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Indoor Experiment 1: September 18
This is my first experience with growing an autoflowering strain and my first time trying to grow cannabis indoors. I’ll also be testing out a new cheap 3x3 tent set up that I bought on Amazon and growing in soil. This is going to be a fun little project full of firsts. I’m like a virgin :)
I’m starting with a 5 pack of Cookie Monster Strain Autoflower seeds from Crop King Seeds. First time ordering, positive experience. The seeds have a germination guarantee of 80%.
Germination:
- September 18 PM: I pre-soaked the seeds overnight. Dropped all 5 into a glass of bottled spring water left out in a dark room, at room temperature, for 10 hours.
- September 19 AM: It was recommended to soak for 14-18 hours but I was coming off night shift and didn’t want to chance drowning the seeds while I slept. I used the paper towel method, left uncovered on a ceramic plate and I moved the plate to a warmer room. Lightly sprinkled with more bottled spring water as needed, about every 12 hours, to keep paper evenly damp with no excess.
- September 20 AM: I unfolded the paper towel and all 5 seeds had germinated with visible tails in only 24 hours. I left them in the paper towel to grow slightly longer tails.
- September 21 AM: after 48 hours in paper towel the tap roots are long enough to plant the seeds!
- September 21 Noon: I planted the 5 seeds straight into their final 3 gallon fabric pots with Miracle-Gro moisture control potting mix. I wanted to use coco for this grow but it hasn’t arrived yet and this was the best option I could find at the local hardware store. Pots were placed back into the warm room with natural light.
- September 21 PM: finally set up the tent. Pots set 3’ under light on cool white/vegetable setting 24/0.
- September 22: waiting..
- September 23 AM: the 1st of 5 seedlings has emerged! 2nd one broke ground at 48 hours! And a third popped a few hours later. This is exciting!
- September 24 AM: Germination was a complete success!.
Impressions:
I’m quite happy so far! 100% germination rate within 24 hours with a 10 hour pre-soak. The outlook for getting some healthy plants out of this batch is positive.
Things I needed to do:
I didn’t set up the tent until the seeds were planted. Took me 43 minutes (29 for frame and 14 to cover) because I was stoned and had to start over 3 times. Then another 40 to hang the ventilation and light. There were no instructions with either. I don’t really have a solid plan for my growing method either. I have lots of ideas though :) My strategy for this grow will depend on how many of the seedlings turn out well. The tent is 3x3 and the lights will probably definitely need to be supplemented at they only draw 150 watts from the wall. But I want to see what this cheap set-up can do.
Does anyone have any experience they want to share with growing Cookie Monster strain autoflowers? I’m curious what I can expect from the grow and end product. Just popped 5 seeds.
Keeping these seedlings on 24/0 light schedule, pH adjusted water and first feed of weak fertilizer at the end of the week. Wasn’t planning on fertilizing this earlier but I have another grow in coco that needs it so I used the left over water for these guys. Hopefully it was weak enough that they can handle it. Added a little stake and misting several times a day. For all my efforts, I was only able to raise the room’s humidity from 45% up to 51% but they seem happy enough.
Water:
I always use my tap water for my outdoor organic grows but because this is my first indoor grow and I’m using liquid nutes I decided I need to test the water pH before using.. 7.8 from the tap! I filtered it using our drinking water filter, let it sit 24 hrs and adjusted pH to 6.4 with citric acid for better nutrient absorption. Water containers kept in tent on seed heating mat.
Day 15:
Switched lights to 20/4
I overwatered them last week when I did the feeding, the fabric pots dry fast but this soil holds water well and I’m not used to planting into final sized pots like this either. It’s taking so long to dry out but I’m letting it. I’ve stopped misting obviously. Watching humidity and temps between lights on/off. Looking good. I will do the same light feeding as last week once the pots are dry enough but will make sure to only water the root area this time. I possibly stunted them a little but they are alive and learning is fun 😅
Halfway through the week update. They finally dried out and are now getting 25ml water per day, with feed. I added an oscillating fan. Temp and humidity seems to have stabilized now. Started to grow again but leaves stacked tightly. I’m playing with the lights, they are a bit strong for this stage I think. I turned off the extra 100w light leaving just the 270w on and they seem to have responded well overnight. Will turn it back on once they start taking off. I think I need to reconsider switching lights to 18/6 if I can figure out how to stabilize temps during lights out.
These girls are looking super healthy but growing painfully slow for my liking. Definitely overwatering and substrate holds onto too much moisture in these big pots for seedlings. They seem to be putting their energy into rooting out the pot so I’m hoping they take off eventually. Started LST with 4 out of 5, gently bending them around the stakes. Will tie down as they grow out. Leaving the 5th seedling to grow straight. She’s the tiniest anyway, last seed to germinate and her soil was compacted when I dropped the exhaust fan 🙃 using the LITFA technique with her and seeing what she can do. Mixed the fertilizer as recommended but then diluted by 50% because it seemed as bit much.
Day 23: we have smell! Opened the tent and the girls are definitely smelling a fresh 😋
Training:
#1 bent sideways with FIMing
#2 bent sideways
#3 bent, spread and tied down flat
#4 bent, spread and tied down flat and topped unintentionally
#5 left alone
This strain is exactly as advertised. She’s ultra stealthy and will be perfect outside in patio planters. Ultra short, incredibly compact, deep green. Training is going well but we are certainly limited by their heavy substrate and an overwatering event.
Day 28: Untied and retied each plant.
#1 new growth at fim site, gentle bending
#2 gentle bending
#3 hard bending 90 degrees
#4 hard bending spiral
#5 control
Might not be fair comparison considering I snapped off the top 2 nodes from #4 but my current observation is that this plant responds better to gentle bending, or no bending, better than firmer LST.
Day 32 flushed with ph water and fed pre-bloom ratios as they must be close. The bud sites are lightening but I’m not seeing pistils yet and no stretch, although she’s not expected to stretch much..
Removed most of the ties and I’m just leaf tucking now. Leaving #5 as control.
#1´s FIM site growth looks insane 🤭
Day 35: we have pistols on 2 out of 5 so they are indeed in the flowering stage !
Doing nothing with them. Letting them stretch and finally put on some height. Feeding 1.5L every 3 days. It’s getting cold here and I’m having trouble keeping the heat up during lights off, something for me to tweak for the next grow.
Stretched a bit more - tallest 14 inches, shortest 11 inches. Watering every 3 days or so. Trying not to cause any more damage. Our early abuse techniques were substantial. Diary still cutting off my comments and I’ve lost another blog post of notes to self 🙄🤔
They were getting completely crowded out by a plant that unexpectedly quadrupled in size so I’ve removed the extra plant and we have the perfect amount of space for just the 5 cookie monsters and one Afghan in a 1 gallon.
I dropped the fucking carbon filter on them TWICE this week 🤬🤬
Filling out nicely but.. they are supposed to be ready to harvest in the next 4-11 days 🤔
I know all the branch breaking setbacks slowed them down so now I’m just hoping they finish late so there’s a chance to bulk up.. they are starting to smell good but it’s weak compared to other cultivars I’m growing.
Considering they’ve been very poorly treated they are impressively bushy. I will definitely grow these again, but outside where they belong.
I’m using Indo nutrients that don’t need extra micro or pk boosters but because I’ve been causing so much damage I’m still supplementing with some GreenPlanet additives that don’t raise ppm to give them a little extra support 🤷♀️
Happy growing 🌱
Environment has completely changed. Storms have arrived. The humidity forecast is >90%, central heating turned up, exhaust turned up, extra fans added.. 55% is best I can get.. VPD and flowering 🤔 do I need a dehumidifier and lower temperature?
According to breeders timeline, they should be ready to harvest this week. With all the overwatering, environmental issues, broken branches and equipment falls, they are most definitely delayed 😂😂 they smell good, foliage is lush, flowers developing.. I’m giving them a full feeding to run off every 3 days and a pint of plain water on the days in between so they don’t dry out or get over fed. The storms have past and the central heating has been on a couple weeks so we have been able to regulate the environment and stop the huge swings in temp and humidity. Watching these ladies carefully and looking forward to seeing what we can harvest.
Happy growing
These ladies get 1 litre feed twice a week and a pint of plain water daily. I’ve lowered the humidity to 45% and keeping temps and light the same. They are looking nice, smelling good and definitely need more time to cook. I’m curious how long they will go for, causing me some space issues with my next batch but I’m happy to let them flower for as long as is needed. I was thinking of switching to 12/12 to speed them up but I won’t. I did enough to cripple the yield and I’m actually lucky that they are still going. I can be patient now. This experiment has been a lot of fun, figuring out this indoor growing environment, learning what works on paper and what works for me. It will be cool to get a little harvest out of our first attempt 🙃
Happy growing 🌱
I found a single mutant bud leaf. So cool.
They still have some growing in them but leaves are turning colour ..#1 will be ready first and she’s getting bulkier. #2,3&5 are a bit behind and #4 is way behind the others and very white looking. This is taking forever but we’re almost there!
Happy growing
Hang whole plant to dry in grow tent with lights off and fans running 24/7 rh 60% 68f
Just finished trimming and jarring the 5 plants after drying for 12 days. Laziness took over and I didn’t bother trimming about 2 ounces of smalls, stuffed them in the freezer for making hash later.
Made 5 batches of hash oil from the 10g of buds and 100g of trim - 1.3+2g honey oil that tastes very nice, 2+2.1g cherry oil that tastes ok but will be used for edibles, and 2g of green shit that I turned into a lovely topical and is helping my back ache. The rest of the bud is still curing and the smell is not great currently, hoping it cures well though. #2 smells pretty good in the jar today so hopefully the rest of the jars improve in flavour too. Cannot wait to try! I grew this strain as an experiment to figure out indoor growing and to try Autoflower, wasn’t really expecting a stellar harvest knowing my track record with plants and already having easy access to all the medication for heart desires and we grow my favourite strains outside in beautiful BC summers. These lovely buds will be used to fill the candy jars so my friends & fam stop using up my meds when they wanna get high 😂
RosQuare
