Red Sugar Auto

Germinated and sprouted really quickly, just under 48 hours from seed to sprout. However, when it broke the soil it had its helmet on together with the membrane. Read somewhere that it happens because of low humidity (mine is around 55%) and decided to place a couple of drops of lukewarm water over the seed cap and left it for 15 minutes without lights. To my surprise in just 15 minutes with lukewarm water it managed to break the seed cap and membrane by itself. The seed still covers half a cotyledon, but it prefer to leave it like this by now because the seedling is really tiny and I don't want to hurt the baby. Anyway the most important thing is that the first set of leaves is already receiving the light. DAY 3 Managed to take the seed cap off the cotyledon and now the whole seedling is exposed to light. It stretched quite a bit in just a day, but in a healthy way, and you can already see the leaves forming. Watered with about 250 ml of water PHed to 6.3 in a circle around the plant. DAY 5 Looks healthy in general. Leaves started pointing up and praying. Hope the plant is just happy and sucking up the light and it's not light stress. The second pair of real leaves started showing. DAY 7 Looks healthy and the first set of leaves got bigger, but the second set of leaves is still forming really slowly. Hope they don't turn out to be mutated or something else. I moved the plant closer to the lights (from 50 cm to 35 cm) because in the end it wasn't showing any signs of light stress and simply was praying. Watered with 500ml of water PHed to 6.3 with light addition of rooting nutes.

DAY 9 The plant started growing much quicker and the second set of leaves is definitely forming, although they look somewhat too sharp. Saw some really really tiny bugs under the surface of the soil (white long ones and more yellowish round ones) as well as a dead black fly in the tent (maybe just a common fruit fly, can't know at the moment). The bugs were really really tiny so they don't look like aphids or thrips, but I will still water it with some beauveria bassiana, BTI, and neem oil in a couple of days for prevention. DAY 11 Growing well and seemingly healthy, although it's a bit small for its age. The third set of leaves is already forming. Watered with 750 ml of water PHed to 6.2 with mosquito bits and botanigard for prevention. I will spray it with growth booster with kelp tonight, PHed to 6.5, but I believe today's watering will be the only one this week because I want the soil to dry out. DAY 13 Looks healthy and grows pretty quickly. No signs of flyers or any larvae for now, only the mites are there but I think they're predatory ones. What's interesting is that the second set of real leaves have five tips instead of three. Also, I ordered yellow sticky traps and will place them in the tent tonight.

DAY 15 Growing well. Saw a flyer today and killed it, probably a gnat. No signs of larvae or any bugs in the top layer of soil. Also, the yellow sticky traps were set and by now there's nothing on them. Will water the plant tomorrow with a mixture of mycorrhizae, kelp, and some veg nutes. DAY 16 Watered until runoff for the first time (around 2 liters of water PHed to 6.4). Since the plant is already in full veg, I decided to add some veg nutes, mycorrhizae with kelp meal and some rooting nutes again. Also, will spray it with kelp today too. BTI and beauveria bassiana applied as usual. One flyer on the sticky trap, looks like a gnat. No signs of larvae or any bugs in the top layer of soil. DAY 18 The growth was insane during these two days and the plant is really healthy and even a bit symmetric. Never had a plant like that. Really glad it's enjoying the light praying. Killed one flyer and there's another one on the sticky trap. Ordered more BTI and beauveria bassiana to stay on the safe side. DAY 20 Grows incredibly well with the fifth node already forming. The fan leaves are huge and beautiful on this gorgeous lady (let's hope it is a she). And she's praying as always in the morning. Will start LST when she's a bit higher, probably around day 25. Meanwhile let her do her thing. DAY 21 Watered with 600ml of water PHed to 6.3 and addition of BTI and beauveria bassiana only around the edges of the pot where the soil is completely dry and the rootball is not formed yet.

DAY 22 Growing well and not yet flowering, hopefully she will stay in veg for a couple of days more. Doubled on the number of sticky traps as there were three more flyers on them. Looks like it's going to be a very wide plant, let's see how she'd look after the LST and the stretch. DAY 24 The things are going well and the plant is healthy. Started LSTing the girl. DAY 25 Keep LSTing the plant and watered it with around 1.5 liter of water PHed to 6.3 with veg nutes, mycorrhizae with kelp, and BTI with beauveria bassiana. DAY 27 The plant looks healthy overall and LST is working. Very few gnats, like two or three, one of which I killed. The first set of one tipped leaves show slight burn/browning at the tip and edges of the leaves. Will be monitoring it, but it looks that it's simply because they are not receiving enough light anymore and dying off just like cotyledons. And yes, obviously, she started slowly preflowering.

DAY 29 Growing well and LST is doing its job, but preflowering is going pretty slowly. A couple more gnats on the sticky traps, but visibly no flyers or larvae in the soil. Will start with the bloom nutes in a couple of days. The stretch is coming soon! DAY 31 The plant is growing pretty well and the LST is working perfectly, almost all colas are mains now. However, it's still early in preflower and looks like it's going to veg for a bit more although I already started with half strength of bloom nutes. Looks like she's going to be really big. Watered until runoff with 2.5 liters of water PHed to 6.3 with nutes and BTI/BB. Also, placed new different sticky traps yesterday and they caught five gnats overnight. It seems like they simply like these traps more, not that there are many more gnats now because I saw only one flyer when I was watering and the soil was really dry as it should be. DAY 33 Oh boy, that's going to be a huge plant. And very bushy too. Tried to LST it a bit more and I don't think it's possible at the moment, but tucked some leaves instead to let light fall on all big colas. I may as well let it be for now and LST it later on if needed. DAY 35 Growing well. Lowered the plant yesterday to make some room for stretching, now it's 45 cm away from the lights. Also, since the stretch has already begun I managed to LST the main cola by guiding it back to the center of the pot. I think I'll let the main cola grow on its own from now on. Also, it looks like the gnat situation is under control, I see some two or three flyers daily and either kill them or they get stuck onto the traps themselves.

DAY 37 Growing well. Watered with 1.5 liter of water PHed to 6.2 with BB/BTI yesterday. Will change one lamp to warm light tonight so that she's flowering sooner. The bottom fan leaves (second set) started drying a bit at the tips, but I believe that's due to the lack of light down there. Anyway, this week I'll give her full strength of nitrogen nutes. The new and mid leaves are all good and she looks happy. DAY 39 Grows well and entered into full flowering. It started drinking a lot of water too, had to water it with 2.5 liter of water PHed to 6.4 with nutes. The drying of the lower fan leaves continues, but let's hope that's because of slight underwatering (due to gnats, which are now under control and almost gone), moderate feeding, and possible lack of nitrogen as I was giving half or 3/4 recommended strength of nutes. Today she received the full strength of nitrogen and almost full on bloom sugar nutes together with a bit of kelp based flowering nutes as well as BTI/BB. Let's see how she responds and I think I'll start watering her heavily every 3 days or so. DAY 41 Growing well and stretching quickly. Still can't understand whether nutrients helping/resolving the leaf issue, but what I'm sure is that it isn't progressing too quickly. Apart from that, the plant is really bushy and has lots of leaves. Wondering when she's going to show her purple colors if at all!

DAY 43 The plant keeps on growing well and is stretching, growing about 10-12 cm per week. The fan leaves below are still drying out (the first three sets are affected), but it doesn't affect the growth and/or bud forming so I'll just leave them as they are. If someone is reading me and had the same issue or knows what is wrong, please let me know in comments. I'll appreciate it a lot! Watered the plant with 1.5 liter of water PHed to 6.1 with BB, BTI, and Flawless Finish by Advanced Nutrients (I use it as a magnesium+sulfur solution for deficiencies). DAY 45 Wow, that was quick. Grew like 10 cm in just two days and I had to lower the plant. Hopefully the stretch will finish soon. Drying of the lower fan leaves slowered down a lot and I don't think it'll be a problem anymore. It was probably due to underwatering. Started smelling a lot more, but still normal. DAY 46 Watered it with 2.5 liters of water PHed to 6.6 with nutes. Plucked off one set of dry leaves at the bottom and a couple of smaller leaves from the side colas also fell off, yellowing. Now I'm almost sure that's because of underwatering/lack of n. Measured the runoff PH and it was 6.2. Will be watering with a bit higher level of PH, something around 6.5 to 6.7. DAY 49 She's still growing, but the stretch is coming to an end and the buds are starting to fatten bit by bit. I will change the second lamp to 2700k tonight. The lower leaves are still drying out/falling off and that's why I bought a LED strip and installed it down there. Maybe it helps, maybe not. At least won't have that much larf bud. May defoliate her soon.

DAY 50 Growing well, I think stretching is about to stop in a day or two and I already changed the second lamp to warm flowering 2700k and started defoliating a bit for better airflow. Saw a lot of mites (look like beneficial Hypoaspis Miles ones) coming out of the soil onto the surface and the pot walls after watering today. The plant is doing incredibly well so no worries so far. Apart from that, I haven't seen a gnat for a few days already. Watered with 2 liters of water PHed to 6.4 with BTI and sprayed the mites with beauveria bassiana to be on the safe side. DAY 52 The plant keeps on growing well. Drying of leaves at the base of the plant stopped and that means that the LED strip served its purpose. Let's also hope that there'll be less larf bud although I'll take off all buds that didn't manage to grow well. DAY 53 The stretching has stopped and the plant is working on fattening up the buds. Watered her today with around 3 liters of water PHed to 6.6 with nutes and BB/BTI. Also, defoliated a bit, cut off seven leaves. The mites are still there, but in much much smaller numbers. Runoff PH is 6.5, runoff TDS is 1100. Everything seems to be fine. DAY 55 The plant is plumping up really well. The mites are still there, but it looks that they don't affect the growth in any way. No gnats and the yellowing of the lower leaves stopped completely.

DAY 57 The plant is fattening up really well. Watered with around 2.3 liters of water PHed to 6.5 with BB/BTI. Although there are fewer mites, there are still a lot of them and it's kind of even scary to look at the lot of them since I don't like bugs. But they don't seem to affect the growth so let them be. Continued light strategic defoliation by cutting three leaves that blocked light to the budsites. Also, I may be wrong, but it looks like the upper bud on the main stem is taking a slightly pinkish/lilac color. We'll find it out later when it matures more. DAY 60 The buds are fattening up well and yes, the main stem buds are definitely taking a lilac/blue tint and the pistils are really acid orange like. Looks beautiful. Watered it with 2.7 liters of water PHed to 6.5 with nutes and removed seven leaves that blocked light to the bud sites. I think it's okay with defoliation now, but I may defoliate heavily in two weeks when 10 or so days will have been left before chop. Also, I started lowering PPM and now it's at 1050. Runoff PH is at 6.5 to 6.6, runoff PPM is at 1300. No nute burn signs. DAY 63 Everything is going well and the buds are getting bigger bit by bit. I believe there are around 3 weeks left until chop. How do you see it?

DAY 65 Everything looks alright. I think I'm looking at the plant so often that I can't notice the growth of the buds that much. Or did it really slow down? Watered it yesterday with 2.3 liters of water with BB/BTI that was PHed to 6.3. By the way, there are now mold mites in the tent (look like Tyrophagus putrescentiae variety). Especially on the pot sides and the plate below it. I saw some of them on the leaves and stem, but I don't think they are eating it. I heard they are pretty harmless, but anyway the plant got less than three weeks to chop so doesn't really matter. DAY 67 The buds are fattening, although at a slower rate than I expected. In general, this plant is taking its time even if it's an auto. DAY 68 Watered it with 2 liters of water PHed to 6.4 with nutes. Stopped adding BTI and BB so as not to give more food to the mold mites. Defoliated a bit more at the lower part of the plant. By the way, she started drinking less water and the canopy starting to fade bit by bit. Also, I began running her on 24/0 schedule as to avoid possible mold issues. There are a lot of buds and leaves.

DAY 71 Growing well, buds are fattening up. Gave it 2 liters of plain water PHed to 6.5 today and defoliated it by cutting 19 leaves. I believe the plant will be ready to harvest in two weeks, at least its upper part as I may need to chop it selectively. DAY 74 Watered it with 2 liters of water PHed to 6.5 with nutes. Also, cut around 10 leaves more. DAY 77 Everything's well, the buds are fattening up. However, there are LOADS of buds and the plant currently is working on all of them, which makes it take its time. The lower buds are fattening up most of all, whilst the top buds are almost ready. The trichomes on top buds are 10% transparent, 85% cloudy, and 5% amber. Will wait until day 85 to check again.

DAY 79 Watered with around 2 liters of water PHed to 6.4. The plant is growing well and the buds keep on plumping up, although she's mainly working on lower/mid buds now. I think I'll harvest the upper part of the plant this week after checking in on the trichomes in 6 days when she'll be 85 days from sprout. DAY 82 Watered with around 2 liters of water PHed to 6.4 with nutes and did a really big defoliation. I think the upper main buds stopped growing and I'll cut the upper part of the plant in two to three days. DAY 85 I chopped the plant and put it to dry in a small closet with a fan. The trimmed wet weight was 330 grams. Will update on the harvest when it's dry.

That was my best grow as it's impressive that it yielded almost 60 grams with only two 40W LED high power bulbs (6500k for veg and 2700k for flowering) and later on a 12W LED strip for the lower buds. The LED strip really helped with the lower bud growth and on my next grow—with better ventilation and bigger grow area—I'm planning to use a stronger wattage LED strips, let's say a 30W worth one. Had mold mites for the last like 3 weeks of this grow and they're almost impossible to get rid of, just decided to live with them. They basically do nothing, but they're disgusting. Had hundreds if not thousands of them. Already ditched my DIY grow tent and will then buy a better one for my next grow in a month or so. Hopefully I can get a better light too. Weirdly, it wasn't really smelly when growing but the buds do stink and they're sticky. It smells like skunk, earth, nuts or cheese, and something both sweet and sour. On the savoury side for sure. I dried it for 10 days, the first 5 of them with a small fan because I live in a high humidity area. I think that may have influenced the taste of the buds, which have a somewhat flattened taste of nuts, earth, pine, wood, and something sweet. The taste pattern is good, but I think it'll become more pronounced or maybe even varied after curing. Something more about the taste. I think it's pretty close to a hearty plate of mushrooms with creamy sauce and herbs. Not what I really expected, but it's really interesting as I never tried weed that tasted like it.