Week 3: Goodbye Lazy, Hello Mainlining & Tent Issues! Another week in the books! Since my last log on September 20th, things escalated pretty quickly. We officially ditched the strictly "lazy" mindset, made some major training decisions, and even had to deal with an unexpected tent emergency. Here is the daily breakdown of Week 3: September 21st: The EC Component Benchmark I spent Day 1 of Week 3 doing some lab work for optimal nutrients. I took the time to measure and log the exact EC increase contributed by each individual nutrient component. Going forward, this will allow me to dial in custom nutrient ratios much more precisely rather than blindly following stock formulas. You can find the exact readings at the bottom of this days report. September 22nd: Water Top-Up & The Light Leak Emergency Noticeable uptake! I topped up each bucket with 300 ml of remineralized RO water to counteract a dropping EC level. A falling EC is always music to my ears because it means the girls are actively drinking and consuming nutrients faster than water. Later that night, I noticed light leaking through a small puncture in the tent wall and the zipper also seems to have problems. What leaks out can also leak in! To prevent catastrophic light pollution during the future flowering stage (and avoid any hermie risks down the line), the main outer cover of the grow tent had to be replaced immediately. Doing a full tent skin replacement solo with only one working hand was completely out of the question, so I called in some much-appreciated reinforcement. Emergency handled! September 23rd: Mainlining Decision & Top-Feeder Strategy Since I already had help on standby, I figured it was time to drop the "Lazy Grow" label (or at least rename it to Not-So-Lazy). Decision made: we are mainlining! To kick things off, I pruned away the side branches on nodes 1 and 2 to stop energy wastage and force all growth momentum directly upward toward the top node. I also turned off the DWC system's top-feeders on both buckets. The root networks are now fully submerged in the main reservoir and thriving. Moving forward, I’ll only run the top-feeders while I’m actively working on the plants, keeping it strictly airstone-only for the rest of the time. September 24th: The Big Chop (Topping & Defoliation) I’m generally not a fan of stressing young plants too heavily in one go, so I waited until today to top them above the 4th node. I also completely cleaned out all growth at the 1st and 2nd nodes. Thanks to the massive fan leaves, those lower sections were sitting completely in the dark anyway and if a leaf can't catch light for photosynthesis, it’s just stealing plant energy and has to go! September 25th: Smooth Cruising Just a minor pH adjustment today, bringing it back down from 5.8 to 5.5. Plants are taking the topping and defoliation like total champs. September 26th: Drop in EC & Reservoir Strategy The EC dipped below 1.3 mS/cm today. Rather than just topping off the tanks with fresh nutes and guessing which specific minerals were consumed, I’m planning a full reservoir change out. Fresh start, clean water, and precise nutrient ratios for the next stage. Note: Today, Sept 27th, is dedicated to editing footage and putting together this week's log! I also bought a new Grow-Cam … but I haven't figured out how to get the files from SD-card to Computer. there are some format issues and that's a problem for tomorrow Hempel. Not planned but we did a complete reservoir change to a fresh EC 1.5 mS solution because it feels like the plants are hungry. Now that the mainlining structure is set and the plants are recovering seamlessly, let's see how fast those new main mains explode in Week 4! As promised, the Lab Day: I prepared my Base water (CaO + MgO) and landed at a picture-perfect 0.272, basically a carbon copy of the original calibration. Then Vega A went in and only delivered about 90% of the EC bump I was expecting. Note to self, shake that bottle harder, sediment is not your friend. Vega B and Cannazym behaved exactly as predicted, Rhizotonic did its usual "not touching your EC" routine. Then the plot twist: I bumped the pH with 1.4 ml of pH+, and instead of holding steady, the EC actually dropped from 1.430 down to 1.375. Correcting the pH back down afterward didn't bring it back either, which rules out a fluke reading and points to a small calcium precipitation event: dump pH+ in one big shot instead of small sips, and you can spike the local pH high enough to knock calcium out of solution as an insoluble salt before it ever gets a chance to mix in properly. Filed away for next time with smaller pH+ doses and more patience. Closed the 0.125 gap with 6.05 ml each of A and B, and the meter read exactly 1.505. Sticking the landing after a session with that many curveballs felt genuinely satisfying — following Canna's own chart to the letter would've left me nowhere close. Moral of the story: trust your meter, not the label, and the girls get exactly what they came for. So if you are interested, here is the working feeding chart of Canna Aqua Vega to reach EC 1.5 mS in 10 Liter Base Water (EC 0.27): Canna Aqua Vega A - 17.55 ml - EC 1.070 Canna Aqua Vega B - 17.55 ml - EC 1.432 Rhizotonic - 13.5 ml - EC 1.432 Cannazym - 16.85 ml - EC 1.496