Jon's First Outdoor Grow: Sugar Breath Photoperiod & Strawberry Banana Autoflower

[Jon]

Further Training on Michael, our Gelato Auto
She keeps giving me more to work with
No signs of flowering yet
Day 27

 

[Jon]

Gelato Budding
Day 28
Damn

I was hoping to get another week yet before seeing this. But no, it's true. I took a nap, and when I woke up she was budding. So are the other four Strawberry Bananas. WTF. It's only Day 28. Don't turn your back on your autos, they're damn sneaky. Oh well. Tomorrow, when the @NextLight 420h finally arrives, I will post a budding picture of all five plants. At least they all decided to start on the same day.

Here's the Gelato

 

[Jon]

The Third (and final) Photoperiod Plant of the Grow
Strawberry Banana Fast Flowering Feminized Photoperiod
Veg Day 1

Heh.

 

[Jon]

@NextLight 420h Unveiling!
Another Sponsor in Play
Autotown About to go from a Gremlin to a Lamborghini

No other way to begin this post except to say THANK YOU SO MUCH NEXTLIGHT!!!! Your 420h has arrived, and I can now integrate this light into the grow. We are going to place it in Autotown, where it has arrived just in time to take the autos from basically day two or three of flower all the way to the end. As mentioned in the banner, this is an upgrade on a level we don't have a scale for. But the blurples will not retire. They will be put to either side of this NextLight BEAST, and will operate on reds only for the duration of budding. Full spectrum from the 420h, reds from the blurples. I did this before and it works spectacularly well.

About this light, here's what I have on it so far, for the unboxing and testing:

- very well boxed, solid box, stealth packaging, well padded inside with enough cardboard and styrofoam
- VERY solid piece of equipment, heavy, extremely attractive
- LOVE the diode layout and separate connector cables from the driver to each light that are completely tucked away and provide not even the possibility of having to get a cable out of the way
- Dimmer works well, however, like the dimmer on another light I have, it is not incremented with slots, so it's just one continuous sweep knob with no reference markings, the dimmer cuts out with about 20% of the rotation still in play, this is of no consequence to me as my basic philosophy is What's a Dimmer? and I will never use the feature, lol
- of course it works perfectly with every diode functioning properly
- this light is brighter than the sun!!!!!!! I couldn't hold it up and get far enough away to post a picture, it was overwhelming my phone camera!!!! I will do so later when I post an update on the autoflowers with the new light
- did not come with an instruction or spec manual or cables to hang with, which again is no consequence to me as who needs an instruction manual to hang a light, especially one as easy and plug-and-play as this one is, I don't need to know the specs, I can find them online if I want, and of course I have extra hanging setups, but would be remiss to not mention

The light is a beast. THANK YOU AGAIN @NextLight, and thank you again to 420 and the folks here who voted for my journal and allowed me to win this light.

- how the light arrives upon opening the box
- back side of the light with driver
- lots of juicy diodes

 

[Jon]

@NextLight 420h in the Rig, from here on referred to as the NextLight Rig!!
Autotown's New Digs!
Day 30, October 12
Everyone is Budding!

Like I said earlier - from a Gremlin to a Lamborghini. (Any of you over 50 folks get the Gremlin reference?)

Here's the rig with the NextLight 420h in position with the blurples. This light is very white. Very bright. The girls are lit up like Christmas trees.

I have the three lights at the same level and the sum total of the lights and where the plants are results in me setting them at 1100 par or so. Sound too high? Betcha it's not. They're going to love it. I can look over in the yard and see the Sour Apple in spent soil getting hit with essentially all the light in the world and it doesn't bother the plant a bit. They'll be fine at 1100 I promise you.

Big jump. Lol. From about 750 to 1100. It'll be interesting to see how they react.

Now we can see what all the autos actually look like (better pics as promised). They don't look bad at all other than the fact that they started budding so early. Didn't give me time to train out nearly as many bud sites as I wanted. Damn autos. All unpredictable and sh--. Heh. The Gelato, Michael, is pretty grand, and the largest plant. BLS, the Strawberry Banana, not so symmetrical anymore and still the runt of the bunch. The other 3 Strawberry Bananas are about the same.

Here we go. Budding!

NON-BLURPLE Porn!!!

- The rig finished showing positioning of lights and height from tops of plants
- The five autoflowers currently inhabiting the @NextLight rig
- Gelato, aka Michael
- Strawberry Banana 1, aka BLS
- SB 2
- SB 3
- SB 4

Thanks very much @NextLight and @420! My plants thank you as well!

 

[Jon]

Pineapple Upside Down Cake Check In on Day 20 Veg
How's The Seedling Strawberry Banana Fast Flowering Photoperiod Doing on Day 3?

The PUC is doing fine, we have no issues with her. She's not long for the one gallon she's in. Her little friend showed up overnight out of nowhere, and please don't tell me my soil is too wet, I assure you it is not. But this is definitely a first, and when I saw it I laughed my arse off. Right before I pulled it out and wondered if I could toss it in with my omelet.

The Strawberry Banana Fast Flowering seedling.....well, I guess it's my turn to have one cotyledon. That tiny little green spot to the right of the leaf *might* be the second one trying to come out. I forget who just had this issue, but does anyone know what the fate of that one cotyledon seedling was?

I am beginning to get the feeling Jah is telling me to not pop a third photo for this grow.

Lmao.

1. PUC with her little friend
2. PUC top shot. Note the little bit of leaf curl. Also note that some of the leaves are and some are not. And not just the very top ones either. This happens on days when it breaks 90, which has happened a couple times in the few "Indian Summer" days we had so far in this plants 20 day life. You can practically see what days were the hot days.
3. A closer look at the little friend right before she got killed.
4. Our poor little one cotyledon Strawberry Banana FF "seedling." More like a "see...."

 

[Jon]

Some Changes in Phototown in the @Mars Hydro rig
Interesting Perspective Picture
Check in on our Namesake Autos in the @NextLight rig

Just in case I was only half right on the temperature/leaf curl assertion, and knowing that I don't really KNOW this FC6500 yet, I decided I was being a bit too aggressive for veg regarding the two photos. They're growing fast as hell and springing up like crazy, but I wasn't getting the pray, and I was getting a bit of leaf curl. Decided to err on the side of caution before I burn up my photos. I moved them both down a good bit. To a more humane level. Lol.

This allows for a very interesting perspective picture showing you the new positioning and the comparisons of the three plants you see. I got the plant level for the end of budding right, hell, they can even be closer than the Chunkadelic is. The Sour Apple Spent Soil plant is closer at night than the Chunkadelic is now, by a few inches. As long as they pray for more I give it to them. If I can't get a pray, I take some away. It's a reasonably decent visual check point on your lighting levels if you don't have a par or lux meter or app. I check my visual observations with the app just to be sure.

The pictures of the photos were taken a half an hour after a watering, so forgive their droop.

I also recall promising better pictures now that we have full spectrum light raining down in the NextLight rig. With that in mind I give you a budding check in on our namesake plants, the Gelato, aka Michael, and the runt Strawberry Banana, aka BLS.

Regarding the 420h, this is essentially a quantum board and I know these lights. The autos also got watered this afternoon and in another hour they'll all be praying to the NextLight. No issues with height/canopy in this rig. The plants are very obviously enjoying their newfound legit spectrum and wattage increase. Perfect timing relative to budding on the autos.

Please enjoy this rare event of Jon using his brain for a change.

1. Perspective shot and new positioning of photo plants
2. Michael (Gelato auto)
3. BLS (Strawberry Banana auto)

 

[Backlipslide]

Hey Jon! My apologies on the late response. (Face palm)
So I always top above the fifth node right? Then remove the bottom two internodes leaving three in tact. Tie the top node down, tie the second node down in the opposite corners as the top nodes are. Then fill the void spaces with the last two branches on the bottom internodes. I have no problem cutting a few foliage at the point of the plants life because she will always grow more.

Once it’s tied down, you let er’ buck… the middle will slowly fill in. I also veg’d for a good 90 days or longer. So the trick is, is to not rush it, be patient and enjoy the process. Don’t be afraid to trim (lightly not excessive) because if you give enough time for veg the plant will always grow more.

See if I can find some pictures to better explain my process.

 

[Backlipslide]

Actually right now, isn't a good time for me to be searching for photos as I’m about to head into work. What you can do though, is you can always clone the tops, or any cut offs you get and make a completely new plant so you don’t just “waste” the “bud sites”. I have a great tutorial on how I do my hexline training end cloning in my latest journal. It’s located in my signature, and it’s also highlighted in my signature as “this is how I like to clone”

I wish I had more time to chit chat!! But I know you’ll be able to find it

 

[Jon]

Actually right now, isn't a good time for me to be searching for photos as I’m about to head into work. What you can do though, is you can always clone the tops, or any cut offs you get and make a completely new plant so you don’t just “waste” the “bud sites”. I have a great tutorial on how I do my hexline training end cloning in my latest journal. It’s located in my signature, and it’s also highlighted in my signature as “this is how I like to clone”

I wish I had more time to chit chat!! But I know you’ll be able to find it

Thank you Bill! I appreciate the info! Of course you make it sound so easy. Lol

 

[Prairiedog]

I love how organized you are! ❤
It's looking like winter is on top of us already eh!
So much dank , so little time!
Suberoony!
Namaste

 

[Jon]

State of Play
Up Potting Complete
Autoflowers Day 32
Pineapple Upside Down Cake Photo Day 21
First Application of @GeoFlora Nutrients
Next Application 10/28
Raspberry Parfait Photo Day 32

- Autos in the @NextLight rig
- Photos now both up potted in the @Mars Hydro rig

 

[Jon]

Friday Porn Photo Special

- Autos in the @NextLight rig flying on day 33
- Photos in the @Mars Hydro rig RP/33 PUC/22

Let's all do something cool this weekend.

 

[Jon]

What About Our Little One Cotyledon Friend?
Strawberry Banana Fast Flowering Photoperiod
Day 5

??????????

 

[Jon]

Autotown through a Very Unique Filter
From the Sometimes the Bear Gets You Files

- @NextLight rig of autoflowers as seen through a filter
- The source of the filter

 

[Jon]

Photoperiod Update
Raspberry Parfait
Grow Day 35
Flower Day 1!!!!
First Application of @GeoFlora Nutrients Flower
Next Application: Why, All Hallows Eve, October 31st....heh? Lol

The Raspberry Parfait is 25 inches tall as of this morning. She is in spectacular health. She has an excellent overall structure. I'm loving her consistent, Christmas tree shape. Her main stem is super sweet and she's growing like crazy.

The idea has been to not train this plant in the least so I can see how it grows left to it's own devices outside. So what you see is in some significant part the result of two excellent sponsor products, the @Mars Hydro FC-E6500, and the @GeoFlora Nutrients Veg Nutes. This plant absolutely LOVED both of them and has shot up as such in only 34 days. Thanks so much to both of these sponsors and their impact so far on this grow. And sorry, Mars Hydro, your light is great but the one 93 million miles away I get for free is better. Lol.

So today I moved her outside and gave her the first application of flower nutes, along with a thorough watering. I didn't just top dress, I dug around the plant as deep as the roots would allow and loosened all that dirt and then mixed into that the 2/3 of a cup of flower nutes, then watered her well. And outside into the full sunlight she went!! Now she lives outside and whatever comes her way is what comes her way. Heh. I can easily move her around a little throughout the day so that for those hours she's always getting prime sunlight, and at the end of the day I put her in her permanent spot and she's done.

Man is this exciting. I'm hoping to finish with a plant about 7 feet tall, which I can handle, harvest myself, and effectively check closely for things like bud rot and such. If I were walking, for the record, I would not yet be putting this plant outside to flower today. Lol. I'd let her get infinity big. Heh.

My girl needs a name. I'm entertaining suggestions if anyone is interested.

Here's three shots of her first day in Flower. And one of the sunlight agreeing with her.

 

[Jon]

Sometimes the Bear Gets You #2

 

[Jon]

@NextLight Auto Rig Check In
BLS Focus
Day 37

Today was watering day for the Strawberry Bananas. It was also the first and only time I give the plants a non-organic "boost" despite that they're in Sohum and supposedly need nothing but water. That said, even Sohum says that depending on the strain, your plants may need a boost in early budding. I tried this boost idea on the Sour Apple that I just harvested and it worked out nicely.

So all four Strawberry Bananas got watered and they all got the following frothy brew, measurement by the gallon. For the record, I took a shot with the Sour Apple completely flying blind on this. So now I'm one plant removed from flying blind. In other words, still can't see where I'm going. Lol.

- 2 Tsp Tiger Bloom (Fox Farms)
- 1/2 Tsp Grow Big (Fox Farms)
- 2 Tsp Big Bloom (Fox Farms)
- 1/4 Tsp Beastie Bloomz (Fox Farms)
- 1 scoop Easy Weed Soluble Seaweed Supplement
- 1 scoop CalMag Pro Formula with microbes
- 1 Tbsp. Blackstrap Molasses
- 2 Tbsp. Terpinator
- 5 ml. PK 13/14 (Canna Nutrients)

All that got ph'ed to 6.3. We'll know soon enough if I get a few yellow tips or worse. Heh. They'll be fine.

Anyway, so rather than show all the plants, I decided to show you the Strawberry Banana BLS today. That is @Backlipslide's dedicated plant, and in his spirit, the goal of this plant was symmetry. I could see early that the center cola would come directly straight up the middle, and that left me five colas to mess around with. I tried to get five equally spaced colas around the center cola, and for them to all be the same height. The picture below shows how I'm doing on that so far. This strain has thick, almost greasy leaves. The indica pheno, which I think I got one of, is the most pronounced in this regard. Even the lower fan leaves feel thick and greasy. The most sativa like pheno, which I think I also have one of, is only a little less greasy feeling. This is a good thing, so don't confuse my use of the word greasy, that's just how they feel. The other two SB's I think are the hybrid phenos, BLS is one of those two. Also greasy, and the two hybrid ones seem to be forming their buds faster than the other two. Anyway, that's my uneducated take on the phenos of the four SB's.

Here she is, BLS, in her almost symmetrical glory, lol:


-

 

[Jon]

What Happens At Night?
@NextLight Rig Autoflower Photo
Day 37

I'm not completely insane, just partially. I do have respect for my neighbors, despite having little to none for the popo or government or big business. The last thing I want to do is attract attention or answer a bunch of questions. So I have to take certain steps once the sun goes down or else my lights shine and light up the entire pond and all the houses around it. At least enough to generate emails. The people in this godforsaken place write the home owner's association an email if the house across the pond has it's living room lights on too late. Yeah, it's like that. It's one of the things I love about growing here. I get to say "fu-- YOU" to a bunch of retired people with nothing better to do than get into other's business. Jerks.

Anyway, here's two pictures.

1. This is what I have to do at night to get away with this.
2. This is what the NextLight Autotown Rig looks like at night with the autos FLYING. To get this picture I had to maneuver my new wheelchair into the space to the left of the entrance to the rig, right beside the sliding glass door, and then use the lift to raise up until I was high enough to shoot the picture from the little open space you see on the upper left side of the auto rig entrance. Lmao.

I will now smoke weed I grew in my house and did not pay for that's better than all the weed around I CAN pay for.

And I will get high on that alone, every time, until the day I die.

HEH.

 

[Jon]

@Mars Hydro Rig
Pineapple Upside Down Cake Photoperiod Check-in
Day 27 Veg

This plant is loving the spectrum of this light. She's vegging beautifully. Her fan leaves are already so heavy and huge they can't really pray up for a while after she gets watered, as she just has been in this picture. Her color is magnificent. She has a translucent quality that is quite intoxicating to look at live.

When this plant hits 2.5 feet tall she joins the Raspberry Parfait in the yard. Another week maybe or so. She's growing very quickly and obviously loving the @GeoFlora Nutrients.

Wow, did I hit the mark using these two sponsors for this grow. Thanks MH and GF guys! Awesome products.

Here she is from a couple perspectives.