First Time Grower - Auto Flowering

[Czecho]

I'm still on my first auto grow and not as far as you so take this advice for what its worth...

From what I have read less hours esp later in flowering will be better for potency / trichrome production. If you are having heat issues I personally wouldn't hesitate to cut the hours down esp at this point in their life. IMO you will get a better end result by keeping them happy then you will by keeping them unhappy and jamming more hours of light down their throats. If your worried about the sudden change cut them down 1 hour per day until you get to where there happy or u hit 12/12.

Do you have any articles to point me to regarding autos and lighting schedule?

I really like the "keeping the gals happy" I agree, if heat is an issue, theres a tradeoff there....

Maybe> Yield is a function that depends on plants happiness... which depends on heat and light among other things so...

Yield = fx(Room Temp, Light, Other stuff)

In this case, I have to think of which effect dominates over the other

Will I get more or less yield by keeping the temps down (a little) for X hours more at the cost of having the lights off for X hours.

Thanks!

 

[SmokeyMcFly]

It wasn't a specific article just stuff I have read in various grow journals. There is another forum that is dedicated to auto-flowers and I found a lot of good info there. I think i googled autoflower light schedule or something like that when I was researching it. With autos its a balancing act of how many hours of light to give it when. Of course it depends on the plant and autos can vary greatly in how long they take overall. If I wasn't sharing my tent with normal plants I would keep 18/6 until the second half of flowering when the plant has already done most of its growing and then I would drop it to 12/12 to get max potency. Potency also matters more to me than total yield so your goals will impact how you want to grow also.

Ignoring all of that for a minute. If you can't keep them at a comfortable temp then trying to get a perfect light cycle isn't gonna mean much. Environment is the most important thing in your grow. I wouldn't run the light more than 12 hours if it caused the temps to be out of control. Once you get the temps under control then I would start experimenting with longer lighting cycles to see how your strains do. Plus you will already have a baseline at 12/12 to compare.

I get about 16 hours of happiness out of mine right now then they droop for the night. I figure its bed time for them at that point and turing the light off at that time would probably be perfect for them right now. Although I am still running 18/6 lol maybe I should drop them down a couple hours now that I am thinking about it.

 

[b.real]

your plants don't seem to mind whatever temperature it is. a higher temperature actually increases metabolism/growth rates. again, I would do 14 hours on if you have an issue.

 

[Czecho]

Hi guys, time for an update!

I been watering the plants with plain water lately and I plan to keep doing this till I harvest. BTW, any thoughts on flushing before harvesting?

Well here are the pictures! I bought a magnifying glass... however I can't see the trichomes (or I have no idea what I am looking for ) Anyway, I tried to shoot some pics using it, its not as easy as I though.

Comments welcome! I will definitely need help at determining the exact moment to harvest.

One last thing, please take a look at the older gal... she has some kind of black/white dots in her leaves

Stay high.



Older gal

Younger

 

[b.real]

looking good. you have a couple weeks left so no rush. make sure those black dots aren't bugs.

 

[PerthPiper]

Hey Czech, great journal I'm a bit late but subbed. The LED is awesome by the way, I want one lol

 

[Czecho]

Hi All! Hope you are doing great.

looking good. you have a couple weeks left so no rush. make sure those black dots aren't bugs.

Thanks b.real, Ill take a look at the dots. What I am supposed to do? I mean... if it moves I kill it? I am afraid it might be eggs or something.

Hey Czech, great journal I'm a bit late but subbed. The LED is awesome by the way, I want one lol

Awesome! The more the merrier. Thanks for the comments, I love the LED light too. My setup is still a work in progress but I enjoy moving things around. Im now thinking in adding a cfl reflector (buying one) or figuring out a way I can do a CFL reflector that works for me. I wanted to do one that uses a tin pipe but I wasn't able to find one for cheap... they only sold me the whole piece.

 

[PerthPiper]

I know what you mean about pipe reflector mate, I tried the same sorta thing but with white plastic pipe. I put the CFL at one end and the plant almost covered at the other end. The light was so intense but the heat nearly started a fire lol a metal pipe could work though or you could just watch out on ebay for some cheap reflectors or cheap metal in your area

 

[PerthPiper]

Maybe even an XL soup can would do it?

 

[Czecho]

Hi guys! I watered the plants today and took extra big pictures of these leafs from the older plant... any clues?

As of today, I am running the exhaust fan all day long (and not only when the lights are running) to increase air circulation. On a side note, Its been raining lately and my humidity levels have been over the roof.

PerthPiper Ill keep you updated on the reflector, thanks for your thoughts.

Thanks!

 

[b.real]

odd. you said high humidity. is the soil real damp? is she drinking at all?

 

[Czecho]

Humidity is currently at 66% and I had highs of 70%+. What do you mean by real (really) damp? I had been watering only when the soil dries out.

I don't think it's shrinking... I'm pretty sure it's continuing to grow, thou at a slower pace.

Thanks,

 

[Czecho]

Hello guys... I just wanted to share my late (or early) Christmas present!

I havent used them yet... I am planning on using them for the last waterings w/ nutes of the plants. The big one is supposed to get its last nute watering in a couple of days. I need to get seringe to measure the 1ml.

Also... Im planning on putting a seed in water today and plant it tomorrow.

Stay high

 

[Czecho]

Hi guys!

Plants are doing relatively good but unfortunately they recently spent 24hs in the dark... electricity issues. I hope it wont happen again.

Please advice me, do you think Ill need to flush the big one prior to the harvest? and... how far away am I? (I was initially shooting for mid Feb)

Thanks

 

[b.real]

they look great! I think they'll need a little more than 2 weeks. I would start watering them with pure water or water with some lemon juice in it.

how many days in from pistil?

 

[Czecho]

they look great! I think they'll need a little more than 2 weeks. I would start watering them with pure water or water with some lemon juice in it.

how many days in from pistil?

Thanks!

Lemon juice is only to lower the ph?

The first pistils appeared during the first week of January. The plants will be in week 12 around mid February.

 

[b.real]

lemon juice is also good for chealting nutrients and making them usable by the plant.

I like to let my plants go 12-14 weeks from breaking earth.

 

[Czecho]

Note to myself, The seed germinated yesterday!

No more nutes for the big plant.

 

[Czecho]

Hi guys!

This is the formal presentation of Maddie. Say hello! The older ones are doing good... I take out some yellowish leaves now and then of the of the older one but she is scheduled to be harvest somewhere around next week so I am not too worried about it. I will be posting new pics soon.

I wanted to ask you...

- When should I transplant it? I was thinking when I start seeing the roots.
- It has two small set of leaves... do you think it makes sense to feed her? I will probably use Voodoo Juice today as its only micro organism.
- Do you think its a good idea to add more soil? less than 2/3 of the cup is filled.

Hope all your plants are green

 

[b.real]

I would add soil and transplant in about a week