New Grower Day in the Life of a Stunted Auto

[Zer0]

This is only my second grow but I started topping from the start because i wanted to keep my plant short in the tent. I read some info on other forums that wasnt entirely accurate and I learned through AFN what I can do next time to improve my grow. I hate to waste things and I wanted a chance to work on my LST so I let it go to see where it ends up.

I'm aiming to be around the numbers on the chart below for VPD. I just switched to flowering so the tent sits at 48%rh and 72°F during lights on. Going off the calculator posted by wildbill, I'm not that far off the target number.

VPD Calculator

Use our tool to calculate the Vapor Pressure Deficit (VPD) for your Cannabis Grow Room.

vpdcalculator.com

Ya, from what I gathered your are correct. The PAR meter reads the 200-300 beyond the either side of the limits of the LUX (furthest red and furthest blue). I bought the LUX meter because I didnt want to drop the money on the PAR. I ended up buying both. I was worried I burned my last plant so I wanted to be sure not to screw that up this time. Little that I know, it was a pH issue that plagued my last grow.

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Damn, PH was my issue before i got my auto seeds in the mail i was failing at peppers seeds and bagweed seeds. my ph was way to high, I'm happy i learned that before i wasted some seeds i bought.
but now you have good equipment to keep your plants happy so it all worked out.

I'm new so i thought the same thing about the plant being to tall but after watching grow journals I've come to learn some auto strains will just be short and bushy or just short and puny. The high yielding giant trees of autos are in a super auto group i guess.

 

[DDubs]

Day #74

All in all she's chugging along and budding up. Smelling sweet and punchy with some citrus. I upped her nutes and started giving her only the Crystal Burst every other watering ph'ed to 6.5-6.6 with rain water pH to 6.5-6.6 in between.

Light Schedule:
18 on / 6 off
Veg and Bloom switches both on
Light 20" away from top of leaves

Watering:
Every other day when pot feels light
Rain water
64 oz of plain water every other day
pH test before watering adjust up/ down to get a pH of 6.5-6.6

Nutrients:
Humboldt, Crystal Burst (0-15-15) at basically full dose (recommmeded is 1-2 teaspoons per gallon) = 1/2 teaspoon per 32oz
Adjust pH up/ down.
Maxi causes a big pH drop
Crystal Burst causes a mild pH drop

Environment:
Temp = 66°F - 73°F
RH. = 42% - 51%

 

[DDubs]

Day #75

So checking in and watering today, I found some rust spots forming on some of the fan leaves. The fan leave fingers look like they are scrunching up too. I have been steadily giving 6.5-6.6 rain water and the tent is a fairly steady temp and humidity 48% and 73°F. I'm guessing its some kind of deficiency but not 100% sure. Perhaps I'll switch back to the Maxibloom that has a bit more calcium and magnesium.

Light Schedule:
18 on / 6 off
Veg and Bloom switches both on
Light 20" away from top of leaves

Watering:
Every/other day when pot feels light
Rain water
64 oz of plain water every other day
pH test before watering adjust up/ down to get a pH of 6.5-6.6

Nutrients:
Humboldt, Crystal Burst (0-15-15) at basically full dose (recommmeded is 1-2 teaspoons per gallon) = 1/2 teaspoon per 32oz
Adjust pH up/ down

Environment:
Temp = 66°F - 75°F
RH. = 44% - 52%

 

[DDubs]

Day #78

Shes just flowering along and dealing with my poking and prodding. I have been doing light defol of 5-10 leaves every couple days to open up light and air to the lower bud sites and middle of the plant. The sativa in her is making her stretch a little more during budding but shes still pretty compact.

The rust spots I found a couple days ago have continued and has spread to new and old growth leaves. I tried giving her a mix of the 2 bloom nutes Crystal Burst (0-15-15) and Maxibloom (5-15-15) at full dose but I think I just going to dial it back to half dose of just the Maxibloom. After messing with my nutrients, I'm feeling the soil was out of balance. I'm reintroducing some nitrogen, calcium and magnesium since It did well earlier to bring some color back to the leaves.

Light Schedule:
18 on / 6 off
Veg and Bloom switches both on
Light 20" away from top of leaves

Watering:
Every other day when fabric pot feels light
Rain water with pH 6.3
64 oz of plain water every other day
pH test before watering adjust up/ down to get a pH of 6.5-6.6

Nutrients:
Michigan Made Mix soil (0.015-0.033-0.038)
Maxibloom (5-15-15) at 2/3 recommeneded dose = 3/8 teaspoon per 32oz
Adjust pH up/ down
Maxi causes a big pH drop (3.4 pH)

Environment:
Temp = 64°F - 75°F
RH. = 42% - 61%

 

[DDubs]

Day #81

I am dealing with a bit of a nutient issue where I am seeing rust spots and yellowing happening on the new growth leaves. I was guessing it was a Cal Mag imbalance due to messing with my nutrient mix so I went back to what got me this far. I also realized I was over dosing so going forward I will dial that back a bit more. She started to look worse but I think she is coming back. Time will tell.

Light defol 5-10 leaves to open up light to lower bud sites. The sugar leaves are frosting up nicely so I hold off clipping anymore for now.

Light Schedule:
18 on / 6 off
Veg and Bloom switches both on
Light 20" away from top of leaves

Watering:
Every other day when fabric pot feels light
Captured and stored rain water
64 oz of plain water pH of 6.5-6.6
pH test before watering adjust up/ down as needed

Nutrients:
Michigan Made Mix soil (0.015-0.033-0.038)
Maxibloom (5-15-15) at 1.5X recommeneded dose = 3/8 teaspoon per 32oz. Reducing to 1/8-1/4 teaspoon per 32oz of water.
Adjust pH up/ down
Maxi causes a big pH drop

Environment:
Temp = 66°F - 75°F
RH. = 40% - 51%

 

[Zer0]

Nice and frosty and even canopy, looks good. I see the color issue on the leaves and kinda looks like some of mine maybe its cal/mag. i'm sure whatever it is won't stop the plant, day 81 and still trucking along.

 

[DDubs]

Nice and frosty and even canopy, looks good. I see the color issue on the leaves and kinda looks like some of mine maybe its cal/mag. i'm sure whatever it is won't stop the plant, day 81 and still trucking along.

Thanks. Yeah, I topped her late in the game so she is a bit stunted but still doing her thing.

It's a very difficult game of patients with plants in soil. The changes are so slight but exponential meaning the first day you think, huh she might be showing an issue but o cant really tell. You look again 3 days later and she is near her death bed. Trying to fix issues is just as slow making it super important to keep track of what you do. Make slight changes and wait to see results. That's probably the hardest part. You know there is a problem and think you have the solution but have to wait 3 or 4 days and at that point its either coming out of the woods or is ready to be compost.

 

[DDubs]

Day #84

She looks like she's improving from her cal/mag imbalance so im excited. She's budding up and frosting up. I'm feeding at 1/2 dose and every day.

Light Schedule:
18 on / 6 off
Veg and Bloom switches both on
Light 20" away from top of leaves

Watering:
Every day when fabric pot feels light
Captured and stored rain water
64 oz of plain water pH of 6.5-6.6
pH test before watering adjust up/ down as needed

Nutrients:
Michigan Made Mix soil (0.015-0.033-0.038)
Maxibloom (5-15-15) at 1X recommeneded dose = 1/4 teaspoon per 32oz.
Adjust pH up/ down
Maxi causes a big pH drop

Environment:
Temp = 68°F - 77°F
RH = 41% - 47%

 

[DDubs]

Day #85

After commenting on another thread about checking trichomes, i figured while i had my scope out that i should check on my girl.

This is my second grow and by comparison, i finally chopped my first auto grow of the same seed batch at something day 130.... so i wasnt really ready to see anything significant right now. But after looking today it looks like they are about 75% cloudy so i am going to switch to plan water from here on out. Im guessing a couple of days but i guess we'll find out.

Light Schedule:
18 on / 6 off
Veg and Bloom switches both on
Light 20" away from top of leaves

Watering:
Every day when fabric pot feels light
Captured and stored rain water
64 oz of plain water pH of 6.5-6.6
pH test before watering adjust up/ down as needed

Nutrients:
Michigan Made Mix soil (0.015-0.033-0.038)

Environment:
Temp = 68°F - 77°F
RH = 41% - 47%

 

[Zer0]

Very nice pictures, good job.
i just tried again to take some pics under glass but I'm not happy with them