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First grow of the year! For germination, I use a combination of sandpaper, water, paper towels, and a warm seed mat to germinate my seeds. Gentle rub on high grit sandpaper, 4 hours in warm water, and then inside a paper towel on a warm seed mat. In this case, it took 36 hours from the start to taproot.
I'm doing a single plant grow in coco and will be using the coco for cannabis grow guides throughout. This will be my fourth grow following the coco guidance and the last three grows have gone very well. My first three grows were definitely an effort in dialing in the guidance for my particular setup but I've had great results. My last grow of Amnesia FAST was superb and I can't wait to see how this next plant grows now that I kind of know what I'm doing.
I'm experimenting with Sour Crack just to see how fast it really is from zero to flower. Advertised as 55-65 days with 65 being the best. More photos to come.
While I'm doing the grow I want to test out timelapse techniques and see what works and what doesn't. May get a motorized slider to automagically move the GoPro up over the grow period to remove any jerking moves in the final product.
No nutrients for this week - will be adding them once I transplant this little lady to the next container. In addition to my humidifier, the overhead shot shows the auto-draining (drain away) saucer fed to an auto-pumping bucket that removes the wastewater from the grow tent immediately. A modified version of Coco For Cannabis's auto draining system.
LUX is moving from 3-10k
https://www.cocoforcannabis.com/equipment-products-guide/diy-projects/#pumping
https://www.cocoforcannabis.com/equipment-products-guide/diy-projects/#self-draining-saucers
https://drainawaydraintray.com/collections/frontpage/products/drain-away-drain-tray
Went from the second size container to a final 3-gallon fabric pot. Normally I have a step in-between but with this being an auto, I went straight to the final. Starting the week at 500EC in nutrients and building up to 1100 by the end. After the next few days of hand watering, I'll be automating the fertigation at 5 times a day.
The nutrient load above is the start of the week.
The seeding itself has seen some great growth the last few days as I began adding nutrients from 200-500. A bit too big for its own stem it seems.
Week 3 and the plant is the perfect size for some initial LST. We'll how she responds during the week.
- She took to the LST very well. Can't get a view to show but even after that first pull to the side she turned right up. Going to review daily and adjust. I'm wishing I had started a second plant now, as that would be a great experiment in plant outcomes side by side LST / no LST. I'm sure others have done them I just haven't sought them out yet.
- Had two days of temperature and humidity temperature volatility - just would not normalize like normal. I have a few grows under me but this was straight up a rookie mistake. I had just turned up the light wattage and the tent went wild. I don't normally do that, I usually have it at the lowest setting possible that provides 18 inches away from the light and at whatever umol is right for that stage. The higher wattage up high baked the tent and put the exhaust fan to non-stop! ... Fixed it. Only new mistakes!
- I've been adjusting the tie-down daily or even twice daily. Definitely have to do some leaf tucking in addition to the tie downs to get the light to the lower nodes. I'd normally give them a bit more time but it feels like a very fast grow and the plant is producing like mad. Plan to continue to tie the main stem around the rim as she grows with a couple more tie-downs. This is day 22 already and she's supposed to be done by day 65 (March 17th) so I don't see the need to tie down to many more to keep the canopy somewhat even.
- Moved up to 1200 EC on the nutes. Think it will be a war between nutrient burn and truly providing all the nutes she can use. Normally I'd walk it up more slowly.
- Continuing the LST. Honestly, not a fan. For small-scale hobby growing, at least those that have the room, it's just not necessary. If you're trying to squeeze every gram of flower out, totally different story. I plan on going ahead with it for this grow and will be able to compare the same strain, same growth cycle.
- Day 23. I couldn't stand having all that grow space go to waste. Germinated a free-bee from Seedsman, Froot by the Foot. It's in the shielded planter on the right. When she grows into her second container I'll refit the grow tent into my two plant setup. Separate grow diary for that one.
- Day 24. First pistil! From here on out it's flower time. I posted a couple of pics of the LST in progress. It's done a great job at opening the lower nodes to light and they are loving it. Going to move it a bit in the next few days to make sure the underside also has some exposure.
- Day 28. Went away for a three-day weekend and boy did she go nuts. As I've said, I'm not a huge fan of LST but you can tell immediately what type of yield increase you'll get at the end. I think someone else described it as a "fan-shape" with nodes popping straight up once they are exposed. I tied town 4 more tops and can see two more that will need it in a few days. It looks a bit of a mess at the moment, but once we start to see the flower stretch it should be pretty amazing.
I also switched my setup from a single automated plant setup to a double. Re-checked the light strength, etc. All good.
- Ok, getting to flower time. Can't see much on top, especially not since I've been LST'ing them down and huge fan leaves are covering the bulk of the plant. Going to clean that up later tonight or tomorrow and make sure everything is getting the sun it needs to provide those extra cola's as much love as possible. The PPM is staying steady but the ingredients are shifting to flower nutes. Starting next week I'm going to push to 650-700 PPM. I'll be intensifying the light as well throughout the week. Need to get to the higher intesity but don't want to burn her. Any delay in growth would definitely impact the yield. I'm using the following as directional guidance for my light strength but ignoring the DLI for now.
Week 1 – 180 PPFD @ 20 HR = 16 DLI
Week 2 – 275 PPFD @ 24 HR = 22 DLI
Week 3/4 - 500 PPFD @ 18 HR = 32 DLI
Week 5/6 - 600 PPFD @ 18 HR = 40 DLI (typical start of flower)
Week 7/8 - 775 PPFD @ 18 HR = 50 DLI
Week 8/finish -1000 PPFD @ 18 HR = 65 DLI
Next grow I'm going to start recording water volume for this Coco Coir method I'm using. Interested to see how much it takes me vs. some of the other grows. I fertigate 5 times a day and I'd bet it takes a lot more.
I love that I have root sign in this size pot already. (Root sign is much like Worm Sign in Dune, but cooler)
Feb 11 - Day 32 and I have to say the plant looks pretty crazy. I have no doubt that I will have a larger yield due to the shape we can force a plant in. Bonus for us. About 8 decent "tops" all pushing up, one being the main stem.
Feb 14 - Day 35. Still looks like a mad bush. I trimmed some of the underbrush and a few small nodes that weren't going to get to the canopy. Let's get that flower going!
Feb, 16 - Day 36 gives a definite view into the bud sites. All of a more equal height and prominently arranged in the more desired flat top canopy approach due to LST. Fat trunk for a 37-day old plant. I don't think I've even come close to maxing out the nutrients, no signs on the leaves at all. If you grow this strain for quick cycles I'll bet you could run it very hot. That also would be an interesting test. I start a new level tomorrow - will update the levels after.
Feb, 19 - Day 39 Tops looking great. I've trimmed lower bud sites that won't see the light of the canopy but kept all of the leaves/branches/nodes for feeding those flowers. Nutrient list to come. Hit 1,300 EC and she is loving it.
Feb 23 - Day 43 Flowers are starting to come in pretty well and think the stretch is close to over. Definitely looks like a mad bush but there is plenty of airflow. I've removed the lower bud sites slowly over the last week or so. I skipped continuing to do LST and the stretch really messed with my canopy but heck, with that many tops for a small auto I'm really impressed.
Feb 26 - Day 46 Flowers doing fine and beginning trichomes are starting to sparkle. Assuming a 65-day cycle, we're less than three weeks from harvest.
Day 50 - Tons of tops and she's looking good. Going to do some minor trimming so that light gets a bit deeper into the canopy but not enough to stress her out.
Day 51 - Turned the pot a bit to get what was the far left side more light. If those fill in like that I'll be a happy man.
Day 56 - She just started turning from pistil to small nugs. Hoping she rapidly fills out in the next 10-15 days.
Day 60 - The plant has tons of buds and pistils but I don't see that she's really filling out like normal. Sour Crack is supposed to be a 65-day harvest. Not looking likely.
Day 64 - True to the strain description she's coming on strong. I have a little more of last week's nute mix to go and then all water from here on out. I put her in a ScrOG net to help with the humidity and did minor trimming of the bottom 1/5th. As you can see from the pictures: tons o'frost. Starting to get milky and the rest of the pistils below the top are beginning to get color. Supposedly tomorrow is harvest day but I don't see it. I may let her go to day 70 but I'll be checking every day. She might surprise me.
Sour Crack grew like crazy and was supremely resistant to ph imbalances, nutrient spikes, and even higher than normal RH. Tons of flower were produced, but they never quite filled in. Tons of larf. I've tested an initial batch, and the results were not encouraging. I left a bit more leaves on the final trim than usual, anticipating that I'll use this plant for edibles instead of smoking.
2.3 ounces dry weight after trim isn't horrible for an auto but the quality of the yield leaves a bit to be desired.
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