Another super update Dutch!
Dutchman's Auto Quads Vs LST With A Critical+2.0 Twist!
- Thread starter Dutchman1990
- Start date
Quads looking super! You see what I mean when I say they seem to barely slow down if everything is done when they are healthy and starting to aggressively grow? Yours are a great example of that Dutch!
- Thread starter
- #63
Thanks for the positive feedback Penny! I’m really looking forward to seeing how this grow turns out compared to my first Autoflowers! We should see some huge improvements along the way!
Thanks a bunch Ase and seeing first hand what you mean by that is very exciting and an awesome learning perspective. It shows me for future quads what to look for before topping and when you have a strong plant it won’t be slowed down by the process of topping or removing the nodes.
You are doing everything just right and your understanding of the process is spot on! Keep it up Dutch!
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- #65
Thanks a bunch Magoo! I’ve got all of you to learn from so it’s a blessing !
I feel the same way about this place.
Killian
Well-Known Member
Nice journal. I'll have to sit in on this grow.
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- #68
Hello Killian! Thanks for joining! Grab a seat and blunt and enjoy!
Congratulation on the MOTM nomination again Dutch! 
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- #70
Congratulation on the MOTM nomination again Dutch!
Thanks Shed! Appreciate it!
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- #71
- Update Day -
Crystal Candy Autos #1 and #2
Day - 6
Pineapple Express Autos #1 and #2
Day - 6 PEa1 / Day - 5 PEa2
Critical+2.0
Day - 27 since being cut
Hello everyone and my apologies for missing my update last night regarding my upcoming feed schedule that I plan to use for my Autoflowers. So let’s get into it.
Dec.17
Today Autoflowers CCa1 / CCa2 / PEa1 all needed some water. So with them getting bigger and almost ready for their first round of light nutes I prepared 1.5L of water mixed with 3mL of Voodoo Juice. This is full strength Voodoo Juice for reference.
(2mL/L)
Each one of them received 500mL of the mixed water pHed at 5.9
I’m expecting them to start growing more rapidly in the next week or so as they increase their size.
Above is my revised feeding schedule for “Autoflowers” I will be trying this feeding regimen this time around on my autos to see how they produce. I would like to go into more detail about my feeding plans but I will touch base more on this once I start my first light feedings.
PEa2 is catching up for growth but still a little bit shorter than the others. I have a feeling she might be a surprise once she gets going even though she was the slowest to start!
Now in the small tent I have been keeping my eye on VPD - Vapour Pressure Deficit for the start of this grow. I have a Hunidity controller and temp monitor for the big tent that I will be installing with a full setup to maintain and create an optimal environment within the grow tent. When we are in the correct range for VPD our plants are transpiring at a healthy rate which is allowing them to uptake nutrients and water to then convert and use. Optimizing the environment is a benefit to the entire growing process from seeding through veg all the way to flower and harvest. Although we want to keep our RH a little lower in flower maintaining a healthy level will allow the plants to utilize the light and nutrients for peak performance and production. I am just briefly touching on this now as I want to continue the optimal grow conditions throughout this grow and continue it into my future setups.
I will come back to this at a later point when we get to setting up our climate control for the big tent in a few weeks time!
Now moving on to the Critical girls. After seeing how well they handled the quadline start it showed me a few things that I wanted to touch base on and take note of:
1- the timing of when you top/cut is very important to not slow the rate of growth for you plant
2- when done right with the correct amount of remaining growth and healthy plant there will be now slow down or stress
With this being visible it’s a key point for me to take note of for my future quadlines of photoperiods plants. Allowing the plant to reach a proper maturity with the right amount of healthy growth will prepare you and your plant for a healthy quadline start!
Obviously this is different for autos as we don’t want to be topping or cutting them at all past Day - 21. Come Day 14-17 if the Autoflower is not structured properly I would recommend sticking to LST training as opposed to a heavier training technique like topping or the quadline approach. I will be detailing this in the next few weeks as we are about 10-12 days away from the start of our Autoflowers beginning their quadline.
Now the inner growth on the Criticals has begun to get bigger. Still not big enough for me to get begin tying down but tomorrow I will tie down the 2 top fan leaves and try to expose the inner nodes as much as possible. I have been doing very light tip spreading on the Criticals since yesterday morning. I lightly take my index and thumb and spread the tip of the upper nodes to allow light down inside. I will take some photos of this tomorrow morning when I do it again.
I hope you all enjoy the rest of your evening and stay medicated!
Sueveefrostybudz
Well-Known Member
Awsum im lern how top my autos i let you know when and i send pic be for i start ...peace 420 fam..✌
- Thread starter
- #73
Sounds good Suevee I look forward to seeing it!
Ganjagrandaddy
Well-Known Member
Its only a wedding. you can shuffle the dates around a bit surely dutchman. !!!!.crop cycles are very static but important. Am sure Mrs Dutch would fully understand. please video it for us when u suggest it !! heehee. Hope Future Mrs Dutch realised the sacrifice you have made and the commitment ??? , to moving your crop time with a wedding date.!! heehee
- Thread starter
- #75
- Update Day -
Crystal Candy Autos #1 and #2
Day - 7
Pineapple Express Autos #1 and #2
Day - 7 PEa1 / Day - 6 PEa2
Critical+2.0
Day - 28
Dec.18
What’s up everyone! The week is progressing on and so are all these beautiful little babies! All of the young autoflowers are just doing great no signs of any problems and I aim to keep it that way! I have made my mind up about PEa1 and CCa1 being the 2 autos that I will be using the qaudline training on. PEa2 and CCa2 will be taking the LST route. I’m exited to compare the growth patterns and see how structured the quadline Autoflowers are compared to the LST ones come harvest day! Going to be a very interesting!
That’s about it for the autosflower girls today. All of them are still good for water and by the looks of their growth they will probably be ready to take their first dose of light feed nutes / calmag and more voodoo juice. When it’s time for their first feed I will break down my feeding chart that I posted yesterday and give a better look at how I plan to feed them throughout the grow.
Now moving onto the Critical girls!
We have first sign pistils this morning! Today I wanted to start the training for the girls since the fan leaves were starting to interfere with the inner node growth. As I had them pulled out I noticed they both were showing their first pistils! So exciting!
Now as I began to train the criticals the growth tips coming out of “Node 4” aren’t quite big enough to tie down yet so I pulled the big fan leaves out to allow more light down the centre. I then continued my “tip spreading” which I have some pictures of as well. I will continue this process for a while as she grows and fills in her canopy!
Let’s take a look at the training process today.
Now as for the tip spreading. I gently take my index and thumb place them on the small new growth tips and lightly push outwards 2-3 times gently applying pressure to “spread” them open. This allows more light to get into the new growth coming out.
This is before
As I’m doing it
The end result after spreading. You can see how open the inner portion of the plant is allowing maximum light penetration to the small new growths.
Now I know I have only tied down the fan leaves but this won’t be for very long. As the growth tips on node 4 grow out a bit more I will begin to bend and tie them down at a 10-20% upward slope. This was mentioned by @Asesino85 to help keep the plant thinking it’s growing vertical. As I continue the training I will be sure to include lots of pictures and reasons for what I am doing.
I hope you all the best of days and I’m excited to see the growth on the little ones continue! Seeing how much they change from day to day is just marvellous!
Again best wishes and stay medicated!
Looking super, love the updates!
- Thread starter
- #77
Glad your enjoying them so far Penny! I really wanted to improve my Journals and document my grows better as I’m getting into my future grows.
I look forward to posting on the regular for this journal and seeing how much I have improved since starting in July this year!
I went back and re-read your first page regarding the quad tutorial -- excellent explanations and pictures! I just might give this a go on my next grow. Love your updates so far!
BobbyZ
Well-Known Member
I’m here... Looking good.
Wow that’s a lot of CalMag. I’ve just been hitting mine with a dose or two. Am I using it to infrequent?
Wow that’s a lot of CalMag. I’ve just been hitting mine with a dose or two. Am I using it to infrequent?
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- #80
I went back and re-read your first page regarding the quad tutorial -- excellent explanations and pictures! I just might give this a go on my next grow. Love your updates so far!
Thanks a bunch Beez! After this grow I hope to be well educated on the qaudline technique! This is my first attempt at it so time will tell how well I do!
I’m here... Looking good.
Wow that’s a lot of CalMag. I’ve just been hitting mine with a dose or two. Am I using it to infrequent?
So in regards to calmag. Depending on each individual plants needs and what light setup your using calmag is a must. If using LED lights you will definitely require more calmag than a standard HID setup, but all plants have different requirements. It’s pretty difficult to overdue calmag. If you watch your plants they will tell you if you need to add more or reduce your nutrients. I have fed this for my autos and my photos and so far I haven’t had any problems!