Hello friends, after a partly successful 2018 grow I wanted to share this year’s grow experience. This time it’s a minimalistic one autoflower plant balcony grow.
General information
Photo log
Day 14
Day 28: I started training on day 21, this is one week after. As you can see the growth was slow for a month old plant due to low sunlight hours.
Day 42: Started picking some momentum.
Day 49: Flowering stretch going on. Even though growth was slow, the final size of the plant was surprisingly decent.
Day 63:
Day 100 (harvest day):
Problems encountered
Powdery mildew: Appeared around week 10 (mid-flowering stage) on the newer fan leaves. This probably happened because every day I moved the plant inside after it stopped receiving its daily dose of direct sunlight, thinking I was protecting it from other pests. The air inside the apartment is hot and still, perfect for WPM. The plan I adopted was to basically survive the 4 remaining weeks. Infected leaves were removed ASAP, and a solution of 1/3 3% hydrogen peroxide and 2/3 water was sprayed on the fan leaves every few days to slow the spread. I would say these measures were inefficient and did little to contain the spread. Although no buds were visibly infected, at harvest time I’d say 30% of the sugar leaves were, so the spread was aggressive despite this measures. Yet it survived long enough to complete its life cycle. I made a post abut this and trimming which you can check out here.
Low sunlight hours: Sun’s angle towards the balcony changed as time passed and direct sunlight was greatly reduced. If 5 hours was too little during vegging, 1.5 hours was just not enough during flowering. The grow took longer than expected (15 weeks total v/s 8-9 weeks as advertised by the breeder) and yield was severely affected by this (skinny buds).
High temperatures at drying phase: Temp in my apartment hung around 28°C at time of harvest. This caused the buds to dry in 4.5 days instead of the recommended 10 to 14 days. This caused the buds to lose the great smell they had while flowering and lose their taste, as you will read on the smoke report.
Good practices adquired
Feeding every time I water: Tested this v/s a previous feed-feed-water schedule on another grow and I will never go back. I fed every time (as recommended by Biobizz) and not a single leaf turned yellow until the end of the grow, which showed me than plant was getting everything it needed with no signs of negative over fertilization. I know now it’s the way to go with Biobizz at least.
Bud washing: Even though I was forced to do it because of the WPM, I will continue to do it for every future outdoor grow. Buds tasted very smooth and clean and I think it was partly because of this. It’s just great to know that all of the dirt and dust the settles for 4 months was washed away.
Not flushing: Read a lot about the subject and decided to try not flush prior to harvest (only used plain water on the very last watering). Final product was not harsh so I will continue to do this when using these nutrients.
Results and smoke report
** Please consider the following was done after 15 days of curing. I introduced a 62% boveda pack in the jar on day 7 of curing, which really rehydrated the buds after introducing it. It was like they where back to being wet and soft like they were on the drying stage. I removed the pack after 3 days. They now sit at 56% RH on the jar on their own, and are to my impression perfectly balanced between not being wet and not being dry, perfect for a long cure. If smoke/smell/taste improve I will update in the future **
Yield: 14 grams of dried buds. Not acceptable but couldn't be helped, it was the best I could do with the low sunlight hours in this balcony. Rating: 1/10.
Looks: No big buds, but really love the beautiful mix of green and purple calyxes. Lots of trichomes like a true indica yet not that sticky. Rating: 7/10.
Smell: Like hay. When opening the jar I can smell the really great kushy flavor it had when it was flowering, but is then replaced by plain hay after a few seconds. After grinding it, the smell explodes into a really nice candy/kushy/minty flavour. I just wish it had that smell and taste all the time. Rating: 3/10.
Taste: Like burnt stuff. Can’t really taste terpenes or any real flavour when smoking a joint. Remember when you were young and you stopped using matches to light bowls because the smoke tasted like burnt matches? Similar taste to that. Rating: 2/10.
Burn: Joints have trouble remaining lit after 5-8 seconds of not puffing. Rating: 4/10.
Smoke: Even though it smells like hay and tastes like generic burnt stuff, it is surprisingly not harsh to the throat. Rating: 6/10.
Effect: Classic indica effect, slowly creeps in relaxing your whole body in a friendly way. No rushing thoughs or anxiety, which is exactly what I was looking for. Pretty close to what was advertised by the breeder. Rating: 8/10.
Potency: Mild. Rating: 5/10.
Final thoughts
Ending this grow with a bitter sensation. It was a great learning experience because I had to face challenges that weren’t in my previous 2018 grow (growing an auto, fighting WPM, measuring and controlling RH, using a different feeding schedule). I would definitely say I’m a better grower now. But I also would qualify this experiment as a failure since it did not provide the quality product I was looking for. It frustrates me that yet again, after 4 months of caring, fighting pests and patiently waiting, everything is ruined in the last step and the great smell that was present throughout the entire two months of flowering is completely gone. A carbon copy of what happened on the previous grow, even though I took steps to correct it. I can tolerate low yields and potency since I don’t smoke often and have no tolerance. But hay smelling and bad tasting weed I can’t. If I smoke once every 3 months I want that to have incredible taste and smell, which is far from the case.
I'm thinking of trying growing in autumn next year where even though cold could be an issue, sunlight hours should be better on the balcony, and maybe try the slow fridge drying method to keep the smell and taste. We'll see.
General information
- Strain: Afghan Kush Auto by Fast Buds.
- Type: 85% Indica 15% Sativa according to the breeder.
- Medium: Soil, planted in a 3 gallon textile pot with Biobizz’s Light Mix (stayed that way until the end)
- Growing season: From beginning to end of spring.
- Direct sunlight hours: 4-5 when it was vegging, only 1.5 – 2 when flowering.
- Nutrients: Biobizz’s basic line (Biogrow, Biobloom and Topmax)
- Feeding Schedule: Followed Biobizz’s recommended schedule, fed every single watering from week 3 until the end.
- Length: 105 days from germination to harvest (15 weeks)
Photo log
Day 14
Day 28: I started training on day 21, this is one week after. As you can see the growth was slow for a month old plant due to low sunlight hours.
Day 42: Started picking some momentum.
Day 49: Flowering stretch going on. Even though growth was slow, the final size of the plant was surprisingly decent.
Day 63:
Day 100 (harvest day):
Problems encountered
Powdery mildew: Appeared around week 10 (mid-flowering stage) on the newer fan leaves. This probably happened because every day I moved the plant inside after it stopped receiving its daily dose of direct sunlight, thinking I was protecting it from other pests. The air inside the apartment is hot and still, perfect for WPM. The plan I adopted was to basically survive the 4 remaining weeks. Infected leaves were removed ASAP, and a solution of 1/3 3% hydrogen peroxide and 2/3 water was sprayed on the fan leaves every few days to slow the spread. I would say these measures were inefficient and did little to contain the spread. Although no buds were visibly infected, at harvest time I’d say 30% of the sugar leaves were, so the spread was aggressive despite this measures. Yet it survived long enough to complete its life cycle. I made a post abut this and trimming which you can check out here.
Low sunlight hours: Sun’s angle towards the balcony changed as time passed and direct sunlight was greatly reduced. If 5 hours was too little during vegging, 1.5 hours was just not enough during flowering. The grow took longer than expected (15 weeks total v/s 8-9 weeks as advertised by the breeder) and yield was severely affected by this (skinny buds).
High temperatures at drying phase: Temp in my apartment hung around 28°C at time of harvest. This caused the buds to dry in 4.5 days instead of the recommended 10 to 14 days. This caused the buds to lose the great smell they had while flowering and lose their taste, as you will read on the smoke report.
Good practices adquired
Feeding every time I water: Tested this v/s a previous feed-feed-water schedule on another grow and I will never go back. I fed every time (as recommended by Biobizz) and not a single leaf turned yellow until the end of the grow, which showed me than plant was getting everything it needed with no signs of negative over fertilization. I know now it’s the way to go with Biobizz at least.
Bud washing: Even though I was forced to do it because of the WPM, I will continue to do it for every future outdoor grow. Buds tasted very smooth and clean and I think it was partly because of this. It’s just great to know that all of the dirt and dust the settles for 4 months was washed away.
Not flushing: Read a lot about the subject and decided to try not flush prior to harvest (only used plain water on the very last watering). Final product was not harsh so I will continue to do this when using these nutrients.
Results and smoke report
** Please consider the following was done after 15 days of curing. I introduced a 62% boveda pack in the jar on day 7 of curing, which really rehydrated the buds after introducing it. It was like they where back to being wet and soft like they were on the drying stage. I removed the pack after 3 days. They now sit at 56% RH on the jar on their own, and are to my impression perfectly balanced between not being wet and not being dry, perfect for a long cure. If smoke/smell/taste improve I will update in the future **
Yield: 14 grams of dried buds. Not acceptable but couldn't be helped, it was the best I could do with the low sunlight hours in this balcony. Rating: 1/10.
Looks: No big buds, but really love the beautiful mix of green and purple calyxes. Lots of trichomes like a true indica yet not that sticky. Rating: 7/10.
Smell: Like hay. When opening the jar I can smell the really great kushy flavor it had when it was flowering, but is then replaced by plain hay after a few seconds. After grinding it, the smell explodes into a really nice candy/kushy/minty flavour. I just wish it had that smell and taste all the time. Rating: 3/10.
Taste: Like burnt stuff. Can’t really taste terpenes or any real flavour when smoking a joint. Remember when you were young and you stopped using matches to light bowls because the smoke tasted like burnt matches? Similar taste to that. Rating: 2/10.
Burn: Joints have trouble remaining lit after 5-8 seconds of not puffing. Rating: 4/10.
Smoke: Even though it smells like hay and tastes like generic burnt stuff, it is surprisingly not harsh to the throat. Rating: 6/10.
Effect: Classic indica effect, slowly creeps in relaxing your whole body in a friendly way. No rushing thoughs or anxiety, which is exactly what I was looking for. Pretty close to what was advertised by the breeder. Rating: 8/10.
Potency: Mild. Rating: 5/10.
Final thoughts
Ending this grow with a bitter sensation. It was a great learning experience because I had to face challenges that weren’t in my previous 2018 grow (growing an auto, fighting WPM, measuring and controlling RH, using a different feeding schedule). I would definitely say I’m a better grower now. But I also would qualify this experiment as a failure since it did not provide the quality product I was looking for. It frustrates me that yet again, after 4 months of caring, fighting pests and patiently waiting, everything is ruined in the last step and the great smell that was present throughout the entire two months of flowering is completely gone. A carbon copy of what happened on the previous grow, even though I took steps to correct it. I can tolerate low yields and potency since I don’t smoke often and have no tolerance. But hay smelling and bad tasting weed I can’t. If I smoke once every 3 months I want that to have incredible taste and smell, which is far from the case.
I'm thinking of trying growing in autumn next year where even though cold could be an issue, sunlight hours should be better on the balcony, and maybe try the slow fridge drying method to keep the smell and taste. We'll see.
