Tent-Venture - Episode 21

I’m posting the following journey undertaken by my friend Theodore Complete on their behalf.

Tent-venture episode 21

Drying - Day 9

I’ve kept conditions pretty consistent aside from the humidifiers occasionally running dry. In the meantime I have been preparing the new space for the tent move, and I ordered a screening box to sift the trim from this grow to make hash with. I’m not sure I’ll get much but it’s a minor investment so I figured I’d give it a whirl.

The small branches still have a bit of flex so it maybe another day or two before it’s trim time.

Drying day 12 - trim party

Holy shit what a day. The house smells a lot now.

I gathered up all the stalks out of the tent and set myself up with a big colander on my table to trim over and catch the bits. I’m glad I had room in my schedule to do this today.

The process wasn’t exactly difficult, but it took a couple of hours when factoring in distractions and cleaning trimming scissors off. They get really gummed up and I would sit them in rubbing alcohol for a bit and clean them off repeatedly throughout. Basically I trimmed the sugar leaves and the super small buds at the bottoms of the stalks. I plan on screening those later for kief, or making bubble hash, though that will be later on.

I saved all the trim in a ziploc and put it into the freezer. There was just under an ounce of that total.

The final trimmed product has a slightly purple look from the purpled sugar leaves, and a pungent aroma when trimmed, which is awesome. The total yield of bud was  impressive:

So roughly 56 grams, at a conservative value of $8 a gram that makes $448 worth of savings for me. I’m happy with that, and it cuts my break-even time down, though at this point I’ve stopped paying attention to that. I was only expecting maybe an ounce for these first grows so this is a happy increase from that.

I jarred them up and put humidity packs in to start the 2-3 week curing period. I sampled some and it’s pretty well what I hoped for, a mild strain with a subtle uplifting effect 

Another interesting thing I discovered today is tha Canada Post sells scent-proof envelopes for shipping weed. I guess they decided to lean-into the situation because there isn’t much they can do about people mailing things. At least they won’t smell this way. I have a friend in BC that’s interested in receiving some of my first batch to critique.

This wraps up season one of the Tent-venture. There were a lot of ups and downs, and a lot of learning along the way. Delilah and Sadie were real sports and I’m enjoying the fruits of their labour.

I will return in Season 2 with a new strain.. stay tuned!

Tent-Venture - Episode 20

I’m posting the following journey undertaken by my friend Theodore Complete on their behalf.

Tent-venture episode 20

Day 119 (Sunday)

Sadie - flowering day 63/63

The white pistils on the lower bud sites need to change colour a little bit more before I chop her down. I can already tell my patience is going to run out this week regardless, it’s just a matter of what day I make it to. She’s really sucking the fan leaves dry of their remaining moisture and nutrients, they’re crispy in places.

Day 120 The end of Sadie.

The end of growing. Flowering for 64 days, time to chop. In hindsight I may let the next plant of this strain extend a bit further, but it was the combination of excitement, available time, and general inexperience that led to today being chop day.

It didn’t take long to end it all either, a few choice snips and it all came down.

I decided to only take the largest leaves off and do what is known as a ‘dry trim’ on this plant to extend the drying time and potentially aid flavour. It was still a task that took over an hour, plus time to set up the tent for drying.  Also, damn did it smell.

I pulled the light out and ran a rod through the port openings in each end to suspend hangers from. I set the humidifier to 45-55% RH and the temp to around 20 C. The exhaust fan is on low to provide some air movement inside, as well as scent control. 

I added a deflector to the humidifier after taking the photo to make sure it was diffusing more than just blasting  up. The humidity, though advised for proper slow drying, makes me a bit nervous. I’m going to really monitor this drying period to make sure there aren’t problems.

Day 121 - Drying day 1 (Tuesday)

It’s going to be interesting to see if there are changes as she dries out.

Day 123-125 - Drying Day 3 - 5

I’ve been keeping a steady eye on things. I’m paranoid about the humidity levels but I’m trusting the internet on this. It has guided me well enough in the grow to date. Slow and low is the name of this game I think.

It’s cool to see the leaves droop, and it has gone through the ‘cut grass’ smell that has something to do with chlorophyll.

I’ve had some irritating equipment issues, the humidifier randomly dies but works intermittently too so I fired a second one for backup. My humidity levels may have been too low as a result for a bit.

Tent-Venture - Episode 19

I’m posting the following journey undertaken by my friend Theodore Complete on their behalf.

Tent-venture episode 19

Day 112 (Sunday)

Sadie - flowering day 56/63

Theoretically it’s the last week of flowering so next weekend should be harvest day. It’s exciting and I keep telling myself to wait longer. Hopefully some of the lower bud sites develop a bit more before chopping. I’m going to go in for a closer look tomorrow.

Day 116 (Thursday)

I’ve peeled in and removed the odd leaf but otherwise just left the girl alone this week. Today it’s time for a thorough check in and action plan.

I took a close look at the buds to see if the trichromes were turning, and much like Delilah it seems the tops are more advanced than the lower sites. I’m going to skip the staggered harvest I did with Delilah just because I don’t want to fuss around keeping two calendars for drying and curing, and I didn’t find much more than a marginal increase in yield anyway.

I plan on using the tent to dry in to best control the drying conditions. I did not enjoy fussing around with that extra box.

There are bright green portions swelling up and fattening the colas. The site down the stems from the main buds have more of a popcorn look.

Day 118 (Saturday)

The pistils are still not fully browned all over and are still quite white on lower sites. There are also portions of the larger flowers that are swelling up and getting a bright green hue to them.

I’ve been staring for long periods at different parts of the plant and scouring the internet for advice, but my gut tells me waiting a bit more is the way to go. But not too long.. ugh, I can’t wait to get enough experience for this not to stress me out. 

Tent-Venture - Episode 18

I’m posting the following journey undertaken by my friend Theodore Complete on their behalf.

Tent-venture episode 18

Day 105

Sadie - day 105, flowering day 49/63

It’s almost time. When I started the grow I was somewhat planning a Christmas harvest so I’m basically on track. I think another week or two of development will add a little razzle dazzle, but I’m going basically on the pistil colour and trichromes colour at this point, or until I get impatient and just go after it.

She’s still shedding leaves but only one today.  I set some water out to use in the reservoir this week. With lockdowns looming I decided running to the store for something just marginally better than tap water isn’t worth it.

According to Royal Queen Seeds, who produced this strain, the relative humidity when drying should be around 45-55%. I think I can swing that in the tent with the humidifiers on, but I may need to adjust ventilation. The carbon filter pulls enough out that it’s tricky to keep humidity up. I guess I have no choice but to wait and see if it works, and amend as necessary.

Day 106 (Monday)

Sometimes I just stare at the colours, they’re very pretty.

Day 107 (Tuesday)

Another morning of plucking fan leaves as the mobile nutrients get sucked away.  I’ve seen some amber trichromes on the top most colas, but I want to give it another few days to let the whole plant mature a bit longer. 

I’ve thought about starting my next plant too. I discussed with Tugboat a ways back and decided Kushberry is the way to go because of the ridiculous name.

It was a freebie thrown in to my order from the Quebec seed bank although I can no longer find it listed on there. It’s supposed to be an indica dominant plant that grows kinda short.  These aren’t specifically feminized seeds so the risk is that I get a male and have to start over once it expresses in flower. I’ll likely just grow a smaller plant anyway so the timeframe will tighten up, 3-4 weeks in veg rather than 7 like Sadie got.

Day 108 (Wednesday)

Two days before Christmas and I refilled Sadie’s reservoir - that’s the only gift I’m getting her. No point adding nutrients or anything other than water at this point, the genetic programming is on cruise control until the end.

Some more leaves were able to be removed with a light pull, and the added bonus of less foliage has been increased light penetration to the lower sites. I maybe should have left the screen on up to the end, but I felt it was cumbersome at the time.

Tugboat stopped in and took a look at the progress. He made some suggestions about window venting which I will explore.

Day 111 (Saturday)

I have not looked in much over the holidays other than to see if there were any issues, which there did not appear to be.

Tent-Venture - Episode 17

I’m posting the following journey undertaken by my friend Theodore Complete on their behalf.

Tent-venture episode 17

Day 98 (Sunday)

Sadie - Day 98 flowering day 42/63

Roughly 3 weeks left and I’m getting antsy for the finish line. The fall colours are in full effect, and some of the lower leaves have been sucked dry and fallen off.

Day 99

I mixed half a litre of nutrients and fed Sadie today. I also checked the reservoir pH and found it had again drifted to the alkaline range. Distilled water is looking more attractive for the next grow.

Also, the smell is getting stronger and I’m not sure what to do about it. It’s too cold to vent outside at this point so I ordered some ONA gel to help buffer the scent as it travels towards my upstairs stairwell, but I fear it will get here too late. I’ll have to consider this for my next grow, though I feel like I’m going to get enough product to satisfy me for some time from this grow.

Day 100 (Tuesday)

There are more leaves being shed every day making me think there is an issue more than just the wrapping up of flowering, but at this point I’m going to ride it out for another 2 weeks. I think there’s enough growth to keep it riding that long, and I’ll just chop it down if she looks problematic. There are a lot of pistils that have turned red, but I’m still keeping an eye on the trichromes to signal when to harvest. I could in all honesty harvest now and I’m sure I’d still be happy, but I want to push it to the limit. Also, I drained the reservoir and added in distilled water so I want her to drink the $5 investment.

I can’t touch anything on her without being coated in rosin, she’s a sticky one! It smells great but I have to remember to vigorously wash my hands before leaving the house. I also picked up an air freshener to keep near the stairs to mask residual stank.

Day 101 (Wednesday)

The anticipation is torture at this point. I ripped a tiny nugget from a lower stem to investigate with a microscope and I think it still needs some time, but not likely too much more.

Day 103 (Thursday)

Senescence continues. Every day this week I’ve gently tugged yellowing leaves to see if they come off of their own accord, and many have been. The daily pruning is roughly this size:

I’m hoping one more week until the trichromes signal harvest is ready.

Day 105 (Saturday)

I achieved what I was looking for as far as plant training is concerned so I took the screen off so she can go unbounded and relaxed into the sunset.

The Neem oil surface spray I did last Tuesday took care of the fungus gnats, or drastically dwindled their forces to the point of invisibility - both are good. I’ll keep that in mind next grow. Truth be told I had the bottle for a few weeks before but for whatever reason I was just too lazy to mix it up.

Tent-Venture - Episode 16

I’m posting the following journey undertaken by my friend Theodore Complete on their behalf.

Tent-venture episode 16

Day 91 (Sunday)

Sadie - Day 91 flowering day 35/63

I’m at the halfway mark for flowering now.

I’m not sure why there are coloured leaves popping like they are. I read on some sites that cold stress can cause it, but the temperatures have been fairly steady. Something to look into on future grows I guess.

There are also some yellowing leaves that have me concerned. I may feed more nutrients soon.

Day 93 (Tuesday)

Screwdriver for scale:

I was pretty concerned with both the fungus gnats continuing to vex me as well as the yellowing leaves today, so I took a bold 2 step approach. First I mixed a Neem oil pesticide spray and sprayed the surface of the soil until moist. I waited for a bit for it to absorb and do it’s work, then step 2 was to mix and apply nutrients slightly heavier than my normal application. This will either address deficiencies or not. I think the purple colour is due to the cold pot. Despite the heater and the light it is noticeably cool on the bottom likely due to being in the basement. Maybe some foam board insulation under the tent next round.

I will follow up in a few days with a distilled water flush of the plant to undo any nutrient lockout that may be happening, although I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to make that happen with the netting in place.. I’ve read so many conflicting opinions about what to do that I’ve just decided to try this and see if it works, and adapt for next time.  I think the next go around I will use exclusively distilled water in the reservoir as well in case there are issues with suspended solids. I may spring for a fancier pH pen as well, I’ve abandoned my cheap one at this point after I couldn’t maintain consistent calibration, opting for water colouring solutions and a colour chart instead.

The idea of hydroponic growing intrigued me as well, but that’s a substantial output of money and learning, and I just don’t think my consumption warrants it.

Day 95 (Thursday)

I fired 4 L of distilled water through Sadie as a flush in case the salt buildup from the nutrients was causing lockout. I didn’t end up pulling her out of the screen, I just put a few towels down and went at it. A bit messy but it got the job done.

The smell is permeating the tent despite the carbon filter. There have been comments made by house guests which in turn gives me the chance to show her off. I generally get a “holy shit!” or similar, it’s awesome.  That said, I have to get a better scent control method worked out.

Day 97 (Saturday)

Just took a happy snap and left her to her own devices. I’m glad to be in the home stretch now.

Tent-Venture - Episode 15

I’m posting the following journey undertaken by my friend Theodore Complete on their behalf.

Tent-venture episode 15

Day 101 Overall, switching over to Sadie days.

Day 84 (Sunday)

Sadie - day 84, flowering day 28/63 <- the total flowering time is a guesstimate based on the seed producers data sheet on their website.

I felt that the rest of Delilah was finished drying. I weighed it out. The ‘rough accuracy’ kitchen scale put it at 7 grams total. Not bad for my first plant I guess, better than zero.   I put the rest into a jar to start curing.

Other than that I just peeked in and left Sadie alone. I’ve had a pretty hectic week so haven’t thought much about her, and I’ve automated things to the point where I’m comfortable ignoring her for lengthy periods.

I tried a small bowl of the first cutting off of Delilah. Not bad, not earth shattering but a decent buzz. I have higher hopes for the remaining portion since it sat longer.

Day 85 (Monday)

I didn’t get a chance to look in until late. I sent Tugboat a snap but the timer-controlled light turned off just before I grabbed a photo so I’ll have to wait until tomorrow. The buds are getting big and very sticky. I’m concerned I’m not going to have enough jars for it all.

Day 86 (Tuesday)

I applied nutrients again. I thought I had applied nutrients last Tuesday but it was last Thursday. Oh well. She’s fattening up well, and looks strong. The goddamn fungus gnats are not going away though.

Day 88 (Thursday)

I added a second flypaper strip and a homemade trap which is a cup of apple cider vinegar mixed with sugar and soap as a surfactant to drop the surface tension and trap the little fucks going for a sweet drink. It trapped a number of them pretty soon after putting it in.

There are some reds showing in the leaves and some early signs of necrosis in the leaves as it transitions towards the final stages.

Day 90 (Saturday)

I added some cal-mag and fed today, I’m worried a deficiency is causing the yellowing instead of simply being time for them to yellow. 

The progress (shown above)  from last Monday when I put the screen on until now is pretty cool. I’m really enjoying the red shift on the leaves.

Tent-Venture - Episode 14

I’m posting the following journey undertaken by my friend Theodore Complete on their behalf.

Tent-venture episode 14

Day 94 (Sunday)

Delilah day 94 from sprout

Sadie day 77 from sprout, flowering day 21

Sadie has a lot of development for 3 weeks. I’ve defoliated a few times and you can’t tell I’ve really cut anything, which is a good thing I guess.

I looked closer at Delilah through my pocket microscope and saw the colour of the trichromes deemed her ready. So much for day 100 harvest I mentioned in the last episode. Oh well.

I just cut her right at the base and went to town trimming. I put on latex gloves this time because this gal is sticky. I stopped a few times to clean the trimmers too. She was a dense girl, and the first plant I’ve gotten from seed to harvest.

To dry, I broke it down even further.

I put together a hillbilly twine screen to do a ‘screen of green’ or ScrOG training. The idea is to flatten the canopy to a somewhat consistent height to even light distribution. I had wanted to do this sooner but Delilah was in the way up to this point. It took a bit of time to bend all the stems but I think it went well. For future grows I’m going to build a wooden frame to accomplish this. I also moved the second watering spike to Sadie, so she has two moisture sensors reading moisture levels.

Day 95 Monday

Looking good. I think in future grows I’ll flip to flower sooner just because I’m concerned about my light not being strong enough for this size of canopy.

She also has downed a lot of water, so I dialled the sensors back a bit.

Day 98 (Thursday)

It has been a busy week so I haven’t had much opportunity to update. I mixed up some nutrients and fed Sadie. 

Day 99 (Friday)

I didn’t do much, just snapped a few pics.

Day 100 (Saturday)

I was busy all day so not much of an update but here’s a photo I found really interesting. The root system has grown up to the drip feeders. The plant is healthy so I’m not too concerned about this.

Hopefully more substantial updates in the future.  Stay tuned!

Tent-Venture - Episode 13

I’m posting the following journey undertaken by my friend Theodore Complete on their behalf.

Tent-venture episode 13

Day 87 (Sunday)

Delilah day 87 from sprout

Sadie day 70 from sprout, flowering day 15

Sadie seems exceptionally content right now and is starting to put some scent in the tent. I’m glad to have the carbon filter.

I’m worried that Sadie is shading  out Delilah, but there’s not much to be done, she’s just dwarfed by Sadie’s magnificence at this point. I’m just trying to move branches to get as much light as possible on her.

I checked on the curing bud and the humidity was at 50%. That’s too low so I bit the bullet and threw a 2-way humidity control pack called a Boveda in there that will set the humidity at 62%. I wanted to do this without using those just for the experience but I think it will idiot proof the process at this point and that’s right up my alley. After an hour the humidity hopped right back in line.

Day 89 (Tuesday)

Sadie’s bud sites are developing nicely. They look to have more colour than Delilah’s. There are loads of budding sites on each branch, which is exciting but also means a lot of work when I eventually harvest. At least by then I will be able to use the tent to dry in.

I’ve continued to burp the curing bud daily as well, though I may need to set a reminder for myself at some point.

Day 90 (Wednesday)

Although my temperature has been dialled in, I unplugged my humidifier a while ago from the humidistat switch. I’ve had to juggle competing atmospheric requirements for the two plants at different stages of life which has proven impossible given the space. Delilah needs dryer, Sadie needs moister. The attached photo shows the swings my basement has seen since doing this, and as a result of the onset of fall / winter.

In the future I will not have 2 different aged plants inside the space. I think a single photoperiod or two auto flowers is the sweet spot for the space.

Delilah has been slowly developing her remaining crop. I plan to cut this soon and close her chapter.

Day 92 (Friday)

The bud sites on Sadie’s stems are exploding with growth. It’s pretty cool to see, and it’s encouraging. Hopefully they will coalesce into mighty colas.

Daily burping continues on what I’ve harvested so far.  2 more weeks of this until it’s ready.

Just for the sake of keeping things numerically clean I’m going to cut Delilah on Day 100, so that will be the end of the next episode.

Day 93 (Saturday)

I accidentally let the reservoir run dry so I filled it with water I had prepared. Sadie is drinking a lot I think.

Tent-Venture - Episode 12

I’m posting the following journey undertaken by my friend Theodore Complete on their behalf.

Tent-venture episode 12

Day 80

Delilah day 80 from sprout

Sadie day 63 from sprout, flowering day 8

Things are just coming along nicely. Sadie is noticeably larger than a week ago, and there is all sorts of growth on her stems.

I defoliated some of her underbrush to keep airflow up, it got really dense down there.

Delilah was definitely not ready for me to cut a big chunk off last week, but live and learn. She’s developing even denser buds at this point. I’m going to wait maybe 2 more weeks before chopping the rest.

The bud is continuing to dry, but the grass smell is gone and the familiar weed smell is coming back.

Day 83 (Wednesday)

I trimmed more minor underbrush from Sadie yesterday and today, I’m trying to keep air flowing throughout the plant. I’m judging growth by how close to the sensor the plant gets. Here’s day 1 of flower to now:

I mixed some fertilizer and added to both plants today, 2.5 ml each of base, bloom, and cal-mag to 1L of water I’ve had sitting in the basement letting the chlorine off-gas out of it.

The bud is still slowly drying, but still feels pliable so I’m going to give it another day or two. It has gone back to smelling like weed a little, though I worry I’m nose blind from time to time.

Day 86 (Saturday)

Sadie is starting to form bud sites and looks strong.

I trimmed some more bottom foliage to open up air flow. From what I’ve read it seems that growers are on the fence about the benefits of defoliation but it seems to be responding well. I’ve tried to trim only a little bit at a time until I got to this level and I’ll refrain further.

Here’s a shot of the little bud site forming.

I decided 2 weeks was enough drying and it’s time to start the cure - around 3 weeks in a jar with daily air exchange (burping) while monitoring humidity. This is supposed to enhance flavour and potency. The little humidity monitors were like $10 for 4. The target humidity is around 60-62%. Hopefully I didn’t over dry this nugget but it’s not the end of the world. I’m resisting the urge to smoke it for quality control reasons.

Tent-Venture - Episode 11

I’m posting the following journey undertaken by my friend Theodore Complete on their behalf.

Tent-Venture Episode 11

Day 73

Delilah - Day 73

Sadie - Day 56, Flowering 1

Things are looking good today for the first day of the flip. I expect Sadie to take somewhere around 60 days to mature from here on in.

On closer inspection of Delilah I think I’m going to chop her this week.

The close up view shows a good number of amber trichromes as well.

I don’t want to dry in the tent while Sadie is flowering so I came up with a pretty low-tech solution. I attached a vent flange onto a cardboard box and connected a 4 inch line to the tent.

The negative pressure in the tent from the carbon filter will draw air and scent into the tent and filter. I confirmed with a lighter that there is good airflow. It maintains the temp and humidity well also.

Day 74

Sadie looks amazing and healthy. Just 2 nights of 12 hour darkness and I feel like I notice a difference.

I decided to cut the top off Delilah. I should have left it for a while longer, but at least by doing a partial harvest it lets me leave the rest for another few days to fatten up a bit more.  I was too excited I think.

Holy heck is cannabis ever a sticky plant. I was struggling to keep my scissors clean enough to cut the leaves off. Next time I’m getting gloves too.  Some people save the leaves for making other stuff but it wasn’t enough for me to bother with.

Now Delilah’s decapitated head sits alone in the drying box. Very macabre. 

Drying should last between 5-10 days I think. I read you judge a lot by stems breaking but I don’t have a lot of stem on this chunk to try breaking. These are uncharted waters, as is the curing phase that happens for a few weeks after, but for right now it’s a nice view.

Day 75

I tied Sadie down to try to even out the canopy.

Day 76

Not much to report. Sadie looks great.

The drying continues for the first nugget as well 

Day 77 (Thursday)

The growth Sadie is showing is pretty wild, just firing out shoots all over. The little pre-flowers are all over.

Delilahs drying head seems to be coming along. It smells of cut grass which I’ve read is relatively normal. It will need more drying time before curing.

Day 78 (Friday)

Just on autopilot now for a bit. I trimmed Sadie a wee bit for airflow but nothing drastic.  I can see the stretch a bit just by how she’s reached the temp sensors in the picture already.

Day 79 (Saturday)

The more I watch Delilah the more I’m convinced I jumped the gun to chop. I suppose the excitement that got to me is natural so I’ll take it as a learning experience.

The little bud is still drying next door, it still feels a bit moist so it’ll be a few days yet.

Tent-Venture - Episode 10

I’m posting the following journey undertaken by my friend Theodore Complete on their behalf.

Tent-venture episode 10

Day 66 - Sunday, October 25

Delilah - 66 days from sprout

Sadie - 49 days from sprout

Delilah is looking nice and getting close but it may yet be another few weeks.  It’s neat to see the changes from week 6 to 8 to now:

The pic is from the tippy top but the bud below has yet to fully develop.

Sadie seems to have recovered from the defoliation as shown side by side in the photo below comparing six days ago to now . She also looks to have been drawing water from the reservoir as intended. I still plan to flip at the end of the month at this point, but it will more likely be when I harvest Delilah, I won’t mind getting the second light out and having some more elbow room.

Day 68 (Tuesday)

Sadie is really bushy again. Only a few more days until the Halloween flip and then she’ll start stretching more.

Their water intake has I think been adjusted properly after a lot of trial and error as well.

Day 69 (Nice.)

I gave Delilah a trim to get rid of some fan leaves ahead of the impending chop and let some more light hit the lower sites. She looks like one big nugget now.

I’m starting to see some amber trichromes in at least the top site, but I think I’m still safe to wait until Halloween.

Day 70

I had to empty and refill the reservoir this morning after a check in. Before I did I measured consumption to come up with this table:

That’s with 2 plants, I’m going to me interested to see how much when just one is drawing when it’s just Sadie - Delilah probably sucks a fair amount back for flowering at this point.

The pH in the reservoir drifted to 9 and there was some scum floating on top, maybe from the hard water but it’s just a guess based on the buildup on other appliances in the house. Resetting the pH of the new water took longer than I would have liked, probably because I hadn’t had coffee yet.

Day 72 -Saturday

Today is the day to flip Sadie after 55 total days of vegetative state to flowering. I adjusted the light timer to 12 hours light 12 dark starting tonight. Let the games begin.

Sadie looks great today.

I got paranoid about Delilah exhibiting possible hermaphroditism today. That led me to kicking her out along with the grow light to finish up in a closet. However, after leaving the house and returning I found her scent to be quite pronounced outside of the tent, so back in she went. I’m just going to roll with it, I could be totally mistaken anyway. I did not bother putting the UFO light back inside though.

Tent-Venture - Episode 9

I’m posting the following journey undertaken by my friend Theodore Complete on their behalf.

Tent-venture Episode 9

Day 59 (Sunday Oct 18)

Sadie - 42 days from sprout 

Delilah - 59 days from sprout

Now that my irrigation system is all set and running I don’t have much regular hands on work left to do.  I’m not far from starting to harvest Delilah so I’ve been reading up on drying and curing practices.

Delilah is maxed at about 8 inches from soil.

Sadie is 9 inches at her highest point so far, but flattened out.

I’ve started defoliating little bits at the bottom of stems in the undercarriage to force her energy in the ends. I’ll do a bit more tomorrow as my attentions were needed elsewhere before I could finish up. 

Here’s an infographic for the general goal from Leafly.com

Day 60 - Monday 

I did additional defoliation on Sadie. I went a bit buck wild actually. That’ll be it until I flip to flower, I think I’ve stressed her enough. I’m trying to motivate the canopy to grow more evenly, and I’ve read that this level of defoliation is not uncommon. I think she’s strong, she can take it.

Also, the irrigation system is working, water was drawn!  The volume used is 240mm x 240mm x 7 mm, approx 0.4 L. I think it was all Delilah, and I also think it’s a bit too much so I dialled back the feed a bit more on her. I’m curious to see how long until Sadie draws it with the probe set deeper. 

Day 61 (Tuesday)

The first thing I noticed was the water level - looks like another half litre went down, so I trimmed back on the flow a bit more. There is a bit of a trial and error period to these it seems. Another thing I did not consider was that I would be unable to pull the plants out again until I at least got my shutoff in place. 

I checked the water pH in the holding tank and consulted with Tugboat to make sure my colour matching abilities are still ok to determine the level in the 6 range. 

Delilah still has some time left to mature but it’s neat to look at the closeups:

I’m hoping only a few more weeks because I could use the grow light for a basil plant I want to keep trucking - basil has been weirdly hard to come by for a little while. 

Meanwhile Sadie seems to be alright... so far.. after being stripped right down. I may still be able to meet my flowering start target of Oct 31 but will amend if necessary. It will largely depend on whether Delilah is finished or not. 

Day 62 (Wednesday)

Not much to report today, just took a peek and left them alone. My water shutoff came in so I had a bit of a wet ordeal installing that but was happy with the result. I had to reset my watering level monitoring though. That means I replaced the painters tape.

I hadn’t checked my temp distributions in a while. I like what I see, it’s a tight spread. 

I’ve turned off the humidifier to try to keep it lower while Delilah is in flower.  The ambient humidity of the room seems alright, I may actually use a dehumidifier if it creeps up at all. 

Day 63 (Thursday)

Mistakes were made. In the morning I thought Sadie was a bit light so I adjusted the drip feeder to a slow drip, assuming it would turn off when adequately moist. I meant to come back in an hour to see how it was going but that turned into 5 due to a busier than average day. The drip had stopped  by the time I returned which means the sensor was satisfied with the moisture and closed the feed, but this image shows the amount of water that was needed to do that.. The mark below ‘Wed’ was the morning mark... probably a litre at least.

There was a pool in the drip tray underneath as well, but it was contained in there. It took a large towel to clean up.  The photo doesn’t do the water level justice.

I turned the sensitivity down a bit more and kicked myself a bit.

Day 64 (Friday)

Just a quick peek today, all is well.

Day 65 (Saturday)

Things look good. I won’t ruin it by meddling... for now.

Tent-Venture - Episode 8

I’m posting the following journey undertaken by my friend Theodore Complete on their behalf.

Tent-venture episode 8

Delilah - 52 days since sprout

Sadie - 35 days since sprout

Day 52 (Sunday)

The ladies continue plugging along. I’m just leaving them alone today. I may give Delilah a drink tomorrow depending on if she looks a bit droopy by then. 

Day 53 (Monday)

I watered and added fertilizer and cal mag to each of the plants today. I used ‘veg’ for Sadie and ‘bloom’ for Delilah. I have some concerns about my cheap pH probe, seems to be reading all over the place even after calibration. I was double checking with pH drop solution and at one point the pen read 8 but the drops showed a bright red corresponding with 4.  I may need to spend more than $20 on a technical instrument..

Day 55 (Wednesday)

I defoliated Sadie today to get some more airflow and get rid of leaves dragging on the ground and shaded out. It’ll take a little while for her to recover from this but I have lots of time since I can perpetually keep her vegetative based on light schedule alone. Hopefully this stimulates some more vertical growth. I still think I’ll follow through with a flip to flower at the end of the month but I’ve also been toying with repotting into a 7 gallon pot - decisions, decisions. 

Delilah should be ready in about 2 weeks. The white splotches are diatomaceous earth that I managed to cover her in. 

I got a cheap dollar store jewel loop to zoom in - it doesn’t produce great photos but my eye is a much better lens than my phone and I find it useful. From what I understand it’s chop time when either all, or some, of the little white dangly thingies (trichromes) start to turn a bit amber, or when 75% or more of the white hairs (pistils) are full of vibrant colours... or both conditions.. it’s a bit confusing.

A summation of what to look for: “As soon as 50% of the pistils are brown you should start checking on the trichomes, which are the standard method of knowing when to harvest and when around 70% of the pistils have turned brown, you should definitely check the trichomes every day.”

I’ll have to take her into less purple light for photos in the future to observe. 

Day 58 (Saturday)

I haven’t spent a lot of time on the ladies other than giving Delilah a drink yesterday. Her bottom leaves are yellowing and desiccating which is natural as she sucks all her moisture back into herself to push energy at the flowers. I’ll pluck them only after they’re mostly wilted away so she pulls all the good stuff out. Some of the hairs are red but only on the very top. I think I am going to harvest in stages, taking off the top and letting the lower colas mature and fatten with added light. 

Sadie doesn’t look to angry that I gave her a haircut but I expect she will still need time to heal. 

A big move in automation today: I installed a blumat auto drip irrigation system today to take the guesswork out of watering. The basic idea is that as the soil dries around the ceramic carrot it opens the diaphragm to let water drip until it reaches the desired moisture level. The whole setup took about an hour but this should help me to avoid under and over watering. 

The smaller carrot will go to Delilah, the larger deeper carrot to Sadie. 

After Delilah is all wrapped up I will move the second carrot to Sadie as well, this will let me cover 2 soil levels and help ensured adequate moisture throughout. 

I bored a hole in an old end table to prop up a small reservoir for a gravity feed. I threw a few bolts through the table to half-ass secure the pail in place. The reservoir is an old pail for salt that I washed the hell out of. 

There’s a connector plug in the bottom and as I set it up I realized I had no shutoff - an oversight on my part. I’ll get that ordered but press on. 

I had to fully water each plant and let them drain for about a half hour to set up. I just used tap water for the deep watering because I did not want to spend ages adjusting pitcher after pitcher, but I pH adjusted the reservoir water though. The pail comfortably held 12 litres. 

The install went quickly. I fed the line through the air intake at the bottom of the tent and did the required cutting and connecting. The rigidity of the supply line made the end look a bit dumb but the head pressure from the gravity feed will have no issue with it. Starting at the last blumat in sequence, you unscrew the brown dial to let water flow through and purge air. Then gradually tighten until a single droplet holds at the end of the drip tube without falling. From there you tighten down 2 arrow notches visible on the dial. 

I marked the water level to track a little bit for curiosity’s sake. I’ll have to start back over when the shutoff gets in but whatever. 

Tent-Venture - Episode 7

I’m posting the following journey undertaken by my friend Theodore Complete on their behalf.

Tent-venture episode 7

Day 45 

Delilah - 45 days

Sadie - 28 days

I think the training Sadie is being put through is working. I plan to keep her vegetative for a while to continue it, maybe another 3 weeks even. I just started the sharp left turn. 

I did some defoliation called ‘lollipopping’ to Delilah - trimming all the vegetation that’s shaded by upper canopy to try to focus its energy onto the bud sites receiving light.. That’s the theory anyway. My research suggested this was the appropriate time to undertake this but time will tell.  I hope it’s not going to stunt development, but she’s healthy otherwise if a little small so I think she will handle the haircut. 

Day 46 (Monday)

I think I’m doing bonsai at this point with Sadie, I’m really turning the corner with her. I continue to open up the main stem to light in order to try and form a sort of tabletop.  I trimmed a few leaves that were on the ground to improve airflow. 

Delilah is plugging along. I gave her some plain water. It’s clear that she has some toxicity at this point so no more nutrients going forward. I just hope she fills out well following the trim. 

Day 47 (Tuesday)

Sadie has been ripping the plant ties out with her sassy girth, so I came up with a solution - alligator clips on long skewers to hold in place. The skewers are for sure more secure in the soil, so this is promising. 

Delilah continues to flower, up to around 7 1/2 inches in total height. Small but fierce. Although I’m disappointed with the overall size, it taught me a lot while I was dialling in all the parameters of the grow space that I can use going forward. She’s my little Yuri Gagarin. The bucket plant was like that dog that the soviets fired up into space first to see if it would live, I guess. 

The signs of N toxicity remain but all I can do is keep feeding plain water and hope she eats through her nitrogen stores. I think the pro mix contains too much stored fertilizer and I will have to adjust for next grow to remove that, probably buy a different soil seeing as I’m all out anyway. I hope the effort I put into blending Sadie’s soil will keep the same from happening, but time will tell. 

I was noticing a few gnats inside a few days ago so I have a sticky strip to trap them, but my research told me that I should be more aggressive to prevent root damage from the larvae, so I mixed up some mosquito dunk water and poured it over the ladies. Apparently it is just as effective at killing gnats. 

I read up until I was satisfied that it was safe to use. It is designed to target larval gnats that live in the watered soil of the plants. My next step is diatomaceous earth if this isn’t effective. 

Day 48 (Wednesday)

I shook out some of that nasty smelling soil additive for Sadie.. it’s a really good thing my carbon filter is running, hoo boy. 

I feel like all my aggressive bending is turning Sadie into a gnarled Quasimodo shrub more than a tall plant. I plan to keep her in vegetative mode until the end of the month.

Delilah is doing her thing. Still working through all that nitrogen. 

I sprayed another round of mosquito dunk in water and put an inquiry in for auto watering spikes from a supply shop. As long as I keep watering the surface I fear gnats will be an issue, and an auto watering setup could allow me some time away without worry. 

Day 49 (Thursday)

I made an executive decision to release Sadie from her bondage and let her grow freely for a while. Time to let her find her own way.

I also got some diatomaceous earth to address the gnats. However, I did not think through the process appropriately and watered before I applied it. It is now a moist white caking on top, and not performing as designed. Oh well, lesson learned. I’ll circle back tomorrow or Saturday to reapply. 

Day 51 (Saturday)

I had a bit of a scare with Delilah. I was doing a bit of examining and noticed a couple sacks. 

At first glance I thought it was a pollen sack indicative of a hermaphrodite plant at this growth stage. After researching I was reassured that these were calyxs not pollen sacks which more closely resemble balls on sticks. I’m fairly certain at least. This is stressful. The risk is that if it’s male and releases pollen then it will mess up Sadie. 

On the plus side the gnats seem to be gone. 

Tent-Venture - Episode 6

I’m posting the following journey undertaken by my friend Theodore Complete on their behalf.

Tent-venture episode 6

Day 38

Delilah - Day 38

Sadie - Day 21

Not much to report. I mixed some water with cal mag, base, and bloom nutrients for Delilah, around 1 ml of each in a litre of water. 

I’ve never gotten to the flowering stage so I hope Delilah responds well. The nice part about the auto flower is that I don’t need to change light schedules at all. This may be a consideration in future grows since I don’t necessarily want to buy a separate flowering tent right now. Truth be told I have some regrets about doing 2 plants at once especially because they were a few weeks apart, but the giddy idiot it me just does things without thinking sometimes. 

Day 39 (Monday)

Delilah seems to be stretching upward compared to the photos from last week. A bit of a lean, but nothing to concern myself over right now. I’ll put a support in if needed.

I messed around with all the tie-downs on Sadie to make sure there is airflow under the canopy. The soil is still moist a little bit below the surface so I’ll wait before watering again. I’ve pondered defoliation because of how bushy she is, but I’ll maybe try that on the next plant as an experiment. 

Day 40 (Tuesday)

The temps have been bothering me and I added another larger fan to better circulate air. The exhaust speed controller came in so now I can dial that in and control temps a bit more consistently than just opening the flap every now and then.  

The installation dropped the temp and removed the smell immediately - not from the plant but from the soil additive made of rotting mushrooms and possibly buttholes. There is a negative air pressure effect inside the tent that makes sure all odours get pulled inside the filter. Good investment. 

Day 41 (Wednesday)

I raised my light up to roughly 22 inches to try to force some vertical growth - it’s bushy and healthy at the moment, just needs a bit of a push. The light over Delilah will stay about a foot from the top, and I’m considering throwing a divider between Sadie and Delilah so I can lower Delilahs light source and help her flower. I’ll see how the next few days go and reassess. 

I gave both of them a big drink today of plain water pH adjusted to 6.  I also took off all of Sadies restraints to try and let it lift up a bit. 

Day 42 (Thursday)

It’s hard to tell from the photo but just 12 hours of being unrestrained and Sadie lifted up from flat to about 30 degrees or so. I retied just her top.

Delilah is still plugging away at making flowers as well. It’s pretty neat to compare growth after just a week. 

Day 44 (Saturday)

I’m finding the humidity difficult to keep up. I’m playing with a larger humidifier for the next grow. 

Tent-Venture - Episode 5

I’m posting the following journey undertaken by my friend Theodore Complete on their behalf.

Tent-venture episode 5

Day 32 (Sunday September 20)

Delilah - day 32

Sadie - day 14

I upped the light a bit to around 35000 lux - gonna see if that sparks some action. 

Sadie seems to be recovering from the transplant well and is turning to the light.  My LST goal will be similar to the following diagram. 

Delilah is plugging along slowly as well.

Day 33 (Monday)

My new hygrometer switch came in and I’m going to try to nail down the humidity based on this VPD chart I found online: 

I set the humidity to 60-65% and lowered the light a little bit. 

I pulled out everything to organize cables and set things up a bit. I feel like I need more space for all the gear, maybe 2 plants was too much but I’m in it now. I gave them a healthy drink today too. 

Day 34 (Wednesday)

Delilah looks strong today, starting to come into her own. 

Sadie is looking a bit wilted. My first instinct was to water but I’ve learned enough from the bucket fiasco to think twice.  Further inspection leads me to believe it’s likely some overwatering on my part - the leaves look pretty plump.  I’ll let her dry out, and I also lowered the humidistat to 55-60%. The deep green colour has me concerned a bit and I think I’ll do a flush tomorrow. 

Day 35 (Thursday)

I pulled Delilah up to water her and noticed some white pistils - looks like the auto flower genetics are kicking in. It’s a shame I couldn’t get her any larger beforehand. 

I also gave Sadie a healthy soak. I pH adjusted 6 litres of water and ran it through to try to flush some of the nutrients out of the soil. 

Day 36 (Friday)

I’ve read that the plants will stretch during the flowering phase so I’m looking forward to seeing what happens with Delilah. 

Sadie responded well to the soak and is showing lots of signs of growth. The tie-down treatment seems to be working well and there are new growth nodes popping up along the main stem. 

Day 37 (Saturday)

I put the old grow light in to help Delilah flower up. Interestingly I haven’t noticed much of a blip on my monthly hydro bill from any of this. 

Tent-Venture - Episode 4

I’m posting the following journey undertaken by my friend Theodore Complete on their behalf.

Tent-venture - Episode 4

Day 25 - Sunday Sept 13

Delilah - Day 25 from sprout

Sadie - Day 7 from sprout

I mixed up the soil for the 5 gallon felt pot I want Sadie in. No real plan, just trying to use what I have lying around. 

• 1 part seedling starter bag (mostly peat moss)

• 1 part cow manure

• 2 parts Hydro grow mix (finished the bag)

• 1 part perlite

• 4 parts pro mix

I’ll leave the pot in my shed until I’m ready to transplant, I’ll see how the next week goes before I do that. 

I also pH tested my water in the bottle and it had drifted up past 7.4 pH! I added 1 ml of pH down and it settled on 6.1. I’ll have to recheck this more often, good lesson. I spritzed with the new water. 

Delilah is plugging away slowly. 

Sadie is shooting along well too. 

Day 26

Applied water

Day 27

A bit of planned neglect to let them dry a bit

Delilah is continuing to grow slowly. I’m going to let her dry out for a few days to try and make her roots expand.  

Sadie is plugging away nicely as well. 

Day 28 (Wednesday)

The dry souls amendment I ordered arrived. I’m going to mix this in with the soil for Sadie and occasionally top-dress during the grow. 

The package recommends 2 tbsp per gallon of grow medium. That would mean 10 for the 5 gallon pot but I’ll do 8 because it’s not filled all the way up. 

I checked the pH on my water and it came out looking scuzzy with some weird sediment so I poured it out and did up another batch to feed with. 

Delilah has grown about 2 centimetres. 

Sadie has grown 4. A bit precocious. I think I’ll have to accelerate the repotting a bit.

Day 29 (Thursday)

Sadie’s roots are peeking out of the bottom of the container so I started gearing up to transplant. 

I brought the 5 gallon pot inside from the shed to warm up in the tent for a while first; the temperatures have been close to zero in the mornings and it was out in the shed. 

The root ball was well formed and transplant went well. I did another crack at Low stress training too, then gave it some water and will leave it be for a few days to recover. 

One thing is for sure - that soil additive smells bad. 

Day 30-31

Just gave a bit of water and otherwise left alone. 

Tent-Venture - Episode 3

I’m posting the following journey undertaken by my friend Theodore Complete on their behalf.

Tent-Venture - Episode 3

Day 19 - Sept 7 (Monday)

I moved Delilah to a 2 gallon pot because it wasn’t looking like she was progressing - this may or may not have been a good move and only time will tell. I used some Promix organic veggie blend and mixed some of the hydro mix from the previous grow along with some perlite, all 1/3 of the total. The new girl sprouted Saturday although I neglected to take photos. My timeline will need to take a 17 day spread into account. 

I have been concerned that the cool temps of the basement are negatively affecting growth since the first days of the space bucket.  To remedy, I got a thermal switch for around $40 and plugged a small heater into it. This will activate it when it drops below the set temp and turn off when it reaches it. I also plugged a humidifier in to the same switch to prevent the heater from drying out the air too much. 

Day 20

Nothing.

Day 21

Little Delilah seems like she’s either dead or sleeping heavy, no visible changes. Luckily the second plant is blasting away. The largest 4 day old I’ve had to date. Admittedly that’s of 3 attempts, but still. I’ll call her Sadie. 

I attribute it to the well-branded genetics and flashy packaging it came in. 

Also the addition of my temp controller has really helped with lowering the swing inside the tent. 

Down the line I may get a humidistat to keep a tighter leash there, but having it just turn on when the heater does seems to keep moisture in an acceptable range. I think the rest of my basement is sucking the humidity out like a straw at this point and winter will only make that more pronounced, but I’m happy for now. 

Day 22 (Thursday)

I’m just letting them be today. 

Delilah has some slight leaf movement but barely noticeable. She may be lost to us. I’ve had little luck diagnosing the white tips. Oh well, if she dies she dies. 

Day 23

I ignored them today

Day 24 - Saturday

Delilah seems to be waking up a bit, possibly because of my threat from a few days ago. The weird white tips don’t seem to be changing but also doesn’t seem like they matter much. No choice but to keep plugging along. 

Sadie (day 8) is doing great right now. It feels like she’s visibly growing every time I look at her. 

I’m thinking the more regular growing temperatures have helped along here, and all the progress emboldened me to once again try the ‘get excited and maybe over-do it’ move of mixing nutrients up. I at least had the sense to dilute them all by over 50% of the recommended strength though. 

Per 1 L of water:

• 0.5 ml cal-mag

• 0.5 ml Root Farm ‘base’

• 0.5 ml Root Farm ‘veggie’

I pH adjusted to 6.1 after adding nutrients and sprayed both plants. This will be all for this week, maybe I’ll make this their Saturday treat. 

Tent-Venture - Episode 2

I’m posting the following journey undertaken by my friend Theodore Complete on their behalf.

Life in a Tent

Day 8

Just gave it a bit of water and left. When I look at what the first week of my Spacebucket journal was like compared to this I can’t believe how much more I worried about things. 

Day 9

Increased light until lux read around 15000

Day 11

I find myself skipping updates because I’m just adding water and sometimes turning on a humidifier for a few minutes. Growth seems slow compared to some I see online, but I’m going to run my own race here. 

Day 13

Seems to be coming along fine. 

I put another seed in to hedge my bet. This one is Euphoria from Royal Queen Seeds. I’ll probably know by the weekend if it took root.