I figured I'd start a new grow journal that's less specific than my last one (blue dream) and just a log more or less of my adventures. Started the tent back up about a week ago, and also started my first foray into autos! Definitely excited about this as I have seen what autos can do if done right. Just hoping I'm doing it right! I made up a batch of my own compost last year and wanted to use this instead of the muni compost around here (poor luck with that) or spend the $ and ship in compost (despite Bu's blend or Coast of Maine both being amazing, I want to see what I can do with my own). I'm really trying to do this by the book, and used Organic Sinse's Autos thread as my textbook. I'm too lazy/stoned to get my notes on my mix, so I'll add that at a later date. Basically it was Organic Sinse's mix, more or less, and I let it sit 2-3 months after I mixed it up. I had tons of worms in the mix. I then put a 1/2 pint plug of LightWarrior seed starting mix in the middle of each pot for the seedlings. I then put this into 4 7gallon cloth pots and saturated the hell out of the mix. I didn't plant seedlings for 2-3 days after that, so figured they'd have time to air out a little. Made sure I had heating mats, a heater, and a humidifier. I dropped the $ to get an inkbird controller for the humdifier, and a temp and humidity controller for my AC Infinity fan (if you have the option to do this, I highly recommend it - it has stabilized the humidity and temps like I never dreamed). I have typically run my tents cool (75 F or lower) but I'm vying for around 77-80F with 71% RH for seedlings, then lower RH based on VPD charts once I move to veg and flower. Seeds were started per MG's recommendations: seed in a wet piece of toilet paper inside a DVD case, then put that on top of my computer. 24 hours later, all 4 seeds had germinated. I put them all 1-1.5" into the Lightwarrior mix, though I was rather haphazard about the orientation of the seedlings tails. 24-36 hours later, both the Double Grape and the Tangiematic had sprouted. Another 12-24 hours after that the 3BOGxDG and the Green Crack had sprouted, though the Green Crack was the slowest of the bunch and seems a little off (twisted leaves, see pics below). Top left: Double Grape (DG), Top right: Tangiematic (TM), Bottom left: 3 Bears OG x Double Grape (3BOGxDG), and Bottom right: Green Crack. I'm not so great at writing things down when I should, so it was 2-3 days after sprouting that I put dates on the labels on each pot. So I may be 1 day off because of my lackadaisical attitude. In any case, I have been diligently misting/spraying several times a day with RO water, and recently added aloe to the mist/spray. Lights are on 24/7. The pics below are either day 5 or day 6 for the DG and TM, and day 4-5 for the 3BOGxDG and GC DG TM 3BOGxDG GC I'll plan on updating this journal weekly with my progress.
Here's the soil mix I made up for this batch. I made a total of 28 gallons which amounts to around 3.7 cubic feet. 5.5 gallons each: CSPM Home-made compost & EWC (~2.5 gallons each, a little less of the EWC) Aeration (mix of bio char, rice hulls, and perlite) Used soil from my last grow 4 cups basalt rock dust 1.75 cups crabshell, kelp, neem meal 1 cup lime and alfalfa meal 6tbsp gypsum, fish meal, and langbenite I watered the mix down with aloe water and 1/2 tsp TM7 in 2 gallons of water. This wasn't quite enough to fully saturate the mix, so I added another gallon or two of water. This sat and did its thing for 2-3 months. The EWC I added wasn't screened, so contained a ton of worms which I found while I was filling pots.
15 days in and things are moving along! This is my first experience with autos and it seems like once they start going, they really get going. Watered for the first time at day 14, about 2 gallons total, of aloe water. Top View This is, I think, the DG And this is the 3BOGxDG You'll notice the LST going on, I'm copying Organic Sinse's method.
Day 18 - just had to take a few pics. Very impressed with how fast these are growing - I keep lowering my lights because I feel like they're stretching just a bit too much! Surprisingly they all needed to be watered again at day 17, which means I probably under-watered last time. I watered with diluted alfalfa and kelp tea, with aloe, about 3 gallons split between all 4. Then I topped them all off with some rice hulls as I was worried things were drying out on top too quickly. I've been continuing to do some LST with the wire. I'm noticing that if I get the leaves staked down too hard, the plant grows into the stakes and starts to bend over! So I've had to adjust them several times, straighten them out, and leave them alone. This being my first run with autos and this form of LST I figured I'd have some learning curves. So I'm not staking the leaves down as hard at this point. 3BOGxDG, this was just a freebie and I was rather "meh" about it at first, but the way its growing is really fun to watch. Going to do some pony tail training in the next few days as these get bigger and need more hands-on work.
Day 21 pics! Girls continue to grow! I've noticed a few things while doing this new (to me) LST: if the stakes are pushed too hard into the soil - which I have to do sometimes to keep the branches/leaves tied down - the plant will grow into the stakes. Instead of the stakes getting pushed out of the soil, the plant develops a slight bend in the stem, so I have 3 plants that are now slightly curvy in their stems and because of this seem more squat than I expected. I'm not seeing any nutrient deficiencies, pests, or other problems. I haven't started IPM yet - gotta get on that and mix up some neem oil in a sprayer. Starting at 12:00 and moving clockwise: Tangiematic, sour crack, 3 Bears OG x Double Grape, and Double Grape. An oblique view to give a sense of how tall they all are together Sour crack Double Grape Tangiematic 3BOGxDG Of all of these, the 3BOGxDG is looking the best IMO. Lots of good node spacing, keeps growing, is responding well to the training. The sour crack is also responding well to training - the DG and Tangiematic are not as responsive - I feel like they're still squat and not seeing as much upward growth as on the others. I've also been pony-tail training 2-3 times per day, for around 2 hours per day, in order to get more light to the nodes under the top. I'm continuing to LST using high gauge wire to stake down leaves and branches, and am "clocking" leaves at the 3rd node and up.
Day 28 in the tent! Pics taken during the middle of a pony-tail session. I'm doing these for 2-3 hours, 2-3x a day as I can. Sometimes it's just 1 time a day when I'm not working from home. I rejiggered my lights to be independent, rather than on the frame like they were before. And, I put in tomato cages, as I wasn't 100% sure when they'd get too big for me to do so (better sooner than later, I figured). Everything is growing well. Watered around 2 gallons total yesterday with a tea of kelp meal and alfalfa, and aloe. Based on feedback from the autos thread I'm going to up my watering to probably every day. I am slightly worried I have missed out on some growth since I have been watering very judiciously and most successful auto growers seem to keep their medium evenly moistened. Even after yesterday's watering my medium is already dry on top to 2-3" which tells me they need it more regularly. Temps are 78-80F, humidity I have been waffling between 55-60 depending on the day and if I feel like the plants need more/less humidity. 3BOGxDG continues to really lead the pack as far as growth. The structure of this plant is really easy to work with for LST. She seems to be the most aggressive as far as preflowering/flowering goes, too. Sour Crack is a close 2nd as far as leading the pack. Since it's more indica I'm pleasantly surprised with the structure and internode length - she's easy to train. Bottom branches are nearly to the sides of the pot!!! Double Grape is...weird. Squat, fluffy/floppy, short internode lengths. She's the shortest in the bunch and the leaves are more indica-like than any of the others. She's also the last to show preflowers, though I've noticed some stretch the past few days. Not sure if this is just phenotypic variation since she's an F1, or if this is just my poor growing technique. Depending on how she turns out, I will likely try again my next grow because I see a lot of good commentary about this strain!!! The Tangiematic is also not what I expected from a sativa-dominant strain. I had expected her to look more like the 3BOGxDG as far as structure goes. But she is also lagging the pack as far as flowering goes, and her structure is improving day-by-day, so I will just keep the faith!
I'm a week behind updating the journal, so the pics I'm posting are from day 35 which was last week. More pics of day 42 (today) to be added later. So, day 35. Things continue to progress, and the plants have really taken off. I started topdressing the 3BOGxDG and the Sour Crack with VMC weekly, with an initial topdress of 1tbsp bat guano for added P, as they are fully into flower. Here's the 3BOGxDG Sour Crack Tangiematic And the Double Grape Since I'm into flower with most of these, I have not done any spraying with neem. I was waiting to get some Agsil to use as a source of Si and act as an emulsifier, but it came really late so I have just opted to not spray with neem this go-round. I know, living dangerously...I have, however, been much better about changing my clothes if I have done any work outside in the garden before I do any inside gardening work, so as to keep any unwanted pests from hitching a ride. My plants all look crazy healthy, and I am hopeful that with the predator mites I have in my VMC, that no pests are even interested in my plants. Here's to hoping!!!
Day 42 updates I put in a basic SIP system to try to keep my soil more evenly hydrated since I was struggling with getting them watered frequently enough. I now see why people enjoys these and other automation systems - it's just so much easier to keep the soil moist and gauge when they need water (if the drip tray is low/dry, they need water!). They've really taken off since I did this. I've topdressed all 4 plants at this point, with the Double Grape being the furthest behind. The 3BOGxDG is furthest along and is really starting to beef up. Everything really stretched this last week, though the 3BOGxDG and the Sour Crack had already done this to some degree and didn't strech quite as much, though I'm seeing lateral growth catch up. I'm also struggling with a few things: space (moving plants around to get to the back ones has resulted in me breaking a few small branches off) coupled with the SIP system I have setup. I have to rotate the entire plant + pot + drip tray, rather than just the plant/pot - the lava rock doesn't work too well when you rotate stuff on top of it. And unfortunately the drip trays stick to my heat mats, so it's something of a pain. The other issue I'm encountering is my cat (kitten? He's not quite 1) who has discovered he loves eating my plants. Not just a nibble here and there, but full-on salad bar. He also refuses to leave the tent, and tries to sneak back in when he's kicked out. In any case, my plants look healthy - no signs of deficiency and they're growing nicely. I'm not really seeing any issues with what I thought was N overload on the 3BOGxDG since she's gotten bigger. All is well! 3BOGxDG - this plant is already getting frosty AF especially notable on the large fan leaves. Normally I'd trim these off and compost them but I'm thinking they need to get a bubble-hash wash! Sour Crack - also starting to frost up! Tangiematic - she's stretched a ton and lateral growth is really exploding Double Grape - can anyone say long internode lengths? This is an F1, so phenotypic variation is expected...
Day 49 A few things have happened. First, the humidity here has gotten out of control so my humidity levels in my tent are ranging from 65-75%. Second, I have discovered a flaw in my setup. I had a heater in my tent to keep temps at/around 80F. I have my inline fan set to ramp up gradually once humidity is over 55-60%. These things combined to make a bad situation: the inline fan has run continuously because even though the air outside my tent is less humid, it's still at 60%+. All that fresh cool air resulted in my heater staying on. I ran downstairs one AM and found my tent at 91F, and one side of the Tangiematic all burnt to hell. So, heater is now outside the tent and I have a dehumidifier on the way. There's just no other way around this situation, unfortunately. Having said that, the plants are still doing pretty well. A teeny bit worse for wear. Several grew close enough to the lights that they got some leaf burns, but nothing awful. I also got a replacement carbon filter which is actually slimmer than the last one - bonus! Double Grape I've got some serious mycelium growth going on with my BMP+VMC topdresses and the serious heat/humidity Sour Crack Tangiematic 3BOGxDG - she's really pushing out the trichomes!!! Pistils have started turning so I did one last topdress of VMC+MBP and am going to just do water from here on out (With aloe, occasionally).
Day 56 updates Got the humidifier, and I'm really pleased I did so. I'm literally pulling gallons of water out of the air in my basement. Been watering with it, too, so as not to waste it! Got this brand based on Amazon reviews. Honestly I had no idea what to look for but wanted something energystar compliant and this was. It also had good reviews, so I figured I'd give it a shot. So far, so good! I've been running it for around 3 days so far, have had to empty it at least 2-3 times a day, and my humidity went from near 70% to close to 48% today. Man, autos grow so damn fast. Once the budsites are there and they've grown a bit, they fatten up super quick! I'm pretty pleased with how this is going for my first auto grow - I have seen some first time auto growers with really stunted plants (absolutely no offense to them - not saying I'm some great grower!) which I really wanted to avoid. These aren't the tentacle monsters I was hoping for, but I've learned a ton and figure my next grow will be even better with what I've learned (not to do) this time. Like making sure my lights are at the proper voltage, raising them higher when the plants grow too close, not using the heater inside the tent in the way I did, etc. Sour Crack - she's gotten some bleached areas from the lights being too close. Otherwise she's really chonking up. The buds look dense, tight, and smell fruity! 3BOGxDG - still the frostiest plant in the tent, she's filling out and fattening up. The buds are not as chunky as as the sour crack - longer, not fatter. It sill looks amazing though. The Tangiematic is another one that has had some upper canopy problems due to the heat stress and light intensity. Having said that, she is really starting to fill up bud spaces and I'm excited to see how much bigger she gets! She's supposed to go at 70 days - I'm betting she'll take longer than that, though - I'm betting 80-100. Finally, the Double Grape! This is the tallest of the bunch and finally starting to put on weight. I'm excited to try this strain out as everyone gives it rave reviews. All but the Tangiematic have had their last topdressing of VMC+MBP as they're showing more orange hairs. I used close to a full tote of VMC on these 4 plants - good to know for future runs that one tote will cover 4 plants. I need more totes! (I totes need more totes?)
Great job on your journal Cthulhu23. Your plants are looking nice and healthy. Looks like you'll end up with a great finish.
@TimJ thanks for dropping by - I appreciate the kind words! I'm using a lot of the knowledge you've provided to get me to where I'm at. Very happy with the results so far, just can't wait for the rapidly-approaching finish line!
Brief update for day 63 I'm not gonna post pics of each individual plant at this point as I feel like they're getting a bit redundant - I'll plan on posting just when things have really progressed. The 3BOGxDG and Sour Crack are both at that late flowering stage where they're putting on bulk but it's hard to tell from week to week. They're both still drinking water, and trichomes continue to remain milky/cloudy with very few if any amber and still some clear visible. The Tangiematic and Double Grape are filling out and stacking up - I'll probably take some pics this Friday of where they're at for comparison purposes. The dehumidifier I'm using is doing its job. I'm emptying it twice a day - that's about 2 full gallons a day - which I am then using to water the plants with! I feel like I've got my own little hydrologic cycle going on in my basement, lol. Still, it's better than dumping it down the drain and wasting it. Humidity is stuck around 60%, though, and I can tell that summer growing for me is going to be humid regardless. Winter is much drier than I thought. In other news, I spent the better part of an hour on Mephisto's website this morning trying to get some seeds. I had a full cart - 3 seeds each of Cosmic Queen, HubbaBubbaHaze, Samsquanch OG, Pink Panama, and Skywalker. Was able to actually get into the store 2-3 mins earlier than the posted opening time and was all set to check out when their site broke. Never came back up, so I wasn't able to score. This may have been OK, as I have PLENTY of seeds right now...more than I could reasonably grow in a full year. Still, I was pretty stoked to try these out. I SUPPOSE I could be bothered to buy them off a different distributor minus the freebies, lol. Been reading up on DLI and thinking that the lower PPFD I've got going (300-400) is not such a bad deal. 300 PPFD is still getting me to around 26 mols/m^2/day which ain't bad at all. So I will keep my lights running right at around ~50w each this grow, and maybe try to bump them up slowly over the veg cycle in my next grow to see if I can't eek out just a bit more DLI. I think these plants are too far along and they don't seem to really like it too much when I up the light intensity.
I'll be here whenever I remember and have a look at how your doing. I'm still learning from all the knowledgeable folks here myself. I learn something new or get a refresher every day. Organic sinse has taught me a lot about auto flowers, I am very humbled by his knowledge of them.
Day 70. I had wanted to take a pic on day 69 (nice) but figured I'd stick with the weekly updates. All four of the girls were not looking happy with my increasing the light, even to just 50w each and raised to the entire top of the tent. I'm learning more and more that autos are just not as photon-hungry as photoperiod plants. The DG and tangiematic both have serious clawing going on, some bleaching on the DG and the thangie has what looks like calcium issues but with the top growth. I'm just ignoring that - it's not a real deficiency but a response to the light being too intense - and have backed the light wattage back down to around 40w each. That may still be a little too much so I'll have to play with it. I've been thinking about how much more sensitive autos are to light than photoperiods, and can only surmise that it has something to do with the ruderalis genes. I haven't read the literature and probably should, but I'm guessing that since ruderalis evolved in northern latitudes with fewer sunny days, and therefore (as we all know) grows quick and flowers based on days rather than light levels, it also has some genetic predisposition to preferring lower light levels and doing as much as it can with those light levels. It makes me wonder if the DLI for ruderalis is significantly lower than for the non-rudies. It just seems that they grow just as chunky if not chunkier, than the photoperiods I have grown, but with much less light. Lower growth is much chunkier in these autos than in photos I have grown, and don't appear nearly as larfy. In the meantime, all four plants continue to swell and frost up even more. I'm fairly sure the sour crack is just about a week away from being done. She is not drinking nearly as much and has no new growth going on. I'll continue to scope trichomes, which today were looking 70% cloudy, 25% clear, and 5% amber. The 3BOGxDG is a beast. A swollen, squat, frost covered beast. She's putting out what I think is a short, 3rd round of pistils, and I'm hopeful she wraps this up and finishes as I'm impatient AF to try her out as well. She is still drinking as much as I give her daily, though, so I suspect she's still going to go strong for a bit. The tangie is beefing up something serious. I should get some close-up pics, as she seems to be prone to short foxtails, or clusters of calyx's, that stack on top of each other. I can't help but wonder if that's also not a reaction to the light intensity, as the 3BOGxDG seems to have a propensity for that, too. I'm still pulling about 2 gallons of water out of the air daily, and then watering my plants with that. About once a week I'll toss a few aloe leaves into the blender and add that to the water as well, but otherwise it's just pure H2O. Temps are steady in the mid-high 70's. Smell is barely noticeable until I open the tent, then I'm hit with a wave of fruity/stinky/cheesy smells. Some of the plants have some gas/diesel smell if I get up close (3BOGxDG, DG).
Very eager, yes! I'll take some close ups in the next day or two and show my plants off a little more - the 3BOGxDG and the Sour Crack are just amazing looking and frost covered. I'm definitely won over by autos!