Bruce Banner 3- Autopot v Airpots

GrislyOldVet I'm running a side by side test with the Bruce Banner #3 using the Autopots v Airpots. I started using the Autopots about a year ago and its saved me a ton of time, water, and energy. But the size of the plants and the yields have been smaller than what I got using the water to runoff method with the airpots. So I'm growing the same seeds, with the same nutes, same everything except for the pots and watering techniques. This time around I'm not topping either of the plants. Instead I'm going to use LST techniques and aggressive leaf tucking and see how we do. Come along for the ride.

GrislyOldVet 3/7-Both plants are off to a nice start but the Bruce Banner 2 in the airpot is already bigger and more vigorous. Watered both plants to runoff.

GrislyOldVet 3/11-Both plants are doing nicely but B2 is definitely bigger and stronger. Watered BB2 to runoff. Runoff was 6.0 and 600ppm. BB1 is on the autopost now at 6.0/850 ppm. 3/12-Added airdome to BB1 autopot. 3/13-Both plants looking good. Watered BB2 to runoff. Runoff is still a little less ppm than input so it looks like she is taking up the nutes. May need to add a little extra on next feeding. Trimmed 4 big fan leaves which were covering lower canopy.

GrislyOldVet 3/18-The two plants are starting to even up in terms of size. But BB2 is much more sturdy. The leaves are bigger, branches and trunk is thicker and more solid. The BB1 is much more wispy. The BB2 is so thick and stocky that its been tough to bend the branches and get some air between them. So I did a pretty big pruning to expose the lower branches to more light. Whenever I do this it always looks like i just killed the plant and this time is no different. I hope I did not go to deep! 3/20-BB2 is recovering nicely from the pruning but she is still short and stocky. I've tied down the lowest branches and they are reluctantly starting to spread wider. I'm feeding her about every other day and the input and output are now in alignment. The BB1 is now the taller plant at around 9 inches. But she still does not feel as sturdy at BB2-At this point in the auto v air pots the jury is still out. Once the plants start to stretch and bloom we'll get a better picture. Too close to call right now.

GrislyOldVet 3/21-As we start week 5 there is still no sign of preflower. BB2 continues to move along nicely. BB2 has recovered nicely from the big trim. The branches are starting to spread out just a bit and I can see the first signs that she is starting to stretch. BB1 is now a bit taller than BB2. 3/25-BB1 is starting to stretch. Getting a bit more sturdy as well. 3/27-Both plants are looking good after 5 weeks albeit with totally different characteristics. BB1 is on the longer and lankier side, BB2 shorter and huskier. On the BB2 I'm having to work harder to get some separation between branches but its starting to show some results. It's still only 9 inches tall compared to 13 for BB1 but it too is starting to stretch.

GrislyOldVet 3/31-BB1 is really stretching now and showing early bud sites. The branches are getting more sturdy as well. BB2 is starting to spread out a bit and stretch after lots of LST. She still only 10 inches high but somehow I have a feeling that she's going to come through big in the end. She seems much healthier and greener than BB1. Hard to believe they are the same strain. I've increased the EC levels to see how much I can push them in flower. The experiment continues! 4/2-My EC and Ph readings seem to be off the last couple of days and this morning I figured out why. I had left the reservoir pump on full time instead of on a 90 seconds on 1 hour off cycle. As a result the water temp in the reservoir spiked up to 85 degrees making my EC readings go up and my Ph readings to go down. Put some cold packs in the reservoir to lower the temps and I'm betting my readings get back in line. Another lesson learned! 4/5-After 6 weeks the plants couldn't be more different. BB1 has grown to 27 inches. BB2 is 11 inches. BB1 is long and lanky with lots of space between nodes and is starting to flower in earnest. BB2 is short and squat with very little room between nodes, very short and thick stems and has still not started flowering. But in spite of that I still just have a feeling that once BB2 gets going she is going to be the one the produces the best yield and thickest buds. We shall see.

GrislyOldVet 4/6-BB1 continuing to stretch. More bud sites emerging. Hooked up the under canopy lights to help the buds in the middle of the very open canopy. 4/7-BB2 is finally starting to show some pistils and early stretch. BB1 is still progressing nicely but there are such big spaces between nodes its hard to imagine that she is going to get much of a yield. I've lowered the PH target on both plants to 5.8 and the EC to 1.6 to see if that helps. 4/10-BB 2 is really starting to come around now. Up to 14 inches now. That's almost 3 inches this week so far. The problems I was having with Ph and EC have stabilized and the runoff is within a good range for EC and Ph. It's allowed me to do some LST to bend the branches wider. I also trimmed away alot of the 'underbush' to focus on the plants energy to the top of the plant.

GrislyOldVet 4/14-BB1 has stopped stretching and the buds are starting to really take shape now. They are getting some red hairs and starting to get sticky which is great. I just don't think there are going to be alot of them at this point. BB2 on the other hand is really starting to shape up. She's slowly stretching and the branches are starting to get some space. Even though she is only a day behind BB1 from sprout, her development is about a week behind BB1. She's not as tall but I still think that when all is said and done she will yield more than BB1. Feel free to leave your prediction in the comments. I also added a couple of new AC Infinity gadgets into the tent which I hope will make the balance of this grow and future grows more productive and easier to manage. The new Terraform 8 AC does the job of 3 devices, AC, heater, and dehumidifier. It's a big unit but saves me space in the tent overall by eliminating 2 old devices in the tent and one outside the tent. The new A7 Ionframe grow light packs twice the punch of my old Optic Led 320 Slim which served me very well. 4/17-BB2 is up to 19 inches now and the bud sites are starting to take shape. She is gobbling up more water and nutes. Runoff is stable now. BB1 is continuing to progress nicely with buds continuing to add density. Frankly I'm surprised how nicely the buds are shaping up since she looked kind of weak and gangly. It will be very interesting to see how the plants will deliver on yield and quality between the airpots and autopots. Stay tuned.

GrislyOldVet 4/20-Had an issue on BB1 with the leaves turning yellow/greenish while BB2 was perfectly green. So I shut off the autopot valve for one cycle, let it dry back a bit, and then added RO Ph balanced water only directly into the autopot tray. Also, some bad planning on my part as I've run out of Sensi Coco Bloom and it seems that AN is no longer producing it. So I'm substituting Canna products until the end of grow now. I've purposely gone a little lighter Ph at 1.2 to start. Will monitor for adverse effects on BB1 before I switch BB2 over. 4/24-This autopot v airpot run has been the tale of 2 plants, from the same strain, with identical inputs, in the same tent, that look like one is from Venus and one is from Mars. Even though they sprouted a day apart, BB1 seems to be 8-10 ahead in terms of bud development and it now is showing signs of amber trichomes. For reasons that are not clear it has had more 'problems' than BB2. It stretched very long and lanky with huge gaps between nodes. While the leaves on BB2 have been a rich green color from the get go BB1 has wanted to get 'yellowish' and I've not been able to properly sort it out in a timely manner. Just this past couple of days they got even more yellow. So I decided to test the water in the tray and found that the Ph and EC levels were way out of line. So I cleaned out the tray, changed the aquavalve, and refilled it first with RO ph balanced water for one cycle, and then a reduced mix of Canna nutes. I monitored the Ph and EC in the tray to confirm that it matched inputs and she seems to be doing a bit better. Given all she's been through I was hoping to get another 2-3 weeks out of her to get things on track before harvest but now, in spite of all the issues its looking the buds are nearing the harvest window. So my plan is to give them another 4-5 days and harvest BB1 and focus my efforts on getting the most out of BB2.

GrislyOldVet 4/25-Fully transitioned to Canna nutes to finish the grows. To ease the transition I dialed back the EC. I don't know how these grows will finish in the end but it sure is alot easier to mix 5 or 6 nutes versus 10 with AN. The disparity in growing experience between BB1 (autopot) and BB2 (airpot) has required a different approach with each plant. Right now I'm planning that BB1 has got another 5-7 days before harvest and BB2 more like 2-3 weeks. So I'm giving BB1 a final shot of Cannaboost and smaller shot of PK13/14 for 2-3 days and then I'll start flushing to finish. On BB2, while she is a week to 10 days behind development wise this is a great opportunity to set her up for max yield and potency. So I'm slowly dialing up EC by adding a small bit of Cannaboost to start and will introduce some PK 13/14 in a couple of days. Right now she is looking well primed to deliver. 4/28-Even though the leaves on BB1 just won't turn green, the buds seem to be doing much better. I've continued feeding her at EC 1.30 and Ph 5.9 with the Canna nutes. I've trimmed away the dead yellow leaves and the buds are definitely getting more dense. She's still got a few more days left in her. It will be very interesting to see yield and quality when all is said and done. BB2 on the other hand is doing great. Leaves are solid green. Bud sites are exploding and starting to stack and getting some frost. She is uptaking in a big way with EC on runoff considerably lower than input. I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing, be patient, and let her do her thing. 4/30-Started throttling back feed on BB1 as she is winding down. At Day 70 I'll start looking at the harvest time on a day to day basis. I think she's got 3-4 days. BB2 on the other hand is really just starting to power up. Buds are already getting bigger, stacking, getting frosty, and first hints of orange pistils turning. She is still eating everything I throw her way. The ph and EC have been stable and the PK 13/14 bump has made a big difference. Starting tomorrow the PK 13/14 comes out of the mix and I'll rely on the Cannaboost. She took a while to get going but she's racing now!! 5/3-I harvest BB1 autopot this evening at Day 72. She was the first to sprout and continued to move fast. Strangely though she just never felt right for me. She was long and lanky, the branches were fragile, the leaves never really got to a healthy green color. In late flower I had some kind of issue with the autopot system where the water from the tank got to the tray and the Ph crashed to the high 3's before I figured it out by testing the water in the tray. I had to take the plant out, drain the water, cleaned the tray, and switched to a different autovalve. And still she finished in 72 days. The final wet weight of the wet trimmed buds is 354.6 grams. It will be interesting to see how she smokes after dry and cure. The BB2 in the airpot, sprouted a day later, took 10-12 days longer to start flowering, is short and very thick. The leaves are deep green, the bud sites are exploding and already gaining density. I reckon she's got at least another 14-21 days left in her before harvest. It's like I was growing 2 different plants.

GrislyOldVet 5/2-BB1 is getting close. BB2 is just starting to bulk up. Looks about 10-12 days behind BB1 in development but is just a whole lot healthier and vibrant. 5/3-I decided to harvest at Day 72. While the plant had some issues along the way it delivered some decent looking buds and some C+ level size buds at the bottom. It will interesting to see how she stacks up in yield and potency when she is dried, cured, and tested. Wet weight 354.6 grams. 5/5-While BB1 is in the Cool/Cure box BB2 is hitting it very hard. Rich green leaves, lots of bud sites stacking, first hints of orange pistils, lots of sticky resin forming tells me she is on track for something good. She's closing fast now but I think she's still got another 10 days in her at least. 5/8-After 4 days drying in the Cannatrol the dry weight is 3.22 ounces. We' still got 4 more days in Cure mode but that's honestly a bit more than I expected. BB2 continues to fatten and sticky up. It will be very interesting to compare yield, taste, and potency between the 2 plants. BB2 just keeps on sucking down the nutes and is showing no signs of slowing down just yet. 5/9-BB2 just continues to develop . More resin, more density, more stacking. I checked the trichomes for first time and they are all cloudy with some hints of amber on the leaves. Still lots of white pistils tells me she still has a way to go. I'm thinking we'll get to 84 days at least.

GrislyOldVet 5/10-As we head into week 12 this gal shows very little signs of slowing down. At Day 78...mostly cloudy trichomes, fresh pistils still appearing, stable runoff EC, only minor tip wear and active swelling. I've backed off the feed now as we get toward the finish line and she just keeps going. 5/12-Still feeding, still getting fat. She started slow but now she doesn't want to finish. 5/14-Trichomes are cloudy with some amber starting to show. These buds are entering the final stretch of the race and looking very good 82 days in. 5/16-84 days in and she is still actively going. Runoff is consistently less than input means she's still feeding. Still a decent amount of white pistils as most turn amber. Leaves are still green with just a couple showing yellowing. Trichomes are cloudy but just starting to amber. Buds are getting ridiculously firm and dense. I could probably chop today and be happy but we're going to let her go a few more days until I see definitive signs we're at the finish line.

GrislyOldVet 5/18-She's ready for harvest now!!

GrislyOldVet Both the plants have finished now.