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Hello everyone!
This is my first ever grow , so please give any advise you see fit. I have a unique situation and am trying a unique grow to compensate. I live in a VERY small apartment and cannot fit a grow tent anywhere. I came across r/spacebuckets on reddit and a light sparked. I started doing research about optimizing yields and grow times in order to make this worth the time and money I'd have to invest to get it all going and offset my dependency on the local overpriced dispensary's.
LIGHTS: I built my own light with the help of growmau5 vids on youtube. It's a small but powerful duel COB running VERO 29's @ 3000k 90cri running off a meanwell 1400mh driver with a dimmer.
SPACE: The grow space is made out of 2 modified and stacked 32 gallon trash cans/bins. It sits 43'' high in total, on top of my refrigerator. It's insulated and lined with reflective material, with a large pc fan venting out and passive filtered air intakes. There is also a 5 meter led string light running smd 5630 in 5000k spiraled along the inside walls.
MEDIUM: OK, this is where i just didn't know where to begin, There were so many options and I kind of wanted to go hydro for the speed and control with the plan of eventually going organic. So I'm going with a 75 Coco / 25 vermiculite mix in a 3 gal hempy bucket. Iwent with the hempy bucket style because it's a passive hydro. It allows the plant to always have a h2o reservoir while at the same time allowing all the upper roots lots of air. of course NOW im second guessing this as i see so many people use fox farm soil. oh well I'm committed at this point to do the grow I've set out to do, and if this doesn't work I'll just learn and try again.
NUTES: got Canna A & B for full grow, and pk 13/14 for flower. also got budcandy for carbs. Thinking i might need a rhizotonic for roots ?
My Avt Bean just popped out of the wool cube and looks good. Going to wait a few days to pot up. I'm also going to have to keep this plant as short as possible, because of the size of the space and distance to light. So i expect to due lots of LST and even topping, and I might even have to do a scrog.
Well made it into the 2nd week. Saw roots coming out of bottom of rockwool cube so i planted it in the coco hempy bucket. The bucket has perlite in the bottom, a 2 inch resevoir, and a 70% coco 30% perlite mix on top. I think the size of the bucket and re-potting it so small stunted the growth a little. It seems runty compared to other grows, but I think once the roots hit the res it will explode in growth. I have NOT been watering or feeding it too much, like every 3 days. maybe i need to feed it more? i didn't charge the coco with CalMag first, so that can be a problem later i guess?
On DAY 16 now. It's safe to say that I've hit veg growth stage. This runty little sprout has been growing..well..like a weed. Over the last 4-5 days it has been growing 10-15% bigger every day. I tried to align the pics so it's easy to see the growth. I have been watering every other day, alternating between nutes, and water/calmag. last feed i upped the nutes and the plant seemed to like it, so i think ill stick with a little higher feed and start feeding more often, like with every watering. I feel like it's growing fast and will need the food.
Growing strong! The plant started stacking on nodes and on day 16 I started some LST. I supported the base of the stem with some ties, and cranked it over from the top. Within a day i could notice the plant respond amazingly! The stem started to grow much thicker and look heartier, and the side branching started to take off. I've been adjusting the LST every day and added it to the branches as well. I'm trying to keep this plant as under control as possible because of the limited grow space.
On day 20 I tried to FIM the plant ?🙏😓 Not sure if I got it right but i guess I'll find out.
My timeline is off because I started these at the beginning of the week, instead of the end. Another beginner mistake. So I'm just going into week 5.
I didn't like how stiff and difficult the wire i was using for LST was to adjust. I got some 1/16 inch elastic cord (para cord) off Amazon and tied some across my bucket. It works great and I'll do it again but, in my spacebucket config. I needed something more adjustable. The plant grows so fast that i'd have to keep adding straps across. So I cut small pieces of the cord and fashioned hooks out of the wire on either end. So now it's like a tiny bunji cord that i hook around the plant and to the side of the bucket.
If this plant was standing it would be about 15 - 18 inches tall but the FIM i did really slowed down the tip growth, but also exploded the branch growth. The plant never slowed down after the FIM just redirected energy, and now the top is coming back healthy with what looks like 4 tops.
On day 29 I Supercropped a lot of fan leaves instead of defoliating ( see pic) I was going to defoliate to get light inside to the developing canopy, but chickened out and tried supercropping for the first time. Some of the fan leaves were fairly thick. I gave them a twist and crunch along the middle and bent them below and out of the way. I hope it works.
As I move into week 6, here's what happened last week.
I removed all the old wire LST and replaced them with the elastic hooks i created. The elastic hooks will continue to gradually pull the branches towards it while the plant continues to grow and they are easy to adjust and remove.
The plant has been growing vigorously, with lots of side growth branching. It's a continuous struggle to keep it contained. I've also noticed that even though it's in a hempy bucket, I've been watering it every day, at almost 1/2 gallon, to keep the reservoir full.
As the secondary branches have filled in the canopy, I started to defoliate a little every few days. Removing about a dozen large fan leaves each time, while tucking other leaves down. Supercropped a few of the really stretchy branches that were growing above canopy, and 12 hours later they were turning back up toward the light.
On day 33 I saw the first sign of flowers. just a few pistils. And noticed a light "someones growing weed" smell when I came home. Can't wait for that to become a robust punch in the face when walking through the door.
Took her out of the bucket for probably the last time, she's getting too big to remove without damage. She looks healthy, my LST is obviously a beginner attempt, as it's very hap hazard and messy. My next grow I'm gonna try to be more uniform or even try Mainlining to keep everything more symmetrical.
Going into week 7 -
It's safe to say that we are IN Flower!!! So excited for this to play out. Also concerned about controlling the height of this bush. I can't go higher with the light so all I can do is tie her down more and more. And every day she's an inch taller. Next grow I'm going to use a smaller hempy pot ( 2 gallon ) and plan my LST to be more uniform and logical.
I've been upping the nutrients a little with each feeding this week. Starting from around 750, and moving to 900. Still unsure of nutrient feedings and how exactly I should be doing it. I've been adding the above nutrients in those quantities per gallon, but I then have to dilute that gallon to get the ppm's down. It starts out at near 1200 PPM. Essentially turning it into 1 1/2 gallons of mix. Which means my plant has been getting much less of the micros than i thought. Do ppm's added from micro nutrients matter toward the final number?
I've been defoliating every few days, just a handful of leaves at a time. Mostly just lower fan leaves and some of the upper fans blocking bud sites. A lot of this plants branches have had secondary and tertiary branches that are now at canopy height. So ther's lots of bud sites trying to fit into the canopy and it's getting uneven. I really hope it stops stretching soon and just fills in. If this plant was in a tent it would have been a monster.
As I put in the title of this diary, this is my first grow. I did a lot of research before hand, and spent a decent amount of money building my setup and buying all the necessary parts to have a successful grow. I read lost of info and even made a paper journal I took notes in while reading and watching grow videos. I wanted to get away from buy cannabis at the dispensary because they are now charging exorbitant taxes and restricting dosages. I was hoping to grow a classic looking plant, but just keep it small with LST. And when my plant started to send out big branches after I FIM'd and tied her down, I thought I would get 5 or 6 nice colas at even height (that was the goal). But...my plant just kept branching. Instead of having a main trunk with top cola and a few side branch colas, my plant has branches that come off the main branch and then more branches that come off those. It became a tangle of long skinny shoots coming up from all over the plant, and most of them started to flower. On Day 46, out of frustration of my plant putting energy into so many skinny little shoots, and not looking like I thought it should, and being a noob grower thinking this plant is behind and won't form quality buds because it's some kind of mutant,...I cut a lot of the shoots off. Not sure if that was the right move 1 week into flower, but i cut about 15 long skinny shoots off and lots of leaves. It did open up the canopy some and let more light in, and the next day she was another inch or 2 taller , so it didn't slow her down.
All week I've been upping her nutes to full strength. The food and calmag come in at around 800ppm and then with the other stuff it measures around 1200 PPM. She has shown NO signs of nute burn so not sure if I should keep her here or push the nutes a little harder. The flowers are starting to fill in, I still feel like they don't look like everyone else's and hope they will turn out ok. I'm guessing she'll go longer than the 75 days, probably closer to 85-90?
Humidity has been low for last 2 weeks also. Really dry air here right now. I put water trays and wet towel in grow area but it never gets above 35%. Just bought portable humidifier to help.
Doe's she look normal? Will these buds fill out? Reassurance needed. Thanks
Starting week 9..here we go,,,
First off, thank you to everyone that gave me positive feed back when I was starting to doubt this plant.
It finally rained here and the humidity made it closer to 45% for a day or two and now around 30%. I guess it's fine, even though i see lots of things say to aim for closer to 50% in flower. I also installed a UVB CFL bulb above the plant. I'm running it for just an hour or two a day, because I've read some research about cannabis grown in higher UVB levels naturally (usually seen at higher elevations) produce THC at higher levels to protect itself. It might be pointless but oh well.
Needed to defoliate again and get more light to the lower buds. Noticing a light frost growing on the smaller leaves and buds, I hope she gets frosty as fuck. And the buds are starting to grow and fill in..finally. Next week I'm starting adding some PK 13/14.
I also germinated a seed for my next grow and popped it into a rockwool cube, waiting for it to pop up.
Next up Mephisto : Chemdogging
Another week and she's plugging along. This week I started her on the Canna Pk 13/14. 1/2 dose first 2 days then full dose for rest of week. It shot my PPM's way up ( like 1700 ). She took it like a champ. Going forward I'm gonna drop back to base level nutes, but keep the terpinator and budcandy up. I'm thinking I might have 3 weeks left.
It's mostly a waiting game from here.
In preparation, I popped my next bean. Mephisto's Chemdogging. I'll be starting a journal for that grow next week.
Not a lot to report this week. It's mostly a waiting game right now. She's drinking almost a gallon a day so I'm constantly making another batch of mix to have ready. I think the buds are beginning to swell. The smell has really increased this week. When I come home from work it has a sweet but kind of diesel smell. I'm sure that's going to get strong in the next couple weeks. I'm guessing that's how much time is left maybe even 3. It's hard to guess because I've never seen this process before and I'm going off of other similar grows, but the pistils haven't started turning orange yet, and there's a lot more frost to come.
Good things come to those that wait. That's what i keep telling myself as this girl slowly ripens. She getting close now. Flowers are starting to turn orange and i'm going to have to start watching the trichomes. Which will be tough because I can't get to the top of the plant. I have to stick my arm up inside the bucket and take photos and then examine the photos. I'll have to refine this process because it's not optimal.
She's drinking about 3/4 gallon per day, expecting that to start slowing down soon. All I can really do is water , look for issues, and wait.
Another Week! a little more progress. The flowers are still beginning to turn color. Some have already turned orange in places and some are still white. It's easier to see up close but I can't really get to the top of the plant, because of it's location, so I stick the phone inside to take pics and video. Man, it's hard to tell but... 2 weeks? I started to lower the nutes and will continue for the next week, and then will flush for a week. I got a loupe to check the trics but like i said, they're hard to get to. only time will tell,,,tic,,tock,,,tic,,tock
I have been worried for a while about how close the plant grew to my led lights. The usual recommendation is like 16-20" above , but I can't raise my lights and this plant stretched so fast a couple colas got away from me. As you can see in the photos and video, some are as close as 6-12 inches and because this plant is a slow developer, I think it's starting to Foxtail. In response to this and preparation for upcoming harvest, I lowered the intensity of my light and changed the light schedule from 19/5 to 16/8. I've been lowering the nutrients all week and will be flushing all next week. I've been preparing for trimming and drying, only worry is keeping the correct humidity, but we'll see.
This is the first plant I've ever grown, and she was a breeze. I gotta give most of the credit to Mephisto genetics. They really make a quality product. Throughout this whole grow I really tried to stay on top of everything I could like ramping up the PPM's, always checking the PH, defoliating, leaftucking, LSTing. She responded well to everything I did and came back stronger. Mine was a super bushy pheno and because of my limited grow space, I should have defoliated more. Even though I had some nice big colas, the cramped space caused a lot of larfy bits that clearly didn't get enough light.
Not sure why I HAD to choose a "Bummer" effect in the above "Tastes and Effects". It doesn't give me dry mouth but whatever. Also think they need a Sour taste.
Super happy about all this guys. Thanks to everyone who helped my along the way, and the words of encouragement when I needed them. 5.7 Oz is even more than I thought i could get! It's not the prettiest buds, lots of little larfy bits too, but it's all quality smoke.
I dried the buds for 4 days but the humidity was getting low and they started getting crispy on the tips. They've been in the jars for 4 days and already taste good and smoke smooth. I know they need to cure longer, but I'm happy it will only get better. I'm happy I have more of these seeds and will definitely be growing AvT in the future....but I don't need to for a while.
Thanks Everyone!!!0
Youre doing nice! As for your plant not looking like others, they had different (better) phenotypes or its the growers techniques. Either way, shes growing past the high amounts of stress you have thrown her way. Its a good thing you cut off the "skinny" branches that wont amount to much, not bad thinking for your first grow! Good thing you did that because the energy from the plant and your nutes wont be wasted anymore. I dont know if you know this, but if you have limited height space, always remember that when a plant starts to flower, she could double in size, some strains triple or even quadruple in the stretch weeks (1-3 weeks of flower). I want to grow this strain too, so Ill keep my eye on your grow!
@Thegermling509, thanks. I appreciate the support. It's been a learning process. haveing never seen the flowering cycle I'm not always 100% sure I'm doing the right thing.
Again, a masterful job of tying your girl down and using all of your space! I was thinking about your height problem. Do you have the kind of Trash Can that has handles? Those usually will "nest" like the smaller 5gallon buckets. You can cut them to make spacers. That would give your about 6-8 inches per spacer. Inverting a second bin, and putting it on top might also work.
@TheOutlawBubbaKush, Sorry, I couldn't remember if your grow bucket was on top of the fridge. You could probably still make a spacer. I turned one of my buckets upside down so I could invert the top. I used Gorilla Tape and to secure the upside down bucket on the inside and outside then added the silver tape.
You are 14" from the light. That should be plenty as long as your little girl stops stretching. Sorry I couldn't come up with an idea to help you out!
@Quexos, yes, my space is actually already two stacked trash cans. But I can't go any higher because it's all sitting on top of my refrigerator. Lol. I live in a small space. The top cola is about 14" away from light. The heat is ok but if it keeps growing upward, it'll get into danger area. I don't want to supercrop just yet though. Fingers crossed.
That is one bushy little plant. You are very creative with your LST techniques! Has there been any damage when removing her from the bucket? She looks difficult to stuff back in the tiny space.
This is a great diary! Looking forward to seeing the final results. I am new to autoflowers, and have been struggling with figuring out the right PPM per week. I was only doing 100 Week 1 and 200 Week 2 Day 1 so far.. Gonna switch it up next feed and get them up to 350/400 by the end of the week.
Wow that things has exploded! Awesome.
I doubt that any healthy and vigorous plant will really fail to produce at least something, so no worries there ;)
Mad branching alright, some plants just grow that way, it seems. I'd let it settle into its flower another week and then maybe cull some of the ones that aren't fattening up enough. The thing looks hardy enough to have no problems with that.
But don't worry about having cut small branches, like you've said there seems to be no sighs of slowing down/stunning. New growth should stop at this point.
Seems to me that the buds will fill out nice, the distance between nodes seems tight enough. Maybe lollipop it later? (defoliate the leaves + flowering sites at the bottom, which are getting less light).
But yeah, i'm no expert here, just throwing ideas round. I'm sure others will chime in too, ideas be flowing. It's always easy to over love the garden and worry. Peace.
doing great! esp for first time!
training is amazing! next time dont chicken out on defoliation... and try supercropping some of the lankier, fewer-noded limbs, instead of the leaves XD
good going with the para cord. Usually i use the wire ties like twist tie on roll, except i use the rubber-coated thicker wire for little loops around the branches and use the twist tie to tie THAT to the pot. No stretchy. The para cord is working surprisingly well so far and your canopy is very much the correct shape.
Looking like you are off to a mighty fine start. Killer photo of her coming out with her helmet still on. Ready to do battle! Best wishes on the rest of the grow. - Zannabis7
Awesome lookin lady! She’s really starting to frost up! I don’t see any pistols/white hairs that have turned orange yet so I think you have a bit of time to go yet!
@TeflonDonFarms, yeah. Can't see any in these pics from a few days ago but in just last few days I'd say 10-15% on each cola has started to turn orange. I know it's not much, but after all this time I'm hoping to see a finish line somewhere down the road.
All that LST produced a ton of bud sites. That's a good thing!!! En and Jon are correct I think. Cull away all the lower buds that are robbing your main buds of needed energy. By the time you are done, you will end up with a nice haul of bud for smoking and making butter, etc.
You are doing a great job.
@TheOutlawBubbaKush, I think its the genetics of the plant. I've read tons of descriptions of strains then looked at the grows on different sites. They rarely look the same. Also, those buds are going to change a lot over the next several weeks. When you look back at these photos, you'll laugh.
Very nice use of cords to hold down your branches. I'm a few weeks behind you. I'm watching your training methods closely so I can stuff as much green in my bucket as possible. I couldn't see how you attached your cords to hold down the branches at the bottom. They look like they are holding down the main branches but I don't see how you connected them to the wall of your bucket/pot.
@Quexos, hi. I pre drilled some holes around the top lip of my grow bucket. I then ran sections of wire through the holes, wrapped it around the outside of bucket and fed back in a hole to secure it. The LST cords are then tied to that wire. It's a little messy but working.
TheOutlawBubbaKush
