My First Attempt With Autos

[goofyfoot]

Happy Thursday All and some pic's from the last two days. Tuesday night I bent her main stem WAY down. Almost a super cropping or MMA arm bar move on her ass. I left the hanging weights on through lights off. Then took them off Wednesday afternoon when her lights came back on. This opened up 8 bud sites and now she has a ridge bone with 8 more exposed. She is not pretty but she should grow into a stable canopy. Plus those hanging weights pop on and off so easy I can continue train each branch separately or daily. Till she stops vegging and is completely in flower. She also got her second saturation of "almost" full mix of Fox's nuits. On Wednesday eve.

I have been adding them at pH at 6.35 since seedling. I gave her 3/4 gallon of juice in 3 doses over a 2 hour period. It was about 10~15 minutes after the last dose that she gave back almost 3/4's cup. I checked that with pH tester and it read 6.05 to 5.96 flickering back and forth. So this was the first fluids she ever passed through. But also the most fluids in a feeding also. She has some minor tips showing browning, but pic's show she is taking to nuit strength well. Saturday night I will give her 3/4 a gallon of straight water at 6.5pH for a "safety flush", as I feel better safe then sorry. Then going balls to the walls after that I wont be nervous. She gets misted 2 to 3 times a day with a cal/mag /6.5pH water till dripping. Never really worried about run off before, but also never went this heavy with nuits this early. But full photos are a different beast. I would run them 24 on for 5 to 6 weeks and you have time in your favor. As for a newbie with these, all is good and I am happy she is not dead or floundering!!! I think it is a tough strain and any success is 75 persent because of her, allowing me to figure it out.

Everyday she is different and also has 12 to 14 inner branch nodes developing hard. I just keep tucking what I can to expose and cant wait to see what tomorrow brings after lights come back on. Time to charge the battery and get ready for Friday and Saturday pic's.

Also to add, right now 4 of the 5 bulbs are 100 watts the main over head is 125 watts. It and the two horizontal ones are 6K spectrum and the two vertical ones are 5.5K. I have five bulbs to switch to for flower, the main one is 250 watts at 2.7K spectrum two 65 watt at 2.7K and two 85 watt at 3.5K spectrum. I am thinking about swapping out the two verticals and popping in the mid-range flowering bulbs after the flush on Saturday. It maybe to soon but I don't know!! I also seen a few other journals with combo/multiple spectrum bulbs or LED's. Supplemented with 6K CFL's. Just thinking out loud!!



Enjoy the weekend and ...Peace.....

 

[Kushtie]

You're getting plenty growth anyway. ..hopefully a sign of fat buds to come as she gains momentum. The bigger she gets the better you should do if CFL works anything like HPS.

 

[goofyfoot]

Howdy All and Happy Sunday. Just gave her a good soaking of go-go juice and swapped out two 5.5K bulbs for two 3.7K bulbs. There is a small wattage difference but the redder spectrum may help sites develop. While still giving her a good dose of blue spectrum from the others while she does her thing. A few pic's to show what she has been up to the last couple of days.....

THIS LAST SHOT IS FROM TWO DAYS AGO AND GIVES A GOOD IDEA OF HER GROWTH. COMPARED TO THE FIRST TWO OVER HEADS FROM THIS AFTERNOON

I can see her starting to pick up some speed and just waiting for her to stretch out more. Have a great week and see you on Wednesday... unless something major develops...Peace.....

 

[goofyfoot]

Happy Thursday, Just a few more pic's to show progress. She is not growing up, but the little nuggies are sure filling in nice .... To add, of the 5 CFL bulbs running 6K to 5.5K spectrum@ 575 total watts . I switched out 3 of them, so it is now. Two bulbs running 5.5K@ 200 watts and three at 2.7K/3.2K @ 400 watts total. I still have two more 2.7K's to apply but giving the two 5.5K veg bulbs more time on her as I don't know what she is doing.

STARTING TO GET SOME GOODNESS ON THEM!!

...Peace.....

 

[goofyfoot]

Happy Sunday All...... Just waiting till lights on Monday to get a few new pic's. She is filling out as far as her bud sites. Though she remains low to the ground, I have had the CFL's on her the whole time and did give her a big bend in the main stem. Still if left to grow on her own she would be about 18-20 inches tops. As the site info has her as a 70 to 90++ (cm) ....a far cry from their specs. I am not bitch'in as it is more energy to nuggets instead of stem and trying to move fluids the extra length. Having them within inches instead of 14 -16 inches away, may have something to do with it.

I also gave her a major flush to get her run off to above a 6 pH number. I have been balls on 6.4 to 6.35 with every fluid she has received, regardless of what was added to it. Even her mist bottle water is adjusted. In giving her extra to get a run off the last 5 samples all but one. Has been 5.95 to 5.82/5.79 pH // with the one at 6.02 pH.

I used 3 gallons of R/O'ed water pH to 6.8 it took 3 hours to feed her it. The first two gallons the 4 times I checked the pH was below 6. Half way through the final gallon it was 6.10 and the last 12 oz. sample did make it to 6.31. So in three days I will see what she spits out.....

My question is that in soil it is recommended 6.8 to 6.5 but most run as close to the cut off of 6.2. So I start the solution with full dose of nuits at say 6.35 and feeding 1 gallon to completely saturate. She gives off 12 oz's and the pH tester is showing 5.92/5.89 had one down to 5.79 Theses are numbers that should be spot on for hydro or on the high-end of the scale. Though some choose 5.6 to 5.3 for their reservoirs if kept cool, below 70*

Should one expect a reading below 6.0 as normal?? She is LOOKING GOOD and my thought is that decomposing moss and the micro's and bacterial bugger's waste in the soil are the main reason for the below 6.0 readings. Just wondering if you start with a 6.5 solution, should you get something close to that back. Or is there a ph level // FOR THE RUN OFF // that most feel comfortable with. Any input or shared links to info would be appreciated. It has been 6 hours since I did it this afternoon and will see her in the morning before work and lights off are 9:00 AM. Then after 1:00 Monday afternoon when her lights come back on. Maybe it will give her a boot in the ass, we will see. Thanks for stopping and...Peace.....

 

[spacef]

As the site info has her as a 70 to 90++ (cm) ....a far cry from their specs

For me, this has to do with the CFL : the penetration is weak, and plants cannot grow more than what a CFL allows. I think that after 60cm (2 feet), a CFL is useless (at 30cm, 1 foot, it is already half of the intensity of the CFL). So may be the plants remain short because they remain within the capacity of the CFL. I mean, if it was a HPS or something like that, they would probably grow bigger, at a size that is simply impossible to reach with CFLs because of the nature of the CFL itself.
I've switched to leds, so I will have a proof of what i'm saying (or not ))

 

[millertm]

So, I use FFOF soil and feed at 5.5 to 5.7, off feed is at 6.2 with organics. I'll never give my plant anything greater then 6.3.

Auto AK, 377 true watts, T5, CFL.

Rock on brother.

Cheers

 

[goofyfoot]

Hello All and Happy Sunday...!!!!

It has been a week since last pic's and comments but......
She had finished any upward growth 4/5 days ago. As this is day 48 for her braking ground Jan 17th. After last Sundays super flush she just sat there till Thursday but in the last 2.5 days. VERY significant and fresh batches of pistils exploding from all bud sites. Her way of saying I am done with veg and flooding the flower gates!! I have all lights red spectrum and right down on top of her. Her nuits are just Epsom Salt a splash of calcium and Fox Tiger Bloom.

She is really getting dense and smells like heaven!!!!! I try not to touch her but in tucking her branches on the lower ends is very lemony with a caramel/honey smell. Her main nuggets are the shit!! It is more of a pungent tangerine as when you tear the rind in peeling it, plus dark rich chocolate smell. It is the best way to explain it, no shit it makes you want to rub it under your nose!!! F'in heavenly aroma!!!

Will watch her and see what 2 to 3 more weeks does for her, take a peek....

Thanks for stopping by and ...Peace.....

 

[Kushtie]

Looking fat, juicy and awesome

 

[goofyfoot]

The smell is awesome, like tangerine/lemon Pledge Furniture polish and brownies!!!

Next run will most likely be with a combo Metal Halide/HPS bulb and ballast. It is the only thing she was/is missing, that good kick in the ass. I got the nuits and pH figured right and eased off on them a bit. The 5 CFL bulbs at 100+ watts each (545 total) produce almost 28,000 to 32,000 lumens. Where as the ballasted bulbs of 600 watts are rated at 78,000 to 85,000 lumens. VERY BIG SQUINT FACTOR DIFFERENCE!!

My goal was a very healthy and HAPPY Plant and I think I have got that done. Two more weeks and I think she will be happy to reward me with her treasures. ...Peace.....

 

[goofyfoot]

Hello All it has been a bit since last post but really not much to offer up. She has her best days behind her and any energy she does have is in the "final" steps. She is yellowing out and only a few white pistils are forcing their way out. I feel the 30'th will be chop-chop time. I will give one last just water soaking and pull the trigger next week.
I did learn a lot from her and the next go round will involve a ballasted light system. This was not only my first Auto flower, but first totally subsidized light. Over the last few "indoor" grows I had the ability to build a clear box and have them receive sunshine from 8AM till 2 or 3 in the afternoon. I would then move them inside for the rest of the lights on period.
This made up for the lessened lumens of the total supplied CFL's. I am not upset or let down as she is a very healthy plant with very deep, dense buds. But the next time she will produce baseballs instead of golf balls.

These pic's are from a few days ago and will post a few from right before chopping her. Then after drying.......been a great ride but time is nearing an end... Happy Easter to You ALL and ...Peace.....


I been putting her in the south window for 2 hours daily, if possible. She loves it a it wakes up her musk in 5 minutes. I cant wait to have access to a green house for 8 to 10 hours, then 8 more hours inside.

 

[MassMedMan]

Nice job, plant look great!

 

[millertm]

Beautiful flowers, great job

Cheers

Sent from my SPH-L720T using 420

 

[David Bowman]

Hope all is well in your world.

Thanks for sharing this grow with us.

Please head over to the 420 Strain Reviews forum and post your smoke report there too.

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Sending you lots of love and positive energy.

 

[budrunner]

Thanks for posting up your work