Auto Euforia

As of March 27, Day 7 of the grow, the seedling is doing alright but showing minor cal-mag deficiency. I will be doing a little cal-mag foliar spraying to help get through this delicate period. I turned on my HLG-100v2 light and have the seedling vegging under a 20/4 hour light schedule. I have transitioned up to .8EC as increasing the cal-mag in the coco is important after a week of low EC fertigation. I maintain a 5 gallon nutrient reservoir with an air stone and H202 to keep it sterile, and have a pump to automatically water 3 times a day for 20 second intervals. March 29, Day 9: I am still trying to correct the minor cal-mag issues, but the Euforia is still growing at a pretty good speed so I am not too worried. March 30, Day 10: running a humidifier under a clear dome to get the RH up for the seedling.

April 3, day 14: cal-mag issues are generally improving from the increase in RH, foliar feeding, and the higher EC nutrient solution. However, it is clear to me that the plant is suffering from a little over watering. Usually I don't have this issue because I mix a good amount of perlite with my coco, but this time I wanted to have a little more room for the root ball and thought I would be fine with the drainage of pure coco. As the issue is somewhat minor and I am still getting consistent growth, I hope the problem fixes itself as the plant grows and dries the coco out quicker. But in the meantime I am dialing down the frequency of fertigation to keep things on the right track. Fertigations are being reduced to 1x per day for the time being. April 5, day 16: the Euforia is doing better by the day, perhapse due to the change in watering frequency or just by it's age. It is doing well enough that I topped the plant, and will start performing LST when the branches get some more growth. April 9, day 20: leaves are growing well with a more healthy shade of green, and tons of side branching has happened post FIM. I keep trying to troubleshoot the mildly droopy leaves, but reducing watering frequency hasn't had much of an effect. Either way, the growth rate has been generally steady and on target for it's age so I am going to keep letting it do it's thing!

April 10, day 21, the Euforia is starting to take off. Lots of branching that will need to be trained low and wide to fill up as much of the 6sqft space as possible. I turned on my second HLG 100 light to bring the lighting up to 200w. I did this to make sure as many of the new branches have light as possible, as some of the fan leaves have grown is very thick and the plant is quite stocky. I raised the distance of the lights as I don't want to overdo it with the second one running and the internodal spacing is already tight. I pushed up the EC slightly without any issue, so 1.4 is around where I will stay through veg. I also have allowed the PH to range lower as I am less concerned about cal mag issues at this point. Fertigations will continue to be 1x per day untill the roots spread more and the coco dries quicker. Then it will be up to 2x or 3x per day as needed. April 12, day 23, the Euforia is growing well, while remaining very tight and bushy. I did some minor LST tying two dominant side branches down to start opening up the plant, but will need a bit more height and growth before I can continue with more areas of the plant. April 13 day 24, lots of vigorous growth and the LST is working to expose more new growth to light for this very dense little plant. Increases fertigations back to twice daily, for 20 second watering intervals. The 26 seconds of watering was barely producing runoff now that the plant is larger, so this increased watering should help keep the coco well flushed even when the plant is significantly large. April 15, day 26, removed some leaves blocking nodes and lower growth that will never develop. I don't like removing leaves when I don't have to, but the plant is growing in thick enough there needs to be more room for growth around the center of the plant. Also performed some more LST and leaf tucking. April 16 day 27, LST widening the plant and opening up the center to new growth. Removed a few leaves as needed. The Euforia is growing well and I am hoping that by the end of the flowering stretch it will take up the majority of the tent. One topmost branch that was growing in thin after the FIM had to be removed while still fairly young. It's connection point seemed so thin it made the branch extremely fragile, and I decided I did not want the risk of it falling off after spending a lot of energy on bud production that could be spent elsewhere. When taken off I could confirm that it was around 1mm of the branch that was actually connected to the main stock, which just isn't enough. I will keep this in mind for the future in terms of FIMming vs topping. RIP lil' branchy.

April 17 Day 28, things are going pretty well. The Euforia is transitioning to early flowering. Lots of branching despite losing one of the FIM branches that was not growing in strong enough. With a little more growth I can start attaching branches to the Atlas plant trainer that is framing the plant. I upped the blooming nutrients very slightly, but other than that I am keeping the EC steady as it's currently in a good balance. April 19 day 30, continued LST and removal of a few leafs when needed. Nutrient balance very slightly altered for flower transition. April 20 day 31, happy 420! The amount of branching is pretty crazy (see day 31 photo), so I am doing my best to spread them and reduce plant density. April 21, day 32, still continuing with LST. Had to repair a damaged stem (half split) with some tape but it seems to have had no impact on the growth. Some of the stems are very hard and rigid, so even though I had gently tied down only the more flexible end it was still too much for this particular branch. April 22, day 33, LST continues with the Atlas plant trainer taking an increasing load of branches. April 23, day 34, I tidied up the lower half of the plant removing young growth tips that will never produce dense buds. Also removed some lower fan leaves that were increasingly overgrown by the top canopy.

April 24, day 35, the plant continues to widen with the LST I am performing, and has nice healthy growth. Lots of branching, but the early stages of the flowering stretch is opening the plant up a little. I switched from a transition nutrient profile to an early blooming profile, as there are a few pistils popping out here and there on the plant. My guess is that there will be another week or so of growth/stretch so I am hoping to get the plant significantly larger. April 25, day 36, I raised the light by 5 inches. I should have realized earlier but I was chronically running the light a little too close this run which likely contributed to the stocky tight growth. I figured that if my brightness was not exceeding sunlight and I was not noticing leaf issues it would be fine. However, measuring the ppfd at a 15 inch hang height showed readings of 750+ at the edges and 1000 at the center. This amount is just not helpful for the plants structure even if it is growing vigorously. I raised the lighting to 20 inches which brought the ppfd to 650 at the edges and 850 at the center which is right where I want it. I am not otherwise touching the plant today, but will prune and perform some LST tomorrow. April 26 Day 37, just letting it grow. April 27 Day 38, did some training and pruning of the growth. The Euforia's transition to flowering has been slow, but the growth and vigour of the plant has stayed strong so at least it's giving me the time to fill up the tent. It's taking up just shy of 4sqft of growing space, so by the time time the flowering stretch finishes I am hoping to have growth close to all corners of the tent. So far I have been successful keeping the growth low, as this tent is very tight in its height. April 29, day 40, just letting it grow. April 30, day 41, switched watering to 3x daily 20 second intervals. The leaf tips are not showing any signs of burn, so so far so good. Took a few leaves off to expose the preflowers as needed.

May 1, day 42, the Euforia has been slow transitioning into flower, but the leaves have been healthy and the plant is growing well overall. I don't mind it taking it's time, especially with lots of branches to thicken up and eventually put on weight further into flowering. Did a little LST and pruning to ensure light and airflow around bud sites. May 2 day 43, did a little LST, leaf removal, and leaf tucking. Otherwise just letting the Euforia grow. May 3 day 44, ppfd readings across various points of the canopy vary between 600 and 800, which is where I want them. The Euforia has been a bit slow to flower, but it seems to be coming along now. Did a little pruning for airflow and light exposure, and tidied up the under canopy slightly. May 4 day 45, not much left to do in terms of LST. The Euforia is now taking up a good majority of the 2x3ft tent, with a little room left for the flowering stretch. I removed some leaves for airflow and bud development, but I always leave enough for a healthy dense canopy and overall energy storage.

May 8 day 49, the Euforia is now taking up about 5sqft of space, and is still stretching. The many tops are starting to flower, although it is still too early to see how bulked up they will become. I am removing 10-20 leaves a day for airflow but it doesn't make it look any less like a wall of foliage. But I can always take more off if needed, whereas if I strip the plant that could permanently effect the plant's ability to store and produce energy during later flowering. According to Dutch Passion there is a slower finishing Auto Euforia pheno that ends up the largest and heaviest yielding but can take around 95 days. Based on the slow shift to flower and a large size, I am starting to predict that this Euforia may be one of these. May 10 day 51, the buds continue to take shape. Doing what I can to keep the canopy from getting too thick, so a little leaf removal was necessary. May 12, day 53, just supporting the plant and letting it grow. May 14, day 55, buds are starting to produce trichomes, which are also spreading onto sugar leaves. The buds are still early in development so this is a good sign for what's to come! I am happy that a lot of lower growth is still developing decently despite how thick the plant is. I removed about a dozen leaves for airflow and bud exposure.

May 15, day 56, the Auto Euforia continues to grow vigorously. The buds are putting on weight daily and I feel like I am well on my way to my goal of 200+ grams for the plant 🤞 Increased blooming nutrients and raised lights to slightly to keep the PPFD where I want it. Airflow has been manageable despite the plants thickness, and the humidity has stayed under control. I have high hopes for this one! May 16, day 57, the weather has gotten warmer here, so the ambient humidity has risen as well. I took a few good handfuls of leaves off the plant (60 leaves maybe), particularly from the lower canopy, so hopefully that helps maintain a balanced climate in the tent. May 17, day 58, took a few leaves off, otherwise letting it grow! May 19, day 60, the Euforia's buds are fattening nicely, but have a long way to go. May 20, day 61, removed some leaves to expose buds. The buds are steadily growing.

May 22, day 63, the stretch is over and the Euforia is putting most of it's energy into bud development at this point. I am hoping that the crazy number of tops doesn't keep the final buds too small, but there is a steady increase in size so I am hopeful. I am starting to estimate a finishing date somewhere around day 90-100, but I will see how it goes! There is honestly not much to do at this point. As the Euforia transitions into mid flower, I am just letting it do it's thing and will be slowly upping the blooming nutrients. May 25, day 66, the buds continue to increase in size, although they still have quite a ways to go. I will probably begin dry koolbloom sometime over the next week or two to really boost P-K, although it is still a little early right now. Although I am still expecting the buds to frost up more before harvest, there are a lot of glandular trichomes building up even on the fan leaves which is a good sign. Some pistils are turning a nice orange and curling in as well, so the buds are definitely ripening. I expect a fair bit of loose buds from the low branches due to the density of the plant, but hopefully those will still be decent for edibles and rosin pressing. May 27, day 68, the plant has minor tip burn, so I flushed the coco with under a gallon of water dosed with florakleen. If it worsens despite the flush I will lower the EC of the nutrient solution. Overall, the Euforia continues to put on bud weight and build more glandular trichomes.

May 29, day 70, the Euforia continues to increase the size of it's buds, but still has a ways to go. It is going to be a late finisher for an auto, but if the buds keep increasing well for a couple more weeks longer then the wait will be worth it. The smell has been mild and sweet for a skunk derived cultivar. The flush of the coco seemed to help with the minor tip burn, but I slightly reduced the EC as I would prefer to not be pushing at the maximum of what the plant can take. It is still healthy and vigorous. My biggest concern is possible mold late in flower with how dense the canopy is. But I can continue to remove leaves as needed when the buds really bulk up. May 31, day 72, the Euforia's buds continue to swell and produce more trichomes. With the dense canopy I have to spread the colas and reach deep into the plant to remove dead/spent leaves and to prune for airflow, but my arms are now getting coated with sweet skunky resin. June 3 day 75, the Euforia's buds continue to swell and ripen. There has been some minor yellowing of the top leaves in places, but nothing out of the ordinary for the plant's age. My Apera ph20 meter is having some calibration issues (flashing error 1) so I am awaiting some new ph7 and ph4 calibration liquid. Hopefully its not ⚰️. In the meantime I am using Gh liquid pH test drops which I keep as a backup. They work well but I am always left second guessing whether I have the right shade of yellow in the test solution.

June 5, day 77, the Euforia's buds continue to swell. Did some minor leaf removal, otherwise just letting it ripen. I may make some nutrient adjustments later in the week when the reservoir runs down. The buds are producing a light, sweet fragrance that is quite pleasing (although not particularly pungent). June 6, day 78, removed dead leaves from deep within the canopy, and continued the process of taking off fan leaves as needed. Serinboy asked in the comments if the plant was too dense/bushy, so I want to expand on that a little bit. When a plant is as dense as this Euforia became during flowering, the development of buds deep in the canopy will definitely be affected. I posted an image of one of the lowermost buds to give an idea of this. There is still trichome production but it is much lower quality than the "top" buds. That kind of bud is best left for extraction/edibles. If one had no desire to make extracts, these lower buds are probably best removed before energy is put into their development. While I have consistently removed leaves throughout the grow, there has been no "schwazzing" or heavy defoliation. The reason for this is that while cannabis is known as being a "defoliation resistant" plant (it can tolerate up to 20 percent leaf removal without an impact on yield), defoliation past that point can affect total harvest yield and plant health. It's a trade-off as old leaves provide a source of extra energy as mobile nutrients are transported and uses for bud development (you see this when lower leaves yellow during flower). So I prefer the strategy of weekly removals of leaves not exceeding 20 percent at a time, which is my attempt to strike a balance! There will be another larger round of leaf removal before the last two weeks of the grow (sometime in the next week or so) when the plant is just at it's ripening phase. For those who are curious, check back at harvest time and you will see how much developed 💪 vs how much is still "larfy" 🤔 June 7 day 79, switched from liquid to dry koolbloom. Removed leaves, dead or underdeveloped, from within the canopy. June 9 day 81, removed a bit more foliage. Flowers are developing more trichomes and gaining a bit of purple tones. Slight nutrient adjustment to combat minor cal-mag issues. June 10, day 82, got a new PH pen after my last Apera stopped being able to calibrate. The lower buds are developing more with the reduced top canopy.

June 12, day 84, not many leaves left to remove from the upper canopy. The Euforia's buds continue to slightly increase in size, but at this point it is mainly ripening. With the greater light penetration some middle/lower buds are also putting on weight. The PPFD is roughly 700 for the canopy so the light close to it's healthy maximum. I noticed two fungus gnats in the tent which is not a big issue this late in the grow. Just to be careful I ran a fertigation cycle with h202 instead of enzymes to kill any larva in the coco. June 14, day 86, uploaded a video of the trichomes to record their development across various buds. June 17, day 89, I removed some more leaves allow more ripening of lower buds. The trichomes are getting about 5-10 percent amber, and the buds are looking pretty ripe overall. I am going to draw down the nutrient EC over the next week, and then prepare the plant for harvest. I am currently guessing the harvest will be around day 100.

June 19, day 91, the grow has gotten close to harvest time, so I am begining to reduce the nutrient EC for this upcoming week. I will then give the plant 24-48 hours of darkness, along with very low EC water before harvest. I continue to take leaves off as needed for canopy exposure, but I think the buds have pretty much reached the size they are going to get. While the density of the canopy has limited lower development, there are about 50-100 top bud sites which will each be a minimum of a couple grams dried (and some much more), so I am pretty excited to see the final wet a d dry harvest weights. The buds themselves are hard and resinous, glittering nicely when not under the strong LEDs. The smell is sweet, fruity, and floral, mild but pleasant. I have noticed more clear trichomes than I would be used to for the stage in the grow (although plenty of cloudy and amber as well). I have a suspect this might be due to genetics, and contributes to the euphoric high this strain in known for. June 21, day 93, worked to expose more underdeveloped bud during this final ripening period. It's coming along! June 23, day 95, the Euforia is ripening. A lower bud became light bleached when they were suddenly exposed to light, and I am interested to see what happens to it after harvest. Overall the buds are a lovely light purple/pink and are hard with trichomes.

June 26, day 98, the Euforia is in it's final ripening phase, and will be harvested soon! I am dialing down the EC, although I do not do any major pre harvest flushes. June 28, day 100, emergency harvest time! I was going to push it another 3-5 days, but when I was examining my fattest cola I noticed the physical manifestation of my nightmares: early stage bud rot. I should have harvested days ago in hindsight, as days of rain pushed my RH up into the mid-high 60s. I only noticed it because I was bending bud tissue away from the stem, but there was clearly some white fluffy buildup around the base of a dead leaf stem. The good news is that I caught it very early, no bud tissue has died anywhere on the plant and what mold I could find was still white and fluffy. I had to immediately cut down the whole plant as a result. I cut away bud material around the few moldy spots, and put the rest of the buds from those colas into my pile for edibles/oils. 95 percent of the colas seem totally unaffected. Nevertheless, I have had to totally switch up my dry/cure technique by doing a wet trim of the large buds and a quick dry/cure to start to make sure no spores can spread elsewhere. My priority is really saving what has been accomplished so far. The good news is that early wet weights are very heavy, even with the bit of bud removal. 600g wet for the top colas, another 350g wet for the mid grade buds, and finally 1000g for the low grade buds left of stems for slower drying. This means I will hopefully end up with 200g+ dry bud for vaping and smoking, and much more for edibles, rosin, etc. I will have more details next week with the full harvest update!

Overall, I am extremely happy with the genetics of the Auto Euforia and the general success of the grow. I always like to reflect on mistakes I have made, so let me lay them out here: I overlit the plant during veg, contributing to it's bushy nature. It grew well but this would be a waste of electricity if I was growing more commercially. During the last week of flower, my region of Ontario was hit with tons of rain and humidity. I took some steps to increase circulation of dehumidified air, but lowering 95rh to 65-70rh is still insufficient and I lost some control of the environment. The awful result was the start of mold in some select areas, particularly in the fattest buds and where leaves were cut away and petioles remained. This issue is not due to Dutch Passions great genetics, and is entirely due to a combination of an unseasonable environment and my own overconfidence. This mold was never clearly apparent on the outside of the buds, but I found it will trichomes scouting under magnification. This forced me to speed up the harvest and drying process. It also means that I have had to carefully grade the buds into those safe for smoking and vaping, those mold free but needing a second examination (will be rosin pressed), and those close enough to spots of mold to be only for for edibles. Any moldy bud was of course cut away and will be disposed of. Nevertheless, I have many ounces of fantastic buds, and will be making some nice pressed rosin based 510 cartridges. I will edit the harvest post with more information after the cure, and showing the various processing I will be doing. Happy growing! 🌱