adjustments. I was half awake and forgot to record the readings. Papaya Cookies: pH: 6.05 EC: 1556 TDS: 774 Lemon Cherry Cookies: pH: 6.35 EC: 1484 TDS: 741 It looks like we are finally getting back to normal. Lemon Cherry Cookies got about 3/4 gallon of water with 2.5 ml of pH down in it. It only dropped about 0.1 point on the pH scale. But the EC and the TDS are lower than yesterday and the pH was in range. High but in range. Point being, I think she is finally coming out of the woods. I think I'm gonna pull her out this afternoon and pH the water back down to 5.8. I wonder if she'll start taking nutrients in when she gets back to a 5.8 pH. The EC should also adjust a bit more, as well as the TDS. Hopefully it comes out low and in a better range. Papaya Cookies still has super wonky pH, but not as low as it was yesterday. The EC and TDS both dropped a little bit as well. After adjusting the pH up to "5.8" which ended up at 6.05. No Clue how that happened. Roots maybe. I doubt it. Maybe it hadn't settled quite enough. I wait a few minutes between testing. Maybe I was a little hasty. Oh well. At least it's over. Maybe it'll drop to 5.8 and stop. Lol. Anyway, she definitely has signs of deficiency now. Not craziness everywhere. I think we're in the clear now. It was rost spots all over a bunch of the leaves. No crazy yellowing like Lemon Cherry Cookies. So it would seem we are close to out of the woods as I said. Looking good. Both plants are drinking and starting to get even more frosty. Lemon Cherry Cookies is a bit behind, almost a week I think. My concern is drying space. I have my 2x2, but no space for it. At least none that will let me hook it up to the 3x3 and plug in a fan for air circulation. Unless I run a huge power strip. I could do that. I could also plug in the exhaust fan, but I think the filter is all done. Gonna need a new filter. But I was thinking of putting the exhaust fan in and hooking it up to the 3x3 and putting it on low. To help extract the air. Anyway, I don't want to let Papaya Cookies get too over ripe. And a week would definitely do that. I'm still trying to figure something out. I might have an idea. Definitely only temporary. Just until Lemon Cherry Cookies is done. Then I can dry both plants and pull the 2x2 down when I'm done. I really don't have space for it. Small apartment and all. I also added some trichome videos that I took yesterday. I can't do pics. My hands aren't steady enough. But these should suffice. About a week left on both of them. Maybe a week and a half. Papaya Cookies looks to be a little bit closer to done. But Lemon Cherry Cookies isn't too far behind. It's the lowers that concern me. Very underdeveloped on Lemon Cherry Cookies. Papaya Cookies has a bit more going for it. Some decently solid buds in the lowers. Nothing big mind you. I'd say they will be smalls. And not larf. I'm definitely getting larf on Lemon Cherry Cookies though. Unless I want to wait another 2 to 3 weeks. That's about how long some of them have left to go. I think. Maybe I'm wrong and they will finish up by end of next week. Ultimately my goal is to have dried cured bud by the end of December. It doesn't look very promising. But maybe. If I harvest next week, that gives a week of drying and a week of curing. I like about 10 days drying and a good 2 to 3 weeks of curing. Middle of January if I let it go as I want it to. And I think I'll do that. No sense in ruining a good batch for impatient thoughts. Sorry for the terrible video quality. Best I can do. 12/07/2025 Morning numbers: Surprisingly Lemon Cherry Cookies was almost on point. Her pH was 6.1 EC was 1705 and TDS was 735. Lemon Cherry Cookies: pH: 6.05 mix didn't do anything EC: 1440 TDS: 722 Papaya Cookies: pH: 5.73 EC: 1489 TDS: 736 Everything is looking alright today. Not good by any stretch, but alright. We aren't spiking and the crash with Papaya Cookies was manageable this time. Lemon Cherry Cookies actually kept within range and even dropped a little. Her TDS is just a bit lower and the EC is roughly the same. To me, this is a win. Doesn't it mean she's no longer in lockout? Or finally recovering? This is great! Just in time for the last week and a half of the run. SMH. Wonder if that means she'll bulk up a bit more. Her buds are decent size but not big, and from what I can tell, not fully developed. She's still behind. But I'm hoping with the recovery, she'll bulk up and harden off. Currently the buds are fairly soft. Good purple color though. Papaya Cookies. Well, we aren't doing too bad. The numbers look good. Only had to add plain water and got her right in range. Even super close to 5.8. The best part about this is what I'm observing with the plant. The buds are starting to weigh down the back branches. Some of the fronts are falling over as well. The middle is still standing straight up and that's great! What this all means is these buds while not massive, are rock hard and heavy. And I mean rock hard. I wouldn't be surprised if she only lost 60% of her weight after curing. It's possible. Everything else looks good. The environment, the water temp is fine as well for both plants. 69° not great, but within range. Update: Lemon Cherry Cookies pH has not budged an inch and her EC and TDS are about the same as well. A little drop since this morning Papaya Cookies also seems pretty good. Her pH is still dropping. This time it took 3 ml of pH up to fix it. I haven't seen anymore spotting on the leaves, but there are so many leaves afflicted with the spots it's hard to tell. Either way, a couple branches are leaning hard. Rear. Decent sized buds on them, but rock hard. I'm expecting a bit more bulking over the coming week. So I think I have figured out the actual root of the problem for both plants. Overfeeding. It has to be. All the problems started in early flower. Both of them doing the same thing except for the pH swings. That's weird to me. Regardless, I think had I fed like half the suggested dose, we would have been very happy. Well, live and learn. Next run will be better. 12/08/2025 Morning Readings: Papaya Cookies: pH: 6.2 EC: 1393 TDS: 698 Lemon Cherry Cookies: pH: 5.85 EC: 1385 TDS: 694 Well then, that looks much better. Had to adjust and Lemon Cherry Cookies was low today. Weird. But a little plain water brought her right up to 5.85. Nearly perfect. Papaya Cookies with a good amount of pH up landed at 6.2. Not on purpose. I miscalculated, but still better than the 4.5 it was at when I opened the tent. Both plants are really starting to swell their buds. Not much weight on Lemon Cherry Cookies, but Papaya Cookies on the other hand. Heavy. More branches are starting to lean. I kinda wish the whole plant would do it so it can open up space for light to the bottom of the canopy. I have a feeling that when Lemon Cherry Cookies starts actually putting on weight, the branches will also most definitely lean. I never talk about this, but the two plants together makes for an extremely potent smell. They are distinctively different, but it's really hard to tell them apart in the tent. I can smell the difference on my hands, but then I touch the other plant and back to no clue. Lol. I can't really figure out a smell. Can't pin it down. Gassy, heady, sweet and sour. I think... Lol. So this is the last full week for these ladies. Next week we will be starting the flush. It should only be for a few days. Anyway, today is the last day of normal nutes. Starting tomorrow we are taking out the Boost and dropping the bloom down to a quarter dose. I'll keep the cal/mag in but only a tiny bit. Let's hope everything goes as planned. Lol. So far it hasn't. Hahahahahaha. But we learn from our mistakes don't we? Of course. So everything should go smoothly. Tomorrow starts the new week. So I'll post a couple trichome videos for that. And the last time lapse video at the end of the week. That'll cover a month of growing. Anyway, not much else for today. Oh wait. So the trichomes on Papaya Cookies are extremely prominent. The buds are thickly covered top to bottom. Lemon Cherry Cookies on the other hand don't look to be covering the buds. Not like her besty. BUT I did notice in the video that there's a whole lot more than you can actually see. I wonder if the purple is hiding them from the naked eye. Plus there's still a lot of clear on her and she definitely has time to build more. I might do a dark period for the three days of flushing as well. I'll have to look into it. Bye for now.