I love almost every aspect of growing cannabis, but my least favorite part is testing the pH of runoff water (to prevent deficiencies). Enter hydroponics. In a “DWC” (deep water culture) hydro tub like this one, pH is the easiest part of growing. You just dip a PH Pen in the water, and you’re done.

Growing cannabis in hydro is surprisingly easy when you start plants right.

Yet it’s the results of growing cannabis in hydroponics that makes you feel like a “mad scientist”. This outrageous Purple Ghost Candy plant approached a pound by itself.

My favorite part of growing weed in a big hydro tub is how little time and work it takes from day to day. In some ways, it takes even less work than “just add water” soil because you don’t need to water plants every few days, and testing the pH is faster and easier.

A quick peek “under the hood” of a DWC hydroponic reservoir. Look at those roots!

Learn how to grow cannabis in a hydro tub like this (step-by-step tutorial).

For those who are already growing hydro (or want to start), here are some insider secrets from an experienced hydroponic cannabis grower. These tips prevent common problems in hydro, while saving you significant time and effort.

7 Secrets to Healthy Cannabis Plants in a DWC Hydro Tub

If you’re thinking about growing cannabis in hydro, or perhaps you already have, this section will make all the difference for you. Simply follow these suggestions and you’ll avoid 99% of the issues cannabis hydroponic growers run into.

1. Leave the roots alone – Don’t touch the roots, especially when they’re babies and the roots still look “feathery” and fragile. If you touch them or pick up the lid and move them around, they can easily twist up, which kills the roots below the twist point. When the roots look thick and sturdy, they’re way less sensitive and won’t twist anymore.
2. Don’t change the water for first 30 days, or at least not until plants have solid looking roots. Pumping out and replacing all the water (or otherwise disturbing the roots) is one of the most common triggers of root rot (dying roots), especially with plants under 30 days old. At first, just top off with new water to maintain the proper water level.
3. Use a root supplement – I personally use Hydroguard. This adds “good” microorganisms to the water that not only protect roots from pathogens or root rot, but also just helps them be more healthy overall. Hydro growers without a root supplement are way more likely to run into issues with unhealthy roots.
4. Don’t let light beam onto the tub or get into the reservoir. Both the light and the heat cause things to grow. If you see anything green growing in the reservoir, chances are light is getting in. Cool, totally dark hydroponic reservoirs are the best performing reservoirs.
5. Don’t let roots live in heat. The plant itself can be as hot as any plant, but without the protection of soil, if you heat up the water the roots get hot, and plants don’t like hot roots. If you happen to be an outdoor grower in the sun, if you have potted cannabis plants, put them into an even bigger pot. The extra layer of air between the roots and the sun’s beams makes plants much much more resistant to heat and overall stress.
6. Keep an air gap (don’t fill the reservoir too high) – Make sure there is an air gap under the net pot. This greatly increases root health. The air bubbles will be bursting, so that the roots are constantly getting a mist of water. But if you fill the reservoir so that it’s actually touching the net pots, it causes roots to get unhealthy, and then the base of the stem starts rotting.
7. Pump in plenty of bubbles – Hydro growers use an air pump with airstone to pump tons of bubbles into the water reservoir. This is key to root health as roots need oxygen to survive. It also fights pathogens like algae. I use an Eco Air 2 with 3/16″ ID tubing to connect to a large airstone to provide tons of air for up to two reservoirs.
8. Manage the pH (5.5 – 6.5) to prevent deficiencies. Learn how to check and adjust the pH. Make sure to get a pH pen so you can stick it straight in the reservoir and immediately know the pH. I use an Apera A1209 pH pen (it’s very accurate, measures the pH in seconds, and only needs to be calibrated every few grows). But even the cheapest pH Pen works well as long as you calibrate it regularly. One of my favorite things about growing in hydro is that it’s so easy to test and adjust the pH compared to soil or coco. I don’t particularly enjoy testing the pH in soil and coco (you need to test the input, the runoff, etc.) But with hydro testing the pH takes 1 second, is more accurate, and makes me feel like I’m doing science.

Roots are fragile at first, especially when they still look like “feathers”. Don’t move them like this grower did, or roots might get sick.

But once roots ‘harden” they’re extremely tough. You can move them around and they won’t even notice.

If you see green roots, it usually means light is getting into the reservoir. In this case, the lid was so thin it was letting in light. The grower covered the top of the lid with aluminum foil, and light stopped getting to the roots.

Make sure your air pump is making tons of bubbles in the water!

How to Make Hydro Life Even Easier

Here are some bonus tips and tricks to make your life as a hydro grower easier.

Make it easy to move water (Save your back!)

I never pick up my water container. It sits in front of the tent. I use the hose from the bathroom sink to fill it up, add nutrients, then use a water transfer pump to pump it into the reservoir.

• Faucet hose adapter – Stop lugging water around! Get a hose faucet adapter to use a garden hose from the faucet to get water to your grow space.
• Water transfer pump – Use a battery-powered water transfer pump to get your water from in your container to your reservoir. These are also awesome for watering plants directly at the roots (way better than a watering can!).

Use a faucet hose adapter to get water from your sink to your grow space.

Then use a water transfer pump to get water into the reservoir. Never carry water again!

Never worry about spills

• Grow in a grow tent, because they have a waterproof tray at the bottom which can hold many gallons of water. That means if something happens and there’s a spill, none of it will get on your floor. Bonus: if you get a grow tent you can also control smells and you get bigger yields because reflective walls bounce more light onto your plants

10-Gallon Tub or Bigger

For your hydroponic reservoir, use a tub that’s at least 10 gallons or bigger. Considering that you have to leaves several inches of air under the lid, a 10-gallon container holds about 5 gallons of water, which gives the roots tons of room to expand, and you won’t need to add water very often.

A 10-gallon tub or bigger makes your life way easier

• Faster-growing plants and healthier roots
• PH and nutrient levels tend to stay more stable
• Fill up the reservoir less often

Curious to learn more? Let me go a bit deeper into why I recommend bigger tubs for your hydro cannabis plants.  Specifically, some of the most popular DWC hydro kits sell you 5-gallon buckets, which can only hold about 2.5 gallons of water, and that’s before your roots get big enough to start displacing the water.

Why a bigger hydro tub instead of pre-made DWC buckets?

When you have the black buckets, they don’t hold enough water, plus you can’t easily test the pH. So you have to take a sample of water from within the bucket, which often involves moving the roots, which you want to avoid if possible

Big hydro DWC tubs like this don’t take much time or maintenance.

In the hydro tub you can easily adjust the pH without moving the plant. You simply need a second port to access the reservoir. That lets you look at the roots, take samples, use your PH or PPM pen, add or remove water, make adjustments, etc. WITHOUT ever having to move the plant.

Extra ports make it easy to check on roots and access water without moving the plant.

Cannabis plants in 5-gallon DWC buckets tend to produce less weed overall. But the real issue is that they don’t hold much water, and by the time plants get bigger, growers often find themselves refilling the buckets daily (or even more often!) to keep the plant from drinking themselves dry.

Cannabis plants in buckets tend to stay smaller.

But the main headache for a cannabis grower is that a 5-gallon hydro bucket doesn’t hold much water and needs to be refilled constantly. There is also no way to easily access the reservoir without having to move the whole plant, and moving roots on a plant is one of the most common triggers for root rot, especially younger plants before their roots “harden”.

This grower moved these plants to bigger tubs because they were drinking the entire reservoir of water in hours.

But don’t these buckets hold 5 gallons? Isn’t that enough?

Even though these are “5 gallon buckets” they cannot be filled to the top. You need to keep the water levels several finger widths below the bottom of the net pot. Then the roots themselves displace the water so you can add even less.

As a results, you can often only add a few gallons of water to these buckets, especially as the roots get bigger.

Check this picture: Notice that the list with the “basket” (called a “net pot”) goes deep into the bucket, and then you have to leave an air gap below that. That doesn’t leave much space for water.

You can only fill up a 5-gallon with a few gallons of water if you want to leave an air gap under the net pot for the fastest, healthiest growth.

10-gallon tubs hold up to 5 gallons of water at a time.

All that root space lets you grow monster DWC cannabis plants!

This Purple Ghost Candy plant produced almost a pound in hydro under a HLG Diablo 350.

But can you grow cannabis plants in little hydro tubs?

Yes, just make sure you can access the reservoir, and keep plants to an appropriate size (not too big).

But just remember, the bigger the tub, the easier your life will be. The smaller the tub, the more time you spend tending to the plants, on average.

Sirius grew this plant in a tiny reservoir under a Spider Farmer 100W LED grow light.

But by harvest, the plant was drinking so much he had to add more water every morning and night.

The small root space, and an early switch to 12/12, ensured the plant stayed small.

A fun project!

Ready to start growing hydroponic weed the DWC way? Check out the full tutorial!

The post Why Hydro Feels Like Cheating (Plus 7 Tips) appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Jump to the weigh-in! (Final Yields!) 

Five photoperiod strains in soil, the hope of sweet dreams to come, and an overarching goal: Grow 1 pound of top-shelf weed!

“Sweet Dreams” Genetics: Blue Dream, Purple Ghost Candy, Candy Games #38, Mandarin Cookies, GG4 x Zkittlez

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7 – Initiate flowering stage (started 12/12 so buds start growing)

Week 8 timelapse (flowering day 5 to 11)

Week 9, we’ve got buds! (flowering day 18)

Week 10 (flowering day 24) – So stretchy! Smells amazing in there now.

Week 11 (flowering day 31) – Purple starting to come out in some plants.

Week 12 (flowering day 39) – Some of the bigger buds now held up with plant yo-yos!

Week 13 (flowering day 44) – In natural light!

Week 14 (flowering day 51) – Need gloves to touch buds now (otherwise sticky fingers that reek of delicious weed smell).

Week 15 (flowering day 59) – Sweet dreams have come

Week 16 (flowering day 67) – First plant looking ready to harvest! (Candy Games #38)

Flowering day 73 – Harvest Day!

Weigh-in – Well over a pound of top-shelf weed!

Jump to the latest grow journal update! (Weigh-in!)

Table of Contents

About This Grow Diary

Germination – Seeds sprouted!

Week 1 – First leaves

• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 4
• Day 7

Week 2 – Seedling life

• Day 8
• Day 9
• Day 10
• Day 11
• Day 12
• Day 13
• Day 14

Week 3 – Early vegetative stage

• Day 15
• Day 16
• Day 17
• Day 18 – Assemble AC Infinity auto-watering pot bases
• Day 19
• Day 20 – Transplant to 5-gallon fabric pots
• Day 21

Week 4 – Vegetative stage & topping

• Day 22
• Day 23
• Day 24
• Day 25
• Day 26
• Day 27 – Plants get topped!
• Day 28

Week 5 – Filling up the tent!

• Day 29
• Day 30
• Day 31
• Day 32
• Day 33
• Day 34
• Day 35

Week 6 – Trained to grow wide and flat, about to start flowering

• Day 36
• Day 37
• Day 38
• Day 39
• Day 40
• Day 41
• Day 42

Week 7 – Initiated flowering stage with 12/12 light schedule!

• Day 43
• Day 44
• Day 45 – started 12/12 (to initiate flowering stage)
• Day 46 (Flowering Day 1)
• Day 47 (Flowering Day 2)
• Day 48 (Flowering Day 3)
• Day 49 (Flowering Day 4)

Week 8 – First stigmas (hairs) and transition to flowering

• Day 50 (Flowering Day 5)
• Day 51 (Flowering Day 6)
• Day 52 (Flowering Day 7)
• Day 53 (Flowering Day 8) – Noticed first white hairs (buds starting to form)
• Day 54 (Flowering Day 9)
• Day 55 (Flowering Day 10)
• Day 56 (Flowering Day 11)

Week 9 – Auto-watering pot bases to the rescue!

• Day 57 (Flowering Day 12)
• Day 58 (Flowering Day 13)
• Day 59 (Flowering Day 14)
• Day 60 (Flowering Day 15)
• Day 61 (Flowering Day 16)
• Day 62 (Flowering Day 17)
• Day 63 (Flowering Day 18)

Week 10 – Bud city!

• Day 64 (Flowering Day 19)
• Day 65 (Flowering Day 20)
• Day 66 (Flowering Day 21)
• Day 67 (Flowering Day 22)
• Day 68 (Flowering Day 23)
• Day 69 (Flowering Day 24)
• Day 70 (Flowering Day 25)

Week 11

• Day 71 (Flowering Day 26)
• Day 72 (Flowering Day 27)
• Day 73 (Flowering Day 28)
• Day 74 (Flowering Day 29)
• Day 75 (Flowering Day 30)
• Day 76 (Flowering Day 31)
• Day 77 (Flowering Day 32)

Week 12

• Day 78 (Flowering Day 33)
• Day 79 (Flowering Day 34)
• Day 80 (Flowering Day 35)
• Day 81 (Flowering Day 36)
• Day 82 (Flowering Day 37)
• Day 83 (Flowering Day 38)
• Day 84 (Flowering Day 39)

Week 13

• Day 85 (Flowering Day 40)
• Day 86 (Flowering Day 41)
• Day 87 (Flowering Day 42)
• Day 88 (Flowering Day 43)
• Day 89 (Flowering Day 44)
• Day 90 (Flowering Day 45)
• Day 91 (Flowering Day 46)

Week 14

• Day 92 (Flowering Day 47)
• Day 93 (Flowering Day 48)
• Day 94 (Flowering Day 49)
• Day 95 (Flowering Day 50)
• Day 96 (Flowering Day 51)
• Day 97 (Flowering Day 52)
• Day 98 (Flowering Day 53)

Week 15

• Day 99 (Flowering Day 54)
• Day 100 (Flowering Day 55)
• Day 101 (Flowering Day 56)
• Day 102 (Flowering Day 57)
• Day 103 (Flowering Day 58)
• Day 104 (Flowering Day 59)
• Day 105 (Flowering Day 60)

Week 16

• Day 106 (Flowering Day 61)
• Day 107 (Flowering Day 62)
• Day 108 (Flowering Day 63)
• Day 109 (Flowering Day 64)
• Day 110 (Flowering Day 65)
• Day 111 (Flowering Day 66)
• Day 112 (Flowering Day 67)

Harvest Week!

• Day 113 (Flowering Day 68)
• Day 114 (Flowering Day 69)
• Day 115 (Flowering Day 70)
• Day 116 (Flowering Day 71)
• Day 117 (Flowering Day 72)
• Day 118 (Flowering Day 73) – Harvest!

Introduction 

As we wrap up our autoflowering grow journal, it’s time to look ahead. This time we’re going to grow with photoperiod strains, go bigger with a 4’x4′ grow tent, and turn up the PPFD with a HLG 350W Diablo LED grow light. We’re going to be trying out AC Infinity Auto-watering pot bases, using Coco Loco soil and FoxFarm nutrients.

Want to join us? Sign up for our newsletter to follow along live, week by week, as we turn a handful of cannabis seeds into a bountiful harvest. Over the coming weeks, you’ll see every part of the grow journey.

Follow Live Home Grows & Get Tips from Real Growers!
Enter Your Email Here:

We respect your email privacy

About the “Sweet Dreams” Photoperiod Grow Diary

Grow Space: 4’x4′ grow tent

LED Grow Light: 1 x HLG 350W Diablo LED

Soil with Auto-Watering Pots

• 5-gallon Fabric Pots
• FoxFarm Bushdoctor Coco Loco soil
• AC Infinity Auto-watering pot bases

Nutrients: FoxFarm Nutrient Trio (Big Bloom, Grow Big, Tiger Bloom)

• Using this nutrient schedule (I make notes in the journal for any deviations)

Strains (“Sweet Dreams” themed!)

• Candy Games #38
• Purple Ghost Candy
• Mandarin Cookies V2
• Blue Dream
• GG4 x Zkittlez

Quick Summary: 4’x4′ grow tent with HLG Diablo 350 LED, 5-gallon fabric pots full of Bush Doctor Coco Loco soil, FoxFarm nutrients.

We are trying AC Infinity auto-watering pot bases for the first time (aka “auto-pots”)

FoxFarm Nutrient Trio for soil following this schedule in Coco Loco soil

Nebula Haze’s Sweet Dreams Photoperiod Grow Journal

Here is the first entry, which we sent to the GrowWeedEasy.com growing community via our Sunday email newsletter.

August 3, 2025 – New Photoperiod Grow Journal: T-minus 1 week!

I am about sprout seeds for our next grow (photoperiod strains this time), and then we’re off to the races on a new grow journal!

Yield Goal: 1 lb (16 oz) of top-shelf weed!

We’d love for you to join us with your own photoperiod grow! Think of it as a grow challenge we can all go through together. If you’re a little ahead (already sprouted) or behind (can’t germinate yet this week), that’s okay! We can still be together in spirit 🙂

HIT REPLY if you’re joining us, and let us know your setup and strains. We’d love to hear what you’re up to, and we may feature you in a future newsletter!

~Nebula Haze
GrowWeedEasy.com

Germination Time – Seeds have sprouted!

I chose to use the Paper Towel method to germinate my cannabis seeds this time. When combined with a little heat, I’ve had the best germination rates and fastest germination with this method. And it makes it easier to track the progress of each seed. However, other simpler methods like planting the seeds directly in soil work too!

First I pick the seeds I want to grow, and cut a paper towel to the size of the plate.

Note: Use the CHEAPEST paper towels you can find. The nice “cloth-like” ones are no good because roots can grow into them. But super cheap paper towels work perfect.

I decided to germinate 3 seeds per strain, just to ensure I get to grow all 5 of the strains, and pick one extra for a total of 6 plants.

All the “extra” seedlings are going to get grown in the mini tent! We’ll do a little “Sea of Green” grow with the 100W Spider Farmer LED. It will be fun to see how the buds from the mini tent compare to the buds in this more powerful HLG Diablo LED grow tent.

Purple Ghost Candy seeds – I am super excited about this strain. In past grows, it has produced some of the favorite weed we’ve ever grown.

Candy Games #38 – I like how safe the seeds seem like inside the box. I have heard so much good stuff about this strain and I can’t wait to see what all the fuss is about for myself!

Mandarin Cookies V2 – These are actually old seeds, from all the way back in 2020. There are only a few seeds left out of a pack of 10. Every single plant I’ve grown from this pack has been a bit different from each other, but every single one has produced fire weed.

The breeder recently released an R3 version of this strain which claims to take the best traits of Mandarin Cookies and make a super stabilized version aimed at home growers who seek consistency. I decided it was time to grow the last of the original cross, and then next time I can compare these three plants to the new R3 version.

Blue Dream and GG4 x Zkittlez (both by Seed Supreme) – The Blue Dream strain is legendary, no explanation needed for why I picked it for a Sweet Dreams grow! “GG4 x Zkittlez” just sounded like a fun sweet strain to round off the grow. Every GG4 (Gorilla Glue #4) and every Zkittlez I’ve grown have turned out well. So why not see how they play together as a mix?

Make sure to add labels before closing up your seeds. I used a marker. Otherwise, it’s easy to forget which seed is which!

I add just one single paper towel on top, so that it’s easy to see whether the seeds underneath have sprouted yet. Then I add just enough water that everything is thoroughly wet, but there isn’t liquid water sloshing around.

Close her up! Just add another plate on top to lock in the moisture and make sure seeds get darkness while germinating. Make sure the paper towels are all fully enclosed inside the plates.

Tutorial: Wet paper towel cannabis seed germination method

I find germination happens faster, and I get higher overall germination rates, if I add a little heat. However, a regular seedling heating mat can get too hot. So I put a little something between the plate and the seedling heating mat. In this case, the tray of Rapid Rooters I’m going to use for the seedlings.

This makes it so that the plate is getting some warmth, but the seeds never sit on hot spots.

Learn more about heating mats for seed germination.

I left the seeds on the kitchen counter for 3 days…

When I checked on them, it appeared that every seed had cracked! I could see under the single wet sheet of paper towel.

Click for closeup! You can see the seeds have sprouted underneath.

I ALMOST had the perfect unveiling video, but one Candy Games #38 seeds ruined it right at the end haha

Several of them have totally escaped their seed shells, and are just naked seedlings on the paper towel.

Which cannabis seeds sprouted best?

• 1st Place: Blue Dream and Candy Games #38 – All seeds sprouted, big long roots, already escaped their shells by the time I unveiled them from under the paper towel. In my experience, these types of seeds, where the entire seedling comes all the way out of the shell in the paper towel, often grow the most vigorously.
• 2nd Place: Mandarin Cookies and Purple Ghost Candy – Not as uniformly vigorous as the others. Purple Ghost Candy had one seed with a strangely thin root. And although all 3 Mandarin Cookies seeds sprouted, they had overall smaller roots than the other seeds. But hey, they’re 5 years old, which is ancient in seed years. I won’t hold it against them for taking it a little slower 🙂
• 3rd Place: GG4 x Zkittlez – Although all 3 seeds sprouted, one just cracked open and the root hasn’t come out yet. Not a good sign when every single other seed has an actual root. Maybe it will pull through, but in my experience seeds like that rarely thrive. I will put it in a Rapid Rooter and hope for the best. But luckily, the other two seedlings look great!

Rapid Rooters are seedling-friendly “plugs”.

I cut the Rapid Rooters so that it’s easy to add sprouted seeds.

And here’s what it’s like to put a seed inside!

When they’re cut open, the seedlings fit perfectly inside even if they’ve got a curly tail, like the one in the above example.

Here they are after being put into Rapid Rooters. I positioned the ones with leaves right at the top so they could immediately start getting light. The ones still inside the shells got placed just below the surface, so they hopefully push the shell off as they emerge.

Hopefully everyone pokes their head out soon 🤞 Here’s to hoping that I wake up tomorrow to a ton of happy little green leaves!

Stay tuned for the next update!

Happy growing!
Nebula Haze
GrowWeedEasy.com

Week 1 – Seedlings put into cups!

Here is everything that happened in our cannabis seedlings’ first week of life.

Day 1 – Seedlings emerge…

The next morning, I’m greeted by many seedlings saying hi!

Day 1 seedlings

Not every seed has made it above the Rapid Rooters, but 13 of the 15 sprouted have little leaves opened up.

Two seedlings haven’t appeared yet.

Day 2 – Seedlings are loving life!

By day 2, all the seedlings have appeared but one. Looking at that empty Rapid Rooter, I don’t any signs of life.

I decided to open it up and can see the root never emerged further than it did in the paper towels.  After two days of no growth, it’s safe to say it didn’t make it. So I tossed that one.

All seedlings have their heads above ground now!

The Story of the Doomed One-Leaf Seedling 

While I’m here, I want to share this story of what happened with one of the seedlings. I doomed this seedling by accident. It wasn’t because I didn’t care. In fact, this was a Purple Ghost Candy seed, the strain I wanted to grow the MOST. That made it feel extra tragic.

So here are the seedlings right after they germinated. And here is as close a picture of the Purple Ghost Candy sprouted seed I got at the time.

This pic is from germination day. Just before I committed the horrible crime against the Purple Ghost Candy seedling.

Sorry for the picture quality, I didn’t know I was filming its last moments.

I noticed the shell was stuck to one of the little round leaves, which is normally fine. It’s okay if one leaf has a little shell stuck to it. It will fall off on its own.

But then it happened…

One leaf was ripped off! I was trying to take pictures with one hand and put seedlings into Rapid Rooters with the other hand. I wasn’t being careful at all. And when I moved it, I was not gentle, and accidently ripped off the leaf attached to the shell!

I knew something was wrong when it happened, but I was hoping, just hoping, that the middle growing tips had survived, and it was just the little round leaf that got pulled off.

But by the time it made it’s head above soil, I could tell it was almost certainly doomed.

The leaf that got ripped off was stuck to the shell!

By 4 days later, the writing was on the wall. Nothing was growing from this seedling.

I actually still have that one-leaf Purple Ghost Candy seedling. You will see it in future pictures. I’m going to let it live. How cool would it be if it miraculously started growing?

Analysis: This one-leaf seedling was my fault. I ripped off the leaf. The Purple Ghost Candy seedling was perfectly fine when it germinated. If I had been more careful when transferring the seedling to a Rapid Rooter, this wouldn’t have happened.

That being said, a shell shouldn’t get stuck on a leaf like that. But cannabis plants are living things and they don’t always grow perfectly.

Luckily, I only need one Purple Ghost Candy seedling and I still have two to choose from even without this one.

Day 4 – Time to put in cups!

I could put them in their final pots. But I haven’t decided which 5 lucky seedlings to keep yet. So I’m going to put them all in cups so they get a few more days and I can try to pick the 5 best, most matching seedlings.

In retrospect, I probably should have given them another day or two in the Rapid Rooters, so their roots had fully colonized the plugs before moving them. But luckily, it ends up being just fine 🙂 Cannabis plants really do grow like a weed!

Transplant time! They’ll get very light nutrients today (seedling strength).

I cut drainage holes in the bottom of the cups for the marijuana seedlings.

Filled the cups with soil and made labels.

I poked Rapid Rooter sized holes in the soil, and just plopped the seedlings in. Gave about 40 ml of clean water, and left them alone.

I used tweezers to easily grab the plugs to move them.

Plopped in the Rapid Rooter

Slowly gave 40 mL of water (it would have been easier if I’d used a syringe, which I have tons of, but I didn’t think of that until after haha)

Story of The Mutant Seedling

That was the first GG4 x Zkittlez seedling. But while we’re here, I wanted to share the other GG4 x Zkittlez seedling, which is a MUTANT!

Here’s a baby picture of our little “clover” 🍀 mutant, not long after it sprouted.

I thought to myself, “That looks a bit odd.” But I thought it was a “tri-fold” seedling, which is when a seedling grows 3 leaves per node. That’s pretty common. But that’s not what this was.

Here it is on day 4. Same strain as the normal seedling below, but now it’s clear that this seedling has an odd mutation 🍀

Let me show you the difference.

Here is a normal cannabis seedling

Normal seedling

• Two leaves per “node” – If you look closely at the normal seedling. You can see that each new “layer” (also known as a “node”) is a set of two leaves. A pair of leaves per node.
• Normal sequence for seedlings
  • 2 round leaves – The first two round leaves are called “cotyledons” and were already fully formed inside the shells.
  • 2 serrated leaves – The second set of leaves (with serrated edges) was grown completely by the plant.
  • Another 2 serrated leaves – Next you see another set of two leaves growing in.
  • And so on for many sets of nodes…

On a normal seedling, this “pair of leaves per node” continues on for at least the first 6-7 sets of leaves, and often for several weeks longer. Older plants, don’t grow this way (which is why “clones” don’t grow like normal seedlings, but that’s neither here nor there).

Typically when you see unusual growth patterns on growing seedlings, it’s a sign there was a mutation. Often called “mutant” seedlings.

Our adorable little mutant “clover” is growing to the beat of its own drum.

I’m not sure exactly what it’s doing yet. It appears mostly healthy and green, but all leaves are growing directly from the middle, like an actual clover. Let me know if you want to see more pics of it as it grows!

What happens next with a mutant seedling?

In my experience, with mutant seedlings, they go one of two ways. They either always grow weird, or they sort of “grow out of it” and start growing normally. We’ll let this one grow to see what happens!

Now back to the main show….

Voila! Everyone is finally in the grow tent!

Environment Notes

• LED to top of tent, dimmed to 1/2 power – I put the LED grow light all the way to the top of the tent, and turned down to half power. The HLG 350W Diablo is extremely powerful LED grow light. It’s amazing for flowering plants, but you have to be very careful with seedlings and young plants, as it will overwhelm them.
• Temperature about 77°F / 25°C with lights on – I’d like it just a bit warmer for the seedlings. Seedlings love it closer to 80-85°F / 27-29°C under LEDs. LEDs don’t warm up the inside of leaves like the sun (or a bulb light like T5, MH, HPS, CMH, or LEC). What does that mean? Under LEDs, the leaves are about the same temperature as the air. In other words, it always “feels” a little colder for seedlings under an LED compared to the same air temperature under the sun. I’ll close up this room to help keep more heat in, and once I turn the LED up to full power, it will add plenty of heat and this won’t be a consideration anymore!
• Nutrients – Following the FoxFarm trio nutrient schedule at “seedling strength”. No supplements. Just water and a light dose of nutrients.

Seedlings will go into their pots once the leaves reach the edges of the cups and all look healthy and happy. I’ve noticed f you keep seedlings in cups, it helps them all stay the same size. With photoperiods, that helps keep everyone “together” in a cohort.

Side note: In side-by-side tests with some seedlings in cups, and some in big pots, I’ve found they grow at the same rate for the first 2 weeks or so. But after that, cups tend to slow down seedling growth. That  means leaving them all in cups can help any seedlings that are behind the others get some time to catch up. You wouldn’t want to do that with an autoflowering strain grow, where it’s a race to the finish line and you don’t want to slow down growth for a second at the beginning, but with photoperiod plants you can take your time since plants don’t start making buds until you tell them to.

Once they’ve all got a few sets of leaves, I will pick the 5 “Sweet Dreams” Champions, one plant of each strain, and move them to their final homes.

Day 7 seedlings – Looking happy!

One-leaf mutant – Here’s a closeup of the one-leaf-seedling at 7 days old, for those interested in its journey. Is that middle bit getting longer? To me, it looks like the little “flap” got slightly longer but is not making any  significant progress. What do you think?

Day 7 top view

Seedlings on left – Click for closeups!

Seedlings on right – Click for closeups!

Check back next Sunday for the next update! Or sign up below to get our home grow newsletter with get live grow journal updates delivered to you every Sunday morning at 4:20am.

Happy growing!
Nebula Haze
GrowWeedEasy.com

Week 2 – Seedlings get bigger!

Day 8

Left seedlings alone today. Just letting them grow and do their thing.

The cute little mutant

Day 9

Watered that night. I’m still giving week 1 nutrients of the Fox Farm schedule, just because they’re in cups and I don’t want to overwhelm them with too many nutrients. The soil already has enough nutrients to last the seedlings for a little while, and the official schedule jumps up in strength a lot between week 1 and 2.

So far the fastest seedlings seems to be the Blue Dreams.

Day 10

Added a small fan to space, to add extra airflow around the plants. I didn’t want to point it at them since they’re so fragile. So I just put it in the tent pointing up. I can see that gets their tiny leaves twittering just a little.

In a few days I’ll attach the clip-on fan to the bars of the tent so it can blow air over the top.

Day 11

As I’m looking at the seedlings, I feel like they’re growing well, but not as fast as I’d like. It might have helped to give them an extra day or two in the Rapid Rooters before transplanting them into the cups. I noticed when I transplanted them that they just had a few roots each. It’s best if you can see lots of roots coming out of the Rapid Rooters when you move them. That means they have a buffer that will help them thrive immediately after transplant.

Why did I transplant to cups instead of the final container?

• I put them in cups because I wasn’t sure which 5 plants to keep yet. But if I had wanted the fastest growth, I should have put them straight into their final pots
• I have found in past side-by-side experiments, that seedlings in cups grow at the same as plants in bigger pots, until about week 2. After that, the plants with more room for the roots start overtaking the cup-based seedlings, and you can visually see them growing faster.
• The biggest issue with putting plants in their final container is it’s easy to overwater them
• But when you follow a proven watering schedule, that’s not an issue, and you can put seedlings right in the final containers and get the fastest growth possible, with the least chance of plants growing slower than they would have.

How important is it to get plants to grow as FAST as possible?

•  If I were still in “autoflowering mode” like I was for my last grow journal, it becomes absolutely crucial to make sure seedlings get a strong, fast start. That’s because autoflowering plants only have a few weeks before they start flowering. It’s like a race.
• Something that’s really kind of nice about growing with photoperiod plants is it’s a lot more relaxed at the beginning.
• If plants grow a little slower, it’s okay, because you have as much time as you need to get them to the exact perfect size, BEFORE you initiate flowering

Autoflowering vs Photoperiod: Which is best for beginners?

• Autoflowering – I feel like autoflowering strains are great for beginners because they give you a QUICK harvest, and full education on growing from seed to weed in just 3 months.
  • Another cool thing about autoflowering strains is you can plant a seed and let it grow alongside your photoperiod plants.
• Photoperiod – yet photoperiod strains can be a great choice for beginners, or growers who want extra time to experiment and make mistakes.
  • With photoperiod plants – As long as plants stay in the vegetative stage, you have time to help them recover from any issues, get to the perfect size.
  • You can even cut off huge amounts of plant if it got too big, and a vegetative plant will keep growing like nothing happened.

Just some thoughts, from someone who just completed an autoflowering grow and is now doing a photoperiod grow.

Day 12

Watered the seedlings today. I gave Week 2 nutrients of the Fox Farm trio schedule. However, I gave them at 2/3 strength. (I made 3 gallons of water, but only added nutrients for two gallons, arriving at 2/3 strength compared to the schedule).

GG4 x Zkittlez – Normal seedling on left, “mutant” clover seedling on right. Notice the different shape overall.

After adding nutrients, I adjusted the water to 6.7 ph. This helps prevent nutrient deficiencies, because plants more easily absorb nutrients through the roots at the proper pH. With soil, it’s good to keep the pH just a little acidic, between 6-7 pH.

They look just a touch droopy for my taste. I turned the LED grow light down to 75%, even though it’s already 3.5 feet away. It’s hard to say, but I wonder if it might still be a bit too powerful for these seedlings.

By later that day, they already looked a bit perkier.

Thoughts on the HLG LED grow light

• I love this light. It produces some of the best weed I’ve grown. Potent, dense, aromatic, beautiful buds.
• Yet one thing I’ve noticed about it is it is “harsher” on seedlings compared to more “general purpose” LED grow lights like Spider Farmer or Mars Hydro
• I am keeping this HLG light almost at the top of the tent, and dimmed down to about 75%, giving plants a PAR of about 200 µmol/m²/s according to my Apogee light meter.
• But that’s just the beginning. A little extra care to keep the LED the right distance away solves the problem.
• Once these plants start flowering and making buds, the real power and beauty of this grow light comes out. The bud production historically has been insane.

Just curious, would you rather use an LED grow light that is the absolute easiest and most gentle on plants?

Or would you rather use an LED grow light that is overly powerful for seedlings, even turned down, but will provide the best results in the flowering stage?

Day 13

Seedlings looking happy today. Finally starting to grow significantly from day to day!

Thoughts on the strains so far

• Blue Dream – The 3 Blue Dream seedlings are furthest along, and growing the fastest. At this stage, I always feel fond of the fastest-growing plants, and these ones have been growing like a dream 🙂
• Mandarin Cookies – The Mandarin Cookies plants are the slowest growing so far, especially one of them. I won’t hold it against them since they’re 5-year old seeds. I’m super excited about this strain, so I’m happy to baby them.
• GG4 x Zkittlez – The normal seedling is big and happy. The mutant seedling is healthy but a bit slower growing. That’s pretty typical for mutants. I’m so curious to see the underlying structure once it starts growing out.
• Candy Games #38 – These are almost as big and fast-growing as the Blue Dreams! Very hearty, adorable plants with beautiful leaves.
• Purple Ghost Candy – The Purple Ghost Candy seedlings were a little behind at first, but have clearly found their stride. At this stage, they’ve caught up to the others and are starting to overtake them.

Day 14

Some clear “winners’ Of the group by now. I will pick the final 5 very soon. Don’t worry we’ll do something cool with all the other seedlings too. I’m not sure yet though exactly what. Maybe grow the extra seedlings out in a mini tent, like a Sea of Green grow? What do you think? Let us know!

Watered the seedlings until I felt a bit of coolness at the bottom, but no runoff. Same nutrients as before (2/3 strength, week two, 6.7 ph).

I can’t wait to transplant them into bigger pots. At that point, watering becomes a lot easier, because I can follow a proven day-by-day watering schedule. When they’re in cups, I feel like they’re a bit more finicky. The soil in the cups can only hold a bit of water at a time. As a result, you have to give less water, but more often.

I like how with our proven watering schedule in 5-gallon pots, you can water them with an exact amount and they’re always happy 🙂

Next week I will choose our final 5 plants, and transplant them into 5-gallon fabric pots with auto-watering pot bases.

Then the REAL fun begins!

Nebula Haze
GrowWeedEasy.com

Week 3 – Transplant to 5-gallon pots, with auto-watering bases

This week, the 5 final “winners” are picked and our five seedlings get transplanted to their final homes!

Day 15

Today I mixed up a gallon of nutrient water.

Fox Farm nutrient trio

• Week 2 full strength 
• Adjusted to 6.5 ph (in soil, 6-7 pH is ideal to prevent nutrient deficiencies)

They look a little dry and thirsty, so I gave them a watering.

Day 16 – Me just fretting about the seedlings, nothing to see here

They look okay, but some are a bit droopy. I think they’re a bit Overwatered. I guess I’m as guilty as anyone else of overwatering. I should have waited a full two days between watering. Ah well, it’s okay. They’ll be just fine with some extra care.

Random Thoughts: Big Pots vs Cups for Seedlings

• I think it’s simpler to water cannabis seedlings in a big pot than in cups.
• There’s more “buffer” in big pots, because roots can seek out dry spots if they’re too wet, and wet areas if they’re too dry. But with little cups it’s easy for them to have too much or two little water.
• The advantage of growing seedlings in cups is if you do overwater, seedlings are quick to recover.
• A cup can only ever hold so much moisture, as long as there are holes at the bottom.
• So overwatered seedlings quickly drink up all the water in the cup.
• If seedlings are Overwatered in a big pot, it can take a long time for all the soil to dry out.
• But there is a solution to that. With a big pot, you can follow a watering schedule pretty closely, especially for the first few weeks.
• On the other hand, cups aren’t conducive to a rigid watering schedule.
• They need to be watered often with small amounts. In a 2-cup (500mL) container, you can’t give a seedling 1 cup (250mL) of water.
• It’s easy to know that seedlings need to be given just a bit of water at a time, but it’s difficult to tell how much water is too much or too little.

I will leave them alone until at least tomorrow. Even if they seem droopy or dry tonight, I think they need at least a whole day. I noticed the Rapid Rooters seem wet. There’s no way the seedlings can go through all that water by tomorrow. I will leave them alone.

Side note: After all that fretting, they looked totally fine later when I check on them haha (pictured here)

Day 17

I gave each plant 20-60 mL of water, based on how heavy the little cups felt.

I think they’re ready to be transplanted to their final homes tomorrow!

Random thought about the HLG LED grow light

• I feel like this HLG 350 Diablo grow light is a bit harsh on seedlings.
• I have it at half strength and several feet away. The Apogee light meter shows a PAR value of about 200 µmol/m²/s.
• For light levels, 200 µmol/m²/s is a moderate-to-high amount for seedlings, but healthy 3 week old seedlings should be able to handle it
• I feel like they don’t seem as happy as seedlings under similar size Mars Hydro or Spider Farmer LED grow lights at this age, under the same PAR values.
  • Note: PAR is a measure of light quantity not necessarily quality. Plant response is also affected by spectrum, diode placement, lens configuration, plant stage of life, and other factors.
• This is just a personal feeling. But I feel like the HLG LED grow lights (including all the ones I’ve used so far – 65w 100W, 300W, 350W) are harsher on young plants
• The reward is how well HLG LED grow lights perform in the flowering stage, especially bud density, sparkle, and yields per watt. My favorite harvests/buds often come from HLG lights.
• Of course, strain is king. In our side-by-side tests with different LED grow lights with clones, the differences between different LED models are small (a bit of yield, maybe 0.5-1.5% difference in THC). The effect of your particular LED grow light model is small compared to the huge differences you see between strains. A 27% THC strain feels just as strong if buds only reach 26% THC.
• And if an LED grow light is easier to use, like Spider Farmer and Mars Hydro, that often matters more to home growers than the tiny gains from using a more “advanced” LED grow light…

Day 18 – Assembling the auto-watering pots

Today, I plan to move the 5 “winners” to their 5-gallon pots.

I gave the seedlings a good watering to help get them prepped for their “move”.

Then, I assembled the auto-watering pots (“autopots”).

The autowatering pots arrived in a 4-pack in the mail from Amazon. (I got two packs, for 8 pots in total)

All the pieces inside the first pot. I didn’t realize I had to assemble these.

Looking at the directions, assembly seems pretty straightforward.

Now it’s assembled according to those instructions.

This glass piece is going to be used to easily see the water level.

I’m not exactly sure how it will work, but it seems nifty.

Okay, now for the “Self-watering” part of the instructions.

Now, I need to cut some rope to size, as this will be what wicks the water to roots.

For 5-gallon pots, the AC Infinity instructions say to cut the rope to 18″ (45 cm) long.

Next, I string the rope through the holes (directions told me to use the outermost holes for 5-gallon pots)

You put two pieces of rope per AC Infinity pot base

Bottom view – The ropes dangle down, theoretically into water in the reservoir, therefore wicking water to the bottom of plant pots.

The final product! Whew, I expected the pot bases to come pre-assembled, but it actually wasn’t too hard to put them together.

Since the ropes are loose, it’s easy to move them out of place. So I used a permanent marker to make dots so I could see how the rope should be positioned in relation to the holes.

I added dots to easily position the ropes if they get moved.

Final product, with the dots on the rope for reference.

About the auto-watering pots

• I’ve never grown with these before, so you get to experience the adventure with me.
• These “auto pots” are meant to feed/give water from the bottom. But at first I’m going to water from the top first.
• The directions say not to water them from the bottom until their roots have reached through the bottom of the fabric pots.
• So once I see roots on bottom, I’ll start giving plants nutrient water from underneath by just adding it directly into their reservoirs.

We’ll see how that goes! I worry a bit about these auto-watering pots.

Will the AC Infinity auto-watering pot bases make growing weed easier or harder?

New discoveries about auto-watering pots from the directons

• Clean every 2 weeks – I was surprised to learn in the directions that the reservoices should be cleaned every 2 weeks. You’re supposed to dump all the water, rinse out the reservoir, and then reset it up with the plants on top, and refill. They say if you don’t do that, the roots will grow into the reservoir and prevent the plant from drinking properly.
• Wicking ropes – You cut pieces of rope to wick the water from the reservoir to the bottoms of the pots. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I don’t like how the ropes aren’t tied down anywhere, so you have to be careful of disturbing them when you move the plants. I marked the ropes with black permanent marker to know how to fix them when they get disturbed.

I used to grow cannabis mainly in hydro, and the directions for these auto-watering pots seem to want me to treat them like a bit like a hydro reservoir. Except it seems like more work compared to maintaining the reservoir in the hydro tub.

Hmmm, maybe I’ll only change the reservoir if I see signs of pH/nutrient problems.

Or maybe I’ll be a good grower and follow the direction and change all their reservoirs every 2 weeks.

I should definitely at least change all the water before I initiate flowering (rinse out the reservoirs and give fully fresh flowering nutrient water).

I have the feeling the plants are eventually going to get big enough that I can’t pick them up. At that point I will have to feed them through the reservoirs only.

Oops, I’ve spent too much time playing with the auto-watering pots. I’ll have to transplant the seedlings tomorrow.

Day 19 

I got really busy today. I watered the seedlings and filled the 5-gallon fabric pots full of Coco Loco soil. I will definitely transplant tomorrow!

Got everything totally ready for seedlings!

Day 20 – Transplant to 5-gallon pots

Today is transplant day. (for real this time)

All of the seedlings look great today. I put them in the window overnight under an LED since the grow tent is now full of 5-gallon pots!

This is the exact spot they germinated and grew as seedlings. I wonder if they “remember”.

I picked the 5 “winners”, one plant from each strain. I tried to pick plants that were the most matched in size/growth patterns.

Carefully cut away the white paper cups to expose the roots below. Try not to disturb the roots!

I dug a little cup-sized hole and just plop the seedling in.

They’re 20 days old today, so when deciding how much water to give, I think I will follow my trusty seedling watering schedule, which says to give them 5 cups of water per plant at this age. Though that’s meant for seedlings actually living in a big pot, not for transplanting.

Why not, let’s do it. I need to water them after transplanting anyway. Let’s follow the wisdom. They do seem about the right size for day 20 seedlings.

Add some extra soil if needed, and water the plants immediately afterwards.

All 5 plants… transplanted! A few hours later they look great.

I still have the grow light at half power a few feet away, with a PAR reading of 200 µmol/m²/s. I’ll be raising the light levels soon, but not right after the transplant. I want to let them get some quiet time to themselves to adjust to their new homes.

Yay! So happy the plants seem to have taken the transplant well!

Day 21

Plants look great. Turned the LED power up a little. I’m thinking I’ll turn it up a bit every day until it’s 100%. Then maybe I’ll lower it, or just let them grow up towards it.

All of the plants have grown at least 6 nodes (sets of leaves) by now, even the Mandarin Cookies, which is currently the “runt” of the grow.

The Mandarin Cookies is the “runt”, but still doing great! Six sets of leaves by day 21 isn’t too bad.

I probably could have topped them today, as all have at least 6 nodes.

I typically top plants (cut off the top) right above the 5th set of leaves. Topping young cannabis plants helps them grow with multiple big bud sites, instead of just one big bud.

But I’ll give them another day or two. What’s the hurry?

I love how relaxed it feels to grow photoperiod plants. You have all the time in the world to do things, especially compared to that feeling of “being in a race” that I get when growing autoflowering plants.

Training today:

• I did a gentle leaf tucking.
  • In other words, I tried to gently tuck any big leaves down
• The goal is to expose the growth tips underneath, so they start developing into longer branches.
• Once I top the plants, it will really cause them to start “bushing out” and making lots of branches.
• A wide cannabis plant (ideally, wide and flat like a table) with lots of stems is key to getting lots of fat top buds, so therefore the best yields and density.

Next week, I’ll show you exactly how to prune plants so you get bigger yields later!

Week 4 – Topped the plants!

Now onto the exciting week 4!

Day 22

Looking good this morning. Turned up the LED light another touch.

Starting to finally stack those nodes!

Should I top them soon?

The Mandarin Cookies is currently the “runt” of the grow. It’s a little bit behind the others. It hasn’t quite made 6 good nodes (sets of leaves) yet. I think the other plants are all ready to be topped, but the Mandarin Cookies needs a few more days.

Mandarin Cookies (red label) is the “runt”, though seemingly healthy.

What do you think?

Day 23

Nutrients

• Fox Farm trio soil feeding schedule
  • Gave week 2 nutrients since they were just put in fresh soil (gave 6 tablespoons Big Bloom in 3 gallons of water).
  • Will start giving week 3 nutrients next watering.
• Adjusted to 6.7 ph

Watering

• 6 cups water to each plant

If you look closely at the back wall, you can see certain colors (blue, green, yellow, red) from the LEDs reflecting oddly. I don’t see it with my eyes, but it shows up in pictures.

Click for closeup!

Day 24

Looking perky this morning!

LED grow light

• I decided to turn the HLG 350 LED to 100%.
• Still at the top of the tent.

Day 25

The Mandarin Cookies looked a little droopy, but otherwise green and healthy.

A few others also don’t look as “erect” as I’d like.

All green leaves I can see.

The only thing different is I turned up the power of the light to 100% yesterday.

I suspect it may be a bit too much at full strength, at this age. This HLG LED is no joke!

LED

• Turned the LED grow light back down to where it was yesterday

Added a webcam (back left) so I can check on the plants any time!

Clip-on Fan

• Moved the mini fan up a bit higher as I felt it might be disturbing the leaves a bit too much as they got taller
• Still light leaf movement when I close the tent and peer through the viewing window.

Day 26

The HLG 350 LED is so far away and still delivers so much light.

Here’s the view from the top!

Mandarin Cookies still looks a bit droopy, but I think it’s fine. Today I will water them all but give the Mandarin Cookies a bit less water than the others. Just in case it was slightly overwatered. But I still think it got a little stressed from the light levels being too high. I think it will be back to 100% by tomorrow.

Nutrients

• Gave Week 2 nutrients at ⅔ strength.
  • Made 3 gallons of nutrient water
  • Added 2 gallon worth of nutrients, giving 2/3 strength
• PH 6.5 as of right after mixing
  • Added ½ tsp PH Down

I’m curious how the pH will change in the nutrient water after sitting. I noticed last time it climbed after sitting in the reservoirs overnight.

Watering

• Gave 6 cups water per plant
• Except Mandarin Cookies got 5 cups

Grow light

• Still at the top, still turned down a bit

The Candy Games #38 has a full 8 nodes, working on the 9th!

The Blue Dream seems about the same

Zkittlez x GG4 seedling is spreading out naturally

Even our little Mandarin Cookies has over 6 nodes now

Definitely time to top them tomorrow!

Day 27 – Topping day!

Today is the day. Time to cut of the tops of all the plants. This will make them naturally grow more bushy with many buds, instead of only one main bud.

Off with their heads! Ok, now I kind of feel bad.

TOPPING DAY!

• “Topped” all plants right above the 5th node
• In other words, I cut off the top of each plant above the 5th set of leaves.
• Now they all have the same number of leaves, and are about the same height as each other.

Take a seedling that has grown at least 6 sets of leaves (this plant has extras!)

Then cut off the top above the 5th set of leaves. Use scissors or fingers to cut through the main stem.

Always leave some extra stem. This gives structure and prevents damage to the tender leaves below.

Light

• Still dimmed slightly down. Will probably increase to full power tomorrow after I’m sure they responded well to being topped.
• PAR is currently around 300 µmol/m²/sat plant tops

Auto-watering pot bases

• I noticed the Candy Games #38 had water in its auto pot, as did the Mandarin Cookies (just a bit)
• I removed the water and rinsed them out

I noticed the wicking rope was both moist and brown on the Candy Games plant. So it’s clearly working. I don’t like seeing brown but I think it’s just staining from the nutrients.

Are any of you interested to hear about my experience with the auto-watering pots so far? They’re not like how I expected, and I have lots of thoughts on them haha

Plants after being topped

I tried to tuck leaves as best I could to expose all the growing tips to direct light.

Now the stage has been set for a bountiful, productive cannabis grow. The plants are ready to fill up the grow tent!

Day 28

Nothing to report today!

Week 5 – Tucked leaves, light training, plants growing fast!

Day 29 

Here are the beauties this morning at the start of their 5th week.

Today they got watered.

Nutrient water

• Mixed with 3 gallons water
  • Fox Farm week 2 – ⅔ strength
  • 0.5 tsp pH down
  • 6.6 pH
• Give 8 cups or 1/2 gallon (2 liter) water per plant

After watering

• I think all got at least some water coming out the bottom.
• I see some roots coming out the bottoms of the pots.
• Probably I could start bottom-feeding now, according to the directions from AC Infinity

Training

• Tucked leaves

I tucked all the leaves to expose the growing tips (look kind of like stars from above). The arrows point to growing tips.

When the growing tips get direct light, they grow, causing the plants to grow more wide and bushy as lower branches develop and reach the top of the plant.

I want plants to continue growing wide, with many branches. This increases the number of buds that grow later.

LED

• Full power at the top of the tent, delivering just under 400 µmol/m²/s at the top tip of each plant
• Let’s see how they respond.

Day 30

Nothing to do or report today. Just took a quick peek and will check on them tomorrow.

Day 31

Plants look good, water tomorrow?

Maybe start watering from the auto watering pots starting tomorrow?

From above, it’s clear that some marijuana plants are ahead of others.

Specifically the Mandarin Cookies (bottom right) is not just smaller, but also growing with huge leaves that block the lower growing tips and have been difficult to tuck until now. I could have removed those top two big leaves to expose the lower tipes, but I knew I’d be able to tuck them soon, and that way I won’t be stealing valuable leaf area and nutrients from the plant. Today they get tucked!

The Mandarin Cookies (bottom right) is less bushy than the others, despite getting the same treatment. Every marijuana plant is a little different.

However, I can see the tent is not well balanced considering there are two plants in back and 3 in front.

• Rearranged the plants so that the two biggest ones get the back to themselves, and the 3 smaller ones are in the front.

New arrangement seems more balanced. Mandarin Cookies is now in bottom middle.

Now, let’s tuck the leaves on that Mandarin Cookies! (and all the plants to a lesser extent)

The leaves of the Mandarin Cookies marijuana plant have been tucked under other stems. Side view.

If you click this next picture for a closeup, you can see the Mandarin Cookies now has several growing tips exposed, since I tucked away those big leaves.

After this, the plant is going to start growing more wide and bushy like the others. Leaf tucking does a lot of work for you when it comes to getting plants to grow wide and bushy, basically can not be messed up regardless of skill, and it literally takes seconds. An underrated cannabis grow technique, in my opinion.

Day 32

Gave water to the reservoirs in the AC Infinity auto-watering pot bases.

Nutrient water details

• Mixed with 3 gallons water
• Fox Farm week 3 – ⅔ strength
• 0.5 tsp pH down
• 6.5 pH

For each plant, I added ½ gallon to the-auto watering pot base reservoir. This is my first time using the auto-watering pots, but the roots have hit the bottom and according to the AC Infinity auto-watering directions, that means they’re big enough to start wicking and being bottom-fed.

Roots have reached the bottom of the pots, so I should be able to start using the auto-watering pot bases.

Watered using my handy battery-operated water transfer pump

I removed the water level indicators and pumped water directly to the reservoirs

That little orange piece in the middle is the watering indicator. If you can see it, there’s water in the reservoir.

If you don’t see the orange piece in the middle (just see glass) it means there is no water in the reservoir. Nifty.

We’ll see how it goes!

Day 33

Here they are on day 33.

Plant Training

• Bent over taller branches and gently tucked the under leaves where I could, especially the top two branches.
• Coaxed out many colas, even the Mandarin Cookies, now mainly waiting for them to gain some height and width to fill up the tent.

Before tucking – top view

After tucking – top view (very subtle)

I love how they’re growing so wide and bushy with literally just seconds of “training” every day. Just taking the time to tuck leaves every day makes a huge difference over time as far as getting plants to grow more wide and bushy with lots of branches.

Auto-watering pots and wicking…

Hmmm, plants look great but I feel like they’re not wicking water at max capacity. Note: On the wicking ropes, I added black spots with permanent marker to mark where the ropes should be, in case they get moved by accident.

The top of the auto-watering pot bases looks too dry to be wicking properly.

The one exception is the Candy Games plant, for some reason. The entire bottom of that pot is wet.

I suspect the coco was too dry when I filled the bottom reservoirs. I believe if I give the plants a good watering from the top (so that it’s totally wet throughout the growing medium to the bottom of the pots), they’ll start wicking properly.

So I mixed up the same batch of water again, and watered according to the plan for yesterday, giving each plant ½ gallon nutrient water.

Watered plants from the top

• ½ gallon each, same nutrients as yesterday, 6.5 pH

Fox Farm nutrients: My impression of them so far…

• Plants love it – Plants are thriving on it, so far.
• Doesn’t stay fully mixed – I don’t like how the organic ingredients quickly sink to the bottom (particularly the worm castings), because it means I need to shake the water right before using it, and again if it sits for even a few minutes. One thing I like about mineral-based (synthetic) nutrients is they completely mix with the water, so you feel confident plants are always getting the same amount as each other.
• Ultimately, it’s a 2-part mineral-based (synthetic) nutrient system plus the ultra-weak organic tea “Big Bloom”.
  • You could follow the schedule without “Big Bloom” (a diluted, gentle worm poop and bat guano tea) and get good results, because that bottle is not adding significant nutrition (according to the label). So it possibly has other benefits, but giving the plants nutrients and minerals isn’t what it offers.
  • Grow and Tiger Bloom are almost completely comprised of mineral nutrients, with a tiny bit of worm poop and kelp mixed in.
  • Which makes me realize it is essentially a mineral/synthetic nutrient system, for your core nutrient sources, but with a huge helping of natural goodness (worm poop and kelp) incorporated at every stage, plus tiny amounts of bat and seabird guano in Big Bloom (the tea)

Fox Farm trio nutrients

I mixed up a batch of Fox Farm nutrient water.

After sitting for 12 hours, look how much the Fox Farm nutrient water separates. Must be thoroughly mixed immediately before watering.

Day 34

Plants look overall green and healthy.

I noticed some light yellow tips on one of the plants. Also the color just seemed slightly off to me on some of the leaves. Like a little blueish. Yellow tips (just yellow, no brown nutrient burn) is sometimes a symptom of too much light. But it can also be pH. Yellow tips plus slightly blue-tinted leaves is a set of symptoms I associate with incorrect pH, from past experience. I checked the pH of that reservoir and it was 7.4-7.5 pH. Actually, upon testing with a pH pen, all the reservoirs of all were at least 7.2 or higher. With soil, it should be between 6-7 pH to prevent nutrient deficiencies. Light levels might be a factor, but it seem pH definitely is.

I tested the remaining nutrient water from yesterday, and it was at 6.8 pH. So just sitting in the water containers, the pH rose 0.3 pH, but in the auto-watering reservoirs the pH rose 0.5-1 pH. So it seems like the pH might rise naturally on its own, but something about being in those reservoirs is making it rise more. I washed them thoroughly before using them. Hmmm.

I emptied out all the reservoirs since the pH was off in them. Next watering, I will water them to runoff in the tanks and check the pH (instead of trying to water from the bottom again just yet).

Auto-Pots Still Not Wicking Well

• They didn’t seem to be wicking the water well, except for the Candy Games. When I pick up that plant, I can see the whole base seems wet, and the bottom of the pot feels wet.
• Even though I just watered them yesterday, and got some runoff, I suspect that maybe the other pots weren’t fully soaked all the way to the bottom
• Without total soil saturation, the wicking isn’t getting started properly.
• I noticed the Candy Games plant drinks less, and therefore the soil is wetter, on average. Maybe that’s why the wicking seems to be working well for the Candy Games?

Day 35

A bunch of little celebrities.

Giving nutrient water with pH on the lower side of the 6-7 pH optimum, because the pH was high yesterday, and want to help counteract.

Nutrient water

• Mixed with 3 gallons water
• Fox Farm week 3 – ⅔ strength (gave 2 gallons worth of nutrients to the 3 gallons of water, giving ⅔ strength)
• 1.25 tsp pH down
• 6.1 pH (optimum is 6-7 for soil, but it was high yesterday so I’m giving the pH on the lower side of that range)
• ½ gallon to each plant

Got about 10% runoff. All pretty much came out the pH they went in.

• Runoff 6.1-6.2ph

Overall the plants look gorgeous, and I’m excited for this next week. It doesn’t seem like they’ll need much more time before they’re big enough to initiate the flowering stage with a 12/12 light schedule.

On average, cannabis plants about double in size after the switch to 12/12. That means once plants have complete coverage of the grow space and then reach half the final desired height, it’s time to switch!

In our tent, I want plants about 3 feet tall, leaving enough space between the light and the plants when the light is at the top of the tent. I also want to make sure there are buds from wall-to-wall in the tent, so I will be spreading the tallest branches out as plants grow, in order to make a wide, flat, table-top shape.

Once I have full canopy coverage and plants are about 1.5 feet tall, I’ll initiate 12/12. Right now they’re about 1 feet tall. Maybe T minus 7-10 days until then? Either next week or the week after, at the latest.

Plants should completely fill the tent, like a wide flat “table” of leaves, before initiating 12/12.

It’s so beautiful to watch them at this age. Everything is so lush and green. It’s so… peaceful in the tent. Like being in a field or getting a little touch of nature in the home. I like to just look at them.

Check back soon! Or sign up below to get weekly live updates of this grow journal in our newsletter. Sent every Sunday morning at 4:20am.

Week 6 – Filled the tent!

Day 36 

Looking great!

Training

• Gave them a light training session. No tying down, just gentle bending and spreading out.

Before – above view

After I gently spread out the plants, you can see a lot more of the growing tips from above. Now that they’re not hidden by leaves any more, the lower branches will start growing and rising up towards the top of the plant. The parts of the plant that get direct light from above are the parts that tend to develop the most.

Top view – after spreading out branches (click for closeup!)

Auto-watering pot bases

• PH in reservoirs had climbed overnight, to 6.6 or so (still within the optimal 6-7 pH range for growing cannabis in soil)
• It seems like sitting in the reservoir is raising the pH of the water.
• I tested the nutrient water that was in a container overnight, and its pH stayed the same. So it doesn’t seem to be the nutrients or water changing the pH by themself.
• It is convenient the pH was on the lower side when I put the water in, and naturally seemed to go up.
• We’ll see if that continues after the reservoirs have been used a while, or if it’s some side effect of being brand new (thought I did thoroughly clean the reservoirs before using them for the plants)

Wicking

• The Candy Games plant was wicking as expected. The bottom is totally wet.
• That plant also had the most runoff water in the reservoir.
• Since the wettest plant is wicking the best, it makes me think the pots/grow medium need to be wetter overall, for the wicking action to be effective.
• Maybe the other plants are not wicking well, because the grow medium is just not soaked through enough.

The Candy Games plant seems to be wicking. Under the pot is wet.

Note: The black dots on the rope are permanent marker to help line up the ropes.

But none of the other pots seem to be wicking. They look bone dry when I pick up the plants.

Plant health

• Plant overall color looked better to me today, and the yellow tips look less stark.

Watering

• Made 3 gallons of nutrient water and split between the 5 plants
• I watered all the plants from the top, except the Candy Games, which was pretty wet top to bottom, until they got some runoff
• Hopefully, if they’re giving runoff, they’re wet all the way through
• I dumped all the reservoirs to start fresh
• Then I added fresh nutrient water straight to all the reservoirs.

My hope is I’ll see wicking action tomorrow on all give plants. If not, I may try watering from the top again tomorrow. I’m sure that should kick start it if today wasn’t enough.

Almost filled up the tent!

Day 37 

Just checked on them and spread out their branches a bit. 

I was too busy to mess with the reservoirs today, but I’m not sure the water levels have moved. I will take a closer look to see if they’re wicking, and make sure to test pH tomorrow.

Plants look great today though!

Day 38

PH in the reservoirs

• PH in reservoirs is high, around 7.1.
• These reservoirs really seem to change the pH over time.
• I think I’ll try putting the nutrient water in at 6.1 pH today. To counteract the lowering that happens in the reservoirs.

What’s going on with the wicking?

• Ghost candy – not wicking
• Blue Dream – not wicking
• GG4 x Zkittlez – not wicking
• Mandarin Cookies – wicking
• Candy Games – wicking

The smallest plant, Candy Games #38, seems to be wicking the best.

I know the plant is drinking from underneath because the top of the grow medium looks dry while the water level in the reservoir is going down. The bottom of the pot is totally wet.

The smallest plants are wicking, but not the larger ones. The smallest plants don’t drink as much, and get more runoff water. Hmmm. I feel pretty certain now that the wicking isn’t happening on plants whose grow medium isn’t fully soaking wet.

I think the solution is a very thorough watering. So I watered today. Here’s the mix I used…

Nutrient water

• Fox Farm week 3 – ⅔ strength
• Mixed with 3 gallons water
• Adjusted to 6.1 pH – This is on the lower side of the 6-7 pH range, but the pH was high so I’m putting water in at the opposite of that range.
• Not-wicking plants got water from the top, until I could see visible runoff into the reservoirs.

Once I confirmed they all had significant runoff (hopefully they’re now all super soaked), I decided to empty the reservoirs and refill with fresh nutrient water. So I made one more batch of the above.

• Split the 3 gallons of fresh nutrient water into the reservoirs below
• My hope is with all the pots wet all the way through, and reservoirs full of water they’ll start wicking properly
• Reservoir pH after this treatment was 6.1-6.3 pH for all plants

Some Thoughts on Fox Farm Nutrients

• Finished off the whole pint of Big Bloom from FoxFarm already! It’s only Day 38 of a grow with 5 plants, and I haven’t even been using the nutrients at full strength. What a rip!
• Luckily I saw it coming and ordered a bigger bottle a few days ago.
• I noticed the FoxFarm schedule starts recommending less of Big Bloom on week 4, even in the vegetative stage. They start upping the amounts of their other supplement. I wonder if this is where people start running out of Big Bloom lol

I already finished the brand new pint of “Big Bloom” that comes with the FoxFarm nutrient trio! So soon.

Something I noticed about the auto-watering pot bases…

• The directions from AC Infinity recommend you dump out the reservoirs and rinse them out every few weeks.
• Or like me, maybe you get a bunch of runoff water and want to remove it so you can refill with fresh nutrient water.
• But moving cannabis plants in 5-gallon containers is sooooo heavy if they’ve been watered recently.
• I’m in pretty decent shape, and they were very heavy for me to move.
• Having to move the 5-gallon pots on a regular basis is really not an effective solution for those with mobility problems.
• Overall, I feel like the auto-watering pot bases can make it a bit more difficult if your goal is to maintain perfect pH to prevent deficiencies.
• But people love these bases, and I get that I’m resistant to new things haha
• Overall, the plants are really happy, and growers have told me that the auto-watering bases really shine in the flowering stage, so I’m going to continue with them until the end of the grow. A lot of time when something feels challenging, it just means I need more experience/information.

Although I’ve had some challenges getting used to the new auto-watering pot bases, the plants are thriving.

Training

• Ooops, accidently broke a stem on the Candy Games, but not badly.
• Luckily it was small, just the skin. It didn’t need tape, but I taped it lightly mostly just to remind me it’s there so I don’t try to bend that branch again until it’s full healed.
• Been spreading plants out with just bending and tucking of tall branches
• Back two plants (Purple Ghost Candy and especially the Blue Dream) are getting taller than the rest. Luckily they get the back to themselves so I can just spread them out. Use that height to create extra width!
• But I’m thinking tomorrow I should bend/LST the two back plants so they’re flat with the front plants, and spread out as wide as possible.

Ooops put a slight crack in the stem while bending. The stem is still standing, but I broke the skin.

I got a piece of tape. The stem doesn’t need support, but I want it mainly to remind me where the crack is.

I wrapped the tape loosely so it won’t “cut off circulation” as the stem gets bigger.

Now I can easily keep an eye out, to avoid bending this particular stem until after it’s well healed.

The Blue Dream plant is the biggest and is growing in a tall and stretchy way. Luckily, it has willowy branches that are easy to bend down and way from the center of the plant.

Day 39

Quick peek and plants look good! Getting a little wild though. I think they should get some training tomorrow.

Day 40

Today also look good.

But…

Auto-watering pot bases

• PH in reservoirs at 7.1 pH again
• Wicking – Still not wicking to my satisfaction
• I spoke to a grower who recommended I try wetting the lines first
• Makes sense to me. They claimed that wicking seemed to be working after wetting the lines.

Leaf Color (a bit dark)

• Plants look great with the LED on, but when I see them in normal light, I feel like the leaves look a touch dark
• I don’t see nutrient burn yet, but darker leaves is a sign the plants are getting somewhat too high levels of nutrients.
• I’ve been giving the nutrients at ⅔ strength, but will switch to ⅓ recommended level until the leaves lighten up a bit
• Will defoliate a bit, because removing leaves can help pull some stored nitrogen out of the plant that has gotten a bit too much.
• They’re also too leafy, so there’s never been a better time to defoliate.
• Let the underlying structure be in view, so everything grows well

The leaves look a tiny bit bit dark to me. That’s a sign of slightly too-high nutrient levels.

I noticed on some of the darker leaves, some of the very ends of the “fingers” are slightly curled down. That’s another sign of slightly too high levels of nutrients.

Leaves are healthy, but a bit dark. I think plants need slightly lower levels of nutrients for optimum color (and fastest growth).

Watering

• Dumped out all reservoirs, though I probably could have left them. I don’t know.
• Giving at ⅓ strength now, until leaves look a bit lighter
  • 3 gallons water tsp Big Bloom
  • 3 tsp Grow Big
  • 1.5 tsp PH Down
  • 6.1 pH
  • 560 PPM
• 3 gallons to Blue Dream and Purple Ghost Candy. Second batch of 3 gallons I gave to the remaining 3 plants.
  • Runoff pH around 6.1 for all
  • So the pH of the water going in, and the water going out are the same. Awesome
• Next, I will start watering it at 6.5 pH, which is right in the middle of the 6-7 pH idea in soil to prevent nutrient deficiencies

Dumped the reservoirs and rinsed them out. These plants are HEAVY now. I can barely move them and I’m in decent shape. Definitely need to make sure to always lift from the knees or I might throw out my back!

The plants are HEAVY to move now.

Upon opening up the auto-watering pot bases, I was surprised how much nutrient solids had already built up on the bottom of the reservoirs. I think it’s mainly the worm poop from the “Big Bloom” bottle. Times like these, I miss the super clear mineral nutrients from the General Hydroponics Flora trio. Organic ingredients just seems so messy and easy to fall out of the water.

This was the Fox Farm nutrient water in the reservoir before I dumped it out. I was worried by the appearance at first, like maybe something was growing in it, but I’m happy to report it smelled very clean. Phew! I think it is just the ingredients sinking to the bottom and swirling around.

Fox Farm nutrient had lots of solids that fell to the bottom of the reservoir.

Defoliation & plant training

• Trained plants to be shorter and wider.
  • I gently bent the tallest stems down and away from the center of each plant
  • Blue Dream and Ghost Candy got the most treatment, since they were the ones growing taller than the other plants.
• Defoliation to all.
  • When plants are slightly dark from high levels of nutrients, like these ones, it’s an awesome time to defoliate
  • Removing leaves actually removes some of the extra nutrients being stored in the plant.
  • A dark, healthy plant that’s growing lots of new leaves each day, almost always responds great to defoliation.

I bent tallest stems down and away from center of plant (to help plant grow flat and wide)

Defoliation – Removed all leaves that were hand-sized or bigger.

Removed a lot of leaves from the biggest plants, Purple Ghost Candy and Blue Dream!

New top view of those plants – much more wide! (filling up the space under the light)

New side view – both plants are totally flat!

The rest of the plants got some bending and defoliation too.

Here is the top view of the grow tent immediately after training.

3 hours later – all the leaves have already turned back up to face the light. Our canopy is shaping up well!

HLG 350 LED Grow Light

• Using my PPFD app on the phone, I saw the tops of plants were getting about 600 µmol/m²/s
• I think the top leaves look a tiny bit stressed from the brightness
• Turned down until they were all at 400-450 µmol/m²/s for the PPFD, according to the phone app

Looking up, as if I were a plant. It’s insane this tiny LED panel makes such intense light from so far away.

Do you all want me to take any measurements for this grow light?

• We have a few different lux meters, a professional Apogee light meter, and the PPFD app on my phone.
• Hit REPLY and let me know what/if you want me to run light tests on this this HLG 350 light
• Also let me know if you want me to compare the lux meter with the pro light meter with the phone app.
• Or let me know if you want me to test other lights. We have Spider Farmer, Mars Hydro, HLG, and a few other brands laying around the grow room from past grows!

Tell me what you want to see as far as light measurements, and I will make it happen for you!

Day 41

Noticed yellow tips and a slight blueish tint on the Candy Games leaves (front right plant). The beginning of a nutrient deficiency!

Candy Games #38 has a few yellow leaf tips, which I believe is from too-low pH

Since I’m using good nutrients, a deficiency is almost certainly due to the pH. Another possibility is light stress, but I turned the light yesterday so I don’t think that’s is. The water went in a 6.1 and came out at 6.1. Ideal is 6-7. I suspect maybe the issue is the pH is too low.

Emptied reservoirs.

I’m feeling a little frustrated with these auto-watering pot bases, but I still feel pretty sure I just need to get the hang of using them. Will “reset” tomorrow by watering plants with fresh nutrient water, at 6.5 pH. See how they do, then go back to trying to figure out how to get them to wick right haha

I know, I know. I’m fussing on the plants. I get they overall look good. I just want the plants to get perfect conditions 🙂

Day 42

Watered plants. I added a touch of Cal-Mag.

• 3 tsp Big Bloom
• 3 tsp Grow Big
• 3 Tsp Fox Farm CalMag
• 6.5 pH

Gave all 3 gallons, between plants.

Plants are almost half the final desired size, which means it’s time to initiate flowering soon.

Almost half the final desired size.

They’ve mostly filled up the tent from side to side, too!

Mostly filled the tent from side to side!

I think I’ll give them just another few days, and then it’s time to initiate the flowering/budding stage by giving plants a 12/12 light schedule (change the grow light timer to turn off lights for 12 hours a day).

Week 7 – Initiated 12/12 – Buds incoming!

Day 43

I love seeing these little beauties every morning 🙂

So far I just have the one HLG 350 LED grow light in there. Maybe I will add our other HLG 350 after they start flowering and need higher levels of light for max production, but so far, one seems to be more than enough! Such a powerful 350W light.

Day 44 

Look good overall. I still see a few yellow tips, but only on the old leaves. They’re starting to regain their color, and it’s not spreading to new leaves. So I think our pH correction was a success!

PPFD at the canopy is 450-580 µmol/m²/s, according to the app on my phone.

The tops of the soil aren’t quite dry, water tomorrow!

Day 45 – started 12/12 (to initiate flowering stage)

Time to initiate the flowering stage. I set the grow light timer to have lights on 12 hours on, 12 hours off. I decided for my schedule to have lights on from 6am-6pm, and total darkness for the other 12 hours.

One of the tricky things about flowering photoperiod plants, is plants can’t get any light during their 12 hour dark period (or they revert back to the vegetative stage). So it’s important to make sure the “on” hours are convenient for you to check on your plants, because you can’t easily check on them during their “night”.

Also watered the plants. Gave 3 gallons between plants.  Here’s what I added, and the measurements.

• 3 tsp Big Bloom
• 3 tsp Grow Big
• 3 Tsp Fox Farm CalMag
• ½ tsp pH down
• 6.7 pH
• 580 ppm

Day 46 – Day 1 since 12/12

Looking good! Here’s the view from a webcam in the tent.

Day 47 – Day 2 since 12/12

Still looking good. Don’t seem quite ready to water yet. Pots still feel a bit heavy, and topsoil not totally dry yet.

We have almost completely filled the tent. This increases yields later!

Will water them tomorrow.

Day 48 – Day 3 since 12/12

Turned up the light power a bit.

• Measures 550-650 µmol/m²/s at canopy (using phone app)
• Let’s see how they respond.
• It’s not just light power, I feel like when the HLG is turned down it looks more blue and less red
• I suspect they made it that way, so when it’s turned down it’s more suitable for veg, and turn up you get all the red you need.
• So I might try raising the light and turning it up, to get the full spectrum?
• I’m curious how the plants will respond. Will they show any visible signs of stress?

Still no new yellow tips, so I think that deficiency is fully beat.

Watered them today, with Fox Farm nutrients.

• 3 gallons water
• 3 tsp Big Bloom
• 3 tsp Grow Big
• 3 tsp Tiger Bloom
• No pH Down (the extra Tiger Bloom lowered the pH enough to get it in the right pH range)
• 6.7 pH
• 666 PPM

Made 2 batches, for total of 6 gallons.

• Even with 6 gallons, didn’t get much runoff
• Runoff pH was low, about 6.3 (after going in at 6.7)
• Runoff PPM around 2200
• Made sure the bottoms of the pots and ropes were wet

Made 1 more batch, but added ½ tsp PH Down, bringing the pH down to 6.4 pH

• I made it lower because I know the pH rises in the reservoirs.
• Filled the bottoms with this nutrient water

The little orange line in the glass orb is the water level indicator on the AC Infinity auto-watering pot bases. It floats on the water. That means if you see orange, it means there is water in the reservoir.

I guess, if this works, I won’t have to water them for a while…

Hmmm, I kind of like watering them.

I’m not sure I like how “hands off” it is to use the auto-watering pot bases.

I like looking at the plants every day, and giving water every 2-3 days.

Now that they’ve got 3 waterings worth of water, it seems like it should be at least a week before I need to give any more.

What will happen with the pH in that time? Will they be wicking properly? Will they show any signs of nutrient deficiencies?

No worries. I’ll be here to save the day if they need anything!

Day 49 – Day 4 since 12/12

Removed big fan leaves from all the stems growing taller than the others. Helps slow “stretchy” stems down when you take away their biggest fan leaves.

You can see that lower parts of all the plants are already in shadow.

Probably should give them a final defoliation and lollipop soon.

Total coverage

Week 8 – Transition to Flowering and First Pistils

Day 50 (Flowering Day 5)

Overall plants look awesome.

A picture from the webcam.

Some still have full reservoirs, some almost empty. Hmmm, are they really drinking so differently? Or are some not wicking?

Day 51 (Flowering Day 6)

All reservoirs are empty now except the Blue Dream.

How strange.

The pot doesn’t feel light, like its not getting water. The plant looks great.

Maybe it’s just not drinking as much as the others?

Super busy today, but I think they’ll be good until tomorrow.

It is kind of nice they water themselves.

A quick gif. Look how much they grew since yesterday! They love the auto-watering pots.

Day 52 (Flowering Day 7)

I’ve been really busy the last couple of days and feel like I haven’t been tending the plants as much as I normally do… (hence why I don’t have actual pictures of them)

And they look awesome!

Rows and rows of happy leaves

Those auto-watering pots are finally doing their thing and making my life easier!

Today I will water them all from the top again, to make sure everything is still fully wicking.

Then empty/clean all the reservoirs, and refill with fresh nutrient water.

Water from top

• 3 gallons
  • Big Bloom 3 tsp
  • Grow Big 3 tsp
  • Tiger Bloom 3 tsp
• No pH Down
• 6.7 pH
• 671 PPM

Fill reservoirs (took two more batches, so the following x 2)

• 3 gallons
  • Big Bloom 3 tsp
  • Grow Big 3 tsp
  • Tiger Bloom 3 tsp
• ½ tsp pH Down
• 6.5 pH
• 676 PPM

Though I can see they’re ALL wicking finally. Yay! It really was the case the ropes and pots needed to be fully soaked first.

Some of the ropes even have roots growing into them already.

It’s getting really dark and bushy under the top canopy. These plants need to be lollipopped.

Training

• Lollipopped the plants
• Did some major defoliation, especially from the bottom and middle, though you wouldn’t be able to tell just from looking at them!
• Made sure all the main buds were exposed
• Used twist tie to adjust any branches or stems to make them more evenly spaced and of the same height

Got my trusty Fiskars to cut off stems

Removed any stems that will never make it to the top of the plant (we’ve got plenty that have!)

I pulled the front plants out so you could clearly see what it looked like to lollipop the two most wild plants (Purple Ghost Candy and Blue Dream in the back)

Before and after lollipopping

Removed lots of stems and leaves. Filled up half a 5-gallon bucket!

Here’s what they all looked like after the training session. Nice and airy and bright under there again!

Ahhh I hurt my back.

Stupid moving of the pots.

Though I comfort myself that the plants are looking PERFECT.

Day 53 (Flowering Day 8)

Plants look awesome!

Nothing to do. I can see they’ve slightly wicked up some water, so the wicking continues to work.

The first buds are JUST starting to form, about a week after getting 12/12.

These little white hairs are the first signs of buds.

I can see the stems are growing in that long, lanky “Flowering Stretch” kind of way you always see at the beginning of the flowering stage.

Plants are looking “stretchy”

The stage is perfectly set.

The entire canopy has well-spaced long buds from each plant.

A lot of the “work” for this grow is done. At this point, it’s more a matter of just keeping plants watered (which seems like it’s going to be easy with these auto-watering pot bases) and keep the light the right distance away.

We’ll still need to prune the plants as needed, but from here on out, Mother Nature does most of the work for us!

My thoughts on the auto-watering pot bases:

• I think I should have watered purely from the top for the vegetative stage. It would have simplified my life greatly just to treat them like trays to catch runoff water.
• Next time I plan to wait until the plants start flowering to start trying to water from the bottom.
• Like maybe around 12/12, give them an extreme watering until it partly fills up the reservoirs below. Remove the runoff, and then refill the reservoirs with fresh water. Then start watering purely from the bottom. Something like that.

Day 54 (Flowering Day 9)

I see all have been drinking water, the Mandarin Cookies drinks the least, which makes sense since it’s the smallest.

Peeking in through the grow tent window…

Flawless!

Day 55 (Flowering Day 10)

All the water in the reservoirs is gone!

I’m going to refill the reservoirs with plain ph’d water to help them use up nutrients, as the leaves look a bit dark to me when I take one out of the tent to look in regular light. I think it’s that they’ve been drinking SO much, and just taking in tons of nutrients.

• Gave 3 gallons plain water, ph’d to 6.5 with 1 tsp PH Down

The leaves look a bit dark to me, when I take them into natural light.

You can see drops of water where leaves lay on top of each other.

Refilled the reservoirs

Water Level Indicators Aren’t Always Accurate

I noticed today that you can’t always trust the water level indicator on the AC Infinity auto-watering pot bases.

In case you forgot, this is the water level indicator on the pots. If you can see the little orange rod, it means there is still water in the reservoir.

You can see when I pick it up and put it down, that the indicator “floats” on the water and pops back up, showing the current water level.

But… sometimes the indicator gets stuck and doesn’t move even if the water gets used up. It’s only when you bump it that the water level indicator gets unstuck and shows that there’s actually no water in the reservoir.

I had been wondering why certain plants weren’t drinking as much, like the Blue Dream. It’s one of the biggest plants, so it seemed weird that it hadn’t finished drinking up its reservoir like the others. But I bumped it in the water indicator fell, showing that it actually had no water. It seems it’s just that particular indicator tends to get stuck the most, which is why the Blue Dream didn’t seem like it was drinking.

Signs of Flowering

Plants look good. All appear to be flowering a bit.

• The Mandarin Cookies and Ghost Candy are currently the slowest/furthest behind.
• The GG4 x Zkittlez is furthest along which makes sense since it seemed to have stretched the least. When a plant stops stretching right away, it’s usually because they start flowering right away.

10 days after initiating 12/12, the GG4 x Zkittlez has the most white hairs at each bud site.

They look a little stretchy. But that’s to be expected in the midst of the flowering stretch.

I turned up the light to 100% to try to discourage stretching. The light is insanely powerful.

Measuring light: PPFD Phone app vs Apogee MQ-500 PAR Meter

Phone app – PPFD in the top canopy is now 750-900 µmol/m²/s. This is according to the light app “PPFD Meter” on my Android Galaxy phone.

PAR meter – According to my Apogee MQ-500 PAR meter, the PPFD is less, more like 500-650 µmol/m²/s.

My thoughts:

• Very different values – I’ve noticed the Apogee PAR meter consistently measures significantly lower then the PPFD Meter on my phone.
• Still somewhat helpful – I think both can help you understand how light levels are affected by adjusting your grow lights.
• Difficult to know anything for sure – The Phone app says we’re hitting 900, which is getting close to the max recommended amount of about 1000. Yet the PAR meter says we’re only hitting 650, which is a relatively low amount for the flowering stage. According to my eyes, it does seem REALLY bright to me now that I turned it up to full power. Ao at least in this instance, I’m more inclined to believe the app on my phone. But I’ll watch the plants for any signs of stress on the plants. In the end, they’re the real light meter.

My conclusion: Don’t trust “universal” PPFD values – Every way I’ve used to measure light, whether my phone, a lux meter (which I didn’t use here, but have tried before), or an expensive PAR meter, all give different values for the same light levels. That means you should take any kind of “PPFD chart” or recommendation with a grain of salt. Unless you’re using the exact same grow light and measurement device, I think you might be comparing apples and oranges when comparing PPFD values.

Remember, the real light meter is your plants!

Day 56 (Flowering Day 11)

Noticed some yellow tips, especially on the Blue Dream.

Checked the water reservoirs, and the pH was between 7-8. And no surprise, the reading was highest for the Blue Dream plant.

Plants had already drank nearly all the water from yesterday. They’re heavy drinkers right now.

I used a syringe to syphon out the remaining amount from the reservoirs. Only got about ⅓ of a gallon in total, which means they drink over 2.5 gallons of water overnight.

Gave 3 gallons water

• Since plant leaves are slightly dark overall, I mostly just gave just water.
• Since pH was climbing, I decided to add a small amount of Cal-Mag, which can help stabilize pH
  Though Cal-Mag also raises pH, and therefore needs extra PH Down to counteract
• 1 tsp Cal-Mag
• 1.5 tsp pH Down
• 6.0 pH
• 442 PPM

Gave some water from the top

• I gave each plant a couple of cups of water from the top. My reasoning is to make sure there’s great suction power through the plant root system. I feel like if there’s water all the way to the top, it will be able to wick more water up into the pot.
• My other thought was adding some proper pH water from the top could possibly help lower the pH of the root zone faster than just letting them drink from the bottom.

The rest of the water was pumped into the reservoirs.

Reservoir water measurements afterwards

• 6.2 pH
• 430 PPM

According to the water level indicators they’re each between 3/4 and 7/8 of the maximum level for the reservoirs.

I’m hoping since each plant got some proper pH water from the top, and have a reservoir of proper pH water from the bottom, they’ll be able to quickly get whatever nutrients they needed that they couldn’t because the pH was too high.

Just a note to myself, this thing where the leaves kind of look dark/blue and the tips look yellow seems to be highly correlated to high pH, at least as far as I can tell, at least with Fox farm nutrients and these plants in this system.

Overall they look great!

Bonus: A timelapse summary of the week!

Week 9 – Auto-watering pot bases to the rescue!

Day 57 (Flowering Day 12)

Checked on the plants, they look great.

Here are closeups of the buds from each of the plants so far (12 days from initiating 12/12)

GG4 x Zkittlez seems the furthest along

Mandarin Cookies is not far behind

Here is the Candy Games #38, which has tons of white hairs but no “budlets” yet

Blue Dream is about tied.

Purple Ghost Candy was starting to worry me, but today I saw a bunch of hairs, and it’s definitely growing in that stretchy “just started flowering” kind of way.

I thought it was cool to see how much a difference the strain makes when it comes to how quickly after 12/12 for flowers to appear.

They seem to have drank about half of the reservoir water, perhaps a bit more.

I don’t like the smell of the reservoir water. I took some out to test the pH with a syringe, and I noticed a slightly stinky smell. The smell is like how the Fox Farm nutrients smell after a half-full batch of nutrient water sits for a few days.

It makes me miss synthetic nutrients, which I find tend to need a lot more time before they start to smell bad. I wonder if hydroponic nutrients might be a better choice for this setup, since they’re specifically designed to help roots thrive in reservoir water.

About the Reservoirs Today

• pH of reservoirs tested at 6.8 pH
• The top of FoxFarm recommended pH range
• Almost to max 7 pH range for soil
• Tomorrow, I’ll remove any water that’s left, and replace with more water at 6.0 pH.
• The goal is for the reservoir water to always be between 6 to 7 pH every day. This is the best way to prevent nutrient deficiencies with cannabis plants.

Tomorrow, I will start adding the Hydroguard supplement when mixing up water for the plants. This supplement is something I always use when growing in hydroponic systems with roots in water. It adds good bacteria that help protect your roots against root rot or other root diseases. It has no downside (doesn’t affect PPM, doesn’t affect pH) but can make a huge difference in reservoir health. I already have an unopened bottle from a recent hydro grow, so I figured, why not?

Day 58 (Flowering Day 13)

Nebula from the near future: Just a little foreshadowing, this beautiful, flat, neat canopy will not look so neat very soon…

I should have taken more time to admire the view haha

You can see the beginnings of the problem child in the back left. Starting to get taller than the rest, but this is nothing yet compared to what’s to come. Oh Purple Ghost Candy, you’re lucky your buds and yields always come out so good!

A hint of the crazy stretch that’s incoming…

Reservoir measurements

• 7.3 pH
• 1700 PPM
• Pumped out all water, to be replaced with…

3 gallons water – Week 2 of 12/12 nutrients (⅔ strength) – Here were my steps

• Big Bloom 6 tsp
• Tiger Bloom 4 tsp
• Was 6.7 pH after this
• 3 tsp Hydroguard
• 1.5 tsp pH Down
• Was 5.7 after this 😭
• Added 3 tsp Cal-Mag (to help bring up the pH)
• Was 5.9 pH after this.
• 720 PPM
• Soooooo close to 6, but PPM is a bit high (highest previously has been around 680 PPM, if I remember correctly)
  I think it’s okay since the pH has been high previously
• They’re growing fast, stretching. Let’s do it!

Watered a few cups from the top, My reasoning was to help with wicking, even though they look nice and wet at the top. I also wanted to provide the plants with good pH throughout the root zone really quickly. I put the rest of the water in the reservoirs.

I then added about a gallon of extra plain water because I was worried about the PPM, when I remembered that some of the plants looked like they were thinking about nutrient burn (burnt tips from too much nutrients).

After getting a couple of cups of water from the top, and being filled from the bottom, and given an additional 1 gallon of plain water on top of everything else, their reservoir is now measure as thus…

• 6.3 pH
• 1500 PPM

Environment:

Humidity is too high in San Diego right now, hitting 70%! Everything feels kind of sticky. The grow tent reading is also around 70% RH today.

Fan

• Turned up the exhaust fan and opened up vents a bit more, in hope a little extra fresh air helps remove extra humidity from the plants, though that doesn’t help lower the humidity of the air being brought in.

Dehumidifier

• It was humid but cool in the tent, under 80°F/27°C and close to 70% RH
• So I turned on my big dehumidifier in room, which increases temperature and lowers humidity. Side note:. If it had been hot and humid, I would have turned on the AC, which lowers temperature and humidity.
• I would like to get temp closer to 85°F/30°C and RH closer to 55-60%.
• I feel they grow better at this stage when it’s a bit warmer, especially with LEDs.

Day 59 (Flowering Day 14)

No time today! So glad for the auto-watering pot bases keeping the plants watered. 

A quick check on the plants through the grow tent window is all the time I had today.

Day 60 (Flowering Day 15)

Another day with nothing to do but enjoy the plants. Which is great because I was strapped for time.

Starting to see real buds forming!

Day 61 (Flowering Day 16)

Plants look good. They drink up all their water. Some of the pots of soil are starting to look a little dry at the top. But all the plants are heavy and seem well-watered. Leaves look good. Buds are growing. Here’s the hoping it goes well.

Starting to get some major shadow (no light hitting the floor). Will need to defoliate soon.

A little part of me worries that the buds won’t get big enough.

The plants seem to be stretching less, and well into flowering now. The slowest one to make buds is the Purple Ghost Candy, which is also the tallest. The second slowest was the Blue Dream but now it seems to have caught up to everyone else. Very impressed with this Blue Dream so far. A little worried how much this Purple Ghost Candy might stretch. But luckily it’s in the back corner. That’s always a perfect place for a too-tall plant.

Another message from future Nebula: I was right. This Purple Ghost Candy is going to cause a ruckus haha

Week 3 of 12/12 nutrients (⅔ strength)

3 gallons

• 6 tsp Big Bloom
• 4 tsp Grow Big
• 4 tsp Tiger Bloom
• Was 6.6 pH after this
• ½ tsp pH Down
• 6.4 pH
• 740 PPM

Just before I water them, I feel like some of them are thinking about nutrient burn. I don’t see definite nutrient burn, but on the Blue Dream and the Candy Games I feel like there’s a tinge of the idea of nute burn.

So I added a gallon of extra water.

• Ph’ed down to 6.1, since I know rising pH is an issue in this system.
• Watered from the top

Then I added the nutrient water I made to the reservoirs. From the top.

So 4 gallons in already, still no runoff.

I want to check the pH of the root zone, so I made another batch, at ⅓ strength

Week 3 of 12/12 nutrients (⅓ strength)

3 gallons

• 3 tsp Big Bloom
• 2 tsp Grow Big
• 2 tsp Tiger Bloom
• Was 6.8 pH after this
• ½ tsp pH Down
• 6.5 pH
• 600 PPM
• Watered from the top until I finally got runoff into the reservoirs

Reservoirs after runoff

• 6-6.2 pH
• 1800-2400 PPM

PPM seems very high to me, even though I’ve been giving nutrients at such reduced strength…

Nutrient burn? I’ve been giving the nutrients at very low levels compared to the recommendation, yet the leaves are thinking about nutrient burn. The tip of this leaf is a tiny bit brown. Not yellow, which I associate with nutrient deficiencies or light stress. It actually looks brown, without any other symptoms. To me, this looks like the very beginning of nutrient burn (too much nutrients). It’s hard to see in pictures. Hopefully it doesn’t spread! Luckily, a little nutrient burn never hurt anything.

Light

• I feel like the buds aren’t big enough…
• So Sirius helped me put up the other HLG 350
• Woo hoo! Two lights!
• Sirius turned them down to level 6 of 10
• Apogee meter shows that it’s 1000 PPFD, though the mobile phone PPFD app shows closer to 1500 PPFD. Hmmm.

All the leaves started sticking straight up, which I associate with high light levels.

A few hours later…

• I wonder if the leaves look a bit stressed?
• I turned the lights both down one more click to level 5
• It’s plenty warm in there now with both lights, so I turned off the dehumidifier, which heats up the room
• Turned on the AC, set to 77 for now.

16 days since 12/12, and the Purple Ghost Candy is finally starting to put out lots of hairs!

It’s behind the other plants. Especially the GG4 x Zkittlez plant, which has full “budlets” already.

Let’s see how they look tomorrow!

Day 62 (Flowering Day 17)

Still look kind of light stressed? Or just my imagination?

Environment

• 80°F/27°C
• 68% RH

Light

• Turned both lights down to 4
• Want to feel like the plants want more light, before turning it up

Reservoirs

• 6.4 pH
• Smells a bit off to me
• Decided to empty the water out of the reservoirs
• Should give them a good cleaning tomorrow

Later that day, they still looked stressed. The color and shape of the top leaves seems slightly off. Here’s a view from the web camera.

I turned both lights down to just Level 2 (of 10).

That brought the PPFD to under 700 for each plant, according to the PPFD app on my phone. I know that’s a non-stressful amount of light, since that’s what they were getting before I added the second light.

I also was a little worried about possibly getting nutrient burn on the Candy Games #38 plant.

Gave plain water

• 3 gallons
• Gave 3 gallons plain water, from the top
• 1 tsp cal mag (just to help stabilize the pH vs adding nothing)
• pH to 6.4
• The goal is to reduce the nutrient levels in the root zone to prevent the chance of nutrient burn.

I don’t like the way the reservoirs smell, but today is an extremely busy day for me. So I just want the plants to hold on until tomorrow, and I should probably take all the reservoirs out, clean them, and put them back in, as the AC Infinity directions tell you to do.

I also plan to do another defoliation of big fan leaves and possibly lollipop on the plants. They’re looking extra leafy, and I think lots of dinky little stems still need to be mercilessly removed, if I’m honest, though I hate cutting off anything with a bud on it.

I pulled a few leaves and small stems, but this tent is wild and needs much, much more.

But if I see the plants tomorrow, and a bud is on a dinky stem, and it’s significantly smaller than other buds on that same plant, it’s got to go!

The water I got from the reservoir was about 6.4 pH and 2,200 PPM.

Day 63 (Flowering Day 18)

Looking happy.

Nebula from the future: I thought the flowering stretch was pretty much over. How wrong I was!

LEDs

• I turned the front light up to level four, since it was on top of the shorter plants.
• I turned the backlight up to level three because the plants were taller and closer.
• According to my phone app this gives them somewhere between 800 and just over 1000 PPFD
• According to the Apogee PAR meter, it’s closer to 500 to 750 PPFD.
• However, in the Wyze camera, they seemed less perky after a few hours.
• So I turned both LEDs down back to where they were before, so now level 3 in the front and level 2 behind.

Reservoirs

• Still exactly 6.4 pH
• Seems like the pH has stopped rising.
• I added some plain 6.8 pH water to each one, bringing the pH in the reservoirs to 6.6
• I want them to get the full pH range
• I really should clean the auto-watering bases out like the AC Infinity directions say, but if I don’t get time today at least they have plenty of water and the proper pH!

Let’s take a quick tour of the tent to compare to the beginning of the week!

GG4 x Zkittlez (front left) is the shortest plant in the tent. It naturally grew in an orderly manner.

GG4 x Zkittlez buds are the furthest along.

Candy Games #38 (front right) is next. It’s stretched a ton since I initiated 12/12.

Candy Games #38 bud closeup.

Notice in the above picture that the edges of the fan leaves are turned up from light stress. That’s part of why I dialed the LEDs down. Once the light levels are back to a good level for the plant, the edges of the leaves should settle back down.

However, if you ignore this symptom for too long and don’t lower light levels, the edges can get permanently crispy. I know that from past experience haha.

Something that’s been hard for me to accept as a grower is that, even though “light = food”, you get the best yields and bud quality if you listen to your plants when they tell you, “Too much!”

Mandarin Cookies (middle plant). The plant is difficult to see clearly in the middle, but the buds are coming along beautifully! So sparkly already.

The Purple Ghost Candy bud development (below) is far behind the others. Foreshadowing: I don’t realize yet how much bigger this plant will get; it’s still stretching a ton. No wonder it was slow to make buds.

The Purple Ghost Candy is finally flowering to my satisfaction. I was starting to wonder if there was a light leak.

I thought this next picture might help give an idea of the Purple Ghost Candy  in action. In the front of this picture is the GG4 x Zkittlez plant with white fluffy buds. You can see those long branches looming in the background, with barely any buds on them yet. That’s the Purple Ghost Candy.

GG4 x Zkittlez in front, Purple Ghost Candy in back. The shortest plant and tallest plant, right next to each other.

In comparison to the Purple Ghost Candy, the Blue Dream buds are stacking! (back right plant)

Recap of the week: Here were the plants at the beginning of the week (flowering day 12) to the end of the week (flowering day 18).

I made the red line at the top of the back pocket, so you can see how much the plants grew this week!

I love seeing the plants every day. Something is so special about growing a beautiful garden that literally makes weed for you.

Week 10 – Flowering stage is in full gear

Day 64 (Flowering Day 19)

Didn’t get a chance to check on the plants today.

Day 65 (Flowering Day 20)

Poor babies have been completely ignored for almost 2 days.

The back plants completely overgrew the webcams again, in just two days!

The Purple Ghost Candy grew an incredible five or six inches in those days. It’s crazy. It seems to have responded really happily to the extra light.

The Purple Ghost Candy (back left) is MUCH taller than its neighbor the GG4 x Zkittlez plant (front left)

The Blue Dream (back right) is also tall but not quite to the same extent. It’s much more closely matched to its neighbors.

In case you want to see the whole flowering stretch from 12/12 to today, I made a moving gif. Wow!

Sirius and I supercropped the tallest stems. The goal wasn’t necessarily to make them shorter as much as to prevent them from growing any longer. 

I’m not sure if you’re interested in this type of content, but here was Sirius and I talking about the plants before we supercropped them. Let us know what videos you want to see more of!

If you supercrop a strong stem, it stunts the growth of that stem even if the stem rises back up. 

So here’s to hoping that the webcams catch the plants not getting any taller.

Here’s me taking a picture of the plants, from the perspective of the webcam.

The soil still looks wet enough on the top that I feel totally comfortable watering them from the bottom.

However, since they looked on the verge of being nutrient burnt last time, even though I watered them at ⅓ strength, I will lower nutrients even more. This time I’m going to water them at ⅙ strength (cut in half compared to last time). I’ll adjust the next watering depending on how they react.

3 gallons (week 7 / flowering week 3, ⅙ strength)

• 1.5 tsp Big Bloom
• 1 tsp Grow Big 
• 1 tsp Tiger Bloom
• 0.75 tsp pH Down 
• 1 tsp Hydroguard (to prevent root smelliness by giving root inoculants)
• 6.7 pH 
• 500 PPM 
• Added to reservoirs.

Leaves currently look great and have an overall good color.

Day 66 (Flowering Day 21)

Didn’t have time to check on the plants today. Thank you auto-watering pot bases!

Day 67 (Flowering Day 22)

Some of the Purple Ghost Candy stems haven’t turned back up yet. So I super cropped the remaining tall branches so it’s all one height (about the same height as the GG4 x Zkittles next to it).

I flipped the light orientation so that that’s now the “short” side of the tent, and the other side is the tall side. Then I readjusted the lights, so that they could be moved independently for each side of the tent. 

It would be impossible to grow in a 4×4 grow tent if you didn’t have those side access panels to reach plants in the back.

Watering

• 3 gallons (week 7 / flowering week 3, ⅓ strength)
• 3 tsp Big Bloom
• 2 tsp Grow Big 
• 2 tsp Tiger Bloom
• 0.5 tsp pH Down 
• 1 tsp Hydroguard (to prevent root smelliness by giving root inoculants)
• 6.6 pH 
• 560 PPM 
• Added to reservoirs.

Tops of soil were just starting to dry out, which I believe is normal, as watering from the bottom tends to cause the plants to drink mostly from the bottom of their pots. I watered a tiny bit of the water on top, just to hopefully cause there to be overall more wicking action at the roots, but ensuring there’s moisture from the top to bottom. Don’t know if it works that way lol

Training

• Removed lower small stems 
• Needs a good defoliation tomorrow, I think

Day 68 (Flowering Day 23)

A beautiful vision awaits me when I open the tent today!

Training 

Today I defoliated and lollipopped the two plants on the right. The first one is Blue Dream, the second one is Candy Games #38.

I was going to do the same for the plants on the left, but the Purple Ghost Candy stems still seem fragile. So I don’t want to be messing around with that one too much. And since it’s kind of laying on the Mandarin Cookies and the GG4 x Zkittles, I’m going to give that side another day or two before I give it the full strip. Luckily with defoliation, there isn’t an exact schedule as much as accomplishing a series of steps. 

If you look at the plants on the right now, they were at the perfect place to be defoliated. They look a little sparse right now, but this tells the plant to put all of its effort on fattening those buds. 

Defoliated and lollipopped right side of the tent. The left side looks wild in comparison.

It’s sad doing a defoliation, and having to make heartbreaking choices. Sometimes you have to remove buds that seem like they might actually turn out well. but I try to look at the top of the plant make sure there’s an even amount of bud spaced, and then remove the rest. The only exceptions I make, are if I find a bud that’s already extremely well developed, even if it hasn’t made it to the top, and those sometimes get to stay. 

I took a picture of one of the buds I cut, it made me a little sad, but I’m sure it was the right thing to do. 

I’m hoping that the Purple Ghost Candy recovers quickly. Once it gains some strength, I can give it a nice defoliation and lollipop.

The Purple Ghost Candy most certainly is not going to keep getting taller, here on out it’s recovering. You can even see that the leaves on it are stressed at the top, the poor thing. But I think it’s all going to be for the best. And one thing to note, is recoverable stress is associated with higher THC levels after harvest. So once this plant pulls through and is happily flowering again, I think we’re really going to see the benefits later.

I’m kind of happy with how the super cropping went, because I feel like it’s nice to have a flat side, so I can get the most out of the GG4 x Zkittles and the Mandarin Cookies. Otherwise they would be below the canopy line and never develop to the level that I would hope. So now it’s perfect the whole left side is flat the whole right sign is about the same size. The right side seems to be able to handle the light well and buds are developing well. 

Bud development 

I’m pretty excited to see the bud development on the Blue Dream, but perhaps most especially on the Candy Games #38. The buds seem disproportionately big for how recently it just started flowering, and I’m feeling pretty good it’s going to be a good yielder. I like the way that it’s growing. The Blue Dream also seems like it’s going to get excellent yields.

Candy Games #38

Mandarin Cookies

Purple Ghost Candy

GG4 x Zkittlez

Blue Dream

None of the flowers have started turning color yet. They’re still completely white and growing bigger, which is always a great sign. You know once you start seeing brown hairs, that’s when you start to get a good idea of how big the buds are going to be in the end. 

LEDs 

Both lights are set to level three. I’m going to watch to see if plants show any signs of stress. 

For some reason, it seems like the lights don’t measure as bright since I rearranged them in the opposite direction. Which doesn’t make much sense to me. But it is what it is. I’ll do more testing on the lights in the future. Just under 1000 PPFD everywhere in the tent according to the app on my phone. I’ve noticed the dial settings on the lights, which are the same model and should be identical, aren’t even with each other. On one light, if I go to the first click it doesn’t even turn the lights on, where the other one it does. I’d like to do some testing between the two. Yesterday, I turned both lights up to 100%, and saw that brings it to 2000 PPFD throughout the tent according to the app. Absolutely crazy.

It makes me wonder who could actually use these two lights at full power? It also makes me wonder if I should have stuck with just the one light, but I figure it’s better to have two and be able to adjust them separately. That just gives me more overall control over light levels in the tent especially when there’s such a big height difference between each side.

Day 69 (Flowering Day 24)

LEDs – Took some comparison light measurements, for anyone interested in this kind of thing.

• Turned both lights to level 3
• Even though the plants on the right are much closer. Light levels are surprisingly similar
• With this configuration 
  • Left light level 3
    • 22 inches from tops of plants
    • 600-700 umols on phone 
    • 450-500 umols on Apogee meter
  • Right light level 3
• 12-16 inches from tops of plants 
• 700-1000 umols on phone
• 500-700 umols on Apogee meter 

Just for future reference, what if I turn them both to level 4.

• Left light level 4
  • 22 inches from tops of plants
  • 850-950 umols on phone 
  • 550-650 umols on Apogee meter
• Right light level 4
  • 12-16 inches from tops of plants 
  • 1340-1580 umols on phone
  • 750-1000 umols on Apogee meter

Too high! The left plants are weak. Giving them Level 4 is like giving the right plants level 3, but since I’m hoping for the Purple Ghost Candy to recover well, I’m going to put them on the lower end. 

I wish these lights were easier to adjust up and down and small amounts. I can also see how it could be confusing for new growers, if they use their light at the same setting as someone else, but are actually giving their plants a significantly different amount of light.

So both lights are set to Level 3 for now.

Watering – Since I already fed them a few days ago, I’m giving it at extremely low strength today. Leaves look healthy without deficiencies, but if I take leaves out of the tent into regular light, they look a bit too dark. So I want to avoid overloading them with more nutrients than they can use.

3 gallons (week 7 / flowering week 3, ⅙  strength)

• 1.5 tsp Big Bloom
• 1 tsp Grow Big 
• 1 tsp Tiger Bloom
• 0.5 tsp pH Down 
• 1 tsp Hydroguard (to prevent root smelliness by giving root inoculants)
• 6.7 pH 
• 490 PPM 
• Added to reservoirs.

I checked the PPM and pH of the reservoirs. They seem to be exactly what I put in. I might test them again later today, I’m curious to see if they have any residue in the bottom, that might affect the PPM or the pH after it’s sat for a while.

Environment 

82F in the tent with these lights at this level. 62% RH. Luckily it’s been way less humid lately, and so the humidity is naturally at a better level. That being said, once the bud start fattening more, I will definitely have the dehumidifier running 24/7 to keep it closer to 50% as the buds finish up. But that’s weeks away. At this point, they’re fine at 62% RH.

Note from later that day

The leaves seem to be turning up and on on the tall side, praying too hard. I turned that light down to level 2.

Here are its new measurements 

• 12-16 inches from tops of plants 
• PPFD app 500-600. so low!
• Apogee 390-450. So low! 

The difference between level 2 and 3 is enormous. Level 3 seems too much, but this seems so little. Especially considering that it drops even lower as you go down into the canopy.

But the plants look stressed, and they’re the boss. So down it goes for today.

Day 70 (Flowering Day 25)

Plants look amazing today!

The Purple Ghost Candy looks 10x happier today. All the super cropped stems are finally turning up.

I love enjoying the plants while enjoying a joint.

It got me thinking about plant personalities.

I think a lot of people notice different strains and plants act in their own “way”. I wanted to share my thoughts on these strains so far. I germinated 3 seeds from each strain for the purposes of this grow, so I included my thoughts on germination. I’m also growing some of the leftover extra plants in another tent, so that informs these opinions a bit.

Purple Ghost Candy

• Not the best to germinate 
• All 3 were weirdos as seedlings
• Hollow brittle stems 
• Gangly with lots of branches everywhere
• Slow to start flowering 
• Stretched a lot
• Covered in bud sites
• Looks like it will be a big yielder

This particular Purple Ghost Candy seed was a slow-growing seedling, at first

Yet a month later, the runty seedling was now the biggest plant! (40 days from seed)

From today. Just getting started flowering!

From a past grow in this setup (same seed pack). Purple Ghost Candy is a beast!

Mandarin Cookies

• All germinated, but a bit slow to germinate and get started (admittedly they were 5 year old seeds, but they all germinated fine)
• Pretty leaves not shaped quite like most plants.
• Overall smallish plants.
• Stretched a normal amount.
• Crazy sparkly. It looks like someone dropped a bag of sugar over the plant.
• Leaves near buds are getting plump and sparkly, like they’re turning into buds too

An adorable seedling

Grew healthy but relatively slow compared to the others. Here it was at day 22.

From today. So sparkly already!

Mandarin Cookies from a previous grow under HLG LED (same seed pack).

That plant produced some of my favorite buds ever!

GG4 x Zkittlez

• One of 3 seeds was a mutant that grew with alternating nodes from a seedling
• Both mutant and non mutant plants grew fast
• All grew in a beautiful, classic, easy to grow kind of way.
• Didn’t stretch much
• Lots of bud sites
• Naturally bushy
• Uniform growth
• Seems super beginner friendly, great for small spaces
• Buds look beautiful so far, but not the biggest

One of the seeds (right seedling) grew with alternating nodes from the beginning, which is a bit unusual, giving it a kind of clover shape from above.

Yet both plants grew into a beautiful, orderly plants.

Here’s the one from our tent after it just got started flowering. The plant grew into a natural bushy structure. Perfect for home growing.

Buds were the quickest to develop of all the plants, and I would guess the GG4 x Zkittlez will be the first ready to harvest, too.

Blue Dream

• Huge, fast growing plants
• Super easy to germinate 
• Tons of long, stacked bud sites
• Would be great to grow by itself so it could spread out 
• Tends to be tall, extremely amenable to being trained 
• Appears like it will be the biggest yielder in the tent, though we’ll see 

Seeds sprouted the fastest of all, and grew like they were running a race. By transplant day, it had already FILLED its cup with roots.

At just 26 days old, our Blue Dream was already the size of a much older plant.

(From today) It’s filled the entire back right of the tent with long stacking buds. Can’t wait to see how big they get!

Candy Games #38

• All seeds germinated fast, and seedlings grew at a typical pace
• Compared to the others this plant drinks less water, and needs less nutrients. 
• Stretched a lot for flowering. It went from being one of the shorter plants to one of the taller plants.
• Seems to be using the stretch to make a lot of bud sites.
• Super fat, gorgeous, sparkly buds, grow in golfball-like nuggets forming.
• Looks to be another surprisingly big producer, but we’ll see 

A lovely low-maintenance plant (26 days old here)

Right around when I initiated 12/12

Here it is 18 days after initiating 12/12. It stretched a lot (more than doubled in size).

Lots of buds are starting to form on those leggy stems (pic from today).

Buds look lovely so far (from today).

Here’s an example of what Candy Games #38 buds look like after being grown out.

Today’s Watering Routine

• Reservoirs are essentially empty 
• So I’m going to give them more water at the same strength 
• But first, what’s in the reservoirs?

Reservoirs 

• Purple ghost candy has 800 PPM and 7.7 pH . I noticed it has yellow tips today.
• Blue Dream has 7.8 pH and 643 PPM 
• Candy games 33 has 7.7 pH and 860 PPM. 
• Mandarin cookies has 7.7 pH and 510 PPM 
• GG4 x Skittles has 7.8 pH and 930 PPM. I noticed it had the least water of all, so it makes sense that what’s left would be highly concentrated. 

So it’s clear the pH is WAY too high. The PPM seems fine. The plants seem particularly happy today. The leaves still look a little bit dark when I pull them out into the regular light. So today when I make their nutrients I’ll give the same ⅙ level nutrients I made yesterday. I’m going to make them around 6.3 pH (The lowest pH level recommended by Fox farm on their nutrient sheet)

Watering

• 3 gallons (week 8 / flowering week 4, ⅙  strength)
• 1.5 tsp Big Bloom
• 1 tsp Grow Big 
• 1 tsp Tiger Bloom
• 1.5 tsp pH Down 
• 1 tsp Hydroguard (to prevent root smelliness by giving root inoculants)
• 6.2 pH 
• 500 PPM 
• Added to reservoirs.
• Tested reservoir pH and PPM, was about the same as water I put in. Let’s see how they test tomorrow 

LEDs 

I, like many growers, want to give as much light as possible. Yet it’s clear between yesterday and today, how much the plants seem to like the new, reduced light levels. The plants on the right look less stressed, and their leaves are laying more flat. It kills me to have the light only on level 2, but if the plants are happy, as far as I’m concerned, they’re the boss.

What about all of you? Do you tend to push your plants to the limit, or try to give them “just right” conditions when it comes to light levels? Hit reply to this email and let us know what you think!

Week 11

Day 71 (Flowering Day 26)

Here are the plants at 26 days from 12/12

The Purple Ghost Candy is rising with a vengeance. I had to tie it down a bunch of branches today. Apparently nothing can hold it back.

Purple Ghost Candy (back left) rising above the canopy!

I noticed the Candy Games #38 had nutrient burn, which I was a little sad to see. I’ve been giving very weak nutrients lately. I’m not quite sure exactly what made it appear.

I tested the reservoirs and they were all high above 7 pH. The Candy Games #38 had 1000ish PPM in the reservoir.

• Maybe when I watered it yesterday from the top, I somehow activated old nutrients that were in the soil?
• Is that how a plant could get nutrient burn getting ⅙  strength nutrients?

In any case, the solution is the same. I pumped out the water from all of the reservoirs, and refilled with new fresh water

Refilled with

• 3 gallons water
• 3 tsp Cal-Mag
• Hydroguard
• 1.25 tsp pH Down
• 6.1 pH
• 480 PPM
• I added the Cal-Mag to try to help stabilize the pH.

Day 72 (Flowering Day 27)

I took one of the extra auto-watering pots and used it to raise the GG4 x Zkittlez (the shorted plants) several inches. It’s nice and stable already but I used some blue tape just to make sure it can’t slide around.

Stacked an extra bottom to make the shortest plant taller.

The front left (short) plant is now a bit taller, but still furthest from the light!

pH was really high, approaching 7.7 pH

• Drained the reservoirs, and made new water, this time with a sixth strength nutrients, plus cow mag. I feel like it seems like the pH is more stable when there’s at least some amount of nutrients in it. I know the Tiger Bloom in particular seems to bring down pH.

Watering

• 3 gallons (week 8 / flowering week 4, ⅙  strength)
• 1.5 tsp Big Bloom
• 1 tsp Grow Big
• 1 tsp Tiger Bloom
• 1 tsp Hydroguard (to prevent root smelliness by giving root inoculants)
• 6.0 pH
• 500 PPM

Added a pinch of citric crystals, to help keep the pH low. I know from working with super soil, that the citric crystals seem to lower pH not just immediately but also over time. I’m hoping a little extra organic buffer of an acid can help keep the pH from rising overnight

• Added nutrient water to reservoirs.
• Tested reservoir pH and PPM, was about the same as water I put in. Let’s see how they test tomorrow

Training – Removed small buds

Went and removed all the lower buds that weren’t a substantial size yet. So I went under the plants, and if anything just looked like hairs, without actual weight to it, I just pick those off. I know from experience that the lower buds don’t ever fatten up, so I want to let the plant use all of its energy on the top buds that are actually going to get fat. Normally I take off the leaves too, when I lollipop, but this time I just picked off the buds. I’m curious of having those extra leaves might help the plant withstand potential nutrient deficiencies or light stress, since it’s a store of extra nutrients in the plant. It seems possible they might create extra energy too, and since they don’t have any buds nearby, any energy they have either stays in the plant or goes to the buds at the top.

LEDs

• The plants on the right still seemed just a tiny bit like they’re getting too much light. All of their leaves are pointing up.
• I turned the light down on that side just a little bit, not even a full click. I thought I’d give those plants a slightly overcast day until his leaves were flat again. Then I might turn the light back up tomorrow

Day 73 (Flowering Day 28)

Plants look super happy.

The Candy Games #38 (front right plant) is growing big golf ball nugs. The structure reminds me a lot of Zweet Inzanity, only sparklier.

LEDs

• Still on level 3 on left over shorter plants, and level 1.5 on right over the tall plants (you can turn the dial between clicks)

Struggling with pH in the reservoirs

pH was high in reservoirs, at 7.3. PPM was around 1000.

So there’s obviously something in the reservoir raising the pH.

However, yesterday I left some nutrient water out to see how the pH changes without being in the reservoir.

The nutrient water went to 6.6 overnight, from 6.0 yesterday.

So at least part of the problem is these nutrients tend to rise over time, at least with my water.

• I added the remaining nutrient water mixed with with 1.5 tsp pH down and split between all the reservoirs, to being their pH down without changing the water
• pH of reservoirs tested about 5.8-6.0 immediately after adding the water.
• PPM around 1000

Two hours later…

• An hour later it was at 6.7 pH. Such a fast rise!
• 1500 PPM. Why ppm rising so much? I think there must be sediment or something in the reservoirs that’s dissolving into the water?

I’m going to give just plain water for a while. The leaves seem dark and I don’t want to give more nutrient burn.

Adjust pH lower

• Mixed 1 gallon plain water with Hydroguard, adjusted to 5.5 pH
• 400 PPM after mixing
• Added to reservoirs

Reservoirs immediately after adding that water

• 6.5 pH
• 550 PPM
• About ¾ full according to the water indicators

I’d like to maintain it here.

Day 74 (Flowering Day 29)

Oct 9 – day 74 flowering day 29

Reservoirs were high again, around 7.1 pH. Plants appear dark in natural light, which signals to me they need overall lower levels of nutrients. Plants get dark when they’re getting too high levels of nutrients for their current stage of life.

Under the LED, leaves looked the right color. But in natural light, it’s clear they’re too dark (need less nutrients).

Solution: Give just plain water for a while!

So I added 3 gallons of plain water pH’ed to 6.0 with a mix of citric crystals and regular pH Down, in hopes that one of them helps to get the pH to stay lower.

After adding the water, reservoirs measured at around 6.1 pH

Day 75 (Flowering Day 30)

FORGOT TO TAKE ANY PICS TODAY! 

Struggling to keep them watered haha

This morning pH is at 7.2 again. PPM around 1200.

Added more plain water mixed to 5.9 pH.

They are drinking a ton of water. I added 3 gallons yesterday, and they need more today.

Gave about 2 gallons today. I don’t want to fill them above the “max” amount listed on the water indicators.

I know from past experience in hydro that when the roots of plants are too close to a water reservoir, it can cause stem rot over time. It’s always best to have at least an inch or two of extra air gap between plant roots and the water. I would guess that’s a good idea here. So I don’t want to overfill the reservoirs.

I’m happy they’re drinking so much water. Hopefully they’ll use up some of the extra nutrients in the leaves. Clearly there’s still nutrients available at their root zone, because the PPM of the water always climbs overnight, like there’s nutrient residue built up on the bottom or something?

Would have, should have, could have…

I honestly should take the plants out to clean and examine their auto-watering pot bases. I’m curious what’s going on in them. Are the roots overtaking everything? Is there stuff built up or growing on the bottoms of them?

But I hurt my back moving the plants last time so they’re not going anywhere again haha. They stay where they are until I start cutting off branches for harvest.

If I notice nutrient problems I’ll just start watering them from the top like regular soil, and use the trays to catch runoff and remove afterwards.

But for now I’m just going to give them plain water for a while. Maybe start giving nutrients again at very low levels once the leaves look closer to a normal green.

Day 76 (Flowering Day 31)

One LED panel was off this morning…

One of my LEDs was off this morning. But I turned it off and on and it turned back on. Hmmm. I think it’s because at that level 1 click, it’s too close to being all the way off. When it turned on it just wasn’t enough. I’m not sure exactly why it happened.

• One thing I noticed, is the plants on the right side of the tent, which have had semi-stressed looking leaves for a while, were looking really happy this morning. Their leaves were more straight and also the edges of their leaves were lying flat. So I figure it was probably a good 4-hour break for those plants. It was still getting light from the other side.
• My goal is always to keep the plants green and healthy first, and then maximize light after that. It’s painful because we’re constantly told that more light equals more buds. And that’s true. But it’s also important to think about the overall quality of the buds. And if you keep the plant healthy, the quality of the buds are better, even if the yields might not be exactly as huge. I know I’d rather have 15 oz of high quality weed than 20 oz of subpar weed. Though I doubt the difference in yields isn’t even that much.

Being really on top of nutrients also seems to allow your plants to handle a lot more light.

Water reservoirs

The water reservoirs pH were extremely high, 7.5 and up. Except the Purple Ghost Candy which had already drank all the water. The rest were about a quarter full.

I mixed up some water with just citric crystals and pH down, then gave it to them.

3 gallons

• ¼ tsp citric crystals
• 1 tsp pH down

I gave to the reservoirs. Afterwards, they were all between 6.1 and 6.6 pH. The Candy Games #38 seems to consistently have the highest pH. The Purple Ghost Candy ended up having 5.8 pH, I think because it didn’t have any water from before. So for that plant, I gave a little extra water into that one with a tiny amount of Cal-Mag in it to bring the pH up to 6.1. The water level seemed high, right at Max. So I removed about 2 cups of water with a syringe, so it’s below the max line. However that plant is drinking the most, so I’m not as worried about hurting its roots by giving it too much water.

LEDs – Zip-tied lights to the top of the tent, then turned up the light power

I wanted to rain down more photons without giving the plants light stress from too much light intensity. So I used zip ties to raise the lights in the tent. Then I turn them up a bit. The one on the left is set to level four, and the one on the right is set to level three. I’m going to observe them in the wyze cam for the day, and see how they react. If they look stressed, I’ll turn them back down. If they look good, then it stays at this light level. I could also raise the lights a little bit, but the carbon filter is in the way,. I might have to think a little bit about the best way to do it. For example I could rearrange how the lights are so their face the opposite way.

Used big thick Zip-ties to raise lights further than the native hardware allowed.

I didn’t take down any of the old hanging apparatus, for simplicity. I just added zip ties and tightened them to raise the panels. If I cut the zip ties, the lights would be hanging the way they were before.

According to my phone PPFD app, with the new height and light levels, it’s about 800 PPFD at the top of the canopy on both sides. That seems like a good amount and with the lights turned up they’ll be more light in the tent, potentially getting lower to the lower buds. Let’s see what happens!

Day 77 (Flowering Day 32)

A peak from the back right window of the tent, while I was checking on the Blue Dream up close. It’s getting stacked!

A peak from the back left window of the tent. Here’s the Purple Ghost Candy up close!

And lastly, from the front!

Reservoirs growing things…

I noticed some foam or something growing in the reservoirs, but I don’t have time to check it out. The pH was really high above seven again. I wonder if whatever is growing is what’s causing the pH to increase.

It’s hard to see, but all the little white specks are something that is growing on top of the water in the reservoir.

I can’t wait to try the Vivosun auto-watering bases, where you can actually get into the reservoir instead of only have this tiny hole.

So today I added some low pH water, but this time I added some hydrogen peroxide 3%. My hope is this kills anything in the reservoir. And although it was really low, I only filled them to about halfway, just so the water isn’t too close to the roots.

I noticed that the PPM is actually lower than it was yesterday. It measured around 370 PPM. To me that sounds like the plants, or whatever growing in the tank, is using nutrients at a higher rate than they’re using water.

The plant still look pristine, without any sign of using up nutrients. I don’t see any deficiencies on the lower leaves, which is where I would expect to start seeing some leaves dying from not giving nutrients for several days.

Giving water

So I’m going to continue giving plain water pH’ed very low, though tomorrow maybe I’ll pump out everything and try to start over with the reservoirs as best I can, without actually moving the plants.

• After giving low pH water, the pH in all the reservoirs was between 6.4 and 6.8.

Buds are developing well.

LEDs – Raised panels a bit more

Today I raised the lights a little bit more. The plants seem to have responded really well to raising the lights and increasing the light levels. I could see their leaves perk up.

Right now I have the light on the left set to level four, and the light on the right set to level three.

According to the phone app that is still about 1000 PPFD for the tallest bud it’s closest to the light..

I’ll watch them through the Wyze cam today to see how they react.

Perhaps if they react really well, and their leaves lie flat, I’ll increase the light levels even more. But we’ll see. I want to make sure the reservoirs are great before I put any additional stress on the plants. Also since they’re early in the flowering stage, and stacking well, I don’t want to accidentally stress the leaves out too much, since these leaves need to hang out for another month plus.

Week 12

Day 78 (Flowering Day 33)

Buds are all looking good!

The Mandarin Cookies buds are all kind of silvery. I remember the last Mandarin Cookies I grew (from the same seed pack) grew the same way!

GG4 x Zkittlez hairs are starting to darken and curl in.

The Candy Games #38 buds look like they’re going to get BIG.

Blue Dream seems like it’s still just getting started!

The Purple Ghost Candy is also just getting started. I have a feeling it’s going to absolutely explode in buds. It started late, but doesn’t seem to have any signs of slowing down.

I’m still struggling with PH going VERY high overnight

PH in the reservoirs was high again. Above 7.5 pH. I removed all the water out of them, and refilled the reservoirs with fresh water.

3 gallons

• Feeding schedule week 9, 1/6 strength
• 1 tsp Tiger Bloom
• Skipped Big Bloom in case the organic ingredients were feeding what was in the reservoir, or otherwise contributing to the rising pH.
• ¼ tsp citric crystals
• 6.2 pH
• 400 PPM

Reservoirs immediately after

• 6.4 pH
• 450 ppm
• Let’s see how they change before tomorrow

LEDs

• Plants seem Happy
• Put right light on level 4, so now both are on level 4
• Leaves still look a little bit dark
• I’m curious to see how the plant reacts to higher light levels, now that the light is much further away.
• According to my PPFD app on my phone, the highest PPFD is approaching 1300 on the tallest colas.
• It’s probably too much light, so I will watch my plants closely in the Wyze web camera for signs of stress. If the leaves look stressed I’ll move it back.
• It’s hard because I want to give as much light as possible, but not too much

Day 79 (Flowering Day 34)

3 gallons

• 1 tsp Tiger Bloom
• 1 tsp Grow Big (hydro version)
  • I just felt like the soil version doesn’t have enough potassium
  • I have some of the hydro version for my other plants in Fox Farm coco, and I noticed their schedule gives Grow Big (hydro)nutrients all the way until harvest at an even higher rate than tiger bloom.
  • Use 1:1 and you get a 5-10-10 NPK that seems appropriate at this phase of flowering. The hydro version also contains calcium.
  • 1 tsp Hydroguard
  • ¼ tsp citric crystals
  • 6.0 pH
  • 460 PPM

After adding 2 gallons, reservoirs were about 6.6 pH. So I mixed another ¼ tsp citric acid into the remaining nutrient water, and gave a cup of that super low pH solution. After that, reservoirs measured 6.0-6.3 pH. Good!

Overall plants look great.

Day 80 (Flowering Day 35)

Seeing that today is day 80 since I germinated these seedlings, I just wanted to reference my autoflower grow journal. The first plants were harvested on day 80, and all harvested by day 90. I thought it was interesting to compare that to this journal, to help get an idea of much faster autoflowers are compared to photoperiod plants. Even the fastest of these photoperiod plants, the GG4 x Zkittles, has a while to go.

These photoperiod plants today, at 80 days from germination. I’d estimate we’re still 4-6 weeks away from harvest day.

What our autoflowers looked like at 80 days from germination, not long before harvest. No faster cannabis harvest than an autoflower harvest! Check out the full journal!

The autoflower harvest produced about 10 oz of weed. This grow seems like it’s going to produce quite a bit more than that. And if I’m honest, I’m a lot more excited about smoking the photoperiod strains!  Especially Purple Ghost Candy, Mandarin Cookies, and Candy Games #38. With the autoflowers, the weed came out great, but I feel like the strains were less exciting.

Reservoirs

• pH was around 7
• Added some low pH water from yesterday.
• Immediately after was 6.0 pH

Turned right light onto level 4 again, but left on level 3 above the GG4 x Zkittlez that seemed a bit light stressed yesterday.

Day 81 (Flowering Day 36)

Plants look good but leaves are still too dark.

Under the LEDs, the leaves look an okay color. Maybe a little dark.

But I turned off the LEDs and took a picture in regular light, so it’s a lot easier to see that the leaves are still too dark. The leaves should all be Kelly Green, especially this late in the flowering stage, when leaves tend to lighten up. But these leaves are darker, closer to Hunter Green, which is a sign they’re getting overall too much nitrogen/nutrients. You can see the leaves at the bottom most clearly.

In normal light, you can see the leaves are very dark.

Easy fix. Continue giving just plain water until the leaves start to lighten up.

I use a 3-gallon container to water the plants

3 gallons is usually enough to water them all.

I use this water transfer pump to dispense. I wish it had a longer hose though. It is difficult to reach the plants in the back.

Reservoirs pushing 7.6 ph.Removed all the water from the reservoirs. Added a little h2o2 to kill what’s in the reservoirs. Hopefully h2o2 plus total dryness will help kill anything plus air prune the roots.

• Watered with 3 gallons of 6.1 pH water, from the top.
• No runoff.

Maybe tomorrow or the day after, I’ll give enough water to get runoff, so I can test the pH at the root zone.

But for now I want the reservoirs to dry out to help kill anything living in them.

LEDs: Turned both up to level 4

Day 82 (Flowering Day 37)

It’s going to be a lot of weed!

Gave 3 gallons from the top

• Added 1.5 tsp pH down
• 6.1 pH

Finally got a bit of runoff, around 6.7 pH

So definitely it’s high at the root zone.

Luckily we’re on top of it!

Let’s water from the top for a while…

I’m going to simplify things. I’m going to water normally from the top and just use the reservoirs to catch runoff.

At least until the pH is in a better range, then maybe I’ll try bottom watering again.

Luckily the plants have stopped drinking such crazy amounts!

Overall they look good.

I see the hairs are starting to turn. To me that says this is about the final size the buds will be,just they’ll get more filled out.

Going to be a lot of weed!

Day 83 (Flowering Day 38)

Looking good 💯

Day 84 (Flowering Day 39)

Soil mostly dry on top.

Gave 3 gallons from the top

• Added 1.5 tsp pH down
• 6.1 pH
• Gave about ½ gallon to all
  • but I didn’t give any to Mandarin Cookies, as the top soil still seemed a bit wet.
  •  I gave a bit extra to the Purple Ghost Candy as it seemed particularly dry.
• No runoff, but all felt cool at the bottom, so I feel I gave enough to wet them thoroughly.
• Will wait until tops are dry to the first knuckle before watering again

LEDs

• Turned both up to level 5

Training

• Removed some lower leaves
• Removed big fan leaves covering bud sites that couldn’t be tucked
• Removed lower bud sites that hadn’t gained any heft yet. If they’re dinky now, they’ll never get big and dense. Might as well let the plant focus on the biggest top buds, which tend to be the most potent and high quality.
• Strung up the Blue Dream colas since they were starting to fall over

I checked on Blue Dream plant from the side, since I saw some buds were falling.

I have plant wire strung across the top of my tent to use with plant yo-yos to hold up heavy buds (also handy for drying).

Plant yo-yos are specially designed to hold up heavy cannabis branches.

Plant yo-yos gently hook onto stems without disturbing buds.

So for the Blue Dream plant, I use plant yo-yos on the falling stems.

The big Blue Dream buds are now held up by the top of the tent.

New view of the Blue Dream with the plant yo-yos from the side window.

Now from the front, you can spot yo-yo strings holding up the heavy Blue Dream buds.

In regular light

Bud readiness

• GG4 x Zkittles and Candy Games #38 both starting to get brown hairs. Maybe 4 weeks left?
• Remaining three plants are still all white hairs that I can see. At least 4+ weeks left on those

I’ll take detailed pictures of all the buds next week!

Week 13

Day 85 (Flowering Day 40)

Oct 20 – day 85 flowering day 40

Gave the rest of the plain pH’ed water from yesterday to the plants where the soil looked totally dry on top.

Nutrient burn after watering from the top…

I noticed the plants have more nutrient burn today! They’ve been getting just plain water for quite a while but I guess there’s still excess nutrients from before. Now that I think of it, this happened right after I started watering again from the top.

I wonder if they’ll want nutrients again before harvest.

The Candy Games #38 has it the worst. I also noticed some marks on some of its top leaves. Light stress? Nutrient problem? Did I accidentally hurt the leaf mechanically? We’ll see if it spreads.

It happens!

Maybe I’ll turn the light down a bit on that side until I’m sure it’s not spreading? Lights are out now, but I’ll check on plants first thing tomorrow.

Day 86 (Flowering Day 41)

I saw later I apparently didn’t write any notes or take any pictures. Did I even check on the plants today?

Day 87 (Flowering Day 42)

Note from tomorrow: They should have gotten watered today…

I peeked on the plants, and they looked good. But their topsoil was almost totally dry and I knew they needed to be watered today. I filled a container with water, but I got a call. By the time I got back, the lights had already turned off for their 6pm bedtime. I didn’t want to interrupt their dark period, so I decided to wait until tomorrow.

Day 88 (Flowering Day 43)

Oct 23 – day 88 flowering day 43

Underwatered! Droopy! Nooooooo!

Oops, plants are underwatered, especially the Blue Dream.

Here’s a closeup of the droopy underwatered Blue Dream.

You could really see the drooping on the Blue Dream’s “undercarriage”.

Gave the plants 3 gallons of water, pH at 6.5.

Two hours later they looked mostly back to normal.

2 hours later, Blue Dream looks a lot better.

It’s funny that as soon as I got rid of the auto-watering pots, and got busy, my plants immediately became underwatered. Especially considering that they’re not even drinking that much compared to before during the flowering stretch period.

Day 89 (Flowering Day 44)

Seem recovered from going thirsty

Plants look back to normal for the most part.

Some of the lowest leaves on the Blue Dream seem a bit wilty, but I think the plant was already giving up on those leaves, since they didn’t get any light.

The tops of the soil already look dry, so I gave the plants another 3 gallons of water at 6.5 pH.

Buds are developing beautifully. I’m surprised how the Purple Ghost Candy and the Blue Dream still don’t have any darkened hairs on their buds yet. They are going to keep getting bigger, and they already seem pretty big.

Purple Ghost Candy buds – Still all-white hairs

With the Purple Ghost Candy, some of the stems and parts of the leaves are turning purple. I remember that last time we grew this strain, the plant was mostly green until the last few weeks before harvest,  but also had the same splashes of purple on the stems. Then about a week before harvest, the leaves on the entire plant, sugar leaves and all, turned purple almost overnight. I’m curious to see how the purple expresses itself in this plant as we approach harvest!

Blue Dream buds – Also all-white hairs!

When will they stop getting bigger and start maturing? lol

The Mandarin Cookies looks especially mouth-watering!

The Mandarin Cookies buds are so covered in trichomes it’s difficult for the camera to catch anything but white reflection. I can’t seem to get the camera to focus on the buds themselves or capture much color, even when playing with the settings. But to the naked eye, the buds look like long silvery-blue spears.

Any stem on this plant turns bright purple the moment it gets exposed to light now.

There’s a deep purple stem in this picture, which appeared after a heavy bud started sagging over and left a “hole” in the canopy for light to get through.

Can you spot the deep purple stem where light got into the canopy?

Since the branches keep flopping all over from the bud weight, there are new bright purple stems every day wherever the stems happen to face “up”.

I remember last time I grew Mandarin Cookies the plant looked and grew the exact same way. It’s getting me excited because I absolutely loved those buds! I don’t think this plant will be a big yielder, but I don’t mind when buds look this good!

I tried to get a couple different shots to help you see the plants.

Side view (see the plant structure)

Three quarter view of canopy

In regular light

So happy to see under normal light that the leaves finally starting to lighten up! It’s been over a week of just getting plain water, not nutrients. The lower levels still a bit on the darker side, especially on the Candy Games #3 plant in the front right, but a much more “Kelly green” kind of color now. The darker leaf plants will continue to get plain water until those lower leaves start to lighten up.

I love peeking in on the plants. When it’s just as window in the front of the tent, I can do it as much as I want without worry about bothering the plants at all.

I keep finding myself in the grow room, peeking in at the plants, admiring the beauty of the flowers.

It’s crazy to just grow weed at home! What a great time to be alive.

Day 90 (Flowering Day 45)

Looking happy! The topsoil is dry, so I’m giving plenty of water today.

3 gallons

• 1.25 tsp pH Down
• 6.2 pH

Not one drop of runoff water.

Made nutrient water just for the Blue Dream

I noticed the Blue Dream is paler than the other plants. I also noticed that it’s lowest leaves are turning yellow and falling off. It needs more nutrients. Luckily it’s got tons of leaves left so losing a few lower ones is no big deal since we caught this right away.

Blue Dream looks hungry for nutrients. Lower leaves are getting pale and starting to wilt.

Note: When a plant doesn’t have any other nutrients deficiencies (spots, etc.) but the lower leaves are turning yellow, wilting, and falling off on their own. It means the plant wants MORE nutrients. Not that the pH is off, but that it literally is running out of nitrogen and needs higher levels of stage-appropriate nutrients.

All the other plants still have regular-to-dark green leaves, and zero yellowing, so they get plain water.

I made up a gallon of water with half strength week 10 nutrients and that’s going just to the blue dream.

1 gallon for Blue Dream

• Week 10 half strength
• 1 1/2 tbsp of Big Bloom
• 1 tsp of grow big
• 1 tsp of tiger bloom
• pH to 6.3

I did give a little squirt to all the other plants.

• Gave the rest of the water between them
• They all got a little bit of runoff except the Mandarin Cookies. I gave it less than the others. It tends to drink the least. I did confirm that water got all the way to the bottom by touching the bottom of the pot.
• I gave a lot of water to the Blue Dream. So much it got enough runoff to fill its reservoir to the max. I tested it’s run off water and it was 6.3 pH and 1600 PPM. That seems fine to me, within the recommended pH range of Fox Farms, with a bit high PPM but I know it needs more nutrients. So I’m just going to leave it. I’ll let him have all the extra water.

I think I’ve done the right thing so we’ll see how they look later

Environment

I noticed it’s 70% RH in the tent. Hmmm, why? It’s been pretty consistently 50-60-% RH this grow so far.

Then I looked at my humidity monitor in the living room, and my outside thermometer, and the weather forecast for this week. All say 70% RH or higher!

So my local environment was causing the humidity to rise in the tent. Everywhere in the house is 70% RH, so it makes sense the grow space will be as well.

The big dehumidifier

I’m going to turn on the big dehumidifier and close up the room tight. The dehumidifier tends to raise the temperature of the room but that’s okay considering it’s coolish in the tent already. The only problem with this dehumidifier is you have to empty the water out all the time, because it holds so little. You can connect it to a hose, and have that go into a bucket, but if you forget to change the bucket it could overflow. It’s meant to be put over a drain. I could take a long hose to the bathroom I guess… but what if I have guests? Hard to explain a hose going from the spare bedroom and dripping into a bathroom drain!

It’s not crucial to control humidity yet at this stage, but buds develop tighter and denser (with lots of sparkle) if you can keep the humidity around the buds under 60%. Ideal humidity after buds are forming is 45-50% RH, but that’s unrealistic for me when the air everywhere is 70% RH and I don’t have a totally sealed grow room (cracks under the doors and such).

When you’re at the mercy of your environment, you just do your best!

Day 91 (Flowering Day 46)

Humidity down to 54% RH in the tent with the dehumidifier going. Much better!

Plants still seem well-watered. They soil looks we and the pots feel wet on bottom.

There’s still a little water in the Blue Dream reservoir, and in the Purple Ghost Candy reservoir, but the rest are empty. The Blue Dream plant looks pretty pale/hungry to me (back right this picture). The next time I water it I’m definitely going to make sure that one gets nutrients again.

The Candy Games #38 is looking decidedly more purple around the buds, than earlier this week.

Big and beautiful Candy Games #38 buds!

I’m at that part of the grow where there’s not much to do so I keep looking at the buds and fussing about the plant’s environment and water 🙂

Week 14

Day 92 (Flowering Day 47)

Looking good. Plan on giving the Blue Dream some nutrients and maybe give everyone else just a little splash. 

Picture: The Blue Dream (back left, blue label) is the only plant that seems “hungry”. It cannibalized several bottom leaves. Which is why it’s getting nutrients in the water. I want it to keep all its leaves for many more weeks, as its buds are still all white (which means they have several weeks to go before harvest day).

Only the Blue Dream seems “hungry” for nutrients.

Even though it lost several leaves off the bottom, when I peeked in on the Blue Dream plant from the side window, I see it’s still got tons of green leaves. Maybe even too many. It’s crazy how wild plants can grow in the back where you can’t see them. But overall I think the Blue Dream looks great.

Here’s what the Blue Dream looks like from the front! Seems a lot more orderly from this direction haha.

You can see it’s more pale than the other plants. It’s an okay color but I’m going to make sure it gets some nutrients with every watering, maybe get those leaves just a tiny touch darker like the Purple Ghost Candy to its left.

1 gallon nutrient water 

• 1.5 tsp Big Bloom
• 1 tsp Grow Big
• 1 tsp Tiger Bloom
• pH 6.5
• 670 PPM 
• Gave mostly to Blue Dream but a splash to others 

3 gallons x 2

• Plain water pH to 6.4 ph
• Split between all

Noticed no one had runoff after giving first 3 gallons from the top. Added another plain water gallon from the top, until some runoff, then 1 gallon to the reservoirs. 1 gallon remaining. I’ll check their reservoirs later today and if any are low I’ll give the remains 

Environment 

• It’s 75% RH in the air outside, and in the rest of the house 
• So I have both the AC and dehumidifier running with the room closed up as best I can.
• Lights are at Level 5
• Getting it around 81F in the tent and 55% humidity in the grow space.

Day 93 (Flowering Day 48)

• Gave the rest of the plain water from yesterday.

Plants look good. 

I saw a fallen bud from the GG4 x Zkittlez.

It got too heavy to hold itself up anymore.

I strung it back up with plant yo-yos.

I plan to lift up the Mandarin Cookies (tiny plant in the middle) on an extra reservoir platform, like I did the GG4 x Zkittlez, so it gets more light. The Mandarin Cookies center spot is between the two LEDs, so it could be higher up, and still be a good distance from the LEDs (since it’s not directly under any hot/bright spots).

Right after the LEDs turned off, I took a picture of them in natural light, to get a better idea of what their leaf color looks like.

I’m happy the leaves look less dark on all the plants compared to a week ago. However, besides the Blue Dream, I think the rest of them still need to use up some of the nutrients they have before I give any more.

I dropped my cellphone on the poor GG4 x Zkittlez while taking pictures, but luckily he didn’t seem the worse for wear. Hopefully these pictures were worth it!

GG4 x Zkittlez from the front. Considering it is only day 49 since 12/12, it looks surprisingly close to harvest. Definitely a fast strain!

The GG4 x Zkittlez buds are unusually leafy. I removed just about every big fan leaf from the long buds, and they’re still covered in so many leaves. Might be a good strain for outdoors as those leaves would do a great job protecting the buds from the elements. Plus, a fast-flowering strain like this is more likely to be totally ready to harvest before wet or wintry weather comes.

Closeup GG4 x Zkittlez bud.

Candy Games #38 is the exact opposite. Almost no sugar leaves, just naked buds!

Day 94 (Flowering Day 49)

Moved the Mandarin Cookies up a few inches, like I had done previously with the GG4 x Zkittles. It seems to have stopped stretching on the shorter side. I had reached the top canopy, but since it was right in the middle there is no LED panel directly above. It’s getting light from either side. I figured that was the perfect opportunity to give it more height. That way it’s getting more light from each side, yet doesn’t affect any other plant from getting light.

Peeking through the grow tent window in at my plants. The silvery mini Mandarin Cookies plant in the middle has been raised up a few inches now.

I’m so excited with how they’re turning out!

You may noticed in the pictures that the front right plant (Candy Games #38) seems a bit leafier (big fan leaves, at least) than I’d normally do.

Candy Games #38 plant in front right spot. Why did I leave so many big fan leaves?

It’s because it has those big fan leaves, but pretty much no other leaves. The buds are bare with barely any sugar leaves. Compare that to the GG4 x Zkittlez in the front left, where I plucked every fan leaf off the main stems at the top, and it’s still insanely leafy.

I want the Candy Games #38 to have plenty of leaves to last until harvest. Since it has so few, it gets to keep them even though normally I’d defoliate away any big fan leaves like that to expose buds to more light.

Environment is perfect for bud formation! Not too hot, not too humid, nice and breezy.

Defoliation/lollipop experiment

Speaking of leaves, I am experimenting with a different kind of “lollipopping” than previously. You may see that in my pictures.

Normally, I pull all the leaves off below the “lollipop” point. BUT this time I tried something different. I picked off all the buds below the lollipop point, yet left the leaves alone as long as they weren’t touching each other.

Why? My hypothesis/theory is that those bottom leaves aren’t taking from the top buds, but it’s the bottom buds that take from the top buds. In my mind, I wonder if the leaves act more as like a reservoir of easily usable nutrients the plant can draw from.

I’m happy I did that with the Blue Dream plant. One day I came in and realized it was taking nitrogen from all the bottom leaves. They all were stripped by the plant, wilted and died. The issue was it was using more nutrients than I was giving it. It’s an extremely nutrient hungry plant and I hadn’t realized it was lightening compared to the others, since it was in the back.

But I noticed those bottom leaves dying, and immediately gave it a feeding of nutrients, and the leaves stopped dying. I will be making sure to watch that plant a lot more closely.

BUT the cool thing is even though it lost maybe 15 of the lowest leaves overnight, as it took nutrients and brought them to the top, the entire top of the plant was totally unaffected. Those leaves gave the plant some buffer when something didn’t go quite right because of my mistake.

Note: The Mandarin Cookies also showed one or two leaves being halfway devoured, so I’m going to make sure I give that one extra nutrients too, especially since it’s buds are still 100% white and it’s now been moved into a position of stronger light levels. And it’s cool because it still has a massive buffer of lower leaves, yet the plant isn’t putting any effort into growing lower buds.

And it makes me think, the plant has to put energy into GROWING buds, but how much energy does it really waste on maintaining an already-fully formed leaf that isn’t even having to do photosynthesis. Is the plant really losing energy on those leaves, or are they just a free reservoir of nutrients we’ve been needless plucking away, because the REAL secret was we needed to get rid of those lower buds being developed, and just the losing of the leaves was okay as long as you took PERFECT care of the plants and kept all the top leaves until harvest.

All the little buds with no size after several weeks of flowering? GONE! But I didn’t strip the fan leaves.

Anyways, it all makes me wonder, considering one of the biggest struggles in the flowering stage is keeping healthy leaves until the end, if we’re reducing our “buffer” by removing those lower leaves. Clearly removing the growth improves yields and bud quality. I’ve tested that very carefully with both photoperiod clones AND autofloweirng strains. The lollipopped plants produced better than the unlollipoped plants. BUT, what if you could get further gain, or maybe further buffer, by leaves the leaves and only picking off the lower buds sites?

So far, I feel like this strategy seems very promising. At least in the case where the Blue Dream was able to go through a problem in the middle of the crucial flower stage, and experience no ill effects because it was able to draw on that buffer of lower leaves, which I don’t care when they died.

For the other plants, it’s less clear the effects. I can see that the plants are clearly carrying a lot of nutrients. Their lower leaves are still dark. So for those plants, I’ve been experimenting with just giving water. It seems like they’ve been happily getting all their nutrients because I don’t see a single nutrient deficiency on any plant besides the Blue Dream which lost a bunch of lower leaves, and the two half-lost leaves on the Mandarin Cookies.

I haven’t been removing the dead leaves either. I figure if it can get any last bit of something from it, I’m leaving it until the plant decides to drop the leaf on its own. 

Of course, I will immediately pick up any leaves that fall, and also remove any leaves touching each other but that isn’t the case here.

What do you think of my experiment? What do you think of my hypothesis?

Should leaves and buds, or only buds, be removed when lollipopping?

To summarize

New Lollipop Method: Remove buds but not leaves from bottom of plant.

• Main Hypothesis
  • Get the well-proven benefits of lollipopping (bigger, denser top buds), but extra leaves give extra buffer in case you mess up with nutrients.
• Secondary Hypothesis
  • Plant might produce more energy from extra photosynthesis, raising overall yields vs if those leaves simply weren’t there.
• Alternative Hypothesis
  • It’s possible that this lowers bud yields by diverting energy away from buds to lower leaves. So I need to make sure the experiment controls for that possibility.

Informal Experiment (what I’m doing with this journal)

• When lollipopping plants (I think I did it about week 2 or 3 after 12/12 in this grow journal, I only removed lower bud sites but let most leaves remain.
• I didn’t worry about “light hitting the ground”. I made sure that top buds were well exposed to direct light, and then I made sure to remove any buds that weren’ well developed compared to the top buds. So if the lower buds were just wisps of hairs, even though the top buds were developing, I removed those buds. But if there was a bud that was developing well, even if it was a bit lower, I left those buds.
• Essentially, since I wasn’t moving the plants at all at that point, I decided to let each plant “tell me” which buds it was “working on” and which were an “afterthought”. And removed the afterthoughts and left the big buds.
• Now that it’s week 6 or 7 or 8 (can’t remember exactly) since 12/12, I will go again today and remove any remaining lower buds I missed that simply aren’t developing.
• If this seems to get good results compared to my sort of “intuition” then I am going to do a much more formal hypothesis. Like how when I tried defoliation and lollipopping originally, it FELT like it helped, but it was hard to be sure since other factors change between grows. So I did detailed, well measured experiments and found my intuition was correct. Defoliation and lollipopping doesn’t just increase yields but bud size, density, and even POTENCY at the labs. It’s outstanding.
• So this first informal experiment is just to test that it “seems” like it goes well. And if it doesn’t, next I’ll do a FORMAL experiment.

Plants in this journal were lollipopped, but only the buds were removed. Lower leaves were left alone.

Formal experiment (next experiment if this goes well)

• Background: If this works, it would be a totally FREE, new, and easy way to improve both yields and overall fun. A goal worth testing.
• Experiment Structure
  • Grow space: Two tents, same nutrients, setup, everything exactly the same as much as possible
  • Plants: Use clones of 4-5 different strains, one of each clone per tent.
  • Experiment
    • One tent gets lollipop stripped (traditional lollipop method)
    • One tent gets lollipop of lower buds only (lower leaves allowed to remain)
  • Results
    • What will happen?
    • Will one tent produce significantly more weed than the other?
    • Will one tent’s plant’s be more resilient and fun to grow?
    • Or will it work the opposite way? Will the full strip lollipop actually produce more/bigger/denser weed. It’s well proven this offers improvements over not lollipopping at all, but will it beat Nebula’s experimental “Lollipop Tek”?

Day 95 (Flowering Day 50)

I love the new raised Mandarin Cookies getting lots of light on all the buds now from both sides 

The Mandarin Cookies buds were hidden before, but now they’re raised a few inches and getting lots of light from both sides.

Had to string some of the Mandarin Cookies buds up with plant yo-yos. They’re small thin spear-shaped buds, yet amazingly heavy! I think they’re going to be extra dense after harvest.

Gave 3 gallons plain water, 6.5 pH, to all plants.

I noticed the Purple Ghost Candy and Candy Games are finally starting to lighten up in color, though GG4 x Zkittlez (front left) has not yet.

Blue Dream deficiencies stopped spreading. It needed that dose of extra nutrients.

It got plain water today, but I’ll definitely give it more nutrients next watering. All the hairs are still totally white, so I know it’s going to need a lot of nutrients yet.

Blue Dream is still all white hairs, so I need it will need plenty of extra nutrients for a while.

The Purple Ghost Candy is also all white hairs still, for the most part!

Purple Ghost Candy has just a few darkened hairs, and starting to get random spots of purple here and there on the sugar leaves.

Day 96 (Flowering Day 51)

Starting to get colorful in there! Especially the top leaves.

Made up 1 gallon of water and gave to the Blue Dream, and a little bit to the Mandarin Cookies and Purple Ghost Candy. Since those are the ones that have mostly white hairs.

Fill the rest of the reservoirs about 3/4 full with plain 6.5 pH water

I’ve got the dehumidifier running 24/7 in the grow room now to try to keep it under 55% RH in the grow tent. It’s tough because the rest of the house is at 65% RH, so I’m fighting the natural environment.

I just get nervous because those Blue Dream buds look so big, and nearly all white hairs still. I feel like they’re going to keep getting bigger and be prone to bud rot.

I know that keeping the humidity lower and a fan on the buds not only helps prevent mold immediately, those conditions can help the buds grow tighter, with fewer air spaces that cause humid air spots leading to bud rot/mold ideal conditions.

I am thinking about setting up some more little fans in there, specifically to have one that completely blows over the Blue Dream buds so I can see them constantly moving slightly in the breeze.

Can’t touch the buds without gloves now, or my fingers get sticky and reek of delicious weed smell.

Day 97 (Flowering Day 52)

Reservoirs all have a little bit of water left, so I’ll leave them alone for now. 

Played around with the fans today.

I moved the oscillating fan to be over the shortest plant, so it can blow directly on all the taller plant’s buds.

Added two small fans on low at the bottom of the tent blowing up through the “undercarriage”.

And a quick view of the tent!

Day 98 (Flowering Day 53)

Nothing to do today but enjoy!

Week 15

Day 99 (Flowering Day 54)

Plants look happy!

Pots seem really dry today (the top soil looks very dry) even though they seemed really wet yesterday.

Made 1 gallon of half strength week 10 nutrients

• 750 ppm
• 6.5 pH 
• To split between plants with white hairs

Made 3 gallons plain water x 2 (they were thirsty!)

• pH 6.4
• To split between all

Added fans

Now I have a fan pointing up through the plants

And an oscillating fan blowing over all the big buds.

Nice and breezy in there!

Day 100 (Flowering Day 55)

Getting full in there!

It feels like I need to add a new plant yo-yo every other day.

All water is gone except the GG4 x Zkittlez. I think it’s slowing down getting ready for harvest. Still white hairs and clear trichomes so not yet.

GG4 x Zkittlez is the shortest plant, and looks closest to harvest.

But if you look close, there are still plenty of white hairs, so I know buds need more time.

Candy Games #38 also is starting to look close, with big buds and relatively few white hairs left.

Though the Candy Games #38 buds do still have lots of white hairs if you look closer.

The good news is that means all the buds are still getting bigger, more dense, and more potent!

Made 1 gallon of half strength week 10 nutrients

• 750 ppm
• 6.5 pH 
• Split between Purple Ghost Candy and Blue Dream reservoirs 

3 gallons 

• 6.5 pH
• To reservoirs of all

Day 101 (Flowering Day 56)

A quick peek at the Blue Dream from the back right side window, as I strung up another bud that was falling over. Otherwise left the plants alone today.

Day 102 (Flowering Day 57)

Noticed the Purple Ghost Candy has lost a lot of color. I hadn’t noticed since the leaves are starting to turn purple, but I can see the entire plant is starting to look pale in natural light. The Blue Dream also looks light. even the Candy Games is finally lightening up.  GG4 x Zkittles is still dark, and Mandarin Cookies looks good.

Made 1 gallon half strength hydro nutrients 

• 2 tsp Big Bloom
• 1 tsp Grow Big (hydro)
• ½ Tiger Bloom 
• ¼ tsp pH Down
• 6.3 pH 

Split between Blue Dream and Purple Ghost Candy. Gave from the top. Not sure why. Need to kind of figure out what difference it makes, if any. I just remember that giving plain water from the top could give nutrient burn even if we haven’t been giving nutrients in a while, so I thought it might make the nutrients more available if I gave them from the top. In my mind, it might make some of the nutrients in the soil more available to the plant if it’s wet.

I may water the other plants later today but they’ve all got a tiny bit of water left in their reservoirs. I’ve been trying to let the reservoirs dry out between waterings, to prevent anything growing in the reservoirs.

Day 103 (Flowering Day 58)

Gave clean water to the GG4 Zkittles, and a little bit to the Mandarin Cookies and the Candy Games. For the Purple Ghost Candy and Blue dream I made up some nutrient water.

3 gallons (⅓ strength) – Gave to Blue Dream and Purple Ghost Candy, plus a small bit to Mandarin Cookies and Candy Games.

Mandarin Cookies buds look and smell like magic!

Blue Dream, when will you start dreaming of harvest day?

These LEDs provided 100% of the “food” (energy) these plants turned into buds!

There’s never been a better time to be a grower than today. Modern LEDs are outstanding 🙂

Day 104 (Flowering Day 59)

Gave the rest of the nutrient water to Blue Dream and Purple Ghost Candy, from the top. Both still have some water.

I feel like some of the buds have the sign of possible light stress on top (growing new hairs closest to the light). I turned one light down a bit. 

Purple Ghost Candy – Lots of new white hairs. A sign of light stress, or just regular bud development? It’ll be clear in a few days!

Blue Dream – Still mostly all white hairs, going to be a BIG yielder I think. As long as I prevent bud rot haha

All the Blue Dream buds are so fat and long. Absolutely crazy genetics.

Mandarin Cookies – Long, thin pointy buds that smell sweet and fruity! A unique silver-blue tint on the leaves and buds.

GG4 x Zkittles – The buds were small and leafy at first, but lately started to put on weight.

Candy Games #38 – Pretty bud structure, color, leaves, and sparkly. Very “modern” or trendy looking genetics. This look is kind of what’s “in style” in the American cannabis breeding scene right now.

The Candy Games plant stretched a lot in the flowering stage and had a lot of long empty stems. No more! Each of those stems is now carrying multiple fat “bud balls”.

Buds grow like golf balls (not the typical long “cola” shape).

Can’t wait to see what these buds look like after drying!

I feel like we’re in the home stretch. I definitely want to push the plants with lots of light to get the best yields and potency, but never to the detriment of the buds themselves. It’s better to have a little bit less yields with better buds, than a ton of buds that aren’t at peak quality because the plants got too much light stress.

Such a crazy assortment of different bud types!

Other plants still have a bit of water left in reservoirs, and tops look a bit wet still. I’ll give them plain water tomorrow. If the reservoirs dry up between waterings, I feel like it helps prevent anything growing in the reservoir.

Day 105 (Flowering Day 60)

1 gallon plain water

• Gave to two front plants, which have the darkest leaves

3 gallons – ⅓ strength nutrients

• Gave to Blue Dream and Purple Ghost Candy, plus a small bit to Mandarin Cookies and Candy Games, with some left over

A different view! “Underskirt” picture.

Week 16

Day 106 (Flowering Day 61)

Gave the remaining nutrient water. All still have some water in the reservoirs. 

My view opening the tent each morning.

Mandarin Cookies buds have a cute bud structure. Thin and pointy yet compact and sparkly.

It’s the small plant hidden in the middle (long spear-shaped buds with a silvery-purple tint).

It’s hard to see in the middle of the sea of bigger buds!

Day 107 (Flowering Day 62)

Gave 1 gallon plain water to three front plants, fed from bottom in reservoirs 

I love taking pictures of the plants these days!

3 gallons to back two plants. 

• Same nutrients last time 
• 6.5 pH 
• Fed half water from top, until I got some tiny runoff, then filled the reservoirs

Tops of plants are starting to look a little rough. I think just because they’re getting closer to harvest, and also just accumulation of small mistakes like with nutrients, underwatering, etc. These are the same leaves that have been working hard for several weeks without replacement, and it’s starting to show!

Buds look immaculate though!

Day 108 (Flowering Day 63)

Nebula from the future: I didn’t take any notes or pictures. I don’t think I actually checked on the plants today.

Day 109 (Flowering Day 64)

Strung up some more falling stems with yoyo’s. Overall, the buds are all progressing beautifully.

The GG4 x Zkittles buds are surprisingly starting to fatten up a lot! I’m not going to lie, I’m impressed as they didn’t seem like they were going to be that big at first. Its buds were surprisingly leafy at first, but now that they are bigger, the buds are a lot more spread out. You can much more clearly see the bud structure underneath now.

GG4 x Zkittles buds are not so tiny anymore! They’re actually getting pretty fat.

Environment is good. Under 80°F/26°C, around 50% humidity with the dehumidifier. The local weather has been cooperating, not being particularly hot or humid this week. Hopefully it lasts to harvest day! Luckily the summer is over so at least we (hopefully) won’t get any heat waves.

I tried to use a ring light for more light from the front so I could take clearer pictures of the GG4 x Zkittles buds. I don’t think it made any difference, but the ring did make a kind of cool picture border for the plants.

Day 110 (Flowering Day 65)

All I have for today is a blurry picture from the webcam (above the Blue Dream plant with all the white hairs).

Day 111 (Flowering Day 66)

Gave very light nutrients, 1/12 strength, 6.5 pH.

Flowering day 66 the Blue Dream is still nearly all white hairs, meaning it likely needs several weeks before buds are ready to harvest.

Is the Blue Dream playing with me?

Many white hairs = weeks until harvest (for this plant)

Not much else to do but wait!

Day 112 (Flowering Day 67)

Plants looking good today. Here’s a tour of the tent as we finish up the week!

The grow tent

GG4 x Zkittles – looking juicier every day!

Mandarin Cookies – such fanciful, sparkly buds

Purple Ghost Candy – finally turning purple

Blue Dream – white hairs for days

Candy Games #38 – looks like candy for real!

So nugget-y

Harvest Week!

Day 113 (Flowering Day 68)

Gave several gallons of water.

Tonight’s plan: drop the temperature so the Purple Ghost Candy and Mandarin Cookies plants turn purple from the cold.

I turned it only down to 70°F which isn’t that cold. But I wanted the plants to purple up all pretty 🙂

Day 114 (Flowering Day 69)

I think they look a bit more purple today. I turned off the AC for the day, but turned it on again right before they went to sleep.

Gave the rest of the water from yesterday.

Day 115 (Flowering Day 70)

The room is now set to 60°F/16°C (as cold as my AC can go) and about 50% RH. Hopefully it helps the big plants finish faster, and grow tighter buds. It’s also the perfect conditions for drying weed.

The Candy Games #38 looks ready to harvest. I’m going to let it go just a little long to try to harvest the plants all together so I can hang them in the tent to dry.

Day 116 (Flowering Day 71)

The Candy Games #38 is ready, but I don’t have time today to harvest. The reservoirs are all just a touch wet still, so I’ll tend to them and harvest the Candy Games tomorrow!

Day 117 (Flowering Day 72)

The plants all look like they’re getting closer. I think the cold has helped them finish ripening faster. Maybe, just maybe I can harvest them all together.

Day 118 (Flowering Day 73) – Harvest!

Today, I was looking at the buds under magnification and all looked pretty ripe. The Blue Dream doesn’t look ready yet but I saw some bananas. I don’t want the buds to grow seeds I think it’s been decided, today is the perfect harvest day!

I love the assortment of different colors in this tent.

These HLG LED grow lights really outdid themselves!

GG4 x Zkittles – The first plant to get harvested! Buds feel heavy, with a fresh herbal scent.

Mandarin Cookies is the tiny silvery plant hidden in the middle. It was second to get harvested.

And then there were three.

I turned off the LED to snap a picture in natural light, which gives a different perspective.

Candy Games #38 – I love how these buds look.

All the Candy Games #38 buds have lovely mild, sweet, tantalizing smell.

The Purple Ghost Candy looms in the back. Leaves turned a dark purple in the last few days.

The buds have a classic mid-2010s California dispensary smell I haven’t smelled in a while.

The Blue Dream roots had totally grown into the ropes in the auto-watering pot bases.

The roots actually shredded the ropes!

Branches hanging upside down in the tent to dry.

Filled from top to bottom, front to back!

“Sweet Dreams” Journal – Final Weigh-In (Yields!)

Here are the weigh in results!

The entire harvest – Over 1 lb of top shelf buds!

I’ll post pictures in better light soon, with smaller labels for all the jars so you can more clearly see how much weed there is in each jar. I forgot about the label maker until the last two plants I jarred.

Final dry weight buds:

• Mandarin Cookies: 78.94 g (2.8 oz)
• GG4 x Zkittles: 67.69 g (2.4 oz)
• Candy Games: 98.89 g (3.5 oz)
• Blue Dream: 190.11 g (6.7 oz – WOW!)
• Purple Ghost Candy: 135.43 g (4.8 oz)

Total: 571.06 g (20.14 oz)

The Candy Games #38 plant made 3.5 oz of FAT, beautiful buds.

Here’s my weigh-in and notes. I had to weigh the Blue Dream in two batches because there was too much buds for my bowl ^.^

Want these grow journal entries sent directly to you? Sign up for our weekly newsletter and get free grow tips and these journal updates delivered to your email inbox every Sunday morning at 4:20am. 100% written by humans who actually grow weed at home 🙂

Nebula, Co-Founder of GrowWeedEasy.com

I need your help! What should we do with all this weed? Let us know!

Follow Live Home Grows & Get Tips from Real Growers!
Enter Your Email Here:

We respect your email privacy

Hey growers, a quick announcement. Our brand new Harvest Mastery book is now available!

Our new $27 digital harvest book!

Happy growing!

Nebula

The post “Sweet Dreams” Photoperiod Grow Journal appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Got marijuana plants growing in soil? Many nutrients made for hydroponics work in soil. But do you know what’s way better? Using nutrients that were made specifically for growing cannabis in soil. Soil nutrients have cool, unique properties that you won’t want to miss! Here are my top cannabis nutrient picks:

• Fox Farms Nutrient Trio for Soil – professional-grade marijuana soil nutrients, popular, mostly organic.
• Botanicare Pure Blend for Soil (Grow and Bloom) – perfect for beginners, one bottle for each stage of life.
• Dyna-Gro Grow & Bloom – cheapest option, easy to use, but still produces great bud quality.

Weed plants in soil love extra nutrients!

Keep reading to become an expert at soil nutrients for growing marijuana…

Table of Contents

Do You Need Special Nutrients to Grow Marijuana in Soil?

What Type of Soil Should I Get?

Which Company Makes the Best Soil Nutrients?

Tips for Growing Marijuana in Soil

Do You Even Need Special Nutrients to Grow Marijuana in Soil?

• Cannabis has high nutrient needs, especially in the flowering/budding phase. Without enough nutrients during budding, the plant won’t make buds as big as they could be.
• You can avoid using extra nutrients altogether by growing in well-amended composted soil and transplanting your cannabis into a nice big pot with fresh composted soil right before the switch to the flowering stage, which should be enough to last through the flowering stage. In composted soil, tiny microorganisms slowly bread down the nutrients for your plants, so the nutrients are fed to the plant slowly and regularly.
• A potted cannabis plant in regular (non-composted) potting soil often uses up all the nutrients in the soil before they even make it to the flowering stage. After about 3-4 weeks of growing in an average sized pot, a cannabis grower either needs to repot the plant into new, fresh soil, or supplement with extra nutrients in order to get everything to the plant that it needs.
• There are “natural” ways to provide extra nutrients to your cannabis (for example egg shells, coffee beans, dolomite lime, etc all add minerals and nutrients) but these usually do not break down fast enough or consistently enough to make sure your cannabis doesn’t run into nutrient deficiencies. Another problem with using things like this is that giving your plant too much of one nutrient can actually make it deficient with another nutrient. So it can be difficult to get the right proportions right unless using a soil recipe that’s specialized for cannabis or by adding extra nutrients in the water.
• Want more info? Since it’s just a weed, why can’t I grow cannabis in the regular dirt outside?

Fox Farms Ocean Forest soil (pictured here) is a top soil for growing cannabis. It just works.

How to Get Enough Nutrients to Your Marijuana Plants

To make sure your cannabis plants don’t run into nutrient deficiencies while growing in soil, you need to either…

• Grow with composted soil OR
• Regularly transplant to new. fresh soil OR
• Grow in a really, really big pot with tons of soil OR
• Supplement with specialized marijuana nutrients formulated specifically for growing cannabis in soil (recommended)

Conclusion: Adding soil nutrients to the water tends to get the best cannabis yields, potency, and density.

Fox Farm Nutrient Trio – excellent, mostly organic marijuana nutrients.

What Soil Should I Get to Grow Weed?

What Are the Best Soil Nutrients?

But are they the best marijuana nutrients? Which one is the best?

There are so many nutrient options out there! How can growers figure out which ones are actually the best cannabis nutrients? In fact, what makes a nutrient system good or bad for growing cannabis in the first place? The answer is it’s about the NPK nutrient ratios!

* In a pinch, nutrients for cactus or succulents can be used in the flowering stage until you get better nutrients because they have similar nutrient ratios

These aren’t the only nutrient ratios that will work for growing cannabis, but these ones work well. Adding cannabis nutrients to your grow can help you get the best potency, yields and growth from your plants, especially in the flowering stage when cannabis uses a lot of nutrients to make bud. Cannabis plants have two stages of life and they need the right nutrients at the right time.

Note: Don’t use anything with time-released nutrients (like fertilizer spikes, or Miracle-Gro soil – they deliver too much N in the flowering stage).

Most nutrient bottles have 3 numbers, often called N-P-K, which stands for Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium

(Why “K? The atomic symbol of Potassium is “K” from Neo-Latin kalium)

Marijuana plants need different ratios of these 3 nutrients (as well as several micronutrients) depending on what stage of life they are currently in.

For example, cannabis plants in the vegetative stage need nitrogen to power the growth of leaves. In the flowering/budding stage, cannabis needs less nitrogen and greater levels of phosphorus to assist with proper bud growth.

Because of the varied nutrient needs of the cannabis plant, it’s often easier for many growers to use a professional nutrient system made for a plant like cannabis, instead of trying to mix up their own. With a professional nutrient system, you don’t have to figure out your own changing nutrient ratios, and you don’t have to worry about chemical reactions that occur from combining different types of nutrients incorrectly (which can create fertilizer salts and cause nutrient lock-out).

A professional cannabis nutrient system will save many growers a lot of time, frustration and money. There are many nutrient systems to choose from which have been created by long-time cannabis growers and breeders around the world!

When it comes to finding a nutrient system to use with your cannabis plants, the first question you ask yourself should be: “What is my growing medium?”

Warning: When it comes to growing cannabis, avoid any nutrients which claim to be “extended” or “slow release”! They can cause all types of unexpected problems.

If you’re growing in soil, you will want to get nutrients made for soil.

With all nutrient systems, don’t start at full strength or it might burn your cannabis plants!

Different strains have different preferences, and some plants are very sensitive to nutrient burn.

How Much Soil Nutrients to Give Cannabis?

• Start at half strength – I recommend starting new nutrient systems at half-strength and only raise the nutrient levels as needed.
• Fast-growing plants need more nutrients – If your cannabis plants are growing very fast (inches a day) they likely need full-strength nutrients regardless of the type of grow light.

Other Factors That Affect Nutrient Levels

• Small grow lights require less nutrients for plants to be healthy, on average – Many home growers will never need to raise nutrient levels above half-strength because their plants are under relatively small LED grow lights (100-200W). Plants just aren’t “digesting” enough light to need lots of nutrients.
• Big grow lights often require need full-strength nutrients – On the other hand, cannabis plants are under powerful, bright lights may require full-strength nutrients (or even more in rare cases).
• Individual plants have different needs – Some strains or specific cannabis require more or less nutrients. You sometimes notice you have plants in the same environment, but some plants get “hungry” for nutrients while other plants getting the same conditions are getting enough or even too much.
• Pay attention to plants more than anything! If a plant looks like it needs more nutrients, give it more. If it looks like it needs less, give it less.

Plants turn yellow or lime green all over when they need more nutrients overall.

If leaves are dark green all over, they probably need less nutrients overall.

“Nutrient burn” (dry, brown, possibly curling tips) is another sign of too-high levels of nutrients or supplements. Pay extra close attention if nutrient burn affects all the leaves at once, especially if you see it happen right after raising nutrient levels or adding a new supplement.

Nutrient burn on all the leaves is another signal the nutrient levels are too high.

Plants use light for food (and to power the growth of buds), not nutrients. Just like eating a bunch of multi-vitamins every day will make you sick, giving plants too high levels of nutrients can make them sick, too. With plants, just like humans, you will get the best results by paying attention to nutrient needs on a regular basis. Don’t wait until your whole plant is yellowing to try to figure out the problem!

Some growers try to push their plants to the limit of what they can take, giving stronger and stronger levels of nutrients until plants show signs of nutrient burn, but I don’t believe this is necessary. Sometimes less is more. I believe that as long as your plant is not showing signs of deficiencies (such as growing pale green leaves towards the bottom of the plant), you are generally in the right range.

Many cannabis growers will find that professional nutrients work well at half-strength, and only growers with very bright lights and fast-growing plants will need to raise nutrient levels above that. There are also certain strains that seem to do better at higher nutrient levels than most others.

Here are pictures of cannabis plants with nutrient problems (and solutions).

Please, save yourself the time and frustration – get a nutrient system that’s proven to work for growing cannabis! If cost is a worry…

​An Example of Cheap (But Effective) Cannabis Nutrients: Dyna-Gro Grow & Bloom. Use Dyna-Gro “Grow” bottle in the vegetative stage & Dyna-Gro Bloom bottle in the flowering stage. This cannabis nutrients work great for growing marijuana. You don’t need anything else besides these two bottles of nutrients to grow weed all the way to harvest and this simple cannabis nutrient system is cheap (effective for soil, coco coir and hydro!). If you’re not sure which nutrients to get and you’re on a budget, consider going with Dyna-Gro!

An easy and simple nutrient systems that for beginning cannabis growers in soil is the Fox Farms Nutrient Trio for Soil. These are professional-level nutrients, and one of the the most popular nutrient systems for growing weed in soil.

Fox Farm Nutrient Trio – excellent, mostly organic cannabis nutrients.

The Fox Farms trio works great for growing any cannabis strain, without needing any additional supplements.

Tips for Growing Cannabis in Soil

• Low Levels of Nutrients Given Regularly is Much Better Than Giving a Lot of Nutrients at Once!

The most common mistake made by beginners growing cannabis in soil is they water their plants too often. Overwatering is almost never a case of giving your plants too much water at once. Instead, overwatering cannabis in soil is almost always caused by giving the plant water too often.

Learn how to water seedlings in soil (day-by-day watering schedule).

Never overwater your seedlings again, just use this seedling watering schedule.

How to water adult cannabis plants in soil

1. Wait until the top of your soil feels dry up to your first knuckle (about an inch deep)

2. Add nutrients to your water (if needed), then adjust the pH. Most soil growers only add nutrients every other watering, or even less often, but you will always need to adjust the pH of your water.

3. Start watering your plants and continue to add water until you see at least 20% extra runoff water drain out the bottom of your pot. Go back to step 1.

Use the above directions to water older plants in soil, like these 30-day old plants

Learn more about growing cannabis in soil!

The post Best Soil Nutrients for Growing Marijuana? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Do you want to grow a bunch of (almost) free weed outdoors? Do you seek the satisfaction of growing cannabis plants in nature? If so, you’ve come to the right place. This beginner outdoor marijuana growing tutorial will walk you through the basics of growing weed under the sun. Just follow all the steps, and you will be holding your own homegrown weed by the fall.

Don’t you want cannabis growing in your backyard like these beautiful plants by LuckyAcres?

Why Let Your Cannabis Buds Embrace the Sun?

Why grow your cannabis outdoors?

• Free Light! (The Sun) – Cannabis plants “eat” light. Light is what feeds the growth of buds, and more light = bigger yields on average. Outdoors, the sun provides all the light a cannabis plant could use.
• Turn Outdoor Space into a Weed Factory – An indoor cannabis garden takes room in the house. If you’ve got a good space outdoors to grow weed, why not use it?
• Free Weed Every Year – Even if you also grow cannabis indoors, it’s nice for any grower to get a huge bumper crop of extra weed every year. If you set your outdoor grow up properly, it should be fun, straightforward, and lucrative.

This White Widow plant is growing big, beautiful cannabis buds.

Pros of Growing Cannabis Outdoors vs Indoor Growing

• Cheaper Than Indoors – Thanks to the sun, you don’t need electricity or grow lights to grow cannabis outdoors. Electricity is usually the highest cost for indoor cannabis growers. A free source of unlimited light dramatically cuts down costs. Outdoor weed is the cheapest weed to grow.
• No Extra Heat in the House – Outdoor growing doesn’t cause heat in the home, like a grow light. Though admittedly, a very small LED grow light won’t change the temperature of a room.
• Less Work – Depending on where you live, Mother Nature takes care of many of a cannabis plant’s needs, such as providing water through rain. With indoor growing, you typically water your plant a few times a week.

There’s something particularly beautiful about outdoor cannabis plants.

Cons of Growing Cannabis Outdoors vs Indoors

Cannabis Pests Want Your Plants

• Problem: Bugs and other outdoor pests are often the biggest challenge for outdoor cannabis growers compared to indoor growing.
• How to Deal: Bugs can be dealt with. This outdoor tutorial suggests a mix of pest management practices and safe insecticides (when necessary). But with extra care, outdoor growers can grow a clean cannabis crop of big beautiful buds.

Local Climate Might Not Be Optimal

• Problem: Cannabis plants need lots of direct sun every day. Harvest timing is also a factor for outdoor growers, because weather/light cycles are different in different parts of the world. Some growers may have to prepare for weather such as storms or heat.
• How to Deal: It helps greatly to learn a little about your local sunlight cycles and seasons. Most strains of cannabis are ready to harvest in mid-Autumn, which is still good weather for some growers. If not, some fast-flowering photoperiod strains are ready to harvest earlier. Luckily, you can also grow autoflowering strains and choose almost any harvest date (more info below). For weather, here are cold-resistant strains, heat-resistant strains, and extra tips for dealing with heat and humidity outdoors.

Artificial Light Can Cause Problems (Photoperiod Strains)

• Problem: Outdoor photoperiod cannabis plants need total darkness at night to make buds in late summer. Long nights tell the plant “winter is coming”. Artificial light at night can interrupt this process.
• How to Deal: Small lights in the distance aren’t enough, but artificial light close to cannabis plants at night can cause the plant to revert to the vegetative stage. Cannabis plants need their beauty sleep to make buds. Take a moment to think about nearby artificial lights. For example, don’t plant your cannabis right under a street light or bright window.

Note: Ignore this for autoflowering strains, as autoflowering cannabis plants don’t care about light cycles.

Stealth is Paramount

• Problem: It’s best no one knows about your cannabis plants besides you. Even if just to prevent a heart-breaking plant theft. The problem is cannabis plants have a potent aroma and plants given plenty of sun, nutrients, and root space can grow quite large.
• How to Deal: Even if it’s legal to grow where you live, and you’re not worried about thieves, it’s still good to be a considerate neighbor and not stink up the neighborhood. Here’s a helpful guide to stealthy outdoor cannabis cultivation.

Quick outdoor tip, while we’re here: These delicate floating white eggs are actually good eggs. They come from the green lacewing bug, a garden friend. Leave these eggs alone so they can hatch and eat cannabis pests in the area. Check out this guide to outdoor pest management.

Lacewing eggs make GOOD bugs.

Less Control

• Problem: You have much less control over your outdoor environment compared to indoors.
• How to Deal: Being more zen helps a lot. Part of outdoor growing is acceptance. If it rains for a week, that’s just what your plants are getting unless you can shield them. You can gain more control by growing in pots so plants can be moved, but to some extent, outdoor plants are at the mercy of the elements. Outdoor growers must accept that some bugs will crawl on your plants at some point. However, this tutorial shows you how to minimize the most common outdoor challenges, so you’re rewarded for your patience at harvest time.

Now that you know how to overcome these stepping stones, you are ready to join the wonderful exciting world of outdoor cannabis cultivation!

Overview: Timeline of an Outdoor Cannabis Plant in This Tutorial

Seedling Stage: The life of an outdoor cannabis plant starts as a seedling indoors. Seedlings get moved outdoors after it stops getting cold at night.

Vegetative Stage: Plants are nurtured with sunlight and regular watering. Autoflowering plants grow on a schedule, but traditional photoperiod plants follow the sun’s light cycles. Photoperiod cannabis plants typically reach about half of their final size by mid-summer, at which point you should see the first buds forming. This is the sign your plant is entering the “flowering” or budding stage of life.

Flowering Stage: Continue to water plants regularly. Since cannabis plants are nutrient-hungry when buds are forming, it’s recommended to give organic or synthetic “bloom” nutrients during the budding phase. This helps prevent nutrient deficiencies, which tend to reduce yields and slow down bud development.

Harvest: Wait until buds are ready to harvest. Then cut down the plant, hang each branch upside down to dry, and jar the buds.

Enjoy: An outdoor marijuana harvest can be huge if you follow all the steps below.

7 Steps to Grow Weed a Ton of Weed Outdoors: Easy Method

Whether you’re a curious newbie or a seasoned grower looking to switch from indoor to outdoor, we’ve got you covered with our fail-proof method.

Step 1: Source Quality Seeds

You have two main options, autoflowering or photoperiod strains.

• Autoflowering Strain – Autoflowering plants are ready to harvest on a schedule. For example, most strains are ready to harvest around 3 months from germination. With these, the main thing is to make sure you plant the seeds so they’re ready to harvest before it gets cold or rainy where you live.
• Photoperiod Strain – These can be a bit trickier. Photoperiod strains automatically start making buds when nights get longer in mid-to-late summer. Then they are ready to harvest in early to mid-autumn, depending on the strain. If your local climate gets cold or rainy before mid-autumn, you might want to consider auto-flowering plants to make sure they’re ready to harvest in time before the weather gets bad. If you do have a decently warm fall where you live, opt for a photoperiod strain that is listing as being a good choice for your climate.

Other factors to keep in mind:

• Avoid sensitive strains – When growing outdoors, it’s best to get cannabis strains that are known to be hardy against the elements, for example have some resistance to heat, high humidity, and bugs. You probably don’t want a particularly fragile strain outdoors, since you don’t have as much control to baby the plants.
• Ask locals – Sometimes the best cannabis strain for growing outdoors comes from local growers. If you can find someone who’s been growing weed in your area for a few years, they may even have some great tips or genetics to share about your local environment.

Recommended Outdoor Autoflowering Strains

• Blue Dream Autoflower – Easy to grow, nice “in-your-head” daytime effects that are not overwhelming. Ready to harvest about 9-10 weeks from germination.
• Blueberry x Mazar Autoflower – Excellent effects, easy to grow, ready to harvest about 3 months from germination.
• Durban Poison Autoflower – Robust, healthy plants that do well in many environments. Ready to harvest about 3 months from germination.
• LSD-25 Auto – Beautiful purple buds, potent effects, easy to grow. Harvest buds about 10 weeks from germination to get the highest potency and bud quality.
• Runtz Auto (MSNL version) – Big yields of sparkly buds, easy to grow, with an extremely fast flowering time, up to 24% THC levels, and a stimulating high.
• Purple Punch Autoflower (Royal Queen Seeds version) – Very fast strain that’s ready to harvest as soon as 7 weeks from germination, though an extra week or two tends to increase the potency and density.

Check out my recommended outdoor autoflowering strains for the 2024 season.

Recommended Photoperiod Strains for Outdoor Growing

• Apple Fritter – Super high THC levels and excellent bud quality. It does well outdoors and can handle heat and cold, a good choice for grower who want super high potency. Just be careful to protect it from bugs as it can be extra tasty to bugs (like caterpillars) compared to some other strains.
• Blue Dream – A classic for good reason. Hardy, high-yielding, and relatively easy to grow. Resistant to common molds and pests. Offers a balanced high and is generally a crowd-pleaser.
• Blueberry x OG Kush – A popular strain that’s well-suited for warmer climates. It requires some attention but rewards with high-quality buds. It’s known for its potent effects and complex aroma, blending earthy, pine, and lemon notes.
• Baldur’s Crepe – This photoperiod strain thrives outdoors even at northern latitudes, as it was bred to grow outdoors in northern Maine close to the Canadian border. New to the scene, it has proven to produce gorgeous fat round buds that belong on the top shelf, even if you make a few mistakes along the way. The same breeder also offers Skunch, which performs well in similar conditions, with buds that take on a “peanut butter” smell after they’ve been dried.
• Durban Poison – This pure sativa is great for outdoor cultivation, especially in warmer climates. It’s known for its resilience and can grow quite tall. It offers a clear, uplifting high and a sweet smell.
• Frisian Dew – Specifically created as an outdoor cannabis strain, Frisian Dew is known for its hardiness, mold resistance, and visually striking purple buds.
• Granddaddy Purple – Perfect for cooler climates. It’s a hardy strain that produces dense, resinous buds with a sweet, grape-like aroma. It’s great for pain relief and relaxation, and its stunning purple hues are a sight to behold.
• Gorilla Sherbet F1 FAST – This fast version of Gorilla Sherbert by Sweet Seeds is ready to harvest earlier outdoors
• Maui Wowie – A classic strain with unique effects. It grows well in various grow environments, and can tolerate a wide range of conditions and still produce excellent weed.
• Pineapple Express #2 – Designed to thrive in hostile climates and still give you sweet-smelling, delightful weed.
• Sour Diesel – Known for its pungent, diesel-like aroma, this strain is a favorite among growers for its strong, energetic high. It’s fairly resistant to mildew and pests, and thrives in a sunny, outdoor environment.

Frisian Dew is the quintessential outdoor cannabis strain.

Step 2: Set Up Your Grow Spot

What Supplies Do you Need?

Soil – I like Coco Loco because cannabis seems to grow faster for me in soil that uses coco instead of peat. Anything labeled as an “organic potting mix” usually works well for growing cannabis.

Other Thoughts on Soil: If soil looks rich and you see little white rocks in it (shows up as “perlite” on the ingredients list), that’s a good sign. I’ve had good luck with any soil by Fox Farm. Their Ocean Forest soil tends to burn young seedlings because it it “hot” with a lot of nutrients, but they get used to it and grow well after that (just don’t give extra nutrients for a few weeks). Their Happy Frog soil is made for seedlings, with great fast growth, though you need to start giving extra nutrients after a week or so because they’ll quickly use up everything in the soil. My local garden nursery offers “rich organic potting soil with coco and perlite” and that works amazing. If there are friendly garden workers near you, it can’t hurt to ask what soil they recommend for an outdoor vegetable garden.

What’s the best soil for growing cannabis?

Don’t skimp on soil. Give plants good cannabis soil like Coco Loco if you want good weed!

Bad soil results in sad, weak plants that don’t ever grow happy and fast.

This is bad soil!!!

Nutrients – Regular soils typically starts running out of nutrients before cannabis hits the crucial nutrient-heavy budding phase. For your first grow outdoors, I recommend doing what’s easy and proven to work great, which is to add cannabis-specific nutrients to your water when watering your plants.

• Easy, Cheap Nutrient Option: Dyna-Gro Grow & Bloom. Give 1/2 tsp/gallon of “Grow” with every watering at first, then 1 tsp/gallon after the first 2 weeks. When the new buds have started coming out, and you see little white “puffballs” all over the plant, switch to giving 1 tsp/gallon of Bloom with every watering. Learn more about using Dyna-Gro nutrients to grow cannabis.
• Higher End Cannabis Nutrients: Fox Farm Nutrient Trio – Give this to cannabis plants according to their schedule, but start at half strength as it tends to be a bit strong.

Check out more recommended cannabis nutrients.

Easy, cheap nutrient option for growing weed outdoors: Dyna-Gro Grow & Bloom.

Home for Roots: Plant Pots, in the Ground, or a Raised Bed?

• Plant pot – A relatively small plant pot can help keep plants smaller, while an enormous pot can support bigger plants. A 5-gallon or 10-gallon pot can support a big but not crazy cannabis plant. If growing in a fabric pot, don’t get anything smaller than a 5-gallon, and it can help retain water and protect roots from heat if you put the fabric pot inside of a hard-sided pot.
• In the Ground – This can be a good option if you have particularly good soil where you live, but typically you should either dig a hole and fill it with good soil, or get your soil analyzed and fix it so that it has the right properties to support a plant like cannabis.
• Raised Bed – Tends to grow bigger and more vigorous plants than using plant pots. A good choice if you want to grow big plants without having to rehabilitate a bunch of soil in the ground.

Starting multiple cannabis plants in different kinds of pots lets you decide what works best for you.

Some advice about pots from my outdoor growing friend LuckyAcres. “After 20 years of being around black “nursery pots”, airpots have become my number one choice. Better root growth, better access to air, massive root terminals…. day and night to what I was accustomed to. Grow bags can retain salts and pests if not dealt with properly between grows. My access to sun changes thru the season so I must be able to move my ladies as needed.”

Learn more about air pots vs regular pots.

Example of a Night Queen Auto by Dutch Passion that was grown in an air pot.

Outdoor grower Jim shows off his outdoor cannabis plants in raised beds.

You need big pots with lots of soil and tons of sunlight to grow huge cannabis plants outside. These are 200-gallon fabric pots!

Where should I grow cannabis outdoors?

Here’s what to consider.

• Hours of Sunlight – When it comes to growing outdoors, you want to maximize direct sunlight to your plants. Most importantly, your plants should be getting at least 6-8+ hours of direct sunlight every day during late summer. Cannabis plants need a lot of light to produce big buds. If they only get indirect light, or only get light for a few hours a day, the buds will never get dense or mature fully.
• Stealth – If possible, the grow spot should be easy to hide, so that no one will accidentally see the plants. If there are people around, you may also want to consider security to deter possible thieves.
• Water Access – It should be easy to get water there (a hose is ideal)
• Smell – What will happen if the smell of weed starts to get out of control? If neighbors will be able to smell your plants, you’ll want to think about this (for example grown in a greenhouse with a carbon filter to contain smells, or grow low-odor strains).
• Wind Exposure – Cannabis plants like fresh air, and don’t want to be planted in a humid or musty spot. Grow cannabis plants where there is a nice breeze if possible, but not so breezy it would make the stems wave around.
• Pests and Wildlife – Outdoor grows may attract pests and even wildlife like deer or rabbits. If possible, try to grow in a clean, tended, fenced outdoor grow area that doesn’t have a lot of bugs or wildlife.
• Overall Accessibility – Your outdoor cannabis garden should be located somewhere that’s relatively easy for you to get to. It should be convenient to check on your plants every day. If they’re in some Far away clearing you probably aren’t going to be able to tend to the plants much. But if it’s in your backyard, it’s easy to check on plants regularly.

A greenhouse makes it a lot easier to hide cannabis plant.

Keeping plants in pots helps keep them on the smaller side, and gives you more freedom to move the plants (at least until they get too big).

When planting straight in the ground, it’s important to dig a big hole and fill the hole with several gallons of good soil, like this grower did. It’s unlikely your local soil happens to naturally support happy cannabis plants (with some exceptions).

Step 3: Start Seedlings Indoors

Easy method:

Start in solo cups  if you plan to grow multiple seeds. This makes it easy to decide what you want to do until after you see which seeds have sprouted and how they start growing.

Don’t forget to label each cup with the strain you planted, or you will often forget which is which lol

Or if you don’t mind using some extra soil, it’s awesome to put cannabis plants in 1-gallon or 2-gallon nursery pots. They’re relatively cheap, let plants get pretty big, and are relatively easy to transplant into their outdoor homes.

Plant seed directly in the soil under a small grow light. A very bright household light kept close works too. Just use the “hand test” and make sure it’s not too hot for your hard where the seeds are located.

Step 4: Transition to Nature in Early Summer

Move seedlings outdoor to their final home in early summer. It should be after the last frost of the season, and not get too cold at night anymore.

Just transplanted to a 15 gallon pot.

This plant was planted strain into the ground in a bed of awesome soil.

A plant going out for summer in Australia.

Follow a Proven Watering Schedule and Nutrient Regimen

How to Water Plants in Pots

• Wait – Wait until the top inch is dry
• Nutrients – Add nutrients to water
• Get Runoff – Give enough water to get some runoff
• Remove Runoff – Don’t let your plant pots sit in water.

*Alternative: “Pick up the pot” method. Water when the plants start to feel light when you pick up the pot, as most of their weight actually comes from the water.

How to Water Plants in a Raised Bed or Giant Pot

• Check the Soil Moisture – Dig your fingers an inch or two down and see if it feels wet. It should be moist, not soggy or bone dry. Generally if the top inch is dry it’s good to water again.
• Water Deeply and Evenly – Water slowly and evenly around the plants to allow the water to penetrate deep into the soil.
• Watch the Weather – Plants drink more when it’s hot, dry, or sunny. THey need less water when it’s cool or cloudy. Make sure to adjust your watering accordingly.
• Mulch to Retain Moisture – If soil is drying out, add a layer of mulch to hold extra moisture and help keep an even temperature at your plant roots.
• No Waterlogged Soil – Overwatering cannabis is a common mistake. Soil should be wet but not muddy. Make sure your planter has good drainage so extra water isn’t trapped with the roots. If soil seems really really wet, give it a long while to dry out before watering again. Not only is overwatering bad for your cannabis roots and growth rates, it tends to attract unwanted pests like fungus gnats.
• Monitor Plants – Watch how they respond after getting watered. If they droop for days after watering, that’s a sign you’re giving too much water at a time or watering too often. Healthy plants stand upright with vibrant, green healthy leaves.

If height is a concern, you can force cannabis plants into the shape you want simply by bending stems and tying them where you want.

Mainly, your job is to keep plants watered and happy. Then let them do their thing.

How to Avoid Cannabis Nutrient Deficiencies

• Cannabis Nutrients – Give good cannabis nutrients in the water.
• Check PH – Check the pH of your water with a kit
• React to Symptoms – Use our Plant Doctor tool to diagnose your symptoms and quickly fix the problem.

Check our free cannabis plant doctor tool if you see nutrient deficiencies or bugs.

Step 5: Shield with a Midsummer’s Spray

Spray cannabis plants in mid-summer to prevent bugs in the flowering/budding phase. You can spray plants now without any consequences, but once they start making buds you don’t want to spray them with anything because it may leave residue on the buds. If possible, it’s good to spray your plants proactively for common local pests, especially caterpillars. Other common outdoor cannabis pests are aphids, grasshoppers, crickets, leafhoppers, and planthoppers. As your local garden center what the worst local pests are in the garden.

Note: If you live in a place with sparse vegetation, for example in a desert or at very high altitudes, plant-eating bugs like caterpillars are less common. In that case, you may not need to do any preventative spraying for cannabis pests. However, always stay vigilant for any signs of bugs and be prepared to respond quickly if they appear.

• 1st spray at first site of pistils/white hairs/buds: BT Spray for Caterpillars
  • This biological insecticide contains the bacillus thuringiensis (BT) bacteria which kills larva and prevents caterpillars from being able to eat. Make sure to get something labeled for caterpillars, as there is a different type of BT that’s good for killing mosquitos but isn’t as effective on caterpillars. BT is harmless to humans. Although BT spray almost instantly stops caterpillars from being able to eat, it doesn’t kill them directly. So, although you may see the caterpillars alive and apparently unharmed after spraying, the BT is still doing its dirty work because they’re slowly starving to death.
• 1 week later: Spray with a horticultural oil or insecticidal soap, which kills or deters many insects from being on your cannabis plants.
  • Neem oil is the most popular organic insecticide for cannabis plants, by far. It’s effective against many cannabis pests and widely available all over the world. However, some people don’t like the smell or have adverse reactions. Learn more about neem oil for cannabis pests.
  • Insecticidal soap works by weakening the outer shell of bugs. Not as long-lasting as neem oil but some cannabis growers like it because it doesn’t leave much of a residue. This version comes as a concentrate and needs a sprayer to apply properly.
  • Lost Coast Plant Therapy is ridiculously expensive, but really effective on cannabis plants when used with a sprayer.
• 2 weeks later: One more BT spray (be careful not to spray any developing buds, which likely look like little white puff balls by now).

Recommended: Monterey BT Spray – Any caterpillar BT product should work, but I know Monterey BT works from experience. You can save money in the long run by getting the BT Caterpillar Spray concentrate, and mixing it with water in a mister to spray your plants.

I know it’s a pain, but spraying plants now will save a lot of headaches and frustration later.

Caterpillars don’t just eat cannabis leaves. Some caterpillar species known as “bud worms” burrow into the stems and cause entire branches to die. Spraying your plants ahead of time with BT spray helps prevent this from happening. There is nothing more heartbreaking than losing the branch with your biggest cannabis buds because some caterpillar burrowed into the stem.

Step 6: Tend to Buds as they Grow

How do you tend cannabis plants to ensure the buds are taken care of?

Defoliation

If plants look leafy, remove extra leaves in the middle of the plant, especially during the first few weeks of the flowering stage. Learn more about strategic flowering stage defoliation.

This plant just showed its first white hairs where buds will be. In addition to defoliation, this plant would benefit from being transplanted to a new, bigger pot with fresh soil.

Speaking of transplanting… Once you see actual buds on your plant, it’s recommended not to transplant it, because that could stress it out and mess with bud formation. Luckily, as long as you water plants with nutrient water, they can typically handle being in a too-small pot.

Make sure buds are developing normally

Here are the first sign of buds growing on a plant. They are often called pistils and look like white hairs at first.

The white hairs soon turn into puffballs. These are cannabis flowers. Yep, your buds are coming in!

Start giving flowering nutrients at this point, when you see buds look like white puffs (“budlets” as I think of them). Flowering nutrients are characterized by being low in N (Nitrogen) while being high in P (Phosphorus) and K (Potassium). 

IMPORTANT! If you see male pollen sacs or “hermie” bananas where buds can be, you need to remove the plants or they may cause your other buds to get seeds. Learn why you need to get rid of male plants and hermies.

Throw away any cannabis plant that grows pollen sacs where buds should be. This is a male plant. Male flowers look like bunches of grapes and won’t turn into buds.

This picture shows a hermie banana, which looks like a yellow growth on your buds. These can cause seedy buds just like male plants, so any plants with bananas should be removed right away. What causes bananas on cannabis buds?

Inspect plants regularly for any symptoms or signs of unhealthy or unusual growth.

As cannabis buds form, check plants regularly to make sure all the leaves look green and healthy. React quickly to any symptoms on the leaves like nutrient deficiencies, holes, or bites.

Watch out for bud rot! If you see random buds dying on your plants, especially if it’s been wet or humid recently, investigate closer as it may be the buds are molding.

As you’re regularly inspecting your plants, don’t forgot to take a moment to admire how beautiful your plants are!

This cannabis plant shows what you can accomplish with amazing plant care, a ton of light, and getting flowering nutrients every watering.

If you plant cannabis in the ground with fertile soil and give it a ton of light every day, you’ll end up with monsters!

Smaller pots restricts the roots, which tends to keep plants smaller, on average.

Some plants grow purple buds. Pretty!

Frisian Dew picture by hamburger

Step 7: Reap the Fruits – Harvest and Cure

Harvest by cutting down plants, drying the buds, and putting dried buds in jars.

When to Harvest Cannabis

Harvest when all the white hairs on the buds have darkened and curled in. The buds should look solid. I’ve got some examples below, and check out more pictures of read-to-harvest outdoor cannabis buds.

Not Ready – This White Widow is not ready to harvest. Notice that all the hairs on the buds are still white and sticking out. This bud has about 4 weeks left before it’s ready to harvest.

Ready to harvest – The following buds are all ready to harvest. Notice that the white hairs have darkened and curled in. Additionally, the buds look solid. See more pictures of ready-to-harvest outdoor cannabis buds.

Solid buds with almost no white hairs – ready!

This outdoor cannabis bud is at the beginning of the harvest window as no white hairs are left. It’s normal for outdoor buds to be a bit more leafy than the same strain grown indoors.

It’s easy to tell when no white hairs are left when the cannabis buds are bright purple!

In this ready-to-harvest plant, the buds didn’t change color, but all the leaves turned purple. Some strains do this naturally, and it also often happens in response to big temperature fluctuations, especially hot days or cold nights.

Cut down plants and dry the buds by hanging them upside down. Trim off all the leaves. Then put the buds in jars, so they “cure” and improve for 2+ weeks to further increase the bud quality.

Read the full cannabis drying & curing tutorial.

Cheat Sheet to Prevent the Most Common Outdoor Growing Problems

Remember these principles to prevent most problems growing cannabis outdoors:

How to Avoid Bugs Outdoors

• Keep area clean. Don’t leave piles of leave around. Keep everything trimmed and clear. If you have other plants in the grow area, don’t let them get infested with bugs.
• React quickly at the first sign of bugs or bites in the leaves. If your plant leaves start looking unhealthy with spots, you see bite marks, or you physically see bugs on your plants, don’t ignore it! Diagnose your plant using our plant doctor tool, or identify the pests via this page. You can treat most bugs successfully as long as you spot it quickly and don’t ignore it until it gets worse.
• Learn about IPM (Integrated Pest Management) – Essentially, these are steps you can take to make your grow space less hospitable to pests, and a paradise for the types of bug predators that tend to eat common cannabis pests.
• Take time to learn about your local pests. See if your local gardening center offers any information or resources on common pests where you live. Often locals have some of the best insight.
• Don’t forget to spray plants with a safe insecticide right before they start flowering, or right after you see the first signs of buds. Especially a BT spray for caterpillars, and some kind of horticultural oil or horticultural soap to deter most other pests. It will save you so many headaches later from horrible pests that are hard to treat after buds start forming.
• Consider row covers if you struggle with insects that are eating your plants, such as caterpillars and grasshoppers.

How to Avoid Other Common Problems That Hurt Outdoor Yields or Bud Quality

• Don’t put out plants too early. Wait until 1-2 months after the Spring Equinox (when days are 12 hours and nights are 12 hours) to prevent plants from flowering immediately due to the long 12-hour nights. The reason you don’t want plants to flower early is they will start re-vegging as soon as the days start getting longer. When photoperiod cannabis plants go outside, day length should be about 13.5 hours (and nights about 10.5 hours long), whenever that is in the Spring where you live. In addition to making sure nights are short enough, the temperature matters too. When cannabis plants go outside, it should also be safely after the last frost, because freezing temperatures or frost can kill young cannabis plants. In the Northern hemisphere, the earliest time to put cannabis plants outside is typically late April or early May. In the Southern hemisphere, the time to put plants outside is late October or Early November.
• React quickly to nutrient deficiencies. If your plant leaves start looking unhealthy with spots or otherwise don’t look green healthy, react to it immediately! Diagnose your plant using our plant doctor tool if you’re not sure what’s going on. You can fix almost any problem as long as you don’t ignore it until it gets worse.
• Watch out for male plants and hermies. Watch your plants closely when buds start forming to make sure they all look like little white puffballs, without any signs of male pollen sacs or hermie bananas.This will maximize the amount of good buds you produce, especially by reducing the chance of harvesting seedy buds.
• Pay attention to the weather and try to protect plants from extreme heat or rain. Shake off the plants if there is rain or dew. Consider harvesting early if plants are close to harvest and the weather looks rainy or cold for the next few weeks.
• Know the signs of bud rot, such as random yellow/brown/red/purple or dying leaves that appear overnight on the buds, especially if the symptoms are in patches instead of affecting buds evenly. Also just make sure to just overall watch the buds for signs of healthy development. Remember, if buds or leaves look funny, or very different from what you see in pictures, oftentimes it’s a sign of something wrong. Take a little time to research and see what other outdoor growers say on the symptoms you’re seeing.

If plants get put out too early, they do something known as re-vegging (pictured here), which will stunt your plant’s growth.

Conclusion: The Rewarding Journey of Outdoor Cannabis Cultivation

If you’ve made it this far, you already have the knowledge you need to start growing weed outdoors and achieve a good harvest. The resources on GrowWeedEasy.com listed below can help ensure you stay on track, and help you deal with any issues you encounter.

Are you ready to turn your outdoor space into a thriving cannabis garden? The perfect time to start is now!

More helpful outdoor growing resources:

Getting Good Seeds for Outdoors

• Where to Buy Cannabis Seeds Safely Online
• Cold-Resistant Cannabis Strains
• Heat-Resistant Cannabis Strains
• Best Outdoor Autoflowering Strains for 2024

Dealing with Plant Problems Outdoors

• How to Deal with Heat and Humidity Outdoors
• Prevent Outdoor Cannabis Heat Stress
• How to Prevent Bugs Outdoors with IPM (Integrated Pest Management)
• Complete Guide to Cannabis Bugs, Mold, and Pests
• Cannabis Plant Doctor: Diagnose Your Symptoms

Outdoor Growing: Additional Tutorials

• Stealth Ideas for Growing Weed Outdoors
• Is it Time to Harvest My Outdoor Cannabis Plants?
• Outdoor Cannabis Growing Basics by LuckyAcres

The post How to Grow Cannabis Outdoors (Easier Method) appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Quick Answer: Water plants when the soil feels dry up to your first knuckle (or if the pot feels light).

That’s the short quick answer. If you do that, you get great results. However, read the rest of this soil watering tutorial for detailed step-by-step instructions with pictures. Learn exactly how much water to give, and how often!

Water plants properly for fast-growing cannabis seedlings and adult plants.

Keeping plants watered properly helps them move nutrients through the plant. Proper watering helps prevent nutrient deficiencies and also lets cannabis plants be closer to grow lights without light stress, resulting in your plants being able to make more energy from light. Altogether, this means watering cannabis properly makes them grow faster and produce bigger buds.

Today’s cannabis watering tutorial will teach you exactly how much water to give plants, and when. It’s really simple to water plants right when you have the right information.

How to water cannabis plants in soil

Here are directions on how to water marijuana plants in soil. First I’ll share some tips for seedlings, and then tips for older plants that are already established.

How to water cannabis seedlings in soil

We have a complete “how to water” tutorial but check out this example schedule for watering seedlings in 5-gallon fabric pot.

• Day 1 – Give 2 cups (500ml) water per seedling
• Day 3 – Give 2 cups (500ml) water per seedling
• Day 6 – Give 2 cups (500ml) water per seedling
• Day 8 – Give 3 cups (750ml) water per seedling (every 3 days after this)
• Day 11 – Give 3 cups (750ml) water per plant
• Day 14 – Give 4 cups (1 liter) water per plant
• Day 17 – Give 4 cups (1 liter) water per plant
• Day 20 – Give 5 cups (1.25 liter) water per plant
• Day 23 – Give 6 cups (1.5 liter) water per plant
• Day 26 – Give 6 cups (1.5 liter) water per plant
• Day 29 – Give 8 cups or 1/2 gallon (2 liter) water per plant
• Continue giving 1/2 gallon (2 liters) per plant every 3 days. You may need to give more at a time or more often as plants get bigger. If you’re getting a lot of runoff out the bottom (more than 20%) or plants droop after watering, it means you should be giving less water at a time. If plants get droopy before being watered, you should give more water at a time, or water more often.

Note: This is the schedule that I use for a 5-gallon fabric pot, but your environment will affect how much plants drink. If plants are in hard-sided pots as opposed to fabric pots, you may need to water less often or give less water at a time.

Learn more about how to care for cannabis seedlings

How to water cannabis vegetative and flowering plants in soil

It’s a 3-step process to water vegetative or flowering cannabis plants.

1. When to water: Wait until the topsoil feels dry about an inch deep (up to your first knuckle – just use your finger to poke a hole in the soil and see if it feels dry). Another option is to pick up the pot to see how heavy it feels. When a plant is well-watered, the plant pot will feel heavy. When the plant has drank all the water, the pot becomes surprisingly light.
2. How much water to give:
   1. If using nutrients: If you regularly add cannabis-friendly made-for-soil nutrients in the water, give enough water that you get about 10% extra runoff water from the bottom of your pot. Just add a little at a time nutrient water until you get an idea of how much water that ends up taking. Getting 10% runoff water coming out the bottom prevents nutrient buildup in the potting mixture. Otherwise, you are continuously adding more nutrients to the system. Make sure to remove runoff water instead of letting plant pots sit in it.
   2. If not using nutrients: If you’re growing in properly amended soil like “just add water” super soil, you want to avoid getting any runoff as this will wash away precious nutrients in the water that you’re trying to save for the plant. Try to give just enough water to fill the pot all the way to the bottom but only get a drop or two of runoff at most. Just add a little bit of water at a time until you figure out the proper amount for your plants and setup.
3. When to water again: Go back to step 1 and wait until the topsoil feels dry again (or the pot feels light).

Here are some tips and answers to common questions about watering cannabis plants in soil.

Why is soil taking a long time to dry out?

It’s good to aim to water every 2-3 days in soil. If pots take a long time (4-5+ days) to dry out before the next watering, you may need to give less water at a time until plants are bigger and drinking more. Soil taking a long time to dry out is especially common in a cool grow room. Plants tend to grow faster and drink a lot more water when they’re warm. Another reason soil might take a long time is some kind of problem with drainage, for example if there are no holes to let water out the bottom, or if soil is thick and muddy instead of fluffy and airy. What’s good soil for growing cannabis? If your cannabis plants are small compared to the size of their container, give water sparingly until plants get bigger.

What’s the easiest way to water cannabis plants in soil?

When I first started growing, I gave my plants water using a watering can. A watering can works great, but it’s hard to water a bunch of plants with one watering can because you have to keep filling it up.

An old-fashioned watering can gets the job done, but they typically don’t hold a lot of water at a time, which is inconvenient if you’re growing a lot of plants

I personally like using a Battery Operated Liquid Transfer Pump to water the plants. You can pump water from a bigger container to your plants. This is a 3-gallon water container from Wal-Mart, and the pump just reaches the bottom. My grow tent is 2 feet deep and this reaches the plants in the back. However, I don’t think the tube is long enough to reach the back if your space is deeper than that.

This water transfer pump can reach into a shallow grow space to water all your plants more easily.

If you’ve got a deeper tent or grow space (like a 3’x3′ or 4’x4′), you want a pump with a longer tube to reach all the cannabis plants in the back.

Another option is to set up a drip feed system to pump water directly to plants. This can be a great choice if you have a lot of plants you can’t easily reach.

Learn more about automatic watering with pumps.

Automated watering systems can be helpful in many situations.

Let us know if there’s something we missed. Growers get creative!

What’s the best way to collect runoff water?

It’s important to keep plants on saucers or trays so you can remove the runoff water instead of letting roots sit in the water and get “wet feet”. “Wet feet” just means that the roots are staying wet too long. This prevents nutrients from moving freely through the plant. Stems or roots may rot. Fungus gnats come to fest on the fungus that grows in too-wet soil. When using plant saucers, you can collect the saucers one by one and dump them out, but that gets inconvenient with many plants.

It’s inconvenient to empty saucers one by one if you have a bunch of plants, but you don’t want to leave plants sitting in runoff water. So what do you do?

A plant saucer catches water but should be emptied.

One idea: Use trays on an incline so runoff water pools to the front.

If you put your plant on plastic trays, and then put the trays on a slight incline by putting something small underneath in the back, it will cause all the runoff water to drain to the front for easy collection. The item in the back only needs to be about half an inch (or even less) thick, for example, a piece of plywood, a bottle cap, etc. If you can find something more water-resistant, like plastic, that’s your best option to prevent the chance of anything growing.

These 1’x2′ plastic plant trays work well if they fit your space. You can fit four of them in a 2’x4′ grow tent (this is the grow tent I use) with up to two plants each as long as your plant containers are 11″ wide or smaller at the base.

Put trays on a slight incline by placing something underneath the tray in the back. This causes all the water to come to the front for easier collection. Each of these trays has a small plastic board (which we found around the house from something else) under the back. Anything that’s about half an inch high will do the trick. These particular trays accommodate plant containers up to 11″ wide at the base.

Put trays on an incline

Not sure how to remove runoff water after watering your marijuana? Wet vacuums can be a great choice, especially if you already have one in the house. I didn’t have one, so I got Bucket Head attachment which can turn any standard 5-gallon bucket into a wet vac. You can buy one online but it’s $10-15 cheaper if you get it in person at a Home Depot. A downside to the Bucket Head and all wet vacuums are they’re loud, just like most wet vacs.

A wet vacuum like the Bucket head style wet vacs can be used to collect the water when combined with a 5-gallon bucket.

Learn more about how to remove runoff water

Make Sure Pots Have Good Drainage

It’s very important to make sure that water can drain freely from the bottom of the pot, otherwise, the plant can get waterlogged and become overwatered (causing the plant to droop).

In addition to making sure the actual container has drainage (holes on the bottom, or some other way for extra water to escape), it’s also important to make sure your growing medium drains freely. If it takes several minutes for the water to come out the bottom of your pot when you water, it means that there isn’t enough drainage in the actual growing medium (it’s too dense, so water is having a hard time getting through).

Example of great cannabis soil

How to improve the drainage of your growing medium

• Never use dirt you find outside. Chances are it does not have the correct properties for vigorous cannabis growth.
• Use an organic potting mix – It’s not necessarily the fact that it’s organic but that organic potting mixes are typically high quality with a fluffy quality that cannabis plants love.
  • If you’re willing to invest a little extra money, get a cannabis-specific soil like Fox Farm Ocean Forest, which is a rich soil full of nutrients and cannabis plants grow well in it.
  • Looking for “just add water” soil? Learn more here.
• Mix in extra perlite to loosen the soil and allow water to drain through more easily.
• Bark or wood chips are not the best choice for growing cannabis plants, even though they’re sometimes recommended to improve drainage in soil for some types of plants. It may not be possible, but try to avoid using soil that contains bark or wood chips. What makes soil good or bad for growing cannabis?
• Use fabric pots – fabric pots (or any pots that let in from the sides) help get oxygen to your roots, which gives you faster growth. Fabric pots also make it harder to overwater your plants. A cannabis plant growing in a tan fabric smart pot is pictured to the right.

This is an example of great soil for growing for cannabis – rich, composted, and well-draining Even better if you add 20% perlite (airy white rocks) to increase the fluffiness and amount of air that gets held in the soil.

What are examples of good soil for cannabis?

What do I do if cannabis plants are drooping?

If your cannabis plants show signs of drooping, often the plant is getting too much or too little water, but not always. Drooping can be caused by….

Overwatering

• Giving too much water at a time
• Giving water too often

Learn more about overwatering.

Underwatering

• Not giving enough water at a time
• Giving water too infrequently

Learn more about underwatering.

Other reasons for drooping cannabis plants

• Too hot – Drooping can occur in hot conditions. Learn how to deal with heat.
• Too cold – If it gets cool (under 65°F/18°C), plants may droop. They’re also more prone to overwatering. What’s the best cannabis light for a cold grow room?
• Humidity – If it’s too humid or dry, the plant isn’t able to move water properly through the plant, causing drooping. Aim for about 50% humidity (40-60% is fine). But if it’s super dry or really wet in there, take steps to fix the humidity. Dry air is especially hard on plants if it’s hot. Humid/wet air is harder on plants that are cool
• Right after watering for plants that were underwatered – Plants sometimes get even more droopy if they are given a lot of water after being allowed to dry out for too long. This is due to the stress of the water pressure quickly changing at the roots. Give them some time.
• Root problems – If a plant develops unhealthy roots (root rot in hydro, or as the result of chronic overwatering/heat/other stressors on this list), they will droop even if you’re giving the right amount of water and good conditions. When a plant has root problems, it typically takes them some time to recover. In rare cases, plants may not be able to come back, but usually plants recover if you just take great care of them for a while.
• Leaves go down right before grow lights go out – Plants put their leaves down a bit during their “night”, and you’ll notice the leaves actually start getting a little droopy right before lights go out. That can sometimes be mistaken as drooping when its actually part of the plant’s natural rhythm. If plants look fine during the rest of the day, this is totally normal.

Signs of Overwatering/Underwatering

Droopiness is the main sign. Here are examples of leaf symptoms that also commonly appear when plants are over-watered vs under-watered.

This seedling is droopy and getting nutrient deficiencies due to overwatering

Sometimes brown edges can be mistaken for nutrient burn. If you’re seeing the edges turn brown, that may be a sign of overwatering, especially if combined with droopiness.

Example of an underwatered plant. Underwatering is very similar in appearance to overwatering. The main clue is the plant is getting droopy before being watered (not after).

If you’re seeing droopiness, it almost always means there’s some sort of issue with the roots or watering

How do I avoid nutrient deficiencies?

Nutrient deficiencies can be really hard to pin down at a times. It often has to do with watering habits (and occasionally your environment).

5 ways to prevent nutrient deficiencies:

1. Avoid over/under watering (this is surprisingly the most common reason for nutrient deficiencies in younger plants)
2. Give the right nutrients for grow medium (don’t give soil-specific nutrients to plants in hydroponics, etc.)
3. Check the root pH if you notice spots or discoloration on your leaves
4. Be aware of light burn, which is often confused for a deficiency
5. Use the free plant doctor tool whenever you’re stuck!

What do nutrient deficiencies look like on cannabis leaves?

Use our cannabis plant doctor to diagnose sick plants!

The post How often to water cannabis plants in soil? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

This side-by-side grow journal experiment was originally documented on my Instagram profile. I think you’ll find this side-by-side marijuana grow experiment just as intriguing now as I did then. I copied over all the posts so you can enjoy this grow journal as if you were watching in real-time (that’s why each post is worded as if it’s happening now).

What effect does it have on cannabis clones to grow them in coco coir vs super soil? This grow journal’s results were not at all what I expected. From yields to THC levels to terpenes, there were stark differences between the coco and soil grow tents.

Here’s a sneak peek of the two tents just before harvest. Jump straight to harvest day if you want to skip to the end, but I think it was one of my most riveting grows and you’ll enjoy reading each update as it happens.

Read on to see the Coco Coir vs “Just Add Water” Super Soil side-by-side marijuana grow journal…

Coco vs Soil Setup & Supplies (one set for each tent)

Grow Light

• ES300 LED grow light (discontinued) – I would strongly recommend the Mars Hydro TSL2000 300W LED grow light as a replacement. In our tests, it gets similar or better results and actually costs much less.

Grow Space (tent with exhaust fan)

• Grow tent – 2’x4’x6′ grow tent (also listed as 48”x24”x72”)
• 6″ exhaust fan – AC Infinity Cloudline T6 – Exhaust fans are used to remove heat from the grow space and bring in fresh air for the plants. Any 300W LED makes some heat and it’s good to have an exhaust fan so plants get plenty of CO2 in the air. You also need an exhaust fan if you want to stop smells because a carbon filter doesn’t work without a strong exhaust fan. The AC Infinity is quiet but expensive; the Vivosun 6″ 390 CFM exhaust fan is a cheaper alternative that’s both stronger and louder). Learn how to vent heat with an exhaust fan.
• (optional) 6″ carbon filter connected to the exhaust fan with 6″ ducting – Carbon filters are used to stop smells from leaving the grow space. Learn about carbon filters.

Here’s a picture of a grow in this setup. I’m using the same tent, LED panel, grow medium, pots, nutrients, etc. (the carbon filter is above the light.)

Plant Containers

• 5-gallon fabric pots
• 14″ plant saucers (the circumference of the bottom of the fabric pots is 12″ so this is a little bigger to catch any runoff water ).

Grow medium

• Coco coir tent
  • Mother Earth Coco + Perlite Mix
  • Nutrients: General Hydroponics Flora trio + Calimagic
  • I followed the mixing instructions on the sides of the bottles except cut in half
• “Just Add Water” Super Soil Tent
  • Nature’s Living Soil concentrate mixed with soil for the bottom 1/3 of each pot (this holds the majority of nutrients that will be slowly released through the grow)
  • Coco Loco soil – Topped the remaining 2/3 of each pot with Coco Loco soil (a high-quality soil that has a bit of coco, ideal for “Just Add Water” mixes).
  • Read my full review of Nature’s Living Soil with step-by-step instructions on how to use it

Strains

• Power Africa
• Peyote Critical
• Critical Purple Kush

Peyote Critical is the strain that turned purple in this grow journal!

July 5

This is a clone tent with two little autoflowering solo cup plants finishing up in the back. I’m amazed what this HLG 65 LED grow light can support with only 65 watts of light!

These clones are rooted and recently put in solo cups. I’m going to grow them out a little then they get put into their final homes.

August 20

The top plants are in coco coir (Mother Earth Coco Plus Perlite Mix) and bottom plants are clones in Super Soil (Nature’s Living compost as base and filled the rest of the way with Coco Loco soil).

Here are the clones about 3 weeks from being put into the tents (they were already rooted so they’re bigger than seedlings of similar age).

Top is coco coir (purple stakes). Bottom is Super soil (green stakes). I’ll keep them in this order for the whole grow journal to make it easier to follow along.

Second picture was after some training. Plants were spread out and tied down.

So far the plants in the super soil tent are ahead. It took a little longer for plants to adjust to the coco. However, they’re both starting to grow fast and the differences in growth patterns will soon be more obvious.

September 5

The coco tent is on top, super soil tent on bottom. The clones are in 5-gallon fabric pots with the LED grow lights. They went into the tents on August 1 so they’re a little over a month old. So far the super soil plants are bigger!

Coco on top, super soil on bottom

The super soil plants are also darker green, with signs of Nitrogen toxicity (“the claw”) from getting high levels of Nitrogen from the super “hot” soil. N is stored in dark green leaves and can be accessed by the plant later. That is why lower leaves and then the whole plant turns yellow when Nitrogen gets low.

Top view

Lots of Nitrogen is fine in the vegetative stage (maybe even good), but high amounts of Nitrogen can suppress bud growth in the second half of the flowering stage. All of these plants will get defoliated at the start of flowering, which removes a lot of Nitrogen from the “system”. Since I’m only giving water to the plants in super soil, those plants are also continually using up nutrients in their soil.

It’s a delicate balance because I also want the nutrients in the soil to last until harvest. That’s why I am not washing any nutrients away with runoff water.

Luckily, in a super soil setup, the plant has a greater ability to “pick and choose” nutrients (just like nature) compared to giving mineral nutrients in the water.

The coco plants are about 11 inches tall and the super soil plants are 12 inches tall. I will probably initiate the flowering stage soon because they’ll about double in size and I’d like them to be 2 feet tall at harvest.

I love how easy it is to care for the super soil plants. Plain water every 3 days and they’re good to go! Whenever I mix up coco nutrient water it makes me appreciate the simplicity of a “just add water” grow!

So far the Nature’s Living Soil tent has been great to use and I feel like the plants growing in it are doing better so far.

September 12

Today I defoliate the cannabis plants as they enter the flowering stage.

These 3 plants were changed to a 12/12 schedule a few days ago to initiate flowering. I can already see the first white hairs/pistils appearing on the future bud sites.

I typically defoliate right at the beginning of the flowering stage and again about 3 weeks later.

Before and After Example

Given what I’m going for, this is a pretty light defoliation. I lollipopped the plants, which means I removed lower growth and small branches that will never make it to the top canopy. I also removed all big fan leaves on long stems, and focused on removing leaves blocking light from reaching future bud sites.

I’ll remove more tomorrow (focusing on removing small lower stems and big leaves) but I’m done for today. I don’t want to stress the plants and defoliating over 2-3 days helps prevent that.

This 2-step defoliation process “hacks” the natural plant processes and forces it to spend more energy on developing buds, and less on vegetative growth. Buds never seem to truly get fat if they’re hidden among a bunch of leaves or located at the bottom of the plant. Buds need to be near the top with direct exposure to light and air to fatten up properly.

Some plants (especially certain sativa strains) don’t really get leafy and defoliation is unnecessary, while other plants get so bushy the leaves are covered in wet spots and you have to defoliate them to prevent the chance of mold! Most plants are somewhere in the middle of this spectrum.

Another bonus to defoliation is it helps keep down the humidity during the crucial flowering stage. High humidity in flowering causes loose buds and can trigger bud rot.

September 15

Defoliation in action!

Several growers asked for more tips on how I defoliate my plants after my last post. These plants started a 12/12 light schedule a week ago and are beginning to make flowers/white hairs (sometimes called pistils).

I typically defoliate right after plants start flowering and again about 3 weeks later. I did these lightly a few days ago and finished up today. I’ll go again in 3 weeks.

Today, I focused on removing small stems that will never reach the top canopy. I removed big fan leaves on long stems and “lollipopped” the plants.

Removed big fan leaves on long stems

“Lollipopped” plant by removing growth on the bottom of the plant that would otherwise be in permanent shadow.

This branch is several inches shorter than all the others, plus is on the front outside edge where it’s touching the tent when I close the door. I don’t think it’ll ever make it to the top of the plant. I decided to remove it.

Here’s that branch after I cut it off

For example, this growing tip on the outside edge will never reach the top canopy so I removed it.

Sorry little buddy

Here’s an example of one plant that’s been defoliated and lollipopped (left) and one that hasn’t been touched yet (right). I hope that helps you see how it looks before and after.

And here’s all three plants in the coco tent before (top) and after defoliation and lollipop (bottom)

Top view

Why do I defoliate? A few reasons.

1.) I’ve found that buds only fatten up when they get access to plenty of light and air. Buds lower on the plant or hidden in shadow never get big or dense. By removing bud sites that will never get light or air, I’m helping the plant focus on the best quality buds. As a result, buds at harvest tend to be bigger, tighter, and more dense. When plants are defoliated properly, they produce fewer but higher quality buds.

2.) Some plants get so leafy that their leaves lay all over each other and cause wet spots. That was happening here. Left unchecked, too-leafy plants are more likely to get powdery mildew.

3.) Leaves constantly release water vapor into the air which raises the humidity. High humidity in the second half of the flowering stage causes buds to grow more loose and can trigger bud rot. It gets humid where I live (over 70% RH outside on some days). I already use a powerful dehumidifier when necessary, but defoliating plants also helps keep the humidity down.

4.) Defoliated plants are way easier to trim after harvest.

Does defoliation increase yields? It’s possible to defoliate too much and stunt your plant, so, to maximize yields, only defoliate plants that are bushy. Some strains don’t need to be defoliated. But with bushy plants, this type of defoliation consistently produces bigger buds of higher bud quality compared to cannabis grown like wild bushes. An upcoming side-by-side grow will test defoliation vs wild. Also check out my grow journal featuring autoflowering plants with some being topped, trained, and defoliated while the others were left alone.

September 17

They have been on 12/12 for 10 days so far. I didn’t notice a major difference between the tents in the vegetative stage. The super soil plants look darker and are a little bigger, but the tents have been mostly comparable.

Top is coco, bottom is super soil.

Today I noticed the first notable difference… The super soil buds are more developed so far. I included pictures of each plant’s buds matched with their clones in the other tent. I can’t tell yet whether the super soil plants are flowering faster or the buds are just getting bigger.

Power Africa (coco on top, super soil on bottom)

Peyote Critical (coco on top, super soil on bottom)

Purple Critical Kush (coco on top, super soil on bottom)

I have to admit I’m really surprised!

This last picture shows the leaves under regular light (coco top, super soil bottom)

For some reason, the coco leaves look much lighter under the LEDs, but as you can see they’re similar in natural lighting. In fact, all the leaves look a bit dark. I can’t do anything about the super soil plants since they’re getting their nutrients from the soil but I will slightly pull back the nutrients on the coco.

September 23 – Day 16 of flowering

Here are the plants when I opened the tent this morning (coco on top, super soil on bottom)

Coco plants (purple labels) – With the coco I’m still using the General Hydroponics Flora trio plus CaliMagic as nutrients, given at 6.2 pH.

Super soil plants (green labels) – Super soil is receiving plain tap water at 6.8 pH. I have high-pH tap water so I’ve been adjusting the pH down using Earth Juice PH Down citric crystals (make sure to shop around because usually it’s way too expensive on Amazon).

I have been surprised every step of this grow.

Initially, the super soil plants were growing faster. Nature’s Living Soil seems to produce faster growth than Kind super soil.

I started 12/12 when the coco plants were 11″ tall and super soil plants were 13″ tall.

The super soil buds developed faster. I couldn’t tell whether they were ahead or the buds were simply bigger. Now the super soil plants have mostly stopped getting taller and are fully in flowering mode. They only grew about an inch over the last week. Buds are developing beautifully.

The coco plants are acting completely different. They are obviously in the midst of a major flowering stretch and are growing almost an inch taller every day. They’ve caught up to the super soil plants in size and don’t seem to be slowing down. Their buds are developing, too, but it’s hard to even see how far the buds go down into the plants because they’re getting wild and bushy.

Here’s the view directly from the side so you can better see the difference in height (coco on top, super soil on bottom)

Since these plants are clones in otherwise identical conditions, it seems like the only factor causing these differences is the grow medium and how they’re getting nutrients (from the soil vs nutrients in the water itself).

The super soil plants are growing in a more orderly way and the buds are ahead developmentally, but will the soon-to-be-larger coco plants overtake them for yields once they’ve stopped stretching?

Here they are (with flash on) to help you see the buds and how they’re forming. This also helps you see how bushy/leafy the coco plants have gotten.

What other differences besides yields and plant growth will we discover after harvest? I’m getting the buds lab-tested for terpenes and cannabinoids so we’ll have as many data points as possible at the end to compare.

Just as a side note, this is my first grow with the V2 version of this LED (V1 was great) and so far the grow is going as smooth as silk.

All the cannabis plants are super happy under the LED grow light.

You can never truly rate a grow light until after harvest but at least in the vegetative stage, I noticed that these plants seem a bit less sensitive to problems compared to other LED grow lights I’ve tried.

LED grow lights like the HLG models (@horticulturelightinggroup) get excellent yields per watt with great bud quality. I highly recommend them. But like nearly all LEDs, I’ve noticed that plants tend to be more sensitive to environmental issues, watering, and pH/nutrient problems in the vegetative stage compared to fluorescent lights or HIDs like MH/LEC/HPS.

Not so with the plants under these LEDs. The plants in both tents are spotlessly green from top to bottom. No sign of stress anywhere.

Now that plants are flowering, I’m excited to see how buds continue to develop. So far the buds look great. I can’t wait to see the results after harvest!

September 28

Just hit 3 weeks of 12/12 today and starting to notice some major differences between each grow medium.

Coco plants appear on top in pictures. Super soil on bottom in pics.

This is what they look like in natural light

Differences in plants: Super soil plants didn’t stretch as much as coco after 12/12 so Super Soil plants are smaller overall. Coco plants still stretching. I noticed the Super Soil plant with the biggest buds (Peyote Critical, left plant in tent pics) appears lighter in color around the biggest buds and is starting to lose a few lower yellow leaves like a Nitrogen deficiency. It’s obviously using more nutrients than the others. I want all the Super Soil plants to have plenty of nutrients so they all got top dressed with a sprinkling of Super Soil concentrate to hopefully bring more nutrients down to the roots when watering.

Differences in bud size: Super Soil plants have bigger/more developed buds. I don’t know whether the buds are ahead in development or just bigger. I’ll be able to tell better once the pistils/hairs start darkening and curling in. If Super Soil buds start turning dark sooner I’ll know it’s just ahead. If they start turning at the same time I’ll know that the buds are just bigger.

Here are pictures of all the buds for comparison (from left to right in each tent).

Power Africa (coco top, super soil bottom)

Peyote Critical (coco top, super soil bottom)

Purple Critical Kush (coco top, super soil bottom)

Differences in bud appearance: Two of the clones (Power Africa and Peyote Critical, picture 1 & 2) have significantly more trichomes on the Super Soil plants. One clone (Critical Purple Kush, picture 3) has a a bit more sparkle in the coco tent.

I wasn’t expecting to see noticeable differences so early. I can’t wait to see what happens next!

October 2

Have you ever seen such long stacked buds under a mid-size LED grow light? This bud structure is more typical of big-bulb HID grow lights like LEC and HPS.

The strain is Critical Purple Kush. No sign of purple yet but the buds are dusted in frost already.

I’m beyond pleased with these LEDs so far. The plants weren’t at all sensitive in the vegetative stage, unlike some other LEDs. They grew green and healthy from head to toe.

I supercropped one branch on this plant, but more for visual symmetry than necessity. It was getting tall in a back corner where it would have been fine except that it marred my beautiful flat canopy.

I’ve noticed plants often seem to produce excellent plant structure under LEDs, with nice thick buds, but usually, buds don’t go as deep into the plant as this one.

My coco plant buds seemed to have stretched significantly more than their clones being grown in “just add water” soil under the same LEDs. I continue to be surprised by how differently the clones are growing when the only difference is grow medium.

October 4

These plants are 4 weeks into the flowering stage (day 28 of 12/12).

Coco tent on top, soil tent on bottom.

In natural light

The differences between the tents is easy to see at this point. The coco plants stretched more and have longer buds, while the soil plants didn’t stretch as much but buds are significantly fatter. Given the different plants structures its hard to guess anything about yields.

The soil plants were looking a bit pale (it’s a lot of hard work making all those fat buds!) with a few lower leaves turning yellow from lack of Nitrogen. They were hungry for more nutrients and must have used up what was in the soil. I top-dressed them with 1 tablespoon each of super soil compost (I had extra Nature’s Living Soil concentrate from when I originally made the soil). The idea was for nutrients would trickle down to the roots with each watering.

After a few days the color is better and no more yellow leaves so it seemed to have done the trick. I’ll probably top dress again before the next watering for another nutrient boost.

It’s adding nutrients to top dress, but still technically “just add water”. What do you think? I think most growers wouldn’t mind sprinkling some compost on the soil in the flowering stage. They’re in 5-gallon pots, and it obviously wasn’t enough soil to last them until harvest. Perhaps next time I’ll put them in 10-gallon pots and see if that has enough nutrients to last until harvest without needing a top dressing.

October 11

Top of each picture is the coco plants, bottom are the soil plants. Week 5 after initiating 12/12.

Here they are in natural light

Next I show each plant with a closeup bud picture from each tent (plants listed in order from left to right in each tent). Since the beginning of flowering, the coco buds have been longer while the soil buds are fatter. That makes it hard to compare them to estimate yields.

Power Africa (coco top, super soil bottom)

Peyote Critical (coco top, super soil bottom)

Critical Purple Kush (coco top, super soil bottom)

A big difference I’ve noticed is the trichome production stays closer to the buds in the soil grow, while the trichomes on the coco plants are spilling everywhere on the plant. The soil buds are trichome-covered but their fan leaves barely have any trichomes at all. With the coco plants, the fan leaves are so sticky it’s kind of annoying.

Based on what I’ve seen so far, I think the coco may be a better choice for a grower looking to do extractions because there are just so many trichomes on the leaves. However, I’m here for the buds! Can’t wait to get results for cannabinoids, terpenes, and yields after harvest.

They’ve been on 12/12 for 5 weeks today, so there’s 5-7 weeks left before harvest. Who knows what will happen next!

October 14

So far, I love these LEDs. They’re easy to use and my plants look great. They’ve been on 12/12 for just over 5 weeks and starting to look chunky!

Here are the coco plants

I’ve also had excellent results with multiple different HLG LED fixtures. Consistently produce potent, high quality buds with great yields per watt. What LEDs should I test next?

I’ve tried just about every other type of grow light over the years. They all have pluses and minuses.

Fluorescents like T5s are perfect for young plants and produce good quality buds, but the plants need to be well trained to get the best density and yields. Even in the best case, I’ve found them to yield about half as much per watt compared to other lights like LEDs, HPS, and LEC/CMH.

MH/HPS are awesome budget lights. MH makes short bushy growth in the vegetative stage, and HPS produces huge yields and dense buds in flowering. MH/HPS fixtures are cheap and produce comparable yields to LEDs per watt. The downside is burning hot bulbs. But with the temperature under control they produce vigorous happy plants. Great in a grow tent with a strong exhaust fan venting hot air out a window. I sometimes still use HPS during winter because I don’t want to add a heater for LEDs. I’ve gotten better yields, density, and bud quality with 150W or 250W HPS than small cheap Chinese blurple LEDs in side-by-side tests. But new LEDs like HLGs, Mars’ and SpiderFarmer perform better in flowering.

LECs/CMH are another HID, and the technology is basically halfway between MH and HPS. They have similar issues with heat and results are heavily dependent on the bulb used. Their blue/4k bulbs get some of the fastest vegetative growth ever, though plants can be a bit stretchy. Used in the flowering stage the 4k bulbs produce more trichomes and terpenes than other lights I’ve tested due to high UV production, with decent yields. The red/3k bulbs in flowering don’t produce quite as much sparkle and terpenes, but get yields as good as HPS or better.

October 17

If you had to pick, would you be Team Coco or Team Soil?

Top picture is coco, bottom is soil

Power Africa. These buds show the greatest difference, especially when it comes to trichome production. The coco buds are absolutely dusted in trichomes (left side is coco, right side is soil)

Peyote Critical. These buds look somewhat different. The sugar leaves next to the coco buds are still totally green while the sugar leaves on the soil buds are starting to look a little purple at the tips. (left side is coco, right side is soil)

Purple Critical Kush. The buds from these clones look almost exactly the same. (left side is coco, right side is soil)

What do you think? In general, the soil buds are fatter but the coco buds are longer (the coco plants stretched more after 12/12 and the stems are all longer overall).

I have to admit I’ve been surprised that the grow medium affects bud development so much on some strains but not others. Even when I’ve grown clones under different grow lights there wasn’t as much of a visual difference between buds as with the Power Africa, especially at only about 6 weeks since 12/12. The plants have only just begun to show their bud “personalities”.

Do you feel like each plant has their own personality when it comes to growth patterns and buds? I know I think of plants that way. When I first started growing I used to actually name each plant.

October 23

Nearly all the leaves on the Peyote Critical plant in the super soil are green on top but purple underneath. Pretty! The sugar leaves around the buds and even the buds themselves are turning purple, too.

What’s interesting is its clone in coco coir isn’t showing any signs of purple yet. The buds on the coco coir clone are a typical green/orange.

Perhaps the properties of the grow medium have an effect on color. It could also be the nutrients (from the soil vs bottled nutrients) and/or pH (pH is close to 7 in soil, but closer to 6 in coco). In any case, the buds are looking good to me!

October 30

Top is coco, bottom is super soil

Here are the bud pictures in order of the plants from left to right.

Power Africa (coco left, super soil right)

Peyote Critical (coco left, super soil right)

Purple Critical Kush (coco left, super soil right) – not much sign of of purple yet

At first the clones looked relatively similar but as we get closer to harvest they look completely different. The grow medium and nutrients are having a huge effect on gene expression in the flowering stage.

Soil buds are more colorful. The coco buds are mostly green with orange hairs while 2 of the 3 soil plants are producing beautiful colors. Bud quality in both tents looks excellent.

The soil plants do look like they’re running out of nutrients in the soil, so some of the color may be the result of nutrient deficiencies. Since this is a “just add water” test I will not add anything. However, if you’re seeing deficiencies like this, I do recommend supplementing soil plants with extra organic nutrients in the flowering stage (low in Nitrogen, high in Phosphorus and Potassium) to ensure nutrients last until harvest. A good example is Roots Organics Uprising Bloom (use this VERY sparingly to avoid burning plants). Or take some of the raw Nature’s Living Soil and make a gentle “tea” and use that to water your plants. If you’re afraid of burning your plants, an excellent ultra-gentle but effective organic bloom booster is Fox Farm Big Bloom. The only downside to Fox Farm Big Bloom is it’s pretty expensive considering you have to use a lot of it at a time.

The coco tent is still winning for trichome coverage while the soil tent is winning for color and smell intensity. It’s hard to estimate yield differences because some clones seem to be doing better in one tent or the other.

I will be reporting yields, smoke reports, and lab results (terpenes and cannabinoids) after harvest. I want you to get as much information as possible on the objective differences between the tents. I’m impatient for harvest time!

November 5

Harvest day!

Here are the coco coir plants at harvest

Coco plant drying

The coco plants were at the beginning of their harvest window (all white trichomes, no clears). I normally would have let them keep growing another week or even two weeks to pack on more weight but the soil plants were done and I harvested them at the same time for the sake of the experiment. It was a tough choice, but in the beginning, I said I would harvest all the plants at the same time and that’s what I’m doing even if it’s not ideal. It’s not a good experiment if you change it as you go along 🙂 If I ever run the experiment again I will harvest the plants when they’re ready instead of at the same time.

Here are the super soil plants at harvest. The Power Africa on the left was really losing color and I was worried the yellowing would start spreading to the buds if I didn’t harvest now.

Super soil plants drying

I do think the soil plants would have faired better if I’d boosted them with nutrients, teas, or another source of PK in early flowering.  However, this experiment specifically tested “just add water” soil so I stuck to the plan and am sharing the results as-is.

Note from Sirius: Defoliation may have played a part in the soil plants’ nutrient problems, too.

The buds will be drying for about 10 days and then buds get lab-tested for cannabinoids and terpenes. The coco plants received only mineral/chemical nutrients, while the soil plants got all their nutrients directly from the grow medium. Since the plants were clones in identical setups, any differences in the buds are likely the result of the grow medium/nutrients. It’ll be interesting to see how the buds were affected!

I’ll also publish the dry weights and smoke reports after buds have been dried and cured for 2 weeks. The soil buds are fatter but the coco plants stretched more and their buds are longer. Just from looking at the drying tents it seems like the coco plants will win for weight overall, but only the scale will tell.

November 18

Finally! Here’s the Coco vs Soil grow journal harvest weigh-in. Over 20 oz for the grow!

Left is the coco harvest and right is the soil harvest.

Coco tent yielded 11.1 oz while the soil tent yielded 9.4 oz, so the coco won for yields but not by a whole lot.

The buds are extremely dense and sticky, with fatter buds in soil but longer buds in coco.

Power Africa in coco weigh-in

Power Africa in super soil weigh-in

Peyote Critical in coco weigh-in

Peyote Critical in super soil weigh-in

Purple Critical Kush in coco weigh-in (I couldn’t fit it all in one bowl so you’ll see it’s 60 g + 59 g for a total of 119 g)

Purple Critical Kush in super soil weigh-in

I thought you might also enjoy this coco vs soil root comparison.

Example of coco roots on left, super soil roots on right

The coco plants were given the Flora trio plus CaliMagic as nutrients. Here’s the coco root ball by itself. The coco root ball weighs less and has a lighter appearance.

The soil plants got all their nutrients directly from the soil. Here’s the soil root ball.  The soil root ball is heavier and has a darker richer color.

Here’s a closeup of the roots near the bottom. I expected to see more differences to be honest.

Next step is to get all the buds tested for cannabinoids and terpenes at a local lab in San Diego.

January 7, 2021

You may have been following my grow journal which pitted clones against each other in coco vs soil. The results are in and I have to admit I’m amazed.

Experiment Details Quick Recap

• Coco: Mother Earth Coco Plus Perlite Mix with Flora trio + CaliMagic as nutrients.
• Soil: Bottom 1/3 of each pot: Nature’s Living Soil Super Soil Concentrate, Top 2/3: Fox Farm Coco Loco soil. All nutrients for these plants came from the soil (no nutrients in the water)

Both sets of plants were in a 2’x4’x6′ grow tent under their own 300W LED grow light.

Results

• Coco won for yields and trichome production
• Soil won for THC percentage and terpenes

Lab report summary

Coco lab reports (PDF)

• Power Africa
• Peyote Critical
• Purple Critical Kush

Super soil lab reports (PDF)

• Power Africa
• Peyote Critical
• Purple Critical Kush

Wow! How cool is that!

Discussion

The soil plants were ready to harvest before the coco plants. As a result, the coco plants were harvested on the early side. The coco tent could have gone on for a few more weeks so chances are their yields and potency would have increased in that time.

However, the super soil plants were at the end of their harvest window, and for the sake of the experiment, I took all the plants down at the same time.

As far as smoke reports, there is no clear winner. Some people prefer the coco buds while others prefer the soil buds. In fact, it seems different for each strain. Honestly, all three of these strains have proven to be really popular regardless of how buds were grown.

I recommend them all (Power Africa, Peyote Critical, and Critical Purple Kush). That being said, Purple Critical Kush has been the fan-favorite so far.

Final Conclusion:

Both grow mediums work great and the real winner is me with all this awesome weed!

Bonus: Check out my full review of Nature’s Living Soil including step-by-step instructions on how to use this soil, a complete watering schedule, and tips I’ve learned over the course of this grow.

The post Super Soil vs Coco Coir – Side-by-Side Cannabis Grow Journal appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Here’s an easy way to water cannabis plants and remove runoff water at home. It’s cheap, simple, and effective!

Instead of a watering can, water your cannabis plants with a battery-powered water transfer pump.

The hose makes it easy to reach all your cannabis plants. Including any plants in the back!

Use plant saucers to catch runoff water…

…or plant trays to catch runoff water. Can be more convenient if you’ve got lots of cannabis plants.

Use a big syringe to suck up the runoff water. Easy and silent!

Idea: Make it easier to remove runoff by putting a tiny waterproof item (water jug caps, plastic game pieces, coins, etc.) under the back of the tray or saucer. This puts the tray or saucer on a slight tilt, so water drains forward.

Just a few centimeters of lift is all you need, and water pools to the front.

This is the watering method I personally use and recommend it for cannabis growers. If you want to go deeper into the topic of watering, keep reading! This comprehensive watering tutorial teaches you everything about how to water your cannabis plants. Plus learn about specialty watering tools you may not know about!

Watering cannabis plants can be a pain… but only if you don’t know what to do.

Watering a plant may seem simple, but when I first started growing cannabis it actually felt like one of the hardest parts. Seedlings drooped, plants got inexplicable nutrient deficiencies, I was breaking my back carrying big jugs of water, and removing runoff water felt like a chore.

Today you’ll learn tactics on how to water cannabis plants perfectly with barely any effort.

Over the years, I figured out how to water cannabis plants perfectly with barely any effort. I also learned an important secret: as long as you start with good genetics and create a nice environment, you can skip almost every part of growing besides proper watering and still produce a great harvest with exceptional bud quality. However, your watering system is key to fantastic results at harvest.

Today I’ll teach you 3 cannabis watering tactics that maximize growth, increase yields, and improve bud quality while reducing time and effort. Stop worrying about watering so you can pay more attention to your marijuana plants and have more fun.

1.) Get the Right Watering Tools

Water transfer pump (battery-powered)

A battery-powered water transfer pump can be used to water plants as long as the hose can reach. These allow you to easily pump water from a container to the base of your plants. They’re also super handy for hydroponic growers who need to pump water in and out of their reservoir.

A water transfer pump moves water from one place to another.

A water transfer pump allows you to give water directly at the base of your cannabis plants.

Struggling to reach the plants in the back? If you’ve got lots of cannabis plants out of reach, get a water transfer pump with a longer hose. The following pump has a longer hose that reaches plants much further away than the model pictured above. However, it does cost a bit more.

Note: Stick around, as you’ll learn the easiest ways to remove runoff water in part 3 of this tutorial.

Automatic watering

If you want to avoid watering altogether, there are several options that allow automatic watering. The most common options are clay stakes (which slowly provide water as the substrate dries out) or drip feeders (which are kind of like your own personal sprinkler system to water plants on a schedule). I’ve used the Blumat brand, which offers great options for both. There are also many generic versions of these tools that are cheaper but I haven’t personally tried yet.

One way to automatically water plants is with Blumat clay stakes connected to your water container via a tube.

Soak the stakes then stick them right into your plant container.

The stakes are connected to tubes that are placed in your water container.

Water is automatically pulled from your container as the grow medium dries. Raise the water container to increase the overall wetness, and lower it to reduce the moisture. I use these to keep plants watered every time I need to leave the house for a trip.

Learn how to water your cannabis plants while on vacation.

The other main automatic watering option is using “drip irrigation” or a “drip feed”. In this setup, water is dripped directly onto the base of cannabis plants as opposed through a stake. Kind of like giving each plant their own personal sprinkling system. Once this is set up, all you have to do is refill your main water container and watch plants for signs they need more or less water.

Read the full tutorial on how to set up an automatic watering system that waters your plants on a timer.

Summary: There are many types of drip irrigation systems, from gravity-based versions to elaborate systems that give water to plants on a timer. I’ve also seen many growers build automatic drip-feed systems using pumps and tubes from the sprinkler section of a hardware store. The sky is the limit!

Learn more about automatic watering in our “how to water plants during vacation” article.

Faucet adapter (connect sink faucet to a garden host)

If you don’t want to lug water back and forth between your water source and grow space, there are adapters you can use to attach a garden hose to your faucet. This lets you add water to a container without having to carry anything. If you struggle carrying big containers of water, this can be a life-saver.

Get a faucet adapter that lets you connect your sink to a garden hose. This lets you fill up your water container in the grow space without needing to carry water between the sink and your garden.

Giant syringes to remove runoff water

Use these syringes (don’t worry, there’s no needle) to suck up runoff water. These are a great choice if you don’t want the noise of a wet vacuum. I started using syringes instead of a wet vacuum ro remove runoff water when we moved to a place with downstairs neighbors.

Make sure to get a convenient container to put your runoff water. Best if you only have a handful of plants or relatively little runoff at a time. You probably don’t want to move a ton of water with a syringe.

I use a 200ml syringe (pictured here) to remove runoff water. However, if you plan to remove a lot of water at a time they come in 250ml and even 500ml (half a liter!) size with tubing so you can remove a lot more water at a time from further away.

A 200ml syringe (pictured here) is an quiet, easy way to remove runoff water!

Get the right size water container

I recommend getting a water container that’s easy to use, move, and carry. I personally like 3-gallon water containers because I can carry them much more easily than a 5-gallon, and 3 gallons is usually enough to water my plants once or twice. You may find it more convenient to use multiple 1-gallon containers.

Use water containers that you can safely carry. Don’t hurt your back carrying too-big containers!

Money-saving tip: Water containers tend to be the cheapest in-person, for example at Wal-mart or a water store. Avoid buying these online as they are often far more expensive due to shipping costs.

If a container feels too heavy to carry comfortably with water, don’t ignore it. Use the suggestions in this section to prevent having to lug water around.

2.) Set Up So Watering is Easier

Take a moment to think about your watering setup. How do you water your cannabis plants now? Keeping that in mind, read through the following tactics. A little forethought and planning can save you a ton of time and effort in the long run.

Make a spot to mix water and nutrients

Set up a table or specific spot to mix up nutrients, check pH, and otherwise prepare water before giving it to your plants.

You should have a convenient place that holds these things within arms reach:

• Your water container
• Bottles (nutrients, supplements, etc.)
• Measuring spoons or pipettes
• Anything else you need to prepare water

Being able to reach everything saves time and effort compared to haphazardly mixing nutrients, especially compared to mixing nutrients on the floor (which is weirdly what I did for years).

Set up a table or other convenient spot to store and mix nutrients.

Rich airy potting mix so water drains easily

Start with a good soil or coco mix. This not only helps cannabis grow faster but also helps prevent problems like overwatering or underwatering. Most importantly, never use dirt you find outside to grow your cannabis plants. Choose potting mixes that appear rich, dark, and fluffy. If your main goal is to water as infrequently as possible, choose soil over coco coir (on average, coco needs to be watered more often than soil). If you see little white rocks in the potting mix, it’s usually a good sign as this is “perlite”, a light airy stone that helps make the soil fluffier, hold more oxygen, and drain easier. Typically good cannabis soil contains 10-30% perlite.

Choose a rich-yet-fluffy potting mix so cannabis plants are harder to overwater or underwater.

Choose the right nutrients

Mixing up nutrients can take up a lot of time if you’re using multiple bottles or supplements at the same time.

Easy Nutrients Option 1: “Just Add Water” soil

If time is of the essence, choose a “just add water” soil. This lets you avoid having to deal with nutrients altogether because all the nutrients are already contained in the soil.

Learn how to grow cannabis with “just add water” soil.

Easy Nutrients Option 2: All-In-One Nutrient Bottles for Vegetative and Flowering Stage

An all-in-one nutrient system is formulated to give everything your cannabis plants need in one bottle for each stage of life. This is different from most nutrient systems which have you use multiple bottles at a time to deliver the right nutrient ratios, and may even have extra supplements to add, too.

I’ve had excellent results using Dyna-Gro Grow and Bloom as a cannabis nutrient time saver. You only use one bottle at a time, and it can be used in soil, coco, or hydroponic setups. Cheap and easy yet great yields and the resulting buds are top tier.

Basic directions for using Dyna-Gro Grow & Bloom with cannabis plants:

• Use 1 tsp/gallon of “Grow” during the vegetative stage.
• Use 1 tsp/gallon of “Bloom” after buds start forming, until harvest.

Read my complete guide to growing cannabis with Dyna-Gro nutrients. Plus get my custom Dyna-Gro cannabis nutrient schedule!

Dyna-Gro nutrients are easy. “Grow” at first. Then “Bloom” once you see buds.

Blunt tip syringe for measuring nutrients

I know this is a second kind of syringe, but these are surprisingly useful for a grower. A blunt tip (not sharp!) can make it easier to quickly and accurately measure out nutrients. Not only can they save time, but they’re also the perfect solution if your nutrient schedule uses metric units and you’ve only got measuring spoons for imperial (US) amounts. I also like to use syringes for certain nutrients (GH Micro I’m looking at you!) that have high “fluidity” (the opposite of high viscosity) which basically means these liquids tend to dribble along the sides of the container instead of pour normally.

These blunt tip syringes are sometimes labeled as printer refill syringes or glue applicators.

Note: Every 5ml (aka 5 cc) is about equal to 1 tsp.

Get 20ml blunt tip syringes for measuring nutrients. The tips are blunted which means they are not sharp. The 20 ml version (sometimes labeled “20 cc”) holds up to 4 tsp.

Regular pots or specialty pots? 

There are a few different types of plant containers for growing cannabis plants.

Hard-sided pots – Your standard hard-sided container needs to be watered the least often as they help prevent water evaporation. Choose standard hard-side plant pots to water as infrequently as possible. Even the cheapest ones are effective. This type often referred to as “nursery pots” since they are often used for plants that are growing. There are also decorative plant pots that are meant more as the final resting place for a plant that’s going to be around for a while. But your cannabis harvest will come before you know it!

Nursery pots – Lets you water less often. Often cheaper to buy in person.

Fabric Pots or Air Pots – There are also specialty containers that let air in from the sides. The most popular are fabric pots and air pruning pots. These tend to increase cannabis growth rates and reduce the chance of overwatering. Although fabric and air pruning pots are common in cannabis gardens and offer great results growing cannabis, that extra air means soil drys out much more quickly and plants need to be watered more often. If you’re looking for ways to water plants less often, sticking to hard-sided pots can help.

Air pots and fabric pots result in slightly faster growth but need to be watered more often because the potting mix dries from the sides.

Fabric Pots – Cannabis grows faster, but needs to be watered more often.

Fabric pots are popular among cannabis growers. Cheap and effective. Any brand works.

Air pruning pots – Fast growth like fabric pots. Made of plastic.

Air pruning pots are more reusable than fabric pots. They are also better for transplanting because they can be popped open to release the plant. No digging around the soil to remove your plant.

Choose a bigger pot to water less often.

While you’re thinking about how often you want to water your plants, also consider the size of the plant pot. If you want to be able to water your plants just once or twice a week, choose bigger plant pots (5+ gallons each). Big containers need to be watered less frequently than smaller ones.

Hard-sided 5-gallon plant pots (often called “nursery” pots) only need to be watered once or twice a week. You can usually find really cheap ones at a local garden center or plant nursery.

Don’t forget to get a matching plant saucer or tray to catch your runoff water!

Use plant saucers to catch runoff water after watering cannabis plants. Get a size that accommodates your pots.

Inclined trays (alternative to saucers)

If your plant trays are on a slight incline, runoff water is easy to collect and dispose of since it naturally pools to the front. You can also do this with saucers, but it can get a bit tippy.

As a bonus, the water typically flows away from under your plants so they never sit in runoff water even if you forget to remove it. Putting plants on trays makes this easiest, but you can also do it on a smaller scale with big saucers.

First, put your cannabis plants on trays to catch runoff water.

This setup use 4 x 1020 trays (10″ x 20″ trays), which fit perfectly in a 2×4 grow tent.

Put something small and waterproof under each tray in the back to put the trays on a slight incline. I used a cap from a one-gallon water container.

What to use to create an incline? Anything small and waterproof works great. A small piece of metal, plastic game piece, or even some coins will work. Use your imagination and look around the house for something small that won’t be damaged by water. Avoid anything too big/tall. Even a tiny amount of incline (just a few cm) is enough to move all the water forward, and too much incline can cause plants to grow off-kilter.

3.) How to Remove Runoff Water

After watering plants, you don’t want to let your plants sit in the runoff water. Roots sitting in water can give plants “wet feet” which causes root disease and stem rot. Another reason is that excess nutrients are typically flushed out in the runoff water, and you don’t want the plant absorbing them back in. The problem is that removing runoff water can be a pain. Inconvenience is the main reason cannabis growers don’t do it. I’ll show you some ways to avoid this problem and make the process more convenient and easy.

Removing runoff water can be easy. Here are 5 common runoff water strategies.

Giant syringes – Recommended

Use these syringes (don’t worry, there’s no needle) to suck up runoff water. These are a great choice if you don’t want the noise of a wet vacuum. I started using syringes instead of a wet vacuum ro remove runoff water when we moved to a place with downstairs neighbors.

Make sure to get a convenient container to put your runoff water. Best if you only have a handful of plants or relatively little runoff at a time. You probably don’t want to move a ton of water with a syringe.

I use a 200ml syringe (pictured here) to remove runoff water. However, if you plan to remove a lot of water at a time they come in 250ml and even 500ml (half a liter!) size with tubing so you can remove a lot more water at a time from further away.

Wet vacuum – Recommended

With your plants on an incline, you can use a wet vacuum to quickly and easily suck up all runoff water for easy disposal.

A wet vacuum is loud but quickly sucks up water for easy disposal.

Inclined trays (or saucers) – Recommended

If your plant trays or saucers are on a slight incline, runoff water is easy to collect and dispose of since it naturally pools to the front. Additionally, the water will typically flow away from under your plants so they never sit in runoff water even if you forget to remove it. Putting plants on trays makes this easiest, but you can also do it on a smaller scale with big saucers.

First, put your plants on trays to catch runoff water. This setup use four 1020 trays, which fit perfectly in a 2×4 grow tent.

Put something small and waterproof under each tray in the back to put the trays on a slight incline. I used a cap from a one-gallon water container.

What to use to create an incline? Anything small and waterproof works great. A small piece of metal or even some coins will work. Use your imagination and look around the house for something small that won’t be damaged by water. Avoid anything too big/tall. Even a tiny amount of incline (just a few cm) is enough to move all the water forward, and too much incline can cause plants to grow off-kilter.

Avoid runoff altogether – Monitor carefully

There are a few techniques you can use to avoid ever dealing with runoff water. With these setups, you basically give just enough water to saturate the grow medium to the base of the container, but not enough that extra runoff water comes out the bottom.

Keep in mind when you avoid runoff…

1. Best when not using nutrients – For example in a “just add water” soil setup. In fact, it’s actually beneficial to avoid getting runoff water in these setups because it can drain away extra nutrients.
2. Can be done when adding nutrients but requires careful monitoring – Since extra nutrients are not getting washed out every watering, you need to watch plants closely for signs of nutrient buildup. If leaves are getting dark or you see nutrient burn, it means that there is more nutrients in the coco or soil than the plant can use. In that case either lower your nutrient dosage or give plants enough water to cause 10-20% runoff. This flushes out buildup. Don’t forget to remove the runoff water so the nutrients don’t get sucked back up.
3. Don’t ignore pH – If you’re adding PH Up or PH Down liquid to adjust the pH of your water, they can build up in the grow medium just like nutrients. If you’re seeing nutrient deficiencies, one of the first things to check is the pH. One of the easiest things to do is capture a few drops of runoff water and check the pH. If it’s much higher or lower than the pH you’re putting in, you have a problem. Give water with pH at the opposite of the acceptable range until it comes out normal. So for example, if using PH Down, which is an acid, you may notice the pH is too low in the grow medium. In that case, give high pH water within the recommended range. In coco, it’s recommended to keep pH between 5.5-6.5, so if pH is coming out low, give at 6.5 until it normalizes. In soil 6-7 pH is recommended so give at 7 pH if it’s coming out too low.
4. Pay attention to moisture level at bottom of pot – If you’re not getting any runoff water, you may not realize if the grow medium is getting overly saturated or drying out. At least occasionally, feel the bottom of the pot after watering to make sure it feels moist but not soaking wet (most effective with fabric). If the bottom feels bone dry after watering, chances are you’re not giving enough water at a time. Giving enough water to get runoff will help prevent this issue, but if not giving runoff it’s up to you to monitor the moisture at the bottom of the pot.
5. Produce runoff when experiencing nutrient problems to help give yourself a blank slate, but typically there is no need to “flush” (give a ton of water at a time).

Some growers try to give an amount of water that saturates the pot but does not result in extra runoff water out the bottom. This saves the step of removing runoff.

Using Evaporation or a Drain – Special setup required

It’s possible to remove runoff water via evaporation or down a drain. You should never allow pots to sit in water (this causes nutrient problems, droopiness, and root rot), so allowing runoff to evaporate isn’t a good choice when plants are in saucers.

This is only an effective strategy if the water is running away from pots, for example when trays are on an incline or above a drain. Chances are you will start to see crusty nutrient buildup where the water is evaporating, so it’s recommended to clean the evaporation area on a regular basis to avoid it getting brought back to the plants.

These cannabis plants are growing in a bathtub. No need to worry about runoff water in a setup like this… it goes directly down the drain!

Pick up plants and water them somewhere else – Too hard, no need!

Some cannabis growers move plants to water them. For example, they might move the plants to a sink or bathtub before watering, so that all the runoff water naturally drains away. This gets the job done, but the process is cumbersome and time-consuming, especially if you have more than one or two plants.

There is no need to pick up your plants and move them to collect runoff water, if you don’t want to. To me this adds unnecessary time and can be a pain compared to the options above.

The bigger plants get, the more annoying it is to pick them up and move them around. They may even “collapse” and branches may fall over like this, especially if buds are heavy.

How Often to Water Cannabis Plants

Now that you know how to water and remove runoff, let’s quickly go over how much water to give, and how often. After this, watering your cannabis plants will never be a challenge again!

Seedling watering tips & tricks

Seedlings are super easy to over-water. Use a cup to give just a little water at a time in a circle around the base of your seedling. Learn how to water seedlings in a big pot so they don’t get over-watered. Check out this page with answers and tips for most common seedling problems.

Water cannabis seedlings with a few cups of water in a circle around the base of the plant. Seedlings don’t drink much so you don’t want to completely saturate the soil just yet.

How much water at a time

We have a complete “how to water” tutorial but check out this example schedule for watering plants in 5-gallon fabric pot.

• Day 1 – Give 2 cups (500ml) water per plant
• Day 3 – Give 2 cups (500ml) water per plant
• Day 6 – Give 2 cups (500ml) water per plant
• Day 8 – Give 3 cups (750ml) water per plant (every 3 days after this)
• Day 11 – Give 3 cups (750ml) water per plant
• Day 14 – Give 4 cups (1 liter) water per plant
• Day 17 – Give 4 cups (1 liter) water per plant
• Day 20 – Give 5 cups (1.25 liter) water per plant
• Day 23 – Give 6 cups (1.5 liter) water per plant
• Day 26 – Give 6 cups (1.5 liter) water per plant
• Day 29 – Give 8 cups or 1/2 gallon (2 liter) water per plant
• Continue giving 1/2 gallon (2 liters) per plant every 3 days. You may need to give more at a time or more often as plants get bigger. If you’re getting a lot of runoff out the bottom (more than 20%) or plants droop after watering, it means you should be giving less water at a time. If plants get droopy before being watered, you should give more water at a time, or water more often.

Note: This is the schedule that I use for a 5-gallon fabric pot, but your environment will affect how much plants drink. If plants are in hard-sided pots as opposed to fabric pots, you may need to water less often. If you would like to water less often than every 3 days, you’ll need to give more water at a time.

How often to water (tips)

General idea: Water when pots feel light or the top is drying out. Don’t let plants run out of water, but make sure roots get access to plenty of air. If the grow medium is waterlogged and looks super wet, the roots likely aren’t getting enough oxygen for the fastest growth. With over-moist soil, you should give less water at a time or water less often.

• For coco, water when you start seeing dry patches. Never let pots fully dry out. Check out this watering tutorial for coco.
• For soil, wait until the top is mostly dry before watering again unless the plant pot feels light. Read the complete watering tutorial.

Know the Signs of Overwatering/Underwatering

Droopiness is the main sign. Here are examples of leaf symptoms that also commonly appear when cannabis plants are over-watered vs under-watered.

This seedling is droopy and getting nutrient deficiencies due to overwatering.

Sometimes brown edges can be mistaken for nutrient burn. If you’re seeing the edges turn brown, that may be a sign of overwatering, especially if combined with droopiness.

Example of an underwatered plant. Underwatering is very similar in appearance to overwatering. The main clue is the plant is getting droopy before being watered (not after).

If you’re seeing droopiness, it almost always means there’s some sort of issue with the roots or watering.

How to avoid nutrient deficiencies

Nutrient deficiencies can be really hard to pin down at a times. It often has to do with watering habits (and occasionally your environment).

5 ways to prevent nutrient deficiencies:

1. Avoid over/under watering (this is surprisingly the most common reason for nutrient deficiencies in younger plants)
2. Give the right nutrients for the grow medium (don’t give soil-specific nutrients to plants in hydroponics, etc.)
3. Check the root pH if you notice spots or discoloration on your leaves. Learn what symptoms are caused by pH (with pictures).
4. Be aware of light burn, which is the result of the grow light being too close, but is sometimes confused for a nutrient problem.
5. Use the free plant doctor tool whenever you’re stuck!

Today you got a crash course in watering your cannabis plants so it’s easy, doesn’t take much time, and gives you the flexibility to have more fun with your plants. Contact us if you have any watering tips you’d like to see added to this tutorial!

The post The Easy Way to Water Plants & Remove Runoff appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Soil is so simple. So close to nature. Add seeds, remember to water your plants, and wait for an awesome harvest, right? Unfortunately, many growers run into problems with cannabis plants in soil. The culprit is almost always either your environment, watering habits, or nutrients/supplements. We’ve covered environment and watering habits already, so this cannabis soil nutrient tutorial will focus on which soil nutrients and supplements you need to get the results you want.

Recommended Soil Nutrients

Recommended Mineral-Based or Synthetic Soil Nutrients – This isn’t a comprehensive list of great cannabis nutrients, but these are the nutrient system I have experience with and recommend for growing cannabis.

Simple Duos – Use one bottle for the vegetative stage, and the other bottle for the flowering stage.

• Dyna-Gro Grow + Bloom – Originally designed for orchids, Dyna-Gro nutrients have proven to work exceptionally well for cannabis plants in soil. If you want professional results without spending a ton of money or having to mix multiple bottles together, these two bottles give your plants everything they need from seed to harvest. The best simple duo in my opinion.
• General Hydroponics FloraNova Grow + Bloom – Cheap and easy with excellent results. The biggest issue I have with these is the liquid is so thick it can be annoying to measure out.
• Botanicare Pure Blend duo (buy individually Grow + Bloom) – Consistent results every time. The Bloom formula is especially great.

Dyna-Gro Grow + Bloom is my favorite simple nutrient duo

Multiple bottles at a time – Typically there are 3 bottles for the base nutrients but sometimes only 2. This class of nutrients needs all bottles at all times, which get mixed in different ratios depending on the stage of life. More flexibility to alter ratios throughout the plant’s life.

• Fox Farm trio for soil (mostly organic with some synthetic ingredients) – This is the first nutrient set I ever used for growing cannabis and I was thrilled with my results. They also offer a starter kit that includes their most popular supplements so you can try the entire nutrient line without having to invest in big bottles of everything.
• General Hydroponics Flora trio – One of the most popular cannabis nutrient systems. Not just for coco and hydro, it also works great in soil! Follow the instructions on the side of the bottles at half-strength for cannabis plants in soil. This is my go-to nutrient system. Great growth rates, yields, and bud quality.

You can’t go wrong with the Fox Farm trio for soil. Just follow the instructions on the label at half-strength for cannabis plants.

If using filtered or RO water (which contains few micronutrients) it’s a good idea to also add a Calcium/Magnesium supplement by the same brand that makes your base nutrients. Cannabis plants go through a lot of Calcium and Magnesium!

• Dyna-Gro Nutrients – get Mag-Pro – Note: Don’t use regular Cal-Mag supplements with Dyna-Gro base nutrients as it can result in unwanted interactions.
• Fox Farm nutrients – get Bush Doctor Cal-Mag – Note: they’re currently re-branding this supplement from “Gringo Rasta Cal-Mag” to “Bush Master Cal-Mag” and it can be difficult to find right now. If you can’t find the Cal-Mag version by Fox Farm, use Cal-Mag Plus. It won’t cause unwanted interactions with their base nutrients.
• General Hydroponics nutrients – get CaliMagic
• Botanicare nutrients – get Cal-Mag Plus

How to Adjust PH Using Synthetic Nutrients

• Raise PH – PH Up
• Lower PH – PH Down
• …or get a PH Test Starter Kit that includes a small version of both bottles as well as drops to test the pH

Learn more about testing pH.

Test and adjust the pH of your water to get faster growth and prevent nutrient deficiencies in soil

Organic Soil Nutrients

There used to be a ton of organic soil nutrients in bottles (like the now-discontinued GO Box) but many options have disappeared as growers switch to using amended compost for their organic nutrient needs. Why? The organic nutrients in bottles get similar results to mineral nutrients. The biggest difference in organic growing seems to come from using actual compost and/or amended soil.

• Nature’s Living Soil (super concentrated organic compost nutrient mix) – amend bottom 1/3 of your plant container with this special organic amendment, and plants will be able to slowly use the nutrients “on-demand”. Even if your plants are already growing in soil, you can sprinkle a little of this on top of your soil and water to deliver organic nutrients. Note: smells strongly of manure!
• Dr. Earth Organic Nutrients – dry nutrients
  • Vegetative Stage: Homegrown Tomato, Vegetable & Herb Fertilizer (better) or All-Purpose Fertilizer (good)
  • Flowering Stage: Flower Girl Bud & Bloom Fertilizer
• Roots Organics Terp Tea Fertilizer Set (Grow & Bloom) – This dry formula is mixed with aerated water and brewed for 24 hours to create a “tea” for your plants. Can also be used as a top dressing.

Best supplement ingredients for organic growing

• Sea kelp – a source of K, helps plants resist heat and stress
• Leonardite – full of humic acids for happy roots, resist stress
• Protein hydrolysate (contained in many supplements) – helps plants produce big roots and be more resistant towards water stress
• Potassium Sulfate (also called “Sulfate of Potash”) – the sulfur and potassium promote smells and bud development in the flowering stage

My favorite organic supplement contains all: Floralicious Plus

How to Adjust pH in an Organic Soil Grow (regular PH Up and PH Down can harm the natural balance of the soil)

• Raise PH – Earth Juice Natural PH Up
• Lower PH – Earth Juice Natural PH Down

Learn more about testing pH with organic soil.

Organic cannabis growing is rewarding!

Summary of a Marijuana’s Nutrient Needs in Soil

Now that you’ve seen some suggested marijuana soil nutrients, let’s go through a quick overview of a cannabis plant’s life in soil as it relates to nutrient needs.

Seedlings Have Plenty of Nutrients in Any Soil

• Get Set Up – Make a nice home for your plants to grow! Set up your environment for plants (closet, grow tent, etc.) and prepare containers full of quality soil. Great cannabis soil options: Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil, Roots Organics soil, Coco Loco soil. Consider a “just add water” organic soil.
• Germination – At this point, there are plenty of nutrients in any soil mix. Your job is to water plants regularly without drowning them. Note: If you’re using a “soilless” potting mix, you will need to add nutrients from the beginning (soilless potting mixes don’t contain significant amounts of nutrients).

Just about any soil potting mix contains enough nutrients for seedlings

Soils Starts Running Out of Nutrients

• Vegetative Stage – Fast-growing cannabis plants uptake way more nutrients than your average houseplant. Depending on how “hot” your soil was at the beginning (how full of nutrients), plants may start running out of nutrients during the vegetative stage. If you started with a regular soil potting mix, begin adding nutrients when plants are 3-4 weeks old to keep them growing fast and healthy. Plants want “all-purpose” or “grow” nutrients in the vegetative stage, which are high in all three macronutrients (high NPK). If you started with a big soil container or a hot soil mix like Ocean Forest soil, you may not need to add extra nutrients quite yet. Keep in mind than anytime you get runoff water out of the bottom of the pot, you’re washing away some of the nutrients. Therefore, it’s a good idea to avoid getting runoff unless you plan on adding nutrients in the water.

With many soil mixes, plants run out of nutrients and start growing slowly after a few weeks. When a plant looks lime green all over (especially if bottom leaves are turning yellow and falling off), it needs more nutrients overall. The left plant received plain water and started turning yellow after the soil ran out of nutrients. The right plant has been receiving nutrients in the water and is a nice healthy green color.

Major Deficiencies May Appear if You Don’t Add Nutrients

• Flowering Stage – Cannabis plants devour nutrients when making buds, especially Phosphorus and Potassium (“PK”). As a grower, you must prevent nutrient deficiencies in the flowering stage or your bud quality and final yields will suffer. Many soil plants run into major nutrient deficiencies without extra nutrients in the flowering stage. At this point, you need to do one of three things: add nutrients to the water, apply a top dressing/amendment, or transplant plants to fresh soil. There’s one exception: If your plant has a “reservoir” of nutrients at the bottom of the pot (for example a bottom layer of heavily amended, composted soil), roots will dip in and take nutrients as needed all the way until harvest. This “super soil” strategy is the best way to grow cannabis plants if you only want to add water.

This flowering cannabis plant has several weeks before harvest, but it’s already losing bottom leaves and turning pale all over. This means the plant wants higher levels of nutrients overall. Without enough nutrients, more leaves will turn yellow and buds will stop getting bigger.

I gave the plant extra “bloom” nutrients (using the GH Flora trio). This reversed the yellowing and buds continued fattening. Here is that plant at harvest.

Plain Water

• Harvest – If you’ve been adding nutrients and supplements to the water, it’s often recommended to give plain water for a week or two before harvest to “flush” the plants/buds, though some growers give nutrients until just before harvest. If you’ve been giving plain water from the beginning, nothing for you to do here; just wait until buds look ready and harvest!

Although you want to avoid discolored leaves for most of the flowering stage, it’s normal for leaves to start turning yellow the week before harvest.

Major Takeaways

• Cannabis plants need a lot of nutrients for a good harvest
• Nutrients come from either the soil or the water
• If a plant uses up all the nutrients in the soil, you must add more
• “Hot” (nutrient-heavy) soil mixes last longer
• Bigger pots have more soil and therefore last longer
• Runoff water washes away nutrients in the soil, so avoid runoff if not adding nutrients

How to Add Nutrients:

• Transplant to fresh soil – a chance to start fresh, but can stress plants
• Apply top-dressing or an amendment – nutrients flow to the roots when you water the plants
• Add nutrients in the water – covered in detail above!

Alternative: Create a “reservoir” of nutrients under the soil (“just add water” setup)

Example of great cannabis soil

The post Best Soil Nutrients for Cannabis? appeared first on Grow Weed Easy.

Dreaming of growing organic weed in your cannabis garden? Want a “just add water” marijuana growing experience? This easy-to-follow super soil tutorial shows you exactly what to do!

Whether you’re thinking about growing weed for the first time, or you’ve already grown a few cannabis plants and want to try something new, this “just add water” organic growing method keeps it natural with zero fuss. This tutorial was made for you if you want to grow top-shelf organic weed the easy way.

As more people are legally able to grow cannabis at home, organic grow methods are getting more popular. Consumers demand better choices. It used to be difficult for many people to get access to organic cannabis (black market weed was rarely grown organically). Now you can grow your own!

With the right technique, it’s surprisingly easy to grow organic weed at home. In fact, growing organically may (counterintuitively) be the easiest way to grow weed. That’s because after you set up, Mother Nature does most of the work for you.

Why grow organic weed using this grow tutorial?

• Let Nature Do the Work – The method in this article creates a soil environment that does most of the work of growing for you, by delivering nutrients to the cannabis roots just like in nature.
• Top Bud Taste & Smell – Many growers believe that growing organic weed (properly) creates the best bud taste and most complex bud smell of any grow method. There are also reports that organic weed tends to be smoother to smoke. In my lab-tested experiments, buds grown in Super Soil had overall higher levels of terpenes (smells) than clones grown in coco coir in otherwise identical conditions. Check out some of our other cool growing experiments.
• Safe, Healthy Weed – Organic growing lets you know what’s in your weed. When you’re buying weed from someone else, you have no idea what chemicals or pesticides may have been used during the grow process. Organic grow methods give you confidence that there aren’t potentially dangerous human-made compounds getting deposited into your weed.
• No-Effort Perfect Nutrients – Never worry about mixing bottles of nutrients to get the perfect nutrient ratio for your plant’s stage of life. If you follow the instructions in this cannabis super soil tutorial, your plants won’t get nutrient deficiencies and you won’t need to do anything to prevent them. In fact, this method lets your roots “pick and choose” which nutrients to uptake, so your plant gets exactly the right nutrients at the right time.
• “Just Add Water” Method is Easy – This tutorial teaches you how to complete a “just add water” grow. Once you’re set up, you mainly just water your plants every few days, then wait for harvest 2-5 months later (total time needed depends heavily on strain). When it comes to plant care, this super soil grow method is one of the least time-consuming.

Did You Know? Nutrient companies are not legally bound to list all ingredients in their products. That means you may be unknowingly giving your plants unwanted ingredients if you use bottled nutrients or supplements. Even worse, some nutrient companies have been busted for including illegal compounds (such as synthetic PGRs) that are known to be harmful to humans. This organic method ensures you grow safe, clean, epic-quality weed every time.

Supplies – What You Need to Grow “Just Add Water” Weed

• A place to grow – indoors, outdoors, your closet… This is the 4’x4′ grow tent setup I used for this tutorial that can yield over a pound. Here’s a smaller closet-sized 2’x4′ setup I used with this super soil mix that can yield up to 14 oz in ideal conditions.
• Grow light – LEDs are recommended for most indoor growers. For outdoor growers, choose a spot with 6+ hours of direct sunlight every day.
• Super soil organic concentrate (“hot soil” i.e. heavily amended, composted soil) – You can make your own super soil but for the first grow you may want to buy super soil to see how much you like this method. I’m currently using Nature’s Living Soil and it provides a great grow experience. You need 1 pound of Nature’s Living Soil concentrate for every 5 gallons of pot size. In other words, a 5-pound bag of Natures Living Soil super soil concentrate makes 25 gallons of soil. I like that Nature’s Living Soil comes with clear directions on how to use the soil, how to store any leftovers, and how to re-activate old concentrate if it takes a while between grows.
• Regular organic potting soil – In addition to super soil, you need to fill a significant part of your pots with regular soil. The bottom 1/3 of your pot contains the super soil amendment, which acts as a “nutrient reservoir” for hungry roots to dig into as needed. The top 2/3 of your pot will be filled with regular soil so young plants don’t get overloaded with nutrients before they’re ready. Almost any high-quality organic potting soil mix is suitable. Recommended: Fox Farm Coco Loco. I’ve found seedlings and young plants tend to grow faster in soil mixes that use coco instead of peat moss, but any high-quality organic potting soil (like Roots Organics Original) works well, too. Just don’t use an inert grow medium such as plain coco because your seedlings need to get their nutrients from the soil until the roots reach the bottom.
• Plant containers – I recommend using 5-gallon fabric pots (or bigger). This ensures your plant has enough soil for the nutrients to last a full grow.
• Water – A good source of water is essential to success when using this “just add water” method.
• Cannabis seeds or clones – Of course, you need the actual weed plants 🙂

Super soil contains lots of goodies for your plants, including a whole bunch of worm poop!

What type of water should I use?

Spring water has worked the best in our tests growing cannabis in super soil. But it’s not the only option.

When growing weed with composted super soil, what’s most important is to use a clean source of water that contains some amount of natural minerals and micronutrients.

Avoid using distilled, RO, or filtered water, as those sources contain almost no natural minerals or micronutrients. Unnaturally pure water messes with the soil ecosystem and increases the chance of seeing nutrient deficiencies on the leaves. On the flip side, if you have very hard water (high PPM), it may interfere with your root’s natural processes. For example, if your tap water has tons of chloramine or chlorine to kill bacteria, it may also kill the beneficial microbes living in the soil, especially when used straight from the tap.

However, most clean sources of water (including tap water that’s safe to drink) works well as long as the pH is in the right range. The pH of the water should be in the 6.3-7 pH range. Water with too-high or too-low pH can disrupt your soil cycle and cause nutrient deficiencies just like overly pure water. If your water is safe to drink, but the pH is outside of the 6.3-7 pH range, it means if you may need to adjust the pH of your water before giving it to plants (instructions below). Typically that means sprinkling a few grains of citric acid into the water to lower the pH.

What should I do if I don’t have the best tap water?

If you don’t have your own awesome source of water at home, I recommend buying bottled spring water (not filtered or distilled water). Bottled spring water typically contains a small amount of minerals and nutrients, yet has a neutral pH around 7. No chloramine. Perfect.

That being said, I’ve seen many growers get great results using tap water and simply adjusting the pH to the right range. So it definitely depends on your particular water source. Cannabis plants tend to be more resilient for the first month or two of life, so you might try using your tap water and seeing how plants react. Yet if you start seeing nutrient deficiencies with tap water even after correcting the pH, then it might be a good investment to finish off your grow with bottled spring water.

Get Set Up to Grow Organic Weed

1.) Set Up Your Grow Environment

If you’ve already got your plant environment set up and are happy with it, skip to the next step. If not, I’ve got you covered. It is common to feel confused when trying to pick the best grow setup for your goals because there are tons of ways to set up a cannabis garden. 

What’s most important to remember? If growing indoors, you need a grow light and a place for roots to live. This article will explain what soil to get, so if you’re following this tutorial your main choice is picking a grow light. The other really important thing about your setup is you need to be able to give your plants total darkness for 12 hours a day on a regular schedule (unless growing an autoflowering strain). This is done by putting your grow lights on a timer and ensuring no light gets to your plants during their “night”. A 12/12 light schedule is how you get plants to make flowers, so your grow space needs to be light-proof if you want to get buds. If you read this paragraph, you just took a crash course on growing. You now know the basics of growing cannabis.

Basics of getting set up to grow organic weed indoors: You need a grow light, the soil, a light-proof grow area, and a timer. Pretty much everything else is optional.

Where to actually grow? Although you can get great results without one, I highly recommend getting a grow tent with exhaust fan and carbon filter. This gives you a self-contained space for your plants that vents heat and prevents smells from leaking out. When it’s time to initiate the flowering stage, a grow tent is already light-proof so you don’t have to think about light leaks. A grow tent is also surprisingly discreet (especially the smaller ones) and often cheaper than building your own grow space from scratch. Plus they’re reflective, waterproof, easy to move around, and specifically designed to give you a place to hang your light and create an ideal plant growing environment.

Where is the best place to grow in the house?

Grow tents give you a cheap “pop up” cannabis grow environment

What You Need for a Perfect Growing Environment (from most important to least important)

1. Light – Bright but not too bright
2. Temperature – Comfortable for you, comfortable for your plants
3. Air Circulation – Fresh air plus a gentle breeze
4. Reflection – Cover your walls with a reflective material to get more light to your plants
5. Humidity – Control humidity to help plants grow faster and increase resin production

Learn more about creating a great growing environment

What grow setup did we use? The plants pictured in this tutorial were grown under 600W of LEDs similar to this setup.

This is what plants look like under the pinkish-white light of quality modern LEDs. The best cannabis LEDs for flowering have a custom “wideband” spectrum designed to grow cannabis plants.

If you’re not sure what to get, here are some recommended super soil setups with shopping lists and Amazon links to make sure you get everything you need.

2’x2′ Grow Tent – Small

• Ultra short edition – 3′ tall
  • 65W – HLG 65 LED Grow Light
  • 1-3 oz per harvest
  • $300 to get started
• Room to grow – 4′ tall
  • 100W – SF-1000 LED Grow Light
  • 2-4 oz per harvest
  • $430 to get started

Example of a 2’x2′ grow tent

2’x4′ Grow Tent – Medium

• Standard Power – 5′ tall
  • 200W – SF-2000 LED grow light
  • 5-11 oz per harvest
  • $555 to get started
• Max Power – 6′ tall
  • 350W – HLG 350R LED grow light
  • 8-14 oz per harvest
  • $890 to get started
• Over Power – 6′ tall
  • 315 LEC or 400W HPS (dimmable)
  • 7-16 oz per harvest
  • $745 to get started with 315 LEC
  • $495 to get started with a 400W HPS

Example of a 2’x4′ grow tent (about the size of a standard closet)

Here’s my current grow inside one of these right now. I think this is the perfect size for most home growers because it can yield many ounces up to a pound per harvest depending on the grow light you use.

4’x4′ Grow Tent – Large

• 1 lb LED Producer – 6.5′ tall
  • HLG Blackbird 600W LED grow light
  • 10-22 oz per harvest
  • $995 to get started
• 1 lb HPS Producer 6.5′ tall
  • 600W HPS (dimmable)
  • 10-21 oz per harvest
  • $495 to get started

Example of a 4’x4′ grow tent (easily yield a pound) – these plants were grown according to this super soil tutorial!

2.) Choose a Plant Container

Your plants need a place for roots to live. I personally am a huge fan of fabric pots, which let air in from the sides. Plants grow faster in fabric pots than traditional hard-side containers because roots thrive when they get plenty of oxygen.

I recommend using 5-gallon fabric pots for this grow method. I use the Vivosun ones but any brand of fabric pot will work!

Why fabric pots? In hard pots, roots tend to circle the outside edges of the pot and “choke” themselves, causing deficiencies and droopiness. This state is known as the plant being rootbound. With fabric pots, the air from the sides “air prunes” the roots and prevents them from encircling the outside edges. As a result, plants grown in a fabric pot typically won’t get rootbound.

The main difference between growing cannabis in fabric pots and hard-sided pots (from a grower’s perspective) is fabric pots dry out faster because the air from the sides causes water to evaporate. Therefore if you’re following this tutorial but using traditional hard-sided pots, you will need to water much less often than recommended in the watering schedule below.

Learn more about smart pots vs regular pots.

What size pots?

I recommend using 5-gallon fabric pots for this tutorial. This ensures that your plants have enough nutrients to last all the way to harvest. When growing in smaller pots, you run the risk of the plant using up all the nutrients in the super soil before the end of the grow. If that happens, you may end up with nutrient deficiencies and have to supplement with extra nutrients to keep plants happy and healthy. One of the benefits of this grow style is you don’t need to worry about nutrients, so don’t get too-small a pot.

The plants pictured in this tutorial used the brand name 5-gallon Smart Pots, but any fabric pots will work. I used to use Smart pots but switched to generic fabric pots and plants grow just as well. The generic options are more reasonably priced. These days, I usually use Vivosun fabric pots, though I’ve tried others and so far they all have worked well. I like that the Vivosun fabric pots are cheap and come with convenient handles. 

3.) Fill your container with 1/3 super soil mix (follow directions on bag), then top off with regular soil

Don’t mix all your soil together! Keep the super soil mix in the bottom 1/3 of the pot. This helps conserve nutrients until harvest. When everything is mixed together, growers are more likely to run into nutrient deficiencies partway through the grow.

It’s always best to see if the company has specific instructions for their soil, but here are some general guidelines.

• Super Soil Amendment: If you have a concentrated amendment like Nature’s Living Soil, mix the amendment with 1/3 of your regular potting soil and use that to fill the bottom of each pot. Then top off with regular soil. These directions will also be on the bag itself.

You may see “mold” growing on the top of your super soil. This is normal. This is “living” soil and this particular strain of “mold” is part of the soil ecosystem. Just mix it in.

Fill the bottom of pots 1/3 of the way with super soil mix (about 1 pound of super soil concentrate per 5 gallon pot, mixed partially with regular soil as stated on the directions)

Fill the remaining 2/3 with regular soil like Coco Loco (or other high-quality organic soil potting mix)

The Coco Loco is situated at the top of the container so you do not burn young plants or clones with too high levels of nutrients. However, once their roots reach down to the super soil, the plants will be mature enough to use the rich source of nutrients without worrying about nutrient burn.

Cannabis roots mostly stay in the regular potting soil, but use the bottom super soil layer as a “nutrient reservoir”

Excited to get started? Let’s go!

How to Grow Organic Weed the “Just Add Water” Way

Now that you’ve got your supplies and set up your grow space, there’s not much you need to do besides germinate your seeds, water your plants and provide a comfortable growing environment (plenty of light, warm but not hot). Here’s a step-by-step guide so you stay on track.

1.) Germinate your seeds

Of course, make sure your garden is ready first before germination! You’ve chosen a place to grow, you’ve got your pots and soil, and your grow light is set up, right?

Ok! Time to put your seeds (or clones) into their new homes! But where to get seeds safely?

View a list of tested & trusted online seed vendors.

Germinate seeds in seedling plugs (like Rapid Rooters) or a solo cup of Coco Loco for the best results.

Germinate seeds in seedling plugs or…

Plant seeds directly into a solo cup filled with Coco Loco (you can also plant seeds directly in grow medium, but seedlings usually grow a bit faster if you start them in a smaller container)

2.) Transplant seedlings to final containers

Transplant seedlings to your 5-gallon fabric pots when they’ve grown 1-2 sets of leaves in seedling plugs, or when the leaves reach the edges if you’ve germinated in a solo cup. If you’ve planted your seeds directly in the final containers, skip this step.

Get your seedlings ready.

Water each pot in the middle with 2 cups (500ml) of water. This creates a nice moist base for your seedlings.

Make a hole a bit bigger than the size of the seedling plugs (or solo cups if you used that)

Insert seedlings into the holes and pat the soil around it to stabilize the roots. It’s okay if your seedling is a little too tall (that’s what happened here). Just bury the stem a little and it’ll be fine.

Water each seedling with an additional 2 cups (500ml) water.

It should look something like this when you’re done.

2.) Give plants 18-24 hours of light a day

Young cannabis plants do best when given 18-24 hours of light a day.

What’s the best light schedule? It depends on your goals.

With 18 hours light/day…

• You must put grow lights on a timer so plants get the same light schedule every day
• Plants tend to be more resistant to problems when they get a dark period
• If you’re struggling with high temperatures in the grow space, set the dark period for the hottest part of the day to help keep plants from overheating.

With 24 hours light/day…

• No need for a timer, just plug lights in
• Plants tend to grow a bit faster
• Plants are less resistant to problems when they don’t get a dark period, but should stay healthy and happy if you give them a great growing environment
• If you’re struggling with cold temperatures, 24 hours of light a day can help keep plants warmer. If you absolutely need to keep lights on 24 hours a day for warmth, consider getting an autoflowering strain because you can keep them on 24 hours of light a day from seed to harvest.

You can also go between 18-24 hours of light a day for a mix of benefits. For example, lots of growers give plants 20 or 22 hours of light a day. Faster growth than 18 hours, but plants still get a little bit of a rest period. Anything between 18-24 works great!

Put grow lights on a timer so they get the same light schedule every day.

How far away do I keep grow lights? Here’s a quick guide but the best thing you can do is see what the manufacturer of your light recommends. They’ll know better than anyone what the optimal distance is for your particular model of grow light.

Follow the manufacturer’s recommendation on how far to keep lights from tops of plants

3.) Water Plants Regularly

I’ve included an example watering schedule for seedlings in 5-gallon fabric pots (bottom 1/3 super soil and top 2/3 regular soil) for the first 30 days. This is designed for seedlings that have already grown their first set of “real” leaves. If you’re planting seeds directly in soil instead of germinating ahead of time as described above, give 1 cup of water every 3-4 days (basically just keep the soil around the seed moist but not wet) until you see the first set of serrated leaves, then start using this schedule…

2 days later the seedlings should be watered again. View the schedule below for an example watering timeline.

• Day 1 – Give 2 cups (500ml) water per plant (you should have done that in the above step when you installed your seedlings)
• Day 3 – Give 2 cups (500ml) water per plant
• Day 6 – Give 2 cups (500ml) water per plant
• Day 8 – Give 3 cups (750ml) water per plant (every 3 days after this)
• Day 11 – Give 3 cups (750ml) water per plant
• Day 14 – Give 4 cups (1 liter) water per plant
• Day 17 – Give 4 cups (1 liter) water per plant
• Day 20 – Give 5 cups (1.25 liter) water per plant
• Day 23 – Give 6 cups (1.5 liter) water per plant
• Day 26 – Give 6 cups (1.5 liter) water per plant
• Day 29 – Give 8 cups or 1/2 gallon (2 liter) water per plant
• Continue giving 1/2 gallon (2 liters) per plant every 3 days. You may need to give more at a time or more often as plants get bigger. If you ever get any significant runoff out the bottom, it means you should be giving less water at a time. If plants get droopy before being watered, you should give more water at a time, or water more often.

Note: This is the schedule that I use, but your environment will affect how much plants drink. If plants are in hard-sided pots as opposed to fabric pots, you’ll need to water far less often. If you notice that plants are getting droopy before you water them, give more water at a time. It’s unlikely your plants will be overwatered with this schedule, so you probably won’t need to lower the amount of water. If you would like to water less often than every 3 days, you’ll need to give more water at a time.

Typically the top of the soil will look mostly dry before watering again

How to water plants in super soil after 30 days:

• Give just enough water to wet the medium thoroughly
  • No runoff – Don’t give enough water that you get runoff water out the bottom, as this washes away extra nutrients.
  • Bottom will feel moist, not dry – After watering, touch the bottom of your fabric pots. You will be able to tell if they’re moist or dry. When the soil is moist the fabric pots will feel cool to the touch.Perfect.
• Wait until the top layer of soil feels dry before watering again
  • Pick-up-the-pot method – This is another way to tell if the medium needs more water. Try picking up the pot slightly. If it feels very light, it needs more water. If the pot feels heavy like there’s a brick inside, it likely still has plenty of water.
• When in doubt, water less! It’s super easy to overwater plants in super soil.
  • You can always add more water but you can’t take it back out.

Note: Unlike some other growing mediums, your plants will grow best if you avoid getting runoff water out the bottom. It’s easy for plants to get overwatered in super soil, plus runoff water will carry away nutrients. Since you’re not adding any extra nutrients from seed to harvest, you want to conserve the nutrients you do have.

Here are the seedlings on day 8, just after being watered

Give water in a circle around the base of the plant.

Important Tips

• Keep roots warm – If the floor of the grow space tends to be cold (for example in a basement or garage), keep plants from sitting directly on the ground. Warmth is important for the colony of organisms at the roots to thrive, and cannabis also tends to grow better with warm (but not hot) roots.
• Use good starting water to prevent problems. I like spring water for this grow style. It usually has a neutral pH and contains some extra minerals and nutrients that aren’t found in filtered or RO water. However, any clean source of water in the right pH range should work.
• Don’t ignore water pH! Ideally, your starting water should be in the 6.5-7 pH range to avoid nutrient deficiencies. A little lower is okay (down to 6.3) but not higher than 7. Water naturally has a pH around 7, so if you’re using good water you won’t need to think about this.  I know many people say you don’t have to worry about pH in super soil, but that’s only if you’re starting with water in the proper range. You WILL get nutrient deficiencies if the pH of your water is too high or low and you don’t adjust it. If your starting water is in the 6.3-7.0 pH range, you don’t need to do anything. However, if it’s outside that range you will have to adjust the pH of your water. Don’t use regular PH Down or PH Up adjusters, as they will kill microbes in the super soil (plus they’re not organic).

How to Adjust pH Naturally:

If you must adjust the pH, here’s what to do.

• Lower the pH – Use Earth Juice Natural Down (or pure citric crystals) to lower the pH.
• Raise the pH – Use Earth Juice Natural Up (or potassium bicarbonate) to raise the pH.