Gnomo Auto - you shouldn't mainline an auto, dummy!

kohlrabi I have a cold, so here's only a very short update. Everything's going well so far.

kohlrabi Hello everyone! Of course we all know that this is no gnome. But it is the most gnome-like of all the figurines in my Lego collection, and beggars can't be choosers. The plant is growing well. The light spots on the upper leaves are genetic, but the yellowish tips of the lower leaves are the result of careless watering - my fault.

kohlrabi It's a bit ironic that a plant called ‘Gnomo’, which has to live in almost the smallest of pots, should grow so tall. I waited until 5 nodes had formed and then cut everything back to the third pair of leaves. Small spoiler: Now, two days later, the two remaining branches are already growing like crazy again, I have to think about training every day to keep everything nice and horizontal. All in all, very nice! Hopefully she will wait with the flowering until my plan (to get 4 buds at the end) is realised.

kohlrabi I am new to this mainlining, but the remaining twings grew rapidly and so strong that keeping them horizontal and straight without breaking them is not easy. I'm happy I managed the last two cuts before the first signs of flowering, because I have the feeling that it won't be long from now.

kohlrabi Nothing can stop this gnome! Everything's going according to plan. She has 4 strong twigs left and I try to keep them even. It's fun! Next run will be 3-4 photoperiodic plants, and I want to try this technique again. I like how symmetric it stays.

kohlrabi I never thought I would love this plant so much. As you may remember, this was actually a bonus project - small pot, a - according to the description - rather small plant and I intended to see if an autoflower could withstand mainlining. It really has become my favourite plant in the grow box. I can't believe how beautifully vigorous it is. Look at how thick the flowers are after just one week. (It's "hedgehog season", thanks for the new term, Cyrusdavirus!) I only left four main branches, and the effect of this is that I now have no difficulty at all in giving all the flowers enough light, because everything grows so regularly and next to each other, not on top of each other. I think I always want to do that now. You don't get the maximum yield, but I really enjoy having so much control when growing.

kohlrabi In the meantime, this plant has really become the gnome among her sisters in the grow box. It has stopped at around 50cm and is now only growing its flowers. I'm still a big fan of the pruning technique. There are no problems at all with providing all the flowers with an even supply of light. I'm late with updating. However, the photos were taken at the right time.

kohlrabi Trouble in paradise! The gnome has developed bananas. And I think I know why. I was a very bad plant mum last week. I was so stressed out for two days that I didn't get round to watering. Our gnomo here actually had a few dried leaves because of this, which I wanted to make disappear inconspicuously. To ‘compensate’, I watered a lot on this occasion. And now I learnt that this is not a good idea. I should have been more careful. This plant, which was already stressed by the training, didn't cope well and developed bananas - male flowers - on about half of its flowers. A friend mentioned that it could also be light stress, but I think that can be ruled out in this case. I haven't changed the light and the other plants don't show any typical signs of light stress. Now the question is how to deal with it. I isolated the plant as soon as I realised that it had developed male flowers. I then carefully removed them with tweezers. However, the plant is already quite mature. The strain description states that it takes 8 weeks from seed to harvest. Since mainlining slows down growth, I suspect that I need at least 2 weeks more. Anyway, the pistils of this beauty are slowly turning a rusty red colour. It's a bit of a shame to throw it away. However, I don't have other lights than the ones in my tent. It's to early to harvest, as the trichomes are still mostly transparent. It's the first time something like this has happened to me. What advice would you give me?

kohlrabi Had to cut her early because she hermed. Too much stress, I'll be a better plant mom next time.