Jon's First Outdoor Grow: Sugar Breath Photoperiod & Strawberry Banana Autoflower

[DezmondG]

What a kicka$$ grow and setup! I'm gonna hang around and watch These kind of grows really gets me excited to try different things out of my comfort zone.

Thanks!

 

[Jon]

What a kicka$$ grow and setup! I'm gonna hang around and watch These kind of grows really gets me excited to try different things out of my comfort zone.

Thanks!

Hey @DezmondG, nice to make your acquaintance and thanks for stopping in! Since you just got here, let me please let you know that I really encourage feedback on anything I post. Any of my decisions, logic, whatever, if you have a question or a comment or even a criticism at any point, I honestly would like to hear it. I take all comers and sift through the information, and everyone's comments have value here. Cool? Thanks!

 

[Jon]

Since we Up Potted a Girl Today, How Do the Others Look?
Here's the Other Six Plants in Pictures
Everyone is on Day 16 Except
Pineapple Upside Down Cake Photo on Day 5

None of these girls is long for their starter pots. We'll transplant as they come ready. Another Strawberry Banana may go into her pot tomorrow.

Everyone seems pretty happy and healthy so far. The action starts when we hit the organics.

1. 3 Strawberry Banana autos yet to be up potted
2. Gelato auto
3. Raspberry Parfait photo
4. Pineapple Upside Down Cake photo

 

[oldmanjj]

Looking good!

 

[Jon]

Looking good!

I'm already in love with the Strawberry Bananas.

 

[Jon]

Gelato Auto Up Potting
Day 17

Transplanted the Gelato auto today. This plant is a beast. She's way bigger than all the others, more so than it looks like in the picture. Awesome looking auto and a now classic strain. Yay.

Tomorrow the three Strawberry Bananas will find their new homes as well and Autotown will be complete. Can't wait to see how five autos do in the Sohum considering how the Sour Apple did in it. If all of these girls do as well as the SA did, I will be beyond sold on Sohum as my auto soil of choice for a while.

Also tomorrow we will begin topping and training these girls. It's time. Even a bit late. Still debating at which node I am going to top. Will decide that on a plant by plant basis.

I raised the lights a bit yesterday to widen the coverage area as pots are taking up more space than Dixie cups. Lol. Obviously I then adjusted the height of the plants so everyone is getting what they need. The Gelato was in the wider, larger sour cream container starter pot, significantly larger than a Dixie cup, but her roots were all the way out and down and the root ball held together on transplant no problem. I have learned that when the plant is significantly beyond the edges of the container when you look straight down on it, it's a pretty good visual indicator that you can go ahead and transplant. I would still go with @Emilya's "pot drain in 24 hours before transplant" (paraphrasing), but any extra reference point that's dependable is good to have in the bank.

Here's the Gelato taking residence next to the Strawberry Banana #3 pot. As always my apologies for the blurples pic. Lol.

 

[Jon]

Autotown Rig Update
September 30, Day 18

18 days since breaking dirt and we have everyone successfully up potted into 5.5 gallon fabric pots full of yummy Sohum living soil. All the pots were prepped per my soil mix post and all got a dose of earthalive Soil Activator about three days ago to prep the soil. All five root balls held together no problem on transplant, and all the plants are now in their final homes and healthy and happy. Quite a crew we have. The four Strawberry Banana sisters (you know THEIR reputation around town....nothing but trouble, those girls) and the gigantic alpha dog Gelato. These pictures are before I top some of the plants today to show the successful transplant and how the final rig looks with the plants in the final pots. Enjoy.

 

[DezmondG]

Looking purdy there .

 

[Jon]

Autotown Rig Update
September 30, Day 18

18 days since breaking dirt and we have everyone successfully up potted into 5.5 gallon fabric pots full of yummy Sohum living soil. All the pots were prepped per my soil mix post and all got a dose of earthalive Soil Activator about three days ago to prep the soil. All five root balls held together no problem on transplant, and all the plants are now in their final homes and healthy and happy. Quite a crew we have. The four Strawberry Banana sisters (you know THEIR reputation around town....nothing but trouble, those girls) and the gigantic alpha dog Gelato. These pictures are before I top some of the plants today to show the successful transplant and how the final rig looks with the plants in the final pots. Enjoy.

Addendum to Earlier Post

The Gelato and Strawberry Banana #3 both got topped between node 3 and 4. The others will follow suit asap.

 

[Jon]

Training Montage
Gelato Auto
Strawberry Banana #3 Auto
First Training Session
Day 18

In much simpler and streamlined format, here's what I did to the Gelato and SB #3 today for their first training session.

- topped both plants between nodes 3 and 4
- staked the back side of the main stem of each plant to counter-support the pull direction of the colas
- used one or two other stakes to pull the main colas as far to the side as the stems would allow me to, pulling the cola in the opposite direction from the original back side support stake
- trimmed off one leaf on each plant - the one on each that was blocking the now visible new growth

That's it, that's all I did. Took me ten minutes between both plants. And already we're making buds. Heh.

Gelato back side support
Gelato cola side tie downs
Gelato finished first step
Strawberry Banana #3 back side support
SB#3 cola side tie downs
SB#3 finished first step

 

[Jon]

Outdoor Grow Update
Day 20
Auto Row in the Blurples Rig & Photos in the @Mars Hydro rig
Blurple Rig will be soon become the @NextLight rig

All five autos are now topped. All of them were topped between the third and fourth node except for Strawberry Banana#2 (back left in the pictures)...she got topped between node 2 and 3. The training is underway on the 2 SB's on the right in the pictures and the Gelato in the center. All is good in Autotown. What these girls don't know yet is that they are about to get a very serious upgrade. Not only that, we get to bring yet another sponsor into play in this grow! I will be switching the blurples out for the @NextLight 420h LED from the GJOM prize pack. As we like to do, we will spend some time in the journal focusing on what I'm sure will be a very good light and a certain upgrade from the blurples. Like going from a Pinto to a Lexus. And bonus - no more blurple pictures.

Similarly the photos are doing well so far too. They get no action and are simply growing and slowly approaching their transplant. All good with the photos so far. The Raspberry Parfait is turning out to be an extremely attractive plant.

So here's the girls of this grow today:

1. Autotown from the top (Gelato in the center, Strawberry Bananas surrounding it)
2. Autotown from the side
3. Raspberry Parfait from the top
4. RP from the side
5. Pineapple Upside Down Cake from the top (she is only on Day 9 behind the rest)

Happy Saturday everyone!

 

[Jon]

Autoflower Training Update
Day 21

All five of these girls are growing at a strong enough rate that to stay on top of the training the way I want to I need to attend to them daily. I love that. I'll do that for two weeks till they start budding. In my experience so far, this is the earliest and most successful training of this style I have been able to do on autos. They are already pretty tricked out and I certainly have at least a week, probably two, to keep it up. I'm kind of shooting for a completely flat plant when they begin to bud. The Gelato is big enough that she is a real good example both of what I'm going for and also why daily attention is required to achieve it. Autos move quickly at this point in their growth.

These girls are all healthy as oxen, and they love the outdoor weather here, which really is spectacular for weed growing in the fall and winter. Average daytime temp is around 85-88, average nighttime temp is around 72-75, sometimes as low as 68-69, This will be the weather here consistently for the next five months. (I know, sorry....) They get a constant, 24 hour a day light breeze off the lake they overlook and I have fans going as well, so all of them are always moving a little bit. They will develop really strong stems as a result, plus I add the weekly MSA application until they show buds. So the humidity stays quite manageable in the 60s by day and varies by night depending on overnight weather. Every drop of water to ever touch these plants will be Ph'ed to 6.3. This I got from @Emilya, and although I was initially skeptical cuz I always went with a target of 6.5 -6.6, the results have been spectacular. Not one of my plants has as much as a single blemish on a single leaf. That's insane and Ph-ing to that number religiously is unquestionably a large part of why that is true. You also get to learn a ton about which additives raise your ph and which ones lower it if you Ph every drop as I do. Useful to know for sure.

One last thing. I need to specifically call out two members to whom two of these autoflowers are dedicated. The Gelato is dedicated to @Michael Hunt, whose grows have helped me learn what it truly means to tie something down flatly and evenly spread and has had a large influence on my training methodology. The Gelato from here on out will be named Michael. It is specifically trained in my version of his style. And then the Strawberry Banana #4, the runt of the bunch, back left in group shots, is dedicated to @Backlipslide, who has had a similar influence on my training as he is one of the masters of symmetry training and producing plants that are works of art. Check out some of his plants sometime. That SB will now be called BLS. It is topped between nodes two and three in an effort to get me some BLS-inspired symmetry. Thanks so much you guys for the super positive influence and help you have provided me since I joined the forum!!

On to the porn:

1-4: The 4 Strawberry Banana Auto Sisters, including BLS. BLS is the super symmetrical plant.
5: Michael, the alpha dog Gelato

Happy Sunday. Go Birds, upset KC!!

 

[Backlipslide]

It’s an honour Jon!! I can’t wait to follow along and what’s BLS progress into a mature flowered plant!!

 

[Jon]

Bonus Shot
The Entire Outdoor Situation Picture

 

[Michael Hunt]

Hey @Jon im honored man! I truly hope she turns out absolutely beautiful. Maybe you can coax some purple out of her too

I’m cleaning up our entire rig and gearing up for a new journal. I’ll make sure to tag you in it when it’s up and running again

 

[Jon]

Hey @Jon im honored man! I truly hope she turns out absolutely beautiful. Maybe you can coax some purple out of her too

I’m cleaning up our entire rig and gearing up for a new journal. I’ll make sure to tag you in it when it’s up and running again

I'm just buttering you up. See, when these three tent girls harvest in around 60-70 days is going to be the same time the five autos in the outdoor grow also harvest. That's going to mean more trimming than I have ever seen in my life. So, about that weekend getaway.......

 

[Jon]

Bonus Shot
The Entire Outdoor Situation Picture

ADDENDUM PHOTO


What do we do once the sun goes down to keep this from becoming a neighbor beacon and shining across the pond into people's living rooms? I mean, it may be my second, but it's not my first rodeo....heh.

 

[Michael Hunt]

I'm just buttering you up. See, when these three tent girls harvest in around 60-70 days is going to be the same time the five autos in the outdoor grow also harvest. That's going to mean more trimming than I have ever seen in my life. So, about that weekend getaway.......

Hahaha i see what you did there! What time of year do you think they’ll finish?

 

[Jon]

Hahaha i see what you did there! What time of year do you think they’ll finish?

They should finish around mid December...bad timing

 

[Jon]

A NEW ADDITION TO THE GROW!!
Cuz I'm Stupid Like That. Lol.

Well, suddenly the bags in the picture showed up at my door. I wonder how that happened? And wow, does it ever need to be used. I simply do not have the willpower to let four perfectly good bags of soil go unopened. And since I have a trillion seeds, (well, maybe 3 dozen), it just makes good sense to pop another plant.

The other thing is that this grow is so non-work-intensive that I can easily add another plant and manage it no problem. The five months of perfect weather gives me tons of latitude, and my only impediment is when I move. They obviously have to all be jarred by then. So I can't go nuts as much as I really want to.

But we are going to add one more photoperiod plant to the grow, to join the other two in vegging under the @Mars Hydro rig and flowering outside. When I got the Strawberry Banana autoflower seeds, they sent me some freebies that simply said "Strawberry Banana Fast Flowering Feminized." I assumed they were just two more of the same auto seeds. Then I got to thinking about it and contacted the company. It turns out that the freebies are some of those "fast flowering" feminized photoperiod seeds. They are genetically designed to finish faster once you flip them than seeds of the same exact strain that are not "fast flowering." I have seen these seeds but never tried growing one.

I know I already have four of these in autos going. But the strain makes my top 5 all-time favorite strains list. And the photos supposedly are extreme yielders.

So I have a Raspberry Parfait and a Pineapple Upside Down Cake photo already. Obviously I needed to add one more fruity strain to this fruit salad of a grow, so I am going to add one of the Fast Flowering Strawberry Banana Feminized Photoperiod plants. The company says they will be done budding in 7 to 8 weeks max and have the same yield as regular photoperiod plants. We'll see. Since they're supposedly up to a month sooner than the other two will be, the theory is that by selecting this fast flowering seed the plant will "catch up" to the others and finish around the same time. The timing is about right for it.

Here's the skinny on the Strawberry Banana:

Type: Indica
Cannabinoids: >20% THC, <1% CBD
Terpenes: Limonene, Myrcene, Caryophyllene
Effects: Euphoric, Creative, Sleepy
Landrace Strain: Banana Kush X Bubble Gum
Grow Difficulty: Easy
Harvest: 7-8 weeks
Yield: 450-550g/㎡ indoor/ Up to 650g/plant outdoor
Height: Up to 6 feet/ >6 feet
(*Indoor / Outdoor)

So I'm going to grow it in a new soil mix, with @GeoFlora Nutrients. I'm going to try coco for the first time. I know I'll water a lot, but that's ok. I want to check it out. So the soil mix and skinny is as follows:

- Soil Mix: 50% of 70/30 Mother Earth Coco/Perlite mixed with 50% my Fox Farms soil mix, ie 40% Happy Frog/40% Ocean Forest/20% Mother Earth perlite #3
- Nutes: GeoFlora Nutrients
- Veg under the outdoor Mars Hydro rig
- Flower with the others in total outdoors
- Pots: One gallon > Seven Gallon Geopot

And that's about it. The seed is soaking as I type this. When she's ready she'll join the fray. The picture shows the mysterious bags that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

I gotta figure out how to rename this journal....