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People who are great at growing things are often described as green fingered. I on the other hand would describe myself as a stubby fingered goon who has prematurely euthanized every plant I have ever glanced at.. So, you can take it as correct that I am approaching this first grow with some trepidation!
Its not the done thing here in the UK to grow anything stronger than a mint plant so my location for the new hydrolab 2 x4 x 5 tent is driven by privacy. Unfortunately it is possibly the worst location due to it being a concrete out building with a tin roof and we just decided to have a 35°c heatwave for 3 weeks right at the start of the grow.
I lost 4 plants with temps inside the tent reaching 49°c so I called a halt until the heatwave subsided.
I had started 3 bcn xxl critical autos off prior to switching off so they didn't have a great start as they were shoved outside to live or die..
Turns out they lived and my fingers of doom may be on the turn to slightly greener :)
Week 2 and they have adapted to the tent really well, they are in the 11ltr cloth pots they should have gone into after the jiffy pellet.
I have very low humidity problems so have been trying my 2 little chiller fans with water reseviours as an interim fix until I can get a humidifier. I will start the Remo nutriants regime from next week at reduced levels to start with.
I have a free giga bud plant growing on the side that I believe is photo period, I am using it as a practice Guinea pig subject to try out nutriant levels and lst techniques before I hit the critical trio.
It has been an exciting week for this newbie... Every day is a school day and I am learning alot.
The previous humitity was a problem at around 20 to 30 percent humidity. I purchased a cheap £40 humidifier with a built in humidity controller. Wow... What a difference.. The tent temp and humidity are super consistent at 73°c and 60 percent humidity.. BEST BUY EVER!
The 3 Seed Stockers BCN Critical xxl are starting to bulk up a bit now with new growth. I do not seem to have the watering regime sorted as I think they look a little pale and slightly droopy. However I have started to feed them with Remo Nutrients micro/magifical/velokelp and grow at half recommended dose so the paleness and droop might be due to that... Any advice welcomed as this is all new to me.
I pH my water to 6.5 and check after mixing the Nutrients. I have now got the environment pretty much to recommended levels so I think I am learning and have a good little set up.. I'll Dial back on watering and see if that remidies the minor faults.
Wow.. End of week 4 and they are still alive despite many newbie disasters.
1 nutrient burn despite only feeding quarter of recommended dose. = corrected (hopefully)
2 humidifier leaked all over the bottom raising the humidity to 100 percent... Found the girls drenched and drooping. I'll take the blame for not putting it back together properly.... = fixed (won't do that again) lol
3 location of tent means I am constantly having to correct temp and humidity in the tent.. Its either peeing it Down or 30°c outside. So the girls have been stressed by either heat rises or low or high humidity..
In terms of managing the environment I am getting into a rhythm.. I have 2 in room fans plus a 4 inch input venting external air into the tent, a humifier and also 2 x mini Air cooler fans with water reservoirs which I cool the pots with when it gets too hot.. It seems to be relieving some of the stress.
The 3 beautiful Bcn Critical xxl ladies from Seed stockers appear to be coping really well, short, fat stems and tons of growth this week. I have decided to let the main cola grow and train the secondary growth into a star shape so each one is getting good light and they are all responding well... I think they are, however please comment and let me know your thoughts and any advice as although I'm quite proud so far, this is my first grow and feedback would be greatly appreciated.. Happy growing
Ps no pistils yet but I'm thinking it might be soon as they are starting to stretch and I am getting faint smells when I open the tent ;)
Exciting week for the 3 BCN Critical xxl girls,
Things that went bad:
Light was too close and caused heat stress, and yellow tips.. raised light to top now and things seem to be resolving.
General outside temps were high so tent temps rocketed.. This will calm down soon as Autumn is coming and the nights are closing in fast... My next challenge will be winter but will meet that challenge at the time.. 2 chiller fans on pots and 2 clip on fans pointed at light and above canopy help alot and they survived.
Good news is we are into flower, pistils are evident on all 3.
As per Remo Nutrients guidance, I switched to flowering nutes at the first sign of pistils. To be on the safe side I have only given them a 3rd of the recommended strength to see how they react... They seem to like it so far so if all is good I'll give them 1 more at this strength and increase it in small increments until flush.
Happy growing everyone.. Please leave comments and any advice.. Cheers
All 3 seedstockers bcn critical xxl are still surviving the heat and in preflower.
All 3 girls are 20 inches tall with fat strong stems... They are all on the Remo Nutrients flowering nutes at full dose every other water, and 6.5 pH water on the alternate.
All 3 are in slightly different stages of early flower but stacking and building great bud sites
I have been removing about 6 to 8 shade leaves per week, giving them time to recover before each minor defoliation, but I tell ya what, it may go against the general autoflower etiquette lol, they seem to love it, and are standing proud withing an hour of doing it... I only did it on 1 for a start to observe the reaction... As for stunting growth, it didn't apply in this case because it is the most advanced of the 3 and went into flower first and due to the increase in light to the lower growth it is packing on everywhere.
I moved onto doing it to all 3 and the results are very promising..
Some heat stress and light burn this week but hopefully have it under control now temps are dropping slightly
Tune in next week
Happy growing
RSB
A good week for the girls.. 2 are just slowing from the stretch. 1 has stopped and started to fatten up.
This is my first ever grow so I am fascinated by the growth of the buds.
It is an amazing process.
I think these 3 are going to take a while yet.. I am predicting 12 weeks. But who knows could be even longer
Keep growing folks
RSB
A week of mixed results for the criticals
1 = getting really fat/smelly/sticky
2 = looks like it's about 2 weeks behind the strong one
3 = poorly all week
All 3 were started at the same time, all, suffered my early schoolboy errors and excess heat stress, all are on the same nutes water to run off and let dry before next water, but all 3 very different.
The poorly one looked so bad, I took the decision to repot into an air pot the best I could with some fresh soil, and then watered to run off with some velo kelp.
I don't think it will survive or produce anything good if it does but I'm trying for curiosity sake for now
I have another critical in week 3 responding really well to an air pot and lst so if number 3 pegs it I have a back up under way lol
Happy growing folks
RSB
A good week for the Critical Gals
The most advanced of the 3 is looking good, some nute burn developing so last feed was just pH water.
Run off pH was 6.3 so no major pH dramas,
number 2 looks like its about a week behind, has had a couple of issues during flower so stunted a bit,
Number 3, which was dying last week is making a come back in its new air pot... How it is still alive after my bodged last resort repot last week I don't know.... I think it missed the boat though,
while the other 2 were filling out, this one was sick so I'll let it go to the end but I don't think much will be smokeable..
So do I give number 1 another feed or start the flush?
I've not decided yet but the other 2 are def getting another feed.
I am fast approaching my first harvest
And I have to say I'm getting a bit excited lol
Happy growing
RSB
The girls are cracking on, all in slightly different stages,
1 flushing ready to come out and go into 3 days of dark
2 just had feed poss flush when dry
3 seems very different to the other 2, although it had a massive near death and repot experience so probably that caused the huge stunt. It has brown pistils but also very new growth, so continued feeding and monitoring.
Can't wait to taste these beauties
Amazing first grow, will try more from seedstockers.. Really got me hooked on autos... They took all of my mistakes and turned them into a respectful harvest for a newbie in a novice set up... Happy dude