Auto Duck (Corona-grow)

I will update this week continuously through germination and the first week of seedling. For this grow I am mixing it up a bit, and will be doing my first outdoor stealth balcony grow. Even though I am legal to cultivate, I don't want to draw any unwanted attention to my apartment so I have chosen a stealthy strain to grow alongside some tomatoes and peppers on my long, west facing balcony. It's still a little early for outdoor growing in this climate, so its going to start it's first few weeks in the tent with some veggie seedlings. I am going to grow this one in promix, compost from my bin, and organic amendments, so it's going to be a departure from the last few coco grows. Now I just have to make sure it germinates correctly! Right now it is in a rapid rooter sitting in about 1cm of distilled water. It's my only seed of this strain so I am crossing my fingers on this one. Thanks for reading, and happy growing! 👍🌱 04/03/2020: Auto Duck is peaking out after 4 days of germination. It is chilling out with its 🍅 friends. I gently removed a stuck seed casing with a coco fibre (the best for fix I've found so far), and there does not seem to be any damage from this. 04/04/2020: healthy seedling 👍🌱 04/05/20 (day 3): transplanted to seedling container, planted a little low to maintain a microclimate. Watering with distilled water while using the humidity dome, will switch to tap water when I start allowing runoff.

Everything is going fine, this is a really easy going grow and I am being a little inattentive as it's hard to mess up pro mix. Will do a bit of transplanting over the next few days. I misjudged the weather and will be having to keep the plants indoors untill as late as May, but I should have room untill then. I am planning a Blackberry auto grow (Fastbuds vs Dutch Passion) to start on 4/20 so it's going to be a full house at that point. I took the humidity dome off and am simply running a humidifier to keep my levels manageable (even if the vpd is not perfectly ideal). One of the leaves of the seedling got a tiny bit of damage from the humidity dome squishing it, but it hasn't slowed the growth much. I can't wait for the 🦆 foot leaf trait to emerge, I am interested to see how well it blends into the 🍅 plants inconspicuously in downtown Toronto. Happy growing, and stay safe everyone 🌱👍 Day 10: I decided to transplant the Auto Duck in it's fabric seedling bag directly into the final 5g airpot. I think it's better practice for final yield to transplant in stages according to root development. However, the point of this corona-grow is to do it simply and with a very easy setup, and if you don't over water (it's best to start with center watering only around the plant) planting directly into the final pot is a really easy option! The grow medium is about 25 percent compost from a bin on my balcony, 25 percent perlite, 35 percent organic vegitable promix and 15 percent recycled coco. It's going to stay mostly organic besides the rapid start, humic acid, and slight addition of Cal+mag. Day 12: The "duck foot" leaf trait is now apparent in the newest set of leaves.

As of day 22 the Auto Duck is doing fine. It's unique leaves are definitely present, and it is a pretty compact and bushy plant which is good for not drawing attention. I have been pretty slow these past weeks but hopefully I will find more time for my growing soon. I have been giving it really quick and simple care, as I have been exhausted working during the Covid-19 epidemic. I was planning on having my coco/autofertigation setup running with a few plants, and to have moved the garden veggies and Autoduck outside by May 1st, but I may continue to postpone that for simplicity's sake. Happy growing and stay safe everyone 🌱👍 Day 25: I decided to do a little LST to keep the plant extra short. This will help keep the plant hidden from onlookers when it moves outdoors. For this grow I am using the Atlas plant trainer, which is a really great product for those who love the results of LST. I find it quicker and more intuitive then using plant ties, bamboo stakes, or plant staples.

The grow continues to be very easy going as of day 26. An organic amended peat/soil mix, with plenty of perlite, has been keeping the growth strong and healthy while allowing me to give almost plain tap water (just humics to remove cloramine and enzymes to continue breaking down compost). The outdoor temps are finally warming up a bit, so I am going to start slowly moving some of the plants outdoors starting with the remaining sunflower (the others were already moved out due to lack of tent space) followed by the tomatoes and peppers. The wind on my balcony is pretty brutal for plants, so I have started training the Autoduck so it will be well supported after it's move, and stay low to keep it invisible from people at street level. It has been doing so well in the tent under the HLG lights that it's almost a shame to move it outside. I am a bit worried about it not doing well under the less favorable conditions, so I am going to prolong it's stay in the tent a little longer and do the moving very carefully when the time comes. If things become less hectic at work and I can move past a neck injury, then I can start up my more labour intensive grow in the space I will free up indoors. I am really enjoying using the Atlas plant trainer for LST, even if it seems like overkill for such a small plant. I am expecting a lot of growth over the next few weeks though, and I am happy to get so much more light into the core of this bushy plant. Stay safe everyone, and happy growing!

As of day 31, the Auto Duck is growing fine. I really misestimated when I would be able to move her outdoors, so it will stay in the tent for weeks longer than planned before moving outside (and I may just grow her in the tent if I have to.) I have continued transitioning the tomatoes, peppers, and sunflowers onto the balcony and will know it's safe to move the Auto Duck when the outdoor plants have normal growth. Overall, she is an okay size for her age, but a little smaller than I generally grow. That makes sense for a stealth plant, and I am interested to see how the flowers bulk up. I noticed some red the stems and some very minor cal-mag issues, so I have increased the feeding and have begun to add organic blooming nutrients. The PH is a little lower (5.7) than I would like in an amended peat mix, so I will use some liquid silica to raise it next feeding. I will likely get my coco grow running in the next few weeks, which I have adjusted since my run. I am going to see if I can get the same huge yields from a smaller, taller pot and frequent automatic fertigations. Stay safe, and happy growing! 🌱👍

As of day 38, the Auto Duck is having some issues! I always planned this to be a really low stress, simple grow that wouldn't need much work. Having to work as an essential worker just doesn't leave as much time for growing. Unfortunately this has led to some mistakes. There is some obvious yellowing, leaf issues, and red stems indicative of magnesium or PH issues in my opinion. If I had to guess, the PH swung too low in the peat organic mix and has caused some lock out, but I am not an expert here so I am open to opinions. I could flush the medium, but this would eliminate a bunch of my compost, worm castings, etc. mixed to creat a soil like environment. I may resort to this as a reset if the symptoms worsen. I am hoping that by watering with a higher PH solution with a bit of runoff I can lessen the lockout without throwing off all the beneficial ammendments. The weather has also been really bad here in Ontario with bellow freezing temperatures, high winds, etc. This has caused very low humidity which isn't helping with the leaf issues. I had moved half of my veggies outside to test the environment. The cold and wind snapped one of the sunflowers in half, and killed the smallest pepper plant, but otherwise they are surviving. But the Duck is still stuck inside, which is not the point of the grow! I could have just done it in coco at this point and gotten much better results. But that is just how growing is, sometimes 💩 happens and you just have to roll with it. At least the buds are fattening a bit, and I continue to learn about mediums I am less experienced in. Happy growing, and stay safe everyone! 👍🌱 Day 42: Even though she is having some issues and has stayed a pretty small plant, the Auto Ducks buds continue to enlarge. The weather has warmed enough for me to move the garden outside! It's a risk making a plant in such a state adapt to a new climate, but I am willing to risk the Duck and follow through with my original plans. Day 43: top dressed with a little earthworm castings, and have been watering with plain tap water in between giving nutrients.

The Auto Duck is surviving well outside, so far. It may hurt it's yield compared to staying in the tent, but I am interested in seeing what the results will be. The weather could be better, but at least there have been no sub zero nights. Happy growing and stay safe 👍🌱 Day 50: the weather has been warmer and sunnier, and the buds are very slowly increasing in size. After top dressing earthworm castings, further nutrients have been very light. I may add a little molasses in the future, but sugar leaf growth seems pretty happy with what it's getting.

The Auto duck is basically just doing it's thing outdoors since the weather has been better. The peppers and tomatoes are flowering and growing well, so the light levels should be ok for cannabis despite being on a balcony. On sunny days it's getting about 7-8 hours of direct sunlight, and another 7 or so hours of indirect sunlight. The extra earthworm castings last week seems to have done it well nutritionally, so I've backed off any bottled nutrients and just fed a little molasses in it's regular water. The buds continue to put on a little weight, but it will still be much longer (I am guessing day 90+) due to slower development outdoors. Happy growing everyone, and staff safe! 👍🌱

As of day 59, the Auto duck is slowly bulking (much slower than indoor hydro growing) but it is feeding lightly and staying decently healthy so I am happy with how it is doing. It's just going to take longer than an indoor plant, which is fine by me! I top dressed some more worm castings and gave a little molasses, but I think the plant is still doing fine drawing nutrition from the growing medium. I am going to feed some fish waste water from my planted fish tanks to all the outdoor plants for those good aquaponic beneficials as well. 🐟 The peppers and tomatoes are fully flowering/fruiting so all the balcony plants are doing well! They have all resisted high winds which is good to know for future outdoor growing. If the results end up being decent I will keep an auto going out there throughout the season and try to improve my organic growing abilities! Thanks for reading, and stay safe everyone! 🌱👍 Day 64: watered some fish tank water/waste with a little molasses mixed in. Flowers still have many weeks to go, but they continue to slowly bulk.

As of day 66, the Autoduck is just doing it's thing and slowly increasing bud size/ripeness. I am going to continue feeding fish tank water/poop and molasses as needed. The buds have a nice spicy/earthy/musky smell, mild but definitely present. The first few pistils have darkened and turned in, but they are a small minority compared to the white pistils which continue to grow with new calyx stacking. There has been a little curling of the leaf tips, but nothing too serious and I am being really easygoing with this plant and not micromanaging it's conditions. Looking at the trichomes, most are clear and there is definitely a ways to go. I want to see the buds bulk a bit more and fill in their growth as they ripen. This auto is a small plant, so I am not expecting a huge harvest, but it is on its way to producing a couple jars of nice bud! I am happy with the genetics for an outdoor/balcony grow so far, but it is pretty crazy comparing this plant to my indoor/coco grown plants which are already a few times bigger and have plenty of stretching left to do. Thanks for reading, stay safe, and happy growing everyone! 👍🌱

The Auto Duck just keeps doing it's thing. It has a nice, earth/spicy smell. It is difficult to describe, but definitely has savory elements to the smell. It is still putting on weight for it's buds, and producing more trichomes, so I am going to give it at least a few more weeks. It continues to get plain tap water with feedings of molasses and fish tank waste a few times a week. The low leaves have had a bit of a fade, but the plant is overall doing what it should for the stage of life it is in. Thanks for reading, and stay safe!

The plant is just ripening as of day 84. Outdoor grows usually take a bit longer to finish, so she might take another couple weeks even though I would have harvested an indoor auto by now. The buds are good sized for an otherwise compact plant. The buds will definitely need a cleaning before being consumed, as there is a lot of various outdoor debris stuck in the trichomes. Happy growing everyone!

As of day 93, I am just watering and allowing for the final ripening. The Autoduck has bulked up very well for it's small size, and will be harvested soon!

As of day 100, the Auto Duck is well within the harvest window. I have just been watering as needed, and the whole plant has faded nicely. I will likely harvest in the next few days, so this will be the last update before harvest photos. Thanks for reading! 👍

I pushed the Auto Duck a little longer than I had planned, letting it get to day 112 before harvest. There was very little growth of the buds for the past few weeks, so I felt comfortable that I had reached the maximum yield for the little plant. I only watered for the past few weeks of final ripening, but there continued to be enough nutrition in the soil blend to keep the plant going. I would definitely not let the plant fade like that without nutrients in coco, for example. I harvested the buds, doing an initial trim and a multi stage wash (a first for me) of all the buds to dislodge all the dirt that comes along with an outdoor grow in the middle of a city. But I will not go further into details of the process before the buds dry and I get more of an idea of the results! 👍

It was a fun balcony grow, even if I didn't have high expectations for it. Despite being in the middle of the city on a somewhat shaded balcony, the plant yielded well for it's little size. I was surprised how much longer it took to finish compared to an indoor plant, but it definitely kept putting on weight. An awesome choice for a beginner grower or somebody looking for a stealthy outdoor plant.