First Grow - Organic Blackberry Auto

Welcome to my first grow! This is something I’ve wanted to do since I was a teenager. I waited 20 years for this day. Wish me luck! I’m starting with Blackberry Auto by FastBuds. 100% organic. KindSoil + Coco Loco + carbon filtered tap water. Absolutely no synthetic fertilizers or chemicals! As for training, I will top her in week 3 and start LST shortly after. I’ll keep her nice and tidy with occasional defoliation. My setup consists of: • Spider Farmer 3x3x6 tent • Spider Farmer SF-4000 LED • AC Infinity S4 Inline Fan • AC Infinity 4” Carbon Filter • AC Infinity S9 Airplate (suspended above drivers) • Genesis 6” Clip Fan (x2) • SensorPush Wireless Hygrometer Growing medium: • 5 gallon fabric smart pot • 5lbs of KindSoil in bottom of pot • Topped off with FoxFarm Coco Loco on top Day 1: Welcome to the world! 🤗 She finally broke through the surface overnight and almost dried up. 😧 Luckily, the plastic cup was over her and still had a tiny bit of moisture left by the time I woke up. That was a close call! I gave her a nice big drink of room temperature carbon filtered tap water. Day 2: I gave her two small drinks today. I’m trying to keep her roots consistently damp during these early days without overwatering. She seems to be doing perfectly fine with her 2nd set of true leaves already starting to develop! Day 3: The end of day three and she’s happy as can be! 😊 I lightly watered twice again today. Her leaves are already filling up with trichomes! 🤩 After researching, I believe they are specifically “bulbous” trichomes. I’ll get a microscope soon to confirm this. Enlarge today’s photo to see them! Day 4: Lost power at the end of the day while she was in her normal dark period, but the light would have normally turned back on by now so hopefully the power is back soon! 🙏 Day 5: The power has been out for more than 24 hours now. Her normal 6 hour dark period turned into 11 hours of darkness before I hung a small LED flashlight over her. The flashlight was on her for another 9 hours, and then I was able to move her outside. Definitely not ideal, but she is loving the sunshine. ☀️ She’ll have to stay outdoors for now. Day 6: She started day 6 outside and was moved back into the tent after the power finally came back on. I’ll get her back into her normal 18/6 light schedule. She’s been getting one drink per day. Day 7: Very pleased with the progress at the end of week one. She is looking great. The 2nd set of fan leaves are developing nicely and the 3rd node is already starting to show! The ride got a little bumpy because of the power outage, but that didn’t seem to faze her. Looking forward to week #2. Thank you for following along on my first grow!

Week 2! After navigating a tricky first week due to a power outage, she finished strong and I’m looking for that to continue this week. If all goes well, she will get topped next week. Day 8: Becoming concerned with how much her leaves are drooping. Not sure if it could be from over or under watering, but something is up. Day 9: She was very droopy at the start of today. Gave 32oz of water. I’ll wait and see if she perks up. 12hrs later she is no longer droopy! I must have been under watering. Day 10: Droopy again to start today. Gave another 32oz of water. No longer droopy 12hrs later. She was perky up until lights out, then droopy 2hrs into her dark period. Day 11: Droopy again to start today. Why does it take 12hrs to perk up after lights come back on? Does she need more light? Lowered it to 18” but no change and too hot. Moved it back up. Is the pot still dry in spots? Gave 64oz of water. Day 12: Droopy again to start today. Gave another 64oz of water. The entire substrate should now be dampened throughout. I’ll hold off on watering again for a bit. Day 13: No water today. Keeping a close eye on the drooping. I really don’t think I’m overwatering nor under watering, so maybe I shouldn’t worry. She looks very healthy. 🙂 Day 14: Top inch of soil was mostly dry at the start of today. Gave 96oz of water. Noticed she was leaning to one side. Packed the soil around the base to help hold her straight. Overall, I’m very happy with the progress this week. I was stressing because it takes her a while to perk up again after the lights come back on. However, she seems perfectly healthy and the rate of growth is excellent, so I won’t worry about that anymore. She is on her 5th node already and has a mild scent that smells like sweet fruit! 😊 Thanks again for following along on my first grow! Happy growing!

Coming into week 3 off an amazing first two weeks. I was nervous last week because she droops for a while after the lights come back on, but nonetheless her growth is fantastic. She is growing bushy with lots of lush green vegetation. Her nodes are stacked closely together; no stretching at all. Her stems turned a deep purple color and she smells fruity. She will get topped this week. I was planning to top above the 4th node, but I may top above the 5th instead, because her 6th node is already coming in. We’ll see. ✅Day 15: Gave 64oz of water. For the first time there was a small amount of runoff. Now I know for sure the soil is thoroughly damp. I’ll let her dry good before watering again. ✅Day 16: No water. Her 6th node was well enough established for me to squeeze in there with the clippers and top her above the 5th node. ✂️ Let’s see how she handles it. ✅Day 17: No water. It’s been one day since she was topped and she hasn’t slowed down one bit. Growth has been fantastic over the past 24h. She is strong! 💪 💪 ✅Day 18: Gave 64oz of water. She is growing very compact and bushy. Lots of new branch growth hidden underneath. I did as much leaf tucking as possible to expose it. ✅Day 19: No water. We are officially in pre-flower! 🤗 Lots of small pistils are growing from the calyxes at the base of her growth tips. I first noticed them 3 days ago. ✅Day 20: No water. She is growing rapidly. Started the week at 2.5” tall and now 7” tall even after topping her 4 days ago. Pistils are growing in the ends of her growth tips now. ✅Day 21: Gave 96oz of water. No runoff. Even more pistils showing in her growth tips now. She is getting close to flowering. I did LST and defoliation today! Week 3 is a wrap. The LST and defoliation happened 1.5 days sooner than planned, but I decided not to wait because she was so bushy. The 2 lowest branches weren’t growing due to lack of light and space. I wanted to get those 2 branches growing ASAP because she is close to flowering. The remaining 8 branches were bent horizontally, and the fan leaf at the base of each of those branches was removed. This opened her up very nicely. The 2 lowest branches that are stalled now have full access to direct light. ☀️ I was too aggressive when bending 2 of the middle branches which caused them to slightly separate from the main stem. 😢 This obviously isn’t ideal, but the injury looks minor. I was worried LST and defoliation at the same time might be too much stress, but one hour later all the horizontal tips already bent back vertically towards the light and she ended this week strong!

Starting week 4 after being topped, defoliated and LST’d last week. 😳 She handled the topping perfectly with no delay in growth. I did LST and defoliation 5 days later which she didn’t seem to enjoy, but did well. 💪 I should have waited 1 or 2 more days because her branches would have been longer which would have made LST easier on her. As for this week, she has started to flower. I’ll just sit back and let her grow! 🌱 There shouldn’t be a need for anymore training from here on out, except for maybe some minor leaf tucking or defoliation as needed. ✅Day 22: No water. Lots of vigorous growth over the past 24 hours. She is fully recovered from the LST and defoliation that happened a day ago. 👍 ✅Day 23: No water. I tied down one of the bottom 2 branches that was too small to LST last week. Those 2 are growing fast now. I did some minor leaf tucking as well. ✅Day 24: Gave 128oz of water. Almost no runoff. I tied down the last bottom branch that was too small to LST last week. Did some more leaf tucking. Lots of bud sites exposed. ✅Day 25: No water. Lots of growth. I had to do more leaf tucking. The canopy is getting very uneven. I’m thinking about another round of LST to keep it even. ✅Day 26: Gave 96oz of water. No runoff. She dried up quick this time. I gently bent down the taller branches. Her canopy is very even now. 👍 ✅Day 27: Gave 128oz of water. Only a little runoff. This seems like a lot of water in a short time, but she was ready. The pot was light again. She is drinking a lot! 💦 ✅Day 28: No water. The stretch is getting real! Internodes are becoming visibly longer. So many tops exposed at the canopy with space to grow! The vigorous growth continued all throughout this week. Now that it has been a full week or longer since topping, training and defoliating, I can see what a huge benefit it had. Now she is in a strong position to power through flowering with a high yield. 💪

Week 2 of flowering! The topping, training and defoliation over the past couple weeks has paid off big time. 👌 It set her up with a strong foundation to power through the rest of flowering. Her branches are thick and spread out evenly over the entire pot. She has more than 20 tops exposed at the canopy. Her young buds are developing a dark purple and beginning to stink up the tent like fresh berries. 🤩 ✅Day 29: No water. The pot is getting light again already. I did some minor leaf tucking. She is continuing to stretch. ✅Day 30: 160oz of water. Almost no runoff. She was very thirsty! Considering trimming the bottom fan leaves. ✅Day 31: No water. The pot is light again already. I was watering every 3rd day, now it’s more like every 2nd day. ✅Day 32: 160oz of water. No runoff. More leaf tucking. The purple is coming out nicely. She is sparkling with trichomes! ✅Day 33: No water. More leaf tucking. She is still stretching steadily and her smell is getting way stronger. ✅Day 34: No water. Starting to see yellow on some of the newer growth. 😢 She seemed ready for water today, but I’ll hold off in case she has been getting too much. Snipped off several lower fan leaves that weren’t getting light. ✅Day 35: 128oz of water. No runoff. She was bone dry, but no signs of stress, so I probably didn’t wait too long to water. That’s it for week 5! Her buds are developing nicely. The smell is getting noticeably stronger and smells like wonderful sour berries. Some newer growth started to yellow. I think I may have been slightly overwatering. I’ll go back to every 3rd day at 128oz. I was up to 160oz ever other day, which was probably too much. We’ll see! The stretch slowed down a bit in the last 24h, but that might have been because she was so dry as I was holding off to water.

Week 3 of flowering! Last week was another great week. Some leaves were turning yellow, so I’m going to dial back on the water this week in case I was overwatering. ✅Day 36: No water. The stretch has definitely slowed to a crawl. I guess her buds will start fattening soon. ✅Day 37: No water. Heavy defoliation. I removed all bottom fan leaves and most upper fan leaves. ✅Day 38: 128oz of water. She didn’t seem to mind yesterday’s defoliation. Trichomes are mostly cloudy. ✅Day 39: No water. Her fan leaves are starting to fade quickly. Hope this goes smoothly. ✅Day 40: 128oz of water. I looked at her trichomes again and noticed some amber already. ✅Day 41: No water. Quite a few amber trichomes on some leaves, but calyx trichomes are still mostly cloudy. ✅Day 42: 128oz of water. A bit more fade and orange pistils. I wonder how much time is left. That’s all for week 6. I cut back slightly on the water in case I was overwatering, but I think the yellow is normal fade at this stage.

Welcome to week 7 / week 4 of flowering! Starting the week with a decent amount of fade. Some pistils have turned orange, but most are still going strong. 💪 Some amber trichomes on the sugar leaves, but still almost all cloudy trichomes on her buds. ✅Day 43: No water. Smelling as strong as ever. Buds are slowly fattening up. ✅Day 44: 128oz of water. No runoff. ✅Day 45: No water. ✅Day 46: 80oz of water. No runoff. ✅Day 47: No water. ✅Day 48: 100oz of water. No runoff. ✅Day 49: No water. Another week closer to harvest. Her buds fattened up nicely this week. Hopefully that continues!

Welcome to week 8 / week 5 of flowering! Many more pistils have turned amber and harvest time is closing in. I’m aiming for a nighttime smoke, so I’ll hold out until she has 50% amber trichomes. ✅Day 50: 100oz of water. No runoff. Seems like she isn’t drinking as much lately. Bud trichomes are mostly still all cloudy. ✅Day 51: No water. The fade is really kicking in now. Some sugar leaves are looking black! ✅Day 52: No water. ✅Day 53: 144oz of water. No runoff. The pot was very dry. She needed a big drink. ✅Day 54: No water. ✅Day 55: 136oz of water. No runoff. She is smelling even stronger now. ✅Day 56: No water.

Welcome to week 9 / week 6 of flowering! Her fall colors are in full force now. 🍁 Most pistils have turned amber. Some trichomes have also turned amber, but mostly cloudy still. Harvest time is getting close! 🤗 ✅Day 57: No water. Trimmed off a few dead leaves. ✅Day 58: 144oz of water. No runoff. ✅Day 59: No water. ✅Day 60: No water. ✅Day 61: No water. ✅Day 62: 128oz of water. No runoff. Took a quick look at trichomes. They are still mostly cloudy. ✅Day 63: No water.

Welcome to week 10 / week 7 of flowering! Seeing more amber trichomes, but still holding out until I see approximately 50% amber. Getting closer! ✅Day 64: 100oz of water. No runoff. ✅Day 65: No water. ✅Day 66: No water. ✅Day 67: 100oz of water. No runoff. ✅Day 68: No water. ✅Day 69: I was spot checking trichomes and noticed what appeared to be seeds beginning to form in the buds. I couldn’t tell for sure. They were hard and small balls, but they broke apart somewhat easily when I squeezed them in-between my nails. I don’t know if they were young seeds or new calyxes and maybe the hard ball was the pistils inside that hadn’t grown out yet. It was hard to tell, but I didn’t want to risk it if she was starting to herm, so I chopped her down.

Overall very happy with the outcome! This was my 1st grow and I went 100% organic using only KindSoil + Coco Loco with carbon filtered tap water. I used citric acid to adjust my pH down as needed. Zero synthetic fertilizers or chemicals used. I had a scare when I thought she was starting to herm on day 69, which prompted me to chop her down. Turns out they were swollen calyxes, not seeds. Ideally, I would have waited a bit longer for 50% amber trichomes, but she was close enough to where I wanted her to be, so no worries! After 6 days of drying at 48% - 55% RH, the branches snapped easily and the outer edges of the buds felt dry and crisp. At that point, I trimmed it, weighed it, and jarred it up for the cure. At the time of this writing, it is day 3 of the cure and smelling so amazing! I was pleasantly surprised by the yield. 1 plant. 773 grams (27.3 ounces) wet. 101 grams (3.6 ounces) trimmed and dried. This strain was a pleasure to grow.