Stop me if I’m boring you guys. Had to read up a bit more tonight and work out what’s going on.
I just realised that this grow was technically started on Saturday 22 October. I mean, at that point, only 2 seeds had germed. A few days later, due to a different propogation method, not only had the 3rd seed germed, but it had BLOOMED.
So I’m taking the 22/Oct/22 as ‘Ground Zero’ so to speak. It’s an average. But a good one.
Every time I open this tent now the smell is getting ‘HONKY’ man! I’m trying not to disturb the leaves but every time I have to brush my hand through its hair, it’s just pure filth! What have I started? I always went with easy to grow and low pungency strains like NL5 and they have done me proud. It’s true, they are great starter strains. But now we are stepping up a notch. Thing is, the girls are still quite short and stout. This is a good thing by the way, Indica dominant, for sure. But the other night I tilted my 150W HPS lamp and one of the girls sprouted higher. I was thinking ‘doh’ what have I done, then I thought, no, this is a good thing. So I swapped plants and I put the other short girl in her space and she should put on a inch or two tomorrow when I check the tent.
The plant directly under the 150W HPS was quite dry - dry enough to water - but no no no - you don’t get any special treatment. The other plants have got a good day in them yet. So tomorrow I will water all the girls, and then I will change up to the 250W HPS I have been holding back on. It’s not being stingey with the electricity, it was just to get them going good. They are going good now so all of them will get blasted tomorrow.
I’m going to stick with 24 hour light cycle for now. I may (may!) drop to a few hours of darkness, but really, like I said, I’ve got the money to cover the leccy for now. Things get a lot more expensive new year and in spring. This makes it easier for me. I’m pretty sure I could drop to 18/6 or 20/4 and things would still be the same, but it gets me an easy way to keep temp fluctuations down and all that nastiness that comes from mould and damp, which I have in my flat. These girls got their own little ecosystem going on and I don’t wan to mess with that. Temps drop in a few days, but the higher 250W HPS will raise temps. Also my RVK fan is only on no.2 in the day and no.3 when I go to sleep. Way I have it wired up that is nothing. I’ve got another couple of notches to go to master their environment.
I ordered a coupld of ONA blocks yesterday – bloody hell - 20 quid mate! – no matter. If I need to get a new Rhino then I will. I might have to. I haven’t quite had 6 months use out of my Rhino Pro, but to be fair, it’s been lying around for a year or two, so just thankful it’s working at all, which it is. Hopefully the ONA blocks will calm the honkiness down a bit.
Planting 3 pots in a tent this size is a fools errand I have come to realise. It’s probably why you don’t see that many grows like this (might be wrong). Also the big 7.5L pots make those girls think they are living in some wide real estate when in actuality they are very quickly touching the boundaries. But they learn quick. Nature finds a way to grow, but it also finds a way to restrain itself when it has to.
As I said, this will be the first grow I don’t mess with HST/LST. I got beginner’s luck before with that (as you will know if you saw my posts on the other forum). But because these plants are so short and stout, I feel like I need to raise them up not tie them down. This is an absolutely great strain to grow for a novice like me, in constrained conditions. If all these girls don’t make it to a super yield, it will have been my fault not theirs. The absolute stink coming off them in almost pre-flower lets me know I got some great genetics here.
So I’m trying to balance them out height wise. One girls has a stem on her like a world-class bodybuilder, the other one has one like one of those ‘weedy blokes’ you see at the beach! LOL. But hard to say who is who, because in competition and with a bit of love and care, each one of them find a way to out-compete the other ones. If it’s not by wider fan leaves, or greater height, it’s by stronger stem strength. In my very novice opinion of course. This is just a grow guide for me to refer back to later, not for anyone else to take seriously what I say.
So yeah, the pots were too big. My germination regimen was off-whack and made it much more difficult - making not just me but the girls having to play catch up. But hell, I think they’re having fun! I know I am!
I’ve still got a good bit of grow space left in this tent. So my job now is to get the girls higher before they leave veg stage and enter flower stage, where of course, they won’t significantly grow in height. Usually the opposite problem that I have. But there’s still a few days of veg to go yet. There’s only so much I can rotate them so there is no great science to it, it’s more needs be. I got to say dropping the fan down a notch at night has not hurt at all. Good move.
These AGSC’s are known for being very forgiving and for being quite stout. I got to say that I got the best of the genetics here. And considering they were only like 15 quid to buy for the three, I can’t complain at all. Having said that, I could not find another seed seller or another strain that fulfilled my requirements. Short grow time, short length, no expert knowledge needed, high yield…
But you need to know about smell management. These girls are already kicking up a fuss and they haven’t even reached flowering yet. You will need great ventilation and something like a Rhino Pro, and a decent fan, like I have (RVK). Those ONA blocks help too for those times when you have to open the tent and check/water them.
All this is old news to you master growers here. Excuse me if I’m covering old ground.
With all that said, it’s time for pics and to STFU!
The changing up to a 250W HPS should have been done a bit sooner in the cycle, for sure, but it’s been a very mild winter here so far, with temps only about to drop about 10C in the next few days. I’ve waited for this to happen, but next watering, probably tomorrow, they get some new sunshine again. They won’t know what’s hit them. They’re already going wild with all the love and attention they are getting. And things only get better from here for them!
It’s going to be a great Xmas for one of us!