Timmy Haha's First DWC C4 Auto Grow Journal - 2016

[TimmyHaHa]

Day 51 Update - Week 8 from Germination

I made a point of putting the week in the title because I realized today that I'm actually running ahead of the breeder's schedule! The blurb that came with the seed said flower time is 8 weeks from germination and flowering actually began at the end of Week 6! Woo-hoo! Perhaps it's the LED lights that are boosting Ruth along?

Some quick readings:

• ph: 5.6
• PPM: 648
• H2O Temp: 72.3F
• Air temp: 78.4F
• RH: 41%

As for Ruth, she's doing awesome these days! I'm starting to see the very first signs of nute burn on a bunch of leaves, including the sugar leaves growing in the buds. So I think I need to back off the use of nutes in my top-up water, or alternate between plain pH-adjusted water and top-up water with nutes.

Hey, here's an idea! Tomorrow I'll do a full water change with 1/4 strength nutes instead of 1/2 strength. Then as I add in the alternate top-up water with nutes, she'll get fed in a consistent manner throughout the week while keeping the nutrient level lower in the beginning. Yeah, that's what I'll do....

So here's a strange thing....Ruth has no smell so far! If I get real close and take a sniff, I can smell a general "weed" scent, but it's very faint. Every now and then I think I also get a hint of a lemon smell, but it comes and goes and could be my imagination. Or my dog. Or my cat. Or my parakeets. Oh my.

OK, on to some pics. The purple pics, of course, are under the LED light. I unplugged it for a few minutes to take the natural light pictures with the flash:

A few close-ups of some colas:

Finally, I have to make a confession.

Somewhere in a previous post on this thread we were talking about popping some of the little popcorn buds early and testing them. Well I decided to give it a go. I looked for a small bud low down that had some trichs but wasn't going to get very big (it was in a cramped location). And I snipped it! Yikes!

I did this last night and that pic is from this evening. It didn't take long to dry because it was so small. So I popped it in a bowl tonight and gave it a go! Weeee.... Well, it wasn't actually "weeee" good, but I still got a nice tingle from it. Of course, with so few trichs and being brand new, I didn't expect a couch-lock stone. But hey, it was something and it can only get better, right?!

I'm just so psyched I've made it this far! I couldn't have done it though without all the great help and support I've received from everyone. So thanks guys! Let's journey on....

 

[425jesse]

Looks Dino-mite!!

 

[JM26]

Im stoked for you dude! You plants are looking great. Buds look like they're on their way to getting big and fat.

By my estimates, should only take about 45 more days til smoke time. We're in crunch time! Lets get it!!


Btw, if the purple hue bothers you to much, you can make them black and white and they turn out pretty good.

Sent from my iPhone using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[TimmyHaHa]

Day 53 Update

Confession time again. Yesterday was a snow day off from work and instead of being productive and doing the water change as planned, I got high and slept until noon-ish, then vegged in front of the TV the rest of the day (and got high). Of course I checked on little Ruthie to be sure she was OK, but I decided I could wait until today to do the water change. She sure didn't seem worse for the wear tonight when I did the water change and took her portraits out of the tent.

Before I get to the pictures, here are the technical details from tonight's water change:

To 2 gallons of water (1 gallon of distilled water and 1 gallon of aged tap water) I added:

• 7.5ml Flora Micro
• 12.5ml Flora Bloom
• 1ml Floraliscious
• 10ml CalMag
• 2.5ml KoolBloom

Readings:

• pH: 5.9
• PPM: 693
• H2O Temp: 68.3F
• Air temp: 76.4F
• RH: 39%

Now the fun part (and the real purpose of this post), the pictures!

I've noticed the last couple of days a cool color showing in the main cola:

This C4 must have a strain of purple something in it....any guesses? Here's a pic with the flash:

And a side view with flash:

And side view without flash:

And then a side view of the whole plant:

And finally a lovely overview:

Just for kicks, compare the above view to 18 days ago at Day 35:

I love looking back at the pictures and comparing them to now. I see the older pictures and think it was so long ago and then I realize it was only 2 or 3 weeks prior. How quickly they grow.

A true weed indeed!

Peace out!

 

[bckush]

Day 53 Update

Confession time again. Yesterday was a snow day off from work and instead of being productive and doing the water change as planned, I got high and slept until noon-ish, then vegged in front of the TV the rest of the day (and got high). Of course I checked on little Ruthie to be sure she was OK, but I decided I could wait until today to do the water change. She sure didn't seem worse for the wear tonight when I did the water change and took her portraits out of the tent.

Before I get to the pictures, here are the technical details from tonight's water change:

To 2 gallons of water (1 gallon of distilled water and 1 gallon of aged tap water) I added:

• 7.5ml Flora Micro
• 12.5ml Flora Bloom
• 1ml Floraliscious
• 10ml CalMag
• 2.5ml KoolBloom

Readings:

• pH: 5.9
• PPM: 693
• H2O Temp: 68.3F
• Air temp: 76.4F
• RH: 39%

Now the fun part (and the real purpose of this post), the pictures!

I've noticed the last couple of days a cool color showing in the main cola:

This C4 must have a strain of purple something in it....any guesses? Here's a pic with the flash:

And a side view with flash:

And side view without flash:

And then a side view of the whole plant:

And finally a lovely overview:

Just for kicks, compare the above view to 18 days ago at Day 35:

I love looking back at the pictures and comparing them to now. I see the older pictures and think it was so long ago and then I realize it was only 2 or 3 weeks prior. How quickly they grow.

A true weed indeed!

Peace out!

Looking great there timmy..love the color....it looks like you finally got the dwc thing down...when I decide to take the plunge I will be looking to you for advice

I love the pics.....I know I post alot a pics...but I'm damn proud of my grow and what I've been able to do my first time out...I don't know if I could be happier right now....unless I was smokin some of Patty. Its funny though. I will be showing someone a pic and they will asj how long ago I took it...." I dont know....couple of weeks ago " only to look at the time stamp to see it was a 4 day old pic...lol

They grow so fast...but...I will tell you that they slow down at the end....although patty is fattening up...more so with backbuilding...she is definetly not getting any taller....I would say she only grew vertically about an inch in the last 10-14 days. But she is swelling.

It amazes me the difference using a flash makes to the overall look of the plant.

Keep up the good work

 

[Crashdog]

Day 53 Update

Confession time again. Yesterday was a snow day off from work and instead of being productive and doing the water change as planned, I got high and slept until noon-ish,

Its good to be a mass-hole huh? Got 2 snow days this week. Still had to do remote work but getting paid to work in your PJ's aint so bad
Couldn't sleep so I'm reading journals. My 4th lady joined the family tonight so I got a full boat. Guess I'll have to start that journal now. The before and after pictures are awesome. Keep it up

 

[Crashdog]

Its good to be a mass-hole huh? Got 2 snow days this week.

I'm taking that comment back. Another 5-8 tomorrow and more Wednesday? I hate snow. It sucks living in MA in winter.

 

[TimmyHaHa]

I'm taking that comment back. Another 5-8 tomorrow and more Wednesday? I hate snow. It sucks living in MA in winter.

Yeah, I'm definitely not into winter anymore. I moved to southern CA back in 2003 and thought my winter days were over. Wrong! But as compensation, it's nice to live in a state where we can legally grow now, right?!?!?! Winter is great for growing it turns out, but I'm not sure how summer will be once we get humid and try to flower our girls. (Oh, that sounds dirty in a way....haha)

So let us know when you start your journal! Good luck sprouting!!

 

[TimmyHaHa]

Day 58 Update

It's Wednesday, so that means an update day. Entering week 9 now, so we're getting really close!!! I can almost smell it (but I still can't smell Ruth - no odor at all)!


I'm starting to have a bit of a pH problem again. It's creeping up to around 6.5~6.6 and not going down, despite my topping her up with 5.8pH water. I just did a water change 5 days ago, so I don't want to do another one so soon. So I keep scooping out water with a solo cup and replenishing with the 5.8 water each morning and evening, just to keep the pH at 6.5. I can't keep doing this for long, however, as she'll start to get starved of the nutrients that are only absorbed below 6.0. This means I'll have to do a water change tomorrow or Friday at the latest.

Last night I read a good synopsis on someone's journal about pH fluctuations in DWC grows - if pH is dropping it means the plants are getting too many nutrients and not absorbing them all (nutrients generally lower the pH), so feed less. If pH is rising, it means plants are absorbing all the available nutrients and need more of them, so you should feed them more (I can't remember the reason pH rises though). This seemed to make a lot of sense to me.

Following this reasoning, since my pH is rising I should feed more nutrients, right? However, I'm seeing signs of nute burn all over the plants (leaf tips browning and slightly curling), including on the sugar leaves. If you look at the tips of the leaves in this pic, you can see what I mean (and please don't remind me about pictures of leaf problems under the LED light - I'm just pointing something out here, not asking for a diagnosis ):

In any case, I'm not as panicky about the problem this time around because I feel I'm so close to finishing. It'll soon be time to start flushing anyway, so as long as I can keep things kinda stable for now, I'll be OK.

On that note, I'm definitely noticing the fattening of buds and vertical growth has slowed. Here's how the main cola is looking tonight:

Compared to how she was 10 days ago:

So definitely some fattening happening! Wahoo!

Finally, a few overall shots and a picture of the tent tonight:

I think it's time I also bought a loupe to start checking out the trichomes. I've read a 60x would be good, but there are so many options on Amazon I can't decide. Anyone have a suggestion?

That's about it for tonight! Thanks for reading y'all! Happy toking!

 

[bckush]

Day 58 Update

It's Wednesday, so that means an update day. Entering week 9 now, so we're getting really close!!! I can almost smell it (but I still can't smell Ruth - no odor at all)!


I'm starting to have a bit of a pH problem again. It's creeping up to around 6.5~6.6 and not going down, despite my topping her up with 5.8pH water. I just did a water change 5 days ago, so I don't want to do another one so soon. So I keep scooping out water with a solo cup and replenishing with the 5.8 water each morning and evening, just to keep the pH at 6.5. I can't keep doing this for long, however, as she'll start to get starved of the nutrients that are only absorbed below 6.0. This means I'll have to do a water change tomorrow or Friday at the latest.

Last night I read a good synopsis on someone's journal about pH fluctuations in DWC grows - if pH is dropping it means the plants are getting too many nutrients and not absorbing them all (nutrients generally lower the pH), so feed less. If pH is rising, it means plants are absorbing all the available nutrients and need more of them, so you should feed them more (I can't remember the reason pH rises though). This seemed to make a lot of sense to me.

Following this reasoning, since my pH is rising I should feed more nutrients, right? However, I'm seeing signs of nute burn all over the plants (leaf tips browning and slightly curling), including on the sugar leaves. If you look at the tips of the leaves in this pic, you can see what I mean (and please don't remind me about pictures of leaf problems under the LED light - I'm just pointing something out here, not asking for a diagnosis ):

In any case, I'm not as panicky about the problem this time around because I feel I'm so close to finishing. It'll soon be time to start flushing anyway, so as long as I can keep things kinda stable for now, I'll be OK.

On that note, I'm definitely noticing the fattening of buds and vertical growth has slowed. Here's how the main cola is looking tonight:

Compared to how she was 10 days ago:

So definitely some fattening happening! Wahoo!

Finally, a few overall shots and a picture of the tent tonight:

I think it's time I also bought a loupe to start checking out the trichomes. I've read a 60x would be good, but there are so many options on Amazon I can't decide. Anyone have a suggestion?

That's about it for tonight! Thanks for reading y'all! Happy toking!

Looking good timmy...its almost time for your girls.

I bought the one below...works good

DREAME 30X 60X LED Lighted Illuminated Jewelers Eye Loupe Jewelry Magnifier

 

[TimmyHaHa]

Looking good timmy...its almost time for your girls.

I bought the one below...works good

DREAME 30X 60X LED Lighted Illuminated Jewelers Eye Loupe Jewelry Magnifier

Thanks, bckush!! That one caught my eye on Amazon too. I'll order one this weekend.

 

[Crashdog]

Hay Timmy,
Looking good.
Now that i know some of my gals will make it to week 2 I'll start on my 2nd journal tomorrow. I deleted my 1st. It was a cut and paste from my offline journal. To much data, not enough info. I was recording everything I did. It will be useful to me in the future but reading the whole thing at one time bored the hell out of me.

Do you have a TDS meter? it would be nice to know if your PPM is going down as the water goes down or are the gals not eating and just drinking.

Power to the GroW!!!

 

[TimmyHaHa]

Hay Timmy,
Looking good.
Now that i know some of my gals will make it to week 2 I'll start on my 2nd journal tomorrow. I deleted my 1st. It was a cut and paste from my offline journal. To much data, not enough info. I was recording everything I did. It will be useful to me in the future but reading the whole thing at one time bored the hell out of me.

Do you have a TDS meter? it would be nice to know if your PPM is going down as the water goes down or are the gals not eating and just drinking.

Power to the GroW!!!

Hey Crash! It turns out the PPMs are going up while the water goes down. So I think I'm definitely overfeeding. The good news is, the buds really seem to be fattening up and it looks like it will only be a couple of weeks more, so I'm not too worried about what's going on right now. I'll just be happy to get *any* yield out of this, my first harvest.

 

[WR420]

Plus, I have heard they do most of their fattening up in the buds in the last two weeks


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[Crashdog]

So let us know when you start your journal! Good luck sprouting!!

It's finally up.

 

[JM26]

I'm glad you've gotten everything under control. Your buds are definitely starting to fatten up. It's so hard to tell as you sit and stare at them every day haha. Congrats dude. Can you believe we are this close to our first harvest!? Still a lot that has to happen, so I shouldn't get ahead of myself, but we're on the last leg, for sure! How many more weeks of flower do you expect? This is about your third week of flower, yea? I think I have about 5 more, which means a flush in 2-3 weeks!!!

Keep up the green work, buddy, you're doing great


Sent from my iPhone using 420 Magazine Mobile App

 

[TimmyHaHa]

I'm glad you've gotten everything under control. Your buds are definitely starting to fatten up. It's so hard to tell as you sit and stare at them every day haha. Congrats dude. Can you believe we are this close to our first harvest!? Still a lot that has to happen, so I shouldn't get ahead of myself, but we're on the last leg, for sure! How many more weeks of flower do you expect? This is about your third week of flower, yea? I think I have about 5 more, which means a flush in 2-3 weeks!!!

Keep up the green work, buddy, you're doing great


Sent from my iPhone using 420 Magazine Mobile App

YES, it's SO hard to tell after you've been staring at them every day, and in my case multiple times a day!! LOL But the last couple of days they seem to be fattening pretty fast because I'm noticing a difference every time I peak into the tent.

I got my loupe yesterday and I think I saw 1 amber trichome! Haha. Just one though. Most trichomes are still clear and the pistil hairs are almost 50% brown and curly. But I can tell there's still a lot of fattening to come because the lowers buds are still showing some new growth on their tops.

I've now clipped off two different sample buds. I tried another one last night and felt a more definitive high than I did from the sample two weeks ago. It's gonna be sweet, I can tell. I just need to be more patient...

So I think I have maybe 2-3 weeks left. Being an auto, it's hard to know exactly when it went in to flower. I've seen other journals online of a C4 Auto grow and they were harvesting in weeks 10 and 11, and week 10 begins for me on Tuesday!

Luckily I'm growing in DWC, so my flush only needs to be for a couple of days. Particularly since I've only been feeding 1/2 strength nutes all along, I don't have a lot to flush out. I'll basically begin flushing on the day I think I could actually start harvesting.

I tried to get some pics of the trichomes with my phone by holding the loupe up next to the camera lens, but it didn't work out so well. So no new pics right now. I'll take some in the next couple of days to show the buds fattening, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, on your mark, get set, TOKE!

 

[bckush]

Yea I've been working taking a pic with my phone through the loupe....its tough to get it right.

 

[TimmyHaHa]

This post only contains this brief intro and some close-up pics of trichomes. I'm posting pics in this separate post so that people can skip reposting the pictures if they want to quote something I say. Plus, I want to post like 5 pictures. So....

PLEASE DON'T QUOTE THIS POST! If you wish to leave a comment about a particular picture (which I hope you all do!), please refer to them with the numbers I put at the top of each entry. THANKS!!!


#1) Overview with the loupe (I had to hold my phone very steady while holding the loupe up to the lens and I didn't get close enough):

#2) This is the one I thought I saw an amber trichome on. Look in the very center and slightly to the right:

#3) I thought this one looked cool, like it's braided or something. Mostly clear trich heads but a few cloudy ones (and embracing pistils!):

#4) This particular view looks like it has more cloudy trichs and some just barely starting to turn amber:

#5) Finally, this lower bud shows mostly all clear trichs:

Update post to follow....

 

[425jesse]

Looking super tasty!!


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