End Of Grow, Vacation Conundrum

[SheikYerbouti]

Already week 9 of auto grow. Still a week or less away. Schedule got off a little and I have to leave the 3 girls alone for 7 days. I have no one to take care of them and cannot fashion a automated watering system. Looking at 3 options. 1) Start flushing the plants and put them on 12/12 schedule and with the last watering leave the run off in foil pans (an inch or so) in 3 gal pots sit in and cover so light can’t get to foil pan reservoir. Growing in coco hoping the runoff water will last a few days and give me time to harvest when I return. Will this cause me root damage and irreversible damage to my budding plants? 2) water as normal leave plant to fend on its own, changing light schedule to slow growth. Not sure what damage could happen to buds, do know the plant will be damn dry. Option 3 would be to cut them down and hang in tent with ventilation and no lights. Still a little early and would have no control over drying process. Any feedback different solutions would greatly be appreciated.

[DoctorJohnson]

Hey Sheik -- You know that your autos don't care about 12/12 (or 24/0 for that matter).
I have seen set up super simple autowatering systems by just putting out a big container of perlite soaking in water and setting the pots on the perlite soe the water slowly soaks up into the pots from the bottom. I haven't used it, but it looked like it worked well. If you google perlite cannabis wick watering you can probably find something. (There are various wicking systems out there. Something should work for 7 days.)

[SheikYerbouti]

DoctorJohnson I’ll check that out. Thanks for the reply!

[Campesino]

Hey SheikYerbouti
So, you plan to harvest as soon as you get back? A full 7 days!
The biggest question I have is, what kind of pots and how big are they?
7 days is pushing it, but being at the end is a benefit. I am leaning toward fertigating up until you leave and then hit them with a big flush of plain water as you head out of town. I like the reduced light for reduced water consumption and wouldn't worry about the loss of light energy. I'd try to keep humidity up in the 50s too if possible. They'll get dry, but you don't have to worry about EC because of the flush.
But let me know the pot size and material - and whether keeping an RH in 50s is possible during your hiatus.

[SheikYerbouti]

Campesino 3 gal plastic pots in coco loco. 9 weeks from seed is today, RQS Says 8 or 9 from seed. I’m in the ripening stage of fertigation, hitting heavy with bloom nutes and was going to flush with flora clean the last days before I leave. Looks like the warm up has hit and could well have RH in the 50% the week I’m gone. Any thoughts on leaving some pure water in the run off pans, covering the pans from light to provide some reservoir available to the plants? A big fan of your latest coco grow guide. Have been using it the past weeks feeding the girls daily with minimal nute burn, what were once skinny spaced buds have become fat in a matter of days. Everything you put in the post Has borne true for me. Thanks for putting that together!

[Campesino]

Really happy that you are benefiting from the guide
3 gallons is usually perfect, but this is a time when larger would be better. Plastic helps!
3 gallons of saturated Coco should provide plants with water for 3-4 days. Yes, you can flood the trays a little, but I wouldn't leave them sitting in much. That would add a day or two. If they are totally dry by the time you get back it shouldn't be a problem because you are harvesting. Many growers stop irrigating the last 2-3 days.
I still like 12/12 lighting, and if you have a programmable timer, I would actually have complete darkness for 48 hours before you return and harvest.
I don't think this is as big of a problem as you had imagined it would be. You are saved by leaving during a flush (no concerns about EC).
I would flush with florakleen, (2x normal amount of water) but then follow with plain water right before leaving town (no pH adjustment).