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Greetings strain connoisseurs, let me make my introductory post with my humble bio grow of AH#3. I embarked on this little project in a very casual way, not having much idea of what I was getting into and overconfident about my previous general gardening experience. Here's a brief (or not so brief) rundown of the things I've done wrong (or not so wrong) thus far: Not knowing that there needs to be a vegetation period PRIOR to flowering I started germination August 29 with the intention to make it an outdoor grow with a harvest sometime in November (summer here lasts well into October and there are enough sunshine hours in the days up untill December) After having botched the first germination batch by losing 1 of 3 seeds during planting, I ended up overwatering the 2 seedlings I got. On top of that, poor quality soil, bad drainage of the containers, a failure to spot and remedy those problems early on and my still clueless muddling through with lighting types and photoperiod schedules, lead to the inevitable withering of both youngsters by September 15, whereupon I started the process anew. By now I realise the folly of my plans and I decide to switch the project to indoors AND THIS TIME DO IT RIGHT . This meant no more 12w CFL bulbs! So I started looking for more powerful solutions and having gone through the mandatory n00b purchases of 70w incadescents (of the spotlight type to boot) I settled with a mix of a 40w@6400K and a 20w@2800K CFL, with a total output of ~3200Lumens. Being overly cautious not to repeat the same overwatering blunder, I was very frugal with water rationing the new seedlings during the first week. However, roaming the web for growing technical knowledge and stumbling upon some sizeable AH#3 plants made me succumb to my impatienc,e at what I perceived to be a slow growth rate. So I overwatered my plants, AGAIN! Thankfully, my better choice of a growing medium, improvements to the design of my DIY containers and my elevated alertness for signs of trouble allowed me to not immediately lose the plants and put them in intensive care: emergency manual draining of water clogged pots every hour, introduction of 24h fan service to dry out the soaking soil, support the bent to the ground seedlings, addition of a new 50w@6400K CFL for warmer conditions...the works! For the first few days my plants are clinging on to dear life as their roots struggling with air deprivation. One of them, which was of a more robust phenotype (stouter stem - broader leaves) recovered faster, while the other one, which I came to name "The Runt" (sprouted later - slower rate of growth), was still struggling to keep straight unsupported due to its much more slender build. After 2 weeks of drying I was relieved to see them both surviving the ordeal, although I still couldn't leave the Runt unsupported against the breeze of the fan. Day 19 of the grow and as I woke up and opened the door of the closet to inspect the seedlings...DAMNATION! ...one of my makeshift light fixtures had become...UN-fixed overnight and dropped right on top of the stronger seedling, completely desiccating it. Lessons learned here: electric tape turns soft due to the increased heat from the extra ligh bulb - need to install an exhaust fan immediately and do a light fixture upgrade. Also at this point I dither between risking another disastrous loss of a young plant due to my inexperience and epic bad luck, and starting a 3rd batch of seedlings which is going to be tricky because any new plant will soon be at a different grow stage with the survivng plant and I can't afford two separate grow spaces in order to manage their cultivation optimally. The Runt's frailty didn't inspire me much confidence on its long-term survivability so I immediately planted a seed in the newly vacant pot figuring if I'm going to go into the trouble I may as well do an extreme test of germinating abilities of the Green House Seeds. Five days later and another sprouted seed emerging from the ground (a total of 6 out 6 success rate so far) means at least I'm getting my money's worth from the Amsterdam team. Nearing day 30 I have done enough research on the basics of growing to dare to use the GHS's official grow video for the strain as a benchmark for my own. GHS' organic plant was a clone rooting for 28 days and reaching a height of 22cm. My Runt on day 28 was 23cm but with less developed folliage and branching. On day 30 it was 28cm tall and still a bit lacking in branching, but considering the stresses it has been through, the low power lighting and the still haphazard photoperiod scheduling (still trying to adjust the schedule so that the new seedling will spend 12 of the 18 hours of its schedule sharing the room with the big plant), I'm not too jealous. Day 31 I transplanted to a large container with a mix of 40lt potting soil and 20lt humus. I intend to see how this basic nutrient arrangement is going to work in the end, so I'm giving nothing more than water unless a dire defficiency develops and even then only something bio like guano is to be used. NATURALLY I OVERWATERED AGAIN, so I had to implement the whole intensive drying regiment once more...LOL...good thing the Runt had become much stronger by now and the new abundance of food together with better lighting (150w@2700K+50w@6400K CFL+reflector+reflective wall lining) and better climate control helped turn what could have been another stressful situation into vigorous growth (3-4cm per day!). Of course I let the soil thoroughly dry out for 12 days before watering again... I am currently on day 51 (day 21 of flowering) and the plant is 82cm tall. GHS's benchmark grow plant growing under a 600w HPS bulb was 67cm and a stark difference with a much bushier branching structure and greater flower progress. Do I need to trim the top in mine and, if so, by how much? The time to switch the seedling to flowering is approaching and I still don't know what to do to bring it up to speed with the older plant. I'm thinking of prolonging its vegetative time to maybe 60 days but it still would need to find its permanent place next to the other one...*shakes head*...LOL, what did I get myself into?
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