Dark Devil Auto Grow Journal By MarkTHC

[MarkTHC]

My Cannabis Grow Journal​

I first received my medical marijuana atheization on October 24th, 2018. I can grow up to 4 plants, and 6 if I signed up in the atheization database. At this point I do not need 6 plants, I have never grown before and I don’t smoke a whole lot of pot anyways, so I am good with just 4 for now. On October 31st I bought my first seeds from a seed bank called “Oregon Elite Seeds” I bought 3+1 seeds for the price of $40.00. I purchased the “Dark Devil Autoflower Feminized” from “Sweet Seeds”.

I have never grown before, so this is going to be all new for me. On November 1st I ordered my small grow tent and light. VIVOSUN 300W LED Grow Light Tent Kit 24” x 48” x 60” on eBay from eBay seller “ 3qmart-8 ” for a fair price of $157.69 with free shipping. On November 2nd I ordered my pH Digital meter from eBay seller “ laboratoryconsumableexpert “ for a good price of $11.57

I have been watching YouTube channels and reading lots of growing cannabis so much information there is too much to list. To get a good idea of how many different websites I read, just about every google search related to “marijuana grow” and clicked on every link I saw that popped up. So, I think I might have it down but who knows. I have not bought any nutrients, yet I still have not decided what company or product I am going to use yet. This is an autoflower, so I know it will not need a whole lot of nutrients from what I have read.

I am going to use 15 to 20-gallon planting pot that I already have, or I will buy it at a thrift store and for my soil, I will go to Home Depot and Ace Hardware on November 4th.

3 Parts - Peat moss, cost me $11.97 for 3 cu ft. At Home Depot
3 Parts - Compost, cost me $4.47 for 1 cu ft. At Home Depot
2 Parts - Perlite, cost me $9.56 for two 8 qt. bags total of 16 qt. At Home Depot
1 Part - Vermiculite, cost me $5.99 for 8 qt. At Ace Hardware.
I also bought at home Depot a 10-quart HDX bucket for measuring my parts in, for $3.84

I made sure I soak and rinse my perlite and vermiculite. I got all that dust out of there now I am ready to add it to my soil. I found this soil receipt on multiple Websites and this is what was suggested for growing autoflower cannabis. This mix will not give my autoflowers a bunch of nutrients, so this allows me to add nutrients as my plant needs them. It is also a great soil mix for drainage and has plenty of oxygen for the plant’s roots.
I got a big tub to mix everything with and store until I need the potting mix. I used an old plastic tub with lid from my backyard. Or I can buy a new one at Home Depot for only $6.47 for a 20-Gallon.

This is how I mixed my media for my potting soil, I poured & mixed everything on a tarp:

8 qt of Vermiculite (presoaked in water and drained).
16 qt Perlite (presoaked in water and drained).
Mixed this together very well.
Then added:
24 qt Compost.
Mixing very well then added,
24 qt peat moss.

I mixed all this together very well. This mix should be more than enough for one plant and transplanting. I am only growing one plant because I do not need that much like I said I don’t smoke that much, and this one plant should last me some time until I am ready to grow another.

November 6th my grow tent, 300W Vivosun light, eyeglasses, and light hangers came in the mail. I have thought about just using my closet because I am only growing one plant but have not yet decided and I could just use the tent this January when I start my tomatoes, peppers, and other vegetables inside for my outdoor garden.
I still have not decided on nutrients but have a couple more weeks to think about it. I might not use any at all and if I do it will be very little. Tonight, I will do more research and come to a final decision once the plant is one to two weeks old.

 

[MarkTHC]

November 7th, I received my pH digital meter and my seeds in the mail from “Oregon Elite Seeds”. Soon after I opened my pH meter, I calibrated my pH meter exactly the way the instructions said to do.

This is the package the seeds came in, very nice and professional. I almost feel bad opening it.​

After calibrating my pH meter, I opened my seed package on November 7th and started the germination process. I picked out the one I thought looked best and put the rest away. I got a paper towel and ran a little water on the towel and put the seed in between the paper towel. I did not check the pH level for the water I used. Some people say it matters but I have not found any conclusive research that really says it does. Then I placed the folded paper towel in a plastic zip lock bag. Putting it in my top draw desk for now. The temp in my house is about 68 to 73 degrees. This seed should germinate, I cannot wait to find out.

November 8th, I decided since yesterday I started my seed germination process, I will need some pH Up and pH down for my water. While at our local Co-op I found they had a starter kit on sale.
RX Green Solutions for only $15.22

This product comes with the pH up and down also some nutrients.

Vegetative Growth 1-0-0
Base Essential Nutrients 1-0-2
Fruit and Flowering 0-4-2

I think the RX Green Solutions will be a great start for a first-time grower. I only wanted the pH up and down but for such a good price I thought why not? I will not use any nutrients for a couple weeks but will use the pH up and down almost immediately. I think these nutrients will be perfect for an autoflower, but I am no expert and we will see.

Autoflowers need a pH of 6.2 to 6.5 anything in-between will be just fine and that is what I am going for.

I checked on the seed this morning the paper towel was still moist, but the seed has not sprouted yet. But I only started it around 8:45 pm last night and checked it around 8:00 am this morning.
I did decide not to set up the tent for just one plant I ended up going to Home Depot this morning and buying some Styrofoam insolation that was reflective.
I paid about $13.00 for a sheet 4’ x 8’ and cut it to the sizes I wanted to build a small grow box and put it in the corner of my living room and hung my 300w LED light inside of it from the ceiling.
7:15 pm Again, I checked on the seed and it appears to be opening, I see a very small crack splitting open. It has been almost 24 hours since I began this process and I am getting very excited. Hopefully, it will be fully germinated by tomorrow or the next day.
November 9th, at 8:45 am I checked my seed and it has germinated there is a very little sprout coming out of the seed. I am very excited.

So, after seeing my seed sprout, I went outside grabbed a 15 to 20-gallon planter pot and filled it with my soil I made. I then filled a 2-gallon bucket with water and checked the pH in the water.
pH from my sink was 7.8
I used pH down until I hit 6.3 to 6.4
I dumped that water into my soil, then I filled the 2-gallon bucket again with my well water from my sink. Took another reading and again it was pH of 7.8
I used my pH down until it hit 6.3 to 6.4
I dumped that into my soil using a total of 4-gallons of well water with a pH reading of 6.3 to 6.4 I saw water running out of the bottom and that is what I want. After work today, I will check my seed and see if it is ready to put in the soil.
It does not take a whole lot of pH down to get to the level you would like so I add a few drops and mixed the water well with a big spoon until I got my 6.3 to 6.4 reading.

 

[MarkTHC]

After dumping that much water into my soil I am going to wait several hours until I bring the planting pot into the house it needs to drain all that water from the bottom before I put my seed into the soil. I should not have to water for a couple to a few days after this from what I have read. And I should not have to transplant either, but I might that’s why I made more soil then I needed because I have never done this before and I don’t know what to expect.

After filling the planter pot with 4-gallons of water, I cut the top rim off my planter’s pot because it would not fit into the small box, I made from the measurements I took.

November 9th at 6:15 pm I checked my germinating seed and it is looking good but not ready to go in the soil yet. But it is getting there probably by morning or evening it will be planted.

Also, tonight I moved my pre-soaked soil into the house. I want the soil to warm up to room temperature. So, the seedling does not get shocked too bad when planting. I have my LED grow light all hooked up in my makeshift grow box. After looking at my makeshift grow box, I am just thinking of setting up my grow tent. I would have more room, it would keep outside light out giving it the darkness it needs but it is an autoflower and I have heard of people having lights on for 24 hours.

I also bought a light timer today at harbor freight for only $4.99 I set it for 18 hours on and 6 hours off. This should be good enough light to grow autoflowers.

This image is the same light timer I bought
​

November 10th at 8:15 am I checked my seedling and it has gotten bigger, so I decided to put it in the soil. I put it in there about 1/2 inch to about 3/4 inch below the soil. Once it sprouts out of the soil I can always add more soil around the plant if need be.

I also plugged in my timer and set it for 6 hours off 18 hours on.
​

From 8:00 am to 2:00 pm lights will be off.
From 2:00 pm to 8:00 am lights will be on.

I poured about one cup of well water from my sink on the seedling in the soil making sure it had a pH level of 6.4 now I will let it sit for a few days and see what happens. At this point, I am very excited. When I poured the water on the seedling, I should have done it much, much slower because what it did was disturb the soil pushing everything up and moving the soil around. I fear I might have pushed the seedling down further because of this or maybe the seedling got flipped around but I also do not want to dig for it either. The little sprout is very delicate.

Note to self when watering, do so gently. Anyhow, my lights should kick on at about 2:00 pm. Today. My light is 24” inches above the soil. And will be that high for about a week.
November 10th at 6:30 pm I decided to look and see if the seedling was okay because of the water I poured over the top of it when I planted. And yep, sure enough, the little root was sticking up. So, I corrected this and put it sprout down and I noticed it was much longer then it was when I first planted it this morning.
As far as I can tell now everything is perfect it will be just a waiting game for the first leaf’s to pop up out of the soil. But I am very excited. My light timer turned everything on as I set it to. So, my light is currently on and will continue this cycle until harvest. I am not going to change the light schedule because this is an autoflower and it will flower no matter what.
November 11th at 5:45 pm I did decide to put up my grow tent. I don’t think my makeshift grow box is good enough. I like the grow tent much, much better.
Because my tent is not very tall my light is only hanging 22” inches above the soil. But I did see a magical thing began to happen my seed is just barely poking out of the soil.

I think I will like the tent set up and it will be easier to access and do what I need to take care of my new plant that’s about to pop up any day now.
​

November 12th Monday 7:30 am,
Tent temperature: 75 degrees.
Light height: 22” above the soil.
Soil: 1” Down Dry, 2” Down Moist.
Light Cycle: 18 On, 6 Off.
Watering: ½ Cup water pH 6.2 drizzled really slow with eye dropper around sprout.

November 12th 7:45 am, the temp in my tent seems to be at a stable 75 degrees, my light will stay at 22” inches above the soil for about a week. so, next Monday I will lower it. My soil was dry about 1” inch down but still moist 2” inches down. I will not change my light schedule at all as I have said before. I watered only a half of a cup of water because it was still moist about 2” inches down. I just wanted to keep the sprouting root moist, but not soaked just like it would if it was still in a paper towel.

My seed did sprout this morning it is out of the soil the seed shell is still attached to the leaves. But the shell should fall off between tonight and tomorrow.

This has been a very fun experiment and has cost some bucks, but it is something for me to do in the winter time until spring gets here, and I can plant my vegetables.

November 12th 10:40 am, I went to home depot and bought a few things to check my humidity in the grow tent. Right now, my humidity is at 85% and that is very high. Ideally, it should be some ware around:

Sprout/Seedling: 60% to 70%
vegetative stage 40% to 60%
Flowering stage 40% to 50%
The final week of flowering 40% or lower

I will have to learn how to control this because too much moisture can lead to mold, bud rot, and mildew. From what I read to always make sure there is a breeze flowing through, so I am shopping for some fans. But will have to do some more research I don’t want to spend money on fans if there is another way. It pays to do research.

 

[MarkTHC]

Here are the few things I bought from home depot this morning,

Acu-Rite Humidity Monitor, $11.74
HDX Spray Bottle, $ 2.00

The spray bottle I will use to slowly water my plant until it is strong enough to support water being poured into the soil. I will also use the spray bottle to spray the leaves when that time comes.

November 12th 12:36 pm, I went to Walmart and bought Dri-Z-Air to help lower the humidity. I have not found any information online related to cannabis growing that this product will work or not. But that is what this is made for, so I think it will work but we will see. I will check my humidity a few times today and see if it gets lowered.

12:40 pm, lights off, humidity 83%, temp 66 degrees.
4:30 pm, Lights on, I opened 3 vents, humidity 60%, Temp 77 degrees. Dri-Z-Air inside the tent.
7:00 pm, lights on, humidity 59%, Temp 75 degrees. Dri-Z-Air still inside the tent.

Seems like I have my humidity almost under control it will still need some monitoring, but it is good for now. I have no idea what I am doing so I guess this is good enough for now.

Dri-Z-Air $10.00 – Walmart
Dri-Z-Air refill bag $ 3.00 – Walmart
November 12th 5:40 pm, My sprouted seed has finally dropped its shell with a little help from me. I saw that it had opened more. so, very, very carefully I pulled it apart and it came off very smoothly.

Now I officially have a Marijuana plant. I am very excited!!!
​

November 13th 7:55 am
Lights: On
Temp: 75 Degrees
Humidity: 55%
Light Hight: 22” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” down Dry, 2” down Moist
Watering: None

When the light is on this seems consistent above, but now that the light is off humidity went up to 62% and temp went down to 72 degrees. Today I am going to stop at some thrift stores and see if I can’t find a fan and a dehumidifier. Because once my plant gets older, I will have to drop the humidity to a consistent percentage. I opened the front zipper so fresh air can enter and exit but still, no light can get into the tent.

Day 1 sprout stage​

My Dri-Z-Air I do see water in the bottom tray, so I know it is working but I don’t think it is working enough. My concussion is my planter pot may be too big and it still has a lot of water in it. Of course, this will evaporate eventually but I still need to learn how to get my humidity under control or later I am going to have all kinds of problems. Time to go shopping!!!

November 14th at 9:44 am
Lights: Off
Temp: 79 Degrees
Humidity: 62%
Light Hight: 22” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” down Dry, 2” Almost Moist but almost Dry too.
Watering: 1 Cup of water pH 6.4

Day 2 Sprout Stage
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Everything seems to be good for now. I went to goodwill and bought a small fan for $4.99 and played around with it last night and did figure out how to control my humidity with the fan. so, once I need to lower my humidity I will know how. The fan is off right now because I want my sprout to have lots of humidity in the beginning around 65% to 70%.
November 15th 8:00 am
Lights: ON
Temp: 77 Degrees
Humidity: 70%
Light Hight: 22” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” a little moist, 2” Moist.
Watering: None

Day 3 Sprout Stage​

I turned my planter pot 180 degrees, there really is not too much for me to do at this point it is just a waiting game until its time to figure out nutes. So far, I have been watering every other day. Tomorrow I will water 1 cup of water and continue that until my plant starts drinking more. Humidity goes up when lights are off but seems to stay at 68% when lights are on.

November 16th 8:10 am
Lights: Off
Temp: 77 Degrees
Humidity: 72%
Light Hight: 22” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” Down Dry, 2” Down somewhat Moist.
Watering: 1 Cup water pH 6.4

Day 4 Sprout stage
​

It is coming along very nice I see another set of leaves coming up. My lights are off right now, and I just watered so my humidity is going up too. It should not be too bad thoe because this is still a baby and some humidity is very good in the beginning stages. I might not water for a few days because my pot is very heavy still from when I first soaked the soil in the pot. I have just been watering around the plant, not the whole planting pot. So, I may just continue to water around the plant until the rest of the planter’s pot dries out, but I am no expert, so I have no idea.

My plant is not stretching so I know it is getting enough light on Monday or Tuesday I may lower my light to about 18” inches above the plant. I have been doing some research on the best distance from the plant to the LED light.

 

[MarkTHC]

November 17th 8:35 am
Lights: Off
Temp: 70 Degrees
Humidity: 82%
Light Hight: 22” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” Down moist, 2” Down Moist.
Watering: None

Day 5 Sprout Stage
​

Well, the new leaves are coming up nicely, I feel this is a nice size for a 5-day old sprout. Almost a week old. Very green and healthy. so far, I have had no issues. From what I have read these are the critical weeks and I will have to monitor this until it is about 2 weeks old then it should be downhill from there.

November 17th at 4:17 pm, I turned on my fan the one I bought at goodwill, but the rotating of the fan is not working. That’s what I get from buying from goodwill. Tomorrow I will go to Walmart and see what they may have. It is almost winter time, so I don’t think Walmart will have a huge selection. I was at Walmart this morning and saw nothing but charismas décor.

Lights: Off
Temp: 66 Degrees
Humidity: 74%
Light Hight: 22” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” Down Dry, 2” Down Dry, very little Moisture if any.
Watering: 1 ½ Cups of water pH 6.3
Fan: On Low

Day 6 Sprout Stage​

I watered with 1 ½ cups of water today because last night when I checked to see where it was moist it was very, very dry next to my plant. So, she is starting to drink a bit more. The second set of leaves are moving up nicely. Tomorrow will be 1 week old. Very exciting!!!

November 19th at 8:10 pm
Lights: On
Temp: 79 Degrees
Humidity: 52%
Light Hight: 22” inches above soil
Soil: 1” down almost dry but Moist, 2” down somewhat Moist
Watering: None

Day 7 Sprout stage
​

Wow has this plant has grown, I did not add anything to my journal this morning because I had to go out of town for the day. But I am back now and boy this has really grown. We are one week in, and it is getting close to figuring out nutes.

I have given it some thought for trimming this beautiful plant and I am going to top it at the 5th nod. This will be a great experiment!!!

November 20th at 8:25 am
Lights: Off
Temp: 70 Degrees
Humidity: 66%
Light Hight: 22” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” down almost dry but Moist, 2” down somewhat Moist
Watering: 1 Cup pH 6.4

Day 8 Sprout Stage
​

Watering was kind of hard to determine because it was still somewhat moist. I did end up watering but only 1 cup of water. The big planters pot is still extremely heavy but further away from the plant its about 3 to 4 inches dry under the soil, so it is drying out. Where I have been watering next to the plant it is about 2 inches dry with little moisture. I do not see any signs of over watering I believe I am doing things right so far.

I am not going to lower my LED light the plant is growing and getting taller so I don’t think that will be an issue. On Monday I am going to add nutes. This week I will figure out the right measurements for what I am watering.

I should have used a smaller planter pot it makes it very difficult to decide if I should water or not. Eventually, as the plant gets bigger, she will drink more water and the pot will dry out.

I refilled my Dri-Z-Air it was full of water or liquid. So, I emptied it and refilled it with new pellets. It seems to be working.

November 21st at 7:45 pm
Lights: On
Temp: 79 Degrees
Humidity: 57%
Light Hight: 22” inches above soil
Soil: 1” down dry, 2” down Dry
Watering: None

Day 9 Sprout stage
​

This is very impressive I can not believe how fast she is growing, just amazing. I thought maybe I was watering too much because the soil is moist and damp about 4 or 5 inches below the soil and the pot is very, very heavy still. But so far, I do not see any signs of overwatering or any deficiencies of any kind. I do think I might skip tomorrows watering a day and see what happens out of curiosity.

I see another new set of leaves coming up, I can’t wait for it to come up all the way. Once I see the 5th nod I will top it to promote new growth.

November 22nd at 9:33 am.
Lights: Off
Temp: 70 Degrees
Humidity: 51%
Light Hight: 22” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” down dry, 2” down Dry
Water: I mixed 1-gal water w/ RX Grow 5ml. & Rx Base 5ml. using 2 Cups of this solution to water pH 6.3

Day 10 Sprout Stage
​

So, I have heard of people adding nutes on the 10th day so I decided to try a little mix and see what happens. This is just an experiment and I am not really depending on this plant to produce marijuana because like I said before I don’t smoke a whole lot anyways and this is just something to do during the winter months. Go big or go home!

• I got a 1-Gallon jug and filled it with lukewarm water.
• I use 5ml. of RX Grow and mixed well.
• Then added 5ml. RX Base and mixed well.
• Then I checked the pH level and it was 7.6

So, I used pH down until it hit pH 6.3 for the whole gallon of water, I then poured 2 cups of water from the gallon jug and watered my plant with it. The directions on the RX bottled called for 10ml per gallon of water I did half that just to be safe.
The next gallon solution I make will be 7ml. per gallon and increase the amount of water each watering day.

November 23rd at 7:42 am.
Lights: On
Temp: 81 Degrees
Humidity: 42%
Light Hight: 22” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” down Moist, 2” down Moist
Water: None

Day 11 - Grow Stage - Day 1
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I am starting to see little hairs where the flowers will be growing. Very nice! Today I am not going to do anything to the plant just let her sit here get some darkness and some light. Tomorrow I will feed her 4 cups of water with the nutes I made in my 1-gallon jug of water.

I took the Dri-Z-Air out I think I can manage my humidity very well without it. There was probably not too much need for it anyways. But It was working it is full of liquid now.

November 24th at 8:07 am
Lights: off
Temp: 70 Degrees
Humidity: 49%
Light Hight: 22” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” down dry, 2” down somewhat Moist but mostly dry.
Water: 4 Cups of water from Nute Solution.

Day 12 – Grow Stage – Day 2
​

I used 4 cups of the nute solution from my 1-gallon jug to water. It was dry 1 inch down and 2 inch down it was a little moist but mostly dry. I used 4 cups of water because she is drinking more. I will wait about 3 days until I water next then I will give her 6 cups of water.
She is growing very fast and looks very, very healthy. I opened the top vent on my tent and put a small fan facing inside the tent to allow that fan to suck in fresh air from the house. Then I opened one of the screen vents on the bottom of my tent to allow air to escape.
I see a little water runoff from watering my plant it is not a whole lot but there is some. I will not test this there is not enough to test.

November 24th at 9:00pm

Wow, I cannot believe how big this is getting. I watered it 4 cups of my nutes solution and it is just amazing. I was very skeptic about this light but it sure is working as it should. The tent has been amazing to keep light out and dogs out. It is made from a thick layer of what it feels like cloth on the outside and reflexive tarp on the inside feels very durable and well made.
I never really thought I could get this far this was just an experiment and if possible be able to harvest my medicine. By the time I get around to using what I have harvested from this one plant a couple years should have passed. I use about a gram a month. I don’t walk around the day while medicated or go to work medicated. 9 times out of 10 I medicate at night time. Just before I go to sleep. Very rarely do I ever medicate during the day. The only time I may medicate during the day is when I know for sure I will be doing nothing of importance or it may be a holiday and I will not be going any ware.

I am a very private person when it comes to my medication. Everyone in my household knows I have a plant and knows I use marijuana but they have never seen me use it or have noticed if I was medicated. I don’t smoke so much to where I am stoned out of my mind just enough to relax my mussels and help me fall asleep faster.

I am probably going to prune the bottom leaves because they are sometimes touching the soil and I don’t want that.

 

[MarkTHC]

November 25th at 8:30 am
Lights: off
Temp: 70 Degrees
Humidity: 46%
Light Hight: 22” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” down Moist, 2” down Moist.
Water: None

Day 13 – Grow Stage – Day 3

I did not have to water her today she is very moist 1 inch down and I am sure I will not have to water for a few days now. I have been giving her more and more water because she has started drinking more. I am trying to get her up to 1-gallon of water for each watering day.

I have good ventilation going. The top fan pushes fresh air into the tent, and my fan inside the tent circulates air, pushing it out the bottom vent. When I put my hand outside the tent next to the bottom vent, I can feel the wind blowing out.

My tent gets so full of air it puffs up the tent when the fans are on. And a big breeze is pushing out the bottom vent. My plant is moving in the wind as it should making her stem strong.

November 25th at 2:37 pm

I did my very first prune the first set of single set of leaves. I will leave the others with 3 leaves for now and see how this will go. I hope I did not do anything wrong but we will see in the next few days. The leaves were touching the ground so I just wanted to get them off the ground.

November 26th at 8:11 am. 2 weeks old.
Lights: off
Temp: 72 Degrees
Humidity: 43%
Light Hight: 22” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” down Moist, 2” down very Moist.
Water: None

Day 14 – Grow Stage -Day 4

1 inch down moist, 2 inches down very moist. I will wait to water until tomorrow or the next day. I can see where I did the pruning and more leaves are growing out and look much bigger than yesterday. I also noticed my top has grown much more.

Below these leaves is where I pruned the signal pointed fan leaf, from when it first sprouted. And boy they sure have opened in just a few hours. My stem looks like it is getting fatter and looks to be strong. The little baby leaves from first sprout seem like they are going to fall off they are starting to curl and will probably come off in the next two weeks or ill cut them off.

November 26th at 10:45 am
I bought to new items for my little grow things I can also use on my vegetable garden this January when I start my plants so it is a win, win for me.

I bought the true easy syringe from Walmart for about $3.00 and the HydroFarm Trim fast pruner from my local Co-op for $15.22 I know the pruners are a bit pricey but my favorite color is green so I had to have them. I will use the syringe for measuring my nutes I think it will be much easier to measure with this. It measures 2.5ml, 5ml, 7.5ml, and 10ml. All the measurements I will be using.

November 27th at 9:00 am
Lights: off
Temp: 70 Degrees
Humidity: 55%
Light Hight: 22” inches above soil
Soil: 1” down Dry, 2” down somewhat Moist but mostly dry.
Water: 6 Cups Nute solution from my 1-gallon jug.

Leaves were a little droopy as seen in the photos. I watered 6 Cups of my Nute solution. They are starting to perk up now. She is getting more bushier on the top and from new branches coming out from her sides. I am waiting until I see 4 or 5 nods then I will top her and see what happened.

The only window I have for pruning and topping is in the first 3 weeks. Anytime after that could be a problem when she starts to flower, from what I have read. She is 2 weeks and 1 day old as of today.

After watering there was a little runoff but not a whole lot, my next watering day, I will water with 8 cups of water from my nute solution 1-gallon jug. I will also prune some lower leaves soon.

November 28th at 7:50 am
Lights: On
Temp: 79 Degrees
Humidity: 55%
Light Hight: 22” inches above soil
Soil: 1” down Moist, 2” down very Moist.
Water: None

This morning I Topped my Dark Devil at the 4th node I Believe I did it early enough for her to recover in time for her flowering period. One inch down in the soil was moist and 2 inches down was very moist. I will not water her today or tomorrow but will water her the day after tomorrow. I will have to make a new nute solution because I gave what was left to my house plants.

She should branch out with at least two new colas, we will see and hopefully, she will produce some very nice buds.

• I Filled the 1-gallon jug with water then added
• 7.5ml of RX Grow
• 7.5ml of RX Base
• And used my pH down until it hit 6.3 to 6.4

Then I set this aside for my next watering date. I like the water to get to room temp before I add it to my plant mostly because I water when lights are off and the cooler temp from the water may shock it or stunt its growth from what I have read.
I also shut off the fan on the outside of the tent sucking in fresh air because It was bringing down my humidity levels and right now, I want my humidity at 55% until flowering.

 

[MarkTHC]

November 29th at 8:27 am
Lights: Off
Temp: 79 Degrees
Humidity: 60%
Light Hight: 22” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” down almost dry, 2” down Moist.
Water: None

Day 17 – Grow Stage– Day 7 1 full day since topping
​

When lights are off leaves seem a bit droopier, tomorrow is water day they will perk up pretty good. It has been about 24 hours since I have topped my dark devil. She is starting to look amazing.

Also, yesterday we noticed we could smell the plant and it is starting to smell like marijuana in the grow tent.
There are all kinds of new leaves and branches growing on this plant. It really is increasable how fast this plant is growing.

This is my very first grow and so far, I have not seemed to run into any problems but the plant is still young and there is plenty of time between now and harvest for me to kill it.

When my lights are off, she is much droopier and when the lights are on, she perks back up again. She looks very healthy I can see two new sprouts on the top of my plant where I topped her.

I have not raised my light at all, she seems to like it has not bothered her one bit. But in the future, I will probably need to raise it. I will monitor it closely and see what happened.

I also turned my planters pot again 180 degrees to that light is equally distributed on the plant and also so the fan can work its way around the plant from a different angle.

November 30th at 8:12 am
Lights: Off
Temp: 73 Degrees
Humidity: 58%
Light Hight: 22” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” down dry, 2” down a little dry but still Moist.
Water: None

Day 18 – Grow Stage – Day 8 2 Full Days since topping
​

I did not water this morning I will probably wait until tonight or tomorrow because it is still moist 2 inches down once it dries up, I will water. I did move and push, and tuck some of the fan leaves out of the way to allow light to get to the lower branches.

I see little white hairs growing next to the nodes, I noticed them a few days ago but today they are much bigger.
My leaves are a little droopy but my soil is still moist and once the lights come back on then they should perk back up again. Maybe later tonight she will be ready for some water depending on how moist the soil is.

She is recovering very nicely since I topped her. I see no issues with the way she healed or has recovered. The new branches have gotten longer and bushier. I see new sets of nodes on almost all the branches. I am thinking about pruning the big fan leaves to get them out of the way but for now, I just tucked them under other branches.

She will be 3 weeks old this Monday. She should be coming up on the end of her vege growth in the next week and a half to 2 weeks from this Monday.

November 30th at 9:50 pm

So, I wanted to take photos of when my lights are on, to see how perkier they are compared to my other photos that were taken when the lights were off. And they sure are much perkier and I still have not watered.

I checked the depth with my finger and the soil is still 1 inch dry, and 2 inches moist. From the way, it feels I don’t think it will dry up by tomorrow. I will more than likely not have to water tomorrow.

When lights are on all the leaves hold themselves up, and when lights are off, they are very droopy. I think this is normal. I did increase my nutes from 5ml to 7.5ml of each solution for my watering. I am very curious to see what happens.

I will be doing some LST (Light Stress Training) with this plant I have been moving some of the leaves and branches to get an idea of where I will be tying them down. This has been a very exciting experiment. It might end up being sad when I cut it down much like when I was done harvesting my tomato plants and I cut them down in the end.

I always get attached to my plants much like a pet, I don’t know why but when I grow something and put that much love and care into it, it is heartbreaking to just chow something down.

December 1st at 8:20 am
Lights: Off
Temp: 73 Degrees
Humidity: 63%
Light Hight: 22” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” down dry, 2” down a little dry but still Moist.
Water: None

Day 19 – Grow Stage – Day 9 Day 4 of Topping

It was still too moist to be watering today I do not want root rot, so I am going to wait another day. I looked at my stem and it is strong and fat. My planters pot does not feel extremely heavy infect it feels much lighter than it has before. But 2 inches down it is still moist from my last watering.

She looks healthy no nute burn, no signs of over watering or under watering. She is a little droopy when lights are off and when lights are on, she perks right back up again.

December 1st at 4:50 pm
Lights: ON
Temp: 77 Degrees
Humidity: 54%
Light Hight: 22” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” down dry, 2” down a little dry but a little Moist.
Water: 8 Cups water of my nute solution from 1-gallon jug. 7.5ml of Grow & Base.

I watered 8 cups of water tonight and pruned off the 3 fingered fan leaves on the bottom there. They were just laying in the soil and hitting the side of the planter pot when the fan was blowing on them. I just decided to trim them off.

I have not seen any water runoff yet so the soil must have been dry. It has been feeling moist 2 inches down but the planters pot was very light so I used my judgment and just went ahead and watered. Because there is no runoff, I think I did well because it must have been dry.

I will not do any more pruning I think I did all I should and just let her grow. I will do some LST if anything and let’s see what happened.

December 4th at 8:15 am
Lights: Off
Temp: 68 Degrees
Humidity: 50%
Light Hight: 22” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” down dry, 2” down a little Moist.
Water: 1 gallon of water with only 5ml Cal Mag- water pH 6.4

I only watered with plain water and 5ml of Cal-Mag my branches and there stems where staying purple for a couple weeks. At first, I thought it was normal but I have done some research and this is what was recommended.

Last few times I watered I really did not see any runoff if so, it was very little so I filled a 1-gallon jug added 5ml of Cal-Mag then dropped the pH down to 6.4 and poured it in very slowly.

Since there has been no runoff there must be a salt buildup going on so just to be safe, I just dumped in plain old water.

Last night I notice only one branch was droopy it was kind of under a big fan leaf so I moved it away from the big fan leaf and straighten it out the best I could. This morning it looked a lot better it was not as soft as it was last night. It was getting more firmer and less droopy.

Now there is a lot of runoff I see at the bottom of my container. This is what I wanted my next watering I will use some more nutes and see how she handles them.

Yesterday I went to my local Co-op store and purchased some General Organics Cal-Mag 1-0-0 nutes in hopes it will help me get rid of some of these purple stems. For about $16.22

​

 

[MarkTHC]

December 4th at 3:54 pm

Looks amazing, I never thought it would get this big. The droopy branch has perked up fast, it is strong and not hanging droopy like it was this morning. So, for some reason that part of the branched root system was not getting enough water and when I watered a full gallon of water the water reached those roots. That’s my logic anyhow. Because once I watered the droopy branch was no longer droopy anymore.

I did notice the tips of the leaves are curled down and from my research that could be a sign of nutrient toxoid from too much nitrogen. My next watering, I will lower my nutes RX Grow from 7.5ml to just 5ml. and my RX Base nutes from 7.5ml to 5ml.

 

[Emilya Green]

Congrats on the legalization! I will be sitting in to see how you do and will comment along the way. I will comment that it would have been easier to start in a solo cup sized container and then once you had her going and a good rootball started, transplant into the larger container... but you figured it out and now have a good start on her. Congrats on that too... it is not easy. Now you need to transition to proper watering techniques to get the most out of this plant. Establish a clear wet/dry cycle in this container and she will be very happy and will stop drooping. Good luck in the rest of the grow and please read my sticky on how to properly water.

 

[AngryBird]

Hi and happy growing
This must have been the most detailed and well explained journal in the whole forum
Hi Em
You are in good hands Emilya has been around and she is one of the best.
(yeah, I am her biggest fan)
Helpful links in her signature as well as mine

 

[MarkTHC]

I started the journal without the idea of posting it, it was for me only but others have encouraged me to list my journal on here. thank you all for the feedback and words of encouragement. Please feel free to post anything the pros and cons of what I have done or need to do. I could use all the help I can get.

 

[Pennywise]

Excellent journal you have started, put them on cruise control and let them do all the work themselves. Looking top notch right now!

 

[Remystemple]

November 29th at 8:27 am
Lights: Off
Temp: 79 Degrees
Humidity: 60%
Light Hight: 22” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” down almost dry, 2” down Moist.
Water: None

Day 17 – Grow Stage– Day 7 1 full day since topping
​

When lights are off leaves seem a bit droopier, tomorrow is water day they will perk up pretty good. It has been about 24 hours since I have topped my dark devil. She is starting to look amazing.

Also, yesterday we noticed we could smell the plant and it is starting to smell like marijuana in the grow tent.
There are all kinds of new leaves and branches growing on this plant. It really is increasable how fast this plant is growing.

This is my very first grow and so far, I have not seemed to run into any problems but the plant is still young and there is plenty of time between now and harvest for me to kill it.

When my lights are off, she is much droopier and when the lights are on, she perks back up again. She looks very healthy I can see two new sprouts on the top of my plant where I topped her.

I have not raised my light at all, she seems to like it has not bothered her one bit. But in the future, I will probably need to raise it. I will monitor it closely and see what happened.

I also turned my planters pot again 180 degrees to that light is equally distributed on the plant and also so the fan can work its way around the plant from a different angle.

November 30th at 8:12 am
Lights: Off
Temp: 73 Degrees
Humidity: 58%
Light Hight: 22” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” down dry, 2” down a little dry but still Moist.
Water: None

Day 18 – Grow Stage – Day 8 2 Full Days since topping
​

I did not water this morning I will probably wait until tonight or tomorrow because it is still moist 2 inches down once it dries up, I will water. I did move and push, and tuck some of the fan leaves out of the way to allow light to get to the lower branches.

I see little white hairs growing next to the nodes, I noticed them a few days ago but today they are much bigger.
My leaves are a little droopy but my soil is still moist and once the lights come back on then they should perk back up again. Maybe later tonight she will be ready for some water depending on how moist the soil is.

She is recovering very nicely since I topped her. I see no issues with the way she healed or has recovered. The new branches have gotten longer and bushier. I see new sets of nodes on almost all the branches. I am thinking about pruning the big fan leaves to get them out of the way but for now, I just tucked them under other branches.

She will be 3 weeks old this Monday. She should be coming up on the end of her vege growth in the next week and a half to 2 weeks from this Monday.

November 30th at 9:50 pm

So, I wanted to take photos of when my lights are on, to see how perkier they are compared to my other photos that were taken when the lights were off. And they sure are much perkier and I still have not watered.

I checked the depth with my finger and the soil is still 1 inch dry, and 2 inches moist. From the way, it feels I don’t think it will dry up by tomorrow. I will more than likely not have to water tomorrow.

When lights are on all the leaves hold themselves up, and when lights are off, they are very droopy. I think this is normal. I did increase my nutes from 5ml to 7.5ml of each solution for my watering. I am very curious to see what happens.

I will be doing some LST (Light Stress Training) with this plant I have been moving some of the leaves and branches to get an idea of where I will be tying them down. This has been a very exciting experiment. It might end up being sad when I cut it down much like when I was done harvesting my tomato plants and I cut them down in the end.

I always get attached to my plants much like a pet, I don’t know why but when I grow something and put that much love and care into it, it is heartbreaking to just chow something down.

December 1st at 8:20 am
Lights: Off
Temp: 73 Degrees
Humidity: 63%
Light Hight: 22” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” down dry, 2” down a little dry but still Moist.
Water: None

Day 19 – Grow Stage – Day 9 Day 4 of Topping

It was still too moist to be watering today I do not want root rot, so I am going to wait another day. I looked at my stem and it is strong and fat. My planters pot does not feel extremely heavy infect it feels much lighter than it has before. But 2 inches down it is still moist from my last watering.

She looks healthy no nute burn, no signs of over watering or under watering. She is a little droopy when lights are off and when lights are on, she perks right back up again.

December 1st at 4:50 pm
Lights: ON
Temp: 77 Degrees
Humidity: 54%
Light Hight: 22” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” down dry, 2” down a little dry but a little Moist.
Water: 8 Cups water of my nute solution from 1-gallon jug. 7.5ml of Grow & Base.

I watered 8 cups of water tonight and pruned off the 3 fingered fan leaves on the bottom there. They were just laying in the soil and hitting the side of the planter pot when the fan was blowing on them. I just decided to trim them off.

I have not seen any water runoff yet so the soil must have been dry. It has been feeling moist 2 inches down but the planters pot was very light so I used my judgment and just went ahead and watered. Because there is no runoff, I think I did well because it must have been dry.

I will not do any more pruning I think I did all I should and just let her grow. I will do some LST if anything and let’s see what happened.

December 4th at 8:15 am
Lights: Off
Temp: 68 Degrees
Humidity: 50%
Light Hight: 22” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” down dry, 2” down a little Moist.
Water: 1 gallon of water with only 5ml Cal Mag- water pH 6.4

I only watered with plain water and 5ml of Cal-Mag my branches and there stems where staying purple for a couple weeks. At first, I thought it was normal but I have done some research and this is what was recommended.

Last few times I watered I really did not see any runoff if so, it was very little so I filled a 1-gallon jug added 5ml of Cal-Mag then dropped the pH down to 6.4 and poured it in very slowly.

Since there has been no runoff there must be a salt buildup going on so just to be safe, I just dumped in plain old water.

Last night I notice only one branch was droopy it was kind of under a big fan leaf so I moved it away from the big fan leaf and straighten it out the best I could. This morning it looked a lot better it was not as soft as it was last night. It was getting more firmer and less droopy.

Now there is a lot of runoff I see at the bottom of my container. This is what I wanted my next watering I will use some more nutes and see how she handles them.

Yesterday I went to my local Co-op store and purchased some General Organics Cal-Mag 1-0-0 nutes in hopes it will help me get rid of some of these purple stems. For about $16.22

​

Amazing Journal. i'm feeling a little lazy atm lol.

 

[MarkTHC]

December 6th at 7:34 am

Lights: ON
Temp: 73 Degrees
Humidity: 40%
Light Hight: 28” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” down dry, 2” down somewhat Moist.
Water: None

Day 24​

Last night I noticed my leaves were starting to curl upwards and I Have done a lot of research and it could be several things but one of them really got my attention so, I raised my LED light 6 inches. And then this morning all the leaves have straightened out and are now flat.
Sometimes when it gets too much heat or high levels of humidity the leaves will curl up. So, I wanted to try the easiest fix first and raise my light. By this morning everything was going back to normal.

My soil is 1 inch down dry and 2 inches down almost dry. I also noticed my leaves are a little droopy but I will wait until tomorrow to water. I did fill up my gallon jug with water then added.

• 5ml RX Grow 1-0-0
• 5ml RX Base 1-0-2
• 5ml CaMG+ 1-0-0

I then dropped my pH levels down to 6.3 shook this very well and set it aside for it to get to room temperature. I will use this to water tomorrow.

December 7th at 8:45 pm

Lights: ON
Temp: 75 Degrees
Humidity: 52%
Light Hight: 28” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” down dry, 2” down somewhat Moist almost dry.
Water: None

Day 25​

I decided not to water her today, the planers pot is very, very heavy and it is still moist about 2 inches down. I will water tomorrow or the next day. She is doing amazing and I can smell her. As soon as I come home from work, she gives me a very small amount of smell.

Where I topped her two huge branches grew and she just looks amazing. This is just an amazing plant. And I have had nothing but fun with her. I see flowers starting to grow and she is smelling pleasant.

 

[MarkTHC]

December 8th at 4:15 pm

Lights: ON
Temp: 72 Degrees
Humidity: 63%
Light Hight: 28” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” down dry, 2” down dry.
Water: 1-gal water 5ml Grow, 5ml Base, 5ml CaMg+, pH 6.3

Day 26

I watered a 1-gallon jug water with my nutes listed above, the planters pot was much lighter today then yesterday so, I decided to water her with some nutes added. I wanted to take some photos of the little flowers starting to grow. I could not get much closer with the photos, I used my phone and did not want it blurry. But there are a lot of little hairs growing all over in there.

This Monday will be the start of week 4 so, I think it is about time to switch to bloom nutes. I see very little water runoff or at least it is coming out very slowly.

 

[MarkTHC]

December 9th at 10:40 am

Lights: Off
Temp: 68 Degrees
Humidity: 49%
Light Hight: 28” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” down moist, 2” down moist.
Water: None

So, yesterday just before I watered, I just wanted to check my pH level of the water solution out of curiosity. And it was higher then it was when I made it, it was a pH of 6.8 so, I have learned it is good to make your solution a few days before you water so you can set the pH exactly to where it needs to be. Because the pH and the nutes added will adjust up or down as things settle even if you drop your pH down after you add the nutes. From what I just experienced anyways.
So, I ended up dropping my pH again just before watering I lowered it to pH 6.3 so, I will make a new solution and check the pH now and before watering. By the time I water next, I will be past my 30-day mark so, I am going to introduce bloom nutes.
Also, yesterday when I watered, I got very, very little runoff. I think I might have to water a day earlier maybe. I am no expert but it might be something I try. My leaves look very healthy and do not show any signs of stress as far as I can tell.

• I filled my 1-gallon jug with water.
• Added 2.5ml RX Grow 1-0-0
• Shook the jug well.
• Added 5ml Base 1-0-2
• Shock the jug well.
• Added 5ml Bloom 0-4-2
• Shook the jug well.
• Added 5ml CaMg+ 1-0-0
• Shook the jug well.
• Lowered pH to 6.3

We will see in a few days if my pH levels go up or down in my water by the time, I use the jug.

My branches are turning from purple to green I noticed last night so the CaMG+ may be working and that might have been the problem.

December 11th at 5:44 pm

Lights: ON
Temp: 73 Degrees
Humidity: 50%
Light Hight: 28” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” Dry, 2” mostly moist a little dry.
Water: 1-gallon water, 2.5ml Grow, 5ml Base, 5ml Bloom, 5ml CaMg+ pH 6.3

Day 29

Well my pH levels went up again I checked my watering jugs pH sure enough 6.6 so I lowered it back down to 6.2 to 6.3 she is getting very tall. And flowering very beautiful. I am very excited about this plant.

I still did not get any runoff when I watered. The planters pot was very light but the first 1” inch was dry and the second inch was still a little moist but I went ahead and watered anyways. I made a new nute water solution in my 1-gallon jug.

• 5ml Base
• 5ml Bloom
• 5ml CaMg+
• Dropped pH to 6.3

 

[MarkTHC]

December 12th at 8:20 am

Lights: OFF
Temp: 68 Degrees
Humidity: 53%
Light Hight: 37 1/2” inches above the soil
Soil: 1” Moist, 2” Moist.
Water: None

I raised my light 9 ½ inches this will probably be the last time I raise my light since I only have about 30 days left of this plant. Almost all the grow journals I have read everyone was harvesting at day 60 or 65 so I know I do not have much more time.
I raised the light to give the flowers or buds room to grow up without hitting the light. Now that the light is higher, I see more light penetration to the lower branches and off to the side branches.
I have been monitoring her since I gave her a bit more nutes yesterday and she seems to be handling them just fine. No signs of stress in the leaves.
I had absolutely no water runoff after I watered yesterday using 1-gallon of water. She must be drinking more water then I realies or the planters pot is just way to big. I have learned a few things since I started this grow.

• 5-gallon to 7-gallon planters pot is the biggest I should go.
• Use a smart pot much better for the roots
• Use a light that has both veg and bloom switches.
• I should have gotten a taller tent; this tent will work good for autoflowers but what if I want to grow something other than just autoflower strains the tent would be too small.
• I should have used some kind of nutes to help the roots stay strong and healthy.
• Watering, I should have had a better schedule then what I have been doing. Needs to be more dialed in.

But despite all my flaws she is still doing fantastic and looks amazing I am very excited to see how this turns out. I think I might grow another this summer in my trailer just to see if I can do better then this. But that is about six months down the road.

 

[Emilya Green]

Watering, I should have had a better schedule then what I have been doing. Needs to be more dialed in.

Please read my entire thread on how to water a potted plant... it will help you dial that in.

 

[MarkTHC]

I sure will thank you.

 

[Pennywise]

Just found your journal Mark, I'm in.