LED MPII Cree, Soil, Autoflower, Ugwad's 3rd Organic Grow

[Ugwad]

I've graduated from my cute, but not optimal, stealth cabinet - see links below. The cabinet ran too hot and could not do my seeds justice.

This will be my 3rd journal attempt, but I've probably had 4 or 5 grows in my inadequate cabinet. The last grow, some years ago, I tried autoflowering feminized seeds (AF). Yields are low on these plants and all the more so in my hot cab. Though, what I did grow was the most amazing scented and potent plants. I'm excited about what I can produce my new and better setup.
This time!

Space: 4.5' x 8' x 8' (W x L x H)
Walls: White
Soil: Fox Farm's Ocean Forest + 10-15% perlite.
Pots: 5-gallon plastic. An inch or two of stones at the bottom for drainage. A layer of stones on top to hold moisture and keep soil in place.
Seeds: 4 Auto-Flowering Fem's (AF) (3) Fast Bud (1) Think Differently. I bought these few years ago and kept in the fridge. There were only 4 left.
Water: Currently Water from my icemaker. It's got an expensive filter;-) Will be switching to reverse osmosis and pH adjusted shortly. I have a new "bluelab ph pen." It was highly recommended and close to $100. I haven't tried it yet. My previous one was a nightmare and stressed me out.
Nutrients: I'm sticking with the seabird and bat guano that I've always used. My understanding is that with autoflowers, you don't want to push the nuts. Some don't use anything during veg or go light. I'll probably use a little blackstrap molasses. Then some guano during when flowering.
Lights: Mars Pro II LED Cree 256. These lights cover a 4'x4' space and I'm very optimistic about the results I'll get.
Ventilation: Hyperfan: 6 inch. I'm basically in a bedroom closet. The hyperfan is venting hot air into the adjacent laundry room. The laundry room, vents directly to the outside because gas service. Currently, the cool and fresh air entering is doing so semi-passively. That's because central air vent in the bedroom is blowing pretty hard and of course the fan is pulling hot/exhaust into the laundry room. That's more than passive.
What I don't have is a 2nd fan blowing cool air into the closet.

 

[Ugwad]

My grow officially began on 5-17. Today, I'm technically on day 10. Here's what's transpired thus far.

5/13 (Germination) Saturday night I placed my only 4 seeds between a moist paper towel. I put them on a small plate and placed it on top of my cable modem. I did not soak them first this time.

5/15 - Monday all 4 seeds have sprouted perfectly.

5/17 - Wednesday all 4 seeds have come up through the soil and have 4 perfect seedlings. I don't think soaking is needed for germination. I won't do that in the future.

5/18 (Thurs) — I guess things are moving fast, as I've concluded the seedlings are stretching. But with one day's growth is that possible? Nonetheless I've lowered the 125w CFL. It seems like I must be very impatient, as I'm ready to get rid of the CFL and use my powerful LED's. My thoughts currently are, allow the seedlings to grow for a little with the CFL and when a little stronger turn on the big lights. Also, that these AF plants have a shorter period and tend to be much smaller, so we want to turn on the big lights to maximize growth.

5/19 (Fri) — More impatience. I've already removed the 125w cfl and have the mega LED's going. I wanted to see what temps would be like. Not good. It's going into the 90's. Must get proper ventilation for a proper grow-room.
Currently my thought is to make a hole at the top of the wall into the laundry room. This would be the exhaust. I think this makes sense as this room vents directly outside. While not venting directly outside, it's close and a lot easier construction work. I believe I need a proper exhaust fan for this. But I'm just learning positive and negative pressures and wondering if it could be passive? I'm thinking the air intake should be at the bottom of the door to the closet/grow. I like the idea of having clean and cool indoor air for the intake. I could just start with a semi passive intake and if too hot, add an intake fan. I'm just leaning how to calculate the strength of the fans I need.
L x W x H = cubic feet — my room is 8 x 4.5 x 8 = 288 cf. If I were to attach a filter it would reduce efficiency by 25% (72) so minimally I would need 360 cfm. I'd like a little extra just in case. So perhaps something in the 400+ cfm range?

5/22 (Monday 12:10 am) — Spent the whole weekend trying to understand ventilation and I'm very close.

5/25 — Pictures in the folder. They came through the soil 5/17, so they are 8 days old today. As you can see in the pics, I have a fan set up. If I keep the closet door open and the door to this room closed, the temp is running 82. Which is the lowest I think I can do with the house temp at 77. I'm not sure how to get humidity in there. I feel like a humidifier will increase the temp and I don't want to do that. I might try just putting water to evaporate in there. It appears autoflowering plants take generally take about 60 days (8-weeks) from seed to harvest. So, these girls should be harvesting 7/17. Or 7 more weeks to go ;-)

 

[Ugwad]

Here are some pics from 5/25

 

[Ugwad]

Day 24 Update


It's been a while. My pictures didn't post initially and not for a while, so I wasn't sure I would continue with the journal. But everything appears to be functioning. We last left off at Day 8 and now we're jumping ahead to Day 24!

At day 15 I topped and FIM'd all the plants. Two of them were FIM'd. I used the crushing/pinching technique — which is new for me. I topped one plant traditionally. On the 4th plant I did something I called "tippy topping." Because the auto's are so small at 2 weeks, it was hard to say exactly what I did, plus I'm not sure I remember clearly today. What I did was instead of cutting an entire node off I went into the center of the newly forming growth bulb. It appeared to me, rather than pinching the growth area that would be done with FIM, I went below and with a knife cut off at the root of this growth bulb. With the way I previously have FIM'd, I would have pinched off 80% of this material. What I did here was more like cut off 120% of this area. Also it was so small, I cut an extra bit off I didn't intend.

Right now 3 of them are clearly showing sex and starting to flower. One plant is bushy and the leaves are turning and curling. I think that's a heat issue. But I'm not getting terribly high temps. Max temp is 88 F. It's probably 82 on average.

Results of the traditional topping is clear. There are now 2 tops.

The "tippy topp'd" plant is the most interesting. It clearly has 2 tops. You can see a lot of the flowering areas on this plant. They seem to be really sticking out. However, I have 2 clear tops with removing very minimal plant material. I saw no negative effects on plant growth from any of these methods. I'd say this is the best method, but I'm not entirely sure what I did. ;-)

I FIM'd the biggest plant. I thought I did the best job on it. This one is the most confusing to me. I'm just not sure how many tops are here. It appears that a long single flowering spot is sticking out, but this is above the area that was FIM'd. This is like a node above the FIM'd area. I suppose this could be a failure and it will only have one cola.

The same goes for the other plant I FIM'd, I think this could be a failure and there's going to be a single cola. Based on the tippy topped plant, these must be failures. Because the tippy top was closer to FIM'ing than topping and the results are clear.

Day 24 and the plants are all about 7-8 inches tall. They are healthy and bushy. I've been adding molasses to their water for the last 5 or 6 days. I started brewing some guano tea 2 days ago. I'm using the Peruvian Seagull which is for the transition period. I added 2-3 ounces of the unfinished tea to their quart water bottles. Today they all got 3 quarts.

I would like them to grow bigger before flipping the lights. I figure a month is a good time to turn the bloom lights on and change the schedule. I'm assuming I can just keep them on veg lights and hours even though they are already flowering? They are also continuing to grow in size, so I'll keep them in veg growth for a bit longer. That's my hope anyway.

I would like to start exposing the inner canopy now. I like SCROG's but I would like to be able to move the pots. Because of the small size of autos I think it would be best to tie them down with something. I just don't have spots to tie string or yarn. I think wire would be best. I've never done this, but have seen others use wire that would anchor into the soil.

Next are some pictures from late last night - so pretty close to day 24.

 

[Ugwad]

Day 24 - Group shot

 

[Ugwad]

The is the plant that was "Tippy Topped." It's the tallest. Kind of stretched and not as bushy. Flowers really show.

 

[Ugwad]

I believe this is the traditionally topped plant.

 

[Ugwad]

This is one of the plants I FIM'd - I think unsuccessfully. It's very bushy and not showing flowers like the other 3.

 

[Ugwad]

This is the other plant I FIM'd. It was the biggest and fastest growing. Now it's harder to tell.

 

[Ugwad]

It's taking 8 days for my pictures to post. That's a bit frustrating and I can't document this grow properly. It seems I'm up for continuing, for today at least.

Wednesday 6-14 was one month and the day I planned 24 hours of dark and then flip the lights to bloom. I ended up doing this on day 31. All the plants were flowering prior to changing the lights.

I'm using bat and seagull guano and some molasses for my nutrients. I've been going light on the nutrients over all. Also, I'm watering them differently than previous grows. I'm watering them where they sit. I used to take them to the sink and water them thoroughly every 2-3 days. Currently, I'm giving them 2-4 quarts of water with some guano tea almost daily.

It's some what of a pain to do this daily, but mostly I don't mind. When I do 4 quarts I should be able to water every other day. The soil appears to be perfectly moist. Meaning it's never dry or very wet.

Lastly, I've been trying to LST the plants. The failed FIM plants, have minimal ties. I'm not being obsessive about this. Since the flowers don't use much light, I just want to open the canopy so the lower leaves can get more light. I used to think I'd have to get those flowers into the light.

Here are the latest pics, that will probably show up in 8-days.

 

[Ugwad]

Day 34 - Day 3 boom

Group shot with bloom lights

Group shot with grow lights

All the pots are close together and there's been a lot of growth, so it's hard to see the individual plants. Here's one of the Fast Bud's that had a good amount of LST'ing.

Next is one of the failed FIM's. This was the fastest and largest growing plant. Now you can't tell.

I believe this is the "Tippy Topped" plant. The left of the picture cut off a row of flowers which you can see in the group shot. This plant is in the upper right corner of the group shots

Lastly, we have the "Think Differently" strain. There are flowers, but still just wisps and way behind the other plants. I'm fearing this won't have much production. This is also a failed FIM with minimal LST'ing. The pic looks better than I describe, but definitely no mass to the flowers like the Fast bud plants.

 

[Ugwad]

These last pictures showed up immediately, so I appear to be past the probation period or glitch. Perhaps someone might even take a look at this journal now.

I didn't plan on having people check it out. More to document for my own purposes. I'm hopeful this amazing set of lights will really come through. When the lights switch to flower, you keep both the bloom and grown lights on and it's really intense. I have to shut the bloom light off when I'm in there working. How about a nice bud shot, since there's no delay in my pic posts now?

Here some bud shots day 3 of flower

 

[Ugwad]

I just started some Jamaican guano tea. They recommend Jamaican and then Indonesian during the flowering stage.

 

[Ugwad]

Here's a picture of the LED I'm using. I think a pic is needed since the light is in the title of this journal after all. It's listed as a 800W HPS replacement.

The recommended height above the plants during flower is 12" - 18" I just lowered the lights to 12 inches above the tallest top. It was ~20" inches before that, I think.

"They" say the more light the better. I have a lot of experience with much hotter lights being much closer to my plants. These LED's are so cool in comparison and 12 inches is giant so I'm sure there would be no heat damage. They cover a 4x4 area, which I find perfect for growing autos. I can't work in there with the bloom lights on. I have to shut it because of the intensity.

The bloom light appears as a very intense strawberry pink violet sort of a color. They recommend you wear sunglasses while working in the room. I suppose this is because of the ultraviolet light they give off to grow great flowers and the intensity of the light.

Item NO.:MarsPro II Cree256 USA
BTU:1883
Compare to HPS/MH/HID:800W
certificate:ETL, CE, RoHS
Draw power:110V: Veg : 340w±5% / Bloom: 664w±5%|220V: Veg: 330.7w±5% / Bloom: 647.7w±5%
Amps:5.7 @ 110v 2.8 @ 220v
Voltage:AC85-265V
Decibel value:61.4
N.W/G.W:16.5/17
Coverage:4'x4' (122x122)cm
Lifespan:50K Hours
View Angle of leds:100°
spectrum:Cree 440nm, 630nm，660nm, 2700k-3000k
Plug Type:USA
UPC Number:600740989056
Dimension:23 "x21" x 5" (57cm x 53cm x 12cm)
Work Temperature:-4°F ~105°F (-20°C ~ 40°C)
humidity:=<90%
Warehouse:USA

All yours for just under $900

 

[Ugwad]

Day 39 - Day 10 Bloom

This Wednesday will be week 6. Things are going well. The buds keep growing and putting on weight. I've had the lights 12 inches from the tallest colas for a day so far and they appear to like it.

The pics never really capture how cool the buds look. It's hard to see the separate plants now. They've all grown together. I also need to include a ruler or an object in my shots as there's no perspective.

However, I think it's clear a lot of growth has occurred over the last just a month.


Here's a group shot with the bloom lights on.

Below is the "Tippy Topped" plant. It's the far end of the pot and there's a row of 4 stalks of buds. The photo does not do the plant justice. You can also see, the "Think differently plants flowers on the left of the pic. They are pretty, but I don't think they will produce much bud.

A solo shot of the Think Differently plant

I think this is another shot of that back row of buds...

Bud Shot... I think it's the same one from the prior week. Does it look beefier? It is...

Another for the road...

 

[Ugwad]

Day 45 (6 weeks + 3 days) Day 17 Bloom

I'm not even at 7-weeks and the Fast Bud plants look like they are very close to harvest. They seem to ripen over night, this could have been because I lowered the lights to 12 inches and I think I've been a bit light on water. I've since raised the lights to 16 inches.

I would have rather put more bud growth on the plants before cutting them down. The "Think Different" plant's buds have grown, but they are really small and lacking mass. I can't see getting much out of this plant, though it looks like it's got at least 3-weeks longer before harvest.

I bought a soil moister meter. It was a cheap one from ACE and seems to be worthless. I brought the plants to sink for the first time and gave them a good soaking. Soaking might not be the right word, but I ran about a gallon through each plants and allowed them do drain in the sink. Still the meter would test dry. Tonight, I dug down into the soil, as the meter is useless. The soil was not overly moist and I have them all some water + nuts again.

Regarding harvest, another issue appears to be a variation in ripeness. I wonder if you can harvest ripe stalks and leaves the others to ripen longer? I mean, you could do this during flushing. I would imagine the less rip stalks would only need a few extra days.

Group Shot

Group 2

Think Different

Too Ripe for 6.5 weeks

 

[Ugwad]

The plant that I "tippy-topped" and now sitting up front is decidedly more purple than the other two Fast Bud plants. Everything else about these 3 plants is identical, except one looks way more purple and ripe. It's not even 7-weeks and it looks really close to me. I didn't look at the buds under a scope. The entire plants is starting to brown, the buds are filled with crystals, white and red hairs. It looks close to me.

The truth is I'm still pretty wet behind the ears, but I'm not terrible worried about anything. Apparently I have to do a refresher on harvesting and curing sooner than I realized.

I think part of the premature ripening is that I've been running the plants dryer than I realized. Perhaps this is more of a recent phenomena. Because that moisture meter doesn't even move to a 2 after running over a gallon through each pot, I had to dig down into the soil once again. I was surprised how dry it was already. More than that, I could barely get my finger through the soil as it was completely filled with roots even at the very surface. This was in the Think Different pot. That's a 5 gallon pot with a auto - autos are like the bonsai of cannabis. It surprising that it could be root bound.

I was feeling like I wanted to slow down the flowering/ripening and remembered that running the lights 12/12 would achieve that according to several journals I've read. I kind of think it's too late for the purple plant. I would like for those buds to fill in a bit and put on some weight before harvesting. I think that watering I gave just the other day added some bulk over all to the buds. Perhaps being on top of water and taking the lights back to say 14/10 might achieve this?

I also need to look at the plants in normal lighting. When they were in the sink the other day they looked much less yellow and more green than I realized.

 

[Jfault20]

I grew a fastbud LSD it finished so fast before i even had a chance to do anything with it. From what i read about autos the smaller the pot the smaller the plant. I have an Incredible bulk auto shes pretty big in a 5 gal smart pot.

 

[Ugwad]

Hey, thanks for the comments. I knew I wasn't alone ;-) I guess there's a reason they're called "Fast Bud."

I've noticed when close to harvest that as you wait and the plants get more yellow and brown and the buds are ripening, that new green areas of growth on the buds continue. I'm not sure of the nomenclature for this anatomy, but it looks like a combo of tiny curled leaves and hairs. I've circled a couple of these growth spots on the pic below.

I feel like I could harvest tomorrow and that would not be too soon. But I can also keep it going another week as well. And if I do, every day you will see multiple new growth spots like the one's I've circled. Perhaps this is exactly what I've been talking about and looking for? Because I feel like I've ripened too soon and I'm lacking some bud bulk.

My lights had been 18/6 and I just changed to 16/8. Not sure that's a big difference, but I guess I'll harvest when I feel like I have the density I'm looking for and signs of browning and ripening are maximum. I know everyone just focuses on colored trics, but I feel like this is just an ritual we've invented to pick a time to stop. I mean, all the flower sites vary in tric color.

From what I've read in the past, most long time growers lean toward letting the plant go very brown. They tended to want to be over-ripe vs under-ripe. Certainly, once the color is out of most of the leaves, the show is over. I don't see the point of going longer. Perhaps it also makes sense to allow the plant to utilize maximum nutrients for flower growth which means draining all the color out of those leaves. These are my semi-novice ponderings on harvesting.

 

[Jfault20]

Honestly its hard to tell even with trichs involved harvested an LSD maybe a little bit too early or a little too late her trichs were amber 20-30% smell was potent, buds looked nice but even after a month cure high is lacking. Her buds were doing the exact same as yours. But i also harvested an Afghan cow at the same trichs and time and its totally opposite.