First exp: Super Silver Haze Auto (Premium Cultivars)

Everything seems fine. One of them didn't make it (it was planting in soil directly, but I've realized after 2 weeks that it was dead)

One of the plants presents some weird-shaped leaves, maybe a mutation. It seems to be growing slower than the other one, that seems very healthy.

Started with LST

This week, the plants will be being supported by an SF1000 during night hours. Curious to see how they will react. I took of some of the first support leaves near the base. Took down some centimeters because of LST. LST seems to be working well, but I'm unsure if I'm doing it correctly. I've followed the main principle of trying to break apical shape by putting the plant horizontally. Let's see how the theory applies to the real world of an auto flower :) Update: I got a miner's invasion in one of the plants (the smaller one) so I had to remove some leaves to prevent it to spread.

It's funny because the plant that initially looked a bit stunned has now outgrown the other one. However, the plant that started stronger was subjected to more LST (low-stress training). As a result of the training, it has developed a thicker trunk, smaller leaves, and multiple colas. Interestingly, it also began flowering earlier. This week, I started measuring pH and EC more precisely and began fertilizing with BioBizz Fish, Bloom, and Top in a more calculated manner—using slightly less than the recommended amounts on the calendar, just to be cautious. I'm adjusting the pH using organic citric acid. Today's pre-watering measurements were: pH 6.60, EC 750 ppm, and I watered each plant with 1 liter of water after two days of temperatures above 30°C with light wind. I'm very excited to receive my tent this weekend, were they're going to spend the last weeks of flowering. Updates: Finally received and mounted the tent. The two plants, despite being from the same seeds (supposedly) display slightly different fenotipes. Plant 1 started more vigorously, and is now more into flowering and less into growing. Plant 2, which started slowly, now is taller and has bigger leaves. I'm wondering if some factor like nutrition or amount of LST has impacted 1 more over the other. Plant 2 was slightly less trained because it was growing slowly, but nutrition was pretty much the same for both. I'm using 20% less nutrition than what is said in Biobizz calendar, and feeding 1 every 2 watering sessions, because last time I used the amounts recommended, one of the plants showed a very noticeable burned tip the next day, so I'm being cautious. I also defoliated the lower leaves of the plant, and those leaves that were a bit old, hidden or broken.

Flowering stage is much more noticeable. I've stepped into what I think are some aphids (tiny longuish-orange bugs) but fortunately, it seems under control. I'm trying to use the good hours of sunlight to compensate for the maybe less powerful and un-even light in my tent. Unfortunately, I'm fighting now with a possible powdery mildew infection. I've noticed yesterday some strange stains in some of the lower leaves. They are very small but the diagnosis is quite undoubious. In an early attempt to save my harvest, I practiced some defoliation in the lower third (I was discouraged from doing it with autos, but now I understand better why this is important) because it's where I found these stains. My humidity and temperature are not too bad, but there are some drops during the night and some ups during the day (autumn) that could have excited the spores. Since it's my first grow attempt and I cannot grow until late January again, I will try to save it and gain some experience on the way. I'm very disappointed, though. It makes me think that I might get this problem in my future crops.

Plants didn't show signs of PM anymore. I've improved ventilation by adding a PC fan on the bottom intake hole, that moves the stagnant air at the base of the plants. Also, I've been more consistent with humidity measurements and applied neem oil to the plants. Thrips are still there, but they seem to be less active since I started using neem oil. A few brown rusty spots appeared after the neem oil application: I'm unsure if it was a deficiency, a spray+light burn, or something else. It didn't seem to spread after the initial onset of the stains. I'm watering a bit less now because of PM risk, and to regulate the humidity inside the tent. My water analysis shows that Mg is low compared to Ca so I've added some Epsom salts to the last watering cycle, and everything seems good so far. I had what it seems to be a little outbreak of PM again. Acted cutting the leaves and spraying with milk solution. The next step is to spray with potassium bicarbonate. Overall plants look healthy and flowers are much more developed by the end of the week.

This week has started with bigger buds and some very established senescence of the big fan leaves. It could also be some issues but I've already touched enough variables to try to fix it and I prefer to leave the plant to follow its natural course in the last weeks, providing with enough nutrients for it to finish to develop the buds correctly.

Powdery mildew is back and strong! I'm chasing white leaves every day and they look more intense than in the previous weeks. I'm considering to chop earlier. Ideally, I should wait until 20-25 October, but it might be wise to do it earlier. I will control PM with potassium bicarbonate (aeration and humidity are not bad) as much as possible and try to chop as nearest to 20th as possible. Update: still waiting. PM seems to have slowed down by using potassium bicarbonate and a 2nd fan 24/7. I still find it in spots everyday, but it's less dramatic than a few days ago. Pushing the line of harvest as much as possible since some trychomes are still clear.

I think it is going to be their last week. I would like to leave them to ripen a couple more of weeks just to see how they develop, but I have to travel soon and want to close this cycle smoothly. I think next Sunday is the day!

Today was the day. 1- Cuted them and wet trimmed the fan leaves and some of the prominent sugar ones. 2- Budwashed submerging the plants around 5mins in a 3% peroxide hydrogen and water solution (300ml in around 5 gall) 3- Rinsed with hand shower and water at some pressure 4- Dried the excess moisture from wash in a dryar in front of a small fan 5- Weighted and hanged in 60x60x160 tent with a small PC fan as intake pointing down to create air motion (RH 55%. 20Celsius) Update: Got 70gr dry, much more than I expected. For drying it took around 10 days Drying temperatures were between 15-20 Celsius and RH between 48-60. The snapping test was inconsistent and I didn't trust the method much so I weighted the branches that I previously had weighted and numbered until they had 75% less weight than when they were just chopped. Then I proceeded to trim and put in jars. It's been 2 weeks and I think they were a bit overdried because hygros in jars rarely go up 57. I recently added some orange peels to increase the humidity (and I'm using boveda bags 58). The aroma seems to have gone after 2 weeks of the jar with proper burping: I don't know what I did wrong. The smoking quality is above average for sure. The vaping aroma is also nice. My more experienced friends tell me that the smell might come back after curing it more. I've realized that when I put a bud in a small terplock bag to carry around, they seem to have more smell when I open the bag, so probably a lot of the good stuff is still trapped inside the bud and waiting to be cured to show up. Regarding taste, I can't say much cause I'm not very sensitive to differentiate cannabis taste yet. The high is clear, energetic, and talkative, but not overwhelming.