Tropicana Cookies Autoflower

March 1, 2024 Day 15 A new week and a lot of changes. We are talking watering, nutrients, lighting and RH. First, let's discuss the look of these girls. They have extremely broad leaves and the yellowing was definitely a nutrient deficiency. The tops started turning a very light yellow. A sure sign of a deficiency. I'm not sure what it is though. Nitrogen or Cal/Mag? On of those. I think. They are both 3" tall now and are starting to really stretch. This leads me into the next topic. Nutrient regimen. Today started the Advanced Nutrients 3 part base at 2 ml/gal each and Advanced Nutrients Sensi Cal/Mag extra 2 ml/gal. They also got another dose of Recharge. That being said, out next topic is watering. I have changed up the watering to 500 ml every other day starting today. I'll keep a close eye throughout the day for any over watering issues, but I don't think there will be any. I have the moisture spread well throughout the entire container. No runoff so that's good as well. It means I haven't over watered for such young plants. Now for lighting. The light was dropped last week from 29" to 27.5" but this morning I made some changes. I increased the light intensity up from 30% to 40%. I also raised the light to 28" from the little baby plants. This all increased the light intensity to a happy level. DLI: 22.7 mol/m²/d PAR: 350 ppfd Distance: 28" Finally we are looking at RH. The goal for this week is 60%. With the higher light power level the temp will increase. In turn, the humidity should hover around 60% to 62% with the temp closer to 78°. However, I would like to keep it at 77° for the whole veg stage. That's all for today. Grow System Environment: Temp: 73° RH: 60.3% VPD: 1.09 kPa March 2, 2024 Kind of running into an issue with feeding and watering. The containers aren't as moist as I would have hoped and I'm starting to think the nitrogen levels are still low. I think I'll increase the whole regimen by 50% and double the Cal/Mag. I'm also considering feeding 250 ml on off days. For this week, I'll use nutrient water and no plain water. I'll switch to every other watering, next week. Just until I can get them to catch up. They are both still very yellow. As for lighting, it's perfect. They are both reaching just right. Perfect praying. I will most likely increase the power level to 60% next week to match the middle/ late veg stage. I'd really like to be at 100% power by the middle of flowering. Other than the yellow leaves they look healthy as can be. Super broad leaves and strong stalks. I have fans running in the tent for circulation but nothing is directly hitting the plants. That will hopefully keep the stalk malleable for training which will start when they can reach the edge of the containers without folding the plant in half. I would like to see maybe 5" of standing stalk from the base. Much easier to water when the soil is free of too low hanging branches. This time around, I will do my best to keep these well defoliated. However, I don't want to go overboard. According to FastBuds, the buds are super dense and the branches need to be supported and spread out for air flow. They didn't say anything about leaf coverage. I'm guessing they will be super busy as it goes with most indicas. We shall see though. I may ask for help from the community for defoliation. I'm no good at it. At least not with autoflowers. I feel I'll have a lot more control with photoperiod, but I like the autoflowers. I have plenty of photoperiod seeds, just haven't had the space to grow them. Some day, I'll grow some. Probably a better idea to grow them sooner rather than later. Maybe I'll run them after my Sour Diesel/Blue Dream run. That will be after the competition I'm joining around 4/20. Those will be autos as well, so it should go pretty quickly. Update: I decided to water in 250 ml after all. I didn't water at the base though. I feel that is crucial in not overwatering the young plants. When I water the 500 ml tomorrow, I'll water the base. It seems to be working. Also, I am wondering if I should do a foliar spray with the nutrients just to help speed up the nitrogen intake. I'll have to research if I should or not. Grow System Environment: Temp: 74.1° RH: 60.9% VPD: 1.10 kPa March 3, 2024 So I realized that I need to compensate for the complete lack of nutrients in the soil and bumped the feed from 2 ml to 3 ml for all the nutrients except for Recharge. They got their 500 ml watering today. The bases were watered as well. A tiny bit of drooping, but they were just fed and the water needs to seep in. Plus the lower half of the containers are still fairly dry. So that should certainly spread down and even the soil out. They also haven't recovered from the nitrogen deficiency completely, but I'm sure that will come with time. They aren't slow, at least not that I can tell. They seem to be growing at a decent rate. They are both the same size and nearly identical. Even down to the nitrogen deficiency. What's interesting is the 2 Banana Purple Punch's don't seem to be as hungry as these two and they didn't show signs of it until just yesterday. But I'm pretty sure I caught it in time. Nothing to worry about... I hope. Lol... Anyway, I had to raise the light and inch. They are starting to stretch and I'd like to keep the DLI at 22.7 mol/m²/d for the rest of the week. But I may also mess with the light mid week and increase the power up to 50%. I'll probably have to raise the light, but then next week I can move right into 60% and increase the DLI. I'll decide over night. Might be a good idea. Getting the extra power down to the plants so they can grow like mad. The environment has been nearly perfect for the last couple days. The RH is spot on and hasn't really moved much at all. The temps have been comfortable at 77° during the day and 70° for lights out. I plan to keep it that way for the rest of this week. Next week, I'll decrease the temp a bit and drop the RH to 58%. Grow System Environment: Temp: 75.5° RH: 62.1% VPD: 1.11 kPa March 4, 2024 Lots to do today. Let's start with watering. Both plants got their 250 ml where I don't water the base of the plants. They are still pretty yellow, so I may increase the Grow base nutrient a bit. I really need the nitrogen deficiency to catch up now. This time is absolutely crucial for growth and I know they aren't growing at their fullest potential. Hopefully the boost from tomorrow's feeding will show improvement overnight. I may even do a light foliar mist as well. Something to get more nitrogen in the leaves. Maybe I'll do it with just the base grow nutrient. Reservoir instillation is coming next week. So I really need the containers to have a bit of runoff when I install them. I may have to do another 500 ml after tomorrow as well. The containers just aren't moist enough yet. Hopefully it will be fine by the end of the week. As I mentioned yesterday, I messed with the light today. I increased the power level up to 50% and dropped the light about an inch for a new intensity. DLI: 27.2 mol/m²/d PAR: 420 ppfd ( totally on purpose 🤣) Power: 50% Distance: 27" This is prep for next week as the light power will be increased to 60% and DLI increased. The goal is to get the light down to between 24" and 26" from the canopy. Grow System Environment: Temp: 76.0° RH: 62.0% VPD: 1.14 kPa March 5, 2024 Both plants are looking really nice. They are both still a bit light green though. I'm sure in time, they will both be growing like mad in no time. They are getting close to the edge of their containers. Right on que. In 2 days, they should be big enough to install the basins. Hopefully the roots will be close to the bottom where the wicks can work their magic. I watered in 500 ml today. I decided that I needed to increase the nutrients as we are coming to the end of week 2. So now I have all nutrients at 4 ml/gal except the Recharge of course. I may increase that for next week. I'm not sure that I've caught up to the nitrogen issue though. That's still a concern. I really want to do a foliar spray, but I don't know if Advanced Nutrients are foliar compatible. I had to move the light up a half inch today. It's not much, but I'm keeping the PAR at 420 ppfd until next week. The environment is spot on for the week so far. 78° and 60.5% humidity for the day so far. As for last night, temp at 70.7° and 62.5% humidity. Grow System Environment: Temp: 76.1° RH: 61.9% VPD: 1.14 kPa March 6, 2024 Both plants got watered 450 ml today. That's what was left in the jug, so that's what they got. I did end up watering the bases as well. I need moisture throughout the soil ASAP. The light green is still there. So I'm not sure they have enough nitrogen yet. I'll definitely be increasing the nutrition dose again at the start of next week. I didn't mess with the lighting today. I'll check it tomorrow and adjust as necessary. The environment is looking great as well. It's a bit warm out today, so the tent is hovering at 78°, but the RH is still at 61% wonderful! Grow System Environment: Temp: 75.9° RH: 61.7% VPD: 1.15 kPa March 7, 2024 Boh ladies got their watering today. I started with 250 ml and waited an hour to add the other 250 ml. I also increased the base grow nutrient to 8 ml from 4 ml as well as Recharge. That was increased from a quarter teaspoon to a half teaspoon. Both plants are still showing signs of nitrogen deficiency. So the increase in grow nutes should do it. I'll also be able to water in a liter pretty soon. It won't be tomorrow, but maybe the next watering after that. We shall see how things go. Lighting is fine still. I didn't move anything. The plants aren't tall enough for the intensity to increase. Either way, tomorrow I'll be increasing the power and intensity. They should love the change. Especially at this age. The environment is also spot on still. I'll be decreasing the humidity down to 58% tomorrow and will keep the temp the same around 77°. It should be perfect for week 3 of veg. I expect the flowering stage to start in a couple of weeks. Maybe a week and a half. At least that's what I should be expecting according to FastBuds. I'd also like to note that both plants have been rotating all on their own. It's intriguing how they are doing that. I'll have to start rotating in a couple weeks when they get bigger. Unless I have to run a net, then no rotation obviously. Still super interesting. Grow System Environment: Temp: 75.5° RH: 61.6° VPD: 1.13 kPa