Hard decision, but time for it to go

Over the past month, I have been dealing with some issues with my GDP plant I was growing. Shortly after it started to flower, a lot of the leaves begin to get really dark and brown and begin to die off. I kind of ignored it for a week or so, because I have had plants do this during the later stages of flower, but it continued to get worse and eventually the plant stopped flowering.

I had been giving it flowering nutrients almost every other day, which had caused the soil to become very acidic and began to kill the plant. By the time I realized that I was killing the plant, it seemed like it was too late. I spent the past few weeks just giving the plant water, but that did not seem to be helping it begin flowering again. About 2 weeks ago, it started to sprout new leaves on it, but those leaves were a bit deformed and many of them had either two or three leaves to them instead of the normal cannabis leaf structure.

So the plant must have become too stressed due to the acid soil and went back into veg. By this point, I was already almost 5 months into this plant and I made the decision to just chop it down and I will be started another GDP in a couple grows once I grow my autoflower seed collection. I did not want to give this plant another month or so to hopefully finish flowering.

So, while it does suck to cut down and throw away a plant that was so close, I am going to just chalk this up as a learning experience and move forward from here. I was talking to Hive account@jonyoudyer about how often he is feeding his plants and he told me that he just does it once a week. I was going off of the label for the nutrients and it suggested that I feed them the nutrients with every other watering, and this plant was thirsty and I would have to water it daily, so I figured it was fine. That would explain why I have had issues like this with some plants before, but those would finish their flowering cycle in about 4 weeks, so they did not have as much time to get so acidic.

I also want to use at least a 10 gallon pot for my next photoperiod because the seven gallon pot filled up with roots. Having at least a 10 gallon pot would give the plant some more room to stretch out and have a more healthy root structure.

One good thing that came out of this is that I was able to give my large tent a much needed scrub down. Having the scrog netting in there made it impossible to clean the tent properly. Another good thing is that I was able to move the Green Crack in there and now it has three lights on it, so it should finish its flower cycle quite nicely. I have the three lights in the tent at 80% power right now to not shock the plant too much.

I have just a couple weeks left before this one is complete and the GDP should have been finished by now if things had gone correctly, but I am really looking forward to seeing how this GC does. I have already changed my feeding schedule to ensure I am giving this plant the proper amount and I don't end up ruining it like the GDP.

One cool thing about growing is that I am constantly learning and adapting how I care for my plants. I have learned so much throughout this whole process, so I do not consider the GDP a complete failure, because it will just help to make my next grows so much better.

I ordered some new soil and I will be germinating some new autoflowers tomorrow. I am going to start some Purple Punch, Purple Lemonade and another Bubblegum. Bubblegum is probably my top strain I have grown and it is a favorite of everyone that has tried it.

I am looking forward to seeing how the green crack does for the rest of its time flowering and I can't wait to try it out. I have been wanting to find a nice sativa, and I have heard this is an amazing strain. I just hope that I don't screw this one up like the GDP. So far everything is green with this and is looking good. These next few weeks are going to be exciting.