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The grow conditions are not ideal, but I’m hopeful. Humidity is way too low at 30 and I’m spraying the soil with water to keep conditions moist. Generally, watering with spray bottle, started with a couple of ounces of filtered water at end of week and soil is still moist overnight. Temperatures are also cooler than recommended. I lowered the grow light to 12 inches for a day to see if the temperature increases but decided to raise it back close to 20” per light instructions. I’m growing in a 4 inch pot with Happy Frog soil and planning on transplanting to a pot closer to 2 gallons. Hopefully, I can transplant without shocking the plant by being very careful.
The plant looks healthy but growth appears a little slow compared to other diaries. I’m attributing this to lower than ideal temperature and much lower humidity. I’m just not set up for better conditions at this point but satisfied with the results so far. Watering has been minimal and I’ll be transplanting to a 1.5+ gallon pot as soon as this new set of leaves forms more fully.
I transplanted from 4 inch to 8 inch pots. I added soil with organic nutrients that are supposed to feed the plants through flowering. However, this is something I may need to monitor. I added a small circulating fan to increased airflow. Watering with filtered water with added lemon or lime juice to lower ph. The humidity is slowly increasing in the space (just due to weather conditions). Plants look healthy and continue to sprout new leaves. Next update will be in a few days as this entry is a couple days late.
Just watering when the soil is dry, nothing else. I added some organic soil to the top layer with the idea some nutrients will flow to the roots. I’m keeping an eye out for any deficiencies but all looks good so far. The plant is still very much in vegetative state. I’m anticipating another week or so before it starts flowering.
I’m seeing a few white pistils on only one of the girls. One is growing taller with nice healthy branches, other is bushier and shorter. I started tucking some fan leaves under the lower branches that are reaching up to the light. I really hope I get into flowering next week. It’s looking like a fairly long veg stage. I think flowering may go fast with this strain but we’ll find out. No grow technique other than tucking leaves, no nutrients. I’m keeping the light a little lower to see what happens. Watering only every few days when the soil gets dry.
The taller plant grew 6 inches in this week. From 16” to 22”. I gave in and decided to try a very small amount of nutrients from Fox Farm because I’ve been reading that eventually the organic soil won’t be enough. They are absorbing water quickly and are looking strong. I’m tucking leaves but no other grow method. I’m using this grow as a baseline so I didn’t want to try too many things since it’s my first. I may trim off a lower branch if I’m seeing flowering on the top and not on anything lower. Finally seeing pistils on both plants and excited for this flowering stage. Will switch to a bloom nutrient soon. I also turned on a heater and have temps at 66 day and night and humidity remains low at 44% which should be about right for the flowering stage of this strain. Scent is weak, but occasionally I’ve gotten a sweet aroma and sometimes it’s just a little skunky.
Another explosion in growth this week. I expect to growth to slow or stop entirely soon The aroma is now pungent and strong. I made some changes to the room so temperatures are higher and more steady. Humidity remains low. I switched to Fox Farm Tiger Bloom but less than half the recommended amount. With the heater and the fan the soil gets dry faster. Watering every day now or every day and half or so. Despite not using grow techniques there appear to be plenty of bud sites for a decent yield.
I have an HLG 100v2 LED grow light at 4000K. They say 3000K is better for flowering. Does it make any sense for me to add some cheap red LED strips to add red spectrum? I’d rather not buy another more expensive light if I can just supplement this one. See picture.
Yes it makes sense to help out. Spectrum is important, and closer to 3000K would be optimal. But the more I’ve learned about lighting from Bruce Bugbee, the more I place importance on photon flux - essentially the “strength “ of your light.
If I had to pick (for example) a light capable of 1000 umols/sec/m2 at around 4000K
Vs
A light capable of only 500 umols/sec/m2 at around 3000K
I would certainly choose the first.
Anyhow.. yes the red should help to some extent. Certainly can’t hurt it. Plants look good, and it’s your first grow so I’d just see what you can do with the set up you got during this grow, then adjust if necessary
It looks like I skipped week 9 but more of the same. Both plants are flowering. The taller one is now 41” which is way taller than I expected but I have plenty of height in the room. The main cola is pretty close to the light so some leaves are lighter green probably from some light burn. I think it can probably handle it with these LEDs. I have to water every day, next time I’ll use a larger pot. I’m going to feed every third watering for now. Trichomes are forming on buds. I’m hoping the buds fatten over the next weeks.
Buds are looking better and trichomes are visible and clear. Pistils are still white, just seeing the first ones start to turn amber. Plants aren’t gaining anymore height. I removed some of the large fan leaves on the bottom of the plant. I’m continuing with nutrients and increased the amount. Plant seems to take additional nutrients, maybe even needs it. I wrote that my pot size is 2 gallons but maybe it’s even smaller. I’m confused about how pot sizes are calculated. Bigger pots next time for sure. Most likely just one plant too since my light is too small for plants this large. Some pale colors on leaves, most likely from light, could be slight nutrient problem too. Some leaf tips are brown, again most likely I had the light too close.
I stopped using Tiger Bloom, I think it was either burning one of the plants or I was overwatering. The smaller, bushier plant had no problems. Week 13, what a long autoflower! I think it may go another 2 weeks but the leaves are all yellowing so it has to be getting close. I won’t be using much nutrients at all.
Last few weeks I’ve removed a lot of leaves to get more light through to any lower buds. Week 14 and some trichomes are getting milky, but no amber buds. I think maybe another week to go. I hope the buds fatten up a little more. I think yield will exceed my expectations (I set a goal of 0.5oz / plant) and I’m starting to think about how I’m going to trim, dry and cure properly for the first time.
I trimmed off the top part of the main cola of the shorter bushier plant. Drying and curing that little bit while I’m still waiting for some trichomes to become amber. 16 weeks now and still going. I think the shorter one is ready very soon. The taller one may still take more time. 17 week autoflower? I can’t wait to get this harvested.
This is my first indoor grow. Despite being an auto, it took 18 weeks and could have possibly gone longer. I will grow again from this breeder and try more of their old school seed strains. I will introduce training, most likely topping, now that I know the plant is so tall and grow time is so long. Plenty of time for the plant to recover. I think it could help yield and bud size in the end. The yield amount I listed is tricky for two reasons: 1. I left on plenty of sugar leaves so that has to add to the weight 2. I feel like I dried longer than I should have so that reduced some weight. Either way, I think it’s fair to say at least an ounce per plant. This far surpasses my goal and pleased with the results. Can’t wait to try again.
Hey there friend. Welcome to the world of indoor cultivation! looking at your diary, Would you be alright with me offering some pointers? So cannabis plants LOVE heat and humidity. It is the buds that hate it. In veg we want to take advantage of this fact to help our plants grow along much quicker and more vigorously. In veg we can look for temps of 79-84 MAX with lights on & no more than 9 degrees less with lights off. If we allow for too much temperature swing between lights on and lights off while the plant is still growing vertically up to day 20 of flower, We will cause the plant to stretch ALOT which we do not want. So in veg & early flower, Keeping our temperature gaps nice and close between lights on and off is key. Utilizing humidity in our rooms during veg will also help out a lot with more rapid growth but we must introduce it properly. In our rooms we have our temperature and humidity set-points, But when we combine those 2 it forms a third set-point which is the most important & that is called VPD, Vapor pressure deficit.
I strongly recommend every new grower or old grower who has not learned it yet, To study and understand it & implement it into your room, Logging your numbers daily.
https://cerescann.com/importance-of-measuring-vpd/
For soil, We generally want to go for a PH of 6.1.
This website does a GREAT job of illustrating it with a nice graph & very good detailed explanation for soil.
https://autoflowerseedshop.com/cannabis-ph-chart-guide/
As we briefly touched on before, During veg & early flower we want our temperature gap's nice and tight to avoid stretch. Why exactly our plants stretch in response to this is a genetic trigger being activated by the environmental stress essentially telling the plant the end of the season is closer than it really is. In veg & early flower the plant is still in its first stage of development which is to grow up wide and tall so when it produces seed, It can cast them out nicely. Remember, Whether we are growing our plants for seed or bud their genetic responses do not change as they do not know any different. Once the plant has finished that first stage of growth by weeks 4-6 of flower with most strains, It is by day 20 of flower. Autoflowers you have to watch for it, But once the plant has finished this goal its new mission is to focus 100% on producing nice big flower clusters & to get very sticky so it can attract pollen to it successfully.
So once that vertical growth is finished, We actually now want to begin to expose our plants to larger temperature swings between lights on and lights off. This will help activate that genetic response and allow us to draw out the most potential from the strain utilizing the plants genetic triggers to environmental stresses at the right times. We can also take this a step further with doing light deprivation in the last 2 weeks using less light to simulate cloud cover. Very cold feed temps on the last flush is very good too. If you do not have them already, Get yourself a good PAR meter & thermal laser temp gun to monitor your plant top temperatures & optimize how much light your plants are getting. We are currently in the middle of producing a very comprehensive tutorial series for everybody to learn from & understand how to grow the highest level craft cannabis all on their own. If this interests you please check out our youtube and subscribe. The first 2 episodes are out the next one is coming in a few days. If you should ever have any questions or need any help, Please feel free to follow my profile and shoot me a DM. I will gladly help you with the pull down & make sure you get the best quality harvest possible as it is the most important step of the entire process.
Happy growing friend!
SaltCity
