Herbies Gorilla Glue Auto Freebie

I got this Gorilla Glue #4 Autoflower seed as a freebie from Herbie's Head Shop when I ordered some other seeds that I will be doing semi simultaneously, but will have separate diaries for each. I do not know its origins as far a specific breeder. The game plan is to perform Frequent Fertigation. Its the method Ive been doing from the beginning of this epic hobby when it became legal in my state. I have lots of confidence now and expect good results. I have the routines down and my set-up is working to produce some really nice tasty good big buds. Of curse that means I just jinxed myself and I may run into some epic problems of my own doing. The one gallon cloth pot is filled with coco coir mixed with 10% expanded clay pebbles. The common mix is usually 1/3 clay pebbles, but my Cream Auto in the one gallon plant seemed to have a little nutrient issues from packing the pot very tight. So tightly it was hard to ad the fertigation solution, and likely had some areas in the root zone that didn't get good flow though during fertigation events. So I theorize that by reducing the amount of clay pebbles I may have better flow though. We will see what the difference is. I hope to eventually find the right ratio. I'm using General Hydroponics full line of Flora series. I will use the Drain to Waste schedule for nutrients and mix them to be at the upper end of the recommended EC strength. I will be using water from a medical grade RO water treatment system. I will mule the water from the facility to my house in 6 gallon water carriers. I will disinfect the water jugs weekly. I disinfect my nutrient mix dispensers at each mixing. The media was treated daily with 1.5l of 6.5ph .18ec H2O. The plant doesnt need this much fluid, but to keep the media at optimum conditions, 1.5l is the minimum to get a good even saturation of the media with good flow through. The reduced amount of clay pebbles has already shown on negative side effect. Poor the solution too fast in one spot troughs and holes form, so a slow even circular technique worked best. The light is the Mars Hydro TS1000. 150watt draw with dim-able ballast. Its turned up to max, set at 36" above pot. No fan was run when the germinated seed was put in the media to help raise the tent temperature to high 70s. Plastic cups set over the germed seed area and it emerged out of the media by day 5. I kept the plastic cup over the seedling till day 7. The seedling looks healthy, no defects, and didn't stretch.

The Gorilla looks great, no stretch and looks healthy. This is the slow motion period when its beginning to create its leaves. This is when the anticipation starts to mount as I await the final harvest like a kid waiting for Santa Clause, but its only September.

The solar food factories are expanding and its growth is starting to be noticeable at each visit to the tent. Will be starting the 3rd week nutrient schedule on the GHE DWC feed chart today.

Stayed with the week three mix recipe on the General Hydroponics Drain to waist feed chart. The Runoff EC is spiking quickly, so a couple of H2Only events to get back in target range. I will try to be most proactive this grow session with the H2Only events. Plant is nice green and looking healthy and seems to be happy. It is very short, but lots of growth. The trunk is getting stout. The short stature is making it very difficult to fertigate. I'm trying to be patient when adding the solution, but its a challenge not to pour on the leaves. I use an air puffer to help remove droplets from the leaves. I cleaned the exterior for the first time this grow and their is the beginning of the usual algae. I used my pressure sprayer with an H2O2 solution in it, and scrub the pot with a towel. am going to try a couple different things to mitigate the algae going forward beside this method. I will start with a stronger solution of H2O2 and a sponge to wipe the pot off with on a more frequent basis.

👉The Gorilla Glue freebie from Herbie's Head Shop has taken the shape of a small bush. Lush, tight, and lots of green! The main stem has become a sturdy trunk. Its so tight its hard to take pix of the interior. It has also showed its first pistols on Day 34! So one less thing to fret about. I have tried a little bit of tucking, but mostly just untangling of leaves and stems. 👉Started the week, day 29 thru 36, with week 4 solution mix from the General Hydroponics Flora Series (full line) Drain to waste feed chart. My target EC is the mid level of the recommended EC target from the chart (1.3-1.8 EC) and the final solution averaged 1.44 EC. I did one low EC fertigation due to the run-off EC spiking . The run-off has stopped spiking in the last 4 days and is level at 1.4EC. I plan of keeping it on the transition mixture of nutrients until the pistols at the junctures of the stems are abundant. 👉Cloth pots are great for growing and I love its functionality. But it has one draw back, the drying of nutrients on the exterior can cause in-accurate run-off readings, and green algae starts growing. While green algae isn't a horrible thing, it can get excessive and gross. I hate it. The algae can also throw off my run-off data if allowed to proliferate. I have been cleaning the exterior of the pot once a week by spraying the exterior with a H2O2/H2O solution. I also take a wash cloth and wipe down the out side. This is a drudgery chore and I haven't always been diligent with mitigating it on past grows. I had been hesitant to use too much H2O2 in the past also. This time I'm using a stronger mixture with 1 pint of 3%H2O2 to 1 gallon water. I will be trying intermittent spraying of the pot exterior and see if it makes a difference.

👉Lush green growth continues through the week. The pistols have spread to all the growth nodes and the flowering is beginning to take off. The plant is very sturdy with strong stiff branches and a strong stocky base. I have removed a few of the lowest inner leaves that were dragging the top of the media. I may start pruning a few more of the lower leaves and secondary branches on the interior in the next week or two. I have seen little root tips peeking out all over the pot. 👉Mid week I switched to week 5 nutrient recipe from the GHE drain to Waste Nutrient schedule. The runoff EC has been dropping towards the end of the week. This happens on each grow, and would logically indicate the plant is absorbing good amounts of nutrients. It will return to increased EC run-off probably at end of flowering stretch. I have been able to make progress in mitigating the green algae on the pots with a stronger H2O2 solution sprayed on the exterior, coupled with scrubbing the pot.

👉Lush, dense and vibrant. The plant is growing all over and has made a nice bush. Lifting the leaves on the bottom edge is like lifting its skirt to reveal a dome of green. The trunk is stout and all the branches are nice and stiff. The green funky stank is beginning to emanate from it. I have takes just the small shaded leaves at the base that would drag the media or side of the pot. The buds are starting to form and pistols abound. 👉I had switched to week 6 nutrients at the beginning of the week, and give the plant 2 liters 2x a day. The roots have filled the pot and the solutions not take a while to soak down into the media. The inflow EC is around 1.3, and the run-off never went above 1.0. The volume of run-off has also declined. This means the plant is drinking up its fill of water and taking in lots of nutrients. I did only one H2Only irrigation followed by a liter of nutrient solution. 👉I added a 16" oscillating fan that has a plant friendly low speed. The algae is been mitigated for the most part, with the plant drinking more and the better air flow, the pot starts to dry out between fertigation events. I still spray and wipe the exterior of the pot and there is no longer a green tinge to the run-off.

👉Very manageable flower stretch so far. THe queen cola has risen above the rest. The plant was a solid dome of leaves as I started the week. I began pruning the future larf sites, some of the inner shaded leaves, and some of the lowest leaves which were looking tattered or hanging against the pot. I took a small pile each day till day 56. I figured that pruning during the early part of the flower stretch would allow the plant to recover more efficiently. I believe I have done all the pruning needed. I will probably only take selected leaves that are either looking tattered or totally shaded. I believe in leaving all the leaves possible, because they are food factories that provide the energy for growth and development. 👉Been a rainy week all week and the humidity has been as high as 65% and stayed in the 60s inside the tent as well. But the temps stayed 75 in the tent and I have very good air circulation and I exhaust the air outside. 👉The plant is still absorbing lots of fluid and nutrients as the runoff is always lower than the inflow. I gave one H20nly and one low EC fertigation, both followed by full strength fertigation. I am giving more totally volume that I have on my former grow sessions. I didn't start the grow intending to do this, the prescribed inflow target volume is to give enough to get 20% run-off. THis is to be more efficient or frugal. But there is a minimal amount to give everyday when the plant is young, so the media stays balanced and buffered. By giving a larger volume, it seems the media is more stable, and I may be creating a more uniform and effective environment in the pot. The run off EC being lower than the inflow EC shows the plant is taking in the nutrients, I am watching the pH and it is also staying closer to the inflow. I take the run-off and give to my tomato plant and the herbs and peppers I grow in containers on the patio...they are all wonderfully prolific. So while my nutrient solution volume could be said to be unnecessary, the total volume is actually feeding 8 container plants outside, so nothing is being wasted.

👉The plant hasn't gained much more height, but the buds have started to plump and frost. The aroma has also become strong and is an intoxicating creamy lemony scent. The frost is spreading onto the sugar leaves. The buds are going to be dense. I have only taken a few of the lower and most shaded leaves, and those leaves were starting easy to pluck as if the plant was done with them anyway. Its got purple stems and at the beginning of the week show potential early signs of magnesium deficiency. This can be due to the pure H2O I use and less mag in the solution than normal, so I added an extra measure of Calmag in the mix. I haven't seen any progression of purple veins or any other notable possible nutrient issues in the leaves. The plant is full of leaves and I have zero intention to remove anymore of the food factories until the plat tells me to. 👉I used week 8 "mid Bloom" nutrient mix from the General Hydroponics Flora Series Drain to waste feed chart. The run-off has stayed within the target. I did one low EC fertigation and one H20nly event, both followed by regular strength solution.Switching to the week 9 mix this week. 👉

👉Its been 10 days since the last update. Busy and stuff. Next update will be a shortened one to get back on the time line. 👉Its been wonderful to open the tent and get hit in the face with the intoxicating aroma of the Gorilla Glue! I feel smaller buds to get a sense of the texture of the buds and of course to get some wonderful fucky stank on my fingers! THe buds are dense and plump, and shaping up to be nice pine cone shape and size. The colas from the first two sets of branches are large clusters and are rivaling the queen cola. The pistols just started to have some red pistols as the plant is showing its approaching the final stage. Some fading of leaves around the plant. I had lots of purple stems, and the purple started to show in a few leaf veins. The possible magnesium deficiency didnt progress across the whole plant after I increased the calmag in the mix. Once the plant started entering the last stage, many leaves did start looking like they may have cal/mag deficiency, but I believe its not affecting the buds and the plant will be fading the the leaves out anyway so its not anything to worry about. Ive started plucking any leaves that are starting to fade yellow because there are a ton of leave on this plant and I hope to have at least half of them of before harvesting otherwise it will be a long session. 👉I am using the recipe for Late Bloom on the General Hydroponics Drain to Waste Feed Chart for the Flora Series nutrients. I started giving a portion of the fertigation solution as a low EC solution. I did this to offset the fast spikes in run-off EC. Its a pain to pH .007EC water that measures 4.9 pH. At such low conductivity the water pH is very reactive to pH adjustment and can be hard to get it buffered to the 5.8 pH target. So instead of an H2Only fertigation event I am trying a partial low EC solution added first followed by a full strength solution. The run-off EC has stabilized and stays in range so no H2Only events were needed. I will be watching for signs its time to start the ripening mix. I think it may be another week, Ill let the plant decide.

👉This is the short week update to get back on the actual weekly timeline of the plant after going 10 days last weeks update. 👉I started plucking a few more leaves to thin it out a bit. lots of overlapping leaves. The aroma is very strong right now! I vent outside from a second story window on the back side of my house. When there are gentle breezes it fills the whol back yard with the wonderful funky stank. Its strong enough that when the wind picks up you can stall smell it around the outside depending on which way the wind blows! I have also started to do close inspection of the trichomes. Currently there are many cloudy, and still a lot of clears. 👉I will be switching to the ripening mix of nutrients in the next batch I make tomorrow.

👉The aroma is glorious! Its very strong! I vent outside from a second story window. On calm days the aroma can envelope the house! But not indoors. Even if the wind is blowing if your down wind you can smell it! The leaves are looking like they are ready to start fading, but may be just my nurtrient issues, we will soon see. Some of the buds sugar leaves are getting a purple edge and there are only a few new calixs and white pistols. A small bit of fox-tailing. 👉Trichome hunting has begun. I inspect various buds around the plant throughout the week with a 40x eye loop, a 10 magnifying glass, and a usb micrscope that attaches to my phone. The usb microscope is low resolution and has a very small focal plane so its really hard to get a decent picture. However it does give an accurate macro view of the trichomes. The eye loop is for fast glancing around and I can see the trichomes fairly detailed, but its very hard to lean over that close to the plant and hold still enough for as good of a detailed veiw as the microscope provides. The larger magnifying glass is good for looking at the overall condition of the bud, looking for hermies and other possible signs of trouble. The trichomes are probably about 50/50 milky/clears, only a couple of amber. My target is mostly milky with very few clears. I dont worry about how many ambers, just how few clears. 👉The plant leaves showing some signs of nutrient burn and calcium or magnesium deficiency. maybe even some phosphorus deficiency. I keep a log of the fertigation events and after looking at the run-off pH I am going to just theorize that the pH of the media was a little low (as low as 5.3pH). My water is RO water and has virtually nothing in it to start with, especially compared to tap water which can have as much as 10g/gallon. I had been giving slightly more cal/mag in the mix to possibly offset this. The optimum pH for calcium absorption in the soil is about 6.2pH. So the pH of the media may not be allowing enough Calcium to be utilized, and also keep some other nutrients as well. I think some of this is from the 1 gallon pot and how tightly packed the roots are. This isn't the typical root-bound issue you get in solid wall pots. The roots are self truncating since its a cloth pot, but its a big plant in relation to the pot size and the roots (based on my past experience) are packed solid (you can also feel the sides of the pot and they are hard). It takes 10 minutes to give the pot 2liters of solution. The 3 gallon tent mate can take 3 liters in less than 5. So my corrective measures have been to give large volume H2Only fertigations withe the water pHd to as high as 6.3pH. I also increased the pH of my nutrient solution mix to 6.2pH. This has brought the run-off to 5.8pH. I will continue the to try and keep the run-off in the 5.8 range. I started the week with week 11 ripen mixture on the General Hydroponics Drain to waste feed chart and use the entire line of nutrients in the mix. My target EC is normally the mid to upper range suggested by GHE, but I will weaken the solution strength to the lower target range.

👉Its been like suspended animation...not much happening. The leaves looks a little faded, the lower leaves are slowly yellowing. The upper leaves haven't change much, and they look a little haggard. The buds are plump and frosty as hell. The buds have taken on a tinge of purple on the edges of the sugar leaves and calyxes. The trichomes still show a fair amount of clear, lots of milky, and very minimal amber (only found on sugar leaves so far). A couple of fresh calyxes with white hairs on each bud, and there is a slight amount of fox-tailing on the tips. The aroma is still sweet and intoxicating. On calm to moderately windy days you can smell it around the outside of the house depending on the winds direction. The tent is vented directly outside no aroma is evident in the house. 👉I will be continuing close inspection of the trichomes and ready my drying area. I will be continuing to fertigate up to the day of harvest, with routine H2Only irritations to keep the pH and EC in balance.

👉The last waiting game is just about at an end. It has mostly cloudy trichomes, with still a few clears. Some ambers are scattered about and are mostly on the sugar leaves. Super frosty, super intoxicating aroma or sweet citrus. The leaves have faded only slightly. I could harvest it today if I had time. I think it may be a couple more days. I am set up and ready to harvest when it feels right. 👉I have been giving it nutrient mixed at the high end of the EC range for the Ripen mix from the General Hydroponics Drain to waste feed schedule. I have given a couple of H20nly irrigations followed by a full strength solution fertigation. The EC spikes in a couple days and the pH drops. One H2Only event gets the run-off and pH back in the target zone. I will continue fertigations till harvest day. Any day now.😎

👉At the beginning of the week the plant still had a lot clears, and the leaves were not as faded as I was targeting. I didn't include a lot of trichome pix from today because they are very frustrating to get good pictures of with the low resolution USB microscope I have. Using an eye loop provide a nice detailed look at the trichomes and is a way more efficient use of time. I can scan multiple parts of the plant quickly with the 40x eye loop. I wish I could find an even stronger one. Today the ratio of cloudy to clear was more what I was looking for. So I harvested today and will have a harvest update when I have completed the dry/cure process and the buds are in jars. 👉I fertigated right up to the last. pH runoff was staying in the low 5's and EC would quickly climb. I think I gave 2 H2Only irrigations which I think I did twice. The look of the plant was not what I was hoping for, the leaves were not fading as quickly as I anticipated, but they were fading. The calixs started fox-tailing and small tips with some fresh pistols. As a result the outer layer of calixs are a little more airy, but the frost has frost its so frosty.

👉The time finally arrived for the harvest, mostly cloudy trichomes with scant few amber, very few white pistols, and the leaves had either faded or were fading. The run-off pH would quickly plummet and the run-off EC would spike. This may be an indicator that the plant is ready but that only would be conjecture on my part. The overall look of the plant to me said it was ready. The aroma was super strong citrusy and intoxicating. THe leaves were fading and there were virtually no white pistols. 👉I harvested bottom to top. I hung each cola on alphabetized clothes pins with gardening wire attached for hanging on the rack. The buds are dense and shaped like pine cones. I trimmed it semi-tight, but left some of the smaller frosty sugar leaves. The buds and sugar leaves are very frosty but it wasn’t as scissor freezing as the Gorrila Glue I grew last year. I measured the post trim wet weight on a self-calibrating digital scale. I checked the accuracy of the scale with a set of scale calibration weights and it was accurate at all weight ranges. I logged each colas trimmed wet weight and hung on the rack. I have a 42” tower fan. For first 12 hours I ran it at its medium setting, then reduced to lowest speed. I rotated the side facing the fan after 24hrs. Then after another 24 hrs I placed them in paper sacks with to top open. I left the buds on the clothes pin hanger and clipped the bag to that. After another 24 hours I closed the tops. Another 24 hrs and I test weighed a couple of colas. I monitored for another couple of days until the weights averaged 20-25% reduced from the initial wet weight. I then cataloged the weight of each cola and placed each into its own jar, most got one of those small cheap hygrometers. These hygrometers have been calibration tested and I know the drift of each. My target humidity is 62%. I would open the jars for brief periods of time during the next couple of days until the humidity stabilized at 62%. Once stable I placed 62% humidity packs in the jars. I took out most of the hygrometers for the next plants cure, but leave some of them with the best buds. The Queen cola was 20g when placed in the jar. That is about 24% remaining weight from trim. 24% is a little on the high side of the humidity target range. The jar the Queen cola is in, is a wide mouth counter jar and I will be toking that bud primarily and it will dry out the fastest. I have compensated the weight I entered on the dry weight spec to reflect about 20g more of humidity loss and another 30 for the stems that are left on the bigger buds. The final weight of the buds going into the jars was 254g (not including the larf at 23gdry). 200g of plump sticky pine cones for the final weight is pretty nice for a 1 gallon pot. 👉I wrote this review at 3 weeks before the 6 week cure mark. In my short experience of being weed rich, its been interesting to take note of how the flower continues to ‘cure’ as time goes on. I have found that 6 weeks isn’t a given for when its ‘cured’. I have observed that as weed ages it changes. I have not noticed much difference with 2-3 week old buds at 62% humidity when compared to 6 weeks from jarring. But I do notice significant difference around 6 months of age. The flavor is enhanced and the buzz is stronger. It maintains this level then 8-12 months it has leveled off and all strains are becoming more ‘couch lock’ inducing. My observations are not scientific by any means. This is just my 8th plant in the 2 years that cannabis became legal for home grow in my area. But I still have each of the plants and rotate which one I consume. 👉I loved growing this plant, and hopefully gained more knowledge. It fox-tailed a bit at the end. I think my frequent fertigation techniques contributed to most of the issues I had. I think I was a little too conservative with nutrient mix and irrigation volume and frequency. I used only 10% expanded clay pebbles in the coco mix as opposed to the standard 30%. This was slightly problematic at first before the roots filled the pot. Fertigation events would cause erosion and caution had to be taken around the seedling. I placed a layer of hyrdoton pebbles across the surface and the issue was solved. Once the pot was filled with roots it took 10+ minutes to give the plant 2L of solution. The pot was packed hard with roots. This may have been a contributing factor to some of the possible nutrient issues I had. I dont think the nutrient issues I saw had much impact on the final outcome. To get 200g from a 1 gallon pot is wonderful.