RQS Wedding Cake Auto

Greetings fellow growers!! I have been growing about 9 months now and I chose to document my Wedding Cake Auto from Royal Queen Seeds. Mostly because it’s a new strain and there isn’t very many journals/pics started of it yet. I always appreciate having a few examples of strains out there just to know what to expect and whatnot. So I am going to contribute my grow to the community. Please keep in mind I started this back on 7/29 and am just getting to posting my backlogged weeks. I’ll try and have everything current by the end of this weekend for anyone interested in this grow. Currently on Day 51 so bare with me. Week 1 - 8/4 thru 8/10 8/4 - Fully Upright with starter leaves (Day 1) 8/5 - Looking healthy with nice starter leaves (Day 2) 8/8 - Second set of Starter leaves staring to show. (Day 5) I have only been feeding with water as needed. My water naturally has a high PH so I only need to us 2 ml PH down per gallon to get a ph range of 6.2 - 6.5. I’ll document my waterings once they are around 2 weeks old. I have found that watering seedlings in 2 or 3 gallon pots require more of a gut feel to it then just the using the finger in the soil method. I found early on that its easy to over water so I always use the KISS system. KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID.

Week 2 - 8/11 thru 8/17/23 Wedding Glue Auto is growing nicely. It’s staying pretty short and starting to grow some side shoots (I never measure the height of my plants). I have been watering about about 1/5 gallon every other day as needed. I started using Fox Farms Big bloom at around 1/3 strength and will work up to full strength as needed. 8/12 - First set of Tri-Leaves coming in nicely. Healthy Growth. I started adding nutes slightly just to build its tolerance. I used to wait too long to start them (almost in flower) and ended up having nutrient issues on a few plants. 8/17 - Wedding glue is growing right along and has started some side growth already. Happy Growing!

Week 3 - 8/18 thru 8/24/23 - Royal Queen Seeds Wedding Cake is starting to come out of its shell. The side growth is starting to really burst out.

Week 4 - 8/25 thru 8/31 - The growth this week is all about the side shoots. I am really impressed with the way this plant is coming along. I am currently watering about a 1/3rd gallon of water with nutes every 2 to 3 days with just PH'd water every 3rd watering or so. I like to see how the plant responds and so far it is just sucking the nutes up and getting very bushy. I did some slight defoliation on 8/30 to get more light to the rest of the plant. 8/31 - First signs of Flower Side note since next week is flower. My DLI is currently around 30. I use a mars hydro and it took me the longest to figure out the lighting. I always thought more was better but I ended up burning all the good terps off my first grow. Still good smoke just no smell. Anyway I have a TSW2000 (300 watt) now and my dial is set around 40 - 45 % at a height of 24" (I have several other plants growing along side as well) I use the Photone app and I found it to be accurate enough for a home grow. Since it has entered flower I will start to bump up my par to between 600 - 800 with a DLI between 35 - 45 (Max 50 on my tops) That's usually around 65 - 70% on the Mars Dial (TSW2000). I try and keep a distance of 22 to 24 inches but will allow 18 inches if I feel the plant can handle it.

Week 5 / Week 1 of Flower - 9/1 thru 9/7/23 WEEK 1 OF FLOWER !!!!! I am super excited. This seed from Royal Queen Seeds is turning out to be a beautiful specimen. The stretch has started and I am doing some lite LST. Mostly just moving some of the side branches over to other areas. I am still experimenting with Topping and LST but decided to go with just some very light LST and Defoliation on this one. Some of the pics are in the evening so they look a little wilted after the day. I have increased my DLI to 40 (dial at about 55 - 60%) and will increase it slowly over the week until I get to a DLI of 45. Update on my new soil mixture. I was previously using 3/5 FFOF, 1/5 Generic Organic Soil, 1/5 Perlite and I was having compaction issues and super low ph runoff. So I switched to 2/5 Black Gold Organic, 1/5 Dr Earth, 1/5 Generic Organic Soil and 1/5 Perlite. I am having no compaction issues and my ph runoff is no lower than 6. The growth is great with no signs of over or under fertilization. Let’s see if it holds up to the end. Happy Growing!!

Week 6 / Week 2 of Flower - 9/8 thru 9/14/23 DLI is currently at 45 This week has been exciting. The stretch is still going on and the bud sites are really developing nicely. I have increased my waterings to every 24 - 36 hours. I alternate between 1. 10 ml Grow Big, 15 ml Big Bloom & 5 ml Calmag 2. Plain PH'd water with 10ml Big Bloom 3. 10 ml Tiger Bloom, 15 ml Big Bloom, 2.5 ml Calmag

Week 7 / Week 3 of Flower 9/15 thru 9/21/23 The stretch has finally stopped and everything is settled into place. The bud sites are all really coming along now and the next couple of weeks will be exciting as I get to watch this beautiful plant mature. Thank you Royal Queen Seeds!!! This strain is showing exceptional potential. It has outstanding growth, very thick stems and supurb bud growth which usually translates into nice tight buds! Happy Growing!

Week 8 / Week 4 of Flower 9/22 thru 9/28 9/28 - This week has finished up great. No issues whatsoever and Ain’t she purty to look at? I haven’t posted my watering schedule but if anyone needs it, I’ll be happy to share it. I’ll make sure to post it and keep it updated on my next diary. It was just too many backlogged days to fill. 9/25- I am all caught up on this Journal and this week is starting out nice. The tent is starting to smell now and although it’s not super strong it is very pleasing. I am hoping to pinpoint more of a description of it later this week. I have to have my wife take a wiff as she has a much better nose for these things. The buds are developing nicely. Ill start tapering off the Grow Big nutes and concentrate more on just Tiger Bloom and Big bloom as they grow over the next few weeks. I decided to measure the height and as of 9/24 its 30 inches. The area I use for my tents tend to follow the humidity levels outside (at least until it gets to 65%) and will drop doing the day. Over the next month the humidity levels in my area should be dropping to between 40 - 50 during the day which should help with the resin production. I was previously using a big humidifier doing flower but I honestly found it didn’t make all that much difference and it just raised my electric bill. Happy Growing!

Week 9 - Week 5 of Flower 9/29 thru 10/5/23 10/4 - She is just bulking up. Next week she should start showing more of her true colors. Resin production doesn’t look great just yet but I have had other plants that have started there resin production late so we will see. 10/1 - The plant is growing great. I am feeding her about every 36 hours give or take. The only major change taking place is that some of the pistols are starting to turn slightly red. Either she is starting to mature (very likely) or a slight nute imbalance issue (a little likely) or random seed pod/banana (unlikely but worst case scenario). I went through all my other plants in the tent everything looks ok. No other signs of there pistols turning as they are a few weeks behind so it’s probably nothing more then her maturing. It is week 9 after all. I unfortunately had a bad experience on my first grow with one random seed pod and a few naners that slightly pollinated a couple of plants and I have been alert to any sign of pistols/stigmas turning red l ever since. 9/29 - I really could not be happier with Royal Queen Seeds Wedding Cake Auto. It’s such a beautiful plant with a really nice bud structure. I know that every seed is slightly different being inbred sisters and all. I am just happy I got the pretty one this time haha. No issues except a slight yellow spot on one leaf due to nutes. I am going to be tapering off of the Grow Big now that I am in the final weeks of Flower. I’ll also slowly be reducing my flower nutes as she progresses through the final weeks. She still has some time left so she wont be fully off of flower nutes for a couple of weeks at least. The plant guides all and shows the way. I’ll post daily pictures and updates as the week progresses. Happy Growing Everyone!

Week 10 - Week 6 of Flower 10/6 thru 10/12 10/12 - It’s the end of the week and she is starting to frost up now. The temperature & humidity are dropping here and I am hoping for a very nice colorful Wedding Cake in a couple of weeks. 10/11 - She is definitely bulking up and changing colors. Her pistols are starting to change and her resin production is increasing. I think she will probably run for another 2 weeks per my personal preferences but time will tell. I am definitely looking forward to the end of week 12 though. 10/9 - I went down on the nutes earlier this week and it doesn’t look like she likes it. So I fed her back to back with full bloom nutes. I know she is finishing up and whatnot but those leaves turned yellow pretty quick when I laid off of them. I’ll just continue monitoring her nutes and progress and adjust as needed until flush. 10/6 - My Wedding Cake is almost finished baking and soon the frosting will be added. That being said I am really happy with my Wedding Cake so far. She is just an exceptional example of this strain. I know RQS advertises a small quick plant and I am sure that’s what most people probably get. I really wasn’t looking for a small strain actually, I only found out after planting and it turned out to be a blessing she got so big as she had around 27 days of veg or so. I am tapering off my nutes now. She still has at the very least 2 weeks to 3 weeks left I believe. So I’ll probably go to half strength and see how she responds and then 1/3 or 1/4 as I get closer to my flush. I’ll probably start posting updates every other day going forward. Happy Growing Everyone!

Week 11 - Week 7 of Flower 10/13 thru 10/19/23 - Day 71 Thur 77 10/19 - I did a little defoliation to let some light get to the buds below. She is still bulking slightly but mostly just waiting on her trics to change. Her top leaves are practically neon yellow even with Nutes. I have 5 others going right now and she is the only one showing that. I could have over fed her but I think it’s probably the chlorine in my water. I keep saying I am going to either leave my water out a day to let it evaporate off or install a filter for it specifically but I just never find the time. I think I will now for my next grow. Other that she is looking beautiful and smells like sweet like vanilla cream. Really hard to describe but it’s very nice. See you next week and Happy Growing Everyone!! 10/17 - Its much colder now and the humidity is down to around 45 -50 % so the resin production is kicking in full gear now. I took some close up shots to see about where she is at and she is mostly cloudy with some clear and no sign of Amber yet. If you see Amber tell her I said hi by the way and I am waiting on her to show up!! I am really debating on my harvest time. As of right now I’ll probably do her last nute feeding sometime around 10/21 and then start her flush. I’ll put her in 48 hours darkness around 10/28 give or take. It all really depends on where her trics are as I really want about 10 - 20% amber so this is a very tentative schedule. 10/16 - She is starting to get frosty now!! Her calyx’s are starting to swell and her pistols starting to recede so I may have to up my timeline. I’ll take more tric pics later this week to see where she is at and update my estimated harvest date if necessary. 10/13 - Everything going along great. She is just bulking up now and her pistols are at around 40 - 50% red. I took some high resolution photos just to see where the trichomes are and I think another 2 weeks per my preferences. She is starting to yellow a bit on top and I am still feeding about 1/2 strength nutes. I’ll probably wait another week to 10 days and start my flush.

Week 8 of Flower (Week 12) Day 78 thru 84 10/20 thru 10/26/23 10/25 - Amber has showed up Everyone!! She is a little late to the Wedding but you know how guest are, always showing up late. For this beautiful girl it was worth the extra weight. I think I’ll chop in about 7 - 9 days. She has had only water the last 3 days. I will probably put her in darkness next Wednesday evening 10/31 and harvest on 11/02 or 11/03 (48 to 60 hours of darkness). I prefer to chop in the morning before lights on but I may harvest in the evening. The time of day is not supposed to make a difference as long as you chop after you pull her from darkness. It’ll probably only have about 10 % amber at that point but hopefully it’ll mature as it drys to about 15%. I have only grown 2 others where I waited for 20 % Amber and those took an extra 10 - 14 days past when it first appeared. 10/22 - Just waiting. Her trics are mostly cloudy so I am just waiting on Amber. I swear that Amber always shows up late. Can someone please have a talk with her about being on time for once!! Haha As of now I will be keeping my harvest schedule unless Amber doesn’t show up soon. I think 9 or 10 days should do it Happy Growing Everyone! 10/20 - Patience now! Lol I am just waiting on her trics to change to about 20% Amber. As of now I’ll stop my nute feeding tomorrow (10/21), then I’ll flush for 5 to 7 days with water, 2 days darkness and then harvest. So sometime between 10/28- 10/31 chop time depending if Amber shows up. I am going to check her trics close up later today and I’ll update my chop date if needed. Happy Growing Everyone!!

Week 13 (Week 9 of Flower) 10/27 thru 11/02/23 Day 85 thru 91 10/29 - I will be putting her in Darkness starting tonight and will harvest on the morning of 11/01 (60 hours). I’ll post a few good pics before I put her away for the next couple of days. I am really excited for this harvest! 10/27 - We are in the home stretch now. I’ll cut her fan leaves off later today to let as much light in over the next few days. Ill gave her 1 more light watering on 10/28. She will go in darkness at the end of 10/29 or 10/31 and I’ll chop her on 11/01 or 11/02 (Day 90 or 91) There isn’t as much Amber as I would like at this point. I would normally wait and give her another full week of light but I am on a schedule (in-laws for the holidays) and as long as there is some amber I’ll be happy. Her smell is a wonderful Berry Vanilla type. Shout out to ROYAL QUEEN SEEDS for the genetics. Happy Growing Everyone!

11/08/23 - I finished my dry a couple of days ago and have jarred & trimmed the last couple of days. My dry weight after jarring but before the full cure is 146.7 grams. I know the cure will suck out a little more so I should end up with a little under 5 oz’s of varying buds. The general (dry but not cured) smoke report is that even slightly green it’s great. The taste sorta reminds me of a sweet jenny kush type taste except with slight berry taste. Great Stuff!! The effects are definitely uplifting and puts me a great mood. About 70/30 head/body high. I’ll cure for 6 weeks and do my full smoke report! Happy growing everyone! 11/01 - Wedding Cake Automatic by Royal Queen Seeds is a great strain to grow even for beginners. It’s a very robust plant that really didn’t require very much care and only very light LST. RQS advertises a small, quick flowing strain so I am unsure if mine is larger than average or if I just dialed everything in right this time lol Either way I ended up with 734 grams (wet weight) of dense frosted vanilla berry scented buds!! My largest single plant harvest yet! I usually divide by 18% to get my estimated Dry Weight. So here is hoping for around 4.5 oz’s dry and cured. I took a small sample bud about 4 days ago just to get taste for it. I’ll report on the effects and taste of that, green as it is. I’ll dry about 5 - 6 days and then jar. Then 6 weeks of cure with half using 62% Boveda packs & half using 58%. Ill report back with a final smoke report right around the Holidays. For my next venture I will be growing some photoperiod strains for the first time. I am super excited and nervous as I have heard both that they are easier and harder than autoflowers so we will see. Until then, Happy Growing Everyone