Auto Night Queen & Blue Dream Auto

[Man'O'Green]

Here we grow again:

3 Dutch Passion's Auto Night Queen & 3 Humboldt Seed Organization's Blue Dream Auto with House & Garden nutrients in a GroDan rockwool Hugo block grow with precision drip irrigation. I have 14 DIY Citizen 1212 3500K 90 cri cobs and two Roleadro LED fixtures for a total of ~ 930 watts in a 4' x 6' x 8' space. I use an Arduino Uno to control the lights, exhaust fan and CO2 controller.

 

[Man'O'Green]

Based on what I think I learned in my last grow which was a Photoperiod grow, I have developed a feeding schedule for this Autos grow. The amounts in light grey are from H&Gs charts in ml/gallon. The dark numbers are 80% of H&Gs chart and the amounts I will be adding to 6.1 gallons. I am doing drain to waste. The amount of runoff per day is less than a quart. When I get to the point where I will be watering every day I will add nutrients to the reservoir every third day. This has the effect of starting at about 1200 PPMs in the reservoir, day 2 is ~ 900 PPMs and day 3 is ~ 700 PPMs because of the makeup water automatically added to the res via a float valve as it waters. Since the plants use more water out of the blocks than nutrients this has a tendency to raise the PPMs in the blocks. Only adding nutrients after every third day the reservoir nutrients in the blocks remain in the target range of about 950 PPMs. I use Mammoth P throughout the grow it just got cropped from the veg picture.

Veg.:

Flower:

 

[Man'O'Green]

I dropped the beans on the 4th, I added a Barney's Farm Blue Mammoth Auto just in case:

 

[Man'O'Green]

Well 5 of the girls are waving at you this morning; two of the Night Queen and all three Blue Dreams.

 

[bigbudzzz420]

I'll sub up for this grow!

 

[Tony Urban]

Yeah I am up for this too

 

[Mmminny]

Would love to keep up with this. Thanks!

 

[Man'O'Green]

Yeah I am up for this too

Would love to keep up with this. Thanks!

I'll sub up for this grow!

Welcome to my new grow journal! I hope we can all learn something good here.

Right off the bat two of the seeds failed to reach for the sky. I will give them one more day and then I will drop a Zambeza Blueberry Auto to join in. She is one of the faster seeds I have. The last one was a little squatty but I can work around that.

 

[Man'O'Green]

Just dropped the Zambeza Blueberry Auto; I don't think the DP Auto Night Queen or the Barney's Blue Mammoth are going to germinate.

 

[Man'O'Green]

The girls are 3 days old in this picture from yesterday. They are all tucked into their Hugos. The Zambesa Blueberry joined the party today.

 

[Man'O'Green]

Day 8:

Not too much to see yet. The hugos have reached ~ 40% water content so I am preparing the Week 3 nutrients in the reservoir. I want to go another day or two before the first drip irrigation day. If you read the beginning of The Incredible Bulk grow journal it explains the precision watering of the Hugos. The Blueberry is 4 or 5 days behind the others so I will just set the drip cap to the side while I water the others. It is important not to water too soon so the roots are encouraged to grow throughout the block when first starting a plant.

Group photo:

Blue Dream:

Blueberry:

Night Queen:

 

[Man'O'Green]

I practice what I preach. I am using the entire House & Garden Hydro nutrient program. The only additional amendment is Mammoth P.

In my last grow "INB" I added the Algen Extract to my reservoir. Even though it is a very "Refined" product being a vegetative fibrous product it mucked up the tank. I do use the H&G Drip Clean product (Remember I use the entire House & Garden nutrient line for hydro) I was concerned it could clog the drip emitters, it didn't, but i worried about it. It did make a clogged mess of the filter on the pump that stirs the reservoir. As you know I have a lot of experience growing vegetables/flowers organically in my outdoor living soil. Kelp has been an amendment to my living soils for 40+ years. It's use just makes sense on so many levels. I have a hard time growing anything without it. I believe - without scientific proof - that it adds characteristics to the flavors of the product that are missing in many hydro grows. So I am going to deviate from the original "Precise drip irrigation method" used in the last grow - Just a little. Once a week I will pull 21 ounces/621 ml of PHed nutrient mix from the reservoir add .5 ml of Algen Extract to it and feed 3.5 oz. gently to the top of each hugo. This is the same volume as a single water on cycle during the day and it bypasses the drip emitters. I have in fact already done this on last Tuesday. Last Tuesday was the first irrigation day since transplant. It is my understanding that those first 9-10 days without fertigating the Hugos that started out saturated at transplant and dry down to about 30% water content before the first watering encourages the young plant to establish a good working root system. The tops of the plants seem to be slowed a little by this method in the first two weeks. The payoff is obvious by the end of the third week when the plants really gain momentum. Sundays will be my regular weekly update day. Look for pictures then.

 

[Man'O'Green]

Time for the weekly update Day 15 for everyone except the Blueberry on Day 10.

The girls have all been getting fertigated for the second time last night and watering will commence daily starting tomorrow. The schedule is 8 - 5 minute sessions (about 3.5 ounces per cube per water on) starting 2 hours after lights on until 2 hours before lights out; that works out to every 2 hours since I am running 20/4 with 15 minutes of far red at lights out. Nutrients are on schedule week 3 ~ 750 PPMs (see the first page for the chart). The Blueberry will get its first watering in tomorrow. The plants are picking up steam now and will be more fun to watch. The back left Night Queen appears to be a different pheno than the left front. It looks more sativa and is a lighter green. I turned off most of the lights to help the camera get better pictures it is just too bright with all of them on. I am running CO2 now since it has cooled off enough here that I can deal with the temperature in the space. CO2 runs 1400 PPM 40 minutes on 20 minutes off to vent the heat one hour after lights on to one hour before lights out. Temperature in the space is 88°F - 90°F daytime and 78°F nighttime. Humidity is ~65% a little low VPD but the humidifier runs out of water in less than 24 hours if I turn it up. It is already hard to remember to add water on a regular schedule. I would really F!@# up if the times were all over the place.

Group Picture Night Queen (left front & rear) Blue Dream (center front & rear & right rear) Blueberry (left front):

Night Queen:

Blue Dream:

Blueberry: (the wight is just to keep the cover in place.)

 

[Man'O'Green]

Day 22 and 17: Time for the weekly update.

The girls are progressing nicely. Tonight I will up the nutrients to week 4 levels on the chart. The fertigation is running daily now. and all plants are on the same schedule. CO2 is running, daytime temps 91°F humidity 65%, nighttime 78°F / 48%. I put the SCROG screen in and started the LST.

Group Photo front left to right BDA, ANQ, Blueberry, rear left to right ANQ, BDA,BDA:

 

[pino0911]

Sorry m lil late!! Looking great and very dialed in!! M subbed up for another fun ride!!

 

[Man'O'Green]

Sorry m lil late!! Looking great and very dialed in!! M subbed up for another fun ride!!

Welcome Pino, thanks.

 

[Man'O'Green]

Day 29 and 24: Time for the weekly update.

Well I really screwed up yesterday when I changed the reservoir to week 1 Flower, I left the watering pump on all day. We had company so I did not check on the garden until I was on my way to bed. I knew something was wrong when I noticed that the top off tank was empty. Then I looked in the garden and the reservoir was empty and the circulating pump and watering pumps were whirring away! The plants looked the best they have in days. They really seemed to like the extended fertigation then flush. 6 gallons of fresh mixed nutrients and about 10 gallons of water went through the Hugos and out to drain. My indoor garden drains to my outdoor flower and peach tree garden. The nutrients were not wasted but kind of expensive for where they went. I had to refill both the top off and reservoir, PH and mix the nutrients before I could go to bed.

The girls all look well today. The branches and stems on the ANQ are the strongest of any cannabis plant I have ever grown. I am certain they could hold up one pound colas with no problem. Of course that would not work without supporting the Hugos, they simply do not weigh enough. The Blueberry is catching up to the others and the preflowers are looking good.

I am on Flower Week 1 Of the nutrient chart.

Group Photo:

BD front, ANQ rear:

ANQ front, BD rear:

Blueberry front, BD rear:

View of the ANQ Stems:

 

[pino0911]

Damn them girls look strong!! Ur right looks like they ready to hlod some phat colas!! Great work. Every grow you do really makes me want to bust out my ebb n flow table!! Cant wait to see the plants on the next update? Why do you think the stems are so string on this grow? Genetics? Have a dank day!! Till next time keep em burnin!!

 

[Man'O'Green]

Damn them girls look strong!! Ur right looks like they ready to hlod some phat colas!! Great work. Every grow you do really makes me want to bust out my ebb n flow table!! Cant wait to see the plants on the next update? Why do you think the stems are so string on this grow? Genetics? Have a dank day!! Till next time keep em burnin!!

Yes sir, I believe it is the Dutch Passion genetics behind the strong stems. I simply provide the environment. Speaking of environment, I turned off the CO2 so I can bring the temperature down now to simulate "Falls" arriving. We should be about 5 weeks based on the breeders day count from harvest but looking at the girls I think we are ahead of that. I used the 730 nm leds to manipulate the phytochrome function. I believe this has me about 7 - 10 days ahead. we will see!

 

[LifeHacker589]

very cool set up. I should invest in a drip system like that. It's a budget issue for me at the moment but maybe in the future. sorry I'm late,
Looking forward to watching the rest of this grow.