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Update: CBD #1 Transplant and Flip
Last Wednesday I took off the branches of the first node and they’ve been in water ever since. If I manage to clone them it will be a bonus. I won’t be able to try very hard. I have more seed for it
Later that same day, before lights-on, I prepped the 5gallon pot for transplant. To help keep out the gnatty gnat gnats I lined the bottom of the pot with PVC coated insect mesh. I couldn’t get the very fine weave I was after (out of stock locally) but what I got is ok and I put a double layer for good measure (checking first that it was going to drain OK);
I added mounds of soil to the middle of the pot first and pushed it out towards the edges to press the mesh against the sides of the pot.
I used the existing pot to set the height and the shape of the planting hole (‘reverse sandcastle’ method).
Sprinkled mycorrhizae in the hole...
And broke out the rootball!
The roots got ’scored’ on four sides. My blade could have been sharper - you (using a sharp and sterile blade) make a cut about 3/4” -1” deep from the bottom to about 2/3 the way up the side of the rootball. This helps the roots ‘bust out’ into the new soil.
Snug fit
I added quite a bit more soil above that and watered it in fully with some microbial powder/root tonic added. I then covered the topsoil with a layer of a perlite/vermiculite blend - get throught that, gnats!.
It went into the tent, now cleaned and runnIng flowering lights overnight, 6pm-6am.
There’s kind of a rule not to put poorly plants in to flower. This one wasn’t poorly as such but it wasn’t as robustly ready as I’d like. It was a bit peakish from at least one week too long in that pot (probably 2) and I think it was getting a little light stress, getting closer and closer to the light in the veg box. I decided to just throw it into flower anyway - I need to get things moving or this part of the run won’t be done by Christmas!
Here it is 2 days later - still a little pale on top but pretty good really and improving, even if still with some pokey pointy down leaves down low.
That was Friday, and these below are this morning, so 2 days later. Good colour coming in to the top now and good posture at the top as well. Lower leaves still a bit downward pointing but improving and I’m happy w the new growth.
The soil was nice and moist enough to be ‘cloddable’ when I transplanted and I watered in with an additional 2.5L. I won’t water again now until I see/sense the edge of droop. Lots of root production happens this early in flower so it’s good to give one more wet-dry cycle after flip. Then be nice
I have adjusted the lights down in the tent to 250watts from the wall. If i count the space as 2.8 x 2.8 then I’m about 30w/sq ft. That seems low-ish but i flowered a single plant in there with 180w to the same panels (without the strips added) and it produced good buds. So, I’m experimenting with how to run the rig. I plan to pack the tent much much less and run my lights and fans lower all ‘round - so far it’s working really really well and temperatures are great in both spaces.
It’s a fair bit quieter too, which is good. Things got a bit loud there for a minute when i had heat issues. I trialled a good noise level app to check it and from my bed the sound of the flowering tent 2m away plus the veg box 3m away, plus the internal aircon, registered at 28dB - or just a hair above ‘breathing’.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing in my garden - I appreciate it a lot
I hope all are enjoying a relaxing weekend... mine was immensely so!
and 
to my little garden of Eden 
. It’s actually a very small moment in a grow I’m talking about - and sometimes it’s even decided by circumstance, or feels like it is. But we always do have to decide when to make the cut - the decision - and I just think it’s a very artisanal thing. 
My heads going to explode trying to think of a way to say how eloquent you are!! 
... it was a too big parenthetical comment and I didn’t want to cut it out... so, smaller! In the absence of footnotes