SOIL [Nirvana Critical AutoFem] Cocho's homegrown. First time playing with Autos.

[Cocho]

Hello everyone!

I've been fiddling with my first Auto strain the last few weeks.

It's a Critical AutoFem by Nirvana Seeds, and so far she has been really nice to me.

I'm still growing in soil, 100% organic and ecological. Just the way I like it

Just to give you some clue that how I'm doing things, in case you haven't read any of my older threads;

I'm growing inside a grow tent. And in all fairness, a small one. It's a Secret Jardin Dark Room 60 , the same tent I've been using for a while now.
And for the money spent, it's pure value. No doubt about it!

I've changed my light setup though. I've been using a Dual Spctrum CFL until reasently. But during last years Black Friday sales, I bought myself a set of new and more powerful bulbs. Still CFL, but this time 250W. One for Vegetative stage, and one for Flowering.

My grow tent is also equipped with a carbon filter and a exhaust fan, for odor control. Which is important, since this type of hobby is illegal where I live.

The soil I'm using is a locally made/cultivated soil, which I doubt you can get anywhere else. But it's 100% organic, low peat with a pH level of 5.5 - 6.5. It's made to grow herbs and vegetables, so it's pre fertilized. But just enough to give the plant the needed boost the first few weeks. I've also mixed in ~30% Perlite, just to improve the structure a little. Here's the website of the store/brand of soil I'm using (https://www.plantagen.com/) in case someone is curious enough to check them out, or might have access to one of their stores.

I also improve my soil with some granules, containing Mycorrhizae, Biostimulants and Microorganisms, to increase root mass and overall just make the plant happier.
The brand I'm using is called Plant Magic, specifically; Plant Magic Plus, Oldtimer Organic Granules. Keep in mind, this is the first time I'm using this product. But I do have friends who've been using it for a long time, and is the reason why I've started using it too. Since they've had great results after starting using it!

I also add nutrients to my feeding water during my grows. And I do not follow any feeding charts or anything like that. I just feed the plant whenever I see signs of need for it.

But I'll list the products I've been using for the last two years;

General Organics (General Hydroponics organic line), BioThrive Grow and Bloom.
I also use Plant Magic Plus, Oldtimer Magne-Cal Plus, if some extra Magnesium/Calcium is needed.
And I use Molasses.

This is a fairly simple setup. But it does the job pretty well.

I'm at the end of week one of Flowering, and she's in a 15 liter (3.3 gallon) Smart Pot (fabric container/pot for growing plants), with the soil mix described earlier.
I have her under 20 hours of light each day, and 4 hours of darkness. And I believe she's ready to start fattening up really good any day now.

I'm still not giving her nutrients in every feeding. So clean pH-regulated water every other feeding.

I'll try to keep this thread updated as often as I can. Both with pictures and log.

Hope you'll join me here this time too.

Peace!

- C

[Cocho]

These pictures was taken today.

She's been a little hot today (about 29C/84F), so some of the leaves have "folded" edges. Normally she's cooler than that (in the area if 26C/79F). Nothing to be worried about.

This is at the end of week one of flowering (5 weeks, 6 days from seed).

And I think she's looking good.

[Canuck147]

Great start - everything explained -- well done.

Like to see a pic.

[Canuck147]

There's a pic.
Looks good - yes . Also looks like a shorty.

[Cocho]

Yeah! Really short too. Never had one this tiny. But I guess that's one of the traits of an auto?

I did grow White Widows back in the day. And they where short and bushy too. Still taller than this one tho.

[Cocho]

Hello again!

Been a little while since I posted on this thread. Been busy with work, and besides a dumb mistake with my pH, there haven't been much to report.
And I wanted to get the pH levels somewhat corrected again and give her some time, before posting anything.

But now it's time.

Like I said; I messed up with my pH on a feeding a little while ago, and because I was in a hurry and didn't think straight for a few days, I left her sitting in that acidic environment for a little too long. And I'm sorry about that. But I didn't do to much damage (I hope), only the larger fan leaves and some of the medium fan leaves took a hit. The smaller "in-between-the-nugs" leaves are all still healthy and nice. But she does look a little awkward. Just letting her shed the leaves on her own will. Draining them for nutrients and let nature do its thing I guess.

What I did was mix up the days. And gave her two "rich" feedings in a row, when I was supposed to only give her a light mix (almost 100% pH-regulated water, with next to no nutrients), just to clean out the salts and have some proper runoff. But instead, because I was short on time, and needed to be two places at once. I gave her a full mixture, which was a bad move. It wasn't until a few days later, when I had some time to myself, that I noticed the stupid thing I had done.

Which led me to do a proper flush. 15 liters (3.3 gallon) of clean pH regulated water. Followed by a healthy mixture of water and nutrients. Then I let her dry out really good, to prevent root rot. And when I gave her light mixture again here the other day, the runoff came out at 6.5 pH. Which is good.

But she still looks a little rough. Like a soldier after a war. A little beaten and stressed. But my guess is that she'll pull through just fine, and hopefully the quality will still be good.

This is all typical me. Everything goes smoothly, until I make a mess like this. Again
Hopefully the next round goes perfect. Been a little while since I had zero incidents during a grow. Hehe!

Anyways.. thanks for reading.

Until next time,
take care!

Peace!

- C

[Canuck147]

They don't look too bad at all - give them a little time and you're right,, they'll bounce back.
And Cocho - I think the perfect grow is an elusive creature - I have never had a grow with nothing bad happening - just hope my problems are few and far between.

[SoOrbudgal]

Sorry about your hectic life, totally get the double feed been there done that. But hey she does not look too bad for it aren't these autos funny? I mean my grows of these look nearly the same as your first attempt at them. At least you are getting a big fat cola that looks great to me. Your getting real close no problem with trimming on these LOL

[Cocho]

Oh! I was told they didn't like to be cut.

Normally I would have trimmed it, and made the surface into a more SCROG, with trimming and topping throughout the veg stage.

And you have had good results with this earlier?
If that's the case, I'm doing it that way on the next round. I have enough seeds.

I use a single 250W bulb, so spreading the light more evenly over the canopy would be preferred.

[SoOrbudgal]

Oh by trimming I meant won't be hard compared to big plants at harvest sorry misunderstanding. But yes I have topped and LST but that's it i'm newbie also with autos grew several outdoor last year was not good. I've only grow maybe 2xs in door autos and I have 2 now. I for some reason can't seem to get fat full colas on them? One is 13" one is 16" Cocho so i'm not real good with them yet

[SoOrbudgal]

Those are about 43days from seed.

[Cocho]

Ah I see! Then I'll most likely do that myself on the next round.

Well.. the only pro (for me at least) when you don't trim, train etc. Is that you get that massive cola on top. By trimming and/or training the plant, you'll get several small to medium sized colas. The pro by doing it like that is the fact that you distribute the light more evenly across the canopy, which will give you a more evenly maturing plant, ergo better weed.

At least that's my two cents hehe!

[starramus]

Cocho Velkommen tilbake! I sometimes get the impression the way you pop into, and out of existence that you are the alter ego of another forum member. Could i be right? However it doesn't really matter.

I planted a couple of autos with my photos on the 23rd of this month. I had 10 Green Crack, and 10 Gorilla Glue autos that i got on sale from FastBuds. I just planted one of each. Of thirteen seeds planted only the Green Crack seed did not germinate. I exhumed the corpse to verify what had happened, and replanted another Green Crack a couple days ago. Still waiting for it to pop.

Many on this forum do top their autos, but I am yet to do that. I may give it a shot on these two.

[Cocho]

Takker og bukker!

Haha! One could think so, yes. But I'm just a guy life has thrown a few nasty curveballs, so life tends to pull me away from this hobby, and that is why I've been in and out here the last year or so.

But all is good. Thanks for remembering me my friend

Sounds like a fun little garden you've set up there. I'll make sure to follow your journal. Will most likely come in handy for when I'm starting my next round. Take notes on how your progress goes while trimming yours.

[SoOrbudgal]

Good day Cocho hope you are having a bountiful harvest this winter.

[Cocho]

Hello everyone!

It is Friday, and I have been harvesting my little shorty Critical AutoFem!

She took 9 weeks, 4 days from seed to harvest (5 weeks in flower). I've been checking her, every day this week, with my jewelers eye. And last night I saw 99% milky white tricomes (with a few amber ones here and there). So I decided to cut her down today when I got home from work.

Before cutting her down I turned off the light, to let it cool down while I trimmed of the largest and ugliest fan leaves. I like to leave a few on the plant while drying it, just to prevent it from drying out too fast. After that was done, I then picked down the bulb and put it away, and made space in the tent to hang the plant.

I use the hooks from my reflector to hang my plants. Works fine, and lets me adjust the plant up and down depending on how close I want it to the fan.
I have a small desk fan in my tent, which I use throughout the whole grow, just to keep the circulation going inside the tent. But it also works nice when drying my plants. It's a small desk/office type fan. The type you'd have on your desk, next to your computer during the summer, just to give you a small breeze while working. It's powered through a USB-cord, which I have attached to a adapter and plugged in to the wall socket next to my tent. So it's not really powerful. It just "moves the air about" inside the tent.

Other than that I've made sure that the tent and the room now is bitch black dark, and it will stay that way for the entirety of the drying process. Besides when I poke my head in to check the temp and the humidity, and of course feel the plant.

I like to wait a few days, then try to snap one of the branches. If it really snaps, and make a snapping sound, I know it's time to trim of the buds and move them over to a few large glass jars I have for exact this purpose. They're these large glass jars, old school really. I think you Americans call them Mason Jars, only these are equipped with a glass lid with a rubber gasket around the edge and a "wire-hinge-lock" thingy which requires a little force to close. We call them Norges Glass (which translates to; Norwegian Glass) . This makes these air tight, and my grandma uses the same type of jars to store home made jam, jello, and occasionally moonshine (yes, we make it over here too ).

I'll put a picture of them in this thread, since I made a huge deal explaining them to you. Haha!

Anyways.. I then leave the buds in the jars for a while. But I don't keep the lid closed most of them time. When I'm home in the evening, I'll close the lid for an hour (maybe less), and then open it and leave it like that for 3 hours. During the time the lid is closed, the insides of the jars will fog up because of the moisture in the plant fibers. But when I open the jars, that moisture will release and the buds will get cured. I'll keep doing this to the buds feel like fresh popped popcorn between my fingers when I pinch them. Firm and dry, but not brittle. They'll most likely change some color during this glass drying/curing process. From a mat green, to a more greenish grey.

I don't know how most people do this. But this is how I was thought to do it. And it has worked out just fine.

I'll leave some pictures of the plant too. I used my hand as reference to how large she got, but I realized that only works well for myself. And I should have used something universal, like a Oreo cookie or something like that. But to help you out. I'm an average sized man in my country. I'm 6 feet tall, and my hands are above medium size. What I'm trying to say is that the plant turned out pretty chunky even tho she had some trouble with her pH-levels towards the end there.

So all in all a good result!

Have a nice weekend folks. I'll be back with an update in a few days!

Peace

- C

[Cocho]

Greetings everybody!

Figured I'd better come with an update on this project of mine.

It's been one week since I harvested my little Critical AutoFem, and since then I've chopped the branches and nugs into medium sized chunks and put them in a jar. I've kept them there for a few days now, and the feel of the buds is starting to feel decent.

I've also given some of the smaller, and faster to dry out, buds a taste. And so far so good. They were a little harsh on the throat, but I recon they'll be better with time when they've cured long enough. Still the effects are kicking my ass. It's really strong. I've been trying to regulate the proper amount in a joint, but I keep putting less and less in there. Because even with just a tiny amount, I'll still be on my ass after I'm done smoking it. I tend to smoke a whole joint when I first light it. I don't really care for the taste it gets if I have to stop it and have the rest later. It gets dry, slightly burnt and the little moisture it keep just turns sour and harsh tasting. So when I first light one up, I tend to smoke the whole thing. So you can imagine why I can't "light up a fatty" each time I smoke. That would just trash me

So I'm pleased with the potency. And the whole thing came out at 23 grams of dried buds.

I was hoping for more, but I guess the pH issue might have slowed the budding. But it's a good place to be on the first go with this strain.
So I'll just do an even better job the next round. Try and get the most out of it. I've heard people tell stories about autos gaining 0.5 grams each Watt, in small grow spaces and with price efficient equipment. I just need to find the right soil and amount of nutrients to feed them to keep them stable throughout the grow.

My next grow will be later in the spring. April I think.

In the meantime I'll smoke on what I've got. I don't smoke much anymore. Maybe a small one before bed now and then. So this will last me for a while

This Critical AutoFem reminds me of a White Widow strain I had a few years back. It got it from GreenHouse in Amsterdam. Great genetics that one.
Every single one of them turned out looking just the same. Short, bushy and fat. I was using a HID setup (HPS and MH bulbs). And the smoke ended me on the couch each time. This one does too. Maybe not as heavy/narcotic as the WW, but still, I'm on my ass within minutes after smoking this. And it makes me eat everything in my house. I can't remember the last time something gave me the munchies like that. I was under belief that I had "out-grown" the whole thing. I remember getting munchies like that when I first started smoking. But thought I'd gotten it under control, by just being more experienced and able to restrain myself a little. But this one just makes me cook 2-3 times in the evening. Making all kinds of food. Which makes me loaded with energy for work and the gym the day after. So can't complain.

Well.. I'm not going to ramble on much longer. Just wanted to come with a proper update

So I'll end this post with a single picture of top cola, curing in a jar. I haven't removed/manicured the last of the fan leaves. I like to keep them on there until the buds are 100% cured and ready to show off.

So I'll make it prettier at a later time

- C

[SoOrbudgal]

Are you going to do autos again in spring?

[RagWeedDWC]

Very informative and awesome grow! Pretty nice nugs to boot :-)