Sweetsue's First Grow - Stealthy Trio of Autos Under CFLs

[SweetSue]

I jumped out of bed this morning at first morning light to rush in and see how the plants were doing with the new watering set up. This was my greeting.

THC Bomb, Day 34, wide awake and in the lights when I came in. I move those lights up every night just a notch in my attempt to stay one step ahead of vertical growth. They are outpacing my expectations every day. This morning she stands at just under 12 1/2".

From the top you can see she's quickly outgrowing her space. At some point I'm going to have to constrain her, horizontally at least. We have some nice bonsai wire laying around (I think our daughter has it over at her apartment - some art project she was playing with) that should do the trick without stress.

Buddha Magnum, standing just under 11 1/2", still about an inch behind her companion. You can just feel the energy she harbors, preparing for a major growth spurt. At some point she's going to get tall enough and open up internally so I can show you how different the branches are on the two plants. The Bomb has nice, solid tapering branches. The Buddha's branches are thicker at the base than the Bomb's are and they don't taper. They just shoot right out to the tips at almost the same diameter throughout. Amazingly vigorous.

Buddha Magnum from above. Not much space left in this pot either.

A sweet side-by-side for easy comparison. Buddha looks so much smaller than her companion. Don't let that fool you. I anticipate that at some point she's going to race right past The Bomb in both stature and volume. We'll see.

I had just watered them two days ago, so they haven't wicked up much water, but you can feel on the outside of the pots that wicking is indeed occurring, and their appearance this morning suggests that they are adapting well to being able to determine their own water needs. So far so good. Simplicity itself. No more guessing about the water. No more kicking myself for forgetting that it was watering day. From now on the only drenches they will get is for applying teas or coconut water.

These final shots were taken last night. I get lost watching them grow in the evenings. I bought myself a little collapsing stool that sits there and I keep wandering over and becoming completely mesmerized at the differences between them and the sheer force of life they give off. They are both covered in bud sites, but where The Bomb is my prim and proper girl.....

..... Buddha gives off this wild and free feel, like she's ready to go dust up someone's dance hall. LOL!!!

This micro gardener is happy with the grow. Have a wonderful day everyone.

 

[SweetSue]

Just blended up my sprouts today and watered them onto my plants (pretty much done the way you say in your last post Sweetsue - no airstone). Won't hijack your thread with lots of info about my grow though... if you want more details check out my journal (probably take me a day to get the info up 'cause this is just a quick stop by).

Thanks for the inspiration!

You're welcome Sam. Was that your outdoor garden you treated to the enzyme tea?

 

[smithy8806]

wow sue yours seems to be really taking off. yours seems to be like my 2...one bushier than the other? I'm starting to wander if it has to do with the number of lights... the younger one has only 3 and is less bushy and the inter-nodes further apart, and the older one has 4 and its inter-nodes are tightly bunched and rather bushy, and of course there's the light in the middle that shines on both. kinda makes sense lol. yours are looking great though. I love all the clovers and what not on the top...kinda like a mini back yard environment..your own little ecosystem...i love it.

 

[b.real]

nice growing so far

 

[Radogast]

Great update SweetSue, your love and affection shines out!

 

[wildjim]

Looking good there, Lady of the soil.

WJ

 

[SweetSue]

Welcome to the show b. real and thanks for the compliment.

Smithy, I give these girls a quarter turn every morning to assure that every part of each plant gets an equal share of the available light. I think that contributes somewhat to their bushy nature. They're totally different strains though, so they should be expected to exhibit different grow dynamics.

I love all this living mulch too. When we turn the fan off at night the room smells like a slice of forest with a touch of cannabis. Lovely.

I took a quick run out into the frozen world beyond our cozy walls to get more supplies.

Y-adapters + 2 more 5000k bulbs

means I was able to take it back to this.

That will do for a few more days. I want to give them as much veg time as I can before I begin switching to a flowering spectrum. I only have so much time with their biological clocks ticking away.

We are now at 230 watts and a total of 16000 lumens. Yes, I am serious about the lights.

Secured some fresh coconut water for them after I'm sure they're well adapted to the SWICK. Tomorrow I'll track down organic popcorn.

Life is sweet.

 

[SweetSue]

Looking good there, Lady of the soil.

WJ

Thanks wildjim. Lady of the soil. I like that.

Good day to you Rad. I have become quite fond of the process and I find one begins to think of them much as you would children. Not at all strange to most of us, is it?

 

[nhteatime]

Wow, just finished catching up on your journal, well done! With my autos I also have noticed the leaves on my Afghan suffer leaf droop by the end of the night and I know its not over watered. Maybe its just an auto trait?

I love how youve laid out everything step by step - I was nervous about even attempting something like this because Im the type that I need it laid out plain and simple, otherwise i get too overwhelmed with info overload. I think with the way youve done your journal Id feel comfortable trying this. Ill have to give it more thought for next grow!

Definitely following along for the duration!

 

[SweetSue]

Thank you NHTeaTime. My plan is working. I was completely overwhelmed when I began my study in preparation for this grow. I had to keep reminding myself how easily these plants actually grow. My life is so complicated by health challenges that I wanted to make this part of it simple and joyful. Then it became another passion to document how easy the LOS approach can really be. So the compliment is the best I can hope for.

I was reading through your journal and thinking "she would be a natural with LOS".

Good soil, adequate light, water balance and balanced temps. Sit back and watch them grow. Simplicity itself.

I've begun to wonder if the autos droop at night because they're trying to tell us the light is excessive. My Buddha came with instructions to begin reducing the light schedule at around week 7 with the goal of coming in somewhere around 12-14 hours. My observation is that they begin to look light stressed at around 14 hours, so that's probably where I'll settle in. It's interesting that we don't hear more about this because it's definitely an auto trait. By morning they are all perky and vigorous again. I know they aren't overwatered, so it must be a trait we are all obviously ignoring.

Here they are this morning. Racing against at each other at 13" and 12". Growing like weeds. I would have to say they like deciding how much water they need. This SWICK approach rocks!!! Highly recommended. I'm waiting to see how long it takes the roots to grow through the bottom of the pot.

 

[nhteatime]

They look phenomenal - and so healthy.

So with your Swick approach you keep the perlite wet and only water them from the bottom now? do you water at all on top?

 

[SweetSue]

They look phenomenal - and so healthy.

So with your Swick approach you keep the perlite wet and only water them from the bottom now? do you water at all on top?

You want the perlite as deep as you can get it (hence the deep wash basins) and you keep the water level no higher than an inch below the surface. This keeps an aerated zone between the pot and the water. You never want the pot sitting in the water.

Let go of your fear that the plant will drown. If the soil is rich in organic matter it will wick up what the plant requires. Just step back and let the plants get used to it.

After the top surface of the perlite has become moist you set the pot right on top and let it wick up. This is easy as pie for a fabric pot, since the pot itself acts as a wick to bring the water into contact with the soil. With hard pots you simply work the pot deeper into the perlite so that the soil and perlite make contact through the drain holes. If this is your approach be certain that you adjust the water level to stay at least 1" below the pot level.

From that point on you only need to water by replenishing the reservoir when it begins to drop. Mine are a tight enough fit that I need to stick my finger in to feel where the water level is. With a larger basin you can place multiple pots and set a small well off to one side that is free from perlite (using a cut off water bottle or a cup) and allows you to easily assess the water level. Think of how valuable this would be if you need to leave town for a few days. No need to trust someone else to care as much for your grow as you do. Sweet!

Any watering I will do from the top is to apply a tea or coconut/aloe water. With LOS there's a constant awareness of things that you want to add to your soil community, and many of those are most easily applied through a drench. I've read numerous testimonies on the value of moving the pot to another location to do this, in order to avoid contaminating the water reservoir. My personal thought is that the application can be a light enough volume that there needn't be any runoff. We're not talking chemicals here so there's no danger of overdose, assuming you're not getting carried away with what's in the tea. *Side Note: Simple teas are usually the best choice.* Let the micro herd move it down through the soil. I don't want to be moving my girls any more than it takes to rotate them daily for light exposure. Yes, I'm strong, but these pots are heavy!

This system is designed to be used with soils rich in organic matter. The inspirational thread on another site (posted by Noobwannb, should you chose to go seeking her out) suggests an increase of 25% in organic matter (compost, EWC, etc.) when setting the pots up. I knew mine would work because I mixed it myself and it was pretty well set for this. It's wicking beautifully.

It's also worth noting that some strains don't take well to this approach. It stands to reason that some individuals within a species will perform differently as well. Watch your plant in the beginning. If it's not a good match it will tell you within days of setting it up. I started mine a month in and they were growing vigorously. I would hesitate to try to raise a seedling in soil this hydrated. Research suggests that seedlings would benefit from top drench watering systems.

Happy, SWICKing plants:

After thinking about it, I'm considering letting the pot wick after harvest and as I redress and set up for the next grow. This would keep the soil evenly moist for good germination. As I plant the seed I will discontinue filling the reservoir and let it go dry while the new plants get through the first month. Somewhere around week 4-5 I can restart the SWICK. Sounds like a plan.

nhteatime, are you thinking about giving it a try? It takes lots of perlite to do it right. I ordered mine from Home Depot. Lava rock works as well. Most people are happiest using kitty litter pans. They were too wide for my space.

 

[SweetSue]

OK... REALLY excited to have tracked this down. According to MicroMan one can neutralize the chloramine in our tap water with a couple drops of black strap molasses (approx. 1/4 tsp per gallon). Let it sit for ten minutes and use.

(Molasses + Tap Water) + 10 minutes rest time = Chloramine Neutralized Water

Letting go of my fear of running out of rain water.

Fewer bottles to store. We actually have pretty decent tap water here, so maybe discontinue cluttering our space with bottles altogether? Yeah. Let's go with that. Rainwater when available. Neutralized tap water as a back up.

Life just got a little simpler. I like that.

 

[Radogast]

Thank you NHTeaTime. My plan is working. I was completely overwhelmed when I began my study in preparation for this grow. I had to keep reminding myself how easily these plants actually grow. My life is so complicated by health challenges that I wanted to make this part of it simple and joyful. Then it became another passion to document how easy the LOS approach can really be. So the compliment is the best I can hope for.

I was reading through your journal and thinking "she would be a natural with LOS".

Good soil, adequate light, water balance and balanced temps. Sit back and watch them grow. Simplicity itself.

To quote Robert J. Hart in Forest Farming:

All my life has been a journey of discovery of the generosity of nature. I started out thinking we had to do everything ourselves, but of course we couldn't. But then I discovered that everything will be done for us, providing only that we realise our "nothingness" and thereupon search for a way fitting in with the great processes of nature, and making the best of them for our purposes.

 

[sillysally]

OK... REALLY excited to have tracked this down. According to MicroMan one can neutralize the chloramine in our tap water with a couple drops of black strap molasses (approx. 1/4 tsp per gallon). Let it sit for ten minutes and use.

(Molasses + Tap Water) + 10 minutes rest time = Chloramine Neutralized Water

Huh I've never heard of this before. Very interesting! I've just been letting my water sit out for ~24 hours.

 

[nhteatime]

wow Sue thank you so much for the explanation. Definitely something to consider on the next round for sure !

Rado that was perfect! You always have the best quotes to fit each situation

Love this journal - it keeps me reading and rereading and wanting to study even more

 

[SweetSue]

Huh I've never heard of this before. Very interesting! I've just been letting my water sit out for ~24 hours.

Letting the water sit out will allow chlorine to evaporate. Unfortunately, many municipalities in the U.S. are now replacing chlorine with chloramines, which will not evaporate or boil away in any timely manner. Using chemicals to neutralize (as one would do for an aquarium) isn't an option for LOS, (at least not for this gardener). Thankfully, the chloramines can be effectively neutralized by the addition of a small amount of molasses. You can use a pinch of compost or EWC as well, but molasses has such benefit beyond this use why not exploit that? I take between 1-2 TBS of the delicious stuff every day anyway, so there's always a jar in the kitchen.

It's worth noting that, according to the federal govt. PDF on chloramines, RO water filtration will NOT remove chloramines.

 

[SweetSue]

A quick morning update:

Buddha is finally making her move. This morning The Bomb is standing tall at just under 13 1/2", so she's been jumping up a steady 1/2" a day at this point.

Buddha spurted almost an inch overnight and is now just beneath 13" tall.

What I've noticed since beginning the SWICK is that they've both opened up internally. Almost like they decided it was ok to explore the space.

They both took about 1-2 cups of water into their basins this morning. Buddha slurped the most within a 24 hr period. Not surprising, since she's spurting now. I'm interested in seeing how tall they will eventually get. My info on The Bomb is she will top out somewhere around 4 ft. I haven't been able to find any reliable info at all on the expected stature of Buddha. Ah well, life is an adventure, isn't it? One big science experiment.

 

[akisunni]

I love your grow. I have zero experience with autos so its nice to see one every day as it grows up. Keep up the great work, and the sharing of the adventure. WE all enjoy your updates.

 

[b.real]

nice work sue. I have a lot of cfl grows under my belt and I yield about 14 grams per plant at 12/12 from seed. I think you'll do even better since you vegged and have stacked girls