Halloween in July?

[No3odiesShad0w]

With my New Year grow starting to wind down, I'm going to end up with a 2x2 space in my tent. The Tangie auto is just about finished and I didn't want to waste the real estate. Plus it's just another experiment in reusing Coco as a living soil base rather than peat.

Right from the start, I knew she had to be an auto; preferably a fast finishing auto. The only seed in my bank that matched that criteria was the Sweet Zombie Auto by Blimburn. According to their website, it should be a 6-7 week flower time. She's got sweet and fruity terp description. With veg time, she should be ready around the 4th of July. She popped on April 20th so hopefully that's a good sign! I put her in water on the 18th and planted her that night. It only took her a day to pop. She still has the shell attached to her leaf.

I planted her into my basket cups. When the tangie comes out, I'm just going to remove the outer cup and just plant her into the soil. The roots will grow past the holes in the basket and it removes the transplant shock and auto can experience. The starter soil was just Fox Farm Happy Frog with some extra perlite, a scoop of Myco and about a tablespoon of my resting soil (microbial and biological inoculation of predator mites, good bacteria, springtails and more). This living soil stuff is amazing and makes growing so easy.

To make sure that she'll have the proper nutrition, I'll be filling that fabric pots to the top with a mix of Coco/perlite/castings(from my worm bin🪱)
6oz of NLS Autoflower super soil
Bio char
Mycos and Azos
Humic acid
Basalt, gypsum, Rock dust, ag lime, dolomite lime, oyster shell flour
Insect frass
Bokashi
Handful of live worms
Cover crop

All that plus the nutrition that's still left in the Coco will be enough for at least the veg part of growth. The worms and biology in there already will break down the old roots from the tangie as well as the current cover crop that will be covered with about a gallon of fresh top dress. I'll have to plant fresh cover crop.

She's going to to be blooming by the time the Pineapple Express, MAC1 and blue dream finish up and she'll be done blooming by the time the Summer Auto Grow is maybe 2 weeks into veg. I can easily fit 3 autos into that 2x4 tent so I should be fine.. besides it's only for a short while. It will boost my summer stash by a few ounces, so why not?

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

She was a Halloween freebie when I bought seeds for my winter grow. I was waiting for the right time to plant her and this just seemed like the best opportunity. The seeds popped really quick and she looks super healthy already, so I'm very pleased with the germination at least.

 

[SoOrbudgal]

How fun enjoy that treat!

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

It's just holding on for dear life! Why is it when I'm not recording all the interesting stuff happens. Just waiting for it to fall off.

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

Today, the Sweet Zombie came out of her dome. It's the end of day 4, so it's time to acclimate her to rather dry conditions. The rest of the plants are in bloom so VPD is around 1.2-1.3kPa. High for a seeding but 🤷‍♂️. That's the problem with conveyor style growing especially when you don't have individual tents and individual spaces.. She'll be fine though.
She's getting about 320PPFD of light. Only 4 days old and she's as big as the CBD I planted on April 12th. She's got a fire under her ass for sure!

I prepped the top dress soil. Some Coco/castings/perlite totaling about 2 gallons. Because I only had 6oz left of the NLS Autoflower(finally!!!). I added some basalt, glacial rock dust, ag lime, dolomite lime, oyster shell flour, keep, neem, crab,biochar, azomite, alfalfa, mycos, Azos, insect frass,bokashi and humic acid. All 1 Tbsp worth. I mixed it up really well with some filtered water and now I'm going to let it sit for a couple of days in a dark warm spot. Then it's looking like I'll be chopping the Tangie on Saturday or Sunday. I'll take that 2 gallons and fill the bucket the rest of the way and plant the Sweet Zombie Autoflower with the basket right into the same pot. Then I'll do a heavy cover crop on top to help keep things wet and get some stronger capillary action going. More roots is like more straws pulling up the water.

I'm curious how effective a heavy top dress like this will do. If no till is legit then this should actually work. Maybe I'll lightly mix it in with the other soil since it's going to be disturbed when I pull the roots....... Unless I dump a bunch of Worms in there and don't even pull the roots. They'll eat everything in 2 weeks.. Either way, I'll going to reuse this same pot .

It's funny she's still holding onto the seed shell 🥰

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

UPGRADE!!
The baby Sweet Zombie got transplanted last night after I chopped the Tangie! I just took the soil and mixed it with the fresh stuff instead of doing a top dress like I initially planned. I'm glad I did it because I saw the taproot sticking out the bottom of the cup already and she's only 8 days old😱 No cap... That thing was 2 inches long. She reminds me so much of the purple punch that I grew. It's another one of those that's just racing to the finish line. I like autoflower cultivars that do this but it's paramount that you have everything dialed in your soil your environment to give it the perfect environment to thrive. Hopefully this time I did that.

The soil is a Coco/perlite/casting mix. 2:2:1 ratio
6oz NLS Autoflower
1Tbsp ag lime, dolomite, gypsum, kelp, neem, crab, biochar, azomite, oyster shell flour, alfalfa, mycos, Azos
4Tbsp Glacial Rock Dust, basalt Rock

That should be PLENTY for most of her life if not the whole grow. 7 gal for an auto.....🤔 Just have to wait and see.

She def perked up from last night. I put a Tbsp of Mycos and Azos in the hole. The big Taproot was placed right on top of the Mycos/Azos mix. Should be all good!! I gave her a nice watering added maybe a liter of water in the base and seeded a bunch of cover crop on top. Should be a nice little intermittent grow.

Happy growing friends 👍🌱🪴🍄🌼

 

[SoOrbudgal]

Outstanding she outta be a big fat healthy gal

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

Still holding onto that seed shell 🤣. She's growing so well. She almost doubles in size daily.. I wish I could give her more than 12 hours of light but it is what it is I lowered the lights themselves so that the PPFD would be higher.

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

She's 12 days old. Soon she's really going to take off. It's usually around day 14 to day 16 that autoflowers just start exploding.

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

Gave her a real first watering on day 12 (I had the soil saturated initially so there was no need to water only mist the topsoil). The cover crop is coming in really nicely! I see all 4 varieties popping up.
IN the next few days, she's really going to explode in growth. I've been putting 1L of water into the base daily because everyday I check, it's dry. I know they say you shouldn't bottom water until the plant is bigger but I have worms, springtails, predator mites and other life forms that need the water too. I have to consider them as well. It's called Living Soil for a reason.
For day 12 plant, she's looking FABULOUS. She's going to be a nice one. Those first 30 days are the most important for an auto and she's got a GREAT START!! I think I might actually know something about this growing 😅. Took a bit to get here but I'm 💪 for it. Even my autos are starting to come out better and better each grow..

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

She's grown so much. She's on day 14/15. I gave her a nice watering and the cover crop is coming up really nicely. I put about a liter into the base daily. So far so good!! You can see in the time lapse, she's growing nice and quick! Happy healthy, and half way through the most important time of an autos life. She's going to be mighty fine!

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

The Time Lapse for the Sweet Zombie starts on W13 in the 2x4 series.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/e4y68f53mkamf0tun3l5e/h?rlkey=k9ltb9jgs4gv01xiiewiwrtbp&dl=0

 

[SoOrbudgal]

She looks great i'm waiting for 2nd set of leaf on all my auto starts i do transplant out of the small 2x2 cups into the final pot and i bury them deep.

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

The colors on her are great!! She's looking super super healthy!! The cover crop will out grow her but that's okay it'll get patted down.

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

Because the all-around drying has been negative to what I'm trying to do, I wrapped the fabric pie with some cling wrap. This way it won't dry out so much along the sides. Still in a fabric pot there's still a fabric layer between the two to dry back. The top and bottom can still dry. Bottom wicking is too slow of a method for a heavy drinking plant that's also getting dried on all sides. This will mimic more of a earth box style. Let's see. Hopefully the medium retains moisture a bit better and I get better results because she's racing. That gas pedal is all the way down.

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

It's been 3 days since the last picture and she's grown so much!! She's doing so well. Day 19/20. Almost got past that 30 day hump.

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

It's day 20 for her and she's STILL holding onto that seed shell 🤣🤣🤣 this is great

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

OMG 😱😱. SHE'S FLOWERING!!! 🌼🪴

I inspecting her and I noticed 1 V-shaped petal, then I noticed another and another!!! Day 22 and she has let out her first petals. Now that doesn't necessarily mean anything except that she's sexually mature. She's going to grow something fierce in the next few weeks. She has already grown so much in such a short time. She's supposed to be one of those 56 days of flowering types. I never grew any autos....eerrrr maybe the purple punch Auto was 56 days too ..... But I usually never get to grow any that flower this quickly. Most are 70+ days.

She's looks very happy. I did hit her with some Recharge (1/4tsp per gal) and 2ml GH Cali-Magic per gallon. I gave her a solid watering. Made sure everything was nice and saturated. Everything from now on is going to be bottom watering only..... If I did this correctly.....🙏

I will be swapping out the base with the smaller base. This is in preparation for the next grow and for easier moving around. So much excitement!!! Such a busy time right now. Getting the earth boxes ready for the next grow. I'm chopping Wednesday morning, sterilizing the tents Wednesday night and popping seeds Thursday night for the next grow!!

 

[No3odiesShad0w]

Did a little guidance LST today. She's throwing up V's all over and starting to stretch. I want those lower branches to catch up so that they can have an even canopy. She is looking really healthy. I don't think there was any issues with the transplant.

Nutrients and everything seem to be just fine. I'll make her a castings tea in a few days. A 1 month celebration and inoculate the soil again with fresh castings and Worms. I don't think I'm going to top dress anything yet. It's a 7 gallon pots. She def hasn't used to the nutrition. She should be good for the whole grow. Maybe a tea or 2 and she'll be just fine.

Very low maintenance in between grow 👍 I'm liking this.