💙 Project Blue Tent – Week 8 Blue Waffle F1 – Pheno A (Folder 13A) Hello everyone, and welcome back to another chapter inside Project Blue Tent! 💙🌱 If you're new here, welcome aboard. Project Blue Tent is our little experiment with four individual Blue Waffle F1 plants from Zamnesia, each documented separately from seed to harvest. All four ladies share the same environment, lighting, irrigation, nutrition and general care. And yet... They still manage to show their own little personalities. We're not just growing plants. We're getting to know them. And this week? Well... They're finally in flower. 🌸 ──────────────────────── 🌸 Week Eight – Welcome to Flower This week feels completely different. After seven weeks of vegetative growth, the Blue Tent has finally made the transition into flowering. And honestly... I think these girls were ready for it before I was. The entire tent has been growing at an incredible pace. In roughly one week, some of these plants have gained close to 30 cm, while simultaneously becoming denser, producing developing flowering sites and generally accelerating in every direction. They're not simply getting taller. They're building. Branches are extending. New growth is appearing everywhere. Flowering sites are developing rapidly. And the whole room suddenly feels like it has shifted into another gear. Looking back, I may have kept them in vegetation a little longer than I normally would. Seven weeks of vegetative growth is definitely on the longer side for the way I usually run these plants. But there's no point looking backwards now. The canopy is established. The plants are healthy. The screen has done its job. And now we're going to see what happens when these beautiful F1 ladies are finally allowed to flower. ──────────────────────── 🕸️ From SCROG to Flower The SCROG has been one of the most important parts of this entire vegetative phase. For weeks, we weren't trying to make the plants taller. We were trying to distribute their growth across the available space. Branches were gently guided beneath the screen, allowing the canopy to develop horizontally rather than allowing individual tops to dominate vertically. And looking at Plant A now... I'd say the mission was successful. The canopy is remarkably even. From above, it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell where one plant ends and another begins. That's exactly what we wanted. A relatively uniform surface where multiple flowering sites can develop under similar conditions rather than having a few dominant tops towering over everything underneath them. Of course, now comes the interesting part. Flowering stretch. And judging by what these plants have done during the last week... I have a feeling they're not planning on staying at this height for very long. 😅 ──────────────────────── 🌿 Plant A – The Race Has Started Plant A is looking absolutely beautiful. The colour is one of the first things that catches my attention. That rich, healthy green we've been working toward is still there, and the plant looks full of energy. But her biggest characteristic this week is simple: Speed. She is moving. Fast. The transition into flower has clearly brought a completely different level of activity to the plant. New growth is appearing quickly, branches are extending, and the developing flowering sites are becoming increasingly obvious. At approximately 81 cm, she's already gained a considerable amount of height since the last report. And that's exactly why I'm watching this flowering stretch so closely. We have a very even canopy right now. I'd love to keep it that way. But with seven weeks of vegetative development behind these plants, combined with the warm and relatively similar day and night temperatures, I fully expect some stretching. The challenge now isn't creating the canopy. We've already done that. The challenge is seeing how well we can maintain it while the plants transition into full flowering. ──────────────────────── 💡 Starting Flower Under Strong Light We're also entering flower with a fairly ambitious lighting strategy. Rather than slowly easing the plants into lower light levels, we're starting flowering at approximately 800 PPFD. The idea is straightforward: The plants have developed a large, healthy canopy during vegetation, and now I want to see how they respond as flowering begins. I'm particularly interested in seeing whether maintaining strong light from the beginning can help encourage compact development despite the factors that may push these plants toward additional stretch. Will it keep them compact? Honestly... I'm not completely convinced. 😂 Seven weeks of vegetation. Rapid growth. Warm days. Warm nights. And now the beginning of flowering. That's a lot of ingredients for stretch. But that's also what makes this project so interesting. We're not trying to predict everything perfectly. We're watching what the plants actually do. And Plant A is already telling us that she's ready to move. ──────────────────────── 🌡️ Blue Tent – Flowering Conditions The environmental conditions have shifted slightly with the transition into flower, while the overall stability of the room remains excellent. This week's recorded conditions were: • 🌡️ Day Temperature: 27°C • 🌙 Night Temperature: 27°C • 💧 Relative Humidity: 66% • 🥥 Substrate Temperature: 24°C • 💦 Nutrient Solution Temperature: 19.2°C • ⚗️ pH: 5.81 • ⚡ EC: 2.09 mS/cm • 💨 CO₂: approximately 666 ppm • 💡 Light Schedule: 12/12 • 💧 Irrigation: approximately 1.4 L/plant/24h • ? Pot Size: 8 L • 📏 Plant Height: approximately 81 cm One thing I'm particularly interested in during this phase is the temperature difference. There really isn't much of one. Day and night temperatures are currently sitting around the same level. That's something I'm watching carefully because plants can tend to stretch more when nighttime temperatures remain relatively warm. Combine that with the amount of vegetative growth these girls have already accumulated... And we may have an interesting few weeks ahead. For now, though, they're looking fantastic. ──────────────────────── 🥥 Feeding Program – A Small Step Forward With flowering officially underway, the nutrition has also moved forward slightly. The current recipe is: • Plagron Hydro A — 2 ml/L • Plagron Hydro B — 2 ml/L • Plagron Hydro Roots — 1 ml/L • Plagron Power Buds — 1 ml/L With pH adjustment as required. The resulting EC is currently approximately 2.09 mS/cm. This is a small progression from the previous vegetative recipe rather than a dramatic change. And that's intentional. The plants are hungry. They're growing incredibly quickly. They're entering flowering. But I still prefer making measured changes and then watching how the plants respond rather than changing everything at once. The plants have already given us some very clear feedback during this project. Beautiful colour. Fast growth. Strong structure. Healthy foliage. So we're continuing to listen. ──────────────────────── 💧 The Drip & Drainage System – Working Together One of the things I really want to highlight this week is the irrigation system because it has become such an important part of Project Blue Tent. The Mars Hydro drip irrigation and drainage setup isn't simply watering the plants. The two sides of the system are working together. The drippers deliver the nutrient solution directly into the coco. The solution moves through the substrate, supplying the root zone before exiting as runoff. That runoff is collected in the trays beneath the grow bags. From there, the drainage system channels the collected solution through a pipe toward the pump. The pump then moves the collected solution back toward the reservoir. So what we have is effectively a recirculating system, where irrigation and drainage work together as one continuous setup. And honestly... It's working wonders. The plants are drinking. The roots are being supplied consistently. The runoff is being removed automatically. And the entire process happens without me having to manually carry watering cans around the room every day. That's especially valuable now that the plants have entered flowering and their water demand is increasing. The system is quietly doing its job in the background. I get to spend my time watching the plants instead. And I much prefer that. ──────────────────────── 🌿 Why This Week Feels Different There is something fascinating about watching a plant move from vegetation into flower. Yesterday you're looking at leaves and branches. Then suddenly... You start seeing the plant change its priorities. The growth becomes more pronounced. The flowering sites begin developing. The branches start extending. The structure you've spent weeks building begins transforming into something completely different. And because these plants were allowed to develop for seven weeks in vegetation, there is a lot of structure available for that transformation to work with. Plant A has a fantastic starting point. The canopy is even. The branches are well distributed. The stems are strong. The foliage is healthy. Now we simply have to see what she does with it. ──────────────────────── 🌿 Plant A's Personality Plant A continues to be one of those phenotypes that makes me smile whenever I open the tent. She's vigorous. She's responsive. She's beautifully structured. And apparently... She's in a hurry. 😂 Her development throughout vegetation was impressive, but the speed at which she's now transitioning into flower is something else entirely. There's a real sense of momentum around this plant. At the moment, she remains remarkably similar to her sisters, which is another fascinating observation from this project. Despite giving each phenotype its own diary, the four plants continue showing an incredible level of uniformity. From above, they're almost becoming one giant plant. But when you look closely... The little differences start appearing. And that's exactly what this project is about. ──────────────────────── 🌸 The Big Question – How Much Will They Stretch? This is probably the question I'm most curious about now. The plants were vegetated for seven weeks. They have grown extremely quickly during the last week. Day and night temperatures are currently very similar. And flowering has just begun. All of those factors make me expect some additional vertical growth. How much? That's what we're about to discover. I'm hoping the strong lighting and the structure we've created will help keep the canopy reasonably compact. But I'm not going to pretend I know exactly what will happen. Sometimes the plant gets the final vote. And these girls have already demonstrated that they have plenty of energy. So... Let's see what they do. ──────────────────────── 👀 Looking Ahead The next couple of weeks are going to be fascinating. The major vegetative work is finished. The SCROG has been filled. The canopy has been cleaned. The plants have recovered. And now we're officially into flowering. Our main job from here is observation. Watching the stretch. Watching the developing flowers. Watching the colour. Watching the plants' response to the new nutritional program. And, of course, keeping that environment as stable as possible while the room becomes increasingly dense. Plant A has an excellent starting position. Now nature takes over. And considering how quickly she's been moving already... I have a feeling the next report is going to look very different from this one. 🌸 ──────────────────────── 💙 Thank You A huge thank you to Zamnesia for making Project Blue Tent possible and for giving us the opportunity to explore these beautiful Blue Waffle F1 genetics phenotype by phenotype. A massive thank you to Plagron for the Premium Growbags and Hydro nutrient line that have supported these plants throughout their entire vegetative journey and now into flowering. A special thank you to Zamnesia for the Phytonaut LED lighting that has helped us build this remarkably even canopy and will now be putting that flowering structure to work. And a huge thank you to Mars Hydro for the drip irrigation and automatic drainage system. Watching the irrigation and drainage work together throughout this project has been incredibly satisfying. The consistency, automation and recirculating setup have made managing four rapidly growing plants considerably easier. Thank you as well to GrowDiaries for giving growers around the world a place to document their journeys, share experiences and learn from one another. And finally... Thank you to every single person following Project Blue Tent. We've spent seven weeks building these plants. Seven weeks of training. Seven weeks of SCROG. Seven weeks of watching them develop. And now... Flower has officially arrived. 🌸💙 The canopy is ready. The plants are healthy. The lights are on. And the real transformation is just beginning. Until next week... Growers Love, happy growing, and take care everyone! 🌱💙