BlueGreen's 4 Strain Autoflower Grow

BlueGreen · Dec 11, 2018

Thanks for stopping by! I built a little tent out of 2x3s and plastic. Exhaust fan on top, blow fan clipped to one of the corners. Currently, there's just a 45w led hanging over the pots. Seedlings just tiny right now, and one of them has yet to stand up straight. Before long, I'll hang a 450 led over them.

I have 3 grow lights besides the 45w starter panel. 2 450s and a 600. All by viparspectra. Last grow, the 600 handled one Bloom tent, the 450s worked together overtop some Green Crack. They're good lights. Currently, one 450 is working in the Veg tent, bringing up the blueberry and durban poison I have in there. The 600 is idle, as is the other 450. Looking forward to getting some buds again!

The autoflower strains are from crop king seeds. They are NYC Diesel, Jack Herer, Auto Cheese, and Early Miss. I germinated 8, and all 8 came up. Paper towel method. I'll show you a picture, but you can't even see the seedlings. Give you an idea of the tiny grow space. Going to be a sea of green in 1 gallon pots. Never flowered in such small pots before, but my goal is to grow short plants with one main cola each. The other plants have more room, so they're going into 2 gallons. I found on my last two grows that the leds simply didn't pull enough water through the 3 gallon pots, and watering was restricted too much for me. Anyway. Small space, small pots, small plants on a 20/4 light schedule.

The plan is to pollinate 1 each of these 4 strains with pollen from the blueberries I'm growing. Fingers crossed i get a couple males! The resulting seeds should give me some very cool pot plants down the road.

Wish me luck!

24x30 grow tent

Alienpus · Dec 12, 2018

Good luck.

BlueGreen · Dec 15, 2018

First real drain to waste feed today. As all advice out there says to go easy on the nutes, this feed had only RapidStart in it. I'm really concentrating on the roots this time, because I failed to do that last time and ended up with some problems. 750 ml each into 1 G pots. Probably got a cup of runoff. The autos are all nice and green, with the co2 emitter and the rooting solution. I'm expecting to see some nice changes in the next couple of days.

BlueGreen · Dec 15, 2018

BlueGreen · Dec 23, 2018

Slow progress with the Autos. They're growing, but slowly: I guess I'm just impatient, I forgot about the long wait with seedlings as opposed to using clones. At any rate, they're all green and healthy and gradually putting in some effort. Looking forward to the exponential growth to come!

They now have 2 450w LEDs over them, both set on Veg for blue light. I'm having a hard time getting the humidity up, as the tent basically just shares the air of my living room. I know the humidity will go up as the plants grow and process more water. Maybe I should turn off one of the 450s for now? Bring the temperature down so the humidity goes up?

Today i watered them. They were nice and light and dry. Doing my best to avoid over watering. They are all in 1G pots. Each received about 600 ml of nutrient solution. The mix was:

Sensi Grow a&b, .5 ml per L
RapidStart, .25 ml per L
CalMag, 1 ml per L
Sensizym, 1 ml per L
B52, 1 ml per L.

These ratios are modified from the directions on the bottle. All are about 1/2 the suggested amount. Last grow was seriously threatened by overfertilization, as for the main components i used the full amount.

The EC going in was 0.5. Runoff EC was 1.1. Pretty much exactly the same as it worked out with the Blueberries and Durbans in the other tent, so I might be doing something wrong but at least I'm consistent

.

Next watering, no food.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what these things will doo. Never grown Autos before.

You can see i use mainly advanced nutrients. I watched some YouTube videos by a guy called The Grateful Grower. He grows amazing plants and runs advanced so I decided to try them. Next thing i knew, I had at least 10 bottles of their stuff. I think I might have a problem!

BlueGreen · Dec 23, 2018

Recently, I found my bottle of B52 in the cupboard where I had forgotten it since last grow. I added it to the seedlings in the other tent, and they started to really take off. Hoping to see the same in here.

The coco I'm using is the same stuff I used last crop. After harvesting those Green Crack and Black Indica plants, I thoroughly flushed the coco and let it dry out slowly. Then I added perlite, which I did not use last time. Because I'm reusing the coco, I added Sensizym to the mix in order to break down any old fragments of root matter that may still remain.

Every grow, things get better.

BlueGreen · Dec 26, 2018

Today i rinsed half of the Autos. I only have one fan in the Auto tent, and it is non oscillating. As a result, the plants on one side of the tent tend to dry out faster. I took those 4 and poured a nutrient rinse through them. It consisted of 0.2 EC SensiGrow a&b, RapidStart, b52, procal, and Sensizym. Everything at reduced quantities except the Sensizym and b52, both at 1 ml per liter.

After putting 1 liter of this rinse solution through the pots, I found the runoff was about 0.9. I added 500 ml of straight water to each one, and was able to get the runoff EC to 0.5. I can live with that. Being a lot smaller than the Blueberry plants which I also rinsed today, I wanted to get the EC down quite low, whereas with the Blueberries I was content to stop at about 0.8. It's a balancing act.

BlueGreen · Dec 26, 2018

Rinsed the other autos along with the Durbs today. EC in was 0.3. The runoff was 0.6. That was not too bad, so in the spirit of not overwatering these little plants, I decided not to go any further.

So far, i find that the plants which are lagging behind have a higher runoff EC. It makes sense: less-developed roots cannot send the nutes up to the plants. So whereas you might think a smaller plant needs more nutes to catch up, what it really needs is a good rinse and the chance to develop its roots more.

I heard of the concept of rinsing instead of outright flushing when I burned my plants last crop and needed emergency fix. The idea is that you don't want to just wash out everything in the coco including the kitchen sink. You want to make sure that a manageable concentration of nutrients remains so that the plant can clean itself out and have what it needs to do repairs. That's why i mix up a solution with a low EC. I was able to save my crop that way last time. And this time I will use this technique throughout the grow.

Greenhouse Seeds from Holland have a bunch of great YouTube videos of them growing phenos of the strains they sell. In every one, they recommend that on day 16, 30, and 44, give or take, each plant be thoroughly rinsed like this (they call it flush with EC 1.1) and then allowed to thoroughly dry out. They do this 3 times in each flower cycle, and their plants are outstanding. I'm looking forward to the same kind of success.

The first picture is of the two auto cheese, looking more or less the same.

Next up, New York city diesel, which looks a little darker than the early miss in the third picture.

BlueGreen · Dec 29, 2018

Even though it has only been a few days, I found that 3 of the plants needed a good drink. The pots were light as a feather.

I mixed up a light solution.

SensiGrow a&b, 0.5 ml per L
Procal, 1 ml per L
RapidStart, 0.25 ml per L
Rhino Skin, 0.5 ml per L
B52, 1 ml per L

The EC going in was 0.4. Each 1G pot received about 600 ml. The runoff EC came to 0.7. Considering I was getting 1.1 previously, I'm going to say that the light rinse they got the other day really helped.

Shown are the two stars of the grow, both Auto Cheese.

I've also adjusted the fan in there. Trying to get on top of this issue in which half the plants dry out while the others are still wet and heavy.

BlueGreen · Jan 5, 2019

So far, I'm afraid the Autos are letting me down. They are mostly good and green, but still so short despite never having been topped. They've been growing for a month and as yet I haven't seen a single pistil. I had been vegging them in blue spectrum LED, but the other day I added the reds. I don't have anything to compare them to, but these viparspectra have been good to me so far. Anyway, I thought they might flower sooner if I added the red side of the spectrum. I didn't change the light cycle, just the spectrum. They're still on 20/4.

I think part of the problem is that I haven't been able to get the relative humidity up past 35 or 36 %. The frame is a simple 2x3 frame with a plywood cap and plywood floor. The door is a simple piece of panda plastic. The thing leaks light like crazy and shares the air with my living room. If I'm going to keep doing this, I might need a humidifier.

Also, they are small because they're in small pots. I am going to go the distance in these 1 gallon pots, sea of green style, but that's because I was getting greedy with wanting to grow more than a couple strains at once. Maybe next time, just a couple big smart pots and a couple plants.

Live and learn.

These pics show the auto tent, one of the Cheeses, which are biggest, and an Early Miss. I think i see some leaf discolouration, but overall, they look good, with close node spacing and a nice healthy appearance.

BlueGreen · Jan 5, 2019

Maybe I could help things along if i add some Bud Ignitor next time i feed...

BlueGreen · Jan 6, 2019

These little things are really letting me down. Not only are they shrimpy, but they're also starting to develop ugly spots on lower leaves.

I thought it over. Originally, I wanted to keep these 8 plants together, crowding them in a very small space. Partly, this was due to lack of space. Now, however. I have freed up some space in the Veg tent by giving some Blueberries to my gf. So today, everything changed.

I potted up from 1 gallon to 2 gallon pots. I have read that with autoflowers that's not recommended, but i did it anyway. The transfer went smoothly in every case, as i found the roots were very well established. First time using RapidStart, and i am sold. It's no wonder the plants were using so much water!

Here they are in their new arrangements. The Veg tent is comfortably full and I think i Might have seen a pistil on one of the Diesels. Each tent has one of each strain. There's also a cheap co2 emitter on the floor there.

I kicked the EC all the way up to about 1.5 on average. What the hell, I think it will be ok and help the plants deal with the changes.

The Veg tent is running full spectrum, so I'll just leave the Autos in there to finish out. Approximately 18/6. The Auto tent is on 20/4. Be interesting to see if there's a difference in yields in the end.

Fingers crossed!

BlueGreen · Jan 7, 2019

Whoever said that Autos don't like to be transplanted is spreading misinformation haha. After only one day, all my Autos are responding very well and every one is already bigger and more healthy looking. Having increased the EC seems to have been overdue, judging by the quick response of these girls, telling me that I was wrong to underfertilize (which is the most common advice i could find about growing autoflowers, which I have never done before).

Also, adding the red light spectrum was the right call. After just a few days of red, I'm finally seeing pistils. Early bloomers are the NYC Diesel and the Early Miss.

Given that the Autos are just for variety and interest sake (plus the cbd in the Cheese), I'm not going to train them for yield at all. No lst, no topping, just let em go and see what they do.

Now that I'm starting to see flowers, I'm inclined to switch to a bloom regimen with the nutes. However, they're still very small, so another week or so on Grow is probably a good idea. Next watering, i will add Bud Candy to the mix.

In these pics, you see first of all the Cheese, which is the most robust of all the Autos. Second, the Diesel, which showed the first preflower. Third, the Jack, which is looking good.

BlueGreen · Jan 7, 2019

Early Miss...

BlueGreen · Jan 9, 2019

Throughout this grow, i have found that the plants require feeding at different times. Has to do with air movement, particularly in the Auto tent.

Still, only two of the Autos are showing me pistils, an Early Miss and NYCD. They are all loving the Sensi Grow, and the EC going in is about 1.6. After i return from my work trip next week, i will switch over to Bloom nutes. However today i fed 2 plants and added both Bud Ignitor and Bud Candy to the mix. I found they don't actually adjust the EC very much.

I have gotten up to 2 ml/L of the Sensi Grow, and the EC never comes out above 1.4. To adjust it upward, i have been adding just a pinch of epsom salt. It's very easy to overdo it with this stuff! But the plants seem to really enjoy it. I should add that I have not checked the pH even once during this entire grow. Not even once! Thanks advanced nutrients, you've made my life a little easier.

Cheese

left to right, nycd, Jack, early miss

the Auto tent

BlueGreen · Jan 18, 2019

After a week I came home to find these Autos had grown a lot! Having sent my Photos into flower, I now have two terms with Autos. In one, the Jacks and the NYCDs. In the other, the Early Miss and the Cheese. They are all in early flower except the Jacks. The jacks are so slow I actually decided to cut clones from it as an experiment. One NYC Diesel is taller than all the others, so i squeezed the main stem about 4 inches down from the top, lightly going for a supercrop on that one. We'll see.

Ordinarily, i top and train my plants. With these Autos, I decided to simply watch and see. It's interesting, but for now, i will say I don't like the long internode spacing. Ah well. I did cut off at least the 4 lowest branches from each plant, trying to concentrate the growth into the topmost buds. This also gives each plant a bit more breathing room, as the lowest branches also stick out the furthest to the side.

BlueGreen · Jan 19, 2019

Now that the Autos are all in bloom (mostly), I'm going to switch from Grow nutes to Bloom nutes. Staying with Advanced Nutrients. What I have is called Connoisseur, their highest grade base nutes. Also adding Bud Factor X, Bud Candy, Big Bud. Looking forward to seeing these things get big!

BlueGreen · Jan 21, 2019

Today I decided to put the Jacks in my other Bloom tent with my photoperiod plants. They were nice healthy green plants with great structure, but with the other Autos about 2-3 weeks in, I am starting to think the autoflowering characteristics of this jack strain may not be able to manifest in these phenos.

The following pictures show the Jacks in their new home. One is right in the center, the other is in the back corner opposite the fan.

BlueGreen · Jan 21, 2019

Now the Bloom tent is way full, and the Veg tent has only 2 plants in it, the NYC Diesel. They look healthy, one has a crest on top. Not a big fan of the long internodes, but they should stop stretching soon.