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This time we'll be trying another highly reviewed Fast Buds auto-flowering cultivar.
I'm trying a new dirt-cheap (no pun intended) germination technique that should allow me to give more oxygen to seedlings in soil and transplant them easily without disturbing their roots. That is the plan anyway. Trying different things is how we learn.
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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 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.
Ok so here's the deal. As many of you know, I've been fighting with mold appearing during the drying process over the last several harvests. I have good news and bad news.
First the bad news: this plant was also affected.
Now the good news: This plant was not affected as severely, and I did get some bud. More importantly though, I now know exactly what the problem has been all this time, and exactly how to correct it. But, I am taking a break from indoor for a while to focus on my outdoor plants. They require just as much maintenance, if not more, than indoor. When I return to indoor, I promise my first round will be a bountiful harvest of quality bud.
The problem has not been my drying or curing process at all. The problem has been the growing environment. The temperature and humidity are too high, and what I have been seeing is a form of "bud rot". "Bud rot" is a catch-all term for a lot of different fungi that destroy crops from the inside out. A lot of the time, this is the botrytis fungus, which spreads very rapidly. Botrytis usually starts out as specks of white dust deep inside the wettest corners between sugar leaves and bud, and when first colonizing, appears as a white or greyish fuzz, almost like silk nest webbing between foliage and or inflorescence. This white fuzz is barely ever noticed, because it occurs in hard to see places, and within 1 or 2 days, it spreads into a grey or brown infestation that completely takes over your bud from the inside out. You will usually first notice leaves turning yellow and decaying on a random bud, at which point it is already too late.
The problem I have been having is not this aggressive form of botrytis, but it is a more subtle form of bud rot. The fungus that I saw on my dried flower, was in very isolated corners on the inside of the flower, and it was all barely noticeable, and not grey in color...it was white or even clear and fluffy. This is very difficult to see but it is there in places here and there, and the mycelium network is always more advanced than it looks. This is not safe to consume.
After finding this fungus on my dried flower, I went back to the grow room and inspected the plant. I didn't see anything wrong under magnification. However, upon breaking open a live bud, I clearly saw the same thing: barely noticeable white fuzz on the inside.
Researching about different types of mold is not new to me. I have seen it in various forms before, and I am cautious whenever I am near a large spore colony. I didn't consider this to be a growing problem because it is just so hard to see until after drying. This is a clear or white mold. Botrytis, is a number of different species of what are usually classified into the grey and brown mold categories. This mold stays clear or white, and never progresses to the point where it causes necrosis. That makes it even more scary to me, because it is not easy to find. The type of fungus growing on my plants can be further classified into something in the Mucoraceae family, and most probably within the genus Mucor, a very common collection of mold species that are mostly in the allergenic category, the least of concerns. That said, there are pathogenic or toxigenic species in this family, or even genus, and I am not an expert to identify it further. Mucor is commonly found on vegetation in warm, humid conditions, and is often mistaken for Botrytis. If this was botrytis though, I would be lucky to see it in the early white fluffy stage, as it advances to grey and/or brown very quickly. The problem I have been having is always in very isolated places throughout the middle of the flower, and always clear or white, and very little of it ever in one area.
The whole plant was chopped down, its buds dissected and separated into a pile of perceptibly infected material, and the rest, which is probably infected material. The probably infected material may be used for extract, if I can brave myself enough to figure out what would be safe enough.
EDIT: After identifying the possible types of mold it can be, it is in a family of molds that are of the most common, and include many species that are mostly harmless. However, this family includes more than the Mucor genus, and Rhizopus is among the most feared molds. You don't want to be around that stuff, and it is common. This plant will be trashed.
I am a little upset, but I am also pretty happy that I now know there is nothing wrong with the dozen ways I've tried drying my flower. I was beginning to think it was just this humid time of year during the drying process, as I have only ever dried in the less humid October season with my outdoor harvests. The problem is instead the humidity and temperature in my grow tent. I need to correct that, and during my time off with indoor I will think of ways to do that effectively on essentially zero budget.
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.
Have to get this one. Hearing good things. Seedsman has a good auto 1 to. But I don't think FB can be beaten for their collection of autos.
Look forward to trying their FF versions
Good luck with yours pal
@@@resimax,
Yeah, autos versions are a far cry from what you can achieve with fems. But, if it's a flawless grow, or close to it. You can get some really nice bud.
Only thing I can't get down yet. The drying.. at least 50% of my last auto grow I had so much shrinkage. This 1, it happened to my strawberry pie. But, its beautiful. But, has that home grown look to it.
But, saying, that. I've got some good 1s. But the fems. I like much better
@gottagrowsometime, about 10 years or so ago when I bought it, this strain had such a distinctive flavor profile, and I found it quite pleasant and like nothing else. I am hoping the autoflower hybrid brings out that parental trait. But, I'm sure it will be good either way.
@@resimax, I hear ya regarding overwatering since that can happen in soil. Fortunately, I have never experienced this, as I use soil moisture meters and use automatic watering systems to keep stable soil moisture.
As for being reusable, that's the very core of using living soil. I'm currently in my third year using the same soil, and all I do is simply leave the old stem/rootball in the pot and plant the next plant right next to it.
I agree that there as a thousand different ways to grow, and it is fascinating to see all the different methods. I've simply picked living soil because it is the most sustainable and affordable alternative and the least work. I am a lazy bugger, after all :D
@love_2_grow, there is no chance of over-watering with coco. There is no guessing how much nutrients are being consumed. It is also easier on the plant, as its roots don't need to switch gears to produce more or less sugars for osmosis to draw in water.
Coco is reusable after sifting. They don't call me the cost-cutting cultivator for nothing. But, that's why I love this site...so many ways to do things and learn what works for other people!
Preference really.
@@resimax, I'm curious why you think growing in soil is more difficult. I grow in living soil, and most of the time, I don't need to do anything as it simply runs itself. I'm a lazy bugger, so I went with soil in the first place. Buying and using bottled nutrients seem expensive, complicated, and too much work for my taste.
resimax
