Indoor Micro Auto Soil Adventure 2.0

[SecretFarmer]

Hey folks! Welcome to my grow diary. Let's get the specs out of the way first.

Area - 40x40x140 grow tent (yes, 40cmx40cm!)
Medium - 11L Airpot with Biobizz light mix (+~30% perlite)
Lighting - 100w Invisible Sun QB (20/4)
Environmental control - 5" extraction fan leading to carbon filter
Strain - Sweet Seeds +Speed Auto
Nutes - Biotabs starter kit.
Enviornment - 20c - 25c, RH ~50%

So there we have my setup. It's a very micro set up but discretion is key. I live in an illegal country with a terrible cannabis community. Ludicrous pricing, terrible availability and quality. So it was time for me to take matters into my own hands.

This is my second grow ever, my first one was a very similar set up but with a MarsHydro blurple and Biobizz nutes. I had a pretty successful first run and managed to pull about 1.5 oz which I was delighted with. Pic attached below (jungle pic) of the previous plant on harvest day. Not the prettiest lady but I learned a lot during that grow.

I am currently on day 21 of my current grow, which has not been without problems.

I began by filling my airpot with a blend of biobizz light mix, perlite and some soil conditioners from the Biotabs starter pack. This included some beneficial fungi and rooting agents. I then gave the pot a good soak of pHd water and let it sit under the light at about 50% power for a couple of days to warm up. I germinated the seed in the final pot and it took about 4 days for a sprout to appear. I had my light at 24" and dimmed to min power, giving me a rough PPFD of 50 at the canopy at 24/0. I installed a humidity dome (cut up a plastic bottle) for about 10 days or so, and I think this had a detrimental effect on the seedling's development. She was off to a very slow start with some nasty leaf disfiguration (img 1+ 2 pics) and I was worried she would have to be pulled. I removed the humidity dome and applied a hefty dose of LITFA on the advice of another AFN memeber. It's possible the dome increased temps and humidity too much, I will be avoiding this in the future.

I applied "Plant Magic Evolution Spray" at day 15 or so, this is a foliar feed for veg. From their website "The bio-stimulants and plant hormones improve photosynthesis, the sugars fuel the growth, the trace elements and amino acids ensure growth is healthy and the humic and fulvic acids help deliver the ingredients directly into plant cells. The super wetting agent achieves rapid wetting, dispersion and improved penetration into the pores of the plant." The plant looked really good a couple of days after application but this result is inconclusive for me for now. Doesn't seem to have hurt at least.

We are now starting week 3 and the plant seems to have recovered somewhat. (img 4 + 5 marked wk 3 ) I've adjusted the light schedule to 20/4 and it will be like this until the end. I have also bumped the power up so it's about 175-200 PPFD at the canopy right now. I will keep an eye on the plant and adjust the light accordingly. Any advice here is appreciated!

I don't think it's going to be a monster in the end but life, uh, finds a way. So I will do my best to keep her healthy for the next 10 weeks. I hope you will follow along and see how this little runt develops. I am praying for an uneventful run! Today I am going to begin LST, insert the biotabs and give her a nice drink of pHd water with the biotabs feed, I can't remember the name, Orgatrex or something like that. Never used biotabs before so anyone with experience there I would love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for reading!


EDIT TO ASK: Should I remove the leaves at the first node? Not the cotyledons, the non-palmate true leaves. They look pretty nasty but there are some bud/branch sites forming at the node. Not sure it's worth keeping. I am thinking of giving the plant a week or so to establish a bit more and I might lop them off then.. thoughts?

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

LITFA That cracks me up every time I see it. Cannabis needs a minimum of 28 DLI (daily light integral) to grow well and can utilize up to 60 DLI.

You are running about 14.4 right now. Turn that light up!

Daily Light Integral (DLI) Calculator | Waveform Lighting

With a PPFD input value and total hours of use per day, Daily Light Integral (DLI) values can be calculated using our online calculator.

www.waveformlighting.com

 

[SecretFarmer]

Awesome! Thanks for the input. I have been all over the web and found various measurements for DLI, and have been keeping it in mind while adjusting the light.

I found a chart somewhere, I'll look again when not on mobile, with DLI amounts for different stages of growth. I was under the impression that you increase the DLI with the plant size. It stands to reason that a big, flowering plant a few weeks from maturity can utilise more light than a seedling, however I was not able to find much convincing evidence for this with autoflowers. The ruderalis-ness must have some impact on the plants ability to tolerate a high DLI at a young age.

I will heed your advice and crank the light for a few days and see how it goes!

Edit: I couldn't find the chart but in my searching it definitely appears that I was playing it *too* safe with the light requirements. Thanks so much for bringing that to my attention!!

I just realised that I never adjusted my PPFD measurements when I changed my lighting schedule. that was throwing my rough calculations off significantly. Thanks again.

 

[SecretFarmer]

Hi everyone,

Approaching end of week 4 sort of. I think I have counted the days wrong but it's about 28 days since germination. Thereabouts!

The plant seems to have recovered well from a rocky start. Increasing the power of the light definitely resulted in a huge improvement in growth so thanks again Mañ'O'Green

This past week I began with LST. I began using some wire ties but I got a bit paranoid about them cutting into the branches so switched to twine. The plant seems to be responding well, producing many new branches and really filling out now. I expect the stretch be fully underway in about a week's time so I'm trying to get all the bud sites on an even level before that happens.

For my previous grow I used a square pot, which really helped with the LST arrangement. I think next time I will plant the seedling a little bit off centre to give myself room to LST inside the bounds of the pot, rather than hanging over the edge. Maximizing space is everything in a tiny grow like this, and I would rather have bud sites in full light all over the pot.

I applied "Plant Magic Evolution Spray" again this week, still inconclusive on the results but the new growth looks realllly healthy, very chunky main stem. I might run two plants next time and do a side by side to see if it's snake oil or something more.

I had to water the plant twice this week, about 1.5L each time. The first time had some orgatrex from the biotabs starter kit, the second watering was just plain pHd tap water. No signs of any toxicities or deficiencies that I can see, but if some more experienced eyes catch something please let me know. Some of the oldest fan leaves have some strange markings on them, but I think that might be light stress as I've been dialing in the sweet spot this week.

I also lowered the height of the light this week and reduced the power. Still getting about 35k lumens at the canopy, which equates to just over 500 PPFD or a DLI of 36. I will keep bumping this power up as she is starting to show preflowers now. Hopefully I will have a massive plant that requires me to raise the light, but for now I figure I might as well save the pennies on the electricity bill. Extra warmth at pot level from the light is nice too.

The pics below are from today, just after lights came on and I gave her a drink. Also was adjusting LST so she's looking a little under the weather at the moment, but overall quite healthy. Temps and RH and environmental factors all seeming fine at the moment.

This plant is still a good bit smaller than my previous grow but I'm not too concerned. Things are about to get interesting and she could end up filling the whole tent still.

Any input or suggestions welcome.

Thanks for reading!

 

[SecretFarmer]

Hey folks,

Mini update to say the plant is responding really well to LST, more light etc. Impressive growth over the last 4 days. Really after bouncing back after a somewhat rough start. Pretty pleased with the shape the plant is taking and looking to have an even enough canopy. It looks a bit on the small side still but if I undo the LST ties it's actually a pretty tall plant! I was worried I messed up LST as in my previous update the plant was taking on a bit of a bonsai shape. Since then it's bushed up and there are some nice bud sites forming on the canopy.

The weather here has gone snowy so I have switched the light schedule back to 24/0. My heat mat wasn't doing enough to keep temps up in the lights off period and it dropped to about 15c at one point. I have adjusted the light power and height to keep hitting good DLI numbers.

The medium is drying out a lot quicker now with bigger plant plus more light, so I'll probably give her a drink later today or tomorrow. Still just plain tap water pHd to about 6.5. I use Biobizz organic ph down fwiw, as my tap water comes out about 8.5 -_-

If anyone spots anything insidious in the photos please let me know. Time will tell whether my biotabs application was effective or not..

Thanks for reading.


Edit to ask: thoughts on defoliation? I have read conflicting reports online re: defoliating autoflowers. Some steer clear and others swear by it. As this plant is stocky and very bushy now, I am considering some light removal of big fan leaves over the next week to get more light to developing budsites, but don't want to interfere with growth too much now that she's looking nice and healthy. Any input appreciated.

 

[SecretFarmer]

Hey folks,

Day 33 by my count.


Another quick update plus question. Plant is looking great! I haven't had to do any defoliation yet, the growth over the last few days has been extremely impressive and allowed me more room to tuck and bend leaves instead of snipping them off.

My question is related to some mild nute burn I have noticed. I think it's nute burn anyway, could possibly be light bleaching. My question: how to regulate N toxicity (or any type of toxicity) when using BioTabs? For anyone unfamiliar with these, they are dishwasher tablet sized chunks of organic, slow release ferts. You place the tablets in the soil and as you water it gets broken down. So how can I reduce the rate at which it breaks down, or is that even possible? Like I said, there are some mild signs of nute burn and just want to figure it out before it gets out of control. I am hoping the 100% organic nature will allow problems in the soil to rectify themselves but any experienced users....

Some snaps included for posterity.

Thanks for reading!

Edit: you can see the nute burnt tips on the top furthest to the left in both pics, this is the main top of the plant. Hard to see but some slightly burnt and clawing tips. The rest of the plant and new growth looks pretty healthy

 

[SecretFarmer]

Day 35 by my reckoning. The plant is looking decent I think. Not much development of the clawing/burning tips. I asked in the Infirmary section and am reasonably convinced that this is nute burn from over-ferting with biotabs - I maybe should have just put 1 in the soil instead of 1.5 but live and learn. I did some more scouring of grow forums and found some people in the same spot who flushed their medium, resulting in even worse nute burn... so I am proceeding very cautiously from here. I am praying that the organic environment will sort itself out over the next while, given enough care.

Today I gave her 1.5L of plain water pHd to 6.3. This resulted in a tiny bit of runoff so I know the pot was saturated at least. I expect watering to ramp up pretty significantly as the plant enters the next phase of growth. I am expecting another week or so of stretching and then for flowering to kick in fully, although there are plenty of pre-flowers and pistils growing all over the plant. It's a girl, at the very least.

Biotabs recommend another feed of Orgatrex around week 5/6 but I'm gonna hold off for at least 7 days before adding more feed to the pot.

I have been LSTing daily for the last week, trying to promote a bushy, globular shape to the canopy. It's working pretty well so far. I'm definitely going a bit heavy handed, way more so than my last grow, but it doesn't seem to phase this lady. I am using twine attached to my tent poles plus some ground forks that I picked up recently. The penetration of the light seems sufficient but there were a couple of fan leaves that were blocking too much for my liking so they got the snip. Literally only 3 or 4 cuts but it improved the air flow in the undercarriage. This pleases me, as the shape my plant was taking resulted in half of the soil in direct light and the other in full shade, this has improved a bit now.

Comparing this with my first grow of the same strain I estimate this is about a week behind in development. Obviously this sample size doesnt mean much but it's all I have to work with for now. Not counting days to harvest really but based on these thoughts there is probably another 7-8 weeks left on this plant. Not gonna be a super speedy harvest in that case but it's my own fault for blundering in the beginning. I'm already excited for my next run.

Anyway, I will leave it here before rambling too much. Pics below.

Thanks for reading!

 

[SecretFarmer]

Day 39 and things are getting out of control... in a good way!

The plant has exploded over the last few days. I am pretty pleased with the canopy, shape and overall development of the plant. There are some unhealthy looking tips, likely from nutrient burn as the biotabs seem a bit too hot for this plant, but with no effective way of flushing or amending the nutes I just have to carry on as it is. I am not as concerned as I was when the signs first appeared, as whatever is going on hasn't seemed to affect the growth too much or at all! I've included a close up image of the main stem and the damage, and you can see more in the other pics if you zoom in

I have amended my light schedule to 20/4 now, as the weather has improved a bit here. I have the lights off in the evening/night when we are at home and have the central heating on, which helps keep the room warm. My thermometer has been reading a consistent 20c at lights off and that's enough for me, and the plant it seems. Ranges are 20-24c at lights on, with RH stable at 45-55%. Environment is fairly dialed in at this point so very happy with that in my micro set up.

It's getting pretty bushy in there now, so I think I will do some mild defoliation over the next few days. I've snipped off a few leaves here and there but since the last update its gone a bit jungley. I am reluctant to go crazy with the snips so I will be conservative enough with my defol and just take off what is necessary. I wouldn't want to exacerbate any problems from over ferting by stressing with excessive defoliation, but there are a significant number of bud sites in the shade at the moment.

Question: I have the light beating down ~45k lux / ~650 PPFD / ~47 DLI. Does this seem an ok range for this stage of growth? I have a bit more room to bump it up during full flower.

I haven't had to water again yet, but probably in the next day or so. Still holding off on the second feed of Orgatrex from the biotabs starter pack - I will see how flowering develops over the next 7-10 days and look to feed again then. I have some biobizz liquid nutes that I can use to amend P and K if necessary, but I'm hoping the biotabs will be enough to see me through.

Some snaps below.

Thanks for reading!

Edit to ask: I have an EC meter that I've never used - would it be prudent to measure some runoff and can I gauge from that whether or not a nute lockout is occuring or likely to occur, and what sort of ranges should I be looking for?

 

[SecretFarmer]

Another quick update for 40 days and nights. We are at the point where daily changes are noticeable and drastic.

I gave her a drink last night as she was a bit droopy, about 2L dechlorinated tap water pHd to 6.8ish. Still holding off on more nutes as the plant isn't looking particularly hungry to my eyes. I'll probably add some Orgatrex in the next watering, and maybe some biobizz bloom for the following waterings if necessary.

Continuing with mild defoliation to expose bud sights. Not visible in the pics are two mini tops that didnt quite make it above the canopy, but they are getting nice direct light at the back of the tent. I messed up the timing of my LST a bit with those two, but they look extremely healthy.

Overall I think it's coming along nicely. Happy with the height of the plant, much taller and I'd be running out of space to hang my light. Got about 3" of usable clearance between light and fan mount. Could make a bit more if I re-jigged the way my light is hanging, but I think the stretchiness is slowing down now as the flowers are starting to get a bit pom pom-ey. I might eat my words.

Snaps below, will be back on Sunday for 6 week update and maybe some natural light pics.

Thanks for reading!

 

[SecretFarmer]

Hey folks, D42 here and things progressing nicely. The buds are spitting out pistils like there's no tomorrow. I have rotated the plant as some of the tops at the back were not getting much light, and as a result didnt quite reach the canopy level. This will affect the quality in the end but I'm not too concerned. This is a run to get a feel of my new setup so as long as I end up with something smokeable at the end, I will be happy.

She seems to be drinking a lot more now, I will need to water again tonight after the lights off period and I'm thinking of adding some Orgatrex to the feed. I will play it by ear and see, I think if I feed her now or in 4 days won't make a huge difference but we'll see.

Some of the leaves looking a bit rough but it doesn't seem to have affected growth too much.



I applied some very minor LST to the tops sticking above the canopy just to try and keep them even for the next few days, she's still stretching a bit but slowing down so hopefully just growing sideways from now.

Thanks for reading!