Stardawg auto

This is a brand new Nutrient film technique setup I built with some input from hydro hippy and a friend. I thought I’d take the time to show the actual build process. It’s three matching totes and since the lids were yellow and I had the Mylar bubble wrap I thought it good to cover them. It shows only one feeder tube but I’ve added a second for each cap over 6” rock wool cube. The pumps are 180 GPH but necked down to 1/4” feeding tubes that number is greatly reduced. Hence the second pump. I may change out to a larger intake down the road. Right now the light is a G8 900 watt but my 2 HLG 260’s will be here Wednesday and I wanted to get the ball rolling. No more blurple for this guy EVER. Ps. Also waiting on my green tubing ;) Thanks to FastBuds for great customer service!

3 of the 4 seeds popped. I can see the other one in the rapid rooter but I added another stardawg just to keep things moving. I started with 300 ppm and got the NFT system running and new HLG 260’s at 36” above them turned all the way down.

Cruising right along. This is technically day 6 of week one and they are performing as I had hoped they would. Already splitting off and I upped my nutes to try and get as much as I can in the vegetative weeks as possible. I know it’s pushing it but no guts no glory as I’m running 1064ppm. Added some photos from day 10. What a change.

What a difference a few days make! This is day 15 of these autos life so technically it’s week 3. We had some EXPLOSIVE growth an all fronts. The stalks are the size of a pencil and they measure 9” across and 8.5” high. Several of my people tell me that my 8 time a day feeding schedule is too much and I need to let the Rockwool dry out but they are on racks and all of the nutrient drains back into the reservoir within a minute of shutting off. One lady told me she wanted to be topped and the two I attempted so low stress training but the stalks are so tough already it was nearly impossible so if that is the case I’ll need to wait for a secondary node.

Cruising right along. I bent over the stalk and had to take a couple of the massive leaves off and it’s back up to 12”. I love my new system and the easy maintenance makes it even better.

Boom! The stardawgs absolutely exploded in the room. I was bending branches and exposing the preflower sites which are now straight into flower trying to give them some space. I’ve never experienced anything like this. The plants gained a foot in width all the way around and at least 6” in height in 7 days. I did the same to the very Indica blackberry after I took the photos and video as she was just a locked down little bush and hopefully there is some sort of stretch. Between the 6 in this room they are consuming 3-4 gallons of water per day. The other stardawg is one week behind everyone else because the other blackberry didn’t germinate.

These plants are quickly stealing the show! Currently standing at 30” I’m simply amazed but them. Nice huge trunks and stems with tight nodes making way for some 8”-12” long colas in the near future. I’ve seen some big genetics in autos but these are choice for sure. I hope the second half of this project goes like the first part. Also noting that the reservoir is currently using 4 gallons of nutrient water per day.

Not sure what the GD glitch was last week but after I updated in showed I was a week behind. I digress. This week they are still blowing up. I have never personally had an auto stretch like this and I love it! #1 is a total candy stripe stalk and the flowers are bulking early. #2 is a little lankier and continued to stretch another 7” taller to 34” but has thousand of white pistils and looks to be about to stack on some weight now. Over all the colas look to be between 7-12”. #3 is a bushy little sucker and if you remember or this is your forest read the other blackberry x2 never germinated so I threw another stardawg In and it’s about 12 days behind so it should do its thing soon. I have a couple other dark devils I decided to start later than that in the back too. The tent is consuming about 4 -5 gallons per day and I think I’ll run a straight water batch for a day when I clean it on Saturday. Let me know what you think or if you have grown it before. I’m always looking for data like how long their flower period was or what you did that made them better. Thanks for lookin’.

What a difference a week makes! #1 is just adding on the weight this week while #2 continued to stretch to what might be a record for this auto at 40” and is now exploding with pistils. #3 is yet another type of pheno and a short bush that I have continually taken leaves from trying to figure out what is what. I expect #3 to start her stretch this week given the fact that she’s almost two weeks behind the others while I was trying to find a bean that would pop. Staggering on the trim doesn’t really bother me because they are all getting the same 19 hours of light indefinitely. We are getting into some heat up north and I imagine the room will climb into the high 80’s but there’s not very much I can do about that except giving them air circulation. Stardawg really is the star of the show and might end up being my consistent go to if they keep going like this.

The two big dawgs started to really pack it on this week. Number one is holding strong a week ahead of two. Has a bit of a learning curve with the new hydro setup and HLG leds. I learned that the intensity causes the flowers to use more cal-mag than standard hps/halide according to some reading. It also could be they are just using more than the recommended dosage and a had a bit of a phosphorus deficiency. Either way I upped my Cali magic and the young leaves look great as do the flowers. #1 is starting to get some pinks and purples and #2 is still cranking out white pistils.

This is THE week. The girls are putting on weight and connecting with a great fade going on. The trichomes are at about 1% amber, 25% hazy and 74% clear. I suspect that will change soon. I’m doing special feedings for the plants every other day with a shot of beastie bloomz 0-50-30 and redirecting the runoff to a separate reservoir. We are in the home stretch here and I can’t wait to trim up the super piney, earthy, floral strain.

💪 I love this platform and wish that my plants were suggested for more people to watch though. All in all this was as close as I've gotten to a perfect grow which we know there is always room for improvement.