Orange Cookies x Nicole / Wedding Cake - Nebula Manifold

Hello, brand new to the site looking to post my current op. To start off I am growing in a 4x4 closet I converted to a grow space. I am running two "supposed" 1000W LED lights, I say "supposed" because these LEDs are more often than not advertised wrong. Either way they suit my needs well. I use peat pellets to germinate, transplanted into clay pebbles, grown through DWC. I use regular old General Hydroponics Flora Series nutrients using distilled water as my medium. For those interested my inline fan is a 6 inch AC Infinity. I use a combination of techniques during my grow and will talk about them as I go along with each update.

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Genetics grown were received in freebie packs during the Black Friday sale on Seedsman. The Orange Cookies is definitely a unique strain I haven't seen before so here is the info on its genes:

Orange Cookies from Franchise Genetics (Sonic's Orange x Cookies & Cream [Starfighter x Girl Scout Cookies]).
Nicole Kush from the Marimberos Collective teamed with DNA Genetics ([MK Ultra x Blue Satellite] x [Shishkaberry x Blueberry]).

Indica-dominant
Height: Short - Medium
Yield: Medium - High, 400 - 500 gr/m2 indoors.
Flowering: 8 - 9 weeks
THC: Very high - 20%+
Taste: Complex, citrus, creamy, earthy.
Effect: Potent, relaxing, long-lasting.
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Here are the girls weeks one and two from seed.

Weeks three and four. The veg time of this journal will be a little longer than necessary due to me accidentally having my light cycle set to sixteen hours on eight hours off up until the last two weeks before the flip lol. On the bright side my root system got real big for flowering. This is around the time for the first round of topping to form the Nebula Manifold. In this grow the first topping happened at the start of week four. Had my lights been right from the start it may have happened a week earlier.

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Here's some photos on their progress.

Weeks five and six. This is where the LST portion of the training comes in play. Doing so should help my manifold to create a relatively even canopy. On day 40 to further form the manifold an additional topping was made. Topped at the third node on each side, and the second node was cleared. This forms a total of eight colas, four on each side. The ratio of nutrients I use per gallon of water during my veg cycle is as follows: CaliMag 5 mL, Floragro 2.5 mL, Florabloom 2.5 mL, Floramicro 2.5 mL. This ratio flips at the start of flowering to the inverse of what's listed here.

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As you can see early training is needed for a decent manifold result.

Weeks seven and eight. During these weeks not much happens other than letting the ladies bush up. However, I did have to move my setup over to my Dad's tent due to attempting to sell my property. I will be growing indefinitely near my Father's tent until I get a dedicated space at a new piece of land. Nutrients are still the same. Light cycle has been fixed by now.

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Update photos.

Last week of veg, week nine. Lots happened this week. Heavy defoliation/pruning, nutrient change, light flip, new grow space, and an experiment with Kyle Kushman's chiropractic technique. The training techs used should hopefully increase the quality of my final product. I cleared out all the underbrush sucking up nutrients not receiving light to divert energy upward. You can see how big they were before the defoliation and how much is now receiving light afterwards. Things are looking good and now we are getting to the real exciting parts.

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Here they are again.

First week of flower, week 10! My nutrients per gallon are now as follows: CaliMag 2.5 mL, Floragro 5 mL, Florabloom 5 mL, Floramicro 5 mL. The lights are at their maximum height and due to them being LEDs the chance of burning my flower is high. I am tying down branches as I go to keep the tops as low and even as I can get them. I unintentionally supercropped a branch in the process, but that's alright, she healed back up pretty quickly. If you look at the photos below you'll find one showing the mark left behind from the Kyle Kushman Chiropractic technique. It left a knot of sorts, hopefully that will streamline nutrient delivery as advertised. All in all a good week, defoliation is coming soon most likely the start of week twelve.

If you would like more information about my conditions or techniques, feel free to visit my journal on Grow Diaries. I update there nearly daily where I list temps, humidity, nutrients, harvest weight, etc. Here is a link to this journal on Grow Diaries:


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Progress photos.

Week 11 now, 2.5 weeks into flower. Should I go ahead and defoliate? These are both 9 week flowering plants. I don't want to chop anything too late so I want an opinion or two on what to do to get these tops flowering. A lot of these fan leaves are larger than my hand, and I feel they may be taking away from producing buds.

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Here's what we are dealing with. Mega bushy.