1st Grow ever

At end of germination week my seedlings already had developed their first set of true leaves and where about to grow their second pairs. So in veg week 1 the plants would also have their first feeding. I decided to go with organic nutrients and to give the Madame Grow nutrients a try when I was planning the grow. They already had a detailed general autoflower feeding chart on their webpage, but none dedicated to light mix as a medium. So I e-mailed the manufacturer and they quickly came up with a dedicated feeding schedule for autoflowers in light mix, which they sent me in response. It's now also up on their webpage.😊 The plants got around 200ml of feeding solution with a ph of 6,1 every 48 hours. On this weeks menu: 1 gram / L of Thrycho Killer, 2,5 grams /L of Bat Guano and 0,2ml / L of Growth Accelerator. 😋 Air humidity slightly dropped from 60% to 57% this week. temperature remains at 25°C-26°C during lights on. Middle of the week I removed the domes as seedlings looked robust enough and 24h later started to turn on the lower fan. It blows across the box wall to wall way above the seedlings heads. They get a slight shake from the air rebounding from the walls of my grow box. Fan is set to run for an interval of 30 minutes before turning of for about 1,5 to 2 hours. Plants seem to do fine overall, however I noticed a slight wind burn and some leaf-crinkling at end of week1. Not alarming as its just with two plants that each display this on one leaf and no discoloration/yellow or brown spots etc. Worst case would be nutrient burn from to much nitrogen.

Plants have exploded into veg during week 2 and are now between 10-12 cm tall at end of week. Leaves start to stretch out over the rim of my pots and all pants are growing their 4th pair of true leaves. Over the course of week 2 the Hulkberries also started to develop a very faint but distinct, pleasant weed smell that is perceptible a few moments after you stick your head into the growbox. I still follow Madame Grow's feeding schedule for autoflowers in light soil mixes. But as plants were mainly showing quite a rich deep green and one even went a bit into signs of too much nitrate, I made slight changes: Plants were fed every 72h with 0,5 L of water with ph 6,3. First feeding was 0,5ml / L Growth Accelerator and 0,5ml / L of Caribbean Algae Soil & Air. Second feeding was plain water adjusted to ph 6,3 only with a little Neem oil added in. (See end of entry on that) Third feeding I reduced the amount of the two nutes to 0,3ml / L. The Hulkberries seem to still find enough nutrients in the light soil mix to be happy with being fed lower levels of additional nutes than recommended. Don't want to risk overdoing the nutrients. Imho it's easier to adress a deficiency than correcting a toxicity. Maybe I'm too shy with the feeding here, but as it's the first grow ever I want to err on the side of caution. Light intensity was ramped up the last 2 days of week 2. Light is currently about 40cm above plant tops and running at around 65-70% of the veg channel's power. I'm yet undecided on training the plants. As they are autoflower I ponder the option of starting some light LST at end of week 3, when all have fully established the 4th pair of leaves. During week 2 I also noticed one single white fly doing recon in my growbox. Took preventive measures and watered with a neem oil solution once (with 2nd watering) and set up a yellow sticker. Seems to have done the trick, as I haven't seen any fly again since. Let's hope I stopped the invasion right in its beginning. I'm thrilled to see how the plants will continue to developed throughout week 3.

During week 3 i kept the feeding and watering routine of week 2. So 0,5 L of water with 6,3 ph every 72h and still only 0,3ml / L of the two nutrients every 2nd watering. I still keep the LED at about 40 cm above plant tops but slowly increased the veg channel to 100% over the course of the week. Plants smell is getting a little more intense when I open the tent, but overall still weak. Some of the upper new growth shows white tips. Maybe due to the light intensity. Will have to monitor that and if it gets worse either reduce light intensity or try some cal mag. Plants have grown about 15-25cm tall, getting very bushy. Hope to see some stretch soon that gives leaves more space between each other. All are developing sidebranches that try to grow up and out of the shade of the large fan leaves. I decided to do some LST and leaf-tucking so side branches would get more light exposition come the end of week 3. At end of week 3 plant Nr. 1 is the tallest with most space between internodes and the strongest side branches. Its structure is already perfect to do some tying down. So for LST it got its sidebranches tied down to space out all the growth and promote more future bud sites. Side branches of Nr. 2 and Nr. 3 are yet to small and week to get the same treatment. Instead I did some very light leaf tucking to get their new branches exposed better. Once they catch up and are as strong as those of Nr.1 I'll tie them down too. Would have preferred to do the classic LST bending the main stalk, but as plants are so bushy and squat this would mean lots of leaves touching the soil as well as shutting some side branches off the light. So it wasn't an option . Also don't want to risk mold to form due to tightly packing the leaves together and forcing them against to the soil. Until now my phenos all seem to stick more to the indica side of things. If I do a second run of Hulkberry Auto in the future, I'll start LST sooner, way before they get too bushy for bending down the main stalk. Judging by the look of the tops and the side branches, I guess plants are preparing for flower. So in around 1-2 weeks there may likely be visible signs of flowering. 😊 I'm currently quite happy with the cultivar. It's my first grow and the plants have (so far) shrugged of all newbie shenanigans I may inadvertently have put them through, like improper watering or feeding, too much light etc.

It's Week 4 and we're in pre-flower. 😊 Plants have now grown around 40 cm tall, largest one is at 45 cm, smallest maybe a few cm below 40. (Measured at end of the week) Plants have started to continuously drink more. So I'm increasing the frequency of watering, They got 0,5 L every 48h at start of the week and at end of week 4 they're now getting close to 0,5 L every 24h. I still keep nutrients cut to about half of the dose from Madame Grow's feeding schedule (Autoflower in light soil mix). Feeding is with every second watering. Nonetheless I see the odd clawing leaf here and there among the new growth. But it's limited to one plant and as stated just a few leaves show it on maybe one or two tips. Hope it'll smooth out in week 5 once feeding switches to more phosphorous and potassium than nitrate. The ladies have taken quite well to a little LST, leaf-tucking and some very minor defoliation over the course of the week. I removed only the old yellowing leaves remaining from seedling stage and 2-3 fan leaves (all lower third or middle) per plant that couldn't effectively be tucked and were either blocking the bud sites or really hindering airflow. As pre-flowering has started I gave a first foliar spray with Madame Grow's Flower Karma around mid-week. I stuck to the lower end of the range and only mixed 0,6g with 1 L of water. Plants weren't fed any other nutrients that day. Lights are now at 100% veg channel and I started the bloom channel with 25%, increasing it to 50% at end of the week. The Hulk Berries appear to have liked the stimulant boost and within about 24-48h after they show some additional small new bud sites on their branches. No adverse reaction observed to the spray except for very few occasional small burn spots caused by waterdrops that didn't fully evaporate before lights on. (Should have checked more closely and maybe kept lights off for a little longer than the usual 6h.)

Week 5 went by in a fly. The ladies did some major streching and are now between 50-60cm tall. They all seem to do well and are budding. They're drinking around 1 L / 24h and their diet now focuses on P and K. Week 5 had quite a busy feeding schedule, so I split the feeding menu as follows: Day 1: 0,6g / L of Flower Karma Induction (foliar spray) Day 2: 0,5g / L of Amino Canna and 0,5ml / L of Jamaican Bloom Day 3: plain water Day 4: no watering Day 5: 0,5ml / L of Growth Accelerator, 0,5ml / L of Caribbean Algae, 0,5g / L of Amino Canna, 0,5ml / L of Jamaican Bloom Day 6: no watering Day 7: 0,6g / L of Flower Karma Induction (foliar spray) I increased lighting to between 50 and 75% of bloom channel, veg channel is at 100% I continued with LST and leaf-tucking. All plants have their side branches tied down so they spread out to optimize light exposition and air flow to the bud sites. I also removed any yellowing leaves around the lower third, maybe 1 or 2 per plant. Also removed any small bud sites in this area if it was clear they wouldn't get enough light anyway. No need to keep these as they'd only produce some popcorn bud while taking away power from the other buds. Plants adapted quickly to the training within 24-48h and showed no alarming signs of stress. One plant lets her top's leaves hang. I guess she's either not as resilient to the increased light intensity or was sitting to close to the fan's air stream. Will have to keep an eye on her. Already changed her spot in the grow box from center to corner to get her away from air stream and highest light intensity. Temperature has climbed from 25 to 27° C at top level and bottom temperature is at 24° C during lighst on. Smell has increased, but is still on the weak side.

2nd week of flowering is over and buds are developing nicely. The ladies have now grown 70-80 cm tall. I don't expect much more stretching in the next weeks. Fun Fact: During veg all plants looked very much indica-like. With flowering 2 started to show sativa characteristics, 1 still looks very much indica. During the last days of week 6 I started to increase the bloom channel to somewhere between 75 and 100%. It'll reach a full 100% in the first days of week 7, except if I should notice that it's too intense. The plants still drink around 1L / 24h and feeding is every other day. Day 1: no watering, as pots were still quite moist Day 2: 0,5 ml Growth Accelerator; 05,ml Caribbean Algae; 0,5 Jamaican Bloom; 0,8 ml Lacalva Stress; 2,5g Bat Guano Day 3: plain water Day 4: 0,5 ml Growth Accelerator; 05,ml Caribbean Algae; 0,5 Jamaican Bloom; 0,8 ml Lacalva Stress Day 5: plain water Day 6: no watering, as pots were still quite moist Day 7: 0,5 ml Growth Accelerator; 05,ml Caribbean Algae; 0,5 Jamaican Bloom; 0,8 ml Lacalva Stress; 2,5g Bat Guano I've continued removing the odd yellowing leavf here and there in the lower areas as well as those bud sites too deep in the shade. I still feel that spreading out the side branches helped a lot so far. Leaving the plants to grow as they were would likely have started to cause issues with airflow and bud development. Smell has increased noticeably. It's not yet pungent, but as soon as the grow box is left open for a few minutes the whole room is filled with a distinctive spicy aroma. The notes I can pick up include earthy / mossy / malty / dank sweetness to slightly floral, with some spiciness. Already quite mouth-watering and makes me thrilled for the final product.😋 Hope those buds grow big and fat over the next weeks. I guesstimate harvest will be somewhere in around 5-6 weeks....😁

Week 7 went by and ended with a bit of a shock. One of the plants had developed a single pollen sac that went unnoticed and it popped open when I was removing some lower leaves and newly emerging growth in the lower part of the plant. Fortunately the plant was outside the box at that moment, but still in the same room as the others. Hope it at least didn't manage to pollinate them all or that the pollen was infertile anyway. I call it Murphy's law. Otherwise none of the plants has any signs of being a hermie. There was just that one single, lone pollen sac in the whole grow...😖 Plants now drink 1,5 L per 24h on average. Lights are at a full 100%. Buds slowly start to grow bigger and at end of week 7 there's a also a few brown pistils to be spotted here and there. Feeding schedule: Day 1: 1 ml / L Sweet Lolita Soil, 0,8 ml / L Jamaican Bloom Day 2: plain water Day 3: 1 ml / L Sweet Lolita Soil, 0,8 ml / L Jamaican Bloom Day 4: plain water Day 5: 1 ml / L Sweet Lolita Soil, 0,8 ml / L Jamaican Bloom Day 6: no watering, pots still moist Day 7: plain water

Week 8 has passed and I ran into some trouble. The plants show clear signs of a deficiency. Nonetheless all ladies are covering their buds with glittering resin glands, as if they were slowly dressing up with jewelry for their last big show aka harvest day in a few weeks. I stopped feeding nitrogen in Week 7 according to schedule and the symptoms are not showing on every leaf but some the upper foliage. Yellowing, burnt tips and rusty spots. So I assume it must be a nitrogen and/or Cal-Mag issue. I started to add Bone & Muscle to the feeding schedule, as it's likely to address both with its combination of nitrogen, calcium and magnesium. Also dialed back the bloom channel of my growlight to about 70% to avoid further stress by light intensity. Day 1: 1 g / L Thycho Killer; 1 ml / L Jamaican Bloom Day 2: plain water Day 3: no watering as pots were still moist enough Day 4: 1 ml / L Jamaican Bloom, 1 ml / L Bone & Muscle Day 5: no watering as pots were still moist enough Day 6: 1 ml / L Jamaican Bloom, 1 ml / L Bone & Muscle Day 7: plain water

Buds have grown & swollen a good deal, but I'm still fighting nutrient issues. The supposed Cal-Mag deficiency seems to have at least slowed down a bit after I started giving Bone & Muscle (Cal-Mag) and some Lacalva Stress (contains a little Manganese). Also stopped adjusting PH to 6,3 and now watering close to 7, as part of the problem might be an unexpected PH swing in the soil from using BioBizz PH-Down during veg phase. Leaves are still getting more and more affected, also the sugar leaves on the buds. Due to the issues since week 8 I will for sure have lost quite a lot of yield and potency. Hope the plants make it to harvest and buds turn out good. Trichomes are still 90% clear, some already start to get a slightly milky touch and few are amber. Estimated harvest time will be end of week 12 or 13. Also considering doing a partial harvest to give the lower buds a little extra time to ripen fully. As issues started with cutting down and then stopping nitrogen according to Madame Grow's schedule for auto flowers in light soil mix during week 7 and their advice in the schedule to go for a PH of 6,3, I'll get in touch once the grow's finished and end results are in. I think they need to adjust their recommendations. At least for novice growers like me it turned into quite a pitfall... Plants are drinking less in Week 9 and are happy with about 1 L per 24h. Day 1: plain water Day 2: 1ml / L Sweet Lolita Soil; 0,8 ml / L Jamaican Bloom; 0,5 ml / L Bazooka Bloom; 2 ml / L Bone & Muscle Day 3: no watering Day 4: plain water Day 5: 0,8 ml / L Jamaican Bloom; 1 ml / L Lacalva Stress Day 6: 2 ml / L Lacalva Stress Day 7: 1ml / L Sweet Lolita Soil

Week 10 went by without any major issues. Plants still cope with the deficiency, but nonetheless keep developing their buds. Trichomes start to ripen visibly and keep turning milky. The buds made a sudden leap towards the end of the week and have swollen some more. Also seems they put on even more resin. Lights are currently up at 80%. Due to a change in weather room temperature and air humidity have temporarily climbed to up to 29° C and above 60% humidity. But so far allowing more cool air in from the lung room and keeping the dehumidifier running 24/7 has helped to mitigate the effects. Plants still like their 1 L of water per 24h. I still keep the PH a little higher, adjusting it to around 6,7. Seems to do the trick together with some Cal-Mag and Lacalva Stress to slow down the effects of the deficiency. Feeding: Day 1: 0,8 ml / L Jamaican Bloom; 0,8 ml / L Bazooka Bloom Day 2: no watering Day 3: plain water Day 4: 0,8 ml / L Jamaican Bloom; 0,8 ml / L Bazooka Bloom; 2 ml / L Bone & Muscle Day 5: plain water Day 6: no watering Day 7: 0,8 ml / L Jamaican Bloom; 0,8 ml / L Bazooka Bloom; 2 ml / L Lacalva Stress Almost starting the countdown to harvest. At end of week 11 I'll decide wether it'll be flushing and chopping or another 1 - 2 weeks waiting time.😎