I flipped to flower a few days ago. This is day 4 of flower. I can see the stretch starting slowly. PAR readings across the canopy are 630-730. It can be higher but I’m not going to crank it up quite yet. The big plant on the left has been pale green/yellow for the past few weeks. I’m not exactly sure what’s going on. I don’t think it’s nitrogen deficiency, as the soil should be pretty rich, and it has been treated the same as the other two. Because the leaf tips look slightly burned I’ve been thinking it could be under watering. All I can do now is keep the environment dialed in and keep a closer eye on when each plant needs water.

2 days ago

I will be flipping to flower next week. I would have flipped already but I’m going on a trip in a few days and I don’t want to be away during the stretch period. I have been water-only up to now. I did a big supplemental feed to prep for flowering. I followed the build-a-soil supplemental feeding schedule. The big plant (left) has two branches with weird growth. The stalks are flat and the leaf/node spacing is super erratic. You can see in the pic where I had already defoliated a bunch of leaves. I decided to cut them off. The growth below where I cut is normal, so this is basically another topping.

12 days ago

I put in the first screen/net. I’m keeping this one low to help guide the branches, and I will add a second net after I flip to flower. The second screen will be plastic instead of fabric/mesh. This will make it easier to cut it away during harvest. When you cut fabric/mesh nets you get fibers all over the buds.

19 days ago

End of week 5 of veg. I’ve been doing some defoliation to keep good airflow. Also I’ve being doing some mild LST to get a flat canopy. I rotated them into their final positions (I think). I won’t move them once we are in flower. The weak one (back right) is looking better and better. It has always had a weird shape and node spacing, but it’s starting to shape up. As soon as I get a good canopy for the weak one I will flip to flower. By then the other two will be more than ready to flower.

a month ago

Looking good.

a month ago

Topped them this morning. Then I decided to just go all in and defoliate as well. I’m really happy with the result.

a month ago

Still looking good. Continuing to water with just water plus wetting agent. Cover crop is going crazy. I will cut it down more but I’m also fascinated to see some of them grow, like the cow peas (AKA black eyed peas) which are the big ones. The plant in the front (#2) is clearly the weakest. My guess is that it’s genetic since I’m treating them all the same. Plant positions have been rotated counterclockwise since last post. I’ll stop moving them once they get bigger.

a month ago

Cover crop is popping off

a month ago

Pushed the fan leaves down to try and give the lower growth more light. The node spacing is so tight on these.

a month ago

Day after topping

2 months ago

Yesterday added red wiggler worms. 10 worms to each. Today watered and topped each between the 4th and 5th nodes.

2 months ago

First watering since transplant. Pics are early morning before watering and then later in the evening. They were thirsty! I rotated the positions of the plants counter clockwise between pictures. Moisture sensors were reading 26%. It will take some time to figure out how accurate the sensors are.

2 months ago

2 days after transplanting, looking good. I got Ecowitt soil moisture sensors for to help with watering.

2 months ago

First day after transplanting. Pics are before I chopped up the straw mulch into smaller pieces so that it would be easier to get even coverage. It was a pain in the balls but I think it was worth it. Now that the plants are transplanted and closer to the light I took new PAR and DLI readings: PAR: 325 DLI: 21 These are in the recommended range for this stage so I’ll keep it here for now. I’ll increase the light power level over time as the growth starts to pick up.

2 months ago

Transplanted into 15gal fabric pots. I’m following the build-a-soil classic method m: BaS 3.0 soil, layer of craft blend (dry additives), layer of compost, cover crop seed (mainly clover) and final layer of straw mulch. Not sure if I added too much straw mulch but I think it’s fine. I just need to make sure the cover crop can make it through.

2 months ago

There’s a bit of yellowing on each of them. Need to figure out if this is a deficiency and address it asap before it gets out of hand. Watered for the first time with cal/mag at pH 6.4. Soil wasn’t bone dry but dry enough for a watering.

2 months ago

Now that it’s been a week I’m marking this as the end of the seedling phase and the first day of veg. Taking off humidity domes today as they are starting to touch the sides and I don’t want them to get too wet. The tent is plenty humid.

2 months ago

Looking good.

2 months ago

Trying putting the domes (ziplock bags) back on.

2 months ago

Just letting them do their thing.

2 months ago

All three have broken soil. Removed humidity bags. Started measuring PAR and DLI using Photone app. Messed around with light height and power level until settling on this: Light power - 50% Light distance - 59” PAR - 290 DLI (24hr) - 24.4 DLI (18hr) - 18.6 Keeping light at 50% instead of lower to keep heat close to 80F. Currently running lights 24hr but will switch to 18hr soon. I’m worried about it getting too cold during lights off since this is in the basement where it’s cold even in summer.

2 months ago

Started the seeds in paper towels and saw taproots in 24hrs. Put them into these small cups that we had around, not sure the volume. Covered cups with ziplock bags to keep humidity high until they break through soil.

2 months ago