Tommboy1973’s Outdoor Desert Autoflower 2021

[Mdlroad]

Feb 14th-Valentines Day! Brought my girl out into the full sun again. Moved location too as my son’s friends were coming over to have a bonfire later and I really didn’t want the plant out in full view of a bunch of teenagers, lol. It is now tucked behind my chicken coop. I also decided to practice checking out the tricomes with my new jewelers 30x/60x loupe. Got a few cool shots that took me forever. It was definitely a learning curve holding the loupe over my phone camera and holding still!! It was fun tho . I just love that first close up I took of the main cola as well. She is just gorgeous!!! What a great Valentines gift to see.

Your girls looking mighty fine

 

[Tommboy1973]

So my buds are looking less nice than they were a week ago. Seems almost like they’re vegging more but we’re only at 11 1/2 hours daylight so even if this auto had photo tendencies should still be flowering right? Is this normal? Here’s last Sunday

Here’s today

They are 12 1/2 weeks from germination.
I checked tricomes last week and still clear, maybe some cloudy. They’ve been in bloom prob 3 1/2 weeks.

this was from a sugar leaf last Sunday. I did look at the actual bud and looked the same, just harder to get a good pic.

 

[Tommboy1973]

Here are the whole plant pics from today. Last watered/fertilized Wednesday with:
Week 3: 3ml Grow + 8ml Micro + 14ml Bloom +2 ml cal mag per gallon. 2 gal total on 2/24/21 they were still a little moist today and pot felt too heavy, will check again tmo. Been watering twice a week on average lately, once with nutes and once plain water

 

[Tommboy1973]

They are not producing any more pistols, and the ones that are there are all dried up.

 

[Tommboy1973]

An I supposed to defoliate? I have removed a couple leaves here and there over the last week that were blocking other buds and couldn’t be tucked.

 

[Stunger]

So my buds are looking less nice than they were a week ago. Seems almost like they’re vegging more but we’re only at 11 1/2 hours daylight so even if this auto had photo tendencies should still be flowering right? Is this normal? Here’s last Sunday

They are not producing any more pistols, and the ones that are there are all dried up.

Just my 2 cents and others have far more experience than me.
But I think what you describe is normal. That there is a stage of trichome profusion but many people (me included) tend to keep the plant going longer if we're waiting for amber trichomes etc, then it visually deteriorates somewhat before we give it the chop. Personally I wonder if some of these 'dried up trichomes' have actually 'melted' onto the sugar leaves where their potency it still there in the bud but just not standing as nice frosty trichomes because some of that bud is pretty potent. The trichomes on my current auto are not looking as nice and frosty as they were, say, 2 weeks ago, personally I favour the belief that letting the plants flower longer makes for more potency.

An I supposed to defoliate? I have removed a couple leaves here and there over the last week that were blocking other buds and couldn’t be tucked.

I don't think you need to worry about defoliation, some do it, some don't. If you are growing outdoors then the sun moves across the sky whereas for indoor growers their lights are fixed so any light blocking leaves remain as light blockers. My current plants are growing similar, I had given previous plants some pruning or light defoliation, but these ones are looking so lush and happy that I think I will just let them grow and see what happen with their yield, if it turns out not so great then I will experiment with defoliation next year. Good luck!

 

[Mdlroad]

How did you get such good pics of trichomes?

 

[InTheShed]

Autos can be a mixed bag, particularly outside, so it's possible that this is just what the plant decided to do given the environment. My autos hated the swings in temps and RH at my house and under-produced to the extent that I only grow photos now.

Pistils drying up in the desert doesn't surprise me, as long as the trichomes on the calyxes (bracts) haven't started to go amber. The trich pics you posted are of sugar leaves and they look cloudy, which usually means the bract ones are still clear. And as long as it's drinking like usual it means it's still growing and bulking.

I'm with Stunger on the defol. You can take a few leaves covering your buds or tuck them down under. And in the desert mold shouldn't be too much of an issue.

 

[Stunger]

How did you get such good pics of trichomes?

My advice would be either use a good camera, or in my case where I often can't see my camera display in the sun, and if I can see it my eyesight is lousy closeup, so in those times I try to set the camera to a fixed focus then start clicking off pics as I move the camera closer and closer, if I am lucky I end up with a crisp clear pic amongst them, but I can never tell until I upload to the computer to look at them.

 

[InTheShed]

How did you get such good pics of trichomes?

I use this for mine:

Great macro shots for under $10: smart phone not included

Don't make life complicated with mount-on and high power loupes, or one for looking and one for pics! Here is how I do it with a $10 8x loupe and a 5 year old Samsung S4...

www.420magazine.com

 

[Tommboy1973]

How did you get such good pics of trichomes?

I used a jewelers loupe,the 60x side, and held it over my camera lens on my phone. It took some doing to get a good pic, lol. Lots of crappy ones but did manage to get a few very nice ones.

 

[Tommboy1973]

Autos can be a mixed bag, particularly outside, so it's possible that this is just what the plant decided to do given the environment. My autos hated the swings in temps and RH at my house and under-produced to the extent that I only grow photos now.

Pistils drying up in the desert doesn't surprise me, as long as the trichomes on the calyxes (bracts) haven't started to go amber. The trich pics you posted are of sugar leaves and they look cloudy, which usually means the bract ones are still clear. And as long as it's drinking like usual it means it's still growing and bulking.

I'm with Stunger on the defol. You can take a few leaves covering your buds or tuck them down under. And in the desert mold shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Thanks Shed! They are definitely still drinking and the buds do seem to be bulking still. It just looked weird so I was worried. We have had some wild temp swings here so that may definitely be a factor. Highs up to 80 and lows in the mid 30’s. That’s the desert for ya! Need a jacket, heater, shorts and AC all in the same day. Anyways as long as I keep an eye on the tricomes I’m good right? The plant shows no sign of any deficiency or yellowing or anything really, she looks pretty happy and healthy to me! Since this is my first attempt at growing in awhile I’ll be happy with anything at this point.

 

[Tommboy1973]

I am going to try photos as well but with the hot hot summers here, i’m not really excited about trying to grow outdoors from spring to fall. I may try a few in late summer depending on the light timing, see if I can get them big enough before the sun goes to less than 12 hours. Still doing research in that.

 

[Tommboy1973]

The main reason I started with an auto as I wanted to get going right away as soon as it became legal. I wanted to do it as cheaply as possible. And I’m unable to do it in the house or in a controlled environment. Even if I don’t get a super great harvest it’s doing well considering I planted it in the beginning of December, outdoors.

 

[Stunger]

Highs up to 80 and lows in the mid 30’s. That’s the desert for ya!

I grow on stone tiles that heat up to temps similar to yours I'd guess. The temp variations beat the plant up a bit, but I feel on the other hand it makes the buds a bit more potent from the plant producing more oils to counter it's environmental challenges.

 

[Tommboy1973]

Just took a few more pics. Looks better in the shade. Got a few closeups of the bud with the loupe if you can please take a look and let me know what you think were looking at in terms of when she’ll be ready?

 

[Tommboy1973]

Do they look cloudy yet or still clear? I’m having a really hard time differentiating between the two.

 

[Stunger]

Tricky pics, I am seeing some clear amongst cloudy. For me, I would probably wait a week or 2. But others like Shed have a lot more experience.

 

[InTheShed]

Anyways as long as I keep an eye on the tricomes I’m good right?

You got it! That and how much it's drinking.

The main reason I started with an auto as I wanted to get going right away as soon as it became legal. I wanted to do it as cheaply as possible. And I’m unable to do it in the house or in a controlled environment. Even if I don’t get a super great harvest it’s doing well considering I planted it in the beginning of December, outdoors.

Growing outside year round is definitely a good use of autos!

Do they look cloudy yet or still clear? I’m having a really hard time differentiating between the two.

It's tough with even the slightest blur, but the pic you posted earlier looks like mostly cloudy on the sugar leaves. Lookl like there's still plenty of clear down deep.

 

[Tommboy1973]

Tricky pics, I am seeing some clear amongst cloudy. For me, I would probably wait a week or 2. But others like Shed have a lot more experience.

Thanks. It’s super hard. My nose is covered in resin from trying to look thru the loupe reeeaally close up, lol.