Small Tent, Perpetual Monthly Harvest, Auto-Flower Grow Journal (canna, coco, LED)

[Beach_Town_Brit]

Well it's been a lazy week for me (I did spend a considerable amount of time "in" the Andromeda galaxy).
I did find a small humidity dome on Amazon that is perfect for my little grow and sturdily made.

4-12-17 DAY 75 | 46 | 10 Mystic is drinking well as she starts to put on some bud weight finally. Mystic #2 has been a little weirdo since day 1 and her growth is patchy, not sure how she'll end up. I was concerned that she was hermie'ing, she seemed to be developing balls on her lower branches. Luckily closer inspection showed pistils. Conversely, the Sour Bubbly is doing great, huge fans, strong growth, tight nodes, thanks Mephisto. I removed the buried solo cup from her so it's now full steam ahead. I've been trying to remember to add a wet towel to the veg side of the tent once or twice a day. Late flower side: 30%/54% 73/88 | Veg side: 33%/60% 75/86

4-13-17 DAY 76 | 47 | 11 Rooting nutes to Sour Bubbly #2 @ 6.1 Ph. Leftover nutes to Mystic #2. Made fresh gallon of Generative III nutes for Mystic @ 5.8 Ph. As usual I water about 1/2 a gallon and save the leftover for later. Mystic got a small haircut today, it's late but she' so bushy that she needed it. Late flower side: 28%/54% 73/90 | Veg side: 35%/55% 77/88

Got really lazy and lost in video games.

4-16-17 DAY 79 | 50 | 14 I let the Mystic get a bit dry alas but I fed her the leftover nutes (gotta be specific to save Tika from her own dirty mind ) and she perked up. Made gen I nutes for Mystic #2, I'll need to switch her up to the next stage of nutes at some point, but she has such a weird growth pattern it's hard to know when. I made Veg I nutes for the Sour Bubbly, she's ready for her top now. Late flower side: 26%/49% 72/91 Veg side: 35%/52% 73/88

4-17-17 DAY 80 | 51 | 15 Topped Sour Bubbly #2 just above the third node, I stripped the first node but kept the second -- high hopes for this young lady. Made Gen III for Mystic @ 6.0Ph, she's still drinking but I'll need to start checking her trichomes at some point this is her 12th week! Late flower side: 31%/52% 75/90 Veg side: 35%/65% 73/88

4-18-17 DAY 81 | 52 | 16 Leftover nutes to Mystic #2. Mystic is really drinking but I'm also trying to keep her a bit dry so I'll let her dry out a bit. Mystic #2 is suffering a bit with the lights so close so I pulled them back. Red UFO now at 14-16", P300 at 17", and Roleandro on veg side at 16". Late flower side: 31%/53% 75/91 Veg side: 39%/59% 77/88

It's beginning to warm up out here. I've been saving up for a new AC unit for that room and that'll have to go in pretty soon. I suspect there's a good 7 months of hot weather coming at me.
Can anyone recommend any heat loving auto strains?

It's actually my girlfriend's birthday tomorrow so we'll be celebrating in full swing. The Bubblelicous is only 9 days into its cure and I think I pulled them down from the dry a day early (some clumping in jars) but we're going to christen it tomorrow for 4/20 -- high hopes.

Happy holiday to you all

[Beach_Town_Brit]

Thanks so much for checking in Nebula It's really just me thinking out loud about my grow but I think I'm slowly getting there dialing in my system.

[NebulaHaze]

Love the thoughtful and easy-to-read write up, definitely lots to think about! Your harvest looks absolutely fabulous!

[Beach_Town_Brit]

Thanks Marley, I used to run photos across two "tents" but we were sacrificing so much space ,and waiting so long for a harvest, that I needed a new approach. So far the plan is working great. I also suspect that it's easier to grow autos simply because there is less time in their lifespans for things to go wrong

[Marley]

I like your style. I think your method with the small tent and constant auto flowers is the way to go. Looking back, I wish I'd have done this, but I'm too invested now. Lol.

[Beach_Town_Brit]

Tika, Bangers and mash is great for fat buds (or is that butts...?)

One thing I like about the 3 gal pots is that i can make a gallon of nutes for a plant and make it last 2 feeds.

[Tika]

Incredible write up indeed. Worthy of hard copy for refrenceing.
outstanding!!!! Thank you

[Tika]

WOWWWWEEEEWOW!
Great post and great images and I about spit..fed your left overs to another?!?! Really?

[StoneyTony]

Congratulations! Great lessons learned for the next grow - Cheers!

[Beach_Town_Brit]

Thanks Bob, luckily work pays for my Creative Cloud and Lynda.com subscriptions

[Beach_Town_Brit]

Thanks Rockman, your grows have been an inspiration and your unwavering support on this thread is greatly appreciated
I think of this journal as just thinking out loud about my grow. I would literally never gather my thoughts without it.

[rockman]

BTB, these reports are so amazing in details, as well as super picture quality! 👍👍 Love the compilation of Bubbles life in pics! Trichomes are gorgeous! 😊 You're a very talented grower, and I hope you always have top quality buds to enjoy....congratulations on your perpetual system! 🌿🌿🌿

[bobsakamoto]

REALLY great writeup, BTB...thank you! and congratulations! i really like that thing you did with the representative photos from start to finish, very cool to see in progression like that.

[Beach_Town_Brit]

All About the Bubble

Nirvana's Bubblelicous is the first auto I've ever grown. It was so much fun to watch this little wonder speed through its compacted lifecycle. She started flowering at day 30. She was really a dream of a plant to grow and her only issues were all me. In early training I broke of one of four main stems and while I tried to train around this mistake I think it definitely kept me from my 2oz yield goal. My second mistake was in giving her the generative II nutes with the P/K boost a week or so too late. I think I was trying to force the Mystic and her sister the Bubble onto the same schedule, alas my Jedi mind tricks failed me. Bubblelicous clearly seems to be a 10 week strain, whereas I think the Blue Mystic may be more like 12-14 weeks. Bubbles' buds are solid and dense and very trichomey. She grow short with training and I think she'd be an excellent manifold candidate.

For my next Bubblelicous grow (whenever that may be...) I think I'll try and train her a bit more aggressively and defoliate a little more. I'll plan to top earlier, day 14 at the latest. I was very happy topping after the 3rd node, so I'll stick with that. Maybe I'll try a manifold on a second Bubble. I also think that she could have used a bit more CalMag, and (as always) a steadier environment (new AC with my work bonus this month .

Starting out I guesstimated my Canna nutrient schedule at:

Start/Rooting (week 1)
Vegetative I (week 2) -- plant develops
Vegetative II (week 3 & 4) -- veg stagnation to early flower
Generative I (week 5 & 6) -- flowering stretch and fruit growth
Generative II (week 7 ) -- flower breadth
Generative III (week 8) -- flower weight
Generative IV (week 9) -- flower ripening

What I actually did was

Start/Rooting (Day 6-9 week 1+)
Vegetative I (Day 17- 24 week 2) -- plant develops
Vegetative II (Day 30-45 week 3 & 4) -- veg stagnation to early flower
Generative I (Day 46-50 week 5 & 6) -- flowering stretch and fruit growth ... switched too late here
Generative II (Day 51-58 week 7 ) -- flower breadth
Generative III (Day59-64 week 8) -- flower weight
Generative IV (Day 65-71 week 9) -- flower ripening ... no nutes plain water flush

What I'll aim for with 10 week strains like Bubblelicous in the future:

Plain Water (week 1)
Start/Rooting (week 2)
Vegetative I (week 3) -- plant develops
Vegetative II (week 4) -- veg stagnation to early flower
Generative I (week 5) -- flowering stretch and fruit growth
Generative II (week 6-7 ) -- flower breadth
Generative III (week 7-9) -- flower weight
Flush -- Plain water or Generative IV (week 10) -- flower ripening

I think I'm done with alternating plain water and nute feeds. With only 3 gallon pots the feeds are just too far apart to fit it in and keep to the nute schedule. Plus the plants seem fine without the plain waterings. My Canna low feed schedule seems great and I don't see any changes there except timing and CalMag.

I made a spreadsheet to work out my costs. The Bubblelicous came out at $1.70 per gram in consumable costs, $12.92 in nutes and $56.03 in electricity overall.
This figure doesn't account for my equipment costs (or even seed and medium costs) but it gives me a ballpark and I think my moderate equipment costs quickly amortize when I take into account my local dispensary will happily charge $25 a gram!

Smoke report to come

[Beach_Town_Brit]

It's been a busy week since the Bubble's harvest, Sour Bubbly is in the tent and going well, the Bubblelicous dried for 4 days and then I jarred her last night. The two Mystics are going strong and hopefully in a week or two I'll start looking at the Mystic's trichomes. Midweek I added a second temp meter at the late flower end of the tent, I'll list both results henceforth (late flower first, veg second). The hope is I can keep a 10%+ discrepancy in humidity between the two ends of the tent. Right now I'm using a wet towel but looking into small USB humidifiers -- any recommendations?

4-4-17 DAY 67 | 38 | 2 Leftover Generative II to Mystic, she seems to be handling the extra potassium well so she's getting an extra few days at the max nutes. 2nd plain water flush for Bubble 6.1 Ph in 5.6 Ph out. 38%/55% 77/88

4-5-17 DAY 68 | 39 | 3 Made fresh Generative II nutes for Mystic at 6.2 Ph. Made veg II for Mystic #2 6.0 Ph. Guess the girls are thirsty with the dry warm weather. Light watering 6.2 Ph 38%/64% 79/88

4-7-17 DAY 70 | 41 | 5 Final flush then I pulled the Bubble from tent and put her in the dark before her day started (tent days starts 6.30pm (20/4)). Moved Sour Bubbly #2 into tent, moved the two mystics over into the late and mid flowering spots respectively. I like to let my plants grow into my light where possible, I set to 18" or so in veg and then try and just let them grow into the light watching carefully for burn all the while. I do have to tweak lights occasionally: the red boost UFO is at a minimum of 9" from canopy, 14" for the P300 (maybe more like 16" for the slightly shorter Mystic #2), 18" for the white LED from Sour Bubbly #2. I tweaked my top temp down on my fan controller, to about 80. Light watering for the Sour Bubbly #2. 37%/65% 77/88

4-8-17 DAY 71 | 42 | 6 HARVEST DAY Leftover veg II to Mystic #2. Two temp meters now: late flower = 26%/56% 76/95 veg = 37%/66% 77/88

4-9-17 DAY 72 | 43 | 7 Some nute burn on the Mystic so I moved on to generative III nutes for her with5ml CalMag 5.9 Ph. I moved the Roleandro down to 16" above the Sour Bubbly seedling as she was doing well and I want to avoid the stretch I got with Mystic #2. 25%/51% 70/86 28%/56% 72/84

4-10-17 DAY 73 | 44 | 8 Made Gen I for Mystic #2 w. 5ml CalMag 6.0 Ph. Made rooting nutes (5.6 A + B, rhizo, cannazym) for Sour Bubbly 6.2 Ph 26%/46% 70/88 33%/49% 75/86

4-11-17 DAY 74 | 45 | 9 Leftover nutes to both Mystics. Checked drying Bubble throughout day, was gonna leave it for a 5th day but got the snap at the join of a small stem so brought her down. Set 3x Jack Herer autos [sic] from high-supplies.com to soak (gonna grow them out a bit for my friend's outdoor garden, seeds were a gift). Jarred the Bubblelicous, 40.5g, nearly an ounce and a half ... the weed looks lovely so I'm happy, considering the snapped off one of the 4 main stems in early training I think it's safe to say I could have pulled the full 2ozs if it wasn't for my stupid thumbs

All in all a very gratifying week. At my first auto harvest I feel like my plan is viable, moving forwards I think I can hit my goal of a 2oz harvest every month in less than 10 sq feet of grow and storage space. We'll christen the Bubblelicous on 4-20 ... it may be a national holiday but it's also my girl's birthday (honest to god)! I'm trying to persuade her to do a smoke report for the journal ... hardly impartial but she's an experienced budtender