The grow is moving along nicely. Transition to flower has come and gone without much fuss. I meant to water the plants a day sooner but fell asleep uncommonly early. As a result, the plants were bone dry again. I will repeat my earlier sentiment that these AI plants are quite hearty and forgiving. They have endured fairly high temps, full strength GH nutrients, extreme wet/dry cycles, amateur pruning and some plain ol' fashioned run-of-the-mil neglect. It makes me wonder what a skilled, attentive grower could do with them.
Tuesday musings:
pH has seemed pretty stable. I tested run off pH a while ago and appeared to be a bit high with a reading in the low 6 range. I dropped the watering/feeding pH to about 5.6 and crept up by 0.1 until 5.8. Subsequent run off measurements showed the media pH falling by a couple tenths. Realizing this I have been fluctuating water pH between 5.7 and 5.8 while watching for signs of lockout of nutrients that may be better absorbed at pH levels below 5.7. So far so good. Everything is a nice Indica green. Much deeper in color than my previous NL auto grow which is nice but different. I do have slight concerns about Nitrogen toxicity. The plants seem healthy so I don't think we are there yet. I'm watching.
The smell continues to become stronger. The fragrance is still black pepper, spice and a hint of lemon. Not much floral in there like my NL had/has. The smell of my NL in the jar is still on the weak side but very pleasant and complex when broken up. Right now, this AI fragrance is a little more blunt and to the point. One makes me say "ooh!" The other makes me say "ahh!". Both make me "LOL"!
I have about six inches of head room left. As I watered last night I began contemplating emergency ventilation rerouting which could net me nearly another foot of grow height. The way I see it my only option would be to move the interior carbon filter down to the floor. This move creates an air flow nightmare for me, though. Essentially, as the ventilation system is configured now, cool air would be sucked in from the right side floor duct and exhausted out the left side floor duct. Now, I'm no rocket surgeon, but that configuration seems to leave the bulk of my heated space unaffected. Pretty much the equivalent of running a cool tube carbon filter on the floor of my cabinet busily scrubbing fresh air. So, what to do... what to do. Raise the fresh air intake to the ceiling? Point the fans downward? This seems incredibly inefficient and backwards. Hmmm... I should have scrog'd. I knew I should have. It was my plan and I failed to execute it. Grrr. Maybe I can mount the fan/filter vertically on the wall directly below the light. It will penetrate horizontally into the grow box a bit and a plant will be snug up against it but...
I'm still purchasing RO water. It's inexpensive but I'd much prefer to purchase a RO filter system to have at home. Perhaps right next to the kitchen sink. I could get rid of the Brita water pitcher in the fridge that's always empty too (thanks kids).
This grow will use somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 gallons of water (20 weeks @ 5gal/week average). That's an interesting stat if it's accurate. I assume that a good portion of that water will be exhausted into my home environment which is note worthy. Especially noteworthy in a cold weather climate where water vapor is likely to readily condense on cool exterior windows, walls, roof joists, and other surfaces. The average RH of my home during the winter months will be closely monitored as well.
I turned on the radio and the news was on. I listened briefly. What a horrible depressing mess. I seldom listen to or watch broadcast media. It fills me with such sorrow and bolsters my depression.
Perhaps I should look into growing a nice strong Sativa.
/Obi Wan
and welcome to my little journal! I'm glad you're here. I've learned a lot from this great community. Please feel free to ask any and all questions, jump into a conversation or simply relax and watch. 
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The stress of making decisions is over. In 2 more weeks you will realize you have created monsters. 
