Indoor AB Fills the Tent!

[AndyBotwin]

Thanks Waira and eP!

Waira, I used the GO Box for a long time before switching over to AN, so feel free to shoot me any questions you may have. I do believe that Grey Bear had a jumbo Purple Amnesia, which definitely influenced my decision. I haven't had time to take any pics, but the two big girls are only getting bigger, and the Trainwreck sadly looks like it will end up less than a foot tall. It's also got some necrosis despite the pH being dead on, and overall just doesn't seem happy. Such is the case with autos - every now and then you just get one of these little gals that you have to nurse along for whatever yield you can get.

I'll try to get a proper update going later in the week. Thanks for checking in, guys!

 

[stepside]

Hey Andy, just a quick question, if you don't lst how come you don't just snap the top of the big one where you are comfy the rest will follow

 

[AndyBotwin]

I guess I'm just old school and I like to let the plants grow how they're going to grow. Thankfully I have a huge stash and I just like to keep adding variety, so I'm not really worried about getting every gram of yield that I can out of each grow.

Hey Andy, just a quick question, if you don't lst how come you don't just snap the top of the big one where you are comfy the rest will follow

 

[epenguin]

Man after my own heart. I have never weighed a crop and probably never will. Just love to grow. And variety is the spice of life. It is good to hear you say that.
eP.

 

[AndyBotwin]

Back again with a long overdue update. Things aren't exactly the Garden of Eden in the tent, but they're OK. I've been having some underfeeding issues that seem to be related to changes in my grow space. Long story short, I grow in an unfinished basement in a very humid part of the country, and generally my summer grows are high temp and high humidity. Thankfully I've never experienced any bud mold, and the plants have dealt with it just fine.

This go round I had some mold issues elsewhere in the basement, so I did some serious moisture proofing and added a dehumidifier to the space. Great news for my house overall - mold is gone and it's very dry down there. But it has affected my feeding schedule significantly. Previously when running lights on humidity of 60-70%, the plants were transpiring at a rate that required watering about every 3 days, and they seemed to handle the heat much better (hotter air holds more moisture). With the new setup, I have been more in the 45-55% range, and with temps near 90 degrees a lot of the time, the plants have suffered with heat stress and other problems. I need to water them every two days now, and they have been growing faster and consuming nutrients at a rate that I have struggled to keep up with.

Since bumping up the feedings late in veg, the premature yellowing in the older fan leaves has slowed and the plants look better overall. I am not flushing between veg and bloom nutes, as I have no concerns about nutrient build up in the soil. In hindsight I should have been doing some monitoring with my EC meter to keep on top of things better, but I used this same feeding schedule before with no problems. Just another reminder that when any parameter of your grown environment changes, you have to be prepared to adjust. On to the pics.

Day 34 - All the plants have stopped getting taller for the most part, and they just got their first feeding of bloom food.

Sour Bubbly - This one has topped out at 35.5" tall, so I'm going to call it 3 feet. Sturdy frame so she should be able to pack on plenty of bud. Not much of a distinct smell yet, but I do detect a skunky sweetness. She's struggled from some heat stress but that has not negatively impacted the many bud sites. Should easily be the top yielder of the bunch.

Purple Amnesia - She's at 29" tall and shaping up to have plenty of large buds. Strong lemon scent with this one.

Sweet Trainwreck - Well, this plant has lived up to it's name as it's never grown well and I'm being generous to say it's 11" tall. Around 3 weeks I started seeing random necrosis on some fan leaves, and I was never able to get it under control. It's on the same feeding schedule as the others, and pH has been dead on throughout. Honestly, for a plant this size I have given up chasing deficiencies & it will just finish out however it's going to. The good thing is that the main cola is already hardening up and the sweet grape smell is amazing, so the harvest should be tasty. I figure she'll be done by day 60 and hopefully I'll salvage close to an ounce.

Spanish Diesel (Day 31) - This one is just under two feet tall and may put on another inch or two before she's done. Nice citrus aroma but not much diesel coming through right now. As it's a bit younger I think I got ahead of the underfeeding quicker than with the two larger plants, so I'm hopeful that she'll do really well in flower.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

[hecno]

What a lovely sight to see as I head off to work .

 

[epenguin]

I was thinking, so so, not too bad.....Then I saw it was day thirty odd !!!

Feck me Andy....way to go chum.....you won't fill the tent, you will stuff it. Let us hope so pal.

I like 'em big.......

BIG

 

[Waira]

Sir Bot's, how are ya mate? ..all's well I trust! ...I was looking at your profile posts, and saw the dates on things--!!! ...I swear, I wrote you a couple weeks ago,... ....Time sense disfunction man, I got it bad! -- apologies my friend,...

Them ladiez are looking plenty nice brudda! And what a size diversity, ay? ...just goes to show, how persnickity and perversely diverse these little auto buggers are at time! I swear, there's almost no accounting for it at times.... ... Add a dash of irony too,.. that fan yellowing, which I seem to get often, is something I wanted to chat with you about! LOL! shit!... I'd blame the new GO nute's, with mine, but the photo's at my "client" grow are showing similar signs, and they've been getting mostly SeaGrow feeds which you know are anything but mild! ..more -- it looks like plain ol' N demand, causing a bit of defc., but I swear, I put in as much extra as I dare, and doesn't seem to really help! Even had some very minor tip curl,.... So, you're thinking, the transpiration freeway has been sped up more than usual now, and they're pulling out just a bit faster than you're putting in? AN nutes are pretty mild, right? Have you upped the feeds any, like I tried? (I added or swapped in epsoms, to get extra S in there too),.... Well, whatever the fans say, the juicy bud development is talking all the louder! .... That TW is speedy little thang,... she'll be done right soon! You'll love her zippy Sativa-dom. buzz,... very sweet fruity aroma when done-- hope she keeps the grapey flavah! Of course, the classic Sweet resin coating all the way,...
... SB is !! Polar opposite of her cousin Sour Crk. from last run,...... She's gonna load up just fine! I always love the early, generous trich' development on 'Phisto gear -- she'll be a Spank-O-Vision star very soon! .... And her PA and SpD co-stars too! .... guess you got a bit unlicky with the color show,... Meh!- maybe you'll get a unique aromatics profile along with it, like the Sweet girls do when they show those rare green pheno's in the Red family,....... looking forward to the next update my friend,...


***...have you torn down the 2-story 'mater beast yet? You must have pasta sauce in 55gal drums by now!

 

[AndyBotwin]

My apologies for abandoning this journal! I've been slammed with work and family stuff and honestly, the grow has been lackluster so it's been hard to get motivated to make the time for photo sessions. I finally got off my ass and took some pics yesterday as things are winding down. First, let me address some of your points, Waira.

I do feel that the problems I have been having are down to environmental issues, specifically high heat coupled with low humidity. Maybe some sativas thrive in those conditions, but not these autos. Otherwise I have been feeding the same nutes, have no issues with pH, same water, same soil, etc. I just did not account for the fact that dropping humidity from around 70 to under 50 would have this much of an impact. I have watered/fed every 2 days, and that still was not enough to keep the plants fed as they grew extremely fast. By the time I adjusted upward on the nutes, it was really too late to get things all the way back to where I wanted them to be. I also had a nasty calcium deficiency that mainly hit the Sour Bubbly in flower (the largest plant) and I doubled my CalMag which seemed to keep it at bay in the other plants. All in all it's lessons learned for the future summer grows, because air conditioning in this space is never going to be an option.

Also, yes I do have a 15' tall wall of tomatoes strapped to my deck, and they're still pumping out fruit here in mid September. The fact that we've been in the 90s most days until this week has the plants thinking it's still mid-summer, so hopefully I'll keep harvesting them for another month or so.

Back to the tent. Basically I have been limping towards the finish line the last couple of weeks, and there is very little foliage left on the plants. They've all had their last feeding and are on a water cleanse until harvest in the next week or two. On one hand I'm bummed about the missed potential of this grow, but on the other hand I'm adding well over a quarter pound to my stash with just over 2 months of grow time. So I really shouldn't be complaining since I had everything on hand already so my only cost was the electricity. Here are some pics and details:

Day 62 - Last tent pic with the Sweet Trainwreck included.

Sour Bubbly - She looks like hell but at 3' tall she's got a lot of dense bud on board and will be a very good yielder. The smell is hard to nail down, but mainly just your old fashioned skunk with a bit of citrus mixed in.

Purple Amnesia - I'll let this one go a bit longer, as the bud is still putting on some density. She's foxtailing and has never been totally happy in the 85-90 degree tent. Very strong lemon smell and the buds are extremely sticky.

Sweet Trainwreck - The runt of the litter is done, and I'll be sharing some harvest pics shortly. Every now and then you get one of these when you grow autos, but I will say that despite the small size, the bud is rock hard and smells like cotton candy.

Spanish Diesel - This was a late addition to the tent, so it's actually on day 58. The main cola is huge and causing the whole plant to droop over. Just a couple of feet tall but I expect a very good yield. The diesel smell is creeping in, but there is still a strong lemon/orange candy smell.

Thanks for stopping by, and stay tuned for some harvest pics!

 

[Magic]

Looking good AB as normal that close up on the Trainwreck looks awesome. If you have not had it, I love sweet Trainwreck smoke!