Greetings Everyone!
First time grower here, just moved from Texas to France and my wife suggested I try growing here and since the laws are so damn extreme in Texas I never made a real effort until now.
Well I was only going to buy Feminized Seeds, from Nirvana since my wife sent me the link and I was like HELL YEA, let's do this!! When reviewing the website I noticed that, there are these plants called Automatics, same types of strains as 100% Fem Seeds, but also Autos. So instead of just rushing in I did some research(being 35 now lands a tad bit more patience). So after reading up on Cannabis, the adifferences of Fem, Reg & Auto. I learned about Ruderalis(I knew Indica & Sativa) and how it's basically no THC, but the sites claim all these high %'s in there Auto strains. So more research and come to find out, a revolution has occurred while I was out working my whole life in the oil field down in Texas. After years and years and cross-breeding and continuous re-breeding they have learned to push the ruderalis down to as low as 10%(maybe lower) but still keep all the positives of it's properties like pest, mold, weather and light control and now get close to 80-90% of the Feminized cross bread properties. And also noticed that it's 100% easier for beginners, since the amount of info for this "life style" is jam packed with massive loads of new and old info. What to do what not to do, when to do when not to do, etc... So after reading and watching countless youtube videos I decided Auto is my starting path. I ordered from 5 different Seed banks(all thru Zativo.com for bonus seeds and stuff), ended up with Royal Queen Seeds (Amnesia Haze, Northern Light & White Widow), Pyramid Seeds (Anubis, Purple & Blue Pyramid), Kanniba Seeds (Gnomo & Amnesi-k), Zativo Seeds (Amnesia Haze, Bubble Kush, Amnesia Skunk, Jack Herer & Kalashnikov).
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I know what some of you are thinking, these strains are only 15-18% in THC, why not go bigger? Well honestly it's been a while since I've been able to smoke since I was forced to take Hair Folicle tests randomly for my work, and making 27$/hr was worth holding out. But that's the past, I live in France, a train ride away from Amersterdam and other awesome cities. And since my wife is a doctor, I'm learning the language and learning the trade of Cannabis for the next year. So with all that being said you have my history and you know a little about me.(Sorry if I bored you, and lol if you didn't have the energy to read all that, no prob's here ;) ).
On to business - I started with 2 strains first from Pyramid Seeds only because they claim to be 56 day grows, and obviously I didn't find this place first or would have realized how to prolong the Auto's life(if you wanted too). But that's the past and the process has begun. I am now in Day #13 after germination in the baggie method(both sprouted in bags). I purchased two 3 gallon buckets and filled with organic universal soil with nutrients already in the soil. I filled them to the top and flushed and flushed and flushed(thought I was supposed to flush like crazy the first time). And I also read that if you do the cup method for initial root growth it would help with spending less energy on the roots searching for the walls and work on growing upwards more initially. So I did that, I took a liter water bottle and cut it open on both end and it was about 5" long and buried it half way down in the soil and planted the seed in the middle of that(no rooting gel- didnt have any yet).
Day 1 - Anubis & Purple - after flushing
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Day 2 - Purple closer up
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And then I read later that if you have too much soil on a short Auto life span, then less soil is better, because of less time for roots finding all their limits at the outer extremities. So on Day #7 - I carefully removed some soil around down about half way around the cup but not disturbing the bottle with the seed and sprout. And adding back about half with perlite mixed in this time. It looked like this afterwards.
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Day 11 - Anubis (example for the modification)
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Do you think this will cause problems? Me changing the soil(medium) on day 7, since the bottle probably had most of the roots inside at the time. I honestly didn't see or look disturbed. And this was the first day I added water to the plants(PH6.5) since it's first flushing before planting the seeds and also Root IT rooting gel 2ml into the area beside the sprout.
Ok first Day 1 of planting I only had 2x T8 6500k 18w FL lights 2,880 lumen(I honestly thought they were T5's but see I'm a newbie). And by Day 10 I also added a Grow 5U 6400k 125w CFL light into the mix for a total of = 8,480 lumen.
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All this inside a big closet room, I place white nylon(like) cloth over all the walls and added this reflective aluminum tape(heat resistance).
(this picture has a 3rd plant I started on day 10 - Gnomo Automatico) but it's for set-up viewing purposes basically.
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Day 11 I added my first batch of Nutrients(BioThrive - Grow 3-1-6) ratio 1 ml to 1o liter until water was flowing from pour holes at the bottom. For information purposes added rooting gel in Gnomo before planting seed this time since I finally had the gel and used PH water.
Day 11 - Purple (and Day 11 of Anubis above for example earlier.)
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Day 12 - Changed ventilation set-up also, went from a 105m(h) vent fan(used as a fan instead) to a 40w (30cm) fan and then used my vent fan for it's intended purposes(will add my 300m(h) vent fan when smell starts to produce. Also raised everything to be closer to the lights, I was thinking since the plants weren't growing very fast(Anubis was but not Purple as much), that they needed to absorb
the light better. I try to run a 21/3 light schedule for the most part, but can't always be there. Oh yea I added a Venus Fly Trap and a Pitcher Plant both carnivorous plants for insects and wanderings bugs(is this a problem? should I immediately remove?)
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Day 13 - Today
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Gnomo on Day 3 seems to be kicking butt with the improved conditions from it's beginning vs A&P having changes over the first 12 days. But now everything is set up the way I want it(I hope you guys approve and give any info on mistakes or improvements) Can't wait to hear from the resident experts here. I plan to be a regular from this point on, AUTO ON!
P.S. I promise not to make this long of a message again, I just needed to help convey my current situation and would love any tips and information. Thanks!
