Cream Autoflower

I was beginning to wonder if I had messed something up, it was 6 days and still no sign! It was a direct sowing, so there really isn’t any way to check it without disturbing it. Kind of the whole reason for a direct sow I guess. Anyways, she’s up! Must have broke ground overnight. She will be coming inside for the nights as they are down into the low 30s! (F) She spends her days outside and receives a little extra light while she is indoors for the night. Eventually I plan to stop bringing her in for the nights, about the time she starts to flower. Or at least that’s my plan. I am watering with plain RO water: ppm of 18 at pH of 7. I made a sort of tapered super soil mix in her 3gal. The idea is to feed a lot less. I started off the germ with a feed so I think we are okay for now while I rehydrate the outer perimeter of the pot.

Day 8- She is doing good! Top dressed the outer perimeter with approx 1/2 tsp of Neem Cake (6-1-2). Watering with plain RO water. Day 14- First LST Tie-Down

Day 15 Smooth sailing so far! I’m happy with her progress, and excited to see her potential. I think I really like autoflowers :) 💪

I did her second tie-down on day 22 actually. Day 24- I’m okay with the fan leaf laying on the surface for *now.* Just because I live in a high, dry desert with a consistent RH at around 20-25%. And also, because the top quarter inch of soil is dry. However I will probably be propping it up with something tomorrow morning. Day 25- finally I decided to fold down the rim of the pot for more light!

Day 29, Too many bugs! Mini grasshoppers and one of those leaf tunneling bugs, as well as a respiratory bug within myself! I’ve taken care of the bug inside myself, now time for the Diatomaceous Earth!!!! And to get that bug out of that leaf! Still feeding a little cal mag. I think it’s necessary. Day 31 - Day 1F Going to ramp it up from 1mg to 3mg per Gal of CalMag OAC. I will top dress something special, maybe the mother earth acid mix, or maybe I will do a seabird guano with insect frass and top it off with an Epsom Salt solution feed. I’m trying to practice using less of a branded store-bought approach. But to source everything is so much easier out of a store bought package, so for now, I might just do a small amount of seabird and insect frass, maybe just a super small sprinkle on the soil surface, not in water. Day 5 of flower: and WTF is up with this foul weather. Only 46 degrees Fahrenheit! (7.8 C) Cloudy with 15-20 mph winds. Gonna drop to 29 tonight… this is ridiculous. I don’t have access to the tent at this time, so it’s cold weather today. I could bring her inside where it’s warmer, and there is no light! Or those house lights put out only a few candelas worth, not exactly light for a plant. Do she would just stretch and go hungry inside. I’m leaving her outside. Bringing her in over night obviously! But not much growth is expected. Just gotta roll with the punches. I thought we were flowering this week, but barely small preflower development. So this is switched back to a Veg week.

I don’t know why I had this understanding that an autoflower wouldn’t Veg past 30 days. That couldn’t be more inaccurate! It’s a relief because for the past week I have been scratching my head. However today, day 39, she is obviously putting out clusters of pistils everywhere. Plus the top growing point isn’t putting out another Two-Fan-Leaf-Node kinda thing, but instead a bulging cluster of new growth with many pistils. Now it’s obvious. So I will mark today, day 39, as Day 1 of Flower. Wahooo!! 🌺🌹

Blue Black x Maple Leaf Indica x White Rhino x Ruderalis 70I-20S-10R I shouldn’t have fed her. I figured she might want a lil something extra, but the result is her leaves are all folding up. I think that’s a sign of heat stress, but also I’ve read that it could possibly be slightly heavy on the nutes. Like, different than tip burn or a toxicity of something, but I think just overall a little to strong for her liking kinda thing. Would explain a lot, seeing as the Berry next day after feeding, in the cold morning and all day, her leaves have been folded up like heat stress.

Blue Black x Maple Leaf Indica x White Rhino x Ruderalis 70I-20S-10R I suppose I could have done a lot more training, but oh well. She’s doing pretty good, I wasn’t expecting her to grow this much. Flowering feels slow to me, but honestly it’s still early. Maybe it’s just the small compact nature of her buds that I’m noticing. Still as you can tell, we are barely getting into our third week. Some mornings when it’s significantly cooler and I am looking at her, I will notice signs of heat stress! As odd as that is as it’s probably only 60-65 F or even up to about 75 later in the day, her leaves would fold up as if it were too hot. After doing some reading, it’s possible this is a sign from too much food. Would make sense as she kind of started up after I fed her. I hope I added enough kelp and potash for this heat. I am noticing subtle signs of a potassium deficiency in a few leaves. As I’d expect with temps pushing a subjective 100+ Fahrenheit in the direct sun!!! At high elevation the sun is hot!

Blue Black x Maple Leaf Indica x White Rhino x Ruderalis 70I-20S-10R So far no nutrients in the water as of yet. Starting to stink around day 19 of flower. Nice smooth skunky smell. Not exactly skunk. But smooth and sweet. Heat is not as bad but still pretty bad. pH is good. No visible signs of pests* or pathogens. *pests* little fruit fly looking bugs that don’t land but hover around. And a tiny spider trying to catch them. Web production from this spider has been extremely minimal, and when present, only existing connecting from leaf tip to leaf tip; On the fan leaf tips furthest away from the center. I haven’t removed the spider as it appears as an overwhelmingly insignificant problem, in fact: maybe a potential deterrent from other unwanted pests, like a protector/guardian. Either way I easily clear away any webs with my hands without even feeling or noticing anything. I think in the video, he is blurred out of focus on a leaf tip. Anyways. If the lil arachnid gets closer in towards the buds, I might consider moving him, but he is literally staying all the way to the outside perimeter of the plant. He is very considerate.

Blue Black x Maple Leaf Indica x White Rhino x Ruderalis 70I-20S-10R Yeah, I’m not used to varieties that put out really tiny buds. Also I learned about bracts and that I falsely refer to bracts as calyxes. But yeah, she is slow with tiny bracts. A subtle smooth flavor/aroma. Can’t really put my finger on it, but I like it. Day 70. That smooth sweet smell is coming through more. A sweet fruity smell with undertones of almost a vanilla type of cream. Maybe the name was inspired by the smell?

It’s hard sometimes, resisting the urge to feed her with her waterings. But I’m by now it’s gotten much easier. I wasn’t able to do the entire grow with plain water, and maybe that was better. I can’t help but wonder if the small buds is from a lack of food or if it’s just genetics. I can’t necessarily say lack of food if I study all her leaf tips. After noticing very minimal, yet noticeable, signs of tip burn, I feel confident saying she is getting lots of food. Wether or not it was the right ratio of food is another question. Maybe there wasn’t enough phosphates? Just because there isn’t a deficiency, doesn’t mean the plant couldn’t have been able to utilized more. I might come to find these tiny super dense buds.

Slowly but surely, her buds are becoming more compact. The smell is gradually increasing, while still maintaining this overall smooth sweet almost velvety smell. If that makes any sense. There is a subtle tropical note coming through. Smells as though I’m about to take a sip of a pina colada. Maybe while sitting beneath a spruce tree. Day 80, she is starting to smell a little stronger, and reminiscent of green apples!

Her pot has been drying out really fast! I’m almost watering her twice a day but not quite. If I water her in the morning, she is dry by the evening. So then I water her at the evening and then she is dry my noon the following day. Water at noon, then she is good until the next morning and the cycle repeats. She has been receiving plain water still. And smelling predominately of sour green apple candy. However it’s still not the most pungent, I often find myself needing to get my nose right up to the buds in order to really smell them. Or if I touch the buds of course.

It’s been raining a lot this past couple weeks. The past 4 days I’ve been keeping her out of the rain, allowing her to dry up. Watching her do some last minute ripening. Lots of once clear sections have clouded up nicely. I’ve determined to chop her today, the last day of her life. Day 103 and 65 of those days were flowering. The last two weeks consisted of foxtail development instead of bud density. She has completely foxtailed every bud. Hard to see on the plant, but once it’s chopped and trimmed, the bizarre structure will be revealed. Smells good though. Smells like a cross between a green apple candy and the sweet subtleties of fresh fertile earth, with an undertone of a classic fresh cannabis smell. Light and refreshing on the nose.

I am going to Hang dry with the entire plant so I will not have wet weight. But yeah dry weight coming soon!