Jillybean Black Cherry, Plushberry, & Purple Afghani Kush

Heya, so this will be my 1st grow journal, but by no means my 1st grow. So w/o further ado...

Setup:

• 4x4 grow tent for veg (4x9 grow tent on order as well)
• 315w Phillips CMH running at @ 400w via magnetic ballast
• 2 batches of soils
  • Royal Gold Coco Tupur (this is all I had on hand when I popped my 1st 2 packs of reg beans)
  • Blend of 1.5cuft Foxfarm Ocean Forest & 2.0cuft Foxfarm Coco Loco (not my preferred soils, but the store didn't have what I wanted)
• Nectar for the Gods (almost full lineup)
• Cultured Biologix (EZ Teas)

Strains:

• 10x Plushberry (regular)
• 10x Jillybean Black Cherry (regular)
• 6x Purple Afghani Kush (feminized)

So I received the 2 packs of regular beans 1st and germinated them on 5/7. I planted them in plastic cups on 5/8 (I didn't have red solo cups on hand so I had to use clear cups instead). The cups were filled with my leftover Royal Gold Coco Tupur from my last grow, which was several months ago since I just moved to a new house and had to take a break as a result. There was only like half a bag left of the Royal Gold so I had to go purchase more soil. The gardening store I went to didn't have any of my preferred mediums (either Royal Gold Coco Basement Mix, Roots Organics Original, or Down to Earth Pro-Organic Mix) so I opted for a 1.5cuft bag of Foxfarm Ocean Forest and a 2.0cuft bag of Foxfarm Coco Loco, which I then blended together. I've used pure Ocean Forest years ago in the past but didn't really like it, so that's why I decided to mix it w/ something coco-based this time. This blend is what I'm using for the 6x Purple Afghani Kush since I received that pack later than the other 2. Anyway, I germinated that pack on 5/19 and planted them on 5/20, also in clear plastic cups.

Here's a pic of the Plushberries & Jillybean Black Cherries on 5/12:


Unfortunately, around 5/17 my dog was overly curious and decided to chew up 2 of the Jillybean Black Cherries. Fortunately, those 2 were the runts that I put off to the side. So now I'm down to 10x Plushberry & 8x Jillybean Black Cherry. That was the same day I moved them into the 4x4 grow tent.

Here's a pic of everything as of 5/24:


Btw, this is the 1st time I've really taken photos...I can't figure out why there are weird bands of color across the picture. Is it because I'm using a magnetic ballast? The light looks pure white IRL, w/o that alternating band of light & dark.

Anyway, the seedlings on the left are the 6x Purple Afghani Kush, which is growing slightly faster than the 10x Plushberry & 10x Jillybean Black Cherry when compared at the same stage of growth. I'm guessing it's due to the different soil being used. The Royal Gold Coco Tupur is essentially empty of nutrients while the Foxfarm blend is considerably hotter. I also decided to top the 18 plants on the right yesterday. They are being fed with the Nectar for the Gods nutrient line. I'm doing a Feed, Feed, Tea approach. Once I transplant them into Smart Pots, they'll be sitting in the same Foxfarm blend that the 6 seedlings are in.

I also intend to make a batch of "semi" Super Soil as well. Basically, I'm going to amend the Foxfarm w/ some Down to Earth Bio-Live 5-4-2, Seabird Guano 0-11-0, Neem Seed Meal 6-1-2, Earthshine Biochar, & plenty of Earthworm Castings. I don't want it to be as hot as a batch of traditional Supersoil though, because I still want to be able to feed w/ Nectar products and stuff. But since I gotta let it cook for ~60 days, I won't be able to use it for this batch.

Also, as a side note...I really want to cross the Plushberry w/ the Purple Afghani Kush if/when I get the chance lol. I grew a batch of the Purple Afghani Kush last year and all of them had purple coloration, which I suppose isn't surprising given the name. Unfortunately, I didn't make any clones, hence why I grabbed another pack a few weeks ago. In addition, the Black Cherry Soda genetics in the Plushberry may result in magenta-colored buds. So I'm really curious what'll happen if you cross a magenta plant w/ a purple plant, hehe.

5/25
Time to transplant! They're a bit overdue I think...I should've moved them out of those plastic cups a few days ago, but I was busy w/ work. This one here is a Jillybean Black Cherry, and it's one of the smaller ones of the bunch. They are being put into 2gal smart pots.


And here's how the Purple Afghani Kushes are coming along...(not the best shot, I know)

Looking good, if you use sunglasses over your camera lens it should cancel out the lines, or you can take pics after lights out

5/26
Doh, I screwed up and totally underestimated how much soil 18 2gal pots required... Turns out 3.5cuft was only enough for a total of 14 of them. I transplanted all 10 Plushberries but only 4 out of 8 of the Jillybean BCS. I'm kinda playing favorites towards the Plushberries lol. In hindsight, I wish I grabbed a different strain instead of the Jillybean BCS...maybe Mendo Dope or something, idk. As you can see, 4 of them are still in cups in the top left of the pic.

5/28
So I went to the hydro store yesterday and picked up several bags of Royal Gold Coco Mendo Mix (only $12 per bag!) and transplanted the remaining 4 Jillybeans. The Mendo Mix looks a lot richer/darker than the blend of Foxfarm soils I used for the other 14 plants so I decided to use it as-is instead of amending it w/ DTE Bio-Live 5-4-2 like I did w/ the Foxfarm. I do plan on transplanting 1 more time into 3gal pots when it comes time to flower though. When that time comes, I'll be using the Mendo Mix amended w/ Bio-Live 5-4-2, Neem Seed Meal 6-1-2, Seabird Guano 0-11-0, Earthshine Biochar, & Earthworm Castings. I'm hoping there won't be any nute burn issues, especially considering that I'll be feeding w/ Nectar on top of that. The Bloom Khaos supposedly allows plants to consume more nutrition than usual, or so I heard. Here's how everything looks thus far:


Most of them look to be in perfect health except for 1 or 2 individuals that are showing some leaf curling. Compare this Jillybean on the right vs the Jillybean on the left. All of them are receiving the same feed regimen and the one showing leaf curling is in the same Foxfarm soil as the majority of them, so I don't think that's the issue. What could be the cause of this? Overfeeding perhaps?


Lastly, here's an update on how the seedlings are doing:

So I've been following this chart for my feeding schedule but also in conjunction with the Spartan regimen (2nd pic) and was thinking...perhaps it's a bit overkill? At least post-transplant into the hotter soil anyway. I'm not doubling up on the Herculean Harvest tho (that's the only overlap between the 2 charts). I've been using Nectar for the Gods for my past grows but never in such a hot soil, nor have I used it in conjunction with the Cultured Biologix stuff (EZ Teas) before. Man, I seriously hope I'm not overfeeding them cuz in the past I used Royal Gold Coco Basement Mix (w/o additional amendments) and followed just the Spartan Regimen feeding schedule, which yielded great results btw. Now I'm using an amended Mendo Mix w/ many more products as shown below. *crosses fingers*

6/4
Finally set up my new 4'x9' grow tent! I haven't received my 630w CMH yet though... Anyways, here's an update:

Growth has been a bit slower these last 2-3 days cuz I noticed they were being overfed so I decided to back off on the nutes and give them just water (or sometimes Zeus Juice + water). I also topped most of them a 2nd time yesterday and made some clones as well.

6/5
So I noticed a few of them are exhibiting unhealthy-looking growth on the tips of smaller leaves. Can someone please diagnose this for me?