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Steady growth, nothing exciting to report really. Growth isn't super fast, but isn't super slow at this point either. Problems started the following weeks,
That's when the problems started - autos potted up, humidity increased massively, all plants start sweating profusely and stop eating (and growing).
The other thing I suspect wasn't helpful was the LST, probably a bit too much for young autos.
When an auto still hasn't shown pre-flowers at week 5 or 6, does that mean the entire growth cycle will be longer - or will it simply have that much less time for flowering once it starts doing that?
The flowering time will take the same amount of time. The start date of flowering won’t have anything to do with the length of flowering. But the longer it takes to start flowering will certainly extend the overall growing time
One of the autos has started adding buds to nodes - saw the first pistils last week, now the top 3 nodes all have 4 tiny buds each.
The CMH light is delayed - the bulb delivered was defective, collection next week and who knows when they'll send out the replacement. No matter, I've ordered a replacement bulb elsewhere, I reckon that is quicker than navigating the hostile customer "service" waters in this country.
Should the wee Haze not be a wee bit bigger by now? It's been fed a light mix of Canna Start nutes (for seedlings/clones), Rhizo, CalMag & Cannazym. Certainly not been over-watered (maybe under?). Sitting in its final 12L pot already, so no root disturbance for two weeks now.
I took a look at the earlier weeks of the whole diary. I think the whole lot of them are growing really slow, you even chopped 2 of them for the same reason. And the only reason I see that cause that is low temperature; you've been having 20°C to 22°C (68F to 72F) during the day, which is kind of low, and you don't even mention lights out temperatures, so I assume they are even lower. Keeping the temperature above 23°C (73F) and below 26°C(79F) will speed up your rate of growth dramatically.
Moved the photosensitives to their own diary, made more sense considering they're for learning while this grow is just to get some quick buds.
They seem a lot healthier now, and they have all started flowering. Just need to make sure I get all fungus gnats out.
This week I've started defoliating the autos a bit. Removed yellow turning bottom leaves, and all growth that was unlikely to turn into colas in time.
If the bud sites continue to fatten up a bit and remain reasonably seed-free, this might actually produce a small harvest in June. They probably have about 5-6 more weeks to go, I reckon - but then, I really have no idea.
What few and small bud sites they have continue to fatten up. However, I need to do something about the temps that have been rising here lately.
Also, the buds have started smelling weird. It's my first grow, so maybe they smell normal, but they've started smelling very floral-y compost-y etc. - RH is always less than 40% these days in that cabinet, and there are 2 small fans circulating air, so I don't think it's bud rot, but I suppose I could be wrong. It has happened before. Both, bud rot, and me being wrong.
I think the 1st NL and the Critical Kush are further along by a week or so, they look and smell like it, and they also started flowering a week before the other two.
I reckon I should start to flush now for the next 2 weeks or so until harvest. Would you agree with this estimate, and is there anything critical I need to look out for at this stage? They're about to start their 5th and 6th week of flowering, respectively.
With coco you don't want to flush more than 1 week, since it holds no buffer of nutes. You still have 2 to 3 more weeks of flowering, so don't flush yet,
I would wait for the calyxes to swell, from that point you should have just 1 week for the thricomes to mature.
Some trichome shots. It's probably still too early to give them the chop, but the trichs are mostly milky now.
I'm flushing two of them at the moment, will give the other two more time (one of which still seems to be fattening up, despite already being the fattest). Edit: aaaaand it's due to foxtailing. Which was due to heat (issue solved since a few days, but obviously the problem has already done its damage).
3 of 4 are harvested - collecting pics, quick-dry vape impressions etc. for a harvest post at the moment, might be a while. The nicest smelling one of the lot is also the one that is taking the longest and is going to yield the most (yay!). I've just now started the flush on her.
Critical Kush & NL #3 "Melon" have just been put in curing jars after a week of air drying. I'm using a Boveda pack in one of the jars to try it out, conventional burping for the other one.
NL #2 "Pepper" ... ehh. She was supposed to start drying today, but the pepper smell of this one was so overpowering I decided that she was an excellent candidate to try a water cure. I'm hoping the water will cure that nasty smell and make her smooth. If she has to be tasteless so be it. Beats black pepper. Ugh. Just say no to pepper-y phenotypes, kids!
One thing needs pointed out first: my first grow, plants were massively stressed by a succession of different things, and in the end I was just glad that there was something to harvest at all. Not the plants at fault here, just my utter newbishness. All things considered they actually turned out to be a more than decent vape once dried properly - with increased curing more and more of the taste returned, in this case melon-y (the first harvested, very nice) and lemon-y (the last one harvested, still curing) and pepper-y (ehhh ... I water-cured that one, wasn't keen on the taste at all). If I had a guarantee that I'd get the melon-y phenotype I'd grow them again.
The plants took about 4 months from seed to harvest - but the only reason is that I stressed them so much (although not intentionally), that pretty much doubled the veg period. I'm sure they're a lot faster in an experienced grower's hands.00
One thing needs pointed out first: my first grow, plants were massively stressed by a succession of different things, and in the end I was just glad that there was something to harvest at all. Not the plants at fault here, just my utter newbishness.
That said, the Critical Kush was by far my favourite in this grow. Tasted really nice and was very strong.
The plants took about 4 months from seed to harvest - but the only reason is that I stressed them so much (although not intentionally), that pretty much doubled the veg period. I'm sure they're a lot faster in an experienced grower's hands.
Looking good 😎 mostly milky with a few ambers I see. If it were me I’d wait until there was roughly 15-20% Amber trichomes then I’d flush till the leaves lose nutrients (yellow). Would be about a week. Then should be good to chop.
I’m no master so take anything I say with a pinch of salt. ✌️🏻
@FireKing, Cheers! I'm going to do that for NL 1&2, or "Lime" & "Pepper". Started the flush on the Critical Kush and NL 3 "Melon" last night, to be harvested next weekend. I realise this is early, but a) the CK has some amber already and normally runs a shorter flower period than NL, and b) I want to compare a 'late' harvest with 'early' harvest in terms of effects etc.
Hi Camalla. Maybe now you know it but i may have a few advices for you. Automatics are very tricky. They looove smooth and loosen soil, and enough space in the pot.its possible that if the roots hit a small potground they may stop grow and in worst case start to flower It is the best to put them after germination directly into the final pot(around 11l) give them a mixture with perlite so the soil is fluffy. ok thats it happy growing
@FireKing, two higher-res pics now up, of the Critical Kush and the "melon" Northern Lights. Took me a while, mostly because my phone is too old for the microscope. But I can use it on a desktop. For now that's okay.
I've not started writing the big chop post yet (it might not actually get all that big), but suffice it to say that so far, having dried, cured (somewhat), and sampled (a lot) 2 of the Northern Lights and the Critical Kush, I can say that I'm most impressed with the latter. Going to try a few more strains, but a photo version of that one would definitely be on my shortlist for recurring appearances in my grow tent - smell, potency, bag appeal, it's all there.
NL #3 "Melon" got the chop today - wet weight after a quick trim with only the stems needed for grabbing the buds was 59g, which I reckon is going to be anything between an eighth and a quarter ounce dry. I'm a little bit surprised it's actually this much after stunting them so severely early on.
She smells *so much* like a ripe honey melon. This is going to be a long week, man ...
They're actually looking like they're getting fatter than I thought they would after stunting them so much in the beginning. Granted, they took almost twice as long to mature. But I'm glad it's not just a few popcorn buds after all.
Och they smell absolutely lovely! And oddly enough, different from each other.
NL 1 is strongly lemon. NL 2 is much more honey melon, and NL 3 has some weird pepper-y smell to it.
When they don't need watering I'd just sit there burying my nose in their colas. 😑 😁
Argh! See ... "in person" those calyxes *do* look pretty swollen on 2 of 4 plants. But I can't for the life of me take a half decent picture which looks like that is indeed the case. Eff me, photography shouldn't be this hard!
There is a distinct observable difference in calyx-swollenness between NL 1&2 on one hand and NL3 and Critical Kush on the other. I also think the wee little balls of goodness are starting to look milky on the latter two, giving them a bit of this frosty powder sugar-y look. And unlike the NL 1&2, the pistils on them are more dry & brown than fresh & white at this point.
I'm assuming that means I should start flushing these two (and keep feeding NL 1&2 until they look the same).
Liking the look of that Critical Kush, @Barneys - I just wish I hadn't stunted her growth so much in the beginning by being such a newb. Anyhow, I do have another Critical Kush auto seed, so I'm bound to try this strain again at some point.
Okay, so at least one of them has already been pollinated!
The oldest/largest flowers have seeds in them already. I did not see any male pollen sacs that were open. I did not see any bananas in female buds. How are there seeds? :(
This is not going to be many grams.
Last week I took a cutting from one of the already flowering Northern Lights - I know, totally silly idea, but I just wanted to see what happens when you try to clone an already flowering auto.
Well, I saw what happened - it's turned male. :D
Yeah, looking back I think Athos is spot on - my temps have been way too low, and I didn't think it that critical compared to, say, humidity - so it went largely ignored that lights out temps dipped into the 13-17 degrees range some nights. Oh dear. Well, there is a new light in there now that's making the whole thing a few degrees warmer, but I reckon it will all be more stable once the cabinet is set up properly, with ventilation etc. - I'm going to get there (although the first crop is likely to suffer).
Chamalla
