Crown Royal 3x3 Indoor In Cold Room, Soil

[BobbyZ]

The CR girls have just peeked out...
This is 36 hrs since soaking a seed and 24 hrs of light. Now that they are up, I'll go to 18/6.

 

[TryingHigh]

Just reading some and looking for things I would or wouldn't do. I applaud you for doing your homework before jumping in. You wouldn't believe how many people just stick the seed in dirt and then try to learn.
Ditch that PH mixer test (you see how hard it is to judge). Get a pen for $15 on amazon. Learning PH accuracy is imperative for a grow that feels effortless.
I'm an amateur with just a few more grows than you, and I buy FFOF soil and their 3 main nutes. It works every time... Stay as minimal as possible on additives, don't be fooled by the clever marketing. With my setup I don't add any nutes until the very end of veg. I like to have my PH up/down solution and some CalMag on hand. I can't say I do this right, but I'll feed them every other watering (feed, water, feed, water,...). So I'll feed one day and then 3-4 days later PH'd water only, per week.
All those tiny new buds near the base of your stem, pick them off. They won't amount to much and they are taking energy from your bigger bud sites. They just never get good lighting.
Your training looks good now. Maybe a little excessive in the beginning and may have slowed your growth. Next grow I would just low stress training a quad. A quad will be 4 main branches (similar to how you have only two mains).
You're doing good. Now fight the urge to mess with them every day.

Thanks!

Yes, the PEN i bought was bad. It was reading 12 on tap water, and then swinging all the way to 4 (with no change in the water) Supposed to be a reliable pen, and spent 40$ on it.

I have the calibration packets after i found it so wild, but haven't spent the time re-calibrating to see if it was the PEN, or bad calibration.

Still testing with the drops.

My next grow - will be real soil. I found gaia living soil on sale. I think this grow was essentially crappy soil. The plants only started looking good (darker green) after using the trio.


I will be doing a defoliation (and removing lowest buds! per your recommendation) this week. They are officially in flower, maybe F-3 -ish? even though 12/12 was set for about 2 weeks ago.

I only topped them twice, and was expecting just 4 main branches. All of a sudden, there were 20? You see that mainline ? - I wasn't expecting all those branches to appear. Should I completely remove the less fabulous branches, or just see how it goes?

 

[BobbyZ]

Ok, this is where you get to learn hands on... Take ONE plant and experiment. Try removing some of your smaller weaker branches and those tiny low popcorn buds. Run the others as-is and focus on a successful first grow. They are leafy buds, so I'll remove fan leaves that block light getting to budding areas.
I'll only top mine once, early in veg. And don't pick at them every day. You've got this.
But most importantly...

Water Quality Test Meter Pancellent TDS PH 2 in 1 Set

 

[TryingHigh]

Ok, this is where you get to learn hands on... Take ONE plant and experiment. Try removing some of your smaller weaker branches and those tiny low popcorn buds. Run the others as-is and focus on a successful first grow. They are leafy buds, so I'll remove fan leaves that block light getting to budding areas.
I'll only top mine once, early in veg. And don't pick at them every day. You've got this.
But most importantly...

Pancellent Water Quality Test Meter TDS PH 2 in 1 Set

Same package in Canada: 85$....

 

[BobbyZ]

Same package in Canada: 85$....

Yikes!

 

[TryingHigh]

Yikes!

Indeed. I'll see if I can calibrate the one I have. Pretty comfy with the drops now. When i have time, i'll get the distilled water and calibration packets going and see if the PEN i have is salvageable. There are other pens / brands for pH meters I can try.

I will be defoliating this week and show the before and after... If time permits. Getting ready for the 24th/25th.

 

[TryingHigh]

So I just tried my hand at flowering defoliation. Will do the other ones if this was done correctly.

 

[TryingHigh]

@BobbyZ - I think I could remove a few more of the really small branches, but some of them are as thick as the two mains. Should I do the other 3 plants like this, or leave the other 3 bushy?

 

[BobbyZ]

Well your spread is kind of funky. Not bad, just different. Looks like it should fill in nicely. You do what makes you comfortable. I believe a first harvest should be your goal. So maybe play with another plant, but leave the other two so you can compare and learn by experience.

 

[TryingHigh]

Well your spread is kind of funky. Not bad, just different. Looks like it should fill in nicely. You do what makes you comfortable. I believe a first harvest should be your goal. So maybe play with another plant, but leave the other two so you can compare and learn by experience.

It is very funky. I was surprised at the outcome. I might do 2 of 4 plants like this. I have one plant that I topped twice, so I might do that one.

It still has a funky spread, but likely 4 'primary' colas.

 

[TryingHigh]

Defoliated another plant last night. I think I will leave the other two alone. Just clear out fan leaves here and there. I mistakenly put one of the plants near my space heater and fried some branches. I had to trim them right off. I was expecting more of a stretch so far. I still have more to go. They will be all on their own for the week of Christmas. I think I will raise the light a few inches just in case. Hope no fuses get tripped.

 

[twnewell]

Interested to see how this turns out. I’ll pull up a chair here as well. Hope you don’t mind.

 

[TryingHigh]

Just after feeding. Got the tent back under control as my thermostat had died last week.

 

[TryingHigh]

I was looking at some clones I took from these plants. The clones are alive and week and had to move to new pots, but they look super un organized / knarly compared to the mother plant. They are growing fine but the nodes aren’t across from each other. Topping is weird because the nodes are at different heights. Is that normal for clones?

 

[twnewell]

I beleave so. Because your clone isn’t what you would call young. It’s as old as the mother plant. The uniform growth of young seedlings is different from the growth of clones.

 

[Bigjake8]

Looking good in here your gonna love that smoke I been playing with crown royale for about a year they grow like shrubs wish the yield was better but there forgiving to grow never had a Hermie
Here's one that's about done

 

[Bigjake8]

PS if you notice the slight purple cast is the best I've been able to do I tried taking the lights out temps down in the 50s and all I seemed to to is stun there growth my night low is 65 to get that

 

[BobbyZ]

Looking good in here your gonna love that smoke I been playing with crown royale for about a year they grow like shrubs wish the yield was better but there forgiving to grow never had a Hermie
Here's one that's about done

Nice job. That’s an excellent looking CR.

 

[TryingHigh]

Looking good in here your gonna love that smoke I been playing with crown royale for about a year they grow like shrubs wish the yield was better but there forgiving to grow never had a Hermie
Here's one that's about done

I hope my plants end up looking as good as yours. Early flower now...

 

[twnewell]

Hope mine look as good as yours @TryingHigh