1st Grow - COTC Cash Crop - Auto Fem

[StickyGig]

Raising lights right now GI, I was thinking that but hadnt acted on it. thanks for the advice as always.
Edited to ask if you think its too late to get more height? If it is and the yield is severly reduced I would rather just cut it and start over.

 

[StickyGig]

Hey GI I've got a question about LED lighting. Your plants seem to really enjoy it so here's my question. Ive finally saved enough to buy my full grow kit from htg supply. Tent is going to be four by four by six. Six inch in-line fans for cooling carbon filter all that. You're running a 300 watt 280 true watt led but the biggest I can add and still get the package is a seven band 240 watt with four t5 side lights. Is that enough to keep four autos at a time going? Do I need to buy a separate LED to add to that like a ufo or two. Thanks bro.

 

[lovitonce]

Whatrup though...looking good bro..i caught up on your journal bro, I'm thinking of growing some autos too..I'm subbed....i got a couple of quick questions bro.....how much light do you have on her (your plant). I read that you started the grow with six 23watt cfl's and was wondering if you've added more lights.....

#yourawesome

Btw...ive read HID lighting is better than LED's.

 

[StickyGig]

Lots more cfl light in a home made fixture. Right now I have 14 cfl lights on her in a mix of 2700k and 6500k. 12 on top and a couple in reflectors for side lighting. Cant wait to get my LED tent. Be careful though if you use cfl because the distance from light seems to make a huge difference in how the plant grows. I was following most growers advice to keep them as close as possible but with that many heat is an issue and I actually stunted it by keeping them too close. I moved my overhead fixture to about 10-12 inches above her and over night the plant started upward growth on all branches. Im still learning and grateful for the folks helping me out here.
Edited to say I've looked into HID and the heat would be my only concern. Ive read that growers have issues even with good ventilation.

 

[lovitonce]

Thanks for the heads up bro, im usually try to keep my cfl's (23w) about 4 inches away to reduce the spacing between nodes. I think you get better buds, not sure though. sounds like you have a pretty good setup your working towards, i personally dont have any problems,i keep my cool tube about 4 inches away from my plants on my first grow ..i just switched them into flowering two days ago,i m running a 400 watt hps in a 40"x40"x78" grow tent with a 235cfm inline fan, my avrage ambient temps are at 85°f and i dont have any issues with heat bro. If anything i run my fan on low.

#yourawesome

 

[lovitonce]

Oh, i forgot to mention my temps inside my tent stay around 70-80

 

[StickyGig]

Just a quick update because shes finally reaching a little. Going on thirteen inches and gaining about an inch a day. Thanks for the heads up on the lights, With this many I guess they dont need to be too close during veg. Shes in flower but just beginning so maybe ill get lucky and she will stretch a bit more.

 

[GIbuds]

Sorry for the delay in response. As for LED, im actually running 2: 300w panels, both combined give me 280 true watts, LED numbers can be tricky because true wattage is usually half of the stated LED watts.

Now that being said, you have seen my plants and they do love LED. Now the thing you need to know about my LED lights is that they are DIRT cheap. I never bought into the hype of expensive LED grow lights. The price your paying is for research and development plus marketing.

I got my LED lights from Amazon for a whopping $135 a piece. They both are 11band including IR and UVB.

Regardless of the brand you choose and the number of bands, the really important thing is UVB and IR. UVB is known to raise THC levels and IR is very important for flowering.

I cant say much on the package deals, i prefer to go at it piece by piece and custom build my setup to my preferences.

I hope this info helps.

Oh btw, your fine on height, just keep raising the lights at least 5in every other day. She will stretch just fine.

 

[StickyGig]

Ill keep raising the lights and thank you very much for the LED info. I honestly wanted a package deal because everything comes at once. The only thing I really wanted to be picky about was the lights. Im determined to go LED so im going to order the tent package the way it comes with a 90 watt LED and ill order proper lighting separately. Ive got a lot of reading to do on LED wattage and such so thanks again GI, your plants are looking awesome, ill be in diving through forums.

 

[GIbuds]

Oh hey i forgot to mention, she has a very long stretch period. Im almost at 50 days and shes still kicking out an inch nd half everyday.
I remember reading a grow journal once on this strain, and they said it went into 90 days. The way she keeps stretching, that my not be to far off. I'll keep you posted.

 

[StickyGig]

Ive been moving the lights every day or two and shes still gaining but only an inch every two days. Shes right at 15 inches and well behind others I've seen at this point. Im going to keep growing her but holding off on uses any morevof these seeds before I upgrade. Im at peace with the fact that shes not going to yield anywhere near her full potential. No beginners luck for me lol. She seems healthy and loves molasses and big bloom. Live and learn as far as stunting her, ill know to moves lights pretty constantly during veg. Ill keep updating with pics every week or so just to finish this up. Day 41.

 

[StickyGig]

Hello. Could a moderator please move this to abandoned section. The plant is so stunted from not adjusting the light that I've decided to start over with a different strain. Thank you.

 

[Hortus]

Sorry to hear your packing up with this plant to me it looks alright yeah it's a bit short but you've got a nice even canopy and the buds still have 4 to 5weeks of bulking out and with a bit of tucking it'll be fine personally I wouldn't give up...

 

[StickyGig]

If you honestly think something can be learned by this stunted auto then ill continue to show her progress. She has stopped upward growth at 15 inches. I removed the bottom 1/3 of leaves and small unhealthy branches. Kind of like lollipopping but on a tiny plant. I figured why not since I have stunted her anyway lets see what happens. Bud sites are raising up to meet the light and tons of pistils have erupted all over. Ill probably end up with a small amount of great tasting meds which is better than nothing.

 

[Hortus]

I honestly think you'll pull a alright harvest my first batch of autos where only a quarter the size of yours and still yielded around 1/2 ounce each of top self bud!

Here's a link to a completed journal from a fellow grower on here that grew a plant similar size and age to yours and got a amazing yeild you'll be surprised
Too Old's Indoor Hempy Auto Fem Candy Cane - 2014

 

[StickyGig]

I really hope mine stretch like that. Thanks for the link Hortus. I noticed things really took off for him around 50-60 days. Ive got all the parts ordered for a complete tent grow but they will not arrive in time to help this plant. I cant seem to find a happy spot for the cfl light fixture. Lower than 8 inches and growing stops. Higher than 12 inches and she stretches but not much and then stops. Ive got 12 23w overhead and four 23w on the sides. They are mixed in a 70/30 mix of 2700k and 6500k respectively. The one thing I was unprepared for was the root system. This girl is in a huge 6 gallon planter and shes bound top to bottom. Im wondering if that's why she has stopped upward growth for the most part. After reading that journal and a few others I have decided to leave her alone and just feed her and see what happens. Thanks.

 

[GIbuds]

Dont give it up bro. Shes fine, shes going to give you plenty of nice bud.

 

[StickyGig]

Day 51 and shes stopped all upward growth. Shes topped out at 18 inches for a couple days now. I didnt notice any new growth for a few days so I got worried about her being stunted yet again. I was checking her out real good when I noticed two things. #1 the six gallon container shes in is so root bound I can barely get water in it. The damn rootball is bigger than she is but I don't have a larger container and shes just too far along to transplant. #2 her buds are getting frosty so shes going to finish up it seems. Awesome plant to still give a frosty yield after what I've put her through. Here's some pics.

 

[golfer420]

Just stumbled upon this thread tonight. We're in very similar spots right now. I'm at day 63 with a NL auto. Check out my grow when you get a chance to see a different kind of plant. Looked more like yours earlier but I've since trimmed many of the large fan leaves.

Glad you haven't given up on this plant. There is no reason you can't get some decent smoke out of this. The buds look great!

You asked a question earlier about doing one plant in a large pot or doing a bunch of small pots. My experience so far would have me say concentrate on one or two plants in at least a 3 gallon container. Mine are ridiculously small and probably why my upward growth ended a long time ago.

Autos only have a limited veg period and then they automatically begin to flower. Having small pots will inhibit their growth and looks like it doesn't help the bloom either. Once they start flowering like yours are, I wouldn't expect to see continued upward growth at a fast rate.

Its another reason they mention not to top or fim autos and limit transplanting to one pot. Stress can slow their growth and they only have so much time to really grow.

Mine are said to take 8 weeks to flower. I think I'm around week 5 right now. They showed their sex around 28 days and they really haven't grown a heck of a lot. Could be that the roots were stunted but it's still the limited veg period that doesn't help with the height.

I'm planning on doing two more plants but use 3 gal fabric pots the next time. I'm also going to use LST to avoid the situation I have now where the light is so far from the smaller buds because of the one large cola in the middle.

For me, the advantages with the auto is the limited height and not having to worry about a tight 12 hour darkness period.

The trichomes on your leaves look great. Much better than mine look.

My wife also thinks I'm nuts spending so much time in the garage checking on "the crop".

One of my biggest frustrations is how long it seems. And then when you're actually ready to harvest, you still have at least 2 two three weeks of curing before you get your best smoke. I couldn't wait and clipped a bud two weeks ago and smoked it. Got a little buzz and it wasn't that harsh. I'm hoping with 3 more weeks of growth and curing I get enough of something to say 'told you so' to the wife

 

[Hortus]

Hey StickyG how's your cash crop doing bud? Mines almost done just started flushing