New Grower Sour Diesel Auto: Low-Budget/Stealth - 1st FEMINIZED Seed Grow

[MickJ]

You will get over a gram, I would of thought. Glad I could help in a small way.

WEEK 9

Captain's log; Day 63. She's still alive & kickin'. Keeping things simple from now until harvest. Just hoping to maintain healthy bud sites & keep fattening them up for the big chop. I figure if I harvest on Week 12 & add a week for drying & another 2 weeks for curing, they should be ready to smoke about 6 weeks from now (July 18th). That feels like an eternity, lol.

But the pistils are darkening up right on schedule. There are just so MANY of them on this strain. They look like pasta or alien hair. I swear more just keep popping up all the time. I'd love it if she'd fill out more to where the buds would "run into" each other on the main stem & converge into one big cola, but maybe sativas don't get that plump. She certainly has a sativa smell about her. Very citrusy & antiseptic with hints of skunk & grapefruit. (And a bit of a pee smell, which I didn't want to mention since I used the urine ferts on her in Week 3 & people are so sketched out about that, lol. But it's the typical cat pee smell that many buds have). I suck at describing terp smells so forgive me.


Her biggest cola


Under the lights after feeding

I fed her some more of the cheap ferts tonight with her watering & threw some Tetramin in for good measure since it's her last real feeding. It's a good source of phosphorus & various other nutes and she responded well to it before in Week 5. Gonna start using the supplemental LEDs more hours per day from now until harvest to hopefully boost her potential yields.

The remaining fan leaves are in seriously sad shape, lol. One of them is curled up in a "fist" but not quite dry enough to fall off when touched. So I'm leaving 'em on. It's gonna be down to the wire. I'll be shocked if any are still hanging on by Week 12. I see now why they say not to over-prune your plants--if something goes wrong & you lose all your leaves, the bud sites will have nothing to feast on.

I looked at the Grow Weed Easy page that talks about CFLs & yields. Pretty sure I'm gonna fall short of my 0.25g-per-watt potential, haha. (That would be 21 grams since 84 watts x 0.25g = 21). But honestly I'll be happy to get "A" gram off this cutie considering the bargain basement methods I used. No real investment & all the work was fun. (Not counting my chickens before they hatch...my dad could still stomp in here & rip her up before harvest or something. Just daydreaming a bit).


Full body shot

After getting curious about her origins, I asked the seed vendor (whom I found on an auction site) whether she was derived from a Sour Diesel or NYC Diesel & was surprised to find out it's the latter. She definitely SMELLS more like the citrus, grapefruity NYC version but I was under the impression she was a Sour D from the Chemdawg family tree. (NYCD is the child of a Mexican x Afghani. Totally different strain). I still don't know exactly which auto version I have--there are many--but it's cool to know for sure what the main strain is. I absolutely loved NYC Diesel the time I tried it back in the '00s. So it's official: She's a NYC Diesel Auto! (Too bad I can't change the title of this thread lol).

The top & especially middle portion of the plant is starting to look mature with lots of dark pistils while the bottom offshoots are still 100% white & immature. I can't really see the trichomes very well with the magnifying glass...at least not well enough to judge clear from cloudy from amber. I can see their mushroom shape but that's about it. So I'm gonna have to judge from the pistils & good ol' intuition. This is when it would be nice to have a decent camera so I could get feedback from the peanut gallery. I've read that most autoflower harvest dates are projected a bit early by the breeders, so I'm still going to shoot for a Week 12 harvest since most estimates for NYC Diesel & Sour Diesel Auto are in the 9-10 week range. If I end up with some sleepy CBN smoke, I suppose that's alright with me.


Side bud


Late Week 9

Oh yeah, it looks like the flush & ferts did some real good. Check out how much green she has now compared to just last week! Thanks again for the advice, @Rollin_along!



Week 8 vs. Week 9

Sent from my comfy chair.
[emoji16][emoji41] [emoji43][emoji848]

 

[Tracer Productions]

Here's hoping! I'm bad at guesstimating. Will be chopping mid-Week 12. Thanks again for all the help. That yellowing was a close call.

 

[Tracer Productions]

WEEK 10

Day 70 has arrived. Keeping shit simple & straightforward from now until the chop. She will be getting low dose brown sugar maple syrup feedings twice this week (I don't have any blackstrap molasses or I'd use that). And then nothing but plain water in Week 11.

The smell is getting kinda noticeable finally, but mostly during lights O. This strain has been great in terms of not stinking...hoping it stays that way during harvest & drying, lol. But when ya squeeze the buds, oh man. Smells JUST like pot. I'm leaving town for a couple days in Week 11 so I'll just put her up in the dark space until I return. Don't trust my roommates to handle the plant & lights. Surprisingly, she doesn't need watered as often as most adult Solo cup plants--only once every 3-4 days or so.


Stella got her green back!


Same pose; different lighting

Gah, the buds are looking extra frosty lately. All the hairs are covered in crystals. It's so fun watching them mature. I've waited for this for a loooong time...all my aborted grow attempts in HS & college, my bitchy ex who forbade me from growing. Just enjoying the process now. I definitely feel a bit uneasy about uploading pics due to stealth/privacy issues, so this will probably be my only grow I share online to this extent. I'm sure I'll look back at it someday & laugh.

After doing some research, I decided to use real maple syrup for my final feeds this week instead of the light brown sugar in my cabinet, which contains no nutrients & only 3.6% molasses by weight. The maple syrup is dark & at least has some calcium. (I know I said no more hippie-dippie potions, but I planned to do a brown sugar feeding in Week 10 since the beginning). Will just mix a little in with her scheduled watering & see how it goes. If well, will repeat at the end of the week. We're close enough to the end that it won't be a catastrophe if things don't go great. She is truly starting to look chop-worthy.

I've caught 3 brown recluse spiders (yep, the poisonous ones) in my grow room lately using what was supposed to be a sticky mouse trap. Fuck me. Got me a little scared to hang out in my room especially at night when they're roaming about. Will have to do a thorough-ass cleaning once this grow is done & finish it up with a bug bomb or 20.


(At least it's not spider mites?)

Gave her a mix of maple syrup plus a pinch of brown sugar in her water last night. She took it pretty well. The syrup is super thin "Grade A Amber" (whatever that means) so it wasn't gooey at all. My waterings alternate between pouring from the top & letting her soak it up from the bottom in a tray. People made it sound like I'd need to wake up in the night to water a Solo cup plant but that hasn't been the case. I'm sure she's completely rootbound by this point too. This whole grow has been very low maintenance & would've been even MORE drama-free had I not been experimenting with various teas & fertilizers.


Top heavy


Sticky budz

Been watching trimming/drying vids to prepare for the chop. Think I might need to hire some help to get her all harvested. Really wishing I could fast-forward through the rest of the grow & get her hung up. Getting antsy that something will go wrong at the last minute. 'Cause that's my luck.

Because she's looking so ripe, I've been struggling with whether to harvest in parts or all at once...whether to start now or after I get back from my short trip. I've decided to just update my schedule by a few days so she'll get harvested sooner & I won't have to worry about watering when I'm gone. I'll do my ice water flush the day before I leave, then set her in the dark for 2-3 days before cutting her down when I return. I've read that 48-72 hours of darkness prior to harvest helps boost trichome production, which may or may not be true (probably not for autos). But I'd planned this into my schedule anyway...just gonna do it a little early since she's looking so ripe. I need to be here for the drying part & don't want to rush it.


All grown up!



The top cola is starting to get some brown/dry leaf tips, which looks to be heat stress. It's been ungodly hot lately so glad she's coming down soon! We're both ready. And the yellowing is trying to make a comeback in some of the fan leaves, which is normal at this stage in the game so no worries. I took some pics with the magnifying glass that I'll post next week. You can see the details a lot better.

Edit: There are now SIX brown recluse spiders on the trap. FML.

 

[Tracer Productions]

WEEK 11

As promised, here are the magnifying glass photos. They were not easy to capture w/ my giant tablet balanced in one hand and the bulky magnifying glass in the other:



Isn't she lovely?

I'm leaving the lights on constantly for the plant's last two days of life before the dark period begins. I know it's probably futile, but I wanted to try out some last-minute stress techniques to boost trichome production in her final days. I started by slicing into the waxy base of her stem with sterilized scissors & then puncturing it with a tack a few times before cutting off her remaining fan leaves in stages. This is meant to mimic predator attacks & (hopefully) signal that the end is near. I followed that with an ice water flush to mimic the onset of colder weather & remove any remaining buildup in the soil. Finally, 2 days of darkness before taking her life. This worked perfectly with the fact that I was out of town & don't have a light timer. There's no science behind any of that, I'm aware. But as with my silly feedings it's something I wanted to try because "reasons".

The smell was STRONG when cutting off the fan leaves. Dayum. My trashcan smells like lemon skunk piss. That's the first real whiff I've got & I'm pretty impressed. Good thing the plant itself didn't reek like that without being handled first or my cover would've been blown! It's been damn near smell-free this whole time. Gonna be yummy smoke if the drying & curing goes well.

She's starting to go yellow again with the quickness. But I'm not too worried since the end is near anyway. Hope the spiders don't munch on her while I'm gone! (Actually they eat bugs & might be...dare I say...beneficial to have around if not for their necrotic venom?)


After cutting leaves short


After full trim

Today is harvest day. Day 82. She looks fine upon returning from the trip. I just finished chopping her down & trimming the buds, so she's hanging in the closet at the moment. Since the yield was so small, I saved all the trimmings and am drying them in an open mason jar alongside the plant. There's not enough to make hash or whatever, but I plan to smoke the sugar leaves separately. I didn't do a "wet weight" measurement since the buds are still attached to the branches but will weigh them out after cutting them down.

I've got my oscillating fan blowing at full speed pointed away from the closet but just close enough to create a tiny breeze & keep the air moving. The ceiling fan is also on, though it only has one setting: slow. (Outdoor) humidity has been around 80% lately due to thunderstorms so I'm taking precautions to prevent mold. The goal is to let her dry for 7 days before curing begins. We'll see how that goes.


Hanging (with) my buds




Trimmed up

The smell on Day 2 of drying is pungent as hell! It's noticeably stronger than 24 hours ago. I've heard of growers complaining that their buds lose scent or smell like hay during the drying process, but so far that hasn't been my experience. They're still fluffy & sticky...no idea what they should feel like by this point in the drying process. But they are starting to shrink up & look more like smokable weed.

I cannot believe my first "real" grow went this smoothly...in a frickin' Solo cup. Thanks to everyone who read along & offered much-needed advice. I'm officially in love with growing but will have to keep things low-key & small scale due to my living situation. Gonna take down my grow stuff for a few months & just enjoy the smoke. A smoke report will follow, though I don't know exactly what seeds these are so I don't know which breeder to file them under. It will be SO nice to have these damn CFLs off for a while.

 

[MickJ]

Nice one, the buds will be really sticky for a couple of days then will feel dry, but there is still loads of moisture in side. If you put them in a jar and they get moist to the outside then take back out and dry some more. Mine nearly always take 6-7 days.

Sent from my comfy chair.
[emoji16][emoji41] [emoji43][emoji848]

 

[Tracer Productions]

Yes! Sticky indeed. But they're starting to look more ready every day. Might cut them off & dry the buds on a piece of cardboard or smtg around Day 6 if they're not dry enough. Don't wanna rush it but humidity is retardedly high here lately so don't want mold either.

 

[Iriee Vibez]

Congrats Tracer! I just found and read this thread. Very helpful for a first time grower like me. Looking forward to the smoke report! Nice work.. and in a solo cup, no less!

 

[Tracer Productions]

THANKS, Pigskin! Good luck on your grows as well.

Smoke Report Time!!!

Strain: NYC Diesel Autoflowering
Breeder: Unknown
Yield (Dry): 4.0 grams
Days to Harvest: 82 from seed

Smell Profile: Started off smelling of citrus while growing, then turned to primarily a pine smell when dried. It's currently in the curing stage but still reeks of pine with hints of citrus & grapefruit. No real distinctive taste when smoked out of my (dirty) one-hitter.

Effects: Sativa-dominant uplift with absolutely NO anxiety. Every strain of weed gives me a pounding heart with dry mouth & some degree of nervousness, but not this one! Don't know if it's because it's my first autoflower to ever smoke or what, but I'm seriously amazed at the lack of anxiety/paranoia. I haven't smoked weed with THC in over a year either so I fully expected a mini panic attack that never came. What did come was a feeling of motivation & focused creativity that's unusual for me. (I have chronic fatigue & lack the energy to get things done but after a toke of this NYC Diesel I cleaned up my room & contemplated going for an early morning walk). I feel like laughing & eating right now. The only downside is a little cognitive fogginess--trouble following the storylines of TV shows & the like. But nothing severe or unmanageable. If I had to guess, I'd say this strain is around 70% Sativa & 30% Indica based on the effects & appearance.

This stuff is ideal for depression, anxiety or daytime use since it lacks a comedown or any real sedation. It's the perfect balance of energy & mellowness without going too far in either direction. I can't wait to share some with my friends when I see them again. (They are daily tokers & can give me a better opinion on quality). Gonna be great for 4th of July shenanigans too. But the bag appeal is as good as anything I've seen in a dispensary. The pics don't do it justice because my camera sucks balls. It's covered in sticky silver trichomes with leaves ranging in color from purple to pink & aquamarine. Lots of orange hairs too. Did I mention how STICKY the big bud was when I broke it apart? Holy crap! That's the stickiest my fingers have ever been from breaking up weed.

Really wish I knew who the original breeder was because DAMN these are some good genetics! Can't wait to try my hand at some more strains when I can scrounge up the $$$. Thanks again for reading.