How I Fucked Up

Action:
-Replace clone tray water
-Water
-Fungicide Middle
-Calibrate pH meter

VEG
Water
pH 5.9
~17 gal

HPS Veg has shown relatively rapid vertical growth over the past few days, peaking at about one foot from the reflector. The canopy as a whole is almost too tall for Veg at this point, and these trees need to be transplanted within the next couple of days to prevent disproportional growth. In the future it will be necessary to do a second trimming/cloning to stall growth. I will have to trim/clone this veg anyway, but it would be more ideal to trim earlier to allow the plants to recover so growth isn't stalled during flowering.

The veg tables are also showing their limitations; plants seem to be growing taller rather than wider since the table sits in the corner of the room. However, this hasn't been a problem until this week, which probably could've been prevented if I had trimmed this veg last week to stall growth. Ideally, the plants would have recovered from trimming by now.

MH Veg is also growing taller and wider, as is expected. Distance between the reflector and canopy is about one foot. Although this shouldn't be dangerous in terms of light intensity since the ballast is running at 750 watts, the heat is still substantial enough to curl the leaves. Branches are wide and thick, which is good. I'll have to top/trim/clone when I trim the HPS veg, since the rotation is about to shift. I will probably trim again two weeks into HPS as part of a pre-flowering preparation.

Older clone trays are about a month old now and the success rate has been better this time around, with a rough estimate of about 70%. I'll know the exact number once they're planted. The newer clone trays are two weeks old now, and are showing signs of a mildew infestation. Some clones deteriorated at the base rather than the leaves and branches, which means that dipping clones in fungicide during cloning was a success. A few of the other clones that most likely weren't dipped in fungicide are showing mildew infestation at the leaves. Interestingly, a few of the clones have rooted above the rockwool as a result of 100% humidity, although this also helped the mold spread more rapidly.

MIDDLE
Water
pH 5.8
Fungicide (2 caps/1.5 gal)

Spider mites have returned, which is odd considering fungicide was sprayed aggressively above and below the canopy merely three days ago. There is a dangerous amount of yellow mite trails on the leaves and I will have to spray this room throughout the week to prevent further deterioration. Mildew is mostly absent from this room.

There also seems to be a pungent aroma emanating from these plants now, more so than previous harvests. It's hard to determine if this is merely the result of consistent growth or heavy use of Terpinator, but either way it's a good indicator of a favorable yield. Bubba is increasing in size rapidly, whereas the other indica-dominant strains seem to be noticeably less so. I've opted not to use Phosphoload here because I don't want to hinder cola production as I did in the Master. Whether or not I use Overdrive in the next feed will largely depend on how this room progresses over the next couple of days. If colas are still underdeveloped, I will wait until next week and continue with Big Bud.

MASTER

I've opted not to water today so the soil can dry for tomorrow, as most of the pots seem moderately moist. Upon examining the buds, I've noticed that many of the main colas in this room are Bubba, and are either leaning sideways on the trellis or propped closer to the light than other trees. It's possible that ineffective light distribution was a factor in underdevelopment of colas, but it's more likely that it was a combination of factors that lead to a low yield. On the bright side, THC production has stayed constant, and the colas are covered in THC, which will be the determining factor in how these flowers are sold.

HOW I FUCKED UP
Here I will identify the reasons why this room had a lackluster performance this rotation, and I'll order them by how much of an effect I think they had:

Trimming
If all the other mistakes were made here without trimming, this yield may would have probably been much higher. These trees were trimmed during Week 3-4 to promote growth on the upper portion of the canopy, but what happened instead was that the trees themselves were weakened to the point that it probably took close to an entire week (if not longer) to recover. During the first few weeks (pre-flower) light trimming may have been acceptable, even encouraged, to regulate growth, but during a time when the trees had already halted vertical growth and were trying to produce colas, trimming was counter-effective. On a technical note, the tree may have been stripped of valuable chlorophyll, among other nutrients, to effectively photosynthesize, thereby causing a bottleneck in the metabolic functions of the plants. Whatever the case may have been, it is imperative to limit trimming to veg only, and instead physically train the plants to allow for light penetration if the plants grow disproportionately.

Phosphoload
I intended to use Phosphoload as a means to boost cola production while not recognizing the chief function of Phosphoload as a plant growth regulator rather than a bud booster. Phosphoload may have been beneficial during the first few weeks to inhibit vertical growth, considering that this rotation consisted of overly tall plants, but it probably would've been better to avoid using Phosphoload altogether since I already had contained the growth with the trellis. Phosphoload should be used if the plants themselves are already formed in a manner that has allowed for even light distribution and height needs to be contained.

Growth Manipulation Techniques
Using the trellis to bend branches down here would have produced favorable results without Phosphoload, but the trellis still needs to be used more as a structural support tool rather than a growth manipulator. During past rotations, bending heads down didn't guarantee that lower branches would grow taller. The trellis only served to keep the heads lower than their natural height, but much of the top foliage still outgrew the bottom. It would have been much safer to instead bend all the branches outward from the center stalk, if at all. With proper training techniques implemented in veg, however, I wouldn't have to physically bend any branches at all, and the trellis would merely serve to keep the plants from falling over, as was initially intended.

Veg
Incorrect veg techniques and timing between trimming and cloning was also a factor here. From what I remember, these trees were left to grow tall and lanky, which is clearly a result of bad timing. Had growth been contained in veg, accounting for trim recovery time and vertical growth rates, I wouldn't have had to trim or bend branches in the first place. Phosphoload may have even been able to regulate growth for efficient light distribution, which also could have resulted in a higher yield.