And I'm absolutely clueless as to why, or how.
So - I'm a good grower. I can say that openly. I'm also a very good autoflower grower. I can say that openly, too. No I don't get 3 pounds out of one auto, but I can get over a pound each, if needed. I helped an uncountable amount of people through autoflower grows, autopot grows, and they yielded big time, with huge plants, amazing quality, the list is long. Not one person had herming issues, or any serious issues at all. Obviously some beginners do still have issues, but I can just do so much.
Yet there is one issue with my current autoflower grows - They lately all herm. For no apparent reason. And this destroys any motivation to do anything with these plants anymore. Even contemplating to stop it all, because I feel cursed. Literally cursed.
Here's how it all began:
I jumped for the Autopot system. 1Pot, 3.9gal / 15L pots, coco, synthetics, the usual. With this, I also went for Speedrunseeds. Results? Absolutely f-cking amazing. Over 20+oz with some plants, 4 out of 4, all perfect. It was wonderful.
Genetics were Speedrunseeds, two Granite Haze F5, and two Acid Snow.
First a 120x120 / 4x4 tent, later on switched to 5x5 / 150x150 tent.
MarsHydro FC6500 EVO
MarsHydro 150mm exhaust
Canna Coco A+B, Calmag, some other goofy additives I had laying around, you get it
24/0 Cycle, 600PPFD from seed
PH Down is always Canna PH Down Pro Bloom (59% phosphoric acid), in each and every grow
Raised them in solo cups, quick dryback early on after planting the germinated seeds, a coco/perlite mix. Canna coco nutrients, as basic as possible. After a short 2-3 dryback post-planting, and them already being small sprouts, I watered daily, starting with 1EC, and going up each day, until I reached around 1.8EC at day 8 or 9, I don't remember fully. Some Magnesium issues, probably PH too low, but I didn't know any better. It just went away by itself.
After around 8-9 days in solo cups, they got transplanted into 15L / 3.9gal Autopots, same thing - Prewater with same solution they were watered with in the solo cups, transplant autos, use some myco, 2-3 day dryback, then another daily watering with the same EC, no more raising it. After around a week, I turned the system on, and done. I pushed ECs that felt impossible, over 3EC in some cases. These plants loved each second of it.
Early seedling to late veg, I had around 25-28°C temps, and the responding humidity to keep a stable VPD of around 0.8-1.1 from early seedling to late veg. I don't remember all the details, it's been some time. PPFD was pretty damn high all the time, pushing 500+ PPFD in the seedling stages already, at 24/0. These plants did not care one bit.
I did not LST these plants. I did not top them. I did not even defoliate or lollipop them in any way, I rarely did a light defoliation here and there. That's literally it.
I ended up yielding tons and tons, no seeds, nothing. Not one single herm.
_______________________
After this, I thought "huh, autopots are a joke", and did my next grow. This time Boss Battle by Speedrunseeds, 4 plants again. Same thing as above, same exact schedule, same temps, same everything, all automated and controlled. Not one single thing had changed.
All 4 plants hermed at the same exact time. Each and every single one. I'm talking early flower, right when stretch is about to start. Nanners, balls, everything, growing out in the bottom 50% of every plant. Nothing on top, never, all the nanners and balls were on the bottom half of every plant.
They were beautiful. Healthy. Large. Everything you can imagine. Obviously they look a bit funky in this image, but this was very late flower. I pulled them through the end, and removed each and every ball and nanner over several weeks, over and over again. I ended up with some seeds, but it wasn't completely messed up.
Around 10-15oz per plant in this case, these buds were literal rocks.
So my first thought was "bad batch", I just were unlucky. Contacted Speedrunseeds, they were insanely sorry, helped me out with free seeds, everything. They even had to import them, but they didn't care at all. I still respect that to this day. They disabled their Boss Battle strain, tested it, the whole list. All because of me and 4 out of 4 plants herming. Shit happens, it's okay. I never had a herm in my life, but it was time, I guess.
_______________________________
After this, I did a photoperiod run to change it up. Probably the most beautiful plants I ever had this far. Not one single herm. In this time, I switched from my MarsHydro FC6500 EVO to a GrandmasterLED Tarantula Tent Ultimate 5x5 LED, and I went from Canna Coco A+B to Athena Blended. Really smooth run, not one single heavy issue or anything. Nothing has really changed, I was just less careful than with autos, topped some a few times, others just once, did some supercropping, I mean they're photos. They don't care. Nothing happened in this grow, not one single herm.
This was just one pheno, and not even the best one I had.
_______________________
And now, it was time for another autoflower run, I felt like it can only go right this time. Big new LED, overpriced as f-ck nutrients (Wanted to see what it's all about), again coco, perlite, but switched to a RO / Tap mix, usually around 70-80% RO and the other just tap. Same thing with repotting, solocups, EC, temps, always everything the same.
As a little backup, I sprouted 5 Jehovas Witness by Speedrunseeds, 4 for autopots, and one single plant that will stay in a solo cup. Why? To rule out the autopots in case something goes wrong again, as the solo cup plant would be outside the autopot-ecosystem.
All 5 plants hermed again. Each and every one. The solo cup plant the earliest. It was shadowed, it didn't get a lot of light, it got enough to not stretch upwards, but not nearly as much as the main plants in the tent. It hermed, and shortly after, all other 4 plants hermed too. Again, the same issue - Nanners, balls, all in the bottom 50% of the plants. Again in early stretch / preflower stages.
And these plants were once again healthy. Two of them got hit by some heavy deficiency or lockout in late flower, but that was just because I seriously did not care anymore. I wanted it to be over. I lost all fun, excitement, and motivation.
This is what my plants look like in early veg. Not one single issue, everything is literally fine. I see plants dying, clinging to life, yet they grow out just fine, never herming. Herming is a myth for most people, some rarely have one, just because genetics were bad. Was Speedrun the issue? I thought that at first. They weren't though. Especially because I know tons of Speedrun growers. Herming is rare, just like with any other breeder. Even the shittiest of breeders do not have batches where 10 plants in a row start herming.
One of the phenos in mid flower. 400g plant later on. It hermed too.
__________________
I felt stupid. Clueless. Absolutely f-cking stupid. What the hell am I doing wrong? There are no issues in any of these grows. These plants are as healthy as they can be, I asked an uncountable amount of people, not one has a single clue as to what the hell is going on here. At this point, I'm at 9 autoflowers herming in a row. No fix found, nothing. I never touched STS in my life, I never tried making a plant herm, I never even hurt one of my autos in any way, I just tuck their leaves away. That's literally all I do.
So I changed the genetics. What if it really was just Speedrun, and the genetics just don't fit my air. Maybe they hate different air? Who the hell knows at this point. I went for Fastbuds, Gorilla Cookie Autos. 4 plants, this time with the Cropsalt kit, and 8.5L / 2.2gal pots, I went away from the 15L / 3.9gal pots, just to switch it up.
Things were wonderful. I'm still in mid of this grow right now. Healthy plants, seriously healthy. I don't think one single person would complain about anything with these plants.
As soon as I hit early flower.. Balls. Growing straight out of what once were Calyx. Nanners, growing out of calyx. The whole shit came again, different genetics, different nutrients, a fully sterilized system, sterilized tent, chlorine, everything, the list is long. I took upmost care to pretty much have a surgical environment with not one germ being capable of living before starting that grow.
1 out of 4 plants so far. The others are still earlier in pre-flower. I am expecting the worst, and killed this one already, she went into the trash.
This is them mid stretch as of right now, without the front right plant, as I just killed it (herming again). Two of them kept it low, but with new genetics and completely new dry salt nutrients, I gotta adjust and learn, mistakes were guaranteed:
__________________
I feel lost. Disappointed. Just completely insulted by myself, for some reason. I don't know what I am doing wrong. 10 autoflowers in a row, herming. Different batches, different strains, now even different breeders. Over several grows. This seems impossible, this is impossible. But I somehow achieved it.
These plants are always as healthy as they can be. They're always in an insanely stable, fully controlled environment, with leaf offset, everything measured. They get 26-28°C / 78-82F in early to late veg, with humidity ranging between 60 and 70% depending on their age. They get 23-25°C in stretch and mid flower, 50-60% humidity, then lower and lower again in late flowering stages.
And most importantly - They do not get much attention. I do not touch them at all, unless I leaf-tuck. I don't do tons of shit, even if it sounds like it. I just keep my environment very stable, something the plants don't even notice. The plants themselves grow as naturally as possible.
I tested light cycles. I went for 24/0 in one grow, 20/4 in another. No light leaks, fully closed down room. No flickering, my LED is picture perfect.
No silver anywhere, nothing. I even have a camera in that room, just to check for issues with the dark/light cycle, but it works.
No weird nutrients, nothing. In some grows I used Grow Genius Monosilicic Acid. In others I didn't. I often use Dynomyco to transplant, and Rhizotonic in early seedling / veg stages. Sometimes a little epsom salt solution I mix myself out of epsom salts and tapwater, to raise magnesium by around 20-30ppm if needed. That's literally all. In this current grow I used an organic root / plant booster while handwatering early on.
In some I went for 70/30 RO / Tap, and raised my EC to 0.4 with a 2-0-0 Calmag as a base. In others I used normal tapwater.
In one grow I went for high PPFD / DLI. In others I attempted a low DLI connected to the well known DLI autoflower chart.
PH issues are rare to non-existent. I use a fully 3-point calibrated Apera PH60, always stored in KCl, and keep check of PH in the reservoir, so it works together with the trays. Usually 5.6PH in the reservoir, which gives a PH of 5.8-5.9 in the trays where the plants get their water from. Pretty much perfect for coco, and as you can see they do in fact enjoy it.
But.. they herm. They all just herm.
__________________
I just don't know what's going on. I feel like never growing autos again, I feel cursed, straight up cursed.
Please, try to read through this chaos, check for details, if you have any questions - Please just ask. I will add all and any information needed.
So - I'm a good grower. I can say that openly. I'm also a very good autoflower grower. I can say that openly, too. No I don't get 3 pounds out of one auto, but I can get over a pound each, if needed. I helped an uncountable amount of people through autoflower grows, autopot grows, and they yielded big time, with huge plants, amazing quality, the list is long. Not one person had herming issues, or any serious issues at all. Obviously some beginners do still have issues, but I can just do so much.
Yet there is one issue with my current autoflower grows - They lately all herm. For no apparent reason. And this destroys any motivation to do anything with these plants anymore. Even contemplating to stop it all, because I feel cursed. Literally cursed.
Here's how it all began:
I jumped for the Autopot system. 1Pot, 3.9gal / 15L pots, coco, synthetics, the usual. With this, I also went for Speedrunseeds. Results? Absolutely f-cking amazing. Over 20+oz with some plants, 4 out of 4, all perfect. It was wonderful.
Genetics were Speedrunseeds, two Granite Haze F5, and two Acid Snow.
First a 120x120 / 4x4 tent, later on switched to 5x5 / 150x150 tent.
MarsHydro FC6500 EVO
MarsHydro 150mm exhaust
Canna Coco A+B, Calmag, some other goofy additives I had laying around, you get it
24/0 Cycle, 600PPFD from seed
PH Down is always Canna PH Down Pro Bloom (59% phosphoric acid), in each and every grow
Raised them in solo cups, quick dryback early on after planting the germinated seeds, a coco/perlite mix. Canna coco nutrients, as basic as possible. After a short 2-3 dryback post-planting, and them already being small sprouts, I watered daily, starting with 1EC, and going up each day, until I reached around 1.8EC at day 8 or 9, I don't remember fully. Some Magnesium issues, probably PH too low, but I didn't know any better. It just went away by itself.
After around 8-9 days in solo cups, they got transplanted into 15L / 3.9gal Autopots, same thing - Prewater with same solution they were watered with in the solo cups, transplant autos, use some myco, 2-3 day dryback, then another daily watering with the same EC, no more raising it. After around a week, I turned the system on, and done. I pushed ECs that felt impossible, over 3EC in some cases. These plants loved each second of it.
Early seedling to late veg, I had around 25-28°C temps, and the responding humidity to keep a stable VPD of around 0.8-1.1 from early seedling to late veg. I don't remember all the details, it's been some time. PPFD was pretty damn high all the time, pushing 500+ PPFD in the seedling stages already, at 24/0. These plants did not care one bit.
I did not LST these plants. I did not top them. I did not even defoliate or lollipop them in any way, I rarely did a light defoliation here and there. That's literally it.
I ended up yielding tons and tons, no seeds, nothing. Not one single herm.
_______________________
After this, I thought "huh, autopots are a joke", and did my next grow. This time Boss Battle by Speedrunseeds, 4 plants again. Same thing as above, same exact schedule, same temps, same everything, all automated and controlled. Not one single thing had changed.
All 4 plants hermed at the same exact time. Each and every single one. I'm talking early flower, right when stretch is about to start. Nanners, balls, everything, growing out in the bottom 50% of every plant. Nothing on top, never, all the nanners and balls were on the bottom half of every plant.
They were beautiful. Healthy. Large. Everything you can imagine. Obviously they look a bit funky in this image, but this was very late flower. I pulled them through the end, and removed each and every ball and nanner over several weeks, over and over again. I ended up with some seeds, but it wasn't completely messed up.
Around 10-15oz per plant in this case, these buds were literal rocks.
So my first thought was "bad batch", I just were unlucky. Contacted Speedrunseeds, they were insanely sorry, helped me out with free seeds, everything. They even had to import them, but they didn't care at all. I still respect that to this day. They disabled their Boss Battle strain, tested it, the whole list. All because of me and 4 out of 4 plants herming. Shit happens, it's okay. I never had a herm in my life, but it was time, I guess.
_______________________________
After this, I did a photoperiod run to change it up. Probably the most beautiful plants I ever had this far. Not one single herm. In this time, I switched from my MarsHydro FC6500 EVO to a GrandmasterLED Tarantula Tent Ultimate 5x5 LED, and I went from Canna Coco A+B to Athena Blended. Really smooth run, not one single heavy issue or anything. Nothing has really changed, I was just less careful than with autos, topped some a few times, others just once, did some supercropping, I mean they're photos. They don't care. Nothing happened in this grow, not one single herm.
This was just one pheno, and not even the best one I had.
_______________________
And now, it was time for another autoflower run, I felt like it can only go right this time. Big new LED, overpriced as f-ck nutrients (Wanted to see what it's all about), again coco, perlite, but switched to a RO / Tap mix, usually around 70-80% RO and the other just tap. Same thing with repotting, solocups, EC, temps, always everything the same.
As a little backup, I sprouted 5 Jehovas Witness by Speedrunseeds, 4 for autopots, and one single plant that will stay in a solo cup. Why? To rule out the autopots in case something goes wrong again, as the solo cup plant would be outside the autopot-ecosystem.
All 5 plants hermed again. Each and every one. The solo cup plant the earliest. It was shadowed, it didn't get a lot of light, it got enough to not stretch upwards, but not nearly as much as the main plants in the tent. It hermed, and shortly after, all other 4 plants hermed too. Again, the same issue - Nanners, balls, all in the bottom 50% of the plants. Again in early stretch / preflower stages.
And these plants were once again healthy. Two of them got hit by some heavy deficiency or lockout in late flower, but that was just because I seriously did not care anymore. I wanted it to be over. I lost all fun, excitement, and motivation.
This is what my plants look like in early veg. Not one single issue, everything is literally fine. I see plants dying, clinging to life, yet they grow out just fine, never herming. Herming is a myth for most people, some rarely have one, just because genetics were bad. Was Speedrun the issue? I thought that at first. They weren't though. Especially because I know tons of Speedrun growers. Herming is rare, just like with any other breeder. Even the shittiest of breeders do not have batches where 10 plants in a row start herming.
One of the phenos in mid flower. 400g plant later on. It hermed too.
__________________
I felt stupid. Clueless. Absolutely f-cking stupid. What the hell am I doing wrong? There are no issues in any of these grows. These plants are as healthy as they can be, I asked an uncountable amount of people, not one has a single clue as to what the hell is going on here. At this point, I'm at 9 autoflowers herming in a row. No fix found, nothing. I never touched STS in my life, I never tried making a plant herm, I never even hurt one of my autos in any way, I just tuck their leaves away. That's literally all I do.
So I changed the genetics. What if it really was just Speedrun, and the genetics just don't fit my air. Maybe they hate different air? Who the hell knows at this point. I went for Fastbuds, Gorilla Cookie Autos. 4 plants, this time with the Cropsalt kit, and 8.5L / 2.2gal pots, I went away from the 15L / 3.9gal pots, just to switch it up.
Things were wonderful. I'm still in mid of this grow right now. Healthy plants, seriously healthy. I don't think one single person would complain about anything with these plants.
As soon as I hit early flower.. Balls. Growing straight out of what once were Calyx. Nanners, growing out of calyx. The whole shit came again, different genetics, different nutrients, a fully sterilized system, sterilized tent, chlorine, everything, the list is long. I took upmost care to pretty much have a surgical environment with not one germ being capable of living before starting that grow.
1 out of 4 plants so far. The others are still earlier in pre-flower. I am expecting the worst, and killed this one already, she went into the trash.
This is them mid stretch as of right now, without the front right plant, as I just killed it (herming again). Two of them kept it low, but with new genetics and completely new dry salt nutrients, I gotta adjust and learn, mistakes were guaranteed:
__________________
I feel lost. Disappointed. Just completely insulted by myself, for some reason. I don't know what I am doing wrong. 10 autoflowers in a row, herming. Different batches, different strains, now even different breeders. Over several grows. This seems impossible, this is impossible. But I somehow achieved it.
These plants are always as healthy as they can be. They're always in an insanely stable, fully controlled environment, with leaf offset, everything measured. They get 26-28°C / 78-82F in early to late veg, with humidity ranging between 60 and 70% depending on their age. They get 23-25°C in stretch and mid flower, 50-60% humidity, then lower and lower again in late flowering stages.
And most importantly - They do not get much attention. I do not touch them at all, unless I leaf-tuck. I don't do tons of shit, even if it sounds like it. I just keep my environment very stable, something the plants don't even notice. The plants themselves grow as naturally as possible.
I tested light cycles. I went for 24/0 in one grow, 20/4 in another. No light leaks, fully closed down room. No flickering, my LED is picture perfect.
No silver anywhere, nothing. I even have a camera in that room, just to check for issues with the dark/light cycle, but it works.
No weird nutrients, nothing. In some grows I used Grow Genius Monosilicic Acid. In others I didn't. I often use Dynomyco to transplant, and Rhizotonic in early seedling / veg stages. Sometimes a little epsom salt solution I mix myself out of epsom salts and tapwater, to raise magnesium by around 20-30ppm if needed. That's literally all. In this current grow I used an organic root / plant booster while handwatering early on.
In some I went for 70/30 RO / Tap, and raised my EC to 0.4 with a 2-0-0 Calmag as a base. In others I used normal tapwater.
In one grow I went for high PPFD / DLI. In others I attempted a low DLI connected to the well known DLI autoflower chart.
PH issues are rare to non-existent. I use a fully 3-point calibrated Apera PH60, always stored in KCl, and keep check of PH in the reservoir, so it works together with the trays. Usually 5.6PH in the reservoir, which gives a PH of 5.8-5.9 in the trays where the plants get their water from. Pretty much perfect for coco, and as you can see they do in fact enjoy it.
But.. they herm. They all just herm.
__________________
I just don't know what's going on. I feel like never growing autos again, I feel cursed, straight up cursed.
Please, try to read through this chaos, check for details, if you have any questions - Please just ask. I will add all and any information needed.
Last edited:
