New Grower 400 Hps soil grow with 3 auto Blueberry and 3 auto Snowstorm #2.

[Aquarius 2013]

I'm a Canadian with experience in large scale commercial grows back in Canada. Now that I'm in Europe I have to go small and this is my first run with auto fem beans.
I'm on day 21 using a Secret Jardin 120x60x160cm, a dimmable digital 400w HPS ballast, a 125mm Carbon Filter (240m3/h) with a single extraction fan (220m3/h).
Soil is Plagron Grow mix with a pH of 5,8. I started the beans in moist paper towels between two plates. They all sprouted within 24 hours. Placing them in 200ml plastic cups and they all popped up to about 2cm in 2-3 days, after a week in the cups I transplanted them into 6.5 liter square pots.
The water is hard in this region and out of the tap pH of 8. I run it through a Brita filter and it drops the pH to 6ish. I raise it to 6.5 with a splash of unfiltered tap water. I'm running simple on this grow with the nutes and am using GHE Flora-Duo for Hard water.
My light cycle from the get go has been and will stay 20 hours on/4 hours off at a height of 52cm away from the top of the plants. For the first 2 weeks I've had the ballast running at 50% efficiency. Switching to %75 efficiency at the start of the third week. My temps have been ranging from 25 -30 C with it dropping down to no less than 21 C during darkness.
Usually, I start all my set ups with beans but this is my first experience with auto flower and feminized beans. After reading this sites forum over the last week I have discovered that I have been treating the plants as I would any normal beans and have made a few mistakes. I noticed that one of the Snowstorms had some upward curling on the 3rd node set of leaves, I figured I had lock out with the nutes because I started nutes after the first week. All the other plants looked good and bushy with no signs of stress or lock out. Also one of the Snowstorms has grown way faster than all the other plants and so I have been LST it and might have stressed it as I've read that autos don't like being manipulated, although it shows no sign of it yet. As for the nutes, I will still be adding them but at half the suggested amount.
All plants sexed female after 2 1/2 weeks and I'm grinning about that. Although I've notice a single ball or preflower at the 4th node of a Blueberry that has me a bit concerned. I'll include a pic of it and hopefully you other members can give me your thoughts on it because if she is a hermi... I'll cut her down.
So here is a few shots of the plants at 1 1/2 weeks.

Attachment 186617Attachment 186618
And a few shots of them today with the LST one.
Attachment 186619Attachment 186620
And also the ball / preflower I noticed on the Blueberry.
Attachment 186621
Anyways, That's about it for today. I'd appreciate any comments and suggestions from you all. Peace out.

 

[Aquarius 2013]

I'm a Canadian with experience in large scale commercial grows back in Canada. Now that I'm in Europe I have to go small and this is my first run with auto fem beans.
I'm on day 21 using a Secret Jardin 120x60x160cm, a dimmable digital 400w HPS ballast, a 125mm Carbon Filter (240m3/h) with a single extraction fan (220m3/h).
Soil is Plagron Grow mix with a pH of 5,8. I started the beans in moist paper towels between two plates. They all sprouted within 24 hours. Placing them in 200ml plastic cups and they all popped up to about 2cm in 2-3 days, after a week in the cups I transplanted them into 6.5 liter square pots.
The water is hard in this region and out of the tap pH of 8. I run it through a Brita filter and it drops the pH to 6ish. I raise it to 6.5 with a splash of unfiltered tap water. I'm running simple on this grow with the nutes and am using GHE Flora-Duo for Hard water.
My light cycle from the get go has been and will stay 20 hours on/4 hours off at a height of 52cm away from the top of the plants. For the first 2 weeks I've had the ballast running at 50% efficiency. Switching to %75 efficiency at the start of the third week. My temps have been ranging from 25 -30 C with it dropping down to no less than 21 C during darkness.
Usually, I start all my set ups with beans but this is my first experience with auto flower and feminized beans. After reading this sites forum over the last week I have discovered that I have been treating the plants as I would any normal beans and have made a few mistakes. I noticed that one of the Snowstorms had some upward curling on the 3rd node set of leaves, I figured I had lock out with the nutes because I started nutes after the first week. All the other plants looked good and bushy with no signs of stress or lock out. Also one of the Snowstorms has grown way faster than all the other plants and so I have been LST it and might have stressed it as I've read that autos don't like being manipulated, although it shows no sign of it yet. As for the nutes, I will still be adding them but at half the suggested amount.
All plants sexed female after 2 1/2 weeks and I'm grinning about that. Although I've notice a single ball or preflower at the 4th node of a Blueberry that has me a bit concerned. I'll include a pic of it and hopefully you other members can give me your thoughts on it because if she is a hermi... I'll cut her down.
So here is a few shots of the plants at 1 1/2 weeks.

Attachment 186617Attachment 186618
And a few shots of them today with the LST one.
Attachment 186619Attachment 186620
And also the ball / preflower I noticed on the Blueberry.
Attachment 186621
Anyways, That's about it for today. I'd appreciate any comments and suggestions from you all. Peace out.

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.

 

[Eflow420]

Welcome and good luck

 

[beenjammin]

Wow looks all gravy to me!!!! Nice setup. Very detailed. What breeder auto blueberries you doing?

 

[The Squid]

Nice setup and good luck!

 

[Aquarius 2013]

Both are Dutch Passion strains. Any thoughts on the single ball? I'm used to waiting quite a bit longer for a strain to sex and there is usually a cluster of balls. I've never had to deal with a potential hermi. Of course I can wait a few more days and see how it develops. What say you? I'll post pics once a week until the show is done. I've got some feminized Green House Seed Co. Cheese and feminized Sensi Seed Skunk Kush beans for my next show. Not autoflowers but if all goes well this run I'll pick up some more autoflower beans for the next. Peace out.

 

[The Squid]

Doesn't look like much to me right now. Let it pan out and see how it goes.

 

[beenjammin]

Sure its not a calyx? O man ur in for a good time my buddy got 8oz off one bb by dp. He's not a grower here . But 2000watts with 4bb.
Anyways plants don't hermi its either a female turning into a male or its not fem

 

[Aquarius 2013]

I was hoping for a little input in regards to pruning off the bottom smaller branches. Normally on non-autos, I prune out any fan leaves larger than the size of my hand between the pinky and middle finger spread. Also, I normally clean the bottom branches out as they don't really produce much and there is less hiding places for potential pests and provides you with a clear soil level look across a large grow garden. From what I've been reading on the forum, pruning out autoflowers will throw them back a week or so. This taken in consideration, I've been doing some serious tucking... which is working quite well. The plants are on average 35cm (13.77 inches) tall and with LST the one plant has multiple larger tops and is at about 42cm (16.53 inches) now. I don't want to stress the girls out too much as I've not had a toke this year and will at the soonest have to wait until the end of April. I've bumped the 400W HPS up to 100% at the start of the 4th week and all is good. The temps have been lingering between 27.5C (81.5F) and 29C (84.2F) with it rising to 31C (87.8F) for the last few hours at night as I have to close the rooms door and cut off the fresh air supply when my son goes to sleep. Dark temps are no less than 22C (71.6F). The humidity is running at 45-50% during light and goes up to 60-65% during dark... I'm aiding it by having a wet towel spread out and hanging out of a bucket and having my water bottles with their tops off in the tent. So yeah... what say you about the effects of a little lower branch pruning... is it worth it or is it better to not prune and all to avoid shocking them?

 

[briman]

I wouldnt. If you stunt em in the least bit, you will throw off the yeild, and like you said it could push it back a week. IMO. But i have heard of people doing it to autos. pinch em off, dont cut if you do...IMO that is.