My Soil Gold Leaf Grow Journal, 2019

[CBDbudz]

Hey there folks, this is a journal about my 3 plants and their progress during the first 30 days into flowering, as well as info about how I am growing them. If you know how to correct deficiencies and could share with me some of your insight that would be super cool.

The strain that I decided to use for this grow was Gold leaf by 420. Gold Leaf is a hybrid made up of 40% Sativa and 60% Indica, but those percentages may be reversed.

I have been flowering three of my Gold leaf plants since March 30, so almost a month into flowering for them.

They are in Pro Mix (the water retaining mix) and I am using Home Depot Buckets that are either 5 or 6 gallon buckets with quarter inch holes around the bottom of the sides of the buckets and the bottom of the buckets, so good drainage and they can breath.

My Light is a nice white light LED that looks almost identical the the spyder X LEDs. The one I have is by scrogline.

The temperature of the 5x5x11ft tent I have has gotten between mid 60s to mid 80s but usually 75-80F. The temp has fluctuated because their isn't much automated control in my set up yet and I can't be there everyday.

I don't run CO2 but I am about to make a yiest alcohol fermentor that produces CO2 and see if that helps for mid to late flowering stage.

The humidity of the tent has been 40-50% for the most part.

I have been using the Advanced Nutrients, with the base being Micro Grow Bloom, and then the other nutrients are Advanced Nutrients voodoo juice, Big Bud B-52 and Bud Candy. I have been giving them a steady 120ml of each of the trio base nutrients mixed into 8 gallons water with run off being about 1-2 gallons after each feeding.

I have fed them for about an hour and a half each time and have fed them half of the 8 gallons and then the rest 12 hours later, for the past two or three feedings which has made for less runoff.

I'll be honest I have been keeping the feeding schedule in my head and so I messed up big time by not writing shit down.

The plants have suffered from dehydration a few times. I know generally what nutes I have gave to them though and Ill list that now,

Started Flowering on March 30
March 20-----MicroGrowBloom-120ml, B52-60ml, Bud Candy-60ml
March 29-----MicroGrowBloom-120ml, Voodoo Juice-60ml, Bud Candy-60ml
April 03------MicroGrowBloom-120ml, Voodoo Juice-60ml, Bud Candy 30ml
April 08------MicroGrowBloom-120ml, B52-60ml, Sensi Cal Mag (whatever ml bottle recommended)
April 15------MicroGrowBloom-120ml, B52-60ml, Big Bud 60ml
April 23------MicroGrowBloom-120ml,B52-60ml, Big Bud 60ml


I'll post some pics of the plants with some commentary, as well as some pics of the info on the light I am using.

----This is Wednesday April 10. I had the light like 6' away from the top of the canopy, but that really was the biggest fucking mistake I think because Gold Leaf is supposed to grow like a sativa and stretch but the light was so close and deficiencies in the under leafs I think stunted the plants.
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-----Saturday, April 20
After 2 weeks I defoliated some of the leafs that were blocking light to the middle of the canopies of each of the plants. I am unsure what the deficiencies are but they have been apparent all throughout flower. i am thinking its potassium and something else. This strain Gold Leaf has been really cool to grow so far, but its kinda tricky. I moved the light to around 20-22 inches above top of canopy after week 1 and its been looking a bit too far away so after a while I moved it back down to around 12 inches above the top of the canopy. Cannibalism of lower leafs is bothersome.
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---Thursday April 25
The Advance Nutrients Big Bud has really started helping to add weight to the bud sights. I put little fans in the grow making an X and the black oscillating fan is good too their is plenty of circulation and breeze. I have a unknown brand 6 inch intake fan and a 6 inch hurricane 420+ Cfm and the tent as I think I said earlier is 5x5x9ft, so that hurricane fan should be adequate ventilation.


---Tuesday April 30
One month of flowering, so just over 4 weeks. I today lowered the lights to 6-7 above canopy. The diameter of the top of the tallest is about 2 inches. I am not sure what to do now for the deficiencies. If yall wanna give me some tips on what I can improve I would surely appreciate it, and thanks for checking out my journal! Below will put a couple pics of the light specs for you

 

[Curiousnoob]

Hey mate, welcome to 420 your plants look healthy enough what seems to be your issue? Do you have photos of the deficiency? Im fairly new to the scene myself but have had my fair share of issues. What PH/PPM are your running? I nearly purchased gold leaf myself would like to sit in if that's cool and see how they turn out.

 

[Curiousnoob]

Hey mate just found this vid that helped me out alot, hopefully it helps

 

[irie lion]

Hey @CBDbudz! Great looking setup, awesome light, and your ladies are looking good!
Any chance you could post a picture of one or two of the effected leaves you are referring to? From the pictures above the dying leaves beneath the canopy look like natural cannibalization to me - from my experience once i reach around one month of flowering the plant starts using the nutrients from the leaves receiving no light below your canopy to push those nutrients to your flowers that start bulking up around that period. If you start seeing deficiencies on your canopy leaves i would worry. But send a few more pics of the leaves you are referring to and lets see!
I have never grown Gold Leaf, as far as i know no one has grown it around here (South Africa) yet so i'll keep my eye on your grow to see if i'll be adding it to my list!
Happy growing, peace

 

[CBDbudz]

Hey guys, I have returned to give a little update! Before it looked like there were deficiencies but now they are shaping up nicely! I checked the PPM when I fed on the girls on the 1st of may, and it came out to around 1200 which I believe is why the tips of the leafs started to burn, but no big deal. Before I thought they needed more nutrients so I gave them a little heavier of feedings when I fed them the last two times. Advanced Nutrients are collated, so I don't really worry about the PH.

On the first of May (or maybe a day or two before) I fed them the base nutrients as before, and I gave them some B52, I gave them Over Drive by Advanced Nutrients, and 20% of a dose of Big Bud. I am thinking the extra bit of big bud has helped them gain more bulk.

On May 9th I gave them the base nutes, and added B52, Over Drive 25% of a dose of Bud Candy, and 25% of a dose of voodoo juice, because its been hot and that heat may have effected the micro organisms in the soil, but maybe not.

I have been leaf stripping every week or two so that more of the buds are exposed to the light and so the light penetration is good. I want quality to be good down below instead of popcorn.

With some wire I found in the garage I made some hooks and attached them to some of the branches that were getting too heavy so they were supported by the scrog net. I also used string to tie them to the scrog net.

The name Gold Leaf fits the strain perfectly, because the colors are starting to come out in the buds, and when flushing time comes, I bet there will be some nice fall colors in the leafs.

I'm gonna flush one of the plants starting today, and then the other two I may give another light or regular strength feeding because they still look to be in good health and if I let them flower for an extra week at the end I may get another 10% yield. I need a Jewelers Loupe though!

Stay tuned! I'll try to be more frequent with adding updates.
I need a better camera so I can show the detail of the buds, but here are some pics I have taken recently....

 

[irie lion]

Still looking good in there @CBDbudz! they have all shaped up really well.
Happy growing Peace

 

[CBDbudz]

Still looking good in there @CBDbudz! they have all shaped up really well.
Happy growing Peace

Thanks, they really have!

 

[CBDbudz]

Alrighty guys, I am back with a little update!

On May 18th in the morning time I fed all three girls for the last time. I gave them full strength doses of each part of the base nutrients, gave them 50% of a feeding of overdrive, 75% feeding of B52, maybe 20% of Big Bud or Bud candy, and I gave them a little bit of voodoo juice for good measure.

The temps in the daytime have been making it very hot in the tent, but the density of the buds is still good up top. I am not really caring about humidity at this point, because I have no humidifier/dehumidifier or a humidity-sensing controller right now.

Ever since the latest feeding I have been flushing with tap water that is slightly cold to the touch. Here are a few pics....

This is how they looked on May 21st. Three days since the last feeding and they are still looking green and healthy.

May 24th, about a week from the last feeding, the plants that are closer to the front of the picture are starting to use up the energy in the leafs to compensate for lack of nutrients in the soil, which is making the leafs golden somewhat.

I checked the amber/clear ratio of the trychomes using a jeweler's Loupe, and at this point it was 75% clear with 25% or so amber.

This last pic is from yesterday, and as you can see the plant in the back is still pretty green while the two closer to the camera are starting to turn nice and golden. I think I have noticed them packing on a little more weight. I checked the tops of some of the main colas for temps and they were 32c at some points, so it is definitely getting toasty for them.

All in all its looking good to me! Decent amount of weight, and the high quality of the flower is evident in the aroma of the herb alone. I have tried to get some good close ups, but its hard getting it to focus, but I will get some shots of the up close definition before I chop them down. Thanks for looking!!

 

[irie lion]

Looking great @CBDbudz, they sure have packed on more weight. Seems like they are holding up well with the high temps. Awesome harvest incoming!