Hi friends, time for another update but not much to report these days. The plants are doing well and either fully flowering or making the transition. Yesterday we hit
the 90s here for the first time since last September, and temps are doing fine in the tent with the extraction fan running at half speed. I am very impressed with the cooling properties of this vent hood, enough that I bought the whole setup off my friend that I was borrowing it from (he's gone to LED). I don't know if I will always use it, but it's worth having around. Over the weekend I replaced the bulb with a Ushio Super HPS and the plants loved it. Unfortunately I haven't taken them out of the tent and viewed them in natural light since Monday, and when I checked yesterday the leaves of the plants right under the light have a golden, suntanned look to them. Not like a deficiency sort of yellowing, and the lower leaves that weren't directly under the light are normal green. I guess it's the start of light bleaching, but the plants seem happy as hell and it's certainly not a heat issue. I can put this hood down within a few inches of the canopy without it getting too warm, but the intensity is clearly too much. I moved it up from around 6" to 10" so we'll see how it goes. My previous grows with HID lights always had the light way up high due to heat issues, so I've never seen this before.
I got a new 3'x3'x6' tent yesterday which will give me some more headroom now that I have the large hood hanging in there. I guess my current tent will become the drying space but I have to sort out airflow and odor control. I really wish I could have kept my old drying cabinet. It was a small space with a bathroom fan and carbon filter & I had it dialed in for the perfect dry every time. Very easy to get the humidity right where I wanted it. I guess I'll try using a small fan and some ductwork to take the smelly air from the drying tent and vent it into the main tent with the filter. Even though they can be had for under $100 on Amazon, I really don't want to invest in another carbon filter and fan just for drying. Still thinking about all that.
On to some pics at day 54:
Magnum - This girl was in very rough shape a couple of weeks ago, but she has come around nicely. A little droopy in these pics, but I took them right before lights out so she's just resting. She's around 14" tall and still stretching, so she got another dose of veg nutes in hopes of a bit more vertical growth. I was really looking forward to having this strain in my collection, so I'm very relieved that I'll get a decent harvest even if it's not as big as I'd hoped. Still smelling of green bananas with no real discernible cannabis scent.
TD - This is another one I have been looking forward to growing for some time, so I'm bummed that the yield will be on the low side. But given how bad things looked last month, I really cant complain. Just over a foot tall and holding there for several days, so she's on full bloom nutes from here on out. At least the bud sites that she does have are getting thick and frosty already, so expect her to be pretty chunky by the end.
WW - The last of the sickies but she's budding up nicely. Very frosty but given the fact that she stalled out right at 12" tall, there is only so much bud she'll be able to produce. Still clawed from the earlier environmental and food issues, but no new signs of any unhappiness. She just got her first full dose of bloom nutes & I expect her to be a fast finisher. Both her and the TD have a nice grape bubble gum aroma.
Cobra - This girl is happy as can be & still growing like a weed. She passed 20" tall and is just starting to develop some bud sites, so another full shot of veg nutes was in order. I think this one will end up with a very nice yield when it's all said and done, which is great considering how far behind the others she was until recently. No smell yet other than a generic green leaf aroma.
SMR - She's stalled out around 27" tall so she's on full bloom nutes the rest of the way. I'm stoked to have this plant doing so well since I love the WOS strains. I've still got a couple ounces of AKR in my stash but I've been bummed that I only have a few grams of Pakistan Ryder left. Getting a big harvest off this Sugar Mango will definitely tide me over until I can grow some more PR. She's just starting to develop a sweet, fruity smell to go along with the skunk she's had for weeks. Unfortunately I sunburned her a bit at the top, but she'll be fine.
MD - The Magic Dragon is the star of the show, and she just keeps getting fatter. I rarely defoliate my plants, but I had to remove a dozen or so big fan leaves from the bottom because they simply were getting no light. The vegetation is so dense that it's practically pitch black at soil level. The bud sites are already very firm and there are some nice trichs forming on those purple calyxes. Not much of a smell other than some green banana with a little cracked black pepper spiciness.
Thanks for checking in!