Mango Smile (2025)

2/12-First week is off to a slow start. This is my first time using the Autopot system. In the past, I've used airpots which drain very quickly. This time I planted the seeds on Feb 1 directly in the coco/perlite mix in the new Autopots and they sprouted in 4 days. Once they popped through I added water around the edges of the pot and I think it was too much. So I've got some yellow tips on #2. I've not added any additional water since. I have been micro misting the plants RO water and Cal Mag and things seem to have stabilized.

2/14-Watered today with lite nute mix of just Grow A & B and Cal-Mag plus. After a shaky start it looks like the CalMag foliar sprays over the last few days stabilized them. I soaked both pots to runoff. 2/15-Both plants are showing no ill effects from increased nute load. The pots are also getting drier a little faster as well which will allow me to water again w nutes more frequently. #2 still has a deformed leaf on the first node but it seems to be trying to repair itself. 2/16-Watered the plants to runoff outside the autopots late today with light nutes to see if the pots dry out a bit faster. I'm going to wait until at least Day 14 before I start the autopots up. Right now the plants are looking healthy and are a beautiful shade of green. Runoff on #1 was 6.04 ph /1.35 EC. Runoff on #2 was 6.3 ph/1.1 EC. 2/18-Both plants are looking good. I'm going to let the plants go another day and then start up the autopot system on Day 15 2/19-A the 2 week mark the plants are looking good. Mango #2 started with a mutated leaf on the 1st node but even that leaf has recovered to full shape and 70% size of its sister plant. Plants want to grow no matter how bad you treat em!

2/21-Started the autopots on Day 14 and this morning everything is looking good. Its's going to take a minute for me to get comfortable that the system is working properly. I'm measuring the water level in the tank to confirm that its going down over time. At this point I don't see much movement but the plants look healthy with no wilting. 2/21-Autopot appears to be working. 2/24-Been doing a Cal Mag foliar spray with very light mist a couple of times a day and I think its helping keep everything nice and green. The PPfd is around 500 and I've started to add some Red light spectrum (25%) into the mix. I've been very impressed with how the autopot system is working so far. All I've had to do is monitor the Ph which has had a tendency to drift up a bit. I replaced my old air pump with a stronger one to get lots of air into the water. I also added a recirculating pump to stir things up for 15 mins every 2 hours. So far everything seems to be playing nice with each other. 2/25-Very happy with the first 3 weeks of growth. So far I've resisted the temptation to do anything other that some leaf tucking. No fimming or topping this time around. I'll wait til Day 28 to defoliate prior to preflower.

2/27-Mango #1 is up to nearly 6 inches, slightly taller than #2. The autopot system is working great. Plants are looking healthy and all I'm doing is checking the Ph each day. Love it!! 3/1-Both plants are looking good. #1 is a bit taller than #2. I did some minor defoliation on both plants cutting the two lowest (first nodes). I'm keeping the Ph in the 5.5 to 5.7 zone which seems to be working. I also am doing a light CalMag foliar mist a couple times a day to help keep the leaves nice and green. 3/3-Did a small defoliation of big leaves that were blocking lower branches. #1 is up 7 inches tall and #2 is 5.5 inches. Started LST on #1 to separate the branches a bit and get her going wide rather than vertical. #2 is smaller and the branches are much more tightly spaced at this point so I'm going to hold off on LST for a couple of more days. 3/4-Since I don't have to do much but check the ph level in the autopot reservoir I've been checking the water level every other today. It started with a little over 16 inches of depth. It's now a tick under 14 inches. It's definitely dropped a bit more quickly in the last few days as the plants get bigger and suck up more water. Been amazing to see how the autopot works. 3/5-Great first 4 weeks with the autopots. Plants are looking very healthy. Mango #1 is definitely taller and wider at this point. I bent #2 over a bit to get more light under the very tight canopy. Seemed to open it up a bit. I'll look for signs of preflower (none yet) before I switch to bloom nutes. No topping or fimming this time which I have done in the past with good success. Interested to see what difference if any I get in terms of yield or quality.

3/7-I had some issues with my Ph/EC probe getting wild readings which resulted in Ph imbalance to low. The impact is that the plants started looking a bit lifeless. So I emptied the reservoir and the autopots to get rid of the tainted water. Switched to a 'light' mix of bloom nutes. Bought a new probe and got the Ph in the reservoir back around 5.6. Fortunately this happened early in the transition to bloom and I'm hoping things get back on track in the next couple of days. 3/10-The false Ph readings ultimately had an effect on the plants. Some of the bad water got sucked into the plants and the leaves were affected. Mango #2 which was already growing at half the pace of #1 was affected the most so I decided to pull that one and focus on saving #2. I actually did a mini-flush on #1 followed by a feed from the top to make sure what was in the reservoir was what was going into the plant. Things SEEM to be stabilizing. Hopefully I got to it early enough to salvage the plant and ensure a decent yield and quality. 3/12-Mango #1 has stabilized although I think the ph issue may have stunted her a bit. Hopefully she'll get back on track this week. First signs of preflower appearing. Gonna keep the nutes light for the next couple of days.

3/15-Mango #1 seems like she's back on track. Ph and EC are back in line and she is starting to stretch and enter preflowering stage. It remains to be seen what impact the bad Ph readings will have on quantity and quality. 3/17-Starting to stretch a bit now. Up to 14 inches. 3/19-Up to 16" now. Bud sites are starting to emerge. She's a little toward the yellow side of green which concerns me. I added a couple of gallons of RO water to the res to dilute the feed a bit and see if that helps. I'm also letting the PH go up to 6.75.