Auto Guerilla Grow - Scotland

[Glasgrow]

The time has come guys for a new journal on this year's grow. Making ammendments to last year's grow so hoping for a more sizable harvest. I have a few strains:

1 x granddaddy purple
4 x ak 49
5 x chocolate skunk
3 x kc 45
2 x pineapple express
2 x dark devil
2 x green poison
1 x white widow
1 x original amnesia

They are all autos apart from the granddaddy purple which is a photo period. This will be grown in a 2L pot on my balcony and will be force flowered. Perhaps get 5g from it if i am lucky but yield isnt an issue on this plant though.

They have all sprouted taproots since yesterday morning so will be placing into 1" rockwool cubes tomorrow. Will update more tomorrow with some pics.

 

[Pennywise]

Im in for this one

 

[ginganinja30]

Subbed in bud ...

 

[Kushtie]

Good luck bud

Fingers crossed we get a good summer this year.

 

[Glasgrow]

Been a busy bee this morning/afternoon. Most things have gone ok and a couple of errors.

Here the seeds am growing and the nutes i will use for entire grow. No point in veg nutes as they are autos apart from the granddaddy purple, this will get enough nutes when in soil for first 4 weeks then will force flower and switch to bloom nutes.

Rockwool cubes were soaked 3 times in plain tap water (water left overnight to evap chlorine) and then soaked last nite with 1/4 strength nutes and a drop of lemon juice to bring ph down. After being left to soak with nutes i then soaked again with plain water. Getting differing opinions as to using nutes to not using nutes in initial growth in rockwool - it has nothing yet if growing in soil it has nutes so makes sense to have something in the rockwool.

I miscounted the number of seeds i germinated so had to soak another cube while i was prepping everything else. Only room in my propogator for 20 seeds so had to put the granddaddy purple in a small pot of soil. All equipment was sprayed with anti-bac, rinsed and dried.

Now the bit i really messed up. While transplanting into the cubes i snapped a taproot on a kc45, that was right at the hull of the seed. Not enough taproot for it to survive but it has been planted anyway so will wait and see what happens as it may pull through. I also clipped the taproot at the very end of 1 green poison, perhaps by about 1mm so this should be ok.

Seeds all now transplanted and now in the propogator. Will leave them in darkness for a day or two till i switch on the light which arrived this morning. Only 15W LED with 165 red LED's amd 60 blue LED's, not very strong but for the first couple of weeks this should help eliminate stretch which i had last year - not enough light on kitchen windowsill.

The next part i really need advice on. Feeding with rockwool cubes. How often do i feed? I know it will be water for the first week then will add nutes at 1/4 strength. I will measure out water/feed and pour over each cube individually so they all get the same amount.

Once each cube has an established root system i will then transplant into 3" pots with soil mixed with perlite. Hope this will take around 2 weeks. Once this has happened i will then begin the stage of hardening off. I then hope to get my babies out to their new home in around 4-6 weeks time. This is now day 3.

I think i have covered everything that i have done so far. If i have missed anything i will add it later.

 

[NuttyProfessor]

Good luck , subbed

 

[Glasgrow]

I forgot to mention that i am thinking of placing a hot water bottle underneath the propogator. Would this be counter-productive or would it be beneficial? It would act as a heat mat and obviously i would need to water a bit more.

 

[Pennywise]

Looking good so far, im about to start my autos for outdoors.

 

[Glasgrow]

Looking good so far, im about to start my autos for outdoors.

Will be following when you start it. Where in the world are you based?

I now know where i went wrong with transplanting. I should not have let the taproots get as long as they did. As soon as the shell has cracked and a tiny root is showing that is when i should have done it. Less likely to break the root and so much easier to push a bit further into the cubes. Have read that as the seed rises there is friction caused against the growing medium helping the seed casing to shed much quicker. A valuable lesson has been learned.

 

[Pennywise]

Im US, still have 3 - 4 weeks before i plant outside.

 

[Lady G2HM]

I'm sub'd! I use my heating pad under when germinating. .

 

[BoomShakalaka]

subbed, I made the same mistake with some of the taproots (first time using rockwool myself) I didnt break them, but they did lift themselves out pretty quick and were not very sturdy. They recovered though, tough little buggers they are

Mine were bagseed, and first run in 8 or 9 years, so just wanted to screw around and figure things out again. Didn't care what came up, so i just left about 1/2 inch of water in the bottom of the propagater to keep all the cubes wet. probably better ways of doing it though.. lol although all 12 did grow, but three grew upside down in the rockwool and died, so I have 9 in veg

 

[Glasgrow]

Im US, still have 3 - 4 weeks before i plant outside.

Well in the US you are likely to have better weather than here, unless you're based in Seattle which rains 9 months of the year, lol, so you would require a cover.

I'm sub'd! I use my heating pad under when germinating. .

I would use a heating pad if i had one but i dont so am having to improvise, no money to buy one. A hot water bottle will need changed regularly to keep it warm.

subbed, I made the same mistake with some of the taproots (first time using rockwool myself) I didnt break them, but they did lift themselves out pretty quick and were not very sturdy. They recovered though, tough little buggers they are

Mine were bagseed, and first run in 8 or 9 years, so just wanted to screw around and figure things out again. Didn't care what came up, so i just left about 1/2 inch of water in the bottom of the propagater to keep all the cubes wet. probably better ways of doing it though.. lol although all 12 did grow, but three grew upside down in the rockwool and died, so I have 9 in veg

Dont think it would have been wise to leave water sitting in the propogator as you could have drowned them. It ok to experiment with bagseed and if works then great. I am going to let my cubes dry out a bit before watering them. Not sure how 3 grew upside down. It is the the plant's nature for the root to grow down while the seed heads up the way. I read somewhere recently that when planting the seed when the taproot shows that you plant with the root pointing up the way, i think that sounds very counter-productive and most people would plant with the root down the way.

Will have some more pics later. Had a quick check last night before i went to bed and in the space of a few hours some seeds had risen. The light is doing its job and am leaving it on 24/0 rather than leave a day or 2 in darkness.

 

[ginganinja30]

It would be awesome to be able to grow outside here Glasgrow.

Sometimes it feels as if summer was just a rumour someone made up in Scotland ..
...

 

[Glasgrow]

All seems well since yesterday. Put in a hot water bottle earlier under the propogator but the tempa shot up to 86F so swiftly removed it. Waited a while and placed back in when it a bit cooler and now sits at a comfortable 76F.

This is the seedling which had the taproot had snapped off. Showing some signs of life and can see the cotelydons sitting under the surface. A day or 2 longer will show if it will make it or not. The other plant where the taproot was slightly damaged has not been affected. Most plants are now above the surface and some are an inch tall.

 

[Glasgrow]

These plants are really taking off now! Unable to leave the top on the propogator so has been removed as you will see how tall they are now.

I had to turn some of the plants round as they are stretching towards the light and upon doing so some of them have roots poking out of the bottom. These will need transplanted tomorrow into soil mixed with perlite. Will also be adding an oscillating fan into the mix tomorrow as well. The stems need strengthening as they are very spindly. Did read that i could wrap the stem around the rockwool cube before placing into the soil thus reducing the amount above the soil. Not sure if i will do this as knowing my luck i will probably snap the stems but may try with 1 to see how it goes.

The plant with the majorly broken taproot:

Showing some signs of life. Plant is attempting to make its way upwards but VERY slowly i may add. Will just need to leave it to its own fate and hope for the best. Will probably end up very stunted but at least it not dead.

 

[greengostarr]

Fuck me, Scotland is the last place I would think to do an outdoor guerilla grow, especially with the frosts and snow on the way.

When transplanting, you can bury them in the soil/perlite mix up to their necks to avoid issues with spindly stems. That way you won't damage them by fucking around with other fixits.

 

[Glasgrow]

Fuck me, Scotland is the last place I would think to do an outdoor guerilla grow, especially with the frosts and snow on the way.

When transplanting, you can bury them in the soil/perlite mix up to their necks to avoid issues with spindly stems. That way you won't damage them by fucking around with other fixits.

Well there is a cold snap that has arrived but it wont last long. I wont consider hardening off till the temps are more stable and definitely not putting outside until there is warmer weather. Mid may - end of may will be ok.

Only problem with burying plants all the way up the stem means bigger pots which i do not have. I have 3" pots and that will need to do. Also bigger pots require more room thus meaning more problems transporting to the site as well. Transplanted all the seeds earlier into compost/perlite and buried as far as i could for support. Will post pics tomorrow. I can always do what i did last year and make splints for the spindly stems, that worked a treat last year after a plant got blown over in the wind and snapped almost clean across the stem. I buried that in soil, made a splint for it and it survived.

 

[greengostarr]

Shame you've already transplanted them. Burying them deeper does not always necessitate bigger pots. The stems should be supple enough to stuff them in without breaking them if your hole is wide enough. Obviously, the initial tap root isn't, as you've already seen, but the longer stems should be. Speaking of which, that one looks like it's going to pull through.

 

[Medicinal guy]

Looking good.Cant wait to see results.Good luck.
Nice to see more Scottish growers. Im always seeing the weed legalisation issue being talked abt and acted upon in the US but here the issue seems to be static and weeds stuck in the same class as valium etc.