Meet Corole and Candy, these ladies I shall spend the next 3 months waiting on hand and foot, and no doubt stressing about at various points during their lifetime... I am sure they will be worth it!
I decided to start a journal since I found it really helpful to read other peoples when I first joined AFN. I have learnt a lot here since I germinated my first 'experimental' Fast 2 Vast (Heavy Weight Seeds) on May 1st. After numerous issues which included transplant shock, heat stress, an inadequate LED lamp and poor RH .... two of five survived and have just started flowering. So, based on mistakes made during the first few weeks I have tweaked a few things and started a new grow with better equipment. All being well, I will update weekly.
Environment - 1m x 3m room, using the Mars Hydro TS 2000w LED's dimmed to 1/4 strength for the first 7 days set at 20/4, now at 3/4 strength running at 18/4. I will max them out during bloom.
6" extractor fan and a 4" intake fan for veg, during bloom will switch to an 8" rhino extractor with carbon filter and use the 6" as the intake fan. This will maintain RH at 40% for bloom phase.
Room temps have varied between 20 and 31oC due to a recent heatwave. RH 54 - 61%. I have an air cooler fan unit which is on during hot weather and a tower fan running 24/7. I have a small ultrasonic humidifier which is programmed to keep room at 60%.
Growing in BioBizz Lite Soil with Bat Guano and perlite.
Feed - I will be following the BioBizz nute guide using their Veg, Top Max and Bloom range throughout the grow. They will get weekly top feedings of Bat Guano until they bloom. I use CalMag as required. Potsil in every watering and B-52 by Advanced Nutrients. Water Ph is between 5.8 and 6.2.
Day 1 - 7 Germination - I soaked the beans for 20 hours before planting straight into their 15ltr air-pots and covered with humidity domes for 3 days. One of the pots has about an 1/8 coco mixed with it, I had some left and decided to see how it would work out. Both seeds came up within 24 hours. Oh happy days.
They have been fed Ph 6 water, an 8th RD of Sea Kelp and 1ml per litre of Potsil to combat heat and promote cell structure.
Day 10 They have been fed an 8th of the RD of the sea kelp and I've started them on BioBizz Veg nutes again at an 8th of RD. I have introduced a tiny dose of B-52 by Advance Nutrients which will be used throughout the grow to ensure they have their vitamins. I am using CalMag in small quantities as I'm in a hard water area, it will be used as required.
I plan to top once, maybe twice and to LST, although I will be nervous doing this, I have seen some great looking plants from those that do. On Wednesday they will be 2 weeks old, it looks like they may lose their heads..... if I have the nerve
So that's the first 10 days summary..... we had a 3 day heatwave but all is well. Thanks for viewing my journal, happy growing everyone
Day 12 Change to light schedule Switched lights back to 20/4 as room temps have dropped and having thought about it and done more research it seems 20/4 is preferred light schedule for many using LEDs. I have two flowering girls who are closer to the lights which means the babies are a metre away. Its not ideal them sharing their light source and so I decided more light time will be better. Considering they were on 24/0 for they first few days they grew like rockets..... so with that in mind they are now going to stay on 20/4. On at 16.00 Off at 12.00
Fed the girls 1ml per litre of BioBizz Veg +CalMag, Potsil, Seaweed Extract and B-52, was going to wait until Wednesday when they reach 14 days, but they are growing so big they looked 'hungry' already.
The girls also now have a new hair do... have 'ponytailed' today to let the light get into the lower growth, will leave it tied for 6-8 hours and do this daily until lower growth has caught up.
Noticed the longest leaves are not far from the side of the pot today..... so am expecting to LST in a few days. They are growing short, stout, and the nodes are closely spaced.
Day 14 So far all good So Corole and Candy have made it to their 2nd week .... Happy 2nd wk Birthday Ladies, you have exceeded my expectations.
Seems they enjoyed their new hair do... so will continue with the pony tailing for 6 hours a day for a few more days. I'm fairly happy. No stunting and generally looking healthy. Need to watch ph, I may have been slightly over 6.2 last watering. Fed at full strength again today, 1ml per litre of BB Veg, Cal Mag, B-52 a dash of seaweed kelp and a dash of potsil for good measure. All things considered, mainly my lacking confidence atm, I have decided not to top them, think I need to practise my LST technique first... maybe next time I will do a comparison grow but I want to grow these out with minimal stress ..... I bottled it basically
Day 18 First Time LST and Topped So I took the plunge after much deliberation and decided to top the ladies today. I took off new growth at 5th node and started with some basic low stress training. Here they are before giving them some abuse....
.... and here they are now Will update on day 21, hopefully they will be fully recovered. Fed with usual nutes regime plus some Bat Guano added into the mix.
I missed the Day 21 update. I had my first mini disaster. During LST, I broke one branch off which would have been a main cola!!! It was clean off and I didn't get chance to refuse it, so hopefully I won't loose too much yield. She recovered well thankfully.
Day 25 So this week the girls have had a nutrient change, have recovered well from their topping and I have been messing about with the canopy all week.... attempting to LST. They are vigorously growing.... will need to defoliate loads, they are so bushy!
Day 21 They were showing sex.
Really impressed so far with this strain. They are hungry...loving the light and seem very resistant to varying temperatures in the room, which are averaging 25oC. Coolest 20oC. Warmest 29.5 oC. RH has been steady at 65% although this week I have let it slip to 50% as my 2 Fast to Vasts are in flower, budding up and need to avoid the dreaded mould. I'll be glad when they finish as Corole and Candy will need the space for sure.
Gave them their first feed on Advanced Nutrients 3 part Ph Perfect feed this week, (2/3 strength) with B-52, CalMag and they had a spray of BioBizz Leaf Spray.... I've run out of PotSil, its messy to use and so thought the Leaf Spray would do the same job and its easy to use. So far all is good.
Day 28 This week spent LST for and even canopy. Fed AN nutes at 3/4 strength which was a little hot so gave them plain water to counterbalance thing out. Started flowering. All looking good..... may need to defoliate after the pre-flower stretch.
Day 32 So the girls are stretching and drinking a lot. Its been a warm week, but they are living up to their reputation of being a heat tolerant strain. Room temps have varied between 22oC at night and 32oC during the day. There is a difference in leaf colour, Corol is lighter than Candy..... my thinking is that this is due to the soil differences. Corol had Coco mixed into the BioBizz Lite mix as I had some left over to use up.... so my thinking is that I will ditch the coco in the future and stick with lite mix for future grows. The girls are going to be big. At Day 32 they are 2 x 2 ft and growing fast. Already in flower so will be leaving the Bat Guano feeds out. I added a teaspoon of Epsom Salt to Coroles soil as a top feed so hoping this may give her some Magnesium which I am assuming is the reason she is slightly paler than Candy. Candy has 7 main cola branches, Corole has 9 but her branches are not as strong as Candys. I did some light defoliation on day 29 to allow light to penetrate.
Day 35 Yikes I'm scared of these monsteresses...... they are so big I'm worried they'll out grow the space by the time they finish! So they are now forming loads of budsites, looking good. Coroles been given some extra CalMag as she's slightly paler than Candy.
Day 39 Almost half way through grow, lots of bud sites forming now. Corole is starting to darken slightly, she is still a weaker looking plant than Candy, hope once I've chopped the Fast 2 Vast these ladies will have more space. I will be adding AN Big Bud to their feed next week. Have started using Advanced Nutrients CalMag. I like the AN range....pricey but my girls are worth it
Day 42 all looking good as we reach the girls 6 week birthday. Have got some great bud-sites developing.... Candy is putting on weight fast. Corole is getting some extra CalMag this week and have given her full dose of nutes and she is starting to look slightly darker. She does have some Nute burnt leaves so will need to watch nute intake this week. She has developed a lot of bud sites but they are not as dense or as big as Candy's flowers. I wont ever be using coco again. now I have seen how well 100% BioBizz Lite performs. From Day 1 Candy has flourished. Still being fed Micro, Grow and Bloom AN Ph Perfect, B-52 and Big Bud was started this week.
Day 65 have about 2 weeks to go. Candy looking good. Corole looking airy and still lots of white pistols.
The leaves are beginning to die off gradually. Buds starting to get frosty. Pistols about 40% amber. Trichomes approx 50% clear 50% frosty. Have started flushing out the main notes but continuing with Advanced Nutes OverDrive. Really disappointed that Corole is still very airy. Lots of buds but they seem very fluffy. See pic below.
FINAL CUT AND CURE
So due to high temperatures and generally being the weaker plant Corole gave me 3.7oz of airy weird buds which I cured and have cooked with. Made some love canna butter with her and will do more with the rest of her, made brownies and they were delicious.
Candy was a dream, after curing and drying we made 6.4oz dried after cure, and the smoke is nice. A really smooth smoke, not a really heady high but mellow and makes you active, really good for anxiety and brilliant pain relief. Sorted insomnia. Leaned loads from this 2nd grow and I filled 5 Litre Mason jars to the top. Total weight for the 2 plants was 9.11oz, so I am very happy.
Thanks for viewing my second grow, I should have taken pictures of the final results... but I wanted to wait until I had dried and cured them, and have been smoking it. Due to the heat stress I had at the end, I wasn't sure what I would be left with, I got lucky. So would I recommend Auto Extreme? Yes, I would, fairly heat tolerant, easy to grow and very fast growing. Smooth smoke, hints of vanilla and slight citrus undertone, heavy buds, masses of buds per plant. Nice.
3rd Grow, Banana Blaze. No Grow Journal, Pics on Banana Blaze Thread.
I decided to start a journal since I found it really helpful to read other peoples when I first joined AFN. I have learnt a lot here since I germinated my first 'experimental' Fast 2 Vast (Heavy Weight Seeds) on May 1st. After numerous issues which included transplant shock, heat stress, an inadequate LED lamp and poor RH .... two of five survived and have just started flowering. So, based on mistakes made during the first few weeks I have tweaked a few things and started a new grow with better equipment. All being well, I will update weekly.
Environment - 1m x 3m room, using the Mars Hydro TS 2000w LED's dimmed to 1/4 strength for the first 7 days set at 20/4, now at 3/4 strength running at 18/4. I will max them out during bloom.
6" extractor fan and a 4" intake fan for veg, during bloom will switch to an 8" rhino extractor with carbon filter and use the 6" as the intake fan. This will maintain RH at 40% for bloom phase.
Room temps have varied between 20 and 31oC due to a recent heatwave. RH 54 - 61%. I have an air cooler fan unit which is on during hot weather and a tower fan running 24/7. I have a small ultrasonic humidifier which is programmed to keep room at 60%.
Growing in BioBizz Lite Soil with Bat Guano and perlite.
Feed - I will be following the BioBizz nute guide using their Veg, Top Max and Bloom range throughout the grow. They will get weekly top feedings of Bat Guano until they bloom. I use CalMag as required. Potsil in every watering and B-52 by Advanced Nutrients. Water Ph is between 5.8 and 6.2.
Day 1 - 7 Germination - I soaked the beans for 20 hours before planting straight into their 15ltr air-pots and covered with humidity domes for 3 days. One of the pots has about an 1/8 coco mixed with it, I had some left and decided to see how it would work out. Both seeds came up within 24 hours. Oh happy days.
They have been fed Ph 6 water, an 8th RD of Sea Kelp and 1ml per litre of Potsil to combat heat and promote cell structure.
Day 10 They have been fed an 8th of the RD of the sea kelp and I've started them on BioBizz Veg nutes again at an 8th of RD. I have introduced a tiny dose of B-52 by Advance Nutrients which will be used throughout the grow to ensure they have their vitamins. I am using CalMag in small quantities as I'm in a hard water area, it will be used as required.
I plan to top once, maybe twice and to LST, although I will be nervous doing this, I have seen some great looking plants from those that do. On Wednesday they will be 2 weeks old, it looks like they may lose their heads..... if I have the nerve
So that's the first 10 days summary..... we had a 3 day heatwave but all is well. Thanks for viewing my journal, happy growing everyone
Day 12 Change to light schedule Switched lights back to 20/4 as room temps have dropped and having thought about it and done more research it seems 20/4 is preferred light schedule for many using LEDs. I have two flowering girls who are closer to the lights which means the babies are a metre away. Its not ideal them sharing their light source and so I decided more light time will be better. Considering they were on 24/0 for they first few days they grew like rockets..... so with that in mind they are now going to stay on 20/4. On at 16.00 Off at 12.00
Fed the girls 1ml per litre of BioBizz Veg +CalMag, Potsil, Seaweed Extract and B-52, was going to wait until Wednesday when they reach 14 days, but they are growing so big they looked 'hungry' already.
The girls also now have a new hair do... have 'ponytailed' today to let the light get into the lower growth, will leave it tied for 6-8 hours and do this daily until lower growth has caught up.
Noticed the longest leaves are not far from the side of the pot today..... so am expecting to LST in a few days. They are growing short, stout, and the nodes are closely spaced.
Day 14 So far all good So Corole and Candy have made it to their 2nd week .... Happy 2nd wk Birthday Ladies, you have exceeded my expectations.
Day 18 First Time LST and Topped So I took the plunge after much deliberation and decided to top the ladies today. I took off new growth at 5th node and started with some basic low stress training. Here they are before giving them some abuse....
.... and here they are now
Will update on day 21, hopefully they will be fully recovered. Fed with usual nutes regime plus some Bat Guano added into the mix.
Day 25 So this week the girls have had a nutrient change, have recovered well from their topping and I have been messing about with the canopy all week.... attempting to LST. They are vigorously growing.... will need to defoliate loads, they are so bushy!
Day 21 They were showing sex.
Really impressed so far with this strain. They are hungry...loving the light and seem very resistant to varying temperatures in the room, which are averaging 25oC. Coolest 20oC. Warmest 29.5 oC. RH has been steady at 65% although this week I have let it slip to 50% as my 2 Fast to Vasts are in flower, budding up and need to avoid the dreaded mould. I'll be glad when they finish as Corole and Candy will need the space for sure.
Gave them their first feed on Advanced Nutrients 3 part Ph Perfect feed this week, (2/3 strength) with B-52, CalMag and they had a spray of BioBizz Leaf Spray.... I've run out of PotSil, its messy to use and so thought the Leaf Spray would do the same job and its easy to use. So far all is good.
Day 65 have about 2 weeks to go. Candy looking good. Corole looking airy and still lots of white pistols.
The leaves are beginning to die off gradually. Buds starting to get frosty. Pistols about 40% amber. Trichomes approx 50% clear 50% frosty. Have started flushing out the main notes but continuing with Advanced Nutes OverDrive. Really disappointed that Corole is still very airy. Lots of buds but they seem very fluffy. See pic below.
FINAL CUT AND CURE
So due to high temperatures and generally being the weaker plant Corole gave me 3.7oz of airy weird buds which I cured and have cooked with. Made some love canna butter with her and will do more with the rest of her, made brownies and they were delicious.
Candy was a dream, after curing and drying we made 6.4oz dried after cure, and the smoke is nice. A really smooth smoke, not a really heady high but mellow and makes you active, really good for anxiety and brilliant pain relief. Sorted insomnia. Leaned loads from this 2nd grow and I filled 5 Litre Mason jars to the top. Total weight for the 2 plants was 9.11oz, so I am very happy.
Thanks for viewing my second grow, I should have taken pictures of the final results... but I wanted to wait until I had dried and cured them, and have been smoking it. Due to the heat stress I had at the end, I wasn't sure what I would be left with, I got lucky. So would I recommend Auto Extreme? Yes, I would, fairly heat tolerant, easy to grow and very fast growing. Smooth smoke, hints of vanilla and slight citrus undertone, heavy buds, masses of buds per plant. Nice.
3rd Grow, Banana Blaze. No Grow Journal, Pics on Banana Blaze Thread.
