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This is my first diary. I have been growing auto flowers for a couple of years.I will try to share with those here interested the way that I approach the process. I will try to get across how easy it should be to get good results without a lot of fuss. I use Fox Farms Ocean Forest soil. It is a little "hot", so there will be no nutrients(other than a little ca/mg until after four full weeks, Then I will be using Nectar For The Gods "simple" feeding schedule at about 1/2 of the numbers you see there. This soil has gone as far as 8 weeks without needing to add nutrients, but that was in 10 gallon pots. After week 2 I will be going to 18/6 light schedule. My plan is to update every Wednesday for those who wish to follow. Although the strain breeder states 8-10 weeks to harvest, I have found that it usually takes longer for best results, so the plan is to harvest at week 12 unless it is obvious they can come down earlier. I grow for my own personal use in my own personal home, so my process would probably not be for those who are trying to max yield or grow for profit, but I hope you find that the process is really not difficult and you can get some high quality smoke without a lot of effort.
All of these plants are FastBuds Gorilla Glue. They were soaked overnight in tap water and placed directly into the soil. All 5 sprouted. This is my usual result with this soil. I have read some think it is too hot for seedlings, but that is not my experience. The pots are 2 gallon fabric pots with a layer of perlite on the bottom. They have only received water at this point.
Thanks for following. If I can answer any questions just fire away.
week two. Some are showing signs of nutrient burn. That is unusual as I have just added water only. This variety might be a little vulnerable to the "hotter" Ocean Forest soil. I placed a layer of perlite on top and it may be holding the water better thus less watering. I am not going to change a thing and just let them get through this early stage as is. It should work itself out with a little flushing.
As I thought from week 2, I had placed a very thick layer of perlite on top of the soil and it did not respond well to that. I removed the thick layer of perlite, flushed all plants and they bounced back great. They look awesome. Still only on water and I see nothing that will change that until week 5. Changed the light schedule to 18/6.
Here come the buds. The plants will be getting their first feeding today. Only on water so far. Turned off the humidifier. Starting to show small signs of needing the feeding. That is not normally the case if you use this soil. My mistake in week two requiring a flushing has caused a small move forward with the feeding. Overall though I like the progress and they are starting to smell awesome.
First week of feeding. They responded very well. I am going to raise the amount to the suggested rates for the "Simple Late Vegetative" schedule. These nutrients do not appear to overly stress the plants and they look great. One more week of veg. feeding then onto the bloom schedule.
end of week 6. looks like one more week of veg. as they are still stretching. The plants are giving signs of the ph being too high. I have been keeping these close to 7, but they need to be lower so I will going down to 6 next week. Otherwise, they are looking pretty good.
Still have signs of ph too high on the big plant. I will keep bringing it down. Otherwise they look pretty good. Moved onto the "early flowering" schedule. I plan to cut down after week 12 so on schedule so far. The height listed is the average of all, one is bigger some are lower. Starting to see some frosting on some of the buds. I got bad news that I may have to start random drug testing, so I may not even get to enjoy these, but I will keep my fingers crossed.
End of week 8. I am having trouble correcting the ph damage on the big one. It is not a major issue really, but I am trying to fix it. I am ordering advanced nutrients "revive" this week to see if it can be fixed. Sometimes the damage is just done and you have to grind it out. Only a few weeks left. They are all starting to fatten up. Still on schedule to harvest at the end of week twelve. I used the full strength for the nutrients the last two feedings and I can say that at least with this autoflower that it is too much. I recommend staying at half strength for autoflowers if you use this product line. thx.
End of week 9. I just cannot get back the big one to where I want...still the buds are growing. On track to harvest 1/30. Looking forward to harvest. To those who have sent likes and kind words I say thank you. It is a great hobby. I won't be alive long enough to see it safe for everyone to enjoy legally, but one day it will. Thanks to all you guys doing the great work here. This is a great resource and great site.
end of week 10. In a last ditch effort to bring back the big plant, I bombed the plants with a large dose of cal/mag. It seems to be working and they are greening up again. I will be changing the light schedule to 8/16 to transition to the harvest. I have found that it is a more natural environment than waiting to the end and just turning out the lights as some do. They are fattening up still and on schedule to harvest on 1/30.
No nutrients, water only this week and until harvest. I will be harvesting earlier than 1/30 as scheduled because they are really starting to "amber" up. Probably going to harvest this weekend. I have some comments on the nutrients I used for the first time in this grow, as well as some growing/lighting comments, but I will save them all for next week when they are harvested just to keep the info in one place for those who may be following or looking at it for future reference.
Too early to give smoke review, but I will add in a couple of weeks. Smells great. Frosted up pretty good. For those who follow or will look at in the future:
1) To start with, I normally only grow 2-3 plants at a time. Five was just a little too much for my 300w light system. Probably need at least 450w for that many plants
2)Not impressed with the nutrients really. No different than a lot of cheaper varieties. Plus, I experienced some yellowing that I could not diagnose because the simple plan given for this product seemed to have every product every time and I was having trouble deciding if it was Nitrogen or Cal/Mag. I think they should run a few diaries here to help out with dosing and diagnosing problems. I am moving to another product next time.
3)Overall the strain was pretty easy and as a total grow I am happy with the yield. I have more than I can smoke already and I only keep the best buds so not too bad.
Hope this helps a little bit and adds to this great reservoir of information.