Checked trichomes this morning and the amber is coming in just about where I like it. Gave her the chop and trimmed her down for the fridge dry. Was very pleased with the development of the majority of the buds. Training could have been a little more aggressive to help the center of the plant develop more evenly but overall there was very little larf or lightly colored material. The even canopy combined with flower density is likely going to make this my largest harvest ever from the 2x2. Pretty stoked overall with how the grow went, from technique to genetics to soil life. Everything clicked. Even the harvest process went smoothly and only took about an hour from chopping to getting her in the fridge. Iāve even got some Grove bags on hand to try as well for the cure. Should be ready for a rough smoke just around 4/20!
CDLC x Skywalker has been in the fridge 7 days now. Aroma is intensifying in the fridge - much more than when she was growing. Been toying with the Damp Rid, sealing it off periodically to produce some more intense drying, then allowing the buds to equilibrate - at least in theory thatās what I hope is happening 
Went ahead and started the tent reset process as well.
Light is switched off, exhaust is set to 1, though I may turn it off entirely, blumat drippers and sensors removed to be cleaned, soaked, and recalibrated. Before the compost was added I applied a mix of:
- Kelp
- Alfalfa meal
- Crab meal
- Oyster Shell Flour
- two types of rock dust
- Montana grow
- powdered fine gypsum
- calcium bentonite (clay)
- pinch of ferti fulvic
Overall it was about 1/4 - 1/2 quart of total amendments. Used a heavier hand on the calcium-bearing amendments and added the nitrogenous stuff to help break down the stalk debris from the last 2 rounds. I may add more compost (only added a half gallon) but I just wanted to get the amendments covered and in contact with biology for now. Soil is full of life- saw so many insects running around when I was mixing in the top dress. Already getting excited for next round!
2 weeks in the fridgeā¦ still a bit too moist for grove bags, but I have to leave town for the weekend. Not ideal, but I think my solution is halfway decent. Went ahead and trimmed all the buds, and loaded them into quart mason jars. Put all jars on their sides and loaded them back into the fridge with no lids on. Humidity meters inside the jars read about 65% which Iām alright with. They should keep losing moisture over the weekend and hopefully I can time it just right when I get back to town.
Meanwhile, the remaining stalk is almost loose enough to pull, and the critters are doing work on the compost. I had some old sprouted corn meal in my freezer so I threw what was left of it on top, covered it with cardboard, and kept an eye on it. Put some more compost extract in there today as the moisture was dropping, but otherwise itās still lights out and chill in there.
Next round is going to be more Mephisto- Old School Mango Haze. Looks like a fun cross and Iām ready for a sativa training challenge. Plus itās the warm season and I feel like sativa dominant strains enjoy that heat a bit more. Seeds come Wednesday but I may give it a touch more time before getting her started to really let the soil homogenize.
Blumat drippers and hoses are soaking in an enzyme solution over the weekend, with the carrots soaking staying saturated. Once Iām back Iāll get those back in the dirt and ready for another round.
CDLC x Skywalker made it into the grove bags and seem to be holding steady between 60-65% RH. Will keep an eye to make sure they donāt rise out of range. Meanwhile, added some pill bugs to the soil tent and have just been keeping things moist to keep breaking down. Worms, mites, rove beetles, millipedes, antsā¦ everybody seems happy and active. The main stalk from last round finally loosened up so I diced it up a bit and added it back into the soil. Also separated some aloe plants that had multiplied and one of the leaves fell off so I added the fillet to the soil as well. Seed for the next round should arrive by tomorrow so Iāll get it soaking ASAP and hopefully have it in soil by the weekend and above ground by next week. 
Alright alright alright, weāre live yet again. Started soaking late last Thursday, put in dirt Friday, poked its stem through this morning. Old School Mango Haze from Mephisto!
I have full confidence sheāll grow up to be a beautiful lady!
Not my dream mulch, but itās what Iāve got 
Avoided the glue and tape and cut it up with scissors. Blumats got a full reset as well. Removed the bottom of the quarter gallon pot, and planted on a prepped area in the center. Nothing fancy, just scrape away the big debris, sprinkle some mycorrhizal fungi and set her down.
Blumat procedure is like this:
Remove everything and soak in water to remove bulk of soil. Clean gaskets of caps, clean inner vacuum valve notch, clean threads of adjustable cap, clean hoses and drippers. Soak drippers in enzymatic drain cleaner for a few days.
Recalibrate lids by making sure water supply is turned off, filling reservoir to full (if gravity fed, or the level of the reservoir when the lids are calibrated affects how the system behaves. You can play with this depending on what your after, more discussion later in the postā¦), then attaching the hoses to the caps without the sensor carrot and closing them fully so that the dripper hose is pinched. Turn the water back on. Place the lid at the height it will be when the sensor is inserted into the soil. Typically this will be flush with the soil. Open the cap until you get a hanging drip (a drop forms but doesnāt fall). Mark this position with a permanent marker by aligning with the indicator notch on the cap. Gravity fed systems are then closed 1-2 triangles past this spot. 1 makes it a bit wetter, 2 a bit drier. This is where medium, growing preferences, strain preferences, and more come into play.
Turn the water back off, detach the lids from the hoses and place them in water with the soaked sensors (minimum 15 minute soak). Remove all air from the caps by submerging a pipette and blowing water through the small holes on the underside of the cap. Once no more small air bubbles are seen when doing this, attach the lids to the carrots underwater. Put the sensors in the soil, reattach the hoses and close to the mark made earlier, and then 1 full triangle past. Turn the water back on and evacuate all air from the system and reattach all drippers.
Having the res topped off when calibrating means your drippers will create a slight dry back the emptier the res becomes. The alternative is to calibrate when half full, or even quarter full, which will create faster wetting cycles when the reservoir is eventually filled, but will have less dry back, essentially due to overwatering whenever the reservoir is fuller than it was during calibration. In a pressurized system, this isnāt a factor at all as the caps are going to see the same supply pressure no matter what (unless you get a pump or valve failure).
I tend to think the safest way to go about it is to put your reservoir as high as feasible, and then calibrate with it full to the top. This ensures that the wettest the soil will ever get is when the res is filled to the brim. You can then choose a wetter calibration point knowing that it wonāt go beyond that, barring some equipment malfunction. It also lets you time drybacks if you like to water in teas, extracts, fertilization, or anything else. Iād love to hear othersā thoughts and experiences with gravity blumats as they definitely have a learning curve, but also a pretty high ceiling for usefulness.
Thatās it for now, forecast is hazy 
I never replaced the humidifier so weāve just been running with the exhaust off. 82F/75-80% RH at about 15DLI.
Started seeing some symptoms of discomfort in the leaves with the environment so I bit the bullet and ordered another humidifier - just installed today. Temps are on the rise so the exhaust is cycling more and humidity is just too much work to keep up any other way. Aiming for 84-86f air temp, 75-80%RH. Sheās got a decent number of nodes for day 12, just seems like the leaves arenāt growing as fast as Iāve seen in the tent before. Otherwise, I like the level of heat for pushing the microbiology so hopefully things take off in the next week. Planning to top the fifth node.
End of week 2/Day 14 Old School Mango Haze
You can see some of the leaf symptoms I was talking about from the low humidity. Things seem to be easing now 
I like the hot season for the better soil activity but it really sucks when you have to leave townā¦ dehumidifier tank runs out and shit just gets out of hand environmentally. Oh well, weāre back now, got the juice back in the tank, and weāll get to training the new tops tomorrow. If anyone knows of a very small float valve I could hook up to my blumat supply line let me knowā¦ Iād diy my humidifier tank in a second to autofill off the blumat res lol
you have a humidifier brand to recommend? my honeywell 20 quart just suddenly stopped getting the basement below 49% which leaves my tent at like 60 and vpd around 1ā¦ been reading reviews all night and theres bullshit with every brand it seems
I use a much smaller humidifier so Iām not really sure whatās good for a size like that. I have a GE dehumidifier thatās more at that scale though and itās been extremely reliable so maybe theyāve got a decent humidifier option too?
Start of week 4ā¦ lost a few days of good growth due to the out of town/humidifier empty/VPD way out of range incident, so hoping this can be a nice catch up week.
Meant to say dehumidifier*
Ah- I have a GE dehumidifier for my home and I love it. I did find it second hand and got a great deal (hard to beat $40) but where I live is super humid and it has worked wonders for keeping the place livable all year. If you want I can get the model number for you when I get home later- they probably donāt make this exact model any more but maybe they have similar units.
Finally gave the CDLC x Skywalker a proper post-cure smoke and god DAMN is it a nice high. I was worried because of how the initial smoke test went- very fuzzy eyed and sedative. After cure, itās much less sleepy, and a much briefer, albeit middle of the road feeling. I get the body effects without the drowsiness, and I feel very social without the anxiety. Itās really good for when youāre going to be around people, or a crowd, and good thing because Iām bringing a few joints to a concert tonight
The landing is really smooth too. Sometimes weed can make me feel something akin to hungover as the high wears off. Itās not like a booze hangover, but just kinda feel like you want some rest. This stuff is gentle on the come down, and I sorta just eased back into my evening before going to sleep. My eyes didnāt even feel itchy or red but I forgot to look to see if they were actually bloodshot or not.
The taste is pretty good too- very creamy smelling, which morphs into a somewhat sweet lingering flavor on the lips when smoking. I kept smacking my lips smoking the joins like ādamn where did that flavor come from!ā Thought I had some of my breakfast pastry stuck on my lip 
This was my first time using grove bags, and Iāve gotta say so far itās been a pleasure. There was a little bit of growing pains figuring out when to actually put the harvest into the bags, and I probably lost a couple grams to oven drying to test, but itās very worth it. The smells have matured so well in the bag and the smoke is very smooth and pleasurable. This strain definitely surprised me with how well it turned out, and Iāve got just north of 5oz of it too which I canāt complain about. If I were to run it again, I may try to push nutrition a bit harder transitioning into flower and during flower to try and increase the density but thatās nit picking the grow. All things considered, Iām very pleased with how the last run turned out