First Time Grow Ever...lend Me Your Thoughts?

stowndawg · Jan 16, 2019

This is my first cannabis grow ever, but I have had a good amount of experience growing other plants and vegetables to rely on.

I decided on doing autoflower at first. This is the main plant I have now which is just over 6 weeks old. I started lst very early and had good results until I pushed it too far and broke off what was one of the four main stalks maybe 3 weeks into the grow (i also snapped a two week old seedling in half the same day) . After that I decided to lst more gently and then stopped altogether at about 5 weeks and just let the thing grow.

I am left with what I think is a good looking plant, but this is my first time so I would like anyone's thoughts on ways to improve. I am wondering if I kept the lights too close for too long and now it is too short....and if anyone could give a very rough estimate of how much yield I may get.

I am currently researching the curing process...I have never done that before either and I am looking to buy or build some sort of box/cabinet that has odor control...

anways, plant is a critical purple autoflower in 5 gallon felt pots in a 4x4x8 tent with ventilation/carbon filter a humidifier, some ff nutes and my a blend of soil of my own that I made from ff ocean forest, pearlite, azomite, worm castings, and live red wiggler worms.

GryphonX12 · Jan 16, 2019

stowndawg said:
This is my first cannabis grow ever, but I have had a good amount of experience growing other plants and vegetables to rely on.

I decided on doing autoflower at first. This is the main plant I have now which is just over 6 weeks old. I started lst very early and had good results until I pushed it too far and broke off what was one of the four main stalks maybe 3 weeks into the grow (i also snapped a two week old seedling in half the same day) . After that I decided to lst more gently and then stopped altogether at about 5 weeks and just let the thing grow.

I am left with what I think is a good looking plant, but this is my first time so I would like anyone's thoughts on ways to improve. I am wondering if I kept the lights too close for too long and now it is too short....and if anyone could give a very rough estimate of how much yield I may get.

I am currently researching the curing process...I have never done that before either and I am looking to buy or build some sort of box/cabinet that has odor control...

anways, plant is a critical purple autoflower in 5 gallon felt pots in a 4x4x8 tent with ventilation/carbon filter a humidifier, some ff nutes and my a blend of soil of my own that I made from ff ocean forest, pearlite, azomite, worm castings, and live red wiggler worms.

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Looks like ur on to something! Nice Start!

Seraphine · Jan 16, 2019

Good job! Auto flowers are really easy to screw up and yours looks pretty awesome, especially this being your first grow.

Looks like she already started to flower, right?

By the looks of the plant right now, I’d guess 3 or 4oz dried.

JWM2 · Jan 17, 2019

Nice start to your cannabis growing career. The only thing I’d change is smaller pots as that much soil takes a while to dry out and your roots could suffer because of lack of oxygen and dampness. Otherwise it looks good.

The stretch is mostly over so the plant won’t get too much taller at this point. My guess is a tad over an oz. it just depends on how thick the buds get from here on out. Keep her happy and she’ll give you all she’s got. Kudos.

stowndawg · Jan 20, 2019

***update***
3 days later after raising the lights...also have been rotating 90 degrees every day

stowndawg · Jan 23, 2019

Still growing like a beast!
One week later:

Jack og · Jan 23, 2019

Looks good, watch the heat and humidity, the slight leaf drop is indicative of over watering. Ease back a bit. But looking great for a first time grow!!

stowndawg · Jan 29, 2019

OP here..just giving an update at 8 weeks.
She is still growing taller but I think it is slowing down. She is putting out more and more puffball flowers but not bulking up yet.
Sorry about the lighting I am trying to get the best pics I can through my led sunglasses, the last pic is from two days ago with lights off

Jack og · Jan 29, 2019

Little droop, heat is an issue but she looks healthy otherwise. Bulking happens In the last few weeks. Up the bloom feed a bit , cut back on nitrogen based feed, leaves are very green indicators of ample nitrogen to take her through the flower period.

stowndawg · Jan 30, 2019

The temp when pic was taken was always 80 or below...the humidity was low though around 30%. I have been playing with the vent fan and humidifier to get temp and humidity to both be in range. I have been using a sparce amount of nutes, recently only flowering ones about once a week. I stopped nitrogen nutes about a week and a half ago. She is in ff ocean forest which I have heard is already hot...I amended with more worm castings, pearlite, azomite powder, Mykos, and live worms.

what combo of temp and humidity should I be aiming for at this stage of growth?

Jack og · Jan 31, 2019

Flower lower humidity equals more trichomes development, shoot for 40%.
Lights on in flower 70-75max f
Lights off 50-55 , lower if you want color formation if it had genetic tendencies for color, ie purple or multicolor

stowndawg · Feb 4, 2019

thanks Jack. My temps are too high (mid-high 80s) and my humidity too low (mid 30s). If i increase my fan to lower temps the humidity goes too low, but the temp/humidity sensor placement may not be the best. I see the humidifier vapor billowing out around the plant(s). I have four plants in various stage of development right now, Critical Purple, Jacker Herer, Cheese, and Lambs breath(bread? I find two names for this one...).im pretty sure I have overkill on the lights in a 4x4x7 tent but the plants seem to love it although I guess i dont know if they would love it more with less light(less heat and then higher humidity). I am still tinkering with the airflow, humidifier, fan speed etc...but this should be normal for a first time grower i think. it doesnt help I live in MI and have ambient outdoor temps switch from -15f to 45f in two days even though this is an indoor grow. it really screws with the incoming air temp and humidity...

Jack og · Feb 5, 2019

stowndawg said:
thanks Jack. My temps are too high (mid-high 80s) and my humidity too low (mid 30s). If i increase my fan to lower temps the humidity goes too low, but the temp/humidity sensor placement may not be the best. I see the humidifier vapor billowing out around the plant(s). I have four plants in various stage of development right now, Critical Purple, Jacker Herer, Cheese, and Lambs breath(bread? I find two names for this one...).im pretty sure I have overkill on the lights in a 4x4x7 tent but the plants seem to love it although I guess i dont know if they would love it more with less light(less heat and then higher humidity). I am still tinkering with the airflow, humidifier, fan speed etc...but this should be normal for a first time grower i think. it doesnt help I live in MI and have ambient outdoor temps switch from -15f to 45f in two days even though this is an indoor grow. it really screws with the incoming air temp and humidity...

Hey man you learn as you go and each cycle strain depending will have different needs, ultimately it’s will be you taking notes and deciding what works for you via smoke tests!! Keep it going and do the best that you can. So attributes are harder to control as each environment plays a role in how your end result turns out.

Jack og · Feb 5, 2019

Looking good so far from what I hear. Keep at it and see if adding a co2 bottle helps you yield more and make for a healthier pla. They are relatively new cheap to setup ~$300 or so to get going then ongoing costs of bottles around $28-30. Bottles last about a month dependent on plant life cycle and how the environmental conditions are

stowndawg · Feb 7, 2019

Some new pics here. She is starting to drop a lot of leaves...what is the normal amount to drop around now? I think the plant is saying she has grown enough and now only wants to focus on flowers. that being said I have been trimming these leaves from here and wound up with a bigger pile than i expected.

SmithsJunk · Feb 7, 2019

stowndawg said:
Some new pics here. She is starting to drop a lot of leaves...what is the normal amount to drop around now? I think the plant is saying she has grown enough and now only wants to focus on flowers. that being said I have been trimming these leaves from here and wound up with a bigger pile than i expected.
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Yellowing and dropping of fan leaves is common, like you said, as the plant focuses energy on the flowers. As long as the drop stays to the oldest leaves and doesn't move up the colas till near harvest, you should be fine. Watch for burning at the tips and saw edges on the upper leaves. That would be an indicative of a possible problem. As they get close to harvest leaf deterioration will increase enough that people who are used to growing perennials may panic (I know, roses were my thing before cannabis). Just remember, these are annuals. It's part of their natural process to begin dying once flowers are close to fully ripe.

I haven't grown autos yet but I've read they have their idiosyncrasies. Still, for the most part, they should grow in a similar manner to non-autos.

Good looking plant. I think you're going to do very well. Nice touch with the reds. I haven't heard of anyone else using them for indoor.

stowndawg · Feb 12, 2019

Thanks for your input smithsjunk, I figure I want to create a little micro soil climate in a pot that is as close to nature as possible...I have always gone outside in the summer during drizzling nights and collects worms to put into my 25gallon pots for tomatoes and they always seemed to love it so adding worms to my pots seemed like common sense. and tahnk you very much to you Jack og for your continued input, You were totally right about my overwatering causing the droop earlier...I guess I thought since I had fabric pots I could put in as much as I want without ill effects. I am still learning a little thing here and a little thing there everyday about controlling an indoor grow and the input from this site is invaluable.

Some updated pics, sorry they are not great just using my phone. the flowers are starting to bulk up and the colas are really starting to take shape. does anyone have an estimation on how long until I should harvest?

Dirtbag · Feb 13, 2019

How many weeks has it been flowering? Just looking at it In the pic I can still see a ton of white pistols so I'd guess it's got a couple weeks to go at least.
If you have a loupe check the trichs, but I like to look at the whole plant for signs of finishing like yellow fan leaves, receded brown pistils, Swollen calyxs, cloudy trichs with a dash of amber if the strain allows, and also the trichs will start to bend over, the plant will stop drawing up as much water etc...

Btw, that I one nice looking auto. And I'm not a fan of autos.

SmithsJunk · Feb 13, 2019

stowndawg said:
Thanks for your input smithsjunk, I figure I want to create a little micro soil climate in a pot that is as close to nature as possible...I have always gone outside in the summer during drizzling nights and collects worms to put into my 25gallon pots for tomatoes and they always seemed to love it so adding worms to my pots seemed like common sense. and tahnk you very much to you Jack og for your continued input, You were totally right about my overwatering causing the droop earlier...I guess I thought since I had fabric pots I could put in as much as I want without ill effects. I am still learning a little thing here and a little thing there everyday about controlling an indoor grow and the input from this site is invaluable.View attachment 856410 View attachment 856409

Some updated pics, sorry they are not great just using my phone. the flowers are starting to bulk up and the colas are really starting to take shape. does anyone have an estimation on how long until I should harvest?

Those fabric pots would work much better if lifted off the mylar. This smartpot drainage spacer or any old grate you can find will do...

Everybody tends to harvest using different signifiers. Some will harvest when there's enough amber trichs, enough clouded trichs, or stigma have senesced, etc... I prefer to harvest once the calyces are near fully swollen. A reason for this difference in opinion is because every plant (strain) developes differently. Also, a grower will also be partial to late or early flowers.

My suggestion, don't worry. They don't go overripe overnight. What you want to avoid are the trichomes bursting. On indoor plants you would probably see a lot of amber before this happens (but depends on the strain).

IMO, look below the buds to the preflower calyces (bracts) to get an idea of the sise they can reach. A preflower calyx is often fully formed by the time the tip of the cola begins to swell. In my experience, the calyces at the very tips reach 50%-75% of the preflower calyces.

Preflower calyx...

Don't just look at one. Look at a lot of them then you'll have a good idea of the average sise. The bulk of your cola's calyces should fall within this average range. (In the pic the preflower calyx is much smaller than the others. That's because I couldn't find any better pics on this phone. The phone I used for the most of my grow pics broke.)

Many of the new growers I've seen on here harvested too early their first time (including me). It produces lightweight flowers with a minimal high. Very disappointing. You've put in the time, don't turn your girls into schwagg by being impatient. I harvested almost 4lbs too early my first year. It really sucked and the weed was weak and harsh.

Don't harvest based on senescence (dying stigma, hairs). They have little to do with ripeness. On most of the strains I grew, senescence (the dying back of most stigma on the plant) only signifies the beginning of the swell (swelling calyces) and they still had several weeks to go. There are many strains that have new stigma growing right up till harvest. Why I say they're not a good indicator.

SmithsJunk · Feb 13, 2019

stowndawg said:
Thanks for your input smithsjunk, I figure I want to create a little micro soil climate in a pot that is as close to nature as possible...I have always gone outside in the summer during drizzling nights and collects worms to put into my 25gallon pots for tomatoes and they always seemed to love it so adding worms to my pots seemed like common sense. and tahnk you very much to you Jack og for your continued input, You were totally right about my overwatering causing the droop earlier...I guess I thought since I had fabric pots I could put in as much as I want without ill effects. I am still learning a little thing here and a little thing there everyday about controlling an indoor grow and the input from this site is invaluable.View attachment 856410 View attachment 856409

Some updated pics, sorry they are not great just using my phone. the flowers are starting to bulk up and the colas are really starting to take shape. does anyone have an estimation on how long until I should harvest?

Looking great.

First Time Grow Ever...lend Me Your Thoughts?

First Time Grow Ever...lend Me Your Thoughts?

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