First Grow of 2022 - Double Grape (Auto) & O.G. Kush (Auto)

Eureka!

I woke up to a new year and two new little ladies sticking up through the soil ... both still wearing their combat helmets (for now). One even brought a piece of perlite up on her head.

Amazing 2nd 24 hours.

I saw enough air gap on the seeds shells to remove them with tweezers this morning.

Growth was substantial. The Double Grape is now 3/4" tall and Cotyledons and true leaves are forming nicely.

The OG Kush is already 1" tall, but still unpacking her leaves.

In the last 24 hours my environment has averaged 80ºF and 51.1%. I'll start lowering temperatures into 70s to starting VPD monitoring in a week or so. Right now I am just trying to keep moisture in the air until the roots start drinking on their own.

Have been having a hard time getting my humidity above 70%. I added another humidifier this morning. I'm shooting for a 75º/75% goal because I am not sure I can sustain 80º/80%, which I would prefer with seedlings.

I'm catching up from a couple of days developing my style of documentation for this grow.

One exciting development is that the OG straightened out it crammed leaf issues and then doubled in size overnight, but held the same all day today.

Here is this AM's Reading for the beginning of Day 3 as a seedling. The remarkable event was the OGK doubling in size overnight, while the DG stayed the same.

VPD is proving difficult for me. A Sweet Spot is 75º/75% for this stage, but I am not able to get above 65% yet. To match up VPD, I would need to lower tent temps to 65º to 67º. That's too cool for a seedling.


Double Grape

O.G. Kush

I'll get it worked out.

OG Kush - Day 3 - 2 inches tall

As I mentioned above. OGK has hit the soil running compared to Double Grape, although both look healthy and well.

Double Grape - Day 3 - 1 inch tall ... same as yesterday.

Once I get my nodes forming I'll lighten up on the "by the moment" photos. : )

Because of my VPD challenges, I added another humidifier. My grow tent is in a climate-controlled garage, but the room is just about 30% RH because we are in full-on winter temps now.

The good news is I finally reach my bottom goal of 75/75 by tweaking the exhaust and I cut back on opening the tent.

The Bad News (sort of):

My goal was to get the soil “creatures” up and ready to run, by putting more creatures in the soil and giving them food. In doing so, I didn't realize how saturated the OGK was already. I'll go slower next time and give the meters time to catch up to the soil pressure.

I'm not too worried because there are no real roots in the perimeter to get suffocated. Most of my watering was in circles around the seedling towards the outside of the pot. Not in the taproot area.

The good news is I am dialed in with VPD at my lower goal. I would prefer to be 80/80, but I'll take 74º/76% for today. See final charts for the day below.

OG Kush - End of Day 3



Double Grape - End of Day 3

I woke up this morning to a better view of tiny new leaves on each plant.

OG Kush - Day 4 (am)

Double Grape - Day 4 (am)

I am not sure what those white dots are? I just noticed them as I was processing photos. I'll have a closer look with a scope to make sure they are not alive. I'm hoping for dust at this point.

I'll post more data readings soon.

No complaints or struggles today. Both plants' water levels are dissipating nicely (after my overwatering).

Changes: I evaluated my VPD chart (a different one) and have determined these ladies are going to start their early life at 75-77º (24-25c) temperature range. My two humidifiers seem to be suited for the 65% temp range.

OG Kush - Day 4 (am/pm)



Double Grape - Day 4 (am/pm)

My OG Kush is getting after it. I raised the PPFD from low 300s to low 400s before she gets too lanky.

I didn't post the data yesterday because not much happened. I have now below. I've upgraded my chart to feature metric equivalents.

I did remove 3 gallons of 850 PPM water from the rez and replace with 3 gallons of pH'd water to lower to mid 400s. My temps were much better dialed in, especially when I lowed my VPD to closer to a 75ºF/60%.

OG Kush - through yesterday (Day 5)





Double Grape - through end of Day 5

OG Kush - through yesterday (Day 6 AM)





Double Grape - through morning of Day 6

A Few AM Photos

Well what do we have here? A squatter?

I'm not sure of where this one came from. It's new soil and I only put in one seed.



As you can see, the Kush has made a new friend:



Mephisto Double Grape - Not showing much growth in the last 3 days (of 6). But, looking pretty.

Kush is growing what looks like Dumbo ears. I had to put a support stick to hold up the stem.

I also removed another gallon from the rez and replaced with RO water. Of about 4 - 5 gallons, the new dilution is 420 ppm, versus 464 this morning. I would have thought it would be lower PPM. I'm not worried about burning yet, they haven't really been kicking off the drip system.

Stats for Double Grape - Day 6 (PM)





Stats for O.G. Kush - Day 6 (PM)

Day 7 is in the books. As you will see, they growing and changing by the hour.

The brown spots are my fault, I thought the budding leaves could enjoy a foliar cocktail.



Look how long the leaves are on the OG Kush. She is about to go past the sensor.



Just another angle of the Kush

Day 8 - Happenings


Look at this Double Grape up in her Karate Kid pose.

Then later in the day, back to normal.




O.G. Kush - spreading out to swallow my BluMat.

Here's an angle with the “Squatter” in the background

Speaking of the "Gimp." This little seedling is trying to pull through. The leaves were mostly shriveled, now showing regeneration.

Day 9 (AM)

This morning, I shut off the water supply and fed the soil with about 1/2 liter of Tribus, Mr. Fulve and MSA. I used well below label suggestion.

This decision moved my BluMat Soil-Moisture Meter into the very wet zone, which I expected. Once the meters get back up to about 90-100, I'll do a fresh water feed and watch for the leaves to tell me a story.

Notables:

(1) The Double Grape finally grew out of its 1.5 inch body to 1.75" (44.5mm). However, the DG did get to 3 inches wide (76.2mm).

(2) The O.G. Kush is still stuck at 2.75" , but did hit 5" wide.

(3) Once I get my first node, I'll get the PPFD closer to a consistent upper 600. When I notice pre-flower signs I'll go to 800 and ease up to 900-1000. I don't use CO2, so I don't plant to exceed 1000.

(4) It will be fun to see how long this soil mix takes to get back to the edge of dry.


Day 9 (AM) - Double Grape Stats





Day 9 (AM) - O.G. Kush Stats

Day 10 - Shenanigans

Noteworthy:

(1) Rez water continues to drop in PPM as I start adding RO water into it. I had put 3 gallons of purified water with low PPM so that I didn't have to waste the water.

(2) Double Grape is on the move. They both move slow and fast depending on the day.

(3) I added in a Tower Fan to add to stem and leave agitation. My other two 12" fans are mounted up high but are blocked a little because of the LED light.

(4) Kush has turned a corner and started showing maturation.

(5) Both fabric pots are drying up nicely. I watch my sensors and the fabric-pot weight before I give the plant and soil something to eat.

FYI - Regarding BluMat Soil-Moisture Sensors, the manufacturer has suggested the following:

"For high-value crops like hemp, a reading of 100 millibars for the vegetative stage and 120-150 millibars for the flowering stage is ideal. These numbers may vary dependent on variety.

The lower the number readings, the wetter the soil. On average, the standard Blumat setting of two arrows down from a drop holding = 120 mb. (Ideal settings for cannabis growing = 120-150 mb in veg, 150-180 in bloom). The higher the reading, the drier."

Day 10 - O.G. Kush

Day 10 - O.G. Kush

Day 10 - O.G. Kush

Day 10 - Mephisto Double Grape