2023 Summer-Fall Auto's

Couple of the seedlings have dropped over and I've had to tie them up with bamboo sticks and plant ties, although for my grow setups that has been common for weeks 1-2. For example, you can see in the photo one of the Girl Scout Cookies plants is leaning over a bit but not quite gone horizontal to the point where I have to tie it up. Only have the grow light intensity on 60% since it has been hot as hell outside, but the temperature in the grow tent has only gotten up to about 85F. I've started rotating the pots once per day since those in the middle are more directly under the grow light than the others. The second Bruce Banner seedling (BB2) was started 4 days after the others (the first one didn't germinate) which is why it is a little smaller and less mature than the others.

Coming along! Those tubes are an auto-drip irrigation system I recently bought and installed so I can go out of town for a couple days without worrying about watering.

Don't know whether this would be considered a sea of green, although that is pleasantly how it looks! Not doing any LST. With 8 plants my total yield should be fine for personal use, so for me not worth stressing the plants out. One of the plants' edges have started to curl up more than the others. Hoping it has to do with heat and isn't an issue at the roots. Another plant is growing a little "twisty" in that some of the fan leaves have either flipped upside down or are hanging lower than the others. The 4 plants near the front of the tent seemed a little taller than the back 4, so after taking this photo I swapped the front for the back in case it helps with evening out the canopy. Started veg nutes once per week at 1/8 strength.

These shot up to an average of 20 inches this week, so I raised the grow light as high as it could go, right up against the carbon filter. It looked like the plants closest to the fans got some yellowing spots, so I turned the fans down, moved them further away, and moved those plants toward the center. One of the plants actually looks to have some holes in it (photo attached) which is usually pest like caterpillar or snail damage, although I inspected and didn't find any. Bumped up veg nutes to 1/4 recommended dosage.

Great growth continues, going from an average of 20 inches last week to 28 inches this week. They're now an average of 11 inches from the grow light so I'm hoping these are finished growing vertically so that none of them actually grow into it and I have to top them. Can't raise my carbon filter in the tent any higher. This is my first grow where I've both 1) pH'ed the water from the very beginning, and 2) started veg nutes on week 3, and I have to say the difference it has made is incredible. For my last grow, on week 5 the plants were only about 15 inches tall. Surprisingly, one of the Auto Girl Scout Cookies plants is the tallest, whereas I was expecting the Bruce Banner Autos to be the tallest since they're sativa-dominant. Leaves near the bottom of the plants have been getting droopy, turning pale, or turning yellow so I've been having to pluck those. I'm guessing most of them just aren't getting any light with all the bushiness above them. It is still incredibly hot outside with temperatures getting up to 100F, although since these are in the grow tent and have 2 fans blowing on them the temperature in the tent has only gotten up to about 90F which is probably still too hot for the plants although they don't seem to be showing any signs of heat stress. One of the Purple Hulk lants near the front and to the right is still looking a little "stringy" but I'm letting it continue to grow. Since these have started flowering and will probably start to smell soon, I added a small basil plant to the grow tent to help enhance bud flavor, and as added bonuses help mask the smell and deter pests

So much for being short! They're continuing to grow vertically, from an average of 28 inches last week to 35 inches this week. I've had to position some around the outside of the grow light, otherwise they would have grown right into it. Have continued to keep the light intensity on only 60% to avoid the temperature inside getting too hot, although it seems the plants don't mind at all. Temperate inside the tent lately has only gotten up to about the low 80's (Fahrenheit) since there has been a lot of rain. This week I lost power for about a day, so when that happened I moved the plants out of the grow tent and next to a window inside for natural sun because I didn't know how long the power outage was going to last. While the plants were out and I could more easily maneuver around them I trimmed a bunch of the leaves near the bottom that were turning yellow or a little brown. I dropped veg nutes back down to 1/8 the recommended dosage and added bloom nutes at 1/4 the recommended dosage. Going to go ahead and tag this journal as sea of green.

Plants grew from an average of 35 inches to 40 inches tall. Was really hoping they wouldn't get any taller because I've had to creatively position about half of the plants around the outside of the grow light instead of directly under it because otherwise they would grow right into it. Suppose it's a good problem to have though. Definitely using up every square foot of the grow tent. This week was a little cooler than last, so there's hope that Fall is actually coming. This week I cut out veg nutes and now these are only getting bloom nutes, still at 1/4 the recommended strength. Started to notice what appears to be a magnesium deficiency in about 4 of the plants with yellowing between the veins of leaves, so gave those plants some CalMag. For future grows, I'll start giving it the week before this one to try to prevent it from starting.

Continuing to remove fan leaves as they turn yellow, although moistly near the bottom. Looks like nitrogen deficiency, but I'd prefer the plants focus their energy on flowering anyway. Since I started CalMag last week, the yellowing between the veins of some of the leaves hasn't seemed to have gotten any worse so it might be working. Bumped the bloom nutes up to 1/2 the recommended amount. All the plants except the two Girl Scout Cookies plants now have at least some darkened pistol on their buds. Took a photo of one of the Wedding Cake's that seems the furthest along. Also took a photo a little higher of all the plants to show that most have gotten taller than the grow light so I've had to position them around the outsides of it.

Had a night where the temperature got all the way down to 60F so that was nice, but the days are still getting up to about 90F. Noticed what appeared to be light burn and nute burn, so I trend the grow light intensity down from 60% to 50% and for next week I'm cutting the nutes in half. Neither of the Purple Hulk plants are showing any signs of their buds turning purple. Neither Girl Scout Cookies plant have darkened pistols yet, although all the others' buds continue to mature. Leaves are yellowing, as typical this close to harvest, so been removing them daily as they start to look useless. Smell is now STRONG.

Plants are starting to look ugly which means harvest time is getting close! Attempted up-close photos of buds of each plant, although it wasn't easy maneuvering around the grow light since about half of these are now taller than the grow light. What's strange is that I'm growing 2 of each strain, but in some cases plants of the same strain look completely different despite exact same growing conditions. This is why I grow 8 plants at a time though; in case some of them end up being poor quality like my last grow. Unlike my last grow though, I'm not going to wait for the perfect combination of milky and darkened trichomes though because when I waited too long to harvest for my last grow my plants started to get stressed and grow seeds AND the resulting bud had a bunch of pale brown dead leaves. Will plan to start flushing these soon.

Slightly less than average size harvest for me. Was hoping for more, but hopefully when I harvest the second plant of this strain it'll add to my stash. Although if not, I'd be fine with an estimated 11g dry weight to last me the next 6 months or so. Probably could have waited another week or two to harvest, but I'm still a little traumatized for harvesting some plants WAY too late last grow cycle where the leaves got dry and crispy and the plant started growing seeds, so for this grow I'd rather be too early than too late! Most pistols had darkened and there were some amber trichomes near the top. The bottom half of the plant had really small buds and most of the pistols were white so I just tossed those. Trimming was standard for a sativa-dominant hybrid, but was noticeably and pleasantly sticky!

A little above average size harvest for me. Probably could have waited another week or two to harvest, but I'm still a little traumatized for harvesting some of my plants WAY too late last grow cycle where the leaves got dry and crispy and the plant started growing seeds, so for this grow I'd rather be too early than too late! Most pistols had darkened and there were some amber trichomes near the top. The bottom half of the plant had really small buds and most of the pistols were white so I just tossed those. Trimming was standard, like trimming any indica dominant hybrid, really. Buds were relatively big, and lots of vegetation to be trimmed away.

Chopped 2 plants down, 6 to go! Tempted to chop down more but going to wait till at least 90% of the pistols have darkened. Probably only ahave another week or two till they'll be ready, if I had to guess. Learned my lesson last grow to NOT wait till there are 10%+ darkened trichomes because that ended up taking too long and several of those plants got stressed and got pale crispy leaves in the middle of the buds and started producing seeds. I've turned a bunch of that weed into cannacaps instead of trying to smoke it. Attached is a photo of what's left, including with a basil plant on the right to both deter pests and enhance bud flavor. Still neither of the purple hulk plans show any sign of turning purple so I probably won't try to grow those again. Already have a ton of different indica-dominant strains, and at higher THC percentages. So if I want purp for bag appeal, I'll just buy some different seeds. One of the purple hulks on the front left has really tiny buds, more like a sativa-dominant strain than an indica, which looks totally different from the other purple hulk plant. Several of the plants' branches are "leaning" so I tied them up some with plant ties and bamboo sticks. Still have to position them creatively around the grow light since they're taller than the grow light and I can't raise it any higher, so maybe for the enxt grow I'll give LST another try in order to better manage the plants' heights.

Thought more plants would be ready to harvest this week, but I was wrong, so I gave them all bloom nutes ONE day in case they are ready to harvest a week from then (some time this week). Still no purple coloring on the purple hulk plants. My dehumidifier right outside the tent started leaking, so I ordered a new one. Also, my top fan stopped holding a charge so I put my bigger oscillating fan in the tent instead. As you can see the trichomes on all the plants are visible, although there are still a lot of white pistols. If I had to guess, one of the purple hulks looks the closest to being "harvestable" so I'll check it, and the others for that matter, about a week from now.

Harvesting was pleasant. Stickier than average for an indica-dominant strain. A few buds started to show purple on one of their sides, which isn't a lot, but it's at least something so I took some pictures. Noticed today that trichomes were turning amber; that's why I harvested. Didn't harvest probably the bottom 20- inches of the plant even though there was growth there, just because it seemed like a lot more trimming for not a lot more bud. Above-average yield for this setup, and I look forward to trying the final product after dry and cure.

Saw the amber trichomes and decided to harvest, although the more I got into the actual harvest the more I thought I chopped this down too early. Despite amber trichomes, there are still a lot of white pistols. And when I trimmed the buds they weren't very sticky at all. The time I grew GSC before this, however, I harvested too late and it started to grow seeds, so maybe I was being a little overly-eager by harvesting, but I suppose we'll see when it finishes drying and curing and I test the THC. I actually didn't chop anything off the bottom half of the plant and just put it back in the grow tent in case I can get a "late harvest" of the bottom of the plant. I've never done that before, but considering I think I harvested this way too early it's worth a try in case I can salvage part of the bottom of the plant with a decent amount of THC. 59.4 grams wet weight is still above average for my grows with this setup, so while THC might not end up very potent, I'm happy with the yield.

It was a surprising week with temperature lows down in the high 40's one night, but today highs are right back up to the 80's. I put an oscillating fan in the tent, and clearly the plants aren't used to it with the way they're leaning now, so I turned the speed down some. I don't remember which plant was which for the bud narrations, but I posted photos of some of them nevertheless. Chopped down one of the GSC plants yesterday and regret it because it was probably too early. Waiting at least a week for the others. Similar to last week I have these blume nutes on only one day, so if any are ready to harvest next week they'll have gotten a flush.

Will probably harvest the second Purple Hulk tomorrow. Checked the buds under the endoscope and there's a good amount of amber colored trichomes. Also most of the pistols have definitely darkened. May harvest the others about a week from now since for them most of the pistols have mostly darkened but the not the trichomes yet. *** 10/27/23 UPDATE *** Harvested 35.45g wet weight of the second purple hulk plant. After getting into the harvest it seemed harvested too early and I probably should have waited another week. Was still a lot of white pistols, and under the endoscope a lot of trichomes were still clear. 8.56g dry weight. I didn't harvest any of the bottom half of the plant, to give it another week to grow and mature, so we'll see if I can get any better bud and of any significant quantity from that.

The temperature outside this week got unusually cold, although temperatures in the grow tent stayed moderate. Since I harvested the second purple hulk plant a little too early last week, today I harvested the bottom half of the plant. Only got 15.7g wet weight from it, although at least it will be more potent than the larger batch from last week. Planned on harvesting more plants, and actually deprived them of light and water for the past 24 hours to increase resin production, although after taking another look at them under the endoscope, even though most of the pistols have darkened, the trichomes are still mostly milky or clear with barely any darkened trichomes so today I gave them nutes and water and turned the grow light back on and will see how they do for another week. I'm less nervous letting them go a longer without harvesting since it isn't hot outside like it was during "harvest season" for my previous grow. Also, as you can probably tell from the photo, I recently discovered plant yo-yo's! FOr the next grow I'll almost definitely try LST again, because it seems for several of the plants their main colas are about 6 inches above the grow light, so possibly the "densest" parts of the plants aren't getting any light at all, and I can't raise my grow light any higher.

This past week I harvested 57.6g wedding cake, 52.25g bruce banner, and 47.75g girl scout cookies. How the harvest went: Wedding cake probably wins best smell and best appearance. Some nice purple hues came through to the top buds near harvest time. However, trimming was a pain because there was a lot of vegetation to chop off around the buds. Bruce Banner was interesting because the buds were long and airy, but nice and frosty nevertheless, and not as labor intensive to trim as wedding cake. Girl Scout Cookies went fine. This is one of the few times I've actually harvested a GSC plant at what seems be ON TIME, not too early and not too late. Buds were also very frosty. The last plant standing is HALF of the girl scout cookies plant that I harvested TOO EARLY on Week 12. I left the bottom half of the plant in tact, and what's left of it actually seems to be doing pretty well.

So far so good with the bottom half of the GSC plant that I harvested too early. Just giving it pH'ed water and occasionally bloom nutes. Fan leaves are starting to fall off and pistols are darkening so hopefully will only be a couple more weeks till it's ready to harvest. Curious how big the yield will be since I technically already harvested the top half of the plant and before realizing that I did so too early I planned on just tossing this bottom half.

Temperature range outside has still been pretty wide: Lows in the 40's sometimes and highs in the 80's sometimes, but most of the time the weather has been nice. This little half-plant is still flowering! There are still a good amount of white pistols, but a lot have darkened, and a lot of the fan leaves are yelling and falling off, and some of the sugar leaves are even yellowing so I stopped giving it nutes and hopefully it'll be ready for harvest in a week or two. Still shocked that I planned on throwing this part of the plant away after I harvested the top half of it several weeks ago, yet the bottom half still seems to be thriving.

Strange weather this week. One night it got as cold as 29F and one day it got as warm as 80F. Thankfully having the plant in the grow tent shields it from the extremes. Checked the trichomes under my endoscope and there are still a considerable amount of clear ones, so not ready to harvest yet. Still has a handful of white pistols too. Will check again in about a week.

Harvested the bottom half of GSC today and got 39.0g wet. Chekced the trichomes and they were mostly milky, despite a lot of pistols still being white. Also the plant started to show slight signs of stress such as some of the sugar leaves turning yellow. The first time I harvested it was 7 weeks ago when I got about 60g wet (about 13g dry) but I am almost certain that was harvested too early. For this second harvest, the buds were pleasantly resinous, but my trimming shears seemed "powdery" rather than sticky. Hopefully the plant didn't herm and produce pollen. I didn't notice any pollen sacks, but I suppose one or two could have been hidden somewhere or something. Or maybe my basil plant that was also in the grow tent started to produce pollen? I also didn't notice any seeds during harvest either, although after the drying period I'll be able to better determine that after the calyxes have dried out some. Before harvesting, I cut it off from light and water for about 24 hours. Don't know whether doing that actually promoted resin production or not, but it didn't seem to hurt. This was the last plant for this grow, so all my harvesting is now finished! In total dry weight, I ended up with 26.4g that was probably harvested too early, 69.1g that I feel really confident about was harvested at the right time, and 30.3g (projected) that was either at the right time or slightly too late. Hoping to be able to skip a year now, since I typically only smoke a gram or less per week, and enjoy the fruits of my labor until 2025. Whatever I don't smoke after a year or a year and a half I plan on just using to make cannacaps. By then there will probably be seeds that are consistently producing plants with 30%+ THC!