So it’s the end of Week 5, Day 35 for the Sweet Seeds Gorilla Girl XL auto flowering grow. I have come to the conclusion that these four plants are not going to be XL after their pre-flower stretch. Overall the plants are healthy but the prolonged low humidity and temperatures have robbed them of the vigorous growth documented in my previous Sweet Seeds diary (Cream Mandarine XL Autos). I am disappointed that this will most likely be an XS harvest but a tiny quantity of quality bud is better than nothing. I gave them their first feeding of GHE FloraNova Grow fertilizer at a rate of 1.25 ml/gallon and this is 1/4 of a full dose that would be given to a photosensitive strain. I am still watering every fourth day at a rate of 2.8 litres per plant or 0.7 of a litre per plant per day. I will only be using the fertilizer every other watering or every eight days. That’s about it for this update and on to… Mom’s Tip for Week #5- To Tuck or Take? The when, where, why and how to defoliate Autoflowers successfully…. Lets start with some basic Biology- Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants take in sunlight, water and Carbon Dioxide and transform it into energy in the form of sugars that feed the plant and make it grow. So essentially, every fan leaf on your plant is a solar panel collecting light and therefore valuable in it’s own right. I always try to tuck my leaves if possible before considering removal as my plants need all the energy they can get to power through until harvest. But sometimes tucking isn’t enough or just isn’t an option anymore so here are my suggestions for taking the fan leaves from your Cannabis plants if needed. When- defoliating Autos can be done anytime throughout the grow although it’s generally not done within the first 3-4 weeks. The plants are usually quite small and those early weeks are valuable growing time that these plants simply can’t afford to miss. This is when I find leaf tucking to be most valuable, allowing the plants to keep what few solar panels they have while also allowing the grower to position the leaves so that they are out of the way. I personally find that I defoliate my plants the most over the final 3-4 weeks of the grow as foliage is dying off on it’s own by that point and a few less leaves at harvest time is always a good thing! Of course anytime you see dead/dying or diseased foliage, it should be removed as needed throughout the grow. Where- defoliating Autos is a delicate balance due to their small size and short lifespan. If my plants are healthy, thriving and tucking is no longer an option, I will only remove fan leaves if they are covering/blocking new growth or potential bud sites. As the plants age and the foliage begins to die off naturally, I tend to remove the oldest, lowest growth first working my way up the plant as needed until harvest. Why- defoliating Autos is done for a few basic reasons but only as an extreme in my garden when all else fails. Removing certain large leaves will allow more light into the lower portion of the plant’s canopy reaching young branches or potential bud sites. As the plants age, it also helps with increasing airflow around your swelling buds thus reducing your risks for mold and fungi in humid grow environments. Removing any and all dead/dying or diseased foliage is absolutely necessary in keeping your plants healthy and the grow room clean and pest free. How- defoliating Autos is simple if you keep it simple. Only remove what you absolutely have to and use a sterilized set of sharp pruners for a clean, controlled cut. As the plants age and the foliage begins to die off naturally, just wait. What doesn’t fall off on it’s own will snap off with a simple twist of the leaf’s stem. If the leaves don’t come off with ease, they’re just not quite ready yet so be patient. Be mindful that removing the solar panels from your Cannabis plants is always risky business but Autoflowers are even more challenging in their own way. Smaller plants with a lower leaf to bud ratio and a short lifespan means less room for error so paying close attention to the when, where, why and how is crucial for successfully defoliating Autoflowers. Tuck if you can, only take what you absolutely have to and of course- never take more than 25% of your plant’s overall foliage at one time as this can be devastating or deadly to even the healthiest of plants. Allow your plants to take the lead and they will show you which leaves are ready to go- at what time, all on their own just as nature intended.

On week 2 she is putting out much more preflowers. She is stretching for sure but still maintaining excellent node spacing. the average ppfd is 850.

It looks like to going to the final 🙂 Trichomes slow changing a color from pure Crystal to the fogy. Next week I will start with flushing.

Esta semana apesar de tener temp Máxima de 28... se va recuperando bien de las podas, el led de TodoGrowled funciona perfectamente para sus 55w farmers!🍁

I think the green is a bit very dark. I did not increase the dose of nutrients, I stay on the same doses. LST on my baby's. Another good week of growth and I'm going into flowering

Nach der anfänglichen euphorie die Cookie Gelato wächst sehr schnell , kommt jetzt mal wieder die Erkenntnis das es in die Waagerechte immer viel langsamer voran geht. Aber sie wird immer kräftiger und drückt ordentlich das Netz hoch. Ein beherzter Low Stress ist also sehr zu empfehlen bei dieser Variationen. An Tag 47 habe die Gute ordentlich entlaubt und unnötige Zweige entfernt.

Growing good don’t trip.

This week has been low temps, low humidity, slow growth. Upped the temps, lets see what happens GHL sent me some badass cactus breath cuttings in the mail, theyve been under a dome for 6 days and lookin for some roots by next weekend Peace, internet

Day 43 - I have started LST as this plant i know won't grow much in height, im gonna use it to teach myself techniques/perfect a technique. I hope ive done a decent job of it. Excited to see what happens over next few days. Day 44 - im very proud of my little plant. It looks so strong after the first day of LST. Definitely surprised with the results. Day 45 - Plant seems to be adjusting just fine to LST i do keep checking it. There is a bit of leaves overcrowding to pne side. I will probably have to move if i can! Day 46 - I'm thinking if i need to do more LST or just leave it now to grow. Day 47 - the plant is really starting to woden out and stretch as well. I need to see when it will flower it looks like it might do soon. Day 48 - The plant looks well. I believe she has started to flower so i really have to get my fan and filter asap. Day 49 - She defo started flowing and i just bent ome stem to allow more space between each other ;But they looks really good. Also entering another competition can't win if you don't partake.

Updates kommen

48h in water 24h in paper towel All in the dark 4/5 seeds germinated so I replaced the one with a papaya cookies auto seed

D34 Defoliation

End of Week 8 (First week of flower) Increased the CO2 to 1200ppm and the ladies love it, already started stretching within the first 3 days of flower which shows that CO2 definitely boosts the grow cycle of cannabis. The main top-sites are popping up everywhere and everything looks evenly spread out. I defoliated again because the fan leaves are growing so fast and blocking bud sites. I also did one last lower canopy maintenance and removed small and stalky bud sites and stems below the trellis net to make sure I get maximum energy distribution to the main colas. I also added some GHF BioEnhancer to make sure the soil-microbes are happy and that the plants reach their maximum potential. Pest Report: EXTERMINATED! Thrips VS Ladybugs VS Neem Oil... I decided to fight fire with fire - I purchased Swirski-Mites from Koppert (They are beneficial insects that feed on the eggs and larvae of thrips and other unwanted pests). As for the adult thrips - I got very lucky and found about 10 Ladybugs in my garden and decided to introduce them into my grow room as they will feed on adult thrips and any other unwanted pests. Then to be extra sure I know that neem oil hinders the life cycle of pests like thrips causing them to stop colonising in my grow room. So I sprayed the ladies every day during the dark period to make sure there are no pests that I or the Ladybugs have missed. Mission accomplished. No more wilting and definitely no more thrips.

Close to harvest these beauties... I have checked trichomes they are ready but I still give several days more or I week from now:) No more nutrition since week 15... I want to flush them properly:)

------GENERAL COMMENT------ Nice and easy, liking to grow this girls, they are vigorous and i already can see white roots at the bottom of my 15l pots, so they rooted very well. Training wise, just some FIMing in the two girls. Had an issue with the humidifier forgot to turn off and almost burnt my LED, as the humidity raised to 99%, like growing underwater lol... ------GG.AK47 COMMENT------ This girl is exceeding my expectations, she just took off, seen massive growth, no problems at all, superb strain, she just like everything about life :).

One was more bushy and was a little behind. As I said, they had some heat stress and I think the 15-liter pots are too small when the environment is hotter. Still, they are totally worth growing and joy to smoke. They don't need much curing and the weed is very very strong. Going to try this strain again very soon!!