Aeromatics Let’s try this again, shall we?
With my recent failure on White Widow CBD Auto, I decided to move switch to Critical Mass CBD Auto, also from ILGM. Critical Mass CBD Auto was my highest yielding auto thus far (7 oz in 6.9 gallons), so I figured it would be a great, robust genetic to run as a 2-plant grow in my 2 x 4.
My goals are the same as my White Widow grow, keep it simple with a nice CBD grow. I’ll grow 20/4 for these to avoid light stress signals that may have pushed my last Critical Mass Auto to throw some pollen towards the end of the grow. Additionally, I will transplant these from their .5 gallon pots into their final 3.9 gallon homes around day 10 or 14, depending on their size.
For training, these gals are aggressive stretchers, so I will slowly guide them into individual canopies, and I will do my best to get some solid tops across the board.
For this grow journaling process, I will run 2 separate diaries. I like running a diary for each individual strain as well, especially for contests and to feature characteristics of each individual plant, as phenotypes may vary.
The diary comments will be labeled as in two separate parts: Individual Updates (Critical Mass CHB Auto #1, #2) and then Tent-Wide Updates.
Coco Planting Process:
For my coco, I was very pleased to have a much easier preparation process than my previous runs. Canna Professional Plus comes pre-washed and buffered, so I didn’t need to do a big rinse and buffer process for this round, which was very nice.
I mixed a ratio of 80/20 Canna Professional Plus with Harvest Hero Perlite and tossed it all together so it was fully integrated into one beautiful medium. I will say, the Canna Coco was absolutely beautiful… huge upgrade!!
To prepare the mixed medium for potting, I added around 500 ml of RO water and Ventana Plant Science solution to moisten up the coco a bit, but not overload or soak it too much. I wanted the coco to hold it’s shape but not let water drip when squeezed.
When it felt ready, I potted up my half liter pots, and I got ready to plant my Clementine Slush Seeds in Organiplugs!
I planted the seeded Organiplugs directly into the prepared Coco and put them into the prepared tent with a half-bottle humidity dome, with the goal of limiting any exposure of the taproot to open oxygen/air. My idea behind this new method is to prevent any possible oxidation of the root, and allow the taproot to hit its growing environment as soon as it emerges from the Organiplug.
Plus, I get to sprinkle Xtreme Mykos in each planting hole before I put the Organiplugs into the coco, allowing for that extra root growth.
I will plan on transferring these into their final homes around day 10/12, depending on size and top root development!
Let’s hope for some monsters, and thanks for tuning in!
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Used method
Rockwool Cube
Germination Method
1
Week 1. Vegetation
1mo ago
1/11
2.54 cm
Height
24 hrs
Light Schedule
27 °C
Day Air Temp
5.7
pH
375 PPM
TDS
75 %
Air Humidity
1.89 liters
Pot Size
91.44 cm
Lamp Distance
Nutrients 2
Support 4-0-0
1.321 mll
Grow 0-1.5-4
0.264 mll
Aeromatics Week 1 for Critical Mass CBD Auto #2 is another solid start, and proof of some old or off genetics for those White Widow CBD seeds. These are already surpassing their growing and I got 100% germination again with 0 issues. It's been an absolutely stellar batch of seeds from ILGM.
Her growth is daily, and I've been keeping her upper root coco layer moist with some daily droppers of waters, as well as 25-50 ml droppers of water of the following recipie:
1 gallon RO water
5 ml Ventana Plant Science Support
1 ml Ventana Plant Science Grow
ec .75 PH 5.7
On day 4, I gave 150 - 200 ml of water around the root ball circle as the whole pot was dry and craving some solution.
PPFD has been riding around 240, but I will slowly look to increase that over the coming weeks.
We are off to a good start in the 2 x 4!
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2
Week 2. Vegetation
18d ago
1/8
12.7 cm
Height
24 hrs
Light Schedule
27 °C
Day Air Temp
5.7
pH
375 PPM
TDS
70 %
Air Humidity
14.76 liters
Pot Size
91.44 cm
Lamp Distance
Nutrients 2
Support 4-0-0
1.321 mll
Grow 0-1.5-4
0.264 mll
Aeromatics Critical Mass CBD Auto #2: Her transplant went great! She is 4 days behind, in general, to #1, but we will soon not see too much of a difference there after stretch and flower. All in all, we are rocking and rolling with both CBDs.
Tent-wide Updates: Transplant time has arrived!
These gals have been rooting nicely in their .5 gallon pots heading from week 1 and 2, and I didn't want them to get too root bound before making their move into 3.9 gallon pots.
Heading into transplant, I bottom watered them to encourage that root development, and they each drank up a solid 500 to 750 ml throughout each water heading into transplant week.
The mix was a simple one:
1 Gallon RO Water
5 ml Ventana Plant Science Support
1 ml Ventana Plant Science Grow
.75 ec 5.7 PH
With transplant, we did our standard mix of 70/30 Canna Coco Professional Plus and Harvest Hero Perlite.
Once I mixed each batch, I moved aside about a 1.5 gallons and mixed in 2 tablespoons of Stash Base to enhance some of that Coco, giving it a nice boost for vegetation.
Additionally, I sprinkled Xtreme Mykos onto the root bundle and planting zone on each plant and then layered that Stash Base enhanced around the rootball and the top 1/3 layer of coco.
Once packed in, I watered her in with around 500 ml of water with a bit more Stash Base as well as Mammoth P Active Microbes to get them started, around the root ball and external area of the planting zone, and let her settle in before any thing else was adjusted, like airdomes or even thinking about autopot activation.
It's a big move, but she was ready!
Next steps are going to be working on getting the root zone ready for Autopot activation!
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Used techniques
Transplantation
Technique
3
Week 3. Vegetation
17d ago
1/10
12.7 cm
Height
24 hrs
Light Schedule
27 °C
Day Air Temp
5.7
pH
375 PPM
TDS
70 %
Air Humidity
14.76 liters
Pot Size
91.44 cm
Lamp Distance
Nutrients 3
Support 4-0-0
1.453 mll
Grow 0-1.5-4
0.396 mll
Structure (Silica)
0.132 mll
Aeromatics Critical Mass CBD Auto #2: She took amazing to the transplant and showed no signs of stress. A few days behind #1, she is excelling thus far and looking healthy and happy.
I turned on her airdome a bit higher since she is in a plastic pot, but for now... no training and we will keep her happy and steady!
Tent-Wide Updates: Entering Week three, we are focused on a hopefully swift recovery from the transplant into 3.9 gallon autopots. Both plants too to it well, with #1 looking the worse for ware across the two.
I top watered each plant with 500 ml of the following mixture:
1 Gallon RO Water
5.5 ml Ventana Plant Science Support
1.5 ml Ventana Plant Science Grow
.5 ml Ventana Plant Science Structure
Additionally, we made a big move in the hope to minimize stacked stress, the shift from 24/0 to 20/4 light schedule. I want to give these CBD plants a chance to relax a bit and since I don't need to push that 24 hour light cycle, I will let them take it easy for 4 hours a day.
I have also turned on my autodomes to around 6 hours a day, with incremental increases planned throughout the next few days t encourage root growth.
Outside of that, we are in a transition week before we hopefully turn our autopot reservoir on and hit the boom!
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4
Week 4. Vegetation
15d ago
1/16
17.78 cm
Height
20 hrs
Light Schedule
24 °C
Day Air Temp
5.7
pH
450 PPM
TDS
65 %
Air Humidity
14.76 liters
Pot Size
91.44 cm
Lamp Distance
Nutrients 3
Support 4-0-0
1.849 mll
Grow 0-1.5-4
0.528 mll
Structure (Silica)
0.132 mll
Aeromatics Critical Mass CBD Auto #2: She is growing, but I still don't know what to expect given my now 3 different experiences with these seeds (see previous diaries including my concurrent #1).
I am all about quality on this run, and my only daily adjustments and checks are main stem offset training just to do my classic, and what I may start to call, LOTR, style training.
For now, we are low stress with autopot activation and we will see how stretch goes!
Tent-Wide Update: Autopots Activated!
I tested her with a few 500 ml waters throughout the week to see if she would draw some from the reservoir, and she proved ready to go heading into day 22.
Thus, I activated the system in full!
I filled my reservoir with 3 gallons of a vegetation supportive mixture:
3 Gallons RO water
1.5 ml Ventana Plant Structure
6 ml Ventana Plant Science Grow
21 ml Ventana Plant Science Support
Both plants drank up well, but three gallons was a bit too much for 1 full, so I am going to shrink it down to 2 gallons moving forward.
I have my airdomes on in full for the 20 hours that the lights are on.
PPFD might be a bit high (380), so we will see if I want to drop it down to avoid stress.
All in all, I am happy and we are off for a big growth spurt!
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Used techniques
LST
Technique
5
Week 5. Flowering
2d ago
1/17
35.56 cm
Height
20 hrs
Light Schedule
24 °C
Day Air Temp
5.7
pH
Weak
Smell
430 PPM
TDS
62 %
Air Humidity
14.76 liters
Pot Size
91.44 cm
Lamp Distance
Nutrients 4
Support 4-0-0
1.849 mll
Structure (Silica)
0.132 mll
Flower 0-3-4
0.66 mll
Aeromatics Critical Mass CBD Auto #2: Our younger lady is following closely behind! She has a slightly different structure, with a more open and stretchy growth pattern compared to #1. She took to her plastic AutoPot transplant well and has continued developing new nodes and branches. While she is still a few days behind her sister, I am happy with her progress and have no plans to push her unnecessarily.
Tent-Wide Updates: Weeks four and five brought some exciting developments as we officially transitioned both plants over to their AutoPot reservoir!
After a few controlled bottom-watering tests, both plants showed signs of taking up moisture from the trays. Once the coco had fully wicked and the plants appeared comfortable, I activated the reservoir and allowed the system to take over. The first two gallons disappeared surprisingly quickly, although consumption slowed once the coco became fully saturated.
We also gradually increased our AirDome schedule from a few short intervals to running throughout the 20-hour light period. Both plants seem to be adapting well to the additional root-zone aeration.
Nutritionally, we made some small adjustments as the plants moved through vegetative growth and into their early flowering transition. Both were showing lighter green foliage, so we increased Ventana Plant Science Support while gradually introducing Flower alongside Grow.
Our reservoir mixtures during this period generally included:
One Gallon of RO Water
Ventana Plant Science Structure: 0.5 ml
Ventana Plant Science Grow: 1–2 ml
Ventana Plant Science Flower: 1–2.75 ml
Ventana Plant Science Expand: 0.5 ml
Ventana Plant Science Support: 6–7 ml
Target EC: approximately 0.85–1.0
Target pH: 5.7–5.8
We have intentionally kept the feeding relatively mild. Since these are CBD autoflowers, I am much more interested in maintaining healthy, low-stress growth than chasing maximum size or yield.
I also introduced some gentle LST to both plants, using small adjustments to spread the developing branches outward and improve light exposure throughout the canopy. Nothing aggressive, just enough to open them up and give the developing flower sites some room to grow!
One interesting observation was the appearance of some narrow, twisting leaves as the plants began transitioning into flower. After experimenting with PPFD in the 320–350 range, I decided to back the light down closer to 280–300 PPFD. The plants appeared to respond positively, so we are keeping things conservative for now.
Outside of that, we are finally starting to see some pistils and early flower development!
The goal moving forward is simple: maintain stable environmental conditions, keep nutrition consistent, minimize unnecessary stress, and let these Critical Mass CBD Autos show us what they can do!