Critical by RQS [hydro]

[WeedRider]

Critical aka Critical Mass are freebies from Royal Queen Seeds. Got them buying some of their humidity control packs. I popped them a month or two ago and seem pretty healthy for the most part. Hoping for some decent genetics this time. RQS claims only 7 week flower - if true that would be a bonus.

Used my HVLP spray gun with distilled water and sprayed down the whole tent, grow room and equipment. Hope that is enough to kill all the pollen that is undoubtedly everywhere after the last grow.

Found a bit of root in my pH sensor when re-calibrating. I have to remember to check that more often, I'm pretty sure that was the cause of the strange readings last time. Good news is that the pH drops I got seem to be reliably indicating. As long as I remember to cross check once a week or so should avoid major pH disasters.

What it's supposed to look like.


Specs so far. ec flat and pH rising ever so slightly.


Scrog going nicely. Could have manifold more but good enough. Switched to the bigger net pots for this grow.

 

[SweetLeafGrow]

Looking good. If it were me, I would go in and prune off all those branches down low on the plants. They are robbing the plant of energy and will not make the canopy even if you left them the whole grow. Eventually you will want to remove most of that lower stuff anyway.

How much headroom do you have in your tent? I'm assuming you have not flipped to flower yet? Do you anticipate a significant stretch during flower? You may be getting too tall in there is what I am getting at and some things for you to consider.

Technically, what you have there is a trellis, not a scrog. A scrog, which I think is a great option for you at this time, will push your plants down and go from vertical to horizontal, which will force vertical colas from all the nodes. See my thread where I just performed this operation yesterday.

https://budbuilders.org/threads/new-grow-rose-gold-pave-by-compound-genetics-bud-builders.649/

See the before and after pics to see the difference between a scrog and a trellis. If you had a scrog table, those stems on these girls are lanky enough that you could get them horizontal easy peasy, gain a bunch of headroom in your tent, and flip to flower very soon.

 

[Rootsruler]

I would try and lower the net to almost where the two main canopy branches where the plant got topped. I like to keep my canopy as low as possible in case I get mega stretch happening and run out of horizontal real estate in the tent.

You can see where I set my net here....

https://budbuilders.org/threads/2x2-mystery-scrog.724/

 

[Bud Builder]

I have grown this same plant many times. Kept a mom for well over a year.

I think this was my highest producing strain of all time. Massive colas, albeit a bit on the airy side. That said, it was in my HPS days so all buds were a bit more on the fluffy side then. Be prepared for a really big plant up top. I was getting 18" colas as big as my forearm. Happy grow!

 

[WeedRider]

Looking good. If it were me, I would go in and prune off all those branches down low on the plants. They are robbing the plant of energy and will not make the canopy even if you left them the whole grow. Eventually you will want to remove most of that lower stuff anyway.

How much headroom do you have in your tent? I'm assuming you have not flipped to flower yet? Do you anticipate a significant stretch during flower? You may be getting too tall in there is what I am getting at and some things for you to consider.

All good tips. I will defoliate the lower branches. Haven't flipped yet but have 2/3 available for headroom. Will lower the netting as well just in case.

 

[SSgrower]

Nice grow, I'll follow along for the trellis and scrog tips! SS

 

[WeedRider]

Available headroom. Hoping it will be enough.




Got this on a bunch of leaves this morning. Trimmed them all plus a bunch of the lower branches. Hoping it's from adjustment to full brightness on the lighting, I had them under a pretty small light while vegging.

 

[WeedRider]

~2 Week post-flip update. These guys sure are stretching! Nearly doubled in height already.

Had a glitch this week with the power, timer got messed up and they had an 18hr light period before I noticed the lights hadn't turned off. So... I started a new 12hr cycle from that point (assuming 12hr dark was the most important) and have been slowly walking the timer back 15m each day always keeping a full 12hr dark.

Been keeping the ratio of tap water higher this grow and that seems to be keeping pH much more stable. Also added a copper anti-fouling screen on the pH meter which I hope will reduce reading drift.

 

[SiamSam]

~2 Week post-flip update. These guys sure are stretching! Nearly doubled in height already.

Had a glitch this week with the power, timer got messed up and they had an 18hr light period before I noticed the lights hadn't turned off. So... I started a new 12hr cycle from that point (assuming 12hr dark was the most important) and have been slowly walking the timer back 15m each day always keeping a full 12hr dark.

Been keeping the ratio of tap water higher this grow and that seems to be keeping pH much more stable. Also added a copper anti-fouling screen on the pH meter which I hope will reduce reading drift.

View attachment 47677View attachment 47678View attachment 47679

Very nicely executed, this is not your first rodeo boss

 

[WeedRider]

At 6 weeks post-flip and things are going reasonably well. Not sure if the plant was pollinated or just how things are supposed to go. Both are possible so just riding it out for now. I may have burped the previous crop (with nanners) before opening the tent. But the red seems to be limited to just the top buds and only under the lights. Also they say only 7 weeks to harvest so more or less on schedule.

My fan oscillator finally died so I have to put in the new one I had on standby. New one isn't as powerful, hoping it's not going to matter .

Here's a shot from a couple weeks ago (18th). Pretty much all white pistils and green leaves.



Updated specs from today.



I haven't been defoliating much this grow. I only pull leaves that are really dead.


Lots of red

 

[WeedRider]

Did the big chop today. Wasn't quite sure but trics look white, a few amber and all the pistils are brown. Will have pictures soon just very tired today. Pretty good results I think. Considering a light upgrade for next grow.

 

[WeedRider]

Photos from just before chop and the harvest. Overall much better results than my first two grows with bag seed. The commercial genetics made a big difference. Went 10 weeks after flip which might have been a bit too much. Had a hard time getting a good look at the trics - I don't have the right magnification yet. I've got a scope with 60x but they all look clear at that scale considering the tiny depth of focus. Otherwise I've got 10x loupe with a much wider field of view but can't really see the bulbs of the trics. Think I need something in the 30x range.

Also considering a light upgrade. Using an SF-300 which has been decent and was a good starter light but think I need a bit more wattage to get the really tight buds. Considering one of these - https://www.bestvaled.com/products/bestva-tf-series-led-grow-lights-for-indoor-plants Dunno might be crap but the price is good.

Water parameters were pretty well managed this round. Had a much more stable pH overall. Improvements needed are better buffer control. I've been using tap water for buffer but I think that's hurting me, too much other crap. Need tighter control so I want to go totally RO with some sort of added pH buffer.

Still learning.

Pre-chop


Buds


Harvest