As of day 14, the Blackberry Kush is still exhibiting it's abnormal leaf growth. I've only ever seen this on another genetically purple strain, so I am curious if there is a connection. If anyone has seen similar issues in their own plants let me know!
It's growth hasn't been too bad, and I am sure it's going to continue to take off over the next week! I usually top my plants between day 14 and 21, so i am hoping it is growing vigorously enough to prevent any stunting.
I haven't seen any adverse effects from temporarily switching to my plentiful dry cal-mag, so I am happy about that so far! I am still adding a similar EC worth of Cal mag (.5) so it's good to have dialed in a rough equivalent.
I hope everyone is staying safe, and happy growing! 👍🌱
Day 15: the leaf growth continues to be very screwy, and even if it's at least partially a genetic issue I continue to triple check all my practices and parameters. The PH drifts up mildly in my reservoirs between cleaning/remixing of nutrients, but it is going from roughly a 5.8 up to a 6.2 (at worst) with no change in the EC/PPM. Between the lack of EC drift and lack of smell, I don't think there are any major bacterial issues. The outflow PH is also acceptable (5.8) and the outflow EC is around .2-.3 above inflow, which is also acceptable. I dug into the coco a little bit, and the medium is not oversaturated with water (it is always a bit "fluffy" with good drainage and never compacted) and the roots are white and healthy.
With the healthy vigorous growth of the other Blackberry in the same conditions, it brings me back to this being at least partially a genetic issue. I looked through grow questions of other diaries for similar leaf issues, and it seemed that most were either blueberry or blackberry strains from a range of breeders. This could be purely a coincidence, but it does make me wonder. The grows with similar issues seemed to otherwise have no commonalities in how they were grown. I am going to keep trying my best with this plant regardless, so I hope it pulls through alright!
Day 17: being very careful with my PH and keeping it a bit lower, to rule it out as a possible cause of the twisted leaves and less vigorous growth. I am keeping it between 5.5 and 6 for the time being to make sure there is no lock out of micro elements like boron. As per the comments, I am being more accurate be using a pH pen as opposed to drops which I may have misjudges.
I topped the plant, which is definitely a risk! But I am hoping for some healthier leaves to come in, and the plant hasn't stunted so far! It has grown the number of nodes it should have for its age, it just not as filled in and lush as I would like it to be.
Day 19: I have been monitoring PH especially carefully, taking a few measurements per day and keeping it between 5.6 and 5.8 (a little on the low side). The runoff is consistently under 6 as well. EC and other conditions have stayed where they should be as well. I reduced any PH drift by running the air pump for the res 24/7, instead of just for mixing and before fertigations to rule that out. But I haven't seen any overall improvements for the leaves so I am reverting back to my theory of a genetic issue with this particular plant. It's growing larger and it's stems are thickening, so I'm just going to keep it growing as well as I possibly can and see what it yields!