Dkparker Outdoor Soil: Dwarf Low Flyer 2020

[dkparker]

Strain: I am growing one Indica Dwarf Low Flyer Auto plant (70 Indica, 20 Sativa, 10 Ruderalis)
Stage: As of journal creation it is at the veg stage. After germination I planted the seedling on 4/18/20.
Type of Grow: This is an outdoor soil grow
Type of soil: I transplanted the seed into a 4" pot of Miracle Grow Vegetable Blend soil. When I sized up I went to a 2.5 gallon pot with Coco Loco
Light used: After germination I kept the seedling under a 3 head 150 watt LED (40 watts consumed) 18/6

Prior to moving outdoors:
PPM - n/a
PH - 6.2
RH - 46% to 50%
Room Temperature - 69 to 73
Solution Temperature - ~70
Room Square Footage - 20' x 20'
Pests - None Known
Watering Schedule: Currently I am watering every 3-4 days, as needed and feeding each watering. I was playing it by ear to see how the plant would react and this schedule seems to be working. Each watering is approximately a liter at 6.2 ph.
Nutes: I am using General Hydroponics Flora Series at 1/2 strength of recommended mix.

When I started the seed:

• 4/15/20 - Started a seed using the paper towel method
• 4/18/20 - Upon germination and the tap root growing to a little over 1/2" I transplanted to the small 4" pot with soil, the soil being slightly moist upon transplanting.
• I waited until the first set of lobed leaves appeared after the sucker leaves, at which point the soil was pretty dry, and watered 1/2 a cup of the mixed water/fish emulsion solution (1tsp per 1 gallon).
• The light I am used (pictured below) has three heads, and for the first week I kept the three spread out about 3 inches above the sprout hoping to prevent stretching.
• 4/25 I move the light up a few inches so that they are positioned about 6" above the plant.

The light, not the best I know but it worked I suppose:

4/27/20

4/29/20

5/2/20
After transitioning outdoors a few hours each day, I resized to a 2.5 gallon pot and used Coco Loco for medium. When I took it out of the pot it wasn't root bound, but they were beginning to curl around the outside of the pot. I lightly dusted around the root ball with Great White, filled the rest with the soil and then lightly watered around the edges, with the water being at 6.2 ph.

5/4/20

 

[dkparker]

5/5/20

It is storming at my location today and the next several night the lows will be dropping down into the 30's and low 40's, so I made the decision this afternoon to go ahead and move the plant indoors until the weather warms up, which should be Monday 5/11/20.

My setup probably isn't the greatest, but hopefully it will work. I do not have a tent at the moment, although I have an entry level package (shown below) and it is scheduled to deliver Thursday or Friday (5/7 or 5/8). I will keep things as pictured below until the tent arrives, and then will set it up and move the plant to the tent.

I plan to run the lights 18/6 while indoors, and once the weather warms transition this back to an outdoor grow. I think...since I've got the tent I'm wondering if it would be better to leave things indoors in case it causes the plant to slow to adjust to any changes.

Here's what I've got now:

The 3 head light is the 150 watt (40 consumed) light mentioned in the original post. Then I have an additional two 100 watt (20 consumed) bulbs for added light, which are also pictured below.

Bulbs:


And this is the tent package I have coming later this week:

TopoLite Grow Tent Room Complete Kit Hydroponic Growing System LED 300W Grow Light, 4" Carbon Filter Combo 32"X32"X63"

 

[dkparker]

5/6/20

Today was sunny, and I decided to go against my decision to leave my plant inside and let it get some sun. It was pretty windy, and when I went out to bring it in after a few hours of full sun I discovered the wind had blown the plant over in the pot! Not the pot itself, just the plant was laying sideways. The stem wasn't broken though, so I build up some dirt around it and got some bamboo and attempted to stake it to give additional support. It seems to be no worse for the wear, hopefully this won't be a setback. My tent will be arriving tomorrow so I'm looking forward to getting that set up and moving the plant to the tent setup, at least for the next 4 or 5 days.

 

[dkparker]

5/10/20

I received my tent on Friday evening (5/8/20), and I set it up and my plant has been inside since then. I was a little surprised to find that, after running the fans and having the lights set up for a full day, the RH inside the tent seems really low at around 35%. The temp so far has ranged between 77-79F. I don't have a humidifier, so I put a container of water inside the tent hoping that will raise it at least into the mid 40's. I guess we'll see, but if anyone has any other ideas about how to raise RH inside the tent without some sort of appliance I'm all ears.

 

[dkparker]

5/12/20

It seems like she's starting to take off a little. I still feel like she's a little behind where she should be as I compare her to other pics of autos at around the same stage, but to my untrained eye she seems healthy.

 

[Pennywise]

She looks healthy to me, I’d love to see her in normal light.

 

[dkparker]

She looks healthy to me, I’d love to see her in normal light.

Thanks, she was almost dry enough to water today but I decided to give it one more day. Tomorrow when I water/feed I'll take it out of the tent and snap a pic under regular light.

 

[Pennywise]

I’ll be around

 

[013]

What up DK?

Setup looks good, plant is coming along nicely. Stick with Pennywise and you will be golden, great grower - very knowledgeable!

 

[dkparker]

What up DK?

Setup looks good, plant is coming along nicely. Stick with Pennywise and you will be golden, great grower - very knowledgeable!

Thank you, I certainly will! The users here have been very helpful to for this beginner, I'm very glad I found this site.

So I went ahead and pulled her out and snapped a few pics under normal light. They're still not great pics but hopefully you can make out more under white light. After I took her out it does look like the center is veg growth, so hopefully I can get another week or so of good growth before she starts to flower. She looked like she was just beginning to droop and the pot was very light so I went ahead and watered and fed her.

 

[dkparker]

5/16/20

I think she's coming along nicely, at least she still seems healthy and is growing a little bit. I fed and watered her this morning and took the opportunity to try my hand at a little lst (first attempt). Hopefully what I did will work and it's not too late to do it. For the last few days she's been growing white hairs all over, so I'm guessing she'll be beginning to flower in another week (or two?).

 

[dkparker]

5/18/2020

Took her out from the lights for some pics. I've raised the 300 watt LED up a few inches, now it's at about 18 inches from top of plant but I've angled two of the 100 watt LED bulbs (referenced above) on the sides to try to get some more light into the middle of the plant to some of the bud sites.

 

[dkparker]

5/30/20

Took her out of the tent today for some glamour shots.

 

[013]

Nice, she’s a attractive gal for sure and she’s packing on the fuzz. Keep doing what you are doing!

 

[dkparker]

6/27
Well I've been in and out of town a bit over the last few weeks and been meaning to update with my final info but am just now getting around to it.

I got back in town from my first trip on 6/11. Knowing I was going to be in and out of town over the next few weeks, and seeing that her trichomes were all milky I figured even if not ideal it might be good to go ahead and cut her for drying. So I cut her to dry, took the light out of my tent and set her up on a suspended oven rack with my fan running. I was able to get back to check every few days, and my buds ended up needing to dry a little over a week before the small stems would snap. Then I jarred it up on 6/22. I've been opening the jars twice a day to let it breath and gently shake the buds around. I'm going to be out of town a few days next week, so today I'm putting a Boveda 62% pack in each jar as I may only be able to open the jars every other day this next week.

6/11 - cut and began dry
6/22 - put in jars for cure
6/27 - added Boveda 62% packs

I snuck a little out a few days ago and vaped it in my dry herb pen, it delivered a nice energetic high and was a pretty smooth smoke considering it had only been curing a few days at the time. I'm very happy with it.

I'm not sure about total weight, I need to get a scale so I can weigh my yield but below are some pics, one with two AA batteries to give an idea of the size of the buds. All in all I'm very pleased with this grow. I've learned a lot for sure, and this site has been invaluable throughout the process. Thanks to everyone who's offered advice and help!