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This is my first grow.Trying out autoflowerig seeds for a late planting in January in Cape Town, south africa.
Sprouted the seedlings in peat pots with potting soil. seeds sprouted within 3days, then planted in 20l containers. Medium is a mix of coco coir, perlite, compost and potting soil.
the potting soil has nutrients already so will go easy with that
The sour diesel is coming along nicely this week. White widow is developing slower, with one doing a bit better than the other. Will monitor and look to adding some nutrients if the slower plants keep struggling
plants stil lshowing signs of recovery after transplanting at end of week 3. the question is now whether they will continue to develop normally from here or go straight into midget flowering mode.
watering 40ml per plant per day. added first nutrients with biobizz grow.
bought adding some lighting indoors to allow these to go onto a 20hour light cycle
If auto flowering plants suffer a period of stunted growth (eg due to overwatering), does that extend the veg phase or do they still flower at the normal time based on growth of the plant. i think i lost 10-14days - is this hopeless?
Hi greetings to Capetown, and congrats to legalization. Ok back to your plants. i think your growing medium is the problem of your grow, i looked through your diary and your girls looking from beginning very limy. There are two Possible reasons. Your medium got the wron g ph so your plant cant get the nutrients in the soil. Second: the medium is " to hot" that means is to rich in everything. so my recommondation is.... get an ph and Ec meter an measure the runoff of your soil.I think you plant wil stay small. But check ph and ec of you growingmedium to have a result for the coming grows. The choice of the soil and the genetics is very important in growing automatics. You have only a small time to grow and evrything got to be perfect. feel free to look into my diary " cookies for me" there you sfind a lot of nice reciepes , especially for automatics. Happy growing
Sour Diesel plants recovering nicely now, maybe there is bit of hope for them. Both White widow plants are dead. Intereresting to see how badly stunted the roots were - they never made it through the peat pot into medium.
I'll keep these going despite them being so fat behind the curve. Keen to see how they adapt after being stunted early.
Note that these now get sunlight during day and then under grow light in evening on 20/4 schedule.
Feeding Biobizz grow in low concentration (1ml per litre twice a week)
Our sour diesel plants started flowering this week. Very happy with how they are doing, all things considered. The plants look healthy and grown at a decent pace.
From today onwards i can increase the direct sunlight exposure and no longer keeping them under veg lights at night.
Will add Biobizz Bloom to the feeding schedule from today while maintaining the the Biobizz Grow. Note that there was a couple of days of wind and cloud this week where they were under my weak veg light 24hrs
Good week. Plants getting more sun upstairs. A couple of windy and cloudy days this week. But overall they now look like there is going to be a small harvest despite the early setbacks
Positive week, the kids are allright 😎 Interesting to see how the two plants differ. The one is still growing nicely with smaller buds whilst the other one seems to be entirely focussed on making buds.
Don't expect a very big harvest but given the early difficulties its good to see them fully recovered and producing
Another good week, not much to say. Both plants are budding nicely and entering the final stretch. Planning to flush in a week then harvest in week 12.
I did see some leaf miners and removed those leaves. Slightly increased the amount of bloom nutrients because some of my plants showed early signs of nitrogen deficiency
This was an uneventful week. The plants are buffing up very nicely. (updated entry after inspection)
The shorter one is approaching harvest time. Inspected with magnifier today and the trichomes are milky already with some browning. The head on that is thick, smelly and sticky. ETA to harvest 2days. last nutrient feed was tuesday. flushing only now.
The taller one has about a week to go and will have a microscope with camera by then to share photos.
Starting this week early to keep track of trichome development on the final sour diesel (now on day80). Harvested one plant on Sunday and got 58g wet weight out of it.
Both images are taken with the microscope of the last (taller plant). Trichomes on this one are milky but not showing any signs of amber yet. will monitor carefully. Flushing this one hard and will update regularly leading up to harvest.
This was an awesome experience and would not have been able to get to harvest without the support of the growdiaries community. This was my first grow ever and the focus was on learning the basics. Already seeing benefits in subsequent attempts.
Because this was such a learning experience I'll focus on the mistakes I made and the lessons learnt.
1. Starting with a bad soil mix
- Advice to other newbies: start with a professional mix that is proven in you local community
2. Not controlling Ph in early stages
- Advice to other newbies: Get a digital ph meter and test the water (including after adding nutrients), and adjust accordingly
- I use
3. Overwatering
- It was really hard to find a recipe that works. Advice: Seedlings (up to 2weeks) should get low water (<30ml/per day), for larger plants (assuming fabric pots with aerated substrate, preferably proven mixes) wait until the medium dries (at least two knuckles - or wait until plant leaf and stems starts drooping) before watering again and then saturate the medium until there is a runoff (test the ph of the runoff as well)
4. Bad containers
- High risk transplant (not recommended for autos) helped. Better to use fabric pots at the start and never transplant plant autos
5. Underestimating the light requirements
- After I started supplementing 7hours direct , 5 hours shade sunlight with CFLs (500W for 28K lumens) at night I saw pretty big boost during veg
- as result of these early mistakes early growth was stunted and my white widows died early.
Fixing these gave me the foundation to get a decent harvest after taking the impact of early mistakes into account
Important lessons learnt later:
1. Don't let pests get out of control. Powdery mold became an issue later in plant life cycle but I also had to deal with leaf miners, aphids and snails. In future Diatomaceous earth will be a standard inclusion with preventative Neem oil during veg and spot fixes to deal with specific issues that crop up quickly. Also be aware that puppy induced damping is a thing :)
2. Low stress training makes a huge impact. For this grow I held back on this because I needed to learn the basics first. As a result I found that lower buds were under developed and larfy (but will be using for cooking). Good training (and better light penetration) can help a lot with this
3. Boveda bags help regulate humidity during curing
4. Microscope was a luxury but one that I would never grow without again.
5. Hydrogen peroxide wash can help to eliminate light powdery mildew infections that reach buds
- This is well worth watching: https://vimeo.com/275728566 (Jorge Cervantes demonstrates peroxide wash)
- This had less of an impact on this grow, but after washing the buds of my other grow I'm sold 100%, after a wash the bud is sparkling and I've not detected any harmful impact.
I started the grow in January (southern hemisphere) to test the idea that it will be possible to get do multiple harvests with auto flowers in period from first planting in September to finishing final grow in late May. The experiment was successful, but in future I will split my resources differently: A couple of photo period plants outside, then cycle through a couple of auto flower harvests in a grow tent with LED lights.
The highlights:
1. I had no idea that the growing cannabis could be such a fascinating hobby (I started growing because I wanted better quality bud for a lower price, I'll keep at it because it's so damn interesting)
2. The amazing support I got from the grow diaries community. Special thanks to:
- @bbird, your diary helped me formulate the basic idea of how to approach the problem
- @DinafemSeeds, Mark your feedback, encouragement and inside knowledge helped so much when I simply had no idea what to expect
- @Mrs_Larimar, thank with detailed, specific and actionable feedback to my questions. It's great to see a master at work :)
- @Quexos, thanks so much for all the support, knowledge and encouragement. I've really enjoyed our conversations and your wisdom and quick turnaround on questions helped me so much!
3. Dinafem seeds are amazing! I've had 100% success rate with germination and the strong genetics helped the plants to survive everything that myself and the environment threw at them whilst producing sticky, tasty bud :)
3. Lighting up my first home grown joint!
Looking good hombre! Both plants are looking choice. If you are seeing amber then its time to chop! You've done a great job scheduling your grow so that your are flushing at the right time. I always start too early or too late.
@smurgrow, I include whatever wasn't cut off the buds. My photo grow had long stalks. I trimmed them a bit, but I wasn't worried about it. Since I had such a full tent, I had to hang 3 of the plants as whole plants. They didn't get a wet weight. 2 were almost 1m/3ft tall!
It's entirely up to you. Some people don't even record wet weight because it includes a lot of stuff that will end up being discarded. I like to have a lot of data. It gives me an idea of the efficiency of my grow.
@Quexos, will do. but planning to wait until second plant is harvested thursday-ish to post the harvest week. quick question: when measuring wet weight do people include the stems? my plan is to trim and hang the whole plant but dont want to skew ths numbers too much.
Thanjs for all your support it is much appreciated!
Good week of growth! All the plants look really healthy!
I like your 12 week harvest window. Keep an eye on those trichomes and bud development though. Some strains will take longer than 12 weeks. The tall plant in your photos does not look as developed as the shorter one. I'd say the taller one might take more time. Whereas the shorter one might be done earlier.
That might have an effect on your flushing schedule as well. Don't you love being a new grower!😁
@smurgrow, You will find a microscope very useful mate. You can buy one very easily and they are inexpensive 👍
Definitely a must have tool for harvesting imo 👌
All the best ✌️
Mark..
@Quexos, mother nature mate 👍
It could be when grown outdoor they take a little longer to enter the bloom stage or it could be when grow outdoor the buds/flowers take longer to mature 👍
It's not a bad thing but in general outdoor grown autos in my experience do take a little longer than indoor 👊
All the best ✌️
Mark..
Nice buds are starting to form! You'll get a smallish harvest, but you are learning a lot and you can grow autos outdoors all summer! They are pretty quick!
@Quexos, Fantastic comment and we totally agree 👍
Yes, easy mistakes have been made but this will be a learning grow and next time we are confident @smurgrow will do even better 👍
Also, as you stated autos and outdoor you can do multiple crops per season due to the speed 👊
Thanks for the assist my friend ✌️
All the best
Mark..
You did a lot of thing s right in your grow, choosing smartpots and reduce the watering regime. Its good too, that you put them direct after germination in big pots
So you just have to get a proper growmedium
Ah! Thank you this is good feedback. I will not transplant autos again (hopefully wont need to now that i found decent medium). The original soil in the last batch was a disaster. I planted the seeds in peat pots with garden variety potting soil, the planted those in a very amateurish mix of coco, perlite, compost and that same soil. When I transplanted the roots got very limited exposure (took the whole peat pots across). The plastic pots were not draining properly and whole pot was filled with thick mud (that has still not dried 10days later). I'll keep them going as long as possible and post the result here so that hopefully others can learn from my mistakes.Thanks again!
@smurgrow, Personally I think this was an error mate. Autoflowering strains in general do not like bring potted up. Due to the short life cycle they are better suited to be left in one pot (the pot you intend your plant on living it's life cycle out in) Every time those roots get exposed the plant then needs to divert energy to new root growth. When that energy would be better suited going into the young plants growth 😎
Worth keeping in mind for next time mate 👍
Let's see what happens now you have portend up. I still have high hopes 👌
Thank you for the diary update mate. Keep them coming 👊
All the best ✌️
Mark..
Thank you so much for the feedback and advice. I did transplant into a better growmedium that is provided by local hydroponics shop in week 3 (uploaded a pic with the composition). The original mix was bad, and the original pots as well. when i transplanted it was thick mud to bottom if pots. The new diary (Second Batch) was started from scratch with the good medium.I also decided to move some of my plants under a grow light for during the veg stage today. the light is a 85W, 4750 lumen daylight cfl on a 20hour timer.Will review your Cookies diary and others for more lessons. I'm sorry to hear these plants will stay small - fortunately saved some of the seeds so we can try those again to sample the strain.
Nice trichome shots this week! You have a little bit to go yet. Any photos of the whole plant?
I wouldn't worry if your weights are lower than you anticipated. It takes time to figure out the plant's needs in order to get maximum yield!
@smurgrow, I don't know. That is a very nice looking plant. The buds are extra frosty, and she looks healthy. I've noticed that Dinafem seeds are very forgiving.
I saw those trichome shots!!!👍Mine came in the mail last week. I've been playing with it and using it on harvested buds.
I'll use it for some trichome shots when the time comes.
@Quexos, thank you! I have very low expectations for this grow due to early problems. Learned so much and the next grows are looking much much better.
Got deliverynof the microscope this morning so doing my best impression of a kid in a candy shop 😎
@GrowZex, yeah it's amazing. I'm not entirely sure that phenotype accounts for all the difference due to the amount of stunting these babies experienced early on.
Wow, you've gone through some hard knocks in the last 5 weeks! Now that you have your containers, lights, and soil dialed in, has there been any improvement? Your plants should start coming around now that you have provided a good environment for them to prosper.
I don't see any evidence of flowering yet. Be patient...and conservative.
@smurgrow, I'm glad things are looking up. Even if you get a small harvest, you learn a lot about how to grow.
Both strains you are growing can get pretty big. Might want to use some LST to keep it in check. Otherwise, grow slow.
@Quexos, thank you for the feedback! I expected difficulties and it has been a great learning experience. The two sour diesel plants in this grow are now doing well (looking healthy and growing rapidly).
One has started showing pistils on tuesday, the other nothing yet. I think these may end up too small to deliver much harvest. But the other grow is looking great from day1 and starting a separate white widow auto grow to keep that strain in circulation.
Thanks Mark! thinking of adding a some uk cheese autos end of feb, keen to see if it's possible to do 3 harvests outdoor per year in this climate (with autos)
@smurgrow, We to would like to see how many harvests you Can get in your climate to mate 👍
Very cool experiment 😎 one we are watching with great interest 👌
All the best ✌️
Mark..
Looking good this week! Everything looks healthy and robust. Those buds are going to keep developing. You will be very happy by the time you harvest this plant.
Goodness I Love Outdoor! Its fun seeing some auto O.D i want to try a few this summer. My big photoperiods take about 28 weeks, I could do like 3 runs of autos in that time.
Ok so paid some school fees in week 3. Growth was stunted due to over watering. Transplanter into felt pots with freedom farms premium classic grow medium.
Reducing water supply to 30ml per day
Great recovery! Try to get them in full sun for as long as possible.
Good idea supplementing sunlight with the veg light. There is no way you are going to get 20 hours of sunlight right now and weak light is better than no light. Maybe you can figure out a schedule where the veg lights are used like dawn and dusk. You could also run your autos at 18 hours.
@Quexos, Thank you! The way I was getting 20hours was by combing sunlight with veg lights at night. I did receive a gift of a 400W HPS bloom lamp and should be able to get ballast for it in a day or two, so soon should be able to give these girls the boost they need. Also found a space that gives me 2hours extra direct sun.
I was amazed to see how much difference extra light makes (see this weeks update to the second batch diary where i compare same seeds under LED vs mine gettimg combo of sunlight and CFL)
Another successful AutoDinafem harvest with our Auto Sour Diesel 👏👏
Well done my friend and thank you for the great diary 👍
Now it's time to enjoy your hard work 👌
All the best ✌️
Mark..
smurgrow
