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Well here we grow again. This is now my sixth autoflower grow, and one I hope puts all my recent experience in growing autos into one legendary strain! BBA claims some big numbers in yield and THC, so drop in from time to time.
I am very excited to grow some Bruce Banner Auto. Great yields, high TCH, beautiful smell. Who doesn't want to grow this strain, right? Round two, first on GD.
I’ve been topping my autos in a 3.8 sf stealth cabinet religiously at the 20ish day. In hydro that is around node 6-7. Would topping earlier giving the speed of growth that hydro provides, say at 3-4 node, make the plant less bushy and easier to manage? Ideas for tiny places?
The sooner you top the sooner they recover. If it's a healthy plant I try to top above the second node around day 10 or 12. I dont know why people top at higher nodes. You get too many branches trying to fight for space. I usually end up with around 30 tops from topping once.
Things are moving along well and she seems fairly happy. Not nearly as vigorous as the other autos in same type DWC system. I can appreciate something smaller as this is all about growing in 4 square feet of less.
First set of leaves were a bit light and what appears as some decent tip burn? Bucket was running hot on week two, but left it alone. She’s happy now that she’s starting to get the munchies. Most of the growth is looking decent.
I’m going to top above the fourth node, and take the lower branches leaving 6 main branches to train.
She’s topped but it looks like I will end up with 8 branches to play with. I may remove the bottom two?
hummm..... I want to say no and get a much yield as possible. but if your space is limited it might be a wise idea.
confirm the specs on the strain your growing. if it bulks up a lot or stretches a bunch might be a good idea.
Good Luck!
Very average growing root mass, and a little too much N? - tip curl. She looks healthy, nothing really to report. She was easy to LST and have branches at 90 degree with no training for first 3 weeks. I lighten up the milkshake a bit and will finish week 4 at 400ppm.
Leaf dark green and curling down. Maybe too much N. Will give her a flush before transition next week.
She fed very light until end of week for. 350ppm max!
Ummm Chow13 - raising flora micro will add significant amounts of N.. if you’re trying to dial back N with flora trio you dial back the micro.
Micro is 5-0-1
Gro is 2-1-6
Bloom is 0-5-4
I guess it’s just a sensitive auto.. it does appear to be N tox but I wouldn’t react to significantly. Personally in this scenario with hydro, I would add 10-15% or so of fresh pHd water to drop that EC a bit..
Looks very good overall otherwise tho.
She has been a VERY light feeder in veg. No more than 300 in week 4, as I torched her with 400ppm at week 3. She got N-drunk, and equaled out in the 300's.
Gave here a nice haircut and tighten up here barrettes for the next 10 days. Won't mess with here much except to keep vegetative grow in check. Took some lower branch shoots and cleaned up the under carriage early in the week. She feeding at equilibrium at 325-350 right now. This is much less than auto grows in the past, and explains PH drop issues on those grows possibly.
I have found this plant's water/nutrient intake is equal at 350ppm right now - end week 5. I am beginning to feel after several auto grows that the ppm requirement with GH nutrients is WAY less than what the web serves up? I doubt I can push this one beyond 500ppm? (0ppm water)
Yeah, none of the charts are terribly accurate, but then they're sort of generalized and not plant/strain specific. I was always comfy somewhere about 50% or so of the medium or light schedules depending. I could never feed any of the autos I ran more than 1.2EC, and usually closer to .9 to 1EC. These days I've moved to GH MaxiGro/MaxiBloom and use between 5-7g per feeding and it's much easier and less hassle.
I added my revised auto feeding chart I created for my Auto journey using GH Trio+ nutrients. This active spreadsheet makes add-backs and feeding schedules a snap. Are we getting on track here with PPM levels for Autos?
To add onto what Chow_13 said as I agree with most of what they are saying.
The VPD chart integration would be key if the environment was swaying a lot in temps or RH, but if its not I don't think its going to make all that big of difference.
I would also think it would be good to have it broken down into 3 or 2 parts per week. for small and large or small regular and large sized plants in your space. this would help account for the variance in feeding amounts. Or something that would be a live chart and you would input your res/runoff numbers and it would suggest what to do. if you wanted this to be used as a standalone reference for all growers vs yourself.
Not everyone is going to have their environment nailed in as tight as you are so the feeding guides will need to be different I think. Could also note if you have a regular sized plant but a super hot room you would want to use the lower or smaller feeding guides as the plant will transpiration more giving its environment. An Ideal chart would be one that you could enter in your temps, RH, light ppfd and other variables and it pumps out data on your optimal feeding schedule. but given the work involved in that I think what you got going on right now is banging.
I don't know how much more you can add to it other then feeding levels. It looks fantastic and as any grower will say you cant rely on a feed chart alone, need to listen to your plant and be flexible then adjust to what its needs are and what its showing you.
The user @nobodybuds like to calculate his feedings down to the T in elemental values vs compounds. Given that Nitrogen is calculated as its single element in fertilizer ratios and Phosphorous and Potassium are calculated as their compounds based on how they used to measure things with ash. 4-4-4 is not 4-4-4 in elements. I feel if you reached out to them in DM they might be able to help you tweak this into something truly wonderful. They are like minded from my small experience with them. But honestly its already a fully functional working model to me.
Good Luck!
I brought the the PPM even further down this week. 275-300 a sweet spot in week 6? I don't know ... seems light, and I’m suspicious about this PPM level moving into mid flower. My PH in DWC always drops noticeably in flower after 3-4 of reservoir change. I am going to keep the PPM at a level where PH/PPM are in check - and keep a very keen eye on her. I'm guessing I wont get much above 400 in late flower? All plants are different, but this is nearly half of my past auto grows. If the PH keep dropping with PPM levels this low, then I have an answer/data - of sorts.
Second grow if this strain. Once is FFOF soil and once in hydro. Both times plant seems a bit droopy, yet healthy otherwise. Must be a genetic trait?
Ended the week with bringing the PPM back to 400 and will just manage PH in flower as usual. PPM / PH drift rules are useless IMO.
I also have purpleing on my Blue Cindy plant I'm growing out right now, and next to it in the same tent I have a Maltezerz with no colouring on it, they are by the same breeder, G13 Labs. I feels its all about the genetics and that some lights will express this trait more. I think that LEDS be them full spectrum have spikes in the blue/red range and this is what causes the streaks to be more evident on indoor grows, I would not be surprised if this is also linked to light intensity and how close the diodes are to the plants. I don't have any stains that I have grown indoors and outdoors to fully test this out but I would not be surprised if this is part of the case. I view it sort of like how some tomatoes will blush blue/purple or more red/pink if they are exposed to full sun on that side of the fruit. I notice apples do the same thing but its tends to be deep reds or pinks that get expressed on the sun kissed portion vs purples.
Given how locked in you have things I do not think this is at all any PH stress or imbalance in nutrients. I don't know what bearings internally tend to make the plant express this. Both the ones I'm growing are Sativa dominate but the blue cindy is growing more like a Indica phenotype so who knows. I have heard that strains that are known to go purple or have fruity sents in its lineage are more likely for this. but its not scientific in any way. just anecdotal.
Over all it looks to be healthy and I would not put much thought into the whys. This will follow though into the petioles for my plants that I have noticed this on. I also let my plants get quite chilly at night down to 16c and up to 28c in the day. this maybe another factor.
Good Luck!
Fresh res. New growth (cola pic) leaves are scorched a bit. Result of tox from 2+ weeks ago, still hot? My PH/PPM equilibrium is 250pmm w/ 0ppm H20. If I follow this rule (I never done), she would max out in 350ish PPM. Anyone follow the dance thru harvest? GH Trio nutes.
Kinda light at 250 ppm for 6 weeks but I see u went through a stage of toxicity so it's understandable cus u have to reintroduce the nutes at low ppm so that's about right. Next feeding try to reach 450-500 ppm. They look beautiful and good luck 👍
Is the PH spike from adding Armor Si (or the like) short term? Meaning will the PH slowly drift downward as the bucket ages through the week as it's effects wear off?
this link goes though a bit of that. I'm not overly familiar with using that line but I feel this may help shed some light onto your situation.
https://www.rollitup.org/t/how-much-armor-si.982594/
Well I starved her for two weeks with some low PPM/low N, and bumped here back into an equilibrium last night at 400 ppm. PH stable through the night with a ppm drop. Fingers crossed for a manageable week 7.
This plant pre-flowered mid-week 3 and she has flowered up quite a bit more than the other hydro auto grows I've done. Maybe a nice yield, or maybe a quick finish? I'm patient ...
She hasn’t grown much at all last few days I’m guessing she’ll land 18” tall which is not good for my fixed light set up. Will need to rig the hangers in there somehow.
She's done her vertical height growth and has bulked up very nice for the end of week 7. I see some brown pills turned in. Maybe an early harvest as this one started to flower and bulk early compared to my other auto grows. Maybe a week 10-11 harvest?
Leaves towards top starting to turn lighter green with N and Cal looking deficiency. Change reservoir and bumped ppm to 575 and will add water only for a few days. Pistols are changing and she’s still looking like a week 10-11.
Day 55: Calyxes are swelling and more pistils turning brown - looking like it is ripening quick. 10 week grow max, and it may be done in as little as 9+ weeks? I also changed my mind on topping at a lower node. This run I topped at the fourth node, and with some fairly aggressive pruning I was able to remove shoots that would never reach the top, and keep the ones growing that filled a space. IMO this give a lot more room for error, and choice in what fills the space.
Things moved along last week with week 7 and 8 packin' on the flowers! If I am lucky she will fatten up a bit more, but she's ripening quick so chop-time may be sooner than later. Will check trichomes at the end of the week. If all continues in the right direction, could be another 8oz harvest. Finger crossed!
Day 60: I was lazy today and only checked the trichomes on one bud - mid-canopy. Mostly cloudy but still some work. I will do a full body scan on the first day of week 10 and see where things are.
Day 62: Still don't feel like cutting into my bud to check trichomes. I will try a 50MP DLSR and see if I can zoom and see trichome heads. My cheapie camera got a decent close up, but not close enough to see trichome color.
They look done, but going to let them ride for a least another week. Trich check in week 10 will firm up the timeline. Bucket ran very stable this run. This strain was a very light eater and after I adjusted nutes down in week 4, her PH never tanked downward.
Did I get cheated out of some flower time here? Any DWC Bruce Banner Auto growers finish under 10 weeks? In 7 days (9.5 weeks) I should be mostly cloudy - some amber. Breeders window of 10-14 weeks.
Hey there Hydronaut, before you chop too soon , just make sure you have absolutely no clears left , any clears and you're going to sacrifice potency. By that time you should be coasting towards the quick end of the breeder's advertised lifecycle. my best guess is you had just the right temperature for the plant to do it's job, so it worked out. you're not really allowed to complain if you go quicker than the breeder though 😅 hope this helps ! 🚀
I do it with my mirror less camera. It does good but its worth it to buy a pocket microscope. Just a time save. You don't have to take the picture get it of the camera and zoom in close to see the tricomes. I used my macro lens for my past 2 grows. Finally spent the 30 for the microscope to save time.
Going into the home stretch folks. Will run low PPM for a few days, dump reservoir and add 0 ppm water for a few-day flush and chop!
Will stop feeding at end of week 10 and run water and FloraKleen until ripe. Progress seems slow with amber trichs now so hope she’s done inside a week.
Day 71: She’s looking done for sure, and haven’t checked trichomes in quite a while. I’ll flush her for a few days (leave her in the dark for 48-72 hours) - and chop. I’m sure there will be more amber than I care for, and will check tonight. I kept her cold for last couple weeks and she ripened 10 weeks from germination with some nice colors! She'll be in jars soon enough:)
Trichomes are milky with some sporadic amber. She’s gotta go as I’m leaving town and so I will let her dry while I’m gone.
If it makes you feel good, go nuts, do it. if you trying to cut time skip it.
It stresses the plant and stress can cause increased trichomes from my understanding but how much can form in two days without light is beyond me.
Good Luck!
Hydronaut
