Blue Dream Auto? Photoperiod? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@@Chi_Town_White_Boy, love the way you're talken about that auto, pretty happy i don't have to live through that ... gonna be killer smoke though !

@CRiSPrGrow, I just doubled the light wattage. I haven't started checking trykes yet just because all of the pistils are white. There's literally like 2 orange hairs on the topmost buds and that's it. I think it's got a long ways to go still...spent too long in veg.

@@Chi_Town_White_Boy, maybes up the light see if you can get weight going on her, she s got a faire few weeks inner ? have you started checken trykes or not yet?

@@Chi_Town_White_Boy, I'd recommend trying 12/12, just to be safe. I'm not sure what causes autos not to flip to flower automatically. Maybe it was actually a photoperiod seed that accidentally got mixed up at the breeder. Or maybe that seed just didn't get enough of the ruderalis traits for some reason. Who knows. But I would anticipate flowering to take about 8 weeks. Good luck!

@DudeGrowsWeed, I moved her to her own tent. I have the timer set to 14 hours on. Should I go less? 13 or 12 maybe? I've never done photoperiod plants, so I'm not entirely sure what's recommended here. Also, how long should I anticipate the flowering period being? 4-8 weeks?

@@Chi_Town_White_Boy, thank you so much for the thorough feedback, I seriously appreciate it. I think I am going to switch over to growing a single auto plant that I top and LST in the two grow boxes I have (the second one's still being made at the moment). That'll only end up being next year, but I'm keen for the switch. I topped my current plants in week 2 and 3, so I should be good there. Any suggestions for defoliation tips and intensity for my future auto grows?

@JemGreen, I've definitely had success topping autos. I do notice that it tends to push them to the 11-12 week range for harvest, but I'm not having any problems with yield. I will also add that, using the same system, nutrient schedule, and setup, I am getting way more yield on the autos that I top than I am with the ones I do not. At least double the yield. I grew Critical Auto recently (did not have a diary for that one - though it is visible clearly in the tent photos from my Northern Lights diary) , and I topped it a LOT just as an experiment. The breeder said it is a "petite" yield -- and it seemed like it was going to be that way. My Northern Lights (which I topped only once or twice) was getting really, really bulky. However, when I ended up harvesting them, my Critical blew the Northern out of the water. I even had multiple tops on one primary stalk, and all of those turned out to be the biggest yielding stalks. I also harvested a Big Bang a couple weeks ago, which was not topped, and it had a very low yield. I'm interested to see how my 60-Day Lemon does, and expect to be harvesting that in 2-3 weeks. That one has not been topped, but has the full light of my tent right now because it is the only one beyond 4 weeks old. In regards to defoliation, I lollipop all of my plants. Like usual, I get better development on the top buds. My 60-Day Lemon is really showing this right now -- all of the side buds are gaining significant mass. The only thing about topping and defoliating autos, as you probably already know, is the timing. I am topping my autos as soon as I can reasonably access the main stalk without damaging the two bud sides that I'm hoping will take over. That tends to be during week 3 for me (top feeding speeds up the process significantly!). I will top through week 5, or 6 in extreme cases, but never after that. Again, I will say that this seems to push the harvest back a week or two, as mine are never done by week 9. But, my yields are about 4oz with autos I top. Less then 2oz with autos I do not top. I always do LST, unless I have no room left in my tent. Would love to hear others experiences with topping and defoliating.

Thank you thank you @TOTEM! 20 weeks of my life....I feel like I could possibly be a responsible parent now 😂 I'll have to smoke and think about it 😱 I actually am glad I had this plant go so long because it let me kind of experience the photoperiod grow. I was never really interested in it because of the length they take to get to harvest, but now I realize that having a few extra weeks in veg means you have a few extra weeks to get her shaped properly for light penetration. That extra time gives you an option to top and have a good recovery. I ordered some Critical Jack photoperiods from Dinafem. I had to buy this 2nd tent just for this Blue Dream -- I didn't want to drop my autoflowers to 12 hours a day. Anyway -- now I've got a 2nd tent and I want to do autos in one and photos in the other. Thanks for checking out my grow! I'll definitely have some updates over the next few weeks!

@@Chi_Town_White_Boy, yes I think so 😦

@Reaper, I definitely rinse the hell out of my hydroton. It seems to leech into the water anyway. I haven't tried cooking them; not sure if that's necessary. The jump immediately after new water is definitely going to be because of evaporation. Evap it for 2 hours with an airstone and that should help. The initial few days of each week you'll see more fluctuation anyway -- as nutrients are used up there will be a drift.

@Reaper 👊 👆

@@Chi_Town_White_Boy, thanks for the info the only thing else is the clay pelets (hydroton) i rinse and coock them then i put them in 5.5 water but again that water goes to 7.5 in few hours lol. maybe i have to evaporate it too . so frustrating i fisted my pussy

@CRiSPrGrow, the display is made by Nextion. There are plenty of samples of coding and it’s pretty customizable - touch screen let’s you make different information screens. Regarding the pH meters, I know there are two kinds - one that can stay submerged and one that can’t. The submerged type is more pricey. The only thing I could think of to reduce to price would be to setup a big, shared reservoir system. I never did that because I like growing various strains, but if you only had one batch to monitor then it’d be easier and cheaper to maintain, I think.

@@Chi_Town_White_Boy, very nice i like that display man , thinking about doing this, crazy about the PH sensors' price, any way to get that down? i tried my own sensors, but the "in soil EC" measurement is a bit tenuous.

@CRiSPrGrow, I made a little tent controller for myself. I used a plastic box that they sell at the hardware store for like electrical connections and stuff. Inside there's an Arduino that just monitors the sensors I attached. I have a sensor that tells me the tent's overall humidity and temperature. Then I have a sensor in each bucket to monitor the temps. I got too lazy to add pH and stuff, but it's been super helpful knowing when the temps in my reservoirs go above 68. Now that it's winter in Chicago though, I'm having a hard time getting my tent up to 70 degrees F! But, I have LEDs in the box that go red or green depending on if I'm within my specs. It's helpful just as an indicator if I have to do something or not. I can glance from 30ft away and know if everything's all good 👍 Arduinos are only like $15, and sensors are like 5 for $10. You can buy pH meters and stuff, too, but they're like $50 a piece.

@BudStinkWeed, my RO is around 8.0. My guess is that we're filtering out most of the acidic stuff so it's probably just getting very basic. I try to shoot for 6.0-6.3 during veg, and 5.6-5.9 during bloom. I'm still adjusting this though. Also, I use Advanced Nutrients, so if there is a high PPM solution, I would have to fight against the nutrients to get the pH where I want. So I only pH when I have a low PPM solution, otherwise the Advanced Nutrient "perfect pH" is kind of useless. In that sense, I don't usually modify the pH during feedings. When the nutrients start to be used by the plant, the pH starts to fluctuate. Thats when I really need to watch the pH. Too low of a nutrient solution and the pH seems to drop and become very acidic. Most othertimes, the pH tends to drift up to a base. Regarding water changes and nutrients, I tend to do that if needed. So, 2 weeks max I make sure I regularly clean my buckets and swap/clean out my air stones. I usually give nutrients once a week, but will add a bit more if necessary 3-4 days in. This lets me give a lighter load of nutrients and see if the plant is taking them or not. So about week 5 or 6 when my nutrient level is near its peak, I'll put about 550ppm of nutrients in initially, but when it drops down to about 100ppm, I push it back up to about 350ppm. That way my plants always have nutrients, my pH is somewhat regulated by the AN lineup, and I'm also not dumping 900ppm on it all at once. If I can get away without cleaning the bucket, I usually just pump out all of the water in my bucket and put a new week's worth of nutrients in. Again, anything more than 2 weeks is probably pushing it. But if I'm doing a second week with nearly the same nutrient lineup, then I try to save myself some time. Glad to give my thoughts!

Yeah that is true. My RO PH is very high for some reason, using Ispring filters for high alkaline so I have to modify the PH for now sadly. What PH are you running with for veg/flower? And when adding nutrients how exactly do you modify the PH? (Do you keep it the same when adding nutrients or allow it to be raised by adding nutrients.) Also with added nutrients how often do you change the water?Sorry for so many questions! Really appriciate the help!

@BudStinkWeed, hey dude! Thanks for checking my grow! I love DWC! You don't need a dripper necessarily to go DWC. Any sort of top feed, however, does speed up the first 3 weeks significantly. I bought a $10 aquarium pump and some 1/4" water line from the hardware store (like you use for a refrigerator). I drilled really tiny holes in the 1/4" water line and then drilled holes around my net pot to run the water line through (picture: see week 3, day 17 root photo to see 1/4" tubing wrapped). Really crude, really simple, really cheap. Then I have a timer that I turn the power on the pump(s) for 5 minutes every 2 hours. That was the hardest part about the top feed without using a legit drip system -- finding out how long to pump and how often. My plants were droopy for a bit until I got it down. In regards to hydroton being dry, that doesn't seem to affect anything. Once the roots grow through the net pot and hit the water, you are set. The bubbles from air stones are delivering humidity and oxygen to the roots -- and I would guess keeping the internal humidity of the buckets really high. The roots in the net pot that are too far from the water are probably getting moisture from the lower roots. I'm not sure -- but you don't really have to keep the roots wet near the surface. They seem to do that themselves with internal transport. After about week 3, the roots don't need top feed and almost seem to not like it. It's like they're getting too much water. I change my water once every 1-2 weeks. If I'm in a veg state for a few weeks, I may let it go for 2 weeks. I will just pump the water out and pump new nutrients in. Just keep your eye on any growth on air stones or other algae (and definitely use hydroguard, hygrozyme, or some bacteria management). I clean my air stones and my buckets at least every 2 weeks. Buckets I spray hot water on everything and then use microfiber rags to dry them (I read that microfiber can grab 99% of bacteria -- not sure how true that is). For air stones, I boil them in plain water for about 5-10 minutes and then I blow air through them. I will admit that DWC can be a bit of maintenance. If you notice, I try to get all my plants started around the same day. This cycle all of my plants popped on a Tuesday, so I have consolidated all of my routine maintenance to Tuesday nights or Wednesday afternoons. I love DWC. It's definitely a challenge. Prepare to struggle a bit to figure out PPMs and any other issues, just like any other medium. But once you dial it in, you can get some really great control and results. I have 100% control over my water temps, water pH, water nutrient PPM, etc. If you've done soil for a bit, DWC is a bit different but I think worth it. I seem to be getting massive yields even when I screw up! Let me know if you have any more questions. Always glad to help -- and hear other ideas! Please give your two cents if some of my info isn't sitting well with you! Love the community!

@@Chi_Town_White_Boy, do you always talk about your colas like that ? 😂😂😂 and gimme back my emoji haha

@CRiSPrGrow, haha! Some of us more than others! From the side they’re starting to look like rockets to Russia! 🚀

@@Chi_Town_White_Boy, she's shaping up to be a very lovely lady, good job!

@bobo420, that's a little forward isn't it!? jk hahaha 🙀 I'm stoked about this plant! Looking really good in its own tent. I'm hoping to learn a few things with this!

@@Chi_Town_White_Boy, seen this once before on this site, the dude didn t catch it for time, he did like 5 months... his only comment about the strain was "was not an auto so i can't really comment"... mr. diplomat like you haha idk

@CRiSPrGrow, no idea! Either I got a non-auto seed or all of my topping and pruning screwed up the genetics somehow. I'm leaning towards the former.... We'll see how she does in her own tent over the next week or two. As much as I really didn't need another tent (1 is big, 2 is HUGE) - when this girl comes down, I can now do some testing with SCROG or other methods. Hell, even just having the ability to do photoperiod plants is pretty cool! I got a lot to learn...feels like I'm starting new!

@@Chi_Town_White_Boy, love <3

@nix_nix, Good catch! I should probably be more accurate with my nutrients. I basically follow the recommended portions -- so I'm more or less providing the Advanced Nutrient's schedule. What I mean to say is that I use double for Bloom/Grow than I use for everything else. Typically, I use 3 gallons of water for my nutrient mix. That's usually more than enough to cover my 7.5" line I use as a reference for top water level (once roots have reached it, of course). So, here's what I do for a 3 gallon mix: 20ml of grow/bloom. 10ml of everything else. That's total for 3 gallons of RO water. Depending on what week you're on -- some weeks in AN's schedule include more nutrients than others, which will naturally increase the PPMs. Generally, though, this 20ml base and 10ml everything else (per 3 gal) gets me around 650ppm. I usually will add a bit more RO water to it and mix it up to get it down to the level I want. So it'll take another quarter - to - half gallon to get me down to about 550ppm. On the other side, if I'm changing two plants at the same time -- let's say they're in the veg state together (AN schedule doesn't change much during veg), then I might add two gallons to that 3 gallon mix and bring it down to something like 300ppm, which is usually good for plants that are 2-4 weeks old. So, you're right -- I should be more transparent about my data so that others can learn from my mistakes. Hope this clears that up. I maintain AN's proportions, but then water it down. You can cut the 20/10 ml in half to 10/5 ml and get around 300-400ppm, too. Play around with the numbers, but 600ppm is usually pretty hot for most autoflower strains. My goal here is to reduce the amount of wasted expensive nutrients. Great questions!

@BeefWellingtons,I haven’t given any nutrients in a few days. I’m curious to try your suggestion. How long do you wait for nutes? What about yellowing? What do you use during this time - Hydroguard and cal/mag?

@BeefWellingtons, I'm using RO water and having it with no nutrients or supplements for 3 weeks seems a bit extreme, considering these plants are only supposed to live 9-12 weeks. I do avoid nutrients for the first few days and then add a little bit towards the end of each week. I'm still adjusting my nutrient schedule, but I feel a lot more comfortable measuring PPM than guesstimating 1/4, 1/3, or 1/2 -- like I see everywhere (even on nutrient labels). It seems like the first week should be ~75, the second around ~150, and the third ~300ppm. Keep in mind that my tap water is 150ppm out of the faucet. Some bottled water I tested is 250ppm! So under ~75 is, in my opinion, a bit too low of nutrients unless you're letting the plant grow its first set of true leaves. After the second start of true leaves appears, however, I think 75ppm is the lowest you'd want. Another thing I've found is that even if I start a reservoir at 50ppm, with Hydroguard, top feeding, and likely some effect by the air stone oxygenation, the PPM tends to slowly climb. If you add any pH Up or pH Down, that increases the PPMs too. So my logic here is this: do you want 150ppm from Hydroguard, hydroton runoff, and pH Up/Down products? Or do you want 150ppm of actual nutrients intended for the plant? It's definitely a trade off situation, and a balancing act to keep pH in range. I have found that Advanced Nutrients will maintain the pH as long as they are above a certain PPM (at least in my RO water -- which measures about 12ppm). As of now, the plant is about 9 days old, is growing its 3rd node, and has roots appearing on each side of the net pot. I'm going to maintain a low PPM (probably around 150-175) over the next few days and will likely creep it up by next week's start. I'm going to follow your grows and appreciate the exchange of ideas!

@CRiSPrGrow, so glad to see her drying finally 🌲🧐 Thank you for all of your input with this grow! I learned so much from my troubles! 🙏

@iMeus, thank you brother! 🙏 You’re right - I cant say the root mass is due to the 20 weeks because this strain grew a massive root system pretty early on. Certainly bigger than my other plants, I think. I wonder if it’s photoperiod/auto or strain-specific? I’m going to do another photo as soon as this is done drying. We’ll see how those roots develop!

@TOTEM, yeah I’m not too thrilled about this leaf discoloration 🤬

Thanks so much @Stick! This popped up overnight and didn’t look like powdery mold - so I was scratching my head! My new light comes today - so I’m glad that if this happened, it happened now before I swapped lights and placed the blame incorrectly! I’ll double check pH and will recalibrate my pens. I think this is probably a result of 75+ degree water. It was probably there for 2-3 hours during the day and again during night/morning. The tent temp is too hot from overworking dehumidifier (Chicago weather is all over the place right now). Thanks for confirming my thoughts on this! I appreciate it! 🙏🌱

@@SeedLover, thanks brother! I had a bit extra time to train than I planned 😣