My First Attempt With Autos

[goofyfoot]

Happy Saturday All..... I have a little shrub on my hands and she is staying LOW to the ground. I have had the lights rights on her since the start, on the 17th. Now I have moved them away and thinking of turning two of the side bulbs off, but really don't want to. There is only 20 watt difference's between the side mounted ones and the over head bulb.

I also planned on starting 22 or 20 on this Sunday and don't know if this will provoke her to start stretching. She has a tree trunk for a stem and a shit load of inner growth starting. I want to pony-tail her to get light in there. But my first attempt was awkward and did a little tear to one leave. I have battery charging for camera so no pic's till maybe later.

Tomorrow will be day 14 above ground and I am assuming that lights off and moving the bulbs outward will provoke her to sky upward. Will add pic's tomorrow and take it from there...Peace.....

 

[goofyfoot]

Here we go...... I think it is time for a new battery in camera?? One day it takes forever to charge the next time 1.5 hours it is all good?? Anywho this is her at day 13 and her second pony-tailing. She is so tight it is hard to wrap her up. That is why I think moving the lights outward and a 20/4 light schedule. Will help her stretch out, but she is VERY dense and has a thick ass stem. When I lift the dome off her after a CO2 bomb. She got the skunky funk going on....way cool.
...Peace.....

 

[goofyfoot]

Howdy All just a quick add-on as I was playing with her last night. She is very dense and hard to wrap pipe cleaner around and tuck in her leaves. I tore one leave a little my first try and felt I was a bit rough on her. If your in tight courters or have plants packed in close. It is as if you need a third hand and this little trick is just that. It is like a snare ( sorry PETA people) loop and once you open it with your free hand tuck in nodes. Then slowly pinch the bend and pull toward you to tighten. Reverse it to loosen and lift off her after session. It makes it A LOT EASIER and lessens the risk of damage or stressing her out. The first pictures with the twist, show what took me 10 minutes to achieve. Cursing the whole time!! Using the loop took only 2 minutes and I got a complete wrap of the node I needed and it was a tickle to her instead of bruising her up.

Then last two may look extreme but she likes the attention and the loop is quick and easy. Plus they are just like little kids very resilient and flexible. Pushing her hard with everything, not just the nuits. There is a fine line between bending and braking them. But doing it early only makes it easier for both of us later, and she will reward you for it!!

I also set the timers last night and she has her first lights off period today. Will see how this and moving the lights helps her stretch out over the next few days. ...Peace.....

 

[STIHL LOGGER]

Great job so far, well done! Hope all continues to go well

 

[goofyfoot]

Howdy All and got some good news today..... first pistil showed up over night. Very happy on that note and she is also staring to stretch out. Adding lights off time and moving bulbs away is helping that out. I forgot to get a picture of the roots but will do so next go round. The clear plastic container is making that possible. Nice and white like pieces of spaghetti!! I have Fox Farm nuits mixed to their specs for a gallon and bubbling, but cutting that by 1/2. The other half is a cal/mag and B-1 solution with "energy boosters" to make up the other half.

She is getting more water then most would probably feed but fanning her hard. And the CO2 bombs allow her to burn more. I slide a chop stick into soil and leave it over night. When I pull it up it is damp....but not wet or even dirty. Plus there is a 1.5 inch air gap at the bottom of the container. She is taking kindly to the handling and the little snare trick for pony-tailing her is a big help. It is so much easier to corral her nodes up with it. If anyone else tries it please let me know what you think.

These are from yesterday and today.............

I seen this as lights came on this morning......

...looking for love!!!


Weekends coming, see yah Sunday and...Peace.....

 

[goofyfoot]

Found this as it gives a fuller, more concise explanation of what the plant is doing with lights off....

Plants use a chemical calculator to divide their amount of stored energy by
the length of the night and thereby solve the problem of how to portion
out their energy reserves overnight.

Biologists from the John Innes Centre in England discovered that plants
have a biological process which divides their amount of stored energy by the
length of the night. This solves the problem of how to portion out energy
reserves during the night so that the plant can keep growing, yet not risk
burning off all its stored energy.

Green Earth Beauty: Photos

While the sun shines, plants perform photosynthesis. In this process, the
plants convert sunlight, water and carbon dioxide into stored energy in the
form of long chains of sugar, called starch. At night, the plants burn this
stored starch to fuel continued growth.

"The calculations are precise so that plants prevent starvation but also make
the most efficient use of their food," study co- author Alison Smith said in
press release. "If the starch store is used too fast, plants will starve and
stop growing during the night. If the store is used too slowly, some of it will
be wasted."

To give the foliage a math quiz, the biologists shut off the lights early on
plants that had been grown with 12-hour days and nights. Plunging the plants
into darkness after only an 8-hour day forced them to adjust their normal
nightly rhythm. Since the plants didn't have time to store as much starch as
usual, they had to recalculate their metabolism.

Beware America's Most Poisonous Plants: Photos

Even after this day length trickery, the plants aced their exams and ended up
with just a small amount of starch left over in the morning. They had neither
starved, nor stored starch that could have been used to fuel more growth.

The plants weren't doing anything consciously. Instead, chemical reactions
did the number crunching automatically. The results of the study will be
published in eLife, and can currently be read via the Cornell University Library.

The authors suggested that similar biological calculators may explain how a
migratory bird, the little stints (Calidris minuta) can make a 5000-kilometer
journey to their summer habitat in the Arctic and arrive with enough fat
reserves to survive only approximately half a day more, on average.

 

[Klovneposen]

your girl are really starting to get fluffy these last couple of days after a bit of pony tailing

 

[goofyfoot]

Just hit her hard with a stronger saturation of nuit's. I have finally been able to get to tuck branches using the fan leaves. She has/had such short stubby branch arms I did not want to brake them. She is starting to stretch making it possible and more pony-tailing on the way. Off to work for now..... thanks for the time and hope some of the info is a plus...Peace.....

 

[goofyfoot]

Howdy All and a little up date and pic's. She is doing her thing and not having any ill effects from upping her nuits. The next run on Saturday will be almost full strength. I give her 150-200ml PH'ed R/O'ed water first, wait a 1/2 hour. Then give her 400ml's of nuit juice, then when I come in from work. I repeat the first step over.... I think it lessens or more like makes it a little easier on her with out diluting nuit solution to much. She has no run out as I have been adding water to the catch pan to help raise humidity a bit. I have her container lifted off the pan so she is not soaking in it. The first pic's are from Sunday night( she was a bit dry) and this morning. One or two pic's show her root development, it is hard to get a good shot as the plastic reflexes back. But on one side of her container it almost looks like lightning...or spaghetti hanging off a fork.

I am tucking fans to expose bud sights and building layers. I have a trick that may help her instead of tying down branches. That will come and for now she seems happy and seeing roots develop in conjunction with her mass. I think she will start popping here as she is at day 23 from braking ground as seedling. That's the first 3 weeks and will see what the next two have in store, take a peek .... this first pic is last week

TODAY

Some root action....

That's her and will be back in a few days, hope all is well and green in your worlds...Peace.....

Forgot to add and it is hard to get a close up without it getting all fuzzy. I got scared at first but on three of the bud sights she is starting to get the purple color coming in. At first glance is was like shit, I thought it was a fungus or mold. Then remembered the purple growth that she has in her buds when developed fully....I use that as an omen for things to come!!!!

 

[Klovneposen]

hi man its starting to look awesome with all the training she's really buffing up. shes getting a thick ass stem also it seems

just a thought tho. Why don't you paint your plastic pot and avoid those algaes forming around the roots and also protect the roots from the light?

 

[goofyfoot]

Howdy and thanks for the input...... I did not even consider that and the algae just started as I upped her fluids. There were spotty patches at the very bottom as the heat in the soil and the cooling of the air gap created with the screen. Causes a line of condensation, good in the fact that it keeps the cut root tips from dying.

Now that she is getting 2 to 3 times the liquids twice as frequently it is coming on strong. I have tomorrow off and with cut some strips of cardboard to cover all four sides. In looking around for info it is a mixed bag on light hitting your roots. All main things were not letting them dry out or get skunky. Plus seen one site mention algae shows a VERY HEALTHY environment or that everything is processing correctly. But plant roots trying to grow through it not good. As it does not harm the tap root but inhibits the fine capillary threads from forming. Also my mom can and does grow ANYTHING from cuttings and water rooting. She lets they stay in direct sun light as the UV helps keep them from skunking out. Will clip the algae tomorrow with the free time. Would be and good head to head test for the next go round, do identical everything except clear vs. dark containers and see the results.

Thanks for the input and makes you wonder if that is why most pots are black...??
...Peace.....

 

[Klovneposen]

Howdy and thanks for the input...... I did not even consider that and the algae just started as I upped her fluids. There were spotty patches at the very bottom as the heat in the soil and the cooling of the air gap created with the screen. Causes a line of condensation, good in the fact that it keeps the cut root tips from dying.

Now that she is getting 2 to 3 times the liquids twice as frequently it is coming on strong. I have tomorrow off and with cut some strips of cardboard to cover all four sides. In looking around for info it is a mixed bag on light hitting your roots. All main things were not letting them dry out or get skunky. Plus seen one site mention algae shows a VERY HEALTHY environment or that everything is processing correctly. But plant roots trying to grow through it not good. As it does not harm the tap root but inhibits the fine capillary threads from forming. Also my mom can and does grow ANYTHING from cuttings and water rooting. She lets they stay in direct sun light as the UV helps keep them from skunking out. Will clip the algae tomorrow with the free time. Would be and good head to head test for the next go round, do identical everything except clear vs. dark containers and see the results.

Thanks for the input and makes you wonder if that is why most pots are black...??
...Peace.....

Algae is not doing much damage while it is green, growing and living. It is when it dies and compost and root out it becomes a problem. I don't know how big a problem it would be at the roots in a soil grow but in hydro wool for an example it can cause major issues as it is a breeding ground for fungus and bacteria. As soon as you cut of lights from algae they can't grow just like all other things living of photosynthesis.

regarding roots and lights it only seems natural to assume that a root coming across light (site of an clear plastic container) will be less productive in growth. why grow towards light if its your biggest weakness. The only plants i know that benefits from clear pots are orchids. Its be course they have air roots that needs to go toward light and up above ground.

 

[nugwrasslin]

Your plants are looking MAD nice dude.

They perked up quick! Super green.

 

[goofyfoot]

..

 

[goofyfoot]

Algae is not doing much damage while it is green, growing and living. It is when it dies and compost and root out it becomes a problem. I don't know how big a problem it would be at the roots in a soil grow but in hydro wool for an example it can cause major issues as it is a breeding ground for fungus and bacteria. As soon as you cut of lights from algae they can't grow just like all other things living of photosynthesis.

regarding roots and lights it only seems natural to assume that a root coming across light (site of an clear plastic container) will be less productive in growth. why grow towards light if its your biggest weakness. The only plants i know that benefits from clear pots are orchids. Its be course they have air roots that needs to go toward light and up above ground.

Most over the info I found on light and roots was concerning or mentioned hydro and soilless mediums. I have the sides of the container covered up and that is done. She is doing to good not to prevent a possible issue long term. As she will only continue to get more liquids to match her size increase. So would the algae's growth, thanks for the tip and ...Peace.....

 

[goofyfoot]

Happy Saturday All and a little photo update of her. She is starting to incorporate pre-flowering as well as banging out multiple bud sites. This will most likely be the last pony-tail session and will concentrate on keeping her opened up. Two different possible stress factors are not needed and the primary top is stretched out. I bent her down yesterday at 3:00 PM and after dinner~5:30'ish. I checked on her and she was already turn back skyward. She is very resilient and has a lot of energy. If I were to follow the Fox Farm watering guide it would call for Tiger Bloom to start in 7 to 10 days. I included 1/2 teaspoon into her gallon of bubbling feed. That is less the 25% of what it calls for following their schedule. Their not here, every plant is different and with the amount of bud sites and seeing each ones development stage. I figured why not.

She has the purple aspects coming in as well as a deep funk starting. I forgot about the purple in the buds and at first thought it was mold or fungus. Scared the shit out of myself. These are last nights after tying down and watering. Will water again on Sunday afternoon choosing a 3 day watering cycle with lighter volume, instead of 4 to 5 days and saturating. I have a mist bottle with a cal/mag supplement and minor amount of nuits as a foliar spay. She gets a good mist soaking of her canopy 3 times a day, it only takes a few minutes. She get moistened and a good way to prevent deficiencies with out getting soil to wet or over watering.

Check her out.........

BEFORE TYING...

AFTER...

A LITTLE PURPLE ACTION...

FAT STEM AND JUST STARTING TO "CRUST-UP" AT THE VERY BASE

That her for now and will see how she takes to being tied over the next couple of days. Thanks for stopping by and see yah in a few...Peace.....

 

[goofyfoot]

Howdy All........ for the most part Mondays suck, but not today. I guest she is liking the extra nuits with the Tiger Bloom. As she popped up about 3.5 inches over the last 3 days. And her little nugg's are F'in awesome. I had to re-tie a few branches and added a little trick to a few more.

I was laughed at Big Time the first time I had mentioned this to anyone. But the shit works well and so easy to move along the stems with NO STRESS. I got the idea a while back .... I was very stoned and starring at our Christmas Tree ornaments. NOW think to yourself how the branches droop down with them hanging on the ends??? Now cut pipe cleaners and slide egg shaped fishing weights on one end and bend over to secure. Then make a hook and apply it to the branch.... start with 1/2 to 3/4 oz. ones and then add split shots as needed.

It is to easy and the branches are allowed to sway with fanning and it is so easy to move them. Especially if you have a packed tent or cabinet and done want to keep moving them. Or tearing leaves and stressing them out. Try it before you laugh and thank me later....no shit!!. Anyhow here are some pic's of the bud sites and the color she is developing is AWSOME!!! She is not a monster (yet) but she is a very happy little girl!! ...Peace.....

THESE SHOW THE WEIGHTED PIPE HOOKS

I am happy she is doing well.......................

 

[goofyfoot]

Howdy All........ for the most part Mondays suck, but not today. I guest she is liking the extra nuits with the Tiger Bloom. As she popped up about 3.5 inches over the last 3 days. And her little nugg's are F'in awesome. I had to re-tie a few branches and added a little trick to a few more.

I was laughed at Big Time the first time I had mentioned this to anyone. But the shit works well and so easy to move along the stems with NO STRESS. I got the idea a while back .... I was very stoned and starring at our Christmas Tree ornaments. NOW think to yourself how the branches droop down with them hanging on the ends??? Now cut pipe cleaners and slide egg shaped fishing weights on one end and bend over to secure. Then make a hook and apply it to the branch.... start with 1/2 to 3/4 oz. ones and then add split shots as needed.

It is to easy and the branches are allowed to sway with fanning and it is so easy to move them. Especially if you have a packed tent or cabinet and done want to keep moving them, or tearing leaves and stressing them out. Try it before you laugh and thank me later....no shit!!. Anyhow here are some pic's of the bud sites and the color she is developing is AWSOME!!! She is not a monster (yet) but she is a very happy little girl!! ...Peace.....

THESE SHOW THE WEIGHTED PIPE HOOKS

I am happy she is doing well.......................

 

[Kushtie]

Coming along nicely although I'm not sure I'd be tying the side branches down at this stage as I think it might be taking you further away from an even canopy and higher yield....I'd be tying the tall bit down and trying to let the rest catch up.

 

[goofyfoot]

Hello and thanks as that was the next phase. For the most part she was growing as a shrub with all the lower branches trying to stay toward the main stem. Also the growth of the last 3 to 4 nodes was on top of each other. The bending moved them out away from her opening her up. They are already rebounding skyward and with her upper stem just now stretching in the last 2 days. That was/is my next step other wise she would be choked around her main stem, and I would have lost or reduced 8 bud sites that were smothered.

I am still feeling my way around her and her Auto ways. It was my first thoughts to do the main stem LST, but she would not let me. By Wednesday eve is her next feeding and will bend her then. Will undo the ties tomorrow when I come in from work. Her lights back on is 1:00 in the afternoon and almost the time I get in. Then let her go from there till the weekend. Thanks for stopping by and offering up the advice, even comparing her to other auto's for the same time period//days of growth. The other's were all a bit lankier and taller, but all is good and time will tell. Thanks and...Peace.....