SpaceF - Auto-Flowers - Northern Light x Big Bud & Jack47 Auto

[spacef]

DAY 46
======

I told you it had some blue in it

This is the bottle of spiruline+chorella after one day rest. All the powder is at the bottom of the bottle. This blue color is probably the Phycocyanine, unless it is a mix of the pigments of Chlorophyl A and Carotenoides, that are found in Spiruline..
I will take a picture of the plants later, because they have an awesome green color, eventhough I do not know if the spiruline caused it.

 

[420Amard]

You're a brave man that shit looks like Kool-Aid hahaha

 

[spacef]

haha, lol, I will give it only to something that appears condemned anyway, so it is a "last hope" trip. A Northern LightxBig Bud is giving its body to SCIENCE !! yeeppeee !!

. by making a few stuff available to the plant, may be it can concentrate on producing without having to produce the chlorophyl etc . so it can put its energy somewhere else... The jack 47 Auto are doing absolutely great so...!
spiruline is considered as a super plant that can save lives and fights hunger. humans, animals, plants, they can all benefit from it. Myself, i am just having fun while waiting for new soil mix ;-)

 

[spacef]

MORE DAY 46
===========
(you should right click and zoom all the images below, because i've uploaded them in quite large size for high rez, on windows, right click the images to show it, then ctrl + "+" to zoom in).

Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing you to "The Himp" , a very resistant dwarf Northern Light x Big Bud who seem to like its transplant from the warm south territories (of my grow box) to the fresh open North (of my box, where it's 2 degrees less).

In a different style, Jack 47 Auto #2

A few pictures of the bigger NlxBB #1 . I've cut a few yellow leaves at the bottom, and one in the middle to open buds to light. You can also see a few wires to change branch position.

A better close-up of the NLxBB head

This one is a heavily filtered close up (not natural colors) of the lower buds with "dynamic brightness" to see where the CFL hits.
The ones in the shade are all bigger !! Do they receive too much light ? is it a matter of stretch (optical illusion)...etc, etc?

the QUEEN of the show, the Jack 47 AUto #1. Located in the North (of the box) too, where it is colder. It receives more wind /cold than the others, and being close to the CFL doesn't warm it much (the heat is at the back of the box, not near the CFL ! ) . But it doesn't go very low neither. It is 22/23C when other part of the box are 24/25 C .

See you !

 

[420Amard]

Hope they fatten up on you man.

 

[spacef]

me too, because those NLxBB buds are kind of microscopic to me
still 3 / 4 weeks to go... I beleive there is plenty of time to fatten up !

I am very tempted to transplant that big NLxBB into a 11 liters container, to get bigger buds and everythin, without waiting for the success or failure of the ongoing experiment..... The thing is that, despite the high stress (1/3 of roots lost) "the Himp" is doing very fine, i suppose it should also work with any other autoflo. Must act quickly, the window to do this is only 2 or 3 days, 4 days max....

 

[spacef]

DAY 47 - CFL SHUT-DOWN
==================

The plants do not care much about the 250 W CFL close to them;they all bend toward the LEDs (384W).

It is great visually to have the CFL to take pics, or to look at the plants and see some green, but it does not seem necessary to keep it on all the time. The plants prefer the LEDS and ignore the CFL.

Let's see what the led got in the guts and save on energy bill and heat management....

250 W red CFL *off* on Day 47.

 

[spacef]

DAY 48 - Transplating the big autoflo NLxBB
=============================

As the "Himp" transplant worked, I decided to do the same on one of my best NLxBB, unsing the experience gained by mistakes on the previous transplant. I did it because this NLxBB will not be productive enough in this 7 L container. The moment to do it is NOW (not real "buds" yet , there is time for a few more roots and growth) ...


"The Transplant of an Auto-Flower in 5 pictures "

1// Before: container obviously too small (the leaves are small, everything looks "reduced" like a bonzaï)

2// Way densier than what I found in the other one.

3// Cut 3 or 4 edges of the pot to "peel it like a banana " ! Then slip hands on the side to pull it out of the pot without any resistance: it will keep its shape ! It does not matter if you cut or damage a few roots here and there on the sides, it is done intentionnally when transplanting in general anyway.

4// I do not place it at the center of the new container: at least 1 side will touch the side of the pot like on the old container. On the previous transplant, 2 sides were touching. It makes more space to put the new soil, it's easier like that even if you don't have big fat hands. it should also make it *not grow* at the back of the plant, while growing at the front...

5// I bet it will work and grow bigger ! I used a Light mix that will be easily flushed in 2 or 3 weeks.

 

[420Amard]

Everything looks great man. Personally I wouldn't of transplanted due to the roots not actually growing to much more when she starts to flower. Plus the sudden shock of having fresh soil/oxygenation of the new soil they usually have a few days recovery.

 

[spacef]

They are doing just fine and look much better than 2 days ago already. They both look much more dynamic and happy and "normal" which was not the case (they looked tired and depressed).

Transplanting is because the NLxBB is definitely a strain that you do **not** use in small containers, unless you want to grow a bonzaï-like thing

The good timing would have been with the first pistils at the latest, 2 weeks ago... But two weeks ago, I did not see changing the container as a possible solution to a problem, and all you know about not-transplanting Autos etc

I will wait before uploading pictures because the two transplants are growing now

The jacks 47 (not transplanted) are also doing great. Sweet Seeds strains are generally doing great in small containers (they look healthy, large leaves etc etc).

 

[deptrai]

From the world of seeds website(for NL x BB): "For indoor growing we recommend a 20/4 light/dark cycle throughout". Any reason you didn't follow this recommendation? I have a seed that I'm getting ready to start and am trying to figure out the best lighting cycle(s). I didn't even know this was autoflowering since I bought it from Bonza Seeds and the only description given there was "1 x World of Seeds Northern Light x Big Bud Feminized Cannabis Seeds"

 

[spacef]

Hello Deptrai,
Thanks for the info from world of seeds.

The NLxBB were doing great until I left 10 days for hollydays a month ago. I think they might have suffered from the cold at some point, and lack of care in general. It is clearly not growing in the right environment here, that's why I am trying to fix things. The containers I use are small too, I am looking at it now and it is actually bigger, even the small one begins to show branches. It could be the normal development of the plant, but I think that putting them in bigger pots helps.

The NLxBB is supposed to be tall, so I thought that the small container is like having shoes that are too small and hurt.

This, or as you say the 20/4 cycle that I did not apply. I grew at 18/6 CFL and now 16/10 Leds which are twice as powerful as the cfl.

Light cycles:
===========

- Autoflowering: they are supposed to ignore photoperiod and are normally made to grow Outdoor.
- Outdoor, a photoperiod of 20/4 does not exist except in the north, and may be the ruderalis comes from that location, but may be not
- many Auto strains do not require 20/4 : you have to find a compromise if you grow multiple strains like me.
- Is the 20/4 cycle applicable with any light of any power and any type ? I do not know that.

I also set the light cycle the closest to the NLxBB itself. Swicthing lights on when leaves begin to go up, and switching off once they have "gone to bed". And that's 15/16 hours.
In fact I forgot about that info about 20/4 (if I ever knew it) and I thought that the NLxBB was receiving a too long cycle.

Growing with 20/4 does not seem a problem to me
I do not know if it is necessary for flowering period, and it is costly.
Sprat has great results though with 20/4.

 

[spacef]

deptrai: You may have the "non auto" version of that strain.
They have both, the **NLxBB Auto**, and the **NLxBB Regular** (not auto and not feminized).
You can try with 1 seed, but cross fingers to avoid a male

From the world of seeds website(for NL x BB): "For indoor growing we recommend a 20/4 light/dark cycle throughout". Any reason you didn't follow this recommendation? I have a seed that I'm getting ready to start and am trying to figure out the best lighting cycle(s). I didn't even know this was autoflowering since I bought it from Bonza Seeds and the only description given there was "1 x World of Seeds Northern Light x Big Bud Feminized Cannabis Seeds"

 

[spacef]

DAY 51 - RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS
========================

Transplanting did a FANTASTIC job on all NLxBB Autos. It has only been 3 full days, but results are already visible.

NLxBBa 1 : Those leaves have not been so horizontal since 3 full weeks !!! spiruline did help last time, but this is better. They are not yet pointing up, but the problem is solved, or should be in a couple of days.

NLxBB2 The HIMP : - Personal empirical observations : Great too: the plant is "unlocked", it stretches a bit, branches are growing... all good. The spiruline gave it a very deep green , the leaves are full (saturated!) with chlorophyl. Giving spiruline once or twice in a row is enough to revive a plant and give it large chlorphyl reserves. Leaves are pointing up too !

the 2 below were not transplanted. only the NLxBB needed "bigger shoes" for their large feet.

Jack 47 AUto 2: That's what I call dynamic, happy, full of energy.

Jack 47 Auto 1: to be watered soon

also, if the experiments work, it is not by chance, it is because they are based on documentation before trying ;-)

 

[420Amard]

Glad to hear everything everything is working out for you and nice pictures btw. Top notch photography. Hopefully they fill out and bud up nicely. What's your estimates on yield.

 

[spacef]

Glad to hear everything everything is working out for you and nice pictures btw. Top notch photography. Hopefully they fill out and bud up nicely. What's your estimates on yield.

The yield will be approximately the same as with the previous grow, may be same as you. I think it is a question of container size. The bigger NLxBBa looks promissing though, big buds is/are coming we will know in 10 days. The Jack 47 look great for SOG: they seem to build a main cola with or without a few branches and can remain compact in a small pot.

the pics are made with an old dslr and a 50mm lens (on my dslr it is like a 80mm, ie, it zooms a lot. I also have a wide lens but i prefer the 50mm now). Shot in RAW files, then photoshop (or lightroom or photoshop elements) to remove purple from leds and get some green back. The final picture is very different if, to light the scene, I use the red CFL or the dual one with the blue in front. The pics in the post above are with the dual, and the blue is visible. Thanks for the feedback

 

[420Amard]

me west coast og seems to be along them lines as well. Gonna end up with about 15 grams in a 4l round pot should of used a air-pot or a smart pot

 

[spacef]

Your plants look like mine, and you use half size containers! I must be doing something wrong

SMartpots: I am going for them for my next grow (not the smartpot brand, which are round, but another brand which makes them square, and which contain more liters for smaller size as the square plastic pots (see at promshop, but I think they are the same as the ALchiPots from Alchimia). Actually only the 15L is the same size as a 11L plastic pot (23*23cm area).

me west coast og seems to be along them lines as well. Gonna end up with about 15 grams in a 4l round pot should of used a air-pot or a smart pot

 

[420Amard]

I'm gonna use 2 x 6l air pots next time and do a scrog with the cfl or a 10l air pot in the tent and a 6l for an auto on the terrace. Your plants are a good size man I didn't do anything special with mine did you use root juice??

 

[spacef]

did you use root juice??

I used moderate doses of platinium nutrient ryzhoponics (organic). a few drops each time since the begining until flowers.