Green Crack Auto

Day 3: She's poking through the surface today. Day 5: Finally fully through the surface and standing up straight. Day 6: True leaves are starting to grow. Day 7: Second set starting.

Day 8: Not much to report today. She's growing. Day 9: Again, not much to report. I think the pH is a bit off, but I will let her dry up for another day or two, when I will start introducing some nutrient supplements. Day 13: I believe my pH and temperature/humidity were the reason for the slow growth. I had to let the substrate dry out fully as I also over-watered it last time. I re-watered her 2 days ago, and we now see a significant increase in growth.

Day 16: Still kicking... Day 17: Looking good. Day 20: Starting to see a faster increase in growth over the last day or two. She looks quite a bit stronger and ready to flourish. Day 21: Looking pretty healthy.

Day 24: Looking almost ready to start flowering soon. Up to 6 inches. Day 27: I think we'll be seeing pistils tomorrow or the next day :) Day 28: I was right! We have pistils today! (see image). Also, I notice that some of the leaves on the bottom are deformed in interesting ways. Some of them have hooked leaflets. One leaf only has 2 leaflets (see images).

Day 30: She started forming pistils 2 days ago. It'll only be a few days before we have buds now!

Day 39: Well, it's been a while since the last update, and a lot has changed. I'll admit, I just sort of slacked off for a couple days after being sick for about 5 days, so my plants basically went without food or water for a whole week. This plant survived, with a lot of yellowing and interveinal chlorosis from using up stored energy. That was remedied 3 days ago, by transplating her (gasp) into a 5 gallon pot of coco coir and frequent fertigation of the nutrients she needs. She looks very green now, and you can hardly tell there was ever a problem. I pruned off some leaves and branches on bottom growth that I would have otherwise pruned too. Of course there is a small problem resulting from that fix though. The only grow space large enough for my 5gal pots is my tent, currently in the middle of flowering a couple photoperiods under 12/12. So, this plant has now been blooming under 12/12. That, along with her week without food or water, has slowed down her flowering, but she still seems to be kicking. It's okay to flower autos under 12/12. You may not get the densest, well-developed mounds of calyxes you may have experienced another way, but I don't see any harm in it otherwise -- it beats the alternative of killing off another plant of mine. She is 15 inches tall now, and she grew about 3 inches in the last 3 days in her new pot under the better light. She is also pretty stinky, even though her buds are just barely formed at this point. Stinkier than my other current auto diary of the same age, LSD-25 Auto. That's it for this week. As always, thanks for stopping by, and don't be afraid to reach out if you have any questions!

Day 43: She had some light defoliation done of some old fan leaves that were doing more harm than good. Today is the first day her tent is no longer flowering any photoperiods. I will be gradually increasing her daylight hours back up to around 18 over the next week or two. After that, the tent will function as a perpetual auto grow from mid-veg until harvest, with initial veging in my other tent. Hopefully no more lighting mistakes when everything is constant and matched up with both of my tents. Day 44: She is up to 13h of light after a couple days of incrementing the daylight hours. She seems to just be loving life. Not a problem in sight. Day 45: She is up to 21 inches tall today. She received a full defoliation of bottom growth today, as she was too sensitive from the drought to do much last week.

Day 50: She's doing just great and her buds are starting to develop well. I reckon she is about 2-3 weeks away from being harvested, given her rough childhood.

Day 57: Well she is doing fairly well. As mentioned in my LSD-25 diary which is the same age as her, I left for a couple days and my plants didn't receive food or water in that time. This Green Crack Auto plant was the only one that didn't show any symptoms. Not even the slightest leaf tip discoloration, or wiltedness as is otherwise common with my occasional abrupt botanical neglect. That said, while watering her 3 days ago, I accidentally knocked got her main cola tangled in some string that shouldn't have even been hanging anymore, sigh. Her cola bent in an L-shape. I straightened it out, and it's at a 45 degree angle now. I didn't feel it was necessary to prop it up. I ain't afraid to experiment a little here. The worst that happens is about 1/8oz of dry product does the drying on the stem after stopping growth. Besides, her height was getting to be a nuisance. Not that she was tall by any means, but her friend, Miss LSD-25 Auto, who is the same age, is much more tolerable to high intensity light, whether that translates to infinitesimal PPFD variance spikes, or more broader DLI, I haven't tested. But it likes being about a foot or so away, more than half that of her friend. Her buds aren't really stacking like I see in a lot of my grows. They are all spherical white puff balls, with lots of stigmatic papillae (the hairs on the pistils themselves). It does give off a very slight scent when lightly touched, but not so much in the air currently. The smell is reminiscent of the classic Green Crack that was the hottest stuff about the time I stopped using for 10 years. When I did try it a few times, it was up there in my top 5 as far as taste and effects, the two main qualities I look for. That glimpse of that distinct smell gave me hope that I will get to experience it once again in a mere weeks. I am seeing the slightest hint of pistils starting to turn color. You really gotta squint for this, but I expect that in another couple of days or so we will get to see some color in the inflorescence. The breeder flowering time is lining up with what I'm seeing. I expect her to be ready in no less than 2 weeks (as they always say). Day 60: Some of her pistils are now a nice shade of orange. Let the transition to ripeness begin! Day 61: She finally got a much needed haircut today.

Day 64: She continues to bloom, and I like what I see so far. Still a long way away I think, but we'll reassess at the end of the week. Last week her light was increased from 18h to 19h to make some of her other tent-mates happier. Day 65: Tent shot today. She is standing tall in the back right. Day 69: She's going good. Seems to be a slower bloomer compared to the LSD-25 started at the same time that is nearly finished, but her buds didn't even start to bulken up or get much frost yet...I see massive amounts of fluffy pistils though, which is always a good sign of things to come :)

Day 72: She's really bulking up now, and she's showing some muted lavender hues in her inflorescence. The main cola is almost ripe; another week or so. It is looking like, given the height difference between the main cola and the side colas, I will be doing a partial harvest. I will cut the main cola, and spread open the branches to give the rest an even canopy so the light can be lowered.

Day 82: Last weekend I had a major equipment malfunction, and I lost a few plants from everything in my tent crashing to the ground, including the tent. This plant was the only one that made it, but its cola was severed off almost completely, along with one of its lower side branches. I finished the job for those two pieces, and hung them to dry for the last week. The image you see is the smallest bud from the lower side branch, just manicured, and about to cure. The rest of the plant is doing well. It already finished stacking before the accident, thankfully, but I'm doing a dry harvest - letting the soil dry out completely and letting senescence finish her off. I don't have any images right now, but I may post one shortly. My attention is mostly on my outdoor grows, since I received some hate mail from a particular growmie, and I don't feel comfortable advertising my indoor learning experiences anymore.

Read the harvest description. The following was added later, copied from a response to a comment. It is important this be visible to everyone: It is very hard to see mold, and I share my failures because I am honest and I do not want other new growers, especially those trying to make medicine, to have the same troubles. I would urge everyone to carefully inspect the middle of dry bigger buds before curing. Some bud rot is not grey or even white. It looks like trichomes on wet bud. On dry bud it is barely noticeable UNLESS it is a dark colorful strain, like LSD-25, where it stands out clear as day. Be safe everyone. No harm in checking, as experienced and as confident in your techniques as you are, please do it once in a while.