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My first grow of 5 Bruce Banner Auto have lived a hard life of inexperience. Mistakes include initially using 7 gallon fabric pots in a 2x4 tent (3g works fine), a leaf-eating infestation, no defoliation and a severe case of pandemic-induced overattention. It was the only game in town. Being weeds, my plants have been forgiving and harvest is skittering to the finish line!
Perpetual grow being my intent, I bought the ILGM Auto Variety Pack hoping to be a more knowledgeable, less fretful parent to the magic plant. I’m looking forward to comparing the three varieties. In my tent, I’ll have two 7 week plants, a one five week and three seedlings.
Let’s see how it goes.
All three of my first seeds from ILGM failed to germinate. Fortunately the second three all germinated and are below the soil.
I finally have three seeds cooking. The ILGM Auto Girl Scout Cookie started to germinate but quit in the soil. I have two early seedlings of Gorilla Glue and Bruce Banner. I put a germinated Gorilla Glue in today.
In my 2x4 tent, I have three plants in late flower with the light 16 inches over the canopy. The three seedlings are getting only tangential light so as not to overpower them for my perpetual grow.
Overall, very disappointed with this ILGM 15 auto flower seed purchase. Four duds out of seven seed germinating attempts. ILGM told me to try to germinate all 15 seeds over time and they’ll make it good. We’ll see.
Still trying to successfully germinate a fourth ILGM seed, 7 have failed. But all is good. Started some Fish Shit. They’re doing well with the light 100% but indirect. Their sitting below my dry net with two Bruce Banners.
I love FF Ocean Forest! For 5 weeks everyone is so happy. My challenge is keeping them happy thereafter.
My ppm’s checking the runoff’s were 500ppm. I’ve been so disappointed with the yield of my first grow, I’ve decided to feed it FF Grow/ Fish Shit/ Cal-Mag tea despite planting in Ocean Forest. PPM’s now at 1000 or so.
Again, to increase yield, I bit the bullet and topped #6 & #7 today, in addition to maintaining the LST I began this week. I’m also slowly moving them under the light, which is on at 100%/18 inches since I have a 9 week old Bruce Banner Auto. It’s a long way from harvest unlike its brothers who were done at 9 weeks.
Growing well has been a challenge after 5 completed girls. Small yields are discouraging.....but it beats buying weed and it has provided a magnificent obsession during COVID-19 isolation.
Grow on!
The end of Week 4. I fed #6 and #8 to a ppm of 1200. #7 was already at 1720. With FF Ocean Forest, I’ve chronically underfed I believe. So I’m trying to learn how to supplement.
For veg, I’m using a tea with FF Grow, FF Bloom, Cal-Mag and molasses. Flowering is looking imminent for 6 & 7, so will switch teas soon. I’ll likely replace FF Grow with Dr. Earth Bloom and Bud scratched into the soil. I’m folial feeding with Fish Shit.
After topping, 6 & 7 are being LST’d and tucked. Their growth is so robust. #8 is a younger, weaker sister, previously a light burn victim.
Today was preventive Neem Oil day which, along with Mosquito Bits mixed with perlite covering the soil, has solved pest issues. There’s a single insect on my sticky traps.
Everyone is happy and I’m learning to keep it that way.
Week 5’s end had all three sisters in early flower. Last week, I continued my experiment in frequent feeding, keeping ppm in the 1600-1700 range, in an attempt to increase my pathetic yields in my first two auto grows. I switched to top-dressing the plants with Dr. Earth bud and bloom for flowering. I’m still using FoxFarm Bloom, in addition to Cal Mag and follial feeding Fish Shit.
While LSTing #6, I noticed an area where the leaves were damaged (chewed?) and the emerging flowers appeared stressed. Fearing an insect infestation, I sprayed Neem Oil on and under the leaves of all the plants. I also sparingly sprayed permethrin on the suspect area.
#7 is the most vigorous plant I’ve grown so far. She loved topping and responded fantastically to FoxFarm Grow/Bloom combo.
#8 Is the youngest sister but flowered along with the others. She took a while to recover from light burn.
I have the lights dimmed not wanting to burn a seedlings in the tent.
¡Caramba! Disaster struck when I broke the main cola while performing low stress training. I was bummed but realized the energy will divert to other areas.
Otherwise, always well. This grow, I’ve gotten much better results as far as size. I’ve done three things different: I’ve started feeding regularly, using carbon dioxide supplementation and folial feedings with fish shit.
Everyone is happy as we finish Week 6.
The one aspect I’ve avoided learning or checking is soil pH. I’ve pH’d my water and nutrients and hoped that was enough.
It wasn’t.
My prize plant which has been so robust started showing stress and yellow scoring on leaves. My soil pH meter said 7-8. I flushed with a gallon of vinegar water at 5.1pH. The run off was 5.9. I hope that I acted correctly and timely. Fingers crossed.
Time to check the other ladies.
Big disappointment! #7 Gorilla Glue was so robust. Then I saw checking on the leaves pointing to pH issues, but I checked via three methods: soil test kit, litmus paper and gauge and all said normal. The soil test kit showed very high N and K, not surprisingly because I was feeding all the plants aggressively but the run-off PPMs have been 1200-1700.
To me this says that checking run-off is not a reliable method of gauging nutrients. I had been top dressing with Dr. Earth Flower Girl and spraying (folial feeding) with Fish Shit, assuredly a nitrogen source.
I’d welcome any feedback.
Everyone is recovered from over feeding two weeks ago. For autos, next time I’m. Going to use 1/4-1/2 recommended nutrients and give it every other watering.
I flushed the middle plant to get ready for harvest.
But, at almost 11 weeks, nobody is close to amber trichomes.
Watchful waiting. Not feeding them at this point but not flushing. I don’t flush unless I’ve over fed or to correct pH. I make edibles so a harsh smoke isn’t an issue. Though close in age, all three are very different in levels of maturity, their shape and water needs. The youngest may finish up first. I can’t wait to harvest.
This is my first grow to use new methods in an attempt to increase previous pitiful yields at harvest: carbon dioxide (Exhale), Fish Shit folial feedings and more (too) aggressive use of nutrients (FF Grow, FF Bloom and Dr. Earth Flower Girl. There has been a dramatic improvement in plant size thanks to one or all of these.
Next time: 1/3 recommended amount of nutrients given every other watering.
All three, though same aged, are in very different stages.
#6 has lived a bountiful, happy and youthful life. No major mishaps as it only now has looong buds and should weigh in well at harvest.
#7 was my first really hearty girl but had difficulty with overfeeding. It’s buds are fattening up nicely and I want to let it ride to maximum bud size. I’ll watch the trichomes closely. Maybe another week.
#8 had its life challenges with light burn early on and Nutrient burn later. Thank God they’re weeds! Still, 0.95 ounce yield was disappointing. It smokes well, however.
My next grow is in progress and the plants have gotten enormous from a veg standpoint. In the past, I underfed, then I overfed. Hopefully, this grow will land me in the sweet spot.
Grow On!
This is my third grow and by far the most successful in size and yield. Happily, the next generation )in the photo on the right) is going to be much bigger, yet!
Before I was using FF Ocean Forest, a little FF Bloom and that was about it. For this grow, I added FF Grow, Fish Shit and Enhance CO2. One-or all-of these has/have made an enormous difference for the better.
I’m still learning the sweet spot as I’ve flirted with overfeeding throughout this grow.
My new regimen: FF Ocean Forest soil, FF Grow at 1/2 strength added once about Week 4, Fish Shit is added 1/2 recommended strength to water and folial feeding every few days. I use 1/4 strength FF Bloom every other feeding. Week 5, I scratch 1/4 strength Mother Earth Flower Girl into the soil every other week until Week 8-9, depending how far along the plant is.
Of the three plants, #7 came in at 2.1 ounces, more than twice my previous average. The final plant, #6 Bruce Banner, is taking its sweet time and just starting to fins up at 12 weeks. It’ll be worth the wait.
FINISHING UP: This grow has been a great transition, taking me from being a very disappointed newbie to a grower who’s finally started to achieve consistent success. Previous grow averages were less than an ounce BUT my #6 Bruce Banner Auto, harvested today, should come in about 2 ounces
The best part is that my subsequent grow, at ten weeks, has the possibility of a three ounce plant and two nearly as large. Fingers crossed.
As said in my last entry: three things have made a big difference, all started for this grow: Enhance CO2 bag, Fish Shit and more aggressive feeding with Fox Farm Grow (1/4 strength) at 3 weeks and Dr. Earth Flower Girl starting at 4 weeks (1/4 strength). This regimen keeps the plants just this side of overfed and has made an enormous difference!
Will publish the final numbers for this grow after a week of drying.
Thanks to everyone for the Likes and Comments.
This was my third grow since starting Thanksgiving 2020. I’m still seeking the nutrient sweet spot. It’s all Goldilocks: too big or too small. But there’s steady progress. After my experience with ILGM seeds, whereby the first 15 seed pack ($190) only successfully germinated 6 seeds! Although they replaced the seeds, it disrupted my medically necessary perpetual grow schedule. Mephisto will likely be my next stop.
frankiefile
