Jack Herer Automatic (First grow)

Very first grow ever, decided to make a diary many weeks after, therefore many missing photos and there will be some time gaps. Germination: paper towel method. Planted in substrate once the shoot gets long enough (usually within 24 hours) Day #1 is when it is planted in substrate. 80x80x180cm grow tent. 3 plants in 11 liter fabric pots. Canna Coco +30% perlite. Only tap water for the week. Plant #3 still had its helmet shell on for a few days and eventually had to peel it off by hand very carefully.

This is the week where I realized I was a very beginner grower and started running into many issues that I was clueless about. Issue #1: I used both bioGROW and bioBloom only a few days apart. Was very confused about the directions for the Greenhouse Feeding powders. It mentioned that it is a slow release powder that goes for 8 weeks and mentioned that it can be used at the time of transplantation or mixed in the substrate before. But I thought why would something for the bloom phase be put in when it is transplanted or before it's in the substrate? Then I thought that since it is a slow release powder for 8 weeks, that is generally getting to the time that autoflowers will be starting to finish up to start flushing. So...I just mixed it in as a top dressing just like the bioGROW and thought it was designed to have the substrate already ready for the bloom phase, haha! Issue #2: Plant #2 was starting to give me problems and yellowing from the inside out, and had no idea what it was at the time. Issue #3: I woke up one morning to find plant #3 completely fallen over and laying flat on the coco. I had no idea what to do, so I found 2 box cutters to try to lay in the coco to support the stem back straight again.

Leaves where really starting to grow outwards and gain in size. Plant 2 and 3 really starting to fatten up. Started to learn and fix the issues I was having after the last week. -Learned that my PH was too high and was having nutrient lockout issues, especially with iron particularly with plant #2. Solution: bring PH down to 5.8, order CalMag Plus (with iron) -Realized that I was going to have to do something different to stabilize the stem for plant #3 to make it strong enough to handle its own weight. I bought pipe cleaners and tried to form them in a supportive position to where there would still be enough room for it to flex a bit and gain its own strength again.

Started to fix PH and iron issues, introduced Calmag Plus, very light LST (It was my first time and didn't really know how much to do at the time and was a bit clueless, so I played things safe). -Also had some bird seeds accidentally grow in between a brick window seal, 2 turned out to be (what I believed) hemp (?). Pulled them out and put them in two different mini plastic pots with coco and recovered them and put them under the lights to grow. I've never seen hemp before, but these two plants were flowering and had trichomes. Is this normal? Was an 18 hour light cycle going to hurt them while they were flowering? I have no idea what kind of plants these were. Let me know!

-Had my first pest issue: fungus gnats. Not a very welcoming site, as I was clearly over watering 1 liter per plant almost every day. Big, but common rookie mistake and learned the hard way, but learned my lesson. Had to order the yellow insect stickers and placed them all around the tent. They multiplied fast, but thankfully the stickers worked along with easing off the watering amount and frequency. Took quite a few days off from watering and less water per feeding session. Took about a week to get rid of them, but thankfully there was no visible damage to any parts of the plant. -Dramatic growth around this time. -Started to use Rhino Skin to strengthen the stems

-Flowers are beginning to show. -Explosive growing from plant #3, and also good vertical gains from plant #2. Plant #1 seems to be entirely different, almost like a totally different strain. Leaves look very different and are much more organized, extremely small and bushy, the other two plants are almost twice the size. So much smaller that I had to place a small bucket underneath the plant in order for it to raise itself to the canopy so it can get light. All 3 plants are being treated identically otherwise. I don't know why this is. -Started to feed a little bit of Big Bud Coco.

-Huge size difference between all 3 plants: Plant #1: 41cm Plant #2: 85cm Plant #3: 114cm -Defoliated all 3 plants. -I'm not sure why there is such a big size difference between the plants. Does anybody have a guess? -Plant #1 definitely seems to be significantly more mature. The buds are drastically more developed, frosty with much more trichomes, and many orange hairs already. The other plants are far behind it. -Plant #1 has a very sharp mint and lime smell to it, the other 2 are very skunky. -Very difficult to keep a consistent light distance between all 3 plants now, even when plant #1 is propped up on a bucket. My light can't go much higher now, and plant #3 is only about 6 or 7cm under it.

Week #10 is a wrap! -More defoliation...these plants can get VERY bushy. Not sure how much more I should. There are still a million leaves. -Stopped feeding Rhino Skin for here on out because I have read that some people said that the smoke can get a bit harsh if used in later parts of the bloom cycle with silica. -Had a few fungus gnats pop up for some reason, even when watering significantly less and less frequent, as well as doing what I could to keep the humidity levels low. Was usually around 50%-60% this past week, so nothing drastic at all. Typically I have waited for around 3-4 days to water and have watered them around 2.5 liters (in a 11 liter pot) every time with barely any drainage. I put some yellow stickers right on top of the coco where they would hang out around. I just watered today and the coco has been the dryest I have ever seen it this entire grow, so hopefully this cleared up the problem and will never see any again. -Wondering how long these plants will mature for. This is my first grow, so I'm not sure how to time the start of flush well. This strain is also notorious for lasting longer than most autos, which I came to find after I already started the grow and wasn't expecting how long they need. Plant #1 (shorty) looks MUCH further down the road to maturity with its buds and they are very well developed in comparison, so it will be a challenge for me to figure out how to harvest all 3 at the same time. The other 2 plant buds are still whispy and plenty of white hairs and look like they have a lot more time to mature. *Any input on when to start flushing for this grow is always appreciated. I'm thinking around a 1.5-2 week flush? Maybe today (day 76) is my last day of feeding nutes?* -All the pics were from before watering and some defoliation, so they look a bit droopy. Haven't had water in 4 or 5 days. The top of plant #2 had a little bit of wind burn, so I faced the fan in the other direction where there would be no direct contact with any of the 3. -Green House Feeding Enhancer powder= 1 gram per liter of water

Here we are, week #12 and STILL not there yet! I had no idea it would last this long. But as you can see, the buds are still quite harry and plenty of white still in the two largest plants (Andre and #2). I looked through a 60x LED microscope and the trichomes are still plenty clear on Shorty, even though she looks vastly more mature from the outside compared to the rest of her larger sisters. I would have hoped that they would be ready now, though! -Andre and #2 are significantly bulking up and can start to see a lot of orange hairs finally, but most of the hairs haven't retracted in too much yet and many are still white, which is why I am still feeding them.

Day #91, started first flush! Only PHed water at 5.8