FelipeBlu's Auto Jack & Kryptonite, PSMini LED, Root Pouch, Recipe 420

[FelipeBlu]

I'm seeing a little bleaching in the middle of the big fans but you just transitioned the lights so it could be that. Keep an eye on it for now and see if it spreads. You still have them out of the direct blast of the LED?

Thanks Shed. Yeah, I was looking at that leaf. Yes, I have them over in the edge of the Mini’s footprint. It’s across on the other side of the roof and ~28” away on a ~60 degree diagonal. If my brother still has that Quantum meter, he could tell us what the approximate PAR is at that location from his light. It’s basically as far from the light as I can position the plants though.

That stem looks to be quite a stalk already. LST may take some time to get that flat if that's where you're going with it. And the little one is giving you nothing to get a snip on! Just when you want some stretch you get tight nodes. Will we ever be happy?

I’m not really going for horizontal until about the 6th or 7th node. I want to keep a shallow angle on the main stem so she can clear the side of the pot.

I know, right? I think tomorrow afternoon will probably provide enough stem for a clean topping.

 

[FelipeBlu]

Follow up: My brother doesn’t have the meter anymore (borrowed), but said that he took enough measurements to estimate that my ladies are probably seeing something like 60-80 PAR at that distance/angle. The center of the light at 30” was 350.

So they are getting probably double what they were under the CFLs (23W floodlight @ 2-3” ~38 PAR). I’ll monitor, but I don’t know what I can do.

 

[InTheShed]

If you have the light as high as it will go then just keep an eye on it to see if it spreads. You could hang a bit of window screen off the side of the light for diffusion if you wanted a temporary hack while the plants get used to the increase in intensity.

 

[FelipeBlu]

Brilliant, my man! 30% shade cloth!

 

[FelipeBlu]

 

[InTheShed]

Excellent! I had a feeling there was a pic coming .

 

[FelipeBlu]

Such a great idea! 420 at it’s best!

 

[FelipeBlu]

I thought since I started LST on the Kryptonite, I would share my training plan for her:

This is roughly based on the number of nodes before the main cola (8) that grew on my last Auto.

Any comments?

Edit: Rats! It came out sideways! Also, how does one delete a photo in one’s own gallery?

 

[FelipeBlu]

I know that there is a point of diminishing returns with an auto - it only has so much time to grow veg and mature flowers. Does anyone have a feel for how many colas are too many for the plant, and they all end up smaller/less potent?

This relates to developing a plan for Jackie. I would do something similar to this after topping at the 3rd node, only there would be 2 main stems to train, and double the side colas.

 

[PhobosAnomaly]

I tried once and can't. Rotate the pic with windows, re-upload and edit your post.

Also I like the idea, but It might be prone to tipping over.

I remove my plants to water them, so that would be no good for me.
I am going to top, and use the bowl Lst method on my new CMXL's.

I usually slowly pull the branches to the pots edges with soft paracord.
I may wait for 4 nodes, right now the third is just shooting out.
The colas all stayed pretty even.

 

[FelipeBlu]

Thanks Phobos! I’ve been thinking about means of supporting and training past the side of the pot. Something like a small PVC frame with eye hooks along the top. I’m planning on keeping the open side of the pot close to the front of the tent for watering and other care. If I get great, honking fat side colas , I might have to negotiate though them to check and care for the far side of the plant, but I should be so lucky, right?

Your tech interests me. I’ll be watching your grow to see how you do things. Thanks again!

 

[InTheShed]

Another thing you can't do is change anything in your uploaded photos. All you can do is upload again and edit the post!

I got 13 huge tops on my Blueberry 2 auto!

Best you can do is keep it flat so that all the bud sites are the same height. Also, you want to circle the outside of the pot when it hits the edge. No support issues then.

 

[PhobosAnomaly]

Thanks! I couldn't find a pic of my WW's or Mexicans that I did it to. This illustrates it very well!

 

[BTzGrow]

Hi all, FelipeBlu's Bro here. I went back and checked my PAR readings for 30" and the info I gave last night was a bit low. In my 2x2.5 tent at 30 inches drop from the light level on the corner bars the actual PAR readings for the Perfect Sun Mini light are 150PAR on the back corners and 130PAR on the front corners. FelipeBlu and I feel the reduced par reading on the front side of the tent is most likely due to the tent being open and losing some of it's reflective surface.

He is correct in the 350PAR 30" directly below the center of the light and just to FYI the reading directly below the corners of the Mini fixture at 30" is 270PAR. Considering the distance 30 inches, I feel the PAR readings are awesome next to the T5's I was using previously and the CFL's he's using. BTW the at the wall watt draw is approximately 110 wattsAC for 60 3watt DC LED Bulbs which should be drawing 180 watts DC.

 

[FelipeBlu]

Thanks Shed! What a beautiful plant! I like your style too. I’ve got time yet to decide exactly how to g(r)o(w).

Meanwhile, in the morning of her Day 16, the Kryptonite keeps trying to gain the upper hand. So I added another string (under the 4th node) to reassert my dominance.

Before:

After:

And little Jackie (middle of her 10th day) gets to keep her head (for now):

I’m still not 100% committed to topping. I see that as high stress for an Auto. I know that some have had great success with topping autos, but they generally have excellent chops. Me? Although I’m a gardener, this is only my second Auto.

But this is why I do LST:

I went ahead and removed the damaged fan leaf. It opened up the secondary nodal growth to the light.

 

[InTheShed]

Topping or no, now is the time to start to lay Jackie flat, before that stem gets too thick and argumentative!

 

[FelipeBlu]

Hi all, FelipeBlu's Bro here. I went back and checked my PAR readings for 30" and the info I gave last night was a bit low. In my 2x2.5 tent at 30 inches drop from the light level on the corner bars the actual PAR readings for the Perfect Sun Mini light are 150PAR on the back corners and 130PAR on the front corners. FelipeBlu and I feel the reduced par reading on the front side of the tent is most likely due to the tent being open and losing some of it's reflective surface.

He is correct in the 350PAR 30" directly below the center of the light and just to FYI the reading directly below the corners of the Mini fixture at 30" is 270PAR. Considering the distance 30 inches, I feel the PAR readings are awesome next to the T5's I was using previously and the CFL's he's using. BTW the at the wall watt draw is approximately 110 wattsAC for 60 3watt DC LED Bulbs which should be drawing 180 watts DC.

Thanks for the update Bro! It really seems like a terrific light. Here’s hoping it helps us achieve our goals!

 

[FelipeBlu]

Topping or no, now is the time to start to lay Jackie flat, before that stem gets too thick and argumentative!

Yeah, I’m thinking I might start that today instead of topping her. Thanks Shed!

 

[FelipeBlu]

Jackie keeps her head, but feels the pull:

 

[Pterostychus]

looking great on the LST ... overall they both look lush and green and happy ... you now have 6 nodes catching full light ... they should explode