Mixed Auto Grow with Spider Farmer SE3000 from giveaway

Howdy. This is my first grow journal - kind and thoughtful comments and questions are welcome.

This is my fourth grow in the 3x3 tent. This time I’ll be using the Spider Farmer SE3000 300w light that they so generously sent me as part of a recent Rollitup giveaway.

I planted four seeds, all directly into the five gallon fabric pots where they will will spend their @12-14 week lives.

FFOF mixed with perlite. I used a handful of Moo Start germinating mix in the center and placed the seeds less than a 1/2” into the mix. Watered gently with long dropper that I’ll use a couple times a day from now till a week or so after they sprout.

Seeds are ones I’ve had good success with for the most part.

1x Runtz Auto (Barney’s, loved the two I grew previously)
1x Skywalker OG (Barney’s, mixed results first time with these)
2x Forum Stomper (Mephisto, harvested two of these earlier in July. Great stuff. If they are both good growers, I plan to experiment with a comparison of earlier vs later harvest, something I enjoyed with my previous Runtz grow. Loved both, though there were some subtle differences.)

Thanks to Mephisto for putting four seeds in their three seed package. Gotta add that I also grew the Samsquanch and was far less impressed. But the Stomper - stinky and outstanding. Excited to experiment with comparisons. Will likely top one and not the other as well.

Lots of low stress training in mind for all plants.

Not much to share in terms of pictures, but here is a shot of the seeded containers with the sweet Spider
Farmer light. Quick light related notes: about two feet above the soil surface set at 20% and casting a range of 250-310 ppfd (based on Photone measurements…).

Along for the ride!!! I have the cheaper version of that light and love it. The G300W I believe. I also won it here. Good luck. Looking forward to the updates.

First two to pop are the Forum Stompers. Welcome to the world!

I harvested two of these in early July at 75 days. Fine, stinky weed. Planning to go a bit longer this round, though that leads to one of the questions/issues I want to improve on this grow. How do I keep plants green and healthy till harvest? My autos have often ended up really nice, but have also yellowed towards the end of their lives with dying leaves accelerating the need for harvest from time to time.

Too much light? Not enough nutes? Too many nutes? We will see, and I may ask this elsewhere for more attention. But vegetative is always smooth sailing, knock on wood. Glad to see these young ladies, less than three days after going straight into soil as seeds. Pics should get more exciting as we grow…

Three of four have popped now, but two are wearing seed helmets. Uh-oh. Hopefully they resolve themselves. Still waiting for number four.

Of course, my first “grow journal” grow was gonna throw me curve balls. Modest seed issues and gnats. One seed popped clean, one with a bit of helmet head but fine after careful removal of the seed bit. The skywalker is a little mutant looking but should be fine, while the Runtz stalled out while sprouting. I buried that partially sprouted seed again, but also added a new Sangria auto that I had previously received as a freebie. I don’t expect the Runtz to grow. Sangria (from Twenty20) could be interesting!

More problematic, when checking things out I saw some critter movement, likely some tiny gnats that I can only assume came from the new bag of FFOF, something I’ve read plenty about but never experienced myself. Added a bit of DE and some strips, and haven’t seen the critters for a couple days, but I expect I’ll battle them again.

Forum Stomper was getting leggy so lowered the light a tad. Left room in the pot to add some extra dirt for support when the time comes. More to come as they start to grow and be ready for LST.

Pics of leggy but happy Forum Stomper and funny growing sprout that should be ok, I hope (Skywalker). You can see the white powder of the DE.

DeadHeadX said:

Of course, my first “grow journal” grow was gonna throw me curve balls. Modest seed issues and gnats. One seed popped clean, one with a bit of helmet head but fine after careful removal of the seed bit. The skywalker is a little mutant looking but should be fine, while the Runtz stalled out while sprouting. I buried that partially sprouted seed again, but also added a new Sangria auto that I had previously received as a freebie. I don’t expect the Runtz to grow. Sangria (from Twenty20) could be interesting!

More problematic, when checking things out I saw some critter movement, likely some tiny gnats that I can only assume came from the new bag of FFOF, something I’ve read plenty about but never experienced myself. Added a bit of DE and some strips, and haven’t seen the critters for a couple days, but I expect I’ll battle them again.

Forum Stomper was getting leggy so lowered the light a tad. Left room in the pot to add some extra dirt for support when the time comes. More to come as they start to grow and be ready for LST.

Pics of leggy but happy Forum Stomper and funny growing sprout that should be ok, I hope (Skywalker). You can see the white powder of the DE.

Click to expand...

Damn, they act just like toddlers who know you're taking a picture of them!

Another early grow update. Popped a replacement for the dud Runtz; others coming along fine. The new Sangria popped with some helmet head that I had to work on. Planted a couple of these too shallow.

Haven’t seen a gnat for a few days (knock on wood) after two treatments of neem and the application of some DE on the top layer. I expect the roots are getting established and we should start seeing some nice new growth soon. Upped the light power to 50%, and about 19” about plants giving off a pretty consistent 450-480 ppfd. Will notch things up again and/or lower the lights in a few days. Cruising through the early grow, about a week since coming above ground. Also including a shot of a nug I ground up this morning from an early July harvest of the Forum Stompers that are off to a good start here. Tasty.

I’ll check back in in a week or so. Looking ahead, I’m trying to steer clear of liquid nutes. Thinking I need a top dress in about two weeks. Any recommendations for me?

DeadHeadX said:

More problematic, when checking things out I saw some critter movement, likely some tiny gnats that I can only assume came from the new bag of FFOF, something I’ve read plenty about but never experienced myself. Added a bit of DE and some strips, and haven’t seen the critters for a couple days, but I expect I’ll battle them again.

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Get yourself a bottle of "Microbe-Lift BMC". Add 2 tiny drops per-gallon of water. Shake well. Make sure to cover the entire surface while watering. That will kill the larvae. The adults fliers need to be killed with yellow sticky traps. Problem solved. Repeat with 1-drop per gallon, every other watering, or once a week & they won't come back


&

Lay the sticky sheets over your pots like so...


About $27 total for a couple years supply.

I really liked the Dr Earth dry amendments I used for the last couple years. Gaia Green is supposed to be good as well. They're very simple to use a super economical. Dosage levels vary depending on who you ask but 1/4 cup per 5 gallons of soil is a good starting point for the Dr Earth line.

DrDukePHD said:

Get yourself a bottle of "Microbe-Lift BMC". Add 2 tiny drops per-gallon of water. Shake well. Make sure to cover the entire surface while watering. That will kill the larvae. The adults fliers need to be killed with yellow sticky traps. Problem solved. Repeat with 1-drop per gallon, every other watering, or once a week & they won't come back

Amazon.com

&

https://www.amazon.com/Gideal-20-Pack-Dual-Sided-Whiteflies-Leafminers/dp/B07QKLHH5X

Lay the sticky sheets over your pots like so...
View attachment 5317175

About $27 total for a couple years supply.

Click to expand...

That stuff is life changing for someone like me that struggled with them for years and years. Thanks @DrDukePHD for recommending it to me awhile back. I hardly ever see flyers and larvae are non existent.

Looking good. I dont do autos myself but interested how you make out with your new light setup. Maybe you will change the way I look at autos and get me to try some. Looking forward to your updates.

FirstCavApache64 said:

I really liked the Dr Earth dry amendments I used for the last couple years. Gaia Green is supposed to be good as well. They're very simple to use a super economical. Dosage levels vary depending on who you ask but 1/4 cup per 5 gallons of soil is a good starting point for the Dr Earth line.

Click to expand...

I like everything I read here about the Dr. Earth. Do you use a particular blend for flower?

DeadHeadX said:

I like everything I read here about the Dr. Earth. Do you use a particular blend for flower?

Click to expand...

I used their flower girl for mid to late flower in the beginning but had good luck running just the 4-6-3 from start to finish with my last run. I've switched over to Jack's classic for now as I had done Dr Earth for a couple years and wanted to give mineral/salt nutes another go. Dr Earth and Gaia Green are hard to beat for budget and simplicity though and produce some good buds.

Update. It’s been two weeks since the first seeds popped, and they’ve started growing pretty quickly. Turned the lights up to 50% and lowered them a bit, @ 18” above plants, 24 hours on. Readings in high 500s ppfd. Also slowly decreasing humidity in tent. High 60s for now. Using spring water that I collect from a spring a few miles away (my well water is filtered with a Culligan sodium based system, which I suspect isn’t good for the plants long term)

Added a first round of training today on the biggest plants. I’ve found it’s important to start early with training on the autos as the window is pretty short. I don’t like to mess with them once they’re fully in flower. And they grow fast so I’ll need to keep after them. Posted pics below of before and after I added the wires. Will post pics when they respond later today or tomorrow. As a side note, the forum stompers proved stubborn trainers last round. They took to it well, but are such vigorous growers that they popped the light-weight ties. Going with heavier gauge this time. Hardy plants. Mephisto.

You can see some powder on leaves and soil from diatomaceous earth for the gnats. I’ve also soaked the top layer of soil with a neem spray and have generally tried to keep things dry. I don’t see them now, but did with my last watering, so they’re still around. The mosquito stuff recommended above is on the way, but not here yet. I had planned to add another layer of soil, but the batch I bought had the gnats. May heat some up before using or else simply skip that and go to the Dr. Earth amendments in a week or two. We will see. Recommendations and comments welcome. Sorry for typing so much. My curse, lol.

DrDukePHD said:

Get yourself a bottle of "Microbe-Lift BMC". Add 2 tiny drops per-gallon of water. Shake well. Make sure to cover the entire surface while watering. That will kill the larvae. The adults fliers need to be killed with yellow sticky traps. Problem solved. Repeat with 1-drop per gallon, every other watering, or once a week & they won't come back

Amazon.com

&

https://www.amazon.com/Gideal-20-Pack-Dual-Sided-Whiteflies-Leafminers/dp/B07QKLHH5X

Lay the sticky sheets over your pots like so...
View attachment 5317175

About $27 total for a couple years supply.

Click to expand...

The microbe lift arrived today. Directions call for 6 drops per 100 gallons; different use I know. Just confirming that this is the right stuff to apply two drops per gallon to attack the gnats. Actually haven’t seen them for a bit or caught any on traps, but I suspect they are still present. Thanks for any advice. Started another thread with this question also.

Update. Went ahead and used the stuff at two drops a gallon and watered in to all four pots. Much more water than I’d normally give at this point. Pretty sure they are fungus gnats. Tiny little winged creatures that mainly stick to the soil. Haven’t caught many in the traps however. We will see. Plants don’t really seem any worse for wear so far.

DeadHeadX said:

Update. Went ahead and used the stuff at two drops a gallon and watered in to all four pots. Much more water than I’d normally give at this point. Pretty sure they are fungus gnats. Tiny little winged creatures that mainly stick to the soil. Haven’t caught many in the traps however. We will see. Plants don’t really seem any worse for wear so far.

Click to expand...

Yup they bounce around the top soil mostly.

First watering 2 drops (knockout punch)
Second & third watering... 1 drop.

Then just one drop per week You don't have to do the 1x per week ongoing maintenance but they will likely come back & then you'll have to start over. Don't forget your house plants too! They have likely made it to them by now.

Update day 16. Here are a couple pics of the Forum Stompers a day or two after the first training session. One of them is really resisting, with a strong top growth wanting to take charge. I might just top it instead, though they are both pushing what will be future colas, so the training seems to be taking hold. Two later sprouting plants in back coming along fine. Anyway, post training pics that I said I’d show to add some before and after looks. Worth noting that some autos take to the training much more agreeably than the stompers, which has been a consistent experience, though this is only my second round growing then. Starting to grow fast now! Still at 24 hours light. Powder is DE that is part of the gnat battle (see above). Yellow stickies on the way too. Not catching any flying gnats really - maybe the DE is taking care of them before they get too big?

Day 18, at least for the most mature of them. Showing some signs of overwatering from the gnat treatment (I knew I was giving them too much water, but was eager to start getting rid of the bugs - far fewer after the first treatment). Retied the tops, and added first tie down to the Skywalker OG, which is a few days behind. I was hoping to hit them with another round of the microbe lift, but they still need to dry out some. Here’s a pic after the most recent tie downs.

Hit them up with round two of the microbe lift. Picking up very few bugs on the yellow sticky after round one. Growing a bit every day.