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.