Sugar Black Rose

Day 22 First day of the 4th week of veg and time to start training. Today I lightly defoliated the girls for the first time. I simply removed the first node from each plant and the second node on the left plant. I watered the plants with 2 liters of water (pH 6.4) right after pruning to minimize any shock. I'll give them a couple of days and then I'll top the right girl for sure but I'll see about the left one considering how much smaller she is. Last night I spotted one single fungus gnat in the tent. The first one I've seen so maybe the tomatoes did bring in something after all. I inspected the girls for any other infestation but I couldn't spot anything. I put up a couple of small sticky traps to check if the gnats are there and if they are, then out with the nematodes. I've had great success with nemos in the past so they are my go-to when it comes to fungus gnats. Day 23 So... I fucked up yesterday. I moved around some of the power plugs and forgot to start the extractor fan again after I was done. DOH! I noticed my mistake as soon as opened the tent today and was hit by a wall of heat and humidity. It felt like stepping into a jungle, hot and wet. I guess I need to regularly check the App which monitors my temps and RH. Gotten a bit lazy about it so yeah, that's when fuckups happen. After all, what is the point of having a remote monitoring system if you don't monitor it? As for the plants they are doing their thing. Not much to report. I found one gnat stuck to the left sticky trap. Hardly a huge problem at the moment but need to stay on top of it. I am hoping that the weather improves soon so I can move out the tomatoes and then hit the plants with nematodes. Day 24 Today was a busy day in the tent. I started with cutting back the cover crops as they were getting a bit unruly. I then topped and did some low-stress training to the right girl but am holding off a few days for the left one as she is a bit smaller. My girlfriend suggested that I'd save the top and try to turn it into a clone. I never considered it as I don't have any space really for a third plant but hey, since it was her idea I'll give it a go. This is the first time I ever try to clone so I'm kinda clueless and am just winging it as I go along. I'm not too worried though as this is more an experiment in seeing if I can turn the top into a clone with the means I have at hand. I cut some aloe vera and put the top directly into it. I then blended the aloe with some water in my mixer and now the top is sitting in that aloe tea. I have no idea what to plant the top in next. Maybe some peat moss (as I have some) and continue feeding it aloe tea until root appears...?  It's all an experiment. lol For the low-stress training, I used some wire that I gently put around each branch and then attached the wire to a binder clip that is clipped onto the edge of the fabric pots. I also moved out some tomatoes out of the tent but swapped in some Bishop's Crown and Saltillo hot peppers instead. Finally, I watered everything with nematodes as I today found another four gnats stuck to the right sticky trap. Still, not a huge problem, and I was planning on waiting until the tomatoes and peppers are out of the tent but better to be proactive and nip the problem in the bud than letting it fester. I used 10 million Steinernema feltiae nematodes and I know that 10 million is maybe overkilling it but hey, as they said in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Anything worth doing, is worth overdoing. Besides, I already had those nemos at hand. I gave each girl around 2.5 liters of water (ph 6.7). Day 25 Alright, so I almost died in a heart attack today as I opened my tent and saw several spots of white residue on the leaves - "Fuuuuuuuuu... Did I get Powdery Mildew now after that one day of high humidity?!" After checking more thoroughly it certainly didn't look like PM and then it finally dawned on me. It was simply dried nematodes as I yesterday had spilled a bit of water on a few leaves. Phew! Other than that, not much to report. The right plant looks strong after topping and I re-tightened a couple of the LST wires. The left plant is coming along nicely so I will top her in a couple of days I think. The top is chilling in a glass of aloe vera tea and later today I will put it in a peat tab which will go under a humidity dome. Day 26 Pretty uneventful as all I really did was to water the girls, each got about 2 liters of ph 6.5 water. The right girl is bouncing back strong after topping and the top itself is doing pretty ok, nestled between the girls, in a propagation tray at the back of the tent. It's quite cramped in my small tray but hey, that's all I can fit so let's see if it works out anyway. I also prepared some fresh aloe vera tea by blending an aloe very filet with a bit of water and then fed the tea to the top. I haven’t seen any more gnats, not flying around nor in the sticky traps so let’s hope that they are gone. Day 27 Nothing too exciting today. I gave the top a little more aloe tea, cut back the cover crop a bit to increase air circulation around the plants, and tweaked the LST wires a bit. That's it. Day 28 Today it was time to top and train the left girl. I also put this top in aloe tea together with the other top in the propagation tray. I figured that I might as well try to clone this one as well even though I have NO clue what to do with them in case cloning is successful. lol. I also started brewing some compost tea using the same ingredients as last time (worm castings, rock dust, biochar, lime, bentonite, neem meal, kelp meal) but as I'm planning to foliar feed this round I put all the ingredients in a large teabag. Helps to avoid clogging up the spray nozzle. I was hoping to put off watering until tomorrow as they are getting tea then but the girls were really thirsty so I gave each around 2 liters of ph 6.2 water. Oh, I saw another 3 gnats stuck to the right sticky trap so obviously, there are some still around but that isn't unexpected as the nematodes don't help against already adult gnats. In any case, the population seems small considering how few have been stuck to the traps and I haven't seen any flying around.