My First Ever Outdoor Grow! Critical+ 2.0 Auto & Bubba Kush Auto

[ChestrChapman]

Hey everyone! I'm starting my very first outdoor grow, and really my very first grow ever! I hope I can get some tips, advice and general comments on how I'm doing while I go. I'm documenting everything heavily with pictures and I hope that I'm giving plenty of information. I'm also having to make do without a lot of things that are available in the USA or other countries because of where I'm located. Perlite, for example is non-existent here. So we'll see if things turn out well or turn out at all I guess.

I'm starting with two plants, two strains.
Critical Plus + 2.0 Auto and Bubba Kush Auto, both ordered from Dinafem seed bank, both are indica dominant.

Pots: 5 gallon(?) I'm not 100% sure because they had no measurments. It's another drawback of living here. They are plenty big, though.
Medium: Soil, worm humus, pumice gravel and rice hulls(my perlite substitute).
Fert: Generic fertilizer, because it's the only thing available here, but I won't be using it until much later.
Germination Method: Straight into the final pot. I have read that Autos don't like to be transplanted, so I'm avoiding it altogether.

Here are the photos so far.

The Seeds

Everything I'm using

The NPK ratios of the soil. The Humus is a tiny bit higher in Nitrogen, but I'm only using a small bag.

Everthing before mixing

After

In the Pots

 

[ChestrChapman]

re: My First Ever Outdoor Grow! Critical+ 2.0 Auto & Bubba Kush Auto

I soaked my soil in the pots with water, and I'm wondering if it was such a good idea to do that. I think I overwatered one, and it essentially became mud. I'm going to plant the Critical in the one that isn't mud, since that one takes 80 days, and then the Bubba kush which takes 65, after some of the water has drained at it's a little drier.

This is the muddy one.

Now I have them both planted, after sitting the one pots out in the sun for the good part of a day and letting it dry out. It's still a bit more wet than I would like, but it seems to be draining well, so I'm not THAT worried. I planted the Critical on Friday and the Bubba Kush on Saturday. Named them Isobel and Violet, respectively.

So as of Sunday, they are planted. I had them in my living room for a day, then moved them into a closet where they will be temporarily until they can handle the sun outside. Then they'll be on the roof.

https://www.420magazine.com/gallery/data/500/IMG_81202.JPG

 

[Brunt FCA]

re: My First Ever Outdoor Grow! Critical+ 2.0 Auto & Bubba Kush Auto

Your soil has a high clay content. That's why it got muddy. The only cure for that is to add composted organic matter, i.e. humus. Cannabis is pretty resilient, so hopefully you won't have any problems.

 

[ChestrChapman]

re: My First Ever Outdoor Grow! Critical+ 2.0 Auto & Bubba Kush Auto

I understand that cannabis is really resilient, but I'm concerned that how wet the soil in the pots is will affect the growth. Have I effectively killed my plants? I know it takes a while for them to break the soil but I planted the critical on Friday and I have seen nothing yet, so I'm a tiny bit concerned.

I'm also a little concerned about the temperature. I live in Ecuador, so the sun is crazy strong, but I'm in Quito, which is around 3km-3.2km (10,000 ft) in altitude, so the temperature here never goes higher than 24C (75F) which isn't too bad, but the lows hit around 14C (57F) at the lowest. There is hardly any insulation in the houses built here, but the closet that I have the plants in is warm due to the lights and the close quarters. I'm not incredibly concerned, but I would appreciate some advice on this front.

 

[ChestrChapman]

An update!

Isobel (the critical 2.0) has peeked out above the soil! I was worried, but I'm really not anymore. I'm sure the Bubba Kush auto will come up in no time at all.

The closet, just to give you an idea of where they are, temporarily.

I'm really excited!

 

[Rifleman]

Good luck.

 

[ChestrChapman]

Thanks, man.

 

[Bapple]

I think you should be fine.
Your pots are massive, so the only heads up I will give is, be careful not to overwater, cos with pots that big it's hard to tell when the soil has dried up enough to water again. Autos are more sensitive to cold than photos so perhaps you could make some 'sweaters' for your pots. Something that will preserve the heat from the day temperatures and keep the soil from cooling down too much in the nighttime.

Don't kill them with love and attention and I am sure you will achieve a killer harvest. Look forward to following your grow.

 

[ChestrChapman]

Okay guys,

I am getting a teensy bit worried.
This is the Critical + from today.

Now, I don't know if they are like this in the beginning, as this is my first grow, but she has been this way for like three days now, just sideways sort of. I watered again very very lightly, to keep her moist, because I thought that may have been the issue, so we'll see.

The Bubba Kush, on the other hand, is not coming up at all. I don't know if the soil is too thick or what... I planted them both really shallow, like a quarter inch.

Also, if it makes a difference, I've had them under CFLs 24/7. not really close, maybe 4-5 inches away, just to keep them a little warmer in the closet. I didn't think it would make a difference but if that's gonna kill my girls please someone tell me.

 

[Brunt FCA]

That is worrisome. They should spouting up by now. I would still move the lights further away and give them a dark period, about 8 hours. I hope they are not damping off.

 

[ChestrChapman]

Okay. Now I am terrified.

Here are pictures about 36 hours after the previous ones.

This is after I turned the lights off for a time, and aired out the room, and moved the lights a little farther away.
Do you see the white fibers there on the stem? Is it rotting? is this plant dead??

and look at these fibers in the Bubba Kush Pot.

I dont know what to do.

Please someone tell me if this is salvageable or if I should just chuck out the whole lot altogether and start over.

 

[Bapple]

It doesn't look good. I would start a couple more in different vases and leave these alone, don't water don't feed just leave them alone and see whether they will struggle back......

In the photos your soil looks heavy and slurry like, maybe it's just the photos, but combination of heavy soil and overwatering never leads to a good place.

Learning curve, don't give up! Happy growing

 

[ChestrChapman]

It doesn't look good. I would start a couple more in different vases and leave these alone, don't water don't feed just leave them alone and see whether they will struggle back......

In the photos your soil looks heavy and slurry like, maybe it's just the photos, but combination of heavy soil and overwatering never leads to a good place.

Learning curve, don't give up! Happy growing

See, that's my problem, the only soil that I can get here is heavy and without perlite available, there isn't much I can do about it. I could try to go with an all humus mix and tons more rice hulls and maybe that would make a difference. The problem is that it isn't in my budget right now, I sort of put all I could into these two. I have no more seeds.

I can try to put these into the sunlight and dry them out. Would that be a bad idea, being just seedlings? the other thing is that it's been raining since Monday... I am just having a bad time all-around.

 

[Bapple]

Hello again.

Don't put them out in the rain, but yes, if there is good sunlight put them outside to dry off.

I am not convinced about the rice hull......don't they decompose in the soil?

For your next grow. If you can get gravel (small stones), I would mix the soil 50/50 with gravel to aerate the medium better and I would dig up worms and throw 3 or so into the soil at planting time to help aerate the soil naturally, until you can afford more stuff.

Sorry things are not going well, I feel your pain.

 

[ChestrChapman]

Okay y'all.

The bubba Kush is sprouted. Pictures are soon to come. She looks a lot stronger than her sister and I'm hopeful.

As for the critical, I had to remove three seed shell, which was hanging on to the seedling, weighing it down. I just carefully removed it and she's standing up a little more.

I haven't been able to put them in the sun, its not been clear enough outside yet. But I will soon.

As for the rice hulls, they do not decompose in soil, and if they are parboiled, they do not contain other seeds. They are a great perlite substitute, and really they're all that is available here. If and when I start a second grow, I'll definitely use gravel, as Bapple suggested.

 

[ChestrChapman]

Violet is here!
She just sprouted today.

Do you see how she's bent over? I think it's the soil, it's just too heavy. her leaves are stuck. She may pop out though later on. she looks tougher than her sister.

I swear, they just don't want to make it easy, huh?

Meanwhile, this is Isobel, the Critical.

I think that's mold on the base there, and under the leaves. Is she going to die or is there anything I can do? The leaves are still green, so maybe that's a good sign.

I have got to get them both into the sun and fresh air outside. I'm sure that will help things tremendously. I just haven't had a clear day since Monday, and the last thing I want is for them to get soaked. Maybe this weekend. I'll keep everyone posted!

 

[ChestrChapman]

I just had a thought.


WHAT IF I just took the critical seedling, with the surrounding dirt, and transferred it to a pot full of gravel? Almost like a hydro setting, and then if and when she gets better I could just put her back in the pot, after aerating the soil, maybe adding more gravel and making sure it drains well etc.?

I could actually do this with both seedlings if it would increase my chances. I don't know, just a thought.

I'll probably just leave them, they'll be fine after I get them in the sun.

 

[Bapple]

I would do absolutely nothing for the next 48 hours. No water no nothing just sun if you have it.

 

[ChestrChapman]

I would do absolutely nothing for the next 48 hours. No water no nothing just sun if you have it.

That's what I'm doing. they sat out in the sun for the good part of the morning, until it started raining, then I took them inside. The bubba kush seems to be doing well. She just has a seed shell on her, which is keeping her down. they both seem to have had that problem.

The other one is still tiny. I think she's dead or dying.

 

[ChestrChapman]

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't posted anything in awhile, I've been busy.

so, I've left the girls alone for a bit, and this is where we are with the bubba kush currently.

This picture is from today. She had an issue with the seed being stuck on her so I gently removed it, but as you can see she hasn't opened up still.

meanwhile, the critical is about dead. no change from previous entries.

that's where we are at this point! let me know if I'm doing anything or everything wrong.