Critical Purple Auto FLower

Week one she was under a previous Vipraspectra 450 LED light I had. I bought a new "Spider Farmer" 1000 LED and really like it so she's under that form here on out and I may also add the Vipraaspectra when she's in flower if it doesn't heat things up too much. I could use it for undergrowth lighting maybe.

I started LST this week as she was tall enough with enough node spacing to take being bent sideways. I use homemade staples, 12 gauge house wire folded in half, about 4-5 inches in length.

I put foil down under any leaves that touched the ground because of my LST bending. The second pic shows my homemade wire staples shoving a large fan leaf to the side away from future bud sites. As the bud site grew taller I simply removed the staple. When she gets bigger I also use pipe cleaners from Walmart for LST.

Had a tragedy around day 24. I picked up the air pot (7 gallon equivalent but holds five) and the bottom fell out, it was a mess!The bottom half of the planter had no dirt and that first was ALLL OVER the floor! I managed somehow to scoop dirt back in which was halfway out of the pot bottom (didn't see any roots though, maybe because she's till young), and then the top dirt starting falling out when it was tipped upside down trying to cram dirt back in the bottom. I managed to do my best and long story short she is none the worse for wear, at all, quite shockingly. I did wire up the bottom of the "Air Pot" to the sides of the air pot and will from here on out to prevent a stupid mistake like that.The five gallon bottoms fit tight and snug but the 7 gallons are wicked loose and sloppy-bad design on the company's part. I had written it off as a total loss but she bounced back without a complaint and didn't seem to lose any growth rate, wilt, or lose any color. I now only pick the pot up by the saucer base!!! I kept her in the dark that entire night after it happened (I go with 20 on & 4 off) and watered it in thoroughly. Two to three days later now and she's right up to speed and healthy as can be. The LST is still continuing, real easy with a huge payoff later on. I will push aside any fan leaves covering bud sites, and as the what will be colas later on grow taller I keep spreading them out horizontally and keeping them held down with my staples. Once she goes big time into flower I will slow down on the LST and let my previous efforts do their thing.

This week seems like she's really starting to grow more quickly. I keep up with the LST and it's nice and short, compact, and full of bud sites-the canopy is fairly even too. Moved the Spiderfarmer 1000 down to about 18" and it seems to be handling it just fine. A bfew leaves were clipped that blocked bud sites, but not many, tucking them under works well too. I topped the bottom right LST bud site for kicks, will be fun to see how that does and since it's not the main cola it should work great for an auto flower. I just got my "Grow Big" Fox Farms nutes from Amazon, mixed about 1/2 strength (1/2 tsp./quart) and will fertilize approx. every other watering. Currently only water every two or so days, when the pot feels light.

At start of week six I scoured the plant with my jewelers loupe and did see two tiny pistils, so it's thinking about going into pre-flower now :-) I'm glad it's still essentially in veg, as the LST is ongoing and I'm tryin to space out the colas as much as possible and bring them closer to the rim of the planter.I have defoliated ever so lightly if a fan leaf blocked light from a bud site but with the LST I'm able to keep the bud sited fairly separate and distinct. Day 36 I fed 1 liter of overnight bubbled earthworm/compost tea-straight not diluted. I have done a little nutes with Fox Farms "Grow Big" diluted about half strength. I also add 2tsp/gallon of my own homemade Cal-Mag every watering. That I made by crushing eggshells and covering with vinegar. It bubbles and releases the calcium into an uptake ready form and the basic quality of the calcium in the eggshells cancel out the acidity of the vinegar. I add Epsom salts for the magnesium: 1-1/2 tsp. eggshell vinegar solution and 1/2tsp. Epsom salts to One gallon water. Got this recipe from Youtube and believe it is effective, plus it's virtually free and organic. SO far there are no visible deficiencies or leaf tip burn so I'm happy for that! My soil was a good mix of soil, compost cow manure, my compost, crushed powdered eggshells, dried powdered seaweed, perlite (lots) and some peat moss.

This week has her with lots of pistils at main bud sites, no visible trichomes yet though, at least with the naked eye. I'm anticipating to stretch even more this week and maybe stop after that save for bud growth. When I see trichomes and the buds forming I'll switch over to my "Flower Fuel" ( 1N-34P-32K ) flowering fertilizer, using Fox Farms "Grow Big" veg nutes now 1/2 strength every second or third watering.

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So I had a Thrip infestation, my fault for bringing it outside on beautiful days, won’t do that again! I noticed the leaves were getting really blotchy with big white streaked areas that looked like a nutrient burn from a foliar spray. Seeing as I did foliar spray earlier I figured that’s what it was, wrong. I had spider mites one time a few years back (same damn reason) and didn’t see those under the leaves so figured I was all set. The thrips I found on top of the leaves so I had to take drastic action. Googling thrip infested cannabis leaves I saw the exact thing on mine and seeing thrips in person I knew what he problem was, half the problem in finding a resolution. I drenched the entire plant, buds and all, with an insecticidal soap and let that sit for 15 minutes. Then I used a powerful stream of water from a pump sprayer and soaked and rinsed the crap out of it with the planter on its side to wash the shop and the dead thrips away, then put a strong fan on it to dry the buds. That worked well with no ill effects and I saw dead thrips with my jewelers loop here and there that I rubbed off with my fingers from the leaves. This morning I took my leaf blower and blasted the heck out of it to blow away any debris and any live thrips if they were there. Again, no ill effects. The leaves won’t get any better looking but the buds seem to be doing just fine with trichomes and all and getting plumper by the day. If I see so much as one live thrip again, and surely there will be as it’s never and one and done affair, I’ll repeat my procedure in a week.I’ll do it again in a week anyway as I’m sure there are eggs that will have hatched by then and if I kill those thrips before they lay eggs I may break the cycle. I cleaned the grow space completely with bleachy water too, never can keep it too clean. I feel certain it’ll survive not too much worse for wear into full flowering time, which at this point according to Growers choice would be another five weeks so it’s getting close and she’ll make it. Learn from my mistake and no matter how gorgeous it is outside, resist the temptation to get an infestation of any kind of bug in exchange for a few hours of sun, it’s not worth it in the long haul. After the grow is done I’ll put an insecticide bomb in the grow area to kill anything that might go dormant laying in wait, and then thoroughly clean the area with bleach water. Live and learn, and at lest I learned and won’t have a repeat next grow.

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