🚂 Cash Express – Pheno A Week 5 | Full Steam Ahead One of the most rewarding parts of documenting an entire phenotype hunt is watching every individual plant write its own story. Even though this lady shares the same room as several of her sisters, she’s following her own timeline with complete confidence. Welcome back to another week of the 8×8 Adventure! For anyone discovering this diary for the first time, this project follows multiple phenotypes under identical environmental conditions using the 12/12 From Seed method. Instead of forcing flowering by changing the light schedule, every plant receives 12 hours of light from the day she germinates, allowing each phenotype to decide for itself when it’s ready to reproduce. Cash Express Pheno A has made her decision. There are no doubts anymore… Flowering has officially begun. ⸻ 🌼 The First Flowers This week the plant truly announced the beginning of her reproductive stage. Fresh white pistils are now appearing across every growing tip, marking the first real flower sites. Those tiny white hairs are far more than just pretty decorations. Each pistil is part of the female flower and serves as the structure that would naturally receive pollen in nature. In an indoor sinsemilla grow, however, they become the foundation for the beautiful resin-covered buds we’re all hoping to harvest later. It’s always one of my favourite moments in a grow. The transition from “plant” to “flowering plant” has officially started. Although she’s still compact, every day now brings noticeable changes as the flowering sites become more defined. ⸻ 💧 AutoPot Life Like her Blueberry Muffin sister growing beside her, this phenotype has now fully transitioned onto the AutoPot irrigation system. Instead of watering from the top every day, the plants now feed themselves whenever they need moisture. At the heart of the system is the AquaValve. This clever little mechanical valve keeps a shallow reservoir inside each tray, automatically opening and closing as the plant drinks. Once the tray is empty, fresh nutrient solution flows in again, creating a continuous wet-and-dry cycle without electricity or timers at each pot. It allows the roots to decide when to feed rather than relying on my watering schedule. So far… She’s absolutely loving it. ⸻ 🍽️ Feeding & A Small Observation This week’s reservoir was prepared using: • Terra Grow – 1.8 ml/L • Terra Bloom – 1.9 ml/L • Power Buds – 1 ml/L The reservoir remains intentionally simple for AutoPot use, allowing the solution to stay stable while circulating continuously. During this week’s inspections I also noticed something worth documenting. Several older fan leaves are beginning to show a gentle loss of colour. Nothing dramatic. No burnt tips. No rapid deterioration. Just a subtle lightening that suggests she’s beginning to ask for slightly more nutrition as flowering accelerates. Rather than immediately assuming a deficiency, I prefer making small adjustments and watching how the plant responds. For that reason I increased the EC slightly this week. Now the plant gets the opportunity to tell me whether that adjustment is enough. Growing is often less about reacting quickly… …and more about listening carefully. ⸻ 🌿 Environment The flowering room continues operating under stable conditions. • Day temperature averaged 31.1°C • Night temperature remained around 25°C • Solution temperature stayed near 21.6°C • Root zone remained approximately 21°C • Relative humidity averaged 72% • Atmospheric CO₂ measured roughly 639 ppm The humidity may appear a little high, but at this early flowering stage I’m still comfortable maintaining these levels while the plants continue stretching and building new flower sites. As flowering progresses and the buds begin gaining density, humidity will gradually come down to create an even safer environment for resin production and flower development. Everything follows the plan. ⸻ 📸 Behind This Week’s Photos This week’s gallery tells a very exciting story. The close-up photographs capture the explosion of fresh white pistils appearing from nearly every node, confirming that flowering is now fully underway. The side profiles show a compact but extremely healthy structure, while the overhead shots reveal an even canopy that should make excellent use of the flowering light over the coming weeks. Some of the photographs also document the slight paling of a few fan leaves. Rather than hiding these moments, I like including them because they remind us that plants constantly communicate. Sometimes they’re simply asking for a little more. Learning to recognise those conversations is part of becoming a better grower. (And yes… eagle-eyed viewers may notice the photo label accidentally says crash instead of cash. That’s entirely my mistake and will be corrected in the next update. Even diaries have typos sometimes! 😄) ⸻ 🔍 Looking Ahead Next week should be one of the most exciting stages yet. I expect the flowering sites to begin stacking more aggressively as the stretch continues. We’ll also be watching closely to see how the increased EC influences the slight leaf discoloration. If the colour stabilises, we’ll know the adjustment was enough. If not, the plant will simply tell us she needs a little more. Either way… She’ll write the next chapter, and I’ll keep listening. ⸻ 💚 Thank You A huge thank you to everyone following this journey. Whether you’ve been here since Germination Week or you’ve only just discovered this diary, your support, questions, discussions and shared experiences are what make documenting these grows so rewarding. Special thanks to: 💚 GrowDiaries for giving growers around the world a place to learn from one another. Zamnesia for providing the Cash Express genetics that continue to reveal their unique personality week after week. 🌱 Plagron for the nutrition program supporting every stage of this adventure. 💡 Future of Grow LED for delivering consistent lighting throughout the entire room. ? AutoPot for letting these plants feed themselves naturally through one of the simplest yet smartest irrigation systems I’ve ever used. And finally… Thank you to every grower, follower, supporter, critic, and curious visitor who stops by these diaries. Every interaction makes this journey richer, and I’m grateful to share it with all of you. Growers Love and see you next week, where we’ll find out if the extra nutrition satisfies her growing appetite—and watch those first flowers begin transforming into what we all know is coming. 🌱🚂💚