Indoor 2nd Grow, 1st Full-Size Plant! (Industrial Plant CBD)

[Tracer Productions]

Hey all. You may remember me from that silly Solo cup grow diary a few months ago. (LOL, just realized I sound like Troy McClure from the Simpsons). It was my first ever grow & I was super proud & documented every little detail. I ended up with 4 grams on the nose & still haven't even smoked half of it. The stuff was TOO potent for my lightweight ass!

So this time I went for something a little milder on the THC tip. Industrial Plant Auto CBD from Dinafem has only 5% THC & 10%-12% CBD, which is right up my alley. And I'm growing it in a regular sized 3-gallon fabric pot this time...not a party cup. So I thought I'd share a bit w/ you all. Promise it won't be as detailed as last time!

I'm currently on Week 5 as of tonight, which means I'm at the halfway point with this strain. CBD strains start to lose potency once the trichs start going amber so no need to let this one mature too much. I plan to harvest around Day 77 (since Day 70 is the estimated date given by the breeder). Here's my setup:

Medium: Black Gold Organic soil
Lights: 42-watt CFLs (two); 20-watt LEDs as side lighting occasionally
Nitrogen Source: Diluted Urine
Phosphorus Source: Tetramin Fish Flakes
Potassium Source: Potassium Humates/Humic Acid
Other Fertilizers: Epsom Salts, Maple Syrup
Training Techniques: Stem Pinching, Lollipopping, Ponytailing

She's just chillin' in my closet, which is cracked with an oscillating fan blowing in there to keep the air moving. Week 4 was all about ponytailing--I kept her top leaves pulled up so the lower bud sites could get some light most of last week. She's developed some yellowing of her lower leaves, but I'm planning to feed her later this week & lollipop those leaves off so hopefully that will set things right. Oh, and I made a hole in her stem when I pinched it a bit too hard in Week 3, but it quickly healed with the help of a pipe cleaner tied around it. Other than that, she's a very hardy girl with big Indica-looking leaves. (This is still a low-low budget grow so don't judge my choice of fertilizers plz! Gotta be stealthy too).

Here are some highlights of the grow thus far:



...will be back with an update when I'm able. Stay evil!

 

[RareAmigo]

Best of luck to your grow!
I was trying to open your signature link to the party cup diary next but it appears broken.
You're saying that you plan on harvesting before the trichs start to become amber and wanted to ask, isn't the best time to harvest CBD strain after THC started to degrade?

 

[AutoWonders]

So this time I went for something a little milder on the THC tip. Industrial Plant Auto CBD from Dinafem

That is a very nice strain. When I first grew it back several years ago I didn't feel any real high. The last two I grew somewhat recently there was a little more kick.

 

[Tracer Productions]

Yay! Glad to hear that, @AutoWonders! I don't mind a tiny kick as I can balance it out w/ my pure CBD shatter or hemp flower if necessary. But 5% doesn't sound too bad honestly. I checked & that's what the average THC levels were in pot from 1997 actually.

Heya, @RareAmigo. I need to fix that link. Sorry 'bout that! I think you're referring to CBN instead of CBD. THC breaks down into CBN when it turns amber...CBD doesn't have a known identifiable color in trichomes & they're still trying to pinpoint when exactly it reaches its peak levels in the process, but Mark(?) from Dinafem said his labs pointed to milky trichomes being peak CBD time. And then levels start declining as the amber trichs multiply. But it's all pretty preliminary at this point.

 

[RareAmigo]

I eventually found the correct link and it was a nice read.
You may be right and i confused the CBD with CBN, my bad.

 

[Tracer Productions]

Update:

So everything was rolling along great until Week 7. Catastrophe. Overnight, she turned bright yellow...all leaves...with the bottom ones curling up & dying over the next two weeks. Just like the first grow! I assumed the problems were due to rootbound in the Solo cup as well as the weird fertilizers I was using, but apparently not since this plant has done the same thing in a normal 3 gallon fabric pot with no banana tea. But this time I wasn't able to reverse the yellowing no matter how much I flushed or added "natural nitrogen" supplements (diluted urine, grass tea, etc) or checked pH. So the leaves have been cannibalized. Pretty much all of them.

Despite that, the buds are in decent shape & much fatter than the 1st plant. I'll definitely get a bigger yield this time around. Not much compared to you masters around here (teehee) but enough to last me a few months at least. One thing I've learned from these two grows: leaves are not integral to the plant's survival during the flowering phase. They probably (likely) serve a purpose & my yields are surely affected by all this, but the plant can continue to survive & grow 'til harvest without them. Somehow the buds manage to stay green & keep growing as the leaves shrink up & die 3-4 weeks before harvest. It's quite impressive really. The problem is clearly a nitrogen-related one & I'm determined to get some basic NPK ferts when I can afford it. That time is not now.

Another thing I've learned: smaller containers don't necessarily require more frequent watering & aren't more difficult to grow in generally. At least not in my case. This plant starts wilting from underwatering nearly every other day if I don't give her a giant damn bottle of water. Within a couple hours she can look almost dead if I let it go on past an entire morning. That never happened with my much taller Solo cup plant, which was incidentally much easier to fix when the yellowing set in as well. So everything has been backwards. This grow was actually more difficult & stressful. People said the Solo cup one would require waking up in the night to water & would be plagued by rootbound & other serious problems, but no. (Obviously I'm happier with the size/yield on this one & probably won't grow in a cup again but not because it's hard).

We're at Week 9 now (Day 65) and will be harvesting on Day 77 if all goes as planned. The trichomes are half cloudy & half clear & most pistils are orange & shrunken. I'm glad she stayed small because she can be smelled down the hall & I live with weed Nazis. Some phenos of this plant are super tall which would've been a nightmare in my case.

Enuff rambling, lol. Here are the pics: