New RDWC setup for 4'x4' tent project.

[UndergroundFarmer]

I've cut the lights from 12/12 to 11/13 hoping to nudge them into finishing a bit faster. Fan leaves are yellowing and falling off but mostly on GDP. Heat stress may be playing a part too as the temps at the top of the tent are hanging around 88 F in the afternoon. Bruce doesn't seem to mind though.

On another note, a few of the clones cut over two weeks ago may be showing roots finally - on straight tap water. At the very least, a few that had droopy stalks are perking up. I may yet again get stuck with a half-dozen clones more than I can use.

[UndergroundFarmer]

As of this afternoon, at least one of the new cuttings in a seedling tray under a 7" humidity dome is showing roots. I may nix the aeroponic tub for good. None of those older cuttings are showing roots yet.

I've been following this tutorial to a T: https://www.growweedeasy.com/cloning-made-easy and am now on day 7.

No wonder the professional growers do it that way. I saw the exact same technique used in a video tour of Rare Dankness's facility in Colorado and they seemed to know what they are doing!

[JohnEmad]

some of my clones take over 2 weeks to root. some less then a week.

[UndergroundFarmer]

Week 9 of flower! With so many white pistils left I went ahead and fed nutes. They are looking a little ragged from pH going all over the place and a suspected potassium deficiency. Still, the buds are looking good and only getting heavier.

I moved seven of eight of the newer cuttings to coco in Solo. I've got at least enough for next grow plus one and maybe more because I took down the aeroponic cloner. I recut the surviving ones and put them in the tray along with my one straggler (a Purple Haze) from the new cuttings. I may have to gift another half-dozen to our friend.

[UndergroundFarmer]

Week Hurry-The-Hell-Up-And-Finish is underway with still way too many white pistils on Black Widow to consider a chop. Heat stress and the occasional deficiency from bouncing pH has left them all a little rough looking but the buds still look very promising. The last of the eight cuttings I took a few weeks ago rooted early this week. None of the older cuttings have yet and as weak as they are looking now, I will probably give up on them after this week.

The air conditioner burned up its plug a few days ago and I had to put a replacement plug on it as well as give the coils a good cleaning. It is back up running blowing colder air than ever just in time for a week of cooler temps here. Night time lows are forecast to get into the upper 50s for a few days and I'd love it if my GDP turns color from it.

No pictures this post because there isn't much change to document except for more fan leaves gone and others yellowing. I might just break out the microscope and try again for some trichome pix later this week instead.

[UndergroundFarmer]

I cut the lights down to a 10/14 cycle this morning to see if it helps spur them on to finishing. It looks like the good pheno of Black Widow will stop at nothing when it comes to making more and bigger bud than your little branches can ever hope to hold. Bruce is only just beginning to show red pistil hairs so I'm bracing myself for a staggered harvest. I'm also going back to using the dawn to dusk feature on that timer for the next batch to see if I can get diverse varieties to finish at the same time again.

[UndergroundFarmer]

Chop day was yesterday! I hadn't been able to check on them much last week because of crazy work hours. GDP seemed to have quit, possibly because of the short days. Black Widow was definitely the star of this show. I began trimming today. Even the smaller buds from the lesser pheno smell heavily of fruit & fuel. As for the good pheno - holy Moses! I've never held colas quite that heavy. In fact, after I began to gather the yo-yos, I heard a cascade of snapping stems. Even Bruce snapped one.

I thought about a staggered harvest. Waiting another week to start the new batch just didn't wash with me when 5 of 6 plants were ready. I've got plenty of matured Bruce Banner already so I can try the head racing stuff in a few weeks and see if I like that better. Really, I just might. I happen to like roller coasters. In space. And with colored lights.

The first three pics are BW, and the fourth is Bruce. The last one is the tent after all the new clones were placed in the setup after a good cleaning. It took five flushes to get rid of all the old nutes and specks of coco. I hope to never move another plant out of coco to hydro from anything bigger than a Solo cup again.

I managed to make just enough mistakes on this grow to learn a few things but not enough to screw up the grow. One of the most useful things learned is that using that dawn to dusk feature on the light timer will almost certainly force all plants to finish close to the same time. It works by mimicking the sun's rising and setting once you choose that option for on and off. All you have to do is set the date to September 21 and it will shorten the days automatically throughout flowering. I will try using it again once the current batch is ready for 12/12.

I also get better acquainted with the relationship between potassium and pH and nutrient uptake. Feeding a bit of extra potassium in flower helps a bit in keeping the pH from crashing below 5.5 just 24 hours after adjusting pH. It's interesting that pH Up is a potassium compound and pH Down is a phosphorus compound. Both are vital to plants, so unstable pH might mean that more P or more K in the nute solution can help a bit with that. I'd still like to know some cannabis-safe alternatives that can't be changed by nute uptake.

When the net pot lids were pulled, I noticed no evidence of roots pulled into the return pipes so using a low flow pump was likely a good idea. It seems that the churn from the airstones is much heavier than the pull from the return pipes.

This next batch will be the first one in ages where I didn't change the light fixture mid-grow. Project Blueberry changed from a T5 to a hand-me-down Platinum LED panel once the bigger LED for this tent arrived. And speaking of Blueberry, one of those ancient cuttings is finally rooting so big sis will have more company!

I will post again once all is trimmed and dried and jarred. I never have weighed a grow - I just go by how many Mason jars get filled with bud.

[UndergroundFarmer]

So six plants took up nine jars after drying! I hung them with the air conditioner blowing toward them for most of the ten days it took. I still need to do final trimming to reduce them a jar or two. Where are my volunteers?

I have been able to try the Black Widow and I'm thrilled. The slow drying and curing made it so much smoother! I almost can't burn my throat on it. Of course decent bud from this crop is more potent than the larf from the last one - It pretty much knocks me out after a hit or two around bedtime. I might just grind up some Granddaddy tonight, who knows?

[JohnEmad]

congrats UGF. Having super smooth and strong smoke is so good.
Longest I have dried any harvest is 7 days but fortunately most of what I have grown has ended up tasting pretty good.