16oz dutch buckets - Auto Ghost OG

Been wanting to try out this auto ghost og from original sensible seeds for a while and finally got the opportunity to get one wet. I originally started this setup to compete in the solo cup challenge, but I needed something that will be minimal maintainence and doesn't require hand watering. So this is what I ended up with. I will not be entering since I know it will bring controversy, but I am going to follow the rules and treat this grow as if I am competing. I didn't want to use regular solo cups because last time I had a lot of algae growing in the root zone when I harvested. I opted to use a black light proof cup. These cups were 27 oz originally so I filled them with 16 oz of water, marked the level, then cut them down to 16 oz. I set the drain pipes about an inch from the bottom so they have a little reserve if I have pump or power issues. I know people will see the drains as a way for roots to grow out of the cup but in reality I have to keep the entire pipe free of roots or it will clog and overflow. So I am actually losing a little volume due to this. I filled the bottom inch or so of the cups with river gravel to stop the perlite from washing into the reservoir. I am running a 5 gallon reservoir with a small air pump and the plants will be getting irritated 24 hours a day from an aquarium power head pump. I set the system up to be totally self contained and easily portable. It was all built from things I had laying around other than 97¢ for the cups. I will be keeping the feed simple as always feeding maxigro and maxibloom with a couple flower boosters.

We have arrived at the end of week 2 for the 16oz dutch bucket setup and this auto ghost og is doing my pretty well. I topped her on day 10 and started a little training on day 13. I would normally up the feed a little at this point but I have a couple plants in the system that are a week behind, so I am going to give them a few more days to catch up before increasing the dose. They are still getting 24 hour light and 24 hour irrigation. Should start to see a growth spurt by the end of next week as long as I keep them happy.

This auto ghost of is at day 21 and she has been growing like crazy since she broke the surface. She has the potential to be a real work of art if I can keep her happy. I upped the maxigro to .5 tsp per gallon and started them on a little armor si so they can build some strong branches. Still running them on 24 hour light and 24 hour irrigation. They are going to stay under the blurple lights for a few more weeks until I can get them in the big room under the quantum boards. I'm hoping they will flower around 4 weeks but my autos seem to enjoy staying in veg so we will see what happens.

This auto ghost OG loves her little home. She's doing well. Had some calcium deficiency last week since I ran out of calmag. I was hesitant to use organic calmag, but that was all I could find locally. It is doing the trick though. pH has held stable with no adjustments and the leaf color is looking great. No water change this week since since everyone seems to be happy with the nutrient levels. She popped her first pistils on day 25 so I am hoping she will enter flower soon. Only issue at this point is she is a lot bigger than I ever thought she would get. I will probably have to figure out a way to get them further away from each other. And yes....this plant is 28 days old in a 16 oz cup. At no time have any roots grown out of the cup. Happy growing everyone!

Day 35 and she is a beauty. She has a nice color and I love her structure. I am going to call it flower this week since she is well into preflower. The system is running great. Haven't had any roots try to grow into the pipe yet. Going to start them on a little maxibloom soon.

This is my favorite plant of the 16oz dutch bucket grow. She has grow fast, healthy, and has a beautiful structure. She is putting on some nice tops. She is starting to show some drooping on the top leaves in the evening since being put under the quantum boards. But she perks back up in the morning so I think she will keep chugging along. I'm thinking I will easily exceed 2 oz on harvest if I can see her to the end. Got the nutrient pumping and the lights beaming. Not much else to do from here on out

Well we got problems with these girls. Noticed some light deficiencies starting the end of last week and they progressed fast. Yellowing from the bottom of the plants like nitrogen deficiency but their stretch is over so I wouldn't expect them to want much. I increased the feed a little but it didnt seem to help. And after checking everything out I noticed that the cups were staying about 3/4 full of water. So I'm thinking this might be part of the issue. I am working on a setup that might solve this issue but wont be able to get it finished up until tomorrow. Either way, these plants are huge. Crazy how big they can get with such a small amount of roots. I expected issues midflower so everything is right on schedule. The only question is....can they survive? I was going to transplant them and move them outside because I need the space, but I am going to try to push on and see what happens.