Epsilon Grow Setup: My Quest for the Ultimate Autoflower Chocolope Flavor & Yield

[DrDankHands]

I mean...will supplementing CO2 raise the concentration near the plants? Yes, it will. Will it keep it at 1,500 ppm (the target) for long periods of time if you have fans blowing the air around, intake vents pulling in air from the outside, and a big fan exhausting air out of the tent? Probably not. Like everything else with growing, there's a lot of grey area and we have to pick our spots. For most newer growers, CO2 isn't on the short list. It won't hurt it, but there's time, effort, expense...

Makes sense thanks man just gonna add it where I can and not worry about it too much, hopefully the intake can suck in enough co2 to keep all the girls happy

 

[DrDankHands]

Hey all just a quick update,

all is well with the girls.. one plant showing signs of potentially nitrogen deficiency but could also be tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) which would be horrifying,

hopefully it's just the deficiency, time will tell.
Day 16 a couple runtz in the litter but all are healthy and seem relatively uniform will do a bit of defoliation this weekend if all goes well...

Exciting times.
The random plant in the small pot in the middle is a non autoflower chocolope that I'm having some fun with experimenting with growth nutrients and bonsai-ing?!

Any questions or tips feel free to jump in..

 

[DrDankHands]

Bit bummed nobody is seeing this dunno if it's the time of day I'm posting or what but zero interest stings a bit.

 

[DrDankHands]

Day 18

 

[DrDankHands]

Day 19

All is well in epsilon.

 

[Mikedin]

Bit bummed nobody is seeing this dunno if it's the time of day I'm posting or what but zero interest stings a bit.

Nah topics just fly by dam! I’m here though looks like a nice well thought out setup, the autos is throwing me off though that’s a difficult SOG besides that I’m here to follow!

 

[AZreefer]

I think more people are seeing it than commenting bro. I am just now finding it though so maybe . I'm down to watch this. The read was A+ on the prep and reasoning. I'm stoked to watch your progress!

 

[DrDankHands]

Nah topics just fly by dam! I’m here though looks like a nice well thought out setup, the autos is throwing me off though that’s a difficult SOG besides that I’m here to follow!

Good to have you here Mike welcome to my bonkers adventure
I thought autos would be ok and still hope they will, I am going to use and am currently using a process of low stress training and leaf nibbling to slow the quicker autos growth down and to allow the runtz of the litter to catch up, we're just getting into day 21 (week 3) and there all showing 10-12 mm stems and have begun to increase height I was hoping to have installed the first layer of trellis by now but this strain is much shorter, at least in the early stages than anticipated.
I have prepared for cropping intermittently as each plant reaches peak maturity. The biggest issue I will face with this method is drying and curing as keeping smell down needs to be my top priority as... UK law enforcement despise my passion.
Here's yesterday's pic of the girls after there first trimming.

 

[DrDankHands]

I think more people are seeing it than commenting bro. I am just now finding it though so maybe . I'm down to watch this. The read was A+ on the prep and reasoning. I'm stoked to watch your progress!

I'd like to think more people are reading than commenting, I can't really share this with many people in life as the UK's laws are Draconian and just wanted to share it with someone .

Glad you here along for the journey, if you want to know anything about my setup, need any help or just want to know why I chose one item or thing over another feel free to ask

 

[Mothman]

I'd like to think more people are reading than commenting, I can't really share this with many people in life as the UK's laws are Draconian and just wanted to share it with someone .View attachment 2274863
Glad you here along for the journey, if you want to know anything about my setup, need any help or just want to know why I chose one item or thing over another feel free to ask
View attachment 2274864

They look nice to me! I’m in Virginia/US, keeping an eye on you from across the pond. Never tried autos so I’m auto-curious.

 

[Mothman]

I imagine everybody’s busy with their summer grow! Here’s mine, maybe 3-4 more weeks til chop.

 

[DrDankHands]

They look nice to me! I’m in Virginia/US, keeping an eye on you from across the pond. Never tried autos so I’m auto-curious.

Ah nice to have you here, love Virginia never been but always wanted to, fascinating history, the first British colony Roanoke was charted there in 1584 and vanished 6 years later with nothing but coatoan carved into the tree, its always been a fascinating mystery. History lesson aside your plants look very healthy your at the fun stage now watching those buds develop is the highlight of growing, for me at least. Have you considered adding a UV-B light to stress the plant into producing more resinous materials

 

[DrDankHands]

Thought I'd give a brief overview of my nutrients.
For germination through to early vedge I used these.

And for there first feeding around day 12 I gave them these each at half recommended dose.

And once flowering begins I'll be using this lot throughout the process.

Of course I had to get the AC infinity pH pen to be sure my babys are getting that sweet spot and I must say it's such a time saver and comes in a great little storage case.

Any questions, additions or advice?

 

[Eledin]

I have a very inexpensive set up so I cant really make any opinions about yours which is quite the set up, congrats, its impressive! I do have however a couple of suggestions one of which is already been talked about (I did read everything)

1. For SOG with autoirrigation you should go with coco, as already said a lot of plastic pots bunched up together will make it hard for them to dry. Be careful with what coco you buy because there's some really trash coco that will take the same or longer to dry. I would advice high porosity coco from atami if you want it to dry faster. While taking long to dry might not be a problem now it might be later on when you need to feed but they cant take more water.

2. If you wanna keep doing SOG you should really go with clones. Same plant pehnotype so they will grow more or less the same height and mature at the same time. Seeds are like brothers or cousins, they can be quite different even if its the same strain, while clones are like twins. I always liked that analogy. That said I hope you dont have much trouble. Are they bulk seeds? Some of them might be a bit old because I see some albinism in the first leaves and that always happens to me with bulk seeds (usually because theyre not properly stored or theyre old)

3. Your nute line is pretty straight forwards too. Canna boost accelerator has some suggars but they dont specify how much. Im a big advocate of suggars for fattening buds and I always use several kinds of them. Maybe I would get a bottle of bud candy to combine with canna boost accelerator. I combine atami suggars with carboload and bud candy. Atami suggars I use mostly for the microorganisms during veg but also a little bit during bloom with the beforementioned.

4. You said youre aiming for the best possible result. You might wanna use chitosan during flower. (Dont buy bud factor x from AN its super overpriced, there are cheaper options). The reason bud factor x works and its so expensive is chitosan, which you can only find in oyster, krill or crab meal. You can make your own if you wanna give yourself a treat and buy some shrimp or crab, there's tutorials on how to extract the chitosan from the shells.

5. You have bacillus, trichoderma and mycorrizae if I did read everything correctly right? If you ever have trouble with fungus gnats I would recommend that you also get Tarantula from AN which has bacillus thuringiensis, voodoo juice doesnt. Thats the only subspecies of bacillus that secretes a protein that kills the larvae that try to munch on your roots. Another way is using diatomaceous earth but with so many pots it must be a pain in the ass, and if theyre always wet it wont do anything, diatomaceous earth needs to be dry to kill the bugs. Another option is that once you finish with voodoo juice you buy great white premium. Its the most complete microorganism formula out there and also has bacillus thuringiensis. You cant buy it here cause this is a spanish website but you have all the microorganisms listed there.

Great White Premium Mycorrhizae - GB

Great White Premium Mycorrhizae by Plant Success is a complex, complete combination of mycorrhizae and beneficial bacteria for your cannabis plants.

www.growbarato.net

 

[Eledin]

Bit bummed nobody is seeing this dunno if it's the time of day I'm posting or what but zero interest stings a bit.

Dont worry people will catch up if you keep uploading hahaha. I didnt even see this post until I watched your profile to see specifically if you had a post, after you commented in mine. Its hard to catch new threads sometimes, the feed is always updating.

 

[BudRanger1919]

Hey man! Very nice grow, I like your style of keeping records! I get pretty detailed with that stuff too, so I can go back and see what I did. I also get done by the time of day I post but people will see it, just give it time. Sometimes takes a some development to get a thread running.

 

[AZreefer]

I'd like to think more people are reading than commenting, I can't really share this with many people in life as the UK's laws are Draconian and just wanted to share it with someone .View attachment 2274863
Glad you here along for the journey, if you want to know anything about my setup, need any help or just want to know why I chose one item or thing over another feel free to ask
View attachment 2274864

Bro I could just bullshit with you for days about your grow and set up. It's legal here but so few people I know are a pothead on my level and no one really cares about my grow, build or plans! I'm doing the same thing as you and investing time and money in my set to build up a high quality weed production facility. You and I have a very similar methodical approach to our builds. It makes us proud and want to show it to others with similar interests. I'm here for that all day.

I had toyed with the idea of doing my next run in my 5x5 nearly identical to what you are doing now with a bunch of autos.

I'm also going to be using canna's line up in my next run but that's going to be in a rdwc because that has been my dream.

Your grow and build are satisfying to me on so many levels!

And I been seeing the bonsai freak show that is crazy!

 

[DrDankHands]

I have a very inexpensive set up so I cant really make any opinions about yours which is quite the set up, congrats, its impressive! I do have however a couple of suggestions one of which is already been talked about (I did read everything)

1. For SOG with autoirrigation you should go with coco, as already said a lot of plastic pots bunched up together will make it hard for them to dry. Be careful with what coco you buy because there's some really trash coco that will take the same or longer to dry. I would advice high porosity coco from atami if you want it to dry faster. While taking long to dry might not be a problem now it might be later on when you need to feed but they cant take more water.

2. If you wanna keep doing SOG you should really go with clones. Same plant pehnotype so they will grow more or less the same height and mature at the same time. Seeds are like brothers or cousins, they can be quite different even if its the same strain, while clones are like twins. I always liked that analogy. That said I hope you dont have much trouble. Are they bulk seeds? Some of them might be a bit old because I see some albinism in the first leaves and that always happens to me with bulk seeds (usually because theyre not properly stored or theyre old)

3. Your nute line is pretty straight forwards too. Canna boost accelerator has some suggars but they dont specify how much. Im a big advocate of suggars for fattening buds and I always use several kinds of them. Maybe I would get a bottle of bud candy to combine with canna boost accelerator. I combine atami suggars with carboload and bud candy. Atami suggars I use mostly for the microorganisms during veg but also a little bit during bloom with the beforementioned.

4. You said youre aiming for the best possible result. You might wanna use chitosan during flower. (Dont buy bud factor x from AN its super overpriced, there are cheaper options). The reason bud factor x works and its so expensive is chitosan, which you can only find in oyster, krill or crab meal. You can make your own if you wanna give yourself a treat and buy some shrimp or crab, there's tutorials on how to extract the chitosan from the shells.

5. You have bacillus, trichoderma and mycorrizae if I did read everything correctly right? If you ever have trouble with fungus gnats I would recommend that you also get Tarantula from AN which has bacillus thuringiensis, voodoo juice doesnt. Thats the only subspecies of bacillus that secretes a protein that kills the larvae that try to munch on your roots. Another way is using diatomaceous earth but with so many pots it must be a pain in the ass, and if theyre always wet it wont do anything, diatomaceous earth needs to be dry to kill the bugs. Another option is that once you finish with voodoo juice you buy great white premium. Its the most complete microorganism formula out there and also has bacillus thuringiensis. You cant buy it here cause this is a spanish website but you have all the microorganisms listed there.

Great White Premium Mycorrhizae - GB

Great White Premium Mycorrhizae by Plant Success is a complex, complete combination of mycorrhizae and beneficial bacteria for your cannabis plants.

www.growbarato.net

Wow man! That's without doubt the single most useful comment I've ever read, lots to consider and digest there.

Your 100% correct I should have used Coco I didn't consider the drainage and water retention until it was too late, I got caught up on making my own soil it was totally overlooked I will definitely be using it next time.
The only thing you missed was I am using heavy duty 4 layer fabric pots which does seem to do a nice job of wicking the water and evenly distributing it.
Yeah I do lean more towards sog than any other method but I am thinking of redesigning the wheel next time I'm considering using a 2inch square mesh up 3 of the interior walls training the plants to grow up the mesh vertically and have a 360° coverage light in the centre the hard part will be finding a 4-5ft tall light I will probably have to make my own.
I would love to grow from clones and if I had access to them I definitely would have, I didn't want to vedge a plant for months to have enough to make 36 clones but it was considered, it was more of a time constraint than anything else.
I'm using a series of training and growth slowing to maintain an even canopy, good spot on the albinism freaked me out at first but I don't think it will cause issue later on.. hopefully.

I was considering bud candy but wasn't sure if it was the best choice but upon you recommendations I will get some and some of the carboload good call I've also ordered some chitosan which I only recently became aware of..
Bacillus thuringiensis is another great suggestion for the potential issues of fungus gnats larvae, again i hadn't considered the issue but now I'm aware tarantula instead of voodoo is an easy to introduce preventative measure. Thanks for all that dude if I have any issues I might message you, you seem to really know what you talking about.

 

[DrDankHands]

Hey man! Very nice grow, I like your style of keeping records! I get pretty detailed with that stuff too, so I can go back and see what I did. I also get done by the time of day I post but people will see it, just give it time. Sometimes takes a some development to get a thread running

Hey Bud, welcome
Thanks man, I find it's best to have some form of day to day diary as my memory is like a leaky siv
That's true, think I just needed to let it find it's feet, I got a little disheartened but back in the swing of it now

 

[DrDankHands]

Bro I could just bullshit with you for days about your grow and set up. It's legal here but so few people I know are a pothead on my level and no one really cares about my grow, build or plans! I'm doing the same thing as you and investing time and money in my set to build up a high quality weed production facility. You and I have a very similar methodical approach to our builds. It makes us proud and want to show it to others with similar interests. I'm here for that all day.

I had toyed with the idea of doing my next run in my 5x5 nearly identical to what you are doing now with a bunch of autos.

I'm also going to be using canna's line up in my next run but that's going to be in a rdwc because that has been my dream.

Your grow and build are satisfying to me on so many levels!

And I been seeing the bonsai freak show that is crazy!

Love it man, just had a look at some of your stuff and... Wow you got the thick nugs on lockdown
I get you bro, It's brutal when you can't share your passion and hard work with anyone or when you do they can't even fain interest, tbh it really annoys me cuz I don't care about other people's bullshit coy carp project or mung bean farm but I pretend to be interested because they clearly care so much but here at least all I get is glazed over faces and very quick changes of subject makes me not want to talk to some people and kinda kills my enthusiasm to do anything different because only I care but now I'm trying to be more sociable online which is totally new to me I've always been a talk to me in the real or don't talk to me kinda person but it's clear to find like-minded and interesting people the net was the way to go
The 5x5 is a good idea if you wanted to do a similar style to me I'd suggest 25 x 25L pots 12inches square in a raised platform above a tray to allow water to flow through and not sit and stagnate this is my only regret currently I have each pot in its own 6inch tray but I can't see past the first row if the tray is overflowing.
Glad your enjoying my journey, and happy to have you along for the ride will do a small post on my freakshow someday soon