Ahoy pirates!! Come take a closer look!!

[Mr Pot]

Hey guys,
I'm a second time runner and learning a lot from GWE tutorials and also from growers that gather here and their own experiences. I'm starting an already started grow journal because my plants are 9 weeks old and I flipped'em to flower a few days ago.

I have a 250W MH/HPS (currently HPS for flowering) with a cooltube, an exhaust system (that I don't know the cfm but it's pretty good), two fans inside a 7ft x 3ft x 3ft (approximately) grow tent.
I'm running 3 mother plants on a 5 gal each and 5 clones that I took from them (they're in solo cups and that's just an experiment) in coco/perlite ¨(around 60/40). The 3 bigger plants are Belladonna (a Sativa from Paradise Seeds), Durga Mata (an Indica also from Paradise Seeds) and Xingu (dunno the seedbank but she's an Indica), I took 1 clone from Belladonna, 1 from Durga Mata and 3 from Xingu.

I've manifolded Belladonna but didn't topped twice, just once and the other two indicas, Durga Mata and Xingu, were fimmed and topped a few times. I'm with something close to 10-12 bud sites on each plant so far and they're in the early flowering. My nutrients are GH trio, GH CaliMagic and GH RapidStart so far and I'm thinking about adding molasses in late flower, I'm following Nebula's Chart for GH Trio in coco.
The problem is that I can't control my temps/humidity so well. We're getting close to summer here and temps are rising, RH is stabilized but it's near 60-70% where I live and I have a dehumidifer running outside the tent but it's kinda old and I don't know if it will stop running or something like that.
.
The temps/humidity in veg were around 75F/65-75% with the lights off and a bit over 80F/55-65% with the lights on with a 18/6 light schedule for eight weeks from germination.

The temps/humidity in flowering are staying near 80F/55-65% with the lights off and near 85F/50% with the lights on with a 12/12 light schedule and I'm running this for 4 days.

My average pH in their roots it's 5.5 and my ppm is different on each plant but none is over 1000 ppm.

They're 60 days old tomorrow and I'm adding a bit over a gallon per plant every 4 days and having a few problems with runoff - I never get 20% or more, only around 15-10%. The clones are 25 days old and I'm adding around 400mL every 2-3 days with a lot of runoff since they're in solocups for good and that's just an experiment (I don't have enough room for them so I'll keep them short). I'm going to be posting a few pictures on the posts below and some may say I'm flooding but the point it's just to get it chronologically organized (btw haters gonna hate, hahaha jk).

I'm sorry I just didn't started this earlier but the forum was offline and stuff so I hope you guys enjoy what's already been done and what will come!
Any tips and reviews are welcome,
Mr Pot

[Mr Pot]

Here they are, all three of them @day 29 (21/09 and beggining of w5). The first picture shows all three plants and it's a few days after the first topping/fimming. The bottom left plant (Durga Mata) was fimmed and now have 4 bud sites there, the left plant above (Belladonna) was topped once and then kinda manifolded without the second topping and the right plant is Xingu that has been "freestyled" with fimming and LST (they all have been LSTed and supercropped).
The second picture it's a better view from Belladonna and the third, from Xingu.

[Mr Pot]

@day 41 and almost the end of w6 (that's 2 and a half weeks ago)
The clones were cutted @day 35 and they were 6 days old that time.

The first picture is an overall of the tent that day.
The second is Durga Mata already recovered from the first fimming.
The third is a clone recently cutted.
The fourth is Xingu and there you can see a few supercropped bud sites (some snapped but nothing a good old tape won't do).
The fifth is Belladonna and her growth tips.

[Mr Pot]

@day 45
first is Xingu.
second is Belladonna.
and third is Durga Mata.
Four days later and almost flowering time (w7).

[Mr Pot]

@day 53 (a week ago)
first is Durga Mata's structure.
second is Belladonna's structure.
third is Xingu's structure.
fourth picture is from all my clones (they were 19 days old there).
fifth picture is an overall picture a week ago.

[Vapo69]

Dude any reason you cut the ends off some leaves?

[Mr Pot]

I just cut the ends off the clones because they shouldn't be so leafy in order for them to focus on root growth instead of upwards at this time.
The ends that were cut off the three biggest plants are simply a sign of intruders in my garden. I've struggled a bit with mites - one week before I took these pictures I found an infestation in one of my clones and this probably spread in the tent. Simply sprayed all plants with water and a bit of Neem Oil for a couple of times in two weeks, something like 2 times a week for two weeks. Never had any other issues with that.

Of course they can always come back and if they do that'll be a shame because they're in mid flowering.

[Mr Pot]

I don't have an overall picture from my last day of veg but I have a few from my heavy defoliation and lollipopping.

@day 56 (last day of veg):

first is from Xingu after defol.
second is from Belladonna's structure.
third is Durga Mata.
fourth is Xingu from top.
fifth is Durga Mata from above.

[Mr Pot]

The last four pictures are from today. I'm really sorry for flooding like this but I guess that's for a good thing, aight? If you guys have any comments, tips or doubts ask me!
I'm really happy for what I got so far (for a 2nd time grower), despite all the climate conditions my environment have my plants are reacting well. I just think I won't have the same luck when the buds start to grow.
The lights are one foot away from the tallest plant (Xingu on the top right).

Today is day 59 (3rd day from w1 of flowering stage) and here's an overall picture from what I got today.
Bottom left is Durga Mata (the shortest).
The clones are bottom right (durd).
Top left is Belladonna (that's the sativa).
Top right is Xingu (the biggest).

[Aloner]

Looking real good, Mr. Pot!

[Canuck147]

Yes looking real nice and green, any more room at the inn? Cuz I think you're going to run out of room fast.

[Mr Pot]

Nope... unfortunately the grow tent is all I have for now. Three plants with no clones it's already tight in here and I miscalculated a bit the tent.
They're all too close but I have at least 2-3ft up to go, the photo doesn't show it very well.

[Mr Pot]

Here am I at the mid of the third week of flowering (day 18). The flowering stretch is near to the end and I'm having thoughts if I should do my W3 major defol. today or tomorrow. I don't think it'll be too much difference but that's the problem for now. I also think that they're struggling a bit of a nitrogen deficiency; a few bottom leaves are showing yellowing and dying. I know that this is a common thing in flowering stage but last run they started yellowing near to the harvest window. Maybe it's something about my roots pH, they're sitting around 5.5 - 5.8 and this could be a motive for these symptoms.

Here's an overall picture and when I defol. I'll update the images here.
Belladona is top left
Xingu is top right
Durga Mata is bottom right
and my clones are bottom left

Thanks for stopping by and reviews are always welcome!
Mr Pot

[Mr Pot]

I had to put a little wooden stool for Durga Mata because she was behind and it's tops weren't getting much light.
Did some supercropping as well (that's not a recommendation) because some tops were way tall and starting to get a bit of heat stress and light burn (they're well now).

[Canuck147]

Most excellent looking. I would be cutting bushels every week.

[Canuck147]

I mean I would be able to fill up a basket of leaves each week. I'm constantly trimming leaves from the middle. Cuz if they start touching each other and the tent now................bud rot................

[ZigZag]

dito_ I'd trimming them too. they look nice and healthy and you don't want to wait longer if you're in your third week. I'd start taking the larger fan leaves that are covering any bud sites first. Then start taking more out from the understory so more light gets down into the plant and air flow is improved. It also looks like there are quite a few lower branches in the shade. It can be a hard thing to do but I'd start pruning some of the lowest branches. usually I try to prune most of them below the 6th node from the top, depending on the plants height and space between internodes. Some shorter plants that have very tight internodes are more difficult to do this with and if they are 18" or less tall then I'd only take of the lowest 2-3 branches at this point. If your a bit hesitant to prune then select one of the fastest growing plants and take off 2-3 of the lowest branches. They're gonna lose water through the cut so you can put a piece of tape over it like a bandaid. Check her out the next day and if all looks good then try another. and so on. but do this over the next 3-4 days. By removing these lower branches you'll be driving more growth potential to the largest colas, rather than spreading it around. Once I've got the structure I want I only take the fan leaves that cover bud sites, but like Canuk147 suggested your plant will probably still be getting more growth every day. I have 8 plants about a week younger and they are growing so fast I'm taking handfuls of fan leaves every 3-4 days just to keep as many bud sites exposed to good light as possible. Just be careful not to take too much a few weeks from now because they will start producing less leaf and concentrating more energy on making buds. And you need some nice leaf to drive that.
Cheers and happy growing!

[Mr Pot]

A little update my friends. Maybe I've done too much but here are the results; pruning and defol. Any thoughts?

First is Durga Mata's structure
Second is Xingu's structure
Third is Belladonna
And the fourth and fifth are overall pictures

Cheers!

[oldjarhead100]

I do the same mister pot and have not had any issues

[ZigZag]

They're looking like they are geting through it ok to me. Normally I would leave a bit more foliage above the 4-5 node from the top and prune more of the lower branches so the plant devotes its growth potential to the largest colas it the top. But that's just me. I leave more of the lower branches that have grown up to the height of the main one(s)_ mostly in candleabra type structure. I've found its different for different strains. With short compact plants like some strong indica's the side branches can get very tight internodes-result is lots of the branches are pretty much the same height and with a plant that is less than 18" there isn't much falloff. But your plants have well spaced internodes so I'd be anticipating some nice colas. Just don't take any more leaves for a few weeks unless they fill in and get too dense. I have a midnight madness that's driving me nuts_ I FIMed it and it produced a bunch of new branches at the top with every tight internodes. I'm LSTing it as much as possible but still can't get it as open at the top as I'd like. we'll see.....

[Mr Pot]

I see... candelabra structure is my goal too. I have only one sativa in this run (Belladonna) and she's tall af and I've only topped it once. I'm afraid to prune her a bit more because I don't know if it'll produce too dense main colas (there's like 4 main and 4-6 other potential) and I actually supercropped her like 10 days ago because she was getting too tall. Just started adding molasses last watering and will have to wait and see the buds getting more dense. I'm adding close to 1 tbsp per almost 2 gal (1 3/4 gal).

@edited
I've pruned a bit more after the pictures were taken.. They're more like the ones you described but I'm going by trial and error.

[Mr Pot]

I didn't plan their structure this time because I wanted to see how each strain reacts to LST and topping. Did actually missed two toppings and had a great result. Even when you sort of "freestyle" their LST you can get multiple main colas. Of course it's always best to plan but for me so far it's ok. Next run I'll plan a bit more.

[D.A.A.S.69]

Nice looking to me too.Only time will tell if you took to many leaves at that late in your grow. They are pretty to me .

[Mr Pot]

I guess it would have shown already! The pictures were taken a week ago. I'm not struggling with any deficiencies and this can be tricky later but they look fine to me as well!