Gnomo Auto - FIMing an autoflower

zorn_des_kinski The plant is growing nicely. The leaves have some discoloration, reminding of variegation in other plants but I think this is just some weird behavior in the beginning of the plants life. No fertilizer yet. After removing the humidity dome I didn´t want to stress the plant so the circulatory fan is still turned off. The lights are dimmed to ~40%.

zorn_des_kinski I decided to give fimming a try with this plant. I´ve heard mixed things on high stress training techniques on autoflowers but I´m curious to try it for myself. The plant is growing strong and fast so I hope she will recover quickly. I also started fertilizing with Green Power and Calmag. Even though my water is medium hard, my last two plants had issues with Calmag deficiency so I want to take preventive measures. The water is adjusted to a PH of ~6.2 using pure baking soda. I´m slowly turning up the light intensity as well and the fan is blowing over the plant.

zorn_des_kinski Quite a lot happened this week. Two days after fimming, I removed the lowest side shoots so the plant could focus its energy on the more promising upper bud sites. Two side shoots were covered by fan leaves, so I gently twisted the entire plant clockwise by tugging the leaves. This way, the fan leaves no longer cover the side shoots underneath, and I didn’t have to cut them. The plant has started showing its first pistils and is now flowering. Unfortunately, I noticed a small ball and removed it. I’m not 100% sure it was a pollen sack, but I included a picture - maybe someone who knows his judo can confirm. Maybe the fimming and removal of the two side shoots caused too much stress. I hope she doesn’t start herming, because otherwise she’s developing really well. The plant responded strongly to the fimming and, as far as I can tell, has developed seven new shoots. She’s also gained a lot of height. I’ve now turned the lights to full brightness, and I think I’ll start using flower fertilizer by next week.

zorn_des_kinski Gnomo developes well. I think she finished her stretching and has developed many budsites. The lower leaves have turned yellow. Up to that point I didn't remove any leaves so I assumed this is just her pulling nutes from shadowed leaves. The most affected leaves were removed. Since I've heard that many people use ChatGPT as a grow buddy I gave it a try and used it to generate a fertilizer plan using my existing stock. I made some adjustments and am now feeding by that plan. So far no more signs of herming. The ball I found was probably just a developing and weird looking bract.

zorn_des_kinski The Buds are growing just fine. You start to see where all of this is going and I like it. The leaf tips became slightly burned so I revised the feeding plan that ChatGPT suggested. I will now complement S&R Green Power (4.5-0.5-5.5) with 420 Flow Bloom (2.7-8.3-2.8) to fill that phosphor gap. In the coming week Plagron Green Sensation (0-9-10) will be added again. Calmag was slightly dialed back. Even though the plant is in full bloom the smell is surprisingly weak. I hope it will get a bit stronger in the remaining weeks as I usually enjoy the smell :)

zorn_des_kinski The weather over here has been really bad the last couple of days so the humidity is all over the place. Right now in the morning there's 76% RH @ 21.6°C in the tent. I set the fans on their max setting but other than that, there is not much I can do about it. It looks like there might only be 2-3 weeks left until she's ready. In the next week I will start to reduce the amount of fertilizer she gets.

zorn_des_kinski The humidity has stabilized around 60-65%, no bad surprises yet. For a couple of days i left the tent open and pointed an oscillating room fan on the plant to prevent mold. The nitrogen supply was greatly reduced and I will continue to do so, but I want to maintain adequate levels of phosphorus, potassium, and Cal-Mag. Also i snipped a little test-bud and threw it into the vape. It felt very nice, I was able to focus and became creative and euphoric but it could use a bit more body-high. I will give her another week and will take a look at the trichomes again then. I´m not after a strong couchlock so I´m aiming for ~10% amber at most which the mainbud might already have, but the lower buds are clearly behind on that matter.

zorn_des_kinski The harvest is in. I cut her down on monday morning. In the last week I only watered her once. Four days before harvest I first flushed her with 4l of PH-adjusted water and then gave her another 2l with 0.5ml/l Green Sensation and 0.5ml/l CalMag. Even though the soil was completely dry on harvest day the wet weight was 370g. Pretty much for such a small plant if you ask me. I will update once it´s dry. Currently it´s still hanging in the tent. The fan blows under it at its lowest setting to provide some airflow. Temperature varies around 21-24°C and RH moves around 45-60%. Growing this strain was a lot of fun. Very fast from seed to harvest, only 61 days! She was very forgiving and developed a nice earthy smell.