Jon's Second Grow, First Grow Journal, Soil Grow Autos & Photoperiod

[Michael Hunt]

Pretty exciting stuff man Those little ladies look so happy under that screen.

 

[Jon]

Big Autoflower Update
Day 33 (4), Day 25 (2), Day 21 (3)

Okay, this morning I checked the autos for water and did what was necessary there. Then I moved all the plants out of the way as well as the screen and fixed the tears in the reflective floor of my tent. I ended up with a space in the middle that has no reflection, no problem at all, but I was sick of little pieces of mylar moving around and crap. I'll repair it permanently after the grow. Then I took each plant individually and did a very small amount of targeted defoliation on them. Mostly I took just a few sugar leaves that were blocking lower buds and couldn't be tucked, and a few of the gigantic fan leaves on the bottom that were no longer getting any light. The result is that all the plants have better air flow through them and have all viable bud sites exposed directly to the light. MAN are there a fricking TON of bud sites on these little girls. I can scarcely believe my eyes. The Gorilla Zkittlez is starting to frost up (she was the first plant to go to budding) and her buds are growing visibly every day. The buds are going to need support. She is also starting to smell. The odor this morning in the tent was stronger than yesterday and was the first time I didn't have to "wonder" if I was starting to smell it. DAY 33! I just can't imagine what is going to happen in there over the next month, but I'm pretty damn excited to see it go down. I think maybe I'm becoming a fan of autos.

So after that I placed all the plants into their final positions in the tent, as they are growing up through the screen at my desired set height. It was time for them to assume their positions. That was an interesting set of choices to make. I am well aware of what my blurples and UFOs do in terms of where and how and what they cover, so I basically gave the plants that are currently well into budding now the best spots and situated the plants still vegging in the remaining locations. (There's only one way to set up nine plants in a 5x5, which is three rows of three in a square. Anything else is trying to reinvent the wheel) All the plants are centered on their little platforms and the screen is taped in it's final spot. There are a few branches already through the screen so I have begun to separate them in the squares. Then I repositioned all four of my fans and did what was necessary to make sure that all nine plants are getting sweet air flow. Currently that is from the tops and sides. If this screen actually fills out with leaves and it becomes necessary (it will at some point) I will reposition fans as necessary and have two from the top and two from below. These girls will never want for moving air, that's too easy for even me to screw up.

The four autos that are on Day 33 and budding are getting a nutrient mix of 50% Grow Big and 50% Tiger Bloom. With the next nutrient watering they will also get a mycorrhizae watering treatment and will begin to get unsulphured blackstrap molasses added to every watering through the end of the grow. I will closely monitor the Ph levels once the molasses enters the mix as it can have an effect on your Ph that needs attending to. The five that are still vegging are getting 50% Big Bloom and 50% Grow Big. All the plants are getting a watering to runoff with clear water and CalMag plus Iron about every third non-nutrient watering. I do this more as a preventative and because my understanding is that processing 22 hours of light per day drains them faster than normal of these and it is a good idea to replace them throughout the grow. I've been doing this since the beginning and have zero issues with these plants. All nine are incredibly healthy. So I'm going with the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" theory.

I have readjusted my temperature and humidity levels as well. Now we try to create an environment that favors maxing out these sweet ass bud sites I've got going on. So it's AC around the clock time, and now we start using the LOW and HIGH AC settings. This allows me to maintain a temperature of 68 - 70 degrees with the lights on and allows me to get it all the way down to 63 degrees with the lights off if I flip it to the HIGH cool setting. I have begun to do exactly that starting when I go to bed, so they get nice and chilly (63.4 degrees when I opened the tent this morning) for around six hours per 24 hour period. I am trying to stress them just a little bit during a logical amount of "night" time (the six hours I'm referring to) by lowering the temperature as much as I dare. These guys are tough and handled it with zero issue, I actually watched them come up as the temperature did, which was amazing. But in theory this should help me develop color, trichomes, and terpenes. The five plants still in veg will handle this with no issue, and they are very close to starting to preflower and veg themselves, so very soon all nine will be budding and I will worry a bit less. The humidity also comes down with that cool, dry air, and I am able to maintain it at about 40% with the lights off and about 45% with the lights on. (Isn't that interesting? I thought it was. The lights temperature actually affects your humidity in a measurable way. Good to know.) I'd like to be able to get it all the way down to around 30% for when I have nine plants with significant buds on them, but I'm sure I can move the air enough to let it go at 40-45% and they'll be fine. That said, I know myself and I suspect that will not satisfy me and I'll be buying a dehumidifier in the next few days. Lol. But certainly they are okay for now.

So there you go, that's the involved update, and now for some pretty good autoflower early budding porn:

Photographs:

- Gorilla Zkittlez overhead view post defoliation
- Gorilla Zkittlez side view post defoliation
- Cinderella Jack overhead view post defoliation
- Cinderella Jack closeup budding cola
- Pineapple Express still vegging but WOW
- Lemon still vegging but WOW
- Autotown post defoliation/post screen installation front view
- Autotown post defoliation/post screen installation side view
- Autotown post defoliation/post screen installation opposite view

That's it for now from Autotown. Now we watch the fun begin. If anyone is following this and has specific autoflower experience, I'd love to hear any feedback one may have on how I'm doing so far with these and if there's anything I'm not covering that might be a good idea. It is greatly appreciated.

Enjoy, and Happy Growing everyone! In a couple hours I will have an involved update from Phototown.

 

[Jon]

Big Photoperiod Update
Day 44 Veg

If you would have told me before I started that on Day 44 these plants could still be happy and healthy in one gallon pots, even starting in Dixie cups, I would have laughed at you and asked if you were insane. That's cuz I'm an idiot. But I'm learning. Not sure they'd still be in the ones if I hadn't stalled them a week, probably not, but that's still 37 days and I would have thought the same thing. So once again I will pay homage to both @Emilya and @Backlipslide for their guidance and advice, as both of them have had a significant impact on where this grow is at the moment (along with others as well, every bit of input helps). Regarding transplanting, the most important thing I got from both of them, to be honest, was to BE PATIENT. To WAIT until the pot is bone dry before watering again, NOT when the top two inches are dry. To WAIT until the pot drains in 24-36 (closer to 24, preferably) hours before transplanting even if it looks like that's impossible. You know...patience stuff. I'm getting better at overcoming my own natural horrid tendencies.

So since it was finally the case that all pots were draining to bone dry in less than 30 hours today was transplant day. I simply followed the exact same procedure as I did when I transplanted into the ones, with the exception (obviously) that I actually had to take the plant out of the pot instead of simply lifting the two already cut sides away. That, I now realize, is the ultimate test of whether or not you are transplanting at the right time - the roots. I do this solo and it takes two hands and as much as I love you guys I am definitely not so enamored that I'm leaving my roots exposed to light for more than the necessary few seconds. LOL. So I don't have root pictures. But, I had a fully white coating of roots that covered the entire pots top to bottom, including the bottom, but with none of it yet wrapping around each other in any way. The dirt/roots stayed completely together (maybe a 5% dirt loss in the process) and were just a bit moist. The bottom roots were white as well. The 24-36 hours drain before transplant I now know is a very reliable way to gauge readiness to transplant. I repeated the exact same procedure for all five photos. Obviously I released all ties and sticks and removed them before I transplanted the plants. Then, for their transplant water, I gave them their first dose of their new veg nutrient mix, Botanicare Pro Grow for Veg. The long winded explanation for the nute switch is in last night's post. But they will get this and only this for the remainder of veg until I flip them.

After all that I repositioned my fans so that all the plants are getting the air flow they need. I decided to keep the lights where they are, which is still 18" above the top of the tallest cola. That's 6" higher than the manufacturer tells me to have them at this point. Same par pretty much as they are already now adjusted to. I'm going to let the plants grow into the light at this point. (Not literally, @Michael Hunt, lmao) The manufacturer says once they are at a comfortable level, if you are happy with the way your plants are stacking, allow the plants to grow vertically and they will "settle" at the right level. Well, that level is higher than they have to go anyway, as the screen is not going to be all that much higher than they currently are. So for now the lights stayed as they were. My nodes are stacking very tightly and I don't want any more stretch than absolutely necessary at this point.

For me, that entire process took about four hours with cleanup. LMAO.

So all that's left is to install the screen, which will happen tomorrow morning, and all the shit work is finally finished. Now I can actually start to have some fun.

Here's the results. A picture is worth 1000 words. This picture was taken a couple hours after I was completely finished and the tent zipped back up. I'll post one tomorrow with the screen installed and to compare to 18 hours or so post transplant.

Thanks for stopping by guys. Have a great weekend!

 

[Emilya Green]

Excellent work!

 

[Michael Hunt]

Wow i cant believe how much that little one has flowered already

Hehehe i swore up and down we wouldnt reach the light this time around. I hope for your sake they behave themselves a little better than ours have lol.

 

[Jon]

Wow i cant believe how much that little one has flowered already

Hehehe i swore up and down we wouldnt reach the light this time around. I hope for your sake they behave themselves a little better than ours have lol.

Ha! Glad you knew I was only joking with you, not ragging on you. Lol. Yeah, the autos are going nuts man. The tent now smells like weed!

 

[Jon]

Photoperiod Update:
Day 45 Veg

As promised, today I finished the crap work. Scrog screen is restrung and installed. It's hard to tell in the pictures, but the distance from the top of the dirt to the screen is 18". The tops of the plants are approximately 6-8 inches from the screen as we speak. I doubled up the number of squares in the screen after speaking with @Emilya, who basically made me realize that a screen with four inch squares is not a screen, but a trellis for support only. So these squares are two inches and there's a ton of them. The frame of the screen is screwed into the legs so the entire thing is solid. It couldn't fall if I tried to make it fall. First grow I never did that, and I had a few close calls. Not this time.

Right now is approximately 24 hours post transplant. I don't even think the plants know they got transplanted. I haven't seen one wilting leaf or any other sign whatsoever that they are doing anything but loving their new homes. After transplanting 14 plants this grow, 5 of them two times, I am pretty much sold that the idea that a transplant "stresses" the plant is complete bullshit. It only stresses the plant if you don't do it right. Not one of my 14 plants showed even an hour of stress on any of their transplants.

Photographs:

- Phototown front view screen install
- 3 of the girls 24 hours post transplant
- The other 2 girls 24 hours post transplant

Happy Easter everyone (if you celebrate such things)! More importantly, Happy Growing!

 

[Bud Love]

Photoperiod Update:
Day 45 Veg

As promised, today I finished the crap work. Scrog screen is restrung and installed. It's hard to tell in the pictures, but the distance from the top of the dirt to the screen is 18". The tops of the plants are approximately 6-8 inches from the screen as we speak. I doubled up the number of squares in the screen after speaking with @Emilya, who basically made me realize that a screen with four inch squares is not a screen, but a trellis for support only. So these squares are two inches and there's a ton of them. The frame of the screen is screwed into the legs so the entire thing is solid. It couldn't fall if I tried to make it fall. First grow I never did that, and I had a few close calls. Not this time.

Right now is approximately 24 hours post transplant. I don't even think the plants know they got transplanted. I haven't seen one wilting leaf or any other sign whatsoever that they are doing anything but loving their new homes. After transplanting 14 plants this grow, 5 of them two times, I am pretty much sold that the idea that a transplant "stresses" the plant is complete bullshit. It only stresses the plant if you don't do it right. Not one of my 14 plants showed even an hour of stress on any of their transplants.

Photographs:

- Phototown front view screen install
- 3 of the girls 24 hours post transplant
- The other 2 girls 24 hours post transplant

Happy Easter everyone (if you celebrate such things)! More importantly, Happy Growing!

Great job that matey.

 

[Jon]

Great job that matey.

Thank you sir!

 

[Backlipslide]

Excellent work!

This! ^

great freaking job Jon! You’ve definitely taken all the knowledge out there, took it for what it was, and ran with it. Bravo man! Excellent write up as well! You are correct! Patience is everything!

 

[Jon]

Musings on lighting:

So this morning I checked both tents for light levels at the tops of all the plants. I used my Korona app with the diffuser and it's very accurate. I already knew this, but a par meter will really expose the deficiencies in your lighting, or the lack thereof.

In the photo tent, with the new 650 watt bar-type light, I have even readings across every plant of right around 800 par. The range as I moved around the tent varied VERY little - a testament to the light - we're talking 780-820. I could pump it up by moving the light lower, but after my early experience of having it too close and burning the plants, I am not going to do that. If not having a little more light costs me a couple grams in yield so be it. They seem ecstatic where they are, so we'll leave it for now. 800 is plenty of par for veg.

In the auto tent under the blurples and UFO's it's a completely different story. These blurples do GREAT in their sweet spot. Tons of light, pretty good blurple full spectrum, and the plants respond very well to it. The problem is, their range is so small compared to a bar (real) light. So I have the autos in three rows of three. Four plants are budding, and they are the ones in the center strip of three, right down the middle of the center of the lights above. The par readings I got in the center strip on the three budding plants in that row were 1150-1240 par. That's pretty high, but should be very good for budding. I would have left them there. But then I measured the other two outer rows. Even augmented with the UFO's, the par readings in the two "outer" rows was around 700 - a range of 640-730. In one of those rows, in the middle, is the fourth budding plant. The other five are going to be in bud shortly. So I decided to raise the light a little bit - I raised it about 4 inches. The hope was that while that would lower the numbers in the center strip of three, it would make the outer two rows get more par, ie, better lighting. And indeed that is exactly what happened. After raising the lights, the center strip numbers were in the 920-980 par range, and the outer rows are now getting more like 750-800 par. Basically by raising the lights I evened out the par numbers a little across the entire canopy. While I'd like higher numbers on the budding plants, I'm finding that with some autos in bud and others not, it is necessary to make some compromises.

ONE OF THE LESSONS I'VE LEARNED IN THIS GROW: Growing different strains under the same conditions in a tent is WAY more difficult and involved than if I grew just one strain. All the strains will have slightly different requirements. Versus growing one strain where if you have a problem and identify it and correct it, it is corrected for all the plants cuz they all have the same requirements. It's fun and I like the challenge, but I suspect in the future I will get better yields by sticking to one strain at a time in a tent. Perfect that strain if I like it alot. That's what all my experienced grower friends told me, and I ignored them all and said "no, I can do it." Lol. This idea I had that by choosing plants that have the same flowering time I would be growing plants that had similar veg patterns and similar budding patterns was simply....WRONG. The same flowering time may or may not be the case, but it's certain that just cuz they flower in the same time doesn't mean they will grow the same way. Not by a mile. I'll put that lesson in the Encyclopedia Britannica of lessons I'm learning, cuz there's a trillion of them. Lol.

Happy Sunday.

 

[Bud Love]

Musings on lighting:

So this morning I checked both tents for light levels at the tops of all the plants. I used my Korona app with the diffuser and it's very accurate. I already knew this, but a par meter will really expose the deficiencies in your lighting, or the lack thereof.

In the photo tent, with the new 650 watt bar-type light, I have even readings across every plant of right around 800 par. The range as I moved around the tent varied VERY little - a testament to the light - we're talking 780-820. I could pump it up by moving the light lower, but after my early experience of having it too close and burning the plants, I am not going to do that. If not having a little more light costs me a couple grams in yield so be it. They seem ecstatic where they are, so we'll leave it for now. 800 is plenty of par for veg.

In the auto tent under the blurples and UFO's it's a completely different story. These blurples do GREAT in their sweet spot. Tons of light, pretty good blurple full spectrum, and the plants respond very well to it. The problem is, their range is so small compared to a bar (real) light. So I have the autos in three rows of three. Four plants are budding, and they are the ones in the center strip of three, right down the middle of the center of the lights above. The par readings I got in the center strip on the three budding plants in that row were 1150-1240 par. That's pretty high, but should be very good for budding. I would have left them there. But then I measured the other two outer rows. Even augmented with the UFO's, the par readings in the two "outer" rows was around 700 - a range of 640-730. In one of those rows, in the middle, is the fourth budding plant. The other five are going to be in bud shortly. So I decided to raise the light a little bit - I raised it about 4 inches. The hope was that while that would lower the numbers in the center strip of three, it would make the outer two rows get more par, ie, better lighting. And indeed that is exactly what happened. After raising the lights, the center strip numbers were in the 920-980 par range, and the outer rows are now getting more like 750-800 par. Basically by raising the lights I evened out the par numbers a little across the entire canopy. While I'd like higher numbers on the budding plants, I'm finding that with some autos in bud and others not, it is necessary to make some compromises.

ONE OF THE LESSONS I'VE LEARNED IN THIS GROW: Growing different strains under the same conditions in a tent is WAY more difficult and involved than if I grew just one strain. All the strains will have slightly different requirements. Versus growing one strain where if you have a problem and identify it and correct it, it is corrected for all the plants cuz they all have the same requirements. It's fun and I like the challenge, but I suspect in the future I will get better yields by sticking to one strain at a time in a tent. Perfect that strain if I like it alot. That's what all my experienced grower friends told me, and I ignored them all and said "no, I can do it." Lol. This idea I had that by choosing plants that have the same flowering time I would be growing plants that had similar veg patterns and similar budding patterns was simply....WRONG. The same flowering time may or may not be the case, but it's certain that just cuz they flower in the same time doesn't mean they will grow the same way. Not by a mile. I'll put that lesson in the Encyclopedia Britannica of lessons I'm learning, cuz there's a trillion of them. Lol.

Happy Sunday.

Hey @Jon
Hope your days as good as mine is here.
Write ups are brilliant mate.
I’ve found on some autos, the different pheno’s alone can make the girls look like they come from a different place.
I’ve fed em the same, the light was the same, medium the same. Ended up with 4 or 5 different looking, different smelling ladies.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still very much a noob. It was only my second grow.. and I made all the mistakes noobs could make , and then some.
The next grow I went for northern lights just to try and give myself a chance and keep a bit of uniformity. There was still a slight difference in 1 of the 4. 3 of the girls had reasonably sized, reasonabley dense nugs.
The slowest of the bunch to come through looked the best of the lot, and I couldn’t wait to give her the chop..her buds turned out light an fluffy and I’ve no clue why.
I was helped an encouraged along the way, by the good chaps an chapetts from the 420 of course.
Hope you don’t mind me piping up matey
Peace an buds to ya

 

[Jon]

Hey @Jon
Hope your days as good as mine is here.
Write ups are brilliant mate.
I’ve found on some autos, the different pheno’s alone can make the girls look like they come from a different place.
I’ve fed em the same, the light was the same, medium the same. Ended up with 4 or 5 different looking, different smelling ladies.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still very much a noob. It was only my second grow.. and I made all the mistakes noobs could make , and then some.
The next grow I went for northern lights just to try and give myself a chance and keep a bit of uniformity. There was still a slight difference in 1 of the 4. 3 of the girls had reasonably sized, reasonabley dense nugs.
The slowest of the bunch to come through looked the best of the lot, and I couldn’t wait to give her the chop..her buds turned out light an fluffy and I’ve no clue why.
I was helped an encouraged along the way, by the good chaps an chapetts from the 420 of course.
Hope you don’t mind me piping up matey
Peace an buds to ya

Thanks so much for the feedback and please pipe up whenever you like! Only my second grow too, and yeah, without the good folks here I'd be in significantly worse straits than I am. Honestly I almost consider my grow a team grow cuz I'm leaning so hard on the forum. Lol.

So I'm clear, you DID find a bit more uniformity growing the same strain it sounds like, yes? I'm starting to think autos just kind of have a mind of their own. If I grew five of the same photos, within a few weeks I would know exactly what they needed. They will do what I tell them to. With autos they just laugh at me and tell me to fuck off and feed them.

 

[Bud Love]

Thanks so much for the feedback and please pipe up whenever you like! Only my second grow too, and yeah, without the good folks here I'd be in significantly worse straits than I am. Honestly I almost consider my grow a team grow cuz I'm leaning so hard on the forum. Lol.

So I'm clear, you DID find a bit more uniformity growing the same strain it sounds like, yes? I'm starting to think autos just kind of have a mind of their own. If I grew five of the same photos, within a few weeks I would know exactly what they needed. They will do what I tell them to. With autos they just laugh at me and tell me to fuck off and feed them.

 

[Bud Love]

hey mate
I meant the different phenos in the same strain. Whether or not, that’s just poor quality seeds, I don’t know. Think Emylia said something about the quality of the seeds at the time.
I thought at the time if i went for something like NL, as it was only one step up in the evolutionary ladder ( Afghan-Northern light)
It should be more consistent in timing and appearance through growth an flowering.

 

[Jon]

hey mate
I meant the different phenos in the same strain. Whether or not, that’s just poor quality seeds, I don’t know. Think Emylia said something about the quality of the seeds at the time.
I thought at the time if i went for something like NL, as it was only one step up in the evolutionary ladder ( Afghan-Northern light)
It should be more consistent in timing and appearance through growth an flowering.

I figured that's what you meant, as did I. I think there will always be phenos, regardless of genetics. My buddy who grows for 40 years in Oregon and now professionally tells me the idea of a stable strain is true to an extent but only to an extent. There will always be phenos, and sometimes on purpose. I don't at all think it's a bad thing. I had three different ones in six plants in my first grow. But they were still the same strain. I don't worry about nute uptake, light tolerance, or any of that if they're all the same strain regardless of phenos cuz the differences in the things that concern me are gonna be minute or nonexistent.

 

[Bud Love]

Thanks for takin

I figured that's what you meant, as did I. I think there will always be phenos, regardless of genetics. My buddy who grows for 40 years in Oregon and now professionally tells me the idea of a stable strain is true to an extent but only to an extent. There will always be phenos, and sometimes on purpose. I don't at all think it's a bad thing. I had three different ones in six plants in my first grow. But they were still the same strain. I don't worry about nute uptake, light tolerance, or any of that if they're all the same strain regardless of phenos cuz the differences in the things that concern me are gonna be minute or nonexisten

Thanks for taking the time to put me straight @Jon
Cheers bud

 

[Jon]

Thanks for takin

Thanks for taking the time to put me straight @Jon
Cheers bud

Lol. I ain't got the experience to set anyone straight, my friend. But I'm learning!

 

[Jon]

Photoperiod Update
Day 46 Veg

I went out after Easter dinner to check the girls and when I opened the tent (it had been several hours) my jaw hit the floor. I'm not going to say anything here except that I'm going with, yeah, they fricking like their new homes, cuz this is a literal EXPLOSION of growth compared to anything I have seen yet. This picture is 30 minutes ago.

Hope y'all had a great holiday. Go Sixers, go Phillies, and what happened to my Flyers? Heh.

 

[Michael Hunt]

Photoperiod Update
Day 46 Veg

I went out after Easter dinner to check the girls and when I opened the tent (it had been several hours) my jaw hit the floor. I'm not going to say anything here except that I'm going with, yeah, they fricking like their new homes, cuz this is a literal EXPLOSION of growth compared to anything I have seen yet. This picture is 30 minutes ago.

Hope y'all had a great holiday. Go Sixers, go Phillies, and what happened to my Flyers? Heh.

Happy Easter Jon! Man do those girls look good