Auto Bubble Gum and Auto Cheese Berry

Auto Bubble Gum by 00 Seeds: 12% THC / high CBD, height = 80 - 130cm, flowering time = 60 days Auto Cheese Berry by 00 Seeds: 14% THC, height = 90 - 130cm, flowering time = 70 days Will be following the General Hydroponic nutrient schedule (http://gh.growgh.com/docs/Feedcharts/GH_FloraSeries-DTW_03216am.pdf) except replacing the top 3 rows of Base Nutrients with "H3ad's Formula" for coco, i.e. 6 ml FloraMicro and 9 ml FloraBloom, for entire grow. Week 1 nutrients (per gallon): 25% of (6 ml FloraMicro and 9 ml FloraBloom solution) + 75% water. Ph'd to 5.8. 1/12/2020 (V3) - Here we go with another grow! My first and only auto grow was an auto amnesia haze and that yielded around 5 oz with a solid smoke, and I'm looking forward to this relatively quick grow. Just popped off humidity dome yesterday after first real leaves developed and spraying only tap water for now. Vesta lights are "tuned" to 4000k now and light intensity is around 16000 lux. There's an oscillating fan on them now, too. Once roots appear at bottom of peat pellet, I'll transplant to solo cups. Lights on 24 hrs. 1/16/2010 (V7) - Transplanted into solo cups 2 days ago. Bubble Gum leaves don't look as clean and crisp as Cheese Berry. Germinating new herb seeds to replace current 6 month old plants which look like crap now. Only saving rosemary and mint from old ones, rest took a beating from last gnat and mite infestation. Some are flowering too and might not be faring too well under 24 hour lights. Germination time for the seeds vary from 5-28 days. Soil is a mix of coco, perlite, vermiculite and compost.

1/22/2020 (V13) - To paraphrase Office Space, everyday I look at my plants they look worse than the day before. Looked like cal-mag deficiency with the brown leaf spots but that's a bit early for it? Moved the auto plants from the shelf into tent where temperature/humidity more readily controlled. The shelf was around 70F and 25% humidity so maybe the poor conditions are to blame for appearance? Tent climate: 74F and 54% humidity. Four sets of herb seedlings sprouted and moved to shelf.

Week 3 Nutrients (per gallon; ph'd to 5.8): 1 ml Armor Si + 2.5 ml Cal-Mag + 6 ml GH FloraMicro + 9 ml GH FloraBloom + 1 ml GH Floralicious Plus + 2.5 ml GH RapidStart 1/27/2020 (V18) - Transplanted both Auto Cheese Berry (CB) and Auto Bubble Gum (BG) from solo cups to 1 gallon containers in coco/perlite mix. According to conventional wisdom supposed to begin and end autos in same container to minimize transplant shock, however, do not currently have the required amount of coco on hand. CB is recovering nicely and was root bound in solo cup with roots circling the bottom, BG has rebounded somewhat but still lags behind in leaf size and root growth. Light intensity (as read by Light Meter v3.1 app by Trajkovski Labs on Samsung Galaxy S6) increased from 20000 lux to 30000 lux. Humidifier in tent looks to have improved situation. Tomorrow going to dose plants with Grower's Recharge and may top them both in coming days. (Tent: 77F and 49% humidity) Shelf grow - Moved more seedlings from germination humidity dome to shelf. Oregano and thyme still have to sprout, while the lavender seeds are still in the fridge and going to be moved to shelf shortly in same baggy until it pops. Apparently lavender seeds need light to germinate and the cold primes it. 1/30/2020 (V21) - Sleep! Looks like they needed a little nap so for now everything looks fine after changing light cycle to 20/4 from 24h. Tomorrow, going to go for broke by topping them like you're not supposed to for autos. If it works correctly, each plant will have 8 tops, though BG may get only 6 tops since one of it's nodes looks fucked. Would like to replant to 3 gallons before V28. (Tent: 79F and 51% humidity). Bubble hash experiment was semi-success. It's been drying for few days now, but consistency isn't exactly what I wanted. Very chunky and sticky, and this makes it hard to separate. This was made using directions from growweedeasy (https://www.growweedeasy.com/cannabis-bubble-hash). Original plan was to make hash puck like on Trailer Park Boys and I even got a pollen press. Think I should have balled it, dried a bit, stuck in freezer, and then grated (microplane) it. Used 16 lb bag of ice for 2 washes on 3.5 oz dried nugs. Second wash only got maybe 1/4 output of first wash. Think those hash pucks were worth a lot more than what Ricky was buying with them.

Week 4 Nutrients (per gallon and ph'd to 5.8): 1.25 ml Armor Si + 2.5 ml Cal-Mag + 6 ml Flora Micro + 9 ml Flora Bloom + 1 ml Floralicious Plus + 2.5 ml Rapid Start 2/4/2020 (V26) - Topped and transplanted plants into 3 gallon coco/perlite mix. Hope they haven't started flowering yet but they do look suspiciously like it. They have so much more stretching to do. (Tent climate = 80F and 60% humidity) Shelf - Need to mix some soil and transplant seedlings into bigger containers. Lavender seeds haven't germinated yet. Hash - Probably messed up the proper procedure, but: I shoved the crack-like hash chunks into pollen press, heated in oven at 200F for 10 minutes, tightened press, let it cool for few hours, removed puck from press, placed puck and grater (microplane) in freezer for 1-2 hours, grated puck over parchment paper covered box, let dry for a day, scraped and chopped into uniform bits with credit card, shoved everything back into pollen press, placed press on top of computer's exhaust fan (94F for 1 hour), tightened press, and finally extracted finished puck from press. Main problem was I had to forcefully shove the puck through the press with screwdriver. Think I bought wrong kind of press, but I'll have to research and refine my technique for next time.

Week 5 nutrients (per gallon and 5.8 ph): 1.5 ml Armor Si + 2.5 Cal-Mag + 6 ml GH Flora Micro + 9 ml GH Flora Bloom + 1 ml GH Floralicious Plus + 1.0 ml GH RapidStart 2/10/2020 (V32) - Still looks like we're in veg here, though the pistil preflowers have been shooting out for almost a week now. Both plants have grown a few inches since last update with CB (Cheese Berry) at 11" and BG (Bubble Gum) at 9". Both plants are at the projected 4 nodes (8 branches) each, but the bottom nodes are getting least light exposure now and wondering if it'd be best to chop those suckers off. Leaving for now since they've still got few weeks vertical growth left. Did some mild defoliation to uncover some shaded bud sites and added in some binder clips and garden soft-ties for LST. Still a lot of adjustments to do on the ties, but I'm attempting to steer the way the branches grow as if like spokes on a wheel. Bent a few of the branches to the direction I wanted them to go but will probably have to be a bit more forceful on next attempt. Increased light intensity to 50-60000 lux. Gave them Grower's Recharge today. Had to take humidifier out of tent since no room in there anymore, but plants are big enough now to sustain their own humidity. (Tent: 80F and 45% humidity)

Flower week 1 nutrients (per gallon and ph'd to 5.8): 1.5 ml Armor Si + 2.5 ml Cal-mag + 6 ml FloraMicro + 9 ml FloraBloom + 1 ml Floralicious Plus + 1 ml RapidStart 2/15/2020 (F5) - Just going to call this day 5 of flower for both plants, though CB looks more advanced in bud formation and BG less so. They've picked up another few inches (CB now at 15" and BG at 12") but I did bend and tie down the two tallest CB branches in an attempt to keep her more even up top. Also, lowered the 6" circulation fan to below the canopy and turned on second circulation fan for canopy top air flow. Performed mild defoliation on both plants and may do some lolipopping in next few days to keep things tidy down there. Should find a booster seat for BG plant to keep her even with tent mate. Not sure if BG's smaller size at this point is due to first few weeks growth being shitty with the low humidity or just its phenotype. Hope BG stretches a bit more, it's easier to manipulate longer branches. (Tent: 80F and 50% humidity) Shelf - 1 lavender out of 20 seeds germinated so far. Took it out of bag and transplanted too early I guess since now it's dead. 😞

Flower week 2 nutrients (per gallon and ph'd to 5.8): 1.5 ml Armor Si + 2.5 ml Cal-mag + 6 ml FloraMicro + 9 ml FloraBloom + 1 ml Floralicious Plus + 1 ml RapidStart + 1 ml Liquid KoolBloom 2/22/2020 (F12) - Been lolipopping both plants for past few days and eventually I'll whittle the number of bud sites on each plants to 12 or so. Thinking about forcing the scrog netting down on canopy but wonder if it's too late already for that. The rapid stretch seems to have slowed down (CB at 19" and BG at 17") but branches spreading out makes it hard to rotate pots everyday. Changed light cycle from 20/4 to 18/6 because both plants appeared tired and droopy (see F10 pic) so thought they needed more sleep. Also, increased light intensity to 85000 lux. (Tent: 81F and 44% humidity)

Flower week 3 nutrients (per gallon and ph'd to 5.8): 1.5 ml Armor Si + 2.5 ml Cal-mag + 6 ml FloraMicro + 9 ml FloraBloom + 1 ml Floralicious Plus + 2 ml Liquid KoolBloom 2/29/2020 (F19) - Performed some mild defoliation and lolipopping on both plants, cutting off the branches that didn't reach the canopy and removing leaves covering bud sites. Decided against having only a few main branches per plant with bigger colas and opting for more small to medium size buds with much more bud sites. Hope this is right choice, but spring and higher humidity are coming and bigger buds are more susceptible to bud rot. Light intensity now at 85000 lux on tallest colas. BG plant now taller (24") than CB (22") which is a surprise considering how BG was faring before, however, only 3 of BG branches reach this height and tower over the rest of canopy, compared to the 5 "tower" branches of CB. Future glamour pictures are probably going to exclusively show these tower colas. After increasing the KoolBloom dose from 1 ml to 2 ml, a slight nutrient burn was noticeable on tips of BG plant. Slight departure from GH Flora Series Drain to Waste nutrient schedule - ran out of RapidStart and not going to buy more until next grow, so going to omit that from the regimen. Still more pruning to do as it looks like tent is getting too crowded. Please let stretch be finished. (Tent climate: 84F and 31% humidity)

Flower week 4 nutrients (per gallon and ph'd to 5.8): 1.5 ml Armor Si + 2.5 ml Cal-mag + 6 ml FloraMicro + 9 ml FloraBloom + 1 ml Floralicious Plus + 2 ml Liquid KoolBloom 3/7/2020 (F26) - Defoliation done today though it hardly seems to make a difference so still have to do more. Also, now splitting the feeding to twice a day (0.5 gallon per plant x 2) since they always seemed so thirsty. BG had no additional growth this week and she's at 22" while CB grew one inch and is now at 25". Light intensity measured at 85000 lux on tallest buds and will attempt to crank this up for coming week. (Tent climate: 81F and 41% humidity)

Flower week 5 nutrients (per gallon and ph'd to 5.8): 1.5 ml Armor Si + 2.5 ml Cal-mag + 6 ml FloraMicro + 9 ml FloraBloom + 1 ml Floralicious Plus + 2 ml Liquid KoolBloom 3/14/2020 (F33) - Just a few more weeks left so hope these ladies plump up more. Pistil hairs slowly turning orange on both plants. Minor drooping on a couple colas on CB plant so may have to resort to yoyo hangers soon if they droop more. (Tent climate: 82F and 41% humidity)

Flower week 6 nutrients (per gallon and ph'd to 5.8): 1.5 ml Armor Si + 2.5 ml Cal-mag + 6 ml FloraMicro + 9 ml FloraBloom + 1 ml Floralicious Plus + 2.5 ml Liquid KoolBloom 3/21/2020 (F40) - Getting close. Lovely smells coming out of BG, almost like a floral bouquet, but surprisingly, no discernible smell coming from CB yet. CB has maybe 30% orange pistils with BG about 15%, however, BG colas are plumping up a bit more it seems. Cranked up both 6" circulation fans to highest setting and had to increase exhaust fan so it's getting louder in grow tent, but humidity is getting higher so it's the main concern right now (Tent climate: 82F and 42% humidity) Hope everyone is enjoying the current apocalypse.

Flower week 7 nutrients (per gallon and ph'd to 5.8): 1.5 ml Armor Si + 2.5 ml Cal-mag + 6 ml FloraMicro + 9 ml FloraBloom + 1 ml Floralicious Plus + 2.5 ml Liquid KoolBloom 3/29/2020 (F47) - Humidity got to 60% during 6 hour lights out session yesterday so had to setup the dehumidifier. This has raised temperature a few degrees and has the added bonus of being loud AF, but humidity in tent down to upper 30's now. Harvest guestimate = 2-3 weeks. Tent climate: 85F and 37% humidity.

Flower week 8 nutrients (per gallon and ph'd to 5.8): 2 ml FloraMicro + 9 ml FloraBloom + 1 ml Floralicious Plus + .25 tsp Dry KoolBloom 4/7/2020 (F56) - Oopsies. Fucked up previous couple weeks nutrient dosage since apparently I was on auto-pilot when making the mix and forgot to check the schedule (http://gh.growgh.com/docs/Feedcharts/GH_FloraSeries-DTW_03216am.pdf). Armor Si and CalMag were supposed to be gradually decreased so not really a big problem but something that should have been avoided with some care. Trichomes on both plants seem cloudy with some amber showing in CB. Current plan is to give couple more days of nutrients (same as week 8) then switch to FloraKleen flush and finally harvest when I see enough amber.

Week 9 flower nutrients - FloraKleen 5 ml per gallon for flush (no ph adjustment). 4/15/2020 (F64?) - Last day of flower and chop day here. Huzzah! Used previous week's nutrient schedule for couple days then switched to flush for rest of week. Probably should have stretched out grow for another week or so since the trichomes didn't show as much amber as much as I would have preferred, however, visually, plants looked ready for the harvest. On F63 turned off lights for 12+ hours (their longest continuous period of darkness) and it seems this combined with the low temp's in the upper 60s F contributed to the reddish hue. Dehumidifer was on full blast working overtime the whole week so humidity never got above 50. Definitely won't miss the ambient noise from dehumidifer, exhaust fan, and 2 circulation fans.

4/22/2020 - Wanted to originally have everything ready and written up by 4/20 to celebrate our holiday but didn't plan accordingly. Dried in same 20" x 36" grow tent with average 68F and 50% humidity for 6 days. The trimming job took longest time ever for me at 12+ hours and 4x longer than previous harvest. Did watch the entire season 7 of Homeland on Hulu so that killed the time a bit. Last grow only had like 8 branches per plant compared to whatever these had so that's the reason. Colas were getting crispy towards end of trim session so glad I didn't wait until day 7. I did not anticipate the harvest results for these plants and this just proves how stupid my eyeballs are. At most I predicted about 6 oz per plant because the colas, aside from the few towering, glamour shot photos used in diary, seemed undersized. Always thought they would plump up more in the end and droop more. But those tiny buds kept on stacking up during trim and overfilled that big, ugly green salad bowl (used in last harvest) so was getting real excited towards end before weigh-in. Visibly the plants look the same to me, even the same flowery smells came from both. BG's tower buds were at the plumpness level I wanted in the smaller buds, while CB's smaller tower buds were the only ones to noticeably droop. Was initially afraid the light intensity of 100,000 lux (measured on phone app) at the top of canopy was insufficient for the majority of the pint-sized buds at the bottom. Think it only reached to 50000-55000 lux at the lower levels. Could have increased light intensity of grow light but this would have increased temperature in tent to probably upper 80s or even 90F, plus there was already foxtailing going on in some tower buds so didn't want to risk it. Should have used kill-a-watt meter but don't think it went over 250w. Another big difference between the two plants, CB had a lot more airy, larfy buds. Maybe 15% of CB was pure larf, and, if I had a proper system in place, would have separated that into another pile to make hash or something else with. BG plant, though, pure gold and I'd recommend. No larf, colas were petite but solid throughout, and it didn't seem prone to the slight nutrient burn that CB experienced. Really excited to try the new flavors of both plants. Never tried CBD in any form so especially looking forward to the bubble gum (12% thc, high CBD according to seedsman). Also, never had a cheese strain, and not sure if the cheese berry (14% thc) actually counts, but it's going to be a little stronger than BG so there's that. Using a a plastic sterilite container as for burping convenience. Since I didn't expect the yield, and only had 15 mason jars, had to put some of the CB harvest in 36 oz toll house cookie containers. Even still , had to overstuff jars more than recommended capacity but hope the burping bin will relieve any concerns. Humidity in cookie containers shoots up so fast so going to have to make a change in containers soon. Not sure what's going to happen, if anything, to the smells of the combined jars in the bin (11 jars BG and 4 jars CB), but they'll only be there hopefully a week or so then I'll pop the proper metal lids on them. Yield: Yeah, I'm gonna do some mild bragging here. Damn right. BG = 347.71 g = 12.26 oz (didn't even round up!) CB = 267.55 g = 9.43 oz Total = 615.26 g = 21.69 oz Yeah, baby who's the king! This is phenomenal and wholly unexpected. I figured my last grow with two toppings and think 8 main branches was the ideal system to get max yield. They were like baby size baseball bats! They also had the scrog screen which I felt was needed in this grow to reach that potential. On this grow, everything was so tight in there and stacked on each other. Definitely should have used the scrog. Going to take a break from growing a while and enjoy the silence in my room. Haven't tried the harvest yet so sorry if that's what you're looking for. The effects are entirely subjective so don't think my ratings would matter anyhow. Hope this diary was detailed enough for everyone but I'm open to any questions in comments.

(See writeup for BG harvest.) Sorry if I'm not using this site correctly.