Starting a new grow journal with Wedding Cake, Tropicanna Cookies, Pink Lemonade and GG4. These are big plants vegged for about 2 months. They were started in 3 gallon smart pots but later these were dropped into 5 gallon nursery pots. Lighting is 750w of Cree COB LEDs.
I am running the full New Millenium Nutrient line and these girls just recieved their first dose of New Millenium Decision which helps slow stretch and initiate earlier flowering. They will be flipped later today so stay tuned for updates.
Wedding Cake Genetics
There is some confusion about the genetics of Wedding Cake. Some sources say it’s a Girl Scout Cookies and Cherry Pie cross but this is not totally correct. My cut is from JBeezy the breeder of this strain and he says it is Triangle Kush X Animal Mints. (Animal Cookies X thin mint GSC)
Wedding Cake is on the far left.
The Tropicanna Cookies is hard to find much information on. Some say it’s GSC crossed with Clementine and others say it’s GSC x Tangie. All I really know is it is supposed to be purple so it will be fun to grow it.
Pink Lemonade is another strain with uncertain genetics. Supposedly a purple kush x lemon skunk and a mystery plant. So again it will be fun to grow it out and see how it does.
By now everyone is familiar with GG4 so I wont go into the genetics. All I can say is this plant is huge going into flower and should yield really well. Potent is an understatement.
Wedding Cake, Tropicanna Cookies, Pink Lemonade, GG4 Day 7
My plants are doing well and the top feed drip system I built is working like a charm. I am feeding New Millenium Nutrients and using rockwool croutons for a medium.
Right now I feed once a day for about 15 minutes and am running about 800 ppm and pH 5.8, as the plants continue to grow I will probably add a second feeding.
If you have used regular rockwool you know how much water it can hold, but the mini cubes are nothing like that. They wet fast and also drain fast because of all the air space between them.
More importantly with the long top feed I am using there is no salt build up in the pots. Everything gets fully fed and flushed when I feed. What is in the cubes is exactly what is in my reservoir. No surprises and no lockouts. My pH has stayed stable.
For the first time feeding and watering is working as it should. Every feeding the ppms drop and the pH rises a bit.
Currently I have just fed New Millenium Decision again at the start of week 2. It definitely helps keep stretch down and helps plants set flowers instead of growing stems. These plants are really large and keeping size in check is important. As it is I need to stand on a 5 gallon bucket to get to the tops. There are 2 more weeks of stretch and I only have about another 18 inches of headroom. I would prefer to not have to super crop if I can avoid it.
Here are some day 7 pictures:
Day 10 Leaf Strip
I did a leaf strip on day 10. Normally I wait until days 14-21 to do this. I have a huge GG4 and it has over 50 tops. This led to crowding and some tops were not getting much light at all. I could also feel moisture when I put my hand into that jungle. So there was no putting it off.
I removed all uprights that had not made it to the screen or that were unlikely to. That helped but it was obvious more was needed. So everything got defoliated a bit earlier than usual.
I dont play at leaf stripping either. When I do it I remove every leaf that has a stem except 2 or 3 on the very top of the branches. For some reason I forgot to take before and after pictures but I am happy with the results and have pictures taken 4 days later.
Leaf Stripping Recovery Day 15
Leaf Stripping will always set your plants back a few days while they recover but the results are worth it. You can see the plants in this video at https://youtu.be/R79BTVtXiA8 if you want and if you go there please subscribe to my new channel.
Here is a video showing the defoliation:
Meanwhile here are some pics taken on the start of day 15:
Day 21 Full Leaf Stripping Recovery And Flowering Nicely
It’s day 21 and about 10 days after a total leaf strip. The girls are fully recovered from their defoliation and are all showing nice flower development and good stacking with tight node spacing. In fact it’s hard to tell they were ever stripped.
The Pink Lemonade has really nice flowers and good frost coverage already. It has the largest flowers right now and thick upright pistils.
The Wedding Cake is a later maturing strain and the flowers are smaller but the trichome coverage at this early stage is amazing.
Next week I will begin adding [amazon_textlink asin=’B01EQDJ8WM’ text=’Plagron Green Sensation’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’buildkoipondc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’f7575844-76fd-11e8-99bf-05ecde589166′] which is a 3 in 1 bloom booster designed to be used starting in week 4.
Here are some day 21 bud shots:
Powdery Mildew Rears Its Ugly Head Day 28
Everything is going well except for the fact that I spotted powdery mildew starting on a few fan leaves. It seemed to be limited to just the Tropicanna Cookies. At this time of year spores are present everywhere.
The weather here has been ideal for it as we have had a cloudy stretch with fairly high humidity. Since it’s summer the heater is off and humidity inside is 58%. It is lower in my grow closet low to mid 40s but when the sun is out the humidity is usually mid 30s. I like to keep it drier not only to control mildew but because lower humidity increases resin production.
I was very fortunate to catch it just as it was starting because it can spread fast. I added another fan to increase airflow and also did some leaf stripping to allow more air movement through the canopy.
PM can show and spread fast. When I checked my plants in the morning it wasnt there but 4 or 5 hours later it was showing on a couple of fan leaves.
I know there are lots of remedies to control powdery mildew like spraying plants with milk or h2o2 and I do use Greencure in veg but it can cause burning and leaves a residue so I don’t want it on my flowers.
[amazon_link asins=’B01KB9WQT2′ template=’ProductLink’ store=’buildkoipondc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’6d3843ad-7ca2-11e8-aec5-972747ce6008′] I heard about another product called [amazon_textlink asin=’B000FOMRUC’ text=’Serenade’ template=’ProductAd’ store=’buildkoipondc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’bbce848d-7ca2-11e8-92a6-1d7fc8f681e5′] that uses a special strain of bacteria to stop PM and it is certified organic. So I am going to give it a try. I hope I caught it in time and I don’t see any signs of it today but I want to be ready if it does show up again.
So the buds are beginning to size up and the leaves are really sticky. Really liking the looks of the Wedding Cake too. Here’s some pics:
Wedding Cake, Tropicanna Cookies, Pink Lemonade, GG4 Day 35
Day 35 is here and the buds are sizing up nicely. I have been runni
ng bloom boosters for almost a week and the buds seem larger every time I look at them. Also seeing some tip burn and yellowing especially on the Wedding Cake. The high potasium in the boosters can be hard on leaves.
I am running the New Millenium line with their booster[amazon_textlink asin=’B06X9M143R’ text=’ PK Apatite’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’buildkoipondc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’b5ea6ed8-8204-11e8-bcbc-39025134dfbb’] along with [amazon_textlink asin=’B01EQDJ8WM’ text=’Plagron Green Sensation’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’buildkoipondc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’cb894129-8204-11e8-a7de-67c6f85f64b3′]. Currently running at 1200 ppms but I will probably cut this back to about 900 this week.
Well It Might Be An Early Finish For These Ladies Day 44
So today is day 44 and I think things will be finishing earlier than expected. The signs I look for when a plant is just about done are all there.
When a plant is finishing its water intake goes way down. They just dont drink as much. The hairs starting to turn brown is another sign of maturity. Along with that very few new white hairs are being produced. That means it is just about time to start flushing.
The water temperature has risen at this time and right now my water is 70 right out the tap. Inside the res it has gotten up to 79. With temps that high there is very little disolved oxygen in the water and overall this is a bad scenario for plants. Anything over 72 is asking for trouble in hydro.
I started hand watering this past week and for the last few days I have been feeding [amazon_textlink asin=’B06X9Z7BZP’ text=’New Millenium Decision’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’buildkoipondc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’976f2f0f-87b0-11e8-9f47-295f603a1074′].
I will run it for about a week and then start to flush. It tricks plants into thinking winter is coming so they increase resin production and bud size and it brings out those fall colors too.
The Wedding Cake began turning even before I started adding it. It had stopped drinking but I did not catch it right away so it ended up being over watered which I think is what triggered the color change.
The GG4 is still drinking quite a bit, but the Pink Lemonade and Tropicanna Cookies have really slowed down and the Wedding Cake has all but stopped. At this point I am waiting for the Glue to finish before I start to flush. So these girls will probably be done right around 60 days.
Day 49 Starting To Flush
Today is day 49 and I have started to flush. I have been running [amazon_textlink asin=’B06XB3LN2M’ text=’New Millenium Winter Frost’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’buildkoipondc-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’4a465aa2-8b71-11e8-a3cb-71f032ba4251′] as per directions at 10 ml per gallon.
It is meant to be run 7-10 days before flush. I didn’t see a dramatic color change in my plants but it definitely increased the smell which translates into more essential oil production as it claims. Some plants are at different stages of growth but they all appear to be finishing early.
The Wedding Cake actually started to show fall colors around day 40. The GG4 is still going strong and is the only plant drinking much anymore. It and the Tropicanna Cookies look like the latest to finish. The Pink Lemonade from what I understand is an earlier finisher than the others.
So all plants have decreased water intake and a lot of brown hairs. There are only a few white pistils left on these ladies. I was told you should start flushing while there still are some white hairs being made. I decided to start flushing now while that is still happening. It will probably take about 3-4 days for them to dry out and then I will flush again. I am aiming for a harvest at about 60 days dependent on how the plants fade. Here are some pics from day 48:
Chopped on day 51
These plants were chopped on day 51. They are going to hang and dry for about a week and then go into glass jars. It does not look like the yield is going to be that good however the quality is excellent.
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