Outdoor Autos - First Grow

3/28: Germinated 6 seeds in a cup of water for 24 hours, then moved to some jiffy peat pads. Soaked the jiffy peat pads for too long so they were a bit too wet most likely. Kept the seeds/peats indoors under light for 12-18 hours a day until sprout for warmth. I dropped the peat pads at one point so I lost the labels. There are 2 of each so I should be able to figure it out - but a bummer nonetheless. 4/8. 2 tall sprouts, 2 just coming through, 2 nothing. Got to about 2" and then moved directly to the 5 gal fabric pots outside. All outside by 4/9. I used Kellogg organic potting soil and organic mulch. Chilly first couple of nights for 4 of the 6 (got down to 41 one night but was high 40s the others). I lightly watered after putting the peats into the pots. There were bugs all over these pots pretty quick. I had some fertilizer and neem oil on the way. 4/9 First full water, I started with week one of the fertilizer plan. Probably way too early for nutrients at this point, but was excited. 4/11 Put the basil, peppermint, and chamomile around. 4/12 I sprayed with neem oil and silica for an organic fertilizer - also sprayed the plants around these. Monday the bugs were much lighter but obviously concerned about overwhelming them. Last note is that I had to bury 3 of the sprouts a bit because they were too tall and looked fragile. Two were easy (added soil) and one plant was a bit sloppy. They look good now though.

4/15 light watering since tops were dry after some sunny days but the soil below the roots was still wet 4/19 Watering with Big Bloom fertilizer 4/19 Will lightly spray with neem oil and silica tonight after the sun goes down All six looking healthy outdoors. I was nervous about the fabric pots staying too wet on the ground even though they were sitting on mulch. I ordered some pot stands to raise them off the ground 2" to make sure they drain appropriately. In the meantime I've had them on a bench and they seem to be responding well to it. Hoping for some big growth this week!

Light water on Thursday with a hotter week around here. Another full water and Fox Farm nutrients today (Sunday) at the beginning of another warm, sunny one. Did find one caterpillar that was being eaten. Killed it and haven't seen any other issues. All-in-all happy so far.

Light water on Thursday and full water with nutrients on Sunday. We had great weather this week and saw some good growth. I did notice some red spider mites on a plant or two. I made some silica/neem oil spray and it seems it all got taken care of with no damage done. Going well so far - I bet one of them will start to flower soon.

Big growth week! Days are getting longer. Following the Fox Farm nutrient recommendations, but only with half amounts. Sprayed with Neem Oil again to try and stay ahead of the bugs. Keep finding some spider mites and aphids around...

Starting to flower which is exciting for the first grow! They're also getting way bigger than I thought they would. Probably not great for bud density, but there are a lot more buds than I expected overall. I'm just excited that all 6 are still alive! I've moved them away from the fence for a few reasons. I think the surrounding area isn't doing me any favors with the bugs and I wanted to get as much light on them as possible in the day light since we have a big oak tree above them. I had a lot of aphid and spider mite activity on, what I think, are the OG Kush Autos. Which makes sense given that apparently they're a tougher outdoor grow with respect to bugs, etc. I hit them up with neem oil spray again. I also added neem seed meal and crab meal to the top soil and gently mixed it in with hopes to eradicate my bug issue before the leaves and flowers get affected at all. It seems to have worked already. I also picked up some BT spray and gave an application to make sure the caterpillars aren't dropping turds on my plants. Watering a bit more frequently now as the sun's out longer and the days are a bit warmer. Things going well I think! Now I need to start prepping to see how I'm going to dry these things out indoors in a few weeks...

Healthy week and lots of sun. Watering a bit more frequently due to the heat and long days. The OG Kush are coming along nicely! I'm sure these are too tall and probably won't be great yields - but, they look healthy and I like the natural, outdoor growth with limited interference. Gave nutrients again on Sunday. Without worms, I'm a bit worried that the nutrients aren't making it down to the roots and are just washing out the sides of the pot. So I worked the top soil a bit and tried to create some fissures in the soil without damaging the roots by massaging the pots a bit. I think it worked well! Ordered some new carbon filters for my air purifiers to help with the smell when it's time to harvest and dry them.

Week 8. Very hot week. Watered them a bit more frequently and saw a lot more development. Some wind came through and the tallest lady is about 41" so I put together some support with bamboo sticks. Added some crab meal to the tallest one as it was looking a bit lighter and I thought it needed some nitrogen. Gave nutrients on Saturday morning and looking forward to a cooler week!

Not the ideal week but things are still on track it seems. Showed some yellowing on the OG fan leaves and then they rapidly yellowed from tip to root, bottom to top. When I noticed some yellowing on the other plants, I decided to add some nutrients off schedule. Added some organic crab meal to the top soil for a slow nitrogen boost, along with some Tiger Bloom. Exactly as you would suspect, a bit of a rookie move. There was a bit of burning, but nothing too bad and the yellowing has slowed. The weather wasn't horrible but the temperature shot up to the 90s again, followed by some windy afternoons that aren't the best. I've got some garden ties on the way so I can replace my nylon zip ties with something a bit gentler. I usually add nutrients on Sundays, but given that the weather has cooled, and the pots seem to be a bit wet on the bottom, I'm going to let them rest. They're out of the direct sun today since I want to keep them out of the heavy wind that's flowing over the mountains and through the valley. For bug control, hit them and the top soil with a bit of spinosad earlier in the week - hoping the last time I have to do that. Additionally, saw a caterpillar or two, so sprayed with BT spray last night. Looking good on that front. Just need to keep the dog hair out of them now! In reality, they've been so good up this point, just hoping nothing drastic happens in these last few weeks!

Good week of development for the ladies. It was a bit cooler outside which was nice given the hot streaks we've had recently. Gave them some nutrients this morning as some of the fan leaves look like they're asking for them again. I cleaned out some of the dead or struggling fan leaves. Not sure if it was the right move or not, but they look a lot better now. I've got some amber trichomes on the sugar leaves on one of my OG Kush. So, I'll start watching those a bit closer since it looks like they'll be ready first. Not sure if I have 1-2 weeks or many weeks to go on any of these - looks like I'm just going to have to stare at them every day. Could be worse. I still have no idea what I'm doing. I found a caterpillar trying to take a dump on one of my Bubble Gums so I gave all of them a spray with BT spray last night. Nice try, caterpillar. I've also seen 1-2 aphids that I killed. If I see any more I'll end up spraying with Spinosad. I'm not in love with the idea later in flower, but I'd rather not have a late stage infestation.

Not the best week - one of my Jack Herer ladies turned out to be a hermie. I think it is probably due to the high heat days and potentially due to some other stress factor since this is my first grow. I'm sure I haven't been hitting water and nutrients perfectly so, alas, she grew balls. I've separated her to the other side of the yard and am continually monitoring, wetting, and removing any sacs or bananas as they come out. I plan on using this one for tincture anyway - so I'll keep him/her around, plucked, and separate. -- open to suggestions on this if you all think I'm being an idiot by trying to salvage this! For everything else, things seem to be going well! The OG Kush are getting close and the Bubble Gum are filling out. The buds on my Jack aren't getting too thick, but it could just be the strain. I'm hoping the Jack and Bubble Gum mature quicker than they appear to be. I'm not adding many nutrients and am trying to water lightly every day to help with the heat outside. I sprayed with spinosad on all but the OG Kush since they're closer to harvest. I saw some thrips so I figured I'd go after them. For pics, I broke out the old camera and played with using my jeweler's loupe up to my phone - pretty neat IMO.

End of week update. I flushed all of them this week and plan to go just pure water from here on out. I actually think they're responding really well to the flush as I've seen a lot of bud growth and development. I'll watch for deficiencies and potentially just add more Grow Big for a healthy soil boost. I also think I'll be shifting to FF OF soil for my next grow to see if it make a difference. I ended up cutting down my one Jack Herer showed itself as a hermie a couple of weeks ago. The grow was weak and the number of pollen sacs kept increasing to the point where I couldn't keep up with it. The Jack that turned into a hermie this week has a ton of growth already, so I'm going to keep it until harvest. It would be too big of a shame to toss two big ladies into the trash. The OG kush are coming along great! I think I could chop one of them whenever. The top of the main cola has quite a bit of amber, but I'm waiting for the lower portions of the main cola to develop a bit (no amber toward the bottom). The 2nd OG kush has a huge main cola - I'm excited for that one to keep coming along. The Bubble Gum are looking and smelling great as well. I'm hoping they speed up a bit so I can harvest soon and this doesn't drag into a 17 week auto like I've seen in some of these posts. ------- Mid-week update - will add photos and update this post this weekend. As these get closer to harvest, I flushed all 6 with a significant amount of water. One of my OG Kush is at the right trichome color to harvest and I'm planning to harvest this weekend. I flushed this one an extra time. I'm waiting because there are some less mature buds and I'd prefer to harvest at the same time. I'm also aware that this is my first grow and I'm probably over-eager, as opposed to late. For the Jack Herer - it's got some significant purpling going on. Even though I flushed and was planning on going pure water from here on out, I decided to add a feeding of Tiger Bloom just to this one plant to give it some phosphorous. Otherwise, things are the same. Buds are getting thicker; the Bubble Gum and OG Kush are looking great. The Jack Hermie is a big pain in the ass but looks like it has enough bud to keep limping it along. I'll pull the balls again this afternoon.

I harvested 1 OG Kush this week (smallest one). So now I'm down to my bigger OG, both bubble gum, and my hermie Jack. All looking healthy. I'll put up a harvest post when I harvest the other OG Kush. The one I harvested was in the only tan pot (all other are black). I've got all tan pots and Ocean Forest soil ready for my next grow. Lots of sun and pretty warm days, so making sure to keep them watered. I've seen a few bugs here and there. Will probably defoliate a bit this afternoon and make sure there isn't too much mite activity. Would rather not spray anything at this point, but would be fine. I suspect a week or two to go at least. Crazy how long they're taking!

Thanks for all the help along the way with this one. I appreciate the different opinions on hermies. As much as I wanted this to stick around until the end, it was simply too much work. Hard lesson learned on first grow, but good to learn it first hand, I guess.

Keeping my second OG and 2 Bubble Gum autos going strong. They're looking healthy and maturing nicely. Lots of trichomes on the bubble gums! Hoping they finish strong. I have been picking a few nanners off my OG - not ideal, but no big deal it seems. I think they're responding really well to the flushes and getting just water. I'm watering every other day since the afternoons are pretty warm here in the sun. A few leaves have been yellowing, but nothing drastic. I'm planning on just going pure water from here on out. I sprayed the bubble gum with BT spray because there were some caterpillars showing up. There are some bugs, but I'm not going to spray any spinosad this late in the game. I picked off a few bugs with a tweezer and doesn't seem to be too much of an issue out there.

Chopped the main cola off the 2nd OG Kush and it's drying. The two Bubble Gums and lower portion of the OG Kush are almost ready - and huge! Watering every other day with just water. Fan leaves on the OG Kush are yellowing quickly, but not a problem. A few bugs here and there but I'm taking them off I see them. Same with bananas. I think they're coming a bit faster since these plants are taking so long - but I'm happy to carefully pluck them and risk a few seeds. Will probably harvest within the week!

Harvested and cut the fan leaves. Will update with dry weight and details on the harvest later!

Will update with weights and details later!