The Dwarf: 1.Grow-A Study in Green-Ch.1

Hello fellowship of the weed. After being a long time lurker here it's finally time to put all the informations I gleaned from other diaries to use and start my own grow. So I build myself a growbox from a wardrobe, ordered 3 different autoflower strains from RQS (Royal Dwarf, Royal Bluematic & Bubble Kush Automatic) and got a 4th one (Royal Creamatic) for free. I settled for Autoflowers, because my growbox is a bit short and Autos tend to stay shorter 😜 As my growbox has exactly the space for four 11 liter (3 gal) pots I decided to give each strain a chance and lets see which ones are resilient enough to survive me. Each strain will be covered in its own Grow Diary, so this is Chapter 1 of my "Study in Green": The Dwarf... Setup ===== The wardrobe I turned into a growbox measures 50cm x 80cm x 165cm (20"x32"x65") on its inside The walls are lined with reflective sheets, the doors sealed for smell and light A 5" inline ventilator (220m³/h) with a fitting carbon scrubber Two passive intake holes covered with grills and filter padding against dust and pests Grow light is a Niello 300W (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y2YN7GV) with 60pcs 5Watt Bridgelux/Epileds (draws 136W for real), seems very similar to a Viparspectra 300W One 8" fan for internal air circulation This setup has cost me about €400,-. It is light and smell tight, looking innocent when closed, only the ventilation is a bit louder than I am comfortable with... Soil & Nutrients ============= I am using a 50:50 mix of BioBizz Light:All Mix, as I read the All Mix might be too "hot" for autos. I will be using the BioBizz nutes with the All Mix feeding schedule (the one with the lesser amounts as less is more with autos), in the hope the company knows what they are doing ;-) For better drainage I filled in one litre of clay pebbles at the ground of the pots The overall cost for seeds, soil, nutes and estimated energy cost for this grow is €140,- Plans & Goals =========== I plan to use LST and defoliation on my girls. I aim for a yield of 15 to 30 gram (1/2-1 oz) per plant, so 2-4oz in total. If I can harvest those 60 gram minimum yield I aim for, I would have invested the same money in the grow (including the growbox) than for the same amount of weed on the streets here, but now knowing it is 100% clean and biological. Everything above that would be a bonus. As this is my first grow ever (not only of cannabis, but in general) I have no practical knowledge about what I am doing, so all suggestions, tips and comments are greatly appreciated. And so it begins... Germination ========== I have put the seed in a jiffy pot with soil & perlite, soaked with ph'ed water (tap water is around 8ph) with BioBizz RootJuice and a dose of mykhorriza. After 3 days the other girls of the study broke the earth, marking my Day 1 if the study, but not the Dwarf, so I thought I had the first victim of my "brown thumbs" 😭 But I left her jiffypot baby bed in the propagator with the others and look, two days later she made it, Huzzah! 😍 But the poor dear looks a bit stunted and crippled, we will see how she develops... 😟

The little Dwarfy is still the runt of the litter 😟 But she grows and the last leafs look better. On day 14 i have put her in her final home and given her another helping of water, root juice and the other BioBizz nutes. I put her a bit off center to have a bit room for the intended LST I really hope she gets on track

Day18: The Dwarf is the problem child of my study... 😞 With 6 cm it is the smallest one in my box and the grow structure is asymetric and gnarly. Well, in this it honors its name, but I think thats not what RQS intended... As I treated her the same as the other ones I guess it was the seed, or simply a strange pheno? I hope she makes it and gives me at least a bit of yield, but I will keep a close eye on her in case she mutates to a hermi... I think I will do no LST or defoliation as long as she looks so meager. No watering so far after the transplant into her final pot, so no nutrients either. ------- Day 21: At the end of the 3rd week The Dwarf is still the smallest with 8cm, still irregular grow pattern, but green and otherwise healthy looking. I don't worry as much for her now, but will still keep an eye on her. Even though the soil is still a bit moist I gave her a sip of water, 250ml to be precise, the first watering after repotting a week ago. As always, every comment and tip is appreciated 😉 Keep on growing fellowship of the weed...

Day 25: My problem child is catching up! 😜 The Dwarf is getting bushier, seems to leave her problems behind. If all goes well I will try to see how she reacts to the LST... No water and no nutes, the soil is still moist from the minimal feeding last weekend. -------- Day 28: Yes, she is definitly catching up and looking healthy 😃 So yeah, encouraged by @howie03 I started some LST on her as I did with her sisters. We will see how she reacts to it... Oh, and she seems to develop a faint smell now... Fed her 1 liter of phed water with a bit of nutes at last, as the top 2-3 cm of soil were dry and she seems to like the nutes so far

The Dwarf is getting BIG & STRONG!!! In fact, she reacted great to the LST and the nutes and catched up with my other Ladies 😍 Got bushy and definitly a bit smelly. Her growth tips look like they could develop pistils any day now... Had to leave my Ladies alone for a few days, was a bit nerveaous about it, but everything was okay when I came back. Only one group picture on the mid week though. On the weekend I adjusted the LST and gave her 2 liters of water with nutes, she definitly gets more thirsty

The Dwarf did a BIG growth leap, being on par with its sisters, but still no pistils after 6 weeks 😰 So she is my worry child again, being so far behind my other plants. I am not even sure if she is a girl at all.... she really looks different than the other ones... I am a total newb growing things, so please let me know what you think...

She is FLOWERING!!! FINALLY!😁 Had to be away for some days for family affairs, so she ran a bit dry, but she did a big growth leap again nonetheless and finally showed the longed for pistils, forming her first buds! 😍 Had to take off a few fan leafes and tie her down, but I think she is on the right track now! Some of the leafes have yellowed leaf tips, only at the top leafs though. It is either light burn (they got close to the LED light) or not enough water or a bit nute burn (cut back on those for the new watering), but nothing serious I think. Overall I am so happy she is in flowering now and with her overall appearance. Merry Xmas and a happy new year of growing I wish to all of us!

Oh yeah, my late bloomer is catching up! Did a good growth leap, almost 10 cm. and the bud sites are in full flower now. Got so bushy I can't take pics of her on the white background board I use, its always showing some of the floor 😜 Even after the LST and defoliation it is still very bushy And she got thirstier, gave her a liter every 2nd day The burned leaf tips are still there, but are not getting worse, so I think it is good now. Overall I am pretty happy how my problem girl developed this week.

Not so dwarfy anymore 😜 My dwarf is now the tallest Lady in the box! She develops nicely and the number of bud sites is growing. No frost yet (except for one bud maybe) but she is at least one week behind the others so thats ok. As I noticed some leaf necrosis/yellowing and purple stems on my other Ladies I looked up my local water quality on the internet, something I should have done in the beginning. As I already knew I have high ph (around 8) and it is "soft water", having low amounts of calcium and magnesia. So I added Canna CalMag Agent to my nutes mix, I hope 1 ml/l will be enough. I water roughly every 2nd to 3rd day a liter now, every 2nd watering with nutrients. Keep on growing folks 👍

The dwarf develops nicely now 😇 VERY bushy, lots of bud sites, first frost. Her height growth almost stopped, so the only thing left is her babies getting fatter 😋 No more additional LST, I think she had enough of that. Took off some of the fan leafs and larvy bud sites without a chance to see the light... I guess she has at least 4 weeks ahead, what do you mean?

My lil Dwarf may be a late bloomer, but she is definitly a BIG girl... 🙀 In fact she is almost 10 cm bigger than her sisters And she is sooo bushy. I defoliated her A LOT, but she is still bushy. She's got a tiny lil bit of nute burn in the very tips of her leafes, so I cut back on the nutes. Her buds are puffing out nicely and she starts to get frosty and frostier. I guess she needs at least 3 more weeks, so she will have the box a bit of time for herself 😜 After the slow start she makes me really proud

My not so little dwarf is puffing out nicely and getting more and more frosty 😜 Her smell is not super strong, but delicious. I still go easy on the nutes, feeding every other time and every three days one or two liter. I cant wait to taste her...

My Dwarf is coming along nicely. She got big and bushy, and being the late bloomer she is, she survived two of her sisters, that got the chop this weekend I am pretty sure she needs at least 2 more week, and she will enjoy her time with more space for herself. On Day 90 she got her last feeding, I think the next 2 weeks she will only get water. Happy growing and let me know what you think