ANPF's 6 Strain Autoflower Outdoor Grow - Strawberry Banana, Godzilla Cookies, Purple Juice, Gorilla Glue, Gelato, Zkittlez

[AutoNautPsychoFlower]

Greetings and salutations!
Welcome to my first grow in 25 years. I'm 50 and an old-school psychonaut that moved to MA recently. My household can grow 12 plants at any given time legally. So I jumped right in after doing a ridiculous amount of research. I went with autoflowers because they are easy in many ways (not so much in others I've gathered). I went with 6 strains because Herbies said I could have some freebies when I was ordering 3. I also wanted to see Indica dominant vs Sativa. Most of all I just wanted to learn as much as I could about autos in a single outdoor grow as I could.
The idea for this grow was to keep the entirety of the budget under 400 dollars for every last little thing. Seeds, stakes, fencing, dirt, nutes, amendments, pots, scope .... everything. I've landed it at about 350 (this includes extras I shouldn't have gotten like trellis netting (just didn't need it for this). The hope is to grow at least 4 ounces of cured decent nugs as I pay about 100 dollars for an ounce. Yes, the bar is low. I better make it over it!! : )

All seeds were from Herbies stock, Strawberry Bananas are from Fastbuds

I'm going to ask for some patience as I'm about halfway-ish through the grow (it's staggered) and I'm going to flashback to early June and all of July with several more posts to get this thread up to the current situation. Thank you!

Stats etc below.

12 plants total

Strains-
Purple Juice (1x),
Godzilla Cookies (2x),
Strawberry Banana (2x)

(The Freebies)
Gorilla Glue (3x)
Zkittlez (2x)
Gelato (2x)

germinated in water and then damp paper towel
(popped June 7-9 for GG, GC, and SB, July 5-6 for PJ, Zz, Gel
transferred to jiffy pellets, watered with h20 and a bit of hydrogen peroxide
transplanted to full pots after about 3 days
(GG, GC, & SB potted June 16-18, and PJ, Zz, Gel potted July 9)

7 gallon fabric pots (with drain holes cut in)
1- 1 & 1/2 gallon of pebbles on bottom
4- 4 & 1/2 gallons local live compost, amended with perlite and DE
1/2 -1 gallon top dress mostly neutral soil (light on the nutes)

All but one Gelato seed popped!

In the pics. A few days after potting, June 22-30.

The closest three are GG, next is a GC and the two at the end are SB, and then another GC in front of the SB on end.
There's 5 more coming so they wind up moving around a bit later.
Out of this batch all of them but two GG had helmet heads. So the learning experience started right away. I lost a GC and a SB because of it. I did get really good at it (not that I wanted to be). The one GG that had a helmet seems to be about a week or so behind the other two currently though (more pics of the differences as we go along).

I'vealready made a few mistakes that you can see in these first pics. This was the hidden piece of property that got the most direct sunlight. I should have brought in pallets and leveled them over a well-mown area at the least. This is on a bit of a downslope and is an ocean of slugs. I bought bait and had it mostly fixed within a week. There are a lot of bug issues and it stays more humid in this little area than I should have the girls in. 7-gallon pots is overkill as well. I should've gotten a beige color instead of black, direct sunlight in the high 90s can cook them roots.

These were hot days with several 90-plus days. I also had to leave them all on their own for three days (I go out, check on them, hang out and chat or play didgeridoo for them 4-6 times a day, cuz I'm dorky like that ; ). They did very well without me though!

 

[Renaissance Man]

Looks good Autonaut.. Lots of good info here. Reach out with any questions. I don't have all the answers but plenty on here do.

 

[Phytoplankton]

Welcome to the forum! Looks like you have a very good start going.

 

[AutoNautPsychoFlower]

Looks good Autonaut.. Lots of good info here. Reach out with any questions. I don't have all the answers but plenty on here do.

Ohhh I have lots of questions! Just gotta get this thread current with the rest of the grow so far. Hopefully have it done in next few hours.

This place is filled with knowledge and I will definitely be availing myself of it
Thank you!

 

[AutoNautPsychoFlower]

Welcome to the forum! Looks like you have a very good start going.

Thank you and thank you Yeah the start was nerve wracking. I was so happy to come back and see them thriving after being away during that heatwave.

 

[AutoNautPsychoFlower]

July 1, about 24 days from seed, 2 weeks from potting. I dont know if it was hype or what, but for some reason I really thought they were going to be too far stunted to get much bigger than this. Helmet head, heatwave and other environmental stressors had me sad for a bit. My thinking was 3 weeks out and they have to be close to finishing their veg and even adding in stretches etc... I figured I'd dwarfed them.

I started having my dwarfism fears allayed 5 days later on July 6. I described this as the lift off phase
Notice the GG left front. This was the helmeted GG, shes definitely playing catch up to her two sisters directly behind.

Top view from July 6

 

[AutoNautPsychoFlower]

July 9th and they're ready to show some nodes and closeups.

These are the Strawberry Banana. They had a lighter shade of green to them the whole cycle and I was worried but I couldnt figure out what the cause was. Not quite lime green but definitely lighter than the other plants.

Godzilla Cookies! They had nice nodal spacing and just felt like they were completely happy.

GG plants. Last pic is the GG that had the helmet head. (all of the other strains/plants had it too except for these first two GGs)

Previously helmeted GG below

I wish I'd seen more about helmet head warnings for new growers. Simple prep before or stressy awful fix afters. Common enough to really be worth extra double warnings

oops! edited to add a top view.

aaand forgot to add the family shot

 

[Phytoplankton]

You have a beautiful "family".

 

[AutoNautPsychoFlower]

You have a beautiful "family".

With the amount of quality time I spend with them, they really are. Harvest time is going to be sooo bittersweet... until the nugs are done curing anyway lol.

 

[AutoNautPsychoFlower]

July 13, ~ 5 weeks from seed and almost a full month since potting.
The family expands!

Okay so I shifted a few things around. Heres the plant order.
The back line with older plants- GG, GG, GC, GC, SB, SB
Front line with one older plant- GG, Gel, Gel, Zz, Zz, PJ

New plants are leggy, I moved real quickly on these with only a few days worth of hardening on the jiffy pellets because they were shooting up so fast. Only one helmet head with this batch, the smaller Gel.

Wasnt sure if this was preflower or not, its from the GG in back corner.

....and then I spotted some holes. Found thrips!

I used a combination of DE folliar spray along with dusting the ground and top dress, I also used some targeted insect soap. Ive never gotten rid of them completely but did bring them under some sort of control. Again this was likely all on me as where I planted should have been cleared of flora etc.

 

[AutoNautPsychoFlower]

July 18 and obviously my fears of having stunted them down to dwarfing were slightly unfounded. Massive rains and winds meant I got scared for the babies so I protected them like this for about 12 hours till the worst was over. I went out and lifted the covers off and dried them a few times to try and help with the humidity.

Wait a moment! Is that a bud??? Why yes it is It's several!

Looking all good for most part and happy still.

 

[AutoNautPsychoFlower]

July 21, there had been lots of rain. Was terrified they were getting too much. They drained and dried pretty well.
Id also heard just the smallest amount of griping from a few of them. Wasnt sure why but a few bottom leaves were fading.

Blue card was just a test to check for thrips etc. I yanked it after it killed a small butterfly and a honeybee. Felt awful

July 22
Family shot and cute little buds.

 

[AutoNautPsychoFlower]

July 28-, Seven days later and ruh roh raggy! A lot more fade.

So this yellowing was right as they were switching and in preflower and another heatwave. All the different strains started doing it at about same time. I had to spend several days trying to nail it down.

So.

This is a good space to bring up two massive things I've only barely touched on, water and nutes. I had mistakenly been told that our outside water faucet was pretty well balanced and didnt check it. Turns out the water was pretty high 7.1 to 7.5. I screached quite loudly. Immediately ordered ph liquids and tester kit. This is also when I wish I had spent the money on getting some trays for them to sit on so I could test run off. Something that may have saved a complete lock out was a large amount of their water had come from rains.

I also was scared of a cal mag defiency. I found advice here and elsewhere that cal mag was often bad/mistaken advice. I kept searching for perfectly matching defiency illustrations and there was no doubt about it. Nitrogen! Of course because its almost always the culprit. I just didnt know that yet. So I gave in and realized that my hot soil was great but like most (not all!) was only good for about a month and also they would need more P and K. I found the Fox Farms trio pack with bonus Cal Mag for less than 30 dollars and got it in after another few days.

Also heatwave and normal outdoor stressors of bugs and humidity etc, happening at same time, all likely contributed to the leaf fade and yellowing. Lets face it though the biggest factor was Nitrogen and then probably my water being unbalanced.

Heres a few pics of the plants not at their best. I think its important to show the more ugly pics as well as the others. A few leafs had completed dropped off by this point and I could've removed some of the more sickly looking ones but I figures they werent sick and were just getting sucked dry of Nitrogen reserves etc. I like them to naturally fall off after they're done. The only thing Ive been doing is touching to see if they fall, a little tap tap.

I also got some courage to try my first LST tie down (going to standard spiral) on the Zkittlez. They were growing so fast and happy I couldnt resist (I cant wait to skill up enough to manifold!). The Purple Juice is growing perfectly and I just want to see her do her own thing. The Gels are growing at a greatly less comparable rate than the Zz and PJ. The pics are all after they gotten their first nutrients outside nutrients the night before.

 

[AutoNautPsychoFlower]

July 29
Things started looking up again. Yes there was still yellowing but it was the leafs that had already started fading. The newer leaves and buds all looked super healthy and even some slight bud sweling with more stacking. For me up close it was an obvious benefit with the nutes. The girls were hungry, hot, Nitrogen starved and constantly fighting bugs. Theyre stil recovering and my yield is going to be effected but it couldve been worse. No foxtails, no nanners or herming. I got lucky so far.

Heeey Buddy

LST for Zkittlez

July 30
Preeeeetty sure the nutes are helping, or I could just be wishing they are I guess.
Im still too new to tell for completely certain, but the buds have definitely bulked much more.

PJ posing

Gelato finally showing some excitement.

Buds being buds

 

[AutoNautPsychoFlower]

July 31
Sometimes all you can do is follow the ride and hope it doesnt crash. Its approximately 7 weeks from seed for most of the girls. Theyre looking ok. Some buds are starting to fill in nicely. I expect that because they're outdoors and different mistakes/stressors that they will have an extra week or two. We shall see.

GG bud below. This plant was running farther ahead but wound up being shorter than her two sisters.

top view, same bud.

Obligatory family pic.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

August 3, compare below to above. I know its hard to see with all the green behind but the older girls have all put on more bud but losing leaves at a rate that feels too fast. This is leftover issues from nitrogen deficiency, possibly some nute lock/high Ph water, heat stress. The goal now is to nurture them along as best they will let me.

We are heatwaving again the next 4 days with 90 degree plus highs. Its going to be humid with lots of cloud cover too. None of this is optimal for the girls just trying to fill out their buds or vegging.

My hope is that I get a few extra weeks out of all of them so they can do the things we all want them to do.

I think I stressed my Zkittlez into early flower

 

[AutoNautPsychoFlower]

This post brings us to the actual today of days. Ugh and I have questions

August 5 ~ 58 days from seed for the older girls (Gorilla Glue, Godzilla Cookies and Strawberry Banana)
31 days for the younger girls (Gelato, Zkittlez, Purple Juice)

First up... please any guru grow people that might see this.
Are these two Zkittlez sisters in flower? They definitely look all full on preflower to me, but...
Oh and if so, should I undo the LST? Should I move up their FF nutes schedule?
I had a lot more growth after week four from seed with all of the month older plants but also I guess theres more red in the light spectrum later in the season?
I beg for knowledge.

Ok next up, the Gelato sisters went all three fingery on me. Several nodes up and all 3 fingers and even a weird little 3 and a 1/2 finger leaf.
What is the cause of this? I know that its not from the ruderalis because its three finger leafs look more like duck feet I think. I mean it could be I guess but.... something else in the genetics?
The Zkittlez and Purple Punch all took off to the races, look great (except possible early flower on Zz). These Gelatos never really took off. Stayed small and a lighter but not quite lime green.

I have to go kills thrips again . More three finger weirdness on this one too.

Todays family pic.

And another

Seriously, any help, ideas or thoughts are appreciated!

 

[HappyHazmat88]

This post brings us to the actual today of days. Ugh and I have questions

August 5 ~ 58 days from seed for the older girls (Gorilla Glue, Godzilla Cookies and Strawberry Banana)
31 days for the younger girls (Gelato, Zkittlez, Purple Juice)

First up... please any guru grow people that might see this.
Are these two Zkittlez sisters in flower? They definitely look all full on preflower to me, but...
Oh and if so, should I undo the LST? Should I move up their FF nutes schedule?
I had a lot more growth after week four from seed with all of the month older plants but also I guess theres more red in the light spectrum later in the season?
I beg for knowledge.

Ok next up, the Gelato sisters went all three fingery on me. Several nodes up and all 3 fingers and even a weird little 3 and a 1/2 finger leaf.
What is the cause of this? I know that its not from the ruderalis because its three finger leafs look more like duck feet I think. I mean it could be I guess but.... something else in the genetics?
The Zkittlez and Purple Punch all took off to the races, look great (except possible early flower on Zz). These Gelatos never really took off. Stayed small and a lighter but not quite lime green.

I have to go kills thrips again . More three finger weirdness on this one too.

Todays family pic.

And another

Seriously, any help, ideas or thoughts are appreciated!

Wutz up ANPF, howz your day treating ya so far?

So awesome time travel journal start... Super neat being able to see them grow up with back to back post instead of scrolling through a ton of nonsense lol.

They are all looking quite good... Both zkittlez are in flower you are correct...the one with the most white pistils is full on in my book the other has a few days left to really get into gear.

As far as the three leaferz I had that on a whole plant and then I've had it randomly on others... I think it's a gene thing... I know sometimes if you reveg a plant it'll cause it throw weird number fingered leaves and grow all odd looking for a while....but your not doing that so I'ma chalk it up to genes

Your using the fox farms nutrient line...you asked if you should bump it up.....the answer is no....please do not do that.... I used to use that line and if not followed to the T you could run into some really annoying issues with deficiencies....so to be safe follow what week you are on and continue til the end.

FYI I am not a "grow guru" but I am a knowledge seeker and fellow grower... So I have some knowledge on these little beauties....so I'll help where I can and if I can't others will be along shorty to greet ya and check things out.

Also sorry about the thrips ...I've never dealt with them personally but I've read a lot here about how damaging they are to a grow.....so good luck with that my friend.

 

[AutoNautPsychoFlower]

Wutz up ANPF, howz your day treating ya so far?

So awesome time travel journal start... Super neat being able to see them grow up with back to back post instead of scrolling through a ton of nonsense lol.

They are all looking quite good... Both zkittlez are in flower you are correct...the one with the most white pistils is full on in my book the other has a few days left to really get into gear.

As far as the three leaferz I had that on a whole plant and then I've had it randomly on others... I think it's a gene thing... I know sometimes if you reveg a plant it'll cause it throw weird number fingered leaves and grow all odd looking for a while....but your not doing that so I'ma chalk it up to genes

Your using the fox farms nutrient line...you asked if you should bump it up.....the answer is no....please do not do that.... I used to use that line and if not followed to the T you could run into some really annoying issues with deficiencies....so to be safe follow what week you are on and continue til the end.

FYI I am not a "grow guru" but I am a knowledge seeker and fellow grower... So I have some knowledge on these little beauties....so I'll help where I can and if I can't others will be along shorty to greet ya and check things out.

Also sorry about the thrips ...I've never dealt with them personally but I've read a lot here about how damaging they are to a grow.....so good luck with that my friend.

Hey there Happy!
Hope the day has been a good one for ya!

Thanks so much for your ideas and observations. I had a secret hope that it'd be appreciated to just see the bulk of the grow all at once like that. So thank you extra bunches for that!

Do you think I should let the Zkittlez LST come off?

Ive been baby feeding all of them since I brought the nutrients into play. 1/4 dose on all three nutrients. I shouldve mentioned that. Though I think keeping it the same is the way to go forward (using the chart), just wasnt sure. I dont have the confidence to get edgy with them yet lol.

Yeah thrips are crazy. They're fast as hell when they want to be. They damage and poop all over everything and carry plant disease. When you finally come for them with some spray they hide under the edge of the leafs and peek out over the top like some scary little pervs. So much attitude for a crappy bug. Gotta zap them! Then spread more DE around. Wait a week or two and do it again. fun lol

You said, "FYI I am not a "grow guru" but I am a knowledge seeker and fellow grower... So I have some knowledge on these little beauties....so I'll help where I can and if I can't others will be along shorty to greet ya and check things out."
This sounds kinda guru-ish to me (in a good way). Just saying

 

[AutoNautPsychoFlower]

Still August 5.

Got to play around with some trichome pics today
This was one of the things Ive been really looking forward to.

 

[HappyHazmat88]

Do you think I should let the Zkittlez LST come off?

Hey thanks for the kind wordz I do what I can for any one.... Especially here.

But for the last no keep it... During the beginning stages of flower they enter a period called the "stretch phase" where they will challenge your grow space lol trust me and ask how I know the lst will help keep the canopy even and allow light to hit everything...so if anything move your ties further out to the middles/end of the stems and brace them down further..... I kinda get crazy with my training as I'm curious to see what they can handle.

But nice trich picz....are those from the upper budz, leaves, lower zones? I see a bit of glass...mostly cloudy...with some amber specks meaning your getting close if it's a bud zone microscoped.

EDIT- I'm having a great day....out of work early and now chilln by the water....I hope your day is going similar