Flower - Week 4 (Days 22-28) Day 22 (Jan 22) I did a reservoir change at 00:30. Fresh numbers: pH 5.81, EC 1588. It felt like a clean reset after all the EC creep and the general “why are the numbers doing this?” vibe. Plant looked strong. No drama in the canopy. Buds forming, everything looked like it was on track. I was honestly feeling pretty good about it. Day 23 (Jan 23) At 01:15 I topped off with about 2½ L pH’d water and landed at EC 1566, pH 5.79. Same session: I did a lot of work - heavy LST in the trellis, supercropped one branch, and pulled a few big fan leaves to open light to lower bud sites. The plant took it like it was nothing. That’s been the story: I mess with her, she just keeps growing and throwing bud sites. Great… but it also means I’m still running out of vertical space. Day 24 (Jan 24) At 01:00 I measured EC 1668, pH 6.0 and did massive LST work again. Also took a picture of the root ball and it looked amazing - clean white, crisp, and huge. That was a relief, because when the canopy is getting dense and the tent is getting tight, it’s nice to know the foundation is bulletproof. I also had to move the oscillating fan because there’s basically no room above canopy anymore. I ended up hanging it upside down under the canopy (not ideal), and I even saw a tiny bit of condensation forming between leaves higher up. That made my stomach drop a bit, because I can’t really “create more air” out of thin air in a packed tent. Day 25 (Jan 25) Around 01:00 I got an EC reading 2000+ that didn’t make sense to me. Plant still looked fine, so I didn’t want to panic-correct based on a single number. But mentally it was annoying: I can handle a plant problem, but I hate “do I even trust the data?” problems. I was still doing LST, but I stopped supercropping because I don’t want to stack stress and end up stunting her - especially with my harvest timeline in the back of my head. It finally seems to have ended the stretch. Good! Day 26 (Jan 26) At lights on (around 00:15) I finally saw it: discoloration on upper fan leaves (right side). It reminded me of the early grow issues. My working theory was that I’d been pouring concentrated low-pH top-off water on the same side, basically creating a micro-zone and stressing one part of the root system. Later I also had that “oh fuck” moment where I noticed the airline to the air stone had disconnected - no idea how long, but likely when I stirred. Luckily roots still looked fine and the plant didn’t look like it had crashed, so I think I dodged a real disaster there. Still… not the kind of surprise you want in DWC. Day 27 (Jan 27) At lights on (00:30) it was a total mess. The upper canopy looked wrecked fast - most top leaves damaged, necrotic spotting, and the tent smelled like wet hay. That’s the kind of smell that instantly makes your brain go to worst-case scenarios. I drained the reservoir and the numbers were completely wack: EC ~3000, pH 6.8. That explained everything. I did a full res change immediately and replaced it with a sane mix: EC 1622, pH 5.63. And honestly, I don’t know if this happened because I switched to a new brand of pH down and screwed up somewhere, or if it’s just the combination of high uptake + my top-off method + small res volume catching up with me. But the timing feels… suspicious. Day 28 (Jan 28) At lights on (around 00:15) the damage hadn’t spread further. The canopy still looks ugly - lots of necrotic patches on leaves - but the plant itself doesn’t look like it’s dying. Buds look largely unaffected, which is a huge relief. I removed the worst leaves, but I’m trying not to go crazy stripping her. The vibe right now is: she took a hard hit, I corrected it as fast as I could, and now the only smart move is stability. No more hero moves. Just let her recover and keep building flowers.