1st time grower - Progress Help Please

[ocsdfw]

This is my first time growing. Did it for fun just to see if I could grow it. Due to lack of experience I do not know what stage I am at and what's next right now. I made a separate post about growth height and the plants seeming to stall. Found out I should not of topped these but to late now. Specs. Tangerine Dreams, auto flower, outdoor grow, 5 gallon backs with fox farm ocean forest with extra perlite added. Dumb of me I know now but I did not note start date but a guess is the plants are in the 9-12 week range. I started seeds indoors then when plants where about 4 nodes I topped them then transplanted them into there 5 gal finish pots and acclimated them to full sun. I don't have an indoor setup other than a cheap grow light that is ok for seedlings but I wanted to grow these outdoors anyways. Did not want to spend a ton on indoor grow setup since I am not sure where this will go in the future. I am currently on fox farm 3 fertilizer schedule feeding on their 11 week suggestions. Here are the best pictures I could get. Plants where stunted by me topping them off and are only a foot or so tall and dont look like they will get any taller. Any suggestions or tips would be great. Thank You....

 

[Harpua88]

Wait are you the same guy in the other thread about topping at the 4th node....?

 

[ocsdfw]

Also forgot to note I have been pulling off yellow leaves even though it does not have a lot. Here is a closer picture of one of the flowers that has some type of crystals looking things on leaves below. Also leaves and flowers/buds are real sticky.

 

[ocsdfw]

Wait are you the same guy in the other thread about topping at the 4th node....?

Yes, found out I was not supposed to top auto flowers. I am learning. Did not research a lot on auto flowering I guess. I think I topped it off based on an article I read but it must of not been for auto flower plants.

 

[GoldenDragondnw]

Well now you're flowering.

 

[ocsdfw]

Well now you're flowering.

What is the best steps to follow at this point? Odd thing is I have 3 plants. All done at the same time with the same care but each one is different as far as size/height and flowers/buds.

 

[GoldenDragondnw]

Different strains grow at different rates. Next step is to watch the trichromes to harvest. Fatten up those buds you got.

 

[ocsdfw]

Not sure but I may be ready to harvest on one plant. It has lots of red stigmas but I don't see any, or at least with my magnifying glass any trichomes. Or I am just not seeing them and they are there. On the second plant it has some red stigmas and on the smallest plant white stigmas. The plants do smell strong and are real sticky when touching leaves and buds. I did see a worm/caterpillar on the biggest plant. Looks like a bunch of black specs on it. I assume its poop. I killed the worm and did not find any more so far. Its the same type of caterpillar I found on my tomatoe plants a few weeks ago on the other side of the yard.

 

[ocsdfw]

I guess I can not ruin it at the end of the day if it goes to long or to short? I am giving it all away but of course I want it to be good and get back positive feed back. Even though all 3 where planted and treated the same it seem each plant is in a different growth stage. Also what is the shelf life of this after it is dried?

 

[Captspaulding]

Well, snatch early and there isn’t a lot of thc, snatch late, it converts to a cbd dominant. Low thc but medicinal depending on strain. And you can absolutely top autos, you just have to do it right in the beginning and selectively, low stress training is the preferred route with autos. Autos can be vary widely in finish even if they are all the same strain. Autos have variables due to rudaralis/sativa/indica hybridization. As far as shelf life, that depends on you, how you dry, cure and store your cannabis is just as important as the grow. It determines taste smell all of the good stuff. But I would say look up videos on the process.