Day 47 - 17 of flower
I have uploaded full resolution versions of these images, which can be utilized directly via this link: http://imgur.com/a/xbRCs or by clicking on the individual images. Enjoy!
​I accidentally sized the wider shots incorrectly, will fix for future uploads. Also, utilizing imgur significantly decreases the load times experienced via this site. Feedback welcome here as well.
So quite a lot has happened over the last 4 days. Super crops, burnt tops, plants too tall ... it was a crazy week dealing with these ladies, but it's been a lot of fun. The buds are really starting to form up, and the first sign of trichromes came today on the left plant (super tiny though). It has a subtle lemon/citrus smell that is not a problem by any means, and even if it were, I've no need to hide it as my house is rather hidden as it is. Anyway, I'll cover each plant on its own to make things a bit simpler and more in-depth.
I'll start with the left (topped) plant (BlueTooth #1) (pics below text, for all). Beginning 3 days ago, I defoliated much of 2 of her main colas in an attempt to see if it was a technique worth employing. Sure enough, within days, the two colas I defoliated had responded with increased bud growth at spots now exposed to direct light. As evidence, these defoliated colas were leaning out from center slightly more than the other two, which allowed the lower canopy to really start coming up. Regardless, I'm running out of vertical space for both of these plants. When the colas go to the far left of the tent, they're hidden from a good portion of the HID light, so I rigged up a T5HO I have laying around to make up for it. I still rotate the plant every 24 hours in order to give it good coverage.
One of the colas got right up on the cool tube and was burned to shit, so I topped her delicately to preserve as much of the growing buds as possible.
Moving on to the right plant (BlueTooth #2), things have been a bit stressful, for both the plant and myself. To begin with, she's exhibiting increased vertical growth over the past week and forced me to supercrop her. I may have done it like a noob, way too close to the top cola, and if so, I'll learn from it. Either way, I'm 100% dedicated to LST from here on out, and most likely scrog as my end goal. Anyway, after super cropping her, I noticed she was recovering a bit too much so figured I hadn't done it proper, and when I went back in the second time, I may have done too much. About 2/3 of the stem is still attached to itself, but I figured a splint couldn't hurt while it repairs itself. I was super hesitant to super crop during flowering, but I need to try it/learn it at some point so I went for it.
And last but not least, the Afghani Kush plant that is now about 25 days old (sprouted on 21st of May). I plan on LST'ing tomorrow, right after I transplant into a 3 gal smart pot. I'll be using the same soil formula of Fox Farms Ocean Forest cut with perlite at 2:1, roughly. You can see I topped her (about 5 days ago) and the 4 main colas are really getting going now. I'm considering mainlining, though it may be a bit advanced for my still-growing skillset. If anyone has any recommendations about this, feel free.
As always, thanks for stopping by and let me know if you see something I missed, have some input, or just wanna shoot the shit!