3rd Grow - Log

[golfnrl]

I thought I'd try a grow log because I'm using an Autopot system and I want to share the experience in the event it is beneficial to someone else. My grow set up is listed below in the signature area. Germination...starting off in familiar territory, not saying I did/do everything right, but it worked. This part of the log goes through March 1. I'll add more over the next few days.

Feb 27
8:00pm Dropped 5 Strawberry Cough seeds by ILGM in room temp water

Feb 28
Transferred into Rapid Rooters at 6:00pm – 22 hours in the water. A few of the seeds were showing tails Temps 72-74 F RH 25%

Feb 29
Watered the Rapid Rooters with room temp PH'd water. Temps 72-74 RH 29%

March 1
Moistened the Rapid Rooters at 6:00pm - All 5 seeds have popped up, look viable and are growing, even the runt seed. Not bad considering I've had these seeds for 10 months. Began running a T5 light about 2” above the plants. Temps 72-74 RH 28%

 

[quirk]

Great images. Are they from a phone?

 

[Daskahn]

You take great notes I look forward to seeing how things grow lol

 

[golfnrl]

Thx. Yes, iPhone 11 Pro.

 

[golfnrl]

March 6
Transplanted the sprouts into a starter pot. Using Happy Frog soil for this first transplant. I think I started the T5 a little too soon. Some of the stems are a little spindly but the plants are getting stronger by the day. Started a humidifier, RH is too low. Running about 32%. Lights 18/6

 

[SoOrbudgal]

Heck golfnrl I don't think it was too soon, if you don't mind me saying. I have my same as yours t-5 as close as 1" barely out of soil. They will get stronger support with tooth pick if needed. Great start

 

[JohnEmad]

Looks like a great setup. Autopopts and QB led's can grow monsters. Pulling up a chair to follow along.
I am on my 3rd grow with autopots and like the way they simplify things. Good luck

 

[golfnrl]

March 18
Vegetative state begins
Recap: Seeds dropped - starter pot 8 days, starter pot - final home 12 days

Been running the T5 lights 18/6. RH 40-50%. Temps 72-74. Roots are showing in the drain hole in starter pots...time to transplant to final home. Using a 50/50 blend of Groggs Green Barn Omega Living Soil and perlite in Autopot 3.9 gallon smart pots. Top feeding until the roots are established...10-14 days. Starting the HLG Elite 600 about 25” from the plants on the same schedule as the T5 18/6. Watching for light burn.

Alas, I have a dilemma. I have room in my tent and the Autopot system for four plants. I started five seeds hoping to get four viable plants knowing I'd need to cull one of the seedlings. One of the seeds was considerably smaller than the other four. Since I always like an underdog I threw the runt into the mix. It made the first cut. The Runt looks healthy with a short but strong stem and healthy leaves. The two I am comparing it to for culling purposes have burnt leaves and weak stems because I started the T5 too soon and had it too close to the seedlings. Not their fault so I don't really hold that against them. But still.

As I was transplanting the seedlings I turned to the prep area and noticed I was one seedling short. As I turned a little further I saw my dog shaking his head and making racket. Turns out he stole a seedling from the small table I was using for the prep area, and may have injured the seedling beyond care, (yes, he was proud of himself) but I can't stand to just throw out a sprout so I thought I'd try and nurse it back to health and see what happens. If the sprout the dog ate doesn't make it then the runt stays in the tent. If that doesn't happen, I'll have to choose, the runt or the one the dog ate. Both have character. It's a hard choice. I'm preparing for the decision with some Pineapple Zkittlez.

March 20
After much deliberation and a lot of the Pineapple Zkittlez I decided that the runt should stay in the tent. That meant I had to do something with the seedling the dog ate. I opted to plant it outside and see what happens. Not the best climate for the seedling outside right at this moment but at least the plant has a chance.

Note: Very short time frame, but the Runt overtook the one the dog ate. Probably par for the course considering the shaking it received. The Runt looks really good, I think given her work to date she is now the Queen.

Set up the water reservoir. Have a small pump (not an air-stone) circulating the water in the tank. PH monitor set at 6.0. Initially using 8-9 gallons of water. PPM 240. I'm early with the rez but I want to monitor it and see if I notice anything unusual. Will turn on the Autopot system after the plants have had some time to get established in their pots.

All plants in the tent look healthy with light green leaves, gave each a shot of water using 2oz shot glass. Temps holding steady 76-79f a little cooler at night but not below 70. RH 45% Lights still at 25”. I like the way the HLG Elite 600 fills the tent evenly with light.

 

[SoOrbudgal]

Dang dog he can't help it if he like "grass" . Make your farmer happy now and grow big and strong. Sure looks good they are on their way.

 

[Daskahn]

Congratulations on the plants they seem to be moving along nicely.. that is a bit of a conundrum, plant growing short or “runt” I’ve read that sometimes stunted early growers are actually focusing on roots first and tend to be the stronger finishers and may be a survival trait from its ancestry.. (breeders breed for that trait to make for better indoor grows.. and dog shaking plant could have been a “natural event” so would love to see what effects that stress has..
ive always been told that true beauty in life is generally created by mistake or due to mistakes as a pose to perfection like an artist creating a masterpiece due to a bump or nudge.. so to can an artist make a masterpiece by a “dog shake” best plant I’ve ever seen grow was due to a curious cat nocking the plant over.. turned into the best of the bunch I read on here a lot that stress effects quantity and all that but see plenty of people do training of the plant or drill holes near finish.. I think the saying should change to something along the lines of applying proper stress in the proper way to get preferred results..

 

[golfnrl]

March 22
Gave each plant 2 ounces of PH'd water around the root ball. Also watered the outside edge of each pot, but only sparingly. Temps daytime 78-80 RH 45-50%

March 24
Gave each plant 4 ounces of PH'd water around the root ball. Also watered the outside edge of each pot, used a little more water this time. Daytime temps 78-82 RH 45-50%

All the plants look happy and healthy. They each have two nodes. Planning to top. First time. I'm a little nervous. Waiting on nodes 4-6.

Outdoor plant still hanging in there despite the climate challenges. Cold and rain with very little sun

March 25
First week of Veg in the books.
Daytime temps running steady between 72 and 81. That temp swing starts off on the low end of a morning and builds to the upper end of the range over the course of the day. RH 45-55% Hard to keep the RH steady with the humidifier I'm using. Lights 18/6 about 23” from the plants. As time goes by I plan to incrementally lower the light being mindful of light burn. First grow using this light, still kicking the tires.

Hopefully I will be turning on the Autopot system in one week. Autopot recommends 10-14 days for the sprouts to take root in their pots before turning on the system.

 

[Bootsy]

Noce so far. thanks for posting this. my next grow will be in autopots that were a Christmas present. I am anticipating good things. good luck

 

[JohnEmad]

You may find circulating the res constantly could cause the ph to fluctuate. anything organic as well. I set my small pump on a timer 15 mins / 4 times a day.

 

[golfnrl]

March 26
Gave each plant 6oz of PH'd water around the root ball. Also watered around the edge of the pots. Applied a small amount of water across the middle of the pots to keep the soil moist and alive. Stems are starting to thicken up. Noticed another set of nodes this morning. That makes three sets on each plant.

The outdoor plant (the one the dog ate) looks like it is acclimating to its new home. Surprised because something (the dog again? IDK) pulled the poor sprout out of the ground a day after after I put it there. This plant is tough! Weather has changed. Now sunshine and springtime temps.

March 27
Prepped Autopot for start up. I re-read the Autopot instructions for potting up in prep for turning on the system. I didn't water in the plants according the the instructions. But decided that based on growth rate and appearance the plants look like they have taken root.

March 28
Changed out the water in the reservoir. Bought a new circulating pump set to operate 4 times a day for 15 minutes each time Thx JohnEmad for the tip

The plants are taking to the Grogg's Green Barn living soil really well. Leaves look good

Re-read the tutorials about topping and fimming

March 29
Turned on the Autopot system. No problems. Each float works without adjustment.
Reservoir PH'd 6.0 (Autopot recommends 5.8-6.1) PPM 210 Daytime temps 78-82 RH 48-55%
Have noticed the HLG 600 Elite puts out quite a bit more heat than what I was expecting. Set up some mild forced air ventilation (6” fan blowing into the intake duct) and increased the fan speed inside the tent.
Re-read several tutorials about topping. Realized it's kinda hard to count the nodes on a plant when the nodes are close together.
Topped all the plants today at the 5[SUP]th[/SUP] node. First time to do any kind of training.

 

[golfnrl]

March 31
13 days into Veg (March 18)
Turned on the Autopot air domes. They'll run on the 18/6 schedule to make sure the air is warm.
All of the indoor plants have very well developed leaves and main stems. One plant has a stem that is about as big around as a #2 pencil. In the short 48 hours since I topped the plants they seem to be fully recovered. The growth tips on each plant at the top site have grown so much they are just peeking out behind the fan leaves that are guarding them. Won't be long and I will have two main growth tips on each plant. Woo Hoo!

I took some pics comparing the indoor plants and the one that had to go outdoors. I think its easy to see the conditions inside the tent are somewhat better than they are outdoors :smile:. I put some chicken wire around the outside plant today. Given its history (twice uprooted, cold temps, and cold rain) that plant is doing really well. Especially since sunshine and warmer temps have arrived.

 

[golfnrl]

April 1
Plants have recovered from being topped. RH 48%-55% Temps 76-80 No issues

April 4
17 Days into Veg
RH 46%-55% Daytime temps 78-80 Nighttime temp 70
Plants are doing well. Topping them stopped the vertical growth more than I expected. But since its only been six days since I made the cut, IDK. The branches and stems on these plants are thicker than the two other strains I've grown.
Added water to the rez today. 18L (little less than 5 gal) PH 5.9, in the Autopot recommended range of 5.8-6.1. Also added Regeneroot. Together the plants are drinking a little less than a gallon a day.

It's not necessary with the Autopot but I dropped some hydroton to top dress the soil in each pot. With bottom water feed the top 1/2" or so gets dry, and that bugs me. Clay pebbles are one of the recommendations for top dressing.

 

[Daskahn]

Ok when you say 17 days into veg you must be having three stages? Like seedling , veg, then flower?
keeps throwing me off because I just start veg period the moment they pop about the soil
they are beautiful though and I wish I had some lol

 

[golfnrl]

That's right. Three stages. First time I've tracked my grow like that. Seems like I read somewhere that veg starts when the plants go in their final home and flower begins when the plants start making buds, which is usually about a week after the switch to flower light schedule.

These plants are the best looking at this stage compared to the other two grows I've had. Knock on wood...I hope it stays that way. It's not like they won't be pampered or anything. LoL!

 

[Daskahn]

Yes they are beautiful

 

[golfnrl]

April 6
Plants are starting to fill out. Humidity is rising in the tent. Now running 58-62%. That's about the end of my comfort range. No sign of mold. Daytime temps 82 max Night time 70-72

April 7
Re-read some articles about defoliation. Clipped off a couple of leaves on the shortest plant.

April 8
21 days in veg

April 9
Added 18 L to the rez along with Regeneroot. PPM 210 PH holding in the 5.7-6.1 range. Flushed the 1/4” piping. Autopot system appears to be working well. Plants are showing a little bit of yellow tips. I had been letting them close the gap to the light. I noticed the yellowing when they were about 17” from the light. Raised the light to about 26”. HLG Tech support said to run the Elite 360 at about 24” for flower and 'a little higher' for veg. Took off one more leaf from the shortest plant to expose a bud sight. The canopy from the four plants is taking shape.

The outdoor plant is still holding it's own. I fed it some Grow Big and Big Bloom. Gale force winds overnight. Plant doesn't seem any worse for wear.

I've named all of my girls. We've got The Queen, Athena, Beverly, Hattie, and Calamity Jane (she's an outdoors type girl). Corny, I know but I can't help it.