Autoflower CFL Mini Grow

Hey dudes! So this is my first diary, but it's actually my 3rd grow. My first grow was a window sill grow and my second was a really cheap DIY cardboard growbox with 6 23W CFLs and one 36W CFL, so basically I was just experimenting and learning. This time I was confident enough to invest in some proper grow setup and share it with you. 😀 This setup can be called a budget grow at about $400 and it's probably the bare minimum for a suitable grow. I got a Secret Jardin HS40 40x40x120cm, the smallest grow tent I found available, mainly because I'm growing just for me and I can easily hide it in the closet in case of visitors (it's better to keep it a secret 😅), 6 45W CFL bulbs and one 36W CFL from the past grow, mounted on a DIY fixture with 2 120mm PC fans that blows upward, Atami B'cuzz Soil A+B and Atami Bio Bloombastic nutrients, Biobizz Light Mix Soil, Plagron perlite, Rootgrow Mycorrhizal Fungi, 3 1L air pots, a Blauberg Turbo 12.5cm extractor fan with fan controller and a Can-Lite carbon filter, a 90mm USB 3-speed fan for air circulation, and a 10L irrigation bag with adjustable drippers for easier watering in such a small tent. I know I cheaped out with the lights, but I wanted too see how good they are and maybe next grow I will get a LED panel and compare them. Currently I think CFLs are good enough for a budget grow. I got some really cheap seeds from Seeds Mafia, for $42 including shipping I got 3 seeds of each strain, Auto Chronic, Auto Northern Light and Auto Jack Herer. I took the risk of buying from basically an unknown seeds bank because it's cheap and I'm still experimenting. From my experience from this first week they are ok for me, but it seems that their genetics are a bit unstable. The Auto Jack Herer looks ok, sprouted in 2 days as expected. 2 seeds from Auto Chronic died while growing their sprout, but that could be my fault, and the third seed took about 5-6 days to sprout from the soil. The weirdest of them all is the Auto Northern Light, sprouted as usual in about 2 days, but after 8 days I noticed something strange. The second node leaves continued to grow without developing a third grow, like the Jack Herer did. After some research, ladies and gentlemen's, we may have special one here and most probably it's a rare auto-topping mutation 👽. Initially I was disappointed, but then I thought that this a great opportunity to learn and experiment even more! 😃 I can't wait to see how it will grow, even if it's a chance of failure. We'll see how this experience will unfold the next weeks. I know I'm excited to see where this goes. Thank you if you read this quite long description, but I prefer a more detailed diary and I think it's better that way, I know how much I dug for information to learn. Cheers!

Another week passed by and some interesting things happened, good and bad. In the meantime I removed the 36W bulb and added 3 23W 2700K warm white CFL bulbs to achieve a sort of a "full spectrum" lighting and promote a healthier grow. 💪 First thing first the Auto Chronic is turned out to be a mutant also 👽, so maybe it's not my entire fault that the other 2 seeds didn't sprout, but nevermind. In the first days it only grew one true leaf and now after a full week I can see it's growing another set of leaves, but I'm not sure how this will turn up. Because of this mutation it's also growing pretty slow, compared with the other two. Normally I've would have threw it in the bin and just put another seed, but I'm curios how will grow in the next week and maybe it will recover after growing a full set of leaves. Hoping for the best.😬 Next, the Auto Northern Light turned out to be winner. After it topped itself after the first node, the two branches from that first node grew larger and thicker one day after another. Also the leaves from the where it topped itself grew pretty large and overall it looks pretty healthy, so all the worries for this baby are gone. I'm expecting this plant will grow nice and bushy and maybe a good yield to. Fingers crossed. 😍 Last but not least, the Auto Jack Herer is growing nice and healthy, with small inter-node spacing. This looks to be the most "ordinary" and I'm glad at least one of my plants is growing as expected, two weird ones are enough. 😅

This week the Auto Chronic seems to be recovering from it's rough start and after growing a pair healthy leaves it look to be growing fine, a bit slow in comparison with the other two, but it's way better than what I expected. Looking forward to see how this baby will grow. The self-topped Auto Northern Light is growing two nice main branches and the leaves where it topped itself are slowly turning yellow, probably I will cut them next week. The Auto Jack Herer is also growing very nice and it's responding very well to the LST, growing nice side branches. On the downside I think this week I exaggerated with the nutrients, noticing some burnt tips on some lower leaves on the NL and JH, I used plain water for 3-4 days and I think it looks fine now. Got to be more careful.

This week was a good one for all of the plants, except that time at the end of the week when the light fell on the plants for 1-2 hours and burned some leaves, oops 😬. Glad I am checking them quite often and the damage is minimum because of using CFLs and the ventilation is quite good on keeping them just warm enough not to be hot to touch. Oh no! Anyway... It looks that the patience with the Auto Chronic is paying of, this week developing into a pretty normal looking plant, except it's small for its age. I'm curios now if the mutation will affect the vegetation period, maybe it will have enough time to grow as big as the others, but we'll see. With the other two plants the week has been pretty basic and they're growing pretty good. The Auto Northern Light has developed it's two main branches very nice and started to grow nice side branches as well. I cut the leaves where it topped itself and some of the first lower leaves after they where turning yellow, I'm not sure, but I may have been underfed them and maybe was a nitrogen deficiency. Some lower leaves on the Auto Jack Herer have yellowed burnt tips, so the nitrogen deficiency is my best guess for both plants. The Auto Jack Herer has grown nice and bushy, with healthy side branches. Both plants this week are showing their preflower pistils, next week I'm expecting to see them flowering and stretching even more. 💪

This week was pretty good, except one 45W light bulb dying, but I replaced it with a 36W that I have, so it's not a big deal. For a $3 light bulb I didn't expect much.😅 The Auto Northern Light and Auto Jack Herer started flowering, stretching and growing pistil. It look that they are on schedule and I expect that in about a month or a bit more they will be ready for harvest. 👌 The Auto Chronic is still growing slow and it is quite underdeveloped for it's age. It may start to show preflowers next week if everything it's ok, but we'll see. I'm not expecting much yield with this size.😢

This week has been a bit challenging. The grow tent got crowded, I underestimated their growth and the LST sure helped with them growing so bushy. Next time probably I'll grow only two. In a way the Auto Chronic being growing so slow may be an advantage in this situation. 😅 This week I noticed some of the lower leaves of the Northern Light and Jack Herer are looking bad, more on the NL and some JH leaves look a bit strange with some leaves having burned tips. Unfortunately I don't have a ph meter, so my best guess is one or more of these problems: nutrient lockout, ph imbalance and nutrient burn. Initially I thought it may be some deficiency, but I'm pretty sure I fed them enough. This may have been caused by not watering them properly, feeding them constantly without doing a proper runoff and not watering them with plain water from time to time. The day before taking the pictures I did a full flush and I'm waiting until the soil is dry enough, then start feeding with a lighter mix. Fortunately it looks that mostly older and lower leaves which don't get much light are affected, so in the end I think they'll be fine, but I'll be more careful from now on. 😬 Another thing I noticed this week where some tiny flies, probably gnats, just 2 or 3 I think, probably they migrated from my windowsill house plants. I put a layer of perlite on top of the pot to prevent them from nesting, but I noticed that they where going in the holes from the air pot, this being my first grow with air pots I didn't expect this. So I tried to catch the flies and then I sprayed the side of the pots with soapy water and covered the pots with some socks. It should be fine from now on, but I'll keep watching for flies.👿 The Auto Chronic still don't show any sign of flowering. It has grown a bit more, but not much. It has some shinny spots on some lower leaves, but from what I know that's from those pesky gnats.😩

This week I tried to fix my mistakes with the nutrient lock. I flushed them twice and started feeding them a lighter mix, the Northern Light seems to be the most affected, with some leaves having brown spots and curling. The Jack Herer has only some burned tips on some leaves and the Chronic seems to be unaffected. I've ordered a PH pen and will be more careful from now on, lesson learned. 😬 In the meantime, even with my mistake, the Auto Northern Light and Auto Jack Herer are flowering nice and starting to look frosty. The Auto Chronic is finally showing signs of flowering, with its first pistils showing and it's starting to stretch and grow. It's getting crowded with its fan leaves getting bigger then the other two plants. I'll definitly grow only two next time. 😅

This week has been challenging to say the least. I've got my Ph meter at the beginning of the week, checked feeding water, ph 6.8, plain water, ph 6.9, runoff water, ph 6.2, so they all where pretty much in the recommended range. But the Auto Northern Light didn't look better then last week, arguably it look even worst. Looking at the leaves symptoms then I though to be a Calcium deficiency, the nutrients having none of this, so I bought a CaMg solution to supplement a little. After doing more research and trying to figure this out, the only thing that remained was the feeding amount, that I thought was fine. It seems the feeding chart from the manufacturer is way too strong. From looking at other diaries that uses the Atami nutrients, I've seen some of them using even 0.5ml/l, when the feeding chart recommend in the flowering period a 3-4ml/l. So this week conclusion is that the problem most probably is nutrient burn. Fortunately only the Northern Light is looking bad, the Jack Herer has only some burned tips and the Chronic seems unaffected. I'll cut my nutrients quantity for next week and in 1-2 weeks I'll start flushing the Northern Light and Jack Herer, the Auto Chronic being so late I'll continue feeding it separately and I'll probably harvest it at the end of January. Another problem I'm dealing with is the humidity, the weather getting colder and wetter outside I can't just ventilate the room so I had to buy a dehumidifier, yey another 150 bucks, at least I can use it for personal use also, but this budget grow has gotten less of a budget grow. Well the good side is that next time I will be ready with all the necessary stuff and with all this ups and downs I've learned a lot of things. 😅 Besides the problems, the Auto Northern Light and the Auto Jack Herer are getting fatter, they look to be on schedule, so they may be a my gift for Christmas or at least at new years eve. 🙌 The Auto Chronic finally has entered the flowering stage, started stretching and making pistils. I sure am glad that I kept it after the problems at the beginning. 😇

This week has been pretty ok. The dehumidifier is doing it's job at maintaining the humidity stable and under 55-60, it struggles to drop bellow 50%, but it's fine. At the end of this week I started flushing the Auto Northern Light and Auto Jack Herer to prepare them for harvest in about 2 weeks I think. The Auto Northern Light doesn't look to different then last week, because of it's problems it is stunned and the buds look a bit skinny, but decent. On the good side, because it is topped, it has the most buds, so the harvest will be good enough for me. 👌 The Auto Jack Herer is doing good, buds look pretty nice and on some buds the leaves turned a bit purple, which was unexpected, but cool. It may be because lower night temperature and/or predominant cool white lights. 👽 The Auto Chronic is looking good, it stretched a bit more and now it seems it stopped and started to develop buds. I can't wait to see it get fat. 😍

This week has been an interesting experiment, going away 5 days for holidays. Unfortunately the dripping system can't be always on, but in the end I managed to test and try the cotton string wicking from a bottle. Basically you connect the top of the pot with the water in the bottle with a cotton string or shoelace and the water flows slowly in the soil. The soil and the string must be wet to start the process more effectively and the bottle of water it is best to sit higher then the top of the pot. IT worked quite nice in the end, could have been better if the bottles where higher and bigger, but a 2L water bottle was fine for 1L pots with soil.👍 The Auto Jack Herer and Auto Northern Light are still flowering, I may keep them a week more at least. The trichomes look clear to cloudy, but no amber one, from what I can see. The Jack Herer has gotten even more purple, looking very nice.😍 The Auto Chronic is in full flowering and looking good, but showing some nutrient burn like the others. Lesson learned for the next grow. 👌

This week the Auto Northern Light and Auto Jack Herer are looking close to harvest, but I'm not seeing any amber trichomes for now. I'm inpatient, but I'll wait a few more days. Also I tested a small bud from the NL with a vaporizer and it was damn good. The taste was nice, but still had a funky aroma being a fresh bud, not a properly dried and cured bud. In the end the high was a very nice mix of cerebral and stoned. 😍 The Auto Chronic has started to fatten, but the nutrient burn has started to show its signs in the past couple of weeks, but it was expected after I had the same problems with the other two. 😬

This week the Auto Northern Light and Auto Jack Herer are still going, but this may be the last for them, hopefully. I think it's the 3rd week I'm saying that 😂. The JH finally showed it's first amber trichomes, probably this one will be harvested next week, but I think I'll harvest only the top big buds and let the lower buds to get more light and get more out of it. The NL still has some white pistils and no amber trichomes still, so probably it will go another week and do the same with the lower buds. 😁 The Auto Chronic is looking fine, except the usual problem with the nutrient burn, like the others. After all it has been through, even from the start, growing slow and me being a noob, it is definitely a fighter and I didn't expect at the beginning it will make it, but here we are. For sure it will need another month or so, but no rush, it will worth it. 💪

Well I still didn't harvest, I just got a sample bud from the Auto Northern Light and one from the Auto Jack Herer, but it is understandable for them to flower slower after the problems I had with them. The Jack Herer seems closer to harvest, but the Northern Light still got some new white pistills and no amber trichomes still. Probably I will harvest partially sometimes next week and let some lower buds to get more out of it hopefully. No rush, patience is the key. 👌 The Auto Chronic is doing ok, fattening up. I will probably feed it another two weeks or so, then will start flushing it too. 👍

This week I finally harvested the Auto Northern Light and Auto Jack Herer. They didn't have many amber trichomes, but some bud tips started to get brown and dry so I chopped them to prevent any more damage. I let some lower buds that looked underdeveloped from each plant, maybe they get fatter. I tested some early samples with a vaporizer and even if I will see the full potential after curing, this girls got me quite high, very smooth and interesting flavors. Definitely my best grow by far. I'll get into more details on the harvest pages. 😁 The Auto Chronic is doing its job, getting fat and looking frostier from day to day. I'll probably feed it another week, then I'll start to flush. 👌

Seeds Mafia is the cheapest breeder that I found, at about $5 per seed. I can't say I had the best experience with growing this, but it sure was a very good learning experience. I don't know for sure until I'll grow more with seeds from them, but in my case the Auto Northern Light had a self topping mutation after the first node. In the end it turned out fine and it is the plant that I got the most yield with, 21 grams of bud and 2.1g of trim, that self-topping sure helped after all. It resisted my dumb nutrient problems, but it look that the Seeds Mafia don't have the most stable genetics. Also my first grow I had a RoyalQueenSeeds Northern Light and the smell was a bit different, I liked that more, but this is not bad either. We will see how my next grow will be with this seeds. UPDATE - I harvested the lower buds that I let another month to get fatter. It started to reveg, but I got another 6g out of it, so not that bad. 👌

This was one of my best plant that I've grown until now. It was very easy to grow, responded very good to LST and it resisted quite good to my nutrient burn beginner mistake. I will probably try to top next time e grow this strain. In the end I got 17g and 1.5g of trim, which I'm very happy with. 😍 Update - I harvested the lower buds and I got another 6.85g of dark/purple bud. Very nice! 💪

This week I started flushing the Auto Chronic. It is looking fine and it started to smell a bit more, it's amazing! It has a spell that remind me of grapefruits and I love it! 😍 The lower buds that I left on the Auto Northern Light and Auto Jack Herer have gotten a bit fatter, not much, but they look better. 👌

This week the Auto Chronic has gotten fatter, looking good and the smell is not strong but its aroma is amazing! Maybe 2 more weeks to harvest, but we'll see. 😍 The lower buds that I left on the Auto Northern Light and Auto Jack Herer started to look weird. They developed a lot of white pistils and it looks like it starting to grow some new leaves. It is looking like re-vegging, but they're autoflowers and I can't find too much info about this. I'll try to get some more info on this, if not, I will harvest them. 😬

I have left the Auto Northern Light and Auto Jack Herer lower buds to see how will this revegging thing will go. I'll let them until I will harvest the Auto Chronic, which is looking fine and close to harvest. Another week, maybe two, we'll see. 😍

This week it is the last week for them, I'll let them a few days to let the soil dry, then a day of darkness before harvest. I can't wait to finish this, I learned a lot and it was grow full of surprises. Definitely my next grow will be better after this, but I will take a brake from growing, because this grow has yielded enough for me for at least half a year, maybe even a full year. Even if I love to grow, it is still illegal here, so it is a bit stressful sometimes, even if it is pretty stealthy. But I'm sure I'll grow again sometimes. 😍😀 The Auto Chronic with all the problems it had even from the beginning, it turned out a nice plant and even if it is the smallest plant, with the smallest yield, I think the smell of it is my favorite from all 3 and I can't wait to taste it! 😍

Intitially I didn't think this plant will make it. The seedling had only one small leaf and was growing very slow, but after it got it's first node of single blade leaves it started to grow normally, but it took a month more then the other plants to be ready to harvest. In the end it turned out a pretty nice plant and the flavor is my favorite, it amazing.😍 Very nice grapefruit smell and nice frutty taste, I love it! 😍