Sucker Punch Auto Micro Hydro Grow

This is my first grow in five years. Previously I grew with soil, in a closet tent set up under HPS and MH bulbs. For this time around I decided to try my hand with hydro, under LEDs. This is also my first time trying to grow an auto flowering strain. The main driver for this grow is to try out my stealth prototype for proof of concept. I converted a 26”x26”x12” tool cabinet to a stealth grow setup. I used industrial adhesive to adhere foil film on the walls, added two computer fans (inlet and exhaust) with carbon filters, and hooks for trellising and to hang the light. I ensured the cabinet is light tight The cabinet is lockable and looks normal at a glance. Began seed soak in cupboard for 12 hours in tap water on 11/12. After 12 hours seed had sunk to bottom of container and had just began to pop. I boiled my rock wool for about five minutes to ensure that it was sterile and free of and fungi. After rock wool had cooled, I transplanted the seed directly to the wool, with the popped root pointed down. I decided against using the paper towel method. I transplanted the rock wool direct to my small nest pot and put in my hydro reservoir. I have decided to do a 24 hour light cycle for the first week or two, with both the veg and flowering spectrums on. We will see how she does. Three days after transplanting she popped. Will update next week!

Technically the end of my first week as the seed sprouted last Friday. Increased the nutrient ppm up to 280ppm from 160ppm last week. Had to make a couple pH adjustments as the pH had crept up to the mid 6’s on two separate occasions. Nothing huge to report. Plant looks healthy. Added a pic of the outside of the stealth cabinet.

It’s been 15 days sprouted and it was an eventful week. Started to get some nutrient burn, as you can see from the lower fan leaves. I ended up diluting the reservoir by half and took down the water solids from 280 ppm to 200ppm. This seems to have remedied the issue and stopped the spread of the burn. I also had a pH issue, as my meter was reading higher than the actual pH. Even after recalibration it was still reading off. I have since switched to using the drop color indicator and all has been good. Around day 12 I began to low stress train the plant and have been pretty aggressive with the tie downs. As my grow cabinet is only 24” tall (minus the light head space), I am trying to promote as much horizontal growth as possible right off the bat. Trellising will go in about a week to space out the secondary branching. All in all it was a great week of growth. The main stem is thicker at two weeks than I remember any of my soil grows being. She also has secondary branches growing at each lower node. She has not slowed down at all, even with the nutrient burn. I am new at hydro and autos, so I was expecting a learning curve. If you guys have any tips, please leave them in the comments.

Solved the nutrient/pH issues and did some light defoliation of some fan leaves at the bottom of the plant. This week was all about encouraging further horizontal growth, so there was little vertical growth from the week before. I slowly walked the nutrient strength up gradually during the week from 200ppm to 300ppm. I will probably be switching from a 24hr light schedule to 20-4 to encourage the plant to stretch a little.

Nice steady rate of growth now. Went from 24/0 to 20/4 light schedule to encourage some stretch. Performed some light defoliation of bottom leaves and leaves growing to center of plant which were blocking bud sites. If I had not defoliators the plant would have been even bushier. At the start of this grow I wanted to encourage more bushy growth as opposed to height, but this plant has gotten almost too bushy. Increased water reservoir nutrients up to 380 ppm. Add trellising netting to further low stress train as plant grows. I’m excited for next week as preflowers have began to form, will probably be in full flowering mode next week. This thing is really starting to suck the water level down on a daily basis. If any of you guys have any tips, questions, or comments please leave them!

Going to say we are in the flowering stage. She’s had preflowers for over a week now, and some pistols are beginning to change color already. Have read that this can be normal with auto flowers, but still weird to me. Did some heavy defoliation, removing about 30-40% of the fan leaves, mainly any shading the colas. I am hopping that she really starts to flower this week or I may have to cut back the light schedule which I do not want to do.

Been a crazy week of vegetative growth. I am going to give her a serious haircut tomorrow and retrain the colas. Also will be adding another 60 watts of LED strips for side and bottom supplemental lighting. Increased the nutrients to 800ppm and have shifted to flowering nutrients. Have officially moved from preflowering to flowering.

Plant is really starting go into full bloom as you can see from the pics of the top of the plant I super cropped this week, which I realize is a little later than most. She seems to have responded well and I have a nice even canopy. I added some supplements LED lighting to the sides and underside of the plant early in the week. This week I was having an issue with pH drifting down on the reservoir water. It had been three to four weeks since I had done a full water change. Once I did I performed the water change the pH drift went away. Switched the nutrient ratio to full bloom yesterday. I am really excited to see what kind of bud growth we get next week. This is my first time growing in such a tight space (2 square feet), with an auto, using LEDs and with hydro. Not sure what I am going to end up with, but with so many bud sites and with the bad of the main stem having a 1.5” diameter on a 14” tall plant, I feel pretty optimistic! Please comment with any suggestions or feedback.

Increased the nutrient concentration up to 1200-1300 ppm. Started using a calcium magnesium supplement. Buds everywhere, looking for them to really start bulking up over the next two weeks. I always get nervous at this stage about whether buds are going to keep growing or not.

I feel like this week the buds didn’t increase in size like I was expecting. It seems like the tops stayed the same, the middle buds had a little growth, and the bottom buds had the most growth. Part of this may be from me looking at her multiple times a day. Three days ago I switched from a 24/0 to 18/6 lighting schedule. I’ve read that some auto’s flowering may be slowed down by 24/0 and having a dark period can help quicken bud development. We shall see. I also began adding molasses to the reservoir. Going to do a reservoir water change tomorrow as the pH is beginning swing quickly and requires additional monitoring. Please leave any tips or advice you have bud stacking and density.