Welcome to my grow blog for my first cannabis plant. I am growing a clone from a strain called "New Englamd Lights". The plant is supposed to be an indica heavy hybrid. Here I'l share updates, photos, and notes here. Day 1 marks the day I picked up the clone, already 3-4 weeks old. After years of reading, I'm finally diving into the grow process. This journey started with the plant riding shotgun in the '05 Prius, radio on, and windows down... ready to change the world one bud at a time...
Did a good amount of LST last night. Pics below of after training last night and what it looked like this morning. It's crazy how much the plant grows and corrects in just a day.
I need to pick up watering. After extensive reading, I may be starving this poor plant a little.
The plant has looked healthy and overwatering is a common rookie mistake. A plant this size could be doing a gallon+ every few days.
I'm going to slowly ramp up starting with 32 ouces today. I don't want to shock the plant with too much at once.
More white spots.
From pictures online, it's likely thrips. A small amount like I may have is easy to take care of. I will spray neem tree oil on the plant at bedtime.
Natural petiscide from neem plant. It works by disrupting insect hormones, preventing feeding and reproduction for pests like aphids, spider mites, and thrips.
White spots can also be sign of calcium and magnesium deficiency. CalMag can be given anytime in veg stage and a lot of growers do weekly.
Watered 32oz today with 1.5ml Fox Farms CalMag.
Tried to train an offshoot that was almost touching the tent to the side.
Crunched the cell walls too early. Splinting it now. I was either going to have to top it or train it, so either outcome is okay!
After training last night:
This morning:
Splint:
Thrips:
Annie asked me to add something about her watching Star Wars for the millionth time.
She probably doesn't even know the symbols because shes a casual fan.
Day 24 (11/9/24):
New Humidifier is so much more consistent and efficient. VPD has been more consistent, even during dark periods
I changed my duct fan triggers to below:
Max Speed Trigger for temp over 80* or humidity over 59%
During dark period, this allows for the duct fan to pull the humiditiy out to keep VPD low. If it corrects too much, the humidifier is set on stand by to bring it back to 1.0
Chart below show how much more consistent the VPD has been since the new humidifer. Old = Purple and New = Green
Other Notes:
Soil test via runoff: 6.4 pH
16 oz water
Adjusted lights up a little bit for easier access to the plant. Extra distance required me to raise light intensity to 50% from 35%. PPFD still ~580
Starting to see what may be some nutrient burn. It doesn't seem to be affeecting the ends of the leaves where it shows from pictures I've seen.
Poor research on my end, Fox Farms soil doens't typically need nutes until 30 days after potting. I did it on day 19.
Day 21 (11/6/24):
Big updates today!
Remodified the modified tomato cage. Gives me more anchors and space around the plant.
New 200w light daisy chained w/ 150w. 350w total, which is more light than this tent needs/can handle at full strength. Details on reasoning below.
200w light purchase (yes, I needed it Annie!)
(Plus the 150w will be useful when I get a second tent for seedlings and veg)
Suffecient wattage for flowering needs to be 30-50w/sq. ft. Tent is 7.1sq. ft - meaning my original 150w light = 21.1w/sq. ft
With 350w maxed out we reach 49.3w/sq. ft.
This presents new challenges to keep the VPD consistent as the additional light creates more heat.
For reference, the 150w was set to 80% intensity. With both lights, they are now set down to 35% and a bit closer.The lower intensity puts off less heat, allowing for easier contorl over VPD by adjusting humidity.
PPFD now ~ 600
New humidifier
Will provide the automation that this set up has been lacking.
VPD has been pretty consistent between .8 and 1.2 (optimal range for veg. stage), but some fluctuations during night and the hottest part of the day. This humidifier will correct this... Lesson: I should have bought this one first, it's cheaper than the one I'm running now and is designed for this application.
Branch break(ing) report: Spliced the end of the branch after it did not heal. Looks to be growing into two different branches. No node/leaves yet. Hoping it fully recovers into two new branches.
Day 19 (11/4/24):
Added a bent tomato cage to use as tie downs for LST.
I think I am pushing the branches too hard. I saw a slight crack in the center stalk while adjusting ties today. Got aloe and put it on the center and the area of the break.
As we saw, the broken branch did not make it. Lesson for next time: be careful and if it's a close to clean break, just clone. The splint is a long shot.
Other notes:
PPFD ~560.
Topdressed 1 tablespoon of Gai Green all purporse fertilizer. Took 16oz of soil and nutes, mixed in a paper bag and spread evently.
6 oz of tap, all over for nutrient purposes. Water in self watering pot filled (about half way down).
Other plants removed, spacing issue (sorry mom!).
Day 17 (11/2/24):
First minor setback today. While moving my LST ties, I tugged too hard and had close to a clean break.
Teflon tape and a toothpick to splint it. Since it was close to a clean break, I'm not too optimistic about it recovering.
I could have made a clone, but I want to see if this remedy will work. From reading online, it's 50/50 and plant-specific.
While it's a bummer, it's still relatively early in the vegetative stage, and the plant will be fine overall.
I've read that if the leaves continue to wilt a day after the splint is in place, it's likely done. It's been ~5 hours since the pics below, and I see no additional wilting.
Also, remember when I said I was not going to try to FIM or top? I couldn't resist... Tried it here yesterday, will monitor growth.
Day 15 (10/31/24):
Soil pH measured at 6.4 via slurry method. Range is 6-7
Good pH range helps with nutrient intake
Will continue to monitor pH weekly or at any sign of issues.
I decided to leave the plant as is and not top or FIM. The LST is working well; for my first grow, I want to focus on a healthy plant.
LST providing good light exposure across the plant.
Keeping humidity consistent during dark cycle has been a struggle. Optimal VPD for vegetative growth is between .8 and 1.2.
VPD has dropped as low as .5 while lights are off, usually for an hour towards the end of the dark cycle.
Tried several humidifier cycles. I started with 1 hour on/off. The VPD continued to be low by the end of the dark time.
Below are charts from the Vivosun app, showing RH/VPD/Temp for 10/30 - 10/31.
Exported to .csv to show these numbers for dark time (8p - 2a)
Mean VPD: 0.85 kPa, with fluctuations mostly between 0.7 kPa and 1.1 kPa.
45 min cycle for the humidifier seems to be the sweet spot, but will continue to monitor.
Day 14 (10/30/24):
Happy Birthday Annie!
Day 13 (10/29/24):
Plant growth is really ramping up. I retied the stems to continue the spread of the canopy.
Last picture looks like I could top or FIM there. Reading online shows that typically LST and topping/FIMing are used exclusiely. Will continue to read up on this subject.
Lowered light a bit to push up the PPFD to ~550 micromoles per square meter per second.
Gave 6oz of tap water. Tap was measured with a pH of 6.4 today.
Tomorrow: Test PH in soil. Run off method looks easier than slurry method, but I am not giving the plant that much water right now.
Day 12 (10/28/24):
LST is working well. Even in one day, we see the plant starting to grow upward. I need to move the ties further to the end of each stem so that they continue to grow out, not up.
Some of these look like they can be topped or FIMed, I am doing more research and may try tomorrow.
Day 11 (10/27/24):
As the plant gains height, I am going to start low stress training (LST) to fill out the tent. The idea is to spread out the "top" of each stem, so when flower time happens, the light reaches the entire canaopy. Before and after LST set up from today.
Before:
After:
Day 9 (10/25/24):
Plant is fully recovered from overwater at this point. I have also introduced selfwatering pots that should help regulate the amount of water the plant takes. This will work until I switch to the flowering cycle, where the plant can drink more than 4L a day.
Plant growth is visibile each day. The plant seems like it was already topped or FIMed. There are 4 tops that are naturally spreading. I may try to FIM one more time as the vegitation continues in the next week.
Day 7 (10/23/24):
Just like any living thing, plants need some friends... I added a basil and rosemary plant to the tent. This will increase CO2 levels, which will help keep the tent more humid. Plus, who doesn't want fresh basil and rosemary all winter?
Day 6 (10/22/24):
To combat humidity fluctuations, I opted for a single room humidifer. The issue I ran into is the low capcity at 3L. To keep levels consitent, I was going through a full 4L in about 2 hours. I decided to build a reservior so I could fill less frequently.
Not wanting to get a valve or pump involved, I decided to use our friend gravity and set up a siphon from the reservoir.
The idea is to have the reservior slightly higher than the humidifier fill level. The water level then evens out at the same height in the reservior and humidifer.
After thorough testing outside to make sure it would not overflow and flood, I moved it inside next to the tent.
The second bin is a saftey next, if there was leak/but the weight is distributed evenly on a base.
The resevior bin is ~39L. To get the water level even with the humidifier, it is filled about half way. The extra 19.5 L (5.1 gallons) will allow me to refill the reservior ever 4-6 days instead of daily.
Days 3-5:
Plant is settling in I barely gave it any water per instructions from the grower. Growth is already happening about 7" tall today. At this point no PPFD was calculated.
After some reading and advice from reddit, I gave the plant ~ 9oz of water. I saw droopiness within an hour and then it bounced back the following morning.
After watering:
Day 2 (10/18/24):
32"x 32"x 63" Vivosun grow tent and plant was potted with Brewer's help.
