1st grow, auto 1 pound target

Welcome to my mission to self reliance! My first grow which I hope will help me learn how to attain my goal. Well after week 1 all looks good apart from I think I have a heat problem. (Also 2/6 seeds didn’t germinate but got free replacements from supplier delivered tmw woohoo!) Heat problem: in my 4x4, 600w hps setup I’m peaking at 32C during daylight and ave about 30C. (This was after reconfiguring ventilation, raising light and scheduling lights off during hot hours). So, Is this too hot? (Plants seem to be ok?) and Was going to dim ballast to 400w and put a400w hps bulb in, will this help? And, anything else I could try? If anyone knows the answers I would really appreciate some guidance Thanks for reading

Well think it’s going ok... Just water so far, (which was too high ph @7.2, my ph pen was delayed in delivery) That’s fixed so will be ph 6-6.5 water for the next week or 2 before starting nutes. Bit worried I’m noob overwatering so have not watered for 36 hours and waiting till the pots lightens.. If anybody who knows what their doing let me know if my plants look ok for this stage, that would be awesome. Thanks for reading

Feel like the plants have come on over the last week. A few issues though, Firstly we had a few days of heat wave, the outside temp got 34C so I was panicking about my plants in the already slightly too hot tent. So dimmed hps to 250w for 2 nights and made my own (very rough & ready) CO2 generator. (Which is supposed to help plants tolerant heat...?) As it turned out I managed to keep the tent at about 32C and they seemed to love it. So I’ve kept my hackjob CO2 going possibly just for the placebo effect on me. And then secondly, as of this morning I noticed some ‘bits’ missing from 2 leaves, one each on 2 of my 4 plants. Asked the question on here and opinion seems to be nothing to worry about. I can’t help but fret and a second opinion would be most appreciated...? No feed yet just PH water, plan to start very slight nutrients sometime this week. Also planning on topping my beautiful girls this week one I’ve had my bravery pills... Gotta say I’ve really enjoyed this journey so far, like finding and making solutions that in my own head at least are helping the girls. Also just love watching them grow... Thanks for reading have a wonderful week peaceful people

We have flowers!!! And wowser have they grown. More excited than I’d like to admit. But this week has not been without issues. Firstly we’re down to 3 plants on this diary. Reason being it turns out I got my seeds mixed up. One of the four is actually a free seed I got Bluetooth auto I think. It actually looks way different to the other 3 so was a bit obvious but really cool to see the different genetics. She is a much squatter thicker girl than the other 3. Then the heat. For the last 3 nights here it has been over 26C throughout. Coolest I could keep my tent was around 31, with my Macguyver co2 and constant prayers they seem to be ok. Also had to take them out the tent for a couple of hours so I could hid the tent for so I could get my hot water fixed (which is in the same room as the tent) Topped them on D23, tied down side branches and nipped off a few leaves (that looked weak or hot no light). Started nutrients on D24 at very light doses. Second feed on D28 very light doses but included a little flower nutrient now starting to flower. Think that’s it, going to try stay cool and calm in the heat. Thank you for reading.

So not the best week, growth really slowed this week. But the solution has been found and I have learned through it so I’m marking it down as a win! Around D30 I noticed some yellowing of the bottom leaves and some drooping at the top of the plants which I initially misdiagnosed as overwatering. When left another few days the problem had worsened and spread further up the plant. (Looking back they only had water every 2/3 days so actually unlikely to be overwatering I think) As of yesterday I diagnosed it as underfeeding / nitrogen deficiency and gave them a feed at 750 ppm. (My ppm meter arrived yesterday, the ‘feed’ I had been giving them was around 280ppm which is very low which lead to diagnosis of underfeeding) Over the last 16 hours of light the droopiness has improved dramatically although Silky is still a little droopy. I’m taking this as a good sign and hope that careful monitoring of ppm will see me through this. - Just hope it has impacted the final potential for my girls too much. 2 other plants in my tent are different strains so not included in this diary but are doing a little better than these (but still have been affected by the ‘yellow / droopy’). Although I’ve been worried sick at times this week I’ve still really enjoyed the working it out / learning. Thank you for reading,

So the adventure continues... I’ve made loads of mistakes but the plants are all surviving and on the up right now, plus I’ve learnt a bunch so all good in the hood... So yellow leaves moving up the plant was last week was misdiagnosed as overwatering / root issues. - Figured that out when I decided to repot the weakest looking plant (Silky). When I did the roots were white and everywhere, but soil seemed really dry. After more research it looked like it could be underwatering and or nitrogen deficiency. Ever since upped ppms to 750-850 and made sure ph was on point. Also watered them daily. 3 days into the new schedule and all of them have improved a lot. Even Vanjie grew an inch or 2 which had completely stopped. (The above now makes sense to me as my tent is on the warm side and pots are quite small...) More good news the other 2 plants - different strains which I started a week later than these are going really well, I think cos I’ve avoided / fixed mistakes earlier with them. Have wonderful week reader, Thanks for reading

Much much less stressful week. Minimal maintenance... just watering when they need it and checking ppm & ph. Even managed to go away for a couple of nights and plants seemed absolutely fine. They’ve stopped growing up but the buds are getting bigger and I’ve spotted some trichomes (I think) Hope everyone’s ok, thanks for reading...

So just daily watering / feeding. All of the little beauties are coming along and getting quite fat. All of a sudden I’ve gone from 0 expectations to looking like I’ll have some actual results. Just loving watching em get fatter. Thanks all, have a great week

So more lessons learnt, took out the grow nutrient as I thought there’d be enough N in the bloom nutrient. Plants developed yellow leaves and went a lime green a few days later, since upped the grow nutes and all are recovering. Technically only 11 days to go but there’s still only a few amber hairs so I think they may go further. I literally cannot wait to harvest and get my second grow going. - I’m well chuffed with progress so far, don’t get me wrong, but I’m excited about what results I could get next time avoiding the mistakes I made this time. Thanks for reading have a great week! 😊

So fairly stress free week, just watering & feeding every day. The flippin weather outside refuses to cool down which meant I could not keep my tent below 30C all of the time. Result has been some foxtailing (and a little heat stress I think) on Vanjie. Shouldn’t affect the final product too much I have learnt, and buds look like these huge mutant things now. I love it! To be honest I’m struggling with the wait to harvest, the anticipation is killing me! But most of the pistols are still white and trichomes look milky at best (no amber) so i may have to learn some patience. Thanks for reading have a great week! 😊

So cooled down nicely outside this week which has allowed much better temps in the tent. Defoliated a fair bit where the girls looked bushy. Other than that just watering & feeding most days. Emotionally it’s been tough, the anticipation of my first harvest (and potentially being free of overpriced street weed) vs watching them develop in what feels like slow motion is sending me doolally. Still, the longer they take the fatter they get. Thanks for reading have a great week! 😊

Purgatory!! In retrospect i was completely naive thinking my grow would be done in the same time as the breeder. Starting to get a tan line from the loupe spending so much time peering through it searching for amber trichomes. Consensus seems to be another week to harvest to be safe but not sure I will be able to hold on that long, I think it’ll be more like 2/3 days before I finally give in. In terms of the actual grow maintaining conditions in the tent seemed far simpler this week. All the plants have started to drink a little less, they are yellowing up and Vanjie & Brooklyn have some nice pinks and reds in some leaves. Another learning for round 2 - Open the buds out earlier to avoid my ‘top heavy’ buds. Despite having zero patience left I’m still loving the whole grow but mostly spending time fussing over the girls. Thanks for reading have a great week! 😊

Such Bittersweet Joy Added this week as ‘Flowering’ although technically should be harvested as I but I haven’t had a chance to weigh or anything. I will do that next week once trimmed etc. So finally cut them down on D89, it was a beautiful day outside and it just felt right. Although when it came to the deed itself I felt sadder than I thought I would for my girls and the time we had together. All 6 (I’m growing another 3 different strains but not included on this diary) are now hanging to dry in the tent. Temp -18 C; Humidity-60% seems to be holding steady with no tinkering thankfully. After the 3 days they have all dried noticeably, perhaps 4/5 more before trimming / curing. I’ve had quite a close look at most of the harvest and as far as this noob can tell, there doesn’t seem to be any issues with mould / bud rot. Fingers remain crossed. I did have one very profound moment this week... It happened as I was surveying the harvest hanging up for the first time. I could feel my mindset change suddenly from the constant paranoia over their health and overcoming my impatience to “I actually have a crap load of weed”. It was beautiful beautiful moment... Thanks for reading. Have a great week 😊

So I’m on cloud 9. Way past my goal! I’m now free from the prick kids turning up late to sell me overpriced crap weed. Goodbye forever wankers! So the 3 in this diary are not super potent and still smell & taste a little bit grassy. Maybe a little to do with being so keen to harvest, perhaps they could’ve gone a little longer. Am hoping the cure improves smell & potency. That being said the 3 other plants in my grow (all different strains from Fastbuds) yielded about as much and are a lot more potent than these. So everything is abso-bloody-lutely marvellous over here. I’m just about ready for grow no 2. Super excited about what I can achieve now I won’t make so many idiotic errors again. Thanks for reading and have a great week One and All...😊