Jon's Second Grow, First Grow Journal, Soil Grow Autos & Photoperiod

So having gotten the autos going now, I spent some time doing some MacGuyver stuff.

The pictures at the bottom tell the following stories:

I had decided to go from Dixie cups to one gallon pots for the photos, and I had no one gallon pots. Couldn't find any fabric ones immediately anywhere that worked so I got 99 cent plastic cheapies from Home Depot that are exactly one gallon pots. Perfect size and shape. But I know from my first grow that one of my mistakes was using plastic pots, and I took steps to not make the same mistake this time. WHY did the plastic pots mess up my grow the first time? Cuz I didn't know how to water and the pots had terrible drainage and were too big and didn't allow the roots to breathe at all. SO...since the girls are a day or two from transplant and I needed the pots, I got the plastic and the photos below show my idea of how to improve the pot and eliminate the issues I had the first time. Solution: Besides getting the right size pot and now having Emilya as my watering Yoda, which takes care of two of the biggest issues, the other solution was to turn the cheapie plastic pot into an Air Pot! Simple. Free. Will definitely allow for WAY better drainage and WAY better air exchange for the roots. So easy I can't believe I didn't think of it til now. Just poked the point of my trim scissors through the plastic (carefully, or else the thin walls rip in a line - you want the point of the scissor coming through clean) then gently rotated it until I had a nice hole. Some rows go in and some go out, just like with an actual Air Pot. And the biggest thing regarding drainage is the improved drainage in the base. I feel much more confident about the impending transplant now. The pics are the before and after of the pots.

Also included is a picture to show tent tweaks. Mostly, since the tent is on now, I sought out any light leaks I hadn't found yet. I found a few. Anywhere you see tape it is blocking a pin hole light leak. They are unacceptable in the grow room. Lmao. And the duct holes in my tent are filled in with circles of cardboard cut to size. Great block for light and helps secure the seal of the tent. Another free and very simple solution I dig. On the Gorilla I have the American flag coming down over the two duct holes you don't see underneath as a light block on top of being tied real well closed. I have no desire to have light leak issues on any level and since it's pretty much so damn easy to seek and destroy them long before any potential problems they may or may not cause, I just do it.

Then there's a picture of the staging area with the final home pots ready to go and covered and secure and bug free. I wanted to get the soil mixing out of the way and have my stuff ready to go so it's done. A little OCD but glad I did it now that the plants are progressing a little (lot) faster than I expected. I will need them before I know it.

Check the plants later and see what's up. I'm hoping the autos break the soil by tonight. All great in the photo tent.
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By the way, so here is a one photograph bud porn break in the action for anyone who's seeing this. This is a bud that will arrive at my house by next Wednesday. My grower friend (on the East Coast, not my Oregon buddy) grew this and this is his finished product of RAINBOW RUNTZ. I've never seen or smoked it so this is what his looks like. I'm psyched to try it.

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With those big holes in the pots like that, you are gunna have to be super careful feeding them. Water really slowly.

I did that to my pots once, and I ended up covering them with tape after. When you water, the water just exits out those holes, giving you lots of run off, and not saturating the medium in the pot correctly per feeding. Giving you an improper BLT feeding. Don’t get me wrong, it can be done, but I didn’t have time to water that slowly, and wasting all the nutrient solution out the sides I got fed up and covered them lol
 
Backlipslide said:
With those big holes in the pots like that, you are gunna have to be super careful feeding them. Water really slowly.

I did that to my pots once, and I ended up covering them with tape after. When you water, the water just exits out those holes, giving you lots of run off, and not saturating the medium in the pot correctly per feeding. Giving you an improper BLT feeding. Don’t get me wrong, it can be done, but I didn’t have time to water that slowly, and wasting all the nutrient solution out the sides I got fed up and covered them lol
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Thanks. I think if as you say I have the time to go super slowly it'll be fine. They will only live in these pots til they outgrow them, and I can't see that taking much longer than 10 days - two weeks. Good point. I was hoping the "fluting" of my holes might help. Anyway I'd rather take my time than my roots not get air.
 
The trick is, is when you feed them, you feed acting like a plunger. When fed like a plunger, it pulls oxygen down with the water. Give my BLT link a read. It should explain that theory a bit better.
 
Backlipslide said:
The trick is, is when you feed them, you feed acting like a plunger. When fed like a plunger, it pulls oxygen down with the water. Give my BLT link a read. It should explain that theory a bit better.
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Thanks, I'll check it out.
 
I'm a father again. All four of the autos have broken ground. That makes today DAY ONE of the autoflower grow.

I took the humidifier from the photo tent and moved it into the auto tent. The photo girls are big enough now to live with the 50-60% humidity I can create without the humidifier. Ideally I'd leave it in place for another week or so, but I'm not spending another $55 for a second humidifier, lol. Ah, if only I were independently wealthy. Since my experience with autos is exactly zero, I want to baby them along with what is supposed to be the ideal environment. So they are under the blurples on VEG setting getting about 450 par of the blue light at 78-80 degrees and 70% humidity. Man, that humidifier works really well and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to give seedlings the high humidity they desire. It's really hard to maintain 70% humidity for two weeks without one, I have now found. As far as the par level of light, I measured it using the Korona app which is very accurate. I could lower it a little below 400 as "they" say you should, but again - push push push. I will not push the autos nearly as hard as I am pushing the photos. The photos I have at least grown once and done a TON of research on, including multiple conversations with the folks from Humboldt. They are getting blasted with almost 800 par. Still they laugh at me and eat it up. But I kind of knew they'd be able to take that given what I was told about the strains and the quality/spectrum of the new light. I have no such confidence with the autos.

If anyone has grown Dutch Passion Cinderella Jack autos or Barney's Farm Gorilla Zkittlez autos I could use any specific information you might have to share! I have done as much research as one can do on these guys but I still feel like I have no idea what's going to happen!

As far as feeding the autos - I'll post my feeding schedule when it's time to start feeding these girls. For the first two weeks, just as with the photos, the soil has everything they need and I don't start their feeding schedule until Day 15. So for now they just get water, humidity, warmth, blue light, love, and music. The feeding schedule I have decided to use I found in a grow forum, don't remember which one. But the person who I got it from grows only autos and the schedule is specific to the Fox Farms nutrient trio I am using. It's conservative, but that's how I'm playing it with the autos until I get a sense of how hungry they are and how much they can take.

Regarding the photo girls, they are on Day 11 and today I am preparing the one gallon pots for transplant, ie, mixing the soil and putting it in the pots. All these girls are showing roots top to bottom on both sides of the cup, and all five have taproots sticking out the bottom, even the two smaller Pineapple Upside Down Cakes. I need to review Emilya's transplanting/watering routine, but that's how I am going about the transplant. Depending on the moisture of the soil, I will transplant either today or tomorrow into the one gallons. When I do I'll find another set of hands so I can post pics of the transplant process. As stated in the beginning, I have been including the step by step methodology I have used for the benefit potentially to any newbie growers. I know very well that experienced growers are not going to need much of the information I present, so for you guys who know growing as I aspire to, thanks for putting up with the excessive explanation. It's for people like me. :laughtwo:

So below are the pics. Ah, blurple pics. Damn I can't wait to upgrade the fricking blurples. Not sure you can even see it in the blurple pic, but here's the autos poking their tiny little heads out for the first time. The other pic is the the photo girls on Day 11. Sure looks like the Jelly Ranchers are going to have some wide, indica-esque leaves. I love watching the plants grow and seeing what their personalities are. I am super impressed with the level of growth at 11 days, especially the Jelly Ranchers and the Blueberry Muffin. Wow, are they exploding. You can see the Pineapples are trying to catch up though!

Today's music selection - the girls all woke up today to Gangstagrass - the song Home. I'm from the Philly area originally, and the girls love the Philly connection these guys have. Later they are going to experience Bela Fleck and the Flecktones for the first time. NOTE: I just include the music stuff for the fun of it. I am NOT specifically promoting any band or any music in any way. I hope everyone listens to whatever they like and I hope they get off on whatever it is. But I'm a firm believer, as silly as it may sound, in playing music for the plants. Similarly I am a firm believer in not having negativity around them. I don't have arguments in the grow room. I don't speak harshly or negatively to my girls ever. I don't play screamo garbage or aggressive, dark music for them. All of that probably sounds really stupid, I know. I can't back any of it up with science, although there have been studies done on such things. It's just something I believe and something I do, for what it's worth. If nothing else it make ME happier. Lol.

Happy growing everybody!

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irocu88 said:
Jon,

Nice journal. I like the way you have set things up. Your girls are going to look like mine very soon......I am now along for the ride.
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Cool, thanks! I sincerely hope you're right. Yours are looking so damn healthy I would be transfixed every time I opened the tent. I find that stuff mesmerizing. Gorgeous plants. What strain are they?
 
Backlipslide said:
I think @Virgin Ground has grown that before!
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Howdy Hey!:ciao:

I did the photoperiod. Haven't tried the auto yet. The photo was stoney af though.
I really like Barney's gear.
You won the Muffin Runtz right?

That one sounds fabulous.
 
Virgin Ground said:
Howdy Hey!:ciao:

I did the photoperiod. Haven't tried the auto yet. The photo was stoney af though.
I really like Barney's gear.
You won the Muffin Runtz right?

That one sounds fabulous.
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Hey VG -

I bought a ten pack of Jelly Ranchers from Humboldt Seed Company and they freebied me three Blueberry Muffins. I guess that's their newer hybrid and they're trying to promote it? I didn't even know they were giving me any freebies. I was VERY excited to get them. It's Blueberry Muffin, not Muffin Runtz. Check it out on Humboldt's site. The porn pic I posted is Rainbow Runtz my boy grew that he is getting to me this week. Apparently there are already many Runtz crosses. But yes, everyone speaks highly of the Gorilla Zkittlez, which is where we started, and like you, I've found many who say they grew the photo version but not the auto. But I'm sure there are many similarities. How STINKY of a grow were those plants?

Btw, the one Blueberry Muffin in the photo scrog is growing like she has something to prove. It's INSANE I think for 11 days.
 
So tomorrow I am beginning nutes on the photoperiod girls. The Grow Big is first up in the FF trio, they suggest 6 tsp/gallon for the first two weeks. I am beginning at half of that - 3 tsp/gallon. We'll see how the girls handle that to start. FF also suggest feeding twice a week. I'm going every other watering until the girls tell me they can't handle it. Again, back to philosophy. Mine is to push push push and draw back when necessary. Heh.

All the auto girls are well up now and looking like actual plants. The cotyledons are extremely small I notice first. We'll see how they look in the morning.

Autoflower seedling environmental conditions:
Temperature: 75-84 degrees
Humidity: 70 percent
Lights: Blurples VEG setting (blue) at approximately 450 par

"Curioser and curioser" - Alice in Wonderland
 
Jon said:
Hey VG -

I bought a ten pack of Jelly Ranchers from Humboldt Seed Company and they freebied me three Blueberry Muffins. I guess that's their newer hybrid and they're trying to promote it? I didn't even know they were giving me any freebies. I was VERY excited to get them. It's Blueberry Muffin, not Muffin Runtz. Check it out on Humboldt's site. The porn pic I posted is Rainbow Runtz my boy grew that he is getting to me this week. Apparently there are already many Runtz crosses. But yes, everyone speaks highly of the Gorilla Zkittlez, which is where we started, and like you, I've found many who say they grew the photo version but not the auto. But I'm sure there are many similarities. How STINKY of a grow were those plants?

Btw, the one Blueberry Muffin in the photo scrog is growing like she has something to prove. It's INSANE I think for 11 days.
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The GZ needs a good carbon filter. She's was really loud smelling. Super sticky of course.
I really liked it for edibles. It seemed to help pretty well with inflammation.

I've been looking at a few of the Runtz strains. Leaning towards the White Runtz for now.
But....

I don't need seeds.
I don't need seeds.
I don't need seeds.

Say it enough and you'll believe it, right!?! :laughtwo:
 
Virgin Ground said:
The GZ needs a good carbon filter. She's was really loud smelling. Super sticky of course.
I really liked it for edibles. It seemed to help pretty well with inflammation.

I've been looking at a few of the Runtz strains. Leaning towards the White Runtz for now.
But....

I don't need seeds.
I don't need seeds.
I don't need seeds.

Say it enough and you'll believe it, right!?! :laughtwo:
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:laughtwo: It's so funny you say that. As soon as I got my first seeds in the mail and realized it works, (lol) I became an instant seed junkie. I'm trying real hard not to buy more now cuz I have enough for the next couple grows.
 
Seed addiction is real! :laughtwo:
 
Day 2 Autos
Day 12 Photos

Began nutes on Photos today. Big Bloom is first up in the FF trio. Using it at half strength every other watering to start. Photos continue to look amazing.

Big Bloom is basically just bat shit and worm shit. Not much to it other than that. It's very mild in my mind. But I learned enough from grow one to know not to begin at full strength no matter how gentle the nutrient claims to be or is in my mind. While I personally don't consider the occasional burnt leaf tip that big a deal, as long as that's as far as it goes, that doesn't mean I WANT them. So it will be interesting to see how the photos take to step one of the nute process. I also added a tiny bit of CalMag plus Iron to the nute feeding. A VERY small amount. Might not be necessary, probably isn't. But it won't hurt anything. I chose to add the CalMag due to feeding nothing but bottled water for the first two weeks. I'll probably give them a shot of it periodically as circumstances dictate.

Autos are now fully out, fully exposed, fully free of cotyledon covers, and actually look like little seedlings.

Autos Environment:
Temperature: 80 degrees
Humidity: 70 percent

Photos Environment:
Temperature: 74 degrees
Humidity: 55-60 percent

That is all. Heh.
 
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