First Auto Grow (Girl Scout Cookie)

[TheDifferenceX]

Day 46 (x1 Girl Scout Cookie, x1 Blue Dream)

Things are moving along well. The plants took well to the watering. I haven't experienced any drooping for at least a week. GSC final height is 19'', BD is 30'' tall.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

Day 47 (x1 Girl Scout Cookie, x1 Blue Dream)

Aroma is starting to increase. When I open the tent, it is starting to punch you in the nostrils! The GSC has the same exact smell as last grow and i'm loving it! That smell is so damn tasty! Smells just like the cured bud in the jar. I'm down to just 15 grams of GSC. Due to my own grown smoke, I went an extra 2 weeks before getting some more (picked up a zip of Pineapple Express yesterday). Last 4 or 5 days I was smoking mostly GSC!! That would have been hard to do, but my GSC #2 is 3 weeks away from being chopped, so that makes it a bit easier.

I'll be watering again today, this time feeding (1tsp CaMg, 1tsp Big Bloom, 1/4tsp Tiger Bloom, 30 drops of ph down). I don't see any negative side effects from the ph down and runoff adjusted to 6.5ish, but I also don't see anything looking better. I'm guessing most of the purple stems on the BD are from the high PH and a P or K lockout. Doubt those will recover on this plant, but hopefully if i'm able to go start to finish with a correct runoff PH, I can increase my yield and overall healthiness of the plant.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

Day 49 (x1 Girl Scout Cookie, x1 Blue Dream)

7 weeks from seed. 18/6 with 246 actual watt LED entire time.
Good news... Hairs are receding and turning red on the GSC at a pretty rapid rate. Some nice bud formation! The BD has a few red hairs throughout the plant, but mostly white. GSC aroma is overpowering so i'm having a hard time getting a real good smell of the BD.

Bad news.... The rust problem is back with a vengeance! Same type of issue I had late in flowering with the first GSC. So far, the BD seems to be doing fine. Besides some red/purple stems on the fan leaves and a few rust spots here and there, nothing major. The GSC, however, has rust spots spreading throughout the plant. They seem to almost start in the veins of the leaves and work outwards, but there is also spots in random places as well. I'll post some pictures. Any thoughts or suggestions are welcomed.

Not much I can do at this point, just ride it out like I did last time. I'm looking at 14-17 days on the GSC, so i'm going to start just giving PH'd water + CaMg the rest of the time.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

GSC with some close-ups

 

[TheDifferenceX]

BD

 

[TheDifferenceX]

Day 51 (x1 Girl Scout Cookie, x1 Blue Dream)

Tonight will be water day again. I'll have to hold off a few extra hours as I wont be home as early as I usually am. Last watering on Wednesday produced PH runoff of 6.42 and 6.58. My guess at this point is the damage has been done and I can only stop it from getting worse, not fix the problem. I've been doing a lot of reading, as I want to fine tune this as much as possible going forward.

Since the GSC will be harvested in 2 weeks (maybe a few days less) I'm going to go ahead and germ BD #2 tomorrow. This will allow me to line up the harvest dates and not have to stagger harvest.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

Day 53 (x1 Girl Scout Cookie, x1 Blue Dream)

Good lesson learned from this 2nd run. I need to mix in some other goodies with this FFOF soil next run. I'll be ordering some perilite as well as some dolomite lime. I've decided to stick with the FFOF soil, but i'm obviously battling some extreme PH fluctuations with just FFOF without any perilite or lime.

I'm now showing some signs of yellowing fan leaves + the continuing rust spots that start at the veins. The GSC has some rough looking fan leaves, but it looks like it will finish around day 63. So it only has 10 days to go, i'm not going to worry too much about her. I'm just giving water + camg + ph down right now. The BD doesn't have as many bad leaves on it, but it has a few smaller leaves that are yellowing and twisting, which I think is a sign of PH issues also. The bud sites are not forming very much on this girl either. Being a sativa, long flowering strain, this PH issue may have caused more damage than this girl can handle. We will see how she develops the next month or so.

I'll post some pictures this evening when I water. The GSC has an unbelievable smell right now. 50% of the white hairs have receded and it's looking very frosty and tasty!!!!

 

[TheDifferenceX]

GSC. These fan leaves are worse at day 53 than my first girls leaves were at day 55. pH meter reading dry soil at 7.0 pH.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

Day 54 (x1 Girl Scout Cookie, x1 Blue Dream)

BD. Some leaves twisting and getting brittle. The pH fluctuations may cause this girl to have trouble finishing.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

I'm just trying to fight through this the best I can. I've obviously got some things I need to dial in.

1) 2nd run with these fabric pots. Seeing a lot of salt buildup on the pots, wonder if when they get wet it's causing issues.

2) need to add dolomite like for sure. Some perilite too.

3) without proper exhaust, a long flowering sativa (BD) may not be the best option for me.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

Day 55 (x1 Girl Scout Cookie, x1 Blue Dream)

I'm fighting through this right now. I'm ordering some dolomite lime and perilite today. I'm also germinating another GSC and another BD today for run #3.

The BD is getting hit hard, the fan leaves are rusty/yellow and they are twisting all different directions. The stems are still a reddish/purple color. The bud sites are getting a few red hairs, but their isn't much mass at all. I know they need another 3-4 weeks, but I doubt it's going to last that long. I'm not going to repot or do anything like that.

The GSC will be done at Day 63 again. It's right on track with the past round. I will chop her and that will leave just the BD. By this weekend I will have run #3 potted and in the tent. If the BD makes it, great. But i'd rather just go ahead and get the next run going. Fingers crossed that the dolomite lime and extra perilite solve my issues.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

GSC


BD. Notice the ugly leaf twist. I've never had this. I'm guessing I've been trying to lower PH and have caused even more pH fluctuation.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

Just gave tap water today. No CaMg and no pH down. Just 6.5 pH tap water. Both plants. Hopefully things don't get any worse. I'll probably stick to plain water for now.

 

[ThaProdiG]

Just gave tap water today. No CaMg and no pH down. Just 6.5 pH tap water. Both plants. Hopefully things don't get any worse. I'll probably stick to plain water for now.

hey i bet its that cal mag in flower... i understand calcium in flower isnt a good thing.. i think mg is fine though..the calmg is creating lockout .. nice plants though.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

hey i bet its that cal mag in flower... i understand calcium in flower isnt a good thing.. i think mg is fine though..the calmg is creating lockout .. nice plants though.

Thanks for the response and the kind words. Appreciate that.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

Day 56 (x1 Girl Scout Cookie, x1 Blue Dream)

Things didn't get worse overnight. The twisting leaves on the BD actually have straightened out. I'm going to take that as a good sign. I'll continue to give just tap water (6.5ph) with nothing added. Maybe in a few weeks I can introduce some light bloom nutrients.

Before I germ and start watering the next run..... Here's my watering schedule I've had everyday for awhile. 3 gallon fabric pots, filled about 75-80% to the top. Every 48 hours the pot is light as a feather, and I water 1 gallon of tap water. I water 1/3 gallon at a time and wait 5-10 minutes. I usually get about 10-15% runoff towards the very end. The tray is dumped quickly and I usually sit the pot on a towel for a few minutes to soak up any extra runoff. Then return the tray and plant back to the tent.

Am I missing something there? Should I not water to runoff everytime? I'm not sure since I've never grown autos before. Maybe i'm overwatering and everything is caused by that alone. ??????

 

[ThaProdiG]

Day 56 (x1 Girl Scout Cookie, x1 Blue Dream)

Things didn't get worse overnight. The twisting leaves on the BD actually have straightened out. I'm going to take that as a good sign. I'll continue to give just tap water (6.5ph) with nothing added. Maybe in a few weeks I can introduce some light bloom nutrients.

Before I germ and start watering the next run..... Here's my watering schedule I've had everyday for awhile. 3 gallon fabric pots, filled about 75-80% to the top. Every 48 hours the pot is light as a feather, and I water 1 gallon of tap water. I water 1/3 gallon at a time and wait 5-10 minutes. I usually get about 10-15% runoff towards the very end. The tray is dumped quickly and I usually sit the pot on a towel for a few minutes to soak up any extra runoff. Then return the tray and plant back to the tent.

Am I missing something there? Should I not water to runoff everytime? I'm not sure since I've never grown autos before. Maybe i'm overwatering and everything is caused by that alone. ??????

nah youre not missing anything... after you flush out the cal mg you should be fine to continue with bloom nutes.. i would of course stop using the cal mg though... and i doubt over watering is the issue. i had a very similar lockout and i noticed it appeared as a deficiency.. one flush i was able to continue on..although the leaves affected wont recover but it wont continue to spread either.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

Day 57 (x1 Girl Scout Cookie, x1 Blue Dream)

Things haven't seemed to get much worse except the leaves yellowing on the GSC. She looks on track to harvest at day 63 again, which is just 6 days away.

Germinating one GSC and one BD tonight, didn't do it yesterday. My dolomite lime and perilite has arrived. Any suggestions on how much dolomite lime and perilite to mix with my FFOF? I'm going to do my usual reading and research, but if anyone wants to chime in, feel free.

I'll be watering later, so i'll post some pictures too then.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

UPDATE

Just got done watering both plants. I sprinkled 3 tablespoons of dolomite lime on the BD top soil layer before watering. I made sure it was divided up evenly. I didn't add any to the GSC. I know it will take a few days or a week before the dolomite lime will really kick in, so figured it wasn't worth it. The GSC will be done before that.

 

[TheDifferenceX]

Day 59 (x1 Girl Scout Cookie, x1 Blue Dream)

GSC is fuckin ripe! My carbon filter is working overtime. Today was the last watering for her, I will skip day 61 water and harvest at 63. Very dense nugs. I could see myself pulling 2 ounces from it.

BD has a nice fruity aroma, but it is not as potent as the GSC. It will be nice when the GSC is harvested, the BD will have more room, it's a tight fit right now. The BD drfinetely needed some training.