Very First Grow

BelgianBudtender saw the tips of the plants first real leaves were pointing upwards, thinking it was light stress I lowered my lights down to the manufacturers recommended 50% power, as previous it was at 100% at 24" which I think was a little too much. Could also be a slight nutrient burn from being into slightly hot soil, either way by day 6 both plants are looking alright, I think. Since its my first time im still struggling with some basics, like keeping the environment, watering properly etc. That's also why I went with Easy Boost organic Nutrients by RQS, so I can just water start to finish and have one less thing to worry about. I think for my next grow I will try Canna Coco or the Canna Terra nutrient line

BelgianBudtender Got a new tent with a little more space, whilst still staying stealthy. I gave them their first full watering with RQS Easy Grow Booster early this week. white monster is looking a bit sad at the end of the week, I'm thinking she may have been too close to the fan, her stalk is thick though, twice as thick as the Auto Ultimate The White Monster Automatic was a freebie from Zamnesia and it was really a last minute decision to grow alongside the Auto Ultimate, It has Almost half the advertised growing time when compared to the Auto Ultimate, Its going to be interesting to see how that works out. Zamnesia also advertises the White Monster as a great newbie strain. Both girls are very short and the nodes are nice and close together, really happy I got no stretching!

BelgianBudtender Week 3, plants are growing fast, starting to feel more comfortable with my new set up, doing research and buying the right equipment was stressful, lol. planning to do plain waterings at pH 6 until the plants show any sign of deficiency Started LST this week, I feel like they are ready to receive it. The Auto ultimate is so small and dense it is really tricky, especially since it's my first time. also decided to snip of a single leaf on each plant, I want to try and have multiple tops, and it was covering a lot of nodes and I couldnt really tuck it, It will probably be the only defoliation I will do if I can help it. The White Monster is growing some weird growth below her Sugar leaves, Mutation? Will definitely keep an eye on it as she grows.

BelgianBudtender Rough start of week 4, The Auto ultimate seemed very droopy at the start of day 21 and the first true leaves are showing some yellowing, I tested my soil and water PH, both seem fine, I think it may have been underwatering, My water frequency seemed alright, but I dont think I fully saturated my medium and let the centers of the pot dry out. I promptly watered untill I got runoff and a day later both plants seem to have really perked up, I'm afraid I may have stunted the Ultimate a little, she's still growing and very bushy though, both plants smell like a fresh bush of nettles and seem very firm. I think Im going to be less paranoid about overwatering, the plants are in fabric pots and get plenty of airflow, if anyone has more tips on how to foolproof the whole watering, I would really appreciate it. Its by far the most stressful part, since im never sure when enough is enough and not too much or too little

BelgianBudtender I think the plants are flowering now, aside from a few newbie mistakes last week everything is going well. They're certainly bigger than I thought they would be at just over a month old, I was thinking just last week how I shouldve planted 4 plants in my tent, seeing just 2 fighting for space already makes me glad I didn't. Did some more defoliation, I felt it was the right thing to do, the plants, especially the Auto Ultimate, were so bushy and many lower flowersites were completely blocked from the light there's also a little Kush OG by Kera seeds vegging in the corner, I plan to use her to get a headstart on my next grow

BelgianBudtender I'm really happy with the plants at the start of week 6, the plants are still stretching and a familiar scent fills the room. I will be reducing the Terra bloom dose a bit this week, whilst there has been no significant signs of overfeeding or lockouts (To my beginners eye, anyway) I do realise I have to thread carefully, as Ive heard Auto flowers are quite sensitive to nutrients. both plants seem to be in full flower now, the flowers on the Ultimate especially are really pretty, I have no comparison or reference though since Ive never seen an alive weed plant at this stage before, but its starting to feel as if there will be something to harvest at the end of all of this, which is exciting!

BelgianBudtender Starting out week 7 the Auto Ultimate is really getting thick, I dont have a lot to compare it to but her buds are so much thicker and harder than the White Monster's The White Monster and Auto Ultimate both showed some problems on some of their leaves, mainly brown spots and yellowing. I checked the run off EC and pH and both seem fine and within range, my led lights were getting a bit close and most of the yellowing is on the areas closest to the light, so for now I assume light burn, I raised the light as high as possible and turned it down juuuuuust a bit. I will keep monitoring the plants as they progress through this week

BelgianBudtender Start of week 8 the Auto Ultimate is really stealing the show, wondering what this girl could've done in a bigger pot without a newbie holding her back, the buds are dense and slightly sticky to the touch, I hope the White monster follows suit and fattens up a bit. The Auto Ultimate isn't phased by anything and appears to really be enjoying the addition of Green Sensation, The white monster on the other hand is showing some lightly burnt tips on some leaves, It's really hard to tell if the white monster is just more sensative to all the additives or whether her foliage is turning light autumn colours, the margins of her leaves are definitely turning red and not brown. I cannot wait to start my next run having learned so much, I have so many seeds I cant wait to try. In the future, if I for sure know the Autoflower strain is an XXL, like the Auto ultimate I will give the entire tent to one plant in a slightly bigger pot. I thought I could get away with planting the White Monster, It was advertised to be a very small and stealthy auto that finishes in 8 to 9 weeks, If I hadn't LST'd this plant it wouldve grown over 120cm tall in this 11L pot and has at least another 3 weeks of flower in her if I had to guess.... My little OG kush Photoperiod was much further from the light and its leaves look so much healthier than both of the Autos did when it was its size, wonder if the light burn i gave to my plants early on in life stunted them at all

BelgianBudtender coming up to day 60, pistils are starting to turn brown, the white monster is finally fattening up a bit, I really hope she finishes soon, said to be a 8 to 9 week harvest from seed. not much happened last week, I expect smooth sailing untill harvest Another thing I have learned last week is that peat moss really likes to be watered once a day, and the plants really dont seem to mind the daily irrigation either, there's plenty of oxygen available to the roots with my set up and in my next run I will water on a schedule as soon as the plants have an established root system. I'm not sure how much smokable material I will be able to harvest from these plants, but even if it turns out to be 0 grams I will consider this whole experience a success. maintaining a little garden of plants does wonders for my mental health and I think I have found a new hobby in growing, It's truly a shame that something so innocent and harmless can be illegal and frowned upon.

BelgianBudtender Dilemma in the garden, my little Kush Plant that I germinated at week 5, expecting the White Monster to be done and out by the time it needed the space, is now choked for space, I'm really liking the Kush's response to my topping and general growth, so I want to keep it around. So I'm making a tough call that a lot of people would disagree with me with and I have decided to harvest the White monster Automatic at the end of this week, she will get her last feed on Wednesday, and then catch 48 hours of darkness. Her trichomes aren't ready at the start of Week 10, I would say 70% cloudy, 30% clear. but in all honesty she was never going to be a THC powerhouse, the strain is advertised to be a small, quick Indica autoflower with 12% THC. In the future, I will not pop free seeds alongside strains that I purchase, and instead will be doing single strain runs.

BelgianBudtender I made many mistakes, what started as a little project has now turned into a hobby, I've always been into the idea of hydroponics and gardening and I can't believe it took coffee shops shutting down due to corona for me to finally dip my toes into it, my second grow is halfway through flower now and I'm already planning my fourth, which will be Peace lillies! Won't give me the same high as weed does, but oh well!

BelgianBudtender I have absolutely no clue how long is left, the light has been switched to 12-12 because the little side experiment that's in the tent has to flower. It seems like she is still getting bigger... Start of Week 11 there is still plenty of clear trichomes

BelgianBudtender Not much has changed, still just chugging along at day 79. Leaves are yellowing including worryingly some sugar leaves on the buds. keeping an eye on that. STILL seeing some clusters of clear trichomes and the plant has so many white pistils Please don't mind the cat hair, I forfeit that battle a long time ago. I'm the only one who enjoys the end product anyway ;P Seeing some Amber trichomes at day 83! Flush initiated and the harvest will be somewhere next week.

BelgianBudtender I made many mistakes, what started as a little project has now turned into a hobby, I've always been into the idea of hydroponics and gardening and I can't believe it took coffee shops shutting down due to corona for me to finally dip my toes into it, my second grow is halfway through flower now and I'm already planning my fourth, which will be Peace lillies! Won't give me the same high as weed does, but oh well!